OLYMPIC Park contractors met more than 200 small businesses today to discuss how to compete for 2012 contracts.
The Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) and London Organising Committee (LOCOG) expect to allocate more than £6bn of work as part of an estimated 75,000 future business opportunities covering direct contractors and their supply chains.
The event, at Leyton Orient Football Club, in Brisbane Road, was organised to improve the ODA's links with small businesses.
Cllr Terry Wheeler, the council's cabinet member for enterprise, said: "Hosting the Games is a once in a lifetime opportunity and businesses in Waltham Forest need to grab this chance.
“In the current economic climate, it’s evermore vital to boost the local economy. Events like this open the kind of doors that can really make a difference to a small business.”
But opposition Waltham Forest councillors have questioned how much benefit the borough's residents will get out of the games.
Latest figures show only one in 10 existing Olympic suppliers are firms based in one of the five London boroughs of Waltham Forest, Newham, Hackney, Greenwich or Tower Hamlets.
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