DORSET’S premier business magazine, Capital, was officially launched at a gathering of some of the people who supported it.

The glossy quarterly publication, from the editorial team behind the Daily Echo and Dorset Echo, offers a lively collection of news, features, interviews and opinion columns covering all aspects of business life in the county.

The first issue includes a look at the future of the high street, as well as interviews with Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra chief executive Dougie Scarfe, Lush founder Mark Constantine, Koh Thai founder Andy Lennox, the team behind the Bournemouth 7s festival and business mentor Warren Munson.

There are a host of articles concerning famous Dorset brands as well as promising new start-ups. The magazine also features contributions from a host of expert guest columnists.

They include Bournemouth University economist Professor Nigel Jump and experts from the worlds of aviation, financial advice and online media.

Vincent Boni, managing director of Newsquest Hampshire and Dorset, opened the launch event, held at Bournemouth’s Miramar Hotel.

He introduced his audience to LOCALiQ, the business-to-business marketing brand from Echo publisher Newsquest. It offers bespoke advertising and digital marketing campaigns ideal for small and medium sized enterprises.

Daily Echo editor Andy Martin said he was “proud” of Capital and told how he would remain involved when he steps down from his editor’s role to become associate editor and community ambassador.

Chris Preston, regional managing director for business banking at NatWest, said he was pleased the bank was sponsoring Capital.

“There’ll be a small NatWest logo on some things but you’ll see on the articles that we publish together, it’s not about us, it’s about the value added, the experience and the confidence,” he said.

“It’s really good for us to work with a media partner that I think shares the same ethos as us and we can really move forward together.”

He told how the bank was supporting businesses and had recently unveiled a £6billion Growth Fund for expanding businesses, on top of a similar £3m fund which had already been used up.

NatWest had given redundant office space to the business community in Bristol and Cardiff as part of the NatWest Accelerator Programme, with a range of business support and advice.

“We are launching a Digital Accelerator Hub in Dorset where we’re going to sign up 100 businesses to have a similar experience but online and that will be our first step to branching out in this part of the world,” he said.

“So far those tests have gone really well so we’re looking to build on that,” he added.

Production of issue two of Capital magazine is already at an advanced stage, while the first issue is available at a host of business premises across Dorset.

If your business would be a suitable location for a number of copies to be distributed to visitors, call Roger Thresh on 01202 411236.