PARTNERS
UPDATES AND USEFUL INFORMATION FROM THE LARGEST ETHNIC SUPPORT ORGANISATION IN THE UK
IN BRIEF
The Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS) West Midlands is hosting a free open day on 1 December, to give employers and employees from local businesses with information on mediation, training, equality and business solutions. The office in Edgbaston, Birmingham, will run a morning session from 9:30am-11:30am, and an afternoon session between 1pm-3pm. An ACAS spokesman said: “We aim to
improve organisations and working life through better employment relations, with a preventative attitude to intra-corporate issues. These sessions will give businesses a chance to gain information regarding our range of services.”
A Jewellery Quarter-based residential lettings company says that Birmingham city centre is facing a serious shortage of property. Greystone Lettings director Sukhdev Bajwa said that the shortage was so dire it was forcing rents up. He said that in September alone, rents had shot up by between seven and ten per cent. He added: “There are currently more tenants
looking for property than there is available. “The new academic year has also had a
profound effect on the increase in the demand for city centre property. This has led to many students staying temporarily in hotel accommodation until suitable property becomes available.”
Three teams from business and financial advisers Grant Thornton in Birmingham swapped calculators for compasses recently to conquer the gruelling Three Peaks Challenge and raised over £15,000 for the firm’s charity of the year. In total 55 people from Grant Thornton
around the country climbed Great Britain’s three highest mountains, Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Mount Snowdon in under 27 hours non-stop to raise funds for Cancer Research UK, the world’s leading charity dedicated to beating cancer through research.
Walsall Football Club held an open day at the Bank’s Stadium to provide local businesses with the opportunity to see the new facilities. The £100,000 refurbishment included free
wifi access throughout the stadium and new staff uniforms. A walkway was also created between the Bumper suite and the Stadium suite.
As part of the refurbishment, a stand at the
ground has been named the Five Rivers Family Stand, after the catering company that is the club’s exclusive sponsor for the 2011/12 season. Roy Whalley, Walsall FC’s commercial
director, said: “The event provided local businesses with the opportunity to network and taste a variety of delicious buffet menus, provided by Five Rivers Catering, which specialises in Punjabi cuisine. “We now have a fantastic venue for
corporate and private events. Not only is Five Rivers sponsoring the family stand but they will also be our exclusive marketers and organisers of Asian events at the stadium.”
18 CHAMBERLINK NOVEMBER 2011
Institute of Asian Businesses 75 Harborne Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 3DH T: 0121 450 4203
E:
iab@birmingham-chamber.com W:
iab-birmingham.com
Sharing experiences: Shubhashish Bose and Nasir Awan, president of the Institute of Asian Businesses
Chamber visit to help modernise Bangladesh
BY PHILIP PARKIN A
group of top civil servants from Bangladesh has visited the Chamber as part of a six-week
project aimed at helping modernise the South Asian country. Bangladesh is classed as a developing nation, and as part of this, is shaking off the inefficiencies and old fashioned approach of its governmental administrative structure. To help with this, a joint Bangladesh
government/Department for International Development (DFID) project has seen groups of civil servants travel from South Asia to the UK to get a better understanding of how modern Western economies are organised and run. The visiting delegation was led by Shubhashish
Bose, joint secretary of the non-government export processing zone programme (EPZ). The EPZs are special industrial parks, which
are meant to attract investment and create jobs. As part of the programme to set them up, the Bangladeshi government is hoping to attract private investment, including some from foreign investors. A number of EPZs have already been established, including two in the southern city of Chittagong.
Mr Bose said that prior to independence in
1971, Bangladesh had been a mainly agrarian economy, and industrialisation was more or less unknown until the 1980s, and even then was largely run on an outdated model of state nationalisation.
However, the country has now adopted a free market economy, and in order to help make this work, needs a dynamic civil service.
‘We need to have reforms in the civil service, because it has to be dynamic and has to bring about change’
Mr Bose said: “Civil servants implement the policies of the government – and we need to have reforms in the civil service, because it has to be dynamic and has to bring about change, and not stick to the system which was adopted 50 years ago. “We need ideas that we can put into action in
our country and have come here to share experiences with British civil servants, British industry, the British chambers of commerce and others. “We want to know about the changes that
they have seen, and hear about any recommendations they might have for us.” He added: “We also want to know how the UK
underwent privatisation at the end of the 1970s. In Bangladesh, we want to retain some organisations in the hands of the government, but they have to be competitive with private organisations and industry, or otherwise they won’t survive. “It’s all about improving efficiency and competitiveness as we look forward.”
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