Business News Business News Latest news from Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce
Time for city to take on the world
Birmingham must seize the opportunity to excel on a global scale, Chamber delegates have been told. Speaking at a briefing for
Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce’s quarterly business report, Birmingham Airport chief executive Paul Kehoe called on local businesses to work together to show that the region is a great place to invest. He told delegates at Birmingham
City University: “The scale we find ourselves in in the world is always changing. Over the next two years we are going to have to find ourselves. The economic scale of the UK is going to change drastically.
‘A phenomenal opportunity to change the outlook for our future’
“We are a small part of a very small country, yet a very important part. Birmingham’s time is coming because people outside of us have finally recognised what a proposition we have. We have a phenomenal opportunity to change the outlook for our future. “The challenge is how we can
work together to promote business and business opportunities to City Hall, to the UK Government, to the people that work with us and have the confidence to move forward and start building a better Birmingham.” Paul Forrest, director of the West
Midlands Economic Forum, spoke about the region’s trade and export potential. He said: “We want politicians to understand the size and the structure of the West Midlands economy. “If you go to Sweden they have
about three or four global brands, if you go to Holland they have about two or three. In the Midlands we have about 30 or 40 global brands. “If you put the Midlands up
against the rest of Europe, it is the size of Austria or Bavaria. It means the cities Birmingham should aspire to or replicate are Vienna or Munich. “In the case of Birmingham
Airport, it should be looking to copy Munich with its 38 million passengers and about 500,000 tonnes of air freight.”
6 CHAMBERLINK November 2016
New Chamber president: Chief executive Paul Faulkner (centre) with outgoing president Greg Lowson (top) and new president Paul Kehoe
New president pledges to ‘promote hell out of region’
By John Lamb
Paul Kehoe, new president of Birmingham Chamber of Commerce, has promised to “promote the hell” out of the region during his two-year term. The chief executive of Birmingham Airport was
speaking at the Chamber’s annual meeting, hosted by University College Birmingham. He reaffirmed that his theme for his presidency would
be “geography, scale and our place in the world” and added: “I want Brummies to realise how great they are and in turn we will promote the hell out of this region. “Recently, the Chamber was in Chicago spreading the
word and there will shortly be a trade mission to Delhi, where we will take a message that spells out the outstanding quality of this region.” David Waller, chairman of Greater Birmingham
Chambers of Commerce, said that the Chamber’s new International Hub “is now more important than ever – and the Chamber is the right place to help business”. In his review of the year, he also said there had been
a “wonderful turn-a-round of the Chamber’s financial fortunes”. Tributes were paid to outgoing president Greg
Lowson, head of office at lawyers Pinsent Masons in Birmingham. Mr Waller thanked him for his enthusiastic support of the Chamber and for heading up the creation of CSR City (Corporate Social Responsibly City) in Birmingham. In his review, Mr Lowson said one of his most important
roles in his two years of office was appointing a successor to Jerry Blackett as chief executive. He said: “In filling the very big shoes of Jerry, Paul Faulkner has established himself as the voice of the Chamber very well.”
…We’re in the spotlight at last
Birmingham and the West Midlands are “finally getting their long overdue moment in the spotlight”, business leaders in the region claimed at the Conservative Party conference. Paul Faulkner, chief executive of Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce, was speaking after a GBSLEP (Greater Birmingham Local Enterprise Partnership) fringe event. At the event, the Prime Minister underlined her
commitment to powering up regional economies when she said: “If we want to build an economy that works for everyone, then we have to empower our great cities. “I am delighted that Birmingham is using HS2 as a
catalyst for the regeneration of the Curzon Street area. “People have always been Birmingham’s strength
and the election of a mayor will make sure that this economic region works for everyone.”
Greater Birmingham was among seven Chambers of Commerce to jointly host a reception on transforming skills in the Midlands during the conference.
MPs and stakeholders joined the Chambers and
representatives of local businesses at the fringe ’event at the Marmalade Lounge in the REP Theatre, Birmingham. Other Chambers involved were Hereford and
Worcestershire, Northants, Milton Keynes, Coventry and Warwickshire, Black Country, Staffordshire and East Midlands Chamber.
Andy Street claimed the Tories need only a four per cent swing in their favour to win the West Midlands Combined Authority mayoral elections next year when he launched his campaign at the conference. Labour candidate Sion Simon, addressing the Labour
Party Conference in Liverpool, focused on the importance of growing Birmingham Airport, the strength of the region's automotive industry, potential for further devolution and marketing the West Midlands region. The Liberal Democrat candidate is Beverley Nielsen, a
former regional director of the CBI who has been a director of Birmingham City University for the past decade.
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