Business News
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7 Chamber chief executive Paul Faulkner
The future is looking bright for Birmingham
Business leaders have been urged to ensure “as high a voter turnout as possible” for the upcoming Mayoral election in the West Midlands. Paul Faulkner was speaking at the Chamber
annual dinner and awards. The chief executive of the GBCC said there
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was “nothing more important to us than devolution and the West Midlands Combined Authority Mayoral election on 4 May”. He added: “In conjunction with our fellow Chambers in the Black Country and Coventry & Warwickshire, we recently launched our Business Priorities for the Mayor document, and we have rolled out a fantastic ‘Mayoral toolkit’ for businesses to use in order to encourage the people who work for them to register and vote. “It’s free, simple to use, available to all
businesses and a great way of ensuring that the people in your business are aware of the election and the importance of their vote.” Mr Faulkner also spoke of the “palpable sense
of adventure, optimism, entrepreneurship and the art of the possible that exists among all of us who live and work in our region day in and day out”. He added: “We find ourselves increasingly
looking forward at the opportunities that the future could hold for the Midlands, rather than backwards at outdated stereotypes that the ill- informed still occasionally peddle. “We are also now all well versed in the
9 Gongs galore: All of our 2017 award winners
1 Wonder woman: President’s Award winner Sarah-Jane Marsh with Paul Kehoe
2 Contribution to the Community: Paul Kehoe, Zaheda Vaid (Muslim Women’s Network UK) and Gyles Brandreth
3 Customer Service: Paul Kehoe, David Ingram (A-Plant), Mark Draycott (A-Plant) and Gyles Brandreth
4 International Business: Paul Kehoe, Everton Burke (Burton and South Derbyshire College) and Gyles Brandreth
5 Sales and Marketing: Paul Kehoe, Victoria Lineton (President, Future Faces and judge, who collected the award on behalf of Great Escape Cars) and Gyles Brandreth
6 Manufacturing: Paul Kehoe, Richard Skan (Oldbury UK and Boughton Engineering Ltd) and Gyles Brandreth
7 Retail: Paul Kehoe, Phil Innes (Loki Wines) and Gyles Brandreth
8 People Development: Paul Kehoe and Gyles Brandreth with Claire Bond, Jane Jarvis, Steve Russell, Claire Hawker and Wayne Round (all NEC Group)
9 Business of the Year: Paul Kehoe, Phil Innes (Loki Wines), Brigadier Simon Bell (West Midlands Reserve Forces and Cadets Association) and Gyles Brandreth
Pictures by Jas Sansi
massive economic benefits that major initiatives such as HS2 and UK Central in Solihull will bring to the region, not just today or tomorrow, but underpinning our regional economy for decades to come. Opportunities truly are all around us, and it is up to us all, together, to seize them.” He also mentioned “the tangible signs of that
regional positivity” the Chamber was detecting. “The fact that over 1,200 of us are here
tonight - certainly the largest such gathering since before Joseph Chamberlain’s time as far as anyone has been able to tell me - is proof of that in itself. “I’m certainly proud of the fact that the Chamber has gone from strength to strength over the past year, growing membership and continuing towards our goal of representing 4000 member businesses by 2020. “We have continued to modernise and
develop as a Chamber, aiming to be responsive to and reflective of the needs and requirements of our members, and ensuring that the wide range of products and services that we offer are all relevant and helping to make a positive difference to all businesses.”
April 2017 CHAMBERLINK7
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