GLASGOW BUSINESS OCTOBER 2014
CONTENTS/PRESIDENT
Vic Emery, President
president@glasgowchamberofcommerce.com
Let’s rekindle the spirit of enterprise
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We all know Glasgow is a passionate place. And over the summer months we have seen Glaswegians expressing this passion in a number of ways. From the exhilaration of hosting the most successful Commonwealth Games in history through to the raw emotion of the referendum on Scottish independence, when a majority of Glasgow’s citizens voted ‘Yes’ to independence from the United Kingdom. Scotland might have voted ‘No’ but in the heart of many Glaswegians there is a streak of stubbornness that insists that we don’t like being told what to do. Many Glaswegians cast their vote for a radical change and were prepared to accept the risks. This independent state of mind has built Glasgow and so we need to harness this again as we become Scotland’s modern powerhouse. And this is where Glasgow Chamber can play its part. Our members employ tens of thousands of Glaswegians who bring their pride and passion into their workplaces every day. It is the task of great businesses
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Cover image: George Square during 2014 Commonwealth Games 30
2014 Commonwealth Games 32 After the Games
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to harness that passion, to use this ingenuity, freedom of thought, humour and hard-work to build sustainable and productive companies. Building Glasgow as a powerhouse requires both management and working people to pull together and for all parties to feel they are sharing in the success of a common goal. The Commonwealth Games in
Glasgow proved the city has a real can-do attitude: that it can deliver a world-class event which engages local communities. If there was any doubt about Glasgow’s abilities to achieve great things, they have been banished forever. I would like to think that some of this gallus self-confidence was converted into the independent spirit and feelings
which we experienced during the referendum. Yet, for the foreseeable future, the
question of independence is off the agenda. Meantime, we must work to ensure that new measures are taken to give Scotland more power over its own affairs while remaining within the United Kingdom. But we need to bottle the kind of spirit that emerged during the debate, to help rekindle the essence of enterprise in our city. No-one seriously wants minimum
wages, families in poverty and food banks in Glasgow. We all know this is unacceptable in our modern economic world. But really the only way to alleviate this poverty is through education, employment and investment. Education means training Glaswegians so they have productive and worthwhile jobs and careers, and investment comes only if business is profitable and operating in a stable environment. Glasgow has an outstanding track
record on this. That is why the likes of the University of
Strathclyde and University of Glasgow have been able to attract massive funding for commercial research projects that will benefit Glasgow. And our universities and
colleges in the West of Scotland are increasingly playing their parts, with graduates now entering the workplace with specialist business expertise and a deeper understanding of the expectations of work. There are plenty of reasons to be
optimistic about Glasgow’s future. There is already the promise of more investment with the City Deal and more work for shipyards on the Clyde. Our engineering companies are at the forefront and our technology brains are capable of matching the world’s best. But Glasgow’s future depends on a workforce fit for the modern world. Glasgow Chamber will be playing its part in building Powerhouse Glasgow.
Glasgow Business . 3
www.glasgowchamberofcommerce.com
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