COMMENT
THE
LAST WORD
ROB MAYO, Chamber President, on the issues that are worth talking about
I’m delighted to be able to pen my first piece for Business Network, having taken over the role of President last month. Firstly, I would like to pay tribute to my predecessor,
Geoff Poyzer, for the hard work, dedication, enthusiasm and leadership he has brought to the role in to the past 12 months. Geoff’s year as President saw him focus on Brexit; the importance of investment in training; helping business to keep pace with the rapidly changing world of technology and promoting the East Midlands as a great place to live and work. He has certainly added value in all these areas and I look forward to taking up the reins and building on his achievements in the year ahead. As for me, I am delighted to take over as President of
this great organisation for 2018, having been a director and board member for the past five years. The Chamber is a crucial and influential player in the East Midlands’ business landscape and beyond, so to take the chains of office is indeed a great honour. I’d like to touch on the principal themes which I’ll focus
on in the months ahead: a clear voice for business on Brexit; global export opportunities; advocacy and lobbying and growing our membership.
A CLEAR VOICE ON BREXIT Making sure that business continues to drive the Brexit agenda is of fundamental importance and will be one of my targets for the year and I believe our Chamber should speak out with authority and a clear voice about those matters which may affect the prosperity of our diverse businesses.
EXPORT OPPORTUNITIES The East Midlands provides the foundation for the Midlands Engine. It is a creative and productive powerhouse and this Chamber will continue to support businesses to grow and prosper. I want to actively support export growth and international trade. In 2016 the Chamber won the British Chambers of Commerce Award for Excellence in International Trade and I am determined it will continue to do whatever possible to help the region’s businesses take full advantage of the opportunity to export and exploit global markets.
ADVOCACY AND LOBBYING The Chamber is the largest business representation organisation in the Midlands. That’s something to be very proud of. Our Chamber is fortunate to have a hugely experienced executive team, supported by enthusiastic and talented colleagues. The Chamber’s Quarterly Economic
66 business network December 2017/January 2018
Survey is an essential bell-weather for the state of the economy, and is widely admired by many different organisations and decision-makers. Local, regional and national politicians pay attention to
our lobbying and representation, and we will continue to speak out on your behalf.
CHAMBER EXCELLENCE I don’t think it does any harm to remind ourselves of some of the Chamber’s outstanding work and achievements in the past few months. It has organised seven expos, with over 3,500 delegates
attending Chamber events. It has created 455 Chamber apprentices and 3,970 Work Programme jobs. It saved members £652,000 on export documentation worth £467m. Over 1,500 delegates attended Chamber sector forums and the Chamber has awarded £7.1m single award contracts since April. This gives just a flavour of the work carried out by the Chamber, and I hope you agree with me that the executive team and their colleagues are doing a terrific job on behalf of the membership.
GROWING OUR MEMBERSHIP The strength of the Chamber is largely due to its membership. Under Geoff’s Presidency the membership exceeded 4,000 and now stands at over 4,100 and is continuing to grow. The larger the organisation the greater weight to our voice and the more influence we can exert on your behalf to bring about positive change for business. I make no apology for saying that I want our Chamber to be the largest in the country and believe we can reach over 5,000 members. The larger we are the more we can achieve.
NORTH NOTTS BID In my year as President, I’d like to be able to promote the ground-breaking North Notts Business Improvement District, or BID. This bold initiative is led by business and covers the whole of Bassetlaw District; a first in the UK. With a budget of £3.5m over five years, the BID has the capacity to help bring about a real transformation in North Notts, and I’m very proud to be involved. To be President of this great Chamber is both a privilege
and an honour, and I can assure you I will use my very best efforts to serve our membership well over the months to come.
All the best. Rob
Join the conversation by following @EMCBizNetwork and Tweet using the hashtag #LastWord
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68
