Opinion CHAMBER LINK
The Official Publication of Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce
Editor’s View
By John Lamb A celebration of business
We have devoted a large amount of space in this month’s Chamberlink to give due recognition to the businesses who will be competing for our awards at the Chamber dinner on 19 April. We felt this was the right thing to do given
Sutton Coldfield
Chamber of Commerce
Greater Birmingham
Commonwealth Chamber of Commerce
the enormous amount of interest the awards and, indeed, the dinner has generated. Having sold out the dinner months ago, with
1,300 guest attending on the evening at the International Convention Centre, we received a record numbers for the awards. They will be treated to an entertaining
evening, hosted by actor and TV star Stephen Mangan, who has appeared in sitcoms Episodes, Green Wing and I’m Alan Partridge as well as panel shows such as Have I Got News for You. As well as announcing the category winners,
Front cover: Ambassador Johnson has been named key speaker at the BABC conference. See page 43.
Editor John Lamb 0121 607 1781, 0797 1144064
j.lamb@
birmingham-chamber.com
Deputy Editor Dan Harrison 0121 607 1887, 0797 1144052
d.harrison@birmingham-chamber.com
You can now read the latest issue of CHAMBERLINK and view back issues online at:
www.greaterbirminghamchambers.com
we shall be naming the overall Business of the Year and the recipient of President Paul Kehoe’s award. Everyone involved in selecting the shortlist for
the awards was struck by the standard of entries and the sheer diversity of businesses in our region. On pages 6, 7, 8 and 10 there is a snapshot of
all 69 businesses that have been shortlisted. Clearly, it’s difficult to do justice to any business in a few words but at least readers will get a flavour of a big section of Greater Birmingham’s businesses and their fortunes. There’s a manufacturer of incinerators and
cremators who exports to over 100 countries and a maker of hot tubs who are one of only a few companies using a special production process. Then there’s the organisation who believe in
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making managers become better leaders alongside a shipping company that has achieved
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Managing Editor Laura Blake Designer Lloyd Hollingworth
Advertising 0121 765 4144
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CHAMBERLINK is produced on behalf of Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce by Kemps Publishing Ltd and is distributed to members without charge. The Chambers and the publisher are committed to achieving the highest quality standards. While every care has been taken to ensure that the information it contains is accurate, neither the Chambers nor the publisher can accept any responsibility for any omission or inaccuracies that might arise. Views expressed in the magazine are not necessarily those of the Chambers. This publication (or any part thereof) may not be reproduced, transmitted or stored in print or electronic format without prior written permission of Kemps Publishing Ltd.
4 CHAMBERLINK April 2018
continuous growth despite challenging global economic conditions. An iconic Birmingham store is also in the
awards frame after increasing customers from China by 60 per cent and then there’s the company whose operations will delight all motorists – they are working on technology that will cut the number of cones on the roads. Such diversity reflects perfectly the huge range
of businesses that make up Greater Birmingham. And that will only increase as huge
developments both here and in around the city take shape. The building industry alone is set for a renaissance. So many huge building projects have been revealed in the past few weeks that the local media has been looking more like the Estates Gazette. Apart from the Chancellor announcing
250,000 new homes for the West Midlands, there’s to be village for the Commonwealth Games that will provide permanent homes for Brummies after the event, a new rail engineering school and research centre in Birmingham, re- opened railway stations, in including a massive revamp of Coventry Station. And, of course there are the mouth-watering
prospects of developments in central Birmingham and Solihull around the HS2.
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