Opinion CHAMBER
The official publication of Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce
LINK
Editor’s View
By John Lamb
Region’s businesses are a cause for celebration
Sutton Coldfield
Chamber of Commerce
Greater Birmingham
Commonwealth Chamber of Commerce
T Greater Birmingham
Transatlantic Chamber of Commerce
Front cover: Daniel Alcorn, winner of the Future Face of Greater Birmingham 2019 award See pages 6-8
Editor John Lamb 0121 274 3239, 0797 1144064
j.lamb@
birmingham-chamber.com
Deputy Editor Dan Harrison 0121 274 3238, 0797 1144052
d.harrison@birmingham-chamber.com
Reporter Jessica Brookes 0750 8317356
j.brookes@
birmingham-chamber.com
You can now read the latest issue of CHAMBERLINK and view back issues online at:
www.greaterbirminghamchambers.com
his month’s Chamberlink really is a celebration of how superb Birmingham’s business world is.
And I’m not just talking about today’s
achievements, good as they are. While we rightly celebrate what is to come with the gathering of 500 people at Future Faces’ annual dinner and awards, we look back at how long Birmingham’s business community has been making its mark globally. Jon Griffin, Chamberlink’s award-winning
columnist, visits Firmin and Sons Ltd, not only the oldest business in Birmingham but officially the UK’s oldest privately-owned manufacturer. It was established 364 years ago and has been
making ceremonial and military buttons and badges and other ceremonial items ever since, coming through the turbulent era of Oliver Cromwell to today in the age of artificial intelligence and self-driving cars. At the other end of the spectrum we have Van
Patel, who has just established her own business The Dietologist. She took the plunge after working for 27 years in the NHS for the altruistic motive of believing she could offer a better service on her own. In the NHS she felt she did not have the proper
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4 CHAMBERLINK October 2019
amount of time to devote to patients who needed care following weight-loss surgery, particularly for those people who went abroad for the treatment. Prices might be low but Van knew that they would not get the proper after-care. Then we have Millan Joshi, who has a long-
established business in Birmingham – not as long as Firmin but equally as important.
‘We have discovered the paperwork from the meeting which established the Chamber in 1813’
Millan runs JK Advertising from offices in Selly
Park and it holds thousands of files that are a testimony to a business with over 40 years’ experience tailoring messages for Asian audiences. Buried in the organised chaos of his office is
an item that belongs in the history of rock and roll (see page 32). Back to entrepreneurship. We have Chris
Abbot, who has set up a magnificent little business called Gin Britannia. He has linked up with Simpsons restaurant in Edgbaston to establish a business where he teaches guests to make their own flavour of gin and design a bottle for it followed by a three-course lunch. Striding across all of this, the Chamber itself
has had a clear-out and we have discovered some gems which underline the importance of Birmingham business. Among the documents, we have discovered the paperwork from the meeting which established the Chamber in 1813 plus the signatures of royalty and prime ministers who visited the organisation. We can be sure that Birmingham’s magnificent business heritage is in safe hands while the Chamber continues to look after its interests no matter the turmoil and uncertainty caused by national and local politics.
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