Opinion CHAMBER
The official publication of Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce
LINK Cannock Chase
Chamber of Commerce
Editor’s View
By John Lamb Sutton Coldfield
Chamber of Commerce
Greater Birmingham
Commonwealth Chamber of Commerce
We have, of course, greatly missed the opportunity to catch-up with members at the many events the Chamber organises every week and we greatly look forward to re-establishing them once the crisis is over. But the Covid-19 lockdown does not seem to
Greater Birmingham
Transatlantic Chamber of Commerce
have dampened enthusiasm for taking part in Chamber events and campaigns that have now switched entirely to virtual operations.
Front cover: Doug Bouton, who will take part in Chamber International Week – his first global talk. See page 13
Editor John Lamb 0121 274 3237, 0797 1144064
j.lamb@
birmingham-chamber.com
Deputy Editor Dan Harrison 0121 274 3239, 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
‘The way in which businesses of all shapes and sizes have responded to the crisis is uplifting in the extreme’
And that is no more demonstrably the case
when it comes to our Quarter Business Report survey. To be credible any survey needs as many entries and views as possible and responses have soared for our second quarterly report of the year. And what do entries mean? They mean prizes
– see page 26. The report, in the end, may not make positive
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4 CHAMBERLINK June/July 2020
reading in the light of the Covid-19 pandemic but it will at least give us direct information about how we are coping with life under the lockdown. Government help with loans and furloughing have, of course, been invaluable but the way in which businesses of all shapes and sizes have responded to the crisis is uplifting in the extreme. WE OFFER a warm welcome to Nasir Awan,
who has joined the Chamber’s presidential team. The chief executive of the Awan wholesale empire
Online is in line with crisis T
here is no substitute for personal contact and networking when it comes to developing business links.
has been named as the ‘junior’ vice-president and will serve with the current president Steve Allen and vice-president Deb Leary. It seems an anachronism to associate Nasir
with the word ‘junior’. He is one of the most successful and honoured businessmen in the UK and his knowledge and experience will be invaluable to the Chamber in the coming years. It means he will probably become president in
2023 and such advance succession planning has really paid off, not the least in recent years. Steve had to step up as president when Saqib Bhatti was elected MP for Meriden and this easy transition proved the benefit of long-term planning. And it also ensured the continuity of which
the Chamber has always been proud. Our chief executive, Paul Faulkner, was given a seat at the top table as the private sector’s only representative when an online regional “COBRA” meeting with Government ministers took place in the West Midlands under the chairmanship of Mayor Andy Street. It gave him an opportunity to promote the
interests of business in the West Midlands as it faces its biggest crisis since the Second World War. And in doing so it proved that the Chamber is always here, no matter what the regional or national political colours are. And that’s been the case since 1813…
A reminder that your Chamberlink will be back with an August/September edition as we manage issues caused by the Covid-19 lockdown crisis by going by-monthly until the end of the year. The deadline for editorial material is Monday, 6 July, and should be directed to the contacts on the left of this page.
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