The SCR Chambers: Sheffield Supporting our members
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Our region’s businesses will lead the way in the recovery and Sheffield Chamber will be right beside you every step of the way. Supporting business. Connecting business. Representing business.
Driving trade across the world
Anne-Marie Martin (pictured), Director Global Business Networks at the British Chambers of Commerce, discusses the Global Business Network, upcoming projects and their ambitions for growth.
To begin, tell us a little about yourself and your background I joined the BCC’s team in 2019 as Director of Global Business Networks, with responsibility for developing and implementing the global network integration strategy of the BCC. Since those first few months, our global footprint has grown exponentially. Before that, I was CEO of the pan European
British Chamber Network COBCOE, which has since transferred into the BCC network, and before that my first role in Chambers was as CEO of the British Romanian Chamber of Commerce during a time when Romania embarked on its reform journey towards EU accession. However, I actually cut my teeth in industry,
with a relatively long career responsible for sales, marketing and operations of an SME distributor of speciality chemicals and non-destructive testing equipment to the aircraft, aerospace and heavy engineering industries across complex emerging economies in the Central and Eastern Europe, on the export front line.
What are your main responsibilities? My primary role is to create, grow and maintain a dynamic and fully engaged, integrated global community; to deliver a programme of activities and projects that add value to the network, and a platform whereby Chambers are able to connect, work together, exchange ideas and best practice and drive trade and business together, across the world. Despite the many challenges of the last year, we have experienced increased interest in our network and its scope, and the network has never been more active than it is at the moment, with successful business connections being made across the world.
SHEFFIELD CHAMBER PATRONS 2021
Who are your target audience and what is the main aim of the Global Business Network? The Global Business Network is a unique international member network of currently 71 and growing British Chambers of Commerce located across all continents of the world directly connected to the 53 regional Chambers of Commerce located across every key business hub in the UK. The primary strategic objective is to provide
any company that is a member of any Chamber in the network with the opportunity to connect to a rapidly growing international ecosystem of known, trusted business connections and support.
What projects are you currently working on? My stand outs include managing our 2021 Global Annual Conference which will take place in cyberspace on 16-17 June this year. This will be hugely exciting, because it will a brand-new virtual styled event, bringing together high-level keynote speakers, including Government officials, senior business leaders on expert panel sessions, practical workshops and a fresh new look virtual exhibition space. We will bring audiences from across the world together to discuss and debate the most pertinent topics of our time. We plan to launch a ‘Year of Trade’ campaign
this year in response to the seismic decline in business growth, export sales and investment which are at their lowest since the last major economic crisis of 2008. The programme will include a series of virtual events, thematic surveys, practical guides and policy outputs. Another project I am keen to roll out is a
digital community platform that will connect the Chambers in our Global Business Network to each other seamlessly, enabling them to
communicate and respond to respective enquiries, to organise joint trade forums and to showcase the best that their market or region has to offer.
Looking ahead, what are your main aims for the Global Business Network and how would you like it to develop? The possibilities are absolutely boundless. Our ambition is to grow the international membership to 100 by 2023, that together with our UK Chambers, will help businesses to surmount barriers to trade and seize opportunities by creating a framework of connectivity and practical support provided by a trusted, known private sector led network of reputable business partners via a truly global business network of Chambers of Commerce working symbiotically together. I would like to see this network eventually take on a life of its own. At that point, it will give me a huge sense of achievement and pride in the knowledge that my job is done.
Parts of this article first featured in West Cheshire & North Wales Quarterly Business Magazine. Visit
wcnwchamber.org.uk/about- us/quarterly-magazine
Spring 2021 CHAMBERconnect 49
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