It’s been an exhausting but rewarding first week at the International Festival for Business (IFB) 2014. The Prime Minister came to launch the whole event with a British Business Embassy which was fantastic. Senior visitors from all round the world descended upon Liverpool, we featured heavily on the BBC breakfast show and there were some truly amazing presentations.
One of favourite presentation was chaired by Sajid Javid, the Secretary of State for Culture Media and Sport with Adrian Wootton of the British Film Commission, Josh Berger of Warner Bros and Sir William Sargent of Framestore who talked us through the amazing special effects they deployed filming Sandra Bullock in the blockbuster Gravity. All the sessions were brilliant, though, and the energy created was palpable.
We then set off on the journey through IFB and the next few weeks of activity all round Liverpool and the region. I spoke at several events, had a very interesting debate at the inaugural conference on business in Britain by the Enterprise Research Centre and was on a panel at the Africa Rising event in the Cunard Building. This event was a highlight of the week for me. 7 of the top 10 fastest growing economies of the world are in Africa and soon all the top 10 will be so this focus on Africa was most welcome.
From left are Robert Davis EA Technology, David Hymers totalpost, Tony Hughes Safety Showers, Andrew Graham, of Graham and Brown, and Graham James of Flexrete
UKTI began its series of market and sector events and during the week we had over 400 businesses attend meeting nearly 40 overseas buyers. I saw business being done in the IFB hub and that is great news. The hub itself is a fantastic resource and well worth a visit, especially if you are looking to get advice for your business in an efficient and expert way. On the third floor we have assembled a group of experts on how to establish your business, grow it through exporting, financial experts, logistics and accountancy and legal experts. Register with IFB as a delegate and you will get all this advice in one easy step at the hub! It’s also worth considering taking advantage of the “pub in the hub” from 5.30pm to 7.00pm every day – an opportunity to carry on your business discussions over a glass of something chilled or just to relax after a hard day.
Our North West Export Champions had a good week. Our friends at Clarke Energy announced a couple of really big contracts, one in Paris and one in Mozambique. Chargepoint announced that they had trebled their profits. A vindication of my mantra that exporting firms are generally more profitable. A group of Export Champions came with me to meet Lord Livingston, the Minister for Trade and Investment and we were lucky enough to bump into Lord Heseltine at the event as well.
I did have a sad day on Thursday. One of the North West’s most experienced ITAs, Peter Thompson, very sadly and suddenly died recently and it was his funeral on Thursday. The service was held in a beautiful country village church in Pennine Lancashire, his son Sam spoke bravely and movingly about his father and the church was packed with family, friends, colleagues and customers. Afterwards I spoke at length to Clive Memmott, Chief Executive of Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce about our plans to hold a series of events promoting opportunities in Europe. It’s not often that you discuss business at a funeral but, knowing Peter and his complete enthusiasm for helping businesses to grow internationally, I’m sure he was looking down in approval.
More next week after we have our focus on Europe, Cities and urban regeneration and Higher Education opportunities.