Business ambassadors take the ‘Suffolk is great for business’ message to London

A delegation of Invest in Suffolk Ambassadors joined Suffolk County Council and Suffolk Chamber of Commerce at the annual conference of the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) yesterday on 8 March.

Invest in Suffolk’s key message is that “Suffolk is the right choice for your business” – one that was repeated many times during the BCC conference, which attracted over 800 attendees from every part of the UK and from many key international markets.

The Invest in Suffolk Ambassadors programme brings together people who are passionate about living and working in Suffolk and willing to use their skills and expertise to champion our county as a top business location.  Working with Suffolk Chamber, Suffolk County Council’s Invest in Suffolk programme has recruited over 100 high profile business leaders and professionals to become Invest in Suffolk Ambassadors.

Delegates at the BCC conference heard keynote speeches from a range of senior politicians, including Rt. Hon. Dr. Liam Fox MP, Secretary of State for International Trade and President of the Board of Trade, Rt. Hon John McDonnell MP, shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer and Arlene Foster MLA, leader of the Democratic Unionist Party. There were also lively and engaging panel discussions on three key topics of interest to the business community: the future of work, the future of UK trade and diversity in the workplace.

Sarah Howard MBE, Vice President of the BCC and Immediate Past President of Suffolk Chamber (pictured speaking at the BCC Conference) participated in the first of these debates.

Sarah said “A first-hand view I have been hearing from our members all over the country is that our young people lack resilience, thinking skills, emotional intelligence and most importantly and probably most surprisingly, self confidence.

“As technology is taught to do more and more of the tasks we currently value in our workplace, in the future these soft skills are going to become more and more attractive to employers.”

John Dugmore explained that “this was as good a BCC conference as any in recent years with delegates having the chance to hold our politicians to account, especially over the need for a focus on crucial business-oriented issues other than Brexit.

“In particular, I liked BCC Director-General, Adam Marshall’s speech where he reminded the government that the biggest challenges and opportunities facing the UK business community, and country, are not related to exiting the EU, but to fixing the fundamentals in the domestic environment. He also called on politicians to robustly defend a thriving private sector and its role in growth and wealth creation.”

Take a look at the video of Sarah Howard MBE’s opening comments during the panel discussion on the future of work below.