Opportunities to Export - Somerset Chamber of Commerce

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You can find the Somerset Chamber of Commerceon Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.Rupert’s ReviewWhy, oh why do our nationalpoliticians enter into theirannual summer kick-aroundusing GCSE and A-Level studentsas the ball? Every year weendure it and from whicheverparty are in government oropposition.Children are not as ‘bright’ as they used to be; teachersare not as committed as they used to be; exams areharder or easier (on whichever side of the fence you sit)than they used to be; and Michael Gove (or hispredecessors) is a nutter. I am getting lamentably tiredof this boring rhetoric as there is little evidence that anyof those accusations are true, but the fact is that wecontinue to hear from Chamber members that theystruggle to recruit quality youngsters to fulfil the dutiesrequired.I have seen this debate unfold from both sides of the‘divide’. Firstly as a parent I recall the hard work that myown children put in to gain good GCSE and A-Levelresults, and with a father like theirs, it was hard work!Conversely, from 13 years’ experience of supporting thebusiness community, I have constantly heardbusinesses crying out for committed young people thatare ready for work and keen to learn.So what does ‘ready for work’ mean, as there is no cleardefinition to help a young person, or indeed teacher toteach it?To summarise the views of many business people I talkto, ‘ready for work’ means: having sound numeracy andliteracy skills; good timekeeping; correct dress sense forthe job in hand; an ability to listen and learn;communicate and ask questions; show some initiative;and most importantly, wanting to do a good job.Where I will take issue is with some in our educationsystem who for ‘ready for work’ read ‘achieved atschool’. Our children are legally bound to be in full timeeducation from five years old to 16 years old (with manystaying until 18) and it is a real shame that theattributes of someone who is ready for work are not thesame attributes that are achieved during their schoollife.One nightmare story came from a good employer whowas looking for a new apprentice. He interviewed onelad who turned up 10 minutes late with his trousersbelow his buttocks and proceeded to text someoneduring the interview. He did not get the job, and willstruggle to get any job, I would suggest.The Chamber believes there is a flaw in the delivery ofour curriculum and that is space and time to link thesubject matter of what is taught to career or jobopportunities in our locality. Don’t tell a student thatwith Physics and/or Chemistry they can be a rocketscientist when the chances of that happening is lessthan winning the lottery, when the students could betold that (with the same subject successes) they mightbuild helicopters in Yeovil, or work in nuclear power atHinkley Point, or design and make aerosols inWellington, and so on.Somehow we have to work together to inspire a greaterpercentage of young people to learn for purpose and tothen offer them challenging career opportunities here inSomerset as a substitute for decades of debt followinguniversity.Our PatronsA big thank you to the Patrons of the Somerset Chamber of Commerce, whose continuedsupport is vital to the growth of the ChamberPrevious pageFRONT COVER IMAGE COURTESY SIMON YORK PHOTOGRAPHYNext page
China Trade MissionThe Somerset Chamber of Commerce isjoining forces with Somerset County Councilto increase trade links with China by leadinga trade and twinning mission in Novemberto Guangdong Province in the south east ofthe country.The County Councilhas been workingwith the ChinaBritish Business Council (CBBC) for six months to try toidentify areas of China where Somerset businessescould be concentrating their exporting activities due toeither similarities of economy or a desire to engage withstrong Somerset business sectors such as food & drink,fashion & lifestyle, education, the creative industry,tourism and nuclear power.The result of this research is that the cities of Jiangmenand Yangjiang have both agreed to enter into a twinningarrangement with Somerset, and have invited abusiness and municipal delegation to visit the area inNovember.South West UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) is leading atrade mission to Guangdong at the same time, soSomerset’s mission is piggy-backing on the South Westmission in order to create a greater impact and to shareresources across more businesses.The Somerset delegation leaves the UK on 18thNovember, visiting Guangzhou, Jiangmen and Yangjiang,returning on 26th November. At each destinationbusinesses will be introduced to potential newcustomers, meet similar types of businesses to theirown, as well as supporting the County Council as it signsMemorandum of Understandings with each city toencourage future engagement and develop closerrelationships.This initiative comes on the back of the Somerset inBusiness Conference in May entitled ‘International Tradeis Good for Somerset’, which explored areas around theworld that are ripe for international trade activity. Thisincluded a presentation from Antoaneta Becker from theCBBC who inspired great interest in China, explainingthat increasing urbanisation and rapid economicdevelopment ischanging China froma manufacturing andexport focusedcountry into aconsumption drivennation.With more and morebusinesses heedingthe advice of thePrime Minister toseek global markets,the SomersetChamber has alsoset up a Somerset International Trade Forum inpartnership with UKTI. This meets on a quarterly basis toexplore global opportunities with existing and potentialexporters of both products and services, with the aim ofincreasing exports from the county and in so doingincreasing employment opportunities.The Chief Executive of the Somerset Chamber, RupertCox, who will be joining the trade mission, said, “We aredelighted that the County Council has invested inhelping businesses to open up more global markets,particularly in China. We applaud them for leading fromthe front by nurturing civic relationships with bothJiangmen and Yangjiang, and I look forward to joiningthe Somerset delegation as we fly the flag forbusinesses in Somerset that we know can satisfy thedemands of the Chinese markets. This is the start ofwhat I hope will be a long and fruitful relationship.“We are very proud of Somerset Chamber members thatalready fly the flag for Somerset such as SomerdaleInternational, AgustaWestland and NumaticInternational, to name just three, and we want tosupport other less famous brands to help them make amark on a global stage – and where better to start thanChina.”Businesses interested in joining the delegation haveuntil 6th September to contact the SomersetChamber of Commerce on 01823 444924, or emailRupert Cox on rupertcox@somerset-chamber.co.ukPicture: Antoaneta BeckerPrevious pageNext page3
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Opportunities to Export - Somerset Chamber of Commerce

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