In Chamber Shoes - Alison Henderson

Dundee honours Chinese Consul General Pan Xinchun

I was delighted to attend celebrations and public performances in the City Square, followed by an event in the City Chambers to celebrate Chinese New Year and honour Chinese Consul General Pan Xinchun. 

Consul General Pan was made an Honorary Burgess of the City...I was honoured to be one of the funding trustees of the City of Dundee Burgess Charity launched in 2011 to promote civic pride in our City and allow the charity to be a vehicle for fund-raising and do good work for the community. You can find out more about becoming a Burgess by visiting www.dundeeburgess.org.uk

Traditional lion dances were by performed by the Yee’s Hung Ga International Kung Fu Association alongside the pipe band of the 6th/8th Dundee Company of the Boys' Brigade and pupils from the High School of Dundee assisted with dragon dancing performers.

All in all, the event was just spectaular, and a great insight into a beautiful culture and time of year for the community.

Board Meeting Prep!

A busy day deskbound as we all prepare for tomorrow's Board Meeting. The team is presenting our three-year Business Plan and everyone is going to be there.

2015 & 2016 were very positive years for Dundee & Angus Chamber of Commerce, and the plan for the future is to build on all of that hard work, and grow the membership while retaining the current member base.

What is very important is that we are close to our members, that we understand their needs and business issues, and that we are supportive. We connect businesses, raise their profile and help on their behalf where we can. We're always building our activities to support that - our members are at the heart of everything that we do.

Board Meeting at Malmaison

A busy meeting at Malmaison, bringing together the Board and Chamber team. We were hosted by Brett Ingle, who is General Manager of the hotel, and a Chamber Director. Brett joined us to ensure that the voice of hospitality & tourism is strong at the Chamber, and he is also particuarly interested in the role that we play in the Developing Young Workforce strategy & regional group.

A key piece of our strategy development has been working with the team and directors to make sure we all connected with our 'Why' - what is the Chamber's purpose? It's a work-in-progress, but it's getting there! 

"We believe that a strong business community is essential to the economic prosperity of Dundee & Angus. We lead the connections & experiences to build businesses by promoting the private sector, enabling businesses to attract and retain talented people and ensure that our region is seen as an innovative and ambitious place to prosper. We are the key business voice in our region with the largest community of businesses who work together to ensure their opinions matter: collaborating to create a vibrant, economically successful region in which business can thrive and contribute to a sustainable economy and our communities."

We have over 500 business members who between them employ over 50,000 people. We are proud to work hard to help provide members with the business connections and opportunities they need to flourish.

Meetings, meetings, meetings

So after the focus on Board and business strategy of yesterday, a complete contrast today as I'm virtually back to back with meetings!

Firstly it's the UNESCO Implementation Group meeting, where a cross-City group get together to discuss how the UNESCO City of Design Dundee designation is impacting on our city, and how activities are developing around it. Amongst lots of activity, the 2017 Dundee Design Festival will be amazing again this year.

A quick call with an Evening Telegraph journalist regarding digital infrastructure - it's a case of 'should do better' I believe - before heading to Dundee Rep to meet with Andrew Panton, their Artistic Director (Designate) and Nick Parr, CEO. We've a strong relationship with the Rep and it's great to plan what we can do together.

Then back to the office where I'm meeting the Consul General of Ireland to discuss working together, and making sure that we can promote stronger business to business connections - unsurprisingly Brexit was on the list of things to discuss!

Bank of England meeting

Every few months we connect with the Bank of England representative as he updates us on the latest inflation and economic reports, and we feed back to him and the bank on local employment, business sentiment, investment and key sectors. It's always a very useful exchange and seeing how Brexit, currency fluctuations and consumer confidence are affecting the UK economy brings home how important these meetings across the country are.

We concluded with a commitment to explore another event with a representative from the Monetary Policy Committee to come and update businesses in Dundee & Angus.

Off to the Apex!

Finishing off the working week and into the weekend...it's off to the Apex.

Friday evening sees the Evening Telegraph Community Spirit Awards sponsored by Angus Fostering and Adoption services - just an amazing evening celebrating the many unsung heroes from our local area. Congratulations to all of the finalists and winners - take a look at the photos of the evening here  - the gorgeous McCann School of Irish Dancers were brilliant!

And back to the Apex to have brunch with Gok Wan and a group of my good pals on Saturday - the Apex did a fantastic job of hosting all these events over the weekend, and Gok took the time to get out about in Dundee - plus he hijacked a Bride's piper on his way out on Saturday! Great fun all round