CHAMBER NEWS

BCC Award

DACC is celebrating after winning the Excellence in Membership Services Award at the British Chambers of Commerce’s annual Chamber Business Awards 2019.

This award recognises the impressive membership growth of the chamber including a significant number of micro-sized businesses looking to grow.

The judges praised the Chamber for its impressive engagement with its members through a strong and varied events programme, including Business Breakfasts and Customs Declaration training.

Sarah Howard, Chair of the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) said: “Connecting businesses is a vital part of Dundee & Angus Chamber’s mission.

“Its strong leadership stance for the business community has made it an ambitious, growing and engaged network that represents the voice of local businesses across the UK and globally.”

Alison Henderson, CEO of Dundee & Angus Chamber, said: “This award recognises all of the hard work the whole team has put into delivering a strong suite of services for our members and businesses in the region. From developing business connections, raising members’ profiles, delivering a strong events programme or supporting businesses who trade internationally, the collective efforts are growing our chamber and local businesses alike. I’m very proud to work with our team and board of directors in such a vibrant organisation.”

Silver ERS Award

Employers from all over Scotland gathered at Edinburgh Castle’s Great Hall to receive Defence Employer Recognition Scheme (ERS) Silver Awards.

We are very proud to have received the Silver ERS Award.

Silver Award winners must meet certain criteria.

Our work within the ChamberFORCE project helps us demonstrate our commitment to encouraging all employers to be supportive of the Armed Forces community.

We were delighted to receive our certificate from our ChamberFORCE ‘buddy’ Robert Wilson, of 225 (Scottish) Medical Regiment based at Dundee’s Oliver Barracks.

Business Roundtable with Ivan McKee MSP

At a Business Roundtable event on Tuesday 5th November, the Chamber hosted a discussion with several key global businesses and Ivan McKee, MSP, Minister for Trade, Investment and Innovation and Scottish Government’s Directorate for International Trade & Investment.

Business Leaders had the opportunity to have a frank and informative discussion with Mr McKee about opportunities and challenges of trading globally and gave their perspectives from a wide variety of sectors.

They heard about the ‘Scotland: A Trading Nation plan’ for growing Scotland’s exports; the Export Champions programme and the rich data of the Export Performance Monitor - an interactive analysis tool and information produced to support the development of our new export growth plan.

Chamber Explores Business Opportunities in Dubai

During the Dubai trip, meetings were held with a selection of senior business leaders from the UAE, as part of plans for a multisector trade mission in 2020.

Alongside discussions with H.E. Hamad Buamim, President and CEO of Dubai Chamber of Commerce, industry sector leaders and Global Scots, plans were made to help Scottish Businesses take advantage of current supply contracts into Dubai Expo 2020.

Feedback from the sessions has been very positive with many areas to explore further such as technology, gaming, healthcare and food and drink.

Dubai is ideally situated to take advantage of not only business in the immediate vicinity but as a gateway to the wider region and the many opportunities across various sectors.

Chamber President, Ian Collins and International Trade and Events Assistant, Lauren McGurk, led the business element of the visit to Dubai along with a delegation from Al-Maktoum College, Abertay University and the University of Dundee from 9th to 13th November.

Scottish Living Wage Voice of the Year

Chamber CEO Alison Henderson was awarded the Scottish Living Wage Voice of the Year Award for 2019.

Living Wage Week 2019 closed with the Living Wage Scotland Awards 2019, celebrating Living Wage accredited employers who have gone above and beyond in their dedication to the movement this year.

The award is for individuals and employers who are vocal and work to raise awareness on the issue of low pay and the real Living Wage.

Being a Living Wage accredited business and an employer, investing in our people is very important to us and we are proud to promote this to other businesses in the region, and to support the work of Dundee’s Living Wage Action Group, who also picked up the Outstanding Leadership Award the same evening.