Games can bring new wealth to the region

Showpiece events can attract new wealth

By Jon Griffin

Birmingham’s Commonwealth Games has been hailed as a oncein-a-lifetime opportunity to attract key investment into the region –and provide a new working model for future generations.

Birmingham entrepreneur Joel Blake says next year’s showpiece sporting extravaganza can bring vital new wealth to the West Midlands and help shake off ‘old and stale’ working methods for tens of thousands of ambitious Millennials.

Joel, who has carved a successful business career after growing up on the ‘other side of the fence’ in inner-city Birmingham, said the Games could provide a lasting legacy for young workers across the city and wider region.

But he warned that the West Midlands had to seize the opportunities offered by the Games to create a new global narrative forging key new links with dozens of countries throughout the Commonwealth – or risk seeing a global sporting event simply “come and go.”

Joel, who is president of the Greater Birmingham Commonwealth Chamber of Commerce and runs companies specialising in finance and diversity and inclusion, said: “My focus is how do we leverage the opportunities that the Games will provide in the region and how do we do that in a way that creates a legacy?

“There is not really a global narrative that connects our region across the Commonwealth. You think England, you think London. With Birmingham, it is kind of like ‘Who?’

“The Commonwealth Games are an anchor – they can be a catalyst for real change but I am just worried that it will be seen as a nice thing that happens, and may just come and go. If you look across the Commonwealth, 60 per cent of the demographic population are under 30.

“If you think about the next generations in 20 years, they are going to have a different mindset, a Millennial mindset. If we invest in our young people here, that will bring a new way of working and new ideas for the future.

“If you have got young talent with new ideas, do not see differences as a problem, there is more of a cultural collective – you put that type of person into the market and that will change traditional environments, which will become obsolete. They will disrupt industries in a way we cannot imagine.”

Joel said the Games could help inspire future investment – and encourage greater inclusion and diversity across the West Midlands. “I am born and bred in Birmingham, there are no airs and graces about me, I have lived on the other side of the fence in the city.

“Someone on the back streets of Shard End and Handsworth should have the opportunity to be the best that they can be, even if they didn’t go to university. If I have got my venture capital hat on, I want to see more venture capital investment into the region. There are some real opportunities for life sciences, fintech – our creative sector is flying.

“If it is normal and traditional, it is old and stale. If they (industries) are not evolving, they will become obsolete because things change so quickly.”

Sports fan Joel, who was awarded the OBE in 2016 for business support and enterprise and has played semi-professional football for Sutton Coldfield Town, said he was looking forward to ‘being in the crowd, cheering’ at the Games.

“I love the competitive nature of sport, man versus man, woman versus woman.”

Games ‘a catalyst’: Joel Blake

‘My focus is how do we leverage the opportunities that the Games will provide in the region and how do we do that in a way that creates a legacy?’

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