3 minute read
The Giftware Association chief executive Sarah Ward
Thoughts of a chief executive
Sarah Ward
The Giftware Association chief executive Sarah Ward muses on mentoring, mapping and meetings
In the past month, there has been so much activity that determining the tone of this column was a bit tricky. A lot of my time so far this year has been spent providing oneto-one mentoring sessions with our members, as they seek to navigate their way through the challenges before them.
Multiple stakeholder and parliament meetings have taken place, including one at the Bank of England, which provided crucial insight into our industry, and we have been mapping out the next couple of years as best we can with a clearer understanding now of the ongoing challenges we face as a nation - not just within our industry.
The Queen’s Speech on economic affairs and business made for sobering reading when the insights were published on May 5.
The fallout from the ongoing war in Ukraine has caused inflation to rise beyond problematic levels caused by the pandemic.
Looking forward
What we are starting to understand is our need to map out a turbulent two years of managing unpredictable costs, problematic supply chains, and further changes to consumer behaviour.
But I don’t believe this is a time to panic. We have proved ourselves to be an incredibly resilient industry; embracing new technological marketplaces, focusing on collaboration over competition, and innovations in sustainability all mean that we have an opportunity to grow and thrive.
At the Bank of England meeting at the end of April, I was invited to speak first at a round table event with key stakeholders from the world of business.
These meetings take place regularly, so please email me to discuss critical topics affecting your business so that I can raise them at future events.
The Giftware Association’s Head of Membership Victoria Louise and I have also had the pleasure of attending several Embassy meetings in the past few weeks, with the aim of enabling stronger trade links and opportunities for our members.
The most recent meeting was with the French Embassy, providing us with invaluable resources for our members, including trade opportunities, understanding the French market, gifting trends in France, and distribution routes to enable greater access to French markets and beyond.
Please contact us if you would like to receive a report covering all of the above.
New members
I’m pleased to report that we have signed up more than 30 new members so far this year, as a direct result of our trade show activities and increased member engagement.
One of the key benefits that members can access is one-to-one mentoring with me.
Chatting to Victoria, we realised that we have delivered 60-plus mentoring sessions so far this year - each lasting over one hour - masterminding members’ business challenges and connecting them with service providers who can help to further their journey.
It’s one of the great privileges of my role and provides a fantastic insight into how our members are developing and growing their businesses.
The next few weeks are set to be exciting for The Giftware Association, with a new website launch and the start of our Shared Lunches, with the first hosted by Talking Tables on the topic of sustainability.
As ever, please email me if you have any questions about The Giftware Association at sarah.ward@ga-uk.org.
Call: 0121 236 2657 Email: sarah.ward@ga-uk.org Visit: www.ga-uk.org
