7 minute read
Chamber Life
The second half of 2022 has been a real whirlwind at the Chamber with events, dinners, political engagement, roundtables, webinars, and everything else in between!
Since our last issue, we’ve seen three Prime Ministers, four Chancellors, two local Secretaries of State, two Conservative Party leadership contests, as well as the threat of a new Assembly election closer to home! Away from all the political upheaval at Stormont and Westminster, however, it’s been a very busy few months for the Chamber and the North West business community.
We kicked off this busy period back in July when we met with An Taoiseach Micheál Martin in County Donegal alongside our colleagues in the Letterkenny Chamber. Members from the two Chambers, who signed a comprehensive memorandum of understanding in 2020 to jointly lobby and campaign on issues relating to the North West, received updates from the Taoiseach on issues as varied as the NI Protocol, the cost-of-living crisis, cross border worker taxation, tourism, infrastructure and connectivity, and his department’s Shared Island Initiative.
Speaking after the meeting, Londonderry Chamber President Aidan O’Kane said, “We welcomed the opportunity to engage with An Taoiseach Micheál Martin. This was a constructive meeting and an opportunity to raise long-standing demands in both Derry and Donegal for greater rail, road, and air connectivity with the rest of the island and other key economic markets, the Irish Government’s commitments to the expansion of Magee, and taxation of cross border workers.
“The cost-of-living and cost-of-doingbusiness crisis are also common challenges for businesses on both sides of the border, and today’s engagement was a timely opportunity to highlight these
Chamber President Aidan O’Kane and Letterkenny Chamber President Kristine Reynolds with An Taoiseach Micheál Martin
Chamber President Aidan O’Kane speaking at the 2022 President’s Annual Dinner
pressures to the Taoiseach and urge his Government to do all that they can to help facilitate the return of the Executive.”
We continued our programme of political engagement in August as we welcomed the Head of the NI Civil Service, Jayne Brady, to the North West to meet with local businesses and our colleagues in the Institute of Directors. As the chief policy advisor to the Executive, members
Londonderry and Letterkenny Chamber delegations met with An Taoiseach Micheál Martin in July
Chamber President Aidan O’Kane and Chamber Vice President Selina Horshi with Children in Crossfire Founder Richard Moore
welcomed the opportunity to speak to the Head of the Civil Service about the central priorities for business including the cost-of-living, key regional opportunities like infrastructure and the City Deal, and the return of a functioning Executive.
Into September and we resumed our busy schedule of events after the summer. First up on 8 September we held a brilliant Making Tax Digital workshop with the whizzes from Toast Accountants. Michael and Steven from Toast took attendees through what MTD means in practice for businesses, some of the MTD-approved software available, the timeline for MTD, what opportunities it presents for businesses and their processes, and how you can make your business ready for the changes.
On 20 September, we received an NI economic update from Ulster Bank’s Chief Economist Richard Ramsey. Members were taken on a deep dive of the state of the local economy, the impact that global shocks like the war in Ukraine and a slowdown in China were having closer to home, and the future outlook in the short and medium term. Ulster Bank’s Regional Ecosystems Manager John Ferris also took businesses through how to best make use of the extensive ecosystem and support network across the North West. We held another of our very successful Meet the Chamber events on 22 September at the Hidden City Café. Kindly
sponsored by City of Derry Airport, this was an informal and laid-back opportunity to do a bit of networking and to familarise yourself with fellow Chamber members. Always a popular event, this was brilliantly attended and our kind sponsors even raffled off two return Loganair flights to Edinburgh or Glasgow! The next day we hosted a Café Conversation between former Chamber President Gavin Killeen and Dr Susan Whoriskey. Dr Whoriskey is a US-based research scientist and pioneering biotechnology entrepreneur with strong Donegal and North West roots. One of the first Entrepreneurs in Residence at the prestigious MIT, Dr Whoriskey has helped build some of the most successful biotechnology (L-R) Letterkenny Chamber CEO Toni Forrester; Chamber President Aidan O’Kane; Letterkenny Chamber President Kristine Reynolds; and companies from the ground up as a member of Chamber CEO Anna Doherty the Founding Executive Teams of Vera Therapeutics, Moderna, Momenta Pharmaceuticals, and Cubist Pharmaceuticals. She spoke to attendees about her experiences in business and academia, a fascinating and captivating morning! Into October and we continued our series of political engagement with former NI Economy Minister Gordon Lyons MLA. Minister Lyons visited the North West as part of a wider series of engagements and visited the Chamber. As well as discussing regional priorities like the expansion of our local university, infrastructural
(L-R) Chamber President Aidan O’Kane; Seagate’s Damien Gallagher; Head of the NI Civil Service Jayne Brady; IoD Chair Gordon Milligan; and Chamber CEO Anna Doherty
(L-R) DUP MLA Gary Middleton; Chamber CEO Anna Doherty; former Economy Minister Gordon Lyons MLA; Chamber President Aidan O’Kane; Chamber Vice President Selina Horshi; and FinTrU’s Greg McCann
improvements, and attracting global investment to the North West, we also impressed on the minister the fundamental importance of having a fully functioning Executive in place to deliver for businesses and households during the cost-of-living crisis.
On 7 October, we hosted our flagship event of the year, our 64th President’s Annual Dinner. Sponsored by Allstate NI and taking place at the White Horse Hotel, the evening was a fantastic celebration of our local business community and the work of our President for 2022, Aidan O’Kane. For full coverage of the evening, check out pages 26 and 27.
On 20 October, we held a very informative cyber security session with the experts at LoughTec at the Playhouse. Bringing together business leaders, industry experts, and SMEs that have embraced technological change, this event explored how businesses can mitigate against the growing cyber threat and how to apply these principles to your own business. Attendees were even treated to a free cyber security network audit after the event, giving them a detailed report of their cyber defences and how to improve these to minimise threats and dangers to your operations.
Next up on 25 October we held our free CBPES cross border employer incentives business briefing at the Millennium Forum. This event was held to encourage SMEs in the North West city region to interact and benefit from the free CBPES recruitment service, which helps employers and workers navigate cross-border working arrangements.
Chamber members at the LoughTec cybersecurity workshop at the Playhouse Speakers at the CBPES Cross Border Employer Incentives Business Briefing at the Millennium Forum
The following day we began the first of a two-day series on how to maximise your impact on Instagram and TikTok. Led by Digi Media Management founder Hayley Quinnell, businesses learned how to make the very most of digital transformation and learn about social media’s most effective business uses, best practices for implementing and devising a strong and effective social media marketing strategy, and how to create captivating and engaging content for both platforms. An absolute necessity for small businesses these days, attendees found these sessions extremely useful in translating social media strategy into a tangible return on investment.
As we reached the end of October, we were also delighted to announce the appointment of Anna Doherty as the Chamber’s permanent CEO. Anna had been in the position in an interim capacity for six months, excelling in the role and working hard to deliver for members.
Speaking on her appointment, Anna said, “I’m extremely proud to have been
New Chamber CEO Anna Doherty
appointed Chief Executive of the Londonderry Chamber of Commerce. It’s an honour to represent some of Northern Ireland’s most creative and hardworking companies, and I am thankful to have been entrusted to continue with this role. Having served as interim CEO for the past six months, I am fully aware of the stresses on businesses currently.”
Look Forward :
North West Energy Conference 17 November
Financial Wellbeing in the 24 November
Workplace
Londonderry Chamber AGM 8 December
Londonderry Chamber 9 March 2023
