In Focus: Looking for a way in
Somebody must be doing something right at the inward investment teams across the East Midlands. These much-maligned souls are often derided for swanning off on free trips abroad, which, detractors say, are nothing more than free holidays. Well, here’s news for the naysayers: the Midlands attracted 91 inward investment projects in 2010, according to Ernst & Young’s latest European Attractiveness Survey.
These projects created an extra 3,769 jobs for the region, according to Ernst & Young. Birmingham, predictably, led the way in the Midlands with 14, but Nottingham came in second with 13 new investment projects – an impressive feat when you consider the size difference of the two cities. Overall, the region secured the UK's highest number of investment projects outside London.
All this is excellent news for the upcoming first anniversary of the Invest in Nottingham Club. I’ll be heading down to London with the great and good in Nottingham on 22 June, to the decidedly swish St Pancras Hotel, to celebrate this first birthday, along with representatives from Alliance Boots, Experian, Speedo and Paul Smith, and senior officers from Nottingham City and Nottinghamshire County councils.
Paul Southby, the former regional director of the CBI who now chairs the Invest in Nottingham Club will of course be there. He said: "We want to show investors and developers that Nottingham is in a very strong position to take advantage of a gradual return to growth in the UK economy, that it has a series of major investment opportunities, and that the senior figures across both private and public sectors are committed to helping existing and new businesses achieve their ambitions and the club’s members are now generating some superb enquiries."
Turning "superb enquiries" into actual investments is the hard part, of course, and how much of the good work in 2010 was down to the fledgling Invest in Nottingham Club is a matter of conjecture. However, the new group certainly has a sound base to work from – and something to live up to, I suppose.
Jon Collins, the leader of Nottinghamshire City Council, said: "We’re very proud of our city and I know that will come across when we talk to investors and developers at St Pancras."
Chucking these figures their way isn’t going to hurt, either.
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