A plan to mobilise the North’s rising young stars of business

Jul 21 2008 by Andrew Hebden, The Journal

AN ambitious plan to mobilise scores of bright young business talents from the North East to help drive forward positive change in the region has been unveiled.

The Tyne and Wear committee of the North East Chamber of Commerce (NECC) wants to recruit around 80 people to form a series of new action teams.

The teams will work on identifying a range of business-related issues where change would benefit the region, then draw up a funded action plan for tackling the problems.

The project is the brainchild of new committee chairman Nigel Wilson, the North East-based director of public affairs for Canon UK.

Mr Wilson is determined that the business community has a key role to play in helping make the North East an even better place to live and work.

And he is calling on companies across Tyne and Wear to allow bright, talented people in their organisations to commit some time to working on the project.

Letters went out to all 2,500 member companies last week and Mr Wilson hopes to have recruited the action teams by early September.

The teams will be working across four areas:

:: Procurement: A group focused on the NECC campaign to encourage local authorities to source their goods and services from companies in the region.

:: Inter-trading: Working to generate more trade between North East businesses.

:: Skills agenda: How can the business community react to changes in the world of education and training to ensure that those entering the world of work have the appropriate skills?

:: City Region: To establish the business community agenda in the development of the City Region, working jointly with NECC members in County Durham and Northumberland.

Mr Wilson said the business community had a key part to play in “affecting the destiny of the region”. This would help to ensure the long-term vitality of the North East economy and ensure that the voice of business is heard when key decisions are being made, he said.

“Our ambition is to identify the rising stars of the region and to encourage them to use their creative powers to find solutions that are well thought through and that are properly costed, with revenue sources identified,” said Mr Wilson.

For further information regarding the project, contact Rachel Spence at rachel.spence@necc.co.uk or on (0191) 2613892.