The North-east's economic excellence
Carrying an impressive CV that includes one of the top jobs in broadcasting, Margaret Fay is no stranger to tough challenges.
In December 2003 the former managing director of Tyne Tees Television left her career in the media to become chairman of regional development agency One NorthEast and is now playing a key role in driving forward sustainable economic growth and regeneration in the region.
Ambitious Targets
Margaret, who spent 22 years at Tyne Tees, says: "One NorthEast is leading the region's efforts to achieve a step change in economic prosperity.
We have invested substantially in the 'Passionate people, Passionate places' campaign to change the way the region is perceived nationally and internationally and are demonstrating why it is an ideal place in which to invest and do business.
"There is an entrepreneurial spirit which is driving the growth of indigenous businesses."
Her optimism is grounded in ambitious targets to ensure that the North-east stays competitive with other areas of the UK.
With an investment programme of around £280m per year, One NorthEast is aiming to help an additional 70,000 people into work and create 22,000 new businesses by 2016.
Impressive figures indicate good early progress towards these challenging goals.
In the financial year of 2007-2008, One NorthEast created 17,144 new jobs in the region, helped 8,988 people into work and attracted £404.3m of investment to regenerate deprived areas - 20 per cent from the private sector.
This impressive data is backed by Government statistics which highlight how the North-east economy is out-performing the rest of the UK.
Growth Sectors
In 2006 regional gross value added (GVA), which shows income generated from economic activity, increased by 5.5% to £38.8bn and topped the UK average (5.1% in 2006) for the fourth successive year.
The North-east's process industry is quickly gaining a reputation for world-class innovation and is set to create 12,000 jobs in the region and grow by around 50% to £13.3bn by 2015.
One NorthEast has ploughed £1.65m into the North East Process Industry Cluster (NEPIC), the sector's membership network which consists of 500 pharmaceutical, biotechnology, speciality, petrochemical and commodity chemical companies that generate around £8bn of gross domestic product (GDP), employ 34,000 people and comprise more than 25% of the region's industrial base.
New-look Economy
Meanwhile, other sectors are transforming an economy which was once heavily dependent on a trong manufacturing base.
Supported by emerging hightechnology and knowledge-based businesses—particularly the creative and digital hub on Teesside—this diverse, new-look economy is benefiting from rapid growth in life sciences, biotechnology and healthcare and has spawned thriving clusters in diagnostics, medicaldevices, clinical trials and pharmaceuticals.
According to Margaret, the North-east is also well-equipped to take advantage of the global oil and gas boom and the urgent need to find greener, cleaner sources of energy.
She says: "The region has benefited from a spate of investments from the likes of Seawell, Fabricom and RDS - the international oil and gas drilling rig firm which One NorthEast supported to open a new office at Wynyard Business Park.
"In addition, the North-east is forecast to become an international hub for advancements in new and renewable energy, with the possibility of creating 30,000 new jobs."
She believes that the region's resilience and skills can help it navigate through the current economic turbulence, which along with the global credit crunch is making life tough for local businesses.
She says:"Our immediate focus is to support North-east businesses through the economic downturn.
It will be a challenging time but the determination and expertise of our public, private and voluntary sector partners, coupled with the fact that we have such a broad economic base and
are no longer reliant on a small number of large employers, will stand us in good stead."
Chair of Chairs
In 2006, Margaret led the agency in a National Audit Office assessment which graded One NorthEast as England's joint top-performing RDA.
The following year she played a key role on behalf of the RDA network as its 'chair of chairs', influencing senior Government ministers and banging the drum for the North-east in the corridors of Whitehall.
She is relishing the economic challenge at One NorthEast and after all she has accomplished in her career, few would bet against her helping the region achieve its ambitious goals.
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