STEWART NICOL: Green freeport bid is the single greatest economic development for the area
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At the end of last month Inverness Chamber of Commerce was delighted to host the visit of Shevaun Haviland, director general of British Chambers of Commerce, for her first visit to the Highland capital.
We used the opportunity to connect Shevaun with a range of the region’s business leaders and also to brief her on some key sectors and opportunities that are important for our city businesses and those based across the Highlands.
It was a great opportunity to introduce Shevaun to the Inverness Chamber of Commerce staff team. This enabled her to learn first-hand about the range of services we provide and our focus on connecting and representing our members and the wider Highland business community to support their growth.
Our day included private briefings for Shevaun, and a roundtable working lunch, which gave her a great insight into the breadth and scale of businesses which operate from the area. The first private briefing was from Michael Golding, CEO of Visit Inverness Loch Ness. Michael gave Shevaun a fantastic overview of arguably our region’s most important sector, both in terms of the economic benefit for us all and also how well our natural and cultural assets can be presented to local, national and global visitors.
The second briefing came from Joanne Allday, strategic business development manager at Port of Cromarty Firth, who is leading on one of the most important projects under way in the Highlands. The Opportunity Cromarty Firth Green Freeport bid is, I believe, the single greatest economic development for not just this city, but all of the Inner Moray Firth and the supply chain across the whole of the Highlands.
Given Shevaun’s significant experience at a senior level both politically and in business, she fully understood the importance of the work we are doing, and the transformational benefit which would be achieved from a successful bid.
Our lunch gave invited business leaders a chance to update Shevaun on the challenges facing them as well. I’m delighted that we were able to cram so much into our time together. All of which left Shevaun with an extremely positive first visit.
