Enterprising News
The multi-million pound opportunities presented by major events in Scotland cannot be overstated for our economy.
The recently launched BusinessClub Scotland (BCS) is aiming to help unlock that potential for Scottish businesses, and in particular SMEs.
But stripping away the public relations hype, what exactly does BCS offer?
The club sets out its stall as being different from the may other organisations which exist to boost trade – because it promotes a real partnership between the public and private sectors to benefit Scottish business.
One of the key objectives of the club is to make sure more SMEs are given the opportunity to find out how to win business from the country’s major events programme.
The 2014 Commonwealth Games will be the biggest event Scotland has ever hosted and BCS wants to make sure Scots firms are in the best possible shape to win from the contracts available.
Jane Gotts, Programme Director, said “We’re working with members to get them thinking about accessing public sector contracts at this stage. For SMEs procuring from the public sector can be daunting but by working with our partners in local authorities, local chambers of commerce and Scottish Enterprise we want to make businesses aware of the support networks that exist to help them become fitter to win from the public sector.”
Through the BCS website members can go directly to major event portals including CompeteFor, the London 2012 portal, Glasgow 2014 as well as Public Contracts Scotland.
Gotts added: “We are currently building an on-line community for club members to share information, build new networks and potentially build consortium to bid for public sector contracts.”
BCS is also using the country’s major events programme to help more SMEs network and build contacts through events. “We want businesses to engage with us”, says Gotts.
“SMEs can use our networking events to meet new contacts, or alternatively to invite potential customers to join them at some of the events we’re working with. As an example, at the recent Open Championship at Turnberry we hosted a successful BCS networking lunch where several SMEs struck business deals.”
In its first few months of BCS operating it has welcomed 1,500 members who have signed up to its free service. “We had not anticipated such high demand so early on”, admitted Gotts. “We set out wanting to recruit 3,000 members in the first two years, which is a target we should now revise!
“It’s an indication of the appetite among SMEs to be in the thick of things when it comes to chasing up new leads.”
SMEs are already winning new orders out of being members of BCS. The club aims to demonstrate an additional £5m of business being won by members through procurement around events and also through networking and building new contacts at events during its initial 24 months.
Gotts said “BCS is all about making Scottish businesses aware of the procurement opportunities open to them through better networking with each other, to ensure they make the most of our major events calendar.
“Our aim is o create a club that is unique to Scotland and is responsive to the needs of our businesses.”
Contact details:
T: 0845 643 5769
E: jane.gotts@businessclubscotland.co.uk
www.businessclubscotland.co.uk