It’s been a very inspirational time down here in the Howe of the Mearns over the last few weeks, not just from a weather and sunshine perspective but by getting out and about to see how SMEs are viewed in the wider UK. You’ll be very surprised.
Blaze has been listed as one of the top 1,000 companies of inspiration by the London Stock Exchange (LSE).
There were 41 Scottish companies listed and the average growth here, north of the border, was 91% compared to 70% for the rest of the UK.
With this in mind perhaps lessons can be drawn from us lot north of the border, because if that 21% differential average could be captured elsewhere in Britain, just imagine the economic impact of that in all sorts of ways, not least generating employment.
To mark our success, we were invited to join an LSE delegation that met up with Secretary of State, George Clarke, who I found to be most engaging and charismatic.
He was very interested to hear how Blaze had grown and transitioned into new markets during the oil & gas downturn that the North Sea is showing signs of emerging from.
Clarke also wanted to hear about the effects on the local communities surrounding Aberdeen with regard to job losses and the impact on the rural communities.
Government and think-tank advisors tend to be the larger global entities; rarely do they get their information from SMEs, it seems.
From meeting with Clarke, it was off for a briefing at 10 Downing Street for more networking opportunities where we spoke with the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy’s
Gareth Davies about how they can strategically support small businesses as they strive to develop into medium-size enterprises.
A recurring theme of the day was being asked how and why the SME community worked so well in the northeast of Scotland whilst in other parts the same support system just didn’t exist.
I believe this is quite simply that we all know that we depend on each other and if you give a little you get two-fold in return. It does help that energy is a huge part of the northeast Scottish economy and that naturally helps to foster relationships.
The whole day in London centred on SMEs being the backbone of the economy and how the challenge ahead was how to scale-up.
So, it was refreshing to hear that despite all the planning and rigorous controls most businesses will not have a linear progression as they grow.
As has always been the case, there will be good and bad years where things happen that are out-with management’s controls. That’s just the way it is, so tick in that box for Blaze….
Returning to Aberdeen Airport was a stark reminder of how, in this city-region, we still think of ourselves as oil & gas but we are so much more and are considered by those in power to be an “Innovative, Collaborative, Internationally-minded” community of businesses.
So the emphasis within the company has to be on improving resilience to better withstand the rigours of the market place.
Essentially that is what Blaze has achieved with its diversification into new markets and it seems that, here in the northeast of Scotland we are pretty good at this.
One way or another, there’s a lot of support available locally within the oil & gas community, including from Business Gateway, Scottish Enterprise, Chamber of Commerce, Oil & Gas UK and the Oil & Gas Authority, etc.
It is mostly as a consequence of the businesses that operate internationally and locally in a myriad of markets and with a refreshing level of openness, collaborative working and sharing of experiences on the journey into the future with fellow businesses.
This it seems is why we have a collective growth some 21% higher than other parts of the country and although we are infamous for putting ourselves down it would seem we have not gone unnoticed in the corridors south of the border.
Indeed there is more than a hint of optimism and something to be very proud off.
Staying on that upbeat note, our enquiries are up, incoming orders are looking good and we are even starting to see cash flowing back into the business, heavens we finally seem to be coming out the downturn.
Howard Johnson is founder and managing director of Blaze