Glasgow Chamber of Commerce nominated for prestigious global award

The Glasgow Chamber of Commerce has been recognised on the world stage after being selected as the only UK finalist in the 2015 World Chambers Competition.

The GCC will be one of five Chambers of Commerce to feature in the ‘Best Job Creation and Business Development Project ‘ category, Glasgow is currently joint second in the contest after Bogota and will compete for a trophy at the ceremony which is taking place in the Italian city of Turin on June 12.

Overall, applications from 39 countries were received in the category, with Voka Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Belgium being the only other European destination to reach the finalists board.

Candidates in the category have either developed a project that boosted growth opportunities for the chamber’s member companies or contributed to job creation in its community, creating long-term value for business and wider society.

It was Glasgow Chamber of Commerce’s initiatives to tackle youth unemployment and in particular, the Youth Employment Action Group which caught the attention of judges.

Established to address the issue of youth unemployment, the YEAG is made up of 15 of Glasgow’s biggest employers which gathered evidence and presented a report outlining key recommendations to support an increase in the numbers of young people (age 16 -24) accessing and sustaining employment, while improving the efficiency and competitiveness of the city’s business sector.

Education and Business’ was a major theme, with a call to establish a network of business sponsors in each of Glasgow’s 30 secondary institutions, also embedding employability and sector-skills based learning into the school curriculum.

The YEAG also recommended a campaign to support the recruitment of mentors for disadvantaged young people. It launched Inspiring500, committed to recruiting 500 volunteers from the business community to mentor young people who are in the care system.

Launched at the same time as the YEAG was a department within Glasgow Chamber of Commerce called Workforce Solutions - a one-stop shop for all issues relating to recruitment and employability.

A free-of-charge service for all of Glasgow Chamber of Commerce’s members, it helps connect employers with potential funding opportunities to take on new staff, as well as offering advice about the overall process and technicalities linked to expansion

Alison McRae, projects director at Glasgow Chamber of Commerce, said: “‘This is great news for Glasgow! We are absolutely delighted to make it to the top 5 finalists in the ‘Best Job Creation and Business Development’ category.

“Being the only UK Chamber of Commerce to feature as a finalist across all the awards is also a tremendous achievement and one we are immensely proud of.

“Since the formation of the employer led YEAG and publication of the group’s recommendations, we now have the first Regional Invest in Youth Group in Scotland which will enable us to work with businesses and partners across the city to help deliver some of the recommendations.

“We are very grateful to all the businesses who have shown such a high level of commitment to this important agenda for our city so far and this nomination is a recognition of all the work done to date.

“We will go into the live finals with our very best foot forward!”