A Joined-Up Devon

I have a massive passion for Devon in particular and the greater Southwest in general. I love the place. I consider myself lucky every day when I can experience green fields, rolling moorlands and beautiful seas. I consider myself lucky when I sit at my desk watching the birds outside my window and hear the sea in the background. But what really makes me feel lucky is that my business is based here, and I get to work with great clients and suppliers who are literally on my doorstep.??

But I would also like to be able to count myself lucky that I am part of a county that knows just what it has to offer and shouts about it to the rest of the nation, and the rest of the world.

I have been an active member of several trade/business associations over the years, and I have one pet peeve that keeps coming up again and again. As a county, we have an awful lot to offer. We have a wonderful tourist and hospitality trade, and we are very good at promoting that. Everyone knows the ‘English Riviera’ and who hasn’t heard of a Devon Cream Tea? We have an amazing rural economy which is well celebrated, but how many people outside of Devon – or inside for that matter, know what an innovative manufacturing sector we have? How many people know that Plymouth is one of the larger manufacturing hubs in the country? How many people know what amazing businesses are in the Exeter Science Park? How many people are aware of the fantastic NDMA (North Devon Manufacturers Association)? The answer to these questions is not enough! AND WHY DON’T THEY KNOW?

I believe it is because we don’t make the most of our opportunities for having a joined-up voice. We don’t have enough people saying Hang on! Devon is about more than Exeter or Plymouth or Barnstaple. Devon is about Teignmouth and Tiverton, Buckfastleigh and Bideford, Willand and Woodbury, Appledore and Axminster.?

All these wonderful places and many more have an immense variety of amazing businesses in them. But how often do we hear of them? How often does anyone outside of Devon hear of them? And why not? In my day-to-day work, I come across amazing businesses. I know from experience that I can get almost anything I need in Devon. I know that we have a lot to offer the rest of the country and the rest of the world. My business has clients in Devon and across the UK and as far away as Canada, North America and China. And when I tell my clients that they can get their injection mouldings, casting and fabrications and their packaging and their marketing done in Devon, they are often surprised. Too many people make the assumption that you have to go out of county to find what you need. And maybe sometimes you do. But many times, you don’t.

As a small business owner in Devon, I have a small voice. But as a member of the Chamber of Commerce my voice would be much bigger and much better heard.?

I understand what being a small business in an ‘out of the way’ part of Devon entails. I understand how that creates problems that businesses in the larger hubs don’t face. I understand that something as simple as attending a networking event, can mean half or even a full day, out of the workplace when you have to travel across the region. I understand that as a small business owner, you might not have the time or the finances to do these things – because you are busy running a small business that contributes to the whole of the Devon economy and what the county can offer.?

And because of these reasons, I want to be a voice for all our small businesses – wherever in Devon they happen to be. And I want to be a voice, amongst the other voices, those of the Chamber, The FSB, the local traders associations, the councils and the professional bodies that are all over Devon – and I want us all to be shouting the same thing.

Devon is fantastic. Devon is a county that has so much to offer. Devon can equal any other place in the country and its about time we stood up and shouted that in one clear voice to the rooftops.