Master Investor Conference 2018
On quite a snowy and cold Saturday morning in London, myself and Paul Maddocks from the Department for Enterprise headed to the Business Design Centre in Islington for the Master Investor Show. The Master Investor Show is the largest annual conference for private investors in the UK. Although the organisers had anticipated record numbers for this year’s event with more than 5,000 delegates registered, the snow had reduced attendance from this figure. Even so it was extremely well attended.
This was the 16th year for the Master Investor Show, which is described as the ‘Glastonbury Festival’ of retail investment forums with visitors from a wide spectrum spanning from private investors to private companies of varying sizes.
The founder of Master Investor, Jim Mellon has been one of the guest speakers at ISLEXPO, the Department for Enterprise's flagship business conference/start up festival for the past two years and has strong links with the Island.
Representative Chris Walters, from SPARK Impact, the Department's ￡50m Enterprise Development Scheme Manager, and Richard Varney and Gary Seale from Cortech Healthcare joined the Department at the Show.
Paul Maddocks, Head of the Financial Assistance Scheme said “Cortech is a perfect example of how the Isle of Man Government can assist businesses such as Cortech in obtaining funding to help with economic growth".
Cortech were recently assisted by Department's Enterprise Development Scheme to relocate its manufacturing operations to the Island.
As a team, we were there to promote the Isle of Man as a unique destination to start, grow or locate your business, as well as being a beautiful place to simply come and live, work or raise a family.
Our activities at the show generated a lot of interest in the Island with a significant number of individuals and businesses wanting to know more about the Isle of Man and what it has to offer.
The Isle of Man was also well represented by teams from KPMG and Conister Bank, Isle of Man branches, resulting in the Island having a really strong presence at the show.
Our attendance at the conference highlighted to a wide audience that the Isle of Man is a great place to do business and subsequently I was amazed by the response we had on our social media channels - our social media posts on the day were viewed by over 4000 people, demonstrating the value of being at the event and showcasing all that the Island has to offer.
All in all, it was a very busy and tiring day for us but it proved to be a worthwhile visit and one that I really hope I can enjoy again next year.
If you'd like to find out more about what the Isle of Man has to offer as a unique business location, ISLEXPO 2018 will be taking place soon in Douglas, Isle of Man on 16 May. To view the full programme and register, visit www.islexpo.com.
Find out more about special travel and accommodation packages to the Island for the conference available from ￡130 here.
To find out about the range of business support schemes available from the Isle of Man Government, please visit: www.iomdfenterprise.im/funding-and-support/