New C&W Chamber president sets his sight on foreign shores
THE new president of the Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce is to make it his mission to get more companies trading overseas.
Paul Carvell, the managing director of accountancy company Stewart Fletcher Barrett – which has offices in Nuneaton, Coventry and Leicestershire – has taken over from Peter Burns in the role.
Carvell, who is also the chair of the Chamber’s north Warwickshire branch, said: “What I really want to use my time as president to achieve is to encourage more companies from this region to export their goods and services.
“Our business is part of an international accountancy organisation and that gives us insight into the way other countries do things.
“In Germany, exporting is not seen as anything out of the ordinary – most small businesses do it and that’s the kind of mentality I want to promote here.
“The world is getting smaller, English is still the common language of the world and there is fantastic support available through the Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce’s International Trade Hub.
“So when you put all of that together, businesses from right across this area should see exporting as a real opportunity to grow their market and, in turn, that will grow our own economy and create new jobs.”
Carvell said he also wanted to see business investment become the norm among companies across the region.
He said: “Another topic that is very important to me is investment. This should, in my opinion, be something that firms look to do every year – invest some of their profits back into the business.
“The Government has done its bit with the annual investment allowance and businesses should look at how they can maintain their growth by investing in technology, equipment and machinery.”
