Made in Britain currently represents more than 1,900 British SME and larger manufacturing businesses making products in more than 50 different categories at factories in every corner and county of this wonderful place we all live in. The value of our sector to the UK economy is estimated at more than £4 billion. It is vital to the successful, prosperous future of the country that the voice of our sector is heard and understood, and that we are represented at every conference or leadership discussion claiming or aiming to make things better. Members of Made in Britain can make things better for everyone.
The big idea of Anthropy was born back in 2020 when founder John O’Brien rallied colleagues, friends and acquaintances around the concept of a crowd-sourced agenda on the key themes for leadership in the private, public and socially responsible sectors and charities. The extraordinary venue choice of the Eden Project in Cornwall and its partnership with its founder Sir Tim Smit was an inspired choice, encouraging all the eventual attendees to leave their baggage at the door, to listen, learn and think together on how to reset the social-economic compass. All this whilst contemplating the mesmerising beauty of the natural plant (and bird) world, in one of the world’s largest indoor rainforests. It was an irresistible offer and the organisers were keen for manufacturing businesses to be properly represented.
I travelled down to St Austell on Thursday, 3rd Nov after presenting with three members of Made in Britain at the Advanced Engineering event at the NEC.
Arriving at Anthropy for the last day of three, I was joined by members David Trotter (MUGGI®) and James Standley (Kensa). They will be sharing their reflections on Anthropy with me in the coming weeks.
What I learnt from the sessions I attended, was that locally-made really matters now, more than ever. Evidence of this was everywhere at Eden – from all the food that’s served, supplied by 100s of local suppliers with a naturally lower carbon footprint and much greater positive impact on local and regional employment. And I learned that there is a massive appetite from many other business and leadership groups to know the actual facts of British product provenance.
To make responsible choices about what to buy, society needs easy, open access to as much information about provenance as possible. Made in Britain helps to fill that requirement with one website bringing together as much data and good news about our members as our members are able to share. Today that is 3,000+ great news stories, many thousands of products and more than 1,900 businesses making something for everyone. As business, political and third sector leaders grapple with so many uncertainties right now, Made in Britain offers them criteria to be more certain about what to buy and why. If there’s a trust deficit right now, as responsible manufacturers, all signed up to our code of conduct, we are able to help bridge that gap.
Everyone expects the inaugural Anthropy event to be re-run next year, and I will look forward to heading down to St Austell again in 2023 to report on our progress and to let as many people as possible know what Made in Britain stands for. But before that, in the coming 12 months, I’ll seek out any and every other opportunity to get together with anyone who wants to work towards a better and more prosperous future, and needs to know about 1,900 British manufacturers that can help make that happen.
A heartfelt thank you (and tremendous respect) goes out to John O’Brien, and Head of Costa Rica Development at Eden Project, Andreas Kolind, and the many other volunteers and staff, for planting so many wonderful seeds of optimism and harvesting so much positive and optimistic change for the UK at Anthropy 2022. We were all able to realise the true value of interactive dialogue surrounded by plants.
I will be attending Digital Manufacturing Week in Liverpool on Wed, 16th Nov from 10:00 to 16:00. If you would like to meet up or your membership business is exhibiting or taking part in the SME Growth Summit, please DM me on LinkedIn or e-mail: John@madeinbritain.org
By Made in Britain 2 years ago | By Made in Britain