Good Morning Scotland
	Edinburgh Tram Debate
	23rd June 2011

With the cost of cancelling the Edinburgh Tram project being raised today Graham Bell talks to Radio Scotland regarding the decisions to be made.  In this interview Graham Bell speaking on behalf of the Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce talks about the reasons why the tram project should remain on track and be completed.

Listen to the discussion concerning the latest developments with the Edinburgh Tram Project.

“Good Morning Scotland Live June 23rd 2011” .

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	Call Kaye
	Edinburgh Tram Debate
	19th May 2011

One of the roles we perform as a company is advocacy- we tell your story for you.  In this interview Graham Bell tackles the challenge of answering the case for finishing Edinburgh’s tram- speaking on behalf of Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce- and turns the debate right around.

Listen to the debate concerning the latest developments with the Edinburgh Tram Project.

“Call Kay, on BBC Scotland Live May 19th 2011” .

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(Press Play to hear the discussion)

Graham Bell giving evidence at the Budget Committee in Holyrood.

See full coverage of the meeting on  Holyrood tv

Click for Budget Committee on holyrood.tv

Graham appears 1:28:50 into the broadcast.

The Graham Bell Associates team is comprised of a range of people, hand-picked for their specific skill areas to build on and complement each other’s expertise. Working from their own offices around the Borders and central belt, they liaise mainly through email and phone; unless occasion calls for a face-to-face. This keeps our overheads to a minimum, lessens our impact on the planet, and allows our team to flourish in their own environment – a comfortable worker is a happy worker is a more productive worker! Learn a little more about our main team members below – we also draft in additional team members if we feel their expertise can add value for a client.

	Graham Bell Graham is the managing director of Graham Bell Associates, having run several of his own successful businesses over the last 30 years, he now hopes to share some of his expertise with you. Read more about him here.
	Tom Miers Tom Miers is a research consultant specialising in policy development and advocacy, economics, and business advice, primarily in a Scottish context. Tom worked in corporate finance and management consultancy before becoming Executive Director of the Institute of Economic affairs in London. He then ran the Policy Institute think-tank in Edinburgh before setting up as an independent. Previous projects include a study of rural infrastructure in Scotland, policy development for a number of business representation bodies, and three political ventures. Tom is a regular columnist in the Scottish media and broadcast commentator. His latest book The Devolution Distraction is published by Policy Exchange. See Tom’s Website
	Gemma Douglas Gemma studied Travel and Tourism Management at University which then led her into a career in the tourism industry within Northumberland. She has worked in holiday parks, haunted castles and the beautiful Northumberland National Park before moving into the voluntary sector where she currently works for a Development Trust delivering a rural employability work service. Alongside her employed work she also has a business offering freelance secretarial work. Working from home allows me greater flexibility to provide a professional administration service while enjoying family life.
	Emma McCallum With a degree in Business Studies & a Diploma of the Chartered Institute of Marketing, I started my business life in Lloyd’s of London first as an Insurance broker and later an Assistant Underwriter writing Global Property risks of up to $4million.  This gave me an excellent foundation in negotiating and communication skills which I furthered when I was Fundraising Manager for the Countryside Alliance raising our targeted £1 million in 18 months and then as a Logistics Manager, organising and executing worldwide financial roadshows for the major City Banks.  I have good organisational skills coupled with & excellent abilities in verbal and written communication, decision making and problem solving which been displayed in work experience, training and at University.
	Sean Sweeney Sean is responsible for iT with GBA. He has graduated from Oxford, Glamorgan and Sunderland and is a Professional member of the British Computing Sociey. He works from home but he has worked from America, Europe, England, and Wales and is based in the Borders region of Scotland. He has had a varied career, enjoying working with Blue Chip companies such as: Grand Prix F1, Procter and Gamble, Hampton Court, The Bodyshop, Allied Distillers, L’Oreal, Beechams and Cantebury Cathedral.With an extensive education covering Databases, Web Architecture, Human Interaction, Web and Tv Media; Sean enjoys designing and developing a world at your finger tips. When not creating that digital world; Sean enjoys reality in the form of fly fishing on the River Tweed and Archery at his local club. Some of his spare time is used in his role as Secretary of the Coldstream & District Angling Association.
	Mike Breewood Mike is an experienced sales and marketing consultant. In his 33 year career he has worked in sales and marketing roles for large (ICL, GEC) and small (Radius, Engica, Codeplay) technology companies, dealing with customers ranging from Government Departments to financial services and manufacturing companies. Since 2003 Mike has used his experience to help young technology startups recognise where the value in their technology lies and how they can realise that value from paying customers. Mike is a Chartered Marketer and an experienced business mentor. He is particularly interested in the process by which small companies can become bigger companies and bring new products to market whilst also generating profits. See also www.breewoodconsulting.co.uk
	Ruby Rosamund Ruby is a graduate of Creative Advertising and the youngest member of the GBA team. She joined in July 2010 as Graham’s PA – if Graham can’t make it to the phone, it’ll be her dulcet tones that greet you. Ruby’s Marketing and Strategy knowledge can help find that thing that sets you apart from the competition; and she also deals with some graphic design and illustration for the company. Watch as her copywriting skills spin dry business data into pure gold selling points before your very eyes!

The Centre for Scottish Public Policy (CSPP) held a fringe event at the SNP Autumn 2009 Conference in Inverness on the future prospects for the country’s transportation. Entitled ‘Transport Solutions for Scotland: Getting Scotland to Work’.
The event took the form of the popular television series, Dragons Den, in which five key stakeholders in Scottish transportation presented their proposals to the Dragons.
Chaired by Ross Martin, Policy Director for CSPP, the event displayed the diversity of transport initiatives open to Scotland. Presentations included telecommuting solutions, high speed rail, an automated transport system for Glasgow, modernisation of Glasgow’s subway system and developing and promoting cycling solutions in Scotland.

High Speed Rail Line
Putting forward his proposal for high speed rail, Graham Bell of Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce said that the time had come to turn the ‘aspiration’ of high speed rail into ‘inspiration’. Focusing on commuting patterns between central Scotland and central London, Bell highlighted that today up to 1 million people commute by either rail or road, while a further 6 million people commute by air.

Not only would high speed rail take 3.5 million people out of airports and save up to £1 billion in time, it would also dramatically reduce carbon emissions. With the costs of building a high speed rail line in Britain expected to be up to £30 billion, Bell suggested that the cost of incorporating Scotland into the wider UK proposal could realistically see costs rise by a further £8 billion over 20 years.
He believed that the onus is on Scotland to ensure that it is included in the construction and development of a high speed rail. Bell also advocated the proposal that the line would split at the border ensuring that that both Edinburgh and Glasgow would be similarly served.

The Dragons were equally enthusiastic, but with some caveats. Minister Stevenson though persuaded was particularly concerned about the costs involved. Scott McIntosh, on the other hand highlighted the fact that a number of studies had been done on the issue of high speed rail in the UK and the question now needed to be asked as to how this would be delivered. High speed rail for McIntosh had to be part of an integrated transport system and while it has the support of both the public and the private sectors he argued that without the involvement of the private sector such a project could not be delivered.

Scott McIntosh	Mike Connelly	Stewart Stevenson	Grant Thomas

In 1988 my partner, Nancy Woodhead and I, with three month old baby Ruby, departed the wilds of South London for the Scottish Borders.  We bought an old estate steading with another family, the McGurns, with the idea of establishing an intentional community.  In a range of stone buildings in various states of repair from OK to ruinous we set about building a life, of which the themes we most held in common were environmental concern and social justice.  In practice cycling was a central element of our common commitment.

Jim Mc Gurn had started a radical magazine in York the previous year which was called New Cyclist.  Nancy had been a Director of Brixton Cycles a very successful co-operatively owned shop in Coldharbour Lane.  She was also a practiced cycle mechanic.  It started out with me doing up buildings, and they working on the bike front, but shortly after we identified that there was a range of innovative cycle solutions that weren’t being marketed in the UK and Neatwork was born as my contribution to the venture.

Our first products were imported from Germany – the Peer Gynt recumbent from Radius GmbH. and the Rollfiets from Robert Hoening GmbH.  The Rollfiets a brilliant design achievement from Peter Messerschmidt became the Duet, a more consumer friendly name for the UK market – a wheelchair tandem, benefitting from Robert’s production engineering expertise.  Both machines were marked by extremely high build quality, the latest in component technology, excellent functionality and terrific saleability.  They could also only be sold at premium prices.

The original Trailers leaflet, great products and some great copy writing – a team effort

Over time Neatwork expanded into trailers (for children and for luggage) largely creating the UK mass market for these products, an extensive range of cycle products for people with disabilities, and the best in the recumbent cycle market, which hasn’t yet taken off to the same extent.  We also provided cycle solutions such as tandems for the general markets in which we found ourselves which weren’t so easy to come by from the average cycle shop.

At its peak Neatwork was importing and exporting innovative cycle products to and from the UK, Germany, Denmark, Holland, the USA with occasional deals in some more exotic places.  We worked with some fantastic people and had a great team through which a number of very competent and dedicated people circulated.  There were no duff workers in Neatwork.

Trailer leaflet other side…

After some years the McGurns returned to York whence they had come, and after eight years Neatwork was effectively sold on to a group of business angels who had backed us.  The company went into receivership about a year after that.

Lessons learned:

• There are some amazing products out there or yet to be invented.
• There are some great people to work with.
• Neither of these guarantees you business success.

I am pleased to be a patron of JCI Edinburgh. It says on their website:

“JCI Edinburgh has been recognised internationally as the Best Junior Chamber in the world in 2003, 2004, and 2005.  There are 6,000 chambers worldwide and Edinburgh continues to push the boundaries to provide outstanding development opportunities for young people in Edinburgh to develop their leadership and entrepreneurial skills, while benefitting the community.  This was only achieved through help of our patrons who we value and greatly appreciate.”

I won’t claim I achieved it all, or very much of it at all, but I was a patron throughout that time, and am constantly astonished by what these folks achieve.  ‘Young’ by the way, means 18-40.  In 2005 I supported The Outstanding Young Person of the Year Awards, chairing the awards committee.  Two of the world winner places, (out of eight) went to Scotland that year.  One particularly impressive fact is that this organisation is run entirely by volunteers alongside their day jobs.

My main contribution has been in helping with PR and giving some individual coaching.  Always a pleasure guys!

Business Mentoring is a partnership between Scottish Enterprise (the national body charged with aiding business development) and Scottish Chambers of Commerce (the private sector’s leading business representative body).

Anyone in business can apply for a mentor.  They can be a business owner, a Director or an upwardly mobile manager (or one who wants to be!).  Two and a half thousand people have participated since the start of the project.  There are special programmes for growing businesses, for women entrepreneurs and for social enterprises.  Mentors are drawn from the full range of experienced business people across all sectors, and there are seven hundred of them currently.  There is no charge for the service and mentors are unpaid.  The idea is that a given business community (in this case Scotland) recognises the value of ‘giving something back’ and embraces its up and coming entrepeneurs (not always young! But always receptive to life-long learning) by sharing experience.

What Business Mentors don’t do:

- Give advice
- Tell people what to do
- Do it for them
- Prattle on about ‘in my day…’ and what are their magnificent achievements

What Business Mentors  do do:

- Listen really well
- Identify priority issues to which the business person may be too close to see
- Encourage them to think them through
- Offer suggestions for new approaches
- Recommend new contacts

I am a Business Mentor and I also work to promote the programme.

The happy clients and mentors talk about ‘perfect sounding board’, ‘more like a friend than an advisor’ (which they never claim to be), and ‘I know I did it myself, but I’d didn’t have time or experience to think of these changes myself’.

The programme is now being franchised to other countries around the world.

Want to have a Mentor? click here

Want to be a Mentor? click here

Want to replicate the scheme click here

…or ring 0845 609 6622

This is a work in progress.  It started with a realisation that we had a very polarised debate on the built environment in Edinburgh.  Developers were ‘bad’, history was sacrosanct.

Edinburgh is a World Heritage Site.  When I ran away from London in 1988, sick of foul air and endless commuting problems, streets unfit for young children… well you get the picture!  I vowed I would never be for cities again.  By the mid 90’s I had started to appreciate Edinburgh and the fact the cities could be vibrant, challenging, artistic, cultured and … in short – great!  London is to Edinburgh as a steel girder is to a Cellini silver salt cellar.  So we start with a precious environment.  The Old Town (pre eighteenth century higgledy-piggledy, multi-layered chaos overlayed with Victorian and twentieth century propriety) and progress to the New Town, the finest Georgian City in Europe (and who else does Georgian anyway?), so actually,one of the most beautiful cities in the world that I have ever seen.

As I write there are billions of pounds being spent developing Edinburgh and in some quarters resistance to this process.  So I have visited and spoken with many different parties.  The Cockburn Association (preservationists) the Edinburgh World Heritage Trust, (self explanatory)  the City Council, dozens of developers, Historic Scotland, and I find the makings of an accord, where we all might agree on what is good for the city.

People often say that coalition government (i.e. concensus decision making) doesn’t work.  But! my friends, it is the most creative way we can go.  When was Britain’s most productive period in the last one hundred years?  I can tell you, without doubt, it was in the Second World War, 1939-45.  Undoubtedly much of our purpose in being so creative was to destroy an enemy (which you might regard as less than creative).  The reality is, that with a common cause, and a common enemy (well let’s say – objective) we deliver most when we work together.

Watch this space.  Let’s see how it progresses.  And just to confuse things further – the pictures are from Glasgow.  Just to prove there isn’t only one City that understands the need for a development accord.  Taken last weekend from the tour bus!

Building a future while preserving capital’s heritage
this article appeared in The Scotsman on 16 September 2006

Since writing the above have met with Dennis Rodwell whose latest blockbuster ( a mere snip at £48 from Blackwell Publishing) – Conservation and Sustainability in Historic Cities is an interesting and provocative amble round the topic.  Recommended for serious enthusiasts.

Good Earth Limited

I had been working for a multi-media training company in London when just under a year after I joined I found my job had been made redundant.  In these circumstances it’s always difficult to hold on to your self-esteem – it’s the job that’s redundant, not me!  My solution was to stop what I was doing, swap the pinstripe for a boiler suit and go off and train as an electrician.

In nine months I qualified and (like a fool) set up on my own.  In hindsight I’d have been much better working for someone else and getting all the tricks of the trade you don’t learn in college.

Some of us are slow learners!

So I pootled along on my own for a while, but soon found it’s a difficult business to run single handed (always helps to have someone to hold the steps or pull the other end of a cable).

The problem was I had been itching to run my own business for about five years, and I’d had an excellent apprenticeship working in family businesses where I’d done everything from receptionist to draft accounts passing through costings, purchasing, sales and sales management, transport management and health and safety on the way.  Looking back I had achieved what I set out to – educate myself about what it takes to run a small business.

Good Earth was generating plenty of business, so I felt confident in bringing some other people on board.  The upshot was that Good Earth turned into a Worker’s Co-operative.  Part of my desire to do something practical and put the City behind me stemmed from my active involvement in matters environmental at the time, which largely found its expression in Green politics.  So here we were doing something practical (good) providing a service to our community (good) trying to deliver quality, safety and energy efficiency (good) and managing it all co-operatively (good in theory).

I found a quote in William Blake ‘Energy is Eternal Beauty’ which we used as our by-line.  Since I’ve never managed to find the quote again, it’s possible I misremembered it! (update: 13.2.07 – wonders of the web – found the quote today it should be: Energy is Eternal Delight)

What did we do well?

We did work for a lot of community organisations.  I’m especially proud of the work we did for the Staying Put project – helping old people to stay in their own homes by bringing their properties up to date.  Fond memories of meeting Ellen Kuzawayo in the Brixton Art Gallery which we were rewiring, when there was a show of quilting work by women from Soweto (long before the end of Apartheid).  We took on two apprentices.  We didn’t allow shoddy work or taking shortcuts.

One day we doubled our prices – and we also then doubled our order book.  Great lesson – people want good value, not cheap.  Not the same thing at all, and it made a company which hadn’t been, profitable.  Unfortunately we were now behind hand financially…

What didn’t work well?

It hadn’t been going well financially.  But I had just negotiated a £6,000 injection from the local Enterprise company which would have put us back on an even footing (seems a tiny sum from today’s perspective!).

Then I had two weks off when our first child Ruby was born at home.  The day I went back to work my Mother died, so I had another two weeks off helping out round all that.  By the time I came back the other guys had decided to pull out on the advice of the accountant.  We had the cheque for the cash injection, but no-one would agree to bank it.  I could have carried on on my own, but with a new family I joined the others in selecting voluntary liquidation and started a process which ended up with us moving to the Scottish Borders.  Stop talking about being Green and live it… but that’s another story.

Why is it worth telling this story?  Well because failure is a really important part of learning.  Years later I could see that it wasn’t a failure at all, more like a trial run.  And what I learned from my first business venture has been reused to help others hundreds of times over.  I never regret learning what it means to be a manual worker.  Being politically correct ain’t easy.  Sometimes it’s more sustainable to achieve change a little bit at a time.