Last updated at 16:21, Tuesday, 31 July 2012

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AN events and marketing business which grew up on the back of specialist manufacturing and engineering in Cumbria is eyeing a bright future.

Resource Marketing, part of the Reef Group, is organising the British Ports Association annual conference at the Low Wood, Ambleside in October.

Director George Colquhoun, together with his business partner Pru Barton, have seen the economy come full circle in their time with the business. They are determined the company, and Cumbria as a whole, can chart a prosperous course for the future.

Reef, like many businesses, has gone through downsizing, but is now growing slowly to meet the opportunities 2012 and beyond presents.

George was formerly a sales and marketing director at the Barrow shipyard, then VSEL, before he set up his own engineering technology company Ulvertech.

In 1996 he formed Resource Marketing and linked up with American subsea production technology company Wellstream International to develop its branding and manage its international marketing communications.

Closer to home it worked with the likes of Tronic, Diamould, and Orcina as they were developing.

After growing an event management section, the business has worked with a range companies on diverse occasions from royal visits, The Queen visiting Derwent Pencils and Princess Anne opening an Oceaneering Multiflex factory in Edinburgh, to corporate functions, including a major Wellstream event at the Sage Centre, Gateshead and a centenary celebration at Belvoir Castle for a primary UK fabrics manufacturer.

Resource Marketing has also worked closely with the public sector on contracts for PR marketing and events, including the Department of Work and Pensions, the Learning and Skills Council, the Central Office of Information (COI), the Health and Safety Executive and HMRC.

Its work hasn’t been limited to these shores. Working with Invest In Cumbria it has organised Cumbria’s delegation to the major offshore conference in Houston, managed global exhibition programmes for multinationals, and has worked with bluechips such as Pirelli in Brazil.

At its peak it employed 35 people. Like many businesses it was forced to downsize in the recession. But now at 14 people, George says the business is on the way back.

It put on the multi-modal conference at the Port Of Workington last year,

ran the recent Britain’s Energy Coast blueprint launch and is now busy preparing for the port conference at the Low Wood.

“We have been consolidating. Now we are slowly growing the business,” says George.

Takeovers haven’t been kind to Resource Marketing. Companies it helped to grow have become attractive acquisitions and when Siemens have taken over Expro (formerly Tronic), Schlumberger bought over Diamould, and General Electric acquired Wellstream, Resource’s expertise has been supplanted by those corporate’s own activity and business has dried up.

That has meant Resource Marketing going back to its roots. And the British Ports Association conference is the embodiment of that.

Carlisle-based Eva Foran, has joined the company from Direct Rail Services as head of group business relations, responsible for Business Development for the whole Reef Group of companies. With more than 20 years of combined experience in a variety of marketing, communications, public relations and stakeholder engagement roles in private and public sector environments, Eva brings a wealth of experience to her new role.

Eva is running the exhibition and the social programme for the port event on October 3 and 4 when about 150 delegates are expected to attend, many bringing their partners, enticed by the scenic venue. And that’s where George and Eva see the opportunity for such a conference to impact positively on the Cumbrian economy, not just this year, but in future years with repeat visits.

“We estimate the conference will pump £250,000 into the local economy.

“People will come back to Cumbria for holidays on the back of the conference and we hope to plant the seed about Cumbria being a good place to do business too.”

Iggesund and Eva’s former employers Direct Rail Services will be among the businesses with operations in Cumbria which will be supporting the event.

The British Ports Association Conference is hosted by the Port of Workington, where Janet Fallon is the Chairman for the Port of Workington Harbour Board.

The new conference centre being built by the Low Wood is described by George as: “absolutely essential” for Cumbria.

“We have people wanting to have conferences in Cumbria but we struggle to find the right package to run them. Cumbria has some good venues such as Rheged, the Energus building, the Low Wood and Castle Green in Kendal, but we don’t have anywhere at the moment for the larger conferences complete with accommodation.”

Venuefixers is another arm to Reef’s business. And of the between 50 and 100 conferences the business is involved in placing nationally every year none of them are coming to Cumbria because there isn’t the right venue with the right accommodation. George sees the Low Wood development as changing that.

He says it will also increase the opportunities for big companies wanting a hotel base for their team development and business strategising with Cumbria’s landscape providing the ideal setting. That in turn would be good news for the Corporate Adrenalin team development side of the Reef Group’s business.

George is passionate about Cumbrian business people not just sitting back and waiting for change to happen. He wants them to instigate change.

On his wish list would be:

l Cumbrians engaged in business away from the county and abroad acting as ambassadors for what the county has to offer.

l Business and public sector in the county recognising there are world class skills and talents to be found here in the county – not just from those who have developed their businesses here, but from those who have come in – and then valuing and considering those talents before hiring in expertise from outside the county.

l And the big one, as far as George is concerned, businesses working together in competition.

The work is there to be won says George. Not just from the major big hitters such as the shipyard and the nuclear and energy sector, but in the creative industries, food and drink, and other hi-tech sectors.

“Instead of fighting each other for that business as individuals, we should be working together, and growing the business capabilities within Cumbria. By working together we can win the big business, by working alone we will only get the crumbs off the table.”

First published at 16:29, Wednesday, 25 July 2012
Published by http://www.in-cumbria.com