GCA CEO Amanda Fergusson attended the Genesis Senate at the Houses of Parliament this week, flying the flag for the greeting card industry and speaking about the challenges we are currently facing.
The Genesis Senate works as an ‘umbrella’ organisation harnessing the collective strength of trade associations, institutions and other groups representing the SME sector in the UK, sharing information and raising issues with MP’s and others.
The October meeting heard from Craig Williams MP, and had an interesting discussion on the microbudget and its subsequent reversal, on what turned out to be another chaotic day in Parliament.
Amanda spoke about the size and health of the greeting card industry, and raised with Craig Williams MP the challenges of the Royal Mail strike, the impact of delays at port for our seasonal product and the ongoing challenges of exporting into the EU for the greeting card industry.
Other issues discussed were:
– support for entrepreneurs starting out, and ability to access what is available
– challenges navigating international trade
– difficulty of transporting samples across borders
– support for businesses to grow talent
– challenges of paperwork and red tape
– IR35; unpopular for some, but important for others.
See our Help to Grow blog for new links and updates on information and grants available to support business growth across the country.
The GCA are keen to follow up with the Genesis Senate and Craig Williams. Please email amanda@gca.cards with your thoughts and experiences on any of the issues above, or indeed other areas which you’d like to see the GCA raising on your behalf
