GCA’s Amanda Fergusson presses government over Royal Mail and small business needs
GCA ceo Amanda Fergusson has made the most of the opportunity to push the greeting card industry’s concerns and needs at a high-level meeting at the House Of Commons earlier this week, receiving special recognition from government minister Kevin Hollinrake as she stressed the need to protect the universal postal service obligation.
As an active member of the government’s Genesis Initiative, Amanda attends all three annual senate meetings, which take place during each Parliamentary session to discuss and debate issues concerning the UK’s SME community.
“With all party support across both the House Of Commons and House Of Lords, matters discussed have a bearing on informing government not only about the importance of SMEs to the UK economy, but also to highlight issues that threaten their efficacy as well as initiatives to promote their growth,” Amanda told PG Buzz.
“With almost our entire membership and the greeting card industry as a whole being made up of SMEs, having this direct route into government is invaluable and this week’s meeting was especially relevant.”
Having attracted the attention of mp Kevin Hollinrake, the minister responsible for small business, enterprise and markets, Amanda raised the vital importance of safeguarding an efficient, reliable and affordable postal service through Royal Mail.
“I was delighted that he not only recognised me from previous meetings, but also remembered all about the UK greeting card industry,” said Amanda. “He full took on board the points I made about the concerns over the price rises of first-class and second-class large letter stamps as well as how we so need to maintain a postal service that plays such a strong role in connecting people.”
Another highlight of the meeting was Amanda making contact with Mark Hart, deputy director of the ERC and professor of small business and entrepreneurship at Aston Business School, who feeds information to the government about the UK’s micro business community.
“I explained the UK greeting card industry encompasses many micro businesses and, as testified by the popularity of the business basics webinars we at the GCA run, that there is a need for more support. Mark was very interested to learn more about our sector, which is encouraging,” highlighted Amanda.
