Leading businessman sings the praises of North Wales

Mervyn Davies declared Gwynedd as a fantastic place to live and do business as part of his address at Gwynedd Business Week’s gala dinner, which took place in Bangor University’s new Management Centre last Thursday. But the leading banker and Chairman of Standard Chartered PLC, who was born in Bangor and who has a home in Abersoch, warned of the inclination “to build things up just to break them down”, and emphasised the need to take pride in our achievements and allow our “huge creativity” and spirit of entrepreneurship to flourish.

‘I think one of the things I see here in North Wales is lack of confidence.’

Explained Mr Davies.

‘Welsh people travel well. But people who have put their roots down here also have amazing businesses, and they shouldn’t be ashamed of telling their story. The more people from North Wales tell their story, the more people will recognise what a great place this is.’

Fielding questions from the floor, Mr Davies also touched on the language debate.

‘Wales is a country that should be proud of its language, its heritage and tradition’

He said in response to a question about whether the Welsh language prevented companies from establishing themselves in North Wales.

Regarding the recent turmoil in the financial sector, Mr Davies explained that no-one in the banking industry had foreseen the scale of the current crisis. And whilst he predicted tighter control on lending in terms of mortgages and loans, he emphasised the importance of not talking the country into recession and explained

‘We are going through a period of adjustment because the rest of the world is in turmoil.’

Following Mr Davies’ speech, Dafydd Wigley presented this year’s Gwynedd Business Network Special Contribution Award to Robin Llywelyn of Portmeirion. On receiving the award, Mr Llywelyn said,

‘I accept this award on behalf of the staff who’ve worked with me at Portmeirion over the years’

and promised to keep true to his grandfather Clough Williams-Ellis’ vision of “Cherish the Past, Adorn the Present, Construct for the Future”.