UK restaurateur and former first minister among guests at CMS Scotland conference

Hosted by broadcaster Kirsty Wark, CMS’s annual On Point conference takes place at the EICC on 3 October. The event will focus on current local and global economic challenges with a high-calibre range of guest speakers reflecting on the issues that matter most to the Scottish business community.

After a 20-year career as a barrister, Nisha Katona MBE founded Mowgli Street Food in 2014 in Liverpool and has grown the business to 24 restaurants across the UK. Her company is recognised as one of the nation’s top employers and was ranked in the Top 25 of last year’s ‘The UK’s Top 100 Best Large Companies to work for.’ She was awarded an MBE in the 2019 New Year Honours List for services in the food industry.

Lord McConnell was first minister from 2001 to 2007 and UK special representative for peacebuilding between 2008 and 2010. A former mathematics teacher, he served as general secretary of the Scottish Labour Party from 1992 to 1998 before entering the Scottish Parliament in 1999 as MSP for Motherwell and Wishaw, which he represented for 12 years.

Also speaking at this year’s On Point conference is Louise Hellem, chief economist at the CBI; Professor Mairi Spowage, director of the Fraser of Allander Institute; James Withers, and author of the Independent Review of the Skills Delivery Landscape in Scotland and a former CEO of Scotland Food and Drink.

They will be joined by Jamie Grant, head of corporate banking Scotland at Barclays; Liam Middleton, deputy director of economic development at the University of Glasgow; Dame Susan Rice DBE, chair of Forth Green Freeport; and Susie Lind, managing director of BlueFloat Energy.

Allan Wernham, managing director of CMS Scotland, said: “We’re looking forward to welcoming a wide range of insightful and high-profile speakers to this year’s On Point conference.

“With declining interest rates and inflation and the emergence of positive signs of recovery, the outlook for Scottish businesses is more optimistic but with significant challenges standing in the way.

Further information on the event is available here.