WATCH: Embrace opportunities 2022 Games will bring, firms told

Enjoy the festivities, plan for disruption and maximise opportunities from the Commonwealth Games.

That was the advice from Anne Ledgerwood, general manager of St. Enoch Centre in Glasgow and chair of the City Centre Retail Association, for Greater Birmingham businesses on what to expect from the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.

She made the comments during a virtual event hosted by Greater Birmingham Commonwealth Chamber of Commerce (GBCCC) yesterday, as part of its first Commonwealth Opportunities week.

The event was attended by more than 130 businesses.

Anne, alongside a number of other guest panellists from Glasgow as part of the Winning at the Games event, said that the Games was a “fabulous ” experience when the city hosted its own edition in 2014.

She explained her three crucial pieces of advice: “It will happen, accept it, so don 't go against the tide. You know that this massive event is going to come to your city and just accept it and enjoy what it is going to bring to you.

“It will create disruption, so plan for the disruption, understand that it will be there so you can minimise that.

“And it will create fabulous opportunities, so make sure that you can maximise them and really look at what the opportunities are.

“From our point of view it created a great partnership working across the city, everyone really came together collaboratively.

“That feeling of once you 're in the games, the buzz that it creates in the city and the amount of people coming in, and preparation then just allows you to enjoy that and really reap the benefits of it when it comes to you. ”

Stuart Patrick, also emphasised that organisations involved with the Games, such as Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce, should also look to maximise the trade and foreign direct investment opportunities associated with the sporting extravaganza.

He said: “I think we actually have benefitted in legacy terms in foreign direct investment (FDI), primarily because the city can demonstrate just how capable it is in delivering a major event like a Commonwealth Games.

“That has an impact on FDI investors ' perceptions on what your city is able to deliver. If you can deliver a very effective event of that scale, there is more trust about what you can deliver as a city that is relevant to that FDI. ”

He also made a direct plea to Birmingham Chamber to utilise British Chambers of Commerce 's overseas offices to potentially hold trade missions during Games time.

Stuart said: “Get them across, because we didn 't do enough on that, we really didn 't, and it is an opportunity that you shouldn 't miss. ”

Plans are already afoot to maximise international trade opportunities via the Birmingham 2022 Games.

Last summer, a business case was submitted to the Government for more than £20million in match funding to establish a Tourism, Trade and Investment programme, to help establish an economic legacy via the games.

Potential initiatives in the TTI programme may include domestic and international tourist campaigns and trade missions to key Commonwealth markets.

Ian Reid, chief executive of Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, described the initiative as “probably the biggest trade programme that will ever be set up alongside a Commonwealth Games ”, during the Chamber 's virtual event.