The last year has been tough for everyone as the pandemic continues to take its toll on the world, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel as vaccinations are starting to rollout and the road to recovery may not be as far as we think. London has moved to a red-zone and with that, businesses will start to reopen, and our economy can slowly start it’s rebuild.
The road to recovery may seem like a big task but the London Economic Development Corporation (LEDC) will be helping businesses move forward and gain some traction. Kapil Lakhotia, CEO of the LEDC, outlined some of the programs they will be offering during this time.
“We’re looking at the catalytic changes that act as beacons for new jobs and investments… Earlier this month we announced a partnership with Western Fair to launch the Grove Initiative which is designed to foster more food and beverage entrepreneurs and established companies... So, we’re looking at building these clusters with that wraparound support and create a healthy ecosystem where we are better able to withstand the next economic cycle.”
Although the Grove Initiative will only support the food and beverage industry, they will have similar programs for technology, health, advanced manufacturing and other industries. But while some industries have really struggled to get through the pandemic, Lakhotia has seen a number of industries grow over the last year.
“London and our surrounding region does enjoy a very strong diversity in our employment industries and because of that diversity I feel we are able to withstand economic cycles, like the current recessionary climate we are in. We are experiencing tremendous growth in advanced manufacturing, and food and beverage industries, technology companies are also thriving as we have a host of scaling technology companies.”
However, Lakhotia believes that for some industries it’s only a matter of time before they will start to see some growth again.
“The tourism and hospitality areas are struggling but we are hopeful as more vaccinations are being deployed, as well as some of these restrictions are starting to ease, those industries will bounce back over the course of this year.”
Perhaps the most worrying part about the pandemic is its unpredictable volatility, we can have an outbreak at any time and navigating that will create challenges for businesses.
“I think the biggest challenge comes from a sense of that uncertainty around this pandemic environment. That uncertainty comes from a number of different places. In terms of timelines for vaccinations, the changing landscape of restrictions in terms of interior capacity for our bars and restaurants. Uncertainty in terms of when large scale events will come back which our service industries rely on.”
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