Farokh Engineer on Manchester’s vision

Cricket legend Farokh Engineer has played 46 Tests for India, and actively played first class cricket for Mumbai in India and Lancashire in England. Selected as the first choice wicket keeper for the Rest of the World XI series in England and Australia during the 1970s, Farokh has since made Manchester his home, and works closely with MIDAS, Manchester's inward investment agency, to promote the city at home and abroad.

When I first came to Manchester in 1966 I received a warm welcome. I was the first Indian invited to play professional county cricket at a time when the game needed a real shot in the arm. The people were some of the friendliest I’ve ever met, and I played some of the best games of my career with Lancashire County Cricket Club.

Nowadays, I have spent more of my life in Manchester than in my home town of Mumbai, and in this time I’ve seen the city develop at an astonishing rate. Today Manchester is a thriving modern city with true international appeal, and one of Europe’s most dynamic and exciting cities in which to live and do business – a fact that sometimes comes as a pleasant surprise to Indian visitors.

Owing to its extraordinary progress, modern Manchester now sets its sights on global expansion, with internationalisation at the heart of its growth strategy. India has the world’s second fastest growing economy, and as such has been identified by both the public and private sector as a critical market for Greater Manchester in terms of inward investment, outbound export, education and tourism.

Indeed, Manchester’s commitment to India is well founded; the region traditionally has had a heritage of bilateral trade with the country, with trade links dating back to the Victorian era. Manchester has developed a strategic framework for furthering these established trade, investment and business relations between Manchester and India, in partnership with UKIBC.

As part of this strategy I had the pleasure of hosting a two day business summit in August aimed at showcasing Manchester as an international business destination. The first day comprised of bespoke sector specific familiarisation tours of the city, giving delegates the opportunity to meet key companies and industry specialists.
The summit culminated in a full day networking event, held at Emirates Old Trafford and set against the back drop of the first day of the India vs. England Test Match. The event featured panel sessions hosted by some of Manchester and the UK’s most influential business leaders, including Dr.Virander Paul, Deputy High Commissioner of India, and Rt. Hon. Patricia Hewitt, Chair of UKIBC.

The UK India Business Council is working with Manchester to shape the city’s engagement strategy with India. The goal is to match Greater Manchester’s key strengths to India’s priority areas, and build the economic links that benefit both the city and India.

“Today Manchester is a thriving modern city with true international appeal, and one of Europe’s most dynamic and exciting cities in which to live and do business – a fact that sometimes comes as a pleasant surprise to Indian visitors.”

Manchester is of course internationally famous for its sport legacy. We’ve all heard of Manchester United and Manchester City, two of the world’s leading football clubs – and perhaps something to aim for as the Indian Super League develops. However, it’s perhaps less well known that Greater Manchester has one of the largest regional economies in Europe, with over 20 million consumers and 60% of the UK’s business base within two hours travel.

Manchester has the scale of commercial activity; an unbeatable portfolio of world class business facilities; and an infrastructure that is currently reaping the rewards of unprecedented growth, including the UK’s largest regional international airport which serves more cities than Heathrow, flying to over 200 destinations, with excellent connectivity to India via the Middle East.

The city has people with the right skills, with 7.5 million people within the city ‘s worker catchment area; is rated as one of Europe’s top cities for business competitiveness and cost efficiency; and is home to the UK’s largest commercial property market outside of London. In short – Manchester is open for business.
Indians may also not know that as Manchester has developed from the Cottonopolis of the 19th century to a modern business hub, it has held tight to its credentials as a city of firsts. From the splitting of the atom, the first stored program computer, the first test tube baby and most recently, the discovery of graphene, the world’s thinnest and strongest material, Manchester leads the way in invention and innovation.

Manchester is the nation’s main centre for financial and professional services outside of London. More than 250,000 people work for international banks; big accountancy firms; dozens of major law firms and hundreds of consultancies that support the Manchester economy. Key companies located here include the Bank of New York, BNY Mellon, and RBS who employ more than 7,000 people in the city, including 500 in their European Operations Centre for RBS Global Banking and Markets.

Today, the city has a thriving life sciences sector, building the best medical facilities for citizens and the most advanced research environments for businesses. Its home to several medical research institutes, Europe’s largest cancer treatment centre of its kind and the largest clinical trials unit in the world.

New opportunities for investment include the flagship re-development of the former Royal Eye Hospital into Citylabs: a state of the art bio-medical facility which will be the new home for Icon and other health and biotech SMEs; and the development of a 200-acre MediPark as part of the Manchester Airport City Enterprise Zone to accommodate the world’s leading healthcare players.

Manchester is the city of choice for more than 250 biomedical companies and provides easy access to Hologic GenProbe, Qiagen, Novartis and Eli Lilly, who are based in the region. Links to Manchester’s digital and IT expertise are creating opportunities around digital health; a key factor in the city being the flagship connected health ecosystem in Europe.

The city’s ICT prowess reaches much further than the medical sphere however, but what else could one expect from the birthplace of the computer. Greater Manchester’s creative and digital cluster is the largest outside London, and is forecasted to grow by over 70% by 2025. The Digital Content and ICT industries employ over 50,000 digital workers in the city and a further 50,000 in the wider region.

No other city in Europe has invested as much in its media and digital scene, with £3.5 billion spent building a global hub for creative industries. Key assets include MediaCityUK, Europe’s first purpose built hub for digital businesses, home of the BBC and ITV and the largest HD Studio in Europe.

With four universities offering first rate higher education to over 105,000 students at any one time, access to a skilled talent pool is guaranteed. The University of Manchester is a truly impressive institution, and I’ve met many Indian expats who have studied there, and have nothing but praise for it. Almost two-thirds of the University’s research is ranked as world-leading or internationally excellent and no less than twenty-five Nobel Prize winners work, have worked or studied at the University – more than at Oxford or Cambridge. Meanwhile the University of Salford is at the cutting edge of the digital industry, with a campus that is at the heart of MediaCityUK.

Successful Indian businesses that have already recognised the benefits of the city include Aegis Limited, the leading global outsourcing services provider, which opened their first European office in Manchester in 2011. Just last month when Nick Clegg visited Mumbai he announced that Vistaar productions will be moving into the city, setting up a post-production facility in Manchester.

A city that’s constantly evolving, with fantastic infrastructure and a lively cosmopolitan atmosphere, Manchester is a world class city with a bright future. That’s why I’m proud to call myself an adopted Mancunian, and why you can trust me when I say that Manchester and India are a perfect investment match.

What next?

To find out more about Manchester and how
MIDAS can help facilitate your needs visit
www.investinmanchester.com
or call +44 (0)161 875 2239.
If you are an Indian Business interested in opportunities within Greater Manchester please contact Daniel Storer, Director of Business Development at Daniel.Storer@Midas.org.uk