Mairi Gougeon MSP, Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Land Reform and Islands, will participate in a panel discussion at the Scottish Wholesale Association’s Annual Conference in Aberdeen in June as part of the event’s ‘Creating Value and Building Resilience through Sustainable Local Supply Chains’ session.
This session will explore the importance of a resilient supply chain, the opportunities for SWA members, and hear key advice from those who have benefited from the training programmes held as part of the ‘Delivering Growth Through Wholesale’ programme.
This programme, in collaboration with Scotland Food & Drink, SAOS, and the Wholesale Local Food Champion initiative, is working to strengthen the Scottish food and drink supply chain. To underpin this, an exhibition featuring some of Scotland’s finest produce, as part of the SWA’s commitment to a strong, resilient, local supply chain, will run throughout the one-day conference.
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Ms Gougeon said: “Scotland’s wholesalers play a crucial role in linking our local producers to markets and communities across the country. This conference presents a valuable opportunity to champion our wholesale sector, strengthen local supply chains, and advance a more sustainable, resilient food system. I’m very much looking forward to the panel discussion and to hearing directly from Scotland’s wholesalers and suppliers.”
Adopting the theme Kaizen – a Japanese business philosophy that focuses on continuous improvement – the conference, on 5th June, will look to the future, shining a spotlight on what a thriving Scottish wholesale sector looks like now and in the future, and what wholesalers should be doing to ensure that the industry goes from strength to strength.
Colin Smith, SWA chief executive, commenting on the conference, which this year moves out of the central belt to the north-east of Scotland to Ardoe House Hotel & Spa near the River Dee on the outskirts of Aberdeen, said: “We have an exceptional line-up of high-profile speakers and panel members from within the wholesale sector and other spheres of business.
“As our new-format Annual Conference returns for the first time since 2019, and by using Kaizen as our theme and incorporating that into our panel sessions, our aim is to encourage robust and lively conversations within an environment that is conducive to sharing information and sparking new ways of thinking that will benefit our industry.”
