Drinks boss tastes success

20:20 Lecture: Paul Walsh (left) with Dave Benstead and Oldham Council leader Jim McMahon (right)

A ROYTON-raised drinks boss who runs one of the world’s leading multinational corporations was in Oldham last night to address an audience of business leaders, councillors and young people.

Paul Walsh is chief executive of Diageo PLC, which operates in 180 markets around the world and is worth more than £43bn.

Introduced by Dave Benstead, chairman of the Oldham Business Leadership Group, Mr Walsh was speaking at the second 20:20 Oldham Lecture at the Queen Elizabeth Hall. He described the series as a fascinating initiative and went on to discuss the role of business in the community.

Drawing on his company’s experience around the world, he expressed the view that big corporations such as his — which owns brands such as Guinness, Johnnie Walker and Smirnoff - had a responsibility to work with and support the communities in which they do business.

Only seven per cent of Diageo’s revenues are generated in the UK, which leads, he said, to his company having a global view.

“This extends to supporting barley farmers in Kenya, where we have helped yields grow by 500 per cent, and where we helped with bore holes giving people access to water,” he said.

“We cannot expect to build a brewery and in Kenya our beer brand has more than a 90 per cent market share, without addressing issues such as water shortage for the local populations.”

He spoke of his pride at working with the Government — “and I would do this whichever party was in power, this is not a political statement” — helping small and medium-sized enterprises in this country and overseas achieve growth.

“We can do this by introducing these young entrepreneurs to our supply chain and to our managers who can act as mentors,” he said.

Putting some of his company’s products into a context the younger members of his audience could grasp, he said that around the world 10 million glasses of Guinness were drunk everyday and every second four bottles of Johnnie Walker whisky were sold.








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