EOA Summer Dinner 2014

Danny Alexander MP, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, gave the keynote speech at last night’s Employee Ownership Association summer dinner in Westminster.

Speaking at the event he said: “Employee ownership is a great business model that had played a huge role in our economic recovery” and that “the security it provided for employees and their families should be celebrated.”

A long -standing supporter of employee ownership, Mr Alexander said he wanted to see the business model grow “further and faster” but that “the biggest barrier was awareness”. Closing his remarks he said “We all want workers across the country to have a stake in, voice in and benefit from the companies they work for.”

A total of 150 leaders of employee owned businesses, employee owners and other partners gathered for the event in the House of Commons to celebrate the Association’s highlights of 2014 and to look ahead to building on its successes in the coming year.

Making the closing remarks of the evening Iain Hasdell, Chief Executive of the Employee Ownership Association said: “The recent growth of employee ownership in the UK is stunning. Employee owned companies are 7% more profitable than externally owned ones and their productivity is growing at an average of rate of 4.5% per year. Employee ownership is firmly on track to reach 10% GDP by 2020.”

To see a gallery of pictures from the EOA summer dinner click here.