Scotland Podcast Studio's
Creator of Podcasts for King Street Studios, Johnston Media Podcasts,
Scotland Podcast Studio's
Inside Forth Valley Chamber: Network, Lobbying, Growth
Want a real‑world look at how a regional business community turns conversations into jobs, contracts, and momentum? We sit down with Lynn Harris, CEO and President of Forth Valley Chamber of Commerce and head of Stirling University Innovation Park, to unpack the systems and habits that make local networks work. From frequent events to national lobbying, Lynn shows how a focused chamber can be both a frontline connector and a clear voice to government.
We explore the scale and impact of the Scottish Chambers network—28 chambers representing thousands of businesses—and how that reach filters down to practical support for local members. Lynn explains why engagement beats vanity numbers, how she designs events that people actually attend, and why the new “Let’s Network After Dark” opens doors for founders who can’t make early starts. She also shares a powerful talent pipeline: bringing students into real roles so they gain experience while helping the chamber sharpen its digital and operational edge.
As head of the Innovation Park, Lynn outlines how flexible lab and office space, strong customer service, and a collaborative campus support high‑growth firms like Symbiosis and Peacock Technology. We hear how one company scaled from a tiny room to a 140‑person operation, and how trust built through repeated touchpoints led five members to form a collective that now wins projects together. It’s a grounded playbook for local economic development: targeted events, consistent communication, cross‑agency partnerships, and a culture where people know each other well enough to act.
If you’re considering membership, curious about better networking, or looking to grow in Forth Valley and beyond, this conversation offers ideas you can use right away. Subscribe, share with a colleague who values community over cold outreach, and tell us: which event format helps you build the strongest ties?
Welcome back to Studio King Street. Uh Neil Munday, your host of the Sterling Business Podcast, and I'm delighted to have Lynn Harris here today from the Fourth Valley Chambers of Commerce. Um, CEO and President of the Chambers. Um we met probably two years ago now, and uh I must say what a fantastic um function uh that the Chambers provides in terms of its ability to pull local businesses across the Fourth Valley uh together. So uh welcome Lynn. Thanks for uh spending the time to come and talk to us about the uh the chambers.
SPEAKER_01:Thank you very much, Neil. It's a pleasure to be here.
SPEAKER_00:That's great. So um we'll kick off just by asking a couple of questions in terms of uh the kind of the function and the role of of the chambers and uh where where you are looking to effectively take it as a uh as a function going forward. So do you want to tell us a little bit about the uh the chambers in general? Sure. And and what it consists of?
SPEAKER_01:Absolutely. Um so the Chamber Network um is I mean it's been an institution that's been going for many, many years. Uh we have around uh 28 chambers across Scotland, uh which represents about um 12,000 businesses across the area. Um, and that equates to almost, I think, half a million employees. Um so the chamber network is strong across um Scotland. Um we certainly see the the Chamber as um being that business voice. Um we are all affiliated to Scottish Chambers. Um they are the organization, like our parent company, I guess. Um and they have the sort of direct line into UK and Scottish Government, um, and they definitely do a lot of the lobbying and uh work on the legislation on behalf of um the business members. So they're very much operating at UK and government um level, and we do take a lot of our direction from them and we make sure that the key messages which come from Scottish Chambers are then fed into our own local chambers. Um at a more local level here we have around 350 members, which we're extremely proud of. Um those members vary from um international companies to national companies to um very um local organisations, from one-person startups right up to huge organizations such as the university, the college, um Kerry Medistry. Like we have a whole mix of businesses. Um but what we really pride ourselves on is helping these businesses connect and keeping things local, hence all of our networking events that we run on a very regular basis, and we like the consistency there. Um so we do run these on a regular basis um and we like to make sure that we give our members a reason to come out of their office. Their office could be at home, they could be working in a huge office with lots of people, but they still want to get out there and um, you know, raise their profile um and let the business community know what they are doing. So that's what the Chamber Network is about.
SPEAKER_00:That's that's fantastic. And I think you know the theme that we've had with a couple of uh other guests that we've had on the podcast is that um networking is absolutely key to uh success. And uh previous guests that we had was very much into networking and and his business and his ecosystem has grown significantly as a result of that. Back to the um the Scottish chambers, um do they verticalise in any way so that they have specialisms in any particular industry sector, or they are are they very generic in terms of how they go to market?
SPEAKER_01:It's very generic. Um the the lookout for every sector, um so uh it's not sort of vertical, as you just pointed out there. It's not like that at all. The chamber network is very inclusive, um, so they are operating across all sectors, um, and they are making sure that the business voice of all sectors is heard the government loud and clear on a lot of the business issues that are affecting businesses today. Um they are that single voice, and I think that's why the chamber network is so strong and because we have got so many members and they can confidently go into government, whether it is UK and Scottish, and say that they are acting on behalf of the business network because they are, because they have that information, they have that feedback, um, and I think you know they they they are that very strong voice that are acting on behalf of the business network.
SPEAKER_00:Okay. So the Chambers is based up at the Innovation Park, um, which is a part of the university fantastic uh grounds and beautiful walks, you know, park walks uh for those that have never uh been up there. Um you have another hat, right? You look after the business park. Yes. Um what what does your role until then?
SPEAKER_01:Yes. Um yes, I do I do wear a couple of hats. Uh Neil, um I've been head of the Innovation Park for uh over 20 years now. Um so I have a very small team, uh absolutely brilliant team, um, and we manage all of the buildings on the Innovation Park and we basically look after the 60 businesses that we have there. It creates around 500 people uh on Innovation Park at any given time. Um and we have a lot of strong businesses there, anchor tenants such as Symbiosis, um, Lemira, Peacock Technology, that are all at the cutting edge of what they do. Um, and we make sure that those businesses um have the right um accommodation to make sure that their business will floodish from lab space to office space. Fantastic. So yeah, I've been doing the role for, as I say, over 20 years. Thoroughly enjoy it, and there are no two-day space.
SPEAKER_00:Is it all office uh uh type um environments or do you do there is there warehousing, distribution, or any other?
SPEAKER_01:It's mainly office and lab space. Um yes. And we have conference room facilities as well. Right. Um and we have a lot of open planned spaces where people can come along and have one-to-one meetings and just get out of their office for a while and just you know work a little bit differently. I think we've all had to adapt since COVID because everyone is kind of working a little bit differently now. Um a lot of hybrid working um as well. But I think people do like to get out of their offices as well and experience a different environment. I'm sure you know you've experienced that at King Street um as well. It's a different way of working. Um, but we definitely pride ourselves on um our workspaces that that we have. Um we've been around 97% occupancy at 100% occupancy for the last few years. Um again, we pride ourselves on a very high level of customer service, and I think that's why our tenants remain with us. Um our reputation is extremely high.
SPEAKER_00:And is there a connection with the chambers to or a lot of the uh the businesses up on the the administration park chambers members as well?
SPEAKER_01:Yes, they are actually. We have a nice spread um of um members who are working at the innovation park, which is really great. Uh but we've also managed to attract a few chamber members um to come and set up their business at the Innovation Park um as well. One that will be coming um to us in the next month or so. Can't reveal who they are yet, but a chamber member who has decided to come and uh set up um their business on the innovation park, which we're delighted about. So it comes in handy sometimes wearing both hats. Definitely.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, definitely. That's great. And um please, 20 years on the innovation park. Oh my god, right. What did you do before before you um you came into that role then?
SPEAKER_01:This is about where you say you don't look old enough to actually work there for 20 odd years.
SPEAKER_00:That's coming next.
SPEAKER_01:Um Well, I've had quite a um a colourful career, you could say. Um when I was at school, I didn't really know what I wanted to do. Um but what I did know was that I was very good at sewing. This may come as a complete shock to many people who don't know me well, uh, but I was very good at sewing. I got a sewing machine uh at a very young age from my mum and dad for my Christmas, an adult, um, an adult sewing sewing machine, and um I learned my craft from my nana, and uh I then went on to be an apprentice kilt maker and seamstress.
SPEAKER_00:Wow, okay.
SPEAKER_01:So that is really my um trade, I guess you could say. Um so I saw out the the um apprenticeship in kilt making and uh and being a seamstress, and then I went on to work for Sun Microsystems, so I completed an utter change, um, and I thoroughly enjoyed my 10 years there, did a variety of uh different different roles, um and then I went to work for a software company in Livingston um as their marketing manager. Um and then through going to night school and doing various qualifications I wasn't cadence by any chance, was it? No, it wasn't cadence, it was Spectra Systems no longer unfortunately. Um but I then went on to set up my own marketing and events business. Okay. Um which I did and I'm really glad that I did take the opportunity when that came along. Um and that was 21, 21 years ago um I took on the role as head of the innovation park. So it's been quite an eclectic um career, I guess. Um very mixed. It's extremely mixed, um been really varied, but I have absolutely thoroughly enjoyed every single bit of it. Um as I say, the current role that I have at the Innovation Park, there are no two days the same. I've got an absolutely fantastic team. And it's just great to see the businesses who come in as a very young business, and then you see them going through their business journey and you are with them every step of the way. Um and it's just it's a really nice thing to see one business in particular that really does um spring spring to mind is symbiosis. Um I'm sure Colin Mackay, the chief exec, won't mind me speaking about him. But Colin joined Innovation Park um himself, and we we saw the potential in Colin's pharmaceutical business. Um and he was in a room probably not much bigger than the um podcast studio, um, and he now has around 140 employees.
SPEAKER_00:Fantastic.
SPEAKER_01:So it's just great to have been with Colin through his business journey, and I think that's what I get a lot of satisfaction out of his own.
SPEAKER_00:He's expanded across to other parts of Spain as well.
SPEAKER_01:Um down to Castle Business Park as well. So he's still with us on the park, but he's also at Castle. And it's these kind of stories when you see the businesses that start off very small and then they flourish. They're bringing jobs to the area, economic growth, and to feel that we were part of his journey, I think is really nice. Um as I say, I think that's why I've enjoyed being at the innovation park for so long.
SPEAKER_00:Future guest on the podcast.
SPEAKER_01:I think Colin would be a great future guest on the podcast, as would many of my tenants be, I have to say. Because they've all got such a great story to tell and where they've come from and what they're contributing to the local economy and the Scottish economy. Um shouldn't be underestimated either. Um Brilliant.
SPEAKER_00:So rolling forward, there's no way that you were in that role for 20 years. But rolling forward, you uh you took upon upon the role of uh the chief executive and president of the Fourth Valley Chambers. How did that come about?
SPEAKER_01:Um well that came about ten years ago. Um ten years ago I was appointed to be a non-exec director uh for Fourth Valley Chamber. I fulfilled that role for three years, and at the end of my three years I had decided that I wanted to move on from that particular uh directorship and give that up. Um however, at that moment in time the then president and chief exec were also leaving the chamber. So the board had asked me if I would uh not leave and and try and um you know step in and um review the chamber and see where we could take it in the Fourth Valley area. I had quite a strong footing at that point within the Fourth Valley um within the Fourth Valley area. Uh but they then asked me if I would step in and do that. So I did, and I said do it for a yeah. Um review it, nail the proposition, try and see if we can get a few more members. Uh I'd do it for a year, and that was seven years ago. Um still here.
SPEAKER_00:Fantastic. We're all very glad.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, oh thank you for that. Uh but again I must say it's very much like my my Innovation Park role, where no two days are the same. Thoroughly enjoy working with all the chamber members and and really growing it. Uh we're up to about 350 members now, uh which is just fantastic. Um and again, over the years of running the chamber, I've had an absolutely fantastic team of people who have obviously been with me and then left again. Uh what I really do like to work with as students. So bring them in, give them real life work experience um associated with third degree programmes, and then when they graduate, they can then hopefully go on and you know get into a career and stand them in good steed, obviously, from being in the chamber and having some really good real life work experience. And you possibly can remember, you know, Christy, etc. We had David, um Olivia as well, and we've also got um Abby and Megan just now, so it's been a real team effort. And I think having such a a young workforce as well helps me as well, a lot of the new trends, a lot of the new social media, etc. So from that point of view, podcasting has just been absolutely brilliant. Um and uh yeah, I'm I'm just thrilled that you know we've kind of stuck to that and we've managed to help a lot of these students along their career journey.
SPEAKER_00:Testament to you there as well, then, because uh as you say, I I've I've met several of these students over the last couple of years as they've been coming through the uh you know, doing the roles and functions that they've been doing within the chambers, and I've seen them grow significantly, you know, in the role, um in confidence, um, and that obviously starts with you giving them that opportunity and surrounding them with um entrepreneurs and and and and and business business owners, right? So, you know, that I've definitely I've got a lot of time for uh all of all of your employees that you've brought through um over the last couple of years. The saddest thing is they have to leave at some point. And that must be difficult um to keep that uh to keep that going.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, that that that is the difficult thing. Um because you know you've only got them for a certain period of time and then they will move on. Uh but you've just got to try and keep that pipeline um, you know, populated with good people that you can bring in. Um and I must say, you know, I I do think that the the young workforce that we've had has really helped us to grow to grow the chamber. We've helped to grow them on their career journey, but they've also helped us grow the chamber as well, which I'm very, very fortunate to have. And also within the Innovation Park, uh we have the same ethos there that we like to take on students as well. And again, real life work experience and build them up and then when they graduate they then flee and they go on and do other things as well. But they've got that really good grounding. Yeah. And again, the Innovation Park and the Chamber, the kind of businesses that they are, they're getting to meet lots and lots of people. So they're getting to build up the knowledge of the businesses, the business types, what kind of jobs are available within those businesses, and they may not have had that before. Um so from that point of view, it's it's a really nice thing to do for them. I want to give something back at this stage in my life because I feel I've been helped a lot throughout my um career, because it's been quite eclectic, you know, as we've said. Um so for me that's about me giving something back as well by bringing on students and helping them and share their knowledge and resource with them. So yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Good. And how do you typically react with other business support functions within the the within Sterling and the Widerford Valley? So I'm thinking of the likes of Business Gateway, Council, etc. How do you typically operate as a model there?
SPEAKER_01:Um again, through the chapter and innovation part, we've got a really good relationship with all the business gateways, all the business support um agencies. Um we we sit on lots of different boards and committees so that we are representing the chamber members and our tenants as well, um, within Stirling Clax and within Falkirk as well. Um so we meet them regularly. We get kept up to date with a lot of their initiatives and programmes, and we make sure that we can roll that information out to the chamber base and also the Innovation Park tenants as well. So it's making sure that we are keeping them up to date as possible with everything that's going on within the Force Valley area is going to help their business flourish. And that's what we're there to do at the end of the day, I see. Um we've got a very good relationship with all of them. I will say as well that the business gateways refer quite a few of their clients onto us as well to join the chamber. So from that point of view, that helps with our membership as well. So you know, we're we're delighted um that we've got such a good relationship with them. And they feel comfortable enough as well to refer their clients onto us as another business support mechanism to help businesses in their business journey.
SPEAKER_00:Great. Okay. So what would you say your objectives for the next 12 months or then for the chambers? What what is it you'd like to see this time next year, looking back having been implemented and put in place?
SPEAKER_01:I think for me it is continuing to grow the chamber. Now that doesn't always mean grow by numbers, because we are at 350 members at the moment. We're by no means the biggest chamber across Scotland, but we're by no means the smallest either. But I think what I especially pride myself in with the chamber is that I like to be able to walk into an event that we are running and I know everybody. So that takes a bit of time. But for me, I want to make sure that our chamber members are engaged. Now, don't get me wrong, you've always got a few that maybe don't engage as much as we would like them to, but on the whole, the majority of our members do engage with us. So for me, it's about making sure that I have got enough events going on, enough opportunities to engage with our members, to get them out of their offices, to come along to events, to meet people, to help grow their business, to help grow their profile, and to help build trust with the other chamber members that if you have a an issue within your company or a product or service that you might want to buy, then you would think about that resource as being within the chamber network. Um so for for me it is about growing the network and about growing the chamber membership, but I want to make sure that I don't grow too big too fast. So that for me is really important. But I want to make sure that our members stay well informed about everything that's going on within uh government, within the local area, and everything that can help their business. And I feel that that is my job within the chamber to make sure that I'm up to date so that we can make sure that we're disseminating that information to our members in a very timely manner. Um so that for me is what the Chamber and Forth Valley is about on the ground at a very local level. Um
SPEAKER_00:I've seen it firsthand and testament to kind of what you've just been talking about is that you know several of the chamber members have chosen to base their businesses here in this building. Um, you know, being in the heart of the city centre of Sterling is obviously quite uh you know quite practical, you know, in terms of accessibility and all of you. And um the great thing is we want multiple uh members who are based here um running their businesses, very successful businesses from this building. But the great thing of having that community is they're all kind of leveraging each other's capabilities and you know for the better good. So people who aren't necessarily in the chambers inside of the building and outside of the building, they're interacting and doing business with and the the community is just growing as a result of that. And guess what? They become a bit of a recruitment platform to bring those other third parties into the chambers, which I'm I'm I'm sure you you've probably seen some kind of fruits of.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, I have, I have. And I'm very grateful to yourself, Neil and Paul, um, you know, for flying the flag for the chamber. Um, you know, and we do get referrals from you um as well, which we're delighted about. So yeah, thank you for that. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, it it does feel like a gr like a like a family, right? It genuinely feels like I don't know if the other chambers are operating the same way, but um it does feel like everybody's got each other's back. And that's the environment, the culture, everything that um you know that that goes to it. Just just before we kind of wrap up, Lynn, what types of events um do you run to try and kind of foster that collaboration?
SPEAKER_01:Um we have three um networking events that we run a month um as an absolute minimum. Um and then beyond that, we we run um a series of other events where it might just be a breakfast session or a lunchtime session, a lunchtime learning um session where we are bringing in chamber members who have got an expertise in a certain area to impart their knowledge on that subject area for an hour or so to chamber.
SPEAKER_00:It could be cybersecurity.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, exactly. And again, it's helping our chamber members build their profile, do these events for us, and then hopefully from that they may get some engagement from the membership. And we're also looking at running some um chamber insight roundtables as well, where I will bring in uh a topical um business um speaker from a certain sector, and we may have an intimate lunch or dinner of twelve members who they can come along to that and then ask questions of that particular business speaker. Um and we are looking at certain sectors for that as well. Um so we're looking at running them. Um and we do our Let's Network After Dark session, which is just um that was launched in February. A lot of our chamber members have said they can't make the early breakfast events, which is understandable. So we then launched Let's Network After Dark in February. Um we've run three so far, and the latest one was here at King Street Apart Hotel last Thursday evening. We had around 40, 50 people here. It was fantastic, so thank you for hosting. Uh Neil and Paul. Um again, it's just a very short couple of hours networking, um, meet your members, you know, uh come along for a a drink and a and um and some nibbles, etc. Um and again it's about helping just to build trust and profile. Um, you know, once you start to meet somebody over and over again, you then get to know their business.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Can you do business with that person? Let's keep it local. Um, and that is what our chamber is certainly about. It's about building a community, as you said earlier. Um and I know it maybe sounds a bit cheesy, but I do think Fourth Valley Chamber is a bit of a family. Um we we we do um, as I say, pride ourselves on knowing all of our members. Um and yes, it is a bit like a a family. And the hub club, not coined by us, but this phrase was coined by the members themselves. It's friends helping friends, um, and I would certainly agree with that. Um and that there has been a lot of help given, a lot of help and support given um across the chamber members. Um and we also have uh a new collective going as well. You you you may know this yourself, but um I think five or six members who never knew each other, all with different backgrounds, they didn't know each other until they joined the Chamber Network. They they then hit it off and they realized that their skills were complementary and they have now started a little collective themselves, they meet on a monthly basis and they apply for um proposals, projects, etc. And they have actually secured a couple of um projects and they're working on them jointly. And as they said, they wouldn't have done this because they didn't know each other before they joined the Chamber Network. Um and for me, I think that is just absolutely brilliant. They've came along to these events, they've built up the trust, they've built up the profile, and they've decided I want to work with you. And they've built this collective up and it's going brilliantly. So for me, um I'm very proud that the chamber has played a little part in bringing them together. And I think that's what the chamber is about.
SPEAKER_00:So how can people find out more about the chamber, reach out, uh become a member? What what what's the process?
SPEAKER_01:Um they can become a member by applying online at uh fourthfamilychamber.co.uk or they can equally um email um info at fourthfamilychamber.co.uk um and ask to meet with myself and I I can go along and tell them all about the chamber, all about the benefits. Um or they can give us a call as well and the numbers on on the website. But um always happy to sit down and talk with um someone about joining the chamber. Well, not for every business out there potentially, but um I'm more than happy to go out uh and and speak to the the businesses themselves and uh hopefully they'll join us and uh be part of this Fourth Valley family.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, well thank you, Lynn. Really appreciate your time today. Uh very insightful for those that didn't know what the chamber was. I didn't know what the chamber was, what what it consisted of two years ago when I joined. Uh but I must say I'm delighted that I did. And uh, you know, Paul's also part of the chamber now as well, my uh business partner, and we get we get tons of value from it. So uh all I could say is keep doing what you're doing. And um, you know, fantastic. Thank you.
SPEAKER_01:Thank you very much, Neil. It's been an honour to be part of your uh podcast series today, and I wish you and uh Paul all the best with King Street Apartmentel. It's a fantastic addition to Sterling and the Fourth Valley area, and I wish you all the best. Thank you.
SPEAKER_00:Thank you, Lynn. Uh thank you for uh attending this week's podcast, uh Sterling Business Podcast, with our guest uh Lynn Harris, CEO and president of the Fourth Valley Chambers of Commerce. Um very insightful conversation and um looking forward to bringing you more guests in the not too distant future. Uh business owners, uh business institutions, and and uh different functions supporting business across Sterling. So until next week, uh we'll speak to you very soon.