London Olympics Offer $1 Billion Opportunity for Small Business
Chairman of the London Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games Sebastian Coe. Photographer: Michael Crabtree/Bloomberg
With two years to go to the London 2012 Olympic Games, about 700 million pounds ($1.1 billion) of contracts are available for small companies, Lloyds Banking Group Plc said.
“Down the supply chain, there are still a lot of opportunities,” Chris Daniels, head of the bank’s London 2012 business team, said in an interview. “A little less than 700 million pounds is still up for grabs.”
There are contracts available for companies from all over the country, in sectors as varied as human resources, artistic performance, sports equipment, security, retail and merchandising, Daniels said.
Preparations for the London Olympics remain on schedule even as the U.K. goes through its biggest budget reductions since the Second World War, Games organizers said.
“We’re in a good position,” Sebastian Coe, chairman of the London Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games, said on a conference call on July 23. “Infrastructure and revenue-wise, we’re in very good shape. It shows the confidence of the British people in what we’re doing.”
The local operating committee is halfway through its merchandising contracts to make 75 different items, such as cufflinks and mascots. Contracts have been issued to around 40 companies, according to Lloyds.
The two-year countdown to the Olympics was marked last weekend with 975 events across the U.K., ranging from sports to dance and the arts.
Olympic Project
Today, Olympic track gold medalist Michael Johnson will sprint on a temporary track in the Olympic stadium in east London. Former National Basketball Association player John Amaechi will be shooting into a temporary hoop in the arena that will host the sport.
“The Olympic project is as valid today, as the economy is at a low ebb, as it was when we won the bid and the economy was at a high-water mark, and I would argue that it is even more important now,” Coe said. “It was always our goal to deliver a sustainable and responsibly delivered Games. That hasn’t changed.”
The London organizing committee has an operational budget of 2 billion pounds, most of which will be raised from the private sector. Sponsors include Coca-Cola Co., Visa Inc., BT Group Plc and Lloyds TSB.
“In many ways, the Olympics are the only one good news story in town,” Daniels said. The Olympics aren’t just benefiting companies throughout 2012, but also beyond that, he added.
Opportunities
“If we can do the Olympic Games and the Commonwealth Games, when Rio comes around in 2016 or the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, top companies are in pole position to win contracts abroad,” Daniels said. “We’re seeing that already.”
Information about business opportunities is posted on the London 2012 website. Daniels said more than 120,000 businesses have registered with CompeteFor, which is the main gateway to London 2012 contracts.
To contact the reporter on this story: Danielle Rossingh at the London sports desk at drossingh@bloomberg.net
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