One small step.
Literally.
The wee wooden box in the village corner shop was the elevator into a world of sherbet flying saucers, kola cubes and strawberry laces.
All stuffed into a paper bag and lucky to survive the hundred yard journey to the start of school, let alone until mid-morning break-time.
And while hardly a giant leap for the world of commerce it was, unbeknownst to the Letham lad on his way to primary, also a first five-penny poke foray into the world of shop local.
Alongside a timely check-up reminder of the legacy of said kola cubes and assorted other dentine-destroying delights, the importance of local spend on a much more significant scale was high up this week’s news agenda.
From the dentist’s chair I headed to an Angus Council committee where councillors hailed a procurement spend of more than £100 million by the authority last year – with the good news that more than a third of that figure went into the coffers of locally-based third-party suppliers.
It’s a stat which puts Angus in the top six of Scotland’s 32-strong council league, but council finance spokesman Angus Macmillan Douglas has challenged local companies to go even greater in their pursuit of council cash and would like to see the percentage figure rise to as much as half.
Council finance chiefs also agree it’s a case of ‘could do better’, particularly in the field of collaborative procurement which is currently on the wrong-side of an 80/20 split.
Just 48 hours later came the news the Port of Dundee has landed the windfall bonanza for the assembly of all 54 turbines in the Neart Na Gaoithe offshore renewable energy array in the Firth of Forth.
It is hoped the employment spin-off from the £1.8 billion could be more than 300 jobs, with the EDF vote of confidence capping a 2019 laden with economy-boosting announcements connected to the port.
Undoubtedly the news will also bring with it a barrowload of procurement opportunities, similar to those available through the other major windfarm development off the coast of Courier Country, the £6billion, 114-turbine Seagreen scheme.
Meet the buyer events connected to the SSE Renewables project have already drawn interest from more than 200 firms hopeful of securing work.
As a classroom-bound laddie once learned – the rewards are there if you are prepared to step up.
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