Finnair hosts event on Asia and the future of Manchester, unveils brand ambassadors in the UK.

Manchester executives gathered at the Radisson Edwardian hotel yesterday for a
workshop on the future of Manchester and the global economy hosted by Finnair. 
The workshop's keynote speaker, Rohit Talwar, has been profiled by the UK's
Independent newspaper as one of the top ten global futurists. 

The discussion focused on how North West enterprises could benefit and make the
most of opportunities arising from the swiftly developing Asian economies. Held
at the Radisson Edwardian in Manchester, the event was hosted by Finnair in
association with UK Trade & Investment North West (UKTI NW) and Manchester
Airport. 

Christer Haglund, Senior Vice-President of Communications of Finnair, unveiled
the airline's new Local Hero campaign. The new campaign features Imran Hakim,
highly successful Dragons' Den entrepreneur and adviser to the UK government's
Young Britain initiative and the award-winning conservatoire the Royal Northern
College of Music as Finnair's brand ambassadors in the UK. 

Other speakers at the workshop included Philomena Chen, Head of Asia-Pacific
Development at UKTI NW and Andrew Harrison, Commercial Director of Manchester
Airport.  The breakfast event featured live performances by the talented
musicians of RNCM. 

Finnair is sponsoring the RNCM's China development programme, offering the
conservatoire its fast, conveniently scheduled routes from Manchester to
Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong via hassle-free connections at Helsinki's
award-winning Airport. 

New UK brand ambassadors for Finnair 

Professor Malcolm Layfield, Head of the RNCM School of Strings, describes
Finnair's partnership with the conservatoire as “the most supportive role that
could possibly be played in this whole venture. The fact that Finnair can be so
imaginative as to enable people to actually have this great musical dialogue is
fantastically visionary.” 

The Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM) is actively recruiting young
musicians from China. The conservatoire's latest initiative is the launch of
the RNCM International Music Competition for Violin and Piano, a new forum and
performance opportunity for rising Chinese talent. The competition responds to
the boom of Western classical music in China, where an astounding 45 million
Chinese children are currently learning the piano, with another 17 million
studying the violin. 

Imran Hakim is known to millions in the UK as the young entrepreneur who
secured capital for his novel iTeddy interactive toy on the Dragons' Den TV
series on BBC2. Hakim made his fortune at a young age and is passionate about
bright new business ideas. He shared his view that some of the most promising
markets for young entrepreneurs to explore lie to the East, in the booming
nations of Asia. 

“To make the most of this potential, today's business people have to be
globally-minded. The Asian dimension offers enormous prospects, especially for
those with big ideas and the determination to make them come true.” 

“If you're doing business in China and India, it's absolutely vital to be there
on the ground”, adds Hakim. “When you're shuttling back and forth from China as
I was with iTeddy, you absolutely need the shortest flight times, smoother
connections and convenient schedules.” 

Hakim and RNCM will star in Finnair's advertising campaigns in the UK, in
in-flight entertainment, and in editorial features in Bluewings, the in-flight
magazine of Finnair. They will also appear at various Finnair events throughout
the year.  To find out more about the Local Heroes, visit
www.finnair.com/profiles. 

Finnair is Manchester's Fast Airline to Asia offering some of the best transit
and flight times to nine cities in China, Japan, India, South Korea and
Thailand. Finnair fly twice daily from Manchester airport and four times daily
from Heathrow in the UK via Helsinki to the Far East. 

Finnair Plc Communications 

For UK press enquiries please contact Sarah Gormley at
finnair@madeinmanchester.tv or 07919 886488. 
For more information on the Local Heroes see www.finnair.com/profiles

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Photobank:www.finnair.com/gallery                                              
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