2026 Annual Gala Dinner

Event

19 May 2026

President's Speech

Isle of Man Chamber of Commerce

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, honoured guests, and above all, our members.

Thank you for joining us here tonight, for our Platinum Celebration. Events like this matter not just because of the people they bring together, who are always excellent company, but because of what they represent. A moment to step back from the noise, to recognise what we have built together, and to think honestly about where we go next.

Last year I stood in front of you as we entered our 70th year as a Chamber. Seventy years of giving business a voice. Seventy years of pushing, challenging and advocating. I said then that 2026 would bring a crucial moment for our island's future. I was right. And I am glad that we spent the time preparing for it.

Over the past twelve months, Chamber has done something we have not done quite so deliberately before. We have listened systematically and discussed widely, across our sectors, across our membership, across our Gold Member community, and we have asked a simple question: what does the Isle of Man's economy actually need to thrive? What is it that will ensure that the business community of the Isle of Man will be sat here in another 70 years.

Because if we are honest, this is not about protecting what we had. It’s about deciding whether we are bold enough to build what comes next.

We have run think tanks. We have convened forums. We have challenged comfortable assumptions. What came back is not a wishlist. It is a diagnosis. Specific, evidenced, and in parts uncomfortable.

The island is not short of talent. It is not short of ambition. It is not short of ideas. What it has lacked in the recent past is a single, confident, coordinated narrative. A clear answer to the question: where does the Isle of Man sit, in a world that is changing as fast as ours is?

The aim is straightforward: to move from fragmented discussion to confident, coordinated delivery. To do this together and for the benefit of us all.

That is the work we have been doing. And tonight I want to share where it has brought us.

In March of this year, Chamber published our Future Economy paper. It sets out our strategic economic narrative for the island, drawing together the collective thinking of our members, our forums, our Gold Member discussions, and the evidence gathered across six months of structured engagement.

It builds to a single positioning statement, one that we believe reflects not just what the Isle of Man is, but where we sit on a global stage:

A Trusted Jurisdiction for Knowledge, Governance and Assurance, in a world of uncertainty. Built on Stability, Agility and a Quality of Life that is Increasingly Rare.

This is not an aspiration. It is description. This is not an aspiration, it is a description of what we already are at our best.

In a world of AI disruption, geopolitical risk, declining institutional trust, and regulatory complexity, global businesses, investors, and talented people are looking for somewhere they can depend upon. Somewhere that is credible, agile, and genuinely liveable. The Isle of Man is that place. The question facing us is whether we have the courage and coordination to say so, loudly and consistently and to the right audiences and whether we are prepared to move at the pace the future now demands.

We have identified four things the Isle of Man offers that are not easily replicated.

We are trusted as a jurisdiction, backed by decades of proven governance.
We are agile, small enough to move quickly and design solutions that larger jurisdictions simply cannot in the same timescale.
Our business community is interconnected, with a closeness between regulators, industry, and decision-makers that most jurisdictions ~~would~~ envy.
And we are liveable, genuinely, meaningfully liveable, in a way that matters more and more to the talent and businesses we need to thrive.

These are not marketing headlines. They are economic assets and we should treat them as such. Whether it is digital business, advanced manufacturing, AI-enabled services, fintech, clean technology or the wider knowledge economy, the opportunity exists here if we choose to enable it.

I want to be direct with you.

The island faces real challenges. Fragmented messaging. Risk-averse decision-making. A growing regulatory friction that is potentially diverting business to competitor jurisdictions. A lack of clear political ownership of growth-critical actions. These are not isolated complaints. They are the repeated experiences of businesses across every sector represented by Chamber.

The clear way we address this is through economic growth.

Growth that is driven not by chasing every passing trend, but by doubling down on what we genuinely, demonstrably excel at.

There are some practical things that need to change:

We need a clear, published incentives framework from Government that investors and talent can actually understand.
We need a mechanism for decisions to be made, not deferred, when opportunities arise.
We need regulatory competitiveness that is reviewed with evidence and honesty, not defensiveness.
And we need a unified country brand, one message, consistently delivered to the people and organisations who need to hear it. A message the business community can get behind, because confused messaging creates hesitation, while confidence attracts investment, talent and opportunity.

None of this is beyond us. As an island we have done this before. We have the capability. What is needed now is not another decade of discussion, but the confidence to act, decide and deliver.

Chamber's role in this is not to stand on the sidelines and commentate. Nor is it to simply produce reports that sit on shelves.

It is to lead where we can, challenge where necessary and to present solutions delivered from you, our membership, in the areas that we believe will create the maximum positive impact for our island and our businesses.

Tonight is a celebration. It is a chance to come together, to recognise the remarkable people and organisations that have shaped the Isle of Man Chamber over the past 70 years and to inspire those that will lead for the next 70. This is why our community matters.

For Chamber, this is also a moment of commitment. A commitment to move forward with confidence in what the Isle of Man is, and what it can become.

Micky Swindale, in her inaugural speech as Chamber President in 2015, called on all of us not to be Manx crabs, pulling each other down, but to be flying fish, leaping above the waves and clearing them by those vital couple of inches. Eleven years on, that challenge still stands. Perhaps it stands more urgently now than it did then, inspiring us to work together.

The opportunities are real. The positioning is clear. The talent is in this room and across our island is more than capable of getting us there.

The opportunity now is to move from fragmented initiatives to a single, confident economic narrative that guides policy, investment and action over the coming decade. We need to maintain our focus, now more than ever, in this year of distractions both internal and external to the island.

Because the jurisdictions that succeed in the next decade will not necessarily be the largest. They will be the ones able to move with clarity, confidence and pace.

With the talent in this room, and with what this island has achieved over the last 70, I have absolute confidence that we can succeed again.

But the future of the economy of this island will not be built on caution alone.

It will be built by people prepared to say yes to growth, yes to innovation and yes to backing the talent that already exists here.

We owe it to the next generation of people who will live and work here to have the confidence, clarity and courage to act.

Thank you once again for joining us this evening to celebrate. Let’s make the next year the moment the Isle of Man stopped talking about its potential – and start moving with confidence towards it.

Claire Watterson

Chamber President