"We've the economy bottom out in early May with indicators all around us that the recovery has started, confidence is driving an upswing in all market sectors." With a positive outlook ahead, Frost & Sullivan's Chairman David Frigstad inspired the 120 plus CEOs and their growth teams that gathered in London a few weeks ago for GIL 2009: Europe, Growth, Innovation and Leadership Congress on Corporate Growth. GIL Global is the industry's only event designed to support senior executives in their efforts to achieve sustainable, top-line growth. "The real purpose of GIL is to focus on the CEO's number one top priority: growth and now more than ever CEOs need to stay focused on their growth strategies," said Frigstad.
Frigstad's view of the current economic climate seemed to be shared by many industry luminaries in attendance providing their perspectives as growth thought leaders with congress participants. Holger Schmieding, Bank of America's Chief Economist, confirmed that between April and May we reached the bottom: "Things cannot get any worse," says Schmieding, "We will have a long time to deal with the consequences. There will be debris, but there are good news and good prospects in the long term." Frigstad stated: "There is a tremendous amount of opportunities out there through industry convergence. One of the great advantages of bringing industries together and get them to network is to see what the key issues are impacting all the industries across the board and how to create opportunities to drive growth."