Dear Members and Friends,
This week International Women’s Day (IWD) was marked around the world against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine. We extend our prayers, sympathy and solidarity with the women and girls in Ukraine who have been forced to live through this conflict which has had a total disregard for human life.
For our part and with a focus on leadership, we were honoured and delighted to host a great panel discussion in celebration of International Women’s Day in partnership with our sister organisation, The D Group. Clare Southwell, Tamsyn Barton, Denise Bower OBE, and Sheila Flavell CBE shared their perspectives on ‘how we can better support women progressing in management and leadership roles’? Our panellists, representing some of the key sectors of focus for our members, agreed that all there was a need now, more than ever, to retain and develop female talent in mid-management and senior roles, providing flexible working policies, enabling return to work and developing nuanced feedback structures, targeted training and mentorship opportunities. Members were encouraged to have conversations around gender equity in the workplace at all levels, and to use their expertise to help change perceptions and create a more inclusive culture.
Heading into next week, we have a number of events:
On Wednesday 16th March, we look forward to welcoming Ben Llewellyn Jones, the British Deputy High Commissioner to Nigeria and the high Commission team for a virtual “Deep Dive” event on Nigeria’s market opportunities for UK companies. We look forward to insights on the ease of doing business in Nigeria, economic and political updates as well as details on some key sectors of opportunities, including in the infrastructure, education, and development. Please click here to reserve your place.
Also on Wednesday 16th March, we are hosting an in-person lunch with Kenan Poleo, HM’s Trade Commissioner for Eastern Europe and Central Asia (EECAN). During the lunch we will hear about DIT’s regional priorities and the vital role the HMTC plays in supporting British companies to leverage export opportunities throughout Eastern Europe and Central Asia. This will also be an opportunity for our members to share some of their in-market experiences as well as the challenges they face doing business in the region. Please contact our Events Team to reserve a place.
I know that our annual ‘Meet the British Ambassadors’ series is very popular with members and our networks, so I wanted to let you know that we are currently finalising the schedule — which will take place from 13th to 23rd June 2022. As we did successfully last year, and with a degree of uncertainty globally around travel, we have decided to host this series virtually. We will provide further details as soon as the dates are confirmed for the individual sessions.
On the theme of Leadership, we are in the process of confirming the line-up for our next cohort of participants in The Future Leaders Group — our initiative to help prepare potential leaders for a future C-Suite role. If you or members of your team would be interested in finding out more, please contact me or Robin Mackenzie and we will be happy to share details with you.
Finally, I noted with joy for the first time this week that we were leaving the office at the end of the day in daylight once again! I hope you manage to enjoy the longer days and slightly warmer temperature this weekend.
With Best Wishes
Derrick
Derrick Sanyahumbi
Chief Executive Officer
British Expertise International
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Don’t forget…
See our full events programme here, and to enquire about becoming a member of BEI, register your interest here.
Join our Working Groups — as part of our member focus, the working groups offer opportunities for peer-to-peer engagement, learning & sharing, profiling expertise & capabilities and highlighting thought leadership. Groups include Climate Change, Education, Infrastructure, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion, and we also support a Safeguarding Leads Network. For details contact Joe McLynn
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Take advantage of the Job Board on our website to post your organisation’s vacancies, currently this facility is available for free.
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Upcoming Events
Currently most of our events are hosted virtually and we are starting to explore face to face and hybrid event options as the government eases socialising restrictions. For any event registration support please contact the events team. Click on titles to access full event details. The full calendar of events can be viewed here and recently added event dates are highlighted with an asterisk*.
16th March — BEI Climate Change Working Group
16th March — Opportunities for UK Companies in Nigeria
16th March — Lunch with Her Majesty’s Trade Commissioner for Eastern Europe and Central Asia
22nd March — Opportunities for UK Companies in Egypt
22nd March — BEI Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Working Group
23rd March — Lunch with Vietnam’s Ambassador to the UK, His Excellency Mr Hoang Long Nguyen
31st March — Xeo Chu Exhibition: Private Viewing
4th April — BEI Education Working Group
11th April — BEI Girls’ Education Working Group
13th April — Lunch with Mike Short: Chief Scientific Advisor
20th April — Lunch with Turkey’s Ambassador to the UK, His Excellency Ümit Yalçın
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External News & Events
17 March — Clean Growth Exhibition & Reception Vietnam — for UK companies based in Vietnam, there is a reception & exhibition of UK industry expertise in clean growth sectors, to take place at the InterContinental Hotel in HCMC, 1700–2000 on 17th March. There will be a panel discussion exploring corporate action on clean growth. Contact Sam Wood for details.
21st -25th March — A market access roadshow will be taking place in the UK. One of the forums will be for UK businesses to address their concerns on barriers they’ve faced doing business in Kenya, and/or while trying to access the Kenyan market. There will also be another forum for B2B networking with Kenyan businesses seeking potential matchmaking opportunities with UK companies. To register, click here.
22nd March 09:30 — SBJBC Roundtable with The National Centre for Privatisation (NCP). NCP is responsible for managing the ambitious Saudi PPP and privatisation programme. It formulates regulations, creates privatisation frameworks, and prepares government assets and services identified for privatisation. It is also responsible for investor outreach to encourage local and international companies to participate in PPP transactions once tenders are launched. To learn more please click here or to register: Please email Cordelia Begbie at operations@sbjbc.org
24th March — The next free webinar hosted by DevelopmentAid on the topic “Doing Business with Belgian Development Agency Enabel” is taking place on the 24th of March. Please see here for more details.
Mid April (dates TBC) — British Embassy in Tashkent is inviting UK companies to attend its flagship event — Uzbek British Trade and Investment Council (UBTIC). This is the official bilateral trade and investment forum convened by the governments of the United Kingdom and Uzbekistan. For more details, please contact Komila.Khamidova@fcdo.gov.uk.
25th — 29th April — Spatial analysis in QGIS and R — An Introduction for Environmental Scientists. Running over four half-day sessions, this hands-on and interactive online course will give you an introduction to spatial data analysis in an open-source environment. For more information click here and to sign up and pay online click here.
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