BEI Weekly Update
Jan 21, 2022

BEI Weekly Update — 21st January 2022

Dear Members and Friends,

Before 2021 becomes a distant memory, we would like to pause and reflect on the activity we were involved in. Last year was certainly challenging as we all spent much of the year in some form of lockdown; but this did not hinder us in terms of the volume, diversity and quality of events we were able to host on behalf of our members. We also made great progress in publishing four reports across the year that help to articulate and amplify the capabilities of our members in Education and Climate Change.

Our Annual Yearbook provides a useful summary of all the activities run from our base at 23 Grafton Street. As ever, the activity it captures would not be possible without the great speakers we are able to host, our members and networks — whose participation make the events rich and rewarding for all concerned. You can access a copy of the Yearbook here; please share it with colleagues who may be interested.

Our sister organisations The D Group and the British Foreign Policy Group also had a busy year, with a strong mix of events and content outputs that tackled the key issues facing their stakeholders.

This week, we have hosted two sessions on themes that will be critical in the coming years — Global Health, as we gradually recover from the pandemic, and climate-related resilience, as we adapt to live with & evolve to fight climate change.

On Wednesday 19th January: Darren Welch, the FCDO Director of Global Health shared his insights on FCDO’s global health priorities in an ever-changing world and growing global health challenges. These included ending the covid pandemic crisis phase, heath systems strengthening, and global heath security.

On Thursday 20th January: we hosted an event on Resilient Cities & Infrastructure: The Mexico Series, the first of a series of in-depth discussions on opportunities for UK companies in Mexico in collaboration with Department for International Trade (DIT) Mexico Team. They discussed Mexico’s rapid urbanization and growing industrial sector which has positioned it as the second largest economy in Latin America. Also discussed was its vast natural resources and dynamic manufacturing capabilities which have generated many business opportunities.

However, the challenges were also discussed; growth poses challenges as to how it can foster the growth of resilient and sustainable cities going forward. Local stakeholders are searching for clean solutions to boost their cities’ ability to fight climate change.

Next week, we will be hosting two events, as follows:

On Tuesday 25th January: we will resume our Deep Dive Series with a focus on Armenia and presentations from British Ambassador to Armenia, HE John Gallagher and his team. The Ambassador and will provide an overview of doing business in Armenia as well as sectors and areas of opportunity for UK companies in Armenia such as transport, business services, ICT, and education.

Unfortunately, the Clean Green Initiative event scheduled for Wednesday 26th January has been postponed and we will let members know when we reschedule a new date.

On Thursday 27th January: we will be hosting our annual event Doing Business with the European Bank for reconstruction and Development (EBRD). Join us to hear more about navigating the procurement processes and EBRD’s sectors of focus, including infrastructure, agribusiness, energy, transport, and natural resources.

For full details on all upcoming events visit our website here.

Finally, as the restrictions begin to ease, we look forward to the opportunities to engage with you more regularly in person.

With Best Wishes
Derrick

Derrick Sanyahumbi
Chief Executive Officer
British Expertise International

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, D&I, and we also support a Safeguarding Leads Network. For details contact Joe McLynn

Join our LinkedIn Group and keep up with our news and our upcoming events highlights. Members can also post and share latest news and thought leadership. Join the group here.

Recruitment Board
Take advantage of the new Job Board on our website to post your organisation’s vacancies, currently this facility is available for free.

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*.

25th January — Armenia Deep Dive

27th January — Doing Business & Opportunities with the EBRD

8th February — Meet the Trade Envoy for Mongolia Daniel Kawczynski MP

9th February — The Business Case for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion

10th February — Lunch with Louis Taylor, CEO of UK Export Finance

15th February* — Morocco Deep Dive

22nd February — Roundtable with Prime Minister’s Trade Envoy to South Africa — Andrew Selous MP

23rd February — Opportunities for UK Companies in Nigeria

23rd March — Meet the Trade Commissioner for South Asia, Alan Gemmell

External News & Events

21st — 25th February — The UK/SG Innovation Partnership Series — Smart Cities, Green Tech, and Circular Economy- DIT in collaboration with the UK Science and Innovation Network (SIN) and Tech Nation, will host a virtual trade mission to Singapore. Apply to participate here.

22nd –24th February — The Department of International Trade is taking a Smart Cities mission to Malaysia. If you would like to attend, please register here.

25th — 29th AprilSpatial 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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