The meeting is on Monday 12 May 6 – 8 pm at the Holiday Inn, Cartwright Drive, Fareham, PO15 5RJ       [Get directions]

Food and refreshments and networking at 18.00. Presentation at 18.45

 

The event is on ‘Different Cultures - Different businesses?".

Two speakers will be presenting the difference between the Chinese and British as well as the difference between the Arab and British way of doing business.

‘Chinese checkers’ by Chris Lowsley

‘Working in the Middle East is a pleasure – if you know the tricks of the trade’ by Maha El-Metwally

Chris Lowsley has 30 years practical experience in developing international export business particularly in Hong Kong, Taiwan and China.  He spent 15 years managing Sales Service and distribution networks in Asia-Pacific for automotive and construction machinery products for American and British multi-nationals
For nine years he was director of the Anglo-Taiwan Trade Committee and managed the national promotional programme in the UK and has written a guide to doing business in Taiwan and contributed to the current China business guide issued by UKTI.
As the China Business Adviser for UKTI southeast Chris continues to lead business missions to China and provide strategic guidance and practical advice to companies looking to sell, buy or set up in business in China.

Maha El-Metwally has a Master's degree in International Relations, and has progressed her career with international organisations in a number of Arab and European countries. Her travels and interaction with different cultures gave her a wealth of knowledge of cross cultural communication which she now uses to help Western businesses overcome the cultural barriers of doing business in Arab countries.

 

Please come along and bring any of your colleagues and other business people who would be interested. We will be very pleased to welcome you.

Refreshments and food will be provided at £10 per person for non-members, £5 for members, payable at the door. To register your attendance (and pay in advance) please click on the "booking"button" at the top of the page. Please come along and for those of you in the service sector, please bring any of your clients and other business people who would be interested. We will be very pleased to welcome you.

 

Location and details on speakers TBA

 

We announced that the SCITF will be doing at least 4 events per year... we have a fifth one for you on the planning pipeline for 2008!

Even more value for the members or for becoming a member...

This event is likely to take place in the New Forest/Bournemouth. The subject covered will be how to win business with international organisations, or business financed by international organisation such as the United Nations, the European Union.

A lot is done in developing countries by NGO's, how do you get a piece of the activity?

More information Coming Soon!

 

6-8 pm - Fareham Holiday Inn, PO15 5RJ       [Get directions]

Cost: £10 for all (pay at the door or via the Paypal system below)

Please click on the "Book!" button to reserve a place.

 

The speaker will be Mr David Tinsley, UK Economist with nabCapital, who will talk on "The prolonged Dollar Weakness and UK-based SMEs'. This covers not just the USA, but also other countries whose currencies are linked to the dollar.

The Continuing fall in the dollar against the sterling and other currencies is helping American exports but has made it increasingly difficult for UK companies to the USA.

To Explain what has been happening, why, and what the short-term future holds, we are pleased to have as guest speaker Mr David Tinsley, UK Economist with nabCapital, a division of National Australia Bank Ltd and a sister company of Clydesdale Bank PLC

After graduating from Cambridge University with a First Class honours degree and a MPhil in Economics, David joined the Bank of England as an economist. There, he acquired extensive experience working on economic policy issues in the Monetary Stability area of the Bank, particularly the UK forecast, the international economy (he was responsible for Euro Area monitoring and assessment) and analysis of the UK labour market. He also conducted a number of longer-term research projects, two of which were subsequently published as Bank of England Working Papers.

After 6 years with the Bank he joined Oxford Economic Forecasting as Senior Economist where he was responsible for forecasting and commentating on the German and Japanese economies, which involved providing monthly updates on OEF's main forecast model, writing regular weekly and monthly research pieces and presenting analysis at conferences. He also managed and undertook numerous contract consultancy projects, on models to plot regional house prices, the impact of excise duty on the beer market, the sales of consumer durables and the effects of liberalising Europe's mortgage market.

In 2005 he moved to the Employment Market Analysis and Research Branch of the Department of Trade and Industry as Deputy Director, with overarching responsibility for the strategic development and direction of the evidence base for current and future UK labour market policy. Concurrent to this role, he was semior Economist, leading the team of economists and statisticans and conducting cost/benefit analyses of Government proposals on various employment and labour issues.

Please plan to arrive at 6.00pm for refreshments in a friendly networking environment. The presentation will commence at 7.00pm and the meeting will conclude by 8.00pm.

 

 

Following on from our well attended and highly enjoyable launch event in March, we would like to invite you to our next meeting,

‘The Pragmatics of Doing Business in Russia’

The meeting is on Monday 12 May 6 – 8 pm at the Holiday Inn, Cartwright Drive, Fareham, PO15 5RJ       [Get directions]

This event is sponsored by Hampshire County Council

Food and refreshments and networking at 18.00. Presentation at 18.45

Trade between Russia and the UK has increased significantly in the last few years, and this is expected to continue. The challenges of market entry should not be underestimated, however, and this meeting will address these issues. Provided the country pushes through a range of institutional and economic reforms needed to complete transition to a stable, rules-based economy, it remains a long-term market of great potential for UK exporters and investors.

We are pleased to have as Guest Speakers two people who have a wealth of experience of working with this vast market. David Cant is MD of Albion Overseas. He is a fluent Russian speaker, a frequent business traveller to Russia, and commentator in the media. He has worked in Russia for his entire career, starting in the late 1980s, as the USSR representative of a USA trading company. Based in Moscow, he rose to the position of CIS Director, and ran their Russian office through some of the most turbulent times in Russia’s recent past, (including a coup, the subsequent dissolution of the USSR, and the uneasy transition from a command to demand economy). In the mid-nineties, he returned to the UK and became an Export Promoter, seconded to the DTI, and this was followed by seven years as MD of the Russo-British Chamber of Commerce (RBCC). While at the RBCC, David founded Albion (Overseas) Ltd, a trading company and consultancy. David is also a director of Amerol Eco-Tec, a Russian company currently constructing an oil refinery in Russia, and is also heavily involved with CGC, the corporate governance initiative.

Gary has been working in Russia since 1990 always with freight forwarding and transportation and in 1996 set up O’Grady Air Services as there was no real Russian freight specialist at the time and felt the time was ripe for something like this.

He has travelled extensively throughout Russia and continues to do so on a monthly basis. A hobby of his is chess and can always get a game.

He now has 2 offices in Russia (Moscow & St. Petersburg). The clients are a diverse mix. They are students with a few boxes of personal effects, Oligarchs with their huge works of art and also many UK manufacturers and event organisers.

Sochi in Southern Russia is now of particular interest for the company as they have won the winter Olympics for 2014 and have to literally rebuild the entire city.

Please come along and bring any of your colleagues and other business people who would be interested. We will be very pleased to welcome you.

Refreshments and food will be provided.

The cost of attending is £20 for non-members and £10 for members per person, payable at the door. Or you can pay in advance via this website.

Membership cost £30 for exporters/importers and £50 for service providers. 1 membership per company and all your employees can attend at the members price!

Special Members benefits include:

- discount at SCITF events as well as at selected other events (at the moment £5 discount on the registration fee of the event "fundamental of Exporting taking place at Farnham Castle on 8th May - contact us by clicking here for details)

- 3 minutes presentation of your company activities, capacities and needs in front of the SCITF audience at the beginning of the event ( The SCITF committee reserves the right to select the companies presenting at each of the different events)

For details of annual membership please visit www.southcoastitf.com/membership.html