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

Cost: £5 for members, £10 for non-members (pay at the door or via the Paypal system below)

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

Doing business in France and VAT in the European Union”

The speakers will share their experience of the market, what the opportunities are, what are the best ways to enter and develop in the countries, practical advice that hopefully you can act on.

 

Come and network with the other businesses attending who also have a wealth of experience and learn from their mistakes and good tips!

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.

 

 

 

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

Cost: £5 for members, £10 for non-members (pay at the door or via the Paypal system below)

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

Business through North Africa and the Maghreb” business opportunities in education & training, transport, airports, tourism and healthcare, oil and gas by Abdeslam El-Idrissi, Director of Trade Services at the Arab-British Chamber of Commerce and Tips for exporters around Letters of Credit and Guarantees – the Middle East: Sharing three decades of experience supporting exporters in 10 minutes Steve Hyams Regional International Business Director, Commercial Banking

Abdeslam El-Idrissi is Director of Trade Services at the Arab-British Chamber of Commerce ( ABCC ). He has more than 25 years experience on Arab British Trade Relations representing the views and needs of all 21 Arab League States/ He travels extensively throughout the UK, promoting the Arab World, Opportunities and Cultural understanding to British Businesses. He is also a well-known individual throughout the UK and the Arab World, with a wealth of experience.

Steve Hyams has worked with SMEs throughout the UK for the last 25 years supporting importing and exporting businesses. For the last 10 years, Steve has been involved in the successful launch by Lloyds TSB of trade finance solutions for local businesses and now manages a team in South East England supporting the international trade requirements of SMEs with turnover up to £15m.

The speakers will share their experience of the market, what the opportunities are, what are the best ways to enter and develop in the countries, practical advice that hopefully you can act on.

 

Come and network with the other businesses attending who also have a wealth of experience and learn from their mistakes and good tips!

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.

 

 

 

5.30-8 pm - Fareham Holiday Inn, PO15 5RJ       [Get directions]

Cost: £5 for members, £10 for non-members (pay at the door or via the Paypal system below)

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

We will start with our networking session as usual and then go into a very quantitative and qualitative session with different speakers coming from Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia. The event will be chaired by mr Jay Kettle Williams and Malaysia will be covered by Mr SK Lingham, Honorary president of the ASEAN UK Business Forum and Chairman of Malaysian Link

The speakers will share their experience of the market, what the opportunities are, what are the best ways to enter and develop in the countries, practical advice that hopefully you can act on.

Some of the Speakers are in post at the British Embassies as Commercial attaches and will be your first and best port of call when trying to access these countries. Grab them during the evening and bring your questions along as there is every chances you will find an answer to your problem there.

 

Come and network with the other businesses attending who also have a wealth of experience and learn from their mistakes and good tips!

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.

 

 

 

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 speakers will be covering Foreign Currency management:‘Volatile Markets - Protecting Your Profits’ by Lee Killington, Lloyds TSB Financial Markets and How to exploit opportunities in Central and Eastern Europe and International Cash Management:‘Why Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) could be an attractive market for your company’ by Brian Kennedy RZB Bank.

Lee Killington is Regional Director, South West & Wales, Financial Markets Division, Lloyds TSB Bank Plc. Lee heads up a team that is charged with providing Commercial and Large corporate clients with strategic guidance and input around the subject of risk management. One of the more volatile risks that clients are facing now and in the future is that of currency management. Lee and his team have a number of solutions that can be adopted to mitigate these risks, whilst having a good understanding of the current markets conditions and forecasts for GBP vs. other currencies going forward.

Brian Kennedy is Senior Advisor, Head of Corporate Business, RZB Austria London Branch. RZB, which through its subsidiary, Raiffeisen International (RI), operates one of the largest banking networks in Central & Eastern Europe (CEE).
He has extensive experience of the UK and International Banking markets with expertise in Corporate Banking, Financial Institutions, and Trade & Commodity Finance business areas.
Brian believes the current credit crunch or economic crisis is the most challenging he has seen to date; not only for banks and companies but also for individuals too. He knows very well how vital it is for companies to effectively manage all the working capital that is available to them. At present he is actively promoting RZB Group’s CEE business/activities to UK and Irish companies.

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

Cost: £10 for Non-Members, £5 for Members (pay at the door or via the Paypal system)

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

This event is sponsored by UK Trade & Investment

 

2 speakers bringing different views on developing business in India.

Julian Strech, OBE.

He was retained as a Business Adviser from 1999 to 2007 by UK Trade & Investment where he provided support and assistance to UK companies wishing to enter and do business in India.  He is chairman of the UK/India JETCO high technology working group. He is a non executive director of GTFC, a Chennai based manufacturing company and on the advisory board of MLS Chase, a London based law firm with significant interests in both India and China. He also briefs a number of FTSE 100 companies on doing business in India.
 
From 1995 to 1999 he was director of international operations for Vax International Ltd, a British domestic appliance manufacturer. Prior to that he spent 25 years with Rank Xerox Ltd in the UK and overseas, including managing the company's operations in South Asia, Eastern Europe, Russia and Saudi Arabia.

Julian helped establish Xerox in India with a manufacturing and marketing joint venture with Modis. Subsequently with Vax he established a joint venture with Videocon - one of India's leading domestic appliance manufacturers.

From 1988 to 1992 he was chairman of the then British Overseas Trade Board's area advisory group for south Asia.  He was awarded the OBE for services to exports in 1992.

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Our Second speaker is Dr Sampuran Singh,
He has a highly entrepreneurial approach to business which has led successfully to the creation of the Chilworth Group, of which he is the Chairman. The Group now consists of eight companies set-up around the world - UK, USA, Italy, India, France and Spain.
He is a Director of the Board of all Chilworth subsidiaries having a key business development and entrepreneurial role to strategically drive the companies.
He has over 30 years of research, consultancy and business experience in technology areas. Sampuran has a comprehensive range of experience in working with a range of industries in Europe, Asia and the USA. He has managed major research projects funded by the EEC and DTI and lectured in Europe, USA, China, Japan, Malaysia and India.

Sampuran has served as an Honorary Secretary of Static Electrification Group (Institute of Physics) and as Technical Editor of the British Standards Committee on the revision of “Control of Undesirable Static Electricity, BS5958”. He has published technical papers and Edited Electrostatics Conference Series No.66, published by the Institute of Physics.

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Do you know about UK Trade & Investment?

They support businesses going international, from mentoring, export readiness, communication review, funding support to business missions, support through their teams in the various Embassies around the world - The entry point to any oversea's venture!

Your local team: www.uktisoutheast.com

 

 

The meeting is on Monday 8th September 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.

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

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.