Dear Members and Friends,
We continue, like many of you to keep a close eye on activities in the Ukraine. Our hope remains that a peaceful resolution can be achieved, and the human and economic impact of a conflict can be avoided.
I continue to be encouraged by the activities and outputs of our working groups and am in awe of the depth and breadth of expertise our members drawn from all corners of the UK, deliver internationally in the wide range of sectors that we focus on. The groups currently cover; Climate Change, Education, Infrastructure, Climate Finance and Equity, Diversity & Inclusion (EDI). If you would like to learn more about these groups, do reach out to me.
This week, we were delighted to host HE Simon Martin CMG, the British Ambassador to Morocco, who gave his insights into the political landscape and a brief economic overview. We also heard from Department for International Trade (DIT) Country Director for Morocco, Chris Woodward, who spoke about doing business in Morocco and how UK companies can leverage the wide range of opportunities this market offers. Rachid Ennassiri, Climate Change Policy Manager, highlighted some of the opportunities in climate resilience and the renewables sector. Tamir Ismail, DIT Africa Education Sector Director, along with the British Council Director for Morocco, Tony Reilly, briefed members on the many opportunities in the education space. The recording and slides are available to members on our website.
On Wednesday, our Climate Change Working group met and received a great presentation from Ricardo on the Climate Finance Accelerator, a BEIS funded four-year project that aims to support eight middle income countries in developing sustainable pipelines of bankable low carbon projects and identifying suitable financing options. The four subgroups also provided updates on their activities, and we look forward to continuing to develop the Working Group.
Over the next few weeks, we look forward to continuing our Trade Envoy series with two additional sessions:
On 22nd February, we will host a roundtable with the PM’s Trade Envoy to South Africa — Andrew Selous MP. South Africa is attractive for UK companies because of similar financial and legal systems, a familiar business culture where English is the business language and a time difference that is never more than 2 hours. In fact, the UK is one of South Africa’s most significant trading partners with over £7 billion in two-way trade in goods and services. In a recent survey conducted by UK Trade& Investment, the British government’s international business development agency, South Africa was ranked fourth in a top 10 list of new wave investment markets. This is a member only event, and is proving to be very popular, and if you would like to register your interest to join, please contact Ella.
On 1st March we look forward to a roundtable with the our PM’s Trade Envoy to Morocco — Dr Andrew Murrison MP. Morocco has opened up opportunities for British business across Infrastructure and Education. In Infrastructure, Morocco’s relatively strong governance and regulatory frameworks are creating investment opportunities in the future. Coupled with this, Morocco’s transport and infrastructure strategy has included planned new motorways, roads, railways, ports and airport upgrades. Other sectors of interest include energy (both hydrocarbons and renewables), and financial and professional services. Spaces are limited, please contact Ella to reserve a place for your organisation.
On March 7th we will be hosting an event to discuss the most recent World Bank 2022 Global Economic Prospects report. We look forward to welcoming World Bank presenters including Franziska Ohnsorge, Manager of the Prospects Group in the Equitable Growth, Finance and Institutions (EFI)Practice Group and Dana Vorisek, Senior Economist in the Chief Economist Office. This World Bank Group flagship report examines global economic developments and prospects, with a special focus on emerging market and developing economies.
SAVE THE DATE: 4pm March 8th — to coincide with International Women’s Day, we will be hosting a panel discussion with our sister company The D Group. Our speakers have been drawn from different sectors covered by The D Group and British Expertise International: infrastructure, international development, national security, and technology. They will share their experiences and some insights on some of the ways in which their industries or sectors are working to attract, retain and progress more female talent.
Finally, after what has been a rather wet and windy week, I hope you and your families will be cautious and remain safe during weekend as Storm Eunice is expected to hit with winds of up to 80mph in places. Looking forward to some calmer weather next week.
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, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion, 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 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*.
22nd February — Roundtable with Prime Minister’s Trade Envoy to South Africa — Andrew Selous MP
22nd February — BEI Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Working Group
1st March — Meet The Trade Envoy to Morocco — Dr Andrew Murrison MP
7th March — The World Bank — 2022 Global Economic Prospects Report.
7th March — BEI Education Working Group
10th March — BEI Infrastructure Working Group
16th March — BEI Climate Change Working Group
16th March — Opportunities for UK Companies in Nigeria
22nd March — Opportunities for UK Companies in Egypt
22nd March — BEI Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Working Group
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.
28th — 31st March — 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.
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.
–
Not a member?
–
Learn More
For more information about British Expertise International:
- Sign up to receive this Weekly Update
- View our upcoming webinar events
- Becoming a member
- Follow us on Twitter
- Join our Linkedin group
