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Dinner held at the Uzbekistan Embassy

We were privileged to attend this event on the invitation of the country’s Ambassador to the UK, His Excellency Said Rustamov, and the Head of Trade and Investment, Ravshanbek Duschanov held at the Uzbekistan Embassy, London on the evening of Thursday 6th May.

His Excellency the Ambassador

The purpose of the Dinner was to discuss the development of international trade between the UK and Uzbekistan. The meeting was attended by senior representatives of major companies in the UK, some of which are already trading with Uzbekistan and others planning on doing so.

Group Photo at Embassy

His Excellency Said Rustanor and Mr Duschanov both delivered fascinating and most informative presentations on the current economic and political development of Uzbekistan and this was followed by a truly delicious meal comprising traditional Uzbek dishes.

Embassy Reception
Dinner at Uzbekistan Embassy

The Embassy are members of Southside Chamber of Commerce, and participate in many Chamber events. We ran a highly successful Trade Mission to the country in 2019 and a further such Mission is planned for autumn this year with the assistance and co-operation of the Embassy.

Gerry sitting at Embassy Reception
Posted on by Gerry MacDonaghLast updated

Chamber News – November 2019

The chamber has seen many new developments in recent times due to our chamber events as well as cooperation between members that has resulted in opportunities coming to light which would would not be possible without such inter-connectivity. 

A good example of what cooperation between members can achieve comes from furniture design and production company Graniti, International Members of LSCC, who have recently been awarded an EU grant of 500,000 euros to install state of the art painting and cutting equipment. This was obtained through a proposal put together by another of our members – Michael English of Crozier International Ltd.

Another notable achievement in cooperation is underway between the international IT company Seavus and our most recent company of the month, CoPear, who are currently in discussions regarding a UK suite of projects that involve: Research & Development; Collaboration of new products and a UK Sales Partnership. CoPear will be meeting with Seavus at their European Head Office within the next few weeks.

Future possibilities are constantly being pursued by the chamber, and a critical part to that is developing relationships with other chambers internationally. From 19th to 23rd November Mr Parim Bajrami, Secretary General of the Kosovo Chamber of Commerce, will visit London and will be the Chamber’s guest at a special dinner on the evening of 20th November. Earlier this year LSCC signed an M.O.U. with the Kosovo Chamber. This sets out the assistance that members of each Chamber can receive when visiting Kosovo from the UK or vice versa.

Additionally, in the course of our Trade Visit to Sofia last month, we signed an M.O.U. with the Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce. Any member visiting Bulgaria for business or tourism can obtain business contacts and some very attractive hotel rates as a result of the terms of co-operation agreed.

Talks have also been taking place with Uzbekistan business leaders with a view to establishing trade and technology links and platforms in at least one of the country’s major cities. It is hoped that the Business School of LSCC members, South Bank University, will act as the project’s educational partners. We wish to further this relationship with them in our second trade visit to Uzbekistan during June 2020 (exact dates to be confirmed).

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The Palace of Westminster

This event was hosted by The Lord Kennedy of Southwark on behalf of London Southside Chamber of Commerce and Southwark Chamber of Commerce

Forty-five members of London Southside, Southwark and South East London Chambers enjoyed a fascinating guided tour of the Houses of Parliament and were able to experience the rich culture and history of the Palace of Westminster.

The tour lasted just over one hour and was conducted by Lord Kennedy himself. It was followed by drinks on the Terrace of the House of Lords, which provided an opportunity for members of the three Chambers to network while enjoying some pleasant early summer weather overlooking the River Thames.

Letter of Appreciation – Pamela Price

Dear Lord Kennedy,

I am not sure if this is the proper form of address but whatever it should be this is a heartfelt thanks for your tour yesterday with the two South London Chambers. It was a joy and a privilege to be taken round the  Houses and to see them going about their business and for us to see some of the rich history which has made such democracy as we have. Thank you.

I could have spent far longer particularly in the library corridor which was not so full of dry titles as I had imagined and looking at all the pictures and fitting them in with such history as I remember and finding out about the ones I don’t know, who was Montrose, why did Lord and Lady Russel part? I am sure you know and I shall find out, so thank you again for arranging such an evening and then for drinks on the terrace where I could check out the wards and windows that I had stayed in at St Thomas’s opposite and meeting and chatting with new acquaintances. A very enjoyable way to spend a Wednesday evening so again Thank you.

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Uzbekistan & The Silk

Unaiza Malik (IT sector)

Meticulous planning and great attention to detail ensured a memorable trip
Our group was very diverse and demanding representing a range of sectors. Will explore the possibility of doing business with the country and hope to return there

Tony Waters (Security sector)

Very much enjoyed the trip to Uzbekistan with the London South Chamber of Commerce. The tour company was very professional and I had outstanding service from them. My Security business takes me all over the world but I had not previously visited Uzbekistan. This trip provided an insight into the business opportunities there and I hope to return and develop the contacts made.
Akhtar Hussain (Property sector) Thoroughly enjoyed the trip to Uzbekistan.I have travelled all over the world and I have never seen a clean country like Uzbekistan anywhere else.

The people are so polite and helpful. The Country has so many historical and beautiful places to see in Tashkent, Khiva, Bokhara and Samarkand. There must be some other places as well which we have not seen. The country is full of Architectural wonders going back to centuries old. I have recommended my son to visit this country. He is an Architect.

Gerry MacDonagh (Chamber of Commerce)

The group was a very mixed one with people from diverse sectors. It was an eye-opener and members of the group are now much more aware of the business opportunities in the country. We will return to explore these further.

Jean Comley (Catering & Hospitality Sector)

I have a friend who runs a very well know language school here in Margate with students from all over the world including arabic and asian countries. I think he speaks Russian as well. I would like to give him contact details regarding maybe being able to offer his services. He would be very interested in taking students from Uzbekistan and will attend any follow-up meeting organised.

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Colin Crooks awarded an MBE for services to disadvantaged people and the environment

Colin Crooks, 57, CEO of Tree Shepherd a Southwark-based social enterprise, has been awarded an MBE for services to disadvantaged people and the environment after 30 years of helping more than 2500 people across London.

The entrepreneur, who has most recently been in the headlines for supporting local traders facing relocation from the Elephant and Castle shopping centre, has brought hundreds of jobs to London’s poorer areas, helped hundreds more start their own businesses and is currently working with traders facing the harsh realities of redevelopment across South London.

Colin has worked in South London for 25 years and has always been passionate about creating opportunities for the most disadvantaged – employing dozens of unemployed people to recycle paper, starting Cybercycle, which recruited young people from notorious estates to repair computers, and then setting up Green-Works, which reused and recycled 47,000 tonnes of discarded office and school furniture. The social enterprise created nearly 1000 jobs and completely furnished temporary classrooms in a school a week after a disastrous fire gutted it.

Over the last six years Colin has worked with South London’s communities on a new challenge – helping people start their own businesses. Tree Shepherd, based in Elephant and Castle shopping centre, has helped over 700 people start small businesses, and created a trading network leading to 900 jobs. With his team, Colin is currently supporting 19 businesses in Peckham Rye being relocated by the Peckham Rye Station Square redevelopment and advising 80 small independent traders in Elephant & Castle shopping centre to help them relocate when the centre is closed. It is also helping 74 Southwark residents and  over 50 residents of SE16 to start a small business. In 2019, Tree Shepherd is setting up a new shared crafts workspace in Surrey Quays.

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Raja Adil awarded an OBE in recognition of his work for Charity

Raja Adil, Chairman and Managing Director of the Adil Group was awarded an OBE in 2018 in recognition of his work for Charity.

Collin Crooks of Tree Shepherd has this year been honoured with an MBE in recognition of his company’s work in encouraging young people from the local community to start up and run successful small businesses.

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Trade Visit to Marseille

Trade Visit to Marseille 19th – 23rd September 2018

Gerry MacDonagh led a highly successful Trade Visit to the French port city of Marseille. Marseille is France’s oldest and second largest city, founded by Greek traders 2,600 years ago. As is the case with many port cities, over the years it has had a rather chequered past but was European City of Culture in 2013 and since then some £500 million has been invested in museums, cultural centres and reclaiming abandoned water-fronts. It remains, nevertheless, a very lively and interesting multicultural city, fast acquiring a reputation as a place where style and history meet and now one of the most visited cities in France.

Twenty members of LSCC came on the visit, representing the following sectors:

Banking, Constuction, Corporate Intelligence & Security, Hotels & Catering, Law, Restaurants, Retailing, Satellite Communication, and Transport,

Through the Franco-British Chamber of Commerce, and with the assistance of UK consular officials in Marseille, meetings were arranged with complimentary local businesses, both suppliers and potential customers. A number of these were highly useful and contacts with the interested paries are now ongoing.

As always, our visit enabled members of the group to learn more about the city and region, and enjoy its culture in addition to exploring potential business opportunities. During the 4 days spent there, they were able to choose on an individual basis the daily emphasis they wished to place on business, culture, touring or simply relaxing and enjoying excellent local food.

This was the third Trade mission organised by LSCC in 2018. Previously that year, we had visited Cuba in February and to Belgrade in Serbia in May 2018. Visits planned for this year include Uzbekistan this month, Portugal in May, Albania & Kosovo in October.

 

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Seavus Joins LSCC

About Seavus

What drives our spirit is innovation creating the next generation solutions that take the business world beyond success. We are focused on thinking further than what is expected, and this is why we are always proposing fresh solutions to the existing challenges.

We started our story back in 1999 with a few people and an idea. Today we are a multinational company that continuously delights the customers with services and products in an agile and business-value-first approach. With a strong belief of the capacity of our people, we are more than sure that the synergy of their creativity and expertise can make us the ultimate world class role model of a software development company. Every project that we started, created new opportunities for our people to reach even greater goals and knowledge.

We help over 3,500 customers worldwide to efficiently achieve their goals. Some of them are walking the road to success with us for over 18 years.

We have many partners with whom we have brilliant communication, understanding and awesome achievements together. Seavus has a very strong network of partners working on different levels and improving the quality of the products and the services: Microsoft Gold Partner, Oracle Partner Network, IBM, Green Hill Software, Attivio, CGS, Cysco Systems, Abby and many more. Lately, Seavus became Atlassian Silver Partner and Elastic Premium Partner.

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Graniti Furniture Joins LSCC

Graniti furniture factory, is a family run business established in 1993. The company is engaged in processing and selling wood related products, including household furniture and a wide range of chairs, TV cabinets, kitchen units, bedroom furniture and more, for the full range please take a look at http://www.graniti-ks.com/en/home .

They also offer interior decoration and space measurement services for interested customers.

Located in the Republic of Kosovo with the advantage of low manufacturing costs, unique bespoke designs, ISO/CE certified and meeting the latest EU fire and safety standards, the company is looking for distribution agreements to expand its sales abroad.

The company is also interested in manufacturing or outsourcing agreements with foreign furniture producers needing production resources.

Talk to our sales people for more information on our company info@graniti-ks.com

For more information on our unique range of modern furniture see http://www.graniti-ks.com/en/home

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Michael English joins as Director

Michael J.English

Biography

Following a lifetime working in the automotive sector on business development and general management, he spent many years working overseas based in Egypt, Dubai, Germany, and Russia, more recently in Macedonia and Kosovo.

In 1995 Mike established his own consultancy company Crozier International Ltd. initial working as a one stop shop consultancy operating in Russia successfully launching six companies.

In more recent years has been working on a variety of donor funded projects covering technical assistance, competitiveness and innovation; company restructuring and foreign direct investment.

For the past eleven years his has been involved with many projects in Macedonia; introducing one of the worlds leading automotive catalysis manufacture Johnson Matthey Plc to the country, which went onto established one of the biggest manufacturing investment in the country, this lead the way to encourage many other companies to move their manufacturing base to the country.

More recently has been involved with the Ministry of Education and Science in establishing a “Centre of research and engineering excellence” jointly with Warwick WMG, bringing education and business closer; a MOU was signed in Sept 2016.

Recently involved with setting up a Cyber Security academy with a leading University. Mike, in May 2017 also organised a trade mission for the London Southside Chamber of Commerce to both Macedonia and Kosovo, highly successful with some 16 companies and 30+ members and their partners. MOU were signed with both Country Chambers, resulting in four new International members.