The British Egyptian Business association (BEBA) is still considering the details of its 2019 annual mission to the UK, yet there are 40 companies expected to participate in the mission, which is the same figure of last year’s mission, BEBA Executive Director, Nadia Lamloum, said.
The main topics to be discussed are education, healthcare, oil and gas, she told Daily News Egypt, adding that BEBA pays great attention to promote Egypt abroad through going on roadshows and declaring what Egypt has to offer.
When a British company shows its successful investment experience in Egypt, it is more reliable and gives credibility to others about the beneficial investment opportunities which Egypt enjoys, Lamloum asserted.
The BEBA organised its annual mission to the UK last November, she said, adding, “Last year’s mission was very successful, where we had three topics including education, health care, and oil and gas. We went regional, we didn’t concentrate on London. We attended a big conference in Manchester on oil and gas. The speakers were representatives from oil and gas companies who are working in Egypt, and they informed the attendees about the good opportunities in Egypt.”
There were about 100 people learning about Egypt at the conference, she highlighted, noting that the attendees were very keen on coming to Egypt and injecting new investments into the country.
As a follow up on the mission, BEBA hosted the Director of the London School of Economics, Dame Nemat Shafik, and Egypt’s Minister of Higher Education, Khaled Abdel Ghaffar, in a large event which discussed educational trends, Lamloum declared.
Last April, the BEBA had a health care seminar with the purpose of discussing heated topics, she said, adding, “We don’t organise events for the sake of organising events. We always look for heated topics and added value. We don’t want to repeat what other organisations are doing. We want to be unique in whatever we do, and I believe that we are successful in this.”
The BEBA was established 1996, as a service-oriented organisation to promote Egypt’s and the UK’s trade and investment opportunities, she explained, adding that the BEBA has almost 800 members including British and Egyptian nationals, with the objective of putting Egypt on the international map.
“Our membership is diversified. The BEBA has all kinds of sectors including banking, oil and gas, consultancy, IT and others. All kinds of industries are represented in the BEBA,” Lamloum elaborated.
The BEBA organises value added events, to help its members in the presence of government officials, who come and offer value added presentations on a specific topic, followed by a question and answer session, as the BEBA believes in interactivity, she remarked.
The BEBA looks for quality so not everybody can join the BEBA, she said, adding, “We want to have members who can contribute with us. I don’t want members who pay money and stay in their offices. We always seek to have members who want to add to society and the country,” emphasised Lamloum.