Business is a family affair

AN international forum staged in Bahrain to debate the future development of small and medium-sized enterprises received the backing of The Duchess of Cornwall who called in to offer her support, as part of a royal tour of the kingdom.

All the 200 allocated places for the event held at the Ritz Carlton Hotel on Monday had been fully subscribed to with a waiting list for places.
The event was organised by the UK-based international business network ‘Women in Business International’ in association with the Bahrain Businesswomen’s Society. It was supported by The Arab British Chamber of Commerce, UK Trade and Investment and Bahrain Financial Services Development Bureau.
The forum looked at issues affecting family-owned or managed businesses and their future such as the modern pressures on the family unit and generational succession and inheritance.
Dr Ranald Spiers, Chief Executive Officer, Middle East and Africa of International Power said: “We were very interested in supporting this forum as it portrayed the very lifeblood of all economic activity with businesses which start at the individual level and grow rapidly within the course of a lifetime of one generation.
“The Middle East has been, and continues to be, a showcase of the strengths of family-owned businesses, which all economies around the world can admire and emulate. International Power sees this event as strategically empowering and encouraging the family as the powerhouse of the various regional economies.”
Speakers from the UK, Bahrain and Kuwait brought to the forum their own experiences and knowledge to outline what makes a successful family business and strategies for expansion and successful generational succession of the family business.
Anwar Abulrahman, chairman of Al Hilal Group added: “We are proud to be associated with this programme. Bahrain’s strong private sector is built on strong family-owned and managed businesses and future development of the economy will be as a result of greater business activity within the population as a whole.”
Speakers and contributors at the event included Dawn Gibbins MBE, chairman of Flowcrete PLC, the world’s leading industrial flooring manufacturer, Samantha Burlton, the founder of So Organic, Shaikha Hissah Saad Al Sabah, President of the Arab Businesswomen’s Council, Dr Shaheen Janjua-Jivraj of Brunel University and  Nicola Horlick, formerly the  leading figure in the City of London and now a entrepreneur in the financial service industry.
The Bahrain Business-women’s Society and Women in Business were responsible for driving the event because “with women making a greater contribution to the business environment it is very important that the gender perspective maintains a mainstream development of all businesses and this includes the encouragement of succession of family businesses to daughters and women within the family,” explained Ahmed Suleiman, founder of Women in Business, which is now celebrating its 10th year.
“In the UK, as in other parts of the world, the number of female graduates outnumber that of men, 38% of business travellers are women, 33% of new start-ups in the UK have been by women, 13% of women-owned firms conduct business on an international scale, and an average of 1,400 women-owned businesses are started in the US each day. These facts in themselves confirm that the role of women cannot and should not been seen as a marginal issue,” he added.
The event also featured the rejuvenation of a very British family business, namely the stately home of Mapperton House - the ancestral home of the Earl of Sandwich. Caroline Montagu, the Countess of Sandwich, shone the spotlight on the family’s efforts to bring the Sandwich estate into financial profitability and protect a small part of British heritage.
It is estimated that there are around 700,000 majority women-owned businesses in the UK generating around £130 billion turnover.
 “For us the issue of perceptions or prejudices are directly linked to the support and value that women are regarded and we are happy to find the support of organisations such as the Bahrain Businesswomen’s Society in promoting this value.
“Women in Business International has been at the forefront of this strategy on a global level through a strategy of exchanging knowledge, skills and best practice models,” added Tara Culhane, managing director of Women in Business International.
The event was sponsored by International Power, Gulf Air and Shell.