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Kr. Valdemara str. 33
Office 11 (entrance from courtyard)
Phone: +371 67218043
Fax: +371 67218045
info@bccl.lv |
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| March 17 |
| Anita Kaleja at the BCCL Anual General Meeting |
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Dear Members,
I am very pleased to look back at another successful year with the BCCL. A year ago we started with many new board members all of which I am happy to say have been active and come with new ideas and helped in their implementation. As you will read in our new BLT magazine our commitment to CSR continues and by illustrating our and our members’ good deeds we can show that we are not only talking about this important issue but also putting it into action. As still the largest foreign chamber in Latvia we are pleased to note stability amongst our membership figures and a continuing increase in attendance to our events. I believe this proves that the BCCL continues to move in the right direction and is addressing issues of importance to the BCCL membership. In these difficult times in Latvia as a whole, I would like to emphasise the importance of continuing with our examples of good business practices, of taking into account the community we are working in and as importantly let’s continue assisting one another in our business activities.
Our executive director Ieva Gruziňa will report on administrative matters, our membership and the events we have had. Again we have had many various events, high quality speakers and most of our events have been sold out well in advance. We can all be proud of Ieva who fulfils her tasks above and beyond the call of duty. I am convinced that any other chamber or business is envious of the strong leadership and competence our office provides. Ilva Grînvalde was promoted to deputy executive director and has taken over additional tasks and responsibilities within the office. A big thank-you goes out to both of them for their enthusiasm and loyalty to the BCCL.
The financial report will be presented by board member Neil Jennings. He will explain more about our financial situation in 2008 and our budget for 2009. Given the economic situation in Latvia at present we have tried to take account of potentially decreasing income and increasing expenses. We are still financially solid and due to timely planning should be able to withstand changes in the economy.
Now to the work of the board that you elected in 2008: This year we have had monthly board meetings and our sub-committees have met between the main meetings. Board meetings have all been well attended. As the chairman of the BCCL, I attended not only the board meetings, but also the sub-committee meetings.
We had six sub-committees: The Events Committee was chaired by Malcolm Dent, but due to his work commitments outside of Latvia, I also played an active part. As always, many thanks go out to our office staff for detailed and excellent organisation of these events. We have again been extremely active, as you will have witnessed yourselves, at the many dinners, seminars, sterling breakfasts, our regional visit to Kuldiga and our annual visit to the UK. Malcolm will be giving a presentation about our events so I won’t go into detail now myself.
I chaired the Personnel Committee and regularly met with our staff to understand their needs and concerns and voice those of the Board. Again I was fortunate to have such an excellent team that needed little guidance. As I mentioned before, both Ieva and Ilva have continued to run our office smoothly and efficiently. We are proud to have a stable and professional team in our office which is reflected in the day-to-day running of things.
The Membership Services Committee was successfully headed by Neil Jennings with on-going support from our member Gareth Lycett and our representative from the British Embassy Santa Plivča. This committee continues to look for new ways to attract members to our organisation and is now developing ideas to enhance business opportunities between the UK and Latvia.
The combined CSR/Charity Committee was chaired by Ieva Morica. In the summer of 2008 the committee started a process to promote corporate responsibility at the BCCL, not only to show our commitment to doing so, but also to help us gain new insights on the BCCL’s relationships with our stakeholders. In two fantastic and productive brainstorming sessions facilitated by BCCL member Hauska & Partners, BCCL’s Board and staff discussed and analyzed in depth BCCL’s commitments and the added value that BCCL can bring to its members. In 2008 we started to work with two new charities that are now supported by the BCCL – “Dzîvesprieks” from Tukums, which works with orphans from social risk groups (www.dzivesprieks.lv ) and “Cerîbu spârni” (www.ceribusparni.lv ) from Sigulda, which supports disabled children and their families. In this context I would like to add that at our annual charity ball – Burns night in January of this year, we raised over 10 000LVL for these charities!
The PR committee was chaired by Arnis Marcinkçvičs and the fruits of this committee should be visible to you all by the increasing media coverage received by the BCCL. An additional thank you goes out to Hauska and especially Zane Bojâre for all her hard work. Should any of our members be interested in finding out more, please visit our office where we are collecting copies on all articles about us. We have become a voice to be reckoned with as we are now in the situation where the media representatives contact us and ask to take part at our events.
The Finance Committee was chaired by Steve Austwick but I would also like to thank Neil Jennings who attended all of the finance committee meetings and actively took part in analysing our figures and suggesting measures to improve efficiency. Our accountant Daiga Valtere of our member company Sia Valteri has continued to provide on-going professional accountancy services.
This year we also introduced a new committee headed by Vineta Čukste – the Public Affairs Committee. This committee is still in its early stages but managed to secure the participation of eight state secretaries at our last breakfast. With the BCCL, this committee has set as a strategic goal the development of a new platform for exchanging ideas on topics of corporate and national governance.
I am pleased to say that with all of our busy schedules and many foreign business trips, the board has performed well. I would still like to emphasize that the board should not only assist in steering the BCCL and assisting the office, but they should also provide practical help to our office staff and at events. I would be more than happy to see other members become more actively involved with any of our committees or at events organised by the BCCL. Maybe you have some ideas for events or speakers or topics yourselves? Please let us know!
With the changes made to our statutes at our AGM in 2007, those board members elected in 2008 were elected for a two year term. Nevertheless, due to work commitments, two board members are stepping down today. I would like to thank both Malcolm Dent and Gregory Pomerantsev for donating their valuable time and expertise to the BCCL!
So today we have two available positions on the BCCL board. I am pleased to see that a number of our members have expressed interest in standing for election today. I would like to emphasise that even if you are not standing for election or do not succeed in today’s elections, this does not mean that you cannot take an active role with the BCCL. Each member will benefit even more from their membership the more actively they get involved.
Finally I would like to thank the staff of the British Embassy and most especially the Ambassador H.E. Richard Moon for his continued support and active involvement with the BCCL. It is this strong tie between us that also makes us different from many other chambers. The British Embassy is actively involved in the Chamber and our mutual cooperation is no doubt enviable.
Thank you also to our membership, for the trust and support we have received over the last year and I firmly believe this is a time of opportunities – let’s explore them together!
This is the time for change. The BCCL is an established and strong organisation which is ready to become a vehicle for promoting your business in this market. With our CSR programme we are best positioned to receive public approval which gives us a license to state our case clearly to the government.
Anita Kaleja,
Chairman BCCL
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