from Dubai
I’m being put to task. I’ve complained enough about the Chamber of Commerce and Industry and how it is disconnected from its constituents. I argued against some of its programs and personnel, and I’ve even argued against its existence, but I didn’t volunteer to actually stand to enter its board, nor did I suggest ways in which I personally can help things to change to the better… that is all about to change.
With the election of the new board it didn’t just get a bunch of new faces, but with those it got a goodly infusion of new blood and ideas. If you follow its news, you would have noticed that there are a lot more news releases about programs it has undertaken, and seminars it has mounted, as well as intrinsically changing the way in which its sub-committees exist. This is probably the most important change, as it is the work of these sub-committees which affect its members in a direct manner.
These committees are generally quite vertical: there is one for the construction industry, another for banking and finance and the like. A few however exist with a broader mandate like the Businesswomen committee as well as a newly inaugurated Young Businessmen Committee, it is this one that I have been selected to be part of, and in essence, put my money where my mouth is. No longer can I just simply bitch, because I now have the mechanism to effect change – nor matter how small that influence is – I now have a mechanism to get my voice to reach a proper destination.
The Young Businessmen Committee is composed of 16 members, making it the largest active committee in the Chamber of Commerce; and although we have not decided its objectives, the general one must be to find ways to help the young businessperson to grow, thus contributing to the creation of wealth, employment and ultimately increase the size of the middle class; thus, aiding in the better stability of society and country.
The inaugural meeting was quite interesting to me; this is the first meeting of this sort I participate in: we had the committees coordinators, a registrar/clerk, and had to vote on electing a chairman and a vice-chairman as well as put in a program and an agenda for the next meeting. We elected Saqer Shaheen to the presidency and Mo’anes Al-Mardi as his deputy. After which, the first task put to the table was to think of objectives in order to categorise and prioritise them in practical ways in order to activate them with proper action plans.
The next meeting is set to be on May 7th, then we’ll meet once a month in the afternoon of the first Monday of the month.
My interpretation of the roles of this committee is quite straightforward: (1) concentrate on helping SMEs achieve winning strategies for growth, (2) suggest markets which are under-represented in Bahrain and bring them in, (3) create practical seminars and workshops to help the young businessperson: how to read and understand financial statements, why is auditing important to a business, how to look for investors, how to secure needed cash for growth and the like. These points are just off the cuff and hope that I will come up with more by the time we meet again.
One thing that I hope to have made clear at the first meeting is that we can no longer depend on the physical meeting model where we meet for an hour or so once a month. This will not allow us as a committee to execute all that is expected of us, not by a long shot; the suggestion I have put through is the creation of a group email list and a website where all the members of the committee are welcome to utilise as frequent virtual meeting space; this will allow us to gel our ideas much quicker, and help us in better utilise the time of actual physical meetings. A website would of course also serve as a good reference and live gallery for all of our discussions and the various documents concerning committees at the chamber. Although I have not been tasked for doing so, once I come back from Dubai I intend to create at least a mailing list through which we can start to communicate.
Would you – as a Bahraini businessperson – like us to discuss anything in particular? What do you think the committee should concentrate on?
Comments
We should get into more of a coalition of sort with Dubai, they know how to promote a country’s appearance abroad, ok, I know they had labour disputes recently, but who doesn’t? I live in the states and whenever someone pops the question Where u from? I say Bahrain can you guess what the response is? Where the fuck is that. You see Dubai have invested in deals abroad in such a strategic manner that their name just pops up EVERYWHERE, on billboards, TV, etc to name a few they built a London football club a stadium “Arsenal” called ” THE EMIRATES STADIUM” now imagine it was called “THE BAHRAIN STADIUM”
They wanted to buy ports in the US that made the American media go WILD.
Emirates are the major sponsors for the world cup in Germany if you didn’t know too……i think i made my point
Even TRUMP is building in Dubai
I am not yet a Bahraini businessman but hope to become one in the near future. In any case, I believe the Young Businessmen Committee should mainly focus, as you have already mentioned, on encouraging younger businessmen, especially those pertaining to SMEs, to raise their voices by participating and debating in relevant seminars and discussions organized by this committee. Let’s not forget that some of the main accusations directed towards the BCCI during its previous term dealt with it’s lack of focus on SMEs and it’s lack of interaction with all its members. Already the board has taken positive and effective steps to deal with both issues, including the formation of such committees as this one and the implementation of a lower fee (20 BD) in order to motivate other businessmen to join this vital business organization! These sub-committees must now assist the board by enhancing the BCCI’s reputation and role as serving the bahraini business community and contributing to the Kingdom’s continual economic progression during this crucial time of growing competition among businesses and global interdependence.
I’m very happy to hear that you have become an active member in this particular newly formed committee, and hope to hear more news concerning it’s agenda and organized activities with time.
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