Dispatches E73

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WINTER 2013 ISSUE 73 Inside: BBF Poppy Ball Red Arrows Visit Kuwait Human Resource Management

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Best Practise HR

Transcript of Dispatches E73

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ISSUE 73 - W

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ISSUE 73

Inside:BBF Poppy Ball

Red Arrows Visit Kuwait

Human ResourceManagement

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Dear Reader,

I am sure many of you found the Ambassador’s letter in the autumn edition of Dispatches a bit confusing. The fault rests on the head of the editor (that would be me), who made changes to the Ambassador’s letter without his approval and, unfortunately, without sufficient attention to detail. This lapse of professionalism is inexcusable and I can only apologise to the Ambassador and to you, the readers, for the confusion. I can also assure you that it will not happen again.

Happy holidays,

SueSusan DayEditor

Administration and Advertising Manager:

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2232 20382232 2040

Telephone

www.bbfkuwait.comFax

2232 20382232 2040

Rose William

Email [email protected]

TF

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There is no passion to be found playing small – in settling for a life that is less than the one you

are capable of living.

18 July 1918 - 5 December 2013Nelson Mandela

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Contents

• FarewellNelsonMandela 3• BBFBoardofDirectors 6• Chairman’sMessage 8• Ambassador’sMessage 10• OctoberMembersMeeting 12• NovemberMembersMeeting 14• Design&ConstructionSectorGroup 16• BBFPoppyBall:NeverForget 20• MarchofHonour2013 28• RedArrowsVisitKuwait 32• HRasaDriverforOrganizationalInnovation 36• HumanCapitalandGlobalMobility 42• EmployeeDisengagement 45• AreWeHearingtheDeathKnellfor‘BestPractice’inHR? 48• HRBestPractice:AttractingCandidates 50• TheGlobalInnovationIndex2013 52• InvestonBoard 53• ThisWillBethe#IBusinessSkilloftheNext5Years 54• Pixar’s22RulesforGoodStorytelling 56• KPMGFusionPensionTool 58• GlobalBankingHasReachedthePointofNoReturn 60• SelexEStoOpenSubsidiaryinKuwait 61• FamilyFriendlyBrunchatJMB 62• BATopTips 64• OnaColdWinter’sDay 67• Brits‘tospendmoreonChristmaspresentsthisyear 68• ChristmasInfographics 69• 12DaysofChristmas2013 70• Predictionsfor2014fromthePast 72• ConcertofHope 74• BBFatIESMeet 76• NetballTriptoSriLanka 77• GoingPlaceswithNES 78• BBFMembershipBenefits 80• BBFMembershipRenewals 82• BritishEmbassy 84• BritishLadiesSociety 88• CommunityGroups 90• MembershipForm 96

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BBF Board 2013/2014

Paul McKayChairman

Graham KennyVice Chairman

Arthur BarberGeneral Secretary

Donald TealeTreasurer

Venkat ChowdaryDirector

Steve GardnerDirector

Tareq Al-OunDirector

Will MylesDirector

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BBF Board 2013/2014

Sheeba PiusOffice Assistant

Rose WilliamAdminstration

George MhawechEvents Manager

Darren CravenRetail Sector Group

Barry StokesDirector

Commercial

An SwinnenBusiness Women

Sector Group

Rose WilliamAdminstration Manager and Dispatches Coordinator

Sheeba PiusOfce Assistant

George MhawechEvents Manager

Jennifer Mas Photographer

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Jennifer Mas Photographer

Alan DempsterDirector

Colum CantillonDirector

Russell Byrne Director

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However, I hadn’t seen him in ages so this was one of the first things I reiterated when I saw him. ‘Hi, how is it going? Haven’t seen you at the meetings for a while, where have you been?’ His rather blunt response was, ‘I stopped coming, I wasn’t getting any business. It seemed to me networking to be a waste of time.’ We continued to catch up and exchanged pleasantries and as I headed to the checkout, his comments were resonating in my head. I started to think to myself that attitudes are fundamental to being employable and to future business success in Kuwait. It came as no surprise that sometime later I heard that he had lost his job.

If you are going to any networking meeting hoping to sell something, you’re dreaming. I’m not saying it doesn’t ever happen – it does. Any business person can stumble on some business at a networking meeting from time to time. However, when you have most of the people at an event trying to sell and virtually no one there to buy, you’re crazy if you think the odds are in your favour to sell at a networking event. So why go? You go because networking is more about farming than it is about hunting; it’s about developing relationships with other business professionals. Sometimes it is to increase your visibility, sometimes to establish further credibility with people you know, and sometimes to meet along-time referral partner and do some business. True networkers know that networking is about moving through a visibility, creditability and profitability process and not about closing deals.

I am a firm believer that business-member networking delivers more return on investment than any other tool in business. If there is one thing that I could suggest that would be guaranteed to

Chairman’sMessage

I ran into an acquaintance at the supermarket a few months ago. We had met through the British Business Forum.

boost any business, networking would be it. But for many the concept of networking brings to mind images of stilted conversations, contrived discussions and quite simply, a tick the box ordeal in our calendars - reluctantly. What’s more, in the age of social media some have developed a tendency to hide behind online profiles in connecting with customers, colleagues and even friends. The art of face to face conversation remains key to cementing long term business relationships, particularly in Kuwait.

The British Business Forum is a very effective business-member networking organisation and is currently enjoying its largest membership in its history. Particularly pleasing is the growing number of local entrepreneurs joining the Forum; a younger business community of small and medium enterprises that is forming the backbone of the future economy in Kuwait currently dominated by oil. Our monthly meetings are motivated and cheery; a sounding board for ideas, we even listen to you moan when you need it. In addition to opportunities that you can be exposed or introduced to, you can expect friendship benefits with no strings attached. If I had all the free advice I have received over the years as a member of the Forum from paid consultants then … well, I would have a massive deficit in my bank account or wouldn’t be writing this to you now.

The fact is we owe a great deal to our friends, contacts and extended network. If you get anything out of this article I want you to believe that every single new friend or contact you make through attending Forum meetings and events can be worth their weight in gold; while the impact might not be immediate, the compound effects of networking are significant and long lasting.

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THE BRITISH EMBASSY

In the few months since the end of Ramadan we have seen a stream of VIP visitors from the UK: Baroness Warsi came to discuss Islamic Finance – a potentially fruitful new area of Kuwait-UK cooperation. Lord Deighton came to talk about Kuwaiti investment into the UK. Earl Howe visited to highlight opportunities for the UK in Kuwait’s healthcare sector. The Lord Mayor of the City of London made his second visit within 12 months to promote the City of London as Europe’s premier financial centre. Lord Marland came to help boost the UK-Kuwait trade relationship. And who could forget the visit by Boris Johnson, Mayor of London, and his proud claim that the 250,000 Kuwaiti visitors a year to his fair city qualify him to be the honorary mayor of a quarter of Kuwait? Amusing facts like that illustrate a serious message: the Kuwait-UK bilateral relationship is firmly founded on a shared history of cooperation and friendship – and it continues to go from strength to strength.

All of these visitors have worked hard to promote the UK’s commercial expertise across the board, stressing the ability and desire of British companies to help Kuwait deliver on its National Development Plan. They met not only a wide range of Kuwaiti leaders, politicians and business people but also many of the members of the British Business Form who are working equally hard

Message from

HE The British Ambassador

Frank Baker

to strengthen the bilateral trade relationship. These are the people who are in it for the long haul, building and nurturing the personal relationships which are so crucial to success in this part of the world.

The last few weeks have also seen the second meeting of the Kuwait Britain Business Council, which was established during the State Visit of His Highness the Amir in November 2012. Co-chaired by Lord Marland and Mr Mohammed Alshaya, the meeting discussed ways to encourage small and medium enterprises, highlighting the potential for cooperation between Kuwait’s new SME Fund and a similar initiative from the UK. SMEs will play a key role as Kuwait moves to boost its private sector and to provide meaningful opportunities for its young people; and as the UK strives to strengthen economic growth and its manufacturing sector in the wake of the global financial crisis.

In another example of a relationship which is growing ever closer, you may have seen the news that Kuwaiti citizens soon will benefit from an electronic visa waiver scheme, to be introduced some time in 2014. This new system will allow Kuwaitis who want to pay short visits (up to 6 months) to the UK to apply online for clearance to travel. This service will be much more convenient for our Kuwaiti friends who wish to do business with

Warm seasonal greetings to you all from the winter edition of Dispatches for 2013. I always enjoy taking time out to write this piece because it gives

me the opportunity to pause for a moment and reflect on the activity that has taken place since my last article. And yet again I look back on a hectic few months which underline just how close the relationship between the United Kingdom and Kuwait continues to be.

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the UK or who simply want to spend time in the country many consider their second home. Boris Johnson said that London’s doors are always open to Kuwaitis. The new visa system will help to make that a reality for both London and the UK more widely.

But perhaps the most potent symbol for me over the last few months of the strength of the Kuwait-UK relationship was the sight of the RAF aerobatic display team, the Red Arrows, flying in perfect formation past the iconic Kuwait Towers. The Red Arrows honoured His Highness the Amir with a fly-past at Salwa Palace to celebrate the anniversary of his State Visit to Britain before treating crowds of spectators to their breath-taking manoeuvres over the Marina Bay.

The Red Arrows sums up what makes Britain GREAT. Since the dawn of the aviation age, Britain has led in the development of military and civilian aircraft. Our aerospace industry is now one of the best in the whole world. The Red Arrows’ astounding display would not have been possible without Rolls Royce, who designed and manufactured their Ardour jet engines. The Hawk jets were built by another UK company, BAE Systems. And since the theme of this edition of Dispatches is

“best practice in HR”, we must not forget the human capital either. The pilots and engineers who fly and service the aircraft are the product of stringent training provided by the British military which produces some of the most highly-skilled people in the world.

On the subject of British excellence and as we look ahead to 2014, I would like to give you advance notice about an important week next spring. March 22 will see the start of the British Embassy’s GREAT Week programme – the biggest and best celebration of its kind we have ever staged in Kuwait. An exciting series of events will showcase the best of British culture, British fashion, British sport and – of course - British icons. It will also encompass the ever popular Britain in Kuwait biennial event, giving UK companies a chance to be seen by a wide Kuwaiti audience. I hope to see as many of you as possible there. If you follow the Embassy on Twitter then look out for further information nearer the time – and if you’re not yet a follower then you can find us at ukinkuwait.

But all that is for next year. For now I wish all of you and your loved ones a very peaceful Christmas and happy and prosperous 2014.

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October Members Meeting: Leading With Your Personality

The British Business Forum held its October members’ meeting to a discerning audience of its business link membership and

visiting business gu ests to Kuwait. Paul McKay, BBF Chairman opened the meeting by wishing everyone an Eid Mubarak. He was delighted with such a large attendance, particularly from Kuwaiti companies represented at CEO level. The theme of the meeting was personality profiling and its application in business. He went on to say, you will undoubtedly encounter many different types of personalities in business, each with their own unique blend of nuances. Looking over his career, he recalled ‘working with bosses who were mad, incompetent and generally one sandwich short of a picnic.’ He had experienced the narcissist, the social loafer and the hyper emotional type;

the three worst nightmare personalities that can help bring down business. He said behaviour is critical to the success of an individual in any role and to hire someone for a position that doesn’t suit their personality style can be gambling with your business future.

To develop the theme of personal traits and their significance on business, he introduced the guest speaker

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Dr John Hayes, Head of the Business Administration Department at Gulf University for Science & Technology in Kuwait. Not only is Dr. Hayes an educator but he is a renowned author and an in demand after dinner speaker. John gave a fascinating presentation called ‘Leading With Your Personality’. His presentation captivated the audience. It helped them understand the importance of recognising their own personality traits, recognising the personality traits of others, and most importantly, learning how to influence people in spite of personalities. Each attendee was invited to complete a DISC personality profile that produced a detailed report about their personality and behaviour and then discover what their profile means and how it is interpreted by other people.

DISC is a behaviour assessment tool based on the DISC theory of psychologist William Marston. The theory centers around four different personality traits: Dominant, Influencer, Steady and Competent personalities. DISC assessment is used for a variety of real-life situations. Many companies use it as a way to screen potential employees, with the thought that a certain personality type would be better or worse in certain jobs or positions. It can also be used in an educational environment,

especially in the development of courses by better understanding the personality and needs of the students.

Dr Hayes is an educator, author and speaker. He has written 18 non-fiction books, countless articles on business topics, and has spoken to Fortune 500 companies, business associations and network marketing businesses worldwide. He is an advisor to companies internationally and co-author of Franchising: The Inside Story, the first book to explain how to investigate and acquire a franchise opportunity. He is the author of two e-books devoted to franchising: Buy “Hot” Franchises Without Getting Burned, and 101 Questions To Ask Before You Invest in a Franchise. Both titles were best-sellers at Amazon.com.

There followed a dinner during which members had opportunity to discover more about their personality and how it is interpreted by the people around them. As Dr Hayes says, once you understand personality traits, you can become a more effective manager and leader. If you don’t like how you’re being interpreted, you can do something to change it! The leveling factor between different personality types of course is Common Courtesy which will be the subject of another talk in the future.

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The British Business Forum held its November members’ meeting in the Costa Del Sol hotel , with a discerning audience

of selected business membership and visiting business guests to Kuwait present. Graham Kenny, BBF Vice Chairman opened the meeting by welcoming all and issuing some notifications for BBF forthcoming calendar before introducing the guest speaker for the evening: Arjan de Draaijer. De Draaijer is the director in charge of KPMG’s Global Sustainability Practice based in the Netherlands.

A specialist in the field of Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) reporting, which promotes economic sustainability and produces one of the world’s most widely used standards for sustainability, as a measure of an organisations commitment and performance to economic, environmental, social and governance standards. Widely adopted by over 5,700 world leaders in business, the GRI is used by such organisations in Kuwait include NBK, Zain, Equate, Agility, Burgan Bank and Kuwait Petroleum International. Arjan himself includes Shell, KLM, Phillips, SABIC and Toyota amongst his client base of organisations.

November Members Meeting: Sustainability in the Gulf

The theme of the presentation was “Sustainability in the Gulf” and its application to Kuwait. Arjan introduced the terms and concepts of the ‘Sustainability Megaforces’ matrix which apply throughout the world and the interconnectivity of such onto the business market. In particular the elements of climate change, water scarcity, energy and fuel, food scarcity and urbanisation were identified as the impacts for Kuwait and discussed by the speaker.

It is recognised now that there is a critical mass of business leaders who recognise that change is required and not only to enhance business ‘green’ credentials but to explore and penetrate new markets. Whilst there is an element of maturity in certain geographical locations that sustainability is a contributor to a company’s shareholder value there is also a realisation that the emerging markets with a voracious appetite for natural, human and manufactured resources also need to quickly adopt the sustainability policies and measures that have taken traditional western businesses a number of years to embrace.

The presentation closed with a discussion of the question ‘what you can do’ and the need to understand, integrate, create and communicate the issues and the solutions for future business and world health.

There followed a busy question and answer interactive session between Arjan and the audience. The discussion continued over dinner, during which an opportunity was afforded for further talk on the issue that affects us all in both business and personal life.

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The project has a number of unique features, most notable of which is the air conditioned land train which will run along a 2.7km route around the whole site, linking together all the key features with the carparks. Originally conceived as a rail based train service, it has been converted to a rubber tired route based train but nevertheless, will be unique to Kuwait. These are four purpose designed stations along the route in addition to the station at the Mall.

Shown in this article are the Site Master Plan and a Birds Eye perspective, together with a number of progress photos taken at the time of our visit. The main elements of unfinished work are the filling of the Lake and other water features, and the completion of all landscaping works.

The BBF would like to thank Engineer Riad Mardini, the project’s Resident Engineer, for having organised the tour and having hosted us so well.

Design and Construction Sector GroupTour of the Salmiya Recreation Park

and Shopping Complex, the Boulevard ProjectJeff de Lange, Convener

On 30 November 2013 more than two dozen members of the Design and Construction Sector Group of the BBF made an extensive tour of the extraordinary Boulevard Project located in Salmiya, adjoining the City Centre complex and Qatar Street.

The project is the last of the old style BOT projects under construction. In 2004 the Public Authority for Agriculture and Fish Resources invited competitive entries from prospective developers to turn this vacant site of 34 hectares into a grand leisure park, to include a large shopping mall and other social facilities.

Gulf Consult of Kuwait were commissioned to prepare the site Master Plan and undertake all landscape design and detailed design, while Greek Architect, Dino Georgiou was commissioned to develop the conceptual design of all buildings.

Landscape Master Plan

Birds Eye View from Jawazat Roundabout

Project Data

• The developers are a Consortium drawn from the Kuwait Commercial Markets Complex Company. • Design contract signed in 2005 • Construction Cost approximately KD35million • Work started on site 2010 • Project due for completion in September, 2014 • BOT signed to run for 20 years from date of commencement and operation of the project.

Project includes

• Major shopping complex of 34,000m2 • Wedding Hall • Sports and Health Centre and outdoor Fitness Trail • Lake of 17,000m2 (including 10m high fountain) with 8 restaurants at the lake edge. • Amphitheatre • Amusement Park • Outdoor sports facilities,(football, basketball, tennis, cricket) • 2.7km of railway, connecting all elements together and to the parking for 2,250 parking spaces.

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Shopping Mall from City Centre

Close up of the restaurants

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View of Lake with restaurants beyond

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Never Forget

On 8 November 2013 BBF members, friends and guests gathered to honour all those who

served and died in the Commonwealth’s military. The poppy, the traditional symbol of the commemoration, was prominently featured at the annual fundraising ball. The money raised at the event will be donated to the Royal British Legion,

Blind Veterans US, and the Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Families Association (SSAFA).

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The BBF Poppy Ball has become one of the social events of the season. It is an enjoyable evening

that includes the perfect mix of respectful remembrance, recognition of service and entertainment.

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11 November 2013 was a very good day for March For Honour® fundraising. Under the patronage of His Highness The Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-

Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah and Her Majesty’s Ambassador His Excellency Frank Baker OBE, many people gathered to participate in the 50 km March For Honour; others to cheering on those marching. The teams set off from Seif Palace and travelled to the Jumeriah Messilah Beach along the Gulf Road and returned to the finish at the British Embassy in Kuwait. The March For Honour® promises to have a lasting effect here in Kuwait. In addition to raising money for the Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Families Association (SSAFA) and for LOYAC, a beautiful tree has been added to the Embassy’s garden.

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March For Honour® 2013

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Officially known as the Royal Air Force Aerobatic Team, the Red Arrows have flown over 4,000 displays in 52 countries since the Team’s creation in 1965. The Red Arrows’ famous nine aircraft formation was not officially used until 1968. Although there was nothing new in flying nine aircraft in a diamond-shaped formation, the Red Arrows’ perfectly symmetrical Diamond Nine quickly came to represent the peak of precision flying and it was eventually registered as an official trade mark.

Today, the Red Arrows are renowned throughout the world, acting as ambassadors for Great Britain when displaying overseas. They also support UK industry by demonstrating the capabilities of British equipment and expertise. This year, the Team has conducted a Middle East tour of GCC countries and performed daily as the showcase display team at the 2013 Dubai Air Show.

Squadron Leader Jim Turner, Team Leader of the Red Arrows, said:

“It is a huge honour and privilege to have been invited to the Middle East and have the opportunity to perform our display in so many wonderful

The Red Arrows Visit Kuwait

locations. We take great pride and pleasure in being able to demonstrate our flying in all of these places – some of which we have never visited before, while others we are very pleased to be afforded the opportunity to return to”.

Her Majesty’s Ambassador, Mr Frank Baker OBE proudly received the Royal Air Force Red Arrows in Kuwait. On the anniversary of the State visit of His

Highness the Amir of Kuwait to the United Kingdom, the world’s premier aerobatic display team, Britain’s famous Red Arrows, performed a low-level Flypast over Salwa Palace in honour of the Amir, followed by a display over Marina Mall for the people of Kuwait at 1500 hrs on Tuesday, 26 November 2013.

March For Honour® 2013 SPECIAL GUEST

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WINTER 201333

Welcome to

KuwaitFaris Baker

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SPECIAL GUEST

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With 163 offices, throughout 43 countries, WorleyParsons provides our clients with a unique combination of global resources, world-recognised technical expertise and deep local knowledge.

Local Delivery Global Support

www.worleyparsons.com

SPECIAL GUEST

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With 163 offices, throughout 43 countries, WorleyParsons provides our clients with a unique combination of global resources, world-recognised technical expertise and deep local knowledge.

Local Delivery Global Support

www.worleyparsons.com

SPECIAL GUEST

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HR as a Driver for Organizational Innovation

Robert Bolton, edited by Donald Teale

Becoming a key strategic partner It is widely accepted among business leaders that innovation is vital to both competitive advantage and long-term success. In fact this year, business leaders cited innovation as one of the top three global

challenges they faced. For most companies, and Kuwait should not be an exception, the ability to innovate is the single most important predictor of future growth. It is hardly surprising that investment decisions now tend to be tied closely to how focused companies are on transformational innovation.

So, when it comes to innovation, what do successful corporate innovators have in common? Contrary to popular perception, success does not appear to be determined by a company’s R&D budget. Research has consistently shown that there is no statistically significant relationship between financial performance and innovation. Nor does technology appear to play the most important role. Instead, studies strongly show that the most successful corporate innovation strategies are the ones that predominantly focus on people and human capital. These include finding, engaging, and incentivising key talent for innovation, creating a culture of innovation by promoting and rewarding entrepreneurship and risk taking and developing innovation skills for all employees.

Culture is king One overriding theme emerges from studies of successful innovation strategies: winning companies first and foremost have developed cultures where innovation is seen as everyone’s responsibility. As an objective that employees at all levels and in all roles strive to achieve on a day-to-day basis. Meanwhile, many of these companies also have at the core of their cultures an acceptance of the need to experiment and understand that, with this, comes the risk of failure. Their people see honest

failure simply as a learning experience. In addition, the studies show that winning companies recognize the part played by internal and external networks and have, in a bid to facilitate collaboration, taken every opportunity to connect their people. Culture, it seems, is key to sustainable innovation.

HR’s big opportunity

All this is great news for HR, which, above all other functions, is perfectly placed to develop and sustain the kind of cultural transformation required if a company is to achieve its innovation objectives. That is because HR is fortunate enough to be responsible for many of the levers required to bring about this transformation. For example, performance management can serve as a valuable tool in the creation of a sustainable culture of innovation, as HR managers can ensure innovation features prominently within a company’s objective setting and appraisal processes. Reward, meanwhile, can be used to reinforce the importance of innovation activity and outcomes, while recognition schemes can be used to encourage and inspire employees to innovate and to share ideas (even if the ideas fail). HR’s role in organisational design provides huge potential for enabling innovation. Specifically, organisational design can be used to facilitate easier exchange of employees’ ideas across boundaries and functions. These are just three examples of HR levers that provide the function with a unique opportunity to be a key driver of the innovation agenda, delivering sustainable competitive advantage, and becoming a true strategic partner. In doing so, HR can take its place alongside other mission-critical functions such as finance and IT and, ultimately, make the people agenda more important to business leaders than the balance sheet and P&L statement.

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Why innovation matters Research shows that most business leaders now view innovation as vital to their company’s long-term success and competitive advantage. It has been identified as the single most important predictor of the future for most companies, investment decisions now tend to be tied closely to how focused a company is on transformational, as opposed to incremental, innovation.

The C-suite’s growing focus on innovation is largely due to executive-level acknowledgement that the days of being able to take growth for granted are over. Corporate leaders know they can no longer expect established markets to simply keep on delivering, year after year. Now, they are looking for that growth from new markets, products and services. Organizational innovation is critical to making this happen.

Innovation: failure and success

Across the corporate world, traditional approaches to innovation have either failed or have simply been rendered redundant by results that are sporadic at

best. Specifically, some businesses have focused on hiring creative people and setting them free to introduce innovation. Others have relied only on luck, simply hoping for the best, or taken ad hoc and unstructured approaches to innovation. Others still have attempted to kick-start the process through a one-off set of creativity exercises or perhaps a ‘big bang’-style internal communications campaign, only to fail to build capacity to innovate on a sustainable basis.

Many other businesses, meanwhile, attempt to ‘do an Apple’ and replicate another organization’s

successful strategy. However, this approach is also highly likely to fail, if only because innovation looks very different from one company to the next.

For example, under Steve Jobs, Apple had a very controlled and centralized approach to product development. By contrast, 3M has developed a more dispersed approach. Yet both companies are successful innovators. Essentially, there is no value in setting out to copy another company’s methodology. Instead, we believe, you should develop an approach to innovation that is right for your unique set of circumstances. So, when it comes to innovation, what do Apple, 3M and other successful innovators have in common?

First, it is not about how much is spent on R&D. An annual innovation study has shown repeatedly that there is no statistically significant relationship between financial performance and innovation spending,5 nor does technology play the most important role. Instead, the research strongly indicates that the most successful corporate innovation strategies are the ones that predominantly focus on people and human capital issues.

These strategies include:

• engaging in strategic alliances with customers, suppliers, and other business partners

• finding, engaging and incentivizing key talent for the purposes of innovation

• promoting and rewarding entrepreneurship and risk taking

• developing innovation skills for all employees.

The one common theme to emerge from among these successful strategies is that the companies had developed or were developing cultures where innovation was seen as everyone’s responsibility, and as an objective that employees at all levels and in all roles strived to achieve on a day-to-day and business-as-usual basis.

In addition, many of these companies had at the core of their cultures an acceptance of the need

Time to step up HR, however, local companies must rise to this challenge, it is not just about introducing the policies and procedures, it is about using the procedures to the benefit of the organisation to build bring about the cultural change in Kuwaiti companies needed to build innovation into the way people at all levels think and work every day.

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to experiment. They understood there was a risk of failure but viewed honest failure as a learning opportunity.

Finally, many of these companies had recognized the part played by internal and external networks and had, in a bid to facilitate collaboration and the clash and contrast of different perspectives, taken every opportunity to connect their people, including moving them out of functional silos. From Pixar to Proctor & Gamble, from Tata to Toyota, Apple and Google, culture, it seems, is the key to innovation.

But how do these companies build cultures where every employee sees innovation as part of their job?

What steps have they taken to create a culture of creativity?

Where corporate values include collaboration and an acceptance of failure as simply a learning opportunity?

What are the pre-requisites for building this brave new world?

The innovation dynamicKPMG’s Global HR Transformation Centre of Excellence has identified 11 key factors common to established innovators.

The Centre did this by:

• reviewing characteristics common to organizations with a successful track record of innovation

• reviewing academic research into innovative organizations

• combining findings from these reviews to create an initial list of organizational capabilities

• trialling an ‘innovation dynamic’ questionnaire – then using the results to conduct a factor

analysis that helped refine the list of key factors.

Each factor relates to a company’s structure, processes, or its culture.

Taken together, these factors make it easy to see where a company needs to improve when it comes to developing a culture of continuous and widespread innovation.

Structure: room at the top Anyone looking to unleash innovation on a sustainable basis should start by asking themselves how much personal involvement does the top team have in the sponsorship and coordination of the company’s innovation activities?

In other words, to what extent do leaders back the innovation agenda and show long-term commitment to the development of the workforce’s innovation capabilities?

For most companies, creating a culture of creativity requires a sustained and well-planned change management program. At least initially, every successful instance of change management begins with backing and buy-in from the C-suite.

Other key questions:

• How integrated is innovation in the corporate strategy?

• Do top team members have the capabilities to manage risk and convert creativity into value?

Structure: employee discretion

Collaboration, both internally and with external stakeholders, is also a key prerequisite for innovation. With this in mind, companies need to consider how well their employees are well-networked.

Are they connected to colleagues and, for example, external advisors in a way that allows them to access other people’s expertise and insights?

Other key questions:

• Are employees encouraged to proactively build and manage their internal and external networks?

• What opportunities are there for employees to gain exposure to and build relationships

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‘innovation lab’ to accelerate idea generation, testing and development. A chemical company Dow has developed a ‘talent allocation framework’ to assess individual innovation skills and to ensure the right composition of skills exist in a project team at different stages of the innovation.8 Specifically, what processes does the organization have in place for idea generation, and for idea evaluation against a set criteria.

Other key questions:

• Do innovation processes exist?

• What training and development is provided to employees in relation to these processes?

• How often are these processes reviewed and updated?

Processes: spanning boundaries Within the organization, is work organized within discrete functional units, or is it delivered through cross-functional collaboration? How ‘porous’ are the boundaries between your company’s different roles, functions, and geographies? And how well do different business areas cooperate as part of an overall organizational effort?

Other key questions:

• Does the organizational culture support cross-functional and cross-regional working?

• What use is made of social media and crowd sourcing to draw on wider experience and wisdom?

• Does the physical infrastructure (buildings, layout, facilities) facilitate collaboration?

Processes: courageous conversations Still with processes, anyone seeking to build a culture of innovation within a company needs to ask themselves if employees interact in a way that is open and honest, or closed and defensive?

Other key questions:

• Does the top team speak directly about the business challenges faced by the organization?

• How are performance reviews conducted (if at all), with authenticity, or do managers simply go through the motions and tick the box?

• Who enjoys promotion? Employees who speak the honest truth or those who opt for an easy life?

with external partners such as suppliers and advisors?

Structure: employee discretion Creativity tends to occur when employees feel safe and positive.

Yet, research suggests that only 47% percent of employees are allowed to take controlled risks, and that only 52% report that their manager is good at listening to new ideas.

With this in mind, it is important to ask how much ‘discretionary space’ there is for employees to display initiative and how much flexibility there is when it comes to working practices and job design. Is the corporate culture more ‘tell and do’ or ‘coach and solve’?

Other key questions:

• Is work organized around narrowly defined job descriptions, or looser role profiles?

• Do employees have the time, space, tools and resources to make an innovative contribution?

Process: 24/7 radar screen It is also necessary to consider how much time people at all levels think about what is coming next and what is on the horizon. For example, how much time does the top team spend discussing the company’s long-term future? Are employees encouraged to scan the horizons? Are they expected to look around corners for the next big thing? Overall, what processes are in place to identify emerging trends in technology and the market place?

Other key questions:

• How alert are employees to the strategies and tactics of current and emerging competitors?

• What links does the organization have with trend-spotting gurus, futurologists, think tanks and others at the ‘edge of innovation’?

Processes: nuts-and-bolts obsession Does the organization actually have a process for innovating? Has anyone defined and communicated an innovation methodology? A basic methodology remains vital, if only so employees with a good idea know what needs to happen to take it forward.

For example, fashion retailer Nordstrom uses an

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Culture: current world is not enough

Moving to the third and final category of culture, it is necessary to ask how driven employees are to take the company ‘from good to great.’ To do what it takes to sustain success.

Other key questions:

• Are individuals and teams encouraged t leave their comfort zones?

• Are stretch goals established to reflect business ambition and how do these compare with the aspirations of established and new competitors?

Culture: diversity gains

Another key factor displayed by established corporate innovators are top teams featuring diverse backgrounds, perspectives and mindsets. In other words, does the organization manage diversity in a mature way? Does the leadership value and embrace difference? Does it appreciate diversity of thought and culture?

Other key questions:

• Do different bio-demographic and cultural groups view the organization as inclusive?

• What processes are in place to ensure the proactive recruitment of ‘difference’?

• Does the induction and socialization process encourage employees to bring their unique personalities to work?

Culture: okay to fail For unsuccessful attempts at innovation, is there a culture of blame and penalties within a company or are individuals/teams rewarded? What processes are in place to review mistakes and capture and share the learning? To build a sustainable culture of everyday innovation, the organization also needs to look at its history of failure and success when it comes to bringing ideas to life, and ask why this has been the case.

Other key questions:

• What is the organization’s philosophy and approach to risk management?

• What has been the track record of organizational success and failure in innovation? Why?

Culture: everyone’s job Finally, time needs to be spent on considering whether or not innovation is seen as the preserve of specific teams or functions – or if it is instead built into expectations for all employees. And if there is a specific innovation team, how well does it interact with the remainder of the workforce? Other key questions:

• How prominent is innovation in organizational briefings and updates?

• How well are innovators supported by their colleagues and managers when it comes to workloads and deadlines?

• How are employee innovations highlighted and celebrated internally?

Key HR drivers for organizational innovation Set out below are a number of activities that HR practitioners can undertake to embed innovation in their organisational DNA.

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Performance management

Consistently convey the correct signals about innovation expectations to every employee within the company

Reward and recognition

Reinforce the importance of innovation activity and outcomes through the use of recognition schemes that encourage and inspire employees to share and develop ideas – even if the ideas might fail

Talent management for individuals

Ensure all employees understand the unique skills and behaviors required to successfully innovate in their organization

Talent management for teams

Break down internal silos and promote idea sharing by building career development frameworks which encourage resource sharing

Talent management for leadership

Develop leaders to continually “horizon scan” and adopt a mindset of dissatisfaction with the status quo

Identifying critical roles

Identify which roles disproportionately drive innovation value, develop the people filling these roles and ensure full competence in innovation processes

Organizational design Architect the organization (structures, processes, roles, capabilities, etc.) to support the innovation strategy, accelerating the idea lifecycle by minimizing boundaries and promoting collaboration

Internal communication

Leverage technology to encourage cross organization networking and collaboration

Change management Facilitate the implementation of new working practices that drive innovation

Conclusion: HR’s unique opportunity There is considerable evidence that HR continues to experience a credibility issue and that it is perceived to lack demonstrable strategic impact. This does not, however, have to be the case. On the contrary, the C-suite’s current and probably permanent eagerness to develop a culture of continuous innovation leaves HR facing a unique opportunity, and a clear and simple choice. HR directors can either continue to pursue arguably generic models and ‘best’ practices in the hope that this way of working will deliver their leadership’s desires. Alternatively, HR can use its unchallenged

ownership of a diverse range of key levers, to uniquely configure processes and practices and deliver a best fit (rather than best practice) approach to innovation, and to subsequently hardwire into their organization’s DNA the ability to generate breakthrough innovation on a continuous basis. In the medium to long term, only one of these options is likely to position HR as a strategic partner that adds significant and tangible value. One of these options will see HR survive and thrive as an indispensible value creator. The other is likely to see it wither away.

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What is Human Capital?The most important resource in any organization is its “Human Capital” (HC) . The core components covered under the human capital practice include global immigration, expatriate tax services, international social security and global employment tax services.

In a highly integrated and complex economic environment, Ernst & Young is helping clients manage the complex compliance, reporting and risks involved with deploying a globally mobile

workforce , keeping employees trouble-free as to travel and immigration related logistics, giving them better understanding of tax and social security related issues and in general attuning them to the new environment for better workplace effectiveness.

What is Global Mobility?Global Mobility (GM) which is one of the main components of HC services , is a comparatively new service enabling organizations to expand their global footprint while remaining efficient, nimble and cost competitive. Ernst and Young (EY) for some time now has been making substantial efforts in helping their clients achieve their objective of integrating global mobility with workplace effectiveness.

Human capital and global mobility services provided by EY KuwaitAt the EY Kuwait office, the range of service offerings available to assignees are as under:

• Support in the application and processing of visa and work permit in Kuwait

• Aid in obtaining tax residency certificate

• Assistance in obtaining entry/exit clearances from the immigration authorities

• Receive updates and track the status of the immigration process

• Sharing knowledge on tax compliance requirements and contributions to social security.

• Obtain immigration clearance certificates like police clearance certificate, health certificates etc. for outbound employees.

• Advisory services related to HC.

These services have been carefully designed to ensure that organizations can now move their

Human Capital and Global Mobility: Are you ready to engage?

Alok Chugh and Ronny Roy

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people across borders with ease, at minimum costs and efforts, while helping their people integrate well with the new environment.

At EY Kuwait, there is a dedicated team of professionals looking after the HC requirements of EY clients worldwide.

Network and Experience of EY globally

EY is a market-leader in providing immigration services on a global scale. The HC practice is spread across 140 countries with over 600 technicians and falling under three broad regions - EMEIA, Asia Pac and the Americas controlled by the major coordination centers located in Canada, UK, Australia, South Africa and the Middle East.

Apart from being the world’s largest single provider of global business immigration network, EY also leverages its in-house international tax expertise in ways that are unique in the global market for international mobility service providers.

The Advantages By engaging a mobility team, clients are now able to avail competitive advantages like being able to:• Provide their core information (for tax,

social security and immigration) to only one integrated global mobility service provider;

• Capture the real costs of immigration on a global basis and it becomes clear where the responsibility rests;

• Have a single immigration provider who can support them in all the countries in the world and think strategically about their global issues;

• Gain advice on mitigating against legal, financial and reputational risks associated with cross-border compliance;

• Track all work permit expiry dates and have an expiry notification system to notify renewals;

• Obtain access to knowledge forums and technical alerts to make immigration processing better understood; and

• Benefit from a single window service provider supporting your tax, immigration and assignee management needs.

The Challenges

Mobility professionals are well aware of the significant and growing risks posed by the potential failure to comply with tax, payroll and immigration rules. This is a particularly complex issue to address in emerging markets and other jurisdictions where laws are constantly in

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flux. Many organizations do not have adequate procedures in place to understand or track those risks.

Furthermore, there is a tendency to wait or become aware of a tangible negative consequence before deciding to act. Educating business units to recognize the risk is a key initial step, but it remains an enormous challenge.

Through its network of relationships with government institutions, business forums and other social groups EY is in a position to manage this risk of non-compliance in a most effective manner. Regular seminars and training sessions of technicians ensure that EY is ahead of its competitors in knowledge gathering and dissemination and implementation. Human Capital in years to come will reshape how business is done seamlessly and effectively across borders in a fast integrating world and global mobility will be a key component in such a scheme. The right solution to developing a good mobility program will depend on the ethos and needs of the organization; there is no “one size fits all” formula. By building robust policies and processes for the

clients, EY can offer assignees a more consistent and hassle-free experience . The challenge is to make organizations understand that outsourcing the human capital and global mobility functions to experts like EY will ensure business is done across borders in a cost-effective, efficient and smooth manner.

For more information,contact Alok Chugh, Partner, Tax Advisory Services, Kuwait at [email protected] OR Ronny Roy, Manager, Tax & Human Capital Services, Kuwait at [email protected]

Human Capital - Reshaping the Future

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Employee Disengagement: Consider The Cause, Not the Symptom

Michael M. Chayes

So what can we do about it?

Crowley went to Jim Harder looking for answers. Harder’s been administering the Gallup survey since 1997. Harder’s observation is that to improve employee engagement organizations need managers with the interpersonal skills to care about and connect with employees. They have to mainly deliver “the basics”; helping employees to find the right job, setting clear performance expectations for them, making sure they have what they need to do their jobs, and being generous with praise and recognition. His recommendations make sense, given what we know about the influence managers have on their workers and the actions that build worker commitment. In fact, many engagement experts, with minor differences, would say the

(from magazine and website)

Gallup interviewed 150,000 workers and found that only 30% would describe themselves as being engaged at work, while 52% say they’re disengaged, and the final 18% call themselves actively disengaged. When there was little data connecting employee engagement with business performance, these results might have been interesting only to HR. However, numerous studies have shown now that higher levels of engagement correlate with stronger business performance through greater productivity, lower turnover, and better work quality. If business today is the tough competitive race we keep saying it is, the lack of commitment of our “crew” doesn’t bode well for our success, and it’s probably not something we should ignore.

Recently, Mark Crowley reported on the results of the Gallup organization’s annual employee engagement survey. He painted a humorous, but compelling

picture of the results, “… imagine crew teams out on the Potomac River where three people are rowing their hearts out, five are taking in the scenery, and two are trying to sink the boat.”

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same thing. It’s also advice in keeping with much management guidance that suggests, as Harder himself says, “doing what’s right for people proves to be right for the organization.”

However, while Harder’s recommendations make sense as far as they go, they don’t really go very far.

As in most discussions of engagement, they don’t consider what forces may be creating our high level of disengagement in the first place. Aren’t people curious about how you manage to create tens of millions of disaffected employees? That’s not a trivial accomplishment. The closest Harder comes is: “Most people come to work well intentioned and only turn sour when their basic needs aren’t being met.” Unless there’s a conspiracy of leaders and managers across every business to not meet the basic needs of their employees, we need a more systemic explanation than that if we’re going to understand our current scale of employee disengagement and address root causes rather than symptoms.

Where I would look for a plausible culprit, of the right scale, is our culture of business. While every company has its own particular culture, they ride atop a larger shared culture of business that we practice every day without recognizing how its norms impact our organizations. One of the hallmarks of that culture is our assumption that employees, when they come to work, will leave their personal baggage behind, just bringing along what they need to play their assigned roles. Without recognizing it as such, we operate at work on the assumption that who people are personally

only matters to the extent it influences their job performance. We maintain a belief in a division between what is personal and what is business. The irony is that we ask people to be role players during their work day and not who they fully are as human beings, but then we’re perplexed and concerned when most of them feel disengaged from their organizations. Our belief system seems not to recognize that what we call engagement is a very personal state that depends on people’s willingness to bring who they are more fully into their workplace.

While we hold leaders accountable for whatever happens in their organizations, employee disengagement is probably not something we can lay at their feet. It’s a condition that long preceded every leader alive today. Furthermore, there’s no reason to assume that leaders and managers who themselves grew up in our organizations are any more engaged, or able to resist disengagement than the employees who commonly get our attention. If there’s employee disengagement, why not employer disengagement? If, as seems likely, there are systemic reasons for the widespread nature of disengagement, there’s no logical reason to believe that any levels or segments of an organization are somehow exempt from its effects. In a system that, by default, makes engagement more difficult by discouraging full human beings from showing up at work, both the front-line supervisor and the CEO face similar challenges.

It seems unfair to suggest a cultural explanation, without speculating on its origin. I would look back to the 1890s, to the changes wrought by Frederick Taylor, the father of scientific management. Taylor, looking at work processes with scientific rigor, devised methods of standardization that dramatically improved industrial productivity. His methods were widely adopted, to the extent that they probably contributed to the U.S. becoming a great industrial power during the 20th century. However, there was a dark side to Taylor’s methods in his unequivocal beliefs about how they had to be implemented.

Frederick Taylor’s philosophy made the manager responsible for all problem-solving. It sounds very much like our contemporary mindset, where

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for every organizational problem the answer is generally a new management task.

He was emphatic that workers lacked the capacity to comprehend his methodology and therefore to control their own work. The mental work of planning and control was something only a manager had the ability for, while the worker was just responsible for executing the work plan as given to him. In the new Taylor-created status quo, workers no longer had the same autonomy or personal attachment to their work, but in return, they profited from the new methods, achieving levels of affluence that earlier generations of workers had never seen. Lost in most discussions of Taylor is recognition of how his methods institutionalized a new role and status differentiation between the management-thinkers and the worker-doers. The managers became the “adults,” planning for and directing the more “child-like” workers, who lacked the capacity to manage their own work lives. The resulting culture of business promoted high productivity, but at the expense of workers who became little more than “cogs in the system.”

Taylor’s philosophy made the manager responsible for all problem-solving. It sounds very much like our contemporary mindset, where for every organizational problem the answer is generally a new management task. With the best of intentions, solutions offered for employee disengagement depend on the manager “doing” for the employee. Without intending to, we may keep reinforcing a system that deprives employees of proper credit for their own capacity for self-management and independent problem-solving. Equally, we make unfair demands on managers who have been, more than likely, trained to play leadership roles, but were not developed to be leaders. The better model would be one in which the responsibility for making work feel vital, motivating, and personally important is a task equally shared by everyone no matter what their title.

When so much management advice seems to come down to “treat employees like adult human beings” you have to wonder. Why do people need to be told that? If they’re not doing that, what are they doing? The fact that managers even need that advice and advice-givers seem to think it’s necessary to give

may provide us with some additional insight into the origins of disengagement.

The most substantial solution to employee disengagement (and many other organizational challenges) would be an organization completely populated with three-dimensional human beings and not avatars and role players. It might seem that such an organization would present a difficult management challenge. On the contrary, it would be self-managing and the Golden Rule would provide the necessary guidance 98% of the time.

The entire report can be downloaded at http://www.gallup.com/strategicconsulting/121535/Employee-Engagement-Overview-Brochure.aspx

Michael M. Chayes is managing principal of Sustained Leadership LLC, a firm focusing on executive leadership coaching and change management support. He is a formed partner at and president and CEO of Stromberg Consulting Group.

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These are:

• strategic talent requirements: revolving around what kinds of skills will help the business succeed, how many staff are needed and where they should be based

• talent risks: based on an assessment of what the key talent risks are facing the organisation, and including analysis of succession planning, key person dependency and mobility risks

• return on investment: exploring what the business has learned about which kind of ‘talent interventions’ deliver the best RoI and examining whether success is better achieved through growing talent or buying it

• talent governance & infrastructure: identifying what infrastructure exists to manage data on talent and the culture and governance in place to encourage and enable career moves and secondments.

Detert suggests that asking and answering these four key questions will ensure that any talent plan is tailored, and is unique to the business it is designed for. She concludes: “By fully understanding the current and future business context – by tuning in to talent - HR teams can assemble the right elements of a talent approach, and create a unique talent playlist- one which captures the character, culture and mood of their specific business.”

So, are we hearing the death knell for “best practice” in HR? Noel O’Reilly, writing for www.xperthr.co.uk, asked the question in response to

A rigid attachment to ‘best practice’, rather than a focus on business needs, is preventing many organisations from unearthing and nurturing staff to drive their business forward. The danger of such an inflexible approach is also killing organisations’ ability to properly manage talent, according to KPMG’s UK Lead for Talent.

Presenting her views in a white paper called ‘Tune in to Talent,’ Anna Marie Detert argues that organisations are failing to adjust their approach or match it to their unique requirements, leaving executives frustrated and concerned. The impact on Boardroom confidence in HR tactics is confirmed in a study published by the Economist Intelligence Unit and KPMG, in which fewer than 1 in 4 CEOs and directors accepted that their HR department excels at ‘sourcing key talent’ or ‘preparing for a changing workforce’.

Detert suggests that the tendency to copy or adopt the latest fad or fancy must be challenged if businesses are to understand the talent they truly need to succeed, and plan effectively to find and keep it. She says: “All too often, companies dive straight in, implementing the latest best practice recruitment, development or performance system or process. Instead, they need to stand back and ask some searching questions about what talent their particular business needs now and in the future.”

In the paper, she identifies four key groups of questions HR teams should ask, before scoping a talent strategy.

Are We Hearing the Death Knell for “Best Practice” in HR?

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There was further support for the abandonment of best practice is in a CIPD podcast this month, which included a contribution from CIPD chief executive, Peter Cheese. One of the speakers, Robert Bolton, Leader of Global HR Transformation Centre of Excellence, KPMG, specifically berated best practice as a backward-looking approach. Bolton said HR’s problem is looking over their shoulder at “best practice” and looking “in the rear view mirror”, rather than saying “look at the data, look at what it is saying – we know what has to be done, let us get on and do the job”.

And Hayley Brown, talent intelligence analyst EMEA – Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), for AVON Cosmetics., talks about using data for succession planning in a predictive way, so that looming problems are addressed before they develop. She has interactive ways to gather and understand trends in engagement and performance on a daily basis.

O’Reilly concluded by asking for feedback from his readers in HR. Dispatches will close the same way. If anyone in HR would like to comment on how HR is developing in their organisation, please email [email protected] and we’ll run the “discussion” in the next issue.

KPMG’s white paper. He cited HR experts weighed in on Twitter agreed that best practice had long ago been thrown out in favour of ‘best fit” and they were amazed that some HR practitioners still persisted with the approach.

According to O’Reilly, there is a growing body of opinion that instead of applying best practice HR leaders should find the best fit for their own organisation based on:

• Predictive data, for example relating to future talent requirements.

• Evidence based practice with value that can be measured, for example through return on investment on interventions.

• Assessment of risks; using talent as an example this could relate to succession planning, key person dependency and mobility risks.

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A Human Resource manager was knocked down (tragically) by a bus and was killed. Her spirit arrived at the shining gayes, where Mr S.T.Peter welcomed her. “Before you get settled in” he said, “We have a little problem…you see, we’ve never had a HR manager make it this far before and we’re not really sure what to do with you.”

“Oh, I see,” said the woman. “Can’t you just let me in?”

“Well, I’d like to,” said Mr S.T.Peter, “But I have higher orders. We’re instructed to let you have a day in h.ll and a day in h..ven, and then you are to choose where you’d like to go for all eternity.”

“Actually, I think I’d prefer h..ven”, said the woman. “Sorry, we have rules…” at which point S.T.Peter put the HR manager into the downward bound elevator.

As the doors opened in h.ll she stepped out onto a beautiful golf course. In the distance was a country club; around her were many friends, past fellow executives, all smartly dressed, happy, and cheering for her. They ran up and kissed her on both cheeks, and they talked about old times.

They played a perfect round of golf and afterwards went to the country club where she enjoyed a superb steak and lobster dinner. She even met Mr De Vil (who was actually rather nice) and she had a wonderful night telling jokes and dancing.

Before she knew it, it was time to leave. Everyone shook her hand and waved goodbye as she stepped into the elevator. The elevator went back up to heaven where Mr S.T. Peter was waiting for her. “Now it’s time to spend a day in h..ven,” he said.

So she spent the next 24 hours lounging around on clouds, playing the harp and singing; which was almost as enjoyable as her day in h.ll. At the

“HR Best Practice: attracting candidates!

(With acknowledgements to Graham Salisbury)

day’s end Mr S.T. Peter returned. “So,” he said, “You’ve spent a day in h.ll and you’ve spent a day in h..ven. You must choose between the two.”

The woman thought for a second and replied: “Well, h..ven is certainly lovely, but I actually had a better time in h.ll. I choose h.ll.”

Accordingly, Mr S.T. Peter took her to the elevator again and she went back down to h.ll. When the doors of the elevator opened she found herself standing in a desolate wasteland covered in garbage and filth. She saw her friends dressed in rags, picking up rubbish and putting it in old sacks. Mr De Vil approached and put his arm around her.

“I don’t understand,” stuttered the HR manager, “The other day I was here, and there was a golf course, and a country club. We ate lobster and we danced and had a wonderful happy time. Now all there is is just dirty wasteland of garbage and all my friends look miserable.”

Mr De Vil simply looked at her and smiled, “Yesterday we were recruiting you, today you’re staff.”

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Recognizing the key role of innovation as a driver of economic growth and prosperity, and the need for a broad horizontal vision of innovation applicable to developed and emerging economies, the GII includes indicators that go beyond the traditional measures of innovation such as the level of research and development.

In just 6 years, the GII has established itself as the premier reference among innovation indices, and has evolved into a valuable benchmarking tool to facilitate public-private dialogue, whereby

The Global Innovation Index 2013

The Global Innovation Index 2013 (GII), in its 6th edition this year, is co-published by Cornell University, INSEAD, and the World Intellectual

Property Organization (WIPO, a specialized agency of the United Nations). The core of the GII Report consists of a ranking of world economies’ innovation capabilities and results.

policymakers, business leaders and other stakeholders can evaluate progress on a continual basis.

To support the global innovation debate, to guide polices and to highlight good practices, metrics are required to assess innovation and related policy performance. The Global Innovation Index (GII) creates an environment in which innovation factors are under continual evaluation, including the following features:

• 142 country profiles, including data, ranks and strengths and weaknesses on 84 indicators

• 84 data tables for indicators from over 30 international public and private sources, of which 60 are hard data, 19 composite indicators, and 5 survey questions

• A transparent and replicable computation methodology including 90% confidence interval for each index ranking (GII, output and input sub-indices) and an analysis of factors affecting year-on-year changes in rankings

The GII 2013 is calculated as the average of two sub-indices. The Innovation Input Sub-Index gauges elements of the national economy which embody innovative activities grouped in five pillars: (1) Institutions, (2) Human capital and research, (3) Infrastructure, (4) Market sophistication, and (5) Business sophistication. The Innovation Output Sub-Index captures actual evidence of innovation results, divided in two pillars: (6) Knowledge and technology outputs and (7) Creative outputs.

The index is submitted to an independent statistical audit by the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission. To download the full report visit: www.globalinnovationindex.org.

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‘Invest on Board’ Brings Investors and Start-Ups Together in Sky!

Finding the next big business has never been this easy! Turkish Airlines gives investors the opportunity to find the next big business idea while flying aboard and start-ups get a chance to grow.

In partnership with Etohum, Turkish Airlines has launched its newest ‘Invest on Board’ platform, giving entrepreneurs the chance to reach investors in the sky.

By this December, the in-flight entertainment system of Planet in Turkish Airlines flights will start featuring video pitches of 11 strong startup ideas. Through browsing these videos, investors will have the opportunity to meet great business ideas while flying comfortably aboard.

The project will be online at investonboard.com where new start-ups can also apply to be periodically included in newer video pitch releases. These videos will be renewed on a monthly basis, with the addition of new start-ups.

According to Shubhodeep Pal, writing for simpliflying.com, here’s what works about their initiative:

It is clearly targeted towards getting high-value business customers — specifically, rich investors interested in discovering promising business opportunities worth backing — to fly Turkish Airlines.

It provides a platform to upcoming startups to showcase their ideas and an opportunity for them to meet investors — a critical factor for any startup.

Moreover, it smartly positions itself to become the airline of choice for startups as well. After all, if potential investors are on-board Turkish, you’d naturally be there too.

As a result, the Turkish Airlines brand — and especially, Turkish Airlines flights — automatically get associated with business and networking. After all, for any airline, its business customers are critical.

Further, the novelty of the initiative also ensures that the Turkish Airline brand continues to be seen as one that is keen to differentiate itself from competitors and try out new, innovative ideas.

It seamlessly merges the online and social platform with real-world flight experience — which is, essentially, what any airline wants i.e. for its online initiatives to get people to fly it.

For more detailed information you may contact our Call Center at +90 212 444 0849 or visit any Turkish Airlines Sales Office.

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Last year, a pale woman with crazy eyebrows and a keytar strapped to her back made a video of herself, wearing a kimono and holding up hand-Sharpied signs on a street in Melbourne. One by one, the signs flipped, explaining that the woman had spent the last 4 years writing songs. She was a musician, and had parted ways with her record label, which had said the cost of her next album would be a whopping $500,000. She and her band mates were very happy to no longer be with the label, and had worked hard to create some great new music and art. But they couldn’t finish producing the record on their own. She needed people’s help to get it off the ground and to make what was now her business—independent music—work.

“This is the future of music,” one of her signs read. Another, “I love you.”

And then she posted the video on Kickstarter. In 30 days, it raised $1.2 million dollars. 24,883 people pre-ordered the album, bought artwork, or simply donated money. The album and tour became a

This Will Be The #1 Business Skill Of The Next 5 Years

Shane Snow (on Linked In)

huge success, and the artist turned her music into a real, profitable business. The woman in the kimono, if you haven’t heard this story already, was Amanda Palmer, and she went on to give a massively popular TED talk about the whole affair.

Palmer changed the game for independent musicians with that campaign. And she did it, not by simply asking for money, but by telling her story.

Every few minutes, a new buzzword rips through the business world, skids, gets a few quick books written on it, and ends up in a pile of tired terms next to “synergy.” Today, one of the biggest corporate buzzwords is “storytelling.” Marketers are obsessed with storytelling, and conference panels on the subject lately have fewer empty seats than a Bieber concert.

Funny thing is, storytelling has been the buzzword off and on since advertising became a thing. It’s always coming out of the buzzword pile because, at the end of the day, it’s a timeless skill. Stories have been an essential driver of change throughout human history. For good and for ill.

And now more than ever, businesses, workers, and leaders have opportunities to stand out, spread messages, and make change through storytelling.

Good stories surprise us. They have compelling characters. They make us think, make us feel. They stick in our minds and help us remember ideas and concepts in a way that numbers and text on a slide with a bar graph don’t.

The reason Kickstarter works, and how thousands of creators have rallied the support of millions on

In 1974 Peter Allen released a song he co-wrote with Carole Bayer Sager extolling the fact that “everything old is new again.” You

can’t get much older than storytelling, but journalist Shane Snow predicts that it will be the most important business skill of the next 5 years. Here’s Snow’s prediction explained:

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its platform, is because it allows people to get their stories in front of others. And it doesn’t just allow it; Kickstarter requires it. Every project must have a video where the creators explain why they’re doing what they’re doing, and why they need help.

Unfortunately, in the era of PowerPoint and status updates, many of us have forgotten how to tell a good story.

As ubiquitous publishing and sharing tools transform our digital lives, storytelling is becoming uniquely essential. It’s no longer a luxury afforded to the wealthy ruling class or the companies who happen to own printing presses and delivery trucks. And as we spend increasing amounts of time consuming content by the streamful, storytelling is a skill that every business—and individual—will need to master.

Businesses Need To Tell Good Stories

Research indicates that 78 percent of CMOs think content is the future of marketing. And two thirds of marketers think branded content is superior to PR, direct mail, and print advertising. That’s huge.

This is largely because social media has gotten us comfortable having conversations with companies. Businesses are more than excited to put their content in our Facebook streams, next to pictures of our loved ones and story links from The New York Times. As the majority of corporations start thinking of themselves as publishers, the defining characteristic among the successful ones will be the ability to not just spew content, but to craft compelling stories.

Fact is, no one cares about your marketing goals. But everyone likes a good story. The businesses that can tell one (and there are some really good ones right now) will have increasing advantage.

Workers and Leaders Need To Tell Good Stories

We share billions of links every month, to tens of millions of pieces of content. As the deluge of content in our lives, and the means of accessing it, grows (Ahoy, Google Glass!), what stands out has to be increasingly compelling. Those who can create, find, and share the good stories will build followings, to their outsize advantage.

This goes for individuals as well as businesses. All things being equal, people with powerful personal brands have a leg up on getting jobs and being promoted to leadership within them. And personal brands are built on, among other things, telling and sharing great stories.

Additionally, the Internet means that like it or not we’re all competing for jobs in a global labor market, and millions of us will soon be freelancers. Whether employed or freelance or not, the best way to get the attention of and be memorable to the people who pay us (clients, bosses, donors) is to tell true stories in exciting ways.

Stories make presentations better. Stories make ideas stick. Stories help us persuade. Savvy leaders tell stories to inspire us, motivate us. (That’s why so many politicians tell stories in their speeches.) They realize that “what you say” is often moot compared to “how you say it.” (Again, for better or worse.)

And like Amanda Palmer’s flip cards endeared her to tens of thousands of strangers, stories can help us build businesses and independent careers. Sure, we need science and data to make the right decisions in life and work, but the best business books and keynote speakers use stories to help us retain to the points when the stats fade from memory.

There’s a Native American proverb on my office wall that says, “Those who tell the stories rule the world.” As technology increasingly intertwines us, I believe that’s increasingly true. It’s our job as businesses and workers and leaders to make sure the good guys are the ones telling the best stories.

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1. You admire a character for trying more than for their successes.

2. You gotta keep in mind what’s interesting to you as an audience, not what’s fun to do as a writer. They can be v. different.

3. Trying for theme is important, but you won’t see what the story is actually about til you’re at the end of it. Now rewrite.

4. Once upon a time there was ___. Every day, ___. One day ___. Because of that, ___. Because of that, ___. Until finally ___.

5. Simplify. Focus. Combine characters. Hop over detours. You’ll feel like you’re losing valuable stuff but it sets you free.

6. What is your character good at, comfortable with? Throw the polar opposite at them. Challenge them. How do they deal?

7. Come up with your ending before you figure out your middle. Seriously. Endings are hard, get yours working up front.

8. Finish your story, let go even if it’s not perfect. In an ideal world you have both, but move on. Do better next time.

Pixar’s 22 Rules for Good Storytelling

9. When you’re stuck, make a list of what WOULDN’T happen next. Lots of times the material to get you unstuck will show up.

10. Pull apart the stories you like. What you like in them is a part of you; you’ve got to recognize it before you can use it.

11. Putting it on paper lets you start fixing it. If it stays in your head, a perfect idea, you’ll never share it with anyone.

12. Discount the 1st thing that comes to mind. And the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th – get the obvious out of the way. Surprise yourself.

13. Give your characters opinions. Passive/malleable might seem likable to you as you write, but it’s poison to the audience.

14. Why must you tell THIS story? What’s the belief burning within you that your story feeds off of? That’s the heart of it.

15. If you were your character, in this situation, how would you feel? Honesty lends credibility to unbelievable situations.

16. What are the stakes? Give us reason to root for the character. What happens if they don’t succeed? Stack the odds against.

On Twitter, Pixar storyboard artist Emma Coats has compiled nuggets of narrative wisdom she’s received

working for the animation studio over the years. If you accept the coming importance of storytelling in business, who better to provide insight on how to do it well?

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17. No work is ever wasted. If it’s not working, let go and move on - it’ll come back around to be useful later.

18. You have to know yourself: the difference between doing your best & fussing. Story is testing, not refining.

19. Coincidences to get characters into trouble are great; coincidences to get them out of it are cheating.

20. Exercise: take the building blocks of a movie you dislike. How d’you rearrange them into what you DO like?

21. You gotta identify with your situation/characters, can’t just write ‘cool’. What would make YOU act that way?

22. What’s the essence of your story? Most economical telling of it? If you know that, you can build out from there.

All Disney and Pixar copyrights, trademarks, and logos are owned by The Walt Disney Company.

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KPMG Fusion™ Pension Tool

KPMG launches “KPMG Fusion™”, an online pensions analytics and modelling tool set to revolutionise

pensions consulting.Andrew Cawley, Head of Pensions at KPMG in the UK, said: “Fusion enables a user to, at the touch of a button, see the scheme’s changing financial position in real time. But more than that, it allows users to look ahead, modelling the impact of different

scenarios on their own scheme. For example, a Finance Director, Trustee or Pensions Manager contemplating a member option exercise, can see how that might reduce risk or impact on time to get fully funded. A user might want to model how a different investment strategy will affect their scheme’s profile in the future. Perhaps some asset-backed financing is an option? Again, Fusion can model this.”According to the Pensions team at KPMG in the UK, it is this modelling functionality which is the key attraction of Fusion. The main features are:

• Instant access to real time pension information online.

• User friendly, intuitive, accessible and easy-to-view format

• Everything at the touch of a button in one place

• Effectively monitor your current financial position

• See how the scheme(s) has evolved and why

• Model the cost and risk impact of solutions in real time

• Model solutions together to produce an overall holistic strategy

Andrew Cawley explains: “Today, our access to live information online in most areas of business and personal lives is pretty much taken for granted. Just as people have become used to being able check their bank accounts and utility bills online, we believe that pensions stakeholders are now expecting access to real time online information. Indeed we believe such access will rapidly become the norm.

“The ability to look ahead however, to model the ‘what if’ scenarios is where genuine real value lies for all pensions stakeholders – whether employers or trustees. Currently if a pensions consultant is discussing how a scheme might de-risk, the consultant will model one or two scenarios to talk through with the client. A number of different approaches may have been considered but they don’t all make it to the actual client discussion. With Fusion, the pensions professional and their client are empowered to model an endless range of possibilities straight from their PC or tablet.”

In addition to the modelling functionality, Fusion holds a library of relevant information including documentation relating to the users’ own scheme(s) such as the latest Actuarial Statement or investment monitoring reports, or accounting

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advice together with details of how the various de-risking approaches operate.

Andrew Cawley continues: “For example, a Fusion user might have been modelling how changing investment strategy or offering a pensions increase exchange might affect their funding position. Through the site they can access information from KPMG about how pensions increase exchanges operate, what current best practice looks like, how market practice has evolved and examples of successful outcomes.”

“And in addition to this broader information, they have their own scheme data with details such as their member profiles, policies and so on.”

According to Andrew Cawley, by blending real time analysis and a data library with modelling functionality, KPMG FusionTM can give users a completely new perspective on the options for their pension schemes: “Using our expertise and insight, and in working closely with us, our clients will be able to develop highly effective strategies for their pension schemes in a way, we believe, not seen before.”

For more information about Fusion, visit: www.kpmg.com/uk/fusion

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Speaking at the annual British Bankers’ Association conference, KPMG’s EMA head of financial services, Bill Michael, outlined his vision of how global banking will change over the next decade.

“Libor was a game changer for banking. We now have a situation where the future shape of banking is beyond the control of Boards, individual regulators or countries alone.

“We are heading to a new place where universal banking doesn’t exist as it does today. Where retail and investment banking may be split and where the interests of countries, and their banks, come first.”

Bill Michael outlined four defining features of the future shape of banking.

The old universal banking model will no longer be sustainable

“When Lehman’s failed, the inadequacy of the insolvency regime was painfully exposed. It demonstrated that in the face of such a crisis, each nation protects its own interests.

“Banks are just as important to countries as national defence. And just like national defence, ‘one size does not fit all’ and the mantra of a ‘level playing field’ may not be relevant.

“As the philosophy of ‘country-first’ takes hold, global banks will be forced to become less global. In this new world retail and investment banking are not comfortable bedfellows and will likely split.”

Finance will become more localised and banks will exit major products and markets

“In a world where countries come first, many banks will retreat back to home markets. Finance will become localised and products will become simplified.

“This should mean great news for some customers as banks are forced to focus more on their needs. But it will also mean large universal banks must fundamentally restructure their business, which could include major divestments and exiting geographies or products.”

Global Banking has Reached the

Point of No ReturnCustomers will have access to fewer products that will cost more

“Retail banking is being dominated by ‘back-book reviews’ of mis-selling. While the goal of these reviews is noble, there is no end in sight. We now run the risk of harming the very people we aim to protect – our customers.

“Customers already have access to fewer pensions and investment products as a direct result. For SME customers – the lifeblood of the economy – access to funding at acceptable pricing is increasingly difficult.

“For large corporates it gets trickier. They will demand more global services and banks will have to become more global in their offerings. However, access to risk management products will become more expensive and the likely demise of a widespread OTC market means these products will be more costly.”

Banking will become dull

“Banking will become dull, and dull will be the new good. Bankers will no longer be the rock stars of the commercial world and banking will become staid and adrenaline-free.

“As global banks reconfigure and become more country focused, stable returns will be demanded by investors. Volatile earnings will signal that a bank hasn’t finished adapting.

“The ‘dullness’ of banks will drive culture and behaviour, not the other way around.”

Copies of the full speech are available on request. Contact: Monica Fiumara, Senior PR Manager, KPMG at [email protected]

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The local Arabic press reported: “The Minister of Commerce and Industry, Mr. Saleh has issued a ministerial decision to grant a license of investment for the British company Selex ES ltd in order to establish a limited liability company in Kuwait. the ministerial decision carry No. 467 for the year 2013, passed in its first article approval to engage in the company of the activity of information technology and software development” Selex ES Kuwait’s General Manager Alec Gribble said “ We are delighted that we have now received final permission to allow final establishment procedures for setting up our company to be completed. The announcement was made after a significant amount of hard work and negotiation involving Kuwait’s National Offset Company and the Kuwait Foreign Investment Bureau. Both Kuwait Government Agencies

British Company Selex ES To Establish

Subsidiary in Kuwait

worked hard to assist us reach this successful outcome.”

The new subsidiary, supported by its local investment partner Al-Safwa Security & Defence Systems Company, is a significant step for the company. Selex ES Kuwait will be the vehicle through which Selex will deliver its current offset obligations. The plans for its business include the transfer of advanced technology, the creation of skilled jobs for Kuwaiti nationals and providing them with professional training. The establishment of the new business also re-affirms Selex’s commitment to its Kuwaiti customers and helps define its long-term strategy for growth.

Selex has delivered and supported equipment in Kuwait for many years and is currently delivering on contracts with a value of over £35M to various customers in Kuwait.

A recently announced decision, through a Ministerial Decree by Kuwait’s Minister of Commerce & Industry, HE Annas Khalid Al-Saleh, allows Selex ES

to register the majority Foreign-owned company in Kuwait.

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Jumeirah Messilah Beach Hotel & Spa, Kuwait’s idyllic resort, has launched a new Friday family brunch at the hotel’s Garden Café. The new brunch offers international cuisine, stunning views and children’s entertainment. ‘The Amazing Friday’ Brunch is served from 1 - 4.30pm with spectacular views of the hotel’s lush gardens and Arabian Gulf.

Delicious mixed grills, Italian dishes, Ouzi and other Arabic specialties will be available alongside live cooking stations; chefs will be on hand to prepare seafood. Youngsters will be well catered for with a special children’s buffet, a selection of treats including cotton candy, popcorn, cupcakes and special entertainment.

Mark Griffiths, General Manager, said: “We invite everyone to share our passion for culinary perfection as well as experience our unrivalled

Family Friendly Brunch at Jumeirah Messilah Beach Hotel & Spa

luxury service. The Friday brunch will make the day even more special.”

In the interest of full disclosure, I have to confess that as the editor of Dispatches, I was invited to the launch event and it was positively scrumptious. The selection guaranteed that my eyes were bigger than my tummy – everything looked so delicious that it was hard to decide what to put on my plate.

The seafood selection, which included lobster mac & cheese (what’s not to love!), was impressive and seemingly endless. So after a light Arabic-oriented plate of appetisers, it was off to the seafood bar for a little of this and a little of that. YUM! I struggled with the next plate, knowing it would probably be my last, then opted to go Indian and that was a great choice – although the smells of the kebab on the nearby grill was so tempting I did add a bit of that too.

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Those who know me may be surprised that I was full at this point, but there is something you don’t know. In addition to all the wonderful things on the buffet and being cooked to order, the food servers are roaming around with tasty bites you just have to try . . . and try . . . and try. To do otherwise would be rude, right?

Finally, purely in the interest of good journalism, I forced myself to enjoy a few treats off the dessert buffets (yes, two – the children’s AND the adults). I recommend a hot crepe, with a fresh berries and a small scoop of vanilla ice cream!

Bon Appétit!

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British Airways Offers Middle Eastern Travellers Top Tips

on Flying with Children

Paolo De Renzis, British Airways’ Regional Commercial Manager, Middle East said: “I have three young children myself and from personal experience I know what a difference it makes if the kids are happy and content during their travels.”

“Everyone looks forward to their summer holiday, whether it be heading off to an exciting new destination, or returning home from abroad to spend time with family and friends. For some children this can be an incredible new adventure, while others will find the experience more of an ordeal.”

The key to travelling with children is preparation. Parents should spend some time speaking with their children to prepare them for the flight experience. Involve them by asking them to help pack for the holiday and plan what toys, books and clothes to take on board. While a great selection of programmes is offered through the in-flight entertainment system, some parents also like to take a portable DVD player with their children’s favourite shows.

Make sure you arrive at the airport with plenty of time to check in, go through security and reach

With temperatures rising in the UAE and kids breaking up for their summer school holidays, many families

will be jetting off for their annual summer getaway. To make the journey even smoother, British Airways offers Middle Eastern travellers some valuable tips for flying with children.

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the gate, as these tasks always take longer when travelling with young ones. British Airways invites families to board first, so take this opportunity to get the children settled in their seats.

It is easy for young ones to become bored on longhaul flights so bring some toys and games to amuse them. Be careful not to pack anything with small or many parts, such as a jigsaw puzzle, which can be lost easily. In addition, British Airways offers age-specific Skyflyers activity packs to children between two and 12 years to help them pass the time. The airline has just launched new packs with a London 2012 Olympic theme to be given out to children on flights during the Olympic and Paralympic games. There are also dedicated children’s channels on the in-flight entertainment system.

Nutritious children’s meals are available on all of British Airways’ longhaul flights; however parents will need to book these 24 hours in advance. Small snacks and tasty treats will also help children pass the time. While a limited supply of baby food is carried on board, parents are encouraged to bring their own baby food and sterilised equipment.

British Airways’ website (ba.com) is a valuable source of information and useful advice for families on the go. As well as checking in online and selecting seats, the website also offers a range of other services that make flying easier for families.

Try these services and tips for a seamless journey:

• Prebook children’s meals online 24 hours in advance

• Reserve a carrycot for babies or a child seat for infants so you both get rest during the flight

• Reserve your seats online 24 hours before your flight to ensure the family can sit together

• Arrive at the airport well in advance to allow for a less stressful check-in and security process

• Allow your child to bring his/her favourite toy from home and select a few favourite films or programmes to play on a portable DVD player

A full timetable of British Airways’ flights to London and beyond is available online at ba.com – where the lowest fares are guaranteed – and customers can book, pay and check-in online for their flights.

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Have you ever wondered how cabin crew stay impeccably groomed during a longhaul flight? With the festive season approaching, British Airways cabin crew member Rachelle Carter reveals the secrets to arriving at your destination with immaculate style.

“Cabin crew members always look glamorous and stylish, it’s part of the job, but there are simple tricks of the trade that every beauty-conscious passenger can use to ensure they reach their destination looking fresh and vibrant, even after a six-hour flight from Dubai,” Carter says.

Starting with makeup, she recommends investing in a good foundation, which should be kept in place with a good primer. “You can sleep soundly in it and it will keep everything where it should be, ready for a perfect landing. An eyeshade is

British Airways’ Cabin Crew Share Top Tips for Arriving in Style

this Festive Season

also a good idea to stop you rubbing off your eye makeup while napping,” she says.

Carter suggests making the most of the downtime during a longhaul flight by moisturising your feet. “Smother your feet in a layer of moisturiser. Then put on a pair of thick socks – or BA ones – and enjoy an inflight mini pedicure.”

Scientists have proven that the atmosphere inside an aircraft is as dry as the Sahara desert, so it is important to take good care of your skin. “Lip balm is a must on a longhaul flight, because it soothes chapped lips, keeping them soft and well hydrated,” she advises.

“Also, when you’re travelling don’t forget to drink plenty of water. Hot drinks can dehydrate you and will have an effect on your comfort levels as well as your skin. Aim to drink at least two glasses of water per hour.”

Those who suffer from greasy hair will find dry shampoo useful. “You can buy travel-size versions now, which will fit perfectly in your handbag and are easy to use just before landing,” Carter reveals.

Another recommendation is to keep hands fresh with sanitiser. And the final tip: “If all else fails, make sure you always carry a good lipstick, some sunglasses and a pashmina, which will hide all manner of sins as you make your way through the arrivals hall.”

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2012 marked the airline’s 80th anniversary of flying to the Middle East. British Airways has a worldwide route network that covers more than 175 destinations in 75 countries. The airline is one of the world’s largest international airlines carrying approximately 36 million passengers around the world every year.

The airline offers a choice of four cabins on the majority of its longhaul services. The airline is investing in new aircraft, new cabins, new technology and new routes.

British Airways operates the majority of flights from Terminal 5, its home at London Heathrow. This

A Wassail, a Wassail (English Traditional)

‘Twas in the Moon of Wintertime (Huron Traditional)

The Moon Shines Bright (English Traditional)

Tune No. 176 (Ireland)

The Holy and the Ivy (English/French Traditional)

A Naoidhe Naoimh (O Holy Child) (Scottish Traditional)

To Shorten Winter’s Sadness

Don Oíche Úd I mBeithil (That Night in Bethlehem) (Irish Traditional)

Christmas Eve / Christmas in Killarney / Christmas Day in the Morning / The Day Before Christmas (Irish Traditional)

Pat-a-Pan (English/French Traditional)

Tàladh ar Slànaighear (Our Saviour’s Lullaby) (Scottish Gaelic Traditional)

On a Cold Winter’s Day (Irish Traditional)

BA Fun Facts

On a Cold Winter’s Day:Early Christmas Music & Carols from The British Isles

Quadriga Consort (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

terminal is capable of handling 30 million customers a year and is the size of 50 football pitches.

British Airways is two years into a more than £5bn investment in new aircraft, smarter cabins, elegant lounges and new technologies to make life more comfortable in the air and on the ground.

A Babe Is Born All of a Maid (English Traditional)

This Is the Truth Sent from Above

Wexford Carol (English/Irish Traditional)

Gower Wassail (Welsh/English Traditional)

Drive the Cold Winter Away (English Traditional)

Deck the Hall (English Traditional)

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As this goes to press, Christmas shopping is well underway. Mirror journalist Nigel Atkins reports that spending is up and so are the number of purchases. Tills across Britain will be chiming more this year with us spending an average of £28.70 pounds on each Christmas present they buy this year - up £1.70 from 2012. That means the economy is set for a 13 billion pound boost, with consumers set to smash last year’s spending.

New research reveals half the nation’s households are more confident to splash the cash this year as the economy takes an upturn direction. In fact, the average spending on a present this year will be 28.70 pounds - compared with last year when Brits forked out 27 pounds a time. What’s more, last year we purchased on average less than ten presents - but this year we’ll be picking up 12 for our family and friends.

The study, of 2,500 people by hotel chain Travelodge, also found Brits will indulge more on their Christmas entertaining this year. Last year, we spent on average 100.12 pounds on a roast turkey dinner with all the trimmings - but this time round that figure will rise to 118.31 pounds - a price increase of almost 16 per cent.

Amazingly, 12 per cent of consumers will also do all their Christmas shopping using apps - because it saves time and they offer the best deals.

Donald McFetridge, a Retail Analyst for Ulster Business School at the University of Ulster, said:

“Retailers and industry experts are predicting this Christmas will be the best since 2007.

“Consumer confidence is increasing as the economy begins to stabilise and the Travelodge survey is proof consumers are planning to celebrate in style.”

Interestingly, people from Northern Ireland will be out-spending others from various regions across the UK by almost 23 per cent. The consumer’s total average spend for Christmas there is an astonishing £619.89 - £141.01 more than people living in England. According to the forecasts, the Welsh will spend the least on average for entertaining and presents at £449.84. However, they will buy on average 14 presents each - but at a lower average price of £25.56.

Mr McFetridge added: “It’s interesting to note the Northern Irish are planning to spend much more lavishly on Christmas gifts than in other regions of the UK.

“This year, spending online will continue to grow but the most noticeable fact will be the move to spending via apps and smartphones.”

A quarter of adults will also travel to spend Christmas day with their loved ones - and the average distance is 63 miles. Meanwhile, only three per cent of Brits will be heading abroad to spend Christmas away from home.

However, one in ten adults will eat a monumental 7,000 calories due to eating two Christmas dinners on December 25 to keep their families happy.

Travelodge Spokeswoman Shakila Ahmed said: “It looks like a lot of work Christmas parties are taking place on a Thursday night this year.

“We have seen a big rise in bookings for this particular day throughout December.

“Rooms are also starting to sell fast from Christmas Eve to New Year’s Day with Britons travelling to visit family and friends over the festive season.”

Brits ‘to spend more on Christmas presents this year’

Nigel Atkins (www.mirror.co.uk)

British Airways’ Cabin Crew Share Top Tips for Arriving in Style

this Festive Season

BUSINESS NEWS

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BUSINESS NEWS

Predictions From the Past

The appliances of 2014 will have no electric cords, of course.

Much effort will be put into the designing of vehicles with ‘Robot-brains.’

There will be increasing emphasis on transportation that makes the least possible contact with the surface.

By 2014, only unmanned ships will have landed on Mars, though a manned expedition will be in the works and in the 2014 Futurama will show a model of an elaborate Martian colony.

For short-range travel, moving sidewalks (with benches on either side, standing room in the center) will be making their appearance in downtown sections.

Synchronous satellites, hovering in space will make it possible for you to direct-dial any spot on earth.

Communications will become sight-sound and you will see as well as hear the person you telephone.

All the high-school students will be taught the fundamentals of computer technology will become proficient in binary arithmetic and will be trained to perfection in the use of the computer languages that will have developed out of those like the contemporary “Fortran” (from “formula translation”).

One thought that occurs to me is that men will continue to withdraw from nature in order to create an environment that will suit them better.

Kitchen units will be devised that will prepare ‘automeals,’ heating water and converting it to coffee.

Complete lunches and dinners, with the food semiprepared, will be stored in the freezer until ready for processing.

New York City hosted The World’s Fair in 1964 and Isaac Asimov was there. The popular science fiction author and

professor at Boston University was inspired by what he saw and then thought about what the world might look like 50 years hence. In an article for The New York Times, Asimov imagined the following:

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Even so, mankind will suffer badly from the disease of boredom.

The world of A.D. 2014 will have few routine jobs that cannot be done better by some machine than by any human being. Mankind will therefore have become largely a race of machine tenders.

Robots will neither be common nor very good in 2014, but they will be in existence.

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The Master of Ceremonies, Paul Tunbridge, guided the attentive audience through the events of the evening, interspersing his own flavour of good humour and striking an immediate bond with the audience whom he said would quickly become his friends...

The concert served not only to entertain but to launch the Diary of Hope 2014 now a sought after annual publication, produced by the Foundation of Hope team. One interesting aspect of the evening was a display of artworks produced by Hamad Al Humaidhan, a 14 year old Kuwaiti artist already known as Kuwait’s young Picasso, his artistic style

Concert Of Hope 2013 Presents Broadway Style Performers

much resembling that of Pablo Picasso the famous Spanish artist. Dwarfing all others was a significantly large painting HOPE which Hamad had painted especially to raise funds for the charity; a selection of Hamad’s paintings also features in the 2014 Diary.

The concert presented an occasion for many stars to shine and among them was the Kuwait English School Choir singing “I had a dream” specially arranged by Mr. Mike Hassan. This theme of dream and hope echoed throughout the evening and following on was the song “I dreamed a dream” beautifully sung by Sarah Charlesworth and the presentation “Dreaming of Narnia” presented by members of the One World Actors Centre. Mike Ricketts, the show’s Director

On 22 November 2013, H.E. the Ambassador Mr. Frank Baker, Patron of the Foundation of Hope Charity, expressed both

his pleasure and appreciation for the high standard of this popular annual concert held at the Radisson Blu Hotel, Abdul Husain Marafie Ballroom, and for the diversity of quality entertainment it offered. There was something in the show for everyone.

BUSINESS NEWS

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and Producer demonstrated not only his vocal skills singing “Sun and Moon” along with Weng Canones but also his accompanying Pianoforte technique. Guests were welcomed to the event by some excellent String playing by the Moonlight Quartet and also during the Concert enjoyed the wonderful rendition of “Palladio” by the String Ensemble led by Mr. Dragan Markovic. The evening’s entertainment provided such a panorama of fine musical numbers almost too numerous to mention but the amazing violin playing by the 9 year old young prodigy Heiwei Lee who performed on both violin and Piano along with Heui Sung Kim will not easily be forgotten. Ian Drummond and Preslav Petkov expertly played a most challenging Clarinet duet by Mendelsohn and the evening concluded with a grand finale number “Amigos Para Siempre” performed by the superb vocal group Ann Karadimitrova, Greg Dunlop, Mike Ricketts, Owyn McCollin, Hamad Al Jenaie, Yousef Al Nasser, Nour Bizier, Michelle Van Zyl, Sarah Charlesworth and Weng Canones.

Without question, it was a most memorable evening، held in support of adults and children who are intellectually challenged.

BUSINESS NEWS

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BBF at IES Meet

BBF Chairman Paul McKay represented the organization at the Indian Educational School

5th Annual Athletic Meet and Drill Display in late November.

BUSINESS NEWS

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Netball Trip to Sri LankaL .McDermid - Tour Organiser

During the October Eid, 23 students and 3 staff from New English School travelled to Sri Lanka. I t was a trip full of wonder, where all the students left with treasured memories. Excursions to the Tea Plantation and Pinnewala Elephant Sanctuary were eye opening; as was the rehabilitation work done in the turtle sanctuary. It was devastating to see the effects and aftermath of the terrible Tsunami that struck Sri Lanka in 2004 that killed 40000 people.

We took 3 netball teams and played against four different schools in Sri Lanka. At the university campus in Kandy we were beaten by a very strong Sri Lankan side, we didn’t realise netball was such a good standard. We travelled down the coast of Sri Lanka playing different teams along the way winning most of our matches, it was an amazing experience for the girls to play on different surfaces such as clay and grass, but it was even more surreal to play against players without shoes on. It was an emotional, moving trip where NES students really got to see what life was like in Sri Lanka for children of a similar age, and realise how lucky they are.

What was even more touching was that these people had very little to offer us, but welcomed us with open arms. The students were so moved by what they saw in Sri Lanka, they are now setting up a fundraising project to help build much needed toilets at one of the schools they visited, where there was only 1 toilet available for over 2000 students. We are looking forward to going back next year where we plan on taking four teams and a volunteer group of students, who will work within the local community for a week. They are looking forward to going back next year to help make a difference, visiting new friends that were made and playing some more netball.

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During the Eid holiday, six New English School students went to the Drakensberg in South Africa to complete their International Award Gold expedition. They travelled to the city of Durban and transferred to the Mnweni area of the Central Drakensberg. This was the first time that the New English School had visited this area.

In order to qualify the students had to trek and camp over a 4 day/3 night period. In preparation for this expedition the students received training on the necessary equipment required to deal with the variable conditions they would face, as well as menu planning, basic first aid and map-reading.

The expedition route wound through the Thonyelana valley and up mountain sides, offering breath-taking views of stunning scenery. Although the steep inclines, unpredictable weather and changes in

Going Places with NES: International Award Gold Expedition to

South AfricaP. Lourens – International Award CoordinatorN. Dean - International Award Coordinator

altitude proved challenging at times for the students, they never gave up and their good spirits prevailed.

As this was their first time in South Africa the students had many new experiences: a taste of the Zulu culture (the hiking centre is run by members of the local community); drinking and swimming in mountain streams; a visit to a game ranch where the students saw some of Africa’s wild life; a stroll along Durban’s beach front. Of course, no trip will ever be complete without a visit to a shopping mall in order to purchase the obligatory souvenirs.

This was a rewarding and memorable trip for Mohammed, Moustafa, Mahmoud, Mark, Dawood and AbdulHady, accompanied by Mr. Lourens and Ms. Dean. On 12 November the students recounted their experiences in a presentation, which was attended by His Excellency the South African Ambassador Mr. Van Tonder.

BUSINESS NEWS

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BUSINESS NEWS

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BRITISH BUSINESS FORUM

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As a member of the BBF you enjoy discounts on many exciting goods and services. We encourage you to patronise these friends of the BBF who are going that extra step to serve you.

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Membership Benefits 2013-2014with Valid BBF Membership Card

Al Soor Clinic20% discount on Dental Treatments

Alyaseen Co. for Bath Sanitary Ware10% discount on bath sanitary ware and plumbing servicesAl Rai-behind Carrefour the Avenues.Tel: 66194682www.alyaseenco.com

Ann Digital Media Concept5% discount on photographyTel: 90921117

Avanti Palace Restaurant15% discount on all restaurantsSalmiya Tel: 25747146

BD Wealth Management25% off Will Writing5% off motor own damage insurance5% off medical insurance5% off travel insuranceFREE personal financial assessmentTel: 25755785

British Airways10%* discount off the published fare for members & their families in: Club World (Business class) World Traveller Plus (Premium economy) World Traveller (Economy class)These discounts are good for travel from Kuwait to the UK, USA, Canada and European destinations.Simply book at: http://www.ba.com/bbfkuwait

IBIS Salmiya & SharqDiscount offer (to members & friends, family, colleagues & clients when booked by members)10% discount on rooms on published rates15% discount on food & beverage in all outletsTel: 25734247

Inchcape Shipping Services Worldwide Movers 10% discount on packing and removals for any domestic moves within Kuwait.Tel: 22434752

Jumbo Travel5% discount on individual bookings5% discount on group bookings• Personal Travel of all BBF members • Official Travel• Group Travel• Group of Teachers travelling for a short period• Customized holiday breaks as per requirements• Student Group travel ( educational or leisure )

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DINING DISCOUNT:Enjoy 25% discount on food bill and 20% discount on beverage from 1 up to 15 persons. Your dining discounts are valid for breakfast, lunch and dinner upon presentation of your membership card at the following restaurants:

Crowne Plaza Kuwait (Farwaniya) Holiday Inn Kuwait (Salmiya) Al Noukhaza - Seafood Restaurant Ayam Zaman -Lebanese Restaurant Ayam Zaman - Lebanese Restaurant L’Aroma Café Al Ahmadi - International Buffet Tang Chao – Chinese Restaurant Rib Eye - Steak House Rib Eye - Steak House Sakura - Japanese Restaurant Al Diwan – International Buffet Shabestan – Iranian Restaurant Sakura – Japanese Restaurant

Abu Halifa Complex (Mangaf) Laila Gallery (Salmiya) Al Noukhaza Seafood Restaurant Sakura Express – Japanese Sakura Xpress–Japanese

Zone Restaurant (Shaab Park) Holiday Inn Downtown Al-Noukhaza-Seafood Restaurant Downtown - Buffet Ayam Zaman Restaurant Il Centro - Italian Sakura Japanese Restaurant Layalaki – Lebanese restaurant Shabestan - Iranian Restaurant Viaggio Italian Restaurant 360° Mall Shabestan Iranian Restaurant Sakura – SOON TO OPEN • You are also entitled to 15% discount on your food bill (drinks not included) for maximum of 15 persons in all Ruby Tuesday outlets (Sharq, Salmiya, Abu Halifa, 360° mall and Zone) and Peppes Pizza (Salmiya, Abu Halifa, and 360° mall). • Your card also entitles to 33% discount on all home delivery and take away orders at Crowne Plaza Kuwait restaurants.

Terms and Conditions:• Your card is personal and cannot be transferred. • Only one card may be used per table. • The card cannot be used with any other promotional vouchers. • Card is not valid for room service, banqueting and special promotions or events as determined by the hotel and participating outlets. • Separate checks on the same table or during the same visit is not allowed. • For lost/damage card, a fee of 10 KWD will be charged to issue new card. We issue lost card only once and cannot be re-issued.

Maidan Dental Clinic15% off on all our servicesFree scaling to be offered (over treatment done in KD 300 and above)

Swiss-Belhotel Plaza Kuwait20% discount on dining for Al Dallah RestaurantInvoice including drinksShisha is not discounted

Kuwait Medical Center - Salmiya Branch15% off on all dental treatments performed by Dr. Linda AsfourKuwait Medical Center - Salmiya Branch- Surgical and cosmetic dentistry- Root canal treatment- Periodontal treatment and surgery (Treatment of gum diseases)- Crowns and bridges- Ceramic crowns and veneers- Implants (Branemark, ITI System).- Wisdom teeth operation-Children’s dentistryTel: 25759044/45/46

BBF members can contact various Jumbo Travel offices: Head Office (Opp. Municipal Park, Fahad Al Salem St., Kuwait City) T: 1801234Avenues Branch (Opp. Carrefour, Avenues Mall), T: 22597277 / 78Fahaheel Branch (Al Anood Complex, Fahaheel), T: 23922501 / 02E-mail: [email protected]

Top to Toe Hair & Beauty Salon10% discount on all Beauty Services (excluding hair)Offer cannot be used in conjunction with any other seasonal promotionTel: 99389356

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BRITISH BUSINESS FORUM

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BRITISH BUSINESS FORUM

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The time of year is with us again: Time to join or renew your membership in the British Business Forum (BBF).

For current members: We hope you will have found value, not only in your business activities, but also in the social activities that have been arranged by the Forum and that you have been able to broaden the scope of your operations as a result. If there is any change in previously submitted form (2012-2013), please take a moment to complete/update the attached 2013-2014 application, which along with your KD 45 membership fee can be given either to any Board Members or dropped in at BBF office (attached map). The coming year promises to be an exciting one and we believe that your continuing support will cause us to grow and become stronger. If you are a member who has reached the end of their tenure in Kuwait we

British Business Forum 2013-2014Membership and Membership Renewals

wish you well, wherever you go and would thank you for all your support during your time here. Please let me know if you wish to be removed from the mailing list. For potential members: As you’ve surely discover just from flipping through this magazine, the BBF is an active group of professionals working – directly or indirectly with British businesses here in Kuwait, in the region, and beyond. Please join us for a meeting to see for yourself how the BBF can enhance both your professional life and your social life.

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any queries or require any information regarding the BBF and its activities. Rose William BBF Administration Manager P: +965 2232 2038 F: +965 2232 2040 Email: [email protected]

WINTER 2013

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E-mail: [email protected]

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THE BRITISH EMBASSY

BRITISH EMBASSY CONSULAR SERVICES IN KUWAIT

We welcome British nationals newly-arriving in Kuwait! This notice is to introduce ourselves and remind the British community of the support we can provide to British Nationals abroad. Below is a list of the kind of consular services we can (and cannot) provide:

WHAT KInD of HelP We CAn PRovIDe…We offer help which is appropriate to the individual circumstances of each case, including:• issuing Emergency Travel Documents; • providing information about transferring funds; • providing appropriate help if you have suffered rape or serious

assault, are a victim of other crime, or are in hospital; • helping people with mental illness; • providing details of local lawyers, interpreters, doctors and

funeral directors; • helping persons in detention, including doing all we properly

can to contact you within 24 hours of being told that you have been detained;

• offering support and help in a range of other cases, such as child abductions, death of relatives overseas, missing people and kidnapping;

• advising and helping British nationals in need in cases of terrorism, civil disturbances, natural disasters or other crises.

UK law says we have to charge for some services. We display the current fees and the standards of service you can expect.HoWeveR We CAnnoT...• get you out of prison, prevent the local authorities from

deporting you after your prison sentence, or interfere in criminal or civil court proceedings;

• help you enter a country if, for example, you do not have a visa or your passport is not valid - we cannot interfere in another country’s immigration policy or procedures;

• give you legal advice, investigate crimes or carry out searches for missing people – we can give you details of people who may be able to help you in these cases, such as English-speaking lawyers;

• get you better treatment in hospital or prison than is given to locals;

• pay any bills or give you money – only in very exceptional circumstances we may lend you small sums of money from public funds, which you will have to pay back;

• make travel arrangements for you, or find you work or accommodation;

• make business arrangements on your behalf; • in some circumstances, there may be limits to the assistance

we can provide in a crisis – please take your own sensible precautions.

To make an appointment with the Embassy’s Consular Section, please visit our website at www.ukinkuwait.fco.gov.ukFollow us on:

www.facebook.com/ukinkuwaitwww.twitter.com/ukinkuwait

Consular SectionBritish Embassy KuwaitTel: 00965 2259 4355/7/8Fax: 00965 2259 4359www.ukinkuwait.fco.gov.uk

Consular Registration

We currently have two methods; you are welcome to register on both.

Registering With Us

For the latest FCO travel advice please visit: https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/kuwait, where you can read our travel advice for Kuwait and subscribe to describe updates via e-mail. we will communicate all travel and security information via our travel advice; this is the best way for British Nationals to stay informed.

You may also follow FCO travel news on twitter (@fco travel) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/fcotravel)

If you would like to receive these messages through our Warden network, please send us an e-mail at [email protected] with your name, telephone number, residential area and dependent’s details (if applicable), and we will pass on your information to the Warden.

Consular Warden Network

The Consular Warden Network gives you the opportunity to contact someone in your area that can give you advice on the practical side of living in Kuwait, as well as pass on Embassy Notices issued by the Consular Section in Kuwait.

If you would like to be contacted by a Warden please send an e-mail to [email protected] with your name, telephone number, residential area and dependent’s details (if applicable), and we will pass on your information to the Warden.

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THE BRITISH EMBASSY

Visa SectionDuring the last financial year (1st April 2012 - 31st March 2013) the Kuwait visa section processed over 76,000 applications for visas. Numbers continue to rise, year on year, demonstrating that the UK is the destination of choice for tourism, business and higher education for the residents of Kuwait. During 2013 the application numbers have risen considerably in comparison to the same period in 2012; we have seen an increase in applications of approximately 40% overall, and as high as an 80% increase in applications during July 2013, compared to July 2012.UK Visas & Immigration Kuwait is an extremely efficient visa operation, processing high numbers of visa applications and consistently exceeding the UK government Customer Service Agreements. Mrs Sarah Kirkhope, the Entry Clearance Manager, says “we have had a very busy year in 2013 in Kuwait, with very high application numbers, and the whole visa team worked extremely hard. The number of applications from Students to study in the UK in 2013 was higher than in 2012, and these applications were processed quickly in co-operation with the Ministry for Higher Education in Kuwait; and we hope all the students who have started their courses do well”. Applications are made for UK visas at the application centre run by VFS Global on behalf of UK Visas & Immigration. The application centre is located at

UK visa Application Centre 4B 1st floor Al Banwan Building Al Qibla Area Ali Al Salem Street (opposite the Central Bank of Kuwait) Kuwait City

Appointments to submit visa applications are made online; visa applicants who arrive at the VAC without an appointment, or who arrive late for their scheduled appointment, will be offered an appointment slot at a later date or they may use the Premium Lounge Service and will be required to pay an additional charge. The opening hours of the Visa Application Centre are 09:30 - 17:30 from Sunday - Thursday, with visa applications made from 09:30-16:30 and collection of passports from 16:30-17:30. Prime Time appointments are also available from 08:30-09:30 and from 16:30-17:30 for an extra fee. The Visa Application Centre is closed on Fridays and Saturdays, and will be closed from 24th-26th December 2013 inclusive, and on 1st January 2014. A Priority Visa service is available throughout the Gulf, and visa applicants can use this service to have their visa application processed ahead of others. All Kuwait nationals and residents may apply for this service in any category of visa application, an extra charge is payable. For more information on appointments and the services available please visit the VFS Global website at www.vfs-uk-kw.com. Applications for UK visas should be submitted a minimum of fifteen working days before the date of travel, especially during the busy seasons for travel, such as national holidays. If a visa is needed quickly, especially at busy times, we recommend the Priority Visa Service is used. Applications are currently taking two working days for applications made using the Priority Visa Service, and between three to five working days for standard applications.Students going to the UK in order to follow a course of Higher Education need to ensure they read the Rules and guidance carefully and make sure all the required documents are submitted with their visa application. Applications should be made in good time to ensure the visa can be issued before the start of the course. Guidance for students is available at http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/visas-immigration/studying/So far in 2013 we have issued over 3500 visas to residents of Kuwait to enable them to go and study in the UK. VFS Global Kuwait also has a number of Visit Britain products available for sale at the VAC, including tickets to major tourist attractions throughout the UK; please enquire during your visit if you would like to purchase any of these items. We hope that all our visitors and students from Kuwait enjoy the time they spend in the UK.

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British Embassy Kuwait Announces Important New Changes toNotarial and Documentary Services

Following some recent policy changes that the Kuwaiti government have made we are no longer able to process certain notarial and documentary services at the British Embassy of Kuwait. At the moment, this includes certified copies of driving licenses and educational documents.

For services we have provided in the past and are no longer able to do so, we are working to identify alternative providers who can offer these services instead, or, if there were already an alternative, we will continue to signpost you to these other options.

This move to reduce services is actually in line with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s longer term consular strategy to streamline services to British Nationals overseas where there are alternative providers.

Following are some of the major changes currently affecting notarial and documentary services at the British Embassy Kuwait:

Legalisations (Fee 1iii): The Kuwait government requires that all UK documents be legalised by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and then the Kuwaiti Embassy in London before they can be used in Kuwait. UK documents include but are not limited to Birth/Death/Marriage/Divorce certificates and educational degrees.

In the event that you need a document legalised by the FCO you should subsequently have that document legalised by the Kuwait Embassy in the UK rather than obtaining a legalisation at the British Embassy of Kuwait as in the past.

For information on how to obtain legalisations through the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in Milton Keynes, please visit their web-site at www.gov.uk/get-document-legalised

Legalising Educational Documents (Fee 1iii): The previous process for legalising educational certificates was to obtain the (1) British Council stamp, (2) British Embassy Kuwait stamp, and (3) Ministry of Foreign Affairs stamp; OR (1) Foreign & Commonwealth Office stamp, (2) Kuwait Embassy in the UK stamp, (3) Kuwait Ministry of Foreign Affairs stamp (wherein the educational document is needed for local purposes such as residency). Since the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Kuwait are no longer accepting the British Council stamp only the second method of obtaining the Foreign Commonwealth Office stamp is a viable option.

We are currently working on finding a local lawyer and/or other local provider who can legalise educational documents in a manner acceptable to the Kuwait Ministry of Foreign Affairs and will update you accordingly.

Driving Licenses (Fee 6): The previous process for driving licenses attestation has also changed as it is also no longer being accepted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Kuwait. The new procedure to transfer your DVLA driving licence to a local Kuwaiti one is as follows:

Take your driving licence (card and counterpart (paper)) to a solicitor for attestation in the UK (note: we are working on finding a local provider of this service and will inform you accordingly; in the meantime, please see Note 2 below)

Send the attested copies to the FCO legalisation office in Milton Keynes (see above address for FCO Office).

Once legalised by the FCO, take your documents to the Kuwaiti Embassy in London for legalisation http://kuwait.embassyhomepage.com/#embassy-address-london

Once back in Kuwait, translate your documents and take the translations to the Ministry of Justice of Kuwait for attestation.

Finally, take your documents to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kuwait for a final legalisation.

Note 1: If you are currently in Kuwait on a Visitor Visa, you may drive using your UK or international or any other valid license. However, once you have obtained your residency and have your civil ID card, it is illegal to drive without a valid Kuwait driver’s license; doing so may result in incurring fines and possibly even detention and/or deportation.

Note 2: Please note there are organisations that can arrange legalisations for you in the UK; while we do not recommend one over another, you may contact:

http://www.vitalcertificates.co.uk/kuwait-legalisation-of-uk-documents-108-p.asp

https://www.ukofficialservices.co.uk/KuwaitLegalisationExistingDocumentOrder.aspx

We continue to seek alternative solutions and will update accordingly; in the meantime, please do not hesitate to contact us at the Consular Section should you have questions [email protected]

THE BRITISH EMBASSY

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It seems no matter where you are in the world, or what the weather is like in Winter, the social calendar

around the festive season becomes very hectic.

By the time Dispatches hits the streets, the British Ladies Society will have already held their annual Christmas Bazaar, followed by the ever popular Christmas Dinner. The Christmas Dinner is one of the key member benefits of the BLS, a traditional fayre, produced by the very British friendly Crowne Plaza, which, I am sure, will have

got everyone a festive mood.

The Society has been particularly active during the first half of the year. Without the distraction of having to organise a host of anniversary events, the new committee have introduced some further improvements to our existing format. We still have our Monday Coffee mornings, Mum’s and Tot’s, and numerous trips to local places of interest, but in addition we have started to organise regular Afternoon Teas. The Afternoon Teas have been introduced to allow working members to attend more events and activities. Granted that there are many of our working members who are unable to slip away for a 4 o’clock gathering, however, the timing does suit teachers, bank staff, and anyone working on the

standard Kuwait hours. I have to thank the Missoni for hosting more than their fair share of Teas, and the new salon Orogold for inviting the BLS to their grand opening.

One of the highlights of the year for some was a generous invitation by the Australian College of Kuwait to see their aircraft maintenance training facility first hand. This was a result of a chance encounter at one of the BBF Monthly Meetings, where the ACK were invited to talk about the challenges of getting a rather large aircraft into their fully enclosed training centre. During the visit the ACK explained how the aircraft is being used to offer a local diploma in aircraft maintenance. The visit also included a rather choppy trip across Sydney Harbour on one of the ACK’s simulators.

Looking ahead to the New Year, we will have our usual and not so usual range of events and activities. We are still trying to kick start our mah-jong group, with valiant effort from our energetic beginners, and our first major event will be held at the very end of January. The BLS “Great Night Out” will be guaranteed to chase away the winter blues. The BLS Spring Event normally sets the benchmark for the other social groups in Kuwait, and this year will be no different, with an internationally acclaimed singer, much reviewed by the committee on YouTube, being

BLS Kuwait

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flown across from Ireland to entertain the members and guests.

Our major project for the 2013 / 2014 year will be a complete revamp of the BLS Handbook. Our members will have already experienced the new format of the weekly newsletter, and the same energetic communications team will now turn their attention to the Handbook, with publication planned for sometime in the second quarter of next year.

The BLS Handbook is often described as the Kuwait Survival Guide, and is provided to all members when they first join, but it is also available for non-members to purchase from the Society for a small fee. It covers everything from how to get a drivers licence and how to pay traffic fines online, to what to do if you run across an unexploded bomb. Nearly every western expat arriving in Kuwait will end up with copy, either through one of the many embassies, schools, or businesses who regularly purchase batches to distribute to new joiners, or directly from the society.

We have a team currently updating the text and it will soon fall to me to once again start hunting for

sponsorship from our generous supporters, please don’t hesitate to contact me if you want to be involved.

One of the other very useful sections in the handbook is the “Yellow Pages” section, where members share useful contact details of local companies providing everything from importing pets to exporting antiques, many of which have been passed down from previous waves of trail blazing expats. So if you are reading this article and have a service or product that you think our members should be aware off, please contact me as soon as possible to ensure that you are included. The handbook is updated generally every two years, so the next edition in 2016 may well feature the immanent opening of the new airport.

If you would like to know more about the activities of the British Ladies Society, please visit our website www.theblskuwait.com, or contact me directly at [email protected] or on +965 9721 1460.

COMMUNITY GROUPS

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K’S PATH

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COMMUNITY GROUPS

Community Groups

Kuwait Scorpions

Ahmadi Music Group

Kuwait Saracens

K’S PATH (Kuwait Society for the Protection of Animals and Their Habitat) is a local non-profit volunteer-based organisation committed to animal welfare and habitat conservation, founded by Ayeshah Al Humaidhi in 2005. K’S PATH’s open-door shelter in Wafra, primarily set up for adoption and surrender of companion animals, provides sanctuary for indigenous and smuggled wildlife, abandoned and abused farm animals and injured migratory birds. K’S PATH works to stop illegal wildlife trade and conducts a marine conservation programme, a humane animal control/TNR programme, and a school/university education program. K’S PATH depends entirely on community donations and private sponsorships, and organises annual fundraisers. Please get in touch to know how you can help: adopt an animal, volunteer, donate, sponsor or other partnerships.

Email: [email protected]/[email protected] Web: www.kspath.org Blog: www.kspath.wordpress.comFacebook: ‘K’S PATH’Twitter : @K’S PATH Tel: (+965) 6700 1622

It is our mission to continue to preserve the spirit of rugby and to promote and develop the game of rugby at all levels in Kuwait society.We ensure that:• Training is structured, progressive, and presented

by coaches that are qualified for the age groups they coach.

• Our players have access to the best possible training equipment and the most up to date coaching methods.

• All players can learn, practice and play in a safe environment.

• All our teams have the opportunity to travel and play enough competitive matches to enable them to continue to develop their skills.

• We provide training for age groups from 5 – 19 years old. All coaches are IRB certified.

Email: [email protected]

The Ahmadi Music Group is a choral group which rehearses and performs at the New English School, Jabriya. The Group sings a wide variety of music and encourages small group and solo performances as well. AMG usually performs two concerts a year; one in December and the other in May. A wide variety of nationalities have been attracted to sing with the Group, which has a very professional approach to singing, but makes sure that being part of the choir is fun for everybody.

If you have an interest in choral singing and would like to find out more about the Group, and what it does, please visit our website where you will find up to date contacts and information.

Email: [email protected] Web: www.ahmadimusicgroup.com

Welcome to the Kuwait Scorpions, the oldest rugby football club in the Gulf. We were established in the late 1940’s after the Kuwait Oil Company and the British Army played the region’s first ever recorded rugby fixture. In 2010 the club reverted to its original name of ‘Scorpions’ and no longer uses ‘Nomads’ as its name. Today the Scorpions have over 200 playing members of all ages from more than 18 different countries including Kuwait, Iran, Lebanon and Egypt. In addition there are many hundreds of supporting members in Kuwait and throughout the world. The Scorpions is now the biggest expatriate organisation in the country and association with the Club provides wide-spread exposure both here and throughout the Gulf region.

Jon Law Chairman [email protected] AlDoub Vice Chairman [email protected] Allan Club Captain [email protected]

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Play Volleyball in Kuwait

Kuwait Netball Association

Game for Volleyball

Meetup

Operation HOPE - Kuwait (OH)

Field Hockeyin Kuwait

Kuwait HarpsGAA Club

Kuwait Little Theatre

Kuwait Little Theatre (KLT) is an amateur dramatic society supported by the Kuwait Oil Company. Established in 1948 and has staged productions over 60 annual seasons. Membership is open to all who are willing to work towards the society’s objective of providing a variety of events for the enjoyment of those interested in theatre.

Web: www.theklt.com

If you are interested in playing netball then come and join us on a Tuesday night at The English School, Salmiya. We have 2 leagues that run weekly and cater for all abilities, aged 17+, from 6.30pm ‘till 8pm.For more info contact:

Laura McDermid (97786485)Sarah Allison (66962993) Email: [email protected]

Come join us! We play twice a week. Both males and females are welcome. If you are interested, email us at Email: [email protected] and we will tell you the place and time.

Meetup is a group established for socialising and helping Western like-minded expats in Kuwait. The goal is to meet new people, share experiences and ideas and explore Kuwait. For more information visit:

Web: www.meetup.com/ExpatsinKuwait

Operation HOPE- Kuwait (OH) is a mission of mercy, founded in late 2005, humanitarian re- lief primarily to expatriate laborers in Kuwait in a manner that restores their God-given dignity. Our purpose is to alleviate despair and bring hope to third country national laborers and do- mestic workers whenever possible. We also help equip every embassy shelter operating in Kuwait with clothing, non perishable foods, toiletries etc. To volunteer a few hours of your time, or donate gently used clothing or house- hold items, or to make a financial contribution, do email us at:

Email: [email protected]

We are a group of people playing volleyball once a week. For more information, visit us on Facebook:

Play-Volleyball-in Kuwait/2172882650329

Hockey has been played by our passionate bunch for almost 20 years at the Ahmadi, KOC grounds. We have league tournaments every Friday and training sessions during the week at 7:30. For more information call: Tel: 97292757

Kuwait Harps GAA ClubGaelic (Irish) football is a fun sport which is essentially a mixture of soccer and basketball. The club trains on Fridays with both ladies and men’s teams. All new players to the sport are very welcome! Futher information:

Web: www.kuwaitharpsgaa.com or like us on facebook. Tel: 65639761 or [email protected]

COMMUNITY GROUPS

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The DAI’s 19th cultural season features lectures, DAI Music Diwaniya, Forum, and special events. Lectures dominate Monday nights, with speakers whose interests are as diverse as the objects currently on exhibition at Amricani. Workshops and informal lectures continue to be included in the Tuesday Forum programme, but there is a new component: Classic Film Night. The DAI Music Diwaniya, formerly the DMC, fills almost every Wednesday evening from 25 September 2013 to 28 May 2014 with music. The season opens with Kuwait’s Bin Hussein Band and ends with Kuwait’s Salman al-Amari Band; in between musicians from almost all the countries in the region. Special events, including the International Museum Day festival will add more international flavor to our cultural season, as will Sunday night’s Diplomacy of Music concerts organised by embassies in Kuwait. Enjoy!

Zeinab Tel: 2563 6528Email: [email protected]

COMMUNITY GROUPS

Kuwait CaledoniansDar al-Athar al-Islamiyyah

The Kuwait Caledonians is a group interested in promoting and celebrating Scottish culture and heritage while at the same time raising money for both Scottish and local charities here in Kuwait. All who wish to support these goals are encouraged to become members. We hold regular informal social gatherings (Ceilidhs) to celebrate all things Scottish, a rather more formal event to mark our National Day, St. Andrew’s (30 November), and a black-tie occasion to celebrate the birth (25 January 1759) and honour the memory of Scotland’s national poet, Rabbie Burns. Other events often on the annual agenda are a Highland Games and a Treasure Hunt. Members will receive early notification of and be given favoured access to forthcoming events. All proceeds go to charity.

Sheena Alcock (Membership Secretary) Tel: 6606 2301 Roger Alcock - Tel: 6614 0714Email : [email protected]

Q8BBall

Q8BBall runs training and competition for basketball players between the ages of 12 and 18. They also have a team in the Desert Hoops Adult League. They are also organising a Senior team.

For more information: Coach T on 9712 8884 or visit the Facebook page Q8BBall.

PAWS - Protecting Animal Welfare Society

We are an active group of local and international volunteers committed to protecting animal welfare in Kuwait. PAWS runs Kuwait’s first officially licensed animal shelter. The educational mission of our society is to promote responsible pet ownership and to advance the humane treatment of all animals. Our work is supported entirely through the donations of our members and supporters. Through the generous hearts and hands of people here in Kuwait, we can ensure that animals who come into our care will receive veterinary treatment, care and shelter, while we seek to place pets in caring homes. Join us online as a member and support our work at the shelter. Visitors and prospective pet parents are very welcome! For further information about the organisation, please contact:

Tel: 99440089 Email: [email protected] Web: www.paws-kuwait.org

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COMMUNITY GROUPS

93

The BLS is one of the busiest and most popular societies in Kuwait, run by women for women and families. We meet for friendship and support, and run fund raising activities for charities in UK and Kuwait. We organise over 20 events or activities each month: coffee mornings, library sessions, mothers and toddlers club, children’s music group, evening events, book clubs, and excursions to places of interest. We’re also a network for women seeking work: members find employment or voluntary work through connections made at the BLS. Membership is KD 30 including free Kuwait Information Guide, free Christmas dinner and free diary. Members get discounts at over 60 organisations, restaurants, coffee shops, retail outlets, health clubs, beauty salons, and more. The BLS Kuwait Information Guide is for sale at KD 5. Sale profits go to our charities.

Tel: +965 6665 0381 Email: [email protected] Web: www.theblskuwait.com

The BLS Kuwait(British Ladies Society)

Anzak

Are you an Australian or New Zealand woman in Kuwait? ANZAK is an information group of women here that started on a small scale last year. If you would like to hear about our monthly get-togethers (no committees!), please email: us [email protected]//groups.google.com/group/anzak-group

DAI Music Diwaniya

Instruments as diverse as the hubban (bagpipes), the santoor (similar to a dulcimer), and a harp guitar; compositions as varied as majas, opera and jazz; plus Kuwaiti music and Yemeni music and Indian music and Iraqi music: the list of exciting musical evenings organised by the DAI Music Diwaniya this season is exceptional. Over the course of the cultural season, the DAI Music Diwaniya will present 31 concerts – filling almost every Wednesday night from September’s launch to the season’s end in May. The performances are held at the al-Maidan Cultural Centre and begin at 7 PM.

Harvey Pincis Tel: 2563 6528 Email: [email protected]

Girl Guiding

British Guides in Foreign Countries (BGIFC) is part of the Guide Association, Girlguiding UK, offering girls the opportunity of taking part in the Guide programme whilst living abroad. Whilst our units maintain a membership of at least 50% British girls, we do welcome all girls who wish to join, subject to places. All our uniformed leaders are trained volunteers. BGIFC Kuwait District currently comprises 5 units: 1 Rainbow Unit (5-7yrs) 2 Brownie Units (7-10 yrs) 1 Guide Unit (10-14 yrs) and 1 Senior Section Unit (14 and over). Girlguiding is a registered charity. If you are interested in finding out more about Guiding in Kuwait, or wish to help as a leader or parent, please contact:

Amanda WheldonDistrict Commissioner Tel : 66405350Email: [email protected]

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Kuwait Mantas

COMMUNITY GROUPS

KBFSA

Kuwait Writers Workshop

KTAA - Kuwait Textile Arts Association

Kuwait Offshore Sailing Association

The Kuwait Mantas is an overseas branch of the British Sub-Aqua Club (BS-AC). Divers trained by any organisation are welcome to join the club and enjoy the corals and fish found in the warm waters of the Gulf. Dives are organised on our own boat every weekend and occasionally we camp out on one of the islands. We organise socials during the week. There are training courses for beginners.

For more information contact:

Email: [email protected] Web: www.kuwaitmantas.com

KBFSA has started life as a website initially to connect ex-pat Brits with a passion for the beautiful game! The site will be maintaining a register of Brit football supporters so that they can arrange to meet up to watch live TV matches especially World Cup Qualifiers etc and share their mutual enthusiasm together. We are hoping to set up a regular meeting night and then hope to set up a calendar of events such as quiz nights, video evenings and of course live match nights! Please register with the website so that we can contact you as soon as possible and get KBFSA off the ground.

Web: www.kbfsa.co.uk

The Kuwait Writers workshop meets most Saturday evenings in the working year, taking turns to host in each others homes. Members who are native or virtually nativespeakers of English, critique each others’ writing in progress. We concentrate only on creative writing eg poetry, short story, drama plays, travelogue etc. Group has met since 1993. Several members have published over the years.

Tel: 6632 7130 Email: [email protected]

Kuwait Textile Arts Association is a multi cultural, not for profit organisation based at Sadu House. The Association aims to nurture and promote the art and craft of textiles and fibre arts and to facilitate sharing and exchanging of ideas, knowledge and skills in Kuwait and the Gulf region. Membership is open and meetings are held at 19:00 at Sadu House, on the Arabian Gulf Street. Members also enjoy a programme of demonstrations, workshops, stitch and quilting groups, a textile library and international cultural tours. KTAA sponsor an annual exhibition of members textile work and a children’s textile arts day. For further information,

please contact:

Email: [email protected] or [email protected] [email protected]

We are a mixed group of expats and Kuwaitis that like sailing and want to promote sailing in Kuwait.We sail every weekend at the Fahaheel Seaclub. Everybody is welcome, whether you are a keen sailor or you want to try it for the first time. We do mile builder sessions mornings and afternoons of Friday and Saturday. If you are of the competitive kind, we race every other Friday in the mornings. Several times per year we organize overnight sailing to one of the islands in Kuwait and weekend trips to sail in one of the GCC countries. Please contact us by email at [email protected] for more information or to book for the next sailing session. We are waiting for you!Website: Google website. https://sites.google.com/site/kosasailingweb/homeFind us on facebook on KOSA-Kuwait sailingFind us on Linked-in: KOSA-Sailing Kuwait

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Expat Mums Kuwait

COMMUNITY GROUPS

Toastmaster’s International helps you develop your public speaking skills, giving you more confidence professionally and personally. Bright Horizons Toastmaster ‘s sessions are held at Better Books in Salmiya.

For more information:

Email: [email protected]

Expat Mums of Kuwait is a group of English speaking expat mums from more than 25 countries who gather regularly for weekly coffee catch ups, mums only dinners, playgroups and more. For more information visit the

Web: www.expatmumskwi.com

Kuwait Little League Baseball is a volunteer organisation that fields 25 teams for children between the ages of 5 and 17 – no experience required. The season runs from October to April and volunteer coaches, scorekeepers and umpires are always needed.

For more information or to volunteer or sign up your child visit:

Web: www.q8ll.org Email: [email protected]

Q8 Bridge Club

Kuwait Little League Baseball

The DAI Children’s Art Workshop (CAW) is designed for children between the ages of 6 and 12 and has proven to be a successful mix of fun and learning, listening and doing - with children creating

Bright Horizons Toastmasters Club

DAI Children’s Art Workshop

works of art and understanding much of the thought behind the originals. This season the children will explore ancient seals and modern art; create their own “splendid” animal and high-flying kite. They’ll visit the exhibitions at Amricani and the Modern Art Museum and have some fun at the camel races and Failaka. And, as always, they will produce and perform a play (which this season involves a bit of time travel). Unless otherwise noted, all the sessions are held in the workshop at the Amricani Cultural Centre and begin at 9:30:

4 January @ ACC Visit to Calligraphy Exhibition & Art Centre 11 January @ ACC Carnival al-Khayal project18 January @ ACC Carnival al-Khayal (1 PM – 7 PM)25 January @ ACC field trip to art studio 1 February @ Nature Preserve Kuwait Flora and Fauna (time to be announced)8 February @ ACC Nature Collage15 February @ Failaka Island Kuwait’s pre-Islamic history (time to be announced)22 February @ KNM field trip to KNM Failaka exhibition8 March @ ACC Visit to “Verses from the Holy Qur’an on Works of Art” exhibition15 March @ ACC field trip to Grand Mosque22 March @ ACC Tiraz t-shirts project

For more information:

Email: [email protected]

We are constantly on the lookout for people who enjoy a good game of Bridge. We meet Sundays and Tuesdays at 8 PM at the Sea Club in Ras Salmiya. We are a small and very friendly club of English speakers and will make you feel most welcome.

For more information:

Web: http://q8bc.blogspot.com

Email: [email protected]

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96

BRITISH BUSINESS FORUM

DISPATCHESWINTER 2013

2013/2014

BRITISHBUSINESSFORUM

The Voice of British Business in Kuwait

2011/2012

Membership Application Form

Surname

Forename

Nationality Passport number/ Civil ID No.

Company Position in company

Nature of business

Years in Kuwait

Telephone home

Telephone office

Fax home

Fax office

Mobile number

Pager number

Email personal

Email company

Company address

Post code and district

Proposer’s name

Proposer’s signature

Seconder’s name

Seconder’s signature

Applicant’s signature

Date

I am willing for my contact details to be circulated to other members Yes No

I am willing for my contact details to appear on the BBF website Yes No

I wish to join one of the BBF Business Sector Groups (check boxes below) Yes No

Banking & Finance Construction & Eng. Education & Training

Healthcare Oil & Gas Information Tech’

Aviation, Travel and Hosp. Arts & Culture Fashion

Associate Member: Please indicate your British business interests For Office Use Only

Date paid Email sent

Receipt number Membership no.

Date approved Previous member

Email: [email protected] Enquiries: 66841114

BRITISHBUSINESSFORUM

The Voice of British Business in Kuwait

2011/2012

Membership Application Form

Surname

Forename

Nationality Passport number/ Civil ID No.

Company Position in company

Nature of business

Years in Kuwait

Telephone home

Telephone office

Fax home

Fax office

Mobile number

Pager number

Email personal

Email company

Company address

Post code and district

Proposer’s name

Proposer’s signature

Seconder’s name

Seconder’s signature

Applicant’s signature

Date

I am willing for my contact details to be circulated to other members Yes No

I am willing for my contact details to appear on the BBF website Yes No

I wish to join one of the BBF Business Sector Groups (check boxes below) Yes No

Banking & Finance Construction & Eng. Education & Training

Healthcare Oil & Gas Information Tech’

Aviation, Travel and Hosp. Arts & Culture Fashion

Associate Member: Please indicate your British business interests For Office Use Only

Date paid Email sent

Receipt number Membership no.

Date approved Previous member

Email: [email protected] Enquiries: 66841114

BRITISHBUSINESSFORUM

The Voice of British Business in Kuwait

2011/2012

Membership Application Form

Surname

Forename

Nationality Passport number/ Civil ID No.

Company Position in company

Nature of business

Years in Kuwait

Telephone home

Telephone office

Fax home

Fax office

Mobile number

Pager number

Email personal

Email company

Company address

Post code and district

Proposer’s name

Proposer’s signature

Seconder’s name

Seconder’s signature

Applicant’s signature

Date

I am willing for my contact details to be circulated to other members Yes No

I am willing for my contact details to appear on the BBF website Yes No

I wish to join one of the BBF Business Sector Groups (check boxes below) Yes No

Banking & Finance Construction & Eng. Education & Training

Healthcare Oil & Gas Information Tech’

Aviation, Travel and Hosp. Arts & Culture Fashion

Associate Member: Please indicate your British business interests For Office Use Only

Date paid Email sent

Receipt number Membership no.

Date approved Previous member

Email: [email protected] Enquiries: 66841114

BRITISHBUSINESSFORUM

The Voice of British Business in Kuwait

2011/2012

Membership Application Form

Surname

Forename

Nationality Passport number/ Civil ID No.

Company Position in company

Nature of business

Years in Kuwait

Telephone home

Telephone office

Fax home

Fax office

Mobile number

Pager number

Email personal

Email company

Company address

Post code and district

Proposer’s name

Proposer’s signature

Seconder’s name

Seconder’s signature

Applicant’s signature

Date

I am willing for my contact details to be circulated to other members Yes No

I am willing for my contact details to appear on the BBF website Yes No

I wish to join one of the BBF Business Sector Groups (check boxes below) Yes No

Banking & Finance Construction & Eng. Education & Training

Healthcare Oil & Gas Information Tech’

Aviation, Travel and Hosp. Arts & Culture Fashion

Associate Member: Please indicate your British business interests For Office Use Only

Date paid Email sent

Receipt number Membership no.

Date approved Previous member

Email: [email protected] Enquiries: 66841114

BRITISHBUSINESSFORUM

The Voice of British Business in Kuwait

2011/2012

Membership Application Form

Surname

Forename

Nationality Passport number/ Civil ID No.

Company Position in company

Nature of business

Years in Kuwait

Telephone home

Telephone office

Fax home

Fax office

Mobile number

Pager number

Email personal

Email company

Company address

Post code and district

Proposer’s name

Proposer’s signature

Seconder’s name

Seconder’s signature

Applicant’s signature

Date

I am willing for my contact details to be circulated to other members Yes No

I am willing for my contact details to appear on the BBF website Yes No

I wish to join one of the BBF Business Sector Groups (check boxes below) Yes No

Banking & Finance Construction & Eng. Education & Training

Healthcare Oil & Gas Information Tech’

Aviation, Travel and Hosp. Arts & Culture Fashion

Associate Member: Please indicate your British business interests For Office Use Only

Date paid Email sent

Receipt number Membership no.

Date approved Previous member

Email: [email protected] Enquiries: 66841114

BRITISHBUSINESSFORUM

The Voice of British Business in Kuwait

2011/2012

Membership Application Form

Surname

Forename

Nationality Passport number/ Civil ID No.

Company Position in company

Nature of business

Years in Kuwait

Telephone home

Telephone office

Fax home

Fax office

Mobile number

Pager number

Email personal

Email company

Company address

Post code and district

Proposer’s name

Proposer’s signature

Seconder’s name

Seconder’s signature

Applicant’s signature

Date

I am willing for my contact details to be circulated to other members Yes No

I am willing for my contact details to appear on the BBF website Yes No

I wish to join one of the BBF Business Sector Groups (check boxes below) Yes No

Banking & Finance Construction & Eng. Education & Training

Healthcare Oil & Gas Information Tech’

Aviation, Travel and Hosp. Arts & Culture Fashion

Associate Member: Please indicate your British business interests For Office Use Only

Date paid Email sent

Receipt number Membership no.

Date approved Previous member

Email: [email protected] Enquiries: 66841114

BRITISHBUSINESSFORUM

The Voice of British Business in Kuwait

2011/2012

Membership Application Form

Surname

Forename

Nationality Passport number/ Civil ID No.

Company Position in company

Nature of business

Years in Kuwait

Telephone home

Telephone office

Fax home

Fax office

Mobile number

Pager number

Email personal

Email company

Company address

Post code and district

Proposer’s name

Proposer’s signature

Seconder’s name

Seconder’s signature

Applicant’s signature

Date

I am willing for my contact details to be circulated to other members Yes No

I am willing for my contact details to appear on the BBF website Yes No

I wish to join one of the BBF Business Sector Groups (check boxes below) Yes No

Banking & Finance Construction & Eng. Education & Training

Healthcare Oil & Gas Information Tech’

Aviation, Travel and Hosp. Arts & Culture Fashion

Associate Member: Please indicate your British business interests For Office Use Only

Date paid Email sent

Receipt number Membership no.

Date approved Previous member

Email: [email protected] Enquiries: 66841114

BRITISHBUSINESSFORUM

The Voice of British Business in Kuwait

2011/2012

Membership Application Form

Surname

Forename

Nationality Passport number/ Civil ID No.

Company Position in company

Nature of business

Years in Kuwait

Telephone home

Telephone office

Fax home

Fax office

Mobile number

Pager number

Email personal

Email company

Company address

Post code and district

Proposer’s name

Proposer’s signature

Seconder’s name

Seconder’s signature

Applicant’s signature

Date

I am willing for my contact details to be circulated to other members Yes No

I am willing for my contact details to appear on the BBF website Yes No

I wish to join one of the BBF Business Sector Groups (check boxes below) Yes No

Banking & Finance Construction & Eng. Education & Training

Healthcare Oil & Gas Information Tech’

Aviation, Travel and Hosp. Arts & Culture Fashion

Associate Member: Please indicate your British business interests For Office Use Only

Date paid Email sent

Receipt number Membership no.

Date approved Previous member

Email: [email protected] Enquiries: 66841114

Defense and SecurityRetail

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ISSUE 73 - W

INT

ER

20

13

WINTER 2013

ISSUE 73

Inside:BBF Poppy Ball

Red Arrows Visit Kuwait

Human ResourceManagement