Every year, the British-Iranian Business Association hosts a number of meetings in an effort to promote the professional and business community in the UK. The venue for the meetings is the Institute of Directors in Pall Mall. The subject of each meeting varies in order to reach out to individuals of varying interests, but the purpose remains the same; to bring together information and expertise in such a way as to help forward-thinking, ambitious individuals to prosper in a competitive market. In order to help promote them, BIBA invites relevant businessmen to sponsor and chair each meeting. The following is a chronological list of the meetings and brief details as to what went on.

WEDNESDAY 10th MARCH 1999: "BANKING"

Sponsored by Mr Abbass Bakhtiari, M.D of Digital Talk Ltd.

This meeting centred around international trade finance and focused on emerging economies and banks' reaction to them. As usual, Mehdi Shalforoushan and Kamran Hashemi enlightened the audience with their input on what was happening in the market. Mr Shalforoushan is the Vice President of corporate finance for the Bank of America, and he delivered a very thorough summary of the alternative methods of financing trade transaction, highlighting amongst other things the bank market, the insurance market, barters and exporter/in-house finance companies. The content of the meeting also included discussion on the unwillingness of banks to finance trade with Iran, and the amount of money banks had lost over the past year in emerging economies by not predicting the risk involved. Overall a very successful meeting, with excellent feedback. The majority of Mr Shalforoushan's talk can be found in the April issue.

WEDNESDAY 31st MARCH 1999: "MEDICINE & MEDICAL SERVICES"

Sponsored by Mr Said Saremi, M.D of Overseas Medical Supplies Ltd.

For the most part, the evenings proceedings were aimed at those involved in alternative areas of medicine, including pharmacy, dentistry, nursing homes and investment in healthcare. The speakers included Dr Mehdi Pashazadeh, Dr Korous Shirdel and Mr Razi Adelnia. Dr Shirdel, himself a dentist, went on to speak about the need to develop a business-minded approach in order to run a successful practice. Mr Adelnia, on the other hand, is an engineer who has been working on designing medical equipment and he gave an explanation of how medical equipment is improving all the time, and he also spoke of the opportunities that exist for engineers to get involved. Mr Adelnia is a Director of Electronic Developments Ltd., and he contributed a very interesting article for the April issue dealing with revolutionary new methods of reducing the risk involved in electrosurgery. He gave a very thorough account of the different forms of electrosurgery, the dangers involved and offered solutions to the current problems. During the meeting the subject of licensing and patents came up, dealing with the problem of how to secure an invention before anyone has the opportunity to get financial benefit out of it. There was a very good turn out and the fact that a lot of interesting points were raised was exemplified by the number of questions asked at the end in the question-and-answer period.

Every year, the British-Iranian Business Association hosts a number of meetings in an effort to promote the professional and business community in the UK. The venue for the meetings is the Institute of Directors in Pall Mall. The subject of each meeting varies in order to reach out to individuals of varying interests, but the purpose remains the same; to bring together information and expertise in such a way as to help forward-thinking, ambitious individuals to prosper in a competitive market. In order to help promote them, BIBA invites relevant businessmen to sponsor and chair each meeting. The following is a chronological list of the meetings and brief details as to what went on.

WEDNESDAY 13th OCTOBER 1999: "FINANCE"

Sponsored by Mohsen Sadoughi, Baboli Exchange.

BIBA's 71st meeting, and apparently its most popular, judging by the number of people who turned up to listen to our distinguished speakers, each choosing a topic of his own choice. To begin with, Mr Cyrus Ardalan, of Paribas, gave a concise account of the creation of a single currency in Europe, and its effect on global markets. Mr Aradalan seemed to have a very optimistic impression of what the Euro is going to do for the world economy. Next, Mr Mehdi Shalforoushan, of Bank of America, went on to speak about global markets and he used the US as an example to show the direction that the UK market could take. To finish off the evening, Mr Kamran Hashemi, of Soloman Smith Barney, spoke mainly about mergers and acquisitions, their effect on the global market, and their role in the future. All three gentlemen took part in the question and answer session that followed.

WEDNESDAY 27th OCTOBER 1999: "ENGINEERING & MANUFACTURING"

Sponsored by Afropol UK Ltd.

This, the final meeting of 1999, was based on "engineering", but the main theme was "The Transfer of Technology". The panel of experts consisted of Dr Zohreh Bahrami of Nortel, Mr Kamran Naghdi, Managing Director,BMS Automotive Ltd., Dr Manouchehr Takin, Oil Analyst at The Centre for Global Energy Studies and Mr Parviz Shahideh, Vice-President of Bechtel International, who also chaired the meeting. Although in very differing fields, these four distinguished speakers demonstrated through critical analysis of their respective industries, how fast the global market is changing, and the importance of technology to it. Dr Bahrami spoke of the transfer of telecommunications technology to foreign markets, and the importance of not only knowing the market that is being entered, but of also conforming suitably to adapt to different cultures and mentalities. Mr Naghdi spoke of some novel new ideas in automotive design that are being introduced to the emerging markets, and also highlighted the importance of innovation and creativity, coupled with good marketing and research. Dr Takin illustrated the importance of technology transfer in the oil industry, especially to those emerging markets whose industries have been damaged by nationalisation. His generalised approach bordered on the controversial, but as his desired effect was to stimulate the audience into intelligent conversation at the end, he can consider his speech an excellent one. Last but not least, Mr Shahideh compared the approaches of different companies to the emerging markets, and explained how risk affects decision-making. The highest compliment was paid to BIBA by the number of intelligent questions that was aimed at them in the question and answer session at the end.

On the whole a thoroughly pleasant way to end BIBA's most successful year of regular meetings to date.

Every year, the British-Iranian Business Association hosts a number of meetings in an effort to promote the professional and business community in the UK. The venue for the meetings is the Institute of Directors in Pall Mall. The subject of each meeting varies in order to reach out to individuals of varying interests, but the purpose remains the same; to bring together information and expertise in such a way as to help forward-thinking, ambitious individuals to prosper in a competitive market. In order to help promote them, BIBA invites relevant businessmen to sponsor and chair each meeting. The following is a chronological list of the meetings and brief details as to what went on.

WEDNESDAY 15th SEPTEMBER 1999: "LEGAL PROFESSION"

Sponsored by Mr Hamid Sabi, Sabi & Associates.

BIBA's 69th business meeting focused on the legal profession, but the emphasis was on crime on the internet, hence the title "Cyber Crimes and Internet Scams". The main speaker was Kasra Nouroozi, a solicitor and a commercial litigation partner at Mishcon De Reya, although Dr Ali Dizaei of the Metropolitan Police was also on the panel of experts to address any questions at the end. Mr Nourouzi's areas of expertise include major financial fraud investigation involving bribery and corruption, detecting breaches of intellectual property rights, and shareholder and partnership disputes. The speech he gave was a very entertaining and informative guide to what to watch out for on the internet, and the dangers of getting involved financially with certain schemes. However, although the question and answer session started off with the questions being based on the speech, it quickly turned into a good-humoured yet serious civil rights debate, with Dr Dizaei being drawn into the thick of the questions. Somehow the audience brought the conversation round onto the advantages and disadvantages of carrying electronic identity cards, and it was interesting to see the level of distrust so many people have of a system that allows complete control of personal information to be held by people in authoritative positions; theoretically a system that would dramatically reduce the number of crimes in today's society. A very interesting evening all round.

WEDNESDAY 29th SEPTEMBER 1999: "COMPUTER AND IT"

Sponsored by Mr Salar Golestanian, First Contact Ltd.

Meeting 70 revolved around "Computer and IT", but more specifically it tackled an issue that is emerging more and more as the global market becomes more internet-friendly; "Successful Internet commerce". Mr Maziar Darvish, of Internet Business Group, spoke in great detail of the 'ins and outs' of internet commerce, and also gave some very informative advice on how to avoid pit falls over the net. At the end of Mr Darvish's talk came a very interesting question and answer session with topics ranging from setting up a website to its effective marketing. Among the panel of experts to address these issues were Mr Morteza Tehrani, IT Director of Credit Suisse First Boston, and Mr Salar Golestanian, First Contact Ltd. However, the evening did not only highlight the dangers of incompetent use of the internet, but portrayed the potential advancements in commerce that exist in the 21st century.

Every year, the British-Iranian Business Association hosts a number of meetings in an effort to promote the professional and business community in the UK. The venue for the meetings is the Institute of Directors in Pall Mall. The subject of each meeting varies in order to reach out to individuals of varying interests, but the purpose remains the same; to bring together information and expertise in such a way as to help forward-thinking, ambitious individuals to prosper in a competitive market. In order to help promote them, BIBA invites relevant businessmen to sponsor and chair each meeting. The following is a chronological list of the meetings and brief details as to what went on.

BIBA’s General Meetings ‘99 -

April 1999 - General Meeting

The ninth BIBA general meeting was held at the London Hilton Hotel in Park Lane, and the theme of the meeting was "Centres of Influence".

BIBA was fortunate enough to host three very distinguished Centres of Influence as speakers: Mr Farad Azima, Chairman of NXT plc. (Hi-Tech Electronics), Mr Ramin Khadem, Chief Financial Officer of Inmarsat (Telecommunications) and Mr Ardeshir Naghshineh, owner of Salle Moor Hall (Organic Farming).

Nov 1999 - General Meeting

The second general meeting of the year was again held at the Park Lane Hilton in London, and over 400 people attended, including Farhad Tadayoun, Iran's number1 tennis player. The theme of the meeting was "Market Entrepreneurs".

Market Entrepreneurs seeing the coming changes inevitable, do not hesitate first thus revolutionising the market.

The panel of speakers included two very successful Market Entrepreneurs; Mr Nader Haghighi, Chief Executive of Parisa Group and Mr Hossein Rezaei MBE, Chairman of Pride Valley Food Ltd.

Babak Emamian introduced the meeting. Along with introducing the speakers, he also spoke briefly about Professor Edalat of Imperial College, who has started the Science and Art Foundation. Mr Emamian then went on to speak about the future of BIBA, including the association's plans to enhance its Academic Committee and Sports Committee. Finally, he spoke of the factors behind BIBA's success over the last six years.

Mr Kamran Hashemi then stepped up to give a brief account of the aims of BIBA as an organisation. After thanking everyone who has contributed to BIBA in the past, he went on to summarise BIBA's regular meetings throughout the year.

It was then the turn of Ms Shohreh Khorasani to speak a little about the first meeting of the Women's Forum. She stressed the importance of such an organisation within BIBA, the role it fulfils in promoting successful Iranian women in the community and providing a stage for other women to show their potential.

Superintendent Ali Dizaei spoke about the role that the mayor of London will be playing in our lives, and stressed the importance of utilising his position to our benefit.

Professor Edalat informed the audience of the work that the Science and Art Foundation is performing, especially in conveying technical information to students in Iran via the internet.

Every year, the British-Iranian Business Association hosts a number of meetings in an effort to promote the professional and business community in the UK. The venue for the meetings is the Institute of Directors in Pall Mall. The subject of each meeting varies in order to reach out to individuals of varying interests, but the purpose remains the same; to bring together information and expertise in such a way as to help forward-thinking, ambitious individuals to prosper in a competitive market. In order to help promote them, BIBA invites relevant businessmen to sponsor and chair each meeting. The following is a chronological list of the meetings and brief details as to what went on.

WEDNESDAY 9th JUNE 1999: "MARKETING"

Sponsored by Mr Ardeshir Naghshineh.

The sole speaker at this meeting was Mr Hossein Rezaei MBE, the founder of Pride Valley Food. The company supplies quality speciality breads to the market, and has an annual turnover of £16 million. He gave a very exciting account of how he managed to get the business off the ground and achieve such immense success, not only with his vision but with energetic input into every aspect of work. It was very enlightening to hear about the approach that Mr Rezaei adopted towards the market, and the enthusiasm showed by him must have been a great encouragement to all those hoping to achieve similar marketing skills. In his interview with BIBN, again in the April issue, Rezaei reveals that one of the most important factors leading to the success he has enjoyed was his process of decision making; the decisive step was detecting a gap in the market at the right time and exploiting it to its full potential. Obviously though, he does stress that running the business is an ongoing process, and it is by no means a matter of just sitting back and reaping the profits from now on.

WEDNESDAY 23rd JUNE 1999: "ENTERTAINMENT"

Sponsored by Mr Reza Taheri, Seemore UK Ltd.

"The Art of Film-Making" was the topic of this meeting, and the speaker was Mr Mehdi Norowzian of Joy Films, which concentrates on making high profile advertisements, although Mr Norowzian has also directed his own 45 minute film "Killing Joe". Obviously, with BIBA being centred around business issues, the content of the speech was very business-orientated, concentrating on the investment potentials in film-making in the UK, the commercial viability of films from Iran in the UK, and the merits and shortcomings of film-making.

For a more detailed history of Mehdi Norowzian's achievements refer to the April issue of BIBN.

Every year, the British-Iranian Business Association hosts a number of meetings in an effort to promote the professional and business community in the UK. The venue for the meetings is the Institute of Directors in Pall Mall. The subject of each meeting varies in order to reach out to individuals of varying interests, but the purpose remains the same; to bring together information and expertise in such a way as to help forward-thinking, ambitious individuals to prosper in a competitive market. In order to help promote them, BIBA invites relevant businessmen to sponsor and chair each meeting. The following is a chronological list of the meetings and brief details as to what went on.

WEDNESDAY 10th FEBRUARY 1999: "DESIGN AND FASHION"

Sponsored by Mr Simon Lazarus of Baskin Ross and Co., Firm of Solicitors

Miss Laila Bybordi

The first meeting of each year has an eerie sense of unrealism, but the fresh young faces of the panel of experts helped to ease the atmosphere and once in full flow, it would have been very difficult throw a spanner in the works. The speakers for this, the 62nd meeting of the organisation, included Mr Qumars Fazeli and Mr Parham Sassoni of the manufacture and distribution company Murina, Mr Siamak Taslimi, a fashion tutor from Cavendish College, and fashion designer, Miss Laila Bybordi.

The latter went on to talk about how trends originate, and gave an indication to the audience of some possible forthcoming trends in fashion. Her approach was extremely scientific, which is not unusual considering she has a Master's degree in Mathematics. Partners Qumars Faseli and Parham Sassoni import T-shirts from Los Angeles, and during their talk they stressed their belief in the fact that there is a niche market for quality T-shirts, and the fact that the shirts are US made makes them a hot commodity. They went on to talk about how companies in the USA are so caught up in their own market that they do not take advantage of the global market. This, however, left a gap for them to exploit, and they are now in charge of the international arm of Murina in Europe. The final speaker was Siamak Taslimi and he talked about how much can be learnt from meetings and debates. Overall, the first meeting of the year was very successful and gave a good indication of what was to come.

WEDNESDAY 24th FEBRUARY 1999: "PROPERTY"

Sponsored by Miss Farnaz Faziepour of Palace Gate Property Services.

The purpose of this meeting was to highlight public sector tendering, as British-Iranians in the property business tend to work mainly in the private sector.

Ms Maryam Armstrong James was the main speaker on this occasion, and she came armed with many years of experience in both the public and private sectors (she used to manage the architectural department of Islington borough, and is currently the managing director of a large construction company). During the course of the meeting she tried to encourage British-Iranian business-people in property, and especially in construction, to show more interest in public sector contracts. She went through the procedures and explained how the system works, stressing that the task of getting contracts and securing payment becomes much easier. Unfortunately, it seemed that she did not enjoy much of a reception with the audience, most probably due to the lack of understanding that they had of the public sector, and her approach may have seemed odd to a lot of them. This was unfortunate, especially when taking into account the major role the public sector plays in building work. The meeting was brought to its conclusion with a few words from its sponsor, Miss Farnaz Fazaiepour. Both Miss Faziepour and Mrs Armstrong spoke to BIBN, and their interviews can be found in the April 1999 issue (of particular interest is Miss Fazaiepour's comment on how she generates business through use of the internet!).

November saw the launch of the eagerly-awaited Women's Forum at the Institute of Directors in Pall Mall, and BIBN is pleased to report that the evening was a glowing success. The Women's Forum is the original brainchild of Susan Jahanshahi, a property consultant who has also been actively involved in promoting a number of organisations and charities.

The main objectives of the Forum are to give further recognition to the achievements of British-Iranian women in the UK, and encourage more involvement in BIBA's activities. BIBA plays host to over 60 speakers a year, and the female population is represented at less than 10%. This not due to lack of equal opportunity but mostly due to a reluctance to take part. Recognising the role of women in society today, BIBA wants to highlight the achievements of successful Iranian women, and in doing so take a big step towards correcting the imbalance. To this effect it has been decided to try to have a minimum of one woman speaker present on the panel of experts at every business meeting which hopefully encourages further involvement from women in the future.


Panel of Speakers

The meeting was chaired by Ms Afsaneh Adel of Sitel Plc, and the panel of experts consisted of a very distinguished and diverse group of successful business men and women. Dr Zohreh Bahrami, formerly of Nortel and presently with Marconi, has a Phd from Imperial College in London. Lady Homayoun Renwick has performed beyond the call of duty in her work with charity, and some of her successes include Friends of Persian Art and Culture, and The Special Olympics Organisation. Shohreh Khorasani started her own software company, Prestige Network, in 1988 from her kitchen table and now a very successful operation. Dr Ali Dizaei, Metropolitan Police Superintendent in charge of Kensington & Chelsea, is a regular contributor at BIBA meetings and was present at this meeting largely due to his expertise in the field of Race and Gender issues. The sponsor of the meeting was Mr Ardeshir Naghshineh of Targetfollow Estate Ltd.

The evening started with an introduction by Ms Adel, highlighting the aims of the Women's Forum and also giving a brief history of BIBA so far, and the Association's aims. She then went on to introduce the first speaker. Mr Naghshineh started off by sharing with the audience how his eyes were opened to the extent of the contribution given by Iranian women to professional circles. This was at a conference he attended in St. Anthony's College in Oxford about the "Social, Economic and Political System in Iran.", at which over half of the speakers were Iranian women.

Mr Naghshineh then brought the subject onto the West's perception of Iranian women: there is definitely an image problem, and could only be addressed if prominent Iranian women were identified and persuaded to come forth. A couple of examples that he pointed out were Ms Shahnaz Pakhravan of Tomorrow's World, and Christianne Amanpour of CNN. The fact that they are Iranian is not common knowledge.

Next among the panel to speak was Lady Renwick. She started off by emphasising her respect for Iranian women for their ability to stand by their families and children, while at the same time always maintaining their image and dignity outside the home.

Lady Renwick then moved on to what she believes the future should hold, and a theme that she maintained throughout her whole speech was that Iranian women should get together to create unity and power, and then direct that power in the right direction.

It was then the turn of Dr Bahrami to share her opinions, and she started off by giving a brief history of her education and early jobs. She then moved on to her idea of what women should do to enhance their careers, and the main piece of advice that she offered was that it is important for women to choose jobs that are right for them, and to observe the market before making any career decisions. Of equal importance, she stressed, is the presence of a mentor in the workplace, because the experience and headstart they have over you is a priceless commodity that no degree or masters can really teach. This way, they will give themselves the best chance of becoming successful, not necessarily in terms of money, but in terms of achievement.

Ms Khorasani spoke next, and again she started off with a short history of her career and company. She then spoke a little about success and her views on it. Like Dr Bahrami, Ms Khorasani stated that she does not judge success in financial terms, but rather on the way that one deals with the tests and trials that life offers, and the way that these affect them as a person. She also emphasised the importance of passion to the process of achieving success, and the effect that originality has on a product. Finally, Ms Khorasani stressed the importance of not losing the feminine qualities that makes women so special in their attempts achieve success in a male dominated world.

To bring to an end the evening's speeches, Dr Dizaei spoke a little about equality matters within the civil service. He started off by demonstrating how, in order to be accepted in a mainly male dominated world, in professional terms, women sometimes have to be accepted as honourary men as opposed to successful women. He stressed how he felt that this was wrong, and added that in fact, in order to have the best possible outcome, it is most useful to have a diverse policy board, thereby enabling all walks of life to be represented. The quality of decision making would be higher and more scientific. He finished off by suggesting that mainstreaming should be used to better effect, enabling women, especially those of ethnic minorities, to have a better chance of being appreciated.

The question and answer session started slowly, but then gathered momentum after the first few questions. The meeting was then bought to an end by Ms Adel before Ms Parvin Cox and her musicians arrived to provide some musical entertainment.

For further information and any suggestions in connection with the next Forum please contact:

Susan Jahanshahi - (Tel: 020 7431 3371) or email: womenforum@britannica.com

Susan Jahanshahi

BACKGROUND -

The idea of BIBA’s Women Forum was initiated by Susan Jahanshahi, a property consultant to international organizations and their employees in London. In 1985 she founded Parkview, a property consultancy company active in sales and rentals, with a strong emphasis on personal service. She is also known, for her profile in public relation work for various institutions and charities.

As mother of two teenagers, Susan is particularly interested in application of living values amongst young people. Promotion of practicing business ethics, futuristic trends and self-management skills in today’s competitive work place are one of Susan’s professional priorities.