At the COBCOE (Council of British Chambers of Commerce in Europe) Annual Gala Dinner held in London on Tuesday 23 rd March 2010 the British Chamber of Commerce for Italy was nominated as the winner of the COBCOE Chamber of the Year 2010 competition. Lord Michael Hastings CBE presented the award at the prestigious RAC Club in the presence of 150 distinguished guests.
An independent panel of judges elected the British Chamber of Commerce for Italy as COBCOE Chamber of the Year 2010 from the 33 COBCOE members.
This was the reward for a well defined strategic direction taken over a four year period, enabling the Chamber to become the focal point of the English Speaking Business Community in Italy.
The Chamber also won the Award for Effective Events Management because of the importance given to high quality events as the cornerstone of its activities. The result has been a fourfold increase over the last four years with more than 90 events taking place in 2009. In 2009 the Chamber consolidated and benefited from the results of a four year period of strategically- driven change led by its President Mr David Crackett, a Partner in Deloitte.
The strategy for change focused on improving the quality of the membership, improving the quality of Chamber staff, improving the quality of events and increasing significantly their number (fourfold over a four year period) and their variety.
This fundamental change has enabled the Chamber not only to survive the recession but to strengthen its position, both financially and in the marketplace, despite the adverse economic environment of the past two years. The Chamber has thus confirmed its preeminence as a dynamic international business organization focusing on the English Speaking Business Community in Italy.
An important part of the success of BCCI is due to its partnerships with British and Italian institutions:
- The close relationship with UK Trade & Investment in Milan and the British Embassy in Rome is key to maintaining a leading position as the focal point of the English Speaking Business Community in Italy;
- As a foreign Chamber of Commerce in Italy the BCCI is institutionally a member of Unioncamere, the Italian Chamber National Association, and also has very effective cooperation agreements with the Italian Chamber of Commerce and Industry for the UK and with the Milan Chamber of Commerce as key partners in many of their international events. These key institutional partnerships together with strong support from the members have resulted in the spectacular increase in number and quality of events.
Excellent examples of this are the long standing relationships with Deloitte and with Pirola Pennuto Zei & Associati, who both continued their presence as sponsors of a series of special events and occasions. Deloitte sponsored professional development seminars, organised together with other European Chambers of Commerce present in Italy, which take place on a regular basis in Milan and Rome, and also published a book “The governance of joint-stock companies”, extracted from the Italian Civil Code, with great success.
Pirola Pennuto Zei & Associati has sponsored a wide variety of high level Tax & Legal seminars throughout Italy. Examples such as these, together with a high level of motivation of the staff, the Council and the Members have made the radical change which has taken place during the last four years possible, without compromising the spirit in which the British Chamber of Commerce for Italy was founded: that is to build.
