As 2011 draws to a close I think it would be safe to say that many of us are delighted to see the back of it, for business people across Europe it has been tough, and it looks like next year could be even worse.
However the end of the year is a time to look at the positive and not the negative, so I thought I would spare a few minutes to reflect on some of the good things that have happened in the Baltic and too our business.
In Baltic terms the best news for me was the re-election of Valdis Dombrovskis as Prime Minister of Latvia, I know he is not the most charismatic politician in the world (or even in Latvia!) however he is competent and respected internationally, and in these times those two attributes cannot be underestimated.
We also saw the demise of some of Latvia’s less savoury politicians, so now is perhaps the time to really try and get to grips with Latvian politics and clean it up once and for all, I know the people want that, and the time is now probably right.
I have also been impressed with the performance of the Lithuanian government during these tough times, and I hope that the current government’s poll ratings improve over the course of this year, because they have done a lot to steady a floundering ship.
In business terms 2011 was tough for CCB, however we have managed to increase our turnover, which is no mean feat in the current situation. Cash flow always seems an issue now as companies take longer and longer to pay bills, but overall we go into 2012 in better shape than we entered 2011.
Staffing wise the big change has been Barbara McCrory who has joined us to look after Baltic clients, Barbara was previously commercial director of Tesco in Ireland and brings huge experience and commercial acumen to the company, we love having her!
The establishment of the Baltic Scotland Enterprise and Export Centre has been a major development this year, and we hope to get it working properly in early 2012. We are offering export incubation to Baltic companies in the UK and vice versa, this is a new concept, and we are very excited about it, if you would like more information email me (charles@ccbaltic.eu )
Client wise it has been an interesting year, with some very interesting Baltic clients looking to come and invest in the UK, a new and interesting development. We have also continued our work in a range of sectors, and education in particular has been good for us.
Our spin out businesses continue to do ok, Baltic IP (www.balticip.eu ) launches on the 25th January at an event at SSE Riga, where we will also be announcing a 10,000 euro competition for Baltic investors.
So all in all a good year, next year we are planning to open another CCB office in St Petersburg, let’s see how that goes J
Hope you all have a great Hogmanay, and here is to an exciting and successful 2012