"Strait Ahead"for Business Cenference

Thanks to the hands-on approach, determination and verve that have made her so successful in weaving up an articulated network of professional and business women in Gibraltar, Morocco, UK, Portugal and Spain, Gibraltar Business Network Chairperson Maruchi Risso is now going 'Strait Ahead' with her dream of hosting a business conference on the Rock to take inventory on the progress in accessing gratifying careers of women from diverse cultural backgrounds.

"Strait Ahead" is in fact the theme of a two-day conference or ganised by the Tourist Board and the CBN and funded by the Gov ernment of Gibraltar and the INTERREG programme of the Eu ropean Union. The conference is to be held on 28* and 29* March at the John Mackintosh Hall with a chal lenging agenda and a collection of high-ranking guest speakers to for ward the message that it is possi ble for small-town or developing countries' women to make it big time, without forsaking their pri vate lives or femininity.

One example for all will be the testimony of Prof. Dr. Daniela Tilbury,a home-grown Gibraltarian who is, with her personal success, putting Gibraltar on the cultural map as far away as the antipodes.

being a famous university profes sor in Australia!

The conference will also focus on the projects launched by the Euro pean Union in the Western Medi terranean region, with particular attention to enhancing accessibility to tailored careers for Moroccan women and to opening channels and financing schemes designed to encourage the developmentof solid links and business cooperation be tween both sides of the Strait.

Briefings will be offered about ongoing European Union ventures, the economic support available to entrepreneurial women and ex haustive information on who is eli gible to funding and how to apply for it.

On this matter, the conference will feature a creme de la cr&me speaker:former hinnish Prime Min ister and current Finland MEP Anneli Jaattecnmaki, who is bound to offer a gripping insider account on her'woman on lop' experience as a political leader. Subsequently she will answer questions about the adjustments necessary in Mediter ranean cultures to emulate her win ning Scandinavian model.

But don't fall into the trap of thinking North-European countries are too way ahead — on the path of equality at work and a balance in career opportunities — for Gi braltar, Spain or Morocco to catch up fruitfully and promptly. Meet ing dedicated headmistress Hajbouha Zoubeir,from Laayounc, Moroccan Western Sahara, will make you realise that the key to progress is educating women to educate others in order to spark a positive chain reaction eventually dwarfing gender discrimination, turning tables on prejudices and improving not only one woman's lifestyle, but in due course the en tire community's.

Indeed education is the first step ping stone to success and women raised to succeed are more likely to actually succeed, that's why the conference will shine the spotlight on training and mentoring young women into a winning outlook. One of the listed speakers is local lawyer and CBN member Anne Balestrino, a champion of early education with her crusades at Westside School to lecture girls on forward-thinking career choices.

The conference will also be a big window on Gibraltar, as a trade fair is being set up at the John Mackin tosh Hall for participants to pro mote themselves and exchange contacts and suggestions.

The Gibraltar Federation ofSmall Businesses, the Chamber of Com merce, the DTI, the Tourist Board, and GONHS will also have their 'stands' to offer a 360" overview of what the local business community is like.

Attendance from Morocco is ex pected to be quite high, with del egates coming over not only from modern 'metropolises' like Tangiers or Casablanca, but also from the remote regions which are aiming to fast forward to European standards and take up permanent residence in the global village.

Most of them are already ac quainted with the GBN because of the inexorable networking opus undertaken in the past years by at tending international conferences in the UK, Spain, Morocco, meet ing counterparts or potential busi ness partners and sowing the seeds for knocking down not only glass ceilings but also frontiers and cul tural divides.

If the programme is quite hectic, it doesn't mean all work and no play: a gala dinner is organised for the first evening at the Casino, at the'friendly' price of £ 30 per per son, with entertainment by the Gi braltar Re-enactment Society and plenty of time to chat and swap emails and practical advice on how to juggle after-hours work and your kids' homework!

Delegates will enjoy a courtesy bus tour of the Rock quainted with Gibraltar's tourist products, its economic buoyancy and of course... its kaleidoscopic Main Street!

The conference, which will be of ficially opened by Deputy Chief Minister Joe Holliday, contains workshops on the compelling top ics ofdoing business in Morocco or in Gibraltar and the prickly ques tion of women's rights in the workplace within the tlrree case sce narios of Spain, Gibraltar and Mo rocco.

The conference is open to the general public and registration is free — anyone wishing to attend should sign up on the first day at 9.00 am before the official launch.

"It is a great prospect for the lo cal professional and business community," Maruchi highlighted, "and we hope that local legal,finan cial and commercial firms will send at least one representative to attend the whole event, to then brief the others and pass on the issues raised.

"Nevertheless, I want to stress that participation isn't by any means restricted to women only or to professionals," she added, mak ing clear that although the event is mainly conceived by and for the fairer sex, the GBN isn't an exclu sive or sexist club and anyone, in cluding men,housewives and pen sioners,is welcome in the audience, to listen, question,suggest and un doubtedly learn a thing or two.

Maruchi acknowledged the effi ciency of her committee in organ ising what is for Gibraltar a top event in the business calendar,and appealed for sponsors to come for ward and support this unprec edented event.