The Institute of Export has forged a dynamic new partnership with the powerful International Association for Contract Commercial Managers (IACCM) whose members are drawn from 152 countries and 11089 corporations across all industry sectors.
Our director general Lesley Batchelor was introduced to the IACCM by Cynthia Hollinsworth, who has recently been made a Fellow of the IOE following more than 20 years as a member of the institute. An experienced international trade specialist and trainer, Cynthia works for Siemens Enterprise Communications as Director Global Contracts Management and as an active member of the IACCM, she organises round table discussions, seminars and delivers training webinars.
The IACCM invited both Lesley and Cynthia to deliver ‘ask the expert’ webinars over the summer to their members, who include contract and commercial managers, negotiators, attorneys and supply chain professionals across the globe.
Last month Lesley presented a webinar on the cultural issues that can impact on trading internationally. IACCM members can log onto the system to view the slides and recording for the Womens Networking Group Webinar – Implications of Business Travel for Women and How to be Business Savvy in any Culture
She said: “We travel across the world easily enough yet why is it that we sometimes encounter snags that we simply hadn’t thought of before? The webinar examined how to successfully balance your identity and retain your seniority while engaging in business with a culture that is very different from your own. We focussed on these and other cross-cultural issues to improve IACCM’s members’ ability to work effectively in a variety of cultures and business settings.”
Lesley’s webinar attracted 180 registrations and positive feedback included “Great discussion – great facilitation”; “The information was very insightful and helpful”; “Very interesting. Enjoy hearing perspective from someone who has actually experienced it.”
On August 22 Cynthia is running a webinar for the IACCM on finance issues related to doing business internationally. Cynthia will share insights on such topics as identifying economic, political and cultural risks and mitigation techniques that work; ensuring you get paid for the goods and services you export; an understanding of various financial instruments (letters of credit, bank guarantees, etc.) and advice on leveraging resources.
Lesley said: “Cynthia is a great champion of the IOE and we are grateful to her for introducing us to the IACCM which is a global forum for innovation in trading relationships and practices. We are looking forward to a long and mutually beneficial relationship with this vibrant body.”
For more information about the IOE’s work, including membership and our professional qualifications, contact us on 01733 404 400. You can follow us on Twitter @LesleyIOExport and @IOExport.