The BECC organised an annual event  to thank the British Ambassador and the BECC Sterling Class members for the great cooperation. This year we had a visit to Old City Marina yacht club, followed by a fabulous sea trip on Tallinn Bay with delicious snacks and drinks while enjoying the sea breeze.

The BECC would like to thank Port of Tallinn, A Prime Taste and Radisson Blu Hotel Olümpia for supporting the event.

This year’s highly awaited BECC Summer Party was fully booked with over a hundred people registered for the event! Despite the traditonal British weather at the beginning, the Sun came out by the time when different activities started. Everyone had a lovely time socializing, while enjoying good food, wine & beer.

The welcoming words were followed by live music from the fabulous Jazz trio and by different activities; including the new and innovative Loquiz field game on tablets by 360°. While adults were testing their knowledge about the BECC and Vihula on the gamefield, children had fun riding the horse. The most excitement was brought by the RSA game on golf carts, where the participants drove around in a race with various tasks around the manor.

The party was concluded with a raffle with fantastic prizes and everyone got a present upon leaving.

We hope everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves and see you all back next year!






We would also like to thank for the prizes: Unique Hotels, Meriton Hotels, Nordic Hotels, Tallink Hotels, Radisson Blu Hotel, Hotel Sokos Viru, I.L.U., OldHouse Apartments and Cha.

The SmartEST investment conference “SmartEST in Europe: Opportunities from the Best Performing Economy in the EU” took place on Wednesday, 16 May at the Locarno Suite, FCO, London, in cooperation with Enterprise Estonia and the British Embassy Tallinn. It was a very successful high-level event – there were exceptional speakers both from Estonia and the UK, including Mr Jürgen Ligi, the Estonian Minister of Finance , Mr Mark Hoban, MP, The Financial Secretary to the Treasury, and Mr Edward Lucas from The Economist as the  moderator of the conference. We would also like to thank all of the other speakers: Mr Erik Berglöf, Chief Economist of the EBRD, Mr Kristjan Kalda,  Chairman of Estonian Venture Capital Association, Mr James Oates, Chairman of Cicero Capital, Mr Priit Põldoja, Chairman of Finance Estonia, Mr Tõnis Arro, Chairman of the Estonian Development Fund, Mr Tiit Paananen, General Manager of Skype Estonia, Mr Jaak Ennuste, Chairman of ADM Interactive, IT Grupp and Mediabrands Digital and Mr Mike Bracken, Executive Director of Government Digital Service.

The conference was made up of Ministers’ Debate and two panels: the Finance Panel and the Estonian e-Success and Business Panel; followed by  a reception at the Palace of Westminster with excellent networking possibilites to all of the participants. Due to security reasons, the BECC was allowed to take photos only of the reception and not the conference itself, but the event was proof that the cooperation between Estonia and the UK is developing very well!

We would like to thank all of our partners and sponsors, especially Enterprise Estonia, British Embassy Tallinn, SEB Bank London, DHL Express and Cicero Capital!

We are proud to announce the winners of the International Chambers of Commerce's Football Tournament 2012 powered by Sampo Pank - the BECC did it again!

The event got off to a celebratory start with all the Chambers parading out onto the field, flags flying and teeth bared. We had teams from the British, Danish, German, Spanish, American, Estonian (JCI), Finnish and Swedish Chambers. Our boys played well as a team and defended the trophy - great thanks to our players for that:

1. Reino Kranberg, Overall (Captain)
2. Vladimir Ossipov, MARSH
3. Tarmo Meresmaa, PwC
4. Priidik Saluri, Overall
5. Leo O'Neill, HML Project Management
6. Oliver Nääs, LEXTAL
7. Julius Stokas, PwC
8. Janno Hermanson, PwC (goal keeper)
9. Madis Alvela, Swissotel Tallinn
10. Vladimir Rüntü, Krediidiinfo
11. Ain Lausmaa, Menu Kirjastus
12. Jesper Veber, PwC

Also, Janno Hermanson won the prize for the best goal keeper of the tournament - during the whole game, there was only one goal made to the BECC team!

We would like to thank the BECC team sponsor MARSH for sponsoring one of the most exciting events of the summer!

In May, the BECC members mingled together with the members of the Estonian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and JCI Estonia at the freshly redecorated Casa do Brazil in Hotel Kreutzwald Tallinn. Delicious Brazilian food and wine were generously served with a fabulous demonstration of Lava Stone grills.

Hotel Kreutzwald Tallinn gave out some great raffle prizes and everybody had a lovely time - thank you very much for this fantastic evening, Unique Hotels!

BECC April Monthly Mingle took place on Monday, 16 April at the Al Mare Bowling. Like the year before, the BECC challenged the German-Baltic Chamber of Commerce in bowling. In the beginning, everyone played in mixed teams which was a great opportunity to mingle and after the first round the six best players were selected who played in the finals. The winners' diploma was once again taken by Germany, but all of the participants had a great time!

BECC - AmCham March Speaker Luncheon “Euro Turbulence: Implications for Businesses in Estonia” took place on Friday, 9 March at the Nordic Hotel Forum, Tallinn. After a delicious buffet lunch, the participants had an interactive discussion about the recent developments in the EU surrounding the Euro crisis. There were three panel experts: Ülo Kaasik (Deputy Governor of Estonian Central Bank), Indrek Neivelt (Chairman of the Board of Bank of Saint Petersburg) and Riho Unt (CEO of SEB Bank). The presentations were followed by a thought-provoking panel discussion, moderated by James Oates (Chairman of Cicero Capital).

BECC would like to thank Law Firm LEXTAL and Grant Thornton Rimess Baltic for sponsoring the event.

The reception for BECC members to meet the new British Ambassador Chris
Holtby and his wife Polly took place at the British Ambassador's Residence
on 1st of March. The aim of the evening was to share ideas on how to make
UK-Estonia business relations develop and succeed. The Ambassador's speech
followed welcoming words from Egle Org, CEO of the BECC. Wine and snacks
were consumed whilst business ideas discussed and new contacts made. It
was a real pleasure meeting Mr and Mrs Holtby and hopefully, the start
of the many future BECC events together!

BECC Evening with Irish Ambassador Peter McIvor and with Mike Hogan from Enterprise Ireland took place at the Irish Ambassador's Residence on 9 February and after warm welcome drink everybody had a chance to listen to a presentation about Irish economy and its challenges throughout the crises, and opportunities offered by Enterprise Ireland to both Irish and Estonian companies for doing more business together. The discussions about the topics and networking continued over the dinner and the feedback to the event was very positive.

The BECC Charity Burns Supper 2012 on 27 January at the Mustpeade Maja

The Chairman of the British-Estonian Chamber of Commerce Ardi Roosimaa and the British Ambassador Peter Carter welcomed the BECC members at the Christmas Carols & Cocktails event at the Ambassador’s beautifully decorated residence on Thursday, 8 December. The BECC CEO Egle Org gave an overview of the successful year and thanked all of the Chamber’s members and sponsors of 2011. She also gave the Ambassador some lovely presents from the BECC and its members to thank him for the great co-operation during these past four years as he has been the British Ambassador in Estonia.

We were entertained by the wonderful guitarist Jorma Puusaag and all of us were singing some traditional Christmas carols ourselves! We want to thank Unique Hotels - Kreutzwald Hotel Tallinn, City Hotel Tallinn, Von Stackelberg Hotel Tallinn, and Vihula Manor Country Club & SPA - for their support to our Christmas celebrations - their great and handsome bartender Alan from Casa Do Brazil was shaking the tasty Mojitos and Strawberry Margaritas at the event!

With around 60 people attending the November Mingle, it was a great evening in a Spanish atmosphere. We and our guests from the Swedish Chamber of Commerce in Estonia were hosted by the Tapas Bar & Restaurant, which is situated in the Meriton Old Town Garden Hotel. In this lovely historical, yet modernly comfortable venue we were treated with delicious Spanish tapas prepared by the chef himself; and offered great wine. The welcoming words and the introduction about the hotel were given by Mihhail Burõhh, CEO. All who wanted could try making some tapas themselves!
The traditional raffle had two wonderful gift cards for a dinner as the prizes. While some of the members were enjoying coffee and cake, others were taken to a tour on the hotel.We would like to thank the Meriton Old Town Garden Hotel for such a nice opportunity to let our members mingle and get new contacts.

This year’s highly awaited BECC Summer Party got underway with a truly delicious home grown lamb barbeque and the welcoming words. The first of the activities to get underway was the pony ride for children closely followed by the rowing on the river which turned out to be a huge success and fortunately no re-enactments of the Titanic! With everyone safe and dry, the golf carts were next and once they took the style of a non-stop train across India, they set off in search of treasure and clues around the Manor. A brief pit stop enabled everyone to fill up once more on lamb, wine, beer and dessert and then we were off again, this time with a Manor tour all be it rather slower and more relaxing than before. The children were then able to be let loose around the grounds, in a more child-orientated treasure hunt of their own.

We concluded the party with a fantastic raffle and socialising too. The acoustic guitar that was greatly enjoyed by all was played by Jorma Puusaag. We hope everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves and hope to see you all back next year!

We would like to thank all great sponsors who helped us with this great event: Merko Ehitus, RSA Insurance Group, ATL Group, Viru International, Bestwine and Vihula Manor Country Club.

BECC 1000 EUR charity grants were given to two extraordinary students of Tallinn University of Technology - Evelin Viilmann and Hanno Kase - to continue their studies in Master Degree Program this autumn.

We are happy to announce the winners of the Foreign Chambers' Football Tournament 2011 powered by Sampo Pank - the BECC did it again!
The event got off to a celebratory start with all the Chambers parading out onto the field, flags flying and teeth bared. We had teams from the British, Danish, German, Spanish, American, Estonian (JCI), Finnish and Swedish Chambers. Our boys played well as a team and have defended the trophy - great thanks to our players for that:

1. Taavi Kokk, Swissotel (Goal Keeper)
2. Vladimir Ossipov, MARSH
3. Tarmo Meresmaa, PwC
4. Madis Alvela, Swissotel
5. Taivo Hiielaid, Altex Marketing
6. Oliver Nääs, LEXTAL
7. Tõnis Kaukvere, PwC
8. Reino Kranberg, Overall (Captain)
9. Rando Rand, PwC
10. Neeme Org, eGoverLab 
11. Reijo Väljak, Swissotel
12. Vladimir Rüntü, Krediidiinfo
13. Ain Lausmaa, Menu Kirjastus
14. Verner Uibo, PwC
15. Robin Gurney, Altex Marketing
Richard Barnwell, Swissotel (Coach)

Touchline were the comedy boys Louis and Erik who kept the spectators and players alike up to date with the goals, tackles, scores and dress sense of the unlucky women who happened to pass by the beer tent. We had also special children’s entertainment, great spectators and afterparty for all participants!

This time the BECC members mingled together with the Spanish-Estonian Chamber of Commerce members in the newly redecorated Kreutzwald Hotel - a lot of great Brazilian food and wine were served and we enjoyed lovely Brazilian rhythms by Denise & Jei while networking.

Kreutzwald Hotel gave out some great prizes which were won through surprise treasure hunt and our traditional raffle. A great event indeed hosted by Unique Hotels!

One of the most popular traditional British events got under way at The Englishman Pub, together with the members of the American Chamber of Commerce in Estonia. We had exclusive green beer at the bar and a welcome speech by the Irish Ambassador, Mr Peter McIvor.  The night was wrapped up with a fantastic Irish trivia with the winner taking home a prize of a sauna for ten! A night thoroughly enjoyed by all. 

The Chairman of the British-Estonian Chamber of Commerce Phillip Marsdale and the British Ambassador Peter Carter welcomed the BECC members at the Christmas Celebrations at the Ambassador's Residence on Wednesday, 8 December. The BECC Chairman Phillip Marsdale gave an overview of the BECC's successful year and most interesting events throughout 2010, thanked all the sponsors and speakers of the events and BECC members for a great cooperation. We had a musical greeting from children of Tallinn International School, enjoyed Christmas drinks, great music by pianist Maria Viidalepp and sang traditional Christmas Carols all together!

The BECC November Monthly Mingle was held on Wednesday, 30 November at the Meriton Grand Conference & Spa Hotel mingling together with the members of the Swedish Chamber of Commerce in Estonia. We celebrated the opening of the new Russian restaurant Balalaika with a shot of vodka, blinis, caviar and a Russian dance show.

The BECC Business Briefing "So you think you're ready for the Euro" took place on Wednesday, 24 November at the Nordic Hotel Forum. Veiko Hintsov, the partner of Deloitte Audit AS gave an overview about what a Board Member and CEO should know about the upcoming changes and how to control the planning process, Tiina Pukk from Law Firm LEXTAL explained what will change in corporate governance from January 1st both concerning the Euro and other important issues for businesses.  Chris Lautre from Rocksoft talked about their work regarding rebuilding of big systems using the example of EMT and how big investments are actually behind these kind of system changes. James Oates from Cicero Invest introduced the possible scenarios for Euro in nearest future, Europe's economy regarding the crises and upcoming changes in the Euro-zone which lead to an interesting discussion about what EU should do to avoid the collapse.  

The BECC Guy Fawkes Night took place on Sunday, 7 November at the Pirita Beach and Restaurant-Lounge Pärl. There was more than one hundred people who enjoyed the beautiful sunset, outstanding fireworks, great company, good food and a bonfire with  the exciting burning of „the Guy“.

Children had their special programme organised by HappyKids.ee and adults could test their knowledge on the Guy Fawkes Quiz. Everybody had a great time and there was a lot of fun!

We would like to thank the sponsors of the event: main sponsor RSA Insurance Group, AS Tallinna Vesi together with United Utilities, A le Coq and the pupils of Tallinn International School for making „the Guy“.

We would also like to thank all our members and companies who donated the charity raffle prizes and all the participants who bought the raffle tickets – together we gathered more than 9000 EEK for the charity with this event!

Thank you all very much!

Our October Monthly Mingle took place at the Cigar Bar Fidel and was hosted by the Tallink Spa & Conference Hotel. We mingled together with the members of Rotary International Tallinn. Aivar Sõerd gave a short overview of the hotel business this year and plans for the next year. A cosy place, interesting people, delicious snacks and wine, cognac and cigar introduction -  what else could you think of to spend an enjoyable mingle evening!

The SmartEST investment conference took place on Thursday, 16 September at the Mansion House, London. It was a great success – there were more than 100 registered participants and the feedback on the conference was very positive. We hope to be able to report some results in the near future! Special thanks to our co-organisers, partners and sponsors!

BECC annual Trade Mission to London was very successful, interesting and brought several future cooperation plans between Estonian and UK organisations. There were more than 20 companies attending the trade mission this year - very many interesting and useful meetings, visits and networking events took place to get new business contacts, find cooperation partners and get new ideas.

Please note that in this gallery these are all amateur pictures (British-Estonian Chamber of Commerce).

Our June Monthly Mingle was generously sponsored by Eesti Mündiäri and it was fascinating to have a closer look at some beautiful commemorative coins. They showed us for example FIFA football coins and London Olympics first gold coins.
We invited the members of the International Rotary Club to mingle with us.
Good food, nice wines provided by Altia and great company ensured us a great evening.

This was a great tournament with 10 football teams attending. And the BECC team won it!!! Our team was very good and the captain Richard Barnwell just brilliant. Richard was also awarded as the top scorer and also for the best goal.
The winning team consisted of the following people: Richard Barnwell, Reino Kranberg, Robin Gurney, Rene-Karl Arm, James Ramsden, Oliver Nääs, Rajar Miller, Vladimir Rüntü, Ivar Puusepp, Madis Alvela, Taavi Kokk.
Special thanks go to our sponsor Lextal!
 

The members of the British-Estonian Chamber of Commerce, Deutsch-Baltiche Handelskammer in Estland, Lettland, Litauen and Swedish Chamber of Commerce in Estonia met with Andres Lipstok, the President of the Bank of Estonia in the historical Independence Hall of the state bank. 
 

At this Warm-Up Breakfast the Central and Eastern European Investment Expert James Oates, Senior Sales Manager of Nordea Markets Tõnu Palm and Managing Director, Head of Property Development and Investment of Trigon Capital Ardi Roosimaa discussed about Financial Market and Business Outlook in 2009.
 

The British Ambassador Peter Carter and the Chairman of the British-Estonian Chamber of Commerce Paul Taylor were pleased to receive BECC members at very beautifully decorated Ambassador's Residence on 9 December 2008.

BECC members and guests from the British Chamber of Lithuania enjoyed 6 course gourmet dinner prepared by Ammende Villa's new Chef de Cuisine Mr Tarmo Frey and the best wines of their excellent wine cellar.