Students join international business leaders at Horasis congress at IFB 2016

Students from Liverpool Business School recently joined a host of international delegates from the fields of politics, business and society to take part in and report on the Horasis global meeting as part of the International Festival of Business (IFB) 2016.

With LJMU as academic partner of the IFB, held at ACC Liverpool, Tim Nichol, Dean of the Liverpool Business School and several students attended the festival’s primary opening event, which showcases and boosts entrepreneurship and economic growth and is hailed as one of the world’s foremost gatherings of business leaders who interact with key government officials and eminent thought leaders.

Entitled ‘Visions for Tomorrow - from Uncertainty to Confidence’, the Horasis global meeting aimed to advance solutions to the most critical challenges facing corporations today. With economic and political uncertainty threatening to end an era of global integration, participants were able to share insights on the current state of the world and identified visions to build confidence and bring about decisive progress towards a stronger economy and richer society.

Tim Nichol provided a summary report at the closing session and authored an overall summary which has recently been released by Horasis in Switzerland. The report summarised the discussions which took place during the meeting and also provide a potential stimulus for further reflection and debate.

Speaking about the event, Tim Nichol said: “Our involvement in the meeting was hugely important and beneficial. The delegates were drawn from across the globe and contributed as thought leaders in the fields of politics, business and society.  Through plenary and dialogue sessions delegates had the opportunity to contribute to visions of the future around which the theme of the meeting was framed.

“The students participated enthusiastically. Their role was to record, synthesise and analyse the detailed dialogue sessions.  Participating in the debates and hearing the speakers’ answers to the challenges facing us currently enabled them to gain insights, develop their knowledge and awareness of the issues.”

Chris Ellerby-Hemmings, a recent graduate from the Liverpool Business School took part in the meeting and found the experience enlightening, participating in intellectual arguments alongside multi-billionaires across the table. He commented: "The inspiration gained from the event has driven me beyond my wildest imagination. My social enterprise is now growing rapidly and we are reaching out everywhere for grants and funding to push it to the next level.” 

Carlos Wallhead, who studied Business Management at LJMU also participated. He said: "The Global Horasis meeting definitely opened up my mind to how the world leaders approach and discuss key themes occurring around the globe. Although we were working hard to produce appropriate notes for the end report, we had the opportunity to join in every dialogue session in order to ask questions and raise insightful views as graduates. Additionally I was lucky enough to sit and chat one to one with many of these people, including CEOs of global companies. I will definitely stay connected to these people and take what I've learnt with me as my career progresses." 

Carlos now plans on doing his masters and setting up his own business.

Former Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne also presented the opening address, which covered both local and global themes and provided a base for the rest of the meeting, including innovation, entrepreneurship, investment, technology, global trade and education. Describing Liverpool as “a city built on its links around the world”, Osborne went on to highlight the innovation and investment taking place in the Liverpool city region, referring to Unilever’s advanced manufacturing centre, the support and the creation of ’12,000 small business’ and even discussed Sensor City and the investment in science and technology, adding: “You’ve got Sensor City which is all about turning science and things developed in the laboratories and turning them into things that can be sold.”

Students were able to hear a number of international guests address the congress on a range of issues around global business. Those attending the conference included F.W. de Klerk, former President of South Africa, James Rubin, former Assistant Secretary of State, Henning Christopherson, Former Vice-President of the European Commission, Antonio Simoes, Chief Executive of HSBC Bank UK, Joe Anderson, Mayor of Liverpool, Nik Gowing, International Broadcaster, Kris Peeters, Deputy Prime Minister of Belgium, Robert Friedman, Editor-at-Large at Bloomberg News, Fumbi Chima, CIO at Burberry Group UK, Sajid Javid, UK Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills.

The full report can be read here.

Info about Horasis:

Horasis is a global visions community committed to enact visions for a sustainable future - provides a unique platform for companies from emerging and developed markets to globalize their organisations. In addition to the Horasis Global Meeting, Horasis hosts summits with a focus on China, India, Russia and the Arab world.