British Airways launches challenging SME

British Airways has launched a challenging new business initiative in the Saudi small and medium enterprise (SME) arena. Presented by BA’s Commercial Director Andrew Crawley and Regional Commercial Manager in the Middle East Paulo de Rensis, the scheme offers a free club-class return flight open for a year to any destination in the world on the BA network to a small or medium size business entrepreneur who comes up with a good enough reason to need a flight to develop his or her business. Fifty free tickets are on offer as of today (Wednesday) and will be awarded after a panel judges the merits of applications that set out compelling reasons for a trip. British Consul Gen. Mohamed Shokat, introducing the initiative and outlining the thinking behind it, said that the relationship between Saudi Arabia was one of a long and strong friendship but manifested itself in something more than that. “We look to invest in the future of each other’s future, without any real benefit to ourselves and we all know that small and medium size enterprises (SME’s) are the lifeblood of any economy,” he said. “The British Airways initiative is an example of that investment in the Saudi economy and give SMEs an opportunity to benefit from that.” He noted that despite the development of technology, a core element of doing business is the handshake and the face-to-face meeting to found and conclude business deals. “This initiative will give some SMEs in the Kingdom an opportunity to do that.” De Rensis agreed with Shokat’s assertions and outlined the long relationship the airline enjoyed with the Kingdom and said the campaign demonstrated British Airways’ continued commitment to Saudi Arabia and the Middle East. The SME grant was not new to BA, said Crawley, introducing the awards scheme, as it was first launched in 2009 in the depths of the global business downturn. “The thinking behind the campaign was that even in the difficult times there are opportunities for business,” he said. “Business travelers have long been the lifeblood of British Airways and we take pride in understanding what is important to our customers.” He added the airline had long been in the business of connecting people and connecting with people. He quoted a Harvard Business School survey commissioned by BA that found 87 percent of entrepreneurs believed a face-to-face meeting was essential for sealing a deal and 93 percent believed such meetings were helpful when negotiating business with people who spoke languages other than their own. “That’s why we launched this campaign, to give people the opportunity to meet face-to-face to make business personal again,” he said. “We are excited to be partnering British Airways in this initiative in supporting the growth of small and medium businesses,” said Bassam Qahtani, VP of investor services and public private partnerships at SAGIA (Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority). He looked forward to both British Airways and the UK Trade and Industry department to seed new opportunities for growth in the SME sector in the Kingdom and thanked both for the opportunity they had offered. Concluding the proceedings, UKTI Head Michael Cockle said he appreciated the importance of SMEs to trade, investment and growth in the Saudi economy and in the UK. “The BA initiative is designed to help them to look to new horizons and develop international and we hope UK partnerships in particular, and to support their growth and business objectives,” he said. He added the campaign was one of many events focused on the development of SMEs planned by UKTI during 2012. He said in Jeddah UKTI will be working closely with the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce to offer assistance in accessing finance, running their businesses and developing a marketing strategy. “This program is a commitment by the UK public and private sectors to support industrial diversification and Saudization through encouraging entrepreneurship,” he said.