The Benefits of Membership

How Can We Help You?

If your answer is ‘YES’ to any of these questions can you really afford not to join the LBBC?

LBBC Membership provides a wide range of benefits including:

• Unique networking opportunities through participation in the LBBC’s programme of events including introductions to high-level decision-makers, industry representatives, government officials, potential partners, clients, suppliers and in-country agents.
• Access to staff expertise and assistance addressing specific business-related problems or cultural issues.
• Negotiation of bureaucratic red-tape and advice meeting regulatory requirements including fast-track applications for business visas.
• Provision of high-level market intelligence, news and analyses in the form of business briefings, published articles, reports and email updates.

Council Membership: Additional Benefits

While all our members benefit from the key services listed above, as an LBBC Council Members you will enjoy a greater level of attention and a higher degree of influence in the following key areas:

Networking Opportunities and Access to Key Business and Political Leaders

Council Members receive prior notification of special networking events or meetings attended by Libyan industry leaders, politicians and other influential figures as well as preferential allocation for attendance at these events. For example, in the past, the LBBC has been advised of senior delegations visiting London from Tripoli, often at very short notice. In these circumstances, when the schedule has precluded the VIPs’ participation in a major event attended by all our members, we have typically been asked to arrange a special lunch or dinner to which our Council Members are invited. 

Policy Input and Development of LBBC Events and Activities

Council Members enjoy a closer working relationship with the LBBC Board of Directors. This includes participation in the Council’s decision-making processes with regards to issues and policies which may have a wide-ranging and long-term impact upon the commercial and political relations between Libya and the UK (for more details see What We Do).

Council Membership also means you may be invited to play an active role in developing our programme of events and other networking activities, including opportunities to help devise, host or speak at sector-specific missions, conferences, seminars and workshops.

Marketing Support, Brand Exposure and Sponsorship Opportunities

Council Members benefit from a higher level of marketing support and brand exposure which raises your profile among potential partners and clients in the UK and Libya. For example, your company’s logo, profile and contact details appear more prominently on LBBC literature, publicity material and in the List of Members on this website.

Council Members are also given the first opportunity to sponsor LBBC overseas delegations – a proven way of promoting your company’s products, services and commercial interests to potential clients, customers, partners and suppliers in Libya. It also presents your business in a ‘thought-leadership role’ within your industry and within the international business community as a whole.

How is the revolution affecting Member Services? 

As a result of the current developments in Libya, our regular programme of overseas missions has been postponed until further notice. However, we are still hosting domestic conferences and special meetings, often in partnership with other interested parties and stakeholders, to ensure that members are kept informed of the changing political and commercial landscape in Libya and of current and future trade and investment opportunities and trends.

As Libya changes so to will the LBBC, as we react to meet the shared needs of our UK members and the Libyan business community. The FCO has recently re-established a mission in the Libyan capital and the NTC is creating the framework for international trade and investment activities to resume. Many of our long-term contacts are still in place and while some of the former state-owned organisations with responsibility for specific markets or industrial sectors will be replaced or reformed, the new entities and personnel will be keen to start acquainting themselves with their international counterparts.

For example, for the past four years the LBBC has led an annual high-level delegation to Tripoli serving the banking and financial services industry, which has quickly become established as the most important and influential inward mission for UK finance professionals in Libya. Unfortunately, the February uprising meant this year’s mission was forced to postpone at the last minute. However, the interim Libyan authorities are working to re-establish the country’s financial sector, with many former state-owned entities expected to start operating again with little change to their functions or personnel. Mohamed Layas, a long-standing friend of the LBBC and the single most knowledgeable and influential figure in Libya’s financial services industry, has been reinstated as head of the Libyan Investment Authority (LIA).

Therefore, we are sure that it will not be long before an LBBC financial services delegation is back in Libya to discuss mutually beneficial opportunities going forward. And given the speed of developments on the ground, the requirement of social and economic reconstruction, and the authorities’ enthusiasm to resume international business relations, we are confident that other inwards trade missions will also be back on the agenda in the very near future.

The LBBC welcomes applications for Council and Corporate Membership. To join today, please complete the online application form. Or, if you would like further information, please telephone us without obligation on 020 7152 4051 and ask for John Parr.

Or you can apply by fax or by post to:

LBBC Secretariat
New Member Applications
50 Broadway
St James’s Park
Westminster
London SW1H 0RG
Fax: +44 (0)1306 88 10 46

Annual Fees:

Council Membership: £1,500 per year (excl VAT)
Corporate Membership: £500 per year (excl VAT)