Saturday, June 3rd, 2023

ESBA visit to Gibraltar 15 to 17 May as part of our 25th Anniversary and was hosted by the Gibraltar Federation Small Businesses (GFSB), one of our founding members.

At our Board during the morning of the 16th May. we confirmed the appointment of Andrew Cave as our new Secretary General. Andrew during his remarks referred to the importance of representing the concerns of entrepreneurs and SMEs when dealing with the EU Institutions and Governments and running evidence based campaigns.

Over lunch, very kindly hosted by the Gibraltar Government at the Rock Hotel, the theme of issues that matter to our sector continued, when we met two Government Ministers, The Hon Samantha Sacramento MP, Minister for Justice, Equality, Public Standards and Regulations. The Hon Vijay Daryanani MP, Minister for Business and The Port.

L – R:  The Hon Samantha Sacramento MP, Minister for Justice, Equality, Public Standards and Regulations, David Caro ESBA President and The Hon Vijay Daryanani MP, Minister for Business and The Port.

Above.  The attendees at the lunch, Rock Hotel,(most of them)

No visit to Gibraltar can go without a tour of the Rock, which took place between the working lunch and the Gibraltar FSB (GFSB) Business Innovation Awards. The evening dinner was hosted by Owen Smith, Chairman of the Gibraltar FSB which enabled further networking and exchanges of views.

To finish our visit, we participated in a Breakfast Meeting about ‘Beyond Borders’ led by David Caro, ESBA President and Eran Shay,GFSB Board member.

David Caro, ESBA President (L) with Eran Shay,GFSB Board member at the Breakfast Meeting. David is also a Board Member of the Flock Association of Europe.

ESBA’s thanks go to Eran Shay and Georgina Weeks, GFSB Office for organising a busy and relevant programme of activities. Thank you Eran and Georgina.

We are looking forward to holding our late autumn Board meeting in Croatia at the kind invitation of our member Glas Poduzetnika who were represented in Gibraltar by Hrvoje Bujas, their President and ESBA Board member and their Secretary General, Branka Prisilic.

Note. ESBA was formed in Waxholm, Sweden in November 1998 which included representatives of the GFSB. John Walker, ESBA Treasurer, was particularly pleased to catch up with Henry Bautista, during the visit, who was present in Waxholm all those years ago.

Additional photos

Above, ESBA Vice President, Roee Cohen (C) and LAHAV Israel at the Lunch with the Ministers.

Above, ESBA Vice President, Yawar Khan (C) and Chairman of the Asian Catering Federation (UK) with the Ministers.

Above, Hryoje Bujas, President of Glas poduzentnika, Croatia with  the Ministers.

Meeting of Board members of the GFSB and ESBA at the GFSB offices, 122 Irish Town.