The 4th BEST INVEST conference took place in Limassol on May 14-16th. Its aim was to gather together investors and business owners who are ready to engage in a productive cooperation. The conference was organised by the Successful Business magazine. A reception welcoming the guests took place on May 14th. Minister of energy, trade, industry and tourism Georgios Lakkotrypis opened the official ceremony.
Meeting of the Working Group of Cyprus-India Cooperation
The first day of the event, May 14th, opened with a meeting of the Working Group of Cyprus-India Cooperation. Among the participants during lectures and panel discussions the following guests were present: High Commissioner of India to Cyprus Dr R.K. Raghavan, President of Cyprus-India Business Association Marios Andreou, Deputy Minister of Shipping Natasa Pilides, MSC Shipmanagement founder and Director General Prabhat Kumar Jha, Royal Commonwealth Society (Cyprus) Director Anna Karafoulidou, lawyer Costas Catsaros, Top Kinisis Travel Vice-President Elena Tanou, and Areti Charidemou, a lawyer and partner of Areti Charidemou & Associates LLC.
The experts discussed the past, present and future Cyprus-India relations. The two countries have always maintained close relationship which grows stronger every year, said High Commissioner. Modern technology plays a major role in this. For the last 50 years India has been putting much effort into levelling up to global technology leaders, and is now ready to offer Cyprus a number of high-class business solutions. Qualifications of Indian programmers and other specialists are recognised globally, e.g. by Google. Both Cyprus and India are willing to strengthen and further develop their business connections.
Another topic for discussion was the possible measures to be taken on the state level, such as simplification of visa issuing for business and tourist trips, increasing the transparency in the financial sphere, as well as exchange of experience, knowledge and technology. Cyprus and India can find grounds for cooperation not only in the IT sphere, but also in tourism, investments, medicine, industrial production, etc.
Exhibition and Investment Projects Presentation
As part of the BEST INVEST conference, an exhibition of real estate investment projects took place on May 14th. The guests had an opportunity to learn about a number of flagship projects, such as Trilogy, Limassol Del Mar, Zaria, The One, The Icon, as well as about real estate from other market segments. Companies, such as Aristo, Harakis, Imperio, Leptos, Oikos, Pafilia, Shanda, CyField, Marr, BG Waywin, Trilogy, Allea Global, made presentations about their activities on the market. Luxury highrises, modern residential development projects, commercial real estate and investment opportunities—the detailed specifications of these options, including prices, locations and concepts, provided a solid foundation for comparison.
Also, the activities of Renaissance Investments, Conculco, and Fiduciana Trust companies were presented to the guests. Leading Cyprus developers, including Aristo Developers Ltd, Trilogy Limassol Seafront Ltd, Marr Group, Leptos Estates, Oikos Group, Pafilia Property Developers Ltd, Imperio Group, Allea Global Properties Ltd, and CyField Group of Companies, introduced their projects during the exhibition. The experts gave succinct presentations and answered the questions from the audience.
Plenary Sessions
BEST INVEST is not merely a conference, but a large-scale project, which aims at business relations development and strengthening, and at expert training. Hence, the second day of the conference comprised plenary sessions, discussions, seminars, and master-classes.
During the plenary sessions’ opening, Limassol Mayor Nicos Nicolaides expressed his gratitude to the guests for their keen interest regarding business communications development in Cyprus. He emphasized the importance of active business people’s involvement in the Cyprus economic recovery, and informed the public about the ways of attracting investors to Cyprus and about numerous current opportunities.
The first of the two plenary sessions looked into the latest trends in the Cypriot securities market, as well as opportunities, challenges and risks which the local economy is facing in 2018. Among the participants were the President of the Cyprus Association of Investment Funds Angelos Greoriades, Director of the Cyprus International Institute of Management (CIIM) Theodore Panayotou, RCB Vice-President Vladimir Zrazhewski, Chairman and CEO of the ÖL Shipping Group Eberhard Koch, an entrepreneur and venture investor, well-known internationally for his involvement in startups Ajay Goyal, President of the Cyprus Employers and Industrialists Federation Christos Michaelides, Chief Business Development Officer at Point Nine Andreas Roussos, Director of Ioannou and Theodoulou Theodoros Theodoulou, and Millya Group CEO and co-founder Ilya Loshak.
During the discussions moderated by Ajay Goyal and managing director of Fiduciana Trust Limited Anna Homenko, the experts talked about the developments in Cyprus which took place in between the crisis of 2013 and today’s economic recovery. The plenary session participants agreed that the achieved financial results were directly connected to foreign investments and to the variety of services and goods offered by the local market.
The second plenary session expanded on the topic of future investments in the commercial and residential real estate. The experts discussed the existing programmes and new prospects of mutual investing along the Cyprus—Russia—Europe—Asia axis. Among the professionals who participated in this meeting were: Investor Relations Director of Consulco Dmitry Khenkin, Director of The Leading Properties of The World (Monaco) Sergey Sander, CEO of Oikos Developers Petros Petrou, Head of Real Estate Sales of Allea Global Properties Elena Narbuts, CEO of Nomera Capital (Portugal) Cristóvão Matos, Managing Director of AES Consulting Gmbh (Austria) Chinara Tuganbayeva, CEO of Plus Properties (Lebanon) Georges Chehwane, Financial Director of Reckon Developments (Ireland) Sergey Tarutin, Chairman of the Planning and Building Committee of the Municipality of Rishon LeZion Michael Raif, and CEO at Lekvi-Group (Czech Republic) Firaz Muinov.
During the discussion moderated by Founding Director of the Imperio Group Yiannis Misirlis, the foreign experts explained what types of real estate attracted the most interest from investors, and what caused that interest, as well as how to manage the demand. The speakers shared their views on attracting potential investors in different countries, and on Cyprus real estate sector’s potential.
Seminars and Masterclasses
As part of the BEST INVEST conference, educational events are organised annually. This year three experts shared their unique experience and knowledge with the participants during three-hour seminars, held on May 15-16th. During the seminar titled ‘Attract, Nurture, Convert: The New Rules of Getting Clients Online’, an international speaker and coach Justin Devonshire explained the main criteria of working with online market segment. He shared his knowledge regarding how portals and social networks operate, gave examples of efficient running of any website, and elaborated on the potential client’s evolution from an interested party to the paying one.
An expert in cultural architecture and change management, Timur Yagdarov, held a session under the title ‘Tribal Leadership’, explaining how a team’s work efficiency can be doubled, what alternative there is to the dominating management style, and what is more important for an employee—one’s ego or the common good. The masterclasses were presented in Russian and English.
Ekaterina Stepanova, who works as a Marketing director at Kalinka Group, presented two masterclasses. The first one, ‘Personal Charisma and Sales Skills’, expounded on such important aspect as a personality’s role in the process of increasing effectiveness in the real estate sales. Ms Stepanova shared some reliant tools which allow a 30 per cent growth increase. She also explained how to procrastinate beneficially and to evoke necessary emotional reactions from potential customers. The other masterclass touched upon the creation of effective sales team, art of negotiations, and cooperation with mass media.
Both participants and speakers of the BEST INVEST conference appreciated the very high level of organisation, and expressed their gratitude to the Organising Committee for the opportunity to share their views during discussions and to build business connections in an informal setting.
