2021 President’s letter

2021 President’s letter

Dear IBN members and friends,

“Ar scáth a chéile a mhaireann na daoine”

Looking back on 2021, we are delighted to say that the IBN held a record 12 events. In October we held our first indoor in-person event since January 2020, and spent a magical evening with renowned Joycean scholar Fritz Senn at the Zürich James Joyce Foundation. Our next in-person event was a guided walk of Geneva where our expert guide highlighted Irish links to the city and Switzerland. As always, there was plenty of time to network and get to know the other participants.

If the pandemic has taught us anything, it’s that we need to build a better, more equitable world. In 2022, we will continue our theme of A Systems and Community Approach to Resilience and Building Back Better, and we are pleased to share some of the events already scheduled:

In January, Emma Farrell, ESG specialist at Credit Suisse, will join us for a discussion on Investing for a Resilient Future.

Thanks to great interest, Ellen Shilling will again take us through an Introduction to Mindfulness. Attendees will have 2 months’ access to a library of resources after the event.

In February Florian Reber – author of several publications in the field of sustainability – will share his views on Planetary and Nature Resilience.

Please look out for your invitations to these and other events planned for the next 6 months.

We are grateful for the partnership of the team at the Embassy of Ireland, Berne.

Other events and initiatives in Switzerland and on-line include:

  • A celebration of Colmcille on Sunday 19th December, 17.00 in Schaffhausen
  • Enterprise Ireland would like to share these uplifting messages for Irish businesses globally
  • The second year of To be Irish @ Christmas has invited participation from Irish people around the world
  • Basel Irish Club’s upcoming events including a guided walk and a night at the opera
  • The continuation of President Higgins’ Machnamh 100 Centenary Reflections

Finally, a huge thank you to both new and longstanding members, for your warm and open participation in our activities. We now have almost 900 members and over 600 in our LinkedIn group. Please pass on event and website details – signing up for membership is free.

Perhaps the traditional end-of-year wishes of good health and happiness are more poignant now than ever. The IBN Switzerland committee wishes you the very best, and we look forward to seeing you in 2022. In the meantime, you can follow our news, updates and events on our website and LinkedIn group.

Le gach dea ghuí i gcóir na Nollag agus na hAth bhliana! 

Brigid O’Donovan

President, Irish Business Network Switzerland

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