Keeping It Civil – Details, episodes & analysis

In this episode the Tax Advisory Team in the shape of Partners Grahame Jackson (also Chair of the Gibraltar Association of Tax Advisers) and Chloe Oppenheimer Fa discuss the headline provisions of the Gibraltar Budget 2024.

In the last episode of the Hassans Environment Prize Trilogy, host and project team lead Tania Rahmany catches up with Headteacher at Bayside Comprehensive School, Gaynor Lester.

A three pronged project, the School are involving a number of their education departments to create:

• a secret garden made from recycled materials,
• fog nets to capture levanter moisture - collaborating with design assistance from fellow Prize applicant Nigel-Albert Garcia.
• metal creature structures for collecting recyclable waste in the school.

Tania and Gaynor discuss how the projects are going so far and what the next steps are.

Our third interview as part of Hassans’ Women Leaders in Gibraltar series, our host, Selwyn Figueras and co-host Meera Aswani, talk to Gibraltar-raised Katherine Grant, CEO of Image Graphics and Micro-Business Systems and the only female Director of the Chamber of Commerce in Gibraltar.

Katherine draws on her experience of working in Hewlett Packard in the UK and Geneva – and how she made it to the USA - and highlights how businesses can give back to the local community through corporate social responsibility initiatives and the key challenges faced by small-medium sized business in Gibraltar in this context.

In this inspirational talk, Katherine explains her greatest professional challenge was the impact and uncertainty during the time of the global pandemic. She explains how she navigated through those turbulent times whilst maintaining her commitment to the health and wellbeing of her staff and supporting the local community in Gibraltar.

Katherine explores how she sees gender dynamics play out in the business context as she gives advice to her 20-something self in relation to the powerful impact of a personal achievement which give you resilience and confidence to make progress professionally – whether its competing in a triathlon or starting a new business ‘just do it, don’t overthink it!’

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If you are running a business, or considering starting a business in Gibraltar, be sure to follow Hassans, Gibraltar's leading law firm, on all social media channels where Senior Associate David Montegriffo is currently running an Entrepreneurship Series, 6 issues covering the ins and outs of managing a business from business structure, contracts IP matters, rewarding employees and more.

In the carbon market, CO2 Capital specialises in scaling-up verified carbon credit projects via forest restoration and agroforestry. They use blockchain and drone technology to create compelling carbon credits and value chain portfolios that include forest protection, improved forest management, forest restoration, blue carbon, and community trees/forests.

With a goal to increase the European tree count by 500 million new trees by CO2 Capital’s 30th anniversary in 2050, this revolutionary firm are working to secure long lasting relationships with institutions and business around the world to assist them in reducing their carbon footprint as part of the global effort to tackle the climate crisis.

With the Paris Agreement requiring reductions of carbon footprints by 50% by 2030 (and by 100% by 2050), and with the increasing regulatory mandates and stakeholder pressure in this area, C02 has developed an offering which stops deforestation through technology and has created a high scale planting solution. It has developed green assets tokenization and can offer businesses carbon emissions offsetting, as well as blockchain digital certification and secure wallet based assets oversight – to ensure companies achieve their net zero goals - and be able to prove it when the time inevitably comes.

This is brilliant technology and an amazing solution for firms that want to accelerate their carbon footprint reduction. We are delighted that our FinTech Team (led by Partner Anthony Provasoli) and our Environment Team (led by Tania Rahmany) get to be part of their development. 

Dr Karl Alvarez, Medical Director at Occupational Health Services and charity fundraiser, joined Selwyn Figueras and Catherine Knock in the Hassans media studio to share his reasoning and motivation in aiming to be the first person EVER to complete all five Beyond the ultimate Ultras within one year.

He is taking on this enormous challenge to raise awareness about mental health and children with special needs and all donations will be shared between GibSams and SNAG (Special Needs Action Group).

We couldn't be prouder to be sponsoring Karl as he takes on the fourth of the five Ultras, heading for Peru tomorrow to start the Jungle Ultra in the Manu National Park in Peru on Wednesday 4th June. Karl completed the Savannah in Kenya in September last year, the Desert in Namib Desert in November and the Ice Ultra in Sweden in February. He will then tackle the final Ultra in the Tan Shan Mountains at the end of July.

As if that wasn't enough, we also talk to him about his mission to improve the wellbeing of the Gibraltar population, why being "fit" goes way beyond the physical and how working is scientifically proven to be good for your health.

Good friend of Gibraltar, Lieutenant General Edward Davis CB CBE joined us earlier this week to discuss the work of the Gibraltar chapter of the Commonwealth Enterprise and Investment Council (CWEIC) as Chair of the hub.

General Davis has a distinguished record of public service most recently having served as a Senior Royal Marines Officer before being appointed as Her Late Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II’s representative for Gibraltar from 2016 to 2020. After his tenure as Governor came to an end, he returned to the UK but is thankfully a frequent visitor back to the Rock due to his work with CWEIC and also as the Chair of the charitable Entain Foundation.

In this edition, Selwyn Figueras is joined by Lord Swire, Deputy Chairman of the Commonwealth Enterprise and Investment Council (CWEIC), and former Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, Minster of State for Northern Ireland and Minister of State for Europe and the Americas. Lord Swire was sworn as a member of the Privy Council in 2011 and subsequently knighted.

The podcast was recorded on the day that Northern Ireland went to the local elections, provoking a fascinating conversation in the first half of the podcast on the Windsor framework, parallels that can be drawn in the context of Gibraltar’s own Brexit and the Monarchy.

During the second half, the duo discuss the CWEIC and the Commonwealth Legal Network and the role that each network plays in terms of promoting trade and investment across the 56 member states of the Commonwealth.

In the third episode of our Women Leaders series, we were delighted to welcome entrepreneur Gillaine Dellipiani into the Hassans’ studio. With over 25 years of experience of project consultancy and management experience, and founder of consultancy GD Associates, Gillaine has delivered successful Gibraltar real estate projects such as The Hub, Sylvian Suites and is currently bringing the North Gorge eco-development to fruition. Gillaine was also responsible for the “Feeding the Frontline” campaign which supported essential workers during the Covid pandemic.

She talks to Partner Selwyn Figueras and Senior Associate Emma Labrador about her exciting early career, globetrotting and trailblazing in the technology sector during the 90s, how charitable work in The Gambia led to her eventual establishment of GD Associates and how she has managed to succeed as a formidable career woman through the many challenges facing women, and as a single mother of two.

The development of the reclamation on the Eastside of Gibraltar is of unprecedented scale and complexity in the local context. Anticipated to add circa £3bn of economic value in a variety of mixed use projects over the next 15 years, the deal for the purchase of the land was finalised between TNG Global Realty and the Government of Gibraltar a couple of weeks back.

In this episode, Selwyn Figueras speaks to Adrian Olivero, CEO of TNG in Gibraltar, and Ian Felice, partner at Hassans who has led on the project for TNG over the last few years, to discuss the project.

The complexities involved, some of the detail of the key milestones already achieved and a discussion of the measures taken in the environmental and sustainability context of the project all feature in this episode, with our guests describing what it takes to get a deal like this over the line and how it is expected this systemically important project will impact and benefit the community in Gibraltar.

In this special edition, Hassans' trainees, Anna Buhler, Isabella Lombard and Sam Marrache, join Head of Marketing & BD, Catherine Knock, to talk about their experiences of the Hassans' Summer Programme which will run on a fortnightly placement basis over the course of July and August.

The trio share their best and most daunting (but also most rewarding) parts of the programme, the benefits (which are numerous) of attending and top tips for completing your application and CV.

For all the info and the application portal, prospective candidates should visit Summer Programme | Hassans (gibraltarlaw.com).