The 24 participants in this year’s Small Countries Financial Management Centre programme have been given a lasting legacy of the Isle of Man thanks to Mann Link Travel.

The company’s Chief Executive, Brian Kelly, presented them with a copy of ‘Visions of Mann’ at a Reception at The Nunnery to mark the end of the Island-based teaching. The book provides a portrait of the Island, in pictures and words. 

The Small Countries Financial Management Centre was established in 2009 to provide an executive education programme to officials from some of the world’s smallest countries. Representatives from governments, central banks, financial institutions and regulatory bodies spend one week in the Island and one at Oxford University learning how to put in to practice mechanisms to deal with the economic issues their countries face, as well as developing their leadership, management and negotiation skills. 

Officials have attended this year’s programme from countries including St Lucia, Botswana, Barbados, Montenegro, The Gambia, Belize, Samoa, Tonga, the Cook Islands and Kiribati. All of the travel arrangements for the programme have been managed by Mann Link.
 
Brian Kelly commented: “The Small Countries Financial Management Centre programme is an eye-opening educational experience and provides participants with the vital tools they need to implement positive change within their governments and banks. The fact the Isle of Man is at the forefront of such a programme is very important, and I am only too delighted to provide our visitors with a lasting legacy of their time here.” 

Tim Cullen, Executive Director of the Small Countries Financial Management Centre, commented: “We owe a debt of gratitude to Mann Link Travel for its ongoing support for the programme and for providing such a fitting gift to the participants. The change being implemented in these small countries as a result of it is testament to its relevance and also the regard in which it is held globally. The Isle of Man plays a key part in helping to support small countries around the world and it is wonderful that our ‘graduates’ will be able to take a lasting memento of that home with them.”    

Photo - (l-r) Francis Fontenelle, Acting Budget Director of the St Lucia Ministry of Finance, and Brian Kelly, Chief Executive, Mann Link Travel.