On Thursday 16th February the MAG-net City networking group hosted its first event of 2012 at the London Stock Exchange! A fantastic 135 people attended the event filling the venue almost to capacity! We have had an amazing year and have seen a 237% increase in attendance from when we started last February!

After welcoming all attendees Colin Slight, MAG-net City Chairman, introduced the first guest speaker, Adam Komorowski, Head of Operations at MAG. Adam gave an update on MAG's operations and also spoke about Clear Landmines Now, a global week of action. For more information about MAG or Clear Landmines now please go to http://www.maginternational.org/clearlandminesnow/

Following Adam, David Lester, Director of Information Services and Chairman of Turquoise and FTSE Group at The London Stock Exchange, introduced Ha-Joon Chang, the illustrious author of "23 Things They Don't Tell You about Capitalism”.

David said "I am delighted to introduce Ha-Joon Chang, his book 23 Things They don’t tell you about Capitalism is a real tour-de-force and his ideas are fabulously contrarian and are worthy of serious attention and discussion."

Ha Joon discussed several of the "things" featured in his book including Thing one: There is no such thing as a free market and Thing three: Most people in rich countries are paid more than they should be. In the current economic climate his speech was extremely thought provoking, asking those in attendance to think seriously about how our economies are run. Following his speech Ha Joon kindly took questions from the floor.

The next event will be held on the Thursday 19th April 2012. The venue is still to be confirmed but please continue to check the website for further details. Sponsorship opportunities and if you are interested please contact Colin Slight on colin.slight@therealizationgroup.com for more details.

On Thursday 10th November MAG-net City hosted its fifth successful networking event at the London Stock Exchange. This was the final event of 2011 and was attended by over 90 people - a fantastic 125% increase from the first event back in February 2011.

Mr Rob White, MAG's acting CEO, spoke to provide attendees with an update on what MAG had achieved during 2011 and also gave a taste of what could be achieved in 2012 with continued support from its donors, and from MAG-net! He also passed on his huge thanks on behalf of everyone at MAG for those who have made MAG-net the success it has become during the year!

Rob was followed by Laurens Vis, Managing Director at KAS Bank UK, who spoke on the subject of the "European Regulatory Minefield". His speech was thoroughly entertaining and insightful and we are extremely grateful to Laurens for offering to come and talk to the networking group.

The MAG-net committee and everyone at MAG would like to pass on their sincere thanks to everyone who attended the event on Thursday, and also to those who have been to previous MAG-net events, helping to make them the huge success they have become. We would also all like to sincerely thank the sponsors for the evening; The Realization Group, KAS Bank, The London Stock Exchange-una vista, Certeco, The Test People and The Financial Services Club

The next event will be held on the 09th February 2012 at the London Stock Exchange please continue to check the website for further details. Sponsorship opportunities are still available so please contact Colin Slight on colin.slight@therealizationgroup.com for more details.

In the interim all of the MAG-net City committee and everyone at MAG would like to wish you a very Happy Christmas and all the very best for 2012!

On Wednesday 14th September MAG-net City hosted its fourth successful networking event at the London offices of Barlow Lyde & Gilbert LLP, a leading international law firm, who generously provided the use of their meeting space free of charge!

Phil Robertshaw, MAG's Fundraising Manager, provided a MAG update covering the organisations emergency response to the crisis in Libya and other recent key events in countries such as Sri Lanka, Sudan and Vietnam and upcoming fundraising events. Following this, Chris Skinner, CEO of Financial Services Club and regular commentator on the financial markets, was our fantastic guest speaker discussing "The similarities between Banks and Landmines" which was extremely informative and thought provoking!

The MAG-net committee and MAG would like to pass on their sincere thanks to the sponsors of the event; The Realization Group, Certeco, Michael Barr & Co Ltd, KAS Bank, The Test People, The Financial Services Club and Barlow Lyde & Gilbert LLP

The next event will be held on the 10th November 2011, please continue to check the website for details on the venue. Sponsorship opportunities are still available for all of these events, please contact Colin Slight on colin.slight@therealizationgroup.com for more details

Last Thursday MAG-net City held the third fantastic networking event in London at the IoD hub on New Broad Street.

Continuing on from previous events it was a great success! Hosted by Colin Slight, MAG-net City Committee Chair, there were key speeches from Kevin Milne, Director of Post Trade at the London Stock Exchange, who discussed his thoughts and opinions on the world of finance, and also, Phil Tapsel, MAG-net North West Chair, who gave an update on MAG operations and his recent trip to Iraq.

With 65 attendees and growing, the MAG-net events are a fantastic opportunity to meet your peers in the Financial Services space, to share ideas and network across the whole industry.

Forthcoming events for 2011:

The September event will take place on Wednesday 14th - venue TBC
The November event will take place on Thursday 10th - venue TBC

Sponsorship and guest speaker opportunities are still available for these events

The second successful MAG-net City networking event was held on Thursday 19th May 2011 at Balls Brothers, in London. The prestige business networking event was attended by over 60 invited guests including members of MAG, and was sponsored and supported by The Realization Group, Certeco, The Test People, and Amelco.

The event was hosted by Colin Slight, MAG-net City Committee Chair, with guest speakers Darren Cormack, Head of Business Development at MAG, and Michael Barr who presented on his experiences within the professional investment community and discussed the second addition of his book 'How to Invest Better than the Average Primate'.

The event was a great success and we would like to thank everyone for attending and taking part in the event! The next MAG-net City event will be be in July with more details to follow on this website so please check back regularly for updates.

Just a short note to let you know that The Realization Group team promoted the MAG-net City group to over 1,000 City professionals at the FIX EMEA event on 1st March

The next MAG-Net City main networking event will be on 19th May once again at The London stock Exchange in the evening. A formal invitation will be sent shortly but prior to that please hold the date in your diaries.

There will be a social event following the April committee meeting – the date for this will be confirmed later in March.

Thanks, Colin Slight – MAG-net City branch Chairman.

The launch of the MAG-net City committee was held last Thursday 17th February 2011 at the London Stock Exchange. The first meeting of the prestige business network was attended by over 40 exclusively invited guests, including members of MAG, and was sponsored and supported by The Realization Group, Austrailan Wines Ltd and The Test People. Hosted by Colin Slight, MAG-net City Committee Chair, the event is primarily a business networking opportunity for business leaders, entrepreneurs and other key influencers in the city and is a powerful venue enabling group members to promote their products and services to a wider audience.

Following the launch, where MAG employees Darren Cormack (Head of Business Development) and Rob White (Director of Operations) took questions, Colin Slight gave a call for action to the attendees inviting them to get involved by joining the MAG-net LinkedIn group, joining the committee or simply emailing Colin with ideas and questions - colin.slight@therealizationgroup.com. The next event will be held soon with invitations remaining exclusive to those who are known to group founder members, new members and their contacts.

The February MAG-net North West event was held last Thursday 17th February at The Living Room in Manchester. The event, organised by MAG-net Vice Chair, Coral Grainger of Capital Relations, was a resounding success with all tickets selling out.

A new corporate audience was introduced to MAG International and the charity received over £400 in donations. The event, entitled Business Matters – Performance and Innovation, featured speakers John Leach, CEO of Winning Pitch; Andy Harrison, Performance Manager at English Institute of Sport; and Chris Allen, co-founder of LateRooms.com. Neil Tague, Assistant Editor of NW Business Insider chaired the discussion.

MAG Chief Executive, Lou McGrath OBE said “A great way to start the year, and another brilliant event from our MAG-net supporters, we’re so grateful to them for all their help in raising awareness of, and vital funds for, our lifesaving work.”

News of the next fantastic MAG-net North West event will be posted soon!

MAG will be holding an exhibition of photography depicting a decade of bomb and landmine removal in Vietnam, at the War Remnants Museum, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam from April-May 2011, and is currently looking for individuals and organisations to sponsor a photo for US$250.

This is a great way to show your support of MAG and raise awareness of the life-saving clearance work in Vietnam at one of the most popular tourist attractions in the country.

Please contact Mark Bradshaw to find out more:
Phone - 0161 236 4311
email - mark.bradshaw@maginternational.org

Our new MAG-net group is now live on LinkedIn. Sign up for more information, discussions and event updates.

The November MAG-net North West networking event at Manchester Business School was another opportunity for premium networking featuring guest speaker, William Hanson - a leading expert and consultant in etiquette and protocol.

Wealth manager and author Michael Barr delighted this months networking guests with a presentation about his controversial new investment book, "How to invest better than the average primate". The evening was set against the backdrop of MAG's photographic exhibition "Surviving the Peace" in the award-winning Urban Splash Chips building.

MAG-net member Certeco are the sponsors of the MN4Fitness 2010 Swindon to Paris bike ride, who this year chose to raise money for MAG's life-saving work. Between 9th and 13th June, a team of 19 undertook a challenging route of 361 miles from Swindon to Paris raising more than £2,000 for MAG so far.

Wealth manager Michael Barr, a previous winner of Personal Financial Planner of the year award, is proud to become a supporter of MAG following a MAG-net event.

In his debut book ‘How to invest better than the average primate’, Michael Barr, from Poulton-Le-Fylde, exposes why he believes the system many banks and advisers use today is misleading to the general public. The book has been described as “A straight talking, politically incorrect book” by Craig Burgess, Managing Director of Blackstone Wealth Management.

Michael is proud to be supporting MAG by donating 50% of all the books profits to MAG's life-saving work, and 50% to UNICEF.