In 1990, soon after the fall of the Berlin Wall, FC’s founders were in Eastern Europe and recognized how huge the business potential was if people better understood how to do business with the West.
Returning to the UK they started a conference business specifically designed to help global emerging markets develop.
In 1994 another huge opportunity presented itself with the beginnings of widespread Internet adoption. A second business was formed, this time focusing on how companies could take advantage of this fast developing disruptive technology.
The company has grown aggressively every since and, within the event space, has pioneered a business model based on the development of community-driven websites, intelligence newsletters and reports.
In 2001 FC started to focus more energy on developing deep-level expertise in leading edge business sectors and continues to bring high profile brands online all of the time.
Key Achievements
- Worked in emerging markets, producing conferences from Beijing to Caracas, from Islamabad to Moscow, from Kiev to the Ivory Coast, and from Budapest to San Francisco
- Organised the first ever international Satellite Broadcast from Kazakhstan, when we linked Almaty and London in a dual city conference
- FC was the first company to gather the Oil Ministers of India, Bangladesh and Pakistan in the same room when they keynoted at a Conference in New Delhi in 1996
- Pioneered the use of destination industry websites in the mid 1990s to support and promote our conference activities
- Developed Streaming Media, a conference, trade show, magazine and website brand that helped define and direct the online video and audio streaming industry. The brand grew 40,000% in three years and was purchased by a major media corporation in 2000
- In 2005, we ran the UN Global Compact Leaders Summit in New York with the UN and have helped roll out this Summit worldwide
- Our Ethical Corp Institute led the Independent Working group in Responsible Business for the UK Conservative Party under David Cameron, and continues to advise the Shadow Cabinet on CSR policy, development and implementation
- Our speakers have included: Bill Gates; Steve Jobs; Steven Hawking; Nawaz Sharif, Prime Minister of Pakistan; Rilwanu Lukman, Secretary General of OPEC and Kofi Annan UN Secretary General
