Maltese association to spread risk gospel on Island

Ferma announced in September that the risk management associations of Malta and Slovenia have been accepted as its latest members. With their addition the total number of countries whose risk managers are now represented by Ferma stands at 19.

MARM was officially born on August 30 when it was formed by founding council members John Schembri (President), Ian-Edward Stafrace (Vice President), Mario Genovese (Treasurer), Andre Farrugia (Secretary), John O’Dea (public relations officer) and Simon Grima (council member).

Reflective of the broad membership MARM hopes to attract, its council represent various business sectors including financial services, aviation, safety and security, manufacturing, retail and hospitality and the public sector.

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The association was formed to promote, advance and encourage the knowledge and use of risk management within the private and public sectors on the Maltese Island where currently its practices are not widespread, Mr Stafrace told Commercial Risk Europe.

Although a number of organisations in Malta employ people with certain responsibilities for risk management, only a handful have full time and dedicated risk professionals and risk managers, he explained.

“We need to raise awareness and recognition of the role of the risk manager. We also intend to assist and encourage the development of local professional education in risk management attracting more people to the field,” he continued.

It is hoped that the risk management association will help to provide a focus for the discipline and promote the exchange of experience, knowledge and advice among its members and the local community.

Since joining Ferma, MARM has received a positive response from local practitioners working in the field of risk.

“The response we received was overwhelming,” said Mr Stafrace. “From the various feedbacks we are building a database of prospective members who have shown keen interest in joining the association and we have accelerated our work on our launch event.”

The association is planning a grand launch event for early 2012 to engage the industry, raise awareness and to attract its first new official members.

Its council has been meeting every fortnight in this crucial setup phase to ensure a successful launch.

It has setup a LinkedIn page to spread awareness, identify potential new association members and encourage networking within the local risk management community.

This can be accessed at http://www.linkedin.com/groups/MARM-Malta-Association-Risk-Management-4037867.

Joining Ferma will allow MARM to seek affiliation and networking opportunities with other related institutions or associations of professional standing and repute, continued Mr Stafrace.

“Hence becoming members of Ferma was one of our immediate targets. Ferma enables the exchange of risk management knowledge and experience across Europe. Through Ferma, our association is also now part of a strong European lobbying group,” he said.

The association said it was encouraged by the support from Ferma’s ex-president Peter den Dekker during its formation.

Mr Den Dekker said back in September that he was ‘thrilled’ by the addition of two new members to Ferma.

“Their enthusiasm shows the recognition of Ferma as the voice for the European risk manager and demonstrates the growing development and professionalism of risk management across Europe,” he said.

President of MARM, John Schembri, was equally as excited by the news.

“Malta is possibly the smallest European state with an effervescent economy. Risk management is an emerging area of management and the market signs are that it is now ripe for more focus and attention. The association intends to reach out to all sectors of the risk management market in the Maltese Islands. MARM shall be a very proud member of Ferma and all of us will endeavour to promote risk management in the best light possible within a growing market,” he said.

He also reiterated the importance of risk management and the need for its development in Malta.

Risk management as a profession is not new but, relatively speaking, in Malta, it is still to emerge in all its different aspects, he said.

Risk management is not rocket science, nor is it some sort of magic cure for all problems that organisations face, he continued. Rather, it is an approach to mainstream management that takes into account the potentially negative and positive outcomes of decision-making, he said.

People must not expect risk management to solve bad management, nor will it make up for inadequate resources and poor decision-making, but it can reduce the likelihood and consequences of events that might affect organisations, explained Mr Schembri.

Good risk management is also about identifying opportunities in risk—a very powerful idea in today’s interconnected world, he concluded.