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The eCO, SCIeNCe & IT ISSue
Issue 23 FeBRuARY/MARCH 2014
ENVIRONMENT: CRISIS OR OPPORTUNITY PROTECTINg ThE ENVIRONMENT: CaRMEl CaCOPaRdO TRaNSPORT ON dEMaNd MEdIa ECOlOgY
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Welcome Back in our short trousers and elastic band tie days, we hated our science subjects. The arguments were too detailed, the theorems too complicated, and the explanations too boring. “Don’t worry about that,” our teachers used to comfort us. “Just memorise these tables and you’ll be fine.” Nowadays, we know better than that. Beyond theorems and tables, science is what saves the day, and the environment. In this issue of Money, we focus on science, IT and the environment. In an interview with Veronica Stivala, Alternattiva Demokratika Deputy Chairman Carmel Cacopardo says that while the setting up of the Planning Authority was a landmark decision for Malta, environmental protection has still failed on various fronts. Moreover, he says that we need more synergy between land use planning and environment protection. Alan Pulis, who specialises in environmental management, acknowledges the threat of climate change. However, he argues, this threat can be transformed into an opportunity. Such opportunities also fall within a business’s marketing efforts. George Larry Zammit says that by strengthening our commitment towards our customers and towards the planet, we can build precious long-term brand value and achieve the fabled triple bottom line. In this issue of Money, we also meet a number of leaders in the local IT industry who tell us what has taken them to the top, and what keeps them there. Does Marshall McLuhan’s iconic Understanding Media still matter for today’s creative labourers and information technologists? More than you might think, argues Sean Patrick Sullivan. In other features, we showcase Costa Rica’s eco efforts, lay out an exclusive spread of gifts, and update you with our detailed market report. Read on and enjoy.
contents
FEBRUARY/MARCH 2014 8 Greens are not serene
Alternattiva Demokratika Deputy Chairman Carmel Cacopardo tells Veronica Stivala that more needs to be done to protect our natural environment.
10 Post-WarsaW reflections on the climate chanGe conundrum
Can we transform the threat of climate change into an opportunity, asks Alan Pulis.
14 a voice for malta
Stefano Mallia, candidate for the 2014 MEP elections, says that his EU experience will serve him well in the European Parliament.
18 sPreadinG the traffic jam
Are Demand Responsive Transport Systems the light at the end of the traffic tunnel, asks Dr Edward Duca.
20 a triPle dose of haPPiness
Why should a business achieve a triple bottom line, asks George Larry Zammit.
23 doctors of demand Chris Mifsud dares to describe communications as a science. Is he right?
25 PuttinG it in fit Editor Anthony P. Bernard anthony@moneymag.me Consulting Editor Stanley Borg stanley@becommunications.com Design Hello Jon jon@hellojon.com Printing Gutenberg Distribution Mailbox Direct Marketing Group
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A group of young students have decided to help Malta adopt a healthier lifestyle.
29 not leavinG a PaPer trail
Money speaks to Nick Camilleri, Managing Director of Avantech, on turning an existing problem into cost savings, increased efficiency and growth.
31 a soP story
Technology can only be efficient if it automates the right processes, says Reuben Buttigieg.
33 three decades of innovation
Empowering companies to support their own business through our software is our main achievement, says John de Giorgio, Managing Director, Shireburn Software.
35 the data Protection challenGe
Protecting your data means safeguarding your, and your clients’, business interests, says Curt Gauci.
36 PushinG the like button
How high can Facebook stock rise, asks Alan Cuschieri.
38 a unique destination
SmartCity Malta is creating an unprecedented network of opportunities, says SmartCity Malta CEO Anthony Tabone.
40 understandinG the World’s first media ecoloGist
Half a century ago, Marshall McLuhan invented the discipline of media ecology. Do his ideas and insights still matter? Sean Patrick Sullivan reports.
42 there is sol in this costa
What has watered the growth of Costa Rica’s eco credentials, asks Money.
44 holdinG the fort
Malta Design Week 2014 explores the theme of micronation.
56 life is beautiful Usher in a new year of luxury and style.
Money is published by BE Communications Ltd, 37, Amery Street, Sliema, SLM 1702 All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part is strictly prohibited without written permission. Opinions expressed in Money are not necessarily those of the editor or publisher. All reasonable care is taken to ensure truth and accuracy, but the editor and publishers cannot be held responsible for errors or omissions in articles, advertising, photographs or illustrations. Unsolicited manuscripts are welcome but cannot be returned without a stamped, self-addressed envelope. The editor is not responsible for material submitted for consideration.
4 - Money / Issue 23
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Interview
Greens are not serene
Although the setting up of the Planning Authority was a landmark decision, it has failed in terms of protecting the environment. Alternattiva Demokratika Deputy Chairman Carmel Cacopardo tells Veronica Stivala that more needs to be done to protect our natural environment. Photo by Darrin Zammit Lupi. Courtesy of Allied Newspapers Limited.
M
alta’s European Union accession was a momentous occasion for environmentalists as it led to sound environmental legislation in Malta. Yet most disappointingly our environment has not been protected as it desperately needs to be. Neglect of the Environment Directorate at MEPA, including its being without a director for long stretches of time, means that environmental governance has not been considered relevant, explains Carmel Cacopardo, Alternattiva Demokratika Deputy Chairman and an architect and civil engineer by profession. Although Mr Cacopardo hails the setting up of the Planning Authority in 1992 – nowadays the Malta Environment and Planning Authority – as a landmark decision, he laments its disappointing transformation in terms of protecting the environment. “The amalgamation of the Environment Directorate in 2002 could have formed the basis of synergy between land use planning and environment protection,” he says. “Instead it served to gag the environmental function, subjugating it continuously to the land use planning. On paper MEPA was potentially a success story. Overnight it was transformed into a failure.” Then what reforms does MEPA need to undergo in order to function better as a regulator of Malta’s environmental and planning domain? Various changes are necessary, of which Mr Cacopardo highlights four. “First of all, the method of selection of the members of the board and its main officers (directors and CEO) needs to be radically changed.
8 - Money / Issue 23
Primary responsibility for assessing the suitability of appointees needs to shift from the responsible minister to Parliament and from being held behind closed doors to being carried out in public. All appointees need to be subjected to a public hearing during which their capability is assessed. “Secondly, rather then fragmenting and hiving off environmental functions we should strive towards their consolidation. Instead of segregating the Environment Directorate, MEPA should be transformed into one unified authority by absorbing the functions of the Resources Authority. “Also, there is no need for MPs to sit on the MEPA board and take an active part in its deliberations. What is required is for Parliament to be alert and for its Environment and Planning Select Committee to monitor MEPA’s workings, holding all, including the minister, to account. “Last but not least, decisions on large scale projects, in particular those which require an Environment Impact Assessment report, should be subject to a democratic process. If the local community objects to a specific project as a result of its not being satisfied of the workability of the proposals made, it should be possible for an empowered local community to intervene. Subject to the overriding consideration of Parliament in the case of infrastructural projects of national importance, environmental governance should be subject to the principle of subsidiarity.” One of the most important aspects of environmental awareness is awareness itself. Although one can argue that adults are not aware of the impact their actions are having on our natural environment, Mr Cacopardo is positive about future generations. He notes how a lot is being done in respect of the environmental education of children, pointing out the very good results the eko-skola project coordinated by environmental NGO Nature Trust Malta is having.
“From the information I have, the level of awareness on environmental issues at schools is increasing exponentially. This is slowly also spilling over into our homes. So it is only a question of time for this to impact society on a wider scale.” But the question of time is precisely the crux of the matter. Although future generations look set to be more sensitive to the environment they live in, it is worrying that this generation is not thinking ahead. In his blog Mr Cacopardo has stressed that for development to be sustainable we need to think not just of today’s generations but of future generations too. Although Malta has for years been submitting proposals to the international community to take action in various areas, when it comes to the local sphere it consistently fails to apply those same proposals locally. Mr Cacopardo cites as an example the proposal that Malta submitted to UN fora to include in the concluding documents of the 1992 Rio Earth Summit a proposal on the setting up of a Guardian of Future Generations. “After a 20-year wait, the then minister for the environment Dr Mario de Marco, accepted the proposal of Alternattiva Demokratika to create the Guardian of Future Generations in Malta. It is currently making its initial first steps. It needs support and resources in order to be able to hold decision makers to account.” Speaking about the future, we discuss how AD is proposing to lobby for the abolishment of spring hunting in Malta should it win the EP elections. The issue has admittedly been part of AD’s electoral platform since AD’s founding in 1989. Mr Cacopardo looks to the referendum as the way forward. “The abrogative referendum being called through a petition supported by a Coalition of Environmental NGOs and Alternattiva Demokatika is the
democratic way forward. The decision eventually taken by such a referendum will be the definite decision on the matter for many years to come.” Mr Cacopardo is also a strong advocate for promoting eco-tourism, especially in Gozo. Eco-tourism has been defined by the International Eco-Tourism Society as “responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment and improves the well-being of local people”. What more needs to be done to promote eco-tourism in Malta? “This may take the form of agritourism through which the farming community is helped to diversify its income base,” Mr Cacopardo explains. “In neighbouring Italy for instance they focused on the reuse of agricultural buildings which were no longer in use when way back in 1985 the Italian state started its initiative of assisting agritourism.” Unfortunately, in Malta, proposals submitted recently point in a different direction which will encourage construction in ODZ areas rather than a proper utilisation of existing vacant or dilapidated agricultural holdings. “Agritourism is an opportunity to be close to nature. It can be coupled together with an exploration of the countryside through walks or bicycle tours or nature spotting of both fauna and flora. It has many benefits. Eco-therapy, one such benefit, is the utilisation of nature for therapeutic effects. It is there for free ready to be used but has been discarded in favour of more costly options.”
An architect and civil engineer, Carmel Cacopardo is the Deputy Chairman of Alternattiva Demokratika – the Green Party in Malta, its spokesman on Sustainable Development and Home Affairs and a candidate on its behalf for the European Parliament in May 2014.
For more information http://carmelcacopardo.wordpress.com
Money / Issue 23 - 9
Environment
Post-WarsaW reflections on the climate change conundrum Can we transform the threat of climate change into an opportunity, asks Alan Pulis.
I
n stark contrast to Copenhagen in 2009, the hype raised by the international media about the recent climate summit (COP19) held in Warsaw last November was minimal. Expectations about the COP19 outcome oscillated between low to modest from day one, and irrespective of typhoon Haiyan wreaking havoc in the Philippines almost simultaneously with the kick-off to conference proceedings.
One latest official report (Republic of the Philippines, National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council 1, on Haiyan reads shockingly: a death toll of 6,109 with 28,626 injured and 1,779 still missing, a total of 3,424,593 families (16,078,181 persons) somehow affected across the Philippines including 890,895 families (4,095,280 persons) displaced to evacuation centres, plus 1,140,332 houses partially damaged or completely destroyed. The total damage cost has been estimated at 36,690,882,497.27 Filipino Pesos equivalent to circa €602m, which could easily be an underestimate. Numbers can indeed speak louder than words even with weather extremes such as Haiyan with the Warsaw climate summit being almost hijacked at one point by the emotional plea of Yeb Sano, the Filipino delegate who went on an awareness raising hunger strike until the talks were concluded. Climate sceptics may promptly argue that Sano’s carbon stardom in Poland was exactly what the developing nations wanted to drive the point home that the fossil fuel driven industrialised world is to blame – and should be held liable – for anthropogenic climate change happening now. Never mind the apparent reluctance of some fast-developing nations such as China to diminish reliance on fossil fuel. Irrespective of whether it can be proven that Haiyan was indeed the direct consequence of anthropogenic climate change, the super-typhoon has been
10 - Money / Issue 23
a huge eye-opener about the shape of things to come unless the international politics at events like COP19 are genuinely crafted to operate with the collective good of humanity in the hearts and minds of the world’s political leaders. Annual summits like Warsaw COP19 have served well for the evolution of a global climate policy regime since the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was born at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. The UNFCCC calls for action to achieve, “Stabilisation of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system”2 , with Malta having set the ball rolling way back in 1988 through its climate initiative at the UN General Assembly 3. The landmark Kyoto Protocol on 1998 carried a unique architecture whereby the developed world and the economies in transition (mostly former Communist bloc countries) had committed to quantified greenhouse gas emission reduction or limitation targets to be achieved by the 2008-2012 period. The reluctance to Kyoto by big emitters such as the US, Australia and China that still raises much debate about how successful the Kyoto Protocol really was has not prevented the EU from taking the initiative and launching its carbon trading scheme in 2005 with other similar such schemes evolving around the world. With the 2008-2012 Kyoto commitment period over and an extension in place until 2020, the salient issue in climate politics is now the new global climate treaty to be designed and agreed upon by not later than Paris COP21 scheduled for 2015. The bottom line now is that it shall be practically useless for the industrialised world
to go it alone on emissions cuts – the litmus test for the new climate deal shall be the extent to which it shall have on board the developing nations with definite commitments on greenhouse gas emissions cuts. Politics will not stop the carbon dioxide clock ticking. Atmospheric CO2 levels continue to increase (Figure 2) reading at 397.31ppm at the Mauna Loa observatory in Hawaii as on December 27, 2013 4. Analysis of Antarctic ice not only reveals that there could exist some sort of long-term natural cycle affecting atmospheric levels of CO2 that may also bear relevance on the apparent alternation of ice ages and warm periods over hundreds of thousands of years, but also that the present levels of CO2 in the atmosphere are at a record high for at least the last 800,000 years (Figure 3). Drifting at a tangent from the science to tease the politics at conferencing, there is one dark side of the COPs that is rarely talked about: their remarkable carbon footprint. Durban COP17, for example, held in 2011, was responsible for some 1,844 tonnes of CO2 resulting from the 398 secretariat staff and 369 supported delegates’ travel to and from the conference 5. The COPs carbon footprint does not consign the world to climate oblivion and there is no question that these meetings are needed but on the other hand the cost of such events in terms of carbon emissions is surely food for thought. Figure 2: The Keeling Curve describing the increase in atmospheric CO2 levels in the Northern Hemisphere since 1958 6. CO2 levels dip during the summer during which extensive plant growth occurs, only to be returned to the atmosphere in the autumn/winter period. Figure 3: CO2 concentrations (parts per million) for the last 800,000 years,
Alan Pulis specialises in environmental management.
measured from trapped air bubbles in an Antarctic ice core. Pre-industrial CO2 was at 280ppm. The 2008 value is from the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii and projections are based upon future emissions scenarios 7.
cautiously. The uncertainties about what a future world will look like are huge, let alone what the implications will be in terms of greenhouse gas emissions. There is no way to ascertain which of the four main IPCC emissions scenario families (referred to as A1, A2, B1 and B2, the so-called SRES scenarios) portrays the kind of world our descendants will inherit by end of century. The scenarios, meant as alternative futures, are built taking six main driving forces into account – population, economy, technology, energy, land-use and agriculture, and are designed to produce global CO2 emissions projections with a time window lasting at least until the year 2100. Figure 4: Total global annual CO2 emissions from all sources (energy,
scenario, with a “climate sensitivity” that is factored in to account for the temperature rise that should be expected for a doubling in atmospheric CO2 concentration. Climate science is still in its infancy but this does not hinder its evolution at a rapid pace. The AR5 process has led to a new generation of emissions scenarios beyond the SRES employed in the AR4. These are the Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs), constructed to take into consideration global mitigation measures on climate change (Figure 5). Figure 5: Projection for anthropogenic CO2 emissions with corresponding global average temperature rise for the four RCPs known as RCP3-PD, RCP4.5, RCP6 and RCP8.5. The physical science
Since its establishment in 1988 the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has been the prime mover on climate science going as far as being awarded the Nobel Prize jointly with Al Gore for its work on the 2007 Fourth Assessment Report (AR4). We are now at the first segment of the Fifth
Assessment Report (AR5) with this latest thorough examination in climate science clearly stating that it is extremely likely (95-100 per cent probability) that human influence has been the dominant cause of the observed warming since the mid-20th century 8. It cannot get closer to absolute certainty that humanity has dangerously tampered, and perhaps irreversibly, with the climate clockwork. What does the future hold? Projections – not predictions – can be derived from sophisticated computer programmes such as MAGICC/SCENGEN 9, but these should always be interpreted very
industry and land-use change) from 1990 to 2100 for the four emission scenario families (A1, A2, B1 and B2) (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2000), IPCC Special Report on Emissions Scenarios, Summary for Policymakers, pp.8.). Note that the A1 family comprises three scenario groups (A1FI, A1B and A1T) with the fossilintensive A1FI group representing the worst case in terms of the potential for global average temperature rise by the year 2100. Climate models process emissions scenarios to produce estimates of global average temperature rise under each
of RCPs lies with their basis standing upon radiative forcing considerations 10. Radiative forcing (in W/m2) is the difference between the amount of radiant energy received by the Earth and energy radiated back into space. The RCP8.5 represents the worst-case scenario under which a global average temperature rise of somewhere between 4.00C and 6.10C is envisaged by 2100. The worst case scenario under the previous SRES generation (known as A1FI, a “fossil intensive” world) yielded an outcome in the range of 2.40C and 6.40C with a corresponding sea level rise estimated at 0.26m – 0.59m 11.
Money / Issue 23 - 11
Environment
modern times into the greatest opportunity ever? What more can stimulate the emergence of a global green economy than an incredibly tight carbon emissions budget?
In expressing scepticism that the 20C Copenhagen benchmark can be upheld in the absence of a serious impetus towards global climate policy, a 2012 World Bank Report describes a 40C world as one of unprecedented heat waves, severe drought and major floods in many regions, with serious impacts on ecosystems and associated services 12. It will be a world of more Haiyans. What is the way forward and what is the quantum of greenhouse gas releases that humanity can afford while keeping the planet within the ‘safe’ 20C warming limit? In a complex analysis by Meinshausen et al. 13, it is given that only less than half the proven economically recoverable oil, gas and coal reserves could still be emitted up to 2050 whilst keeping within a climate impact limit that could still be considered ‘safe’. Furthermore, the probability of exceeding the 20C limit rises to 53-87 per cent if global greenhouse gas emissions are more than 25 per cent above year 2000 levels in 2020. In AR5 science terms Earth’s atmosphere can hold somewhere between 880 and 800GtC while keeping within the 20C limit but some estimated 531GtC had already been released by 2011. This has been popularised by the international media that nearly half of all the CO2 that can be safely emitted without raising temperatures above 20C has already been released. Will mankind rise to the occasion and transform the biggest threat of
12 - Money / Issue 23
The experience with climate realpolitik is that hard science and the intrigues of international climate politics are strange bed-fellows. A fair dose of level-headedness is needed in postulating a new global climate deal based upon the equitable partitioning of ‘safe’ carbon emissions that may be released to the atmosphere without the planet exceeding the 20C Copenhagen threshold. A recent study conducted by researchers from the University of Hawaii that analysed the outcome of multi-model averaging under the business-as-usual RCP8.5 and mitigation RCP4.5 scenarios for several locations around the world produced a global mean year of ‘climate departure’ as close as 2047. ‘Climate departure’ happens when a new “normal” climate regime is established that is hotter than any year on record over the period 1860 – 2005. For Malta, this study envisages climate change in the making by 2038 under the RCP8.5 scenario or 2054 under the more optimistic RCP4.5 14. How seriously are we taking the indications that Malta may actually risk experiencing climate change at an even faster rate than the global mean? Warsaw COP19 is over. It does not imply however that vulnerable countries’ claims for loss and damage from Haiyanstyle natural disasters have been settled for good. The more Haiyans that may have to be endured the more prophetic will Lord Stern’s words on the cost of inaction on climate change turn out to be. In the meantime, there seems to be only one certainty about COP21 scheduled
for 2015: the world leaders are expected to manifest an unprecedented degree of international political acumen to ensure that the conference distils into a climate deal robust enough to save mankind from the calamities of a warmer world.
1. SitRep No.73 Effects of Typhoon “YOLANDA” (HAIYAN), www.reliefweb.int) 2. United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Article 2 3. United Nations General Assembly, A/ RES/43/53 of December 6, 1988 on the protection of global climate for present and future generations of mankind. 4. http://keelingcurve.ucsd.edu/, accessed on December 29, 2013. 5. (United Nations Climate Change Secretariat. Press Release, SS-GATE, UNDP and UNFCCC join hands to help green COP17, Durban, December 8, 2011) 6. http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/ccgg/trends/ index.html, accessed on December 29, 2013. 7. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA, http://www.ncdc. noaa.gov/indicators/, accessed on December 29, 2013). 8. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2013), Working Group I Contribution to the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report, Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis, Summary for Policymakers. 9. http://www.cgd.ucar.edu/cas/wigley/ magicc/, accessed on December 29, 2013 10. Jordan, A. et al. (2013), Going beyond two degrees? The risks and opportunities of alternative options. In: Climate policy, Vol. 13, No.6, pp. 751 – 769. 11. IPCC, 2007: Summary for Policymakers. In Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Accessible at http://www.ipcc.ch/publications_ and_data/publications_and_data_reports. shtml#.Usf9JZV3s3s. 12. World Bank, 2012. Turn down the heat. A report for the World Bank by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and Climate Analytics. 13. Meinshausen, M. et al. (2009), Greenhousegas emission targets for limiting global warming to 20C. Published in Nature, Vol. 458, 30th April 2009, pp. 1158 – 1162 14. http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/mora/ PublicationsCopyRighted/Cities%20Timing. html, accessed on January 6, 2014.
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Interview
A voice for MAltA
Stefano Mallia, candidate for the 2014 MEP elections, says that his EU experience will serve him well in the European Parliament. the EU single market and expand their operations. It has also put Malta on the investment map which has resulted in the creation of economic niches such as financial services, the production of pharmaceuticals, aircraft maintenance, online gaming and other high-end services and products which have created thousands of jobs and created wealth. However I think the most important achievement has been the change in our frame of mind. EU membership has changed the way we conduct business, treat our environment, and look at ourselves as Maltese and European citizens. I would not hesitate to say that after 10 years of EU membership we are a changed nation.
Malta will soon celebrate its 10th anniversary since it joined the EU. What have been the main advantages to Malta’s EU accession? Malta’s EU membership proved mutually advantageous to both Malta and the European Union. We certainly added a strong Mediterranean dimension to the EU, a fact that proved most useful during the Arab Spring, particularly during the Libyan crisis. Malta has also contributed to various policy areas including tourism, security in the Mediterranean and the issue of irregular immigration. From a country point of view I would say that EU membership has been beneficial across many spheres. Very often we tend to reduce EU membership to the amount of funds Malta has received over the years. This to me is misleading. While structural funds have permitted us to undertake some very important investments in key areas such as the environment, transport and telecommunications, EU membership is much more than that. It has given our companies the opportunity to access
14 - Money / Issue 23
Which sectors have benefited most from EU membership? Rather than one particular sector, it is the economy as a whole that has benefitted greatly. EU membership has provided us with the right environment to be able to change and modernise our economy in line with what is happening in the rest of the world economy. We have moved from an economy based on low wages and labour intensive activities to one based on a highly skilled workforce producing high-end products and services. EU regulations and standards and easier access to the single market have facilitated this transition. One sector which we don’t often mention in connection with EU membership is tourism. While we have worked very hard at improving our product as a country, travelling to and from Malta has become so much easier and as a result we saw growth in inbound and outbound tourism. Such growth would not have been possible had we opted to stay out of the EU. Most of the low cost carriers have limited or no flights to countries that are outside the EU.
Are there sectors which still operate according to a Maltese mindset, to their disadvantage? There are certain sectors which perhaps did not benefit as much as others. I would not put this down to a Maltese mindset but rather to the difficulty that these sectors have to compete in an open market. This situation is not limited to Malta but can be evidenced across the EU. That is why the EU for instance allowed Malta to provide special assistance to our agriculture operators who often find themselves unable to compete with large-scale producers. If I had to express a disappointment after 10 years of EU membership it would relate to the fact that as a business community we have not been able to take full advantage of full access to the EU markets. While acknowledging that selling products and services in another country is never easy, I think that we can and should be doing better. I’m a strong believer that this is crucial if we are to continue growing our economy, creating jobs and achieving a higher standard of living. As a small country in the EU we have done well but I’m driven by the firm belief that we have the potential to do much better. EU membership has enabled Malta to draw up sound environmental legislation, yet the environment is not as protected as it should be. What can bring about greater environmental awareness? This is one area where we as a country need to do more. We have to strive harder in striking a balance between sound environment practices and development. In recent years we were moving in the right direction although in some instances we may have created too much bureaucracy that was in actual fact suffocating sustainable development. Unfortunately it now seems that the pendulum has gone the other way. We seem to be heading towards
a construction boom which could potentially produce an economic bubble, the sort which caused untold damage in Spain, Cyprus and other Mediterranean countries. To me this is very worrying both from an economy point of view but more importantly from an environment point of view. At some point, an ailing economy can recover. However, once we ruin whatever environment we have left, it’s gone forever. Can Malta take a more active part in decision-making at an EU level? At all levels within the EU decisionmaking structures Malta, as the smallest member of the EU, tends to have a few resources in terms of numbers. It is with this in mind that I say that we cannot afford to have wasted places. Every person representing Malta at every level must work very hard to ensure that our interests are protected and that we take advantage of all opportunities. This means that whether you are a member of the European Parliament or a member of a European organisation, you need to probably work much harder than your counterparts. I believe that this is already happening in a number of places where Maltese members are well known for their active participation and valid work. I can use the forum where I participate which is the European Economic and Social Committee (the European equivalent of the Malta Council for Economic and Social Development) as an example. In the EESC Malta has five members out of a total of 344 and I’m pretty sure most members are well aware who the Maltese members are because we are very active in carrying out the work of this committee and in putting forward the Malta point of view.
The EESC is split into three groups representing employers, unions and civil society. I’m currently vice-president of the employers group and therefore my focus is very much that of presenting the employers’ point of view to the European Parliament, the Commission and the Council. This means that we are dealing with MEPs and Commissioners on a regular basis. Throughout the almost three years that I have been a member of the EESC I have dealt with issues which I believe are critical to our country. I have been involved in developing the position of the EESC on issues such as financing of SMEs, online gaming, sustainable crisis recovery, the EU’s Mediterranean policy and irregular immigration.
“there cAnnot be true representAtion without constAnt consultAtion.” To be effective I need to remain in close contact with the electorate in general and with the business community in particular. There cannot be true representation without constant consultation. Therefore my intention is to have a set-up in Malta that will ensure that I’m accessible at all times. The European Parliament is the only democratically elected organ of the EU and therefore it is essential that the voice of the people is heard loud and clear in this institution.
One can only be effective at this level if they actively participate at all levels within the committee. This means being in Brussels at least every two weeks. This of course is not my full-time job and therefore creates a lot of pressure on my time. However, I believe very strongly in the role of this institution and in the positive benefits it can bring to my country. I therefore fulfil this role with enthusiasm and feel very privileged to be able to represent my country and employers in Malta.
Of course there is always room for improvement but considering our size and limitations I would say that we are punching well above our weight.
Will your experience within an EU context play to your advantage in the forthcoming MEP elections? It would definitely serve as an advantage if I’m elected. I have been involved in the EU sphere for the past 15 years, so I already have a well-established network of contacts in the various EU institutions and organisations which I make use of to further Malta’s interests. Of course if elected I will continue to do the very same thing. I also feel very comfortable in that I know very well how the EU works and how our economy works.
You represent Malta on the European Economic and Social Committee. What does this entail? The EESC is a committee established by the EU treaties and its primary role is to put forward the point of view of the European social partners on proposed EU legislation and crucial EU issues.
As a prospective MEP, what would be your commitments to Malta and its people? My commitment will be to serve the people I represent in the best possible manner. I have always worked very hard to represent my country and I promise more hard work if elected.
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Money / Issue 23 - 15
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Science
spreadinG the traffic jam
Are Demand Responsive Transport Systems the light at the end of the traffic tunnel, asks Dr Edward Duca.
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alta has nearly 1,000 cars per square kilometre. The whole island is a mere 316 square kilometres yet suffers from traffic jams at every rush hour or large event. This infuriates everyone, affects people’s health and damages the country’s economy. Malta’s traffic problem recently partmanaged to beat back Arriva, a UK-based company owned by German Deutsche Bahn, which is present in 15 countries across Europe. If Arriva couldn’t cope in Malta, how is the country ever going to provide a decent public transport service and reduce traffic? Professor Adrian Muscat (University of Malta) sees our size not as a problem but as an advantage. “It makes the problem much easier,” he says. Unfortunately, he is unsure why the previous bus systems didn’t work as too much misinformation or hearsay surrounds the fiasco. But he is studying new, creative approaches that Malta can implement. Two solutions which Prof. Muscat and his team are working on are taxi and ride sharing, also known as dial-a-ride. Taxi sharing is when a taxi is shared by
18 - Money / Issue 23
more than one person going to different destinations. This already happens when friends share minivans, typically when attending large events or during the festive season. Prof. Muscat’s work would bring ICT into play. An app could make everything work smoothly. A person could type into their smartphone the time they want to be picked up and their destination. Behind the scenes, complex algorithms and models would figure out which are the closest taxis, how long one would take and the price necessary for the right profit margin. Ride sharing works in a similar manner but involves friends or employees rather than a professional chauffer. If an app could organise employees that worked in a similar area and hours, an individual could just type in their address and desired destination at certain times. Then the app would tell them with whom this would be possible. Technology would make it quick, easy and cheap. Ride and taxi sharing are examples of transport system where routes, schedules, pick-up and drop-off
points change depending on what the customer wants. These are known as Demand Responsive Transport Systems (DRTS). The solutions are normally used in areas with low demand and population density. In Malta, the team at University is trying to adapt them to very different local needs. Current studies are positive. Intelligent traffic lights are also being studied at University. When the lights switch on and off would be figured out automatically according to need. Dr Kenneth Scerri, who is collaborating with Prof. Muscat, says that, “These methods can make use of a variety of sensors, including video cameras installed at important junctions. Using these sensors, the traffic light timings can be varied in real-time depending on the queues building-up.” Their results are also positive and would reduce congestion at current junctions with fixed traffic light timings. All of these solutions need good underlying ICT systems. Computers need to streamline how the customer uses these new ideas. If they are not relatively cheap and convenient they
Dr Edward Duca is the editor of Think magazine which can be read at http://issuu.com/thinkuni
when he met other academics interested in finding solutions for Malta. A traffic stress-free Malta would improve everyone’s life and is the dream of these researchers. This is why Prof. Muscat has dedicated such a large chuck of his career to come up with new ideas, building models and testing them. It’s remarkable that, “The mathematical tools I use and teach in computer science and engineering are directly applicable to some problems in transport,” he says.
will not be adopted. Prof. Muscat explains how all the calculations to dispatch taxi and ride sharing need powerful algorithms, as does collecting all the data needed for companies or government to run these services. This is no easy task. To boil things down, these solutions are all trying to do two things. One is to make more efficient use of existing resources. The second is to try to develop technologies and policies that share our transport network more fairly. Prof. Muscat believes that, “A good mix of private car, taxis, ride and taxi sharing schemes, and public transport,” can solve the problem. Though to improve Malta’s quality of life we also need good parking and road usage policies. Hope does exist. Their team at University is carrying out feasibility studies to see if these ideas can be adapted to local problems. The latest results nod towards costs for customers being the same or less than those for a private car when using ride and taxi sharing ideas. A good price and convenience would ensure success. Prof. Muscat has been interested in transport problems for a decade. Over the last one and a half years his research intensified on taxi and ride sharing ideas
Traffic is not the only issue that Prof. Muscat is trying to solve. The mathematics he’s specialised in can apply to unexpected situations. Take the e-tutor system he is developing. E-tutor is meant to be a computer that can give personal assistance to students. Many students benefit immensely from oneto-one teaching sessions but financially prohibitive to most. Instead Prof. Muscat is trying to “clone a human tutor on a computer so that students do better in their studies”. Prof. Muscat and his team are also improving the microstrip antennae found in smart phones and tablets. They are trying to improve antennae which can be reconfigured to different wavelengths – experimental devices which are unavailable on the market. Other solutions could beat back traffic. Malta could build more roads, destroying our already limited precious land. The country could also restrict private car use. In Beijing, odd and even car number plates can only be used on different dates. The rich have multiple cars with either number plates, the poor don’t, a situation no one fancies locally. Easier solutions do exist. More employees on flexi-time would spread the strain on roads during rush hour over a longer time window. Yet the research by Prof. Muscat and other researchers studying transport could be the country’s best bet. Invest more to make these ideas happen and the economic benefit would be insurmountable. Imagine waking up and not panicking because schools have reopened.
A fulfilling work environMent Founded in 1963, Betsson was listed as number 10 in the world among e-gaming companies in a recent ranking by E-gaming Review. Moving from its old offices to their new offices in Ta’ Xbiex, Forward Architects and GQ Works were allocated the task to revolutionise the Betsson offices, while Dex Workspaces were the chosen partner to implement the extraordinary design. The innovative workspace was a combination of design, comfort and functionality and took an intensive six months of concentrated work. Dex Workspaces’ long-time partner Arcadia contributed to the tight deadlines from drawing board to production and shipping for timely implementation. When all finishing works were complete, Dex Workspaces teams moved in with the stylish but highly technical furniture, complete with acoustic screens, cable management, access and electrification by IB-Connect. Ergonomic seating was chosen from the Quinti collection while furniture and seating for exclusive areas were combined with designer pieces by Vitra and intelligent lighting by Waldmann. The project was kept completely on track by the continuous input of Dex Workspaces’ highly trained and experienced project manager and design consultant in charge, also exceeding the clients’ expectations.
Money / Issue 23 - 19
Marketing
A triple dose of hAppiness Why should a business achieve a triple bottom line, asks George Larry Zammit.
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rands can make a difference by achieving a triple bottom line. Consider it ambitious or altruistic, but building peoples’ trust is a certain way to create precious long-term brand value. 2014 has already settled in and many companies are finalising their financial statements for the previous year. Have they met their desired targets? Shareholders are eager to check the bottom line. With cautious optimism, did management deliver the bacon? This is the reality of many businesses at large as they all do their utmost to achieve that desired bottom line. But while a few quick fixes today can deliver short-term gain, what type of investment is being made to secure a better tomorrow? Profit is important, but our obligations towards our people and planet should not be ignored. In other words it has become the business of business to embrace the latest zeitgeist – achieving a triple bottom line.
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The phrase triple bottom line was first introduced in 1994 by British consultant John Elkington. His point of view was that companies should prepare three different bottom lines. The first bottom line is the obvious profit without which a company would not be sustainable and rather be without scope. The second bottom line is a people account where the company measures how socially responsible its operations are. The third and last bottom line is a planet account where the company measures how environmentally responsible it is. Without doubt a business exists for profit. But brands with serious social and environmental credentials create value for the long-term. Global brands such as Coca-Cola, Starbucks, Google, and Volkswagen are examples where shareholder value has sustainably grown thanks to positive global reputation and trust. Conscious capitalism has become not just the standard but the desired norm.
Thinking out loud – what do your customers expect? Don’t you think that they want to see you as a hero and not a villain? Heroes save the day. They represent a force of good. They are the good guys everybody wants to hang out with. They are the ones everybody is fighting over to get their own trendy selfie. Wouldn’t you want your brand to be hero? Transparency is the first foundation stone to build the peoples’ trust. Customers respect brands that are candid and open in what they do. You need to show that you have nothing to hide. You actually encourage customers to speak their mind. With social media many brands have taken the big step in putting their neck out there to the wrath of public comments. Some comments can be inconvenient truths but there is no need to be defensive. It’s better to know your customers’ views than never see them again. Build a bridge. Don’t burn it.
George Larry Zammit is Marketing Manager at Arkadia Marketing Limited and an affiliate member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing.
industriAl heritAge
Many business leaders acknowledge the fact that corporate social responsibility is important. Not surprisingly though very few see the real value and find it hard to approach CSR very seriously. And yet, CSR carries various benefits. First of all, social and environmental responsibility strengthens the integrity of the brand. It shows intent and commitment that the company seriously wants to make a difference. Customers acknowledge and appreciate such efforts, even though a few might not admit it. Unfortunately many businesses see corporate social responsibility as an unnecessary burden. Some see the glass half empty while some see it half full. Here again CSR initiatives can be opportunities to eliminate waste, reduce unnecessary costs and achieve sustainability. Efficient business practices can deliver healthier profits. Businesses who take CSR initiatives seriously have a vision for the long term. The brand is not interested in a quick win. The relationship between brand and customers is made to last. The brand is immortal. Successful brands don’t wait for things to happen. They make it happen. They never follow. They lead the way. Therefore to be a leader you don’t need to wait for your customers to expect responsible and sustainable practices. Show your commitment by exerting leadership. Set example and surpass expectations. Responsible brands are followed and admired by all for good reasons. They are the companies that people want to work for. They are the companies that people want to invest in. A responsible path can build valuable equity for the firm to be taken seriously and be noticed by job seekers, investors, and customers.
hAppiness: A cAse study “Open happiness” is the famous motto used by renowned beverage brand CocaCola which seriously delivers happiness through profit, people, and planet. According to Interbrand, Coca-Cola was the number one brand for the past 13 years. Just last year the brand dropped to third place after being overtaken by technology giants Apple and Google, now in first and second place respectively. Coca-Cola is available in over 200 countries, oversees 900 bottling plants, has 10 million vending machines in operation worldwide, and sells 1.7 billion beverage servings daily. Not an easy task to keep all stakeholders happy. But just imagine the ripple effects when responsible changes happen. Coca-Cola’s mission is to refresh the world, inspire optimism, and create value while making a difference. For the long-term Coca-Cola has set a 2020 vision driving a measurement for success through profit, people, portfolio, productivity, partners, and planet. The company has invested heavily in setting up community water partnerships. An example is the $800,000 grant awarded to Eco-Gozo in 2011 which is now currently collecting and reusing four to five million litres of rainwater annually. Coca-Cola is a leader in the development and adoption of sustainable packaging, energy efficiency initiatives, and climate protection. The company also manages a diverse portfolio of over 300 beverage brands to cater for the lifestyle and needs of its customers. The brand’s universal theme is all about happiness. From words to action, CocaCola is pulling out all the stops to put a smile on all their stakeholders.
A collection of researched contributions relating to aspects of Malta’s industrial past has been published as a book entitled Approaches to Industrial Heritage: What Works? The papers were presented and discussed during a conference held in February last year at Simonds Farsons Cisk Brewery. Jointly launched by the Farsons Foundation Chairman Mr Bryan A. Gera and the Pro-Rector of the University of Malta Prof Joe Friggieri, in the presence of the Parliamentary Secretary for Local Government and Culture Dr José A. Herrera and Simonds Farsons Cisk Chairman Mr Louis A. Farrugia. Co-edited by Professor JoAnn Cassar and Dr Reuben Grima from the Faculty for the Built Environment, University of Malta, the publication features 15 contributions. The publication is available on request through an e-mail to sfc@farsons.com against a donation of €7.
A sAloon with soul The Jaguar XF has won enthusiastic fans across the globe for its dynamic abilities and dramatic looks. Advances in lighting technology have allowed the latest XF model range to adopt the bold Jaguar design language introduced on the flagship XJ saloon. Defined as a quintessential Jaguar saloon, this is a purposeful yet elegant car, with inherent sporting intent in its design. It also continues the Jaguar tradition of innovation by offering a combination of technologies that anticipates automotive trends.
roAdside AssistAnce Using roadside assistance services abroad can be very expensive. But if you are a GasanMamo Private Car Comprehensive policyholder you no longer need to worry about this cost. As from January 2014, the GasanMamo Comprehensive policy will cover the cost of utilising roadside assistance services up to a maximum of €350. Cover is granted automatically when you extend the cover on your car for overseas use, which comes free for the first 15 days of any trip abroad. This extension also includes the cost to transport the vehicle back to Malta if it is damaged in an accident. For more information visit www. Money / Issue 23 - 21 gasanmamo.com
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Communications
Chris Mifsud is a director of a marketing communications agency and holds an MBA from SDA Bocconi, Milan.
Doctors of DeMAnD
Chris Mifsud dares to describe communications as a science. Is he right?
M
ost cynics (yours truly included) would prima facie be hesitant to classify the commercial world of marketing and communications within the classical sciences such as the labyrinthine doctrines of medicine, quantum physics, molecular biology and the like. And let’s be honest, us marketeers are hardly splitting atoms in between social media campaigns and dreaming up jingles, right? Well this is true of certain of – let me boldly say – at least half of our ilk. You know the type. Oh yes you do. The over keen brand specialist zeitgeist who promises ‘fresh’ and ‘kooky’ to a boardroom of wide-eyed hopefuls who would willingly offer their souls to any chance of lifting this quarter’s numbers to just an echo of their former magnitudes. Communications (of the brand equity and marketing school kind, that is) has long been the last bastion of evolution on the traditional commercial model, at least for the last century. The industrial revolution held product as its prophet. It embodies the era of, as the saying goes, you build it, and they will come. It was a time of not whether or how to market but simply perfecting the production process and letting a long accumulated default demand mop up the stock. This level of effortless momentum was arguably
the result of post-war booms (thank you generation X) and the comfortable necessity brought about by the children they were bringing into the world (you’re welcome). As with everything in life, this revolution came to plateau and another development took over up until the 1960s or so – in ironic synchrony to a fuzzier, more beatnik driven revolution of course. This was the sales revolution. When of course they don’t want it, you have to harass ad nauseam until a reluctant but billable sale is made. This was the time of door-to-door selling, mass convergence and worldwide domination of what would later be referred to as through-the-line campaigns of the proverbial ad men of those decades. Not very scientific until now. It seems the cynics win again with marketing and its associated theories doomed to the fringes of commerce itself let alone the erudite world of the sciences. But just then a fascinating improbability came to be. Demand creation. When you have everything, when you think you’ve quenched every human desire basic and otherwise, there remains only once obvious next step: create the desire itself. This has been the defining domain of the real definition of marketing itself. And of course its willing and wanted alter-ego: communication.
At the risk of glorifying what might seem to most to be the zenith of consumerism, that extra ice cream for the chubby kid who already has everything, there is a more elegant, subtle side to the science of creating demand through product development and communication. Arguably, demand creation for an erstwhile ‘unneeded’ good or service is actually considered to be the mountaintop of experimentation and a process of very expensive trial and error for an ever-increasingly discerning audience. Good marketing and qualified branding realises a promise to the people of something they might not have a logical need for but are free to want. Mobile phones, tablet computers, social media networks, search engines – they are all in high demand now, but few can boast that this was so at their onset and many wouldn’t realise this demand until years later. I can’t stand in front of you straight-faced and claim that marketing communications was responsible for the supernova spike in Google’s share price. But that is probably because most people forget that the primal function of marcomms is in fact to create a demand and its second is to communicate it to an unprepared audience. Science is defined as a systematic process that manages information in the form of fact to forecast outcomes concerning the universe and all that lies within. So analysing human behaviour as they try and maximise their utility and lifestyle, trying to find a missing link in their extant patterns and activities? Science. Taking this information and other specialist data to construct a brand strategy that delivers this message of promise to an audience that has yet to realise the full potential of what they are being presented? Science. This of course is still the tip of the iceberg, as they say, since communication science then delves into the more mathematically intricate realm of segmentation, perception study and the ever important emotional linkage to what a brand promises to its audience who wish to associate themselves and in turn how they are perceived. This would entail everything from broader areas such as media intelligence and panning down to the detail, such as colour association or which day of the week is the most effective to post brand messages (freebie consultancy – Saturday and Sunday are the worst). Fortunately, there is still a tribe of thoroughbred brand strategist firms that can scythe through the buzzwords and novelty tactics and deliver a systematic but groundbreaking marketing and communications strategy in scientific success using their knowledge in managing the most precious ore of our times: information.
Money / Issue 23 - 23
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IT
Putting it in fit
A group of young students have decided to help Malta adopt a healthier lifestyle.
W
hen it comes to obesity, we don’t fare very well. Data from the latest European Health Interview Survey shows that, at 24.7 per cent, Maltese men top the European obesity rankings. Women don’t perform any better – in fact, Maltese women are the second most obese in Europe with 21.1 per cent. Children are not spared – Maltese children are the second most overweight and obese in the world in the 10 to 11-year-old bracket. Instead of mulling over statistics, a group of students from De La Salle College have decided to take action and have set up FIT, a website that promotes nutrition, fitness and health information. FIT is taking part in the HSBC Company Programme, which is organised on an annual basis by Junior Achievement (Young Enterprise) Malta Foundation, a non-government, non-profit organisation promoting entrepreneurship education, skills for employability and financial literacy. Name: Lisa Apap Age: 16 Role: Financial Director
What are your plans for the future of FIT? Our aim is to reduce the obesity rate in Malta and help people change their lifestyles for the better.
What or who first encouraged you to set up FIT? Sarah Mizzi our Operations Director and Deputy to Managing Director, first came up with the idea.
Name: Sarah Mizzi Age: 16 Role: Operations Director and Deputy Managing Director
How did you come up with the idea for FIT? We were trying to think of problems that the Maltese society is currently facing and when we realised how high the obesity rates are, we decided to do our bit and help reduce it. Given the high penetration rate of technology and the internet in our daily lives, we decided to build a website that promotes a healthy lifestyle.
What or who first encouraged you to set up FIT? I was always interested in cooking and healthy eating, so when I had the opportunity to join this Young Enterprise competition I hoped this topic would be discussed as a team since we we’re all interested in a healthy lifestyle. We then spoke to relatives and friends and asked them what they thought about the idea of FIT, and they all encouraged us to go ahead.
What are the main aims of FIT and what social issues do you intend to address? Our main aim is to reduce obesity rates by helping people lead a healthier lifestyle. What experience or expertise makes you ideal for your role within FIT? I am studying accounts at A level, which helps when dealing with financial issues.
How did you come up with the idea for FIT? During the first few meetings, when we didn’t even have a name yet, we were all brainstorming ideas, thinking of what the public needs nowadays. One of the ideas was for a website that promotes healthy eating – we considered other ideas, but FIT was the one we liked best.
What has been the feedback to date? Feedback shows that people appreciate the idea and find the website very useful.
What are the main aims of FIT and what social issues do you intend to address? Our main aim is to help Maltese people lead a healthier lifestyle.
What have you learnt about setting up an enterprise, marketing it and planning to turn a profit? I’ve learnt that a business cannot work unless we’re a team. It isn’t easy to turn a profit so quickly but we’re doing our best to make the most of what we have.
What experience or expertise makes you ideal for your role within FIT? I’m a very organised and hands-on person and always deal with problems as they rise. Although I have no previous experience, the values I bring to the team are useful to tie all loose ends and function as a company.
What has been the feedback to date? The feedback has been positive and this pushes us to work harder. What have you learnt about setting up an enterprise, marketing it and planning to turn a profit? Setting up an enterprise is not an easy job, especially when you are a group of best friends and personal issues may interfere. However, it’s a lot of fun and is very exciting. I think standing out when marketing the website is a difficult task as nowadays there are many businesses that offer the same sort of thing. So while marketing we constantly have to make sure we’re offering a service of superior value to attract new customers while keeping existing ones interested. The profit was the hardest thing for FIT, mostly because we’re free to the public and we’re a social enterprise so all our income comes from adverts. What are your plans for the future of FIT? Our plan is to provide the information people require about healthy food, and also to help people improve the way they live. Name: Justin Debono Age: 16 Role: Quality Director What or who first encouraged you to set up FIT? We had many brainstorming sessions during breaks at school and during one of them, Sarah Mizzi, our Operations Director, floated the idea for a healthy eating website. We all liked it and decided to go for it.
Money / Issue 23 - 25
IT
How did you come up with the idea for FIT? Malta doesn’t score very well in the obesity stakes and FIT is our proposal to help tackle this issue. What are the main aims of FIT and what social issues do you intend to address? FIT aims to reduce the obesity rates in Malta while helping people live a healthier lifestyle. What experience or expertise makes you ideal for your role within FIT? I have always been a perfectionist so being a Quality Manager suits my character. What has been the feedback to date? Feedback has been quite positive and this motivates us to do better. What have you learnt about setting up an enterprise, marketing it and planning to turn a profit? I have learnt that it’s not as easy as it sounds and it needs a lot of time and perfection to set up a successful enterprise. What are your plans for the future of FIT? We’re taking this experience one step at a time and hope for the best. Name: Andrew Borg Age: 16 Role: Marketing Director What or who first encouraged you to set up FIT? One of our own teammates Sarah Mizzi suggested an idea for a website that promotes healthy eating. We followed it up through market research and, given the positive feedback, decided to go for it. How did you come up with the idea for FIT? We thought about Malta’s main health issues and realised that there was a gap in the market for this type of business. What are the main aims of FIT and what social issues do you intend to address? As a company, we aim to reduce obesity in Malta as well as in other countries. We want to inspire people to change their eating habits and lifestyle for the better.
26 - Money / Issue 23
What experience or expertise makes you ideal for your role within FIT? I believe I’m good at communicating with people. My father, who is a marketing manager, was also an inspiration. What has been the feedback to date? The feedback has been positive and this has certainly given our morale a boost. What have you learnt about setting up an enterprise, marketing it and planning to turn a profit? It is obviously a lot of hard work and requires patience. One thing that I have learnt is that competitiveness and determination to win are of utmost importance What are your plans for the future of FIT? I hope to improve our marketing strategy as this will help us attract more visitors to our website. Name: Fernando Fenech Age: 16 Role: HR Manager and Company Secretary What or who first encouraged you to set up FIT? It was our Operations Director and Deputy Managing Director, Sarah Mizzi who put the idea forward during one of our group brainstorming sessions. How did you come up with the idea for FIT? The high obesity rates in Malta prompted the discussion of developing a user friendly system that allows people to view healthy recipes and tips. What are the main aims of FIT and what social issues do you intend to address? Our main aim is to provide the Maltese public with a chance to change their lifestyle for the better. We intend to address the issue of obesity and how it is affecting an overwhelming number of Maltese people. What experience or expertise makes you ideal for your role within FIT? I’m a very organised person, which helps me keep track of all company documents.
I also have very good communications skills and I’m able to control a group and not allow any break-ups. What has been the feedback to date? We’ve had a good combination of positive feedback and constructive criticism. What have you learnt about setting up an enterprise, marketing it and planning to turn a profit? I have learnt that the process takes quite a lot of work to complete. Coming up with the idea was probably the hardest part about the entire process. Marketing and planning aren’t as stressful but still require high amounts of dedication and work. What are your plans for the future of FIT? We haven’t thought about our future yet as we joined this programme in order to experience the company development process. It has given us valuable skills for the future and we’re taking it one step at a time and working for the best outcome. Name: Andreas Vella Age: 16 Role: Sales Director What or who first encouraged you to set up FIT? Our Operations Director and Deputy Managing Director Sarah Mizzi came up with the idea for FIT during one of our brainstorming sessions. Since most of us liked the idea we took a vote and decided that it was suitable decision for a Young Enterprise company. How did you come up with the idea for FIT? After deciding on the main idea for FIT, we carried out some research and confirmed that the obesity rates in Malta are quite alarming. So we decided to set up a website that helps people improve their lifestyle. What are the main aims of FIT and what social issues do you intend to address? The main aim is to promote healthy food and help people to follow a healthy diet in order to reduce the obesity rates in Malta.
What experience or expertise makes you ideal for your role within FIT? In previous years I have sold many items and promoted them to the general public – therefore I believe that I have experience in the field related to sales. I’m also very outgoing and this helps me promote our website.
What experience or expertise makes you ideal for your role within FIT? Although I have no experience I believe that I have great communication skills and I’m always ready to tackle any situation and take action.
What has been the feedback to date? So far, all is going well as the team is trying its best to constantly improve FIT.
What has been the feedback to date? Overall, people seem to find our website useful. This is good because our market research shows that Maltese people need to follow a healthier lifestyle.
What have you learnt about setting up an enterprise, marketing it and planning to turn a profit? It’s not easy to set up a company and make it successful. Marketing the website wasn’t easy either as there are a lot of precautions one has to take in order to make sure that everything is up to standard.
What have you learnt about setting up an enterprise, marketing it and planning to turn a profit? I’ve learnt that for all this to be possible we need to work as a team and listen to what our teammates have to say. We’re aware of the fact that sometimes personal topics may crop up but as a team we need to make sure these don’t become hurdles.
What are your plans for the future of FIT? We have not thought about our future yet as we’re taking this experience one step at a time and are hoping for the best outcome.
What are your plans for the future of FIT? We hope that with the help of our website, people can change their lifestyle.
Name: Krista Refalo Age: 16 Role: Managing Director What or who first encouraged you to set up FIT? Our Operations Director and Deputy Managing Director was the first to come up with the idea for helping people adopt a healthier lifestyle. How did you come up with the idea for FIT? We were thinking of present problems in today’s Maltese society and since obesity rates are so high in Malta we decided to do our bit to contribute towards a solution. What are the main aims of FIT and what social issues do you intend to address? Our main aim is to help the Maltese public become more aware of the obesity issue and adopt a healthier lifestyle.
Name: Benjamin Sammut Age: 17 Role: IT Director What or who first encouraged you to set up FIT? With the aid of market research, we clearly saw that Maltese people don’t do much exercise – in fact online resources like Yahoo named Malta the laziest country in the world. I guess as friends as well as a team we really wanted to give back to society, and we found an effective way to do so through our website. How did you come up with the idea for FIT? Initially our Operations Director and Deputy Managing Director suggested it – however we built on it together, adding features and thinking of concepts to include in our website. As IT Director my job was to compile and organise these ideas and choose the feasible ones.
What are the main aims of FIT and what social issues do you intend to address? Our aim is to reduce the obesity rates in Malta while helping people live a healthier lifestyle. What experience or expertise makes you ideal for your role within FIT? I’ve always had a passion for design and have always been curious to discover new things about IT. My love for design made the process of designing the website quite an enjoyable experience. Despite my background in IT, I’ve never had any formal training on web design and am mostly self-taught. What has been the feedback to date? With over 800 likes on our Facebook page and over 1,800 views on our website since launch, I would say that we have received great feedback. We receive occasional e-mails giving us ideas through which we can improve our website, and together we discuss whether these ideas are practical or not. What have you learnt about setting up an enterprise, marketing it and planning to turn a profit? It’s definitely not easy. Teamwork is surely a great outcome from this experience. Even though my role does not require me to have a knowledge about business and the running of it, I can say that I have learnt a lot about what it means to be a part of one. What are your plans for the future of FIT? Our primary aim is to lower the obesity rate in Malta and knock our name off the number one spot on the world’s laziest country list. For more information visit www.fit-malta.com
Money / Issue 23 - 27
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IT
Not leaviNg a paper trail It’s the same story in every industry – we’re having to run faster to maintain existing performance and profitability levels. The automation revolution that changed manufacturing industries years ago is having the same game-changing effects in every sector, in offices both large and small. And as growing competition squeezes margins lower and lower, managers are increasingly looking inward for ways to increase customer value, add efficiency and cut internal costs. One such area of focus is that medium we all use daily – paper. We all buy it, use it to document our business activities, and store piles of it for reference. Money speaks to Nick Camilleri, Managing Director of Avantech, on turning an existing problem into cost savings, increased efficiency and growth opportunity for companies large and small. Money: Any business generates paper. What’s the problem with that? Nick Camilleri: Paper is taken for granted as part of our daily lives as a means to record information. Most of us tend to view the issues caused by paper as acceptable, and so the costs associated with paper usage pass management scrutiny as unavoidable overheads – like office space for filing, archives, photocopies, physical security for those documents, fire or flood risk, and more. M: Yet the paperless office buzzword is a myth, isn’t it? NC: In short, yes – it’s a myth, for the foreseeable future anyway. The human addiction to paper is not going away any time soon and this is why we should be looking closer at the management of this problem if we wish our companies to survive against increasingly agile competition. M: Let’s get specific – what do you think a lot of businesses overlook? NC: The immeasurable costs, hidden from view in your list of overheads. For instance, how long on average do staff spend looking for paper documents related to their daily work? International surveys show a staggering 20 per cent of your daily time is spent looking for information – and if you think about your own day, that is probably a reasonable estimate. At Bank of Valletta, we have provided a solution that eliminates searching for information in certain processes by automating the search and retrieval process on their IT systems. I recently visited an insurance company and noticed that their prime site offices were crammed with filing cabinets
behind every desk, or forming islands in the middle of the office. The cabinets were necessary as the documents referred to current policies. Yet a quick look at the space we could win back by moving the cabinets to a basement and replacing them with a document management solution showed us that they would free 33 per cent of occupied office space. The cost of the document solution we provided paid for itself in under one year, following which the savings went straight to the P&L bottom line, while staff actually worked more efficiently. M: All valid points – but these are banks and insurance companies. Not all companies are that big. NC: A company doesn’t have to be big to manage costs, and the savings in percentage terms are the same, if not more. In fact, smaller companies can reap further benefits as the added opportunities that efficiency bring can open doors that otherwise would be closed. For instance, one sole trader we helped sells to grocery stores for a living. When collecting payments for invoices, he often needed to take copies of signed delivery notes to his clients. Now, he just takes a €350 tablet computer with him and views his documents over the internet from his office-based document management solution. In another case, a notary can now securely access and search through all his clients’ contracts and correspondence from his office, home, car or anywhere else. Before our solution implementation over half his total office space was taken up by files.
M: How much does it cost? NC: It’s all based upon users. A solution for one user can cost as little as €450, but return on investment should be the first consideration. If you have the opportunity to make a saving per year, it is likely that you would consider implementing a solution to turn this saving into reality – especially if the cost of that solution implementation costs less than the saving. When talking to potential customers about our suggestions, we like to gain their trust by investing our time with them to show the saving in the flesh. Let them touch and feel our proposition, so they’re not committing to something abstract but something demonstrated. M: Why should I consult Avantech and not some other company? NC: I believe that we’ve built a successful track record. We’ve been entrusted with projects by a diverse range of customers of different sizes and sectors – Bank of Valletta, GO plc, AFM are names that come to mind, and we have implemented solutions in the legal, gaming, financial services, product distribution and government sectors. We’re backed by some world-class brands like Canon, Ricoh and Microsoft – we hit our 40-year anniversary as Canon distributors recently, so we’ve been around a long time. And we also have a dedicated, in-house software development team that helps keep our solutions current and relevant. I believe we’re a viable, credible contender to consult if you want to shave some costs off your overheads.
Money / Issue 23 - 29
IT
Micro Reuben Buttigieg is managing director of finance
Erremme Business Advisors and President of the Malta Institute of Management.
a Sop Story
Technology can only be efficient if it automates the right processes, says Reuben Buttigieg.
N
owadays, growing businesses seek IT to try and cope with the increasing workload and to become more efficient. Regrettably, many do this in the wrong manner as they do not evaluate their processes and see what needs to be changed.
be more risk averse given their role and given that they are surrounded by persons with aggressive objectives. This may lead to them slowing the decisionmaking process as they want to play it safe. The status quo may be more comfortable.
It is indeed a massive process to change automated processes and many underestimate this. In spite of an ongoing development in the way businesses operate, Malta still lags behind on certain matters and some entrepreneurs and managers do not understand the benefits of documenting clear standard operating procedures.
The problems with outdated systems is that they tend to rely on manual processes or supplementary tools such as Excel. Apart from being labour intensive, such systems are also prone to error. So not changing may be a constraint on people and processes.
On various occasions I come across managers who explain to me how their process is prone to error, that it is not user friendly enough and that it requires way too much downstream doublechecking by their accounting team. In their view the new system would still generate errors but it will do it faster. With this mentality, accounting departments often find themselves trying to gracefully manage the pingpong between technology and process evolution. Technology will not deliver wins if it is used in support of poor and inefficient processes. Finance persons are often involved in such decisions to a limited extent. However, they seem to take the blame when things go wrong. Generally the finance person who is also concerned about meeting budgets may have a different view than that of CEOs, marketers or sales persons. On many occasions I have seen quick decisions to what appeared fixes by CEOs in order for them to concentrate on business growth. Indeed this is a very short-sighted view particularly when then the responsibility for implementation seems to be shifted to the finance persons on their own. On their part, the finance persons may
In my advisory work I have come across a company that was heavily based on manual processes and on IT processes that were not integrated. The company employed a new manager who immediately identified that one of the major problems was the reporting within the firm for the board of directors to take informed decisions. The same thing had been said on various occasions by the accounting function. Repeated processes, reconciliations between various systems, duplication of inputting was becoming efficiently out of control. It also transpired that there were no standard processes, neither written nor per custom. The CEO rushed the board into a decision to buy a new software with an unrealistic target for implementation. He had been advised that this is totally unrealistic and that first and foremost one needs to understand the processes within the company to prepare a proper implementation plan. It became evident that his plan was not going to materialise and rather than back tracking he started to shift the blame on the accounts department saying that he did not have sufficient information to take decisions for business growth. Given this attitude, the accountancy providers resigned and he had to employ inexperienced new staff, who were soon facing the same old issues. The problems were now evident
Reuben B Director o Advisors a Malta Ins
NARROWING TH GENERATION G
from the outside whereby the chaos is in such a state that customers beg to receive an invoice to pay, the company became slower in paying creditors and even slower in compliance and reporting matters. It became more obvious that the company was heading towards an insolvent position.
Old processes are difficult to change. New systems need to enhance processes can young gain furt that are How being evaluated andentrepreneurs not replace in the business community, asks Reube them. In other words, a marriage must occur between the two that leverages and enhances the successful parts of the existing system to create a similar and icrofinance, mutual comm exceptionally functional application. guarantee schemes addre This calls for a flexible mentality in and crowdfunding are three altern decision-making. Out with the old in with thefinancial new mentality is a recipe for instruments that shoul failure. could very well be the solution that t
M
to the economic crises in many EU member states. In fact, the European Economic and Social Committee has, on various occasions, recommended to the European Commission to look into these instruments.
the SeveN StepS to efficieNt proceSSeS
one and of its opinion papers, 1. TakeInstock document the EESC states processes you havethat, “Hybrid capital that presents an
2. Are the processes ready alternative to bank lending for change in technology?
must be boosted as well. The
3. Do you need to adapt the emergence of new financial processes for change or actorsthem mustcompletely? be supported, change
as must be that of new 4. Are the processes flexible intermediaries providing for future changes? both innovative financial 5. Did you re-examine all solutions and business business processes? advice. Crowd funding is a 6. Did youexample prepare atochange good mention and management plan? participative banking could 7. How detailed option is the to take into be another implementation plan? consideration.� The EESC adds that, “The encouragement of / Issue 23 - 31 microfinanceMoney and more specifically that with specific investment policies on the
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IT
Three decades of innovaTion Empowering companies to support their own business through our software is our main achievement, says John de Giorgio, Managing Director, Shireburn Software.
our business intelligence platform. This also is a world first. The list goes on but I believe that our main achievement has been empowering thousands of companies to support their own businesses effectively through our software and providing stability and continuity to our clients and staff.
With what resources and aims was Shireburn Software founded? Shireburn was founded just over 30 years ago, in December 1983. It was set up as the first IT training company in Malta. 30 years later, Shireburn has grown into a local leader in business software product development and support and a world leader in two niche markets. Shireburn’s success has been our ability to create very practical software solutions for business which are flexible and easy to use, are at a good pricing level, and are combined with high levels of customer support delivered by a stable team. We have enjoyed an unparalleled level of client and staff loyalty which continues to be pivotal to Shireburn’s success. How has the local IT industry changed in the past 30 years and how has Shireburn maintained its leadership in business solutions? The IT industry has changed drastically over the past 30-year span and the local industry has consolidated and become more professional and capable. The industry can be divided broadly into five sectors: companies which are principally hardware outfits, others which focus on the development of software products, those that provide services for imported products, network and technical services companies, and those providing staff. Of course most companies are hybrids of these sectors but with one main focus. The fact that the industry players have become more focused and concentrating on areas of specialism has been a good development.
Locally there has also been a shift towards importation of third party products rather than the development of own products. Shireburn has successfully gone against the local trend with a business model creating our intellectual property by developing our own software products rather than just importing solutions. This allows us to provide a better level of service to our customers based on a deep level of understanding of our products and clients’ business processes. What have been the company’s main achievements in the past three decades? In the 1980s and early 90s, we began to develop our own business software solutions and provide support for local business. This included the early development of initial versions of today’s renowned freight, accounting, payroll and HR solution, point-of-sale and inventory solutions known as the Shireburn Business Suite. In the early 2000s Shireburn made its mark internationally with the global launch of Integra for Notes, our solution for integrating and reporting from IBM Lotus Notes into Microsoft Office. This won us a number of prestigious international awards, including IBM CIO’s Innovation Award, positioning Shireburn as innovators in the IT world. In 2010 we launched our second unique international software product: Concessionaire Analyzer+. This allows airports and shopping malls to manage and analyse their concessions through
How did the company celebrate its 30th anniversary? Throughout the year, Shireburn organised a number of initiatives to give back to the community. We sponsored the restoration of Mattia Preti’s Immaculate Conception, the titular painting in Sarria Church. The project, managed by Din l-Art Helwa,, is being carried out on the occasion of another anniversary, the 400th anniversary of the birth of Mattia Preti. We are expecting the unveiling of the restored work of art by the end of February. We have also continued to support New Leaf, a non-profit voluntary organisation whose objective is to preserve the books at the National Library. We also organised a tree planting event for all staff and their families, supported the Alive Charity Foundation in raising breast cancer awareness, ran two separate blood donation drives, and sponsored an art exhibition by artist Joseph Casapinta. What are your plans for the immediate and near future? We will continue to invest heavily in our core software products such as the Shireburn Business Suite, our Shireburn eStore, our Shireburn Docs document management solution, our freight industry solution and Concessionaire Analyzer+ for the airport sector. Next month we shall be moving from our current offices to the SkyParks Business Centre. This will allow Shireburn to continue to expand our team and resources. After 30 years, Shireburn Software is more innovative today than we have ever been, forging ahead into new technologies and new markets. So while it is fun to look back, it is so exciting looking forward and this is what matters most.
Money / Issue 23 - 33
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IT
Curt Gauci is director and co-founder of Kinetix IT Solutions, a local leading IT systems integrator. Kinetix are HP, Cisco, Microsoft, Kerio, Trend Micro and Symantec certified partners.
the data protection challenGe
Safeguarding the security of your data and network is essential to avoid the negative business and financial impact security threats have on a business’s viability, productivity, resources, data and reputation, says Curt Gauci. With employees, partners, customers, and vendors working from home and the office, enterprises face growing risks of inadvertent or malicious data leaks, possibly allowing the information to be intercepted or to fall into the wrong hands. Safeguarding the security of your data and network is essential to avoid the negative business and financial impact security threats have on a business’s viability, productivity, resources, data and reputation.
P
icture this scenario: you are travelling for work, using valuable waiting time to catch up on e-mails as you wait for your next appointment in a busy coffee shop. Time to hail a taxi to get you to your next appointment – it’s rush hour and people are waiting to take your table and you’ve got a hundred and one things to carry. In a flustered state you place your tablet down on the table to collect all of your belongings. Ready to dash for the door you go to pick up the most valuable item you have with you at that point in time. You reach for it but it’s gone! You look around in a state of utter panic, but all you see is an endless crowd. What now? Thoughts running through your mind include the wording of your telephone call to an undoubtedly disgruntled client, seeing as your tablet stored a host of documents and e-mails relating to the new project you were working on for that big client. Not to mention the legal implications the dissemination of that
information may potentially have. This may sound a little dramatic but we have seen this situation and similar ones happen time and time again. After all everybody is human and these are circumstances which anyone can find themselves in, at any point in time. The unfortunate thing is that it usually takes such occurrences to sound an alarm bell, with business owners alerting them of the importance of implementing a data leak prevention strategy. Adoption of a data leak prevention strategy and solution, otherwise called information loss prevention or extrusion prevention, is driven by insider threats, human error such as loss of device, and by more rigorous privacy laws, many of which have stringent data protection or access components. Loss of sensitive data is really and truly an operational risk for any company. Today, information resides in more places than ever before, including mobile and personal storage devices.
Having deployed several data protection solutions, at Kinetix we have the experience required to design and implement a security system capable of protecting your data from internal and external threats. Our security services are designed to prevent information leaks in case of loss of device, network violations and virus threats, as well as brand defamation due to malicious, inappropriate or fraudulent activity on a network.
“sAfeguArDing the security of your DAtA AnD network is essentiAl to AvoiD the negAtive business AnD finAnciAl iMpAct security threAts pose.” Money / Issue 23 - 35
Market Report
Pushing the like button How high can Facebook stock rise, asks Alan Cuschieri.
“in the long term, the comPany Will have to continue to reinvent itself and Prove to investors that it can continue to increase Profitability While keePing its users haPPy.”
I
nvestors are continuing to invest in technology stocks this year, hoping there’s more left in a sector that enjoyed strong gains alongside a broad equity market rally last year. The past months have brought quite a few developments for social media stocks. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Yelp! announced their results for the fourth quarter of 2013. While Twitter and LinkedIn stocks plunged during the trading session following the announcement, Facebook and Yelp reached all-time highs. Yelp! had an impressive performance of over 310 per cent in the last 12 months. However, possibly one of the most interesting social media stocks at the moment is Facebook. Facebook has recently celebrated its 10th birthday and it did so by blowing past Wall Street estimates. Only seven
36 - Money / Issue 23
months ago Facebook had not performed as well as investors hoped but today it’s one of the fastest rising stocks on the market. The stock has risen from $26.51 last July 24 to over $65 (as at February 13, 2014), an increase over 143 per cent. The change of direction for the Facebook stock was sparked by a third quarter earnings report in late July that revealed the company’s growing mobile advertising presence. In fourth quarter earnings, Facebook reported that although the number of adverts delivered fell by eight per cent from the year-ago period, the average price per advert rose 92 per cent in the same period. Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg has specified that the company wants to place an emphasis on advertising quality, rather than quantity. Now that Facebook stock has doubled, investors are asking what is in store
for Facebook stock and can it continue to rise? Moreover, is this growth sustainable? Analysts believe that Facebook is expected to gradually increase advertising on Instagram and view it as a major driver for new growth. Instagram doubled its user base last year. Facebook has so far effectively addressed one of the most significant issues from its IPO days – the lack of revenue from mobile devices – and has now embraced mobile as being an integral part of its business model. Facebook’s latest newsfeed adverts are injected directly into a user’s stream of news and content, and are ideally suited for mobile screens. The company is continuing to seek growth from video advertising, a new feature that is just starting to be rolled out on the platform and that has the potential to be very popular with advertisers.
Alan Cuschieri is a Director at Calamatta Cuschieri and is responsible for the management of the company’s operations and strategic business development of the firm. He graduated from the University of Bournemouth (UK) and holds a BA (Hons.) in Financial Services. He also obtained an International Capital Markets Certification from the London Securities Institute.
The Facebook price to earnings ratio suggests that the stock is overvalued as it is currently trading at around 114 times its earnings. However technology stocks are well known for their high valuations as investors continue to expect higher earnings growth in the future. The question is, can Facebook sustain the growth it has achieved so far and continue to increase profit at a fast enough pace that meets or surpasses Wall Street’s expectations? So far, Facebook has showed investors that it is able to turn revenue into profits while on the other hand, Twitter and LinkedIn are still struggling to increase their profitability and Google+ is in the shadows. Therefore in my opinion, in the social media arena, Facebook has the most potential in terms of profitability and in the short term I think that
Lux - it LIGHTING
the company can continue to deliver. However, in the long term, the company will have to continue to reinvent itself and prove to investors that it can continue to increase profitability while keeping its users happy. The company is sitting on $11.45bn in cash and therefore can afford to experiment and take on some risk. Facebook’s success also depends on whether it can continue to acquire the right companies to achieve its mission. Last year, Facebook bid $3 billion to buy Snapchat, the trending social networking app where photos received vanish after a few seconds – however the offer was declined. Google also recently outmanoeuvred Facebook in acquiring an artificial intelligence company, DeepMind Technologies, for a reported $500 million.
Facebook is interested in artificial intelligence because over the next five years, it wants to become more intuitive and to solve problems that in some cases users don’t even know they have. Between five and 10 per cent of Facebook posts involve questions such as a request for a good restaurant. By adopting this vision, Facebook is heading towards Google, which is one of the few companies with the cash and knowledge to outsmart anyone trying to compete on search.
Calamatta Cuschieri is one of Malta’s largest financial services firms. The company offers a wide range of services including independent investment advice, live online trading, saving plans, investment management and fund services. www.cc.com.mt
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Money / Issue 23 - 37
Promo
a unique destination
SmartCity Malta is creating an unprecedented network of opportunities, says SmartCity Malta CEO Anthony Tabone. SmartCity Malta is the biggest single foreign direct investment in Malta. What will it add to the Maltese economy? SmartCity Malta is a joint venture between Malta and SmartCity Dubai, an international organisation that develops and manages a global network of selfsustained business parks dedicated to the knowledge-driven industries. SmartCity Malta is developing a state-of-the-art international work-play-live business park for knowledge-based companies, and offers a blend of places for work and leisure – all designed following international sustainability standards. In this context, SmartCity Malta offers the ideal launch pad for international companies wanting to explore or service the European and/or North African market from Malta, as well as start-ups and small businesses. How will SmartCity Malta enhance Malta’s knowledge economy? SmartCity Dubai develops and manages
38 - Money / Issue 23
business townships that host knowledgebased companies worldwide. Therefore, SmartCity Malta’s primary objective is to create a knowledge hub where local and international education and training organisations, research institutions, recruiting and other HR consultancies, will operate in synergy with the core knowledge-based businesses, thereby creating a whole network of opportunities. SmartCity Malta also offers the country’s most advanced and reliable ICT infrastructure able to meet the high technical requirements of missioncritical digital operations. Apart from economic considerations, what attractions will SmartCity Malta add to the island? Encompassing an area of 360,000m2 along the picturesque coast close to Ricasoli Point and Valletta’s Grand Harbour, SmartCity Malta offers a harmonious blend of office, residential and retail spaces, with one
third of the land set aside as open areas for leisure. This spring, we will be officially inaugurating the Laguna Walk, the island’s only lagoon district and together with four more buildings, it will constitute Phase Two of the SmartCity Malta project. Two of these buildings (SCM04 and SCM05) will be devoted to food and beverage outlets. The Laguna Walk will invigorate the hub of SmartCity Malta and transform the project into a centre for socialising while capturing the essence of its location. A total of €76 million have been invested to date for the development of Smart City Malta out of which €30 million have been invested in the leisure and entertainment areas that will be open for everybody to enjoy. Is the tenancy take-up on track? Since 2012, we have signed with a number of business partners, and SmartCity Malta’s occupancy rate currently stands at 60 per cent. Some tenants, like Global College Malta, HP
Game on
and Ammo City, have already been announced publicly. We will be announcing details on others jointly with our partners in the coming weeks, when they open their doors for business at SmartCity Malta. We are also in talks with other potential business partners. What advantages do SmartCity Malta tenants enjoy? Business partners at SmartCity Malta benefit from access to international businesses and a clustering approach. The SmartCity brand of business townships is a network of knowledge-based businesses parks that connect organisations globally, providing access to international business opportunities. Moreover, by forming a hub of companies at each SmartCity, companies operating within benefit from networking and cluster effects. We are working on bringing businesses and education and training organisations closer together, hence stimulating closing of skill gaps, better career progressions, more innovation and entrepreneurship. Additionally, business partners at SmartCity Malta benefit from the expertise and resources acquired from the business clusters in Dubai, including Dubai Internet City and Dubai Media City. As regards office space, full flexibility in terms of size is available, from large open plans to fully fitted-out ready-to-occupy units reasonably sized for an up to six-seven person operation. These plug and play units with preinstalled service connections, equipment and amenities, allow our business partners for prompt initiation of business operations with minimum effort and investment. Equipped, dedicated meeting, conferencing and networking facilities are also conveniently located in the same area as the plug and play units. What will be SmartCity Malta’s role in promoting Malta as a stepping stone between Europe and North Africa?
Ammo City, the games company that showcases and runs online games from the net, has chosen to set up its offices at SmartCity Malta. AMMcom Limited CEO Tim Chaney explains why Ammo City has moved to Malta.
Newly developing industries in Malta such as communications, ICT, media and financial services are similar to the expertise that Dubai has to offer in the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia. Since Malta lies in the heart of the Mediterranean basin that connects Europe to North Africa, like Dubai, Malta is strategically located. SmartCity Malta is also creating an unprecedented network of opportunities with other economies, which is consistently expanding to all the corners of the world. The project is committed to developing a unique destination for all businesses, whether they are international, regional or local. What are SmartCity Malta’s prospects for 2014? Phase One of the SmartCity Malta project was inaugurated in 2010 with its first ready-to-operate, state-ofthe-art office space building, SCM01. In April, Phase Two of development will be inaugurated, and will usher in the latest SmartCity Malta product offering, comprising of four more buildings as well as the Laguna Walk. Two of the buildings, SCM02 and SCM03 are office blocks and the other two, SCM04 and SCM05 are devoted to retail. The Laguna Walk is the destination for families to spend quality time and will host a number of special entertainment attractions, all aimed at bringing Maltese families together.
What were the main reasons for relocating Ammo City to Malta? There were reasons both personal and business. I certainly really liked the island when I visited with Malta Enterprise and after four hard years in London founding, building and then taking a company public only for it to fail, I felt like cleansing – Malta, on several levels, delivers that. The only thing I find frustrating is nondirect flights to places one would think should be easy to access. On the business side, I saw a tremendous attitude for change and opportunity but more than that, a desire for growth and to compete and gain respect on merit. And why, specifically, SmartCity? In the next five years SmartCity will be the most sought after business and leisure destination on the island and I would like to be able to say, “I told you so.” In the past years, Malta has made efforts to build a knowledge-based economy – do you think Malta is moving in the right direction? In my short time here, I have met a lot of people who share that vision and are doing something about it, both in the private sector, local and national government. That seems to bode well for the future. Still, I think access to EU funds is still too complicated and restrictive and government needs to open up funds for venture and private equity. Malta has a fledgling game development scene – what can contribute to its growth? An issue will be (if it is not already) that very good developers, engineers and artists will get sucked in the gambling companies who have money to burn. The external perception is that it is a gambling location not a games location. Nothing beats word-of-mouth to get the message out and a successful product fuels that. So, success is the answer because then you would get top talent willing to come here to work on that successful product or brand. And top talent can train young talent at 10 times the rate that mediocre talent can. Then young talent would break away, find money and start companies themselves. That evolution will make the sector grow. Crowdfunding will help. Can Ammo City also avail of local talent, especially from the gaming community and sector? Our plan, apart from a few imported heads, is to only take local talent, hopefully fresh out of university or with computer science degrees, working with people who have real passion like Charles Theuma at St Martin’s Institute, and others.
Money / Issue 23 - 3
Media
The McLuhan GaLaxy: undersTandinG The worLd’s firsT Media ecoLoGisT Half a century ago, Marshall McLuhan single-handedly (-mindedly?) invented the discipline of media ecology with the publication of his legendary Understanding Media. What did he mean by “the medium is the message”? Do his ideas and insights matter for today’s creative labourers information technologists? Sean Patrick Sullivan reports. Photograph courtesy of The Canadian Broadcasting Company (1967). Composition courtesy of The BAO House (2014).
W
ith the courage of his convictions – and an extrasensory perceptiveness described by one biographer as Asperger’s-esque and another as prophetic – McLuhan cared not what people thought of him, nor his slouchy socks, but only his ideas and insights. May I be candid? When my editor informed me of this edition’s science, ecology, and information technology theme, I was immediately reminded of Marshall McLuhan. After all, in just a few months, it’ll be the 50th anniversary of his most famous book, Understanding Media. In this one delirious, monumental, occasionally satirical volume, he combined insights from various fields (ecology, technology, history, religion, linguistics, and humanities) into an entirely new discipline known as media ecology. Media ecology, as McLuhan imagined it – and as it’s still practised on university campuses and advertising agency bureaux throughout the world – involved studying not the content of books, magazines, newspapers, radio, cinema, nor television but rather their interrelationships and net effects upon culture, society, and economy.
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For McLuhan, the impact was almost incomprehensibly gigantic and even more monumentally invisible, which is why he often repeated (and became famous for) the phrase, “the medium is the message”. This idea – that form impacts human perception to a more profound extent, and in a far deeper manner, than content – was mangled, maligned, and misunderstood almost immediately. He often attempted to clarify his position by likening our consumption of media to fish swimming through water: they don’t think of water, at least not like we do, because it surrounds them. The comparison seemed to work for but a minority of his fans and followers. The majority, on the other hand, went on to misapprehend his probes as unfettered celebrations of the emerging electronic media. Perhaps the interruptive technology of the time (television) was too new for anyone other than long-time classroom educators to comprehend its effects. By contrast, today’s digital revolution, which is occurring more quickly and pervasively, is easy to notice.
If McLuhan was often misunderstood, then he was even more often disbelieved. For his actual foundational concept, less popular though more metaphysically mind-bending, was that all media are extensions of the human body. The wheel extends the foot; the photograph extends the eye; the radio extends both the ear and the mouth; and, in his most shocking (though, now, obvious) connection, electronic communication constitutes not just an extension but also a collectivisation of the central nervous system. The latter was a phenomenon that disturbed him quite deeply but which the public, in its naive anti-authoritarian peace-and-love mode, embraced rather whole-heartedly. Meanwhile, McLuhan himself remained worried. To him, electronic communications threatened to retribalise the planet into a global village (yes, he invented that phrase as well, though his usage was far less enthusiastic than today’s). Meanwhile, he valourised printed communications for having detribalised humankind – introducing values like privacy, abstraction, individuality, and mechanisation – while at the same time (and rather paradoxically) unleashing appetites for uniformity, productivity, bureaucracy, and eventually the transformation of money itself from commodity (gold) to currency (paper). The impact? Huge. As stated in an earlier book, The Gutenberg Galaxy, the seemingly innocent printing press made the nation-state, market capitalism, law enforcement, and organised religion possible. In summary, Marshall McLuhan – often considered to be Canada’s single greatest intellectual – was popular for a brief period during the late 20th century. Even today, Understanding Media, along
North American correspondent Sean Patrick Sullivan is a writer, thinker, and speaker whose topics include design, culture, business, technology, innovation, and sustainability. He lives in the Toronto area and works as a partner at The BAO House, a media-production, brand-development, and communication-consulting studio.
with his other works, offers a fascinating unified field theory of human civilisation that few others (Marx and Freud come to mind) can match in terms of depth or scope. That may be interesting to a critic, theorist, professor, someone like me. But why should you, a hard-working businessperson of any sort, care about him? That’s an easy one. Most people who produce, manage, or even consume mass media for a living (even tangentially) do so without any idea what they’re actually dealing with. That’s rather unfortunate, as truly understanding media creates the possibility of selfishly producing superior results – whether one is a creative labourer, corporate executive, or government official – while selflessly adjusting culture itself, all toward greater calm, peace, harmony, and intelligence. Don’t believe me? Fine – here’s a very recent real-world example. Earlier this month, a day before its 10th anniversary, Facebook released a new mobile application called Paper. Intended for users who dismissed the social network’s standard interface as (A) chaotic, (B) grating, (C) cusping on archaic, or (D) all of the above, Paper offered a mature, elevated, sophisticated experience, one that seemed to prompt genuine wonder and thoughtful conversation – a nice upgrade from idle gossip, time-wasting, and self-indulgence – in its users. Among early adopters and cultural critics, there seemed to be a general consensus that Paper was Facebook’s way of side-stepping its own seemingly inevitable demise, avoiding the fate of Friendster and MySpace almost a decade earlier by replacing itself, much like Doctor Who, with a temporally sensitive reinvention of itself, free from the dead weight of its own tumultuous past. Also free from advertising, the business model seems to involve brands sharing stories advertorially (and, one would hope, compellingly) instead. Facebook’s actual intentions – and the market’s final verdict on Paper – remain
to be seen. That said, the aforementioned speculation seems to have some factual basis. For instance, Facebook has long kept tabs on Paper, a mobile social-media syndication-and-aggregation application conceived, launched, and headed by one of its own former executives, Dan Morin, in 2010. According to multiple inside sources, Facebook had hoped to acquire Paper – and its luxuriously crafted interface – once the firm reached critical mass. Unexpectedly, Google made an early play for the start-up, accelerating partnership negotiations with Twitter, leaving Paper better funded than ever and Facebook out in the cold. To believe the rumours, that’s when Facebook turned inward, seeking to not just redesign but also reinvent itself amid report after report of dwindling market share, especially among tweens and teens.
of introduction, was promoted as a substitute for both radio and cinema. However, in practice, it simply duplicated forms already established: the newsreel, the soap opera, the situation comedy, the suspense thriller. Over time, as television grew in dominance, it kept recycling these forms, sucking them dry, rather vampirically, leading many post-McLuhan scholars and forecasters to predict their demise before the start of the 21st century.
Why indulge all these rumours, speculations, innuendos? Because, if the least bit is true, the transformation of Facebook (originally based upon the print medium of the university yearbook) into Paper (presently based upon the print medium of the daily newspaper) reveals one of the most important, and least acknowledged, patterns in media ecology and popular culture, one that McLuhan revealed half a century ago.
To survive, all earlier media types transmogrified. Radio became mathematically, algorithmically personal – numbingly, invasively, predictively so – with all the dials removed along with any semblance of choice or discovery. Cinema, once a glittering dreamscape of artistic expression and glamorous artifice, sacrificed its potential to elevate the human experience as it flattened itself for cross-cultural appeal. Television willed itself into a second golden age, relying upon the dynamic tension between cinema’s alluring past and the internet’s fragmenting future to create a present moment so lovingly crafted and superbly presented that it may end up being for the 21st century what fashion photography was for the 20th: its finest art form.
When a new mass medium arises, it gains entry to our hearts and minds by offering a novel and seemingly superior alternative to the one holding dominant position in the marketplace. Superficially, it offers new and better ways of sending and receiving both information and entertainment. However, beneath the surface, the day-to-day reality is far more mundane. For the new medium spends most of its time recycling familiar content forms of the past: partially to comfort audiences during times of transition and tumult; partially to steal thunder from its predecessor(s); partially because the artists, executives, and investors running the show often have no idea what they’ve actually created, much less how to maximise its social or commercial value. For instance, television, at its time
But then something unexpected happened: the internet. Accessed, at least at first, through a monitor in front of which one would sit, it felt like television, though of course even more engagingly interactive. Accordingly, it duplicated television’s motifs, just as television had duplicated radio’s and cinema’s.
Returning now to Paper, we can choose to adore the new, inarguably spectacular interface and to reward Facebook for giving it to us by using it more and more, creating an inventory of effects including (but not limited to) the extinction of the newspaper medium upon which its based. Alternatively, and perhaps more insightfully, we can choose to use Paper every now and then while at the same exact time seeing it for what it is: a cynical attempt to co-opt and destroy print media and asking ourselves if that’s such a smart idea.
Money / Issue 23 - 41
Country profile
There is sol in This cosTa What has watered the growth of Costa Rica’s eco credentials, asks Money.
L
ast January, a rare spectacle was witnessed off the Pacific coast of Costa Rica: a gathering of around 3,000 to 5,000 spinner dolphins, known as a megapod, was filmed for the first time for a BBC series.
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For this Central American country, this sighting is the cherry on the eco cake because for decades, Costa Rica has been insisting on its conservation efforts and ranking high on the Environmental Performance Index – currently, it occupies fifth place in a list of 132 countries. Last century, while its neighbouring countries were suffering in the throes of civil wars, Costa Rica took advantage of its stable government and economy to become one of the first countries in the world to use its natural beauty and resources to build a successful ecotourism industry. And it has done so through huge efforts in nature conservation. By the early 1990s, Costa Rica was already the poster child of ecotourism, when other countries didn’t even know what the word meant. Many of the first eco-tourists were academics who visited Costa Rica to study the country’s biodiversity. Thanks to aggressive campaigning by the Costa Rican Tourism Board, these pioneering tourists were soon followed by those interested in enjoying a holiday surrounded by glorious nature. This boom in tourism saw the number of visitors grow from 329,000 in 1988 to 1.03 million in 1999 to a record 2.34 million in 2012. The latter year also saw tourist spending go up to more than €1.75bn. Of course, Costa Rica had a huge helping hand from nature itself, which is expressed in a rich biodiversity and ecosystem. The country’s fertile tropical forests are home to a vibrant flora and fauna, including 1,000 species of orchid and 850 species of birds. The country’s Caribbean coast boasts swamps and picturesque sandy beaches while its seas teem with life. By 2002, Costa Rica had already recorded a zero net loss of forests and restored degraded lands that had been converted to pasture use. It designated vast national parks and protected areas around the country, which might otherwise have fallen to the demands of mining, logging and farming. Costa Rica
“costa rica had a huge helPing hand from nature itself, Which is exPressed in a rich biodiversity and ecosystem.” now boasts 70 protected areas which cover 21 per cent of the nation’s territory, amounting to half a million acres. Yet Costa Rica’s environmental care is not a stand-alone success. Rather, it is a reflection of the country’s political and social stability. One feeds off the other – the nation’s relatively small population of close to five million has enjoyed political stability for decades and, apart from the recent government corruption scandals, the country has suffered no major shakes. What may be one of Costa Rica’s major strengths is its capacity for transformation. Once one of Spain’s poorest colonies, Costa Rica has successfully built itself as one of the most prosperous and progressive nations in Latin America. Traditionally dependent on coffee, beef and banana exports, Costa Rica’s economy is now a diversified one, also thanks to a free trade deal with the US. Costa Rica has been a democracy since 1950s – having no armed forces, it has avoided military involvement in political affairs, which is fairly common in Latin America. Costa Rica consistently ranks high in the Human Development Index, has a literacy rate of 94.9 per cent, a developed welfare system and a high life expectancy – in fact, Costa Rica is home to the Nicoya Peninsula, where people commonly live active lives past the age of 100 years.
cosTa rica in numbers 4.3m
Population: 4,301,712.
92.5
Population density: 92.5 per square kilometre.
80%
The male adult labour force participation stands at close to 80 per cent while female participation is at 46 per cent.
€8,800
The gross national income is €8,800.
10.9%
Total public expenditure on health is 10.9 per cent of GDP.
92
Mobile phones per 100 population: 92.
42
Internet users per 100 population: 42
TraDe
Costa Rica’s major trading partners for exports are the US, the Netherlands and Panama. For imports, Costa Rica’s major trading partners are the US, China and Mexico.
No wonder the sun shines on Costa Rica.
Money / Issue 23 - 43
Design
holdinG the fort
Malta Design Week 2014 explores the theme of micronation, a space for experimentation, high productivity and focus.
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T
he first edition of the Malta Design Week, held in 2011, was a resounding success. Some 30,000 people visited the event, which served as a platform for local and foreign designers, architects, artists, artisans and entrepreneurs and signalled the island’s willingness to become a hub of creativity in the Mediterranean. This year’s edition explores the theme of micronation through a series of talks, installations and workshops. A micronation is born through declaration, an expression and desire to separate and exist independently – to auto-annex oneself from a precedent in the pursuit of functioning autonomously, and to do so through a set of standards inherent to the very space it occupies. Such principles can also be applied to good design. Outstanding design doesn’t always rely upon the conventions of its predecessors, but often establishes a new set of rules in response to new problems and challenges. A micronation can be a place for experimentation, incubation, high productivity, and focus. Both evolution and revolution.
No piece of furniture has attracted the attention of designers, architects and artists as has the chair. The chair will be the focus of a miniatures exhibition that presents 100 classical chairs. These miniatures, exact 1:6 replicas of the originals, will be presented on plinths and will be accompanied by 40 wall-mounted panels and a booklet which will guide the observer through the world of chairs. Malta Design Week 2014 is being presented by 808, an NGO that brings together professionals from various backgrounds, including design, marketing and arts. The NGO aims to facilitate, promote and celebrate the development of Malta’s design industry on both a cultural and commercial platform by connecting designers and makers with industry and creating a culture of sharing expertise. Apart from organising the biennial event, 808 is also responsible for a year-round programme of design-related initiatives. Malta Design Week is being held at Fort St Elmo, Valletta from May 17-24. For more information visit maltadesignweek.com
This theme is also reflected in the Malta Design Week’s main venue, Fort St Elmo, which was originally designed to function independently should the need arise. Visitors enter a self-governing space where innovation and creation are the constitutional foundation of its residing nation. The opening of Fort St Elmo to the public, following a full-scale restoration project supported by the EU, is a historic event in itself. This extraordinary stone sentry has been closed for decades, and Malta Design Week will be the first event to take place before the handover to Heritage Malta. Apart from the main exhibits, Malta Design Week will set up a design shop on site and will also present Design Dialogues, a curated series of lectures, talks, and conversations with invited local and international guests. This programme will provide a platform to discuss and debate the role of design in Malta, and our position in the region and beyond.
Money / Issue 23 - 45
Promo
The sTuff of jean-ius Celebrate the world of denim with Armani Jeans.
made in the World
Spring/Summer 2014 This limited edition collection showcases denim as a cross-sectional garment uniting worlds and cultures. The collection is made up of three iconic matching jeans and shirts, sold separately, made respectively in Italy, Japan, and the USA. For each pair, the supply chain may be traced entirely in the country of origin. On sale from November in 1981 items per pair, to celebrate the year in which Armani Jeans was first launched, each garment is trimmed with the flag of its country. The Italian shirt is made entirely of salvaged denim and comes with a bandana. The US and Japan jeans come with a bracelet.
beauty Jeans
Spring/Summer 2014 Beauty Jeans is a project dedicated to women who take care of their physical well-being. The slim-fit, distressed jeans are made using Emana, an innovative yarn that interacts with the skin, stimulating microcirculation, and helping decrease skin blemishes.
denim lover
Spring/Summer 2014 Denim Lover capsule collection for women, introducs Italian savoir faire into the world of jeans. The collection consists of Italian-made garments, identified by distinguishing features such as a leather eagle, the Italian flag and slide tags. The colours are basic and the washes natural. In addition to a white silk shirt, the Spring/Summer 2014 capsule includes a jeans suit comprising a blazer jacket and formal ankle-length trousers, a short dress, and high-waisted flared jeans. Made of a soft and lightweight cotton and viscose blend, these are perfect for summer. The collection also features a pair of eco-friendly, skinny jeans in organic cotton.
Armani Jeans The Point, Tigne'. Sliema Mon-Sat, 9.30am to 7.30pm Baystreet, St. Julian’s Mon-Sun, 10am to 10pm
Money / Issue 23 - 47
t h e h As
m A n c l As s
Handsome man meets beautiful machine. And it’s love at first sight. The Mercedes-Benz A-Class has opened a whole new chapter in the compact segment: emotive and dynamic in design, with powerful and extremely efficient engines, and plenty of safety on board, it’s clear that this A is for Attack. Photographer: Kris Micallef, www.krismicallef.com / Stylist: Kira Drury / Model: Thomas
Celio @ Square Deal orange jumper, €39.99 / Tom Tailor @ Square Deal white shirt, €39.95 Mexx tie, €27.95 / Mexx trousers, €75.00 / Celio @ Square Deal trainers, €35.99
Hugo Boss @ District red trousers, €116.00 / Hugo Boss @ Distric
Mexx Shirt, €49.95 / Tom Tailor @ Square Deal black cardigan, €3 Tommy Hilfiger red jacket, €199.00
Tommy Hilfiger yellow jumper, €119.00 / Mexx beige blazer, €149.00 Hugo Boss @ District jeans, €194.00 / Ecco at Kings shoe Shop beige shoes, €129.90
Ecco at Kings Shoe Shop, €129.00
Mexx jumper, €55.00 / Mexx check shirt, €49.95 / Mexx bow tie, €27.95 Celio @ Square Deal trousers, €39.95 / Celio @ Square Deal boots €89.99
Armani Jeans Leather jacket, €350.00
Celio @ Square Deal orange jumper, €39.99 Tom Tailor @ Square Deal white shirt, €39.95 Mexx tie, €27.95 Mexx trousers, €75.00
Tom Tailor @ Square Deal black cardigan, €39.95 / Tommy Hilfiger red jacket, €199.00 / Tom Tailor @ Square Deal blue trousers, €59.95
Tommy Hilfiger yellow jeans, €119.00 Armani Jeans leather jacket, €350.00
Armani Jeans white trousers, €135.00 / Celio @ Square Deal white v-neck, €15.99 Tommy Hifiger stripe cardigan, €179.00 / Ecco at Kings Shoe Shop blue shoes, €124.90
Mexx shirt, €49.95 / Tom Tailor @ Square Deal black cardigan, €39.95 Tommy Hilfiger red jacket, €199.00 / Tom Tailor @ Square Deal blue trousers, €59.95
Hugo Boss @ District red trousers, €116.00 / Tommy Hilfiger stripe jumper, €119.00/ Hugo Boss @ District jacket, €360.00
Gifts
life is beauTif u l Usher in a new year of luxury and style.
diamonds are a man’s best friend
The Rolex Oyster Perpetual Day-Date Special Edition takes its inspiration directly from the Day-Date, the first wristwatch to indicate the day of the week spelt out in full in a window on the dial in addition to the date. At the time of its launch in 1956, the Day-Date was a technical feat. As a watch of great prestige, available only in precious metals, it quickly became the watch for influential people.
bag this
Carry your top-secret documents in style thanks to the Tan Blandon single zip briefcase by Alfred Dunhill.
Carpisa, €25.90
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Carpisa, €35.90
Combining watchmaking know-how and the most precious of materials, the Day-Date Special Edition is set apart by its 950 platinum or 18ct gold 39mm case, its gem-set bezel and dials, and the elegant curves of its sophisticated five-piece link bracelet.
Carpisa, €39.90
Let it rain
Fashion duo Agi & Sam have collaborated with London Institution on this collection of umbrellas in beech wood and metal elements. The range features dog hunt, paisley, white fox and check mate prints.
Cheers
The Artel Hexagon decanter is made of mouth-blown glass and hand etched with a hexagonal design.
WaLk on
Street style just got smarter with these leather high top sneakers by Givenchy.
make mine With iCe BuBBLe, BuBBLe no trouBLe
Designed by Yves Béhar, the SodaStream Source is a high-tech drinks maker that produces sparkling water and a variety of fizzy drinks. It’s also great for cocktail bases.
Listen to the musiC
These compact, foldable headphones by Bowers & Wilkins feature a custommade, ultra-light acoustic fabric for the ultimate in personal sound. Available in blue, black and white.
The Buster + Punch whisky and cocktail bar is the ultimate in home entertaining. Handmade in the UK from American black walnut with a quilted silk back panel, it has a knurled brass light fitting with a snake’s head cage for protection. The bar opens from the top, with two doors on brass butler hinges.
Money / Issue 23 - 57
Golf
A competitive spirit There’s plenty of green action at the Royal Malta Golf Club. mcvities Qeii Jubilee trophy Sponsored by Ray Calleja of Strand Palace Agencies, the McVities QEII Jubilee Trophy was played last December on a beautiful sunny day that later on turned a little windy.
stArs And stripes The Stars and Stripes, a mixed greensome competition, was won by Chris Bond and his wife Leslie. Runnersup were Kim Borg and Joanna Cassar.
livingwell trophy The LivingWell Trophy for men and ladies is played as a stapleford full handicap – the ladies play on the Thursday and the men on the following Saturday. Laine Tutane won the ladies’ day with 32 points and Maureen Borg was runnerup with 31 points. Michael Balzan won the men’s day with 38 points while John Schell was the runner-up with 37 points on count back. Edward Sullivan was third with the same score. The Royal Malta Golf Club thanks LivingWell Portomaso for their generous sponsorship over many years.
The trophy was presented to the RMGC in 1977 by the captain of the day Ian Weidner to commemorate the Silver Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II. J.J. Micallef played on the Friday afternoon and won with 39 stableford points, Hans Antoni came second with 38 points and Guy Chamberlain on count back was third with 37 points.
The management of Attard & Co Limited has announced that it will establish separate joint ventures with IAG-Pacific Group Pte Limited and Six Capital Pte Limited to facilitate the companies’ corporate ambitions in Europe and the Mediterranean in the energy, financial and treasury sectors. With SINO European Commercial Centre, the Asian extension of ACO, coordinating discussions between the three groups in the last couple of months, this project is now coming to fruition. The objective of the co-operation covers the wholesale and retail trading of commodity and petrochemical products, and the development of foreign exchange training and trading in Malta.
horton cup The Horton Challenge Cup has been competed for every year (except the war years) since 1920. It is an individual medal with a maximum handicap of 18. This year the competition was played on January 18. Alan Shaw won the prize while Geoffrey Pickles was runner-up. nexiA bt cAptAin’s leAgue round 2 In the second round of the Nexia BT Captain’s League, Johann Camilleri was the individual winner with a superb 42 points and the runner-up was Chris Kinsella who scored 41 points. Simon Rattray was third with 39 points. At this early stage David Debono’s team is in the lead with 358 points followed closely by Ken Micallef’s team. However first and last place are only separated by 27 points so there is plenty of opportunity for positions to alter as there are five more rounds.
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A strong pArtnership
MAnAgeMent lessons Malta Institute of Management: Born to Lead by Charles Buttigieg is a commemorative book that makes great reading for managers of firms and corporations, and those involved in a management role who wish to know more about the MIM and what it can do for them. Author Charles Buttigieg’s journalistic background is reflected in the readable way he knits together the story of 50 Years of MIM. The book relates Malta’s early experiences in the area of professional management, and how the MIM of, launched in 1964 on the initiative of Mr Chris Calascione contributed to the development and progress of managers in Malta. Reuben Buttigieg, MIM’s president since June 2011.He emphasizes the Institute’s importance as a representative body of the managerial class, in the general economy of the country.
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