Author: SME Chamber

The Malta Chamber of SMEs in collaboration with She Malta organised an all women event on the occasion of International Women’s Day.

During this event, entitled ‘Cracking the code to success’ business women had the opportunity to discuss ‘business burnout & coping mechanisms’ and ‘innovation and technology for gender equality’.

The first panel, discussing ‘Business burnout & coping mechanisms’ was moderated by Ms Sarah Woods and included Ms Yasmin De Giorgio, CEO at Stanya & Shireburn Software, Ms Charlene Camilleri Duca, Clinical Psychologist, Gestalt Psychoterapist & Director at paths & Ms Justine Pergola, Owner & Business Development at Palazzo Parisio.

The second panel, moderated by SME Chamber CEO Ms Abigail Agius Mamo included the participation of Ms Shelley Brown, B2B Senior Sales Manager at EPIC, Ms Ruby Muscat, HR & Operations Director at Aspira Global, Ms Audrey Farrugia, IT Business Consultant & Certified Scrum Master and Ms Bettina Falzon, Co-Owner & COO at lovin Malta.

The SME Chamber and She Malta thanks their supporters: Epic Malta, Aspire Group, Fina, Tettiera, Palazzo Parisio, Mint Health, Powerhouse Ltd, V Squared, Magnum & Sanya Wellbeing.

Malta Chamber of SMEs Head of Policy Mr Andrew Aquilina participated during a conference organised by National Commission for the Promotion of Equality on the occasion of Women’s Day entitled ‘Strengthening equality, Where are we going?’

On the occasion of Consumers’ Rights Day the MCCAA – Malta Competition and Consumer Affairs Authority organised a half-day seminar entitled ‘Strengthening Consumers’ Rights in Today’s Dynamic Market’.

Head of Policy Mr Andrew Aquilina participated on a panel discussion, ‘Regulating online marketplaces: Exploring the impact of modernisation directive on cumsumers and businesses’.

The Malta Chamber of SMEs has met officials from the recently set up ITS Training School which aims to elevate skills in the tourism sector.

Accompanying the SME Chamber CEO Abigail Agius Mamo were representatives from the Licensed Private Education Providers. The SME Chamber said that it agreed with the aim to upskill and all resources must be utilised in the best possible manner to this end, including resources available in the Private Sector.

ATTN: IT systems suppliers that supply ERPs or accounting packages

The Ministry for Finance and Employment and Pagero are organising webinar about the implementation of eInvoicing by the Government of Malta.

This initiative is in response to the European Directive on eInvoicing in Public Procurement (2014/55/EU) which requires all public sector organisations to have IT systems in place to be able to receive and process electronic invoices that comply with the European eInvoice Standard EN 16931.

Please join the scheduled webinar on Tuesday, 21 March at 0930hrs.  This webinar is expected to have the duration of around one hour.

During this webinar you will learn:

• The Government’s approach to eInvoicing;

• What is an eInvoice;

• Basics of the Peppol 4-corner interoperability model;

• How Peppol is being implemented in Malta.

You are kindly asked to register for this webinar via the link https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/5128497594766612832.

Moreover, more information on the Government’s policy on eInvoicing can be found on the Ministry’s web page at https://einvoicing.gov.mt/

Please feel free to forward this mail to anyone else within your organization who wishes to attend.

Recently in Parliament PL MP Rosianne Cutajar called for a national discussion about menstrual leave while delivering her adjournment speech. The particular leave would only be granted to women who, while having their menstrual cycle, go through a lot of pain because they suffer from certain medical conditions such as endometriosis, ovarian cysts, and others.

However Malta Chamber of SMEs CEO Ms Abigail Agius Mamo quickly described this proposal as ‘not practibable’ and ‘unjustified’ in comments to The Malta Indepedent.

CEO of the Malta Chamber of SMEs Abigail Agius Mamo said that there is no justification for the introduction of menstrual leave. “Menstrual pain can obviously be difficult, and there are certain conditions which make this worse, but the sick leave already allows for women to request a day off work due to pain,” Agius Mamo said.

She continued that the doctor is not obliged to disclose the reason why one would be requesting leave and it can be kept private. “We do not see any kind of justification for menstrual leave. The concept could possibly be driven by trying to increase the sick leave days, which are already ample. One can also use their leave days for this,” Agius Mamo said. There have also been increases in the maternity and paternity leave, she added.

Many places of work are also increasing their flexibility and remote working, she added. “There is completely no justification as to why there should be menstrual leave,” Agius Mamo said.

Asked by the Malta Indepdent whether the introduction of menstrual leave could lead to employers preferring to employ men over women, Agius Mamo said that employers cannot really afford to discriminate between males and females at the moment, however, the wage inflation may make it more unattractive for employers to employ females should the menstrual leave be implemented. “There are instances where one can be unfit for work due to any kind of ailment. These are usually handled with discussions between the employee and the employer,” Agius Mamo said.

“We need to be extremely careful with something like menstrual leave. They expect to come up with these proposals with completely unjustified and indirect expectations for employers,” she said, adding that the burden of having to cover this leave would fall on the employer. The situation for employers is already difficult, as many are short-staffed, and the level of service is diminishing, Agius Mamo continued.

“It is very unrealistic to consider something like this,” she said.

The Measures and Support Division within the Ministry for the Economy, European Funds and Lands have launched a Grant Scheme for the Renovation of Private Sector Buildings to support investments to address high upfront costs of building renovation in the private sector, including commercial buildings.

This Grant Scheme will support eligible micro, small, medium and large enterprises to undertake actions that reduce the primary energy demand of the building by reducing the energy used for heating, cooling, ventilation, hot water and lighting.

Applications are open from March 1 till April 28, 2023. More information on the scheme can be accessed here.

Information Sessions

Interested enterprises are invited to attend one of two information sessions to be held online by the Measures and Support Division and Servizzi Ewropej f’Malta (SEM) on March 9 between 11:00 and 11:45 or on March 16 between 14:00 and 14:45.

During the information sessions, participants will be provided with more information on the funding call, allow you to gain more awareness of SEM’s funding assistance services, and raise any queries one may have.
Attendees can register and choose the information session of their preference through this form.