Author: SME Chamber

The aim of this public consultation is to gather feed-back and ideas on how the Small Business Act for Europe should be revised to continue a strong European policy to support Small and Medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and entrepreneurs in 2015-2020.

This consultation targets SME business organisations, individual SMEs, public authorities, Member States’ authorities and other relevant stakeholders and citizens.

Further information and submission of the consultation can be accessed through the link:

http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/policies/sme/small-business-act/public-consultation-sba/index_en.htm#h2-1

Bulgaria-Svoge:field sports equipment ; contract description: supply and installation of equipment for sport infrastructures in svoge; Deadline for submissions: 10 December 2014; Reference: 2014/S 194-342215

United Kingdom-London: Software package and information systems

contract description:

In the light of technological advancements and recent developments in the area of public debt management, the Commonwealth secretariat has decided to develop a new system to better meet the needs of its membership.

The new System

The new system will be a web-based solution developed using Microsoft.net technologies (e.g. c#, silverlight, etc.)

and will run on Windows platform and support both SQL server and oracle databases. It is expected that the system will support multiple languages (single-byte and multiple-byte languages) mainly English, French and Spanish.

The new system will provide a central repository for several categories of public and publicly guaranteed external and domestic debt covering a wide range of debt instruments from loans to securities.

scope of work: Given that the development of the new system is a major exercise, the Commonwealth secretariat has decided to outsource the development of the system. Subsequent maintenance of the system following warranty will be handled in-house by the Commonwealth secretariat. In summary the scope of work will involve:

Working with the Commonwealth secretariat to develop the system requirements specifications documents based on the business requirements documents provided by the secretariat.

Preparing system design documents (system modules and database) on which the development of the system will be based.

Developing and delivering a tested system to the secretariat for acceptance testing. The source code must be delivered with proper documentation explaining the functions of each module/function.

Providing comprehensive documentation (technical and user manuals) of the system to the secretariat. In addition, the system must allow for on-line, context sensitive help at both screen and field level.

Developing a data migration utility for electronically migrating client data from the existing CS-DRMS to the new system.

Training and transfer of knowledge must be provided to the staff of the secretariat who will provide first line support and carry out updates in-house once the system is delivered; the services of the provider may be enlisted for further development work depending on the nature and size of updates.

Deadline for submissions:

[this is a prior information notice]

Reference: 2014/S 194-342848

United Kingdom-London: IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support

contract description:

The BBC is currently undertaking a four year change programme to equip the business with a set of advanced analytical tools and capabilities. The aim of the programme is to encourage and facilitate data-driven decision making, to provide a more personalised audience experience.

The BBC is considering the procurement of a tool that will support the BBC to optimise their online content in terms of audience engagement, consumption and interaction (and other associated activities). This tool would be pan-BBC (i.e. across both Public service and commercial) and capable of tracking audience activity on multiple devices and in multiple formats in real-time. The BBC would also require provision of support and maintenance.

The types of roles using this tool would be: Front-page Editors; user Experience and design staff; Features Editors and; Journalists.

As an example, this tool should be able to allow the BBC user to:

view real-time audience engagement metrics, such as scroll depth, on specific stories;

view the real-time performance of stories in terms of engagement and popularity e.g. their ranking on the page and time spent on page;

Easily compare the performance of stories within a domain. I.e. the software should be able to identify index pages as a collection of individual stories;

view real-time data regarding user journeys (internally and externally);

view data about customer loyalty, traffic sources, and recirculation;

view data about device type;

view the effect on audience metrics of page layout/content changes in real-time;

For further information contact Enterprise Europe Network (Malta)

Malta experiences largest decrease amongst MS at 7.4% – In September 2014 compared with August 2014, seasonally adjusted industrial production rose by 0.6% in both the euro area (EA18) and the EU28, according to estimates from Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.

In August 2014 industrial production fell by 1.4% and 1.2% respectively. In September 2014 compared with September 2013, industrial production increased by 0.6% in both the euro area and the EU28.

From the statistics it transpires that Malta has experienced a decrease for the 6th consecutive month, when compared to the same month in the previous year, at -7.4%.

Although the Priceclub debacle of 2001 should have been a hard-learned lesson for many and eye-opener for the future, credulous businessmen still appear to be easy prey for fast and sweet talking ‘entrepreneurs’ who manage to persuade them to let go of their hard-earned cash denting heavily the cash flow of their companies/business activities, which in some cases, may even result in bankruptcy. In the last few weeks, newspapers have reported a quasi-Priceclub scenario – if businessmen who were bitten then have again fallen prey, they have not learnt their lessons well.

At that time, businesses had no external means or the required tools to attempt to foresee and avoid such situations with the ‘gut feeling’ and the ‘friend of friends’ methods prevailing (and, unfortunately, still do today).   External means and tools are today available, therefore, excuses, serve only too thinly veil attempts to hide the fact that they have again fell for it.  

In certain sectors the profit margins are so thin, that a single important default would wipe away years of hard-work.  The phrase ‘it will not happen to me’ has to be deleted from any existing vocabulary, dictionary, thesaurus, etc..  Because,  if one does not take reasonable precautions and continuously gauge the risks involved, they will get caught out . 

A company should use all possible methods that are available in the market, as one single tool may not be enough to filter out the rotting apples.  A small investment may save your company thousands of euros or even ensure its survival.

Businesses in Malta are still shying away from data sharing, which in itself is a form of insurance against bad debts.   Volunteering aged debtors to a third party whose expertise is the manipulation of such data would filter out a lot of the potential culprits who are experts at hiding their financial difficulties. They may even succeed to delude banks notwithstanding their own strict internal safe-guards.

Local banks must also stop hiding behind the Banking Act 1994 and commence to share data, at least amongst themselves, even if this is just one side of the coin.  The sharing of data would reduce drastically the options of would-be fraudsters by blocking the possibility of bank hopping.   Banks have obligations towards their customers especially towards the normal saver whose money is being loaned out to these companies.  

As mentioned previously sharing of data between banks is only one side of the coin.  The other side is the actual day-to-day commercial aspect of the data which is comprised of both positive and negative facts, which the banks must have access to if they want to have the full picture of a data subject at any given point.

Recently, we have seen a number of intentional or unintentional situations, which, with proper controls in place, may have been foreseen and avoided.   Malta is lagging behind on its credit control sector and it must scrutinize the playing field as well as the players, amend  the local legal framework and even, if need be, introduce new legislation to bring Malta up to the same level as its EU counter-parts.    The business community has to protect the economy from fraud and bad practice, and exposing individual of potential “scams”

Let us not let defaulters, fraudsters and similar hide behind the relevant legislation, put in place to protect the honest citizen.

GRTU Deputy
President Philip Fenech has this week met with the Director of the Cleansing
Directorate Ramon Deguara and stakeholders from Bugibba and the St. Julians
area to discuss the progress on the cleansing of tourism zones after the peak
summer season.

During the meeting it was
discussed that since tourism is becoming more distributed all through the year
the service will continue throughout winter.

Mr Fenech expressed that he
has received positive feedback from the members that reported that the cleansing
service has substantially improved. It was also however mentioned that other
areas needed further improvement.

The Occupational Health and Safety Authority (OHSA-MT) in collaboration with the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OHSA), has last week organized a seminar on Active Ageing and Occupational Health and Safety.The Seminar delved into areas pertaining to active ageing and management of occupational health and safety and provided insights and practical measures to address occupational health and safety matters in respect to ageing workforce.

Amongst the speakers were Hon Dr Helena Dalli, Hon Dr Justine Caruana, Hon Dr Deo Debattista and Dr Mark Gauci. Other speeches were delivered by key-position holders. The seminar also included interventions from Social Partners.

 Malta like all other European countries, is experiencing an ageing population and this trend is expected to continue in the coming years. Although this is an indicator of social and economic progress, it also brings about significant challenges to public policy. Encouraging active participation within the labour market up to and subsequent to retirement age facilitates economic growth, promotes sustainability of the pension systems and helps in managing the rising financial burdens of social protection systems.

GRTU believes that active ageing can be encouraged by, supporting older people to remain active by working longer, engaging in volunteer work after retirement and leading a healthy and autonomous life.

However, to facilitate an increase in the rate of employment amongst ageing individuals, there must be a comprehensive support system to the ageing workforce, both in relation to National policy as well as support from employers.                                                                 

GRTU suggests reforms to unemployment benefit systems and disability pensions and benefits. Encourage life long learning in education, training and skills, and creating subsidies to recruit older workers. Create a positive attitude amongst business enterprise by ensuring productivity and adaptability by updating skills throughout an individual’s working career. Maintain a high level of motivation by offering flexible hours.

In order to have better health and an increase in life expectancy, workplaces must be healthier and safer. Occupational health and safety plays an important role in the promotion and sustainability of active ageing in the workplace. Each workplace is distinct in relation to the risks it places on workers, in particular older workers, hence the need to take into account ageing factors when developing and implementing occupational health and safety measures. This requires a specific and systematic approach.

GRTU believes that inter-generational engagement and succession planning by creating age diverse teams will lead to the gaining of different experience and skills. Encouraging companies to include HR strategies to implement effective succession is another proposal.

Correct succession planning will both encourage younger and older generations of workers because it will be able to outline the prospective future.

Green MT has
recently held its 4^th consecutive Council Awards. The event was held at a leading hotel in
St. Julians. The attendance of a substantial number of mayors and executive
secretaries together with Green MT's leading producer member was welcomed for
the evening.

Green Council Awards are a
recognition to those Local Councils who have achieved collection targets within
their localities in respect of recyclable waste. Other than recognising these
Councils Green MT has also added a number of awards because of the contribution
it believes they give to the sector and therefore should be recognised. The
award for Best Recycling Business for the year went to General Soft Drinks co
Ltd whilst the Lifetime Achievement Award dedicated to an individual who has
contributed greatly towards not only increasing recycling in the locality but
also for making an overall contribution to the environmental upkeep of the
locality. This award went to Mr John Boxall Mayor of Vittoriosa. St Paul's Bay
Local Council was awarded the Council Initiative for Recycling because it was
instrumental in setting up an event to make the public aware that more glass
needed to be collected to be recycled instead of going to landfill.

Three awards were given to the Local
Councils of Nadur Gozo, Cospicua and Rabat Malta for reducing mixed waste going
to landfill in 2013. The award for the best overall recycling collection went
to the local council of Ta' Xbiex who collected 79 kilos per capita in 2013.
They were closely followed by the local council of Mellieha in second place and
the local council of St Julians in third place.

During the event Mr Paul Abela
President of GRTU and Chairman of Green MT outlined to those present that the
GRTU Malta Chamber of SMEs had effectively been the only constituted body that
took up the eventual responsibility of setting up a company to handle the
environmental obligations of SMEs. Despite all of the difficulties, Mr Abela
informed those present that GRTU deems this to be an outstanding achievement.
He further insisted that the time is now ripe for government to rid producers
of ECO contribution legislation. The event was also addressed by the Honourable
Dr Stefan Bountempo who is responsible for Local Government. Dr Bountempo
thanked Green MT for such an event and ordered that local councils continue to
instigate their residents to continue to take part in this silent revolution –
that of making sure their individual local councils become increasingly
environmentally friendly. Dr Bountempo continued to insist that together with
the Ministry for Sustainable Development, Environment and Climate Change, his
secretariat has gone through detailed discussions to further waste separation
at source, including the introduction shortly of a food waste bag.

The keynote speaker of the event was
the Honourable Minister Leo Brincat, Minister for Sustainable Development,
Environment and Climate Change. Minister Brincat thanked all those present and
outlined that governments` promise to rid the business community of ECO
contribution which is currently stalling the implementation of the WEEE
Directive. 

Minister Brincat further stated that
a consultation document issued early in July by the European Commission has
outlined more onerous targets to be met by producers in member states in
relation to a number of waste stream directives.  He insisted that Malta
was no exception to the rule and, for the benefit of future generations, Malta
had to do its best to meet these targets. He stated that government was in
favour of pilot projects in respect to changes in the waste management sector
as the 'one size fits all' is not acceptable to all local councils.

At the end of the event Minister
Brincat, Dr Stephan Bountempo and Mr Paul Abela Chairman of Green MT presented
the awards to the winners.

Green MT,
is an authorised waste packaging compliance scheme, a fully owned subsidiary of
GRTU Malta Chamber of SMEs. It had been set up with the aim of making sure that
SMEs met their environmental obligation at law. Green MT can be reached on
telephone number 21496965/6 during office hours.

GRTU President Paul Abela, Deputy President Philip Fenech and
CEO Abigail Psaila Mamo have this week met Hon Edward Zammit Lewis, Minister for
Tourism to discuss its tourism related priorities for Budget 2015.

Wider spread of tourism

GRTU explained that other services in the localities
like Cafés and Restaurants and many retailers will benefit if tourists
accommodation spreads from the traditional tourists areas to the localities.
The spread of tourists amongst Malta's localities will ease the increasing pressure
on the infrastructure resulting from a necessary increase in tourists flow to
Malta needed to enhance tourism's contribution to Malta's GDP. Host Families
for instance are a valuable resource. These are dedicated individuals that open
their homes to total strangers and welcome them and do their best to provide
cheap lodging at a good standard while providing the experience of the Maltese
way of living. The GRTU knows of minor shortcomings in the sector however the
whole cannot be made to suffer for it. GRTU therefore proposes to further incentivize
the sector and help it become more competitive. The hotel industry and the host
family sector are currently in competition and we think that it is only fair
that they compete under the same rules. GRTU proposes reducing the Host Family
license per bed which would equal the license per bed paid by hotels.

The value added in the utilization of available
resources that could easily be transformed with the right incentives for
tourism purposes could be remarkable. GRTU proposed allowing for change of use
for these buildings so that more empty buildings can be used for back office
work or for other activities of an economic value, including Boutique Hotels
and B&Bs. GRTU also urges Government to invest in the infrastructure within
the localities so that tourists can have easy access to facilities everywhere
they choose to go and stay. This will help attract tourists to our localities
and better distribute the wealth and business they generate. This includes the
continuation of works on historic sites and village cores, signage, etc…

Crafts Village

GRTU said that it welcomed Government's commitment to
invest in the current Crafts Village with the aim of delivering the necessary
upgrades the area badly need. GRTU said it is aware that Government has applied
for over €8M in EU funds to carry out the project but none of these EU funds
will be enjoyed by the operators. Tourists visit the Crafts Village in the most
natural of manners and it is a pity that after finding a way to get there,
because with Arriva it became more difficult to get to the Crafts Village, they
leave disappointed by the experience because of the state of the Village and
the quality of the products. GRTU asked the Minister for support to
re-establish a direct bus route to the crafts village.

MIP's plans for the Crafts Village are very sound but
there is an investment the owners need to make and they will be reluctant to
make it unless they see a return. The current number of visitors is not
encouraging and this can be improved strongly with the support of the Ministry
for Tourism and the MTA. The Crafts Village has the potential of becoming one
of Malta's prime tourist attractions and it should be marketed and regarded as
such. GRTU as such called for a Tourism strategy for the crafts village.

Higher quality for our
tourists

To increase the value of local produce GRTU proposed
the investment in quality testing and certification system to test and certify
local produce. This with the aim that only genuinely locally produced products
are marketed as such, this would help crafted goods being associated with
higher quality. Incentives to invest in local produce with easily accessible
standards and quality marks should be specific for those investing in the local
produce.  In addition specialised individuals need to be employed with
Government to certify the authenticity of local produce and a quality mark is
issued. Government should also invest or incentivise the public sector to invest
in systems such as Isotope Testing Equipment. Incentives should also be
targeted specifically at agri-tourism sector and organic farming.

Tax incentive

To further encourage crafts GRTU urged the Minister to
reduce the VAT element to 7% on locally produced crafts that are highly labour
intensive and in some cases contain a large amount of energy content such as
glass and ceramics. This would be similar to the incentive that is applicable
on arts where VAT stands at 5%.

The Pleasure boat and
Yachting Industry

GRTU requested that funds would be directed towards
the upgrade of current boat yards in order to be able to accommodate larger
boats such as tourist cruise boats. Unlike the fishermen the operators of
cruise boats currently are not offered the facility to put their boats on the
dry, at the Marsaxlokk boat yard for instance, at a reasonable price. The only
options given, including Manuel Island Yacht Yard, are very expensive and
unsustainable. The only sustainable option they see, which in itself cannot be
regarded as sustainable, is to take the boats to Sicily every winter, for
repairs and laying up, often a hugely cheaper option, if not exactly a
desirable one.

GRTU called for a commitment from Government to tackle
the astronomical shortage of marinas and pontoon berths in Malta. This highly
lucrative market is largely side lined in favour of other sectors such as the
cruise liner industry. Whilst appreciating the importance of other touristic
markets, the private yachting industry is unjustifiably being put on hold.
Malta has enormous potential to successfully compete with other yachting
destinations such as those in Southern Italy, South of France, Palma de
Majorca, and even spreading to Croatia, Crete and Greece, attracting foreign
boat owners to moor their vessels permanently in Malta. Nevertheless the sheer
lack of facilities and the huge numbers on the waiting lists for pontoon spaces
as well as the exorbitant costs are a deterrent.

Minister's reaction

The Minister was in full agreement with GRTU's arguments
and said that the Ministry will be proposing measures on these lines as he
believed that a wider spread in tourism not just along a larger number of
months but also localities should be our plan to achieve sustainability within
the sector. The Minister also agreed with most of the other points proposed by
the GRTU saying that the GRTU has become an organization that puts forward
sensible and responsible proposals. Dr Zammit Lewis said that he looks forward
to maintaining a healthy relationship with the GRTU.

What is Audio Branding? When we
run out of the perfume we use regularly, we immediately go out to buy "our
signature smell". You can in fact associate certain perfumes with
particular individuals that regularly use their signature perfumes. The
philosophy is similar.

What
audio branding does to your brand is what a signature smell does to a person.
It's a trigger to your brain and it creates an immediate association of that
signature sound to your brand.

Custom
made audio branding is a signature piece of music, that includes slogans and
melodies which are specifically written for your brand to create an original
audio identity. It is exactly the same as creating a company logo but this time
it is an audio logo that will go hand in hand with your company logo.

The
process begins after a lot of brain storming, including getting to know the
brand, finding out what the objective is and connecting with the target
audience through music and a catchy jingle, an ear worm.

Unlike
the common perception this is quite inexpensive, in fact very accessible and
has the possibility of being covered by an incentive, which continues to lower
the cost.

Date: Tuesday 4th November

Time: 14.00 – 15.00

Venue: GRTU, Exchange Buildings, Republic Street, Valletta, VLT 1117

To see how this
works in practice check out this links below. If you recognize these tunes you
will realize how effective this can be and the potential this holds for your
company: