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Making sales using Ecwid, but the eBay market keeps calling your name? I've got good news for you.
Ecwid has extended its multi-channel capabilities to include publishing products directly to eBay. Plus, users can now manage their eBay dealings through their Ecwid control panel.
The platform's 800,000+ user base will likely be very pleased with the news, as the lure of eBay is still as strong as ever for online merchants.
Ecwid's instructions are an easy read. To establish a presence on eBay, users just need to:
And that's it.
The eBay integration doesn't stop there, though. Ecwid sellers can also manage eBay sales from Ecwid.
Plus, as eBay sales occur, Ecwid automatically syncs and adjusts inventory levels. Effectively, Ecwid has turned eBay into a new arm of itself for merchants to benefit from.
To find out more about this new eBay integration, visit the Ecwid blog.


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The Pharmacists Council of Nigeria sealed off 309 medicine stores which includes 38 pharmacies and 271 patent medicine shops in Ogun State over unethical misconduct.
PCN Registrar, Elijah Mohammed, said this while addressing journalists on the council’s efforts over sanitisation in the state. Also added that the premises sealed off were in Abeokuta, Ilaro, Sango – Ota, Ifo, Iperu – Remo, Sagamu, Ikenne, Odogbolu, Ijebu – Ode, Ilese, Ibafo, Mowe, Ofada among others.
He explained that the offences allegedly committed range from operating without registration with the PCN; failure to renew premises license, dispensing products without the supervision of a pharmacist, poor storage and sanitary conditions.
Mohammed said the exercise was meant to ensure “that all premises where medicines are sold are registered, having fulfilled conditions with respect to location, storage facilities, environment, documentation and personnel.”

domain: news


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Farm machinery manufacturer Agco has expanded its Certified Pre-Owned equipment risk management plan to cover eligible RoGator and TerraGator applicators.
The Agco CPO program will now be available on TerraGator high-floatation applicators and RoGator row-crop applicators under four years of age and with less than 1,800 hours, following inspection completed by an AGCO-certified technician.
Machines covered by Agco’s CPO plan are put through “rigorous” reconditioning and, when needed, parts are repaired or replaced so the machine is in field-ready condition, the company said in a recent release.
CPO-certified machines are also backed with a one-year protection plan which can be extended to up to 36 months, Agco said.
With TerraGator and RoGator applicators now in the CPO program, Agco said, the company now has “the broadest offering of equipment available as CPO in the industry, including tractors, combines, large square balers and self-propelled windrowers” and is the only company to offer CPO hay equipment.
The Agco Protection plan offered on CPO machinery is an insurance policy for engine and powertrain components, the company said, “to protect against unexpected repair costs and to help maintain the machine’s resale value.”
Agco noted it’s made Basic AGCO Protection extended service coverage (ESC) available for 24 and 36 months on CPO equipment with up to 3,000 engine hours. –– AGCanada.com NetworkTagged Agco, machinery, Rogator


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According to People magazine, Ashton Kutcher has decided to pop the question to Mila Kunis.
The actress was spotted wearing a huge diamond ring during a shopping trip with her mom on Thursday.
“Ashton loves to travel and so does Mila, so they have seen a lot of new places and both are charged at the idea of doing it more, even living part-time abroad,” a source told the magazine. “They seem to have a lot in common, and that helps keep a relationship strong.”
Rumors of a romance between the two former That ’70s Show co-stars started circulating in April 2012 but the pair officially confirmed their relationship in March 2013.


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Today is day four of five for Shake Shack's anniversary celebration, and while we already knew that the first customers for Daniel Humm's Gruyère and black-truffle-garnished burger started to show up around 7 a.m., we're now told that the queue wraps through Madison Square Park, onto Madison Avenue, veers a hard left onto 26th Street, goes down the block, and then some. Greg Waters, the chain's senior manager of of marketing and communications, tells Grub it is "definitely the longest line we've ever had at Shake Shack." Two things seem to be certain here: Truffle burgers trump shrimp burgers, and there are probably going to be some really weird Missed Connections posted on Craigslist tonight.
People are waiting for this, which, black truffle content considered, likely has a street value of more than the $8.50 Shake Shack is getting for it. ($1 goes to park conservation efforts, mind you, too.)
Oh, and look: Champagne!
Here's the line of truffle seekers:
Just a reminder that, in addition to the tuber melanosporum extravaganza, today is the chain's actual birthday. As such, there's music, and birthday cake prepared by Dominique Ansel, and a "pay what you’d like" deal on Shack-cago Dogs. More information here.


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Australia has exported its first shipment of hempseeds to New Zealand.
Australian Minister of Agriculture David Littleproud said the federal government will support exporters to ensure they thrive.
“To help us achieve this, we need to ensure that we have appropriate regulatory settings to enable exports to grow and in turn to help drive productivity and increase returns at the farm gate,” he said.
The Australian government legalized low-THC hempseed foods in November 2017. With the new legislation, producers will be able to export raw hemp and hemp food products.


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The Australian Hot 50 Restaurant Awards are announced
Australia’s sizzling culinary scene was celebrated last night with the inaugural The Australian Hot 50 Restaurant Awards.
The Awards recognise Australia’s top restaurants and rich culinary talents, with prizes being awarded across a number of categories. These included Hottest Design, Hottest Chef and Hottest Classic.
The coveted top prize of Hottest Restaurant went to Sydney newcomer Momofuku Seiōbo. The People’s Choice award went to Melbourne’s Hare & Grace.
The judging panel represented a cross-section of Australia’s culinary elite including Weekend Australian Magazine’s restaurant critic, John Lethlean, food writers Necia Wilden and Simon Thomsen and expert contributors in a number of states.
Lethlean said Momofuku Seiōbo, which only opened in October 2011, really was a must-visit experience.
“Momofuku Seiōbo embodies everything these awards are about,” Lethlean said.
“Energy, creativity and unpredictability underpinned by the fundamentals of a great restaurant experience – superb produce, precise and sympathetic cooking, proper service, an appreciation of the role of wine in great dining and, of course, proper hospitality.
“We were looking for restaurants on the cutting edge of Australian dining that are really doing something different. We looked at every aspect, from the food and service to the wine list and restaurant design. We wanted to find the hottest restaurants that epitomise Australian dining and where it’s heading. We are really proud of the awards; they are a great representation of the Australian culinary landscape.”
Momofuku Seiōbo’s David Chang has been widely acclaimed. The chef has been described by former New York Times Restaurant Critic Frank Bruni as “a chef who went further than any of his peers in wedding serious, sometimes challenging food and an ultra-casual, spontaneous dining ethos in tune with unbound times.”
The complete list of winners of The Australian Hot 50 Restaurant Awards 2012 were:
Hottest Restaurant Momofuku Seiōbo, Sydney
Hottest by State NSW: Momofuku Seiōbo
VIC: Moon Under Water
SA: Press* Food & Wine
WA: Restaurant Amusé
Hottest Wine Experience Tetsuya’s, Sydney
Hottest People’s Choice Hare & Grace, Melbourne
Hottest Value Press* Food & Wine, Adelaide
Hottest Service Sixpenny, Sydney
Hottest Design Neild Avenue, Sydney
Hottest Classic Café Di Stasio, Melbourne
Hottest Chef Andrew McConnell
Hottest Dish – TIE Quay, Sydney (Smoked and confit pig cheek, shiitake, shaved scallop, Jerusalem artichoke, juniper, bay)
Restaurant Amusé, Perth (Egg, mushroom, pine nut, smoke)
Some News South Wales hospitals will soon have soft drinks removed from all vending machines.
The death of a woman who died climbing Mount Everest over the weekend is being connected to her vega...
Aldi has come out on top in Roy Morgan Research’s latest Customer Satisfaction Awards.
Woolworths has mentioned potential future plans for a new food service concept store in a recent cou...
THIS shift from reactive to predictive marketing could change the way you shop, bringing you suggest...
IS Tesco's UK launch of a discount chain, 'Jacks', as a competitive response to the inroads of Germa...
THE decline of alcoholic drinks continues as new non-alcoholic beverage products dare to tread in th...
AUSTRALIA is almost certain to avoid a tax on sugary drinks as Labor confirms in the senate report O...


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All credit to Melbourne-based audiobook retailer Bolinda for bringing their cleaner with them to the Bookseller’s FutureBook Conference last week. And not just their cleaner, but also their ‘hiker’, their ‘dancer’ and really their doer of any activity that can be accomplished while listening to audio books – which was the point the company made in a very creative way. It hired London-based actress Sarine Sofair to perform these tasks in front of a Bolinda backdrop in the coffee area of the conference, where founder and co-CEO Rebecca Herrman met delegates, some of whom may have been discovering her company for the first time.
Many people took pictures, but one wonders how many realised they had seen Sofair before – er, half-naked in Game of Thrones Seasons 4 and 5 where she plays Lhara, a prostitute living in Braavos, who splashes about, topless, in the Roman-style baths with the pirate-lord Salladhan Saan. Sorry, that Google thing is so useful. To top off a very successful visit, Herrmann was named FutureBook Leader of the Year, following on from PanMacmillan’s Sara Lloyd last year and Penguin Random House’s Hannah Telfer in 2015.
Still with Australia, Amazon has now officially launched where England are having such a tough time in the cricket. This has prompted the familiar debate over jobs created over potential jobs lost (and about batting orders too). Amazon promises to “create thousands of new jobs and invest millions of dollars” in the country. Mark Rubbo, MD of indie bookseller Readings in Melbourne, is pessimistic. “There’s a real risk that Amazon Australia could decimate local businesses – and with them, part-time casual jobs for students and parents of young children.”
He may be heartened by an overview of the US experience by the Harvard Business School (HBS). Its ‘Working Knowledge’ site notes that while the number of US indies fell by 43% between 1995 and 2000, between 2009 and 2015 they staged a comeback, with numbers rising 35% from 1,651 stores to 2,227. The figures come from the American Booksellers Association.
Ryan Raffaelli, an assistant professor in the Organisational Behaviour unit at HBS wondered how this happened and has just released the preliminary findings of his five-year research. He summarises the revival of indie bookstore with three c’s: community, curation and convening. He says they were the first to champion localism; they began to offer a more tailored stock range (leaving the chains to battle it out with online players on frontlist); and they worked hard to up the number of events/debates/storytimes/children’s parties/signings etc, promoting themselves as intellectual centres at the heart of communities. In other words, perhaps – just perhaps – there is room for both – for indies and Amazon.
Meanwhile, on these shores, Waterstones’ announcement of five new stores before Christmas was a welcome early present for publishers, even if two of the stores – St Neots in Cambridgeshire and Epsom in Surrey – are returns to towns in which the chain previously had stores. The three other stores – the Deal Bookshop in Kent, the Weybridge Bookshop in Surrey and the Blackheath Bookshop in south east London – are all what might be called ‘Indiestones’ or ‘Waterdependents’: in other words, independents in look and feel, but very much part of the mothership.
This good news is reflected across the Atlantic too. While Barnes & Noble’s figures for the second quarter to 28 October were poor in non-book categories, CEO Demos Pameros said that book sales held their own and that like-for-like store sales had continued to improve into November. He told analysts that the company’s plan is to open smaller stores that will concentrate on books that in fiscal 2019 it hopes to open more stores than it closes.
In China, they seem to be trying something the UK experimented with in the Eighties and Nineties: publisher-owned bookstores (anyone remember Penguin Bookshops?). State-owned publisher Citic Press Group has opened nearly 70 shops in airports across the country, while Chinese publisher Thinkingdom Media Group has acquired Singapore-based bookstore Page One.
Congratulations to Simon & Schuster president and CEO Carolyn Reidy whom Publishers Weekly named its Person of the Year. It noted that Reidy had “steered the company through the Great Recession, publishing’s digital disruption, and a slow growth sales environment to keep it a commercial and critical success”.
Finally, that was a wonderful item on newly-declassified papers from MI5 that show the agency was monitoring the novelist Kingsley Amis after an intercepted letter described him as a “very promising” member of the Communist Party. Amis’ commanding officer Col John Baskervyle-Glegg (stop stop – they must be making this up) sent a memo which said that the young officer did not have a “particularly inspiring personality”. The army officers also described him as a “deliberate contrarian”. To which those older member of the publishing industry will surely think: ‘they should have known him in his later years….’
Roger Tagholm writes our Snapshot of the Week.


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San Francisco tech workers scooter commute
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
Tech workers in the San Francisco Bay Area are worried about job security over the next six months, according to a new survey.
Job search database Hired surveyed 2,300 tech workers in the Bay Area, New York, and the UK about compensation and work preferences.
The findings showed that 53% of Bay Area employees say they’re “concerned” or “very concerned” that they’ll be laid off or furloughed in the next six months.
The tech industry has been hit hard in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, with major Bay Area-based tech firms like Uber, Airbnb, and Lyft conducting layoffs, and several venture-backed startups laying off and furloughing employees since March.
Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
San Francisco Bay Area tech workers are growing apprehensive about the stability of their jobs.
A new survey by job-search database Hired that evaluated 2,300 tech workers found that 53% of employees in the tech sector in the Bay Area say they’re “concerned” or “very concerned” that they’ll be laid off or furloughed in the next six months. Hired also surveyed tech employees in other regions, finding that 42% of New York respondents and 36% of UK respondents were also concerned about losing their jobs.
Hired theorized that tech workers in the Bay Area are so concerned due to the region’s high concentration of venture-backed companies, which may be more vulnerable in the face of an economic downtown.
The coronavirus outbreak, which hit the Bay Area hard in early March, has impacted several tech companies and startups in the area. Uber, LinkedIn, Airbnb, and Lyft have all laid off employees since March, and several venture-backed tech startups have furloughed or laid off workers in the last few months.
In June, a report from tech firm Visier, which helps companies analyze and optimize their workforces, found that tech has been impacted by the coronavirus crisis in a different way from other industries. Visier found that the big tech companies, many of which are based in the Bay Area, made bigger job cuts and started laying off workers sooner than companies in other industries.
The study also showed that tech firms continued cutting jobs at high rates after companies in other industries mostly stopped laying off workers.
Given that employee expenses, including payroll, tend to make up a significant portion of tech companies’ costs, those companies are looking to cut some of those costs during the downturn, Ian Cook, Visier’s vice president of people solutions, told Business Insider last month.
“High tech is highly dependent on people,” Cook said. “We know that they’re always quick and careful to manage that cost base.”
Read the original article on Business Insider


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GreenEarth joins Sustainable Apparel Coalition
GreenEarth Cleaning has joined the Sustainable Apparel Coalition, a collaboration with leading retailers and manufacturers working toward the goal of sustainable apparel production and after-care that produces no unnecessary environmental harm and has a positive impact on the people and communities they serve.
Through SAC, more than eighty apparel and footwear brands, retailers, suppliers, nonprofits, and NGOs are working to reduce the environmental and social impacts of apparel and footwear products around the world.
The focus of SAC is The Higg Index that measures the environmental performance of apparel products. Future versions will include footwear products and measure social performance.
More information is available on the SAC web site, www.apparelcoalition.org.
Labels CEO named Executive of the Year
Kevin Dubois, CEO of Lapels Dry Cleaning in Hanover, MA, received the “Franchise Executive of the Year” award from the New England Franchise Association (NEFA).
Dubois earned this honor based on his key role in the franchise’s growth, commitment to the environment through its drycleaning processes, its outreach to recruit veterans and its efforts in the community.
“Under Kevin’s leadership, Lapels has raised the bar when it comes to its business practices and how much the company and its franchisees give back to the communities they serve,” said Murray Vetstein, president of the New England Franchise Association. “Kevin is a most worthy recipient of Franchisor of the Year.”
Dubois accepted the award at the associations’s Franchise Relations Summit this spring.
“Considering the high caliber of franchise executives in NEFA and the area which the association covers —the six New England states — this truly is an honor,” said Dubois.
For information on Lapels, visit www.mylapels.com.
Tide opens Illinois location
The first Tide drycleaning store in Illinois was nearly ready for opening in late June.
Raj Patel, president of The Hari Group, who with his father, Bud Patel, owns the franchise that is planning the Naperville, IL, opening. A second location is expected to open in Glen Ellyn, IL.
The Hari Group owns Dunkin Donuts, Baskin Robbins, Jersey Mike’s and Buffalo Wings and Rings, all franchises located in Naperville, except the Jersey Mike’s in Glen Ellyn.
“There is no bigger name in laundry care than Tide,” Patel said. “And there’s the green technology and the brightness of the plant.”
The store will be open 7-days a week, will have a drive-up and will also offer services such as leather cleaning, alterations and fabric refreshing. The business will employ about 15 to 20 people.
“We are not the cheapest and not the most expensive, but we are the best quality,” Patel said.
Fearon named VP at CRDN
Bob Fearon has been promoted to vice president of operations at CRDN, the Certified Restoration Drycleaning Network. The announcement was made by Wayne Wudyka, CRDN’s chief executive officer.
Prior to joining CRDN in 2005, Fearon spent more than 10 years with an insurance restoration contractor, serving in several roles, including quality service representative, field trainer, division general manager and regional manager.
“Bob has played several key roles for us, particularly handling operational duties nationally, and he has been instrumental in the development of our Program Management Department, which is a valuable advantage for our clients,” said Wudyka.
“Going forward, Bob will be more actively engaged with high-level relationships between CRDN and strategic clients, including third party administrators and designated insurance carriers,” Wudyka added. “Bob’s breadth and depth of experience will enable him to continue developing our team and enhance the services we provide to our clients.”
CRDN is an international organization of textile experts who specialize in insurance restoration laundry and drycleaning services for all types of loss. CRDN members offer a solution for insurance professionals seeking to reduce costs and improve customer satisfaction.
CRDN currently operates in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. The organization’s website is www.CRDN.com.


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Canadian auto sales rise in August; Ford stays No.1
(Reuters) - Vehicle sales in Canada rose 6.4 percent in August boosted by demand for Japanese and other imported brands as the Detroit Three, traditionally the mainstay of the market, put in a mixed sales performance, according to data the auto companies released on Tuesday.
Ford Motor Co of Canada (F.N: Quote) remained the top-selling automaker in Canada last month and year-to-date even though its sales dipped on weakness in demand for its passenger cars.
Ford, whose vehicle line-up includes the Ford Escape and Ford Mustang, said its sales slipped 1.8 percent to 25,461 in August on the back of a 29.2 percent drop in total car sales. Truck sales were up 8.1 percent.
"The Canadian industry continues to show steady growth, and at Ford we are seeing an increasing number of customers in our showrooms," said Dianne Craig, chief executive of Ford of Canada.
General Motors Canada (GM.N: Quote) clung onto No.2 spot in August although its sales slumped 15.9 percent to 21,070.
Sales at Chrysler Canada FIA.MI, which produces Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, and RAM brands, rose 9 percent to 20,569, boosted by demand for fuel-efficient passenger cars.
Independent auto analyst Dennis DesRosiers said the Detroit Three's market share in Canada has shrunk to below 45 percent, a factor that will make it tough for the Canadian Auto Workers union to push its demands in current contract talks with the car companies. A year ago Detroit auto makers' market share was close to 50 percent.
It is "hard to argue for more compensation when the Detroit Three are continuing to lose market share - especially when Canadian labor costs are the highest anywhere in the automotive world," DesRosiers said.
Less than two weeks before their contract expires, Canadian auto workers and Ford, GM and Chrysler remain far apart in discussions on new labor contracts and frustration is creeping in, union officials said on Tuesday. Continued...


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There are a good number of newspapers in our country, more are likely to come. But, none will exist without maintaining its quality. We hope that the Bangla daily ‘Desh Rupantor’ will be able to do so.
Bashundhara Group Chairman Ahmed Akbar Sobhan came up with the statements while delivering good will speech at the first anniversary programme of the daily Desh Rupantor at Rupayan Tower in Bangla Motor of the capital on Monday.
Ahmed Akbar Sobhan also wished Rupayan Group Chairman Liaquat Ali Khan Mukul, owner of the newspaper, with a wreath of flowers. Bashundhara Group Vice Chairmen Shafiat Sobhan accompanied the Chairman Ahmed Akbar Sobhan on the occasion.
The Bashundhara Group Chairman also said, “Basically we are businessmen. But we step into the media world with our only motto of branding Bangladesh. We are working relentlessly on how to brand Bangladesh. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is working day and night to materialise the dream of Bangabandhu’s Golden Bangladesh. We hope that we will be able to brand Bangladesh as a developed country in the world stage.”
Among others, Kaler Kantho Editor and Director of East-West Media Group Imdadul Haq Milan, Kaler Kantho acting Editor Mostofa Kamal, Banglanews24.com Editor Jewel Mazher and other high officials of East-West Media Group were also present on the occasion.


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For the quarter ended Feb. 2, Sears Holdings’ net loss narrowed to $489 million, or $4.61 a share, compared to a loss of $2.4 billion, or $22.47 a share, a year earlier. Excluding pension settlements, severance costs, impairment charges and other items, Sears Holdings earned $1.12 a share. Analysts’ average estimate expected a profit of 98 cents.
The quarterly results were helped by a drop in total costs and expenses of 2.2% to $12.88 billion. Total sales declined 1.8% to $12.26 billion, but still managed to beat the analysts’ average estimate for $11.77 billion.
For the year, the company posted a net loss of $930 million, or $8.78 a share. This compares to last year, when the retailer posted a net loss of $3.14 billion, or $29.40 a share. Total debt at quarter’s end was $3.1 billion. This is down from $3.5 billion in the prior-year period.
The company attributed its overall lower sales in part to the spinoff of its Sears Hometown and Outlet business last year as well as having fewer Kmart and Sears full-line stores in operation. Total comparable store sales declined 1.6% driven mainly by a 3.7% sales decline at its Kmart stores in all categories including pharmacy, consumer electronics, grocery and household and drug stores items. Sales at Sears Canada fell 3.8%.
However, sales at Sears’ U.S. stores managed to edge up 0.8%, helped by stronger sales in apparel, home appliances and home categories. Much of the sales drag was blamed on soft consumer electronics sales. Stripping that category out, total revenue at U.S. stores was down 0.2%, down 2.5% at Kmart but up 2.4% at Sears.
Another bright spot for the retailer: its online sales climbed 25%.
Gross margin widened to 25.8% from 24.5% as input costs fell 3.4%. Inventory declined $501 million.
Chief Financial Officer Rob Schriesheim said the company will generate at least $500 million of additional liquidity by selling assets over the next 12 months, without specifying what those might be. He added that Sears will reduce its peak domestic inventory for the year by $500 million from the 2012 level of $8.6 billion.
Retail analysts are paying even closer attention to developments at the retailer since several weeks ago when Edward Lampert, chairman and largest shareholder, took over as chief executive offer after Lou D’Ambrosio left due to a family member’s health issue.
Worries about Lampert’s skill in merchandising arises from the fact that the company’s sales have fallen every years since 2005 when Lampert merged Kmart and Sears Roebuck in an $11 million deal.
‘Still Have A Lot of Work to Do’
Lampert appeared to address past criticism for not investing enough in the store when he said today: “Observers have mistakenly concluded that our issues were primarily related to underinvesting in our stores.”
Rather, Lampert says, the problems stems from changing habits of consumers who have increasingly turned to online or even mobile shopping to make purchases.
“We know we still have a lot of work to do,” Lampert told investors in a letter made public in a regulatory filing. “It will not be easy at times, but we will take bold actions to get through it.”
Lampert said the company will invest in in-store technology, its online business, and Sears’ loyalty program as specified in a plan from last May. For instance, the company provided nearly 15,000 iPads and iPod Touch devices to sales associates at Sears so they can research products and help customers check out wherever they are in a store. And the loyalty program now accounts for nearly half of its revenue.
“Sears Holdings made progress in 2012 improving the profitability of our business, but we know there’s more work to be done in 2013,” said Lampert. “Our focus continues to be on our core customers, our members, and finding ways to provide them value and convenience through Integrated Retail and our Shop Your Way membership platform. We have invested significantly in our online e-commerce platforms, our Membership rewards program and the technology needed to support these initiatives.”
Following the release of its results, Sears Holdings shares fell more than 5% in early trading today.
“With full year results rather uninspiring, 2013 looks like another make-or-break year for this struggling retailer,” said Greg Melich, an analyst at International Strategy & Investment Group LLC.


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By Steven Sukkau
Part-time business tycoons and full-time students Alwina Friesen and Sandra Froese will put their business education to the test this weekend at the Manitoba High School Investment Competition in Winnipeg.
The competition will have the two Garden Valley Collegiate students pitch their start-up business idea to a panel of judges and will be marked on their oral presentation and marketing materials.
Their company, Seasonal Servants, is a Christmas decorating service that specializes in putting up lights, trees and other holiday decorations.
Froese explained their business idea.
"Families are a lot busier today than they were 10 to15 years ago. Our season decorating business idea is an additional service that will be provided for busy families as well as those who are no longer physically able."
Business teacher Susana Hawryshko said the pair have spent over 30 hours outside of class preparing for the competition against nine other teams from Winnipeg and The Pas.


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by Calculated Risk on 5/08/2022 09:49:00 AM
The BEA released their estimate of light vehicle sales for April last week.
This graph shows the percent of light vehicle sales between passenger cars and trucks / SUVs through April 2022.
Only when oil prices are high, does the trend slow or reverse.
The percent of light trucks and SUVs was at 79.0% in April 2022 – just below the record high percentage of 80.0% last October.
The second graph shows heavy truck sales since 1967 using data from the BEA. The dashed line is the April 2022 seasonally adjusted annual sales rate (SAAR).
Heavy truck sales really collapsed during the great recession, falling to a low of 180 thousand SAAR in May 2009. Then heavy truck sales increased to a new all-time high of 563 thousand SAAR in September 2019.
Note: “Heavy trucks – trucks more than 14,000 pounds gross vehicle weight.”
The impact of COVID-19 was significant, and April 2020 was the worst month. After April 2020, sales increased, and were close to sales in 2019 (the year before the pandemic).


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Content has long been king, and times of crisis are when a king’s full power is put on display. Smart communicators are taking notice of the rising reliance on digital during the COVID pandemic, and are reaching their audiences by boosting their digital content output with multimedia storytelling efforts, according to new research from media hosting firm Wistia.
The firm’s newly released 2020 State of SMB Marketing & Content Creation Report, conducted by research partner Qualtrics, examines content creation priorities and challenges during the pandemic, as well as a general outlook for the industry in the coming year. Among the key highlights is that small and midsized business (SMB) marketers are accelerating investments in content creation in 2020 despite significant budget cuts and other constraints—including a fast pivot to podcasting.
While 68 percent of marketers experienced budget cuts by an average of 19 percent, original content creation has increased as finding new customers has become a bigger priority during the pandemic. Additionally, 73 percent of SMB marketers are hopeful and expect budgets to increase in 2021.
“Despite budget cuts, marketers aren’t slowing down content creation and are even accelerating the development of new content across new platforms,” said Chris Meador, VP of marketing at Wistia, in a news release. “During these tumultuous times, marketers are recognizing the value of their owned channels. They’re creating more content than before the pandemic, and are finding new, effective ways to tell their brands’ stories.”
Marketers are re-focusing efforts on driving growth across owned digital channels
While increasing organic traffic and growing a digital presence were marked as top priorities, marketers are struggling with finding ways to reach new customers and growing their customer base. Forty-nine percent of respondents said increasing organic traffic is their number one or two priority over the next 12 months, yet one of the biggest challenges facing marketers is finding new ways to reach customers with 59 percent of respondents saying this was their biggest challenge. Thirty-three percent of respondents ranked growing their digital presence as their first or second priority for the next year.
Despite budget cuts, marketers increase investments in original content creation
Even with budgets shrinking, original content creation is on the rise and is seen as a necessity to increase customers in this increasingly virtual world. Nearly a quarter of respondents (24 percent) didn’t create any original content including videos, podcasts or other assets pre-pandemic, but that has dropped to 11 percent during the pandemic.
Marketers know they need to reach audiences in new ways and are prioritizing new tactics, including 55 percent saying they have utilized virtual events and 53 percent saying video content. Video content is the most popular form of content being created, with 51 percent of respondents having created product and webinar videos pre-pandemic and 59 percent of respondents saying they’ve recently created product videos.
Podcast launches have also increased. Pre-pandemic, only 14 percent of respondents had created a podcast and this has risen to 29 percent who have now launched one.
Marketers eye podcasts to tell specific stories, expand brand recognition and highlight company culture
Almost all respondents (87 percent) are considering launching a podcast in the next 12 months, with many having reported already launching one. Respondents reportedly launched a podcast primarily to increase brand awareness, with 69 percent of respondents ranking this as their first or second priority. Highlighting company culture (45 percent) and reaching a specific audience (28 percent) were also noted as main reasons for launching a podcast. Nineteen percent ranked podcasts as a necessary marketing channel for their industry as a primary reason for launching one. Challenges to launching a podcast included 47 percent ranking it not being on their radar as their top first or second barrier, followed by 41 percent thinking their company is too small and 35 percent who aren’t sure how to get started launching one.
Wistia’s national study was conducted online by Qualtrics between September 9th and September 22nd of 2020. The sample included 311 senior marketers (CMO, VP, or Director or Manager or Marketing Function) who are at least 18 years old, have at least five years of work experience, and work for a company between 26 and 1,000 employees. The survey results have a margin of error of 6%, at a 95% confidence level.


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That’s because, in his quest to make the US Olympic team, Ferlic sees Nike’s range of super shoes, which have revolutionized distance running in recent years, as giving him an edge.
The 27-year-old Ferlic says he yearns to celebrate athletes for their physical achievements and “stop having this ridiculous debate about what shoes people were wearing,” but realizes that moment has long gone.
These days, Nike’s most advanced racing shoes are no longer the preserve of elite runners. Park runners, casual joggers and trendy hipsters are all wearing them.
The Nike Air Zoom Alphafly NEXT% contains a carbon fiber plate that supposedly delivers a propulsive sensation to the runner, as well as a thick, foam sole and two streamlined pods in the forefoot. Compared to the ZoomX Vaporfly NEXT%, another hugely popular model of Nike racing shoes, the Alphafly has more foam and provides additional impact protection and cushion, according to Nike.
“It’s such a good product that it’s promoting itself,” says Ferlic, who will continue to wear Vaporflys in addition to Nike’s ZoomX Dragonfly spikes for track racing. He previously had a Nike professional contract, which he signed in 2016.
Both the men’s and women’s official marathon records were run in versions of the ZoomX Vaporfly Next%. Those runs proved plenty of evidence of the potency of Nike’s technology.
Michigan-based Ferlic contends that the initial rollout of the Vaporflys was akin to doping in that those wearing the shoes had a clear advantage over the chasing pack.
He’s not the only athlete to say that.
“If they say doping is not allowed because it’s performance enhancing but we’re OK with these shoes which are also performance enhancing, there’s a bit of inconsistency there,” British Olympic marathon runner Mara Yamauchi told the BBC in January 2020.
On the heels of Nike’s success, other leading shoe brands, including Adidas, Asics, Brooks and New Balance among others, have come out with their own versions of a super shoe, featuring a carbon fiber plate and ultralight foam.
But now that most athletes seem to be running in them, analysts say the field is leveling out again.
“Fueled by our steadfast focus on bringing innovation to athletes, running continues to deliver sustainable growth to Nike. We remain passionate about and committed to track and field, and we look forward to the continued growth and success of the sport for years to come,” said Nike in a statement sent to CNN.
Initial prototypes of the shoes were only given out to select athletes such as Kipchoge at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Despite being dropped by Nike, Ferlic views it as an advantage to not be tied to a shoe brand.
He argues that an Adidas athlete would have to decide between their loyalty to Adidas or their desire to achieve their childhood dream.
“I’m almost glad I don’t have to make that decision,” says Ferlic. “I’m going to wear the best footwear on the day.”
Another long-distance athlete and friend of Ferlic, Zach Ornelas, believes that Nike is scaling back on sponsoring all but the very best athletes.
“Nike knows they have the best shoes. They don’t need to give money to people,” Ornelas tells CNN Sport.
“People are going to wear their shoes no matter what. And the people who have been dropped: they’re working out and racing in Nike shoes.
“And that’s sad. And luckily, I’m in a position where I don’t need to win a race to eat, I have a job. But if running was my full-time job, I’d be in Vaporflys.”
Nike said the claim that it is scaling back on sponsorship due to the success of the shoe is factually inaccurate.
In its statement sent to CNN, Nike said: “We have been a longstanding supporter of the sport and remain extremely proud of our commitment.
“Running is not only our heritage, it’s our largest performance business. Fueled by our steadfast focus on bringing innovation to athletes, running continues to deliver sustainable growth to Nike.”
A sports scientist at the University of Michigan, Geoff Burns, who specializes in running and biomechanics and is also a keen runner, is more than happy to splash out $250 on a pair of Nike’s running shoes. “They’re quite different than previous shoes in several ways,” Burns tells CNN Sport.
“One of the things that is very different is how soft they are. When you’re running in them, it really does feel bouncier.”
According to Burns, the shoes also add an extra centimeter to a centimeter-and-a-half to leg length.
When it comes to how the shoes have been regulated, Ferlic believes that World Athletics should have put measures in place to prevent Nike’s advances in shoe technology.
“They made the regulations to fit around the current technology that already exists,” says Ferlic.
In the future, he would like to see new shoes come before a review board to help prevent a “perpetual cycle of companies now trying to eke out the best performance within the framework and then coming up with something new.”
World Athletics told CNN Sport that it would “respect the existing shoe heights that were established in the market,” adding that “it was always going to take time for a critical mass of the race results to work through to a point where World Athletics felt it was time to intervene in a more proactive manner.”
The organization added: “All new shoes and prototypes have been and will continue to be reviewed against the regulations before being used in international competition.”
Burns also believes that regulations must exist for companies to innovate insofar as results in the shoes still “afford meaning to performances.”
And just as Formula 1 update their rules every year, there is no reason why track and field rules cannot be updated more often “if there’s an appetite for it,” Burns says.


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Lululemon Athletica (NASDAQ:LULU) is leading the pack in the market today as the stock shows one of the best rally in today’s session so far. As at 11:13AM EDT today, the shares of Lululemon Athletica Inc. were up an impressive 7.02% to $65.24. Today’s rally is an interesting development for lululemon considering the fact that the stock has channeled around its 50-day moving average for much of this month.
My last coverage of lululemon was in a December post titled “Making Lemonades Out of LULU Lemons”. I wrote that piece when shares of Lululemon trading near a $55 resistance after coming out of a round bottom pattern.
I specifically said, “the confirmation of the rounding bottom pattern would see shares of Lululemon breaking out above the $55 resistance point and we can technically say that Lululemon has a breakout above $55 when it closes above that level in three successive sessions”.
I then went ahead to give the stock a $60 price target when I said, “Lululemon confirms the rounding bottom pattern, we can expect to see the stock soaring to new 52-week highs above $60. In fact, we can expect the bullish streak to carry the stock towards its 2-year highs around $80”.
I need not repeat that Lululemon has outperformed my $60 price target as the stock trades above $65 in today’s session.
Why is LULU Up Today?
Lululemon with its market capitalization of $9.25B is a designer and retailer of technical athletic apparel operating primarily in North America and Australia. The Company’s yoga-inspired apparel is marketed under the lululemon athletica brand name.
The main reason behind the rally being recorded in Lululemon today is the impressive fourth quarter (Q4 2014) results that the company posted before the opening bell today. Highlights of fourth quarter results are presented below:
Lululemon reported Q4 EPS of $0.78 per share to beat the consensus estimate of $0.73 and to mark an increase from the EPS of $0.75 from the same quarter last year
The company’s revenue came in at $602.5M in line with the consensus’ analyst estimate. The revenue marks a 15.6% year-over-year increase from the revenue of$521.0M from same period last year
Comparable store sales for the fourth quarter increased by 5% on a constant dollar basis and direct to consumer net revenue increased 20% on a constant dollar basis.
Direct to consumer net revenue increased 17% to $114.5 million, or 19.0% of total Company net revenue, in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2014, an increase from 18.8% of total Company net revenue in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2013.
Gross profit for the quarter increased by 11% to $310.0 million, and as a percentage of net revenue gross profit was 51.5% for the quarter compared to 53.5% in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2013.
Income from operations for the quarter increased by 2% to $157.2 million, and as a percentage of net revenue was 26.1% compared to 29.6% of net revenue in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2013.
How to Trade LULU Options
Many people are pessimistic about the prospects of Lululemon going forward because of the cautious guidance that the company provided for the current quarter. Lululemon guided for revenue of $413M to $418M below the $442M consensus and EPS of $0.31 to $0.33 below $0.39 consensus.
Nonetheless, I am optimistic about the prospects of Lululemon because the cautious guidance will make it easier for the company to outperform expectations. I recommend buying the LULU Jun 2015 70.000 call (LULU150619C00070000) at an asking price of $2.60.
— Daily Option Alerts


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SHIELDS Automotive founder Joe O’Donnell is retiring after 27 years in the industry, having sold his Glasgow-based Land Rover franchise to Lookers in a £8.75 million cash deal.
The 58-year-old owned 94 per cent of the business, so he will pocket the lion’s share of the proceeds. Minority shareholders included Shields finance director Elspeth Macnaughton and Stewart MacLaren, the group’s former director of operations.
The deal comes three years after O’Donnell’s retreat from the multi-franchise car sites that led to Shields racking up losses of £1.2m in 2009. The firm sold its Toyota operations to Arnold Clark in 2011, a year after Aim-quoted Vertu Motors bought its dual-franchised Ford and Mazda sites in Glasgow and Hamilton for £2.5m. As a result, profits at Shields more than doubled last year to £351,000 on turnover of £20.5m.
Speaking yesterday from the Kennishead Road Land Rover showroom, O’Donnell said he would now look at property and other strategic personal investments, while also indulging his passion for fly fishing. With none of his children set to join the business, it seemed the appropriate time to sell up.
He said he also valued the “family business” ethos at Manchester-based Lookers despite it being one of the UK’s largest retail motor groups. Shields currently employs 35 people.
Lookers already has a strong presence in Scotland with its Lomond Audi and Taggarts businesses. Chief executive Peter Jones said the Shields acquisition was “an important development in the group’s representation of the Land Rover brand”.


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Ninjatek, a well-known manufacturer of filaments for 3D printers has just announced the arrival on the market of two new types of filaments baptized with the name of «Cheetah" Y "Armadillo«. According to the press release that accompanies this official announcement, these two new filaments appear to have been developed with the needs in mind. needs from your customers, very interested in being able to manufacture objects such as gaskets, connectors or covers through 3D printing.
Under the name of Cheetah, we find a new flexible filament designed to promote speed when creating any type of object. Thanks to this property, according to Ninjatek, the user experience is significantly improved while resistance to impact or abrasion is maintained. Among the possible applications for this new filament, according to its manufacturer, it could be perfectly used to create joints, connectors, sleeves, hinges and socket pieces.
In second place we find the filament baptized as Armadillo, made from rigid material that stands out for offering a 90% higher abrasion resistance than nylon. According to data provided by the company, its physical resistance would also be higher than ABS, being 86 times stronger. Besides this, Armadillo would not suffer from the dreaded «warping«. According to Ninjatek, possible applications for the Armadillo range from creating clamps and fasteners to sprockets or protective covers.
Finally and as a detail, tell you that if you are interested in what Ninjatek offers or in the characteristics of either of these two filaments, in the official website de la company offers documentation with technical data, printing tips when using these new filaments, results obtained after carrying out different tests and cases of possible applications.


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There is nothing worse than vacationing to an unknown destination with only an atlas, and the wife and kids to guide you. Unless you can’t afford to go on vacation in the first place – that’s worse. But the stress of potentially being bored during vacation can be, well, stressful.
Not knowing the locals shouldn’t hinder you from knowing what the locals know, which is the idea behind Gidsy, the social networking site that allows people to organize, host, or join community events.
“In the fall of 2011, we came up with the idea of going to the forests around Berlin to look for edible mushrooms that we could use for a mushroom risotto,” said Edial Dekker, CEO and co-founder of Gidsy. “Unfortunately, we had no idea which ones we could and could not eat. So, we went looking for someone who could show us which mushrooms could be used for cooking.”
They, being Dekker, his brother Floris, and friend Phillip Wassibauer, began Googling for someone to help them with their mushroom adventure, but, oddly enough, found it nearly impossible to find someone and schedule a “mushroom picking tour.”
“We thought, ‘Hey, there’s a huge opportunity here,’” Edial said.
The opportunity not only for a classic Berlin, mushroom picking tour, but an opportunity for a successful startup business.
“It’s often impossible to find something interesting to do when you are somewhere,” he said. “That’s when we thought about creating a marketplace for things to do where we could connect travelers with locals. We think this can be big, and we’re aiming to become the next Lonely Planet.”
The three founders launched the company in November of last year in New York City and Berlin, their hometown, and raised $1.2 million in seed funding. Gidsy has launched in nine other cities including London, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, but the goal is global. Edial would like for Gidsy to be in every city, but said it’s up to residents to “unlock” their city.
“That’s one of the most exciting things about Gidsy – a community of passionate people that make use of it,” he said. “We cannot wait to launch in other cities and be everywhere in the world eventually.”
The idea even caught the eye of actor and startup enthusiast, Ashton Kutcher, who is an investor in the company.
“It’s awesome to have Ashton on board,” Edial said. “He’s a great guy, and loves traveling and exploring – exactly what Gidsy is about. It is something we never expected when we were starting with Gidsy. Ashton has invested in great companies that we use daily here at Gidsy, so we’re excited to be part of that small startup family.”
Edial said the company still has a lot of work to do before it gets to where they want to be, but that the growth and consumer feedback has been better than expected. He said the company is planning to release an upgrade to the site they’re calling the Columbus release, which is a compilation of everything the company has learned since its launch.
“We’re really excited about this, because we’ve been working on it for a long time,” he said. “We really want to change the way people explore. We want to make it really easy for people to find things to do wherever they are in the world.”
Follow Dustin Bass on Twitter at @dbass_cmn


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Forecasting a $3.7B market for Bitcoin transactions worldwide by 2031: Research
October 25, 2022 3:51 AM
As demand from financial institutions and developing countries grows, the private key and hardware industries will lead the way in the expansion of Bitcoin payments.
In a report released on October 24, Allied Market Research predicted that the global Bitcoin (BTC) payments market would reach $3.7 billion by 2031, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 16.3 percent from 2022 to 2031. This growth would be driven by private keys and hardware.
Among the major factors supporting growth in the sector in the coming years is the operational demand for efficiency and transparency in payments systems, the growth of data security services, and the increase in demand for remittances in emerging economies. According to the report:
"Additionally, during the forecast period, lucrative opportunities for the expansion of the bitcoin payments market are anticipated, owing to the rise in demand for bitcoin among banks and financial institutions and the untapped potential in emerging economies."
The private keys segment accounted for 74% of the Bitcoin payments market in 2021, and the report predicts that this percentage will remain stable throughout the forecast period, growing at a CAGR of nearly 20.3% until 2031. The hardware sector is expected to grow at a CAGR of 19.8% during the same time period.
The report predicts that by 2031, online retail will have grown by nearly 20.2%, ensuring the sector's continued interest in e-commerce. By 2031, analysts anticipate that Asia-Pacific will still hold a sizable share of the market. However, growth forecasts indicate that the North American region will experience the highest rate of expansion, at 18.6% CAGR.
The report recognizes that the sector's progress can be hampered by high deployment costs and low global awareness of the use of Bitcoin, both of which are referred to in the report. A few things were mentioned:
"The use of distributed ledger technology (DLT) has expanded far beyond the realm of cryptocurrencies and into the realms of finance and government. But many people and financial and government sectors in developing nations like India, Africa, and Australia know less about transactions made using bitcoin payment, which slows the growth of the bitcoin payment market worldwide."
It has been reported that the cryptocurrency bear market has affected the way people pay with cryptocurrency, but despite this, Bitcoin is still a major payment tool, accounting for more than 50% of all sales on the platform of payment service provider BitPay. According to the numbers, BitPay's BTC sales volume peaked at 87% in 2021, before dropping during the bear market of 2022.


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USA: Brewers Association reports almost 70% revenue decline in 2020
The Brewers Association said its revenues fell by almost 70% between the end of 2019 and the end of 2020, The Daily Camera reported on April 14.
In its annual report, the Boulder-based trade association said it generated revenues of just more than $9.73 million in 2020 versus $27.76 million in the year prior, and had a net loss of about $3.58 million.
The group also saw its total assets fall 20.9%, from $36.59 million at the end of 2019 to $28.94 million at the close of 2020.
Event revenues were the hardest-hit section of the BAs earnings last year as the pandemic shut down most public gatherings, including the Great American Beer Festival. Its event-related revenues were $16.17 million in 2019, but plummeted to just $1.7 million in 2020.
The BA laid off almost a quarter of its employees last spring in anticipation of a difficult year for craft brewing in general. That sector of the brewing industry saw production volumes drop by 9% year-over-year as in-person tap sales plummeted from shutdowns and fear of COVID spread, along with challenges in acquiring resources to send canned beer to retailers.
E-malt.com, the global information source for the brewing and malting industry professionals. The bi-weekly E-malt.com Newsletters feature latest industry news, statistics in graphs and tables, world barley and malt prices, and other relevant information. Click here to get full access to E-malt.com. If you are a Castle Malting client, you can get free access to E-malt.com website and publications. Contact us for more information at firstname.lastname@example.org .


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(Bloomberg) — Molson Coors Brewing Co. is betting on pot by starting a joint venture with Hydropothecary Corp. to develop non-alcoholic, cannabis-infused beverages for the Canadian market.
The partnership between Molson Coors Canada and Quebec-based cannabis producer Hydropothecary will be structured as a standalone company with its own board and management team. A chief executive officer will be named in the coming weeks.
"We decided entering the cannabis space would provide us with a real growth opportunity," Frederic Landtmeters, CEO of Molson Coors Canada, said in a phone interview. After talking with several potential partners, Molson Coors chose Hydropothecary because of its research and development capabilities, its loyal customer base and its strong brand, he said.
The partnership is a first for a major brewer with operations in Canada, where recreational marijuana will become legal on Oct. 17. Though cannabis-infused edibles and beverages won't initially fall under the provisions of the law, Molson and Hydropothecary expect those products will become legal sometime in 2019.
"We view this as a historic milestone as the Canadian cannabis industry looks for innovative ways to enter the beverage industry," Beacon Securities analyst Douglas Cooper said in a note. "We expect today's Hexo/Molson Coors Canada JV to be nothing short of trend-setting for the cannabis industry as a whole."
The companies declined to provide financial metrics, but Hydropothecary CEO Sebastien St. Louis said the potential market size for cannabis beverages is "staggering." He said the deal with Molson Coors will give his company, which is renaming itself HEXO Corp., the opportunity to be a first mover.
"They're bringing capability as a Fortune 300 company that quite frankly no cannabis company even comes close to replicating," St. Louis said.
Hydropothecary jumped 17 percent to C$4.98 at 9:50 a.m. in Toronto, while Molson Coors Canada stock rose 1.1 percent.
Molson Coors will have a 57.5 percent stake in the company and three board seats, while Hydropothecary will hold the remaining stake and two board seats. The transaction is expected to close before the end of September. As part of the deal, Hydropothecary will issue share warrants to Molson.
The deal comes as more mainstream companies are showing interest in the cannabis space. Alcohol giant Constellation Brands Inc., the maker of Corona beer, bought a stake in Canadian pot producer Canopy Growth Corp. last year, and cigarette maker Imperial Brands Plc last month took an equity stake in closely held Oxford Cannabinoid Technologies.
The beer makers might be hedging their bets. Sales of alcoholic beverages declined significantly in states that legalized medical marijuana, according to research by the University of Connecticut and Georgia State University.


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That Joker pic really caused a stir with fans. In particular, many questioned the tattoos which are new to the crazed fiend. Then, there’s the grill which makes him look like some kind of high-profile rapper.
I’ll stop there, it seems silly to go over it all again.
Anyway, turns out that photo might have been a setup. DC Live Feed leaked an unreleased photo that shows Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn doing all the tattooing.
Where Is This Picture?
There is always the possibility that the leaked photo is a fake. Take a closer look at Harley Quinn’s outfit though, it matches the leaked set photos we’ve seen.
In these photos you can see the same hairstyle and jacket as the one in the leaked photo.
It makes a lot of sense that David Ayer would release the first photo of the Joker to drum up a lot of hype for the movie, Suicide Squad, before unveiling the image with Harley Quinn doing the tattooing. The leaked image seems to say, “ha ha guys, got you.” If that’s the case Joker’s look might not be what we see in the movie, after all.
Do you believe the leaked photo is real?
Update: The photo is fan art created by YouTuber Glam & Gore. Apparently, she and her boyfriend created the image as a collaboration. Her Harley Quinn makeup tutorial is embed below.


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The popularity of plant-based protein has some Prairie farmers sold on the potential of peas.
As customers continue to seek out sustainable alternatives or complements to meat, industry and growers alike believe peas and other pulses can meet a growing market need for Canadian-grown plant protein.
tap here to see other videos from our team.
“Traditionally, a lot of plant protein usage has been from soy ingredients,” said Pulse Canada vice-president of market innovation Julianne Curran. “Pea protein usage has been low. But it is increasing.”
The group has a “25 by 25” plan for a quarter of Canadian pulses to be used in new products by 2025. If they reach their goal, that will include 2 million tonnes of Canadian peas.
Pea protein currently makes up only about 50,000 tonnes of global plant protein, compared to soybeans with more than 700,000 tonnes, according to Curran. But peas’ high protein content, low environmental impact and the rarity of allergies to peas means the pulse could be an easy sell to increasingly conscious consumers who worry about how their eating habits affect the environment.


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Agribazaar, a private sector electronic agri mandi, has launched ‘Agribazaar Kisan Safalta Card’.
A statement from the firm said that the ‘Kisan Safalta’ card is a quick and hassle-free instrument that helps farmers meet their pre- and post-harvest farm requirements and allied expenses. With this card, farmers can avail of the financing facility, when required. The funding is restricted to buying farm inputs.
It said that the card comes with a 12-month repayment period, which offers adequate time to clear the outstanding amount. Each farmer’s crop yield determines the limit for the card, the financing scale, and maintenance expenses. The card amount for marginal farmers is adjustable, ranging from ₹10,000-50,000. The maximum limit of the ‘Kisan Safalta’ card can be increased every year after an annual review based on the most recent crop yield and repayment history of farmers.
In case of crop damage following a natural calamity or poor crop yield, the repayment plan can be rescheduled. Farmers can repay the loan after the harvest. The repayment policy also stipulates that the debt is only paid off after the harvest.
Quoting Amit Mundawala, co-founder and Director of Agribazaar, the statement said: “We felt the need to launch a card for farmers as they offer convenience in today’s digital world. When farmers can embrace the latest farming techniques, why should they be excluded from the digital world? The Kisan Safalta card is tailor-made for the Indian farmer. They can use it as per the needs of their farming activities. Just like a regular card, it also offers attractive cash-backs as per use. The card offers a flexi loan repayment option.
“Fair and transparent card solutions and offerings to Indian farmers are critical for their day-to-day work empowerment. I believe the urban card penetration success is replicable in the rural sector if the product offerings are tailor-made for the Indian farmer’s needs.”
The card will be available to farmers in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, and Delhi NCR region in the first phase, the statement said.


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A SaaS business model combined with a growing digital ecosystem will deliver many advantages for the Canadian healthcare system.
Small and medium technology enterprises are important contributors to the Canadian economy, spawning ideas and innovation that push them to become the larger enterprises of tomorrow.
But without partnerships and mentorship, it’s a tough battle for small technology companies to get the funding, marketing support and access to the level of leadership they need to open doors and distribution channels. That’s’ why the Calian L-SPARK MedTech Accelerator is such a great opportunity for Canadian start-ups in the digital healthcare space.
We’re excited to announce the very first cohort of healthcare innovators: Coalese Health, Lime Health, Virtual Hallway and Alio Health – learn more about them here.
Filling Gaps in Healthcare
Partnering with smaller med-tech companies helps Calian to fill gaps in our customers’ roadmaps. Our customers are constantly sending requirements to our product managers, some of which we’d like to do but can't develop quickly enough—or lie outside our core focus. By bringing in technology partners as part of an open ecosystem, we can bring value to our customers and provide a pathway to commercialization.
Advantages of SaaS for the Healthcare Industry
The pandemic was a big wake-up call—it accelerated digital transformation by many times. Yet the Canadian healthcare system has lagged.
Disparate systems and data silos have created barriers to harvesting analytics for insights into patient care. Healthcare organizations have been locked into systems that are hard to scale and create breaks in the care continuum. These legacy systems have resulted in patients not getting the care they deserve and IT departments spending more and more money to bandage up these solutions. The level of complexity exposes healthcare systems to a greater risk of cybersecurity threats and data breaches.
With the move to more open SaaS systems, we can start bridging current solutions with new technology to remove the silos, bring innovation to the market faster and introduce more efficient commercial models. By fostering a thriving healthcare ecosystem, innovative med-tech products can add functionality across the care continuum, benefitting both healthcare providers and patients. And this accelerator is a perfect example of the potential of an open ecosystem model to bring innovation to market quickly.
Better Security and Compliance
Moving away from legacy closed systems to a SaaS model with best-of-breed solutions allows healthcare providers to focus on their core competency—care—and outsource cybersecurity and digital services. The adoption of interconnected systems with application programmable interfaces—or APIs—allows customers to plug solutions together in a way that fits their needs. Hospitals will no longer need to make a huge one-time purchase. They can “try before they buy” to ensure they get the outcomes they need.
In a highly regulated environment, such as healthcare, the ability to hand off cybersecurity to a trusted partner is invaluable. In a SaaS model, each component of the solution must continually earn their customers’ trust. They tend to be individually certified and accredited and proactively monitor for cyber threats. With each vendor in the chain responsible for the security of their platform, they are constantly updating and improving their cybersecurity position, taking the burden off the customer and resulting in a much more secure ecosystem.
A SaaS business model combined with a growing digital ecosystem, such as the Calian L-SPARK Med Tech Accelerator, will deliver many advantages for the Canadian healthcare system for decades to come.
February 15, 2024
#FacesOfCalian: Dr. Nina Fusco
Learn more about Dr. Fusco in our latest Faces of Calian!
January 24, 2024
Bell Let’s Talk: Breaking the Stigma
Dr. Nina Fusco, Calian's Chief Psychologist, sheds light on how we can challenge the stigma surrounding mental illness.
May 25, 2023
#FacesOfCalian: Meaghan Baker
Get to know the Calian team with our Faces of Calian series!


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Ubisoft has had itself a pretty slow and low year of games in its fiscal 2023. That was, up until the release of Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope. The game exploded with good reviews and has served to be a huge boon to Ubisoft’s year, not to mention one that it plans to use to coast through the latter end of its FY2023. Ubisoft dropped its Q2 2023 earnings results, and in it the group attributed major recent success to the launch of Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope, suggesting that Mario + Rabbids and Just Dance 2023 will be its major contributors throughout the second half of its fiscal year.
Ubisoft shared its Q2 2023 earnings results via its investor relations website on October 27, 2022. The company had a few wins to share in Q2, including claims that Assassin’s Creed and Rainbow Six: Siege outperformed expectations in the previous quarter. However, the best is yet to come for Ubisoft. Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope didn’t figure heavily into Q2 which ended in September while the game launched on October 20, but it will be part of Ubisoft’s Q3 and Q4. And it will be a huge part at that.
Ubisoft claims the critical response and feedback on Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope has been hugely promising for the quarters ahead.
“With an 86 Opencritic score and an exceptional 97% recommendation score, the game is one of the highest quality releases this year on Nintendo Switch,” Ubisoft wrote of Sparks of Hope. “We will build its momentum through the Holiday season with an ambitious marketing plan and material support from Nintendo. On top of this and other upcoming releases and content updates, a key contributor to this semester will be our mobile licensing partnership.”
Indeed, Sparks of Hope was a fantastic time and well-reviewed here at Shacknews. Moreover, Just Dance is always a series Ubisoft can rely on for a wealth of sales and revenue. Promoting these games alongside mobile efforts seem to be the gameplan for Ubisoft throughout the latter half of its year, and one that looks to pay off well. Stay tuned for more financial reporting as companies release their quarterly earnings results throughout the weeks ahead.


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India Central Bank To Test CBDC On Nov. 1
The Reserve Bank of India will begin the first pilot in Digital Rupee - Retail segment (e₹-R) within a month, involving closed user groups comprising select merchants and customers.
RBI Pushing For Crypto Ban In India, Finance Minister Reveals
Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that the RBI is framing regulations for cryptocurrencies keeping in mind that these blockchain-based assets are prohibited.
India's Central Bank Says CBDCs Can 'Kill' Any Case That Exists For Cryptocurrencies
T Rabi Sankar, said that the launch of CBDCs will erase the existing usage of cryptocurrencies.
India's Crypto Consultation Paper Is Almost Ready: Economic Affairs Secretary
India's cryptocurrency consultation paper is almost ready, a top finance ministry bureaucrat told reporters on the sidelines of an event Monday.
Indian Central Bank To Introduce CBDC In Phases; Sets Up An Innovation Hub
The Reserve Bank of India plans to launch the nation's official CBDC in a phased manner and has set up the Reserve Bank Innovation Hub (RBIH) with headquarters in Bengaluru.
Banning Crypto Most Advisable Choice For India, Says Central Bank Official
The Reserve Bank of India official's remarks come days after his boss and governor of the central bank, Shaktikanta Das, warned crypto investors to exercise caution, saying that investing in crypto is worse than tulipmania because it has no underlying value.
Fear Of Terror Financing Driving India's Cryptocurrency Regulation Efforts
More than any question about financial regulation and control, it is India's worries unregulated crypto networks could lead to increased terror financing that could swing the government's regulatory stick over cryptos.
What The $1B Deal For Firehouse Subs Means For Burger King’s Parent Company
The parent company of Burger King purchased Firehouse Subs for $1 billion in an all-cash deal.
Indian Rupee Seen At 73 Against Dollar By Year-End, Say DBS Analysts
DBS analysts forecast the rupee to collapse to 75 against the dollar by the end of 2019.
MLB Game 'R.B.I. Baseball 2017' Release Date Announced
Casual MLB video game fans can pick up the latest game in the 'R.B.I. Baseball' series when 'R.B.I. Baseball' drops later this month.
Raghuram Rajan To Leave India’s Central Bank, Stock Markets Overcome Jitters
Raghuram Rajan, governor of the Reserve Bank of India, announced over the weekend he would not seek an extension to his three-year term, which ends Sept. 4.
Raghuram Rajan, India’s Central Bank Governor, Not To Seek Second Term In Surprise Move
In a surprise move, Raghuram Rajan has decided to step down after his three-year term ends in September, becoming the first RBI governor since 1992 to do so.
India's Snapdeal Launches FreeCharge Wallet To Join The Mobile Wallet Race
India's smartphone-led Internet penetration is allowing consumers to increasingly transact online.
India's Central Bank RBI Makes Third Repo Rate Cut This Year
The reduction showed policy makers recognized the need to put the economy on a more solid footing.
Reserve Bank Of India Keeps Repo Rate On Hold At 7.50%
The RBI has cut rates twice this year, by a total 50 basis points, in a bid to bolster economic growth.
India Services Growth Slowed In March: HSBC PMI
Input prices rose at the fastest pace in nearly a year, a business survey showed on Monday.
RBI Surprises With Early Rate Cut, More Expected
The Reserve Bank of India said it could cut interest rates further should inflation continue to ease.
Sensex Slumps 3% Amid Global Risk Aversion
The BSE Sensex and Nifty fell over 3 percent, posting their biggest daily loss since the rupee crisis in 2013.
India December Factory Growth At 2-Year High As Orders Surge: PMI
Indian manufacturing activity expanded at its fastest pace in two years in December as new orders flooded in.
India Working To Fix E-Commerce Payments Post-Uber Case: Central Bank Governor
The central bank is working to set a legal framework for the use of advanced e-commerce technologies, said India's central bank governor.
Crank Up Public Spending To Revive India Growth: Chief Economic Adviser
Arvind Subramanian said on Friday that India should increase public spending to boost economic growth in the medium term.
India's Gold Imports Expected To Rise As RBI Relaxes Importing Norms
The World Gold Council expects demand for gold from India to increase by nearly 3 percent over last year.
Moody's Says Elections Won't Change India's Creditworthiness In The Near Term As Global Liquidity Trends Show Little Correlation To Election Results;
India's fragmented politics could worsen downside credit risks and hamper policymaking and growth, the report says.
RBI, India’s Central Bank, Raises Key Rate As Governor Aims To Tackle Soaring Inflation While Reviving Slowing Growth
The Reserve Bank of India is working to devise a policy that can revive growth while controlling near double-digit inflation.
RBI, India's Central Bank, Leaves Key Rates Unchanged; Says Outlook For Global Growth Is Moderate, India's Growth To Face Headwinds
The Reserve Bank of India, in its December policy review, said outlook for global growth continues to remain moderate.
India's Central Bank Keeps Rates Unchanged To Help Falling Rupee Despite Slowdown Concerns; Revises Growth Estimate Downward
India's central bank expressed concerns about a slow global recovery and the impact of the Federal Reserve winding down its stimulus program.
Swiss Bank UBS AG To Close Its Commercial Banking, Wealth Management Operations In India
Swiss bank UBS AG becomes second bank in two months to exit the wealth management business in India to focus on 'core strengths.'
[UPDATE] India's Central Bank, Weighed Down By Weak Rupee, Widening Current Account Deficit, Keeps Rates Unchanged Monday
India's central bank left benchmark rates untouched on Monday as softening inflation is offset by currency and deficit concerns.
Indian Rupee Recovers After Indian Government, Reserve Bank of India Intervene
The recent drastic fall in the Indian rupee was arrested after the country’s central bank and its government stepped in.
Rupee Fall Hurts Indian Central Bank’s Ability To Cut Rates, Spur Failing Growth
The Indian rupee's continuing decline to record lows reduces chances of a rate cut, which is required to help revive India's slowing economy.


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The new no-contract plans from T-Mobile, which are a part of its "uncarrier" strategy, are available online on the T-Mobile website. The official announcement will be during the company's press event tomorrow.
More details about the T-Mobile Uncarrier Value plans
As part of the latest T-Mobile promotion, you can get a bunch of on-contract smartphones free with waived activation, but if that’s not your thing you might be interested in a new sale set to start tomorrow.
T-Mobile is changing its mobile phone subscription model by 2013. In gist, the carrier will only offer Value Plans, and it wants you to buy smartphones at full-price rather than go for a subsidized phone.
T-Mobile starts 12 Days of Value Promo, brings big discounts on smartphones and up to $120 for traded in devices
With the holiday season in full swing, T-Mobile is hoping to cash in early with the 12 Days of Value. Potential customers will be treated to discounted smartphones, value plans, and up to $120 back if you trade in a smartphone.
Which Android manufacturer is your favorite?
Android 6.0 Marshmallow updates roundup – May 23, 2016
The best of Google I/O 2016
How to delete your Google history and data
7 Years of Samsung Galaxy – from rags to riches
Does Daydream have what it takes to make VR mainstream?
Our Google I/O 2016 coverage, in video
How to delete your Instagram account
HTC 10 Sense UI – Feature focus
Google’s vision for VR: bringing high-end VR to the masses
Hands on with Android Wear 2.0!
(Update: Video added) This is Samsung’s Good Lock UI for Android
What was your favorite announcement from the Google I/O 2016 keynote? [Poll o...
“Reactionary”: thoughts on the Google I/O 2016 keynote


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In China's fast-moving consumer goods or FMCG sector, digitalization, New Retail and targeted product launches are increasingly giving Chinese brands a clear edge over foreign labels, according to a new research report and experts.
Local brands' lead is also due to higher penetration rates and stronger volume growth relative to price growth, according to the report published jointly by Kantar Worldpanel and Bain&Co.
Between 2015 and 2017, the so-called insurgent local brands had just a 6-percent share of the 33 categories these local insurgent brands represent, but delivered nearly 20-percent of value growth in their sub-categories.
Two-thirds of the 46 insurgent brands studied expanded at least twice faster than their category average, while selling their products at above-average prices, the report said.
This is despite the fact most local insurgents are relatively small in scale compared with category leaders, with half of them falling into the urban sales revenue range of 100 million yuan ($14.52 million) to 500 million yuan.
"These insurgents demonstrate an entrepreneurial mission, Chinese consumers' focused innovations, and more speed and agile operating models, which are giving them an advantage in this ever-changing market," said Bruno Lannes, a partner in Bain's consumer products practice in China and a co-author of the report.
Experts said local brands' digitalization effort takes into account consumer preferences. They also embrace the New Retail strategy, which is all about linking the online and offline channels to deliver interesting consumer experiences. Local brands also incubate hit products or launch product variants in a timely way.
Many insurgent brands focus on high-traffic online platforms such as Tmall and JD, and are quick to use up-and-coming social commerce and social media platforms like Pinduoduo and Douyin, said Jason Yu, managing director of Kantar Worldpanel in China and one of the co-authors of the report.
He referred to the emerging cosmetics brand Marie Dalgar, which teamed up with fried chicken brand KFC for joint campaigns and advertising activities, pulling in traffic from KFC's huge consumer base. Their campaign generated 1.4 million visits to Marie Dalgar's official e-store on Tmall, which translated into 12 million yuan in sales.
The makeup specialist also rolled out pop-up stores featuring an augmented reality mirror to link offline consumers' experience with their online purchases.
Experts also highlighted the smooth use of social media for brand promotions. Juice vendor WeiQuan Daily C, for instance, collaborated with a Chinese online reading platform Migu Reading for a campaign that allowed consumers to customize their beverage bottles. The campaign quickly went viral.
Another key to the success of high-growth insurgent brands is their decision to have narrow product ranges, according to Derek Deng, a Bain partner who also focuses on consumer products.
Local brands typically focus on one or two "hero" stock-keeping units that target one specific market niche, he said. "This eliminates unnecessary product complexity and ensures that an insurgent brand's limited resources are devoted to a very focused message to the target audience."
The implications for foreign brands operating in China are that they should localize product design, remain agile and nimble in terms of organizational structure, and be fast in responding to market situations, experts said.
For instance, local snack chain Bestore, based in Wuhan, Hubei province, devised a dual-track operating model - that is, it included both product managers and marketing teams in its new product development force to expedite the process, Deng said.
The development cycle for certain products at Bestore was effectively shortened to two months, contributing to the rollout of 400 new SKUs per year, eclipsing many Western peers.
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Nintendo has confirmed that the coronavirus has impacted the release of its upcoming Animal Crossing: New Horizons Switch bundle and associated carrying case in Japan.
In an update on the official website (via Nintendo Life), Nintendo confirmed that as the limited edition hardware is produced in China, delays were “inevitable”, forcing the company to revise its reservation date and pushing the Japanese preorder date back from February 8th to March 8th, 2020.
At the time of writing, there appears to be no impact on pre-orders of the bundle elsewhere in the world and Amazon UK still states the bundle will be released on time.
The world’s biggest mobile phone show, Mobile World Congress (MWC), has been cancelled after organiser GSMA said that fears concerning the Coronavirus outbreak had made it “impossible” for the event to proceed. Despite calls from Barcelona’s mayor Ada Colau to proceed amid assurances that the city was “perfectly prepared” and there was “no reason whatsoever” to cancel it, Facebook, Amazon, LG, Intel, Ericsson, Vivo, ZTE, Nvidia, Cisco, Sony, HMD, Volvo, Orange, Vodafone, Deutsche Telekom, McAfee, BT, and HMD Global had all reportedly pulled out.
At the time of writing, GDC – which is scheduled to run next month – is still going ahead, but “due to stringent U.S. travel and safety restrictions implemented on February 2nd, 2020, all China-based exhibitors (around 10 out of the 550 companies hosted at GDC this year)” are no longer attending, having had their participation “pushed” to 2021. China-based conference attendees will also not be attending this year.
“The health and safety of our attendees and exhibitors is our top priority,” explains a statement on the GDC website. “We’ve outlined below important safety guidelines that we have put in place, as well as health measures that will be in effect during GDC 2020 in San Francisco. These measures should help all attendees to have a healthy event.”


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The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) has published a draft specification for an NFC API that will provide web developers with a standard way to access the NFC functionality on an NFC-enabled device.
The Web NFC API specification has been produced by the W3C’s NFC Working Group and is designed to let web pages and web apps make use of NFC — in the same way that native mobile apps have access today — including:
- Read and write NDEF messages on NFC tags
- Send and receive NDEF messages on peer targets
- Bluetooth or WiFi pairing (or handover) with a peer target
“The idea is is that we want to allow web applications to be able to access NFC devices,” the W3C’s Dave Raggett told NFC World. “We want to be able to allow the web technologies to be a compelling choice for developers.
“We have seen the rise of the native ecosystems around Apple and Google’s Android and we want to make sure that the web technologies are a compelling alternative and, more so than that, that web technologies allow developers to target a wider range of devices.
“It reduces their cost to be able to reach out to different kinds of devices, and also the technology is based on very open standards so they have a longevity to them that you might not see in proprietary systems that rise and fall over a span of years.”
“The NFC specification isn’t aimed at payments,” Raggett added. “W3C is organising a workshop in Paris in March on payments to look more generally on how applications can request payments. That’s a slightly different direction; this is more about what NFC can do to open web applications and what new kind of web applications can be created around NFC.
“This is only a first working draft, so expect it to mature and go through a series of revisions. After that, it becomes what W3C calls ‘candidate recommendations’ and we would then be looking for evidence of implementations and interoperability between those implementations, so this could take some time. Standardisation is not instant, because it relies on the pace of the industry in maturing and supporting this so it could take us quite a while.”
Next: Visit the NFCW Expo to find new suppliers and solutions


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Business incubators respond to rising demand for office space, consulting services
Story by Jessica La Plante-Wikgren
WITH THE HELP OF SMALL BUSINESS INCUBATORS and entrepreneur assistance centers, the timeline for transforming a business plan into an operational business can be as little as one week.
By keeping overhead costs low, providing access to shared resources and state-of-the-art facilities, and giving start-ups access to a networked knowledge base of like-minded professionals, small business incubators are helping northeast Wisconsin residents turn economic hardship into entrepreneurial hope.
Building a professional image
WHEN TODD HANSON LAUNCHED Catalyst Performance Group five years ago, he discovered first hand how difficult it is to build up a business from scratch, acquiring the capital and material resources necessary to set up a professional office space. Out of his passion for entrepreneurship and compassion for fellow entrepreneurs, Hanson founded the Entrepreneur Zone Business Accelerator in January 2009 in the same building that houses his consulting business.
Located at 536 N. Richmond St. in Appleton, the eZone business accelerator is a state-of-the-art facility that features 15 office suites, conference rooms, kitchenettes, Web kiosks, wired and wireless high-speed Internet, and a smorgasbord of amenities. Small businesses and start ups can rent office suites for as little as $275 a month.
A self-described “serial entrepreneur,” Hanson is well acquainted with the entrepreneurial journey. He worked in two family businesses in high school and college.
For a start-up, one of the biggest challenges “is finding appropriate office space and space in which to meet clients,” Hanson said. “You can only work out of your basement or spare bedrooms for so long.”
After running Catalyst for a few years, “we started to develop this idea to create a space that would allow start ups in any kind of small company that’s going to be expanding tap what we created in three years of blood, sweat, and tears,” Hanson said.
More than just giving new entrepreneurs a place they can call home, Hanson hopes the business accelerator serves as a sparkplug for economic growth.
“I think it’s going to be small business that pulls our economy through the current recession,” Hanson said. “Small business is where the most innovation is created and where the most jobs are going to come from.”
The business accelerator puts all the amenities of a high-tech office suite within the reach of small businesses and new start-ups who are operating on a shoestring budget. To stylize their office suites, tenants can rent furniture, including office chairs, credenzas, guest chairs, tables and artwork.
“We can literally furnish their suite or their office for them,” Hanson said.
From a technological standpoint, the office is a plug-and-play solution, wired and wireless, outfitted with a digital toolkit that includes phones, Internet access, copy and fax machines, postage meters and printers for high-quality output.
Hanson also offers a virtual office option starting at $79 per month, an option that is very attractive to small start-ups and home-based businesses. Virtual tenants have access to conference rooms, one of the building’s workspaces, and all the other resources shared by onsite tenants, such as the professional document center, parking space, professional green space, and other perks. For more information on rental rates and amenities, businesses can visit Hanson’s Web site at www.entrepreneurzone.net.
eZone tenants rent space on a month-to-month basis – a major perk for new start-ups still trying to get a handle on overhead costs.
If a business cannot pay in cash for office space, Hanson offers a “barter for rent” option, providing free office space in exchange for professional services, such as Web development, copywriting or graphic design.
In addition to exuding sophistication and professionalism, the atmosphere of the eZone center also helps motivate entrepreneurs by giving them access to camaraderie and a community of like-minded professionals with variegated backgrounds and business expertise.
Entrepreneurs are able “to get the encouragement (they) need from other people in a similar journey…the encouragement to persist when you’re about ready to give up,” Hanson said.
“When you’re isolated, sometimes you go down money trails that you really shouldn’t go down,” Hanson said, adding that entrepreneurs sometimes need a “compassionate head butt” to stop and take inventory of their goals and present direction.
Boosting home-based businesses
A SOFTWARE ENGINEER and information technology consultant, 24-year-old John Moss of Freedom is one example of an entrepreneur who has benefited from the eZone’s polished image, high-tech facilities, and esprit de corps.
Moss was operating his IT consulting business out of his home when a flyer advertising high-class, low-cost office suites caught his eye.
Within a week of contacting Hanson to inquire about rental space, “I was in an office suite,” Moss said. “At that point, I was just looking to improve the professional appearance of my business (and) have a place for all my equipment.”
For Moss, the benefits go beyond access to cutting-edge facilities and a professional ambiance.
“The other main benefit of being here is networking with other businesses like myself,” Moss said. In addition to sharing resources, “we share our strengths and help with each other’s weaknesses.”
For home-based entrepreneurs with children, access to a distraction-free environment can result in big productivity gains.
“(It’s) a professional setting where everyone in the building is doing work and not watching Sesame Street,” Moss said. “Plus, if I need businesses advice, I can talk to other entrepreneurs; I’m not isolated.”
Economic slump driving demand
HOUSED IN NORTHEAST WISCONSIN Technical College’s Business Assistance Center, the Advance business incubator is looking at new ways to accommodate the growing demand for office space, said Lisa Harmann, incubator program manager for Advance, a public-private partnership led by the Green Bay Area Chamber of Commerce. Harmann attributes the trend to the economic downturn.
“We have seen actually more interest in office space than anything else,” Harmann said. “We only have four vacant offices left, and it forces us to look at doing renovations to some of our light industrial space to convert them into office suites.”
Since the Advance Business Center launched in 1987, the incubator has helped more than 240 businesses take root and grow, ranging from engineering firms and renewable energy companies to non-profit organizations and creative professionals.
An increase in unemployment rates and the looming threat of layoffs has spurred many aspiring entrepreneurs to put their dreams into motion.
“It made them think maybe now’s the time that I should grab a hold of this dream and get started in a place where there isn’t much cost involved,” Harmann said. “Overhead is low, and there’s great resources (here) that can help build a successful business.”
The facility includes conference rooms, a smart classroom, copy and fax machines, a kitchen, mail delivery, high-speed wireless Internet, loading docks and a forklift, and other amenities. Tenants have the option of leasing dedicated office space or paying a small monthly fee, ranging from $45 to $75, to access the facilities as a virtual tenant. For an additional fee, a business can have signage added to the building’s exterior. Monthly rental rates for standard office suites start at $236. In addition, light industrial spaces are also available, starting at $493 per month.
Since the economic downturn, more businesses have expressed interest in Advance’s virtual tenant option.
“Most people are able to work from their homes,” Harmann said. “When they have to do a professional client meeting, they can come to our facility and use a professional board room or conference room to conduct (the meeting) and it really lends credibility to their business.”
In addition to providing state-of-the-art office suites, the incubator also functions as a spoke wheel that connects established and aspiring entrepreneurs to a myriad of business-assistance services.
Organizations housed within the business center include SCORE, Urban Hope Entrepreneur Hub, Wisconsin Entrepreneurs’ Network, Wisconsin Business Development Finance Corp., the NWTC Center for Entrepreneurship, and the Small Business Development Center.
The Business Assistance Center also provides a variety of training seminars and courses to prepare prospective business owners for entrepreneurship. Topics covered include business planning, business loans and financing, entrepreneurial training and leadership culture. For more information, go online to www.advancegreenbay.org.
Sharing intellectual capital
BUSINESS RESOURCE NETWORKS such as the Oshkosh-based Origin also provide a starting point and launch pad for helping entrepreneurs set their ideas into motion.
The Oshkosh Regional Innovation and Growth Incubator Network – known as Origin for short – is “a network of service providers that connect entrepreneurs to the right resources,” said Rob Kleman, executive director of the Oshkosh Area Economic Development Corp., which administers Origin’s activities.
Just as important as physical infrastructure is the ability to access shared intellectual capital. To that end, Origin leverages the expertise of 14 different organizations that provide a variety of business counseling and economic development services.
“While we don’t have physical incubator space at this point, that’s certainly a possibility down the road,” Kleman said.
The network gives small business owners access to private-sector services at a discounted rate. For example, business owners can obtain graphic design and marketing services from 44 Degrees North Advertising & Design in Oshkosh at a discounted price if the business owner is referred through Origin.
Like other business assistance centers and incubators throughout northeast Wisconsin, Origin has seen a definite surge in demand in the past year.
“We have certainly seen an up tick in entrepreneurial activity and individuals that are now looking at starting a business,” Kleman said. During the Nov. 17 E-Connect Event in Fond du Lac, Origin’s exhibitor booth received inquires from nearly two dozen prospective clients who were interested in receiving help with business start-up planning or financing, Kleman said.
“When you have a downturn in the economy, it’s an excellent time to start a business from a market perspective,” Kleman said. “The rents may be lower; goods and services are priced more competitively. There’s a lot of advantages to starting a business now.”
Prospective clients – either emerging or existing businesses – can contact Origin online by visiting www.originoshkosh.com.
Jessica La Plante-Wikgren is a freelance writer based out of Green Bay. She previously worked as a feature writer and staff reporter for The Door County Advocate and the Green Bay News-Chronicle. La Plante-Wikgren can be reached by email at email@example.com.


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RAIN Summit Atlanta Early Registration Ends Soon: Register Now!
July 28, 2015 at 10:19 AM (PT)
RAIN will holding its next SUMMIT at ATLANTA MARRIOTT MARQUIS on SEPTEMBER 29th. This year's keynote speaker will be PRX CEO and MATTER VENTURES Founder JAKE SHAPIRO.
On tap will be panel discussions and presentations featuring online audio industry execs from PANDORA, WIDEORBIT, MEDIAOCEAN, iHEARTRADIO, FEDERATED MEDIA and more, as well as the presentation of the sixth-annual RAIN Internet Radio Awards.
Registration is now open; you can get an early-bird discount and more info by clicking here.


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The Good Will Hunting Oscar winners will both star in the film, produce, and work on the screenplay, with Affleck at the helm as director. The still-untitled project comes from Amazon Studios and Skydance Sport, both of which are reportedly in the last stages of finalising their deal.
As first reported by THR, the film will have Damon playing Sonny Vaccarro and will focus on his determined journey to get rising basketball player Michael Jordan to sign with Nike in the ’80s. Nike was, at that time, a third-place shoe company and signing Jordan to the brand was deemed unlikely. Nevertheless, Vaccarro persevered, embarking on a path that would take him to Jordan’s parents (it was pivotal to convince Jordan’s mother, in particular), friends, coaches and advisors. Jordan ended up signing, helping Nike become a billion-dollar global juggernaut. Affleck will be playing Nike co-founder Phil Knight.
The original screenplay, which was titled Air Jordan, came from Alex Convery and was chosen to be in the 2021 Black List (the annual list of the best unproduced scripts circling Hollywood). Affleck and Damon are now reworking it.
While Affleck and Damon have worked together on a number of features over the years, this will be the first film that will have Affleck directing and Damon starring. The two were recently seen together on screen in Ridley Scott’s The Last Duel, with Damon co-leading and Affleck supporting.
Stay tuned as this one comes together. Eyes will no doubt be on who will be cast as Jordan.