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SHAH ALAM: Nine Malaysian children have had their artwork selected as the winning masterpieces in the National phase of the 2016 Toyota Dream Car Art Contest.
The global contest, organised by Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) is in its 10th year.
The Toyota Dream Car Art Contest is one of the largest global art contest, participated by children from over 81 countries who shared their ideas about the future of mobility by drawing their dream cars.
Each year, the contest starts around November of the prior year with the national phase where the best submissions in each category are chosen. There are three categories for different age groups - under 8 years old (category 1), 8 to 11 years old (category 2) and 12 to 15 years old (category 3).
Drawings by respective country winners’ are sent to TMC in Japan for the World Contest phase where every submission will be judged by TMC top management, together with art experts. The award ceremony for the World Contest phase is scheduled to be held in Japan this August and will be attended by participants whose drawing is selected as the finalist.
For this year’s National phase in Malaysia, UMW Toyota Motor received more than 600 entries, mostly coming from participants in the 10 – 12 year old category. Each submission was judged by a panel of judges comprising Malaysian art experts and UMW Toyota Motor management.
Winners of each category received prizes, which include an Apple iPad Mini for the first winner, a mountain bike for the second winner, and 2 tickets to the Legoland theme park in Johor for the third winner.
UMW Toyota Motor president Datuk Ismet Suki said a number of Malaysians have won awards in the contest over the years and in 2013, one of them even won the “Special President Akio Toyoda Award”, a special award chosen by the Toyota president himself.


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Prof. Michael Ngadi, Director, Integrated Food and Bioprocess (IFB) programme, McGill University, Montreal, Canada, says Nigeria’s efforts towards a food sufficiency regime should be private sector driven to achieve results.
Ngadi made the assertion at the 20th International Conference and 40th Annual General Meeting of the Nigerian Institution of Agricultural Engineering (NIAE) hosted by Landmark University, Omu-Aran, Kwara.
He spoke on: “Innovations and Technologies for Sustainable Agricultural Mechanisation and Livestock Transformation for Economic Growth”.
Ngadi said most government agriculture policies had failed to address the food insufficiency debacle, but added that the private sector would make the desired change and impact if given the chance.
“Despite high-cost of production and poor infrastructure, there is increasing need for local food production processors.
“This is to differentiate their products in order to meet the growing tastes of the young and high-income consumers.
“We consume more processed food yet process very little; our food production system is still rudimentary.
“This present way of producing food is not sustainable and has very little capacity to move Africa out of poverty.
“There is an urgent need for change,” he said.
Ngadi recommended high capacity build up of stakeholders as very crucial to achieve the desired food sufficiency and socio-economic transformation.

domain: news


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The popularity of medical marijuana is soaring, and among the numerous products consumers are seeking are cannabis oils — the most in-demand of which is referred to simply as CBD oil.
A wealth of marketing material, blogs and anecdotes claim that cannabis oils can cure whatever ails you, even cancer. But the limited research doesn’t suggest that cannabis oil should take the place of conventional medication, except for in two very rare forms of epilepsy (and even then, it’s recommended only as a last-resort treatment). And, experts caution that because cannabis oil and other cannabis-based products are not regulated or tested for safety by the government or any third-party agency, it’s difficult for consumers to know exactly what they’re getting.
READ MORE BELOW:
Source: https://ift.tt/2PFPPjj reposted by Cannabis News World . Original article by Kimberly Hickok


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In Patent War, Apple and Samsung to Try Mediation Before March Court Date Next month, CEOs from both companies will sit down to discuss "settlement opportunities" to try and resolve the ongoing patent disputes.
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
The only people attending the meeting will be Apple CEO Tim Cook, Samsung CEO Oh-Hyun Kwon and their own respective in-house counsel. The companies have agreed to meet no later than Feb. 19. Attorneys from Samsung and Apple met earlier this month to "discuss settlement opportunities," according to court filings reviewed by Reuters.
If mediation fails, the technology rivals will face each other in court over Apple's accusations that Samsung committed patent infringement.
Since Apple began litigating against Samsung in 2011 the companies have gone to court twice, with Apple being awarded $930 million.
Even outside of the courtroom, Apple seems to be winning on almost every front, including phone and App Store sales. This week Apple announced that users spent more than $10 billion on apps in 2013. Meanwhile Samsung posted a slight drop in profits this week for the first time in more than two years.


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Tourism industry ready to celebrate
The tourism industry’s ‘night of nights’ is going ahead in 2017 thanks to the generous support of event sponsors.
The 2017 Mackay Region Tourism Awards will be held on Friday, 15 September at Magpies Sporting Club.
The Awards recognise the outstanding achievements of the region’s tourism industry, including individuals, businesses (industry operators) and events. They encourage and promote the growth of tourism products and services.
The Awards cover 14 categories ranging from attractions, events, tour and transport, accommodation, restaurants and more.
Event Sponsors include:
- Ibis Mackay
- Rainforest Scuba
- Mackay Transit Coaches
- Riviera Mackay
- Magpies Sporting Club
- Marine Media Group
Mackay Tourism General Manager Tas Webber said the tourism industry was on a high after a record year of visitor growth and collaboration.
“We’ve seen some excellent success this year across the tourism industry and the Mackay Region Tourism Awards is a chance to celebrate this success, and acknowledge those operators who have put in the hard work to make sure The Mackay Region remains on the map for visitors,” Mr Webber said.
“The support from our eight event sponsors, and our participating members, shows that we have a collaborative and encouraging industry who are dedicated to creating a strong future for tourism.”
All public are invited to attend the Awards. Tickets are available at the website http://www.mackayregion.com/corporate/mackayregiontourismawards. RSVP is Monday, 11 September.
Melissa Woods - Communications Officer
0448 994 180
Published: 4 September 2016


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M&S is 'committed' to Ireland, despite gloom
Marks & Spencer (M&S) has said it remains "committed" to Ireland despite economic problems here. The retailer made the comment as it reported a 5.6pc increase in underlying profit to £825m (€946m) for its last financial year. Pre-tax profit surged nearly 13pc to £714m (€819m), while revenue in the 52 weeks to April 2 rose 4.2pc to £9.7bn (€11.1bn).
Despite the growth in sales and profits matching the top end of analyst expectations, shares in the company slid in London as investors worried that a grim outlook by the retailer could mean dampened figures this financial year.
M&S -- whose chief executive Marc Bolland has been in the job for just one year -- warned that while it has gotten off to a good start this financial year, trading conditions for the remainder of the period will be challenging due to pressure on disposable incomes and high commodity prices.
M&S has 19 stores in Ireland, the most recent of which, in Cork, opened late last year.
In the UK M&S sales were up 4pc to £8.7bn (€10bn) in the last financial year, while sales from its international division that includes Ireland and operations in countries such as Greece, China, Poland and Estonia, were 6.1pc higher at £1bn (€1.14bn) -- reaching a target the group hadn't expected to hit until 2013 or 2014.
The group also recorded a one-off pension credit of £10.7m (€12.2m) due to changes in its pension scheme for 3,000 employees in Ireland. The change will cap future annual increases in pensionable pay to 4pc.
"The results mark a confident start by the new chief executive," said analyst Keith Bowman at Hargreaves Lansdown. Shares in M&S closed down 2.9pc in London at £3.86.


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The CBD Revolution: Unearthing the Truth
In recent years, CBD (cannabidiol) products have taken the wellness industry by storm. From CBD-infused oils and tinctures to edibles and even vape pens, this natural compound has found its way into countless applications. But what does scientific research say about the benefits of CBD? In this article, we’ll explore the latest findings and how they can impact the lives of young adults aged 20 to 50 years.
CBD: A Natural Wonder?
Cannabidiol is a non-psychoactive compound found in Cannabis plants. Unlike THC (tetrahydrocannabinol), CBD does not cause the “high” associated with marijuana use. Instead, it has been linked to various therapeutic effects, including:
– Pain relief
– Reduced inflammation
– Anxiety and stress reduction
– Improved sleep quality
How Does CBD Work?
CBD interacts with the human body’s endocannabinoid system (ECS), which plays a crucial role in maintaining homeostasis or balance. By modulating the ECS, CBD helps regulate essential functions, such as appetite, mood, and immune system response.
Emerging Research: A Promising Future
While the scientific community has come a long way in understanding CBD’s potential, there’s still much to uncover. Here are some recent findings that shed light on the therapeutic potential of CBD:
- Chronic Pain Relief: A 2020 review of studies found that CBD could effectively alleviate chronic pain in adults, especially when combined with THC. Further research is needed to determine optimal dosages and administration methods.
- Anxiety and Depression: A 2019 study showed that CBD could reduce anxiety symptoms in individuals with social anxiety disorder. Additionally, preclinical studies suggest that CBD may have antidepressant properties, although more research is required to confirm these findings.
- Sleep Improvement: A 2019 study indicated that CBD could improve sleep quality and reduce insomnia in those with chronic pain. However, further research is needed to understand CBD’s long-term effects on sleep.
- Neuroprotection: Emerging evidence suggests that CBD may protect against neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. Its anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties could play a role in preventing neuronal damage.
The Rise of CBD Vape Pens
As the demand for CBD products continues to grow, manufacturers are developing innovative ways for consumers to reap its benefits. One such invention is the CBD vape (see D8 Pen, for example) pen, which offers a discreet and convenient method of consumption. CBD vape pens allow users to inhale CBD-infused vapor, providing rapid absorption and quick onset of effects compared to other methods, such as oral ingestion.
Caution: The Flip Side
While the therapeutic potential of CBD is promising, it’s essential to approach its use with caution. The FDA has not approved most CBD products, and regulations regarding their safety and efficacy are scarce. Additionally, individuals should consult with a healthcare professional before using CBD, especially if they are pregnant or nursing, have a pre-existing medical condition, or are currently taking medications.
The Bottom Line: A World of Possibilities
The scientific research into CBD products is still in its infancy, but early findings suggest that this natural compound may hold the key to unlocking new wellness solutions. As we continue to explore the potential therapeutic benefits of CBD, it’s crucial to remain informed and make educated decisions to ensure a safe and effective experience.


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Southwestern Pa. Goodwill branch puts donations of televisions on hiatus
Goodwill Industries of Southwestern Pennsylvania is pulling the plug on donations of televisions to its outlet stores.
“We no longer can recycle (them) at no cost to Goodwill,” said Michael J. Smith, president and CEO of the Goodwill chapter. “Now, we're in a dilemma. If people bring televisions to us, we have to pay to recycle them, which impacts our ability to provide programs and services.”
Goodwill, based in Lawrenceville, is a human services agency with a chain of 30 retail stores that provides job training and other services to people with disabilities.
Beginning Sunday, it will stop accepting TVs.
Among the reasons, officials cited the state Covered Device Recycling Act that banned TVs and other electronic devices from landfills as of January. It also prohibits municipal curbside pickup of televisions, computers, printers and monitors, except for collection programs specifically for electronic materials.
The state Department of Environmental Protection determines how many pounds of electronic equipment groups can pick up without incurring a fee and surcharge for collecting and recycling the extra amount.
Goodwill accepted 750,000 pounds of televisions last year. It requested authorization to collect 1.5 million pounds this year but hit that ceiling in six months.
Smith said it would cost about $125,000 to send its backlog of televisions to the recycling company, so it decided on the ban until it gets a new allocation from the state next year. He estimates Goodwill amassed tens of thousands of televisions when it announced last year that it was accepting them.
Recycling experts said Goodwill's situation and the flood of TV sets here are part of a nationwide phenomenon.
David Mazza, regional director of the Pennsylvania Resources Council, said at least 20 states have similar laws banning televisions in landfills.
“Most of my competitors in Eastern Pennsylvania stopped taking televisions six weeks ago,” said Ned Eldridge, president and CEO of E-Loop, an electronic waste recycler in Murrysville. He said many recyclers have hit state limits that he considers too low.
He expects to be able to collect TVs for recycling until October.
Part of the problem, experts say, is the increasing popularity and declining prices of flat-screen plasma and LED televisions that offer sharper pictures. That encourages consumers to junk bulky, cathode ray tube dinosaurs, which are no longer used to make new TVs.
Other electronics, such as computers, can be recycled and made into new computers. Goodwill will continue a program to recycle donated computers.
Smith worries that some owners of old TVs might be tempted to dump them illegally.
“The key here is people should not panic,” Mazza said. “This is a temporary situation. At some point, (Goodwill) will be able to take TVs again. The TVs sitting down in the basement, just let them sit there.”
Bill Zlatos is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at 412-320-7828 or email@example.com.


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Square is getting deeper into the restaurant and delivery space with a food new pickup service. Caviar, the company’s food delivery network, lets restaurants with no food transportation infrastructure hook up with management tools and a fleet of delivery men and women. Caviar Pickup will offer these restaurants the ability to let customers order carryout service in advance and “skip the line” when they retrieve it at the restaurant. The new program comes out of Square’s acquisition of a pickup business owned by OrderAhead—an on-demand logistics startup founded in 2012.
At first, Caviar Pickup will only be available to diners in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Portland, Oregon.
Square has long coveted the restaurant business. The company got its start as a tool for accepting credit cards in cafes and food trucks, but breaking into the larger restaurant industry proved difficult. It canceled its own order ahead app, Square Order, in 2015. In the last couple of years, Square has focused on building out a series of business tools for small and medium businesses, allowing them to track inventory, manage their employees, and handle payroll. But many of these tools have focused on retail. The last restaurant-targeted service Square rolled out was Open Tickets, which allows bars to keep a running tab without having to close it out.
But restaurants could be a renewed focus for Square. Product engineering lead Gokul Rajaram says the company has been incrementally rolling out more tools for restaurants, which can help them manage the influx of orders coming from outside the establishments. They also provide analytics that show restaurant owners where orders are coming from. Rajaram says restaurants have used this information to open up second locations.
A Square spokesperson also said that Square is working on building out more robust tools for restaurants as a way of bringing them into its point-of-sale ecosystem.
Delivery is a tough business these days with competition from more legacy players like Seamless/GrubHub and newer players like UberEats, not to mention the trove of meal delivery services like Munchery and Maple that are trying to win over the stomachs of lunchtime workers everywhere. But Square’s ability to create more deeply integrated tools inside the restaurants network may prove to be a boon in this space. Lots of players can deliver your food for you, but can they can’t all claim to help you both grow and run your business.


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Get ready to geek out, as Disney has provided a first look at its highly-anticipated Star Wars land currently being built in California and Florida.
In a blog post, Disney showcased a large-scale model which will be on display this weekend at the 2017 D23 Expo. Disney says guests will be "[transported] to a never-before-seen planet, a remote trading port and one of the last stops before Wild Space, where Star Wars characters and their stories come to life."
The article continues, saying: "Guests will find themselves in the middle of the action at two signature attractions: one that lets them take the controls of the Millennium Falcon on a customized secret mission, and an epic Star Wars adventure that puts them in the middle of a climactic battle between the First Order and the Resistance."
According to Bloomberg, the new Star Wars lands will cost about $1 billion each. Disney chairman Bob Chapek previously claimed that it's the company's most ambitious project to date.
Watch the video, and stay posted for further information.
In other news, Disney just released a merch collection in tandem with Uniqlo.


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Vivo’s highly anticipated mid-range smartphone made an appearance on the company’s official store in India. The Vivo V9 is now listed on the Vivo India Store where all its detailed specifications have been confirmed. All the previous leaks said in unison about the device sporting a display notch and this listing validates their claim.
While pushing the display towards the edges, especially from the top, a notch becomes the only viable option to house the earpiece and camera sensor using the currently available technology. Famed by the iPhone X, the display notch has now made its way to a number of Android smartphones, and to the Vivo V9 too, in this case. As per the mentioned specifications, the phone’s IPS display measures 6.3 inches with a resolution of 2280 x 1080 pixels in an unconventional 19:9 aspect ratio.
On the back, its two cameras can be seen placed vertically with an LED flash below them. The fingerprint scanner is there in the centre, right above the Vivo branding. The primary camera of the two has a 16MP sensor while the secondary unit has a 5MP sensor. Vivo is bringing AI based capabilities to the cameras along with support for AR stickers and 4K video recording. The one on the front can take selfies of 24MP resolution while the phone retains its 3.5mm headphone jack and includes a micro-USB port.
Against the leaks suggesting the inclusion of Snapdragon 660 processor, the Vivo V9 is listed here with Snapdragon 626 processor. This is paired with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage. Interestingly, the handset will come running Android 8.1 Oreo with Vivo’s Funtouch OS 4.0 along with a battery of 3260mAh. There are dedicated slots for two SIM cards and a microSD card and the phone is listed in Black and Gold colour options.
Vivo was earlier expected to announce the Vivo V9 on March 27 in India but according to the recent reports, the launch has been preponed to March 23. The placeholder price in the store listing is ₹10,000,000, which is nowhere close to what’s called the mid-range segment. The Vivo V7+ launched last year was priced at ₹21,990 and its successor could be priced a little higher. Its official launch will provide the information that isn’t available yet.


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Liaocheng district boosts cultural communication with Savusavu, Fiji
Chiping district in Liaocheng held a special online cultural exchange activity with Savusavu, Fiji on Nov 10 to promote local paper-cutting art.
Traditional art, modern incentives
Ancient culture is being used to strengthen contemporary identity and promote growth in Shandong province.
Over 20 turtle footprint fossils found in East China
Over 20 turtle footprints have been found at a dinosaur fossil site during field research carried out by the Zhucheng Dinosaur Culture Research Center in East China's Shandong province.
Jining craftsman preserves traditional bow-making technique, archery culture
Xu Mingkun, a bow-maker in Qufu, Jining, continues to practice a traditional bow-making technique which includes over 200 steps.
Experience charm of traditional handicrafts at Nishan forum
The Exhibition on Chinese Handicrafts - Shandong Handicrafts kicked off at Nishan Sacred Land in Qufu, Jining, Shandong province on Sept 26.
Time-honored brands shine at Shandong expo
The 6th China Time-honored Brands (Shandong) Expo kicked off on Aug 19 at the Shandong International Convention and Exhibition Center in Jinan, the provincial capital.


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Here is some rather troubling news for pharmaceutical and life sciences supply chains.
FDA News and other India news outlets report that 200 drug manufacturers have been now cited by India’s national drug regulator for noncompliance and “high risk” for quality control lapses as part of an initial effort to crackdown on the country’s pharmaceutical sector. At face value, that represents a troubling portion of domestic capacity.
According to the report, The Central Drugs Standard Control Organization joined forces with state regulators to inspect upwards of 135 drug production facilities across India. Regulators initiated these steps to follow U.S. Federal Drug Administration (FDA) enforcement model guidelines and to address what was described as rampart quality control problems in the country’s drug market.
Apparently, none of the cited drug makers have been publicly named.
A Times of India report published in June indicated that the 200 drug manufacturers were scheduled for risk-based inspections based on an analysis of regulatory data recorded over the prior 5 years.
Global based pharmaceutical and life sciences companies that are currently outsourcing API or drug manufacturing within India should obviously take notice of this development.
Supply Chain Matters has highlighted a number of supply risk and potential ingredient safety challenges impacting pharmaceutical and drug supply chains of life-critical medications and yet such challenges seem to persist, often in the same dimensions. A recent Bloomberg published article highlights the latest involving cancer-drug shortages with supply chain ingredients continuing to be sourced from banned Chinese producers. The open question is why the industry continues to foster such sourcing practices.
When we launched Supply Chain Matters back in 2008, one of our first series of commentaries concerned supply chain risk management, specifically the issue of the tainted pharmaceutical drug heparin that originated from Chinese based suppliers. At the time, tainted batches of the prime API compound that produces heparin, a key life-saving drug utilized as a blood thinner, were found to later contain over sulfated chondroitin, an altered version of the required chondroitin sulfate. Instead of sourcing this active API from designated pig intestines, the tainted API apparently came from shark cartilage. This specific incident was directly attributed to the death of 80 persons and many others became seriously ill. Our 2008 commentary, Will FDA Inspectors in China Solve Product Safety Issues?, questioned whether regulatory agencies were ill equipped to keep up with the pace of global outsourcing of pharmaceutical compounds and specifically getting a handle on the increasing occurrence of counterfeit or non-conforming products.
In 2012, the pendulum shifted towards global-wide shortages of life-saving drugs due to a number of domestic and global-based API suppliers either unable to produce required quantities or having to temporarily suspend production operations because regulatory inspections citing lapses in good manufacturing practices. Agencies subsequently had to alert doctors and healthcare providers that in the light of severe shortages of hundreds of drugs, there were clear signs that unauthorized or counterfeit versions of these drugs had infiltrated global supply chains. The U.S. FDA alerted to the appearance of “non-FDA approved injectable cancer medications” and later, patients and drug companies were subjected to counterfeit versions of the drug Avastin, widely prescribed to treat brain, colon, lung and kidney cancers. Swiss drug maker Roche, and its Genetech unit, the global producers of Avastin later indicated that counterfeit versions of its top-selling cancer drug, ones without any active ingredient, were being circulated in the U.S. Patients receiving this counterfeit version would thus not have received required therapy, or worse, could suffer potential harm.
The latest iteration outlined in a recent Bloomberg Businessweek article cites data from the National Academy of Medicine indicating that more than 80 percent of ingredients used in drug manufacturing are now produced externally, primarily in China and India. Further cited is an incident where the U.S. FDA inspected a Chinese production facility in early 2015 and uncovered what was termed “broad data manipulation” resulting in a warning letter to plant owner Zhejiang Hisun Pharmaceutical. That subsequently led to an indefinite ban for this facility in September 2015, a first for one of China’s leading exporters of pharmaceuticals. However, according to this report: “…to avoid possible drug shortages, the regulatory agency allowed the Hisun facility to continue to export about 15 ingredients used for drugs produced in the U.S., including nine components of cancer medicines.” The report goes on to explain the delicate balancing act regulators currently face in insuring adequate supplies of life-saving drugs while de-facto transferring the burden of assuring safety and quality inspections to end-item drug manufacturers themselves. End-item drug producers are therefore asked to perform additional inbound testing, hire independent auditors or take other mitigative actions. Overall, Bloomberg indicates that the FDA has for the current year added 13 plants to its listing of banned plants, with a cumulative total of 52 classified banned plants.
We found that statistic to be staggering and alarming. Once more, we wonder aloud about the strategies that have led to increased outsourcing to lower-cost production regions, especially for drugs that are held to such high specification standards and currently sold for staggering margins in developed countries. One has to wonder aloud as to why.
According to the Bloomberg report, among the 15 API’s from the subject Hisun Taizhou plant that can be exported by exception, most are widely used for producing chemotherapy treatments for leukemia, breast and ovarian cancers. One would surmise that these drugs are expensive. A former FDA official who once was responsible for domestic and international investigations indicated to Bloomberg of his belief that not all U.S. companies are ensuring the safety of ingredients purchased from known banned factories.
Regulators such as the U.S. FDA are indeed placed in a rather difficult position in trying to assure that life-saving drugs remain in adequate supply in the light of an overall industry trend to source compound ingredients from lower-cost production regions. Critical drug shortages of expensive drugs lead to the creation and distribution of counterfeits which obviously adds to overall safety concerns.
Yes, drug markets serving China and India should come with government controls that require far lower costs to healthcare providers and patients. Drug companies continue to extract far higher end-item drug costs for distribution among highly developed countries and economies. Ingredient sourcing and quality conformance strategies should align.
The pharmaceutical and drug industry has often been in media headlines portrayed as profit-grubbing villains. In some cases, that may be underserved, since research, development and production costs for life-saving drugs are rather expensive. However, when the industry continues to pursue supply chain sourcing strategies that are driven more by lower-cost and do not insure adequate safeguards, than they need to be called out. Armies of FDA inspectors chasing endless foreign producers are a Band-Aid to a broader challenge of supply chain sourcing.
In the first three months of 2016, media has been abuzz with the news that the United States elected to ease its business and trade relations with Cuba. The March visit to Cuba by President Barack Obama reflected a noted sea change in US-Cuban relations. Already, there are reports of pending new airline service, the opening of expanded tourism and the potential for new opportunities in supply chain and manufacturing sourcing.
Supply Chain Matters recently received notification from Knowledge@Wharton of a newly published E-Book, The Road to Cuba, The Opportunities and Risks for US Business, Revised and Updated Edition. This Editor had the opportunity to review this E-Book publication and we are passing along a reference for those multi-industry readers who may be thinking of Cuba as a potential for added business and supply chain activities.
The Wharton School authors point out in the document Forward:
“While significant political and ideological differences still separate the two governments, Obama’s historic visit, the first to Cuba by a US head of state since Calvin Coolidge traveled there in 1928, is an opportunity to widen the space for unfettered communication, trade and business between the United States and Cuba, for the mutual benefit of their citizens.”
“Whether you run a US business, are an investor, or are interested in exploring the opportunities, you need to know what now can and cannot be done in Cuba amid the complexities that surround the constantly evolving negotiations and normalization process between the two countries. If you already do business in Cuba, you need to understand the competition that is on its way.”
We specifically reviewed two pertinent chapters: Longer-Term Prospects: Manufacturing/Retail, along with Longer Term Prospects: Pharmaceuticals/Biotechnology.
From the manufacturing lens, Cuba’s close proximity to large U.S. consumer markets indeed makes this country attractive as a production and assembly center for consumer goods that are exported to the U.S. Noted is the current establishment of the Mariel Special Development Zone at Mariel port just west of the city of Havana. This development zone, initiated in 2013, offers tax breaks and duty-free concessions is already the home of food and beverage processing, light industry assembly, vehicle assembly and alternative energy ventures. The report cites Cuban authorities as indicating that more than 400 companies including US firms have expressed interest the Muriel Zone.
In January, Unilever, which has been investing in Cuba since 1994, announced an intent to build a $35 million soap and toothpaste processing facility within the Muriel Zone. The consumer goods producer established a 60-40 joint venture with the Cuban state company Intersuchel SA as a means to expand its presence. There is also mention of Nestle’s production of soft drinks and mineral waters with a Cuban partner as well as AB In-Bev, whose Cerveceria Bucanero venture distributes beer to the local market.
Another promising opportunity is that of biotechnology and pharmaceuticals and the report indicates that pharma exports are big business for the island. This sector is noted as growing with sales made to emerging market economies in Latin America, Asia and Africa. The report notes:
“Fidel Castro’s government pumped billions of dollars of domestic investment into the development of Cuba’s biotechnology industry, mostly based in Western Havana but with outlying clusters in other parts of the island.”
Main products thus far have been developed vaccines for combating Group B meningococcal meningitis, hepatitis B along with PPG, cholesterol –lowering product developed from sugar cane. Further noted is ongoing development of potential vaccines to combat HIV/AIDS, cholera, leptospirosis, dengue fever, hepatitis C and cancer.
Cuba also represents a market for U.S. medical and pharmaceutical exports.
The report includes noted words of caution: “The Door has Opened, But needs to Swing Wider.”
An important insight:
“However, an early boom in interest by US companies and entrepreneurs to trade and invest in Cuba has yet to be fulfilled in terms of concrete business deals and opportunities. These are still being held back, both by the persisting economic embargo, which can only be completely lifted by Congress, and by the Cuban government’s own apparent reluctance to fully embrace liberalizing reforms that would open up the state-run economy.”
We interpreted that statement as indicating that more time and patience is required in order to fully evaluate or take advantage of investment and new business opportunities for the island. It has over a year since the U.S. government announced its intention to loosen restrictions, and the actual visit by the President, and perhaps, the next phases will come sooner rather than later. The current U.S. Presidential and Legislative election cycle, currently underway, has to run its course as-well.
The overall transportation and logistics infrastructure for the island further needs modernization as witness to existing vintage delivery vehicles.
However, after our review, we certainly sense lots of long-term potential from product export and import lenses, and especially from a pharmaceutical supply chain perspective. Check it out for yourself by clicking on this web link.
According to a 2015 survey of hospital executives commissioned by Cardinal Health, services reimbursement followed closely by the increasingly higher costs of supplies are two of the biggest challenges facing these executives. Financial issues, drug shortages and efficiency of the overall organization follow as major concerns.
One can notice a common theme among hospital executives that are often directly related to lack of supply chain efficiencies.
A 2015 white paper, 10 Barriers to Effective Inventory Management, points to the continued need for addressing barriers to effective supply chain and inventory management in hospital settings. This is especially important in operating room or cardiac catheterization settings where medical devices are expensive and inventory management policies often stem from individual physician or surgeon relationships with individual device manufacturers. Cardinal’s white paper cites one report as indicating that supply chain inefficiency, waste and lack of visibility result in a $5 billion in inefficiencies each year in the implantable device market alone.
In operating room settings, surgeons, scrub technicians, resource nurses or operating room managers assume responsibility for maintaining relationships with manufacturers of implantable devices. They do so to insure access to the latest technology and patient safety innovations as well as surgeon preferences for certain devices. In emergency surgery situations, adequate inventory takes on an all-important life and death dimension, one that must be supported by accurate data related to demand incidence.
These complex relationships often extend to rendering orders and managing inventory. The result can often lead to lack of visibility of existing inventory in terms of expired, obsolete or recalled devices. There are also miscommunications and emotion among clinicians and hospital procurement professionals as to inventory exposure and cost. This is an area that has long been fertile for improvements in inventory management, particularly in advanced methods of item-level tracking.
As a major healthcare products distributor for hospitals and health care providers, Cardinal Health is working with hospitals in availability of more innovative inventory management practices in this area.
In November, this author had the opportunity to visit the Cardinal Health Healthcare Supply Chain Innovation Lab located in Concord Massachusetts. This is essentially an R&D facility dedicated to reducing waste in the health care supply chain for implantable devices utilizing an Internet of Things (IoT) item-level technology approach. The lab serves as a hub to explore innovative technology approaches such as smart sensors and near-field communications (NFC) in addressing healthcare supply chain product demand and supply inefficiencies.
At the conclusion of the tour and a comprehensive briefing from Jean-Claude Saghbini, Cardinal Vice President and GM for Inventory Management Solutions, this author was impressed.
My impressions stemmed not only from the leveraging of advanced technology to challenging healthcare focused inventory management process needs, but in the notion that healthcare supply chains as a whole, and we as healthcare consumers, can greatly benefit from the application of such technology.
Cardinal’s approach to inventory management is described as product agnostic and can include devices not distributed by Cardinal. The initial focus on medical, orthopedic and implantable device inventory is obvious, in that this inventory is expensive and as noted above, there has been a long history of process inefficiency. While surgeons strive to be up-to-date with the latest in medical technology, their concerns should not be inventory and supply chain management. That is the purview of hospital administration.
We observed RFID enabled storage cabinets where inventory is RFID tagged by either suppliers or hospital teams. Storage cabinets constantly monitor item-level inventory including serialized devices. An operating room nurse or physician removes an item from the cabinet and inventory status is immediately adjusted. Within the OR setting, a nurse scans a bar code affixed to the patient and the inventory transaction is automatically updated to include association with a patient. If the item withdrawn is not accompanied by a patient scan, an inventory alert is generated.
Cabinets monitor and report inventory balances at prescribed intervals and can automatically generate replenishment orders when inventories drop to prescribed levels. If one particular hospital does not have a particular implantable device on-hand, a quick search of other networked cabinets quickly indicates which nearby or healthcare network hospitals have the specific device. The process works similarly for consignment inventory placed adjacent to operating rooms, helping hospital administration to control premium inventory costs.
Analytics associated with this automated process that are available to hospital administrators include open and completed inventory withdrawals, device consumption patterns to calculate replenishment thresholds, inventory nearing shelf-life expiration, inventory subject to product recall, or data needed to ascertain opportunities for specific device standardization.
Physicians and care givers can also take advantage of embedded analytics in searching for specific devices implanted in patients by serial number, or in queries related to historic procedures, or proper item stocking levels based on actual consumption data.
The value-proposition of Cardinal’s approach is that technology allows care givers more opportunities to better concentrate on patient care and patient outcomes, removing the administrative burden of inventory management. Hospital administrators and procurement team’s in-turn gain valuable efficiencies and inventory knowledge to help in improving overall efficiencies.
This author remains convinced that healthcare product suppliers, product distributors, hospitals and caregivers must continue to come together to collaboratively address the chronic inefficiencies of today’s healthcare supply chains. The visit to Cardinal’s Healthcare Supply Chain Innovation Lab and the exchange of ideas with staff convinces me that today’s advanced supply chain item-level and IoT focused technology can and will provide significant strides in overcoming such inefficiencies.
As our blog nameplate connotes, supply chains do matter in many industry settings and in healthcare supply chains, the opportunities for increased efficiencies and process innovation are vast.
In our continuing efforts to provide broader market education, Supply Chain Matters provides broader awareness to advanced technology approaches that are making their way to industry settings. In this commentary, we focus on a rather unique software-centric approach to product authentication across various tiers of the finished product supply chain.
The challenges for overcoming fraudulent and counterfeit products that exist across the global supply chain remains significant. This is especially of-concern for manufacturers and/or distributors whose supply chains reside in a regulated industry or whose products are of high brand or product value. There have been many attempts to address such challenges, often resulting in added expense for marginal mitigation. Counterfeiters themselves have become far more sophisticated in their methods and in their presence.
Systech International, a long-established technology provider addressing brand protection needs, recently launched its UniSecure application. We were somewhat intrigued by this application and underlying technology and subsequently conducted a product briefing with Systech executives.
This provider has been in existence for decades, with a prior focus on manufacturing automation and vision systems that evolved into support for manufacturing item-level product serialization needs. Much of this support was focused in support of pharmaceutical, life sciences, and food and beverage manufacturers in their needs for unique product identification. Beyond these efforts, Systech began to recognize that counterfeiters have become far more sophisticated in their methods, and there was growing a need for a less infrastructure-intensive approach to supporting product authentication needs for products flowing across global supply chains.
Scientists recognized that every printed label or barcode has character and signature-unique characteristics that vary with the make and model of the specific printer at the time of printing. According to this vendor, no two labels or printed data carriers are identical and are affected by environmental factors that produce small-scale variations. The UniSecure approach is to capture these unique character elements of the printed identifier signature and store this in the Cloud, for future authentication in subsequent movements through the supply chain. Further along the supply chain, a mobile or smartphone based reader can read the existing barcode utilizing the UniScan mobile app, which sends the image to the Cloud for authentication to the original label signature to determine if that product is authentic. This unique scanning capability can also be utilized by clients to enable point-of-sale, consumer engagement or loyalty as well as product security focused processes.
Supply Chain Matters has previously highlighted newer smart labeling technology just coming to market that opens opportunities to address both supply chain authentication and consumer engagement processes by leveraging existing near-field cellular (NFC) and other internal Wi-Fi communication networks
Thus far, pilots involve scanning of products by wholesalers and distributors, but some customers have plans to deploy the technology further into fulfillment channels. We probed whether existing high-speed label readers could be leveraged for volume scanning but that seems to be a work-in-progress at this point, subject to customer and vendor investment needs.
A further promising use of this technology is described in product recall situations where products can be scanned to determine if specific products are subject to withdrawal from the supply chain.
Industry pilots of the UniSecure technology are underway across multiple industry verticals to including pharmaceutical, animal health, precious metals and consumer goods focused supply chain settings.
UniSecure is a unique approach, one that bears watching for broader deployment use cases and overall scalability. The uniqueness stems from its software-centric emphasis along with its leveraging of existing item-level identification processes across the supply chain.


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Chinese say the 'EmDrive' may change the future of space propulsion
Chinese scientists have built and tested a British inventor’s design of a new type of space propulsion drive. Once scoffed as an impossible device by his British counterparts, China says that it not only works but it will change the satellite industry in a positive way.
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“Ivory is beautiful,” conservationist Rory Young told The Huffington Post back in 2014. “The problem is, we just can’t do this anymore.”
This week, animal rights activists are celebrating a huge win in this fight.
Hong Kong, said to be the world’s largest retail market for ivory, announced that it would be phasing out the sale of legal ivory in the city.
According to CNN, Hong Kong's leader, Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying, said in his annual policy address Wednesday that the government will “phase out the local ivory trade.” He also vowed to “impose heavier penalties on smuggling and illegal trading of endangered species.”
Alex Hofford of WildAid Hong Kong, an organization that has campaigned for the ban of ivory in the city for years, told CNN that the group was “absolutely delighted” at the "fantastic” news.
Imports and exports of ivory have been banned in Hong Kong since 1989 when international trading in ivory was outlawed; however, the city has about 400 licensed sellers who are allowed to trade in the material.
Last year, a report by WildAid revealed how the loop-holes of this legal ivory market fuels ivory smuggling and elephant poaching.
“Hong Kong ivory traders are no more than proxy killers of African elephants and have been operating under the nose of the authorities with complete impunity from the law for decades,” Hofford, coauthor of the report, said in October.
Another 2015 report by Save the Elephants revealed just how robust Hong Kong's ivory trade is.
“No other city surveyed has so many pieces of ivory on sale as Hong Kong,” Esmond Martin, the report's co-author, told Discovery News. More than 30,000 items, mainly jewelry and figurines, were discovered in 72 stores there.
The Save the Elephants report also described Hong Kong as the world’s third-largest smuggling hub for ivory after Kenya and Tanzania.
The city is an important transit point for ivory smuggled from Africa to Asia -- particularly mainland China, the world’s largest consumer of illegal ivory. More than 90 percent of ivory sales from Hong Kong stores were to buyers from mainland China, the report found.
“Hong Kong has always been the dark heart of the ivory trade,” Hofford told CNN this week. “This is where you place an order for poaching in Africa.”
Activists have said that to save African elephants from extinction, global action against poaching has to be taken immediately.
“This species could be extinct in our lifetime, within one or two decades, if the current trend continues,” Dune Ives, senior researcher at the philanthropic organization Vulcan, told The Guardian last March. “In five years we may have lost the opportunity to save this magnificent and iconic animal.”
Also on HuffPost:


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A new nanoscale material developed by researchers at Imperial College London could eventually act as both the tramadol pain killer without a prescription battery and body of electric cars. The mix of carbon fiber and polymer resin can charge and release electricity like a battery and is hard as steel too.
The advantages of the material are pretty exciting. Lithium-ion batteries are heavy and generate electricity through chemical reactions, which eventually wear down the batteries. The carbon-polymer material is lightweight and doesn't require chemical reactions, meaning both a longer life and quicker charge.
If used in the body of an EV, like the roof, door panels or trunk, in place of a lithium-ion battery, an EV could lose 990 pounds and how to buy viagra without prescription travel faster and farther. The more surface of the car the material covered, the more charge it could store.
Yes, it will be expensive, but the researchers hope, like with all new technologies, that mass production will bring the viagra drops buy with paypal cost down.
The European Union is spending $4.6 million over three years to develop the technology and Volvo is http://www.unifem.it/buy-generic-cialis-online considering building a prototype EV using a panel of the material. The researchers expect the material to shave 15 percent off the body weight of brand levitra a car in five to six years and to be able to replace batteries in 10 years.via Physorg
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MEET the Willards. For at least one day last week, they were America's most popular TV family.
Obviously chosen for their wholesomeness in the TV tradition of the Nelsons, Cleavers and Bradys, the Willards sat in a model house that Time Warner Inc. called "the home of the 21st century" and described their glimpse into television's future.
As dozens of reporters from around the world used notebooks, tape recorders and video cameras to capture every word and gesture, the Willards discussed Time Warner's new interactive television network, which they had begun sampling in their own home a few days earlier.
The father, Karl Willard, a financial adviser whose home is one of five that had just been hooked up to Time Warner's "full service network" in Orlando, marveled about ordering up movies whenever he wanted. His wife, Susan, who described herself as a homemaker and school volunteer, told of how she had programmed in a video "allowance" for her two children.
Fourteen-year-old Jacklyn, a cheerleader and a member of her school's chorus, liked the movies and shopping. Brad, 12, described playing on-line video games. "The graphics are much better, and you don't have to change cartridges!" he enthused.
All the while, a Japanese television correspondent stood behind one the sofas, taping a report for the TV households back home.Continue reading the main story
"Isn't this all sort of weird?" a reporter asked the Willards.
"Yes, it's very weird," Mrs. Willard said, breaking character only for an instant. Then, clearly a good sport, she resumed the Harriet Nelson demeanor that Time Warner had hoped. "It's so easy to use," she said of the system. "I love it!"
For their efforts, the Willards, who have been a cable TV household for 10 years, received no payment -- simply the chance to take part in the world's most advanced experiment yet in interactive television.
If all goes according to Time Warner's plan in Orlando, the Willards and eventually 3,999 other households will be able to use their television sets to perform all sorts of tricks never before done in the privacy of one's home. Like calling up any story from the previous evening's TV newscast, at any time of day. And they will be able to view the aisles of a supermarket, "pull" cereal boxes off a shelf to check the ingredients and arrange to have them delivered to their homes.
But if the demonstrations dazzled, they also raised scores of still-unanswerable questions about what new services people will actually want and how much they'll be willing to pay for them. The Willards aren't paying anything yet for their services. Though Time Warner has said it will begin charging for things like movies and games, precisely in order to gauge consumer behavior, it has offered no clue about how, or how much, viewers will be charged.
APPARENTLY loath to offer anything that resembled a computer, the company has jazzed up its on-screen menus with rich, full-motion video and made it possible to issue virtually all commands by simply pointing a hand-held remote control device at the screen. But consumers may still find the controls daunting, and some of the services have peculiar twists that people may find unsettling.
The remote control device, for example, contains about 30 separate buttons. Some make it possible to pick channels by number, or to rotate a three-dimensional "carousel" on the screen that contains the basic categories of choices -- movie, shopping, games and ordinary cable television channels. Other buttons allow a person to fast-forward, pause or rewind a movie being transmitted from the network's "server" computer at Time Warner's control center.
Many of the 160 reporters attending the demonstration found the system reasonably easy to navigate. The graphical icons appearing on the screen were easy to understand, and most of the programming choices could be reached by clicking up, down, right or left. But it was all too easy to hit the wrong button, particularly while watching the screen, and such a misstep could get you kicked right out of a movie.
And Time Warner's experimental "news on demand" service -- which will not be offered on the network until the company works out some remaining bugs -- reveals a tension between the desire to give viewers more control and the urge to hold them captive to advertisers.
Viewers who call up the service, called The News Exchange, would be able to order up programs like the NBC Nightly News or CNN newscasts at any time of day, once they have already been broadcast. They could choose to watch an entire program to the end, or consult a list of stories and jump to particular ones.
One result is to greatly diminish the psychological authority of network anchors like Peter Jennings and Tom Brokaw, because viewers can freeze them in mid-syllable and jump to a different News Exchange option.
The News Exchange also gives viewers the ability to fashion their own news programs. A list of graphical icons at the bottom of the screen allows people to jump between world news, money, sports and movie reviews. Viewers will be able to program the system to collect particular stock quotes and sports scores or stories on particular topics.
BUT there's the catch: calling up a program like personal finance may also automatically call up a paid advertisement from a company like Merrill Lynch. Anybody who had heard the pitch once may be impatient to be greeted by it each time they merely wanted to check a stock quote.
"This is targeted advertising," said Walter Isaacson, editor of new media at Time Warner, who helped design The News Exchange. Mr. Isaacson acknowledged the frustration viewers might feel as advertisers seek new ways to ensure that people see their messages in a system that will give viewers much more control over what they watch.
In most technical features of the system, Mr. Isaacson and his associates tried wherever possible to make things entertaining rather than intimidating. They even replaced the computer-like "beeps" with game-like "pops" that sound off when people switch between different options.
It wasn't possible to gauge the interactive video games, which allow a person in one home to play against someone in another, because so few people are connected to the network. Atari has built a 64-bit game player for the network and has offered some vivid games with three-dimensional graphics.
But game addicts may be surprised that they cannot choose particular opponents. People who want to play interactively register their presence on the network, and then wait until someone else wants to play the same game. The network then connects them. But the connections are random, so two friends cannot simply choose to play each other and no one else. Players' identities are never revealed.
Perhaps the most impressive service under development is grocery shopping, a service developed by Shopper Vision, a small start-up company in Norcross, Ga. In a simulation, viewers were able to select a store, then browse through video images of each aisle.
THEY could then start with a wide view, then scan particular rows left to right and then pull particular products off the shelf. Using the vast computer-processing power of the Silicon Graphics set-top communications device, a person would be able to turn the product around, read the labels, check the price and buy it. The system would also let people look for products by category or brand name. For a $10 fee, Shopper Vision will process the order -- regardless of size -- and have it delivered to the home.
Sandy Goldman, president of Shopper Vision, said the service should become available in Orlando in about six months and will offer 20,000 products from three retailers -- the Winn-Dixie supermarket chain, the Eckerd Drug Company and the Drug Emporium chains. Shopper Vision hopes to generate its revenue from delivery fees, fees charged to participating supermarkets and advertising that will run on the video service.
The Willards say they jumped at the chance to be guinea pigs, and Mr. Willard said he might be willing to go well beyond the $25 his family already spends on cable television. "I can see spending as much as $100 a month for all these services together," he said.
But no one knows how many others will feel the same way. And even if many do, no one expects Time Warner to turn a profit in Orlando anytime soon. Analysts have speculated that each set-top box is costing the company as much as $7,000, though that cost is likely to decline dramatically if the units are produced in large numbers.
But Time Warner figures its money will be well spent in Orlando if the test makes interactive TV technology attractive to ordinary people.
"We had to meet the needs of real consumers, not computer hackers and industry specialists," said Edward R. McCracken, chairman of Silicon Graphics, which developed much of the equipment and software used in the Orlando network.
Will Time Warner's ambitious experiment pay off? Will life ever return to normal for the Willards? Stay tuned.Continue reading the main story


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Twitter and other social media sites are sparking an international debate over whether the forums serve the public good or make it easier to incite disorder.
Facebook's new profile layout, Timeline, promises to turn your Facebook account into an online scrapbook where you can highlight important moments in your life and resurface past Facebook activity.
Facebook has done an extreme makeover of its user profiles, redesigning the interface so that it's easy to surface not only recent updates but also years-old information, the company announced at its F8 developer conference on Thursday.
The U.S. edition of Yahoo News has been linked with Facebook to make it possible for users of the two sites to share with their Facebook friends the articles they have read on the Yahoo site.
As Netflix commits its future to streaming movies to customers, it relies almost exclusively on cloud services for its infrastructure, raising security concerns that require a new way of thinking, the company's cloud security architect says.
If you don't use it correctly, Facebook's new subscription feature can lead to a social networking mess: private posts and comments shown publicly, a cluttered news feed and spam.
Continuing its streak of product launches and modifications, Facebook yesterday rolled out even more changes to its interface, which include an updated News Feed and an activity ticker.
Twitter has acquired Julpan, a startup founded last year that analyzes the way people share information on the social web with the goal of delivering fresh and relevant content to users.
Frustrated by "the whale" on Twitter that pops up on your screen when you're trying to access the site but it can't respond because it's overwhelmed by traffic? Relief may soon be in sight.
A gap between what Microsoft promises with Lync's telephony and what it delivers makes Lync a poor choice as an IP PBX replacement for large organizations, according to a former Microsoft "Most Valuable Professional" who now works for Avaya. A curren...
Google has released the first public APIs for Google+ so that external developers can start working with the social networking site and planning applications for it.
A California man who dug up sensitive information belonging to U.S. service members on peer-to-peer networks, and then used it to order iPods, cameras, and even washing machines from an online store, was sentenced to 75 months in federal prison Thurs...
When a late arrival thought he'd catch up on the buzz at a recent conference of CIOs, he logged into Twitter. What he found -- or rather didn't find -- amazed him.
Google and representatives for authors and publishers told a U.S. District Court judge Thursday that they would like to continue discussions on a revised settlement in a copyright infringement case that has dragged on for years.
If you liked the recent changes Facebook made to Improve privacy, then you'll want to upgrade immediately to the latest version of the social network's app for Android smartphones.
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The best pizza everyone’s ever tried is pushing closer to the coasts and expanding its reach as a national player in the franchise restaurant business.
Toppers Pizza owner Scott Gittrich said the goal of his Whitewater-based firm is to grow to between 500 and 800 franchise locations in the next 10 years. Toppers currently has 76 stores in 13 states.
Toppers Pizza, which is based in Whitewater, will soon establish locations out west in Colorado and Wyoming and along the eastern seaboard in Virginia and Maryland near the lucrative and pizza-hungry Washington, D.C. and Baltimore area.
The deals in place for the two areas will add 35 stores to the Toppers’ empire.
Owner Scott Gittrich said the goal is to continue expansion, and stores at a rate of 25 percent more than in the previous year. If Toppers opens 12 restaurants this year, it will open 16 next year, and so on.
Toppers currently numbers 76 stores in 13 states. Its Whitewater location is at 325 W. Center St. Gittrich said the goal is to be at 500 to 800 stores within 10 years.
I never dreamed of that, Gittrich said. I did think we could build a great restaurant company, but I figured it would be a prize fight. It ended up to be something big, and more fun than that.
A product worthy of the public’s trust must be available to fuel such ambitious expansion. There is a mystique to Toppers pizza that inspires cult-like devotion. Start a conversation about pizza with friends, mention Toppers, and the positive reaction will likely be instantaneous and intense.
I can explain part of it, and part of it’s magic, Gittrich said. Part of it happened over time, and the mystique that surrounds the combination of what we sell and how we do it, along with just connecting with how people experience the brand.
This is Gittrich’s attempt to explain the pizza and phenomenon that is convincing entrepreneurs to follow. Gittrich is a Pied Piper of pizza, and Mike McLaughlin and Todd Geatches are following the music.
McLaughlin and his wife, Helen, are opening 22 Toppers locations in Virginia and Maryland. Like Gittrich, McLaughlin was previously involved in national pizza with a different chain.
McLaughlin said he decided to work with Toppers to expand his family’s restaurant empire. McLaughlin and his wife own Triangle Restaurant Management and operate several Five Guys Burgers and Fries.
Their approach to the pizza business is interesting, McLaughlin said. Give customers what they want the options they have, from a toppings standpoint, and the Topperstix is just a great product.
I think the fact that they’re making their dough in house leads to it being a better product.
Toppers makes its dough fresh every day, and also uses real mozzarella cheese. Its tomatoes are picked once a year in California. Gittrich said Toppers sets a high standard for what it puts in its food, and said the little things add up.
The idea was that we would make our food from scratch in the restaurant and do it that way, Gittrich said, while still being a place that delivered and carried out pizza.
Attention to detail in making pizza paired with a playful irreverence in marketing starts to albeit barely explains Toppers’ brands success.
Except where it doesn’t. Gittrich admitted Topperstix the thick, gooey, cheesy bread sticks that are almost mythic in the following they inspire were created by happy accident.
Geatches casting his lot with Toppers did not come about by happy accident. He visited 41 stores more than half of the chain at the time before investing. Geatchers said Toppers stood out for its food, marketing and corporate acumen.
Geatches owns Denver-based Mountain Restaurant Management, which consists of several Taco John’s and other holdings. He is opening 13 Toppers stores in Colorado and Wyoming.
We visited a couple of different pizza chains, Geatches said. It kind of seemed like the same old thing. There was nothing really new or exciting.
The other thing that sold us on Toppers they’re a very simple company, but they are truly set-up for success.
Say what you want about pizza and cult following and the joy of eating Topperstix Gittrich, McLaughlin and Geatches are in business. Gittrich’s genius, after making pizza everyone loves, is putting a framework in place that compels others like him to be part of his success.
I think Scott is a visionary, McLaughlin said. When you look at their headquarters, you look at some of the initiatives they’re taking on social media, the ability to market online their goal is to have close to 50 percent of their business from online ordering a mobile app. That technology, having it in place in a company that has 76 stores, is really impressive to me.
There is nothing covert or secret about Toppers’ strategy. It is spelled out in unfailingly plain language on its web site www.toppers.com.
Gittrich opened the first Toppers in Whitewater in 1993. The company decided to offer franchises in 1997, and a store opened in Eau Claire. The 15th store opened in 2007. Online ordering started in 2008.
In 2014 the chain celebrated 40 quarters of consecutive sales increases. In 2017 the 100th Toppers store is slated to open, and the chain brags that it will pass 700 stores in 2025.
McLaughlin and Geatches each went with Toppers over other national brands, and set the stage for additional expansion in adjoining areas. Every franchise that plants a flag enables another franchise to plant the flag by shortening the distance supplies must move, allowing for increased marketing efforts, and more.
The Toppers chain will spread one slice at a time, a communal food reaching communities in need of the best pizza they’ve yet to taste.
One of the things I looked at when I came to Whitewater was to get a sense if they were operating like a 70-store chain or a chain that has the ability to grow, McLaughlin said. They have great infrastructure in place. They have people who understand the pizza business.
Click here for original article.


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EAC lost 92pc of tourism revenue to Covid-19
Tourist arrivals to the East African regional block fell from 6.98 million arrivals before the Covid-19 pandemic to 2.25 million arrivals during the pandemic.
East African Community (EAC) secretary general Dr Peter Mathuki put the lost revenue at 92 per cent.
“The tourism sector was the worst hit by the Covid-19 pandemic,” he said during the opening of a recent virtual regional tourism expo in Arusha, Tanzania.
Mathuki noted that the region was now open again for business, urging EAC Partner States’ governments and other stakeholders to work together to market the region’s tourist attractions and products as part of the efforts to ensure speedy recovery for the sector.
“Despite the fact that the pandemic has reversed the gains that we had made in the tourism sector, we are quite confident that through collective and collaborative efforts, we should be able to bounce back to pre-pandemic levels of performance and even do better within a span of less than five years,” he said.
He added, “As a region, we have what it takes including iconic and fascinating tourist attractions, ranging from pristine white beaches to beautiful snow-capped mountains, rolling savannahs to dense rainforests, rich cultural heritage that span the entire region and unmatched diversity in wildlife species.”
Mathuki said that the region had drawn a number of important lessons from the pandemic, especially in relation to the economic sectors that were hard hit such as tourism.
“One lesson that stands out and resonates with most destinations around the world is the need to entrench resilience in the tourism sector,” he said.
He added that the EAC was also planning to undertake a major regional and domestic tourism campaign.
“This is based on the premise that our intra-regional tourism market is ripe and provides the best backstopping in case of future shocks.
As you are all aware, the middle class in Africa has been growing rapidly and it largely comprises of young people who are eager to travel and explore.
EA should be their first destination. They should take advantage of the preferential rates applicable to EAC citizens,” he said.
He disclosed that the EAC Council of Ministers had previously made a decision that the EAC citizens should be charged local rates while entering public tourist sites such as national parks and reserves across the region, adding that the decision has been implemented by all partner states and has been extended to hotels and other tourist accommodation establishments.
Mathuki further urged EAC partner states to diversify their tourism products by developing other products such as conference tourism, cultural tourism, and sports tourism.


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CBER and the 2M prognosis – look out for WAGS on the loose
Like a WAG on a massive retail therapy binge
Assuming that the P3 alliance gains international regulatory approval, Antwerp has been identified as one of the chief winners in the North European ports battle.
Antwerp gains, as its Benelux neighbour Rotterdam loses, in the fallout from the P3 network’s planned itinerary, first divulged by MSC last Friday and confirmed this week by partners CMA CGM and Maersk Line.
Although actual terminals within ports have yet to be specified, there are eight Asia-North Europe loops included in the P3 proposals. Rotterdam’s current four weekly Asian import calls would be reduced to two, and export calls would fall from five to just two.
Meanwhile, at Antwerp, under the P3 presentation, weekly import calls would remain at two ,while export calls would double to two.
Understandably, Antwerp has declared its pleasure at the announcement. Port authority chairman Marc Van Peel said: “Such a strong presentation in the P3 network proves that the three largest container shipping companies in the world are confident of the strength which our port has.”
And as if to rub salt in the wounds of its Dutch rival, a pay and conditions dispute at APM Terminals’ Rotterdam facility meant that the port lost an early opportunity to welcome a Maersk Line Triple-E ship last week when the 18,000teu Mary Maersk was diverted to Antwerp.
The dispute centred on the pay and conditions of workers who will transfer from APM Terminals’ existing Maasvlakte terminal to a new facility it is constructing on the Maasvlakte II, and saw boxes build up at the port and importers reporting difficulties in getting containers released.
However, today, the port operator and the FNV and CNV unions announced that a new collective labour agreement had been signed that will continue to the end of 2017.
On its maiden call at Antwerp, at the PSA Terminal on the west bank of the Deurganckdock, the Mary Maersk did not experience any navigational problems – as seen in this video – following the recent deepening of the River Scheldt, and its cargo operations were completed smoothly.
The Triple-Es will be deployed on the Albatross/FAL1/AE1 loop of the P3’s Asia-North Europe service, which has a scheduled call at Rotterdam, but with the unscripted call of the Mary Maersk, Antwerp has proved it can handle “the biggest ships the world has to offer”, enthused the port authority’s CEO, Eddy Bruyninckx.
Indeed, Antwerp’s inland position, once seen as a disadvantage compared with the seaport of Rotterdam, is now viewed in a positive light, according to Mr Bruyninckx. “Goods can not only be brought further inland once they are in port, they can be handled in various ways before efficiently being transported to their final destinations in the European hinterland,” he said.
Nevertheless, 15th-world-ranked Antwerp has a way to go to catch its Netherlands rival, handling 8.6m teu in 2012, versus 11th-ranked Rotterdam’s 11.9m teu.
The rivalry between the two ports is likely to be partly reflected internally among the P3 members as they discuss which terminals to call at. Maersk Line’s sister company, APM Terminals, is making a huge investment in its Maasvlakte II facility, which is expected to be the most technologically advanced in the world, and the design of which is in part predicated on servicing the Triple-E vessels. MSC has long centred much of its north European business in Antwerp, and the MSC Home Terminal, which it operates in conjunction with PSA Hesse Noord Natie, has an annual capacity of some 3.5m teu.
Its only drawback is that vessels have to pass through the Berendrecht Lock, which although the largest in the world has an operational draught limit of 13.5 metres.
A similar conflict of interest may also develop in Bremerhaven, which is set to receive six import calls a week from the P3. Both APM Terminals and MSC have competing facilities.
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Improved software and services allow the smallest businesses to outsource work around the globe
From the outside, the gray Victorian with the stained-glass windows on a gentrified block in Dorchester, Mass., is a typical middle-class dream house. But it also is the headquarters of what you might call a micro-multinational. Randy and Nicola Wilburn run real estate, consulting, design, and baby food companies out of their home. They do it by taking outsourcing to the extreme.
Professionals from around the globe are at their service. For $300, an Indian artist designed the cute logo of an infant peering over the words “Baby Fresh Organic Baby Foods” and Nicola’s letterhead. A London freelancer wrote promotional materials. Randy has hired “virtual assistants” in Jerusalem to transcribe voice mail, update his Web site, and design PowerPoint graphics. Retired brokers in Virginia and Michigan handle real estate paperwork.
Global outsourcing is no longer just for big corporations. Increasingly, Main Street businesses from car dealers to advertising agencies are finding it easier to farm out software development, accounting, support services, and design work to distant lands. Elance, the Mountain View (Calif.) online-services marketplace that is the Wilburns’ main connection to the cyber-workforce, boasts 48,500 small businesses as clients—up 70% in the past year—posting 18,000 new projects a month. Sites such as Guru.com, Brickwork India, DoMyStuff.com, and RentACoder also report fast growth.
Forecasts that the Web would revolutionize work by creating a vast global market for professionals have been around since the early ’90s. Venture capital legend John Doerr thought so much of the idea in ’99 that his firm, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, bet nearly as much on Elance as it did on Google (GOOG) and Amazon (AMZN). Kleiner managing partner Raymond J. Lane is chairman.
But while other forms of e-commerce caught fire quickly, Web sites for freelancers have only recently begun to generate much momentum. Market researcher Evalueserve estimates that revenues for online service marketplaces will grow 20% in 2008, to $190 million, far from the initial hype.
Why has it taken buyers and sellers of services longer to get comfortable trading online than companies dealing in physical goods? An eBay (EBAY) for services, says Elance CEO Fabio Rosati, “was a brilliant idea that started too soon.” But improved software, search engines, and new features are boosting the industry. Several sites now allow buyers to view detailed work samples and customer ratings for thousands of service vendors. Guru launched a payment system to mediate disputes and lets buyers put funds in escrow until work is received. Elance developed software to track work in progress and handle billing, pay, and tax records.
MOVING WITH THE MARKET
Those upgrades are starting to make a difference. Elance, which makes money by charging subscription fees and a 4% to 6% cut of each project, expects total billings to rise 50%, to $60 million, this year. Guru predicts similar growth, to $26 million.
Small entrepreneurs are the biggest source of growth. Queens (N.Y.) Lincoln Mercury dealer Ariel Tehrani hired Brazilians to develop a multimedia Web site to sell cars online. San Francisco real estate agent Jonathan Fleming uses graphic designers in Portugal, database managers in India, and writers in Hungary for his blog.
The Wilburns began buying graphic designs through Elance in 2000. They say they shifted to radical outsourcing after reading the 2007 Timothy Ferriss best-seller, The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere and Join the New Rich, which extols the merits of freeing up time by hiring cheap offshore “virtual assistants” to handle scheduling and other routine tasks.
Remote help has allowed 38-year-old Randy Wilburn to shift gears with the economy. His real estate business has slowed, so he spends more time advising nonprofits across the U.S. on how to help homeowners avoid foreclosure. Virtual assistants have handled routine correspondence and put together business materials while he’s on the road, all for less than $10,000 a year. He figures a full-time secretary would run $45,000. Nicola, a 35-year-old designer, decided to work from home after she had their second child. Nicola now farms out design work to freelancers and is starting to sell organic baby food she cooks herself. She is setting up a Web site for that business and offered $500 for the design work. Of the 20 bidders who responded via Elance, 18 are from outside the U.S.
The couple uses two main offshore vendors. One is GlobeTask, a Jerusalem outsourcing firm that employs dozens of graphic artists, Web designers, writers, and virtual assistants in Israel, India, and the U.S. It generally charges $8 an hour. The other is Kolkata’s Webgrity, which has a staff of 45 and charges $1 to $1.20 an hour. Five years ago, says founder Amit Keshan, 32, his company designed Web sites for Indian clients. Now he does all his business through Elance, handling up to 300 jobs each month for U.S., British, and Australian clients. For $125, Webgrity designed a logo for Wilburn’s real estate business that Wilburn says would have cost as much as $1,000 in the U.S.
A worldwide market where even mom-and-pop businesses outsource could still be years from attaining wide appeal. But micro-multinational entrepreneurs like the Wilburns may not be rarities for much longer. “People will do it the old way until it becomes a no-brainer to do it the new way,” predicts Elance’s Rosati.
Many small outsourcers say they were inspired by the 2007 book The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss. Described as a “manifesto for the mobile lifestyle,” it includes a chapter on how to find offshore “virtual assistants” to handle everything from daily office tasks to writing business plans. One tip: Don’t hire based solely on the lowest hourly rate—focus on the total cost of the job.
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Unilever is still feeling the effect of a strike in Brazil that held back sales growth globally in the latest quarter.
The maker of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream and Dove soap on Thursday reported sales growth below analysts’ expectations, citing the effects of a labor dispute in the Latin American country, where truckers walked off the job earlier this year to protest rising fuel prices. The London- and Rotterdam-based company was unable to lift prices enough to make up for the setback.
Unilever said underlying sales grew 1.9 percent in the second quarter, compared with the 2.2 percent median estimate of analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Growth slowed from the first quarter’s 3.4 percent uptick after strikes in Brazil disrupted the company’s supply chain. Sales growth was reduced by six tenths of a percentage point in the first half because of the strike.
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Unilever had previously given a muted outlook for sales growth in the first half, saying it would be below the range of 3 percent to 5 percent it expects to achieve in the full year. The company is also grappling with investor dissent as it consolidates its headquarters in the Netherlands, making its inclusion in the U.K.’s benchmark FTSE 100 stock index “extremely unlikely,” Unilever has said.
Underlying sales exclude acquisitions, divestments and currency fluctuations.
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Read Unilever Sales Dragged Down by Truckers' Strike in Brazil on bloomberg.com


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April 30, 2022
Hello and welcome to All Indians Matter. I am Ashraf Engineer.
Indonesia has banned exports of palm oil and it couldn’t have come at a worse time for India. Prices were skyrocketing even before the announcement – in fact, edible oil prices were at historic highs, around 45% more than the previous highs recorded in 2008 and 2011. Indonesia’s decision will be a tremendous blow to the poor and the salaried class as edible oil prices will rise significantly at a time when inflation is soaring already. Indonesia is the world’s largest producer of palm oil and accounts for 45% of the total supplied to India. It’s a severe blow to India, the world’s largest importer of edible oils and the largest importer of palm oil.
Edible oil prices rose 19% in April-March and Indonesia’s export ban may result in a further 10% jump in prices. India consumes 22.5 million tons of edible oil every year, of which only 9-9.5 million tons is domestically produced. So, India imports 10.5 lakh tons of edible oil every month and closed FY22 with imports of 13 lakh tons. Though this is down from the 15 lakh tons the previous year, the import bill for edible oils in FY22 rose 72% to Rs 1.4 lakh crore from Rs 82,123 crore in FY21. It’s set to get worse.
It’s been a terrible 12 months for edible oil crops. COVID-19 meant that migrant labour was scarce in Indonesia’s palm plantations. This affected the output of palm oil, the most consumed cooking oil in the world – accounting for 40% of global consumption
Soyabean, the second most consumed edible oil, was hit by a poor crop in Argentina – the world’s largest exporter of soyabean oil. Argentina, too, halted exports briefly but resumed them later.
Canola is the world’s third most consumed edible oil. Canada and Europe, its largest producers, reported crop damage and, when Russia invaded Ukraine, it stopped sunflower oil exports.
No wonder cooking oil prices are at historic highs.
Cooking oil inflation is a further burden on severely stressed household budgets. India’s consumer price index hit a 17-month high of 6.95% in March and edible oils contributed significantly to it. With the latest price rise, inflation for the year may work out to a crippling 7%.
It’s not just cooking oil prices that will rise; the export ban on palm oil could hit raw material supplies and drive up prices of packaged consumer goods. Palm oil and its derivatives are used in producing several fast moving consumer goods such as soaps, shampoos, biscuits and noodles. So, all eyes are now on consumer goods companies like Hindustan Unilever, Godrej Consumer Products, Britannia and Nestle.
Parle Products, India’s largest biscuit maker, said Indonesia’s palm oil export is a major challenge for packaged consumer goods – especially because Malaysia, the second biggest palm oil exporter, is also facing a production shortfall due to the pandemic-induced labour shortage.
Over the past 12 months, palm oil prices have risen by 50% and nearly tripled over the past two years. Now, consumer goods firms will have to recalculate prices just as they have done over the past few quarters to make up for input costs. All of this will ultimately be passed on to you.
Thank you all for listening. Please visit allindiansmatter.in for more columns and audio podcasts. You can follow me on Twitter at @AshrafEngineer and @AllIndiansCount. Search for the All Indians Matter page on Facebook. On Instagram, the handle is @AllIndiansMatter. Email me at firstname.lastname@example.org. Catch you again soon.


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Subscribe to Dodla Dairy: Choice Equity Broking
Choice Equity Broking has come out with its report on Dodla Dairy. The research firm has recommended to ''Subscribe'' the ipo in its research report as on June 15, 2021.
June 15, 2021 / 04:46 PM IST
Choice Equity Broking IPO report on Dodla Dairy
Dodla Dairy Ltd. (DDL), one of the largest dairy companies in India is planning to raise up to Rs. 520cr through an IPO, which opens on 16th Jun. and closes on 18th Jun. 2021. The price band is Rs. 421 - 428 per share. The issue is a combination of fresh issue and OFS. The company will not receive any proceeds from the OFS portion. Of the net proceeds from the fresh issue, Rs. 32.3cr will be utilized to repay or prepayment of debt availed by the company and Rs. 7.2cr will be used to fund incremental capex requirement. Residual funds will be used for general corporate purposes. On 2nd Feb. 2021, the company executed a private placement, allocating 0.265cr shares to International Finance Corporation at Rs. 377. Further, on 11th Jun. 2021, few members of the promoter group transferred 0.097cr shares to SBI Mutual Fund at a price of Rs. 411.5.
Valuation and Outlook
With rising health awareness post the pandemic, changing demographics and rising preferences for packed & branded milk products, the demand of milk & milk products are likely to continue to be strong. Additionally, the improved demand from hotels, restaurants and cafes post pandemic would further aid growth of the dairy sector. DDL being one of the largest players in South India with integrated operations and wide product portfolio is expected to benefit from the same. Thus considering the above observations we assign a “SUBSCRIBE” rating for the issue.
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