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The Popularity Keeps Growing
What started in the 1960’s with the countercultural generation has now become a national movement by mainstream society to legalize cannabis.
In the 1960’s, it was believed that only criminals, bohemians and outsiders used cannabis. But today, the plant is being widely used by athletes, educators, lawyers, doctors, and everyone in between.
The stats agree that cannabis consumption is more accepted than ever before. As of June 2022 medical cannabis is legal in 38 states, while recreational cannabis legal in 19. Even those who don’t use cannabis products tend to be in favor of legalization. A Cannabis Culture Poll done by PSB shows that 72% of American adults believe cannabis can be used as medicine. Over 80% of adults believe in one form of cannabis legalization or another. That’s well over twice the support cannabis got 20 years ago.
Why is cannabis becoming so normalized? Possibly because the average cannabis user now looks surprisingly…normal. Cannabis consumers take the form of responsible parents, full-time employees, business owners, and dedicated athletes. They’re often registered to vote, forward-thinking, well-educated, and healthy. Many of these consumers use cannabis to help them become more active — not less. Suffice to say that the stereotypes of decades past have clearly been proven false!
The government is preaching normalized cannabis consumption, too. Once a pretty staunch opponent to any and all forms of cannabis use, the US Attorney General now stresses that prosecuting cannabis-related infractions is a waste of law enforcement resources and seeks to deschedule cannabis. Feeling empowered by the support of the public, even ‘conservative’ politicians are now jumping on the cannabis bandwagon.
Cannabis consumption also looks more diverse than it used to. Long gone are the days of having to buy brick weed on the underground market. Today most Americans have access to medical cannabis dispensaries, recreational dispensaries, or both. In addition to ‘regular’ delta-9 products, they also have access to CBN, CBD, CBDa, and more. In addition to smokeable products, consumers can easily get their hands on chocolates, other edibles, topicals, pain patches, and infused wine and beer!
Another aspect of all this momentum? The cannabis industry is larger and more profitable than ever before. US cannabis sales are projected to reach 250 billion dollars by 2025. That’s bigger than today’s cigarette industry. The average cannabis user spends about $100 a month on their favorite products. With all this money comes more lobbying power.
Yet some groups of cannabis consumers remain underserved. A significant number of people — some estimates say 40,000! — are still serving time in prison for cannabis-related offenses they made when cannabis was illegal. These early adopters and entrepreneurs are essentially ‘locked out’ of today’s bustling legal market. The Black and brown community has been particularly susceptible to these trends.
Here’s to hoping that change is in the near future! At House of Kush we’re devoted to doing our part by committing to community, cooperation, and social equity.


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Fintech`s silent revolution
ENTICED by disruptive and yet innovative technology, the financial system is reorganising itself to regain its robust health, reduce costs and make its services more efficient and affordable after the 2008 crisis. Fintech is ushering in a silent revolution.[TOP]
Its outreach is expanding and it now embraces activities that can be broadly categorised into: Lending tech, Payments tech (billing/remittance), Crypto currencies (bitcoin), Wealth Management (Robo advisors), Crowd funding, Insurance and Regtech (regulations).
Pakistan`s financial sector has responded to the challenges of applying these new technologies by strengthening its human resource and developing customer interface platforms. Most banks now have Chief Innovation Officers or Digital Initiative departments.
Various online Payment Systems and Mobile Apps have been developed to encourage footfall in branches.
The demand for a swift payment mechanism is evident from the quick adaption of digitisation efforts and rising e-commerce platforms.
The latest State Bank`s Annual Performance Review states that `e-Commerce is picking up with 571 merchants offering their products online. During FY2017, 1.2 million transactions valued at Rs9.4 billion were processed through e-commerce`.
The SBP report further states that `25 financial Institutions provide internet banking and 18 have mobile apps. During FY17, 25.2m internet banking transactions were processed valuing at Rs969bn. Mobile banking accounted for 7.4m transactions valuing Rs141bn, representing an annual volume growth of 32 per cent and 12pc respectively`.
The slower uptake of mobile banking may be attributed to fre-quent technical errors. High speed internet connectivity is a much desired pre-requisite for internet and mobile banking.
Moreover, concerns of data hacking through misplaced/snatched phones are barriers in the mind of consumers.
To counter some of these issues, HBL is among the first to offer a biometrically enabled mobile app. Bank Islami has also recently launched its own biometric app.
To further tap this market, social advisory is also on the cards. Apps using location will be able to advise the user of the closest ATM, and the discounts that the banks provides.
Currently, atech start up is providing proximity discount alerts on HBL`s mobile app.
The other aspect gaining traction is the process re-engineering to increase efficiency. For example, a Letter of Credit can soon be opened electronically, reducing the time from three days to four hours.
Similarly, Fls are also simplifying the process of getting a basic, low transaction volume account through biometric verification in just an hour or so. This is the first step towards financial inclusion.
Bank Islami has recently launched its biometric banking, enabling opening accounts with biometric impressions. Given the large segment of the population seeking Shariah-compliant financial services, the product may have better penetration.
However, globally the discussion isn`t about process reengineering, it`s about change in the model itself.
Conversations on tapping digital stamp on trading goods and services and cash management terminal access to clients are some of the examples. For large international customers, cash management and foreign exchange swaps are now being traded through the company`sown terminals making them the most affected revenue streams for financial institutions. The gurus in the field are hinting at digital platforms, making the current model redundant.
In the context of Islamic financial institutions, this presents a tremendous opportunity as they don`t have a legacy problem. Islamic banks can develop Shariah compliant products more in line with their way of doing business.
One such low hanging fruit is auto and housing finance, if digitisation efforts for quicker turnaround and greater reach are introduced.
Crowd funding, which is perhaps closest to Islamic financial institutions` mode of doing things, is not encouraged by the regulator as various Modaraba scams have burnt consumers` fingers. Little work has been done and, even in better regulated jurisdictions like Singapore, Malaysia and the UK, there are only a few Islamic Crowd funding platforms.
A challenge faced by Islamic banks is the increased spending on research and development which is already high due to cost of training personnel and product development needs.
The harbingers of innovation in the financial sector are the nonfinancial telecoms with huge data of biometrically verified customer base and their payment history. Telecoms are already offering payment services and telebanks micro-credit services.
The use of m-wallets (over 27m as of June 2017) for microfinance lending is also being experimented with. However, given the upper limit of Rs 50,000 for SMEs, telco banks may be entering into traditional bank`s space and may give them a tough competition.
On the collection side, there is a need for the financial sector to develop products so as not to loseout to some unconventional sectors.
In China, for example, Alipay (a company of Alibaba) has created a money market fund from the change left in the accounts after payments.
Perhaps companies like Careem can do the same, given the scale and regulatory support in due course.
Beyond banks, Al Meezan Investment`s app lets you draw funds out of your mutual funds account and credit to your Meezan bank account which can be withdrawn at the ATM within half an hour. This in principle serves as an alternate to keeping ready cash/ deposit with the banks.
On the technology side, there are several Fintech startup firms in Pakistan. However, according to Mr Rehan Akhtar, Director Digital Financial Services, Karandaz, a lot of Fintech start-ups need to build deeper understanding of financial system to be able to disrupt them adequately with their solutions.
Data is another aspect of technological development. Some large financial institutions are hiring Data Analytics teams and software specialists to assess, innovate and design new product offerings.
Needless to mention, collaboration is the buzz word here.
With estimated ownership of 40 million smart phone users and 120 million millennials as per various press reports, the growth in this field is unprecedented. Dynamic changes in the job environment and skill set demands that educational institutions also respond and upgrade curriculums. Synthesising the subject matter with technology driven programmes may give students a competitive edge in exciting times to come. -The writer is Senior Manager at IBA Centre for Excellence in Islamic Finance.

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DialogTech Named Best Attribution Solution by The Drum Digital Advertising Awards
DialogTech’s AI-Powered Call Tracking and Conversation Analytics Platform Recognized as the Top Marketing Attribution Solution
CHICAGO, June 25, 2020 — DialogTech, the leading AI-powered call tracking and conversation analytics solution for enterprise marketers, has been named the Best Attribution Solution by The Drum Digital Advertising Awards 2020.
“We’re honored to be recognized by The Drum Digital Advertising Awards as the top attribution solution,” said Doug Kofoid, CEO of DialogTech. “At DialogTech we provide marketers with a unique and innovative platform to measure, analyze, and optimize one of the most powerful drivers of revenue today: inbound phone calls. Our AI-powered solution turns phone conversations into actionable first-party data that marketers use to increase revenue, personalize experiences, and decrease customer acquisition costs. This award is a reflection of DialogTech’s dedication to providing our customers with the best call attribution and analytics solution in the industry.”
The Drum Awards honor the best in technology and digital media in marketing, and the Best Attribution Solution award category recognizes technology that provides the most powerful attribution data for advertisers and generates strong client satisfaction. The judges — a panel made up of industry leaders in marketing and advertising — announced DialogTech as a winner because it is a “full-stack solution that solves a lot of challenges for marketers.”
Inbound calls have always been one of the most valuable conversions for businesses in healthcare, automotive, financial services, insurance, home services, travel, and more. The COVID-19 pandemic and social distancing have only made calls more important, as consumers reluctant to engage with businesses in person are now calling. To drive growth, marketers in these industries need accurate data on how their paid and organic media generate valuable sales calls.
DialogTech’s unique AI-powered solution not only attributes — but intelligently routes, records, transcribes, and analyzes — the calls marketers generate from their online and offline advertising, SEO, website, and more. DialogTech eliminates the costly blind spot calls leave in customer journey analytics by providing marketers and their agency partners complete insight into how their channels, ads, keywords, campaigns, and webpages drive calls that convert to customers and revenue.
When consumers call, DialogTech captures the caller’s phone number, location, and the marketing source that drove the call, then uses AI to analyze the conversation and call experience to measure if the call was answered, caller intent, conversion outcome, call value, and more. That combined data is activated in a business’ martech stack, CRM, and digital ad platforms like Google Ads and Facebook, making it easy for marketers to accurately measure ROI, deliver more personalized experiences, and make smarter optimizations to generate more customers and revenue and decrease acquisition costs.
“I love the analytics on phone calls DialogTech provides and have already found several actionable cases in the data. It’s enabled us to find and correct issues with call handling costing us revenue, generate more of the right callers from our marketing, and better convert them to service appointments,” said Chuck Weaver, Senior Manager of Business Initiatives at GE Appliances.
Resources to Learn More:
- GE Appliances Converts More Calls to Service Appointments with DAC and DialogTech
- Comfort Keepers and Search Discovery Use DialogTech’s AI to Drive More Customers and Caregivers from Google Ads
- How ATI Uses DialogTech to Drive Sales Conversions to 900 Clinics
DialogTech provides the leading AI-driven conversation intelligence platform for marketers at businesses that value inbound phone calls. When consumers call, DialogTech turns those conversations into actionable insights businesses use to improve marketing ROI, increase sales conversions, and deliver more personalized customer experiences, both online and over the phone. Recognized as the leader and pioneer in call analytics since 2007, DialogTech is the trusted conversation intelligence platform for many of the world’s most successful brands and agencies. For more information, visit www.dialogtech.com.


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Naver's Japanese subsidiary LINE and SoftBank's Z Holdings (the parent company of Yahoo Japan) agreed on Nov. 18 to form a mammoth-sized platform based on their combined 100 million users under the vision of growing into a leader of the global artificial intelligence (AI) industry.
Naver and SoftBank plan to set up a 50-50 joint venture and invest 100 billion yen (approximately US$920 million) in cash each year in AI-related fields. This means that a Korea-Japan IT alliance will throw the hat in the ring of the global AI market to compete with the large U.S. and Chinese platform companies. Naver and SoftBank are expected to target the Southeast Asian market where LINE has secured a solid presence.
The big deal came from the two companies’ sense of crisis. The Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon (GAFA) group of the United States and China's Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent (BAT) group are expanding across borders. Naver and SoftBank felt that they could either be absorbed by these groups or become their subcontractors. Naver sought to respond to the GAFA group by creating an AI research belt that encompasses Asia and Europe.
The LINE-SoftBank alliance created big effects. Most notably, the two sides laid out a plan to spend 100 billion yen in cash annually on AI-related fields in the mid to long term via the new joint venture. The first overseas base is expected to be established in Southeast Asia including Indonesia and Thailand where LINE has already established a presence. In the meantime, Yahoo Japan has been unable to go overseas with the Yahoo brand and logo due to licensing agreements with U.S. Yahoo. This seems to have frustrated chairman Son.
In terms of physical business size, the combined entity of the two companies overwhelms other IT companies in Japan. Z Holdings and LINE posted 954.7 billion yen and 207.1 billion yen in sales, respectively, last year. Their combined sales will surpass those of Rakuten, the biggest internet business company in Japan. The combined number of users will also expand to 100 million people (85 million LINE users and 50 million users of Yahoo Japan).
However, in Japan, some experts point out that the integration is something different from what LINE has done. "LINE is a group of creators different from other Japanese companies," said Murayama Keichi, a commentator at the Nihon Geizai Shimbun. " LINE found a sponsor called SoftBank for AI investment, but its integration with Yahoo Japan is a gamble. It is very important for SoftBank to maintain and enhance LINE’s enterprising and experimental spirit. ”
The two sides plan to sign the final agreement in December based on the agreement on management integration (capital alliance) on the day and complete the integration by October next year, after reviewing the Japan Trade Commission's antitrust law violation. Through the business integration, LINE will become a 50-50 joint venture stake between Naver and SoftBank and the joint venture will become the largest shareholder which will control Z Holdings. Z Holdings will have Yahoo and LINE as affiliates. Naver and Softbank will make a tender offer to acquire all of LINE shares. Unless they acquire all of its shares in the tender offer, they will make LINE a company owned by Naver and SoftBank through share consolidation and delist it.
After LINE is delisted, a new company that runs it will become a subsidiary of SoftBank. As a result, LINE’s sales and operating profit will be counted as those of SoftBank.
Some experts question whether or not Naver will transfer LINE to SoftBank in that a new company that will run LINE will become a SoftBank subsidiary. "The two companies are equal as the heads of the joint venture," Kawabe emphasized. "Although Naver judged that the integration will weaken Naver’s connection with LINE, Naver agreed to the integration for a bigger cause as Naver believed that they had to advance into Asia. Naver and SoftBank want to become a third big power after the two big powers of the United States and China.”


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South China Morning Post – 24 Sept 2011
Plunging confidence in the US and Europe eats into orders, with just 13 weeks to go to Christmas
A chill wind is sweeping across the factory supply chain in front of a looming global recession.
From manufacturers in the Pearl River Delta, to freight forwarders and package delivery services in Hong Kong, to retailers and shoppers in the United States and Europe, confidence is falling sharply.
The spiralling euro-zone sovereign debt crisis and a lack of faith in US plans to push down interest rates have already cooled spending in advance of the Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons.
“We can’t feel even a tinge of Thanksgiving as the market is extremely quiet now,” Toll Global Forwarding (HK) managing director Kelly King said. Demand was abnormally sluggish for this time of year, traditionally the peak season for the air and sea cargo industry, he said.
The air freight rate from Hong Kong to Europe fell to HK$15 per kilogram this month, down from HK$18 to HK$20 per kilogram in June, King said. Even with sharp rate cuts, carriers and cargo agents found it tough to fill cargo space on the Europe leg.
With just 13 weeks to go to Christmas, shipping lines and freight forwarders are seeing little of the surge in shipped goods of last year. Airlines had cut their cargo flights and grounded some aircraft, King said.
FedEx, operator of the world’s biggest cargo airline, yesterday lowered its earnings forecast for this year by 10 US cents per share on falling shipments for the second quarter in a row in the US. FedEx chief executive Fred Smith said the company expected sluggish economic growth to continue. Rival UPS also said last week that the US economy grew at a slower rate than it had anticipated.
Hong Kong Garment Manufacturers Association chairman Willie Fung Wai-yiu said the confidence of overseas importers and consumers was battered.
“Buyers, who had already bought very cautiously so far this year, lost confidence,” he said. “Some place orders unexpectedly, but they want shipment right away.”
In some cases, buyers have ordered a container of garments to be delivered within four weeks. Fung said the normal lead time for production of fabric alone was four weeks, not counting production and shipping of the garments.
Federation of Hong Kong Industries deputy chairman Stanley Lau Chin-ho said the bleak outlook on trade – combined with issues on the mainland, such as industrial reform, cost inflation and labour shortages -would intensify a survival-of-the-fittest struggle in the Pearl River Delta.
“The European situation is the most worrying, with the fate of Greece hanging in the air,” Lau said. “It is uncertain whether the worst … is yet to come.”
Hong Kong Air Cargo Terminals, (Hactl), which handles 80 per cent of the cargo at Hong Kong International Airport, recorded its fourth consecutive monthly decline in cargo volume last month.
“There is no sign of optimism,” Hactl marketing and customer service general manager Lilian Chan said.The ongoing relocation of mainland factories further inland amplified the drop in air cargo in Hong Kong, she said.
Clear the Air says: SO, WE DO NOT NEED A THIRD RUNWAY AND THE POLLUTION IT WILL BRING NOR A BRIDGE TO HK GOVERNMENT’S INVESTMENT AT ZHUHAI AIRPORT !


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Century Pacific Food Inc. (CNPF) releases its full-year 2019 results, ending the year with net income of Php3.1 billion – an increase of 11% versus the year before.
2019 consolidated revenues grew by 7%, to Php40.6 billion, driven primarily by double-digit growth in its branded business.
The branded business, comprised of the Marine, Meat and Milk business units, saw sales increase by 12% year-on-year, hitting Php31.2 billion in topline and accounting for 77% of overall revenues.
In contrast, the commodity-linked Tuna and Coconut OEM business, whose revenues accounted for the balance of 23%, saw sales fall by 6% year-on-year on the back of lower commodity prices.
Favorable commodity price trends led to improved profitability for the Company overall, with consolidated gross profit growing faster than sales – by 20% year-on-year. This translated to a 250-basis point rise in overall gross profit margin to 24%.
The improvement in gross profit likewise allowed the Company to invest more heavily in brands, new product development, and innovations, leading to an increase in operating expense of 13%.
As of end-2019, CNPF maintained its healthy balance sheet and improved its financial flexibility. Net gearing stood at 0.2x, while net interest-bearing debt to EBITDA was at 0.7x. The Company’s return on equity likewise remained steady at 18%.
Amidst the ongoing threat from COVID-19 and the Enhanced Community Quarantine throughout Luzon, the Company has also assured the public of continued supply of its products amidst the heightened demand.
“In these challenging times, we recognize the critical role we play in ensuring enough of our products are available to those who need them the most. Thanks to the support of the Department of Trade & Industry and the Inter Agency Task Force, we are able to maintain a smooth flow of goods and operate with enough capacity, despite the use of a skeleton workforce,” said Chief Finance Officer Oscar Pobre.
He added, “We will continue working closely with the government to ensure unhampered operations of our Company and our supply chain partners. We also remain in close touch with partner local government units for the supply and donation of various food products. Finally, the health, safety, and financial protection of our employees remain paramount and we continue to provide them with care and financial aid.”
CNPF recently announced it will be providing one million food packs to Filipinos amid the COVID19 outbreak. The food packs will be distributed nationwide, targeting the communities that are severely impacted.
Further, the Company has earmarked financial support to employees, communities, and various institutions in an effort to join the nation in its fight against COVID-19.


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A new GPS running watch and monitor released this year will weigh less than some of its non-GPS counterparts. Epson, which announced the monitor today, says it will weigh under 50 grams (a little less than two ounces), making it the lightest of its kind, and that it will be able to run for up to 12 hours with GPS enabled. Like other GPS watches, it's designed to track distance and speed for marathon or trail runners. The concept above shows a fairly simple rubber monitor that's supposed to be only 13mm thick, making it smaller than many traditional sports watches.
This announcement marks a first for Epson, a brand better known for its printers and projectors than watches or sporting goods. However, the company is also a subsidiary of the Seiko Group, a name far more familiar to timepiece enthusiasts. For this monitor, Epson developed a new, low-power GPS module that it says is responsible for the light weight and long battery life. The watch will be released in Japan sometime in 2012, although we don't know how much it will cost or when it might be coming to other markets.


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Ant Group has an ambitious international expansion strategy with Asia Pacific at its core. However, one of the largest markets in the region is increasingly not part of Ant’s vision. Suffice to say that when Ant was ramping up expansion in Asia a few years ago, it did not foresee geopolitical tensions with India impacting its investments in the subcontinent, a market the Chinese tech giant once saw as very promising. But the business environment for Chinese companies in India is likely to remain highly challenging for the foreseeable future.
By several metrics, GCash is the most successful Philippine fintech. As of May, it claimed to have 81 million users (in a country of about 114 million) while the company said last year that it achieved profitability three years ahead of schedule. That said, GCash is not resting on its laurels and is stepping up both international expansion and a push into the B2B market.
It was not long ago that we were wondering if the Melborne-founded and Singapore-headquartered fintech unicorn Airwallex had scaled back its ambitions, which historically have been lofty. It is safe to say that is not the case. Indeed, Airwallex continues to push into new markets aggressively, including in the past six months both Israel and Mexico.
We have been writing for a while now about the potential for credit cards to capture market share in India, irrespective of the trajectory of buy, now pay later (BNPL) and e-wallets. In a nutshell, there is nothing quite like a credit card when it comes to cashless payments: the potential for rewards, the potentially significant credit limit, and in some cases, the prestige of holding a specific card. And then there is the bonus that paying off the balance promptly helps one build a solid credit profile over time. Even though India’s credit card penetration is estimated at just 5.5%, in absolute terms, that’s still about 77 million people because the subcontinent’s population is 1.4 billion. So even at that low level of penetration, India has a larger credit card market than all of France or the UK.
Singapore-based fintech startup YouTrip is a now officially an anomaly: It managed to raise US$50 million in what is a relatively challenging period for fintech funding given high interest rates, an uncertain global economy and persistent geopolitical tensions in different parts of the world. In an interview with Nikkei Asia, CEO Caecilia Chu said YouTrip, together with a local financial partner, would launch its multicurrency wallet in Malaysia in a few months’ time while simultaneously beefing up its presence in Singapore and Thailand.
After years of losing money, Paytm has turned things around in the past two years. A disappointing IPO on the eve of a long-overdue slowdown in inflated tech stocks and valuations was a wake-up call for the company to focus on profitability instead of growth in myriad verticals. In the June quarter, India’s most prominent fintech showed some promising signs, especially in terms of loan growth, but it also faces rising competition and lacks a banking license that would allow it to lend directly to customers.
The fragmentation of e-wallets in Asia poses a challenge for any company trying to build a payments rail that can work smoothly throughout the region. With the exception of China, where a duopoly of Alipay and Tenpay still prevails, most Asian countries have dozens, if not tens of dozens, of digital payment methods. This holds true for the richest countries in the region like Japan and Singapore, as well as developing nations in South and Southeast Asia. For this reason, we are carefully observing the progress of Ant Group’s Alipay+ initiative in the region to see if it can achieve a breakthrough.
In September 2021, Ascend Money became Thailand’s first fintech unicorn, achieving a US$1.5 billion following a US$150 million funding round. While we have learned to take fintech valuations with a few grains of salt, Ascend Money does have a strong ecosystem built on its TrueMoney wallet, which says it serves more than 50,000 users through its platform and 88,000 “agents.” The TrueMoney platform and the strategic investment that Ascend Money has from Ant Group could give it an edge as it expands internationally.
For an e-wallet competing against aggressive digital banks, GCash is more than holding its own. The Alibaba-backed company has achieved impressive scale in a competitive, fast-growing market: 81 million active users and 2.5 million merchants and social sellers as of May, and without burning an unacceptable amount of cash. What’s more, according to the company’s leadership, it became EBITDA profitable three years ahead of schedule. The company is now preparing for an IPO. It is just a question of when.
This commentary was written in collaboration with Banking Circle.
India’s United Payments Interface (UPI) real-time payments system has transformed how Indians make payments, allowing them to easily transfer money instantly from one bank account to another: from a customer to a business, or between individuals. Since its 2016 launch, UPI has amassed 300 million users and 500 million merchants in a population of 1.4 billion and been a decisive factor in India’s embrace of cashless payments given its ease of use and interoperability.
This commentary was written in collaboration with Banking Circle.
Taiwan’s e-commerce market has been growing steadily in recent years, buoyed by the pandemic-induced boom in online shopping but also due to rising trade ties between Taiwan and Southeast Asia. Per a research report commissioned by Amazon, the B2C segment is forecast estimated to grow 9% annually from 2021 to 2025, reaching NT$683 billion (US$23.2 billion). Companies including Taiwan’s own PChome and Momo as well as Shopee and Rakuten are all keen to tap into related market opportunities.
There is usually good reason to be skeptical these days about a loss-making fintech with a sky-high valuation, but India’s PhonePe – valued at US$12 billion – could be an exception to the rule. The company has fought its way to the top of the subcontinent’s massive UPI payments rail, edging out Google Pay and Paytm, is gradually building out a comprehensive digital financial services ecosystem and continues to raise eyewatering sums from investors at a time when the easy money no longer flows.
Southeast Asia’s largest platform companies all reported second quarter earnings recently. Some results were better than others, but Sea Group, Grab and GoTo all continue to struggle with the fundamentals. The latter two companies are not profitable, while Sea’s performance underwhelmed investors.
Japan’s megabanks are not the only Japanese financial services companies keen on growing their fintech footprint. The SoftBank spinoff SBI Holdings is a digital focused conglomerate with a securities division, a digital bank that is reportedly Japan’s largest by deposits, an asset management arm, an insurance business and a venture capital arm.
In a rapidly digitizing world, many Asian countries are going cashless in order to create better, faster, and cheaper payment infrastructure. But should 100% cashless be the goal?
While cashless transactions offer clear benefits, significant barriers exist to achieving a completely cashless society. Infrastructure limitations, inadequate digital literacy, and disparities in access to technology hinder the widespread adoption of digital payments in many Asian countries. In addition, cultural preferences and the role of cash in informal economies are tough to dislodge.
Despite high expectations for China's digital currency, adoption of the e-CNY for retail payments in the country remains modest at best. A key issue, and one we have been discussing for several years now, is interoperability with the existing, very effective digital payments ecosystem. The e-CNY is unlikely to be more than a novelty unless it can be fully interoperable with Alipay and WeChat Pay.
Asean has a cross-border payments dream that is slowly moving closer to coming true. Despite the very real interoperability challenges, Southeast Asian countries nonetheless seem determined to build a payments rail of their own that can boost the use of local currencies – perhaps at the dollar’s expense – while speeding up transaction time, lowering transaction costs and strengthening connectivity among their respective financial systems. The latest countries to sign onto this project are the Philippines, Vietnam and Brunei.
Just when it seemed Capital A had put aside its digital banking ambitions, the ever-ambitious airline/platform company announced its partnership with the Philippines’ ascendant online lender UnionDigital Bank. The tie-up between Capital A and UnionDigital Bank comes amid a growing travel recovery in Southeast Asia and strong demand for digital financial services in the Philippines.
Buy now, pay later (BNPL) has surged in Indonesia over the past few years, plugging a large lending gap and in many cases acting like a credit card in all but name. BNPL has grown so briskly in Indonesia that some analysts believe it will replace credit cards altogether.Perhaps not.
Australia-founded but Hong Kong-headquartered B2B payments sensation Airwallex has had a busy 2023 thus far. Not only did it just inject US$165 million into its Singapore entity, it also secured a China payments license in March and inked a partnership with American Express in January that will allow its clients in Australia, the UK, Singapore, and Hong Kong to accept Amex cards as a payment method option. It all seems to add up to an Asia-centric growth strategy that is less grandiose than what the Financial Times described in 2020 as the company wanting to “upend the global payments system.”
Japan’s cashless journey is unique in Asia. While most countries in the region that have accelerated cashless payments in recent years are seeking to simultaneously boost financial inclusion, Japan is one of Asia’s best banked countries, with more than 95% of its adult population having a bank account. For Japan, going cashless is not about increasing participation in the formal financial system, but rather about reducing cash-related costs, as well as bringing the country’s technological prowess to financial services and increasing competition in the financial sector.
In the mid-2010s, the fintech business of Tencent grew exponentially, with WeChat Pay and its offshoots allowing the company to become a viable competitor to Alipay in China. Yet even as Tencent captured close to half of China’s payments market, and established a digital bank, WeBank, that could rival Ant Group’s MYbank, it never displayed the same kind of appetite for global expansion as Jack Ma’s company.
Paytm seems to have found the secret sauce at last. After years of rolling out seemingly unrelated digital financial services, the Indian fintech giant is instead focusing on lending and seeing its revenue rise accordingly. In the first quarter of the 2024 fiscal year, Paytm’s revenue rose 39% year-on-year to 23.42 billion Indian rupees (US$286 million). The company reported an operating profit for a third straight quarter, despite higher employee expenses and no government incentives, while its net loss narrowed to 3.57 billion rupees.
One has to give Ant Group credit: Despite the bruising tech crackdown it has endured at home, it has not given up on its vision of creating a regional payments ecosystem. In fact, Ant arguably had the idea to link up the disparate markets of Southeast Asia via a proprietary digital payments network even before different countries in the region began to set up their own bilateral rails using QR codes.
GCash is by several measures the most successful e-wallet in the Philippines. There is no question it has a massive user base – 81 million active users and 2.5 million merchants and social sellers as of May. What’s more, according to the company’s leadership, it became EBITDA profitable three years ahead of schedule, though it has declined to be more specific than that. While the global economic environment is not optimal for an IPO, GCash itself is doing well enough that it can probably afford to go ahead with the listing before year-end.
In recent years, the biggest credit story in India has been buy now, pay later, sometimes abbreviated as BNPL. Tremendous demand for credit has driven the BNPL boom in the subcontinent, but tighter regulation and slower growth are both now inevitable. As BNPL slows in India, there is an opportunity for the overlooked – but better regulated and steadily growing – credit card segment to build market share. To be sure, credit cards remain more of a premium product in India now than BNPL and the market is significantly smaller than for installment payments. Still, it is not small given India’s overall market size.
Patience is a virtue, and good things come to those who wait? Or so it seems in the case of Paytm, India’s most prominent fintech, once best known for looking like yet another questionable bet by Masayoshi Son, but now reminding us he knows how to pick winners after all. Paytm stumbled out of the gates of its November 2021 IPO, but since then has gradually improved its core metrics and has had a pretty good 2023. The company’s stock is up 67% this year; it has a booming lending business and may be profitable sooner than expected.
For the longest time, the China payments market was an oligopoly of the privileged three: first the state-owned UnionPay, and then as the country transitioned to mobile payments, Alipay and Tenpay. U.S. card giants like Visa, Mastercard, and American Express as well as PayPal could only look on with envy and frustration as Beijing kicked the can down the road on boosting market access – which was supposed to have been complete by 2006 per the conditions it agreed to upon accession to the World Trade Organization in 2001.
The paramountcy of the SWIFT interbank messaging network to cross-border payments can be measured in many ways, and SWIFT itself likes to do so with its data on transaction numbers and amounts. For instance, as of December 2022, Swift had recorded an average of 44.8 million FIN messages (payments and securities transactions) per day during the year, a year on year rise of 6.6%.
Raising money is not nearly as easy it used to be for fintechs, but that has not stopped PhonePe. India’s Walmart-owned payments fintech giant just raised another US$100 million from private equity firm General Atlantic as it races towards a US$1 billion fundraising goal. PhonePe is arguably the most prominent Indian fintech unicorn that has yet go public, with a valuation of US$12 billion, massive transaction volume and a commanding presence on the ubiquitous United Payments Interface (UPI) payments rail.
Across Asia’s emerging markets, earned wage access (EWA) has been gaining traction rapidly in the past two years. In a nutshell, EWA platforms allow employees of a company to access a portion of their earned pay before payday. EWA is catching on fast in some of Southeast Asia’s largest emerging markets where per-capita GDP remains relatively low and significant portions of the population are either unbanked or underbanked.
This commentary was written in collaboration with Banking Circle.
The majority of cross-border payments are currently carried out via telegraphic transfers supported by SWIFT’s network of correspondent banks. These transfers are often criticized for being slow and expensive. A transfer can take several days to complete, while the World Bank estimates the average cost of a transaction to be about 6% of the transfer value.
It’s all about financial inclusion: That’s why buy now, pay later (BNPL) is continuing to grow briskly in Indonesia, why regulators are maintaining a light touch, why venture capitalists and others keep pouring money into the country’s BNPL firms. Indonesia has an unbanked population of 181 million that is larger than the populations of most countries and many more underbanked people. Interest-free (if you pay on time) installment payments seamlessly integrated into e-wallets could become a dominant form of de facto credit in the country.
It is no exaggeration to say that India’s United Payments Interface (UPI) real-time payments system has been a game changer for the subcontinent. In a nutshell, UPI has transformed how Indians make payments, allowing them for the first time to easily transfer money instantly from one bank account to another: from a customer to a business, or between individuals.
In the roughly seven years since it was launched, UPI has accrued 260 million users in a population of 1.4 billion and been a decisive factor in India’s embrace of cashless payments thanks to its ease of use and interoperability. Mastercard’s 2022 New Payments Index found that Indians are the most willing of any consumers in the Asia-Pacific region to use emerging cashless payment methods with 93% likely to have made such a payment in the past year.
While many fintech success stories have come entirely from the private sector, state-backed UPI shows that public-private digital financial inclusion efforts can bear fruit when they are implemented well. Having achieved dominance at home, UPI now has set its sights on global expansion.
The question is: Can what works for digital payments in India work globally?


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Maxxis Tyres expands footprints in UP, appoints first distributor in Gorakhpur
The company plans to appoint two more distributors in the state by this month through its official distributor in North India
Maxxis India, a sub-company of Maxxis Group, the largest two-wheeler tyre manufacturer and the ninth largest tyre company in the world, today announced the appointment of its first distributorship in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh. The new distributorship, Hanumant Enterprises (Proprietor, Mr. Ganga Prasad Jaiswal) located in Village Haraiya, Gorakhpur will reach out to dealers, auto part retailers and independent repair shops around Varanasi, Gorakhpur, Allahabad and adjoining areas.
Globally, Maxxis’ product portfolio includes tyres for passenger cars, two-wheelers, light trucks, trucks, buses, ATV’s and agricultural & industrial vehicles. Maxxis’ high standards for quality, efficiency and innovation have been acknowledged with numerous honours and awards. The group has its presence in 6 continents with 21 manufacturing plants and 5 R&D Centres worldwide and develops its diversified tyre products for customers across 180 countries.
India market is touted to play a vital role in Maxxis’ global vision to become one of the top 5 tyre manufacturers in the world by 2026. Uttar Pradesh being the most populous state of the country and a key driver of growth in the auto sector is a significant market for Maxxis in India. Maxxis currently serves as an OEM tyre supplier to Honda (Two-wheelers), Maruti Suzuki, Mahindra, Tata and Jeep in India. The production from the first phase of the India facility began in August, 2017 and Maxxis India has been selected as the original equipment tyre supplier to India’s number one selling model, Honda Activa, since 2015. The company has plans to come up with 5 more plants in the future which will also cater to the 4-Wheeler tyres market.
Commenting on the appointment, Mr. Jia-Ciao (Gary) Liou, Spokesperson, Maxxis India said, “We at Maxxis believe that distributors and dealers are our brand partners in true sense. We have had a long standing partnership with MTTK and are delighted to team up with them to expand our footprints in Uttar Pradesh. We are confident that the addition of new distributors will significantly improve our presence and position in the region.”
Maxxis India inaugurated their first manufacturing facility in Sanand Gujarat in March this year and are targeting to capture a market share of at least 15% of India’s tyre market within 5 years. The plant with an investment of over $400 million (Rs 2,640 crore) is spread across 106 acres and is currently dedicated to manufacturing of two-wheeler tyres and tubes with a capacity to produce around 20,000 tyres and 40,000 tubes per day.
MTTK Trading Private Limited is responsible for supplying passenger car as well as two-wheeler tyres for after sales markets in Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, Delhi, Chandigarh, Uttrakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir. So far, MTTK has on-boarded 6 distributors in North India and has plans to add 6 more by the end of this month.
Mr. Maytar Korcharoenkiat, Director, MTTK Trading said, “The product quality and positive customer feedback of Maxxis Tyres have undoubtedly helped us grow in the regions we already have a presence in. We currently have a total of 177 dealer across North India and are targeting to have over 700 dealers partners on board by next month. With the appointment of our UP distributors, we aim to have associations with 200 dealers in the region by this month.”
“With great emphasis on digitisation and business analytics, we will constantly work towards providing support to all our dealer partners to help them run their business effectively. It is our endeavour to provide a heightened experience to the dealers and end users alike,” asserted Mr. Gary Liou.


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Difficult production caused by weather is expected to limit growth in EU dairy production in 2018 to 0.6% to 167m tonnes. And the weather effects of 2018 will possibly impact on production in quarter one of 2019, with growth in production forecast to be 0.7% next year.
The EU dairy industry is forecast to grow by 0.8% annually until 2030, when total production is predicted to be 182m tonnes from the expected 21.9m dairy cows. Yields are predicted to grow from 7,050kg per cow in 2017 to 8,240kg per cow in 2030, an increase of 17%.
On price, the EU raw milk price in 2018 is predicted to be €34/100kg, which is 2% below the last five-year trimmed average.
The recovery and stability in milk prices is explained by falling stocks of skimmed milk powder and good demand for dairy products. Intervention stocks have been reduced to 170,000t, which could be cleared completely in 2019.
Lower milk production in some EU countries and lower fat content has meant lower supply of butter, which has driven butter price to an average of €5,100t, which is 50% above the five-year average.
While cheese prices have been below 2017 levels they have remained consistently around €3,300t over this year.
By 2030, world milk production is expected to be above 1bn tonnes, increasing annually by over 15m tonnes, with 40% of the increase in India, primarily for the domestic market.
Increasing demand in Africa and Asia is forecast to be ahead of their ability to increase production and therefore will be a growing market for exporting countries.
While milk powders will be the core business, demand is also predicted to increase for dairy products, according to the EU’s forecast.
Cheese is a big performer for EU dairy industry.
Cheese is EU ace
Cheese is broken into two categories – domestic consumption, which is personal use, and industrial, which is driven by the convenience food sector where cheese is a key ingredient.
In the EU, the market is divided 50:50 and the EU forecasts that per-capita cheese consumption will grow by 1.3kg to reach 20kg per person by 2030.
Geographical indicators are key branding in the personal consumption cheese markets and generate a premium in internationally traded cheese beyond the EU.
Exports of EU cheese increased by around 40% in the decade between 2007 and 2017 and this growth is forecast to continue through until 2030. By then, the report predicts the EU will be exporting 1.2m tonnes of cheese, which would be 40% of the global cheese trade, up from 34% in 2018.
Butter is back in fashion.
Butter in fashion
EU consumption of butter is forecast to reach close to 4.6kg per capita in 2030 in the EU outlook report, 0.3kg above the 2018 level. Global demand is forecast to lead to an increase of EU exports to approximately 260,000t.
Butter prices have been extremely volatile over the past couple of years, peaking this year at almost €6,400/t though this is expected to drop to around €4,500/t by the end of the year. The EU outlook is forecasting a butter price of €4,000/t in 2030.
Whole milk powder (WMP)is facing increasing competition from South America and the EU share of global trade is forecast to fall to 12% in 2030 from the present 14%.
Demand will remain strong within the EU, however, with WMP production forecast to grow by 4m tonnes per year up to 2030, due to higher domestic demand forecast to increase by 4.2m tonne annually, with chocolate the main source of this increased demand.
On skimmed milk powder (SMP) the EU is a huge global player accounting for the supply of 50% of the total product traded.
Volumes traded doubled in the decade 2008 to 2018, with the EU accounting for half the increase. Over the decade, the EU had been increasing its exports annually by 16%, reaching a record total volume of 780,000t in 2017.
The EU outlook report is forecasting that volumes traded will grow by 240,000t milk equivalent per year up to 2030, with the EU taking a 30% share of global exports.
This growth in demand is predicted to lead SMP production reaching 1.8m tonnes by 2030, 18% above the 2018 levels and creating a demand for an additional 2.2m tonnes milk equivalent being used for SMP processing.


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The three-day international conference on ‘Rurality, Ruralism, and Rural Tourism: Challenges and Coping Strategies’, organised by the Department of Tourism & Hospitality Management, Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) successfully concluded on Saturday on a high note.
Being seen as a huge initiative for addressing the issues of growth and sustainable development of rural tourism in India, the conference touched upon the importance of youth and the contribution of women in the development of rural tourism.
On Thursday, the international conference, sponsored by the Ministry of Tourism, was inaugurated by Vinod Zutshi, former Secretary, Ministry of Tourism and Nagesh Singh, former Additional Secretary, Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India.
Plenary sessions at three-day conference touched upon multiple issues of rural tourism ranging from challenges to coping strategies and from sustainability to employability.
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The conference was attended by country’s eminent academicians and scholars from abroad.
Prof. Tanja Mihalic, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia, and Steve Borgia, founder of INDeco Leisure Hotels, spoke on sustainability and global rural tourism while Ms. Rashmi Sawant, founder of Culture Aangan, Jaipur, brought attention to rural community development.
In an attempt to bring all organisations and individuals engaged in rural tourism under one umbrella, the conference also witnessed the foundation of Association for Rural Tourism in India (ARTI).
Besides, issues like ‘rural tourism governance and community stake’ and ‘design and delivery of the rural experience’ were also discussed. The session focused on methods to create and deliver a rural experience through improvising and applying existing techniques and devising innovative methods. The discussion at the conference also debated on sustainable tourism literature and the various coping strategies to promote tourism in rural areas.
Recognising the revolutionary contribution of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), Rashmi Ranjan Choudhury, a Ph.D. scholar from North-Eastern Hill University, Meghalaya, highlighted how rural tourism could be explored through the travel blogger’s perspective. On the other hand, Tania Hossain of Waseda University, Tokyo, highlighting on the current status of rural tourism in Bangladesh, spoke of how rural tourism generated employment bringing prosperity to the local residents. She also explained the tight spots of rural tourism in Bangladesh.
The organiser took utmost care to make this conference eco-friendly and go green with no use of plastic and artificial materials.
Professor Nimit Choudhary, the brain behind this successful conference, extended a vote of thanks highlighting the papers presented and the green conference initiative. The valedictory session was graced by the auspicious presence of Chief Guest Shri. Subhash Goyal, founder chairman, STIC Travel Group of Companies.


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Social media giant Facebook has just launched a new app for Apple iOS users. This new app is called Hobbi and currently available on the Apple App Store. The interesting thing is that this new app is similar to another popular app in the market called Pinterest. As per the description on Apple App Store, Hobbi wants to help users “document and remember the things” they love. Interested users can also head to the App Store listing in the United States and other regions. The app is currently not available on the Google Play Store for Android users. Also Read - Coronavirus effect: Cisco, Facebook also pull out of MWC 2020
Facebook launches Pinterest-clone Hobbi; details
According to the app description, the app allows users to save and organize the images they like. One can organize the images in collections and albums. Hobbi will aim at users interested in areas like DIY, arts and crafts, cooking, baking, and more. Other target areas also include fitness and home decor. On the surface, the app looks similar to Pinterest. However, Pinterest issued a statement to The Information highlighting the differences between both the apps. According to Engadget, Pinterest believes that Hobbi does not come with its “discoverability, search, and recommendations.” Also Read - Facebook's Twitter and Instagram accounts hacked, used to post pictures and taunting message
Watch: Poco X2 Review
The report also states that an internal Facebook group is behind this group. This group is the New Product Experimentation (NPE) team. Facebook formed this group back in 2019 under the leadership of former Vine head Jason Toff. The group works on creating small apps for Facebook. Also Read - WhatsApp Pay will be rolled out in India in phased manner as Facebook gets NPCI nod
Past reports have also revealed that Facebook is not shy to shut down its apps that don’t perform as expected. The company has shut down several NPE apps that did not perform well. So, Hobbi will be under similar pressure of performance if it has to survive. This new app comes just weeks after Google launched a TikTok-like app called Google Tangi. Google has already added collections inside its Google image search.


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Inflation data will be the dominant data theme in the coming week as CPI figures are published for the United States, United Kingdom, China and the Eurozone. Industrial production will also come into focus as data is due from the US, Japan and the Eurozone, as well as Chinese trade data. The start of the week is expected to be fairly quiet though as Japan, Canada and the US markets are closed for national holidays.
After this week’s Bank of England meeting minutes sounded more dovish than some had anticipated, next week’s inflation and unemployment data will be watched closely on signs of any spillover effects on the UK economy from the recent global developments. September CPI out on Tuesday is forecast to remain at 0.0% as with the prior month. The core rate is forecast to edge up to 1.1% y/y from 1.0%. No change is expected in the unemployment rate on Wednesday with the August rate expected to remain at 5.5%. Wages growth is however expected to continue to strengthen with average weekly earnings including bonuses forecast to rise to 3.1% y/y.
In the Eurozone, the ZEW economic sentiment survey for Germany should provide some further insight into the outlook for the German economy after recent data showed weakening exports and industrial output. The ZEW survey index out on Tuesday is forecast to worsen to 7.0 in October from 12.1 previously. Eurozone industrial production data on Wednesday is not expected to be positive either. Industrial production in the euro area is forecast to shrink by 0.6% m/m in August. On Friday, the final September CPI data for the Eurozone is not expected to show any revision. The Eurozone fell back into deflation in September with prices decreasing by 0.1% annually, raising expectations that the European Central Bank might expand or extend its quantitative easing program by the end of the year.
It will be quite a busy week for US data, starting off with retail sales on Wednesday. September retail sales are forecast to increase by 0.3% m/m, a slight acceleration from August’s 0.2%. Inflation data is due on Thursday, with September CPI expected to slip into negative territory to -0.2% y/y, adding support to the argument for a rate rise to be delayed to 2016. But the core rate is forecast to stay at 1.8% y/y for the fourth consecutive month. Friday will see the release of industrial production data, which is expected to increase by 0.1% m/m in September. The JOLTS job openings for August and the University of Michigan October confidence survey are also released on Friday.
In Asia, the main focus will be on Chinese data. China is expected to publish trade figures on Tuesday with exports forecast to show another drop in September. After falling by 5.5% in August, exports are estimated to have decreased by 6.3% y/y in September. But more worryingly for countries that export to China, imports are forecast to have dropped by 15.0% y/y. On Wednesday, inflation data is released with September CPI forecast to ease slightly to 1.8% y/y.
Finally, investors will get the chance on Tuesday to analyse the Bank of Japan minutes from its last meeting for any signs of further easing in the coming months. However, the Bank of Japan is unlikely to reveal too much ahead of its updated half-yearly forecasts and another meeting at the end of the month.
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Fisheries Commission in collaboration with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) organized a three-day workshop for key stakeholders of Small-Scale Fisheries (SSF) and the Ghana School Feeding Program (GSFP) on the inclusion of small fish in the Ghana School Feeding Program from 26th – 28th June, 2023 at SkyPlus Hotel, Ho in the Volta Region.
The workshop aimed at building skills and capacity of stakeholders of SSF and GSFP on best practices and to create awareness on the importance of small fish in Ghanaian food systems approach to food and nutrition security.
Participants included district level implementation level stakeholders of GSFP, Fisheries Commission , SSF organizations, and development partners in the fisheries and nutrition sector.
The Volta Regional Director of the Fisheries Commission, Mr. William Agbenu, in his welcome address noted, the workshop will increase awareness and knowledge on local small fish and small fish products for sustainable nutrition at the community level.
Mr. Mark Kwame Offei, Nutrition and Food Systems Coordinator of FAO, on behalf of the Deputy Regional Representative of Ghana, Dr.Yurdi Yasmi, stated that, millions of school-aged children consume food during school hours, and in Ghana, a school meal constitutes a significant part of their diet. It is therefore essential that the food available in schools responds to children’s nutritional needs, he added.
He indicated that, Ghana’s fishery stock is an untapped nutrition resource and that, fish is essential for ensuring food and nutrition security for the most vulnerable populations in the nation.
As part of the Small -Scale Fisheries Umbrella Programme, National Project Coordinator of FAO, Md. Abigail Kanyi, mentioned that, there was a need for capacity building for stakeholders along the Small Fish value chain and the GSFP to build a consensus on the incorporation of Small Fish into the GSFP.
Nutrition Consultant at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Dr. Jolene Mateko A. Nyako, educated participants on the second day of the workshop on dietary guidelines for children. She cited that, fish being an essential protein in children’s diet contains omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin D and B2, rich in calcium, phosphorus, and a great source of minerals.
Md. Yaa Tiwaah Amoah, Deputy Director of the Post-Harvest Management and Trade Division of Fisheries Commission noted that, the Safe Fish Certification and Licensing Scheme (SFCLS) which was launched this year, will regulate the fish processing industry through a licensing and certification system for fish processors and fish products.
Participants were sensitized on the status and dangers of child labor and child trafficking in the fisheries sector. Ag. Deputy Eastern Regional Director for Department of Gender, Md. Juliana Abbeyquaye, indicated that, children who are being rescued by the police are being sheltered and catered for by the Social Welfare Unit of the Gender and Social Protection Ministry.
The third day of the workshop saw participants being taken through practical cookery sessions on the preparation and handling of small fish for cooking, processing small fish for storage, cleaning and repurposing Small Fish waste.
Dr. Jolene advised caterers to cook with natural herbs and spices, instead of additives.
Linkages were created amongst stakeholders, and they all pledged their support to the inclusion of small fish in GSFP.
Head of the Dzemeni Fish Processing center, Md. Eva, in her closing remarks mentioned that, fish processors at Dzemeni have benefited a lot from the Small -Scale Fisheries Umbrella Program. She said the use of improved smoking ovens have improved the quality of their fish products and their livelihoods.


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FCA FLEET CUSTOMERS GET FULL VIP TREATMENT
“FCA played host to many members of our fleet management community at the Auto Show once again this year,” said Wayne Rose, Senior Vice-President, Jim Pattison Lease. “Each year they provide us with the opportunity to view their product line but also to view what is new in the Industry in general. Thank you very much to our hosts for providing us with this opportunity.”
The event welcomed 175 individuals from accounts, fleet management companies and upfitters.
“The FCA team hosted a wonderful interactive evening displaying a fantastic line up a vehicles focused on safety, efficiency and fun,” said Darlene Spriel, Director Fleet Solutions, Foss National Leasing. “I am excited to drive the new Pacific Hybrid model to test its fuel savings real soon.”
Ken Tuckey, Senior Manager, National Fleet and Commercial Vehicles, and Bernie Moorcroft, National Commercial Sales Manager, FCA Canada, welcomed those in attendance for coming and highlighted the features of the 2017 Jeep Compass and 2017 Chrysler Pacifica PHEV.
“Fiat Chrysler continues to outdo themselves year after year with their VIP event,” said Mark Boutilier, Director of Business and Fleet Development, Action Car and Truck Accessories. “It was a great atmosphere with many vehicles on display like the new Jeep Compass, Pacifica and of course RAM trucks.”
Pierre Retelle, FCA Product Trainer presented a walk-around of the Compass to attendees.
“The FCA Canada Fleet VIP Event is a highly anticipated event each year. It is clear that expectations are high, not only here in Canada but in the global market as well, for the all new Jeep Compass that was on display,” said Paul Wingate, Strategic Consulting Services, Element Fleet Management. “Attention was also focused on the Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid, the industry’s first plug-in minivan that is built in Windsor, Ontario. Aided by substantial financial incentives available in several provinces, it will be interesting to see what the fleet penetration will be for this vehicle.”
(From left) Amy Edghill, Michael Palazzo, Lawrence Chiaravalle, Kathryn Foster, Mary Lou MacDonald, ARI.
Sahar Burney and Alishah Jiwani, Element Fleet Management, Ken Tuckey, FCA Canada, Connie Johns, Element Fleet Management, and Norm Lyle, Emkay Inc.
Paul Belfer (left) and Kurt Kohler (right), Enterprise Holdings Inc. flank Sujata Yerrow, FCA Canada.
(From left) Ian Crapper, Monique Powers, Derek Wcislo, Darlene Spriel, and Basil Marcus, Foss National Leasing.
(From left) Wayne Rose, Jim Pattison Lease, and Bernie Moorcroft, FCA Canada, with the Jeep Renegade.
(From left) Ken Tuckey and Bernie Moorcroft, FCA Canada introduce the all-new 2017 Jeep Compass.
(From left) Jeff Meggitt, York Region, and Mark Boutilier, Action Car and Truck Accessories.


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Addition to the Growing Number of Destinations: Cebu Pacific to launch Manila Melbourne Flights this August
The leading carrier in the Philippines, Cebu Pacific, announces that starting August 14, 2018, there will be direct services between Manila and Melbourne, Australia (find hotels).
The seat sale starts February 27 and will end on March 3, 2018.
The special promo fare for the Melbourne launch is priced at PHP2,199. These flights are valid for travel from August 14 to October 31, 2018. After the seat sale, there will be a year-round low fare for travels between Manila and Melbourne that start as low as PHP9,539, which is about 50 to 60 percent lower than the prevailing fares from other airlines.
Vice President for Marketing and Distribution of Cebu Pacific, Candice Iyog, said: “We share the excitement of the Filipino community in Melbourne and Australian travelers who want to experience the Philippines. The launch of our service between Melbourne and Manila will give travelers from Australia seamless connections to other destinations in the Philippines at year-round low fares. This will enable Filipinos living in the Melbourne area to visit their families more often, and encourage more Australian tourists to spend their holidays in the Philippines.”
She also added,: “More importantly, we hope to strengthen trade between the Philippines and Australia through more cargo capacity on direct flights that are more affordable. This will benefit importers and exporters, as well as retailers bringing products in both countries.”
This is Cebu Pacific’s second destination in Australia after the launch of its direct flights from Manila to Sydney in 2014. Since its launch, tourist arrivals from the Philippines has been one of the fastest growing source markets for Australia, with an average increase of 16 percent over the past four years. Before the entry of Cebu Pacific, tourist arrivals from the Philippines was at 70,000. Since the launch in 2014, the number is steadily climbing up to 120,000.
Ambassador of the Commonwealth of Australia to the Philippines, Amanda Gorely said: “The opening of the Manila-Melbourne route is a testament to growing trade and people-to-people links. Melbourne is a great city to explore and increased flights will also bring more Australian tourists to the Philippines. This will also be welcome news to a quarter of a million Filipinos who now call Australia home, and the more than 10,000 students who travel there each year.”
Cebu Pacific will be flying three times a week, every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, between Manila and Melbourne with the following schedules:
|ETD (local time)||ETA (local time)|
Cebu Pacific is the only low-cost carrier flying directly between two countries.
The introduction of Manila to Melbourne service leads the carrier to another expansion path across the region. Cebu Pacific now boasts a network that spans over 106 routes, with 26 international and 37 domestic destinations. Cebu Pacific is also expecting in the next few weeks the delivery of its brand new Airbus A321CEO aircraft. Between the years 2018 and 2022, the low-cost carrier expects the delivery of additional brand-new aircrafts: 32 Airbus A321NEO, eight ATR 72-600, and six Airbus A321CEO.
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CHICAGO — Ford Motor Co. is increasing in Chicago after signing a lease for an enormous industrial constructing close to its southeast aspect meeting plant.
The automaker has leased a brand new 359,000-square-foot constructing inside a big industrial park underneath development on the location of the previous Republic Metal manufacturing facility, stated Tom George, vp of acquisitions at NorthPoint Improvement, which is creating the property.
Ford, which signed the lease in late 2019, plans to make use of the constructing for “pre-assembly work” of parts that will likely be delivered to the Ford manufacturing facility about 1.5 miles away, he stated.
George didn’t know the way many individuals would work within the Ford warehouse, the primary of as many as six giant industrial buildings NorthPoint plans within the park. A Ford spokeswoman declined to remark.
The lease is sweet information for NorthPoint and the Chicago economic system, which is reeling from the impression of the coronavirus. Authorities restrictions to sluggish the unfold of the virus have compelled many companies to close down quickly and left many individuals with out a job.
Ford idled its North American factories for 2 months in response to the pandemic, reopening them in mid-Could. However a pair days later, the corporate shut its Chicago plant briefly after two employees there examined optimistic for the virus.
Ford expects to increase its production to pre-pandemic ranges at its North American factories with weeks, however the automaker has forecast a $5 billion loss within the second quarter on account of COVID-19. Nonetheless, George has seen no indicators that the corporate is reconsidering its determination to maneuver into the brand new constructing.
“They’ve been anxious to get in there, so I assume that’s nonetheless the case,” George stated.
Earlier than the pandemic, Ford made a significant dedication to its Chicago operations, spending $1 billion to modernize the South Facet manufacturing facility, the place is makes Ford Explorers, and a Chicago Heights stamping plant. The corporate employed a mixed 6,500 folks within the vegetation as of final June.
Kansas Metropolis, Mo.-based NorthPoint additionally made an enormous dedication to the Southeast Facet, launching its $164 million plan to revamp the Republic Metal website final yr. Town of Chicago gave the venture an enormous push with a $52 million tax-increment financing subsidy. Its anticipated return on funding: 660 everlasting jobs and 650 non permanent development jobs.
With 2.three million sq. toes of buildings over 196 acres, the venture, known as the Avenue O Industrial Park, is the most important industrial improvement in Chicago for the reason that creation of the 1.6 million-square-foot Ford provider park subsequent door greater than 16 years in the past. NorthPoint additionally owns the provider park, whose tenants embrace Tower Automotive and Flex-N-Gate.


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Ford will recall nearly 9,900 vehicles across two campaigns, and the affected models will include the Focus ST, Escape, Taurus, Lincoln MKS, and MKT.
2013 Ford Focus ST
- Brandon Turkus
- Aug 19, 2014
Recalls! 2014 will be forever remembered as the year that automakers went recall crazy, with millions and millions of vehicles adding up to crush previous recall records well before the end of the year. Adding to that tally is Ford, which announced a call-back for 163,000 vehicles.
- Brandon Turkus
- Mar 7, 2014
A few years back, Volkswagen made some waves when it announced the Golf GTD - a diesel-powered car that, aside from its ultra-efficient, ultra-torquey engine, was identical to the gas-powered GTI. That meant cosseting sport seats, larger wheels, sportier suspension, larger brakes and a body kit that made the GTD indistinguishable from the GTI, except for the three little letters on the back and in the grille.
- Jonathon Ramsey
- Aug 12, 2013
Ford is recalling 6,308 units of the 2012 and 2013 Focus Electric and 2013 Focus ST that were fitted with HID headlights because a "wiring incompatibility" could keep the front side marker lights from working. A bulletin from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says the recall should begin in the middle of this month, after which owners can take their cars to dealers to have the wiring assembly repaired free of charge.
- Steven J. Ewing
- Nov 7, 2012
We may have to make due with the Focus ST here in the United States (note: we are not complaining), but an even hotter version – the Focus RS – has historically been quite a hit in Europe. And according to a report in Auto Express, the next-generation RS should be one hot little number when it launches in 2014.
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Sony Japan testing 'new game machine'
Hot on heels of PSP2 rumors, SCEJ begins hiring testers to evaluate a "part of the PlayStation or PSP series and their peripherals," including "machines not yet released."
For months, rumors have been circulating about either a redesign or a successor to Sony's PSP handheld. This week, the flames of speculation were further fanned by a job listing on the official Sony Computer Entertainment Japan Web site for an "evaluator/assessor" for a "new game machine." According to a GameSpot translation by a fluent Japanese speaker, the new machine is "part of the PlayStation or PSP series and their peripherals."
The job listing goes on to state that, if accepted, evaluator/assessor applicants will "be part of an advisory staff that will play PlayStation series software on this new machine and check its functionality. They will also be able to "test game machines not yet released or new functionality of PS3 peripherals before they are released." (Emphasis added.) [UPDATE] Since the story ran, Sony has changed the copy on the listing, removing mention of a "new game machine."
So what exactly is this new "game machine"? Is it a new PSP, as some suspect, or simply some sort of new peripheral for the PSP or PS3? When contacted by GameSpot, Sony Computer Entertainment reps said they were working on a response, which had not been issued as of press time.
If the device in question is a new model of the existing PSP platform, it would be the fourth iteration and third redesign of the handheld since its Western release in 2005. The first revamp, the PSP-2000, was unveiled at E3 2007 and offered a slimmer chassis and video-output support. The second revision, the PSP-3000 that launched last October, offered a brighter LCD screen, built-in microphone for use with Skype, and interlaced video output.
The products discussed here were independently chosen by our editors. GameSpot may get a share of the revenue if you buy anything featured on our site.
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Latest Criticism of Facebook Stories
LONDON, July 13, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Web Perspectives has revealed that 80% of Canadian respondents said they use Facebook at the same level of high than they did a year ago. Despite Facebook 'losing' 1.5 million users in Canada over the past 2 months, speculation is rife that this social networking empire is on the decline. With almost 700 million users worldwide, Facebook has revolutionised online social networking. However, the Inside Facebook Gold Data...
SANTA MONICA, Calif., July 6, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Facebook has revised terms for game developers using its "virtual money," Facebook Credits, changing one blatant anticompetitive provision in the wake of an antitrust complaint from Consumer Watchdog, but Federal Trade Commission Intervention is still necessary, the nonpartisan, nonprofit group said today.
Internet search giant Google is launching a new campaign aimed at taking on Facebook directly.
Free online dating website GroupeeLove.com which lets users create their own custom niches using various inclusion criteria recently enhanced its service by integrating Facebook Connect, allowing Facebook users to go through a quick sign-up process and to either auto-login or sign-in with a single click on subsequent visits to the site. South Plainfield, NJ (PRWEB) June 27, 2011 On a playing field flooded by look-alikes and also-rans, GroupeeLove.com pushes the envelope in online dating in...
The Winklevoss twins are trying out another suit against Facebook just a day after they decided not to appeal a US Supreme Court ruling.
The Winklevoss twins, the brothers who reached a $65 million cash/stock settlement with Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook in 2008, after filing charges that Zuckerberg stole their idea for a social network in 2003, have ended their legal battle with the social network.
SAN DIEGO, June 16, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- PageRage, the first web application to allow Facebook users to place graphic Facebook layouts right on top of their existing profile, and the most popular Facebook customization product in the world, has released a new version of PageRage: PageRage Premium. The original version of PageRage shows minimal ads to help keep PageRage 100% free to more than 6 million active users from more than 200 countries around the world.
Facebook is preparing to file for an initial public offering by the first quarter of 2012 at a valuation that could exceed $100 billion.
SimpliSafe Home Security provides these 7 Golden Rules for Social Media Security to help users prevent their personal information from being compromised, and also, to prevent online embarrassments. (PRWEB) June 10, 2011 Facebook and Twitter have over half a billion users.
Once again, Facebook appears to be out of step with its fans when it comes to privacy settings for individuals on the ever-popular social network.
- A young chicken: also used as a pet name for children.


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Starting off on the wrong foot
Things started to get rough when Stratasys released its 2014 full-year guidance, which fell short of analyst expectations. The company expects to earn between $2.15 and $2.25 per share in 2014, below the analyst consensus of $2.33. The news sent shares down as much as 12%, though they have recovered some thanks to a recent upgrade by Credit Suisse.
Peeling back the layers, it becomes evident that Stratasys is more focused on growing its business over the long term than it is concerned with short-term profitability. In the coming year, Stratasys plans on increasing its R&D investments to develop new products and will significantly build out its manufacturing capacity in anticipation of future demand. Both of these are healthy signs of things to come and show that management has the right priorities for the business.
The second shoe to drop
The following day, ExOne decided to drop another bomb on 3-D printing stocks by lowering its 2013 full-year revenue guidance. When a company lowers revenue guidance, it can often spark concerns about structural issues affecting the business. Judging by the nearly 20% decline in the stock's price when you account for after hour activity, it's clear that investors were pretty spooked by the news.
However, five of ExOne's printer sales that were expected to close in 2013 have been pushed into 2014, indicating that timing -- not a loss of sales -- was the biggest contributing factor to the guidance revision. On a brighter note, ExOne plans on quadrupling its manufacturing capacity, a telltale sign that the long-term fundamentals likely remain intact. In other words, investors likely overreacted to the news here.
Souring on 3D Systems
Last week, Citron Research published its second bearish report on 3D Systems in less than a year, sending shares lower on the release. Citron placed an "immediate" price target of $56 on shares, and said it believes the stock will be "much lower" over the long term. Among other things, Citron called out 3D Systems' pace of acquisitions as being unsustainable, its "questionable" organic growth revenue rate," its consumer product line being poorly received, its metal printing business being minuscule in relative size, generally poor employee morale, and resources being stretched too thin.
While many of the accusations in the report could potentially threaten the long-term-investment thesis, some of the report's assertions were based on dated and potentially misleading information, especially around 3D Systems' consumer products and its service centers margins. In addition, it's important to recognize that the majority of the information contained within the report has been readily available prior to its release, leading me to believe that this report is likely carrying more weight than it should.
A classic reminder
"In the short run, the market is a voting machine, but in the long run it is a weighing machine." -- Benjamin Graham
From what seems like a relatively simple sentence, investors of all kinds stand to gain some incredibly valuable insights. In the case of 3-D printing stocks, it's clear that short-term sentiment can and likely will continue shifting very quickly. However, it's also clear that, over the longer term, sentiment does not govern stock prices -- fundamentals do. Arguably, fundamentals are the single most important driver of stock prices over the long-term and will determine whether a stock will outperform the market.
In this context, investor moods about 3-D printing stocks have shifted negatively in the short term, but little has changed to negatively affect the five- to 10-year outlook. In one form or another, these businesses are working to solidify their long-term positioning within an industry that's expected to grow by over 19% a year through 2021. Ultimately, I think it's healthy to see sentiment cooling off a bit in a high-growth industry like 3-D printing, because it can offer buying opportunities for long-term investors.


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Sterling has clawed back some of last week’s spectacular losses against the euro, but remains around 1.2% down on this time last Tuesday.
Against USD the pound remains broadly stable and 0.5% stronger than last week.
In the business news, today we’ve heard that BP’s profits have risen 34-fold in the past year – albeit from a loss last year – to £9.5bn, potentially leading to a windfall tax as the UK’s energy price cap rose by 54% last week.
Make sure any upcoming transactions are protected against the risks of sudden market movements. Secure a fixed exchange rate now with a forward contract; call your Business Trader on 020 3918 7255 to get started.
GBP: Pound stabilises
The pound’s falls appear to have stabilised and a modest recovery is underway, rising by around 0.1-0.2% yesterday against the euro, Swiss franc and Australian and Canadian dollar.
There are two reports on consumer spending in the UK today. Figures released by Barclaycard found that consumer spending slowed at the start of the year. However, according to the British Retail Consortium retail sales increased by 8.1% in January compared to a year earlier, as shoppers shrugged off pre-Christmas worries over Omicron. More interestingly, this was against an expectation of a 0.6% fall.
Yesterday we heard that house prices, according to the Halifax Building Society, had risen by 9.7% year-on-year, but the expected rise had been larger. They had risen just 0.3% in January against an expectation of 0.8%.
For the big event of the week, however, we have to wait until the preliminary reading for GDP on Friday.
GBP/USD past year
EUR: Euro drifts
The euro has weakened across the board at the start of the week, by between 0.1 and 0.5%, as the excitement of last week’s comments by ECB President Christine Lagarde fades. It remains however, well above where it was last week, at around 1 to 2% up on most of its closest nine rivals.
There are some lower level data releases today, but tomorrow there is German balance of trade. The currency markets will also be keeping an ear out for various speeches by members of the European Central Bank’s interest rate setting committee, which began with ECB president Christine Lagarde yesterday afternoon.
On Friday there will be a final reading for German inflation, where the initial reading had been a wholesale price rise in excess of 16% in the year to January, feeding into general inflation of 5.3%.
USD: Dollar climbs
The dollar has been stable in recent days, barely moving against GBP but strengthening gently against EUR.
A quiet day on the data front yesterday continues today and tomorrow, although there is Balance of Trade today.
On Thursday there is inflation, which last month hit 7% and could be expected to rise even further.


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AOL Inc. AOL swung to an easy profit in the second quarter as its $1.1 billion patent deal with Microsoft Corp. MSFT, -0.71% gave results a big boost and advertising sales rose for the fifth-straight quarter.
The onetime Internet pioneer in April said it would sell more than 800 patents--relating to technologies ranging from online advertising to mobile handsets--to Microsoft while licensing roughly another 300. The company has pledged to return all of the proceeds of the sale to shareholders.
The deal was seen as potentially relieving pressure on the Internet company's management as it faced calls from investors for more progress on turnaround efforts. Boosting ad dollars has been front and center in those efforts as AOL works to refashion itself into an ad-driven digital media company.
For the second quarter, AOL said its global advertising revenue grew 6%, the fifth-straight quarter of growth. Gains were led by a strong contribution from third party network revenue and growth in international display revenue, partially offset by declines in search and contextual revenue.
AOL reported a profit of $970.8 million, or $10.17 a share, compared with a year-earlier loss of $11.8 million, or 11 cents a share. The latest period included a $945.8 million gain on the sale of patents, among other items.
Revenue slipped 2% to $531.1 million. Analysts were looking for earnings of 10 cents a share on $519 million in revenue, according to a poll conducted by Thomson Reuters.
Subscription revenue fell 13% to $175.5 million. Churn, or the percentage of customers cancelling services, fell to 1.7% from 2.2% a year earlier.
Shares were inactive in premarket trade from a Tuesday close at $27.49. The stock has surged 82% since the start of the year.
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This year Constellations have a few surprises in store for visitors to the garden.
First up there’s Finca, the Cuban street food vendor who will be the first garden food residency to have their own pop-up restaurant. They will be launching on the 21st April.
Finca will be serving up their Cuban street food throughout the summer from Wednesday to Sunday, 12pm – late, every week. No matter the weather, they’ve got it covered; the outdoor restaurant can hold 40 people all sheltered under one roof.
Check out their Facebook page here.
The next surprise is that Constellations have brewed their own beer with the help of some close friends, a pale ale that will be exclusive to the garden bar over the summer months. It is ready and will be available on tap so make sure to try it.
The garden will also be home to the ‘Live Series’ in collaboration with Melodic Distraction, each month they will be inviting an internationally-acclaimed artist into their unique outdoor space to share their uncontended talent for music in their field.
Receiving album of the year in 2015 at the Gilles Peterson Worldwide Awards after releasing music on the famous, Eglo Records, Fatima is undoubtedly the queen of contemporary soul. Her latest endeavours have seen her signed to jazz music’s most respected label, Blue Note, as the Swedish star continues to create beautiful records with her own unique twist.
Working with producers the likes of Floating Points and Funkineven, as well as collaborating with legendary artists including Jamie Cullum and Dâm Funk, Fatima’s melodic sound has been certified by some of the biggest names in jazz, funk and electronic music.
On support duty will be none other than local heavyweight, the Madnice Selectors. To complement the Live Series there will also be a great selection of food to enjoy straight off the BBQ as well as some great drinks offers to bring everyone closer together. Fatima is live at Constellations onThursday 20th April and you can get tickets for just £8 here.
To keep up to date with all Constellations’ summer events visit their Facebook page here.


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Apparently yesterday's mobile tease isn't the only one that LG had up its sleeve. The manufacturer recently posted a brief teaser video to its official YouTube page, promising that "breakthrough will be made at MWC 2013." There's not a ton of hard information to be found in the clip, which mostly just shows a bunch of words like "premium," "speedy," "powerful," "innovative" and "unique" being thrown at the viewer in rapid succession. Considering that this is just meant to be a taste of things to come, though, the lack of any real meat isn't a total surprise.
Today's video teaser follows an image that LG Mobile posted to its official Facebook page yesterday. In it, the company promised that a "new series will be unveiled" and that its upcoming surprise has "an unexpected distinction." There was no mention of exactly when LG actually plans to show this new series off, but with MWC kicking off at the end of the month, that show seems like a fitting place for a firm to show off a big new product or two. A recent leak gave us a look at a device referred to as the Optimus L7 II Dual, which appears to be a follow-up to the original Optimus L7 that debuted at MWC 2012, so a new line of Optimus L-Series handsets could be one of the things that LG is planning to show in Barcelona later this month.
Keeping up with the LG Optimus news, a pair of images that claim to show a new version of the Optimus G Pro have made their way online this morning. The shots, posted by PhoneArena and available at the bottom of this post, show a white handset that looks somewhat similar to the Optimus G Pro that was announced for Japanese carrier NTT DoCoMo last month. There's a pair of capacitive navigation keys on either side of a slim physical home button, a thin earpiece and a front-facing camera.
An accompanying spec sheet suggests that this Optimus G Pro has a couple of notable differences from its Japanese counterpart, like a 5.5-inch 1920x1080 display that's larger than the 5-inch 1920x1080 screen found on the Japanese G Pro. There's also said to be a larger battery (3,140mAh), 2GB RAM, 32GB storage and a 1.7GHz quad-core processor inside the new G Pro.
This leaked spec sheet is said to have come from Korean operator LG U+, suggesting that LG may have opted to prep a larger version of the Optimus G Pro for the carrier in its native South Korea. Obviously this 5.5-inch Optimus G Pro is still very much unofficial at this point, but with other Android manufacturers going larger and larger as of late, it wouldn't be a surprise if LG decided to throw its own hat into the giganto-phone ring with a 5.5-inch handset. Of the two Optimus G Pro screen sizes, which would you rather have on a smartphone: 5-inch or 5.5-inch?


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City-based Glocal Technology Solutions (GTS) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Andhra Pradesh Information Technology Academy (APITA) to foster entrepreneurship among youth across the State.
CEOs of the two companies Tarun Kakani and Anil Tentu signed the MoU on Tuesday. As part of the collaboration, GTC will organise workshops in up-skilling the students in technologies like Internet of Things, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, mobile app development, website designing, hackathons and start-up rendezvous.
“The government is keen on promoting education and entrepreneurship amongst youth. APITA is coming up with several novel initiatives and signing an MoU with GTS is one such initiative to drive the IT and skill development in niche technologies like Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and Internet of Things,” Mr. Anil said.
Mr. Tarun Kakani, who is also an Atal Innovation Mentor and Champion of Change, appointed by NITI Aayog, said GTS has invested in several start-ups in various sectors like agri-tech drone technology, product development using Artificial Intelligence, E-commerce for handlooms and utility services. “While some of the incubated startups of GTS have made it to national and international venues with awards, a few others have become commercially viable companies providing employment to the local youth,” he said.
Source: Read Full Article


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The fourth quarter of 2018 saw a continuation in the dynamic expansion of investments in the national economy, lasting since the beginning of 2017, the Central Statistical Office (KSH) reported on Thursday, according Budapest Business Journal. In 2018 overall, investment volume rose by 17%, to its highest level yet.
The high level of growth was primarily attributed to construction investments related to residential buildings and infrastructural developments, as well as to capacity-increasing investments in manufacturing.
Investment volume in Hungary rose 16.9% year-on-year in the fourth quarter. Growth slowed from 22.1% in Q3 2018. However, the seasonally adjusted volume of investments in Q4 exceeded the previous quarter’s by 3.8%.
Construction investments – representing nearly six-tenths of the total volume of investments – were up 24.0%, while investments in machinery and equipment – representing more than four-tenths of the total value of investments – rose 8.9% in Q4. In absolute terms, construction investments reached HUF 1.853 trillion, while machinery investments added up to almost HUF 1.3 tln in the period.
Investment activity rose in the decisive majority of sections of the national economy. Manufacturing sector investments were up 18.5% and reached HUF 844.2 billion in absolute terms in Q4, while real estate investments increased 21.0% and stood at HUF 536.9 bln. Investments in the logistics sector jumped 44.0% to HUF 594.9 bln, investments in the commerce and vehicle repair sector fell 9.5%, reaching HUF 135.8 bln, and investments in public administration and defense were down 3.1% to just over HUF 200.0 bln.
For the full year of 2018, investment volume in Hungary reached HUF 8.495 tln, up 17% year-on-year. The volume of construction investments grew by 22%, while investments in machinery and equipment increased by 11%.
Within sectors of the economy, investments in manufacturing were up 6.3% to HUF 2.233 tln. Investments in the logistics sector rose 33.5%, reaching HUF 1.429 tln, while investments in real estate climbed 17.3% to reach HUF 1.407 tln in 2018.
Investment data for the first quarter of 2019 will be published by the KSH on May 30.


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- Torchy's date set
- Donut wars coming to Lake Travis?
- What's driving business closures?
- Schmidt's BBQ Third Anniversary
- Candy Buy Back
- Field of Dreams deal falls through
- BCPD Warranty Roundup
- Another WTCPUA change
- Economic Development Corporation Applications
- Green Santa kicks off
- Bee Cave house sales rise 37%
- Bee Cave WTCPUA vacancy filled
- Spoon River at LTHS
- Arts Roundup Oct. 29-30
- Another new school to start next year?
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Texas Hill Country Olive Company has announced the 2nd Annual Texas Olive Festival – Saturday April 5th from 12 to 7pm in Dripping Springs.
This all day event will include cooking demonstrations, wine tasting, and specialty vendors – all to raise awareness for the Sustainable Food Center of Central Texas. Tickets and other information at TexasOliveFest.com.


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Microsoft and Bank of America Merrill Lynch on Tuesday announced they are working together to make financial transactions more efficient with blockchain technology—the foundation of bitcoin digital currency.
The Bitcoin digital currency system is in danger of losing its credibility as an independent payment system because of the growing power of a group that runs some of the computers behind it.
Bitcoin exchange MtGox faced massive hacker offensives last month, coming under some 150,000 DDoS attacks per second for several days ahead of its spectacular failure, a report said Sunday.
The European Union's banking watchdog on Friday issued a warning over virtual currency trading amid huge swings in the value of Bitcoin, a lack of regulation and money laundering risks.
A major Hong Kong-based Bitcoin exchange has suspended trading after $65 million in the virtual unit was reportedly stolen by hackers—sending the digital currency plunging more than 20 percent.
IT experts at Ruhr-Universität Bochum have developed a new cryptographic puzzle that might one day be used as a security mechanism for digital currency such as bitcoin. It consumes significantly less energy than the method ...
In the fundraising prospectus for a new business there will always be a disclaimer saying that "any investment carries some risk." That's also true if you're investing digital money.
About $13 million in bitcoins will be auctioned in Sydney in June after Australian police confiscated the digital currency as proceeds of crime, an official said Tuesday.
A Swiss town that is billing itself as a hub for the digital currency industry will accept bitcoin for some payments starting this summer, in what proponents call a worldwide first by a government body and a sign that "crypto ...