MBR_ISSUE 38_LowRes

COVER STORY 

MARKET LEADING RISK 

MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE 

Interview with Thomas Keegan, 

Chairman of SHIELD International and 

Paul Cottrell, Managing Partner p.06 

INTERVIEW OF THE MONTH 

GOOD COMPANIES ARE MADE 

UP OF GOOD PEOPLE 

Interview with Christian Magro, CEO 

Magro Brothers p.12 

CRM 

YOUR TRANSFORMATION 

STARTS HERE 

Peter Sammut Briffa, Senior Consultant 

at KPMG Crimsonwing Malta, 

introduces Microsoft Dynamics 365 p.20 


INNOVATING, CREATING 

& GROWING BUSINESSES 

MBR speaks with Dr. Adrian Attard Trevisan, 

Umana Medical Technologies p.30 

MALTA BUSINESS REVIEW 

ISSUE 38 | 2018 

Newspaper Post

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Together we thrive

your perfect atmosphere 

Malta Business Review 

CONTENTS 

Issue 38 

6 

6 

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW OF THE MONTH 

30 INNOVATING, CREATING & GROWING 

BUSINESSES 

MBR speaks with Dr. Adrian Attard Trevisan, Umana 

Medical Technologies 

iGAMING 

34 BTOBET AND SPINOMENAL NEW PARTNERS 

IN IGAMING 

Spinomenal has interesting set of games and is 

enthusiastic about integrating their content onto 

BtoBet’s platform 

COVER STORY 

06 MARKET LEADING RISK MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE 

Interview with Thomas Keegan, Chairman of SHIELD 

International and Paul Cottrell, Managing Partner 


12 GOOD COMPANIES ARE MADE UP OF 

GOOD PEOPLE 

As Christian Magro takes over the helm at Magro Brothers, 

MBR interviews the new CEO of one of Malta’s largest food 

manufacturing companies 

ERC FEATURE STORIES 

14 LOOKING FOR ONE THING: FINDING ANOTHER 

Prof. Yael Hanein and researcher Ohid Yaqub duscuss ERC 

R&D investments, including funding of curiosity-driven 

scientific projects 

15 WHAT’S UNDER THE SEA 

Dr Aaron Micallef talks about MARCAN, the project he 

leads which studies the impacts of groundwater on 

canyon formation in Malta and New Zealand, helping us 

understanding the forces that shape the Earth’s landscapes 

LIFESTYLE 

18 HAPPINESS IS THE KEY TO SUCCESS 

Sir Richard Branson’s fantastic piece about happiness and 

mental health problems that alter their outlook on life 

CRM 

20 YOUR TRANSFORMATION STARTS HERE 

Peter Sammut Briffa, Senior Consultant at KPMG Crimsonwing 

Malta, introduces us to Microsoft Dynamics 365 

EDUCATION 

26 THE GLOBAL SEARCH FOR EDUCATION: 

KNOWLEDGE IN THE AGE OF AI 

In Part 2 of this absorbing and highly educational article, CM 

Rubin interviews Charles Fadel, author of Four Dimensional 

Education: The Competencies Learners Need to Succeed 

OUR GOLDEN PARTNERS 

12 

20 

FEATURE STORIES, INTERVIEWS & 

REPORTS 

37 GOOD ENOUGH IS FINE FOR GETTING 

STARTED BUT IT’S NOT A WORTHY GOAL 

John Paul Abela interviews Graziella Galdes, owner 

of Gilda 

42 PAYM€QUALLY TOWARDS EQUAL PAY FOR 

WOMEN AND MEN 

Renee Laiviera, Commission for the Promotion of 

Equality (NCPE) examines the Gender Pay Gap issue 

and recent achievements 

46 POLITICO GLOBAL POLICY LAB: BREXIT 

A unique double page feature about BREXIT and the 

future of the British Economy 

48 ASSET MANAGERS WANT THEIR ORDER 

MANAGEMENT AND PORTFOLIO 

MANAGEMENT TO BE ONE 

Celent has released a new report titled “Asset Managers 

Want Their Order Management and Portfolio 

Management to be One. 

49 ANTI-MONEY LAUNDERING CONFERENCE 

The Malta Institute of Accountants will be organising 

a conference about the recently enacted ‘Anti- 

Money Laundering Directive’. 

50 LAUNCH OF THE MULTIPLE HIGHER 

EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS 

An insight into the new Masters in Entrepreneurship 

(MHEI-ME) on-line programme recently launched 

led by Advenio eAcademy with the participation of 

another five European HEIs 

18 

37 

4

MALTA 

BUSINESS REVIEW 

EDITORIAL 


It seems that 2017 has flown past by so fast, that we have completed 

buried it. Was it a good one? I do not know. Many significant occurrences 

have left their mark, maybe even scars. Yet it appears that everything 

happened at such speed that I am not able to really comprehend all the 

consequences of everything which happens all around us at increasing 

speeds. 

PUBLISHER 

MBR Publications Limited 

OFFICES 

Highland Apartment - Level 1, 

Naxxar Road, 

Birkirkara, BKR 9042 

+356 2149 7814 

EDITOR 

Martin Vella 

TECHNICAL ADVISOR 

Marcelle D’Argy Smith 

SALES DIRECTOR 

Margaret Brincat 

DESIGN 

MBR Design 

ADVERTISING 

Call: 9940 6743 or 9926 0163/4/6; 

Email: margaret@mbrpublications.net 

or admin@mbrpublications.net 

CONTRIBUTORS 

J. P. Abela; Kellen Black; Sir Richard Branson 

(VIRGIN); Dr Aaron Micallef; Antoine Bonello; 

Mark Anthony Camilleri; George Carol; Charlie 

Cooper; Jean Paul Demajo; Yael Hanein; Anna 

Karlsson; Marcela Kunva; Renee Laiviera; 

Michele Pace; F. John Reh; Mark Scott; David 

Wine/Charles Fadel, C. M. RUBIN; Ohid Yaqub. 

SPECIAL THANKS 

CELENT; DOI; European Parliament Information 

Office in Malta; European Parliament, Directorate- 

General for Communication; European Research 

Council; Ministry for Education & Employment; 

Jobsplus; KPMG Crimsonwing Malta; MISCO; OPR; 

POLITICO SPRL; SHIELD Consultants Ltd; Taylor 

& Francis Group; The Malta Independent on 

Sunday; The Parliamentary Secretariat For 

Financial Services, Digital Economy And 

Innovation; Politico Global Policy Lab; Price 

WaterhouseCoopers; WAR CHEST; 

PRINT PRODUCTION 

Printit 

QUOTE OF THE MONTH 

"I am not someone who is ashamed of my past. 

I'm actually really proud. I know I made a lot of 

mistakes, but they, in turn, were my life lessons." 

Drew Barrymore 

Disclaimer 

All rights reserved. No part of this work covered by copyright may 

be reproduced or copied and reproduction in whole or part is strictly 

prohibited without written permission of the publisher. All content 

material available on this publication is duly protected by Maltese 

and International Law. No person, organisation, other publisher or 

online web content manager should rely, or on any way act upon 

any part of the contents of this publication, whether that information 

is sourced from the website, magazine or related product without 

first obtaining the publisher’s consent. The opinions expressed in the 

Malta Business Review are those of the authors or contributors, and 

are not necessarily those of the editor or publisher. 

Talk to us: 

E-mail: martin@mbrpublications.net 

Twitter: @MBRPublications 

Facebook: www.facebook.com/MaltaBusinessReview 

For the first time – after almost 45 years – I had this feeling of anxiety 

or "angst" about our future. Looking at all the dramatic changes in 

society, technology, politics and nature which are all affecting our daily 

lives, a certain feeling of helplessness arises which leaves me very 

uncomfortable. The election of Trump was the culmination of many fears 

and created a deep, horrible feeling of helplessness like at the time of 

the assassination of JFK. Not that the election of Hillary would have been that much better – it is that feeling 

of being stuck between a rock and a hard place. It is that uncomfortable sensation of not knowing how to 

contribute in a meaningful way to make this world a better one. The most shaking, rocking event in 2017 was 

in October, when our fellow International award winning investigative journalist and blogger Daphne Caruana 

Galizia was brutally assassinated in a callous devastating car bomb. We still do not know who commissioned 

this murder, even though the criminals behind the murder have been caught, thanks to foreign investigators. 

No resolutions to be made this year, except that I wish to help those in need more than I did before, act as a 

catalyst for peace and yes, start exercising more and wobbling the iron in the gym. It really feels great when you 

don't constantly run out of breath anymore! Having had surgery, such event convinced me that finally it would 

be a good idea after all to keep in shape and train regularly. Incidentally, I start this year going into another 

unwanted surgery due to torn muscles and tendons on my right arm caused by a freak incident. In November 

a new gym opened just across the street, so it is very comfortable and excuses are hard to construct. As a result 

I hope to be in pretty good shape again – so good that I am considering taking up canoeing and swimming 

vigorously this year. 

So, taking the murder of prodigious journalist as an episode on its own, the conclusion should be that on the 

bottom line it was a turbulent year in terms of politics and good in terms of business. Socioeconomic changes 

are happening at an ever increasing pace which makes it hard to keep up. One week after Trumps inauguration 

Werner E Jung wrote in one of his inspiring contributions in the Malta Business Review entitled "Who is afraid of 

the Twitter Man?". The opening paragraph read: "While there is a lonely man in the White house disseminating 

his wisdom via Twitter to the hostile world around him, (bad, very bad media) there are more and more people 

in the US taking to the streets in protest and journalists scrutinizing and criticizing him. One can only hope that 

these opposition movements and the protests will go on and that especially the younger generations keep 

pushing ahead. It is time for civil disobedience and for damage control. Hopefully complacency will not gain 

the upper hand over time, meaning that we will all soon be getting used to this type of madness. The sixties 

have shown that "democracy is in the streets" – it is now time for a revival, so it appears." Some time ago I 

reached the conclusion that Trump is a (mixed) blessing for this world after all. He exemplifies the hypocrisy, 

scrupulousness and shamelessness of the political and financial "elite" of this world. And he is taking everything 

to a new height, where even the dumbest in this world are beginning to wake up. It seems it really needed a 

turkey like him to open the eyes. As a result more and more so called influential people are being unmasked. 

Luckily this is happening in the US where there is a long democratic history and the necessary checks and 

balances. I am certain he would love to be an Emperor like Napoleon. Things are going in the right direction, I 

believe – slower, of course, than we would like it to happen. 

In Europe we see a change of guards in politics and younger people are taking over the helm. After all they 

are the ones who should mould their future and perhaps, these events were the triggers for me come around 

full circle from the '82 student I used to be. So it feels, at least; I am sure there are some different nuances to 

this by now, shaped by experience. Those values and morals (most of them) we had then, appear to be asked 

for in our modern times more than ever. And it appears that justice seems to be spiralling downward, with 

journalists being deprived of their freedom of expression, which is imbued as a sacrosanct right in Article 10 

of the European Courts of Human Rights, more than ever before. The Courts have to be very careful when 

deciding judgements and must not take hard evidence and proof at face value and discard it as non-existent. 

That is why we are here to flag injustices, protest against hypocrisy, fight corruption, and protect and safeguard 

those inviolable rights at any cost. 

Just in time during the holidays I caught a pretty good cold, which however did not prevent me from celebrating 

and having a good time in London. So, the best I can wish for you is good health and keep on chugging in the 

pursuit of happiness and fairness. 

Martin Vella 

Editor-in-Chief 

Malta Business Review’s editorial opinions are decided by its Editor, and besides reflecting the Editor’s 

opinion, are written to represent a fair and impartial representation of facts, events and provide a correct 

analysis of local and international news. 

Agents for: 

www.maltabusinessreview.net 

5


COVER STORY OF THE MONTH 

Market Leading 

Risk Management Software 

By Martin Vella 

Exclusive interview with Thomas 

Keegan, Chairman of Shield 

International and Paul Cottrell, 

Managing Partner for SHIELD 

MBR: Before we discuss the SHIELD project 

in more detail, please tell us a little about 

yourselves, so the readers get to know you a 

little better. 

TK: My career has been varied, from 

Telecommunications to the Nuclear Industry. 

The golden thread throughout my career 

has been resilience, making organizations, 

governments or nations more able to 

withstand shock, adapt and evolve in a 

changing environment. That has included 

working at board level for some of the worlds 

largest companies right through to supporting 

government in building their national resilience 

and security capabilities. I am currently 

Chairman of Shield International, and the Chief 

Operating Officer of DBD International. 

PC: I began my career as a journalist, working 

in print and broadcast media, particularly 

Thomas Keegan. Chairman of Shield International 

investigative journalism. I transitioned in to the 

business world, leading a highly successful sales 

team, before moving on to one of the worlds 

leading global risk consultancies. During my 

time there, I worked with many of the leading 

Fortune 500 companies across the Middle East 

and North Africa, assisting them to become 

more resilient and manage risk. 

MBR:Can you tell us more about the SHIELD 

project? What is it that you are setting out to 

do and to achieve in the Middle East? 

TK: Shield international is our way of bringing 

many lessons from how to, and not to, provide 

consulting services in safety, security and 

resilience to clients globally. We have setup 

in the Middle East as it is a hotbed for the 

industry, but our ambition is to establish an 

advisory business that helps clients manage risk 

effectively to create competitive advantage. 

PC: We all know the world can be a dangerous 

place which presents a plethora of business 

challenges. SHIELD is looking to help our clients 

navigate these uncertain waters successfully. 

We are passionate in assisting our clients and 

believe that it is our job to ensure our clients 

succeed even in the most challenging of business 

environments, whilst giving our clients business 

advantages over their competitors. The Middle 

East is the perfect location for SHIELD to have an 

international hub with the ambition to bring the 

SHIELD methodology to clients internationally 

and lead the way in risk advisory. 

MBR: The market for security, health and 

safety and business continuity is mature and 

serviced by organisations of considerable 

international expertise and experiences. 

How will SHIELD be different and what is its 

unique value proposition in the markets you 

intend to service? 

TK: I would argue that the safety, security and 

resilience marketplaces, whilst mature, are 

not really delivering value. Shield International 

wants to compete to provide clients better 

value. We want to harness technology, 

through our STORM platform, and some 

of the worlds most accomplished, forward 

thinking consultants to look at clients problems 

differently and solve them effectively. Our 

mission is to solve the worlds most complex 

safety, security and resilience problems by 

thinking differently. 

PC: Whilst mature, the marketplaces are 

not delivering true value. We at SHIELD 

passionately believe that we offer something 

different to the standard approach many of 

our competitors take. We truly have a worldclass 

team of consultants who take a different 

approach. We put the clients needs first and 

do not come at all problems with a one size fits 

all approach. In our STORM platform, we have, 

what we believe to be, the market leading risk 

management software and by leveraging this, 

our consultants and other technology we offer 

a value proposition like no other. 

MBR: Dubai, and the UAE generally, is 

a very different environment to Malta. 

What attracted you to join up with SHIELD 

and embark on the project of growing 

the Company in the Middle East and 

internationally? 

TK: I have worked in all corners of the world, the 

list is endless. What has become clear to me is 

that whilst different geographies have diverse 

cultures they all have similar basic needs. This is 

no different in the world of safety, security and 

resilience where clients are looking for a firm 

who deliver value whilst making the experience 

enjoyable. What struck me in meeting SHIELD 

was their attitude towards delivering value 

with a smile; it was always a win-win deal for 

them and clients. This attitude, coupled with 

some groundbreaking technologies in our 

sector, and really smart consultants struck a 

chord with me that resulted in the partnership. 

6

COVER STORY OF THE MONTH 


Paul Cottrell, Managing Partner of SHIELD 

PC: I have walked in to many offices around 

the world where the atmosphere has been 

soulless, flat and people are going through 

the motions and simply working 9 to 5. 

Upon meeting SHIELD team, I was taken by 

the vibrancy of the office, the camaraderie 

between colleagues and the passion to deliver 

the best for its clients. It was clear that for all 

within SHIELD this was a vocation. As I learnt 

more about the company ethos, goals and the 

market leading risk management platform, I 

was truly excited to form the partnership. 

MBR: Finally, do you see possible 

opportunities between the UAE and Malta 

which could be leveraged by both countries, 

for mutual benefit? 

TK: The UAE and Malta already have a number 

of emerging trade and investment links which 

I think are really exciting for both nations. I 

believe, that Malta’s geo-strategic location 

and it’s rich history makes it an extremely 

attractive partner to many international 

organisations and nations. I believe through 

Shield International we will be able to 

showcase the strengths the Maltese possess 

and, hopefully, attract both foreign direct 

investment into Malta and encourage more 

Maltese enterprises to showcase their wares 

to the world. 

PC: I see many synergies between the two and 

some business links are already emerging. It is 

a really exciting time for SHIELD International 

with its hub based in the UAE and we hope 

to be able to demonstrate, what a hotbed 

of enterprise Malta truly is and thus in turn 

harness interest from foreign investment into 

Malta. MBR 

All rights reserved - Copyright 2018 

EDITOR’S 

Note 

Thomas Keegan is a highly respected leader 

globally in the fields of Security, Risk 

Management and Crisis Response who is 

regularly quoted in the media on those topics. 

Throughout his career Thomas has worked with 

a number of governments and household name 

organisations to advise them at the most senior 

levels on building resilience - an ability to adapt 

and evolve to manage risk and seize competitive 

advantage. Thomas has held a number of senior 

roles in industry having been the Regional Head 

for Resilience and Security for PWC across 

the Middle East and a Partner responsible for 

Resilience and Cyber Security for Control Risks. 

Thomas currently serves as the Chief Operating 

Officer for DBD International, a global Nuclear 

Energy and Defence advisory firm in addition 

to being the Chairman of Shield International, a 

Safety, Security and Resilience advisory firm. 

Paul Cottrell brings a wealth of experience 

in assisting clients in Risk Management and 

Resilience within the Middle East and North 

Africa markets. Having commenced his career as 

a journalist and being a part of some of the largest 

news agencies in the world, and running some 

large PR campaigns, Paul moved in to the business 

world where he led a highly successful sales team 

for the UK’s largest academic book retailer. Paul 

brought his passion for exceptional customer 

relationship management and project delivery 

excellence to the Middle East where he worked 

for Control Risks, during which time Paul led the 

online solutions business in the Middle East and 

North Africa, whilst also managing several key 

accounts across the company portfolio. Paul is 

currently the Managing Partner for SHIELD. 

Paul Cottrell, Managing Partner of SHIELD 


7


TALKING POINT 

IS MALTA A TAX HAVEN? 

Tax evasion and tax havens have become a subject 

of much discussion on a global level. International 

revelations such as the Panama Papers and the Paradise 

Papers have only served to put the spotlight on the tax 

regime of a number of countries. The same revelations 

have also served to cast attention on the topic of efficient 

tax structures and the way such structures are operated. 

Some of the information contained in these revelations 

can be said to be interesting and worthy of further 

investigations whilst other elements are quite simply 

sensationalism at its worst, twisting facts and perhaps 

giving space to untruths. 

What a lot of misinformation making the 

rounds on the internet one question worth 

examining is the one on whether Malta can 

be classified as a tax haven. Malta’s tax laws 

originally date back to 1948 when Malta was 

a British colony. Since joining the EU in 2004 

Malta has built its tax legislation on models in 

the UK, the Netherlands, Spain, Luxembourg 

and even Germany. 

In an interesting article on The Times Francis 

J Vassallo writes that, “Tax havens are 

jurisdictions where companies are not subject 

to tax and where the information about the 

ownership of those companies is usually 

kept secret, either through bearer shares or 

because the information is not disclosed in 

the jurisdiction’s public registry”. 

Indeed Maltese companies are registered 

with the Registry of Companies which in turn 

is a register available for public viewing online. 

Thus it would be factually incorrect to state 

that Malta is a tax haven since any individual 

intent on creating structures meant to hide 

ownership would choose other jurisdictions 

which cater for such an intent. 

Malta has over 70 double taxation treaties, 

including with some of the most important 

OECD member states, including the US. 

Malta also adheres to the Common Reporting 

Standard established by the OECD. 

Salient features of Malta’s tax regime such 

as the Participation Exemption where 

introduced into Maltese law following a 

full consultation with the EU and after the 

approval of the Council of Finance Ministers. 

The Exemption System on the other hand is 

practically identical to that found in Holland, 

Spain and Luxembourg. 

The EU PANA Committee published Report 

2017/2013(INI), which presents the 

Committee’s findings on the investigation 

into Malta's tax scheme and political sphere. 

Some of the results illustrate an opposite 

view to the “Maltese tax haven” opinion 

held by many scholars and politicians. The 

Committee found that the Maltese tax system 

is “very attractive and in line with current 

international and EU standards as regards 

harmful tax competition.” However, as the 

Finance Minister has admitted, the attractive 

scheme can be prone to abuse. In addition, 

Malta has transposed EU rules and respects 

OECD standards in terms of transparency, the 

fight against tax fraud and money laundering. 

On the other hand, the institutions in charge 

of implementing and enforcing rules as 

regards tax fraud and money laundering are 

highly politicized. The tax compliance unit 

mentioned a lack of resources to comply with 

the spontaneous exchange of information 

required by the EU Directive on Administrative 

Cooperation. Meanwhile, Malta failed to 

respond to the questionnaire sent by the 

Committee, which asked for opinions from 

Finance and Justice Ministers in 25 EU 

states. This leads the country to be regarded 

as "particularly uncooperative". Malta also 

disagreed with Commission proposals on 

specific tax issues (e.g. public CBCR, CCCTB). 

Malta's economic success has been 

overshadowed by corruption scandals that go 

to the core of the Labour government elected 

in 2013. The government has been under 

siege since the Panama Papers revealed 

details of secret companies in Panama. Those 

revelations have cast doubt on its ability 

to push through anti-money laundering 

legislation. The so-called Individual Investor 

Programme scheme, which enabled Malta 

to raise millions by selling its passports to 

rich foreigners, is at the centre of an inquiry, 

after Mr Busuttil claimed he had evidence to 

prove the prime minister's chief of staff was 

receiving kickbacks off the scheme. 

Malta is thus not only not a tax haven but 

indeed it is a European Union member 

which has managed to adopt a tax-efficient 

framework whilst at the same time respecting 

all the obligations which a modern European 

democracy should respect. 

On the other hand in a black list issued in 

December 2017 the Council of Finance 

Ministers of the European Union classified 

American Samoa, Bahrain, Barbados, 

Grenada, Guam, South Korea, Macau, 

Marshall Islands, Mongolia, Namibia, Palau, 

Panama, Saint Lucia, Samoa, Trinidad and 

Tobago, Tunisia and United Arab Emirates 

within a tax haven blacklist. MBR 

Credit: Warchest 

EDITOR’S 

Note 

War Chest is comprised of War Chest Fiduciary 

Services Limited, licensed by the MFSA to act 

as Administrator of Private Foundations and War 

Chest Corporate Services Limited, licensed by 

the MFSA to provide Corporate Services. 

8


SPOTLIGHT 

BBC INTERVIEW TEARS INTO PM CALLING 

HIM ‘ARTFUL DODGER OF EUROPE’, 

‘PASSPORT-SELLER-IN-CHIEF’ 

BY HELENA GRECH 

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat 

fielded difficult questions from BBC 

Newsnight’s James Sweeney where 

he was described as the “Artful 

Dodger of Europe” and the “passportseller-in-chief”. 

A feature was carried on the BBC programme 

about the brutal assassination of journalist 

Daphne Caruana Galizia. Her life was tragically 

and deliberately snuffed out on 16 October in 

a car bomb just metres away from her Bidnija 

residence. 

So far, three men stand charged with the 

crime however the open secret on many 

people’s lips is who had them carry out the 

deed when considering that Caruana Galizia 

had not written about them. 

Muscat was grilled about the sale of passports, 

a controversial scheme introduced by his 

government whereby individuals can pay 

for a property, reside in Malta for a year and 

pay a lump sum of €650,000 in exchange for 

a Maltese passport and Maltese citizenship. 

In view of Malta’s status as an EU member 

state this effectively buys a customer free 

movement across the 27 nation bloc. In the 

interview, Muscat refuted the assertion that 

wealth and wealth alone can buy a person 

Maltese citizenship. 

He was also grilled about his relationship with 

the Azeri ruling family, in view of allegations 

made by Caruana Galizia, that are still to be 

thrashed out in court, that Muscat’s wife is the 

UBO of a Panama company named Egrant. 

She also alleged that the Azeri dictator’s 

daughter, Leyla Aliyeva, had transferred €1 

million to Egrant via a bank account Mrs 

Muscat held at Pilatus Bank, Ta’ Xbiex. All 

involved have denied wrongdoing while a 

magisterial inquiry is under way. 

In an interview with Sweeney Muscat said 

the assassination affected him “badly”. He 

said that Caruana Galizia was one of his most 

“vociferous” critic, meaning that her brutal 

murder cast a dark shadow on the Muscat 

administration. “This does not look good on 

me, I am very realistic about this”, he said. 

He went on to say that besides her family, “if 

anybody has suffered from her death it’s us 

[the government]”. 

Asked about what he was doing a week after 

the assassination, the Muscat said he could 

not remember with a sleight of sarcasm, upon 

which Sweeney reminded the Prime Minister 

that he was away “selling” passports. Muscat 

took umbrage at this line of questioning, 

saying that “we do not sell. We, as other 

European countries, have a system which is 

transparent and open, allowing people to 

invest in our country and gain citizenship”. 

Asked who is buying the passports, he said that 

wealthy people do but that it is not just about 

wealth. The presenter did not appear to be 

too convinced. Sweeney also asked about the 

Muscat’s relationship with Azerbaijan’s ruling 

family, the Aliyevs. Muscat claimed to have met 

Azeri dictator Ilham Aliyev on a few occations 

in Baku and when attending EU Eastern 

partnership summits. He also said that “Mrs 

Aliyeva” came to Malta to meet Mrs Muscat 

once, “nothing more”. “I do not think you can 

hide a million dollars, or a hundred dollars. 

Definitely not in a bank or anywhere else”. 

Asked if Malta has a problem with money 

laundering, Muscat said he does not feel 

comfortable to say yes or no, but that the 

country has a problem with it in the same 

way that “Luxembourg, the city of London 

or the Netherlands”. Muscat went on to say 

that he has been put in a very uncomfortable 

situation for needing to criticise someone 

who has been brutally murdered (Daphne 

Caruana Galizia). “I hope we are not in a 

situation where we are in any democracy, 

situations are such where when somebody 

writes something on social media it’s taken 

as fact.” 

Sweeney stressed that she (Daphne Caruana 

Galizia) had evidence to what she said, adding 

that Muscat may not agree with that evidence, 

but it did exist. He was referring to accounts 

relayed to the slain journalist by a Russian 

whistle-blower who worked at Pilatus Bank but 

left over a dispute. Muscat promptly disagreed, 

saying there is no “proof” or a shred of “truth” 

to the allegations. “If there is a whiff of any 

evidence I would resign on the spot”. 

Muscat said that he does not know if Caruana 

Galizia knew that the allegations were untrue, 

whether she was part of the creating the 

story or it was fed to her, and repeatedly said 

that there is no shred of truth to the claims. 

Sweeney said that many people have 

described him as the “Artful dodger of 

Europe”, to which Muscat refuted. MBR 

Credit: BBC; The Malta Independent 


10



Good Companies 

are made up of Good People 

by Martin Vella 

To thrive in today’s consumer-goods industry, companies must excel on a number of 

fronts. For instance, they need to be innovators and stay ahead of trends. They have 

to learn how to harness the power of digital channels and they must ensure that their 

business practices are socially and environmentally responsible. As newly appointed 

CEO of Magro Brothers, one of the Malta’s largest food manufacturing companies, 

Christian Magro will be facing these issues daily and is proud of what his company has 

achieved in these areas. 

Mr Christian Magro - New CEO for Magro Brothers 

MBR: Congratulations on your new CEO post 

with Magro Brothers. Is there anything about 

the job that has surprised you since taking 

over the helm? 

CM: Thank you…..It’s been less than a month 

that I have been officially appointed as CEO of 

the Family Business but the first thing that has 

struck me immediately on appointment was 

the total backing and support from my brother 

(Nicholas) and sister (Joanna) to lead our group 

in the coming future. Coupled with this, is the 

trust that my father and uncle have put in me 

throughout the years and most importantly 

now during this critical phase of our family 

business succession 

MBR: What does the ‘Magro Brothers’ brand 

mean to you and how would you like to see 

it develop? 

CM: Being brought up in a family business 

environment with rooted origins in Gozo, this 

has shaped me to look at opportunities in a 

different dimension. Opportunities in Gozo 

are more limited than in Malta and in most 

markets around the globe and thus one has 

to be very creative to ensure that the ventures 

being pursued will be one day fruitful and 

worth the resource investment. 

Magro Brothers to me is more than a very 

important brand; it’s a lifestyle that we as a 

family proudly honour and live up to. 

For more than 100 years, my predecessors 

have faced obstacles and turned these into 

opportunities to ensure that the family 

traditions of honesty, integrity and being a 

caring employer are nurtured. These values 

are the core pillars of the brand which will allow 

me to mould into different projects. I see the 

Magro Brothers Brand venture not only in the 

core activities of our group mainly related with 

innovative and consistent food supplies, but 

in other services and offerings where we as a 

company can bring value to the end consumer. 

MBR: What role does agriculture play in the 

overall economic development of Gozo and 

Malta? 

CM: Agriculture, in today’s world is more than 

just a hobby, it’s a profession and a science in 

itself. The belief that we as a nation are too small 

to compete with neighbouring larger countries 

is a fair assessment, yet one needs to look at the 

market and find niches or opportunities, which 

allow us to compete on a level playing field with 

larger producers. 

Malta and Gozo are very small in size, 

with uneconomical land parcels which are 

continuously being sub divided from one 

generation to the other. Coupled to this, the 

constant need to develop new properties 

to sustain the market requirements of our 

booming economy, puts further pressures on 

our agriculture sector. 

Agriculture, needs to be given the chance to be 

treated professionally and invest resources in it to 

ensure that policies and regulations do safeguard 

the future of this important economic activity. 

" Agriculture, in today’s world 

is more than just a hobby, it’s a 

profession and a science in itself." 

Apart from the classical growing of fruit, 

vegetables and rearing of animals, there are 

various other opportunities which could be of 

interest and increase the present contribution 

of agriculture for the country`s overall economic 

development. I list the below as examples: 

• New concepts which are very ambitious for 

large countries, like offering fresh produce 

from ‘farm to plate’, IGP markings, and 

Reduction of transport fossil emissions, are 

much easier to be nurtured locally due to 

our small size and natural protection from 

being islands. Obviously, these new tools 

require more investment in avant-guard 

scientific/natural methods of cultivation 

and rearing, yet they do bring added value 

to the more demanding healthy consumer 

both locally and on an international level. 

• Another area where surely one needs to 

focus more, is in the development of new 

innovative ways to increase productivity/ 

yields. Currently countries like Israel are 

at the forefront in the scientific world for 

developing new ways how to increase 

productivity in agriculture with limited 

resources available. We have been blessed 

with limited land and limited water 

resources and therefore a good opportunity 

for large research companies to exploit 

these factors and invest in this sector. 

12



MBR: Can you tell our readers about your 

strategy and objectives going forward? 

CM: Surely;I'm still new in this post but can bank 

on the experience I gained over the years and 

also on the support of my family and team and 

the mentoring of role models like my father. 

Going forward for the next five years I aim 

working hard in bringing new opportunities to 

our group and expanding our horizons. 

To allow me to do this, I need to have the 

support of my team in ensuring that we fulfil 

our customer requirements with our current 

products and ensure that we keep adding 

innovation and convenience to sustain the 

pace and remain at the forefront of our core 

market. 

MBR: What are your company’s unique 

selling points and how has the market 

responded to your products? 

CM: If I had to list down the top five company 

unique selling points, I would put forward the 

following: 

• Focused on market requirements 

• Passionate on Quality 

• Professional and innovative in our 

approach 

• Dedicated and committed 

• Convenience Driven 

I believe that the above five USPs have been 

of great importance to allow us to grow our 

product portfolio and managing to put our 

brands in nearly every household locally and in 

thousands other households abroad. 

We as a company keep core the market 

requirements and invest a lot in R&D exercises 

not only to research new innovative products or 

packaging but also in constantly developing our 

current traditional recipes to keep them abreast 

with the continuously changing customer 

requirements. Looking at the transitions, 

developments, changes in packaging and 

offerings that our traditional Three Hills Brand 

Kunserva has gone through over the decades 

surely is a valid example of the above. 

MBR: Innovation is clearly a priority for you, 

not just with regard to sustainability. How 

do you intend to innovate in other areas as 

well, right? 

CM: Certainly, I shall not be revealing any 

secrets! Nothing comes easy, dedication and 

hard work come second nature to ensure that 

we add innovation to new projects we venture 

into. I believe that through proper leadership 

and a good team spirit we can achieve what 

others might not consider achievable. 

This belief comes from my origins and 

upbringing in Gozo. I have seen the island 

develop over the years at a fast pace, yet I 

believe that the development has been well 

managed and allowed the island to retain its 

natural beauty and relaxed, open way of life. 

Obviously, understanding market 

requirements and customer expectations 

are the main features which will guide my 

decisions in new areas and would allow my 

team to bring forward new approaches to 

the required solutions. We can bank on our 

strengths and will couple these with foreign 

expertise where required to ensure that we 

succeed in the projects we set ourselves to 

achieve. 

" I believe that Companies are 

made up of People and that 

Good Companies are made up 

of Good People" 

MBR: What about expanding geographically? 

Do you plan to expand your consumer 

business into other countries? 

CM: As a company, we have over the years been 

dealing with foreign customers and suppliers 

since our origins as producers back in 1934, 

when my grandfather and his two brothers 

started supplying the merchant navy with local 

Kunserva. These relations have been given 

further importance within our manufacturing 

services since Malta’s accession to the European 

Union and have targeted neighbouring European 

Countries and managed to supply world known 

customers / brands with our products. 

Xewkija Premises 

Obviously, this strategy is core for our operations 

in Gozo and will try to expand these opportunities 

not just to EU countries but also neighbouring 

African countries which have developed to 

being considerable markets one shouldn’t 

underestimate. 

In relation to new business ventures, I hope to 

partner up with professional people and would 

seriously consider having foreign partners to 

venture on the local market which at the moment 

brings a lot of business opportunities. 

MBR: Your structure gives you some 

advantages, but I’m sure there are also 

drawbacks. What do you see as the toughest 

challenge for Magro Brothers? What are the 

ambitions of the company going forward? 

CM: I believe that Companies are made up of 

People and that Good Companies are made up 

of Good People. 

I think the toughest challenge we face is 

ensuring that our company manages to retain 

and increase our team members to continue 

providing excellent services and offerings. The 

above ambitious strategies are only possible if 

I manage to have the full support of my family, 

team and partners. Ensuring a good portfolio 

of professional people within a Gozitan reality 

is quite a challenge to state the least. 

As a company, we are proud to foster a culture 

of continuous improvement within our group 

and an ambitious dream of mine which will 

surely aim at achieving in the years ahead 

would be to develop a technical standard on 

how to ensure achieving set goals – namely 

‘The Magro Way’ MBR 


EDITOR’S 

Note 

Magro Brothers of Gozo have appointed Christian Magro 

as the new CEO for their business operations. Christian is 

the eldest of the 4th generation of the Magro family. He was 

born on the 22nd June 1979 and completed his studies in 

2002 with a degree in B.Com (Hons) for Public & Private 

Sector Management. Christian was always keen on the 

family business and during his childhood he spent most of 

his free time and holidays at the factory. On completion of 

his studies, he joined the company and slowly worked his 

way up. In December 2011 Christian joined the Board of 

Directors and 2 years later was appointed General Manager 

of Magro Brothers (Foods) Ltd. Christian is married to 

Charmaine and they have two children Mikela and Marta. 

Christian has a younger brother and sister; Nicholas and 

Joanna, who are both involved in the family business. John 

Magro is to remain chairman of the board of directors and his 

brother Michael is to remain a director. 


13


ERC STORY 

LOOKING FOR ONE THING: FINDING ANOTHER 

PROFILES 

Prof. Yael Hanein neuron stimulation for sight restoration 

Researcher: Prof. Yael Hanein 

Researcher: Dr Ohid Yaqub 

Did you know that the Persian fairy tale “The 

Three Princes of Serendip” provided the 

inspiration for the first noted use of the word 

“serendipity” in the English language? In this 

story, the heroes are always making happy and 

surprising discoveries. In science, this concept 

of a pleasant surprise covers the mismatch 

between what the researchers expected to find 

and what they actually discovered, as introduced 

in previous ERC Stories we have published in 

past. It has given us innovations such as the 

microwave, Teflon, X-rays, penicillin, the World 

Wide Web and much more. What started off 

with a fairy tale, ended up as a byword for an 

influential idea in research policy-making and 

even headlining a recent ERC-funded project. 

In the past decades, serendipity has played an 

important role in debates about the feasibility 

and desirability of targeting R&D investments. 

The founders of the ERC thought an EU body 

that would fund curiosity-driven scientific 

projects and give researchers complete freedom 

to explore, would also help bring about new 

and unpredictable scientific and technological 

discoveries, which ultimately could also trigger 

innovation and economic growth. 

Overall, the idea that research can lead to valuable 

but unexpected outcomes has been around for a 

while. But how often do serendipitous discoveries 

actually happen? What is the nature and 

significance of such discoveries? Is serendipity 

pure luck or is a fair bit of wisdom also involved? 

Or is it merely the ability to be open to – and 

make the most out of - luck? Can we facilitate and 

manage serendipity? How often does targeted 

research actually hit the target? What does it all 

mean for R&D policy-making? 

Ohid Yaqub 

“Researchers and policy-makers have been 

asking these questions for decades but, other 

than some famous examples, we don’t really 

have strong evidence to draw on to support 

policy-making” says Dr Ohid Yaqub from the 

University of Sussex. The project he is leading 

- Serendipity in Research and Innovation - was 

awarded an ERC Starting Grant this summer. 

Dr Yaqub says we can observe and measure 

things previous scholars could not. “The 

methods, tools and techniques for data analysis 

and theoretical understanding of research 

policy have improved. So, now we have a new 

framework to analyse the data, and we have 

access to large databases on grants, publications 

and patents.” He and his team will look at a 

sample of grants, publications that come out 

of these grants and patents that cite these 

publications. Preliminary findings show that 

the happy discrepancies between researchers’ 

proposals and their reported findings occur 

quite often. 

It is becoming a key political question how 

we fund research in the best, most efficient 

way to maximise impact. There are choices 

to be made about the emphasis and balance 

between different modes of research funding. 

“It’s good that there are some funders under 

which serendipitous events would have been 

overlooked or inhibited, because sometimes 

it’s important not to lose focus on an end 

goal”, Dr Yaqub says. “But it’s also good that 

there are funders like the ERC that do allow 

uncertainty and unexpected discoveries to 

happen and indeed encourage more open 

thinking. Clearly, it’s vitally important to have 

diversity when it comes to research funders 

that allow researchers to be able to contribute 

to society in different and flexible ways.” said Dr 

Yaqub. Whilst he will be looking into some of the 

questions surrounding serendipity, a few ERC 

grantees have already experienced such happy 

mismatches for themselves. 

Take for example Achilleas Frangakis from Goethe 

University Frankfurt. In his Starting Grant project, 

he used cryo-electron tomography, a state-ofthe-art 

imagining technique, to visualise the 

architecture of cell adhesion. Though essential, 

this process in which proteins present on the cell’s 

surface anchor to extracellular proteins allowing 

the cell to sense the external environment and 

respond to it, was poorly understood. 

Prof. Frangakis was trying to describe how cells 

interact with the outside world, but instead he 

learnt a lot about how they interact with each 

other. In particular, during the process of wound 

healing, neighbouring cells lock together to seal 

a wound, a bit like a zipper would. “It turned out 

that we had rediscovered a mechanism already 

known to happen during mitosis, another 

cellular process, but as a completely new 

concept for tissue sealing and healing” stated 

the scientist, who has opened new paths into 

the study of wound reparation. 

Prof. Yael Hanein 

Prof. Yael Hanein from Tel Aviv University also 

had a bit of a “eureka” moment. Her work was 

investigating nanotechnology tools in the field of 

neuron stimulation for sight restoration. Using 

sophisticated and accurate carbon nanotubes, 

her Starting Grant project created a high-acuity 

artificial retina. 

Through a spin-off of her project, she has 

developed an extremely thin electrode that 

can be worn as a tattoo and record muscle 

movement. The electrode, originally made as a 

research tool, has a variety of potential medical 

applications, from mapping facial expressions 

and recording emotions, to restoring 

damaged nerves and muscles, and studying 

neurodegenerative diseases. 

Further work is going into understanding 

whether the tool could provide a diagnostic 

tool for Parkinson’s disease, an instrument to 

optimise artificial limbs or even a test for certain 

psychological disorders. 

This article was first published in ERC newsletter, 

autumn 2017 issue. Read also Dr Jose Labastida’s 

editorial. "The ERC is creating fertile ground for 

serendipity to occur", he writes. MBR 

Credit: European Research Council 

14

ERC STORY 


WHAT’S UNDER THE SEA? 

BY AARON MICALLEF 

PROJECT DETAILS 

Credit: © Aaron Micallef, MARCAN project 2017; © Jurgen Spiteri 

Ever since observing a map of 

a marine landslide as a young 

geology student, Dr Aaron Micallef 

was hooked on the beauty of 

the sea floor. Now, he works on 

understanding the forces that 

shape the Earth’s landscapes, both 

above ground and below the sea 

level. His MARCAN project studies 

the impacts of groundwater on 

canyon formation in Malta and New 

Zealand. This investigation may 

reveal where we will be getting our 

drinking water in the future. 

In the last 2.5 million years, sea water levels 

have mostly been lower than what they 

are today. This allowed large quantities of 

rainwater to infiltrate into the exposed sea 

floor, developing groundwater reservoirs. 

After sea water level rose, these reservoirs 

became trapped under the sea. 

Dr Micallef claims that offshore groundwater 

plays a part in the formation of large 

geological features, like submarine canyons. 

These structures are the most dramatic 

and widespread in the world. They 

serve as channels for the flow of marine 

currents, accumulating nutrients that attract 

biodiversity, as well as waste. He specifically 

focuses on describing and modelling the 

effect that the flow and seepage of offshore 

groundwater water has on the seafloor. 

This year, in the course of a long ship expedition 

in New Zealand, the scientist and his team 

worked on retrieving samples to obtain an idea 

of the composition of the seafloor, as well as 

electromagnetic information on where these 

freshwater reservoirs are actually found. The 

new data will shed light on these geological 

processes, as well as on whether the reservoirs 

have the potential to provide drinking water, 

especially in areas that are already under much 

water stress. 

“Without the ERC funding I would simply not 

be doing this job,” states Dr Micallef, who is 

based at the University of Malta. “I would have 

had to leave, or I would mostly be teaching, 

since there is little local funding for projects 

like mine and for non-applied research.” His 

Starting Grant project started in January this 

year, with the expedition to New Zealand in 

April 2017. He is preparing a second expedition 

around Malta in early 2018. MBR 

Credit: European Research Council 

Researcher: Dr Aaron Micallef 

Title: 

ThermoTex 

MARCAN 

Topographically-driven meteoric 

groundwater – An important 

geomorphic agent 

Host Institution: 

UNIVERSITA TA’ MALTA, Malta 

www.um.edu.mt 

ERC call details: 

ERC-2015-STG, 2015 

Max ERC Funding: 

€ 1 757 432 

Digital elevation model of the study 

area in the northwest of Malta. 

© Jurgen Spiteri 

The first expedition involved a 4-week long oceanographic cruise in New Zealand. 

© Aaron Micallef, MARCAN project 2017 


15


MANAGEMENT & LEADERSHIP 

Understanding the 

Role and Scope of the 

Senior Manager 

by F.John reh 

SENIOR MANAGER DEFINITION: 

The title of senior manager is often found 

in large organizations with multiple layers 

of management. A senior manager has 

responsibilities and authority broader in scope 

than a front-line manager and typically reports 

into a director or general manager level role. 

COMMON RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE 

SENIOR MANAGER: 

The senior manager, like all managers, is 

responsible for planning and directing the 

work of a group of individuals, monitoring 

their work, and taking corrective action when 

necessary. 

Senior managers may guide workers directly 

or they may direct several supervisors who 

manage the workers. The senior manager 

often supervises the largest or most important 

group(s) in a company. Core responsibilities of 

the senior manager include: 

• Providing guidance to direct reports, 

typically comprised of first-line managers 

and supervisors. 

• Ensuring clarity around priorities and 

goals for the entire functional area. 

• Approving requests for investment to a 

certain level of authority. 

• Managing overall financial budgeting for 

his/her function. 

• Approving hiring and firing requests 

within his/her group. 

• Guiding the talent identification and 

development processes for a group or 

function. 

• Working across functions with peers in 

other groups to ensure collaboration for 

shared goals. 

• Interacting with senior management for 

reporting. 

• Working with senior management and 

other peers for strategy development 

and execution planning. 

• Communicating financial and goal 

results and key performance indicators 

to direct reports. 

• Facilitating goal-level creation for 

the broader function and works with 

managers to ensure the goals cascade to 

all workers. 

COMMON TITLES FOR SENIOR 

MANAGERS: 

The title tends to follow the function. Examples 

include: 

• Senior Accounting Manager 

• Senior Marketing Manager 

• Senior Engineering Manager 

• Senior Customer Support Manager 

WHY THE SENIOR MANAGER LEVEL? 

It is common for larger firms to evaluate 

their positions by scope, responsibility, size, 

budgetary authority and to assign a level to 

these positions. The senior manager level 

or designation represents a step-up from 

manager and offers the opportunity for an 

individual to take on new responsibilities 

and grow their contributions in a gradual 

manager. This added and higher level also 

helps organizations recruit experienced 

professionals and slot them in a role that fits 

with their capabilities and compensation. 

TOO MANY LAYERS OF MANAGEMENT? 

As organizations grow and become 

increasingly stratified with additional layers 

of management, complexity and inefficiency 

increases. Consider a department that 

includes supervisors, managers responsible 

for supervisors and senior managers 

responsible for managers who watch 

supervisors. The myriad of layers in the 

structure slows decision-making, increases 

political and communication complexity and 

can breed dysfunction. 

Many organizations cycle through a process 

of layering followed by flattening through 

restructuring, only to slowly add layers over 

time once again. 

The flatter organization (fewer layers) in 

theory simplifies decision-making and 

empowers a broader group of workers to 

assume responsibility for their actions. 

THE CASE FOR SENIOR MANAGER ROLE: 

There are a number of circumstances when 

the role of senior manager makes good 

business sense. 

When the team is growing quickly and 

chaotically, the senior manager can serve 

as the "adult" in the group, interfacing with 

other functions for needed resources and 

providing mature guidance to managers and 

workers during a period of change. 

When there is a clear distinction between 

the role of manager and senior manager, this 

position represents a tangible target or stepup 

as part of a manager's career development 

plan and activities. 

When the span of control for a group's 

managers is too broad, the senior manager 

can both support managers and take on 

responsibility for discrete work teams. 

DEVELOPING AS A SENIOR MANAGER: 

The role is an expansion of the typical 

manager's role in terms of breadth of 

responsibilities and overall accountability. 

Any manager interested in advancing to this 

level must focus on personal professional 

development for: 

• leadership, including talent development 

and coaching. 

• strategy, including understanding how 

the firm makes money and developing 

insights into the external market forces, 

competitors and customers. 

• finance, including budgeting, capital 

budgeting and overall expense 

accounting. 

• negotiation, to be used in securing 

resources and gaining help from other 

functions or executives. 

• communication, both written and verbal, 

with an emphasis on presentation skills. 

• team development 

CHALLENGES OF THE SENIOR MANAGER: 

Regardless of the term, "senior" in the title, 

the senior manager is still in middle-level 

management. These important middle-level 

roles are responsible for the people doing 

the work of the business, but often lack the 

authority to add resources or make significant 

changes needed to improve efficiency as well 

as the quality of the work environment. In 

spite of the challenges, the role is an excellent 

training ground for advancing to general 

manager at some point in the future. MBR 

Credit: F. John Reh 

16


LIFESTYLE 

Happiness 

is the key to success 

I’m often asked: What is the key 

to success? My answer is always 

simple: happiness. Happiness should 

be everyone’s goal, but I understand 

that it can seem out of reach, with 

many, for instance, affected by 

mental health problems that alter 

their outlook on life. 

By Sir Richard Branson 

A few years ago I wrote the following letter 

for Mind’s book: Dear Stranger, Letters on the 

subject of happiness. 

I re-read it recently and was struck by how 

much the words still ring true, so I thought I 

would republish the letter in the hope that my 

words can help others find the true happiness 

they deserve in 2018. 

Dear Stranger, 

You don’t know me but I hear you are going 

through a tough time, and I would like to 

help you. I want to be open and honest with 

you, and let you know that happiness isn’t 

something just afforded to a special few. It can 

be yours, if you take the time to let it grow. 

It’s OK to be stressed, scared and sad, I 

certainly have been throughout my life. I’ve 

confronted my biggest fears time and time 

again. I’ve cheated death on many adventures, 

seen loved ones pass away, failed in business, 

minced my words in front of tough audiences, 

and had my heart broken. 

I know I’m fortunate to live an extraordinary 

life, and that most people would assume my 

business success, and the wealth that comes 

with it, have brought me happiness. But they 

haven’t; in fact it’s the reverse. I am successful, 

wealthy and connected because I am happy. 

So many people get caught up in doing what 

they think will make them happy but, in my 

opinion, this is where they fail. Happiness is 

not about doing, it’s about being. In order to 

be happy, you need to think consciously about 

it. Don’t forget the to-do list, but remember to 

write a to-be list too. 

Kids are often asked: ‘What do you want to 

be when you grow up?’ The world expects 

grandiose aspirations: ‘I want to be a writer, a 

doctor, the prime minister.’ 

They’re told: go to school, go to college, get 

a job, get married, and then you’ll be happy. 

But that’s all about doing, not being – and 

while doing will bring you moments of joy, 

it won’t necessarily reward you with lasting 

happiness. 

Stop and breathe. Be healthy. Be around your 

friends and family. Be there for someone, and 

let someone be there for you. Be bold. Just be 

for a minute. 

If you allow yourself to be in the moment, 

and appreciate the moment, happiness will 

follow. I speak from experience. We’ve built 

a business empire, joined conversations 

about the future of our planet, attended 

many memorable parties and met many 

unforgettable people. And while these things 

have brought me great joy, it’s the moments 

that I stopped just to be, rather than do, that 

have given me true happiness. Why? Because 

allowing yourself just to be, puts things into 

perspective. Try it. Be still. Be present. 

For me, it’s watching the flamingos fly across 

Necker Island at dusk. It’s holding my new 

grandchildren’s tiny hands. It’s looking up 

at the stars and dreaming of seeing them 

up close one day. It’s listening to my family’s 

dinner-time debates. It’s the smile on a 

stranger’s face, the smell of rain, the ripple 

of a wave, the wind across the sand. It’s the 

first snow fall of winter, and the last storm of 

summer. 

Credit: Virgin.com – Richard Tea Smile 

There’s a reason we’re called human beings 

and not human doings. As human beings 

we have the ability to think, move and 

communicate in a heightened way. We can 

cooperate, understand, reconcile and love, 

that’s what sets us apart from most other 

species. 

Don’t waste your human talents by stressing 

about nominal things, or that which you 

cannot change. If you take the time simply 

to be and appreciate the fruits of life, your 

stresses will begin to dissolve, and you will be 

happier. 

But don’t just seek happiness when you’re 

down. Happiness shouldn’t be a goal, it 

should be a habit. Take the focus off doing, 

and start being every day. Be loving, be 

grateful, be helpful, and be a spectator to your 

own thoughts. 

Allow yourself to be in the moment, and 

appreciate the moment. Take the focus off 

everything you think you need to do, and start 

being I promise you, happiness will follow. MBR 

Happy regards, 

Richard Branson 


18

GAMING & MOBILE ADDICTION 


Gaming and mobile 

addiction disorder 

set to be recognized by World 

Health Organization By Kellen Black 

'Persistent or recurrent gaming behaviour' 

despite negative consequences would be a 

disorder, a World Health Organization policy 

draft says. 

The World Health Organization is looking to 

add gaming, internet and mobile addiction 

disorder to its International Classification 

of Diseases. The addition comes in the 

recent draft of ICT-11, which is scheduled 

to be released in 2018. It does not specify 

prevention or treatment options. "Gaming 

and internet addiction disorder is 

characterized by a pattern of persistent or 

recurrent gaming behaviour ('digital gaming' 

or 'video gaming')," the WHO said. 

The activity, whether online or offline, is 

marked by "impaired control over gaming 

or online addiction (e.g., onset, frequency, 

intensity, duration, termination, context)." 

For someone to be classified as having the 

disorder, they must also continue to game 

despite negative consequences, it adds. A 

WHO spokesperson pointed to the prevalence 

of gaming. 'In a number of countries, the 

problem has become a significant public 

health concern.' — Tarik Jasarevic, WHO 

"Use of the internet, computers, smartphones 

and other electronic devices has dramatically 

increased over recent decades," Tarik 

Jasarevic, told CBC News. "While the increase 

is associated with clear benefits to users, for 

example in real-time information exchange, 

health and mental problems as a result of 

excessive use have also been documented. 

In a number of countries, the problem has 

become a significant public health concern." 

Jasarevic said, "There is increasing and welldocumented 

evidence of clinical relevance of 

these conditions and increasing demand for 

treatment in different parts of the world." 

Video game and mobile browsing addiction 

will be classified as an official mental health 

condition next year. The World Health 

Organization (WHO) will recognize "gaming 

disorder" as a mental health condition in its 

next revision of the International Classification 

of Diseases (ICD), coming in 2018. A beta draft 

of the WHO's 11th ICD includes a gaming 

disorder entry, which is described as an 

addiction to video games and other similar 

internet sites, both online and offline. 

"There is increasing and 

well-documented evidence 

of clinical relevance of these 

conditions and increasing 

demand for treatment in 

different parts of the world." 

Gaming disorder as described by the WHO 

is "characterized by a pattern of persistent 

or recurrent gaming behavior," including 

not feeling like you have control over how 

much you play, putting gaming over other 

life priorities, and continuing to play games 

despite negative consequences. "The 

behavior pattern is of sufficient severity to 

result in significant impairment in personal, 

family, social, educational, occupational or 

other important areas of functioning," the 

entry reads. What it boils down to is basically 

video game and video addiction — playing 

games and internet browsing for unhealthy 

amounts of time and not feeling like you can 

stop. And when ICD-11 is published in 2018, 

it can be a more easily diagnosable condition. 

These symptoms generally need to persist for 

about a year for someone to be diagnosed 

with gaming disorder, but in extreme cases 

it can be diagnosed in a shorter amount 

of time, according to the WHO. In the past, 

video game addiction has led to some pretty 

extreme outcomes, including one death 

in 2005 when a man played StarCraft for 

more than two days straight with barely 

any breaks. More recently in 2010, a couple 

that was occupied playing a game neglected 

to feed their 3-month-old baby, who died 

of malnutrition. The WHO entry does not 

include any information about prevention or 

treatment of gaming disorder, unfortunately. 

This isn't the first time video game or internet 

addiction has come up in an official capacity. 

In 2013, The American Psychiatric Association 

(APA) considered "internet gaming disorder" 

as an entry in its Diagnostic and Statistical 

Manual of Mental Disorders, and listed it in its 

Conditions for Further Study section. 

The APA describes internet gaming disorder 

as similar to gambling addiction, in which 

affected individuals don't have control over 

their impulses to continue participating in 

said activity. This specifically has to do with 

online gaming though, whereas the WHO's 

gaming disorder includes offline gaming. A 

beta draft of the organisation's forthcoming 

11th International Classification of Diseases 

(ICD) includes "gaming disorder" in its list of 

mental health conditions. It states: 

"Gaming disorder is characterized by a 

pattern of persistent or recurrent gaming 

behaviour (‘digital gaming’ or ‘videogaming’), 

which may be online (i.e., over 

the internet) or offline, manifested by: 1) 

impaired control over gaming (e.g., onset, 

frequency, intensity, duration, termination, 

context); 2) increasing priority given to 

gaming to the extent that gaming takes 

precedence over other life interests and 

daily activities; and 3) continuation or 

escalation of gaming despite the occurrence 

of negative consequences." MBR 

Credit: CBC News; Mashable – Kellen Black 

Credit: AFP/ Getty Images 


19


CRM 

Your transformation 

starts here 

“To accelerate your digital transformation, you need a new type of business application. 

One that breaks down the silos between CRM and ERP, that’s powered by data and 

intelligence, and helps capture new business opportunities. That’s Microsoft Dynamics 

365,” tells us Peter Sammut Briffa, Senior Consultant at KPMG Crimsonwing Malta. In 

this interview Peter explains how Microsoft Dynamics 365 empower sellers with insights 

to personalize relationships, predict customer needs, and increase sales. 

MBR: Microsoft’s focus on digital 

transformation significantly affected their 

product line-up. How can an application 

like Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Sales create 

business value? 

PSB: By having all information concerning 

potential and actual sales stored in one place, 

salespeople will find it easier to identify the 

opportunities they should follow up. It allows 

for the enforcement of business processes 

which help streamline the sales process, 

ensuring that all the critical steps are followed, 

and that all relevant data is collected and 

analysed. This will eventually shorten sales 

cycles, enable the sales team to spend more 

time selling, and consequently improve close 

rates. 

MBR: What kind of insights can an 

organisation achieve? 

PSB: Through this CRM application, 

management can track all the leads and 

opportunities that their salespeople are 

following, as well as the sales actually made. 

This can help plan future productivity. It is 

also possible to introduce a number of key 

performance indicators. Increased sales is 

the obvious one, but other important ones 

include: are we contacting more potential 

customers? Do we get repeat orders from 

existing customers? What percentage of 

opportunities are we converting into sales? 

"Dynamics 365 is designed to 

be as intuitive as possible." 

MBR: Microsoft is now hosting the solution 

on Microsoft Azure. What are the benefits 

deriving from the cloud? 

PSB: There are two main advantages: 

maintenance and availability. There are no setup 

costs and maintenance of the environment 

is all in Microsoft’s hands, including security, 

backups, data restores, and the availability of the 

application round the clock. Furthermore, it is 

possible to connect to Azure from anywhere via 

internet, so CRM is available outside the office, 

outside the country, even using mobile devices. 

MBR: Given that this is a Microsoft product, 

how easy is it for new users to adapt to 

Microsoft Dynamics 365? 

PSB: Dynamics 365 is designed to be as 

intuitive as possible. All the terms can be 

changed to suit the company’s culture; a case 

may be called a “support ticket” or a “customer 

issue” – changing the label is a matter of simple 

configuration. Dynamics 365 also interacts 

seamlessly with and uses similar interfaces 

as the popular Office 365 suite of programs 

such as Word, Excel and Outlook. Sending an 

email from CRM is similar to sending one from 

Outlook. 

MBR: How are client relationships impacted? 

PSB: The plethora of data that can be stored 

within Microsoft Dynamics 365 means the 

user has the perfect tool to improve their 

interactions with customers and maintain 

the health of these relationships. It is possible 

to keep a record of all past interactions with 

customers, as well as those planned for the 

future. Members within the organisation across 

various departments can view these interactions 

and be fully updated whenever they need to 

contact the customer themselves. MBR 


EDITOR’S 

Note 

Peter has over 30 years of experience in the IT 

industry covering banking, e-commerce, retail, 

wholesale, logistics, laundry services, internal 

systems and audit. He occupied a number 

of roles from developer to systems analyst, 

business analyst, project manager, programme 

manager and support manager. Currently he is a 

Senior Consultant on Microsoft Dynamics 365 

Customer Engagement. 

20



21


ECONOMY 2017 REVIEW 

ECONOMY 

ECONOMY 2017 

€88m 

The government reported a surplus 

in its finances which is expected to 

amount to around €88m (equivalent 

to 0.8% of GDP). For 2018, the 

surplus is expected to be 0.5% of 

GDP 

€10.8bn 

GDP for 2017 is expected to be 

€10.8bn. Furthermore, next year, 

GDP is expected to increase by 7.6% 

in nominal terms (5.6% in real terms) 

4.1% 

In August 2017, the number 

of people registering for work 

amounted to less than 2,500. The 

rate of unemployment is estimated 

at 4.1% of the labour supply 

1.9m 

Inbound tourists in 2016 

amounted to over 1.9m visitors 

representing an increase of 

10.2% over the previous year 

1.1% 

The 12-month moving average rate of 

inflation in August 2017 stood at 1.1% 

which is the same as that registered 

in August 2016. For 2018, the rate of 

inflation is expected to be 1.5% 

€1.75 

The weekly cost of living increase for 2018 

is €1.75 per week. Pensioners will receive 

an increase of €2 per week 

€3.7bn 

Estimated tax revenue for 2017 is 

expected to be €3.7bn and is expected to 

rise to €4.4bn by 2020 

€5.9bn 

Government debt as at the end of 2017 is 

expected to amount to 54.9% of GDP (i.e 

€5.9bn) and is expected to decrease to 

44.6% of GDP by 2020 

€2.1bn 

The visible trade gap reached €2.1bn for the period January to July 2017 due to 

exports decreasing at a higher rate than the decrease in imports over the same 

1,414 

The total number of Collective Investment Schemes between January 

and August 2017 increased by 83 bringing the total licensed number of 

Collective Investment Schemes to 1,414 

1. Business confidence 

As far as the economy is concerned, 2018 

promises to be a good year that is expected 

to continue in the current growth streak. 

Basing one’s projections on EY Malta’s Malta 

Attractiveness Survey, Malta is bound to 

remain an attractive country for investment, 

although this attractiveness in certain aspects 

is diminishing. The economy is also expected 

to grow, as more businesses are seeking 

to capitalise on numerous opportunities in 

a variety of sectors. In a recent Chamberconducted 

survey assessing headline business 

indicators for 2018, businesses said that sales, 

exports, employment and investment appear 

to be on an upward trajectory as businesses are 

optimistic about their future. 

Another recently conducted survey by the Malta 

Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise & Indusstry 

carried out among its members concluded 

that businesses were ready to create around 

3,000 jobs in the next three years. This positive 

sentiment augurs well for business in Malta, yet 

2018 will certainly hold its own challenges which 

will require serious and thorough solutions. 

2. Malta’s HR challenge and its ability to 

retain staff 

Malta has one of the lowest unemployment 

rates in Europe, but it’s facing an employment 

crisis of a different sort – finding enough people 

to fulfil the roles that need to be filled. In 2016, 

Malta registered a net increase of 10,500 jobs 

over the previous year, a trend that shows no 

signs of abating, and employers are growing 

increasingly desperate to find people to fill 

crucial positions, leading to fierce competition, 

poaching of valued employees and price 

gouging, especially from foreign firms. Clyde 

Caruana, Chairman of Malta’s state employment 

agency JobsPlus, has stated that despite the fact 

that more than 20,000 foreign workers have 

come to the island over the past few years, even 

more are needed simply to keep the economy 

running. There is also the question of whether 

22 

Malta is attractive enough for foreign workers to 

settle down permanently. 

3. Malta’s transparency and good corporate 

governance issues 

The economy has reached new heights and 

the strong economic output can be felt across 

industries as well as within society at large. It’s 

an indisputable fact however, that no matter 

how well the economy has been doing, issues 

of transparency, whether real or perceived, 

require urgent addressing. Though the appetite 

for investment appears to remain healthy as our 

businesses continue to register optimistic traits, 

the country must also consider the sustainability 

of Malta's reputation as a legitimate business 

hub in the long term. In the present economic 

climate, the country must endeavour to dissipate 

any uncertainty. In order for these expectations 

to truly materialise, it is critical for the country to 

realise that good corporate governance is not an 

option. 

4. Malta’s ability to keep up with regulatory 

changes 

Malta’s nimbleness and agility when it came 

to emerging sectors such as iGaming and 

financial services, transformed the economy 

in the early to mid-2000s, from one that was 

far too heavily reliant on tourism to the one 

we have today, where sophisticated tertiary 

services form the backbone of the economy. 

However, Malta’s ability to keep up with global 

regulatory changes seems to be losing some 

of its momentum in nearly all fields except for 

iGaming. While iGaming is crucial to Malta’s 

economy, generating more than 12 per cent of 

its annual economy, other sectors that require 

just as much focus cannot be neglected. 

5. Malta’s tourism product 

Malta is currently breaking record after record 

when it comes to tourism figures, and there’s 

no doubt that the marketing and promotional 

aspect is being handled with great skill, but 

unless stricter safeguards are placed upon 

Malta’s touristic offering, our sustainability 

might be at stake on a long-term basis. The 

proliferation of generic, unsightly buildings and 

the general overurbanisation of the country 

risk destroying Malta’s unique heritage, while 

the littered and overcrowded beaches will 

stop being so appealing unless swift action 

is taken. Furthermore, the HR problem that 

currently exists across all industries is particularly 

pronounced when it comes to sectors directly 

related to tourism, such as hotel and catering 

work – it’s harder than ever to find people who 

want to do an excellent job in such a tough 

industry. 

6. Whether Malta will manage to update its 

ageing and outdated infrastructure 

Malta’s population has risen by about 25,000 in 

the space of 10 years, boosted by expats who 

now live and work on the island. It’s evident 

that the current capacity of the present road 

network is just not enough to handle the 

huge flows of traffic, particularly to central 

areas of the island where hubs of industry and 

commerce are located. According to EY Malta’s 

Malta Attractiveness Survey, more than a third 

of respondents (36 per cent) believe that the 

current transport and logistics infrastructure 

is not attractive from an FDI standpoint, and 

63 per cent supported investment in major 

infrastructure and urban projects. And with 43 

new vehicles being added to Malta’s roads every 

single day, the situation is bound to get worse. 

The 2018 Budget focused heavily on ways to 

fix Malta’s infrastructure, with the €700 million, 

seven-year road project, which was a central 

tenet of the Labour Party’s electoral manifesto, 

scheduled to begin in 2019. However, while it 

was acknowledged that the traffic problem will 

not be solved just through investment in better 

roads, and that the congestion problem could be 

attributed to a cultural dependence on private 

cars, there was no mention of the introduction of 

a rapid mass transport system. MBR 

Credit: Price WaterhouseCoopers; Ernst & Young;Chamber 

of Commerce, Enterprise &industry (stats)

INVESTING IN SKILLS 

An allocation of €8 million has been made available for a new initiative to promote training activities held 

till 30 th June 2020. Such activities will be financed (80% of eligible costs) from the European Social Fund 

under the Operational Programme II (2014 - 2020). 

For more details or further information kindly contact the 

INVESTING in SKILLS Unit, EU Funded Schemes Division, Jobsplus, Hal Far BBG 3000 

Tel: 2220 1300 • Email: iis.jobsplus@gov.mt • URL: www.jobsplus.gov.mt 

Aid Scheme part-financed by the European Union 

Operational Programme II – Cohesion Policy 2014 - 2020 

Investing in human capital to create more opportunities and promote the well-being of society 

Operational Programme II - European Structural and Investment Funds 2014-2020 

“Investing in human capital to create more opportunities and promote the well-being of society” 

Aid Scheme part-financed by the European Social Fund 

Co-financing rate: 80% European Union; 20% National Funds


DENTAL HEALTHCARE 

Straight good-looking dentition! 

By Dr Jean Paul Demajo 

A dental brace (in maltese know 

as “il-hadida”) is a device used in 

orthodontics to align/straighten 

teeth and help to position them 

in sync with the patients bite. 

This also works to improve dental 

health. They are often used to 

correct an underbite or overbite, 

deep bites, cross bites, crooked 

teeth, and various other flaws 

of the teeth and jaw. Braces can 

be either cosmetic improving the 

look of your teeth or structural 

helping to reposition your jaws. 

For example dental braces, 

together with other orthodontic 

devices help widen the palate 

or jaws and assist in shaping 

the teeth and jaws. The correct 

movement of teeth in the jaws 

should also help to improve the 

facial profile of the patient. 

What types of braces are available? 

In today’s world of orthodontics, there are 

more kinds of braces than ever before. 

1. Metal braces/Traditional braces 

These braces consist of metal brackets and 

wires that most people picture when they 

hear the word "braces." Modern brackets are 

however smaller and less noticeable than the 

notorious "metal-mouth" braces that many 

adults remember. Plus, new heat-activated 

arch-wires use your body heat to help teeth 

move more quickly and less painfully than in 

the past. 

Metal braces/Traditional braces 

Advantages: Least expensive type; different 

coloured bands give children a chance to 

express themselves 

Dis-advantages: Most visible type of braces 

2. Ceramic Braces 

Ceramic braces are similar in size and shape 

to metal braces, except that they have 

tooth-coloured or clear brackets that blend 

in to teeth. Some even use tooth-coloured 

wires making them less noticeable than the 

conventional metal wires. 

Advantages: Less noticeable than metal 

braces; move teeth much faster than clear 

plastic aligners. 

Dis-advantages: Ceramic braces are more 

expensive than metal braces; Brackets can 

stain easily if patients don’t care for them 

well. Tooth coloured arch-wires often get 

scratched exposing the underlying colour of 

metal. 

3. LINGUAL BRACES 

Ceramic Braces 

Lingual braces are the same as metal 

traditional braces, except that these brackets 

and arch-wires are fixed on the inside of the 

upper and lower teeth. 

regular adjustments take longer and are more 

difficult than with traditional braces. 

4. Clear aligners 

Aligner or clear braces consist of a series of 18 

to 30 custom-made, mouth guard-like clear 

plastic aligners. The aligners are removable 

and are replaced every 2 weeks during which 

teeth move into pre-planned positions. 

Clear Aligners 

Clear Aligners 

Advantages: Almost invisible; the aligners 

may temporarily be removed allowing 

patients to eat and drink whatever they want. 

Dis-advantages: Will not work for moderate 

to complex dental problems; only available 

for adults and teens, not children; more 

expensive option; can be easily lost and costly 

to replace; treatment may potentially take 

longer than quoted. Some inter-dental tooth 

stripping may be required to create space for 

teeth to align in place. 

Previously the idea of having braces was 

associated with a stigma. Today it has almost 

become fashionable to have braces done. 

This is simply because everyone would like to 

have their teeth straight and look their best. 

Technologies also help to make orthodontic 

treatment more appealing to children, 

teensand a growing number of adults. MBR 

Ask your dentist! 

Advantages: Invisible from outside 

Lingual Braces 

Dis-advantages: Difficult to clean; considerably 

more expensive; not appropriate for severe 

cases; can be more uncomfortable at first; 

DR JEAN PAUL DEMAJO 

Dental and Implant Surgeon 

24

WOOD BURNING - GAS - ELECTRIC - FUEL OIL - PELLET


EDUCATION 

THE GLOBAL SEARCH FOR EDU 

BY C. M. RUBIN 

“New and more 

innovative knowledge 

maps are now needed 

to help us navigate the 

complexities of our 

expanding landscape 

of knowledge.” 

-Charles Fadel 

C. M. Rubin and Charles Fadel 

Credit: CMRubinWorld 

that facilitate the learning of knowledge. 

All this technology dramatically increased 

the amount of knowledge we could access 

and the speed at which we could generate 

answers to our questions. 

“New and more innovative knowledge maps 

are now needed to help us navigate the 

complexities of our expanding landscape 

of knowledge,” says Charles Fadel. Fadel is 

the founder of the Center for Curriculum 

Redesign, which has been producing 

new knowledge maps that redesign 

knowledge standards from the ground up. 

“Understanding the interrelatedness of 

knowledge areas will help to uncover a logical 

and effective progression for learning that 

achieves deep understanding.” 

Joining us in The Global Search for Education 

to talk about what students should learn in 

the age of AI is Charles Fadel, author of Four- 

Dimensional Education: The Competencies 

Learners Need to Succeed. 

change, I pull out my mobile. How much of 

the data kids are being forced to memorize 

in school is now a waste of time? 

CF: The Greeks bemoaned the invention of 

the alphabet because people did not have to 

memorize the Iliad anymore. Anthropologists 

tell us that memorization is far more trained in 

populations that are illiterate or do not have 

access to books. So needing to memorize 

even less in an age of Search is a natural 

evolution. 

However, there are also valid reasons for why 

some carefully curated content will always 

be necessary. Firstly, Automaticity. It would 

be implausible for anyone to constantly 

look up words or simple multiplications – it 

just takes too long and breaks the thought 

process, very inefficiently. Secondly, Learning 

Progressions. A number of disciplines need 

a gradual progression towards expertise, 

and again, one cannot constantly look things 

up, this would be completely unworkable. 

Finally, Competencies (Skills, Character, Meta- 

Learning). Those cannot be developed in 

thin air as they need a base of (modernized, 

curated) knowledge to leverage. 

Sometimes people will say “Google knows 

everything” and it is striking, but the reality 

is that for now, Google stores everything. Of 

course, with AI, what is emerging now is the 

ability to analyze a large number of specific 

problems and make predictions, so eventually, 

Google and similar companies will know a lot 

more than humans can about themselves! 

The Trivium and Quadrivium, medieval revival 

of classical Greek education theories, defined 

the seven liberal arts necessary as preparation 

for entering higher education: grammar, logic, 

rhetoric, astronomy, geometry, arithmetic, 

and music. Even today, the education 

disciplines identified since Greek times are 

still reflected in many education systems. 

Numerous disciplines and branches have 

since emerged, ranging from history to 

computer science… 

Now comes the Information Age, bringing 

with it Big Data, cloud computing, artificial 

intelligence as well as visualization techniques 

“We need to identify the Essential Content 

and Core Concepts for each discipline – that’s 

what the curation effort must achieve so as 

to leave time and space for deepening the 

disciplines’ understanding and developing 

competencies.” — Charles Fadel 

MBR: Charles, today students have the 

ability to look up anything. Technology that 

enables them to do this is also improving all 

the time. If I want to solve a math problem, 

I use my calculator, and if I want to write 

a report on the global effects of climate 

“What we need to test for is Transfer – the 

ability to use something we have learned 

in a completely different context. This has 

always been the goal of an Education, but 

now algorithms will allow us to focus on that 

goal even more, by ‘flipping the curriculum’.” 

— Charles Fadel 

MBR: If Child A has memorized the data in 

her head while Child B has to look up the 

26

EDUCATION 


CATION: 

Knowledge in the Age of AI 

answers, some might argue that Child A is 

smarter than Child B. I would argue that 

AI has leveled the playing field for Child A 

and Child B, particularly if Child B is digitally 

literate, creative and passionate about 

learning. What are your thoughts? 

CF: First, let’s not conflate memory with 

intelligence, which games like Jeopardy 

implicitly do. The fact that Child A memorized 

data does not mean they are “smarter” 

than Child B, even though memory implies a 

modicum of intelligence. Second, even Child B 

will need some level of content knowledge to 

be creative, etc. Again, this is not developed in 

thin air, per the conversation above. 

So it is a false dichotomy to talk about 

Knowledge or Competencies (Skills/ 

Character/Meta-learning), it has to be 

Knowledge (modernized, curated) and 

Competencies. We’d want children to both 

Know and Do, with creativity and curiosity. 

Lastly, we need to identify the Essential 

Content and Core Concepts for each discipline 

– that’s what the curation effort must achieve 

so as to leave time and space for deepening 

the disciplines’ understanding and developing 

competencies. 

“Educators have been tonedeaf 

to the needs of employers 

and society to educate broad 

and deep individuals, not 

merely ones that may go to 

college. The anchoring of this 

problem comes from university 

entrance requirements.” 

- Charles Fadel 

MBR: Given the impact of AI today and 

the advancements we expect by this time 

next year, when should school districts 

introduce open laptop examinations 

to allow students equal access to 

information and place emphasis on their 

thinking skills? 

CF: The question has more to do with 

Search algorithms than with AI, but 

regardless, real-life is open-book, and so 

should exams be alike. And yes, this will 

force students to actually understand their 

materials, provided the tests do more than 

multiple-choice trivialities, which by the 

way we find even at college levels for the 

sake of ease of grading. 

What we need to test for is Transfer – the 

ability to use something we have learned 

in a completely different context. This has 

always been the goal of an Education, but 

now algorithms (search, AI) will allow us to 

focus on that goal even more, by “flipping 

the curriculum”. 

MBR: Today, if a learner wants to do a deep 

dive into any specific subject, AI search 

allows her to do this outside of classroom 

time. What do you say to a history teacher 

who argues there’s no need to revise subject 

content in his classroom? 

CF: For all disciplines, not just History, we 

must strike the careful balance between “justin-time, 

in context” vs “just-in-case”. Context 

matters to anchor the learning: in other words, 

real-world projects give immediate relevance 

for the learning, which helps it to be absorbed. 

And yet projects can also be time-inefficient, 

so a healthy balance of didactic methods like 

lectures are still necessary. McKinsey has 

recently shown that today that ratio is about 

25% projects, which should grow a bit more 

over time as education systems embed them 

better, with better teacher training. 

Second, it should be perfectly fine for 

any student to do deep dives as they see 

fit, but again in balance: there are other 

competencies needed to becoming a more 

complete individual, and if one is ahead of 

the curve in a specific topic, it is of course very 

tempting to follow one’s passion. And at the 

same time, it is important to make sure that 

other competencies get developed too. So, 

balance and a discriminating mind matter. 

MBR: Employers consider ethics, leadership, 

resilience, curiosity, mindfulness and 

courage as being of “very high” importance 

to preparing students for the workplace. 

How does your curriculum satisfy 

employers’ demands today and in the years 

ahead? 

CF: These Character qualities are essential 

for employers and life needs alike, and 

they have converged away from the false 

dichotomy of “employability or psycho-social 

needs.” A modern curriculum ensures that 

these qualities are developed deliberately, 

systematically, comprehensively, and 

demonstrably. This is achieved by matrixing 

them with the Knowledge dimension, 

meaning teaching Resilience via Mathematics, 

Mindfulness via History, etc. Employers have a 

mixed view and success as to how to assess 

these qualities, so it is a bit unfair that they 

would demand specificity they do not have. 

And it is also unfitting of school systems to 

lose relevance. 

Credit: CMRubinWorld 

MBR: There is a significant gap between 

employers’ view of the preparation levels 

of students and the views of students and 

educators. The problem likely exists partly 

because of incorrect assumptions on both 

sides, but there are also valid deficiencies. 

What specific inadequacies are behind this 

gap? What system or process can be devised 

to resolve this issue? 

CF: On one side, employers are expecting too 

much and shirking their responsibility to bring 

up the level of their employees, expecting 

them to graduate 100% “ready to work” 

and having to spend nothing more than jobspecific 

training at best. On the other side, 

educators have been tone-deaf to the needs 

of employers and society to educate broad 

and deep individuals, not merely ones that 

may go to college. 

The anchoring of this problem 

comes from university entrance 

requirements (in the US, AP 

classes, etc.) and their associated 

assessments (SAT/ACT scores). 

They have for decades back-biased 

what is taught in schools, in a very 

self-serving manner – narrowly 

as a test of whether a student will 

succeed at university. It is time to 

deconstruct the requirements to 

broaden/deepen them to serve 

multiple stakeholders. MBR 

Creditline: David Wine, CMRubinWorld 



27


HUMAN RESOURCE 

MOTIVATIONS TO CHANGE JOBS 

One of every two individuals has referred a friend to their organisation at least once. Out of those individuals 

who have never referred a friend to their organisation, 52% rated their job satisfaction a 6 or lower, whereas 

out of the individuals who have referred a friend to their organisation, only 28% gave a rating of 6 or lower 

regarding their job satisfaction. 

JobsinMalta.com is an integrated job 

board for all types of situations vacant. 

Job vacancies in Malta from recruitment 

agencies and employers direct. Whether 

you're looking for a career move or a temp 

job in Malta, sign up today for our daily or 

weekly Job Alerts and keep yourself updated 

through our social media channels. 

A low cost recruitment solution for employers 

and recruitment personnel to create, preview 

and publish jobs in Malta through multiple 

local job boards, social networks and even 

your own website. MBR 


28

MALTA 

YOUR KEY TO 

EUROPE & AFRICA 

Unlock your potential & 

discover a world of opportunity 

Corporate ServiCeS - aCCounting - taxation 

www.ejz.com.mt 

No. 217, Suite 4, Level 1, 21st September Avenue, Naxxar NXR 1013 Malta 

Tel: +356 2149 1127 | Fax: +356 2540 1093 | Mob: +356 9949 0796



INNOVATING, CREATING 

By Martin Vella 

Dr. Adrian Attard Trevisan, Umana Medical Technologies 

believes that as pioneers in building medical devices 

innovators know that the best way to have their ideas come 

to fruition is to understand the underlying principles. More 

often than not, it’s the medical device engineers who drive 

the innovation, and that’s how it should be. 

Dr Adrian Attard Trevisan 

Seven years ago Dr Adrian Attard Trevisan 

started the AAT research which is a group of 

companies of medical devices, which grew 

and changed over the years . Eventually, it 

became called ‘Neurotech International’ and 

became a public company on the Australian 

Stock Exchange (ASX). Dr Trevisan moved out 

of management, remaining a Scientific Advisor 

and becoming a Non Executive Director on the 

Board. Moving on, Dr Trevisan, established 

another group of companies in the medical 

devices field, merging forces with a technology 

that was being developed by two professors in 

Italy, wherein they developed a system in which 

with a tattoo sensor they can control any vital 

sign of a human being , without being invasive. 

Today, this venture is known as UMANA 

Medical Technologies, where Dr Trevisan and his 

colleagues are trying to replace the traditional 

“holter device” used in hospitals , with this novel 

technology . With this product, physicians are 

able to monitor heart activity, blood pressure 

and all vital signs, and in the future Dr Trevisan 

also hopes to expand into other areas. Having 

signed confidentiality agreement with one 

of the top four big names in medical and 

pharmacology worldwide, UMANA Medical 

Technologies are extending what they are doing 

to other areas, such as developing a system 

with these tattoos to analyse the sweat of the 

patient in order to see if that drug is working on 

the patient or not. Growing rapidly in that field, 

Adrian is always interested in starting medical 

devices companies. Dr Trevisan’s companies 

are are all subject to very stringent medical 

certifications, and in Malta, such regulators 

are not available. These certifications require 

qualified people from abroad to come to Malta 

and build on for the future. Dr Trevisan believes 

a lot that Malta can become a hub on the map 

for medical devices. UMANA are now building 

their very own facilities, with clean zones, 

production areas and R&D. Outstanding results 

in quality of care and the patient experience 

have created a growing demand for its services. 

MBR: It’s all about research and 

development, and we lack behind here 

in Malta, however, if you have foreign 

investors that’s another thing, no? 

AAT: I think that looking at Malta as an 

isolated place is quite limiting. Research 

and Development should really be looked 

at in a more collaborative and international 

way. I don’t think that investment is the only 

limitation in malta. I believe that the biggest 

lack is more an infrastructural one. Especially 

when working in the medical devices space , 

regulatory restrictions are large , and having to 

all the time fly in regulators from abroad , is an 

expensive burden that would be avoided if we 

had an approved notified body (regulator) for 

medical devices, in Malta. 

MBR: Way back when you started did a 

thought cross your mind that you are going 

to build companies? 

AAT: What triggers me is I don’t believe in 

building companies. I believe I build projects 

and products that help people. I try to 

surround myself with as many clever people 

as possible , to help me convert an idea into 

a product, then we validate it. For example 

presently with UMANA, we are starting a 

2000 patient clinical trial with Mater Dei in 

Malta , with the professional supervision of 

the Cardiology Department and University 

of Malta . I am also very lucky , that the team 

that helps me is passionate about the projects 

we enter. When you dedicate yourself to start 

a project , at times you get into a dilemma of 

“why”. Why are you doing it? And I thinkthat is 

very important for me. I love seeing problems 

and I love developing solutions for those 

problems. At times unfortunately insome 

companies, people just develop the product 

and then try to find a problem to solve it 

with after production. I am not part of that 

school of thought. I love actually evaluating 

the problem. As an example, my mother 

has a heart problem (very typical of her age 

bracket) and we are all the time anxious 

about her wellbeing, so what we are doing 

here is a way of monitoring patients like my 

mother or other people because the heart 

problems are one of the largest conditions 

and we actually build a system in which we 

monitor these patients in a very, very efficient 

way. 

MBR: So tell us about this year and why is it 

important for you especially with the launch 

of Umana T1? 

AAT: The Umana T1 was started in terms of its 

research by a professor and his team , about 

eight years ago . They managed to develop 

an idea that got publish on some of the most 

influential medical and scientific journals , 

however unfortunately they needed to look 

at improving and making this idea into a 

real product , and its why I could try to help 

them. This so far has worked out as a brilliant 

collaboration , and our growing team and 

results , are starting to speak for themselves. 

I think this year will see the product finally 

being released in a number of markets. We are 

presently at the very last steps of getting what 

we call the CE medical certification, which 

is basically the certification required to start 

selling this product on the European market, 

and we are already starting to work on our our 

first batch medical trial in Malta with Mater Dei 

Hospital . We have also just moved into our 

own production and research facility , and I am 

sure that this will help us move to the next step 

in the company’s mission of helping patients 

around the world. 

What triggers me is I don’t 

believe I build companies; I 

believe I build projects 

MBR: What’s this product? 

AAT: As I was sayng before , the product is our 

“why”. The Umana T1 system is a platform that 

is aimed at monitoring a patient ( we started 

with our cardiac patients , but in future we 

will move to other conditions). The aim of our 

patented product is to monitor a patient , to the 

highest grade ( clinical) , yet without the need to 

put on him a number of cables and wires .The 

patient can live a normal life whilst recording 

very valuable data, and at the moment we are 

30



& GROWING BUSINESSES 

actually propagating rapidly. Our first generation 

of the product can record in real time , heart 

activity, atrial fibrillation and blood pressure 

from our tattoo but we are also working with 

a very large pharma brand to extend these 

capabilities even further. The opportunities for 

this product are quite endless. 

MBR: Where do you see growth 

opportunities? 

AAT: Well, definitely I think in this type of market 

we cannot think just local. We are hoping to 

leave our mark locally but you have to have 

actually look at quite a global type of investment. 

At the moment we are going to be launching 

our product in a number of countries. We are 

planning to start off with European Countries 

once we have the Medical CE Certification and 

basically our growth and our partnerships. We 

are working with a number of universities. We 

are working the Technical University of Graz in 

Austria, the university in Milan and Fraunhofer 

Institute in Germany and have assembled an 

international Advisory Board with professors 

coming from Kings college , Imperial College and 

Yale University. Therefore, we are structuring 

a group of very well-known partners around 

the world in order to work together and its 

beneficialto both the product development , 

but also to collect feedback from the medical 

professionals that use our services. 

MBR: Who are the people that truly lead your 

solutions, for you to help them? 

AAT: Our product offering has two main 

audiences. We have Hospitals ( this also includes 

telehealth providers and Care centers ) who as 

we go along are always in need of more and 

more solutions to be able to monitor patients 

and also deliver a treatment that these patients 

may benefit also away from hospital (telehealth). 

Then we have the private market, where it’s the 

patient himself who actually requires to have a 

solution of monitoring for a long term period. 

For example, when you have elderly people, 

people living on their own, they are all the time 

apprehensive that something might happen to 

them, so we offer also a solution that is called 

‘The Umana T1 Hub’, where they can form 

part of a community and at the same time be 

monitored by a medical professional. 

We are structuring a group 

of very well-known partners 

around the world in order to 

work together and it helps us 

both in the R&D of technology 

MBR: How important is innovation to the core 

company culture and where is this innovation 

taking place? 

AAT: Innovation is the key. It’s not just a “buzz 

word” like other companies use it. It has to be 

the keyword to and for whatever company I 

get involved in. That is the unique selling point 

of any growing start-up. Innovation is not just 

developing a new product, but its crucial for 

all the team to really adopt it in the company 

culture.Everyone is very flexible here and that is 

the call for innovation. I believe that innovation is 

going to be the key for any technology company, 

especially in the medical industry. The medical 

industry is just a little bit harder for change 

than other industries and maybe that’s why 

even in Malta we don’t have enough medical 

technology startups , because the barrier to entry 

Umana T1 Heart Monitor 

is very substantial and often is less appealing. To 

actually start off, when you are doing a medical 

device you are very much scrutinized by the 

European Community to get the CE Medical 

Certification. There are a number of Obligations 

( that are usually a killer for startups) , including 

a quality management system which is like the 

standard ISO 9000 , but is way more stringent , 

called ISO 13485. There are a lot of bureaucracy 

that inadvertently hinderinnovation because it 

takes longer time. It’s not that you actually come 

up with a technologyand you can put it on the 

market the next day. You have todo a validation 

of it, get international auditors to come to Malta 

to say ‘yes, you can start selling to the market’, 

but still I believe that innovation is at the core, if 

we want to reach our goal. MBR 


EDITOR’S 

Note 

Dr Adrian Attard Trevisan is a neurophysiologist 

with a wide experience in the field of human 

physiology and medical devices. He was 

founder, Chief Executive Officer and Chief 

Scientific Officer of AAT Research, a group 

of companies involved in the development of 

certified medical devices. The company has 

since rebranded itself as Neurotech International, 

becoming a publicly listed company on the 

Australian Securities Exchange (ASX), of which 

Adrian is still a Non-Executive Director. He 

has worked on international research projects in 

England and France and has given presentations 

at international conferences and congress, as 

well as holding visiting lecturing posts at the 

University of Malta and the Università degli 

Studi di Milano. He has benefited from research 

grants and formed part of research projects under 

a number of EU and local funding programmes. 

Dr Attard Trevisan is also a research fellow of the 

Bedfordshire Center for Mental Health Research 

in association with the University of Cambridge. 

He is a co-founder and Chief Executive Officer 

of Umana Medical Technologies, a developer 

and manufacturer of patented temporary 

tattoo sensors that enable patients and medical 

professionals to monitor vital signs of patients, 

without the usual restrictions of cables and wires 

that effect quality of life. 


31


iGAMING 

THE 4 BIGGEST AML D4 RISKS 

FOR iGAMING COMPANIES 

Last June’s introduction of EU Directive 2015/849, 

better known as the 4th Anti-money Laundering 

directive (AML D4), brought about a sea change in the 

way iGaming companies treat risk – and it's vital that 

compliance professionals bring themselves up to speed. 

Failure to adequately comply with AML 

regulations could result in regulatory 

penalties, bad press, and a massive loss of 

consumer trust. Whilst all the items on the 

AML D4 list are important, here’s a list of the 

4 biggest risk factors that compliance teams 

have to manage. 

1. PEPS AS OWNERS, BENEFICIAL OWNERS, OR 

PEOPLE OF SIGNIFICANT CONTROL 

One of the AML D4 risk guidelines warns that when compliance 

professionals are contemplating their involvement with a company, 

they should be on the lookout for any possible associations that 

the proposed client or business partner might have with politically 

exposed persons (PEPs). Finding out if the company itself, its 

owners, directors, or persons of significant control (PSCs) are PEPs 

is crucial. 

2. CASH-RICH INDUSTRIES 

Under the AML D4 guidelines, companies should avoid becoming 

involved with businesses that have links to sectors that involve 

significant amounts of cash and/or their beneficial owners. It’s 

important to understand that cash is hard to trace and is therefore 

favoured by money launderers. Cash transactions are one of the 

simplest methods to transform ill-gotten gains into money that 

appears above-board. 

3. BUSINESS INTERESTS OR DEALINGS IN CERTAIN 

HIGH-RISK SECTORS 

The AML D4 guidelines stratify corruption risk levels according to 

certain economic sectors. As far as the assessment and avoidance 

of risk is concerned, under the AML D4 guidelines, not all industries 

are equal. iGaming companies are advised to ensure that they 

have solid due diligence procedures in place to ensure they are 

aware of the sectors in which any potential partners or customers 

operate. 

4. ADVERSE MEDIA REPORTS FROM CREDIBLE 

NEWS OUTLETS 

The AML D4 guidelines suggest keeping an eye out for negative 

stories about potential business partners or customers in news 

items which include allegations of criminality or terrorism, whether 

proven or not. Likewise, if any company or its beneficial owner, or 

anyone significantly associated with the company is reported to 

have been subject to an asset freeze due to criminal proceedings or 

allegations of terrorism or terrorist financing, should set alarm bells 

ringing for compliance professionals 

AML D4 TRANSACTION MONITORING 

Learn how AXON enables you to automate and optimise your regulatory and compliance 

functions by tracking and reporting on critical data in real-time. This provides a major 

benefit in time saving, versus a manual process where you are limited to performing 

individual checks on each data source. MBR 

Website: https://www.computimesoftware.com/axon-gaming/ 

Email us: info@computimesoftware.com or call us +356 2149 0700. 


32

Don’t get caught with your pants down! 

Let AXON drive your AML D4 compliance 

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on fraudulent activity 

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complex pattern identifiers 

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processes 

www.computimesoftware.com/axon-gaming +356 2149 0700 info@computimesoftware.com


iGAMING 

MBR 

BTOBET AND 

SPINOMENAL 

NEW PARTNERS 

IN iGAMING 

“ 

We constantly strive to reach 

the perfect balance of amazing 

graphics, fun game flow and 

easy access for worldwide 

clients. Since its foundation, 

Spinomenal has created more 

than 85 original cross-platform 

games and we are just getting 

warmed up! 

“ 

Spinomenal cross platform games supplier, 

providing the most innovative and high-end 

games to some of the world’s largest casino 

gaming operators, has signed a partnership 

with the advanced technological iGaming 

and Sportsbook platform BtoBet. 

Commenting on the partnership, Spinomenal’s 

CEO Lior Shvartz, stated: 

“We constantly strive to reach the perfect 

balance of amazing graphics, fun game flow 

and easy access for worldwide clients. Since 

its foundation, Spinomenal has created 

more than 85 original cross-platform games 

and we are just getting warmed up! We 

are very excited about the integration with 

BtoBet and are always happy to work with 

such a responsive and professional team of 

experts who are able to make the process 

easy and fast”. 

Kostandina Zafirovska, BtoBet’s CEO highlighted: 

“Spinomenal has interesting set of games 

and we’re enthusiastic about integrating 

their content onto BtoBet’s platform, ready 

for any regulated market. I firmly believe 

the combination of Spinomenal’s games 

proposal and BtoBet’s platform will definitely 

provide operators with the possibility to 

elaborate unique offers, tailored for every 

single market, offering more than 3,000 

exciting games. Additionally, with our 

sophisticated Recommendation engine, 

operators can suggest to players their 

preferred games, at the ideal time and on 

their preferred device.” 

About BtoBet 

BtoBet is a multinational company and is 

part of a group with 20 years of experience 

in software development in IT, finance, 

telecommunication, e-commerce and 

banking, strongly committed to technology 

and widely investing in technology research 

and development. The experience gained in 

these advanced environments, allows BtoBet 

to be visionary in the iGaming and Sports 

betting industry with a deep understanding 

of the requirements of the market, catching 

changing trends and anticipating bookmakers’ 

and operators’ needs. BtoBet is a true partner 

in technology, offering a standalone platform 

and services for the iGaming and Sports 

Betting industry. It counts on a very talented, 

continuously trained development team and 

day to day management support to clients. 

BtoBet allows licensees to be unique in the 

market, by giving them the opportunity to 

completely personalise their offers for Sports 

betting and iGaming business, online mobile 

and retail. BtoBet has technical branches with 

large ever-growing teams of developers in 

Skopje, Ohrid, Bitola, Belgrade, Nish, Tirana, 

and Rome. Malta hosts the commercial and 

marketing centre. Visit our site on: www. 

btobet.com 

About Spinomenal 

Spinomenal was founded in late 2014 by 

Lior Shvartz and Omer Henia. From the first 

day of its existence, the company had a very 

clear vision: to be the lead content provider. 

Starting from scratch, Spinomenal quickly 

grew and developed new and original cross 

platform games with high-end graphic and 

sounds, but more importantly, brilliant new 

features. The ideas just kept pouring out along 

with a constant process of self-improvement. 

Today, the company is on top of its game and 

is always striving to reach higher, get better 

and rise to the next challenge. MBR 


34

Your Corporate Travel 

Partner all over the world 

FCM Travel Solutions is one of the world’s largest 

leading corporate travel management providers 

offering complete end-to-end travel management 

services. FCM’s network now covers more than 90 

countries across Europe, the Middle East, Africa, 

Asia Pacific and the Americas. 

Our objective is simple: to provide you with better travel ideas for 

greater savings. Our worldwide reach combined with our experienced 

travel specialists will ensure a very high level of personalised service 

and considerable savings in the long run. FCM Travel Solutions has 

a unique business model focused on high productivity, key account 

management and round the clock emergency service. 

We do understand the complexity of business travel and have 

invested in the latest online booking tools thus ensuring more 

effective management of travel expenditure. This will ensure a full 

consolidation of travel management for business units, with preidentified 

control mechanisms set in place enabling better control 

over travel budgets. 

FCM HEAD OFFICE 

Ewropa Business Centre, Dun Karm Street, 

Birkirkara Bypass, Birkirkara BKR 9034 

FCM MOSTA 

152, Constitution Street, 

Mosta MST 9055 

FCM VALLETTA 

108, St. John Street, 

Valletta VLT 1169 

FCM GOZO 

7, Independence Square, 

Victoria VCT 1022 

www.fcm.com.mt | www.mt.fcm.travel 

info@mt.fcm.travel | +356 23456789


FAMILY BUSINESS 

Multi-generational entrepreneurs 

By Marcela Kunva 

Mirabaud family business was founded 

in 1819. Today, two of the four managing 

partners represent the sixth and seventh 

generations of the banking family. Nicolas 

Mirabaud, member of the executive 

committee of Mirabaud & Cie SA, says: 

“The main difficulty with succession is to 

ensure the continuity of activity throughout 

different generations. You need to be able to 

build on the know-how you have acquired, 

but at the same time also need to prepare 

for the future through innovation.” 

Jonathan Giles, who is a managing director 

at Rathbone Investment Management 

International, agrees and adds: “I find it is 

commonplace that there is a lack of clear 

and agreed family guidelines on how the 

operating company ties in with the wider 

family objectives such as philanthropy, next 

generation succession and whether the rest 

of the family want to be involved in running 

the company. I usually recommend, to 

families we advise, that they create a family 

constitution, which sets out succession issues 

and the scope of the family office to support 

the business.” 

Giles goes on to say that this kind of 

constitution needs to address governance 

weaknesses. “There needs to be collective 

agreement in such a document, which sets 

out clearly the authority given to family 

members and it is vital to align their passion, 

experience and skills with the agreed family 

objectives and values. The constitution needs 

to be written clearly so the limits of their 

authority are established and supervisory 

controls are put in place. 

According to Khaled Said, who is a founding 

partner at private investment office, Capital 

Generation Partners, the greatest difficulty is 

hiring the right talent to work alongside the 

family “For families to have access to the best 

investment opportunities across geographies, 

sectors and asset classes they will need to hire 

quite a large team of specialists, or decide 

to outsource to a provider who can focus 

on what they need and then manage that 

relationship closely,” says Said. 

“I find it is commonplace 

that there is a lack of clear 

and agreed family guidelines 

on how the operating 

company ties in with the 

wider family objectives" 

But there are also advantages in running a 

family business which, generally will have 

fewer external shareholders which means 

decision making can be more thoughtful. 

Alexander S. Hoare, partner and former CEO 

of C. Hoare & Co, says: “None of our partners 

have any interest in quarterly earnings, 

market share, executive share options and 

such drivers at other companies. We share a 

long term perspective which makes it easier 

to take longer timeline decisions. An example 

might be seen in the legacy systems which 

successive management teams of clearing 

banks have not invested in.” 

Like all businesses, a family business will face 

risks and there’s a lot that can go wrong. Said 

says: “Human risk, investment risk, lack of 

rigour or lack of process can really hamper 

any family business.” Giles agrees and adds 

that with the growth in social media, that 

training and guidance from outside specialists 

on reputation protection is a worthwhile 

investment. “Analysing the digital footprint 

of family members to see what exposures 

have been created is an important first step. 

This creates a digital audit and a remediation 

plan to protect the family from, for example, 

a cyber-attack or negative headlines. 

Educating the family on social media posts so 

they understand their vulnerabilities is also 

important.” While aware of all the external 

risks, Mirabaud also points out that succession 

can mean simply losing the entrepreneurial 

spirit that ignited the business originally 

which he cites as a major risk. Giles adds a 

point about family offices and their costs. “On 

top of running a business, if there is a sole 

family office to manage their investments 

then there are large cost implications which 

can range from c£2-£4m annually. This means 

you need c£300m in ‘balance sheet’ value to 

justify such its existence. 

Alexander S. Hoare concludes: “There are 

many macroeconomic and geopolitical 

things that could happen, but our job is to 

manage our way through these. Assuming 

we prosper during property crashes, through 

Brexit, through a Labour government, and 

keep out cyber criminals, then what could go 

wrong? Answer: a family business can be too 

successful, spoil their upcoming generation 

and then make bad decisions. In point of fact it 

happened to the sixth generation at the bank, 

and the seventh generation subsequently 

took us off course, simply because they were 

spoiled and entitled.” MBR 

Credit: Citywealth; Jones Publishing Ltd. 

36

FASHION & LIFESTYLE 


Good enough is fine for getting started 

BUT IT’S NOT A WORTHY GOAL 

BY JOHN PAUL ABELA 

NU 

John Paul Abela interviews Graziella Galdes, owner of Gilda. 

What some people see as a risk, she sees as an opportunity. What one could consider to be a disadvantage, she 

turns into an asset. We had the chance to have a one-to-one chat with Graziella Galdes who apart from being a 

single mother of three wonderful kids, also operates Gilda, a leading brand synonymous with the best selection of 

designer and luxury fashion wear. Graziella opens up about her overall performance of juggling family life along with 

her business. If there was one mantra I’d associate with her, it would be “where there is a will, there is a way”. 

MBR: How did you get your start in the 

fashion industry? 

GG: Kids wear signalled my first step in the 

fashion business in 1995. Ever since that 

outlet I’ve been passionate about fashion and 

developed my own style in ladies fashion-I 

knew that I wanted to be a business owner 

and work for myself, and the thought of 

opening a ladies fashion outlet just clicked 

and made perfect sense. 

MBR: Take us through a day in your life as a 

mumpreneur… 

GG: I believe that women can successfully 

combine family, career and time for 

themselves. I have shown my children that it 

is okay to work and be a mother at the same 

time. There’s no typical day for me, which is 

part of what I love about working in fashion. 

Travelling is part and parcel of keeping abreast 

with the fashion industry however keeping in 

direct contact with my customers is my top 

priority. 

MBR: What type of customers do you cater 

for? 

GG: Gilda is a one-of-a-kind shopping 

experience, uniquely designed and 

merchandised with the latest fashion apparel, 

shoes, bags and hats. Gilda is where Malta’s 

trendiest go when they need a unique outfit 

to wear to an event. With outlets in Zebbug, 

Kappara and Valletta, Gilda offers lots of 

exclusive pieces. 

MBR: What are some of your goals for the 

future of Gilda? 

GG: It is an exciting time for me - 2018 will see 

my daughter Valentina joining me during my 

business journey. Committed to provide the 

best in style and quality Gilda has opened 

it’s latest outlet in Valletta. This addition to 

the brand marks an important milestone and 

joins the ranks of the stylish and exclusive 

boutique that had opened in Zebbug and 

Kappara years before. 

It is never enough for Graziella…over the 

coming months a new outlet will be launched 

in a prime location. Along with clothing, the 

project will see the launch of a luxury footwear 

line – shoes boasting an elegant aesthetic, 

rooted in classic shapes and designs, but all 

with subtly unique details. 

“Although Gilda’s past has been a celebration 

Graziella Galdes, owner of Gilda 

of success and the present is very bright, 

the journey never stops. The future entails 

continuous hard work. You're only as good 

as your last performance. The past is part of 

history but you have to build on last week or 

last night's performance to ensure the future 

remains strong,” commented Graziella. MBR 

Credit: John Paul Abela 


37


HR & MANAGEMENT 

MANAGING STRESS AND CHANGE AT WORK 

Susan M. Heathfield 

Are you experiencing stress at work? 

Want to learn more about what 

causes stress and the impact of stress 

on people at work? First, you should 

start by exploring where and how your 

workplace stress is coming from. 

Once you understand the origin of 

your workplace stress, use these five 

suggestions to help you manage it. 

Effective stress management is not 

easy and requires time and practice. 

But developing stress management 

skills is important for your overall 

health and well-being. 

1. Control Time Allocation and Goals 

Set realistic goals and time frames for 

yourself. Remember the Alice in Wonderland 

Syndrome from the book Alice’s Adventures 

in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. Alice is 

walking in a woods. She comes to a fork in the 

road. Not knowing which way to go, she asks 

the Cheshire Cat: 

"Would you tell me, please, which way I ought 

to go from here? 

"That depends a good deal on where you 

want to get to,” said the cat. 

"I don’t much care where, said Alice. 

"Then it doesn’t matter, said the cat. 

"—so long as I get somewhere,” Alice added 

as an explanation. 

"Oh, you're sure to do that, said the Cat, if you 

only walk long enough." 

Do you feel this way some days? Setting 

realistic goals for your day and year helps you 

feel directed and in control. Goals give you a 

yardstick against which you can measure every 

time commitment. And, walking long enough is 

a stress producer, not a stress management tool. 

Scheduling more than you can handle is a 

great stressor. Not only are you stressed 

trying to handle your commitments, you are 

stressed just thinking about them. If you are 

experiencing overload with some activities, 

learn to say, “no.” Eliminate any activities 

which you don’t have to do. Carefully consider 

any time-based commitment you make. 

Use an electronic planner to schedule each 

goal and activity you commit to accomplishing, 

not just your appointments. If that report will 

take two hours to write, schedule the two 

hours just as you would a meeting. If reading 

and responding to email take an hour per day, 

schedule the hour. 

2. Reconsider All Meetings 

Why hold meetings in the first place? 

An effective meeting serves an essential 

purpose — it is an opportunity to share 

information and/or to solve a critical 

problem. Meetings should only happen when 

interaction is required. Meetings can work 

to your advantage, or they can weaken your 

effectiveness at work. If much of your time 

is spent attending ineffective, time-wasting 

meetings, you are limiting your ability to 

accomplish important objectives at work. 

The Wall Street Journal quoted a study that 

estimated American managers could save 80 

percent of the time they currently waste in 

meetings if they did two things: start and end 

meetings on time and follow an agenda. 

3. You Can’t Be All Things to All People – 

Control Your Time 

Something has to give. Make time for the 

most important commitments and take 

some time to figure out what these are. Time 

management is a systematic approach to the 

time of your life applied consistently. 

The basis of time management is the ability to 

control events. A study was done some years 

ago that revealed symphony conductors live 

the longest of any professionals. Looking into 

this longevity, researchers concluded that in 

no other occupation do people have such 

complete control over existing events. 

In his book, Time Power, Dr. Charles Hobbes 

suggests that there are five categories of 

events: 

• Events you think you cannot control, 

and you can’t. 

• Events you think you cannot control, 

but you can. 

• Events you think you can control, but 

you can’t. 

• Events you think you can control, but 

you don’t. 

• Events you think you can control, and 

you can. 

There are two major issues about control. 

• Each of us is really in control and 

in charge of more events than we 

generally like to acknowledge. 

• Some things are uncontrollable. Trying 

to control uncontrollables is a key cause 

of stress and unhappiness. 

With the competing demands that exist for 

your time, you probably feel as if much of 

your day is not in your control. Feeling not in 

control is the enemy of time management. 

Feeling not in control is one of the major 

causes of stress in our daily lives, too. 

4. Make Time Decisions Based on Analysis 

Take a look at how you currently divide your 

time. Do you get the little, unimportant things 

completed first because they are easy and 

their completion makes you feel good? Or, do 

you focus your efforts on the things that will 

really make a difference for your organization 

and your life? Events and activities fall into 

one of four categories. You need to spend the 

majority of your time on items that fall into 

the last two categories. 

Not Urgent and Not Important 

Urgent but Not Important 

Not Urgent but Important 

Urgent and Important 

5. Manage Procrastination 

If you are like most people, you procrastinate 

for three reasons. 

• You don’t know how to do the task, 

• You don’t like to do the task, or 

• You feel indecisive about how to 

approach the task. 

Deal with procrastination by breaking 

the large project into as many small, 

manageable, instant tasks as possible. Make 

a written list of every task. List the small 

tasks on your daily, prioritized To Do List. 

Reward yourself upon completion. If you do 

procrastinate, you’ll find that the task gets 

bigger and bigger and more insurmountable 

in your own mind. Just start. 

These stress managing tips will help you 

change your actions and outlook. Best 

wishes as you implement these ideas to live 

a great life. MBR 

Credit: Susan M.Heathfield 

38


WORKPLACE 

WHAT MAKES A GREAT WORKPLACE? 

44% OF INDIVIDUALS EITHER CHANGE JOBS AS THEY ARE OFFERED A BETTER SALARY AND BENEFITS PACKAGE, OR BECAUSE THEY ARE 

DISSATISFIED WITH THE COMPANY'S MANAGEMENT AND CULTURE FIT. WHICH FACTORS HELP MAKE A GREAT WORKPLACE? MBR 

Credit: JobsinMalta 

40

EDITOR’S CHOICE 


PARMIGIANI FLEURIER LAUNCH THE 

NEW KALPA AT SIHH 

The Shape of Excellence 

Kalpa Chronor 

To showcase the new generation of 

Kalpa watches, Parmigiani Fleurier is 

making an impression with the Kalpa 

Chronor, which features the world’s 

first solid-gold, self-winding, integrated 

chronograph movement. 

This tonneau watch is water-resistant to 30 

metres and made of hand-polished 18 ct 

rose gold. It measures 48.2 x 40.4 mm and 

houses an exceptional mechanism that has 

been developed and manufactured entirely 

in-house. The COSC-certified calibre PF365 

is the result of six years’ development, and 

oscillates at the high frequency of 36,000 

vibrations per hour (5 Hz) to achieve a reading 

accuracy of one tenth of a second. With a 

power reserve of around 65 hours, this Haute 

Horlogerie movement includes a column 

wheel and vertical clutch as well as offering 

precision gauges and user comfort, and is 

set apart by its luxury composition using 18 

ct gold. This malleable material is particularly 

complex to work with, which further 

reinforces the rare quality and expertise that 

have gone into its design, the skeleton work 

on its bridges, and its decoration. It also 

Editor's Choice 

features a variable-inertia balance, held in 

place by a cross-through bridge, for improved 

stability and shock resistance. In terms of the 

dial, the calibre PF365 provides hour, minute, 

small second and chronograph functions 

with a tachymeter and date window. At the 

back, a wide tonneau opening with a sapphire 

crystal at the top reveals this new shaped 

movement, wound by an oscillating weight 

in 22 ct gold that features a barley grain 

guilloché motif. The 18 ct gold bipartite dial 

in black is elegantly finished with an opaline 

centre, hand-worked braid-effect guilloché 

detail on the flange, and snailed counters. The 

counters have been enlarged and positioned 

slightly above the centre point, offering easier 

readability, while the rounded date window 

with its gold outline at 12 o’clock reveals 

below it a disc with white numerals and a gold 

powder finish for the ‘1’. The luminescent 

Delta hands point to hand-applied 18 ct 

rose gold faceted indices, which also have a 

luminescent coating and match the folding 

buckle on the Hermès black alligator strap. 

It is an exceptional timepiece, produced as a 

series of 50 numbered pieces. MBR 



41


GENDER PAY GAP 

PAYM€QUALLY - 

TOWARDS EQUAL 

PAY FOR WOMEN 

AND MEN 

By Renee Laiviera 

Commissioner - NCPE 

An investigation carried out by the National 

Commission for the Promotion of Equality 

(NCPE) in 2015 found the occurrence of gender 

discrimination in the wage of a female employee. 

In this case, the complainant alleged that she 

was receiving a lower wage than the male 

employees who were in a similar or same rank 

and responsibilities. It was noted that while all 

of the managers’ wages differ in amount, the gap 

between the male managers’ wages is smaller 

than the one between the average male manager 

wage and the complainant’s wage. Following 

the opinion issued in relation to this complaint, 

NCPE was informed that negotiations between 

the employer and the complainant resulted in a 

substantial increase in salary when compared to 

that of her male counterparts. 

42

GENDER PAY GAP 


Cases on gender discrimination in pay that 

are similar to this mainly affect women, and 

contribute to widen the gender pay gap. As 

this is a concern for most of the EU member 

states, the European Commission established 

the European Equal Pay Day that is usually 

earmarked for the first week in November 

to raise awareness on this issue. Many of the 

EU member states have followed suit and 

so has NCPE. In fact, through a short media 

campaign - PayM€qually - NCPE is raising 

further awareness on the gender pay gap on 

the national level. 

Research shows that equal pay for work of 

equal value for women and men should not 

only be safeguarded, because it is enshrined 

in the Constitution of Malta, but also because 

it makes good business sense. Safeguarding 

equality in employment, including in pay, 

contributes to attract the best employees 

for a job; to make effective use of talents and 

skills; to avoid complaints on discrimination 

and unfair work practices; to create a positive 

work environment and gain the confidence of 

employees. 

The question arises – how can equal pay for 

women and men be guaranteed? Having 

an Equality Policy that safeguards equal pay 

signifies that an organisation is committed 

to promote equality and diversity in concrete 

terms and eliminates unlawful discrimination. 

Such policies ensure equal terms and 

conditions offered to women and men in 

the same grade and in the same type of 

employment or doing work of equal value. 

An equality policy benefits staff and potential 

employees and helps achieve dignity at work, 

contributing to providing the best possible 

services to clients. 

Having a robust, consistent, gender-sensitive 

method for assessing and comparing the 

value of different jobs is considered vital to 

achieving equal pay. Such job evaluation 

schemes have proved to provide a basis for a 

grading and pay structure based on objective 

criteria, supporting credible definitions of 

work of equal value and detecting indirect 

pay discrimination on grounds of sex. The aim 

is to evaluate the job, not the jobholder, and 

to provide a way of assessing the demands 

of a job that is free from gender bias and as 

objective as possible. 

Payroll transparency facilitates the 

implementation of equal pay for women 

and men by enabling employees, employers 

and social partners to take appropriate 

action when and if necessary. Employees 

can make sense of their earnings and 

those of their colleagues putting at rest 

suspicions of discrimination, favouritism and 

general unfairness. Studies carried out in 

organisations show that sharing peers’ and 

superiors’ salary information is a motivator. In 

fact, when employees can clearly see where 

they stand within the company in relation to 

their colleagues, they are more likely to ask 

themselves why they are in that position and 

do what they can to raise their prospects. 

In Malta there are already 78 enterprises, with 

around 21,000 employees, that have shown 

their commitment towards gender equality, 

including in pay, which commitment has been 

recognised and awarded by NCPE. In fact, the 

NCPE Equality Mark certifies organisations 

that foster gender equality at the workplace 

according to set criteria, including equality 

in recruitment and working conditions 

such as equal pay for work of equal value. 

NCPE provides the necessary assistance to 

organisations to strengthen their policies and 

practices in this regard. 

Reporting discrimination in pay is essential to 

ensure that the gender pay gap is addressed. 

In this context, NCPE is empowered to 

investigate complaints of alleged gender 

discrimination in employment, including in 

pay. Therefore, anyone who deems that they 

are being discriminated against in this regard, 

is encouraged to lodge a complaint with NCPE 

for further investigation and action. 

Through the media campaign PayM€qually, in 

line with the European Equal Pay Day marked 

this year on 3rd November, NCPE is putting 

its message across by participating in TV and 

radio programmes and publishing articles in 

order to increase awareness that a pay gap 

between women and men still exists and that 

there are ways how this can be addressed. 

Join us on NCPE’s facebook page for regular 

posts with infographics, video-clips and 

quotes of renowned personalities. MBR 

NCPE can be contacted on 2590 3850, 

equality@gov.mt or on Facebook. 

Credit: NCPE 

Equal pay for work of equal value and gender equality 

in employment as safeguarded by legislation 

Article 14 of the Constitution of Malta: 

“... the State shall in particular aim at ensuring that women workers enjoy 

equal rights and the same wages for the same work as men.” 

Employment and Industrial Relations Act: 

“Employees in the same class of employment are entitled to the same 

rate of remuneration for work of equal value” 

Equality for Men and Women Act: 

“It shall be unlawful for employers to discriminate, directly or indirectly, 

against a person in the arrangements made to determine or in 

determining who should be offered employment or in the terms and 

conditions on which the employment is offered or in the determination of 

who should be dismissed from employment.” 


43


WORLD FOOD CRISIS 

Swedish multi awarded pioneer company Plantagon 

invites everyone to join them in fighting the world food 

crisis. Say Hi to (the definition of) Inclusive Capitalism. 

By Anna Karlsson 

The Swedish pioneer in urban agriculture and food tech, Plantagon International, 

is launching an international recruiting campaign to recruit like-minded allies 

throughout the world to help achieve the common goal of solving the world food 

crisis. While doing so, Plantagon aims at changing the current business paradigm 

by creating a more responsible and inclusive economy through democratizing 

and sharing of its power and profits. Plantagon’s governance model, called the 

Companization*, has attained global interest and recognition for its innovative 

hybrid model containing both a for-profit and a non-profit organization. 

The Swedish pioneer in urban agriculture 

and food tech, Plantagon International, 

is launching an international recruiting 

campaign to recruit like-minded allies 

throughout the world to help achieve the 

common goal of solving the world food crisis. 

While doing so, Plantagon aims at changing 

the current business paradigm by creating 

a more responsible and inclusive economy 

through democratizing and sharing of its 

power and profits. Plantagon’s governance 

model, called the Companization*, has 

attained global interest and recognition for 

its innovative hybrid model containing both a 

for-profit and a non-profit organization. 

The problem Plantagon has set out to solve 

is the world food crisis. Recent estimates 

suggest that by 2050 up to 80% of the world’s 

population will reside in cities[1]. By then, 

the world’s population is projected to almost 

reach 10 billion[2]. If current farming practices 

and consumption patterns continue, the 

Earth’s arable land will soon not be sufficient 

to produce enough food for the growing 

population. To address this, Plantagon has 

developed solutions for large-scale food 

production in cities; most prominently, 

vertical space-efficient greenhouses or 

‘plantscrapers’ for the urban environment 

that will deliver locally grown organic food 

directly to the consumer. 

To achieve the platscrapers, Plantagon’s 

hybrid model needs to charge up with help of 

the power of the many. Plantagon needs likeminded 

people all over the world who share 

the belief that a value change is needed for 

survival and that the current focus on shortterm 

profit has to stop. That cause beats 

profit. 

People from all over the world who wants 

to join this work are invited to become allies 

of Plantagon International and a part of the 

Companization. Through their “allyship” in 

the non-profit association they will play a 

crucial part in Plantagon International’s first 

landmark project, The World Food Building, 

a 60-meter vertical greenhouse and office 

building in Linköping, Sweden. The project 

is the first of its kind and will produce 500 

metric tons of food annually, saving 1000 

metric tons of CO2 emissions and 50 million 

liters of water compared to regular farming. 

In addition to that, at least 50% of the energy 

consumption of the production will be reused 

in the building. 

“We are reaching out to people everywhere 

that feel that commercial organisations 

should also be the driving force of change. 

People are sick and tired of businesses being 

shortsighted and just-for-profit driven. We 

believe it’s time for this to change, the time 

for ‘business as usual’ is over. With potentially 

100 000 allies all over the world supporting 

Plantagon we will show that the power of 

the crowd gets the job done,” says Hans 

Hassle, Plantagon’s Co-founder and Secretary- 

General. 

For more information about Plantagon’s 

governance model and how to join Plantagon 

as an ally, please go to www.plantagon.org/ 

membership/. 

LANDMARK PROJECT: THE WORLD 

FOOD BUILDING 

Creating a solid base of allies within the 

Companization will support Plantagon’s up 

scaling of business internationally and help 

to accelerate Plantagon’s landmark project, 

a 60-meter vertical farm named The World 

Food Building in Linköping, Sweden. The 

building’s interior will be shared between a 

16-storey office space and a food production 

line built on Plantagon’s patented technology; 

producing food in a closed, clean and climate 

controlled environment. The World Food 

Building will serve as an international model 

plant to present the methods, symbiotic 

systems and technologies developed by 

Plantagon and its partners to enable large 

cities around the world to help produce their 

own food through vertical industrial urban 

farming. 

The building will produce 500 metric tonnes 

of food annually, saving 1000 metric tonnes of 

CO2 emissions and 50 million litres of water. 

At least 50% of the energy consumption for 

the food production will be recovered as floor 

heat in the office building through smart 

energy systems and heat storage. 

To cap off the symbiosis between flora and 

fauna, the CO2 emitted by the office workers 

will be transferred into the greenhouse, and 

vice versa. 

The building was recently awarded The 

International Architecture Awards 2016 

by The Chicago Athenaeum Museum of 

Architecture and Design and The European 

Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban 

Studies. Plantagon has also been recognized 

by Red Herring as being one the 100 most 

innovative companies in the world. 

THE COMPANIZATION 

Plantagon’s governance model is built on 

an advanced CSR-approach that shapes 

what the company stands for and how it 

can act. The objective is to democratise 

the share holding company by taking away 

anonymous ownership that only focuses on 

maximising profit. This model is recognised as 

Companization, a hybrid between a for-profit 

company and an association open for all. 

Plantation calls this “a value change needed 

for survival”. By using this model, Plantagon 

is giving away both money and power to the 

Allies and members, since the Association 

owns 10% and has the power to appoint half 

of the board in the share holding company. 

Credit: Manifest Stockholm 

About Plantagon 

Plantagon International is a worldleading 

pioneer within the field food 

security and CSR – combining urban 

agriculture, innovative technical solutions 

and architecture – to meet the demand 

for efficient food production within cities; 

adding a more democratic and inclusive 

governance model. Plantagon has been 

recognized by Red Herring as being one 

the 100 most innovative companies in 

the world. MBR 

44

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V


POLITICO GLOBAL POLICY LAB 

Brexit & the future 

of Britain’s economy 

By Mark Scott and Charlie Cooper 

During this five-week project into how the 

U.K. can retool its economy after Brexit, 

one message reemerged again and again. 

Many Britons who voted to leave the EU 

feel disconnected from the country’s recent 

economic growth — a phenomenon that 

has led to some of the highest rates of social 

inequality anywhere in the Western world. 

With feedback from the panelists of our 

“brainstorming” workshop, as well as from 

readers like yourselves, we delved into this 

topic in our final article for this Global Policy 

Chapter. In particular, we assessed whether 

Brexit can be used as a vehicle to improve 

social equality across the U.K. 

We also put together a graphic on how many 

parts of the country — in fact, some of the 

most disadvantaged regions — voted most 

avidly for Brexit even though they may have 

the most to lose from leaving the EU. See 

the maps that show how Brexit and social 

inequality, at least for the moment, go hand 

in hand. 

As we finish the third chapter of POLITICO’s 

Global Policy Lab, these are three paths, 

based on feedback from this collaborative 

project, for revamping Britain’s economy (and 

some of the trade-offs that will go along with 

them): 

Singapore-on-the-Thames 

Britain’s has one of the most advanced 

financial services industries anywhere. It 

generates billions of pounds of tax revenue 

each year and connects the U.K. to all four 

corners of the world. The country could 

double down on those advantages, paring 

back regulation in some areas and promoting 

itself as the go-to place for international 

financial services for growing global powers 

like China. 

The downside? Without so-called passporting 

rights to the EU, some in the City may find 

it hard to offer their services to the rest of 

Europe, still one of the largest buyers of 

Britain’s financial expertise. 

Return to manufacturing 

The U.K. may not be the manufacturing 

powerhouse it once was, but when it comes 

to specialized areas like the aerospace and 

automotive sectors, Britain still punches 

significantly above its weight. Combine that 

with a pound falling against other currencies, 

and you have a golden opportunity for exports 

— with the added benefit of rebalancing a 

domestic economy that has become overly 

dependent on services. 

One significant challenge, though, is access 

to talent, particularly from the EU if the U.K. 

continues down the path toward a so-called 

hard Brexit. For local manufacturing to keep 

pace globally, a steady stream of highly 

qualified talent will be required, either trained 

locally or imported from elsewhere. 

Digital Britain 

The U.K. government is already promoting 

its Europe-leading tech sector, with 

investments announced to boost digital 

training and expand research into artificial 

intelligence and robotics. These sectors will 

only grow in prominence as all industries 

embrace digital advances demanded by 21st 

century consumers. And since much of this 

technological race is global (the United States 

and China are arguably larger markets than 

Europe), Britain’s departure from the EU will 

pose few obstacles to this digital push. 

Again, much will depend on keeping the local 

workforce trained in the latest skills if the U.K. 

is to take advantage of its current status as 

first among equals in Europe’s tech industry. 

That will take money. Lots and lots of money 

to educate the next generation of British 

workers that will come of age after Brexit. 

Underlying this discussion is one clear fact. 

Brexit — no matter if you voted Leave or 

Remain — will fundamentally alter the 

U.K.’s economy. And that offers a once-in-ageneration 

chance to reframe Britain’s future 

after arguably the most important political 

decision for Britain in the last 70 years. MBR 

Credit: The Politico Global Policy Lab 

Digital skills, 

skills, skills 

The digital sector is one in which Britain 

undoubtedly leads the way in Europe. 

Whether in terms of venture capital 

invested or startups valued at more than a 

billion pounds, rivals like France, Germany 

and Sweden are green with envy. 

As Britain looks to a future beyond Brexit, it’s 

clear the country’s digital sector can’t stand 

still. That means both attracting foreign talent 

(both from the EU and farther afield), as well 

as training up locals in the technical skills 

required for a 21st-century economy. 

The situation in the U.K. is a mixed bag. The 

country has almost 1 million developers 

working across both tech and non-tech 

sectors, according to data compiled by Stack 

Overflow, an industry career website. That 

gives Britain one of the deepest benches of 

tech talent anywhere in the world and makes 

France and its 460,000 developers look paltry 

in comparison. 

But its position as a tech leader is by no 

means secure. 

More than 40 percent of job vacancies linked 

to so-called STEM (science, technology, 

engineering and mathematics) professions 

remain hard to fill, according to research by 

the U.K. government. And in London — by a 

long measure, the country’s tech capital — 

80 percent of local tech companies say skill 

shortages are their biggest barrier to growth, 

according to a survey by London First, a trade 

body. 

To ensure the success of the next generation 

of local digital companies in the wake of Brexit, 

it’s crucial that policymakers invest more in 

digital training and push forward with a visa 

program for highly-trained migrants (one 

already exists for non-EU workers) to ensure 

the steady flow of tech workers doesn’t dry 

up overnight. MBR 

Credit The Politico Global Policy Lab 

46

POLITICO GLOBAL POLICY LAB 


The pro-Brexit view 

As part of this chapter of POLITICO’s 

Global Policy Lab, we have laid out what 

Brexit means for the future of different 

parts of the U.K. economy. That has 

included delving deep into different 

sectors like trade, financial services, 

manufacturing and tech. 

As part of our final newsletter, we wanted 

to outline — from the point of view of pro- 

Brexit economists, business people and 

policymakers — what the future may look like 

as the U.K. moves swiftly toward the EU door. 

Gerard Lyons chief economic adviser to Policy Exchange 

Few have been more bullish on Brexit than 

Roger Bootle, managing director of Capital 

Economics, a research consultancy. Since last 

year’s referendum, Bootle has stressed that 

the massive expansion of Britain’s trade with 

non-EU countries has far outmatched (at least 

in yearly growth rates) the country’s links with 

Europe. 

Such fast-growing global connections, as well 

as the U.K.’s ability to nimbly sign trade deals 

with these countries, should give Britain an 

advantage over the more sluggish EU. “This 

is the Great Escape,” Bootle told a London 

audience earlier this year. “We’re going to do 

extremely well.” 

Gerard Lyons, chief economic adviser to Policy 

Exchange, a U.K. think tank, also has been a 

vocal advocate for a so-called hard Brexit. 

In his view, the U.K. government has been 

right to declare it will leave both the single 

market and customs union after Brexit. Now, 

he advocates that the U.K. should offer two 

options to the EU: Either carry on under the 

existing tariff-free arrangement or fall back on 

WTO rules. 

And if it’s the latter, politely tell the EU that if 

imposes WTO tariffs on Britain, then the U.K. 

will do the same to Europe. Call it the Teddy 

Roosevelt school of Brexit: speak softly (about 

a trade deal), but carry a big stick. MBR 

Credit: The Politico Global Policy Lab 

BREXIT: MEPS 

CONCERNED OVER 

UK GOVERNMENT 

PRIORITIES 

• Hardest part of Brexit negotiations yet 

to come 

• UK government should not take Brexit 

transition deal for granted 

• MEPs welcome steps towards more EU 

defence cooperation 

MEPs acknowledge that progress has been 

made in Brexit negotiations, but stress that 

the hardest part of the talks is yet to come 

In a debate with European Council President 

Donald Tusk and Commission President Jean- 

Claude Juncker on the 14-15 December EU 

summit conclusions, MEPs cautioned the UK 

government not to take a Brexit transition 

deal for granted, and highlighted the need to 

formalise the withdrawal agreement as fast as 

possible. 

They also called on the UK government to lay 

out clearly its vision for the country’s desired 

future relationship with the EU, avoiding 

apparently celebrated priorities such as the 

colour of passports, which it was always free 

to choose. Some MEPs made it clear that no 

status outside the EU ever be as good as full 

EU membership. 

Others stressed that the EU-UK negotiations 

are bound to be tough, but emphasised 

that this is because all parties involved 

are trying to achieve the best solutions for 

citizens. Parliament’s Brexit coordinator 

Guy Verhofstadt underlined the need for 

guarantees regarding residence application 

procedures for EU citizens wishing to live in 

the UK in the future, stressing that the new 

residence status proposed by the UK should 

not come into force until the end of the 

transition period. 

European Council President Donald Tusk 

MEPs also welcomed the concrete steps 

recently taken towards more defence 

cooperation among EU countries, stressed the 

need to reform the eurozone, and called for 

more EU-wide measures to tackle migration 

challenges and youth unemployment. MBR 


Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker 

BREXIT 360° 

EU TOUGHENS ITS TRANSITIONS STANCE 

The FT reports that revised EU directives 

drawn up by EU member countries for the 

bloc’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier seek 

to extend free movement rights and a special 

status to all EU citizens arriving before the 

final day of the transition. POLITICO also 

verified the report. 

UK PUSHES BACK ON FRENCH BORDER 

DEMANDS 

Theresa May’s spokesman pushed back at 

reports that French President Emmanuel 

Macron will demand the U.K. pay more and 

take more asylum seekers in return for his 

country’s help at the Calais border. “This is 

an agreement [Le Touquet] which has served 

both sides well since its inception,” he said, 

Reuters reports. “I would point out the fact 

that we have provided help already such 

as through the provision of extra security 

fencing.” 

JOHNSON ADMITS MISTAKE IN £350M 

BREXIT CLAIM, BUT NOT HOW YOU THINK 

U.K. Foreign Secretary and Brexiteer Boris 

Johnson doubled down on the Leave 

campaign’s claim that Britain sends £350 

million a week to the EU, which it should 

spend on public services instead. “There was 

an error on the side of the bus,” he told the 

Guardian. “We grossly underestimated the 

sum over which we would be able to take 

back control.” 

CHANGING ROLES 

Anton Spisak is now senior policy adviser at 

the Department for Exiting the EU, arriving 

from the Institute for Government. MBR 



47


ASSET MANAGEMENT 

Malta Institute of 

Accountants Conference 

To Tackle 4th Anti-Money 

Laundering Directive 

The Malta Institute of Accountants will be organising 

a conference about the recently enacted ‘Anti-Money 

Laundering Directive’. 

The European Union’s 4th Anti-Money 

Laundering Directive includes some 

fundamental changes to the anti-money 

laundering procedures, including changes to 

customer due diligence, a central register for 

beneficial owners, a focus on the risk based 

procedure and other changes. 

Money laundering and terrorist financing 

can threaten international economic stability. 

Combatting fraud, corruption and money 

laundering must be a joint effort by all 

relevant parties, including executives, the 

accountancy profession, regulators, standard 

setters and the financial sector. 

The Malta Institute of Accountants believes 

that these issues should be addressed 

immediately, with the ultimate scope of 

promoting financial integrity and growth for 

the benefit of all. 

The conference will be bringing together 

leading experts to provide the latest information 

on the current anti-money laundering and 

counter terrorist financing developments and 

requirements. These include Keynote speakers 

include Dr Manfred Galdes (ARQ Group Malta), 

Dr Ian Gauci (GTG Advocates), Dr Rakele Gauci 

(BDO Malta) Dr Alex Mangion (FIAU), Dr 

Anthony Cremona (Ganado Advocates) and 

other experts in the field. 

Sessions and a panel discussion will give 

first-hand knowledge discussing topics such 

as changes brought about by the 4th Anti- 

Money Laundering Directive, the upcoming 

Moneyval inspection, the Beneficial 

Ownership Register, and the interaction of 

GDPR and Blockchain on AML. MBR 


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HIGHER EDUCATION 

Launch of the Multiple Higher 

Educational Institutions 

Masters in Entrepreneurship (MHEI-ME) on-line programme. 

Representatives of the HEI consortium at the press conference. From left to right:- Ms. Lilla Mária Aldorfainé Czabadai and Dr. Gyorgy Neszmelyi on 

behalf of Szent István University, Mr. Stephen P. D’Alessandro on behalf of Advenio eAcademy, Prof. Olena Cherniavska on behalf of Poltava University of 

Economics and Trade, Prof. Jenny Pange on behalf of University of Ioannina and Prof. Radovan Madlenak on behalf of University of Žilina. 

Recently a consortium of six 

European higher educational 

institutions, addressed a 

Media Conference held at the Hotel 

Kennedy Nova in Gzira to launch 

an innovative on-line programme 

which is certified by the National 

Commission for Further & Higher 

Education in Malta, the NCFHE, and 

is co-funded by Erasmus+. 

This is an eighteen month on-line 90 ECTS 

Credits Level 7 Masters programme led by 

Advenio eAcademy with the participation 

of another five European HEIs including the 

University of Ioannina – Greece, Szent István 

University – Hungary, University of Bari Aldo 

Moro - Italy, University of Žilina - Slovakia, 

and Poltava University of Economics & Trade 

- Ukraine. Each of the representatives of 

the HEIs spoke briefly on the motivation of 

their Universities to join the project which 

sought to identify and develop best practice 

in on-line learning at post graduate level for 

entrepreneurs. 

In addressing the Media Conference, 

Mr. Stephen D’Alessandro, director of 

Advenio eAcademy the lead partner in 

the consortium, spoke about the shared 

objectives of the consortium to develop and 

enhance best practices in on-line graduate 

education. He explained that the MHEI-ME 

was an innovative programme in many ways, 

primarily because it:- 

• is the fruit of collaboration over the 

past three years between six European 

Higher Educational Institutions; 

• is an on-line course designed as a holistic 

programme, delivered in English and 

integrating six foundation subjects and 

three specialist subjects, an internship 

module and a business plan module; 

• provides a combination of self-learning 

and collaborative learning activities 

designed to meet the needs of 

international graduate entrepreneurs 

who require post graduate education 

which will give them a competitive 

advantage in leading their SME 

organisations; 

• is an on-line course certified in Malta 

by the NCFHE providing students with 

a certainty on the validity of the ECTS 

accreditation at Masters level; 

Mr. D’Alessandro spoke about the 

opportunities for continued development 

The flags of all Partner Institutes that are 

collaborating in this Erasmus+ project and the 

Official Erasmus+ MHEI-ME Project Leaflets 

which the partner HEIs envisage as this project 

could prove to be the start of a major initiative 

to provide cross border quality graduate 

education to entrepreneurs. This would 

highlight Malta’s role as an international 

knowledge hub. 

Mr. D’Alessandro thanked the GRTU Chamber 

of SMEs and the Malta Employers’ Association 

for their support and encouragement 

reflected by their presence at the launch of 

an activity which should be of direct benefit 

to their members. 

The MHEI-ME is an Erasmus+ co-funded project 

reflecting the EU recognition of the initiative. 

This co-funding also provides for granting of 

scholarships to students on the first intake 

commencing in April 2018. Applications for 

Intake 1 are now open to entrepreneurs in 

possession of a first degree and direct experience 

in the SME sector can apply. For further details 

contact admin@aea.academy MBR 


50


SOFTSKILLS 

Leading Brand Dean Gera Chooses MISCO for Its Staff Development 

“This was the first time that our company 

engaged in something unrelated to hair and 

we are proud that together with MISCO, 

we set on a path towards a continuous 

employee development programme for 

all our people at Dean Gera. We have 

undertaken this development course to 

make sure that our team is equipped with 

personal skills and competencies to help us 

take the brand to the next level.” 

This was stated by Dean Gera at the team’s 

graduation event during which thirteen of 

the company’s managers were presented 

with their certificates after achieving their 

MISCO Level 5 Award in Leadership and 

Management qualification. The presentation 

was held at the Corinthia Palace Hotel and 

Spa in Attard and Dean Gera was one of the 

certificate recipients as he, too, followed 

the 42 hour programme and obtained the 

qualification. 

In his speech at the event, Dean Gera added, 

“Following our completion of this course, 

I am motivated to invest further in similar 

training courses for staff at all levels and build 

a stronger relationship with MISCO.” 

Ritienne Xerri, Director of Training and 

Development at MISCO, explained how the 

Level 5 Award in Leadership and Management 

is one of MISCO’s home-grown qualifications, 

launched for the first time in April of last 

year. “The Level 5 Award in Leadership and 

Management is spread over two months and 

appeals to aspiring and practising supervisors, 

team leaders and managers,” she said. 

“Following this programme, Dean Gera’s 

managers are now in a position to assess their 

own knowledge, skills and personal behaviour 

and their effect on their own managerial 

ability, can identify areas for personal 

development and can plan and set priorities 

for future development. They can also build 

stronger relationships with people and review 

effectiveness of their own performance to 

meet their organisation’s values and goals.” 

Ritienne Xerri added that “by having our very 

own home-grown qualifications, we can offer 

courses that focus on close collaboration 

between trainer and participants, based on 

individual customised practical attention 

and leading to recognized qualifications. 

There exists a very strong demand for 

accredited courses that are more localized 

and that take local issues and considerations 

into consideration and with our own Level 

5 Accreditation, we were in a position to 

explore the very unique requirements of 

an organisation like Dean Gera and offer it 

a customised leadership programme that 

meets its unique requirements through an 

assisted and personalised approach.” 

One of Dean Gera’s managers, Terri-Ann 

Taliana, delivered a short but moving speech 

thanking the company who through MISCO 

chose to give its employees “the opportunity 

to learn, grow and improve ourselves.” 

“I was the fifth employee to join Dean Gera 

seven years ago and today I consider myself 

very lucky to be part of this amazing team 

because every day I go back home full of 

positive energy wanting to work harder and 

be better in what I do. I remember the start 

was a difficult one for us but Dean used to 

MISCO - Dean Gera award presentation 

be so positive and always encouraged us to 

believe in his dream. Today, as I look around 

me and realise I’m part of a beautiful and 

growing family of 45 people, I can proudly 

say how right he was. We all look at Dean as a 

man with all the talent and skills a true leader 

requires and we are grateful for giving us 

the opportunity not just to do beautiful hair, 

but to also grow personally and within the 

company,” said Terri-Ann Taliana. 

“I was the fifth employee to 

join Dean Gera seven years 

ago and today I consider 

myself very lucky to be part 

of this amazing team because 

every day I go back home full 

of positive energy wanting to 

work harder and be better in 

what I do." 

The Dean Gera brand was launched in 2007 

with one salon at the Radisson Blu Hotel. For 

the next three years Dean focused on building 

a strong reputation and client base. Successful 

results led to the opening of two new salons 

at the Corinthia St George’s Bay and the 

Corinthia Palace Hotel and Spa in Attard 

resulting in the incorporation of the Dean 

Gera company in 2010. Currently operating 

through six salons, Dean Gera is considered 

an industry leader and innovator. MBR 

Credit: Corporate Identities 

52

APPOINTMENT 


Mark Anthony 

Camilleri 

nominated as a 

member in the 

Global Reporting 

Initiative’s 

Stakeholder 

Council 

Dr Mark Anthony 

Camilleri shall be 

representing Europe 

and Asia’s CIS region. 

University of Malta's resident academic, 

Dr Mark Anthony Camilleri has recently 

been appointed as a member in the Global 

Reporting Initiative’s Stakeholder Council, 

where he will be representing the European 

civil society organisations. 

The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) is 

an international, independent standards 

organisation that helps businesses and 

governments (worldwide) understand 

and communicate their impact on critical 

sustainability issues, including; climate 

change, labour rights, governance and 

social well-being. The GRI's reporting 

framework has standardised and quantified 

the environmental, social and governance 

disclosures in the corporate reporting of large 

undertakings. 

The Stakeholder Council membership is 

diverse, and is drawn from all United Nationsdefined 

regions: Africa, Asia Pacific/Oceania, 

Latin America/Caribbean, North America/ 

Europe/CIS and West Asia. Its members 

represent core constituencies in GRI’s 

network: Business, Civil Society Organisations, 

Investment Institutions, Labour and 

Mediating Institutions. MBR 


EDITOR’S 

Note 

Mark Anthony Camilleri Ph.D. (Edinburgh), is the 

author of 'Travel Marketing, Tourism Economics 

and the Airline Product: An Introduction to 

Theory and Practice'. Springer, Milan, Italy. http:// 

www.springer.com/us/book/9783319498485; 

Author of 'Corporate Sustainability, Social 

Responsibility and Environmental Management: 

An Introduction to Theory and Practice with Case 

Studies'. Springer, Heidelberg, Germany. http:// 

www.springer.com/us/book/9783319468488; 

Editor-in-Chief of 'CSR 2.0 and the New Era of 

Corporate Citizenship'. IGI Global, Hershey, USA. 

ISBN13: 9781522518426 DOI: 10.4018/978-1- 

5225-1842-6 http://www.igi-global.com/book/csrnew-era-corporate-citizenship/166426 

(Indexed in 

SCOPUS); He is also resident Academic Lecturer 

Department of Corporate Communication Faculty 

of Media & Knowledge Sciences 

University of Malta 

NEW VAT RULES FOR 

THE GAMING SECTOR 

New VAT Guidelines became effective as of 

1 January 2018. The Guidelines list gaming 

services which are to be considered as ‘exempt 

without credit’ supplies in terms of Item 9 of the 

Fifth Schedule to the VAT Act. As from 1 January 

2018, gaming services which are not included in 

this list are considered as ‘taxable supplies’ and 

no longer ‘exempt without credit’ supplies. 

The list of ‘exempt without credit gaming services’ 

has been narrowed down to the following: 

• “The provision of any facilities for the placing 

of bets and wagers, including the services 

of book-makers, betting exchanges and any 

equivalent facilities. The placing of bets and 

wagers refers to gambling on the outcome 

of an event, which outcome is unknown at 

the time of the placing of the bet or wager. 

The term ‘event’ includes but is not limited 

to: a sporting event, both real life or virtual; 

a competition; a lottery; the performance of 

an index; and a natural phenomenon. For 

the purposes of this guideline, ‘placing of 

bets and wagers’ shall exclude gambling on 

the outcome of (a) casino-type table games 

such as blackjack, poker and roulette: and 

(b) any games of chance, the outcome of 

which is determined by random generator. 

• The granting of the right to participate in 

lotto or lottery, including Grand Lottery, 

Super 5, scratch cards, keno and any other 

lottery-type games; 

• The granting of the right to participate in a 

bingo game; 

• The provision to players of devices or 

equivalent for the playing of casino-type 

games of chance, the outcome of which 

is determined by random generator, 

including tables for the playing of roulette, 

blackjack, baccarat, poker when played 

against the house, and slot machines. The 

terms “devices or equipment” refers to 

games tables, machines and other similar 

object. For the avoidance of doubt, “devices 

or equipment” excludes “amusement 

machines” as defined in Chapter 438 of 

the Laws of Malta, and “remote gaming 

equipment” as defined in S.L. 438.04; and 

• Supplies which are strictly required, related 

and essential to, and which form part of an 

underlying gambling or betting transaction 

falling within paragraphs (i) – (iv) above, as 

shall from time to time be determined by 

the MGA.” 

This essentially means that gambling operators 

which are currently registered under article 12 and 

which as from 1 January 2018 offer services other 

than services listed above, have an obligation to 

change their VAT registration to an article 10 VAT 

registration. Gambling companies with an article 

10 VAT registration would have a right to claim 

input VAT. Gambling companies providing both 

services which in Malta are considered as taxable 

and exempt (as per list above) would be able to 

claim input VAT on the basis of partial attribution. 

• In all other cases, the consideration shall 

be total stakes/bets placed by the players 

(including bets placed using bonus credits) 

less the winnings and other amounts paid 

out to the players in connection with the 

bet (including bonus credit comprised 

within the bets placed). The consideration 

shall be deemed to be inclusive of VAT. 

These guidelines together with the 

announcement of VAT Grouping in the 

Budget 2018 have an impact on how Malta 

based gaming businesses are structured. 

We, therefore, suggest that you contact us 

at your convenience to review your current 

structure and assess what changes if any 

might be necessary or desirable. MBR 

Credit: WH Partners Malta 

For more information contact gaming or tax teams at: 

gaming@whpartners.eu or tax@whpartners.eu. 


53


BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION 

IF YOU THINK IT’S EXPENSIVE TO HIRE A 

PROFESSIONAL, WAIT UNTIL YOU HIRE AN AMATEUR 

Over the years, I have heard this quote from time to time, but 

I never thought too much about it until I became President 

of the Malta Waterproofing and Resin Flooring Association. 

By Antoine Bonello 

This simple phrase applies also well to the 

waterproofing business. If you have doubts it’s 

simply because you have not yet experienced 

disaster prone persons. 

Many of us do not take notice of this simple 

advice until it’s too late. Oddly enough, the 

statement originates from a man named 

Paul Neil ”Red” Adair, an American legendary 

oil well firefighter who pioneered the highly 

specialised profession of extinguishing and 

capping oil well blowouts. He is known for 

extinguishing the oil well fires set by Saddam 

Hussein in Kuwait during the Gulf War in 1991. 

He is an expert in his field and set his price 

accordingly. He understood that his knowledge 

and experience had a value that would actually 

save someone a lot of money if they would 

allow him to do the job right the first time. 

For many people, choosing the right contractor 

to do waterproofing works is a daunting task. 

In fact, hiring a contractor for any project strikes 

fear in the hearts of most people because they 

have either had a bad experience personally, or 

heard a horror story about a contractor from a 

friend or acquaintance. 

Every now and then we read on the newspaper 

about individuals or companies “ripping off” 

unsuspecting customers by not showing up 

after the deposit is paid, or by doing bad works. 

Many discovered that their roof still leaked 

when it rained and to add to the frustration, 

their phone calls and complains were either 

ignored or refused to shoulder the blame. In 

other cases these conmen switch to a new 

mobile phone number and disappear when 

threatened with legal procedures or when 

someone finds out about their fake “guarantee 

certificates” containing no company or 

personal details. 

The result if you are lucky enough to eventually 

trace the guys is an endless court case that will 

eventually take years and prove fruitless. 

Everyone wants a good deal and to feel like they 

kept themselves from being taken advantage 

of, but quite often this approach can backfire 

on you, if you are not careful. Most people don’t 

value what they don’t understand, so they set 

their own “internal” price and find someone 

inexperienced to match it. Unfortunately, this 

can be a very costly decision. 

How to choose between different contractors? 

Once you have decided that you will entrust 

your waterproofing works to a roofer, you will 

then have to decide which the ideal company 

for the Job is. The following points will help you 

to set out your priorities right 

• Many times we base our conclusion 

on price. In most cases cheap price tag 

means only poor quality materials and 

works. Do not fall for the cheap price 

sham. 

• More than often we encounter installer 

who offer us a one solution fits all and 

pretend to solve all your problems by 

hiding them under a bitumen carpet 

membrane that creates heat intake and 

eventually opens from seams due to 

concrete expansions. Do not implement 

old type materials they are simply not up 

to the job anymore. 

• Traceability this is very important factor. 

Always make sure that the person or 

company you are dealing with has a 

fixed showroom or office address, a 

valid VAT number and registered with 

the MSFA. 

• Always make sure to be given in writing 

the proposed modalities of works and 

how the materials will be applied, their 

consumption and product data sheets. 

Products must be certified to withstand 

UV rays, Traffic and have the right 

elasticity. 

• Last and not least verity that the person 

you are dealing with is a Member of 

the Malta Professional Waterproofing 

and Resin Flooring Association and 

Waterproofing with Thermal insuation membrane that 

reduces 90% of heat intake 

A good surface preparation is vital to any waterproofing system 

54 

Waterproofing of St George parish church with 

breadable elastic UV resistant materials made from 

selected resins and fibre glass

BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION 


Certified Installers Card 

make sure that he is in possession a 

valid Association’s Installers card. All 

members of the MPWRFA are certified 

by the association and work according 

to the trade. 

If you observe the above simple rules the list 

of contenders is reduced drastically and the 

chances of commissioning the right people 

becomes more easily. Over 80% of building 

damages originates from water intake. 

Sometimes bad waterproofing applications 

can create more damages than they can 

prevent. Water problems are aggressive and 

progressive; we know that a water problem 

that is not taken care of quickly can lead to 

bigger problems. Water damage remediation 

can be a long and tiresome process, especially 

when you start taking advices from unqualified 

personnel who recommend you senseless 

solutions just to sell you their product. 

The months of January and February are 

associated with rain, yet many installers do not 

know that exist particular materials that can be 

applied on damp or wet surfaces when doing 

waterproofing interventions at this time of the 

year. These materials are breathable and allow 

water in the form of vapours to pass freely. 

Application of non-breathable materials on 

wet or damp surfaces can lead to a series of 

other unwanted situations. The trapped water 

penetrates inside the building leading to mould 

and structural damage. Also with the advent of 

spring combined with the rising temperatures 

forces the trapped humidity to become vapour 

that is resilient enough to detach all the carried 

out waterproofing works. When the lack of 

knowledge, cheap materials and poor labour has 

failed you so many times, it is then when you start 

realising that you need professional help and feel 

a growing need to hire a qualified expert, to redo 

the works from scratch even if this means paying 

for the same works twice. MBR 


The Malta Waterproofing and Resin Flooring 

Association provide technical knowledge and 

professional formation to all Maltese installers 

who wish to improve their workmanship or 

start a carrier in the waterproofing business. 

The Association also assists its members by 

providing the services of a profession advisor 

when facing challenging situations or other 

difficulties at work. The Association also 

provides its qualified members the Certified 

Installers Card. This is done to reassure the 

general public that this particular person 

is able to carry out the requested job at 

its best. All this is being made possible 

thanks to the Resin and Membrane Centre, 

The Italian waterproofing Association 

and NAICI International Academy. For 

further information with regards the Malta 

Professional Waterproofing and Resin 

Flooring Association visit our website on 

www.maltawaterproofing.com or call on 

27477647. 


55


MEPS CALL ON EUROPEAN COMMISSION TO PROTECT INVESTIGATIVE 

JOURNALISTS AND STAND FOR MEDIA FREEDOM 

MEPs David Casa (EPP), Ana Gomes 

(S&D), Monica Macovei (ECR), Maite 

Pagazaurtundúa (ALDE) Stelios Kouloglou 

(GUE) and Benedek Jávor (Greens) have 

joined forces to push for EU legislation 

that will address and end “SLAPPs” - 

lawsuits intended to intimidate and 

silence investigative journalists and 

independent media by burdening them 

with exorbitant legal expenses until they 

abandon their opposition. According to 

the MEPs, the practice is abusive, poses a 

threat to media freedom and has no place 

in the European Union. 

SLAPP was used, for instance, against 

investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia 

and is now being used against Maltese media 

houses by firms associated with government 

corruption and the Panama Papers scandal 

that are threatening legal action in the United 

States. David Casa, Ana Gomes, Monica 

Macovei, Maite Pagazaurtundúa, Stelios 

Kouloglou and Benedek Jávor stated: 

“In Malta we have seen that firms like Pilatus 

Bank and Henley & Partners that employ 

these practices, using American litigation, 

have succeeded in having stories altered or 

deleted completely from online archives. And 

investigative journalists are prevented from 

reporting further on corrupt practices out of 

fear of further legal action. But this is not just 

a Maltese problem. In the UK, Appleby, the 

firm associated with the Paradise Papers, is 

using similar tactics against the Guardian and 

the BBC. 

The cross-border nature of investigative 

journalism as well as the tendency to pursue 

legal action in jurisdictions outside the EU 

that only have a tenuous connection with the 

parties justifies and requires an EU response”. 

The MEPs are calling on EU Commissioner 

Frans Timmermans to propose an EU Anti- 

SLAPP Directive that will include: 

• The ability for investigative journalists 

and independent media to request that 

vexatious lawsuits in the EU be expediently 

dismissed and claim compensation; 

• The establishment of punitive fines on 

firms pursuing these practices when 

recourse is made to jurisdictions outside 

the EU; 

• The setting up of a SLAPP fund to support 

investigative journalists and independent 

media that choose to resist malicious 

attempts to silence them and to assist in 

the recovery of funds due to them; 

• The setting-up of an EU register that 

names and shames firms that pursue 

these abusive practices. 

“We are committed to the protection of 

investigative journalists and media freedom 

across the EU and will pursue this issue until 

Anti-SLAPP EU legislation is in place”, the 

MEPs stated. 

Thomas Gibson from the Committee to 

Protect Journalists stated: “SLAPP is a 

serious threat to journalism and media 

freedom. These sums of money are in no way 

proportionate. Independent journalists in 

Malta already face enormous challenges and 

restrictions. Critical journalism must not be 

stifled. In addition to pushing for full justice 

of the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia, 

the Commission needs to address the climate 

in which investigative journalists work in the 

country.” 

Jodie Ginsberg, CEO of Index on Censorship, 

said: “Having a media that is free to investigate 

corruption and abuse of power - and free to 

publish the results of those investigations - is 

fundamental to democracy. These vexatious 

law suits - deliberately aimed at preventing 

journalists from carrying out such work - must 

be stopped.” MBR 


RECORD BREAKING €2 MILLION WON IN MALTCO U*BET HORSE RACING! 

During the last few hours of 2017 one 

lucky punter will be ending this year 

and starting the New Year with a big 

bang and more than 2/Two Million 

euros in his pocket. 

The winning ticket was played on the V75 

jackpot organised by ATG, the ticket was 

bought from a Maltco Lotteries point of 

sale in St. Julian’s. Top winning ticket is of 

€2,111,973, additionally three other winning 

tickets above €8,500 each were also won. 

First comments from the St. Julian’s agent 

were that he was very happy for the luck of his 

punter, he also said that U*BET Horseracing 

betting has become more popular amongst 

U*BET players leaving lots of satisfied winners. 

U*BET offers betting on British, Irish, South 

African as well as Swedish Horse Racing. 

Specifically Swedish Horse Racing is offered 

by ATG in the Swedish, Maltese market and 

beyond. By forming part of this growing ATG 

network, U*BET horse racing customers in 

Malta participate in a pool worth millions 

of Euro! When there are Jackpots, the pool 

increases even more! 

U*BET ATG Horse Racing has something for 

everyone every single day of the week; from 

horse racing experts to people who don’t 

have the time or expertise to sort through 

the information available, as well as everyone 

else in between. When playing V BETS, the 

player has to predict the winning horses in a 

number of races, from four races in the V4 

bet to seven races in the V75 bet. Moreover, 

due to an innovative feature of the game 

called Harry Boy playing V Bets is accessible 

to everyone, even those who aren’t familiar 

with horse racings. 

Maltco Lotteries augurs the punter of this 

record breaking Horse Racing winning over 

€2Million and takes this opportunity to 

wish all its players the best throughout the 

coming year. MBR 

For further information email info@maltco.net, 

visit the Maltco website www.maltco.com or call 

2388 3000. 

ABOUT MALTCO 

MALTCO Lotteries offers a comprehensive 

portfolio of entertaining games of chance and 

skill based on Responsible Gaming Principles 

that makes a major contribution to the social 

and economic development of the Maltese 

Islands. The company is one of the major 

contributors towards the Responsible Gaming 

Fund administered by the Government of 

Malta. MALTCO operates a comprehensive 

training programme for agents and their 

assistants in recognition of their channel 

partnership. The company supports many 

good causes and sponsors several local sports. 


56

100 MOST CREATIVE PEOPLE IN BUSINESS 


100 Most Creative People in Business 

F 

ast Company, the leading 

financial magazine in USA, 

released the list of the 100 Most 

Creative People in Business in China 

2017. As the co-founder of iExec, Dr. 

Haiwu He made it in this top 100 . 

Dr. Haiwu He received his master's degree 

and doctorate from the French National 

University of Lille in 2002 and 2005, and 

completed his postdoctoral research at 

the Paris XI University in 2007. His research 

focuses on peer-to-peer distributed systems, 

cloud computing and big data, with more 

than 30 journal and conference papers 

published. In 2015, Haiwu came back to China 

with several advanced technologies in cloud 

computing. He hopes to become a pioneer 

in the application and development of these 

technology in the blockchain industry. 

Fast Company launched its annual China's 

creative people list in 2014, to honor an 

influential and diverse group of leading 

thinkers around the globe. Haiwu received his 

award in December 2017 for his “commitment 

to build a cloud platform with blockchain and 

share the global idle computing power”. 

iExec, which he cofounded, built a virtual global 

decentralized cloud computing infrastructure 

based on the Ethereum blockchain, enabling 

global computing integration and providing 

idle computing capacity to customers in 

need. At the same time, the heat generated 

by the computing facilities distributed in 

strategic places can be put to a plethora of 

different uses – such as heating buildings. The 

technology will bring about a new revolution 

in traditional computing. 

The 2017 China list also includes NetEase's 

founder Ding Lei, BYD's founder Wang 

Chuanfu, Baidu's COO Lu Qi, and the 

mathematician Qiu Chengtong. The 100 

winners, no matter what industry they're in, 

are all building game-changing products in 

their field and showed advanced business 

best practices. MBR 

Credit: Agence Anonyme Paris A2 

Report by the Auditor General on the Ministry for Finance: 

An analysis on revenue collection 

Auditor General Charles Deguara presented 

the National Audit Office (NAO) report 

entitled ‘Ministry for Finance: An Analysis 

on Revenue Collection’ to the Speaker of the 

House of Representatives. 

The scope of this analysis, carried out by 

the Financial and Compliance Section, was 

to collate and assess the revenue collected 

during 2016 with respect to the three main 

revenue-generating departments within 

the Ministry for Finance, namely the Inland 

Revenue Department (IRD), including the 

Capital Transfer Duty, the Value Added Tax 

(VAT) Department. and the Department of 

Customs (DOC). The NAO also enquired on 

the level of enforcement procedures in place 

in relation to the collection of revenue, as well 

as the status of the integration between these 

three departments, necessary to strengthen 

and consolidate the Maltese fiscal structure. 

This task was conducted through detailed 

research, meetings and analysis, amd where 

possible, of figures and information provided 

through replies to various questionnaires. 

The five-year analysis conducted by the NAO 

indicated a €329.5 million increase in absolute 

terms in income tax over this period, with the 

highest spikes in capital gains tax for 2014 

(25%), provisional tax in 2015 (21%) and duty 

on documents and transfers in 2015 (29%). A 

steady upward trend in VAT income was also 

noted since 2012, with a total increase of €191 

million. With regards to the DOC, a €124.1 

million increase in income was reported with 

particular increases in 2014 and 2016. 

The most common enforcement tool used by 

the IRD was remission of interest agreements 

in relation to arrears of company tax and tax 

due by individuals, which contributed to the 

collection of circa €4 million by the end of May 

2017. Similarly, the VAT Department entered 

into remission agreements, generating €3 

million. The DOC handled various criminal 

and civil court cases, besides issuing letters 

to prosecute, seizure notes, and out of court 

settlements. 

The NAO felt it pertinent to reproduce a 

number of comments which were forwarded 

in relation to the departments’ respective 

staffing requirements, and recommends that 

due attention be given to such requests. 

This report also outlines the various measures 

being implemented to support the adoption 

of the merger of these revenue departments, 

which will ultimately simplify the whole 

tax system and provide a better service to 

the businesses and public in general. These 

measures consist, amongst other initiatives, 

of a consolidated Commissioner for Revenue 

website, a one-stop-shop, a joint enforcement 

unit, a consolidated debt collection, and a call 

centre. MBR 

The results of this analysis are comprehensively 

presented in the report in caption. This report, in 

its entirety, may be accessed through the NAO 

website www.nao.gov.mt, as well as on the NAO 

Facebook page www.facebook.com/NAOMalta. 

Credit: The national audit office 


57


NEWSMAKERS 

Courtesy: DOI - Omar Camilleri 

Courtesy: DOI - Omar Camilleri 

New €15 million investment in 

the pharmaceutical industry 

CETIC Pharmaceutical Ltd has chosen Malta 

as the location for expanding its operations in 

Europe. Minister for the Economy, Investment 

and Small Businesses Chris Cardona 

announced that the total investment of this 

project will amount to €15 million over a 3-year 

period, and will create over 60 new jobs. 

Minister Cardona stated that Malta’s economy 

has maintained its positive momentum, 

registering an impressive growth of 7.2% 

when compared to the corresponding period 

in the previous year. Malta has a strong record 

of good quality and regulatory excellence 

in the pharmaceutical industry. The sector 

contributes to 5.2% of the total full-time 

employment in the manufacturing sector 

and has generated more than €200 million in 

exports during the first months of 2017. 

During the signing of a letter of intent between 

Malta Enterprise and CETIC Pharmaceutical 

Ltd it was agreed that the company will be set 

up in Malta to manufacture pharmaceutical 

products. The plant will also include packaging 

facilities for these products. 

Minister Cardona concluded by saying that this 

project will add to foreign direct investment 

in Malta, hailing from all over the world, and 

once again confirms the positive outlook and 

discerning optimism that investors have in 

relation to Malta’s economy and future. MBR 

Credit: The ministry for the economy, investment 

and small businesses 

Fiscal surplus reaches €85 million in 

the first eleven months 

The surplus in the consolidated fund balance 

rose to €85 million in the first eleven months 

of this year. According to the latest NSO 

release, this represents an improvement of 

€145 million, turning a deficit of €60 million in 

the period January to November of last year 

to a surplus this year. 

Minister for Finance Edward Scicluna 

comments, “We have continued to register 

consistent improvements in the consolidated 

fund balance over an already successful year 

while our fiscal performance remains better 

than projections. Thus, I am confident that 

we will attain a surplus in accrual terms for 

Courtesy: DOI - Jason Borg 

From left to right: Malta’s Ambassador to Israel, Cecilia Attard-Pirotta; Mrs 

Melanie Abela, Minister’s spouse; Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade 

Promotion, Carmelo Abela; and Israeli Ambassador to Malta, Eyal Sela during the 

wreath-laying ceremony at the Yad Vashem. 

the second consecutive year”. 

The consistent improvement in the 

consolidated fund balance was the result of 

an increase in revenue of €421 million or 12.8 

per cent which outweighed the contained 

increase in total expenditure of €277 million 

or 8.3 per cent. The contained increase in 

government expenditure came at no expense 

to investment since capital expenditure still 

increased during the same period. 

Minister for Finance Edward Scicluna is 

pleased to note that all tax revenue categories 

continued to record remarkable increases with 

the highest increases recorded in revenue from 

income tax and VAT. The increase in both the 

direct and indirect tax revenues reflect the 

strong growth in jobs, take-home pay, and 

private consumption. 

These developments continued to have a 

positive impact on debt developments as gross 

debt decreased by €123 million in November 

of this year, over the same month last year. As 

a result, the interest component of public debt 

servicing costs declined to €197 million, down 

from €206 million recorded last year. MBR 


Foreign Minister in talks with 

Israeli Prime Minister in Tel Aviv 

Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Promotion, 

Carmelo Abela, exchanged views with Israeli 

Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, 

Benjamin Netanyahu, in Tel Aviv, Israel. The 

agenda of the meeting included bilateral and 

multilateral relations, as well as the state of 

play with regard to peace and security in the 

Mediterranean and in the Middle East. Minister 

Abela was in Israel on an official visit. 

“Malta is pleased with the development of 

bilateral relations with Israel over the past years,” 

Minister Abela told Prime Minister Netanyahu. 

“Our bilateral relations are stronger than 

ever, particularly at a cultural and commercial 

level, and we look forward to building on this 

momentum over the coming months to further 

strengthen our ties. Our intention is to also 

consolidate the political momentum towards an 

ever-closer partnership. More broadly, this visit 

is also opportune considering developments in 

the region, in relation to which we view Israel 

as an important regional ally and anticipate 

constructive discussions in this regard.” 

Minister Abela reaffirmed Malta’s commitment 

to a two-State solution, pointing out that, in 

this regard, Malta maintains that the future 

status of Jerusalem must be mutually agreed 

upon through meaningful peace negotiations 

between Israel and Palestine. 

In Israel, the Foreign Minister also held talks 

with Michael Oren, Deputy Minister in the 

Israeli Prime Minister’s Office; Tzipi Livni, 

former Opposition Leader and former Foreign 

Minister, and currently Head of the HaTnuah 

political party; and Fernando Gentilini, the EU 

Special Representative to the Middle East Peace 

Process. 

Furthermore, the Minister visited the Yad 

Vashem, Israel’s official memorial to the victims of 

the Holocaust, where he laid a wreath on behalf 

of the Government and the people of Malta. 

While in Jerusalem, he also had the occasion to 

meet with members of the Maltese community 

in the Holy Land. During his official visit to Israel, 

the Minister was accompanied by Malta’s 

Ambassador to Israel, Cecilia Attard-Pirotta. MBR 

Credit: The ministry for foreign affairs and 

trade promotion 

Israeli Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Benjamin 

Netanyahu, welcoming Minister Carmelo Abela in Tel Aviv, as Israel’s 

Ambassador to Malta, Eyal Sela, looks on. 

A Staggering 29% Drop in Exports 

According to data on international trade 

published today by the National Statistics Office, 

import and export of goods have declined 

sharply during the month of November 2017 

and during the first eleven months of 2017. 

In the period January to November 2017, imports 

decreased by 8% while exports of goods (net of 

fuel) dropped by a staggering 29% when compared 

to the corresponding period in the previous year. 

International trade statistics are one of the most 

important indicators for the manufacturing 

sector. Six out of the ten main production sectors 

exported less in 2017 than they did in 2016. Two 

sectors saw no change year-on-year while only 

two sectors out of ten saw an increase in the 

level of exports between 2016 and 2017. 

The government, despite repeated calls from 

the Opposition and from the Chamber of 

Commerce and the Employers Association, 

failed to take concrete action to strengthen 

the competitiveness of Malta’s manufacturing 

sector. Government is refusing to implement 

a number of recommendations put forward, 

including the proposals to lower energy tariffs 

and lower the price of fuel. 

Labour’s pledge to prioritise the manufacturing 

sector fell on the wayside along with the 

promise of good governance, transparency and 

accountability. 

MBR 

Credit: PN Media Communications 

58

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