MACE aspires to create an environment of collaboration and cooperation in which aviation leaders can come together to help each other succeed, profit and thrive, according to the mission statement on the event’s official page.

With the Maltese aircraft register having exceeded 300 aircraft registrations and more than 35 airlines calling Malta home, the island nation is optimistic about becoming determining voice aviation jurisdiction of Europe.

“With a fast-growing aviation sector that is gaining momentum as we speak, Malta is well on its way to establishing itself as a hub for all things aviation. MACE is an excellent opportunity to foster healthy dialogue, collaboration and the sharing of best practices in such an important sector,” said Ian Borg, Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Capital Projects, Government of Malta, according to the event’s website.

Minister Borg, as well as Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, will address the conference and expo, in reference to the vertical’s current sentiment in the island nation.

“Malta has been slowly but surely making a name for itself in the aviation industry; today the Maltese Aircraft Register has more than 350 aircraft listed and more airlines and leasing companies are calling this aviation-friendly jurisdiction their home,” said Charles Pace, Director-General for Civil Aviation at Transport Malta.

The list of speakers includes:

• Eamonn Brennan, Director General of Eurocontrol, will give an overview of the aviation industry,
• Captain Charles Pace, Director-General Civil Aviation Directorate at Transport Malta, will speak about the Maltese aviation cluster,
• Anita Sengupta, Chief Product Officer at Airspace Experience Technologies (ASX), will propose a possible future of urban air transport,
• James Hogan, Knighthood Capital, will focus on the financing and leasing of aircraft,
• Professor Alexei Dingli will speak about artificial intelligence (AI) and real applications of blockchain in aviation,
• Andrew Nicholson, CEO Osprey Flight Solutions, will speak about innovation in risk management,
• Diarmuid O’Conghaile, Ryanair’s Director of Public Affairs, will concentrate on the aviation industry of the future.

MACE will see the participation of Malta’s Ministry of Transport, Transport Malta’s Civil Aviation Directorate, European Business Aviation Association (EBAA) and its ‘Expanding Horizon’s Campaign’, and with the support of the Malta Business Aviation Association (MBAA).

The post Malta to host aviation conference and expo first appeared on The Malta Business Weekly.

Mr Herrera, accompanied by the Ambassador of Malta to Greece Joseph Cuschieri, explained that Malta has established a comprehensive legislative framework — the Cultural Heritage Act — in order to preserve the symbolic sites, cultural heritage and identity. Moreover, he noted that Maltese national agency for museums, cultural heritage and conservation practice Heritage Malta works on ensuring continuous conservation, restoration and management of cultural sites, including museums, historical sites and buildings, while effectively monitoring and reporting the impacts of natural effects on the heritage sites.

In addition, the minister stated that the conference offered the opportunity to conceptualise plans and learn more about how to fight the threat of climate change. He also underlined that the world is experiencing more frequent extreme weather phenomena, which is causing damages to different sites.

Thus, with the increasing incidence of climate change already felt through various sporadic extreme climatic events around the world, measures should be taken to adapt to climate change and protect infrastructures, natural and cultural assets, as the DOI press release says.  

Mr Herrera continued explaining that through the effective use of European Union funds, Malta is aiming to ensure the protection of archaeological sites through the construction of walkways and protective tents, the sheltering of ancient temples from direct rainfall, solar radiation and ground humidity so as to prevent potential damages, and reducing the risks of degradation while stabilising the environmental conditions to which they are exposed to.

The minister said also that Malta has recently set up an Underwater Cultural Heritage Unit to preserve marine sites and in order to make underwater areas accessible to the public, while preserving their history and culture.

In conclusion, he added that it is the duty of policymakers to protect such a public good and to design effective policies to address the issue.

The post Maltese environment minister promotes cultural heritage protection in Greece first appeared on The Malta Business Weekly.

“In my opinion, it all boils down to one word: results. Does coaching work? Yes, it does. How do we know? We see, and critically, we can measure the results using science-based tools,” Ms Martin tells BM. “As I see it, the bottom line is that coaching has produced and continues to produce significant results, without which companies would simply be unwilling to invest. Without evidence to support their investment, companies would look elsewhere for their desired results,” she adds.

Coaching — as an industry — is growing fast. Advocates say the activity can be a powerful resource and vehicle for growth, development and change for individuals, as well as businesses. As life is speeding up, leading to a hastier business world than ever, Ms Martin sees coaching as an “invaluable support” rather than a “crutch”. In her own words, “essentially, coaching is like consulting your inner compass and using the knowledge you find there to align cognition, emotion and behaviour.”

Nevertheless, coaching is not an instant cure; the client’s involvement is crucial. Additionally, the relationship between the coach and the coachee, the time invested in coaching and related activities, as well as belief in the process, are key elements for success. Ms Martin says that both the parties of the coaching process should share what she tags as “strong rapport” as a solid foundation. Also, in today’s culture of always being busy, coaching should be scheduled for slots of undivided attention, which often means prioritising well. What she pinpoints as the factor of “buying-in” basically means the coachee’s commitment and ownership of the process; as having a coach is not a stigma nor would be the sign of weakness. With these building blocks in place, coaching is likely to bear tangible fruit.

Ranging benefits

Given that all the aforementioned factors are established, benefits are expected on a wide spectrum, according to Ms Martin. “From a leadership perspective, coaching goals range greatly, often encompassing a focus such as improving communication, productivity and professional relationships, identifying and leveraging strengths, improving cognition and moving from reactivity to proactivity in challenging situations — to name but a few. Crucially, the benefit which produces long-term change and further development is heightened self-awareness — the point from which sustained change can flow,” the professional says.

“Sometimes people have a result in mind but are not sure how to get there, how to propel themselves forward. Coaching assists them in sifting through their options to find their own golden ticket,” says Ms Martin.

“Coaching helps bring them to their psychological and behavioural tipping point, cut off all other possibilities, find the best route forward, and enable them to make their goals become a reality,” she adds.

At the same time, in order to boost operations of a business, leaders must have an understanding of where they are. “Before embarking on any journey, knowing your starting point is central to calculating the voyage. Assessing the present reality — leaks, current fuel, strengths and weaknesses — help us better establish what is needed to get us to our desired finish line,” Ms Martin describes. Although the destination might not always be clear, establishing a desired outcome is as necessary as establishing the starting point.

“Start and end point clear? Now let’s decipher the best route to get there — assessing potential risks, obstacles, challenges and mishaps. Self-awareness is the starting point of any great journey of personal or professional change,” Ms Martin says.

Facing challenges

The quickly-changing business world brings grave challenges to leaders, who need to be at the top of their game. As Ms Martin talks about it, this really is the survival of the fittest, with coaching serving as a mental, emotional and cognitive workout to maximise “fitness” for modern leadership challenges.

“Social, political, geographical, economic challenges; it is certainly not an exaggeration that the current pace of change across various spheres is phenomenal, bringing with it a great opportunity and of course, a great challenge for individuals, leaders and organisations alike,” Ms Martin says. Therefore, the most important challenges leaders need to face today include engagement, redefining leadership and communication.

Celebrating its tenth anniversary this year, Business Leaders Malta is organising the Breakthrough – From Good to Great conference by Business Leaders Malta on 14 June at Teatru Manoel, Valletta. If you want to hear what Ms Martin has to share, come and see her in action at the event.

Business Leaders Malta started life as an alliance between three diverse companies in 2009 — Mdina International, Jugs Malta and Konnekt, fusing capabilities, experience, professionalism and creativity to pursue their original goal of creating a forum where thought leaders and professionals could come together to share knowledge and ideas

The post Coaching could aid leaders toward business growth first appeared on The Malta Business Weekly.

Mr Doherty started selling jams around his neighbourhood when he was only 14 years old, after falling in love with the process of jam making when cooking together with his grandmother. Selling his product was a demonstration of how much he always wanted to start his own business and become a businessman in the future.

“Ever since I was a kid, I wanted to start my own business. I was always interested in the idea of creating a product and making a career out of doing something I loved,”

MR DOHERTY SAYS.

After many years of effort, his dream became a reality. Newspaper articles and TV interviews followed suit as next milestones, confirming the success of his work. “I took advantage of media coverage by embarking on a ‘rock and roll’ tour of all the Waitrose supermarkets; handing out samples and telling people all about my gran’ and our 100% fruit jam recipe,” says Mr Doherty about how he was trying to boost the sales of his products already available in Waitrose.

His debut before a bigger audience happened when Waitrose decided to hold a “meet the buyer day”. Mr Doherty believed it was the perfect chance for him to introduce his SuperJam to the big market. “I convinced my dad to drive me there. My dad waited in the car outside, I borrowed his suit and got ten minutes to ‘pitch’ my idea to the senior jam buyer of Waitrose,” Mr Doherty recounts his story.

“He said it was a great idea and explained what I would need to do if I was serious about supplying their stores — I would need to set up production in a factory, offer him a good price and get labels designed that would catch people’s attention. It was at this point that I became sure that running my own jam business would become my career,” he adds.

Open-mindedness fuels foreign expansion

The ability to always stay open-minded allowed Mr Doherty to expand his project and his ideas abroad. As a matter of fact, South Korea has become the largest market for SuperJam. “We supply thousands of stores there and have also launched snacks, peanut butter and honey,” Mr Doherty says, adding that currently, his products are available in five countries.

Moreover, one of the most interesting projects launched by Mr Doherty is the “SuperJam Tea Parties” series, which also represents a fundamental pride for the company and its founder. This activity is based on the organisation of hundreds of parties over the world. The main target is the elderly. As Mr Doherty says he always remembers when his grandmother used to take him to tea parties and this project represents a kind of tribute to his grandmother; the main inspiration for his product.

In addition, the longing for business brought him to open his business interest to startups. As the cofounder of Beer52, indeed, he supported the development and the growth of new beer types, different to the usual ones and more interesting, causing the capture and the attention of more and more markets. “Beer52 has been at the forefront of this in the United Kingdom and we have now become the largest craft beer club anywhere in the world, with more than 60,000 monthly subscribers,” adds Mr Doherty.

Celebrating its tenth anniversary this year, Business Leaders Malta is organising the Breakthrough – From Good to Great conference by Business Leaders Malta on 14 June at Teatru Manoel, Valletta. If you want to hear what Mr Doherty has to share, come and see him in action at the event.

Business Leaders Malta started life as an alliance between three diverse companies in 2009 — Mdina International, Jugs Malta and Konnekt, fusing capabilities, experience, professionalism and creativity to pursue their original goal of creating a forum where thought leaders and professionals could come together to share knowledge and ideas.

The post SuperJam producer kickstarts business at age 14 first appeared on The Malta Business Weekly.

Participants of the event will have forty-eight hours to build a product concept or MVP within the industries of video gaming and eSports, and present it to a panel of judges.

The winners will receive €1,000 in cash and access to a network of experts to help develop their idea further.

“This event is designed to immerse you in the ins and outs of eSports, as well as the business opportunities,” organisers of the event say on their event page. “Industry leaders will be on hand to help you out in a number of different ways — technical, creative and production,” the description adds.

The event will start with an opening presentation to introduce the industry.

The event will be held at the Arena Conference Centre of InterContinental Malta in St. George’s Bay.

For further information, see the website of the event.

The post Malta to host its first eSports hackathon end-April first appeared on The Malta Business Weekly.