The app was designed after receiving feedback from the public and realising that businesses’ reported difficulties in making sense of the overwhelming and disjointed amount of information from many different sources on support and incentives available to them.

The app aims to be a practical and streamlined platform that can help local businesses rifle through the available collection of schemes and other incentives available from all government organisations.

Support measures available through the app are grouped based on the type of funding mechanism and are further categorised by the sectors they target.

Each page relating to a particular incentive provides basic information about the scheme, with direct links to more detailed information along with contact details pertaining to the entity managing each initiative.

The mobile app entitled Enterprise Incentives is available on Google Play Store and Apple’s App Store.

Malta SME Week kicks off with StartUp Café

The Malta SME Week is also taking place now. Mr Cardona’s launch of the week-long event series, as well as the app, was announced at the second edition of Malta Enterprise’s StartUp Café. During this event, Malta Enterprise said it has supported startups with €2m since 2015.

The Malta SME Week is part of the European Commission’s EU-wide SME Week events, which aim to generate public awareness among people who wish to start a business or are already in business and wish to grow their activities. The event series lasts for six weeks. This year’s edition is featuring a wide range of events targeting different audiences.

The SME Week in Malta ties with the economy ministry’s efforts to promote entrepreneurship as a career option while providing information on national and EU entities assistance to micro, small and medium-sized businesses and also giving recognition to entrepreneurs for their contribution to Malta’s welfare, jobs, innovation, and competitiveness, according to the DOI press release.

“October has become synonymous for the local business community with events that bring us and the relevant stakeholders all together, where we update each other on local and European trends. It’s also an opportunity for us to have a better idea of what challenges and realities our businesses are facing,” said economy minister Mr Cardona.

The StartUp Café brought together some 120 young enterprises looking to start their own business. During the event, professionals and academics shared their experiences in order to help participants to develop their entrepreneurial skills. In addition, participants participated in workshops and networking sessions with the panellists.

The post Mobile app aims to assist businesses in Malta first appeared on The Malta Business Weekly.

The Malta Enterprise recently held the second edition of Startup Café; an event providing a space for newly established startups and the youth to meet and network with mentors from different fields and backgrounds.

During the event, seasoned entrepreneurs shared their experiences to help participants further develop their business enterprising skills. The event offers a venue to discuss ideas, pose questions or simply catch up with the current and emerging trends and business realities.

Startup Café is organised by Malta Enterprise with the support of the Ministry for the Economy, Investment and Small Businesses and Young Enterprise Malta Foundation (JAYE Malta), within the framework of the Malta SME Week.

Kurt Farrugia, CEO of Malta Enterprise has promised the startup community that the ME will continue working to help those interested in setting up their own business.

The post Malta Enterprise supports startups with €2m since 2015 first appeared on The Malta Business Weekly.

The SUM foundation is a public organisation and is to be run by a board of administrators, where the Maltese government will be represented by Malta Investment Management Company Limited (MIMCOL) as a creator of the foundation.

In order to position Malta as an ideal location for the creation of startups, entrepreneurship and innovative ideas, the SUM foundation will be a major policy driver in the implementation of the national start-up strategy, the government expects.

“Malta’s economy has changed and will continue to change thanks to our hard-working entrepreneurs. These entrepreneurs create jobs, contribute significantly to economic growth and boost innovation. Fostering entrepreneurship must become a visible part of the government’s economic policy,” said Mr Cardona.

The main objectives of the foundation will be to promote, research and analyse startups, and invest in the creation of an entrepreneurial culture. The foundation will advise the government through feedback and information gathered from the general public and from stakeholders, in order to improve and promote Malta’s entrepreneurial journey through various stages. Starting from awareness, all the way to ideation, enterprise initiation and development, international networking and growth.

“We are confident that this will allow for sounder policy-making and improve Malta’s standing as an attractive place to set-up and grow a business,” Mr Cardona said.

Although the startup ecosystem in Malta is in its infancy, the foundation will propel its development putting strategic efforts in areas which can effectively yield to the creation of more start-ups, and tackle known challenges such as the lack of venture-capital culture and access to finance, as the DOI press statement says.

“Fundamentally, the SUM Foundation will be a learning organisation that supports innovative entrepreneurship and the community behind it. We believe that enormous potential still lies locked and undeveloped in our economy,” added Mr Cardona. “We know that entrepreneurs must lead the start-up community.”

The post Minister Cardona launches the ‘Start-Up Malta Foundation’ first appeared on The Malta Business Weekly.

Ryanair hopes to expand its presence in Malta with the transaction and access non-European Union markets — such as North Africa — from Malta.

Following the transaction, Ryanair will switch six Malta-based aircraft — worth over $600m (€530m+) — to the Maltese register, move a crew of 200 under the Maltese jurisdiction on contract hence paying taxes in the island nation, create over 350 jobs and brand its Malta-based fleet with Malta Air livery as of the summer of 2020.

As a second step, Ryanair will also move aircraft from France, Italy and Germany onto the Malta AOC, hoping to raise the number of aircraft based in Malta to ten in the upcoming three years. Ryanair expects this to allow crews to pay their income taxes locally in France, Italy and Germany instead of Ireland where they are currently required to pay income taxes under Ryanair’s Irish AOC.

“Ryanair is pleased to welcome Malta Air to the Ryanair Group of airlines which now includes Buzz (Poland), Lauda (Austria), Malta Air, and Ryanair (Ireland),” said Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary today, speaking in Malta.

Connecting Europe

The CEO also praised the partnership with the Malta Tourism Authority, which “will help drive forward the vision of Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and tourism minister Konrad Mizzi to grow year-round connections to all corners of Europe which will support increased tourism, business and jobs in Malta,” Mr O’Leary said.

“Ryanair appreciates the expertise of the Maltese Civil Aviation Directorate (CAD) in licencing Malta Air to operate the B737 aircraft and we look forward to working closely with the Maltese authorities over the coming years as we hope to add over 50 more aircraft to the Maltese register,” the Ryanair CEO added.

“The relationship between Ryanair and Malta has evolved into a successful collaboration. We welcome Ryanair’s commitment to operate and grow a fully fledged Malta-based airline which will contribute in a large way to the country’s development,” Malta’s Minister for Tourism Konrad Mizzi said.

The post Ryanair to buy Maltese startup Malta Air first appeared on The Malta Business Weekly.

The sum was presented in the form of awards of €6,000 each. Three of the awards were sponsored by ENISIE, a project which was created to enable innovation through services and institutional engagement between Sicily and Malta. The fourth award was presented by the Valletta Design Cluster and the Malta Innovation Hub.

“Profit with Purpose showed just how many great social innovation ideas are out there. It was so encouraging to see dozens of entrepreneurs coming forward with viable commercial projects that also tackle a societal issue,” said Joseph Sammut, Chairman of the Malta Life Sciences Park.

“The final pitch for the awards was very impressive and the independent judging panel found it so hard to choose the winners that, in fact, and an extra award was added to the three originally planned,” Mr Sammut added.

Through the awards, the winners will benefit from €6,000 each in support services including hot desk access and business development consultancy expertise.

Profit with Purpose was organised together with the Malta Council for the Voluntary Sector and also Impact HUB Siracusa and Tree. The four organisations are part of ENISIE, which is supported by the European Union’s Program INTERREG V-A Italia-Malta, which provides funds for intra-regional projects.

The post Profit with Purpose generates €24,000 for supporting startups first appeared on The Malta Business Weekly.

“With this event, we want to bring together high potential start-ups and scale-ups in our Malta office in an informal setting to share our knowledge, our expertise and our network to boost your business,” the agency says on the official website of the event. “In three rounds, you get a chance to ‘speed date’ highly-qualified Anchovy experts from various disciplines and specialities on topics of your interest and ask questions relevant to your business,” the event description adds.

After the speed dating session, participating businesses will have the opportunity to network with fellow founders within the start-up community.

For further information see the official website of the event.

The post Anchovy to hold ‘speed dating’ event in Malta first appeared on The Malta Business Weekly.

“The proposals presented in the LAP fall within three strategic areas – infrastructure, incentives and capacity building. Through the research carried out, 100 actions grouped under 35 objectives have been identified,” the press statement says.

The Malta Enterprise translated these into nine key actions that contribute to the creation of a national strategy, making vital information available and accessible, increasing financial and non-financial assistance to startups, improving physical infrastructure, building capacity, and increasing the local and international visibility of the ecosystem.

The European Innova Foster project takes place in the framework of the Interreg programme aimed at helping startups grow by engaging them in the innovation processes at the local or regional level and improving their role as industry innovation providers in seven European regions.

Further information about the Innova Foster project may be found on the official webpage of Interreg Europe, while the Local Action Plan may be viewed here.

The post Malta Enterprise finalises Innova Foster’s Local Action Plan first appeared on The Malta Business Weekly.