Event highlights business opportunities in Pakistan - Daily Times

Event highlights business opportunities in Pakistan

By Our Correspondent

LONDON: The Birmingham Chamber of Commerce, along with the Pakistani High Commission in UK, UK Trade and Investment and Pakistan Britain Trade and Investment Forum (PBTIF), held a UK-Pakistan business promotion event ?Business Opportunities in Pakistan? on Tuesday.

The event highlighted the potential trade and investment opportunities between Pakistan and the United Kingdom in agriculture, information technology, food and beverages, pharmaceuticals, engineering, financial services and education, and was attended by the business community from both the countries. The participants included chief executives of renowned companies, financial institutions and community leaders.

The event was chaired by Pakistan British Trade and Investment Forum Chairman Thomas Harris. The High Commissioner of Pakistan Wajid Shamsul Hassan also participated in the conference. The UKTI Pakistan director and British Deputy High Commissioner in Karachi Francis Campbell had especially flown in to participate in the conference to highlight the growth in trade and commerce between the two countries and the strong potential Pakistan offered for British investors.

Speaking on the occasion, the Pakistani high commissioner discussed the economic potential and geo-strategic importance of Pakistan.

He emphasised that both Pakistan and United Kingdom had always enjoyed good trade relations, and in the fiscal year 2010-2011, Pakistan-Britain bilateral trade had exceeded ?1.3 billion, with an increase in Pakistan?s export by 14 percent. He also informed the participants that there was a 13 percent rise in the foreign direct investment in Pakistan, worth $208 million in the financial year 2010-2011.

He underlined the scope for British investment in Pakistan and informed the participants that despite numerous challenges to the country, its economy was faring well. He said that close bilateral relations between the UK and Pakistan greatly helped promote economic links.

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Israel's shipping company starts functioning from Kolkata - Times of India

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Wait. A Business Can Be Sued for NOT Hiring Criminals? - New York Times

In April, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission signaled that it would begin to crack down on employers who use the criminal histories of job applicants to discriminate against them illegally.

But to judge from conversations with business owners, labor lawyers and human resources consultants, many small businesses had no idea there was anything wrong with practices like a blanket ban on hiring anybody with a criminal record.

“Many companies that size don’t have an H.R. person and get minimal education about compliance issues,” said Laurence E. Stuart, a labor lawyer in Houston. Similarly, Brian Hamilton, who with his wife owns four car dealerships in Nebraska that employ about 160 people, said, “We have tests that all of our managers take that keep them up to date on labor rules. But I was not aware of that one.”

In fact, the notion that using criminal records in employment decisions could constitute discrimination has been government policy since at least the 1970s. The E.E.O.C. has in the past issued policy statements, called enforcement guidance, about how employers may use criminal records without running afoul of the Civil Rights Act, but in April the agency published new enforcement guidance.

The new guidance “consolidates and supersedes” those earlier policies, the commission said in an accompanying question-and-answer document. And while the underlying theory of what actions constitute discrimination appears not to have changed, labor lawyers say the new policy requires companies to establish procedures to show they are not using criminal records to discriminate by race or national origin.

The landmark Civil Rights Act, passed in 1964 and expanded over the years, protects people from racial, ethnic and other kinds of discrimination in a variety of settings, including at work.

Employment discrimination provisions of the act apply to companies with more than 15 employees and define two broad types of discrimination, disparate treatment and disparate impact. Disparate treatment is fairly straightforward: It is illegal to treat someone differently on the basis of race or national origin.

For example, an employer cannot refuse to hire an African-American with a criminal conviction but hire a similarly situated white person with a comparable conviction.

Disparate impact is more complicated. It essentially means that practices that disproportionately harm racial or ethnic groups protected by the law can be considered discriminatory even if there is no obvious intent to discriminate. In fact, according to the guidance, “evidence of a racially balanced work force will not be enough to disprove disparate impact.”

As the E.E.O.C. establishes in its guidance, members of some minority groups are much more likely to be arrested and convicted than whites. From the commission’s perspective, the Civil Rights Act serves to make certain that disparity is not compounded in the workplace.

In its guidance, the commission warns employers not to use arrest records at all in hiring decisions. Because “arrests are not proof of criminal conduct” — they often do not result in charges, and charges often do not lead to convictions — basing a hiring decision on an arrest record is presumptively discriminatory. (An employer can, however, investigate the conduct that led to an arrest and, according to the guidance, “make an employment decision based on the conduct underlying the arrest if the conduct makes the individual unfit for the position in question.”)

A conviction, on the other hand, “will usually serve as sufficient evidence that a person engaged in particular conduct, given the procedural safeguards associated with trials and guilty pleas,” according to the guidance. But convictions seem to have put the E.E.O.C. in a bind. The document cites Department of Justice statistics that show a Hispanic man is nearly three times as likely as a white man to be incarcerated, and an African-American man is nearly six times as likely. In 2008, according to the commission, “African-Americans and Hispanics were more likely than whites to be arrested, convicted or sentenced for drug offenses even though their rate of drug use is similar to the rate of drug use for whites.”

“The underlying assumption is that there’s disproportionate enforcement of the law in minority communities,” said Mr. Stuart, the lawyer.

Under the guidelines, an employer can exclude applicants with criminal convictions provided it can demonstrate that the exclusion is “job-related for the position in question and consistent with business necessity” — a phrase that appears in the law itself and is not defined in the guidance. The easiest way for employers to do that, according to the E.E.O.C., is to develop a “targeted screen considering at least the nature of the crime, the time elapsed and the nature of the job.”

Ideally, Mr. Stuart said, employers would prefer hard-and-fast criteria and a simple yes-or-no answer to a hiring decision. But instead, he said, the E.E.O.C. wants employers to first determine what criminal convictions might rule applicants out for each job and then judge each candidate against the job in question, which could be a painstaking process. Mr. Stuart recommended that employers start by thinking about broad categories of criminality: theft, violent crimes involving felonies, sex crimes, drug crimes.

If employers conclude that on the basis of three factors — the nature of the crime, the time elapsed and the nature of the job — an applicant is ineligible, “then they have to do an individual assessment, and there are eight different factors that the E.E.O.C. says you have to look at,” said Pamela Q. Devata, a Chicago partner in the law firm Seyfarth Shaw. “The employer has to have a dialogue with the individual, or at least give the individual an opportunity to provide a response about the fact that the criminal history makes them unable to do the job.”

Andrea Herran, a human resources consultant in the Chicago area, said that the new procedures would subject small businesses to a legal cross-fire, especially businesses with employees who work in the field. Those companies are potentially liable for the actions of an employee in a client’s home or office.

“It’s almost like you’re being squeezed on both sides of the law,” Ms. Herran said. “If somebody’s making them nervous with their criminal history, and they’re worried about getting sued on the other side, what’s a business owner supposed to do? Most business owners are going to want to play it safe and say, ‘I’m not going to want to give the job to someone with a criminal record.’ ”

Even if an employer develops a job-related and business-necessary rationale for excluding some criminal convictions, the exclusion could still be considered discriminatory if there is a less discriminatory alternative that would achieve the same result. For example, Mr. Stuart said, an employer that has a legitimate reason to exclude convicted drug criminals could presumably achieve the same result by screening job candidates with drug tests.

The guidance specifically discourages employers from asking about criminal history on an application, and Mr. Stuart said that he was telling his clients that to avoid a fight, they should wait to ask about criminal convictions “until they have determined that the person is qualified and in the pool of people who would be offered a job.”

Ms. Devata said that when employers did ask about criminal convictions, they should tailor the question narrowly to the job at hand.

Ms. Devata warned that the E.E.O.C. seemed to be preparing for battle on this issue. “The E.E.O.C. has indicated that they are already investigating hundreds of charges related to the use of criminal history in employment,” she said. “The implications of that is that the E.E.O.C. has been looking into this area, and will continue to do so, likely with more force and effect, now that the new guidance is out.”

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Huge business opportunities exist between Luxembourg and India: Gaston Stronck, Luxembourg ambassador to India - Economic Times

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Coaching institutes eye business opportunity in revamped engineering entrance plan - Economic Times

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Opportunities abroad are also opportunities here - Manila Times

Published : Thursday, May 31, 2012 00:00 Article Views : 281

The recently-concluded 45th Annual Board of Governors’ Meeting of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) tackled a number of economic issues not only in the Philippines but also for the whole region. But one thing that created a lasting impression and curious interest for the rural banking industry was the forecast on the level of remittances from our modern heroes, the Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs), this year.

The Manila-based multilateral funding institution predicted that the country’s gross national product (GNP) will grow by five percent this year due to a strong service sector and the continuously steady flow of OFW remittances, the latter being the consistent economic driver over the years. The flow of remittances is anchored not only on more Filipinos opting to find better opportunities overseas, but also on the sustained demand for professional and skilled Filipino workers abroad.

Foreign governments have done their part to keep the steady flow of Filipino workers for their respective countries. This year, enhancements in the recruitment systems of host countries are expected to support the resilience of remittance flows, including the launching of the International Direct e-Recruitment System for Filipino workers in Taiwan, the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding on Labor Cooperation and a Protocol on Regulating the Recruitment and Employment of Domestic Workers with Lebanon and Jordan, and the amendment of the Korean Employment Permit System. These factors underpin the general prognosis that influx of much-needed foreign currencies will continue to grow for years to come.

On a grand scale, OFW remittances generate various activities in the Philippines, as well as augment the stability of the local consumer market. Boosted by remittances, families of OFWs typically are a strong player in the market, be it in real estate or in commercial and industrial sectors. They have money to spend and they are active purchasers.

How significant is this for banks?

Banks now account for around 90 percent of the entire remittance business as OFWs shifted from informal channels like couriers and door-to-door delivery services to safer methods to send money home through the banking system.

As such, several banks have opened various services to accommodate these remittances. Nearly all major banks have services tailor-fit for OFWs, as well as a few value-adds to gain new foreign-based depositors and keep the existing ones. For rural banks, a steady flow of OFW remittances means a healthy money transfer business. Thus, several rural banks have joined the Philippine Payments and Settlements System (PhilPaSS) of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas last year.

The PhilPaSS Remit System for OFW remittances is an online and real-time gross settlement payment system administered by the BSP to facilitate payment transactions between banks. It offers a rate of P50 per transaction compared to P100 to P500 per charged by other money transfer systems.

With PhilPaSS, rural banks can offer a faster yet more affordable service to clients in the countryside who are also beneficiaries of many OFWs. By utilizing this system, rural banks can offer cheaper, if not the cheapest transaction fees without incurring any losses.

A number of rural banks are set to course their financial transaction through PhilPaSS as part of the many innovations of the Rural Bankers Association of the Philippines.

The PhilPaSS-Remit system is also part of the advocacy of the BSP to help Filipinos abroad and their beneficiaries by providing a safer, faster, and cheaper means of remittance. The project is one of the initiatives undertaken by the BSP in coordination with the Association of Bank Remittance Officers Inc. through a memorandum of agreement in December of 2009 but was only implemented in the second quarter of 2011. The BSP has encouraged banks and financial institutions to course OFW remittances through its electronic payment and settlement system so that beneficiaries of Filipinos working abroad could enjoy lower fees.

According to the BSP, the settlement of OFW remittances through the PhilPaSS Remit System would result in savings of between P100 and P500 per transaction as current system charges between P150 and P550 per transaction. OFW families are expected to save at least P92 million due to the faster and cheaper delivery of remittances to the beneficiaries at a lower rate of P50 per transaction.

Of course, rural banks can offer other value-added services, just like their bigger brethren, aside from savings through the use of PhilPaSS. Among the other financial and non-financial products and services rural banks offer to OFWs and their families include high-yield medium/long-term time deposit, children’s savings accounts, education and housing loans, bills payment and collection services, and advisories about successful business ventures and skills in partnership with different government agencies. These opportunities can help improve the utilization and conversion of remittances into productive investments and other business opportunities.

The number of OFWs is expected to increase every year. Being away from their loved ones for many years is the ultimate sacrifice an OFW has to bear for the financial betterment of his or her family. Admittedly, this supreme sacrifice has also served as the fulcrum of the national economy. The least we in the industry can do is to maximize every foreign currency-denominate remittance that is sent home.

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India-US meet to explore mutual business opportunities - Hindustan Times

A 40-member business delegation from India will explore business opportunities in information technology, energy, aerospace and defence, telecommunications and mobile during the Indo-American Chamber of Commerce (IACC) Summit here May 22-25.
Hosted by Fairfax County, a Washington suburb in Virginia and Fairfax-based George Mason University, the summit for US-India Trade & Economics (SUITE 2012) will be the third IACC summit in the US and the first outside New York City.

During SUITE 2012, attendees will meet with senior US government commerce and trade officials and Indian government officials in Washington, DC.

They will also tour Fairfax County facilities and communities and network with Indian-American business leaders whose businesses have invested and created jobs in Fairfax County.

"SUITE 2012 will provide an opportunity for the Indian business community to explore and leverage potential synergies with the US as a strategic business partner," said RK Chopra, secretary general of the IACC.

"Fairfax County-with its vibrant business community focusing on IT, telecom, defence, aerospace and energy efficiency management-has provided us with an excellent platform to develop and expand business relationships with the US"

"I am honoured to welcome the IACC delegation to Fairfax County and Virginia," said Gerald L Gordon, president and CEO, Fairfax County Economic Development Authority (FCEDA), a supporting partner for the summit.

"Indian companies develop world-class products and services, and we are delighted to have the opportunity to show off Fairfax County as a great location for them to locate and expand in the US market," he said.

More than two dozen companies from India have a presence in Fairfax County.

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Thai delegation explores business opportunities in Gujarat - Times of India

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RNC provides Tampa Bay business recruiters with marketing opportunity - St. Petersburg Times

TAMPA — The thinking is, the Tampa Bay area will never get a better chance to sell itself than during the Republican National Convention.

So business groups and convention organizers have plans in the works or under discussion to make the most of that last week in August:

• An A-list event is expected to feature Gov. Rick Scott and show off the University of South Florida's new $38 million Center for Advanced Medical Learning and Simulation (CAMLS) in downtown Tampa.

• The nonprofit Tampa Bay Partnership has launched a $600,000 privately funded project to tout the region's business strengths before, during and after the convention. This will include four days of live-streamed video to highlight local industries and the "Florida experience."

• The Tampa Bay Host Committee will host a "Why Florida, Why Now" summit for CEOs in industries that could help diversify Florida's economy.

• The Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce plans to send up to 100 detailed white papers about local issues, institutions, people and trends to visiting journalists a month in advance of the convention.

Putting your message in the right hands is vital, chamber president Bob Rohrlack Jr. said.

A few months ago, after meeting with visiting foreign correspondents from Germany, France, Italy, Turkey and Japan, chamber officials saw that even though the journalists had done some homework, they didn't know much about the Tampa Bay area or what the convention would mean to it.

"We realized that we've got a chance to define who we are," he said.

What's more, a few people remember what it's like to see Tampa presented in a less than flattering light. There was the time in 1994, for instance, when Tom Brokaw broadcast the NBC Nightly News from Tampa.

"Everybody was excited because he was doing the news live from here," Rohrlack recalled.

At the time, drugs were a big issue, so Brokaw did a national story on drugs, then segued to a story about how Tampa was tearing down crack houses.

"They made it sound like there were just giant neighborhoods of crack houses," Rohrlack said. "It was like, 'No! What are you doing?' "

In August, he said, business leaders want to make sure that if someone decides to do a story on local schools, they see Bill and Melinda Gates' quotes about what they have described as the pioneering work they've seen in Hillsborough County's schools, especially when it comes to teacher feedback.

This doesn't mean wallpapering over problems, he said, but instead providing background and context about what the community is doing to address challenges like transportation and traffic.

The chamber is not alone in this outreach.

In an effort to raise $55 million for the convention, the Tampa Bay Host Committee's members have met with 250 CEOs, and Florida's business climate is a central part of the pitch.

Typically, these executives know about traditional reasons to support a convention, like promoting a brand or getting the chance to mingle with policy makers. But not everyone wants just to come and talk politics, and some are open to hearing about below-the-radar business opportunities.

So host committee president Ken Jones pitches things like CAMLS, the surgical training center built to draw doctors from all over the world.

"If you're in the health care field, you ought to be tripping over yourself to come down here and see this new building," he says. "It's that cutting-edge."

That's why economic development leaders want to showcase CAMLS to Tampa Bay's visitors. The facility, less than two blocks north of the convention complex, is one of the venues where groups can book convention-related events, though details of the event with Scott are scarce.

Similarly, the time and place of the host committee's CEO summit hasn't been set.

The Tampa Bay Partnership is calling its initiative Front Row Tampa Bay. From space it has booked at the Stageworks Theatre in the Channel District, it plans to broadcast four hours of live online video a day during the four days of the convention.

The 9 a.m.-to-1 p.m. programming will spotlight four parts of the region's economy: health care; technology and innovation; business, financial and data services; and marine and environmental activities. Employers in those areas account for about 360,000 jobs, or 24 percent of the workforce, in the eight counties covered by the Tampa Bay Partnership. They pay 20 percent above the average wage and are expected to grow to 500,000 jobs by the end of the decade.

What the partnership is thinking of is something with a live audience, sort of like MSNBC's Morning Joe. Some of the on-camera guests will be in the theater. Others will join in from around Florida and beyond via Skype or remote feeds.

The webcast programming also will look at how Tampa Bay's economy connects with broader trends. For example, someone from the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute could talk about Moffitt's work in personalized medicine. Organizers also are talking to the natural gas and electric industry representatives about doing a segment on energy conservation, and electric and natural gas vehicles.

"It will be a mix of local businesses telling their story and national leaders coming in and helping us to understand how we can grow these industries," partnership president Stuart Rogel said.

To create the live stream broadcasts, the partnership will bring in former WTVT-Ch. 13 news veterans Frank Robertson and Kathy Fountain and has teamed up with political strategist Adam Goodman's Victory Group. Florida Trend, whose parent company also owns the Tampa Bay Times, is a media sponsor.

The partnership is looking for sponsors to underwrite the cost of the project as well as contribute programming. So far, it's about a quarter of the way toward its $600,000 goal.

"As we build this," Rogel said, "we will have a targeted audience, hopefully, of tens of thousands of people who have been exposed to the story, like the story, want to learn more, want to stay connected with us and want to keep that communication going long after the RNC has ended."

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Malta’s close ties with Libya ‘an opportunity for US companies’ - Times of Malta

Lorraine Harriton: Over the years the US’s economic relationships are really going to be critical for America’s overall foreign policy and political agenda. Photo: Matthew Mirabelli

Malta’s long-standing and deep connections with Libya are an opportunity for American companies, Lorraine Harriton, the US State Department Special Representative for Business tells The Times Business in an interview during a visit to Malta.

We think there are opportunities for American businesses to use Malta’s business connections and its strategic location to access Libya

“We know that Malta has long-standing and deep connections with Libya which I think is an opportunity for American companies to leverage. It will be some time before Libya really has the type of infrastructure and environment that makes it easy for companies to conduct business in Libya so we think there are opportunities for American businesses to use Malta’s business connections and its strategic location to access Libya. I am here today to have discussions with the Maltese government on how we might be able to collaborate and support American businesses,” she says.

She adds that the US is very grateful to the Maltese government for all it did during the Libyan conflict “to support our agenda and be a partner in that”.

Ms Harriton, who also spoke at a business breakfast on Intellectual Property Rights protection during her visit to Malta, says American companies are very interested in the opportunities in Libya. In fact, the State Department’s Assistant Secretary for Economic and Business Affairs Jose Fernandez was recently part of a trade mission to Libya organised by the Libya US Business Association to assess the opportunities there.

“The visit was part of an overall programme that the US government has done with Libya and the American business community. Our Ambassador to Libya, Gene Cretz, has been having conference calls on a regular basis to keep the American business community up to speed on what’s going on in Libya.”

She says the US government is renewing its commercial relationship with the government and people of Libya “and our recent trade mission included companies like Dow Chemicals, GE and several other high level representatives of the private sector.”

Ms Harriton says that besides the energy sector there are other US economic interests in Libya.

“There’s a tremendous amount of infrastructure work that needs to be done and all the major infrastructure companies are interested, the airport, roads and water. There are opportunities in IT, telecommunications, and then over time, the tourism and hotel industry and the retail industry.”

Special representative Harriton is responsible for promoting US commercial interests worldwide. What message is she giving about the state of the American economy?

“The US economy is recovering, it’s growing and what we are really focused on, on my agenda, are two areas. One is supporting President Barack Obama’s national export initiative, which is to double exports over five years from 2009 to 2014. This is on track and in the first two years we grew 15 per cent, so it’s been very successful, but we have a lot of work to do to continue to meet that agenda. Dealing with Libya is part of our overall national export initiative.

“The other area we are focused on is promoting foreign direct investment into the US. In fact I am on my way to India where we have an opportunity to expand both our exports as well as Indian investment into the US.”

She says that the US State Department has a big focus on helping American businesses and Secretary of State Hilary Clinton has delivered a number of major speeches on economic statecraft – a recognition that in the 21st century supporting American businesses and exporting the US’s economic agenda are an important part of American foreign policy agenda. “Things like working closely with Malta to work together in Libya, for example, and even the discussion I had today on Intellectual Property Rights protection and how we can collaborate on that is part of economic statecraft. We believe that strong bilateral and multilateral economic relationships support our overall foreign policy agenda.”

She says that over the last decade military and security issues were really the focus, especially after 9/11 but as they look at the outlook for the next years the US’s economic relationships are really going to be critical for America’s overall foreign policy and political agenda.

“We see this around the world, we see a lot of shifts, to where economic relationships are going to be and we see a shift towards Asia. While we maintain our strong relationship with Europe we must also look towards the emerging powers in Asia,” she says.

How does her office overlap with the US Commerce Department and the Office of the Special Trade representative?

“That’s a very good question. The Commerce Department is responsible for the 70 largest markets around the world and they have staff in each country. In countries like Malta we (the State Department) partner with the Commerce Department so that they can provide their services and we have economic officers – so the State Department is responsible for the commercial relationship. We also have a very collaborative inter-agency process where we work together on common agendas, so my role – I work very closely with the Commerce Department – is to focus on this economic statecraft agenda.”

As for the potential for increased business ties between Malta and the US she says Malta is really moving to develop its information innovation society so there’s a lot of potential for growth with some of the technology companies. “I know there’s been a lot of cooperation already with HP, IBM and Microsoft,” Ms Harriton, who spent more than 25 years in the IT sector as a senior executive at IBM and Network Computing Devices, points out.

Asked whether the Arab Spring offers an economic opportunity for the US Ms Harriton says the American government has been very supportive of the new regimes that have been put in place in Egypt, Tunisia and Libya.

“We are doing a lot to try to provide the type of aid they need, and in Libya in particular to really build up the commercial relationship. The Arab Spring is really about jobs and economic opportunity. In Tunisia the revolution started by somebody saying: ‘How do I earn a living for my family’. Our programmes in these countries are really about providing economic opportunities.”

Regarding whether the US presidential election will be dominated by the state of the US economy, Ms Harriton is completely non-committal, saying: “Nobody knows what’s going to happen six months from now!”

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Work-From-Home.com Announces Huge Website Expansion - Times Union

Work-From-Home.com has become a saving grace to many looking to enjoy the freedom of working from home. Due to recent success, the site is today announcing its latest expansion.

Petrie, Australia (PRWEB) April 28, 2012

While millions of people around the world remain without a job, Work-From-Home.com is attempting to get as many as possible back into employment; self-employment. The site has today announced a huge expansion of its website.

With the opportunity to work from home quickly becoming the only safe way to ensure job security, the site has been successful at getting many self-employed individuals back onto the bread line.

“Our latest site expansion is very exciting indeed and will showcase even more ways anyone can earn money while working from home” says the site’s manager.

The site is continuing its goal to get as many unemployed people as possible into work at home jobs, in the hope that they will become more successful.

Rob recently left a job and turned to the site for help:

“I suddenly lost my job and very quickly learned that there were no other jobs for me to walk into. However, after studying the information on the work from home website I was soon able to start my own business from home. Thankfully this was very successful and I am now earning more money than I was while employed” he explains.
The site is free, with no fee and is online 24 hours a day.

The new expansion is coming very soon, and all website users are asked to keep their eyes peeled for the exciting new additions.

To check out their offering, please visit: http://www.work-from-home.com

About Work-From-Home.com

Work-from-home.com announces expansion of their website over the coming weeks, many new work from home ideas and legitimate home business opportunities will be available soon.

About Website: Work-from-home.com provides a website loaded with useful information and resources on choosing and finding the best ways to work from home.

Contact Details:

Rob Johnson
Avision Concepts Pty Ltd
PO Box 320, Petrie 4502 QLD
Australia
Email: news(at)work-from-home(dot)com
Phone No: +61 7 3285 6244
Website: http://www.work-from-home.com/

For the original version on PRWeb visit: http://www.prweb.com/releases/prwebwork-from/home/prweb9445659.htm

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Using Business to Help At-Risk Middle Schoolers - New York Times

April 26, 2012, 10:39 a.m.

Feeling engaged in school can often make the difference between dropping out and graduating, and educators know middle school is a key time to hold students’ attention.

The group Citizen Schools is targeting six middle schools in the city with an after-school enrichment program that brings in business mentors and extra teachers. It started more than a decade ago in Boston, where evaluators found it boosted attendance and academic achievement.

At the Bronx Writing Academy, a sixth grader, Jaela Simon Banks, is planning the budget for an imaginary soccer franchise with a volunteer from the private-equity firm Carlyle Group. She says she chose soccer over basketball or baseball — because the players are cheaper.

“Most players like Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez, they were high payers and they’re paid like in the thousands or millions,” she said.

Her classmate, Baruch Rogers Mayo, agrees this strategy can make their franchise more profitable.

“It’s like you spend less, you make more. Makes you happy, makes me happy, makes all of us happy,” he said.

The students are paired with volunteers who know about budgeting and marketing. They meet after school twice a week, for 10 weeks, and are guided by full-time staffers and paid teaching fellows from Americorps. Later this spring, they will make final presentations to their mentors and teachers. The after-school program also offers homework help and tutoring.

Nitzan Pelman, executive director of Citizen Schools New York, says the goal is to give kids from low-income communities the same opportunities as students in wealthy ones.

“Think about what are kids doing at 4:30 or 5 in the afternoon? They’re at yearbook, they’re in model U.N., or learning how to play the piano. They’re playing a sport,” she said. “They’re in productive learning environments for 10, 12, 14 hours every single day. And that’s what it takes.”

Just 17 percent of the students at Bronx Writing Academy were proficient on last year’s English Language Arts exams, and a little more than a third were proficient in math.

The principal, Kamar Samuels, said it’s too soon to know if the new program is paying off academically, since it only started in September, but he’s pleased to see higher attendance, especially among kids with learning disabilities.

“They’re working on real work,” he said. “They’re working on authentic math and they’re struggling through it but you know what? They need to work, they need to prepare.”

Beth Fertig is a senior reporter at WNYC. Follow her on Twitter @bethfertig

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An Easter visit brings a fresh perspective on business - Financial Times

The following students will share their business school experiences over the current academic year

Ernest Gyimah, European School of Management and Technology
Age: 26
Nationality: Ghanaian
Background: Ernest gained a first class degree in banking and finance from the University of Ghana before joining PricewaterhouseCoopers, working across Africa. He is a Kofi Annan fellow and hopes to contribute to growing small businesses in the developing world.

Mark Partridge, Foster School of Business, University of Washington
Age: 28
Nationality: Dual (US & UK)
Background: A British-American citizen Mark graduated from University College London with a degree in modern history before working as a journalist in Seattle. He hopes on graduation to work in a venture capital firm.

Mihai Danila, Insead (Fontainebleau)
Age: 28
Nationality: Romanian
Background: After graduating with a degree in international business from the Academy of Economic Studies in Bucharest Mihai moved to the financial sector, working with a private equity fund and most recently as an investment banker in the mergers and acquisitions department of a large Romanian bank. He believes Insead will give him the knowledge he needs to have a greater impact in developing his country's emerging economy.

Aushima Thakur, Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University
Age: 29
Nationality: Indian
Background: Aushima is a Fulbright scholar and has experience of both the corporate world and NGOs. She is keen to develop successful sustainable models for the world's poorest societies.

Aurélie Metcheka, Global MBA Essec
Age: 25
Nationality: Cameroonian
Background: Aurélie left her native Cameroon aged 19 to study at San Diego State University in the US. where she gained a BSc in accounting. She then worked in inventory control for an accessory company before opting for an MBA. She intends eventually to work in the audit department of one of the big four accountancy firms.

Hajime Sudo, Bradford University School of Management - University of Perugia: Bradford-Perugia joint MBA programme
Age: 30
Nationality: Japanese
Background: Hajime graduated from the Accounting School of Tohoku University, Japan earlier this year. He wants to become an accounting professional and believes an MBA will supply him with a broad and practical management knowledge and enhance his career portfolio.

Al Kennedy, University of Exeter Business School 'One Planet' full time MBA
Age: 43
Nationality: Irish
Background: Al has a masters in visual communication from the Royal College of Art. He has worked with leading companies on environmental projects and is keen to understand how business and brands can create sustainable strategies and innovate for social good.

Kamal Nagi, Stanford Graduate School of Business
Age: 27
Nationality: Qatari
Background: Kamal has a Masters of Engineering degree from Imperial College, London. He hopes to play a senior leadership role in Qatar’s financial and international investment future and is the first Qatari to enroll on Stanford’s MBA programme.

Karenina Loayza, MBA Cass Business School
Age: 27
Nationality: Bolivian
Background: Karenina moved from Bolivia to Wisconsin in the US at the age of 19. She holds a double degree in economics and international relations and has worked in financial publishing. She hopes to make the career switch into the finance industry.

Andrea Nowack, George Washington University
Age: 26
Nationality: American
Background: After studying for a degree in journalism and communication from the University of Oregon Andrea worked for Waggener Edstrom Worldwide in analyst relations. She also has experience as a digital marketing strategist.

Kelvin Chiu, Chinese University of Hong Kong
Age: 28
Nationality: Canadian
Background: A graduate from the electrical engineering programme at Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Kelvin has worked as a project manager for Ontario Power Generation at a nuclear plant near Toronto, Canada. On graduation he hopes to work in consulitng. He is a certified personal trainer and fitness professional.

Julia Steinberg, Weatherhead School of Management, Case Western Reserve University
Age: 27
Nationality: American
Background: Julia has a degree in communications from Kent State University. She has worked as a public relations manager for a clothing group for several years but opted for an MBA so that she could make a career transition into marketing and strategy.

Katie Cannon, London Business School
Age: 30
Nationality: British
Background: After studying politics at Edinburgh University Katie embarked on a career in the arts. Aware that her skill set is focused on softer skills she hopes her MBA will give her a broader perspective on business.

Brigitte Roediger, University of Stellenbosch Business School, part time MBA
Age: 26
Nationality: South African
Background: Brigitte has a degree in financial analysis and marketing communications from the University of Stellenbosch. She is the assistant brand manager at Spier Wine Farm near Cape Town and will continue to work as she studies which will allow her to repay her business school loan.

Wesley Cole, Executive MBA Cass Business School, London
Age: 29
Nationality: British
Background: A business systems manager for a recruitment company, Wesley was keen to study for an MBA, whilst continuing to work full time. He hopes to be able to develop his leadership skills and apply them to his career.

Andi Caruso, SDA Bocconi
Age: 27
Nationality: Canadian
Background: Having graduated from Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada, with a degree in journalism, Andi first studied acting before beginning a marketing career in the hospitality and entertainment industry. She wants to move into business development and strategy.

Suhel Banerjee, Kellogg School of Management
Age: 27
Nationality: Indian
Background: After completing his undergraduate degree in business at Calcutta University in 2005 Suhel joined Google's Hyderabad (India) office in advertising operations, before moving to Gurgaon where he became one of the founder members of the Google India sales team.

Anthemos Georgiades, Harvard Business School
Age: 28
Nationality: British
Background: After gaining degrees from Oxford and Cambridge, Anthemos spent three years as a management consultant at the Boston Consulting Group. He then worked as an economic adviser on the Conservative party's election campaign.

Abhishek Ramanathan, Australian School of Business: AGSM
Age: 29
Nationality: Indian
Background: A graduate in computers and business studies from the University of Warwick in the UK, Abhishek has worked in operations and consulting in the insurance and IT industries worldwide. He hopes to become a management consultant.

Aman Modi, IMD
Age: 30
Nationality: Indian/British
Background: Aman has a BA in accounting and a masters in banking and international finance from Cass Business School, London. With more than eight years of finance-focused experience he wants to move into general management via an MBA.

Ashish Rastogi, Indian Institute of Management Calcutta
Age: 32
Nationality: Indian
Background: For the past 10 years Ashish has worked for Infosys in various capacities in the US and India. He wants to build a career in corporate strategy and product marketing. He is studying on the Full Time MBA for executives (PGPex).

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'Android being activated on 850,000 devices daily' - Hindustan Times

Google Inc. CEO Larry Page arrives at the Robert F. Peckham Federal Courthouse in San Jose, California. Credit: Reuters/Norbert von der GroebenGoogle Inc's chief executive said the company's fledgling social network, Google+, has scored more than 100 million active users, and he reiterated the Internet search giant's commitment to making long-term bets.

Larry Page, also co-founder who took over the top job from Eric Schmidt in April

2011, said in a 2012 strategy update that the search giant had made progress revamping Google around key business opportunities.

Page said that Google's smartphone operating system, Android, was being activated on 850,000 mobile devices every day.

He signaled Google's intentions to make hardware devices when its $12.5 billion acquisition of Motorola Mobility Holdings closes later this year, even as some observers have speculated that Google was only interested in the company for its extensive patent portfolio.

"We are excited about the opportunities to build great devices capitalizing on the tremendous success and growth of Android and Motorola's long history of technological innovation," Page wrote.

Founded by Page and Sergey Brin in 1998, Google has grown into a corporate behemoth, with roughly $38 billion in revenue last year and nearly $45 billion in cash and securities on its balance sheet as of the end of September of 2011.

While Google has dominated Internet searching for a decade, the company has struggled to find its footing in social networking, with Facebook, Twitter and other start-ups stealing Web traffic and engineering talent.

Since Page took back the reins in April 2011, Google has moved aggressively to make the company a force in the fast-growing social networking market, with the launch of its Google+ social networking service.

"Our goal is long-term growth in revenue and absolute profit—so we invest aggressively in future innovation while tightly managing our short-term costs," Page wrote.

Page did not provide any new financial details in his letter. Google is due to report its first quarter financial results next week.

Google has also faced criticism about some of its privacy practices during Page's tenure. And it has drawn fire over its search rankings system, with some accusing the search company of favoring its own products over rival services.

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Small-business corner: Business community sought for symposium - El Paso Times

Small-business corner: Business community sought for symposium - El Paso Times Mobilee-EditionToday’s Print AdsNewslettersCustomer ServiceSubscribe loadWeatherBoxHorizontal('weather_box_horizontal','79901','www.elpasotimes.com','/weather'); This SiteWeb Search powered by YAHOO! HomeNewsNew & UpdatedWeatherJuarezNation / WorldTrafficLive chatsPoliticsElectionWeird NewsPublic corruptionVideoPhoto galleriesUpload your photosOpinionColumnistsLetters to the editorBlogsNachotoonsSportsUTEP MinersUTEP Video HighlightsHigh schoolsBoxingDallas CowboysSoccerSports ExtraSign-upsHyundai Sun Bowl›› Blog: Knight Court›› Blog: The Mine Shaft›› Blog: Joe On Utepia›› Blog: Meet The PrepsBusinessGas PricesYellowpagesMarketwireBusiness WirePR News WireEntertainmentEntertainment blogEvents calendarComicsPuzzles & gamesHoroscopesTV & moviesTiempoRestaurants & diningMovie trailersCommunitiesTown hallWest side / CentralEast sideNortheastFort Bliss & MilitaryLower valleyTexasEducationNIELivingPetsEveryday athleteCelebrationsTravelHome & gardenHealthOutdoors & youth sportsNew Testament SpanishObitsSearch obitsSubmit obituary adReal EstateFind a homeApartmentsFarms / RanchCars JobsFind a jobPost a jobTools and adviceAdvertisingAdvertise with usToday's print adsClassifiedsCouponsReal Estate PressShoppingLocal Shopping   Home  ›  Business Small-business corner: Business community sought for symposiumBy Joe Conway \ Special to the Timeselpasotimes.comPosted: 04/01/2012 12:00:00 AM MDT

The El Paso Small Business Consortium invites local business people to the 2012 Procurement and Contracting Symposium on April 18.

Hosting the event is the El Paso Community College's Contract Opportunities Center. It is the ninth year that the consortium and the center have combined their resources to bring this event to El Paso.

The objectives of the Procurement and Contracting Symposium are to provide a venue where government and corporate buyers, contractors, suppliers and product providers can come together and begin developing relationships; to provide training opportunities for vendors engaged in government contracting; and to provide information to potential government contractors and the regional business community.

This event has provided opportunities for regional businesses and governmental agencies to find each other.

Government agencies have been eager to extend their outreach activities into West Texas and Southern New Mexico. Regional businesses interested in expanding activities into the government market or wishing to target specific government entities have found the symposium to be an ideal venue.

During the general session those attending will meet "Marketing Lady" Tarsha Polk, a radio personality who provides marketing tips and business advice over the airwaves in Dallas.

Representatives from agencies such as the VA Health Care Service, Texas Department of Transportation and Texas Correctional Systems will be on hand to meet with firms Advertisement interested in taking advantage of existing or future business opportunities.

Representatives of prime contractors to include Turner Construction, Lockheed Martin, Hensel Phelps Construction, C.F. Jordan, Fort Bliss Water Services and others will be on hand to discuss business opportunities that exist with their firms.

Joe Conway is program manager of the Contract Opportunities Center of the El Paso Community College.

If you go
The symposium is at the Wyndham El Paso Airport Hotel, 2027 Airway, from 7:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. April 18.
Attendees, agencies, contractors and vendors must preregister. Register online at elpasococ.org or call 831-7749.
Registration fee is $75. Booth spaces cost $50.
For arrangements for power or Internet access, callg 831-7749.
The deadline for registrations is April 13.



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