The tradefair is back

The Internation Fair of Malta is back, this time at the MFCC in Ta' Qali. The new location is a first for the 'tradefair' which for years has been taking place in Naxxar. BLAB will review the stands at the tradefair over the next week. Amongst the new brands at Tradefair is Banif Bank.

BLAB (p)reviews the new Town Magazine

The first issue of Town magazine will be out on the 29th of June but Daphne Caruana Galizia of Proximus has kindly allowed us to preview it a week before.

According to the books, a business is like a person, with its ups and downs, struggles, achievements and moods. So when one tries to identify the people behind a particular business venture, their story is as personal as business can get. High level business knowledge falls by the side and makes way for real life stories about people.

According to Proximus, Town will focus on "new faces and changes in Maltese business, with a particular interest in people who have built up their own successful businesses". The magazine "aims to bring business and an entrepreneurial culture to the average reader, in a way that makes it interesting and far from tedious"

But will Town be just another free magazine distributed with a local newspaper? Judging from the teasers BLAB has been provided with, we feel that this 'personal touch' to business is not as popular locally and should attract a wider audience. Apart from that, Town is the latest addition to a range of successful publications which do not go unnoticed with a Sunday Read. In fact, Proximus already publish Taste and Flair magazines. Both magazines carry a similar combination of quality design, professional photography and fresh writing.


More info:
Town magazine is out on 29 June with The Malta Independent on Sunday, and the following Thursday with The Malta Business Weekly. It will be published quarterly at first, moving on to bi-monthly. Town is produced and published by Proximus.

e-top-up from Vodafone

Vodafone has over the past week launched a new top-up voucher card which comes along with lower calling rates. The nice thing about the '30 Bonus Card' is that it has been launched specifically for online customers.

Admittedly I am a loyal Vodafone fan but the online initiative makes sense even when one considers the latest Eurobarometer survey in which 44% of Maltese customers said they used the internet to make a purchase in the past year.

More about Vodafone's Bonus Card: click here

Summer Reading: The Dip Book

With summer round the corner we'll make it a point to draw up BLAB's Reading Wish List. (suggestions are welcome)

#1: The Dip by Seth Godin: A little book that tells you when to quit and when to stick!

Seth Godin has been on my list for some time. The little I've read about The Dip makes me think I need to first of all be able to outline 'dips' and tackle them accordingly. As Seth Godin suggests, "It's a mind grenade, a little bit of insight that will help you see what's causing your organization (or you) to get stuck." Therefore you don't have to be in sales to experience dips...and it's always useful to avoid getting stuck!

More about the book: click here

eInterview with eBusinessMalta.com

'eBusinessMalta.com is a consortium of Malta's leading eBusiness organisations, namely company & fiduciary services providers, hosting & co-location facilities provider, e-payment solution provider and a recruitment agency / portal'

BLAB caught up with Jonathan Dalli and eInterviewed him about the whole idea behind this eVenture.

KG: It seems to me as the perfect one stop shop for any company in the eCommerce industry...how did it all come together and how do you ensure it really remains a one stop shop?
JD: The consortium, made up of Malta's leading eBusiness organisations, came together following the close business relationship that exists between the various consortium partners. The various partners within the consortium have been involved in e-commerce / e-business for the last 6 years, particularly since the inception of online betting / gaming in Malta. The aim of the consortium is to assist foreign companies relocating to Malta with a range of services enabling them to streamline their ebusiness operations. The main scope of the consortium is to have one single brand particularly when exhibiting in international conferences / trade shows / expos. However, the consortium is not limited solely to exhibitions but also focused on online marketing efforts and referral marketing.

Services offered include Company Set-up & Incorporation; Regulatory & Licensing Consultancy; Directorship & Management Services, Accounting & Secretarial Services; Back-Office & Support Services; Fiduciary & Trustee Services; International Trade Mark & Patent Registration; Personnel Recruitment; Relocation & Residency; Bank Accounts & ePayment Solutions; Internet Bandwidth, and Hosting & Co-Location Services. The partners within the consortium make sure that it really remains a one stop shop by means of periodic meetings that are both product development focused and also marketing / sales focused.

KG: The website lists various events where partners in the consortium attend and promote the brand but how do you ensure presence in key online websites/blogs/etc.?
JD: Key online presence is mainly ensured through Search Engine Optimisation, in order to ensure that the brand (also in the light that it is a .com brand) is present online as much as possible. Furthermore, such online efforts are also complemented by posting our press releases on a number of media / news sites on the net which also help to direct traffic to ebusinessmalta.com. Finally, advertising in various ecommerce publications (print and online) also complements online marketing efforts.

KG: Do you see other partners joining your Ebusiness shop in the future?
JD: This is not excluded by the present partners, as we're always on the look-out for prospective strategic collaborations with new partners, especially those in the financial and online banking sector.

When Steve Jobs 'endorsed' tiny Malta

"next time you're in Malta and you need an iPhone 3G, it'll be there" - Steve Jobs (watch it below 2.46s)


Everyone is speaking about the new 3G Iphone but really and truly something better happened last night (CET): Steve Jobs mentioned Malta in the key note speech launching the 3G Iphone at WWDC '08. As a result Malta gets the best free advert on Forbes.com, biz.yahoo.com, endgaget.com, pcworld.com, etc.

It seems Malta is not anymore the Mediterranean's best Kept Secret!

Alexandra Pace's Top 5 Projects

It is not the first time that Alexandra Pace was mentioned on Blab, but this time I've asked her to choose her top 5 favourite works...a very difficult task for any artist. What follows is her contribution to Blab.

My Top 5 Projects

These are my favourite 5 projects. I wouldn’t say there is any order of preference; they all represent important and special parts of my life and career.



Slideshow of Alexandra Pace's works

1. Aquarium: Aquarium is a collection that was photographed at the start of this year. The Aquarium collection has just been chosen to be exhibited at EUROPEAN NIGHT – Photographical Identities of Europe, consisting of a night of photographic projections on a public industrial site in Arles, France. This event is being organised by "Rencontres de la Photographie d'Arles" and will be held in July 2008.

The project is a series of photographs depicting urban life created using a plastic fish-eye lens film camera. This collection is made up of urban scenes, abstract creations and movement. The concept behind this project is that of pseudo fish bowls depicting different scenes from city life. As an outsider looking in, the viewer is invited to look into these little windows of other people’s worlds.

2. Reza Deghati: Last summer I had the pleasure of photographing National Geographic photographer Reza Deghati together with his wife and two lovely children. I met Reza at an exhibition of his works which he exhibited here in Malta. I invited him to visit my studio where I offered to do a set of family portraits for him to commemorate his visit to Malta. Unfortunately we had less than an hour to do this portrait session since he visited my studio on his way to the airport to fly back to Paris; although the result of this session was a set of lovely character studies of Reza and his family, all photographed on black and white negative film.

3. Niki Gravino: One of my favourite projects of 2007 was working with Niki Gravino on his album “Politics of Doublebeds” launched in November 2007. Besides designing all the artwork for the album itself as well as all promo material that went with it, we also did a photoshoot of Niki Gravino and his band The Vile Bodies.

The location used for this photoshoot was none other that the studio of the fantastic Maltese artist Raymond Pitre. The concept of this shoot was that of placing the band members “within” Pitre’s installations as if they were joined together.

4. London Eye Collection: The London Eye Collection is all about the interesting world of the London Underground. This project was done quite a few years ago but still remains one of my favourites. I literally spent the best part of two weeks hopping on and off trains and going from station to station on the Tube.

The collection was exhibited as a collection of hand printed silver gelatin photographs and consists of studies of the architecture, trains, people and details found in the London Underground stations and trains.

5. UNHCR assignment: When Dr. Katrine Camilleri, Assistant Director Jesuit Refugee Service Malta, was awarded the prestigious UNHCR Nansen Refugee award, I got a call from the United Nations office at Geneva requesting me to create a photo documentary of Dr. Katrine Camilleri, her family and her work.

This award, now in its 53rd year, is given to an individual or group for outstanding services in supporting refugee causes. One of the main functions of this assignment was visiting a number of refugee camps around Malta and amidst all the suffering and hardships seen in these camps there is nothing more beautiful than the happiness I saw appear on these refugee’s faces when they see Katrine and her crew coming to visit them.

more info: Alexandra's Website and blog