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3 NEWS WITH offices in the USA, UK, Poland, and the Philippines, Trust Stamp, an American start-up company, has re- cently established its presence in Malta which will serve as a base for research and development, reaching out to Afri- can counterparts and markets. When visiting its new offices, Minis- ter for the Economy, Investment and Small Businesses Silvio Schembri said the government remained committed to attract foreign direct investment to its shores, particularly start-ups. "As a government we're providing the necessary impetus for start-ups to take that leap forward and implement their projects and ideas," he said. "Malta is already attracting high quality start-ups to its shores and we intend to maintain this momentum by preserving its com- petitive-edge and continue providing an optimum ecosystem for start-ups to operate and flourish." Trust Stamp's mission is to create and deploy artificial intelligence solutions to empower financial and societal in- clusion. is ranges from providing account access and fraud detection for an American bank with over 60 million customers, to working with Mastercard, to creating identites for 100 million un- documented people throughout Africa to allow access to vaccinations, medical care, and aid. During this visit, Schembri announced that the Start-Up Finance Scheme had been recently amended to encourage start-up investors to invest and provide more flexible financing options, includ- ing operational costs. e amended Start-up Finance will provide up to €200,000 as a repayable advance on working capital to eligible start-ups' undertakings, which may in- crease up to €400,000 if the start-up is an innovative enterprise. e scheme was already in place be- fore COVID-19. During 2020, Malta Enterprise approved start-up financing to seven beneficiaries. Total assistance granted to these beneficiaries is in the region of €3 million. Projects emanated from different areas which are expected to drive Malta's economic growth fur- ther, including AI, fintech, biometrics and digital games. Kurt Farrugia, Malta Enterprise Chief Executive Officer, explained that a survey carried out by the corporation among local start-ups showed that the latter are interested in allocating funds towards capital and operation expend- iture to identify new markets and for R&D purposes. However, the most pressing challeng- es encountered by start-up beneficiar- ies were loss of turnover, cancellation of contracts and cash flow management. Moreover, the survey also showed how technology-based startups proved to be more resilient during the pandemic. Most importantly, the outcome of the survey demonstrated that the assistance provided through the wage supplement and other mitigation measures enabled them to retain the majority of their staff. 'It is interesting to note that the inter- viewed companies expressed their in- terest to raise up to €200,000 and that they were seeking ways to raise funds throughout this year. us, through the amendment in the scheme, the enter- prise will provide an essential head start to implement their projects," Farrugia said. The scheme is available until 31 De- cember 2022. American start-up establishes Malta presence MATTHEW VELLA THE long-time chief executive officer of SD Holdings, the guarantor for hotelier Silvio Debono's SD Finance plc, has resigned his post. e resignation became effective yesterday after a company announcement issued on 3 August marked the future appointment of Silvio Debono's son Robert as the new CEO of SD Holdings. Gauci will continue to serve as a member of the SD Holdings' board of directors of the together with other directorships within the group, and will take up the post of consult- ant to the guarantor. Robert Debono, who takes up the post on 1 October, is a graduate in Bachelor of Commerce and Honours in Management and has been involved in the operations of SD Holdings since August 2014. Debono has been a member of the board of directors of the SD Holdings since 7 December 2015. During the end of its financial year in March 2020, the DB Group – the main asset group financed by SD Holdings – invested in a new upmarket restaurant, AKI, situ- ated in Valletta; the continued roll-out of Starbucks outlets in Malta; and the 504-bed extension to the Saint Vincent de Paul long- term care residence. In total, the group invested over €43 million during the 2019-20 financial year, with rev- enues of €59.3 million, an EBITDA of €27.6 million, and balance sheet totals exceeding €325 million, an increase of €9 million over the previous year. is was achieved despite a downward valuation on the group's real estate component (-€7.2 million net of de- ferred tax on revaluation) which was com- pensated by an increase in revenue reserves now standing at €46 million (+€12 million) and an improved working capital total by €11 million. Total equity or shareholder's funds now stand at €138 million. Gauci switches CEO role to become SD Holdings 'consultant' Trust Stamp established its operations in Malta and already has 26 employees 1.10.2020

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