Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/396532
Events 41 maltatoday, SUNDAY, 12 OCTOBER 2014 HSBC Malta staff positively changing lives of 1,800 young Ghanaians Students living in Ghana, without access to safe and clean water, will soon benefit from the generos- ity of HSBC Malta employees. To- gether they have together contrib- uted €16,000 towards a WaterAid project at a high school in the East Gonja District, northern Ghana. WaterAid, an international char- ity, works with some of the poorest communities around the world to provide long-term water, sanita- tion and hygiene solutions. Following the gesture by staff, HSBC Bank matched the total col- lection by another €16,000 and to date 50 per cent of the total cost of the project has already been deliv- ered to WaterAid. HSBC Malta CEO Mark Wat- kinson said: "The contribution raised by HSBC Malta employees will help touch the lives of 1,800 students in northern Ghana, and go a long way in im- proving water provi- sion, sanitation and hygiene standards for the school. The gener- osity of HSBC Malta staff is a testimony to their well-placed be- lief in humanity." The goal of HSBC Malta project is to provide the students with access to new toilets, safe water and hygiene education. The water supply for the school, situated about two kilometres from the town of Salaga, cannot run due to pressure problems and blockages in the pipe lines. As a result, the school depends on wa- ter tanker services. Some students travel an eight kilometre round trip to nearby Kpembi dam for water, leading to concern among teachers about students' health as well as wasted time and energy. Most students that were inter- viewed during WaterAid's scoping study in May 2013 said that the time spent fetch- ing water was having a negative effect on their education and health. They also suffer from wa- ter, sanitation and hygiene related illnesses, such as skin rashes and diarrhoea. HSBC Malta's target is to collect €32,000 through staff fundraising activi- ties, while the Bank will match this sum to reach the project target. Over a one year period, the total funding of €65,000 will provide two rain water harvesting systems, three toilet blocks with separate facilities for boys and girls, and a biogas fa- cility to support safe disposal of waste and flow of gas to the school kitchen. The ambitious funding is also en- visaged to help with training and capacity building workshops for bi- ogas artisans, project oversight visits, facilitation of a learning and sharing forum for the school and community, at least two school health club train- ing sessions, promotion of school hy- giene activities, community mobilisa- tion and sensitisation, and training of community hygiene volunteers. The Bank recently raised another round of funds for WaterAid Ghana during the HSBC Malta annual tria- thlon challenge. Part of these funds were also directed to the Malta Com- munity Chest Fund. As part of the global HSBC Water Programme, HSBC is supporting WaterAid projects in Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Ghana and Nigeria, bringing safe water to 1.1 million people and toilets to 1.9 mil- lion people. IYC launches the It's Your Choice app for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad It's Your Choice (IYC), now in its 28th year of circulation, has an- nounced it will be unveiling a new mobile application, available for free on iTunes for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad. Jointly developed with Active Enterprises Ltd and Just Some Coding, the IYC app is the first fully serviced tourist guide aimed at visitors wanting to explore Malta and Gozo on the go. The app enables visitors to access the latest and most essential infor- mation about the islands, such as attractions, shopping deals, dining options and events, all at their fin- gertips. The IYC app was designed to help make the visitor's experience more seamless in Malta. It provides use- ful tools that display our views of the best attractions, products, serv- ices, and experiences. Visitors will also enjoy privileges and discounts provided through the partners, and can share their holiday experienc- es with their friends and families via social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and Foursquare. We encourage business owners who would like to showcase their prod- uct or service, to contact us in or- der to be included in the IYC app or publication. "The IYC app is a great tool to compliment the popular It's Your Choice directory, which has been around since 1986," announced Roberto Naudi Director of Active Enterprises Co. Ltd. "With a pocket sized booklet in one hand and other information readily available online through their phones, how much easier could we make it for the tour- ist?" Naudi added. "The guiding principle behind this mobile app and all its functions is to present the traveller with our views of the very best in Malta and Gozo, by carefully choosing our in- serts with the tourist's best interest at heart." According to the ITB World Travel Trends Report (2010/2011), as many as 40 per cent of international trav- ellers already own a smartphone, with more than 40 per cent of them currently using their devices to get destination information. Unsurprisingly, as many as 37 per cent of international leisure travel- lers say they use mobile social net- works during their trips. Holiday photos and other content are con- sumed and posted online while the traveller is still at the destination. "The prevalence of smart phones and mobile technology has created new opportunities for companies to enhance the consumer's travel ex- perience," adds Naudi. "By providing travellers access to information at their fingertips wherever they travel, whenever they need, companies can help to im- prove the traveller experience, in- crease f lexibility and productivity. "Travellers can also make use of the It's Your Choice app to search for a restaurant nearby, plan activi- ties and even call for a taxi. Mobile technology is set to change the en- tire holiday experience and the pos- sibilities are endless." The IYC app is currently available for download on iOS (4). For more details on the app, please visit http:// www.iycmalta.com/. The next issue of It's Your Choice publication will be issued in October and will cover the months up to March 2015. Last Saturday night the onepercent Show- room in Valley Road, Msida burst into life on the occasion of the reinvention of this sophisticated brand. The event marked the newly revamped showroom's official re-launch to the pub- lic. Around 250 VIP guests were treated to a night of absolute splendour and elegance, from the atmosphere and set up in the showroom, to the little surprises the Direc- tors had in store for their guests. Guests feasted on fabulous food with vari- ous live cooking stations by local celebrity chef, Marvin Gauci from Tarragon and his secondary restaurant Caviar & Bull and up- stairs guests found a sushi station from the talented team at Zest. Marvin Gauci impressed guests by pre- paring canapés live for the delighted audi- ence, such as pan-seared fresh foie gras, served with a red currant and walnut quenelle on a gluten biscuit and mini- ature wagyu beef tacos dressed with red peppers and mango chutney. Molecular cocktails were served and a stunning performance by interna- tional operatic soprano Lydia Caruana captured the glamorous tone of the event. Following the recent management takeover, the company has been totally re-invented and re-launched. Noel Pace, di- rector at onepercent commented, "oneper- cent has taken a definite new direction and the refurbishment of the showroom and total transformation of the space showcase our new vision." The typically cold and sterile atmosphere of a showroom is gone, and in place are stun- ning displays and room sets filled with life, atmosphere and fantastic ideas. "We wanted to provide our guests and our clients with a feeling of warmth, a feeling of walking into a fabulously finished home." he added. Onepercent represents exclusive inter- national brands such as Poliform amongst others. Onepercent is open from Monday to Friday from 10am – 7pm and on Saturdays from 10am – 2pm. Faced with urban concentration, environ- mental requirements and economic pressure, customers today see fuel consumption as a key concern. True to its DNA, Citroën is ap- plying its creativity and technology to a new challenge with the C4 Cactus Airf low 2L, un- veiled at the Paris Motor Show. A true laboratory for new ideas, the C4 Cactus Airf low 2L concept is packed with advanced technologies illustrating the ambi- tions and ability of Citroën to develop new and innovative responses to the automotive challenges of the present and the future. With the C4 Cactus Airf low 2L concept, Citroën delivers consumption of 2l/100 km. A breakthrough fuel consumption obtained with optimised design with a 20% improve- ment in aerodynamics, lower rolling resist- ance (Tall&Narrow tyres), efforts to use lighter parts and thus reduce overall vehicle weight by 100 kg and the implementation of Hybrid Air technology, which cuts fuel con- sumption by 30%. The C4 Cactus Airf low 2L project was con- ducted as part of the "2l/100 km vehicle" pro- gramme set up by the Plateforme de la Filière Automobile, an industry group. The objective: to deliver practical solu- tions to reduce the impact of vehicle running costs, on household expendi- ture and to reduce the eco-footprint of car travel. Citroën has decided to develop this project on the basis of its new model, C4 Cactus. With this vehicle, Cit- roën has made a commitment to bring cus- tomers more of what really matters today: more design, more comfort and more useful technology at an affordable cost. More than any other vehicle, the C4 Cactus lends itself to this particularly ambitious exercise: to de- velop a very-low consumption high-tech con- cept that is both efficient and attractive. The unique design of the Citroën C4 Cactus reconciles style and purpose by associating f lowing lines with strong graphic features, each one highlighting a function (protection with the Airbumps and wheel arches; trans- porting objects with the roof arches; light with the glazed panoramic sunroof ). The production C4 Cactus is already 200 kg lighter than the Citroën C4, and the C4 Cactus Airf low 2L concept shaves off a fur- ther 100 kg (including the drivetrain). These efforts have therefore reduced the weight of the concept by 11% compared with the pro- duction vehicle. Onepercent launches reinvented brand C4 Cactus Airflow 2L concept: just 2l/100km 7 just launched Your guide has now been launched for iPhone, iPod Touch & iPad A smarter way to enjoy the best while in Malta & Gozo. Coming soon to Android It's Your Choice App