Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/823773
50 maltatoday, SUNDAY, 14 MAY 2017 Events Pitch, Network, Celebrate - Intact named start up of the year Intact was named Start Up of the year at the Junior Achievement Young Enterprise Malta Founda- tion Start Up Programme Finals on Saturday 6 May, held at the Hilton Malta in St Julian's. Intact is a young team of five first year students attending St Martin's Institute for Higher Ed- ucation who came together and developed the concept for an early warning safety devise for motor cyclists. JAYE Malta concluded its Start Up Programme offering tertiary education students the opportu- nity to create, develop and pitch an investment proposal for their very own start up company. From the twelve teams that com- menced this entrepreneurial jour- ney in October 2016, six reached the final phase of a programme that involved a number of assess- ment stages towards developing an 'investment-ready' business concept. The stages included idea generation, concept valida- tion, prototyping and pitching, all leading up to the coveted prize of JAYE Start Up Programme Malta title holder and €2,000 in seed capital sponsored by the Malta Communications Authority. In front of guests and relatives, each team presented their prod- uct proposal and recounted their JAYE Start Up Programme expe- rience before the 2017 roll of hon- ours were announced. These were JAYE Malta Start Up Winners, which went to Intact; Best Busi- ness Potential Award supported by the Malta Chamber of Com- merce, Enterprise and Industry, which went to Verne, and Best Social Enterprise supported by Agenzija Zghazagh, which went to GikPoint. Daniel Robinson, head of retail banking and wealth management at HSBC Bank Malta, the main commercial sponsor of the organ- isation, highlighted the need for increased participation by youth in entrepreneurship programmes that offer hands-on experiential opportunities to generate, develop and build new entrepreneurial tal- ent. "With the opportunity given to students registered in tertiary educational programmes, youth in Malta and Gozo are given the ideal platform to explore their business acumen and transform their dreams into reality," he said. Through the Start Up Pro- gramme, JAYE Malta hopes to further encourage youth to take the plunge into becoming entre- preneurs. The association of the organisation with some of Malta's leading businesses and entities, such as HSBC, PwC, ICAEW, TAKEOFF, CIM, the Malta Chamber of Commerce, Enter- prise and Industry, Agenzija Zg- hazagh and the MCA, lends not only financial support to deliver the programme, but also exper- tise and industry specific know- how. These were messages that resonated in the address of Stefan Bonello, partner at PwC Malta, and head of the independent panel of judges, as well as, Johann Caru- ana, head incentives administra- tion at Malta Enterprise. Learning by doing is the main focus of all JAYE Malta pro- grammes and the guiding princi- ple for participants' involvement in the Organisation's programmes which provide the practical expe- riences required to further enable their career development. For further information about the programme please visit the website: www.jayemalta.org or email: info@jayemalta.org, or on 2124 5054. McDonald's licensee Premier Capital exceeds €200 million turnover in 2016 Premier Capital, the Maltese- owned developmental licencee for McDonald's in six European mar- kets, in 2016 registered a turnover of over €200 million – more than double since the acquisition of the Romanian market in January of that year. In 2016, the group registered an operating profit of €21.2 million. After accounting for investment income and finance costs, the group registered a pre-tax profit of €16.5 million. The group's net assets for 2016 amounted to €41.6 million. Premier Capital plc also launched a €65 million bond issue to the public last year which has been listed on the Malta Stock Ex- change. The Romania acquisition brought 67 additional restaurants to Premier Capital's portfolio in 2016. Overall, Premier Capital's portfolio continued to grow with the opening of one restaurant in Malta, two in Romania and anoth- er in Greece, with nine more res- taurants due to open across Pre- mier Capital's footprint in 2017. Furthermore, three restaurants in Romania and two restaurants in the Baltic states – Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania – were remodelled. Across the Baltic states, Malta and in Romania, the McDonald's brand remains the market leader in the Informal Eating Out sector and market share and user base continues to expand on the back of enhanced customer service. In total, in the Baltic states, Greece, Malta and Romania, Pre- mier Capital served 105 million customers last year, its highest number to date. Premier Capital managing di- rector Victor Tedesco said that the company was following an ambitious investment programme to open more restaurants and modernise existing ones. "We are committed to bringing increased innovation to all restau- rants around our footprint and of- fer ever more value and choice to our customers," he said. Fundación MAPFRE joins the United Nations #SlowDown Campaign Fundación MAPFRE is join- ing the #SlowDown campaign to celebrate the Fourth Global Road Safety Week promoted by the United Nations and co- ordinated by the World Health Organisation. In Malta, Fundación MAP- FRE is represented by MAP- FRE Middlesea and MAPFRE MSV Life. The focus of this year's initia- tive, which was held between 8 and 14 May, is managing speed as one of the means of reducing road traffic deaths and injuries. Fundación MAPFRE has rolled out the campaign among MAPFRE employees world- wide. In total, 24 countries have participated by taking more than 1,000 photographs of employees who have launched messages about the importance of reducing speed and how they contribute themselves. The aim of this initiative is to raise public awareness about the importance of reducing speed to prevent traffic acci- dents, which claim 1.3 million lives worldwide every year and leaves another 50 million peo- ple with injuries or disability. A video showing a selection of the images has also been made and was released on 8 May on social media and the website www.fundacionmapfre.org.