Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/933296
12 PAUL COCKS AN app created by an 18-year-old is gaining traction among Maltese students and support from local businesses, proving successful en- trepreneurship is not the sole do- main of established businessmen. Zach Ciappara, creator and founder of Free Hour, told Malta- Today that he started envisaging the app while he was attending Junior College. "Back then, I saw a need for an app that could help me plan my day and see what time I could spend with my friends," he said. "My first app, which I launched last year, made it possible to share timetables and plan accordingly." Zach says he has always dreamt of owning a company by the time he turned 18 and that he had im- mediately realised his idea could be successful, since there was nothing – bar an Australian app – that re- motely resembled what he had in mind. That is indeed one of the fun- damental basic prerequisites for a successful business: identify a need, find a solution and provide a viable user-friendly platform. Zach, who is now a first-year stu- dent pursuing Business Develop- ment at St Martin's Institute, said that there was nothing stopping other students from taking the plunge – like he did – and becom- ing entrepreneurs. He recognises the need for a solid commitment to the project, as well as to one's studies, and says that being a student while pursuing his business dream had proven to be hard and annoying, but doable. When he first decided to go ahead with his project, Zach raised €3,000 from family and friends and obtained a further €3,000 as a loan from a Maltese business. He then submitted his pro- ject for consideration in MITA's YouStartIt equity-free accelera- tor. After successfully pitching his plan to a panel of experts, Zach was awarded €22,000 in pre-seed investment - €15,000 cash and €7,000 worth of services. He is, to date, the only student to have successfully pitched a project and been funding investment un- der the YouStartIt initiative and says it was invaluable to him. Thanks to the investment, he de- veloped his app further, and Free Hour is now much more than a timetable-sharing app, offering jobs notifications and even tools for teachers. "It has become the go-to app for most students," Zach said. And with 14,200 downloads to date, and all monetising avenues – like advertising space – presold up to October 2018, students and busi- ness seem to agree with him. He now has three developers work- ing on the app and is in the process of hiring a salesperson to further monetise on the app's success. "Free Hour has become my life and I hope it grows so much that it forces me to drop out of school," Zach says somewhat jokingly. And he is already working on tak- ing the app international. "Don't get me wrong, I run my company as though it's the biggest company in the world," he said. "But I would like to see this – or something else I develop down the line – gain traction abroad and be as successful as Free Hour has al- ready been, but on a much bigger level." Building business is what Zach now intends to do for the rest of his life and he thanks this process for confirming he can, indeed, be successful. maltatoday SUNDAY 28 JANUARY 2018 News Office Space Required New Premises for NDSF Valletta, Floriana or the Central Region Area The National Development and Social Fund ("NDSF", "Agency" or "Fund") would like to receive offers for the lease/purchase of office space located in Valletta, Floriana or a locality in the Central Region Area in Malta. The following are mandatory criteria: 1. Due to logistical considerations, the building is located in the Valletta, Floriana or the Central Region Area in Malta; 2. Building is covered with the relevant MEPA permits and can be used as offices; 3. Building is fully compliant with MEPA permit drawings, conforms to local building regulations and standards and has all necessary permits required by all relevant authorities; 4. Building has a minimum area of 300 square metres which can be used as office space that includes at least 2 board room facilities and related office amenities; 5. Buildings situated outside the Valletta or Floriana area, have available garage spaces and/or dedicated on-site parking facilities for at least 2 cars; 6. Building is user friendly and provides accessibility for the disabled on all levels; 7. Building is furnished with modern air conditioning facilities; 8. Building has installed lift facilities if office space is spread on more than one floor and/or is not at street level; 9. In the case of lease, a minimum di fermo rent of 3 years with an option to extend for further periods. Due consideration will be given to the state of completion of the building, which ideally should be ready to move into by not later than end March 2018. The Agency reserves the right to negotiate with a preferred candidate following an assessment of the property and an evaluation of the submissions received. The award criteria will be on a most economically advantageous basis. The right is reserved to reject any of the submissions made. The NDSF also reserves the right not to proceed further with this call for proposals and not to enter into any contract. Interested parties are asked to submit the following documentation: a. Full-scale MEPA Permit Plans; b. Full MEPA Permit document, including site plan; c. A description of the premises, including the exact location, a minimum of 4 photos of the façade and a minimum of 10 photos of the internal area; d. An indication of the rent fee requested per square metre for the office space; e. An indication of the rent fee requested per garage parking space and/or on-site parking facilities (where applicable); f. Asking Price for the Commercial premises if available for sale; g. Details of any servitudes and any legal constraints which may have an impact on the functionality of the premises. The indicated information is to be submitted in a sealed envelope, and deposited at the NDSF Offices, 46, West Street, Valletta by noon of Friday, 9th February 2018. Further enquiries or clarifications may be obtained by sending an email to raymond- andrew.ellul@gov.mt I run my company as though it's the biggest company in the world Student app creator sets sight on international expansion 19-year-old Zach Ciappara developed his first app when he was still in Form 4 at San Anton School MATTHEW VELLA THE new year has brought about a sea change in anti-money laun- dering rules, which now make it mandatory to report all beneficial owners of trusts to the Registrar of Legal Persons. In recent legal amendments de- signed to bring Malta up to date with the 4th Anti-Money Laun- dering Directive (AMLD4), "ben- eficial owners" of trusts will now include settlers, trustees, protec- tors, and any beneficiaries who exercise ultimate control through direct or indirect ownership. This new definition goes beyond previous versions of the directive, which placed higher thresholds on the identification of trust ben- eficiaries. Trusts have been involved in major tax evasion and corruption scandals in the past, and are usu- ally used by elites seeking to hide their assets under the ownership of complex trusts in a bid to avoid tax. More recently in Malta, the Panama Papers revealed the use of two offshore trusts by minister Konrad Mizzi and the PM's chief- of-staff Keith Schembri connect- ed to their offshore companies in Panama. A EUROPOL representative had told MEPs during a Novem- ber 2016 hearing on money laun- dering and tax evasion that trusts were among "the main schemes that were used to hide tax revenue or launder money". The new law now obliges Malta to require that the identity of all parties to a trust or foundation, be available to be accessed by national tax authorities and EU financial intelligence units, apart from being held in a central reg- ister held by the Malta Financial Services Authority. Malta will have to ensure timely and unrestricted access to the register without alerting the par- ties of the trust concerned. Where a registered trustee con- travenes or fails to comply with any of the provisions of the new rules, the MFSA may impose an administrative penalty of not more than €150,000, unless trus- tees can prove they exercised all due diligence to comply with the rules. The new rules also apply to all associations established for either a private interest, or social pur- pose and non-profit associations. Each association will now have to keep updated information on its beneficial owners, with penal- ties for non-compliance reaching €500, or up to €5,000 and a six- month imprisonment for provid- ing false or misleading informa- tion. Under new secrecy rules, must declare beneficial