Month: July 2022

The digital transformation lies at the heart of today’s rapidly changing business environment, especially within the retail industry. The experience of a global pandemic has forced the retail sector to digitalise itself quickly to meet consumer expectations and secure its position and future in the global market. In this context, the Malta Business Bureau has embarked on the ToRRe project, short for ‘Building Towards Retail Resilience’, financed by the Erasmus+ programme. Its main goal is to help the retail sector reinvent itself in an increasingly digital world by providing it with the necessary tools to do so – digital skills. Digital skills not only expand the sector’s business reach but also allow it to adapt to the digital transformation challenge, which has completely redefined the market.

MBB CEO Joe Tanti stated, “The local retail sector is currently undergoing a rapid transformation – the digital transformation, propelled by the pandemic and the geopolitical uncertainty. Retail businesses are facing the challenge of competing in a highly digitalised market in which digital skills are a must. In collaboration with 5 other organisations based in Bulgaria, Ireland, Spain, and Malta, MBB is pushing to close the digital skills gap in the retail industry to ensure that it can meet the ever-changing and progressive expectations of today’s market”.

As part of the project’s research, MBB conducted surveys and interviews with both retail employers and employees as well as local experts. The survey results show that there is an evident lack of awareness on the digital skills gap that is present within the local retail sector, with only 36.8% of the respondents acknowledging such a fact. When asked for the most important digital skills that are needed for the future of the retail industry, digital marketing, social media, cybersecurity, online selling, and business intelligence emerged as the key skills based on the respondents’ results. Still, the fact that many the respondents were employees within the retail industry (78.9%), indicates a need to build retailers’ capacity to prepare for the digital transformation.

MBB had the pleasure to interview Chris Vassallo Cesareo, Managing Director of one of the biggest furniture businesses in the country Domestica Ltd with 20 years of experience in the retail sector. Mr Vassallo Cesareo described the current skills gap in the local retail industry as a “learning process” to which retailers must adapt to so that customers’ needs are met. Indeed, “Covid-19 has pushed us to become more tech-savvy to meet consumer demands”. Following the recent Industry Focus Series Consumer and Retail Conference, MBB has also liaised with EY Malta, which has vast experience in helping enterprises develop digital innovation. Confirming the importance of increasing digital skills, EY Partner Gilbert Guillaumier stated that once the pandemic mandated that shops had to close their doors and establish an online presence, having a digital presence became a “survival requirement” for 2 certain businesses. He also explained that despite recent shifts to online shopping, a number
of local retailers are observing that physical stores remain an important element in the retail experience. A customer’s shopping experience may start online and end in the physical outlet. In light of this, digital skills and customer experience remain more crucial than ever.

In this regard, after having identified the gaps that are holding retail businesses back, ToRRe will develop specifically tailored tools to address the digital skills gap present in the local retail industry. The knowledge gathered from the reporting phase of the project will feed into the online learning module which the partners will be discussing in the next stages of the project. The ultimate aim is to increase awareness and renew knowledge of basic yet fundamental digital skills for retail business owners and workers alike.

The Malta Business Bureau organised a business session on the European Commission’s recently issued proposal for an Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR), which has an interest for manufacturers, importers, distributors, and retailers.

The proposed regulation aims to improve the sustainability and circularity of goods across their lifecycle, increase the flow of information across all actors, and reduce waste in the process. The proposed legislation will thus widen the scope of products and ecodesign requirements covered and introduces new information requirements.

More specifically, the proposed ESPR will empower the European Commission to introduce ecodesign requirements on various aspects of products, components, or intermediary products, including aspects such as product durability, re-usability, upgrade-ability, recycled content and so on. The Commission will take a product-specific approach and introduces relevant requirements depending on the product in question. Food and feed, as well as medicinal products will be exempted from this regulation.

Aside from ecodesign requirements, products falling under the scope of this proposed regulation must comply with certain information requirements. Information flows across all actors in the supply chain is crucial to create a truly circular economy and limit wastage. To this end, the Commission is proposing a Digital Product Passport (DPP) which will capture, as appropriate, certain information relating to a particular product.

The above has been presented as part of a wider package, which also includes separate sectorial initiatives covering textiles and construction materials. Businesses will be obliged to ensure compliance with the new requirements before marketing their products in the EU.

The event was addressed by MBB EU Affairs Manager Daniel Debono, European Commission Head of Unit coordinating work on the Sustainable Products Initiave Matjaz Malgaj, and Ing. Ruth Baldacchino Scerri from the Malta Competition and Consumer Affairs Authority (MCCAA), and moderated by MBB Senior Policy Executive for Sustainability, Gabriel Cassar.

The ESPR is still being negotiated at the EU level and is a priority file being followed closely by the Malta Business Bureau. The MBB encourages businesses with an active interest in this area to get in touch with our policy team on infobrussels@mbb.org.mt with any feedback or concerns.

The Malta Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry and Malta Motorways of the Sea have renewed their bronze collaboration agreement, extending a long-standing partnership between the two organisations. Both parties will work together to promote enterprise and growth to all Chamber members.

Ahead of the signing, Ms. Marisa Xuereb, President of The Malta Chamber, emphasised the importance of the maritime sector in Malta. Whilst thanking Dr Grimaldi for their long-standing support to The Malta Chamber and the rest of the Maltese business community, President Xuereb outlined how both organisations can work together to continue promoting competitiveness, value to society and innovation.

The President noted that this partnership will also provide The Malta Chamber with the experience and knowledge of a renowned international operator of the field. This wealth of expertise, in turn, will continue placing The Malta Chamber at the forefront to carry out its duties in the field.

“The Malta Chamber of Commerce represents the Maltese economy very well. The initiatives and actions will allow Maltese and foreign companies to obtain the right added value every day, especially in the field of internationalization. The Malta Chamber is therefore an excellent ally in the daily challenges of our business and, for this reason, I am happy to once again support this important independent organization with the Grimaldi Group,” said Dr Eugenio Grimaldi, Director at Malta Motorways of the Sea Ltd.

The Bronze Collaboration Agreement was signed by Ms Marisa Xuereb and Mr Christopher Vassallo Cesareo as President and Deputy President of The Malta Chamber, respectively, and Dr Eugenio Grimaldi, Director at Malta Motorways of the Sea Ltd.

Today, a delegation from the International Monetary Fund held a meeting with the President of The Malta Chamber, Marisa Xuereb, and CEO Dr Marthese Portelli.

During this meeting, the following national priorities were discussed:

– Inflation
– Energy Prices & Supply
– Labour shortage & skills gap
– Increase in prices of raw materials
– Tourism

Currently, the IMF delegation is on an official visit to Malta as part of its remit.

Malta has an obligation to implement this EU Directive by the end of this month. This Directive was agreed to at EU level at a time when employers were not facing the inflationary pressures that are being felt today. So a prudent implementation of this Directive is called for given the prevailing economic climate to avoid fueling further inflation.

The Malta Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry has the following concerns regarding its implementation:

1. Parental leave entitlement is spread over the first 8 years of every child for both parents. It will be very difficult for employers to trace how much parental leave has actually been utilized by an employee, particularly since people may change job several times over the course of 8 years. The Malta Chamber insists on having a centralized system for keeping a record of parental leave utilization, administered by Jobsplus, DIER or the Maternity Leave Fund. This will ensure that there is no abuse of the benefit and ease the administrative burden of implementation on employers.

2. The Malta Chamber believes that in the interest of facilitating the administration of parental leave, and more importantly, of ensuring equal burden sharing between parents, irrespective of gender, no portion of parental leave entitlement should be transferable. This recommendation has been made by all employer bodies jointly in writing, but was not taken up by Government. This is a missed opportunity to do something tangible to address both the gender employment gap and the gender pay gap and runs counter to promoting female participation in the labour market.

3. Government will be funding the additional benefits in the first year but will place the onus on employers thereafter, through substantial increases in the Maternity Leave Fund contributions. This will have a negative impact on businesses, many of them are still trying to recuperate from the pandemic and struggling with several challenges such as labour and skills shortages and the resultant wage inflation, high costs of raw materials and transportation, and uncertainty surrounding the sustainability of the current energy prices. The current situation calls for greater sensitivity and a reassessment of the situation after the first year of implementation.

Earlier this month, Dr Marthese Portelli, The Malta Chamber CEO, participated in an event organised by Tech.mt. During this event, Tech.mt launched ‘Excelerate – Think Digital’ – An Accredited Training Programme. Tech.mt is a public private partnership between the Government of Malta and The Malta Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry with the aim of ensuring that every individual and business has the competences to beneficially use tech and engage in online activities effectively.

The programme is an MQF Level 3 programme accredited by the Malta Qualifications Framework through which businesses will be shown the benefits, encouraged and guided to go digital and invest in cloud technologies. This initiative will give businesses a great opportunity to improve their efficiency, increase their margins and generally provide a better customer experience in today’s competitive market. This programme will help businesses gain the knowledge they need to embark on their digitalisation journey in an informed manner – whether it’s a Digital Strategy; Cloud Migration; ERP; CRM; Security & Backup; Web Development & Design; and Groupware & Collaboration Tools.

The ultimate aim is that at the end of the project, the participants:
i. would have the necessary knowledge enabling one to move into the digital world and go through the digitalisation journey in a well-informed manner
ii. would have enough knowledge to help them identify which of the digital competences available on the market, apply best to their business.

Addressing attendees, The Malta Chamber CEO said “Tech is not just the present…it is the future. It is the key to productive, profitable, and sustainable economic growth. Digital industries have been critical drivers of economic growth over the past decade. If we look at Malta’s economic growth over the years we see how it has moved from a closed economy dependent on heavy industry, low-cost manufacturing and tourism to an open economy reliant on knowledge services, value-added manufacturing, and e-tourism. The retail industry has changed as well. As has the services industry.”

“In other words ‘traditional’ sectors have been revolutionized through the use of tech. Using tech in day-to-day operations, using tech at management level, using tech to get snapshots of one’s company’s performance on the fly, using tech for one’s marketing has become the order of the day. Study after study, and survey after survey confirm that businesses investing and upgrading in tech are reaping more positive results than those who opt not to. Tech.MT wants to be an active enabler on this journey. Tech.MT wants to help business achieve more by reaping the benefits on investing in the right solutions and in adopting the right approach. Hence ‘Excelerate’,” she said.

“Tech was, is and shall remain one of The Malta Chamber’s five main policy pillars. Through the rapid advancement of technologies like AI, IoT, big data, high performance computing and digital contact amongst others, as well as the growing network of connected devices with embedded intelligence and learning capabilities, tech continues to play an important role in increasing productivity and profitability. Together with industry, through our public private partnership, Tech.MT, we will continue focusing on the tech industry’s macro and micro requirements and how tech can support all sectors and niches. We will keep advocating and championing digitalisation, innovation and technology-driven transformation pathways. This is the key driver towards an enhanced future,” said The Malta Chamber CEO.

The Malta Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry, together with the Malta Maritime Law Association, organised the Malta Superyacht Symposium: Charting the Future. The aim of the event was to provide a platform for local stakeholders with the input of professionals from the international superyacht community. Transport Malta and Yachting Malta were Supporting Partners for the event.

 

The symposium focused on three objectives;
1. Formulating a future strategy for the superyacht industry for Malta;
2. Building upon Malta’s position as a leading yachting jurisdiction;
3. Presenting a formal report to the authorities with practical recommendations resulting from the various panel discussions.

 

The aim of the Symposium was to showcase and analyse the Malta superyacht industry, looking at its achievements over the years. In addition, the event was also consultative in nature. Discussions were held in a roundtable format, with representatives from various industry sectors, ranging in topics from the Malta flag, refits, Malta as a destination, the status of regulations, crew training and brokerage trends.

 

Throughout the two days, the panels discussed the following topics:
• Malta as a Centre for Superyacht Refits
• Malta as a Superyacht Destination
• The Status of Regulation in the Superyacht Industry
• Crew/Training Challenges in the Superyacht Industry
• Brokerage Trends & Issues
• Charting our Future in Malta

A keynote speech was also given by Cav. Lav Massimo Perotti, CEO & Executive Chair, Sanlorenzo Spa.

 

Following the panel discussions, all moderators presented the panel reports while reactions and feedback were given by Minister for Transport, Infrastructure & Capital Projects, Dr Aaron Farrugia, PN Shadow Minister Ivan Castillo (Maritime Sector) & Dr Mario de Marco.

 

The event was moderated by Julia Aquilina, Policy Executive at The Malta Chamber.

 

The Malta Chamber and Malta Maritime Law Association would like to thank the supporting organisations for their contribution:
Dingli & Dingli Law Firm, Fenech & Fenech Advocates, AZIMUT Yachts Malta, Ganado Advocates, MAMO TCV Advocates, Melita Marine Group, Grand Harbour Marina, No 12 Wines, KS Shipping, BWA Yachting, VISTRA, NAS, MMH and Farsons Direct.