The winners of this year’s Young Enterprise (YE) competition in Gibraltar, Gibsights, came third in the UK national finals held in London on July 14th. They were representing the Yorkshire and Humber region after winning that regional heat in June.
This is nothing short of an amazing achievement when you consider that they were one of 12 finalists from an entry pool of 2,500 YE companies from across the UK. Very well done to them.

Young Enterprise arrived at the Gibraltar College two years ago and is now firmly established on the Rock. The scheme encourages the development of business skills amongst young people, as well as emphasising the importance of teamwork, problem-solving, motivation and self-esteem. And it’s real-life stuff: teams set up real companies, issue real shares and appoint key positions in finance, sales, operations, human resources and marketing. They then develop a business plan to sell a real product or service. Think The Apprentice without the hiring and firing.

YE’s emphasis is very much on ‘learning by doing’ which naturally complements the perhaps more academic structures of the classroom. Teams are guided by Link Teachers at the College during the week and are also mentored by Business Advisors – volunteers from Gibraltar’s business community who steer, question and challenge the teams on the decisions and actions that they’ve taken.

This year five companies appeared in the Gibraltar final at the John Mackintosh Hall in May. Gibsights, with their innovative MP3 tourist product won out, but the other teams also showed a level of creativity and professionalism which was unthinkable back in October last year when they first formed their companies. The judging panel, made up of members of the local business community – John Perez, Chief Executive of Bland Group; Tony Welsh, Chief Executive of Marks & Spencer Gibraltar; Pepe Caruana, Senior Partner at Deloitte; and Franco Cassar, General Manager of Barclays Bank – were impressed at the standard of the entries and ideas.

So this year’s competition in Gibraltar belonged to Gibsights. Team members Mark Moreno, Syanne Agius, Sarah Martinez and Joel Williams developed and produced a series of Gibraltar walking tours incorporating both a map and an MP3 player with professionally recorded audio-guide. As a convincing show of their powers of persuasion, the team managed to secure the official endorsement of both the Gibraltar Tourist Board and the Gibraltar Museum. The team sold advertising space on the map to raise revenue for the production of the walking tours which were pre-recorded onto the MP3 players. In the first day the company sold over 110 devices at £15 each. They’ve now gone on to place a further order for MP3 players and are researching ways to develop their product. The team’s Link Teachers at Gibraltar College were Daniel Benrimoj and Roin Sampere and their Business Advisors were Alfredo and Ramon Vasquez from Vasquez Consulting Ltd. There’s more information about the company at www.gibsights.com

The four other companies taking part in this year’s Gibraltar final were Eco-Books who published a children’s book aimed at raising awareness of the local environment – they have plans to publish further titles. Fresh, who presented a novel way of promoting health and hygiene in Gibraltar; Made-Easy, who developed an environmental approach to selling surplus construction materials via an agreement with local developer and building company Sharrock Shand. And finally, Minichef who presented their idea for a cookbook designed to encourage healthy eating aimed primarily at children and young people.

In a testament to the success of the scheme, two of last year’s finalists have continued their companies and are now running professional businesses. One of them, Graziella Moreno, who runs Goods ‘R Us providing catering services, gave the 2010 final an update of her year in business. In a confident presentation she highlighted what she had gained from Young Enterprise and how it had helped her to go on and develop her business. Aptly, her company provided the catering at the post-presentation reception.

For the second year running the Gaggero Foundation has given generous financial support to Young Enterprise, which has enabled the programme to be developed further – not only by offering a number of different programmes to more students, but also by enabling the schemes’ extension to students at Bayside School. More developments of this kind are planned in the year ahead.

The Chamber is also active in supporting the scheme and the Department of Education have given it its full backing. Both obviously recognise it as an investment in Gibraltar’s future. B2B wishes Gibsights and all this year’s finalists every success in the future.

HM Customs Gibraltar (HMC) will soon have a new IT system for processing imports, calculating duty and ensuring that reliable statistics are collected on a timely basis.

Until now HMC have been using the same system since 1993 and the age of the current platform (Sco Unix) means that it can’t deal with the increasing demands of a growing private sector with the accompanying year on year increase in imports.

The Automated System for Customs Data or ASYCUDA as it’s better-known, is a computerised system designed by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), based in Geneva. Being an inter-governmental body the aim of the system is to automate as much of the processing of customs documents as possible. The main benefit of this is the avoidance of duplication or other data input errors which leads to more reliable duty forecasts and so assists government planning.

The new system is in use in 94 countries around the world. It is completely open source, which means that it can interface with software created by other designers.

For local importers and traders there are other benefits to the new system apart from those outlined above: goods will be able to be cleared through pre-submission without having to go to the EPU with physical paperwork. Provided all the paperwork is submitted electronically before the goods arrive at the EPU, Customs should be able to clear them without delay. As the new system is electronic it also creates an audit trail. The system will generate a unique barcode for each customs declaration, which will make document reconciliation easier. Other features of the system are an electronic mailbox, which will automatically notify users about the status of their customs declarations and easy identification of commodity codes by using a simple search tool.

The system is fully encrypted so security of individual traders’ information is maintained to the highest level. There are also a number of other security features built into the system so that importers can give different staff members more, or less, access to parts of the system depending on the level of permissions they set. Importers and traders will need to arrange this directly with the ASYCUDA unit at Customs.

Members will also be pleased to know that the recently introduced forms for imported electrical and electronic goods, as required by the WEEE legislation, have also been incorporated into the new system at the Chamber’s request.

Another useful feature for importers is that the system will now allow a simulation of a declaration to show details of product codes, any licences required and the all-important duty to be levied. As traders know only too well, sometimes their own calculations of duty payable have not always tallied with what Customs says is payable and sometimes the difference has taken months before it became apparent. This can have significant effects on a business’s cash flow.

Training for Chamber Members
The new system will be introduced some-time in the autumn. No date has been set but all companies who import physical goods into Gibraltar, whether as agents, wholesalers or retailers will need to be trained on how to use it. The Chamber is working with Customs to develop a training schedule for its members in time for the introduction of the new system. Members will be updated on a timetable for this in the next few months.

In the meantime though we would ask members to notify the Chamber of who in their company they will be nominating for training on the ASYCUDA system. If you have any questions please contact the Chamber on 200 78376 or by email to info@gibraltarchamberofcommerce.com

Click on image to view

OTHER AIRLINE NEWS

Málaga (AGP)

Ryanair (FR) has opened its 42nd base at Barcelona (BCN). The airline will introduce 14 weekly flights to Málaga (AGP) from 2nd September. Ryanair (FR) is to launch twice weekly flights to the Norwegian city of Haugesund on 22nd June.

Sevilla (SVQ) As part of the establishment of its new base at Barcelona (BCN), Ryanair (FR) will launch twice daily flights from 2nd September.

easyJet (EZY) travellers may notice that they are travelling in larger aircraft this summer. Owing to what the airline describes as ‘crew shortages’, the carrier is leasing several fully crewed aircraft from other operators. The first aircraft, a Boeing 757-200, has been leased from Air Finland and entered service in easyJet’s distinctive colours on a flight between Liverpool and Málaga on 12th June. Two further aircraft, another Boeing 757, this time leased from Astraeus Airlines and a wide body Boeing 767-300 from Titan Airways will follow shortly. It is likely that the Air Finland aircraft will be the only one to be repainted. While the Boeing 767 is too large to land in Gibraltar, the two Boeing 757s may make an appearance on an airport ramp near you…

London – Summer 2010.

With the season in full swing, we thought it would be useful to summarise the weekly scheduled flights from local airports to four of London’s gateways.Click on image to view

Chamber members have expressed serious concern as Government encroaches on private sector activities.

The Government’s announcement that it will become a co-developer in the long-awaited Mid-Town Project due to commercial finance not being in place also raises concerns among many local businesses trading in uncertain times. If this project is successful, then there should be a profit for government. However, if it fails, the subsequent liabilities for the taxpayer could be considerable.

In the last year the government has become the dominant building contractor in Gibraltar. The budget announced that they’re also planning to set up a local bank as well as become a property developer. When the Chief Minister asserts that “real socialists flock to the GSD” it’s not hard to see why. It is alarming for Chamber members to see how the ever-rising costs being levied on their businesses are being used to subsidise government companies that are then competing head-on with members’ businesses.

Chamber President Nicholas Russo said, “As we commented recently, times are a great deal tougher than they were 12 months ago. Our members in all sectors have been trying to manage their cost bases accordingly. We thought that government
had taken this on board. The Chamber is now fearful that the number of jobs lost in the last 12 months will increase as a direct result of the cost increases announced this week. That is bad for business, bad for government revenues and bad for Gibraltar.”

The top tip of those betting on the Gibraltar property market in 2009 was to invest in commercial office space as quite simply, demand was outstripping supply so prices would have to increase. Below we investigate what’s happening to the supply and demand of office space and whether there is, indeed, an office crisis.

Supply
The supply of office space is coming from the last remaining units in recent developments (eg Ocean Village) and the refurbishment or change of use of existing older property stock. Scaffolding along Main Street, Irish Town and Engineer’s Lane identifies where more offices are being created. Other existing buildings outside of the Old Town also have the space and capability of adding further to the supply of office space. If banks regain the appetite for funding refurbishment, the built space is already out there.

However, construction hasn’t yet started on any of the new major office developments that have planning permission. This is most likely due to: the world economic crisis which still prevents the banks from lending on such projects; the insufficient demand for off-plan sales; and the high cost of construction given the strong (albeit weakening) euro. In reality, a combination of these three factors is delaying the projects. So, the chances of seeing significant areas of newly built modern office space before 2012 is nil.

Demand
In relative terms to the UK and Spain, demand for office space in Gibraltar is buoyant. In absolute terms, it is probably a steady trickle. Enquiries for space from outside of Gibraltar continue unabated, but probably not at the exponential rate at which some may have wished, or perhaps not the size of company that was envisaged.
New gaming companies are being attracted to Gibraltar, we know that, as are insurance and funds related businesses. These all need office space. However, there have been redundancies locally and expansion plans put on hold, so existing offices are being freed up and added to the supply.

Trend
There is now a noticeable change in the type of office in demand. Visit the new much improved offices at Quest Insurance, Jyske Bank and Gibtelecom for example. These are modern, open plan – with raised floors for ease of cabling – air-conditioned, light and have attractive entrances to give the correct impression to visiting clients. These are the types of offices in demand.
So although there may be 5,000 sq metres of office space currently available in Gibraltar – which is well over one year’s supply – the availability of quality office space with quality entrances is in fact dwindling as these are the types of offices being snapped up first.

Mike Nicholls is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants and the founder of MN Associates Limited, a local company specialising in Gibraltar property, funding, relocation and financial management.

One of Gibraltar’s Main Street financial stalwarts, the N&P (Norwich and Peterborough Building Society) recently launched a new current account offering some interesting benefits, including a direct ‘phone line into the branch for account customers – which can’t be a bad thing in our book. Other banks, please take note.

If you’re interested in opening an account, you can pop into the branch at 198-200 Main Street and talk to a member of staff. For those of you quick off the mark N&P are offering the chance to enter a competition to win a luxury wine-tasting trip in Andalucia. Just go to the branch and mention this article or call 200 45050 before August 14th and book a meeting with a staff member. The prize includes return travel in a classic car (so no worries about drinking and driving!), wine tasting and lunch in the beautiful Ronda Valley.

Below are some other benefits of the new N&P current account.

•    £500 interest and fee-free overdraft
•    £50 account switching guarantee
•    Account opening within 24 hours
•    Ability to open the account with just £1
•    Direct line to your branch
•    Free everyday banking – no monthly charges
•    Access to an exclusive savings account paying 5% gross/AER
•    Low overdraft rates

In addition, if you need to switch from your existing current account provider N&P will guarantee to complete the switch within 10 days or they’ll give you £50.
Samantha Hemingway, retail sales and service manager, says: “We believe that our current account is the best in town. It provides access to a top-paying savings account and it can be up and running within just 24 hours! We’re looking forward to sharing our best kept secret with everyone.”