GFSB BUSINESS INNOVATION AWARD
The GFSB has announced the opening of applications for next years (2022) GFSB Business Innovation Award sponsored by Gibtelecom. The online application form can be found on their website and needs to be submitted before Monday 31st January 2022.
Recent winners have included Crucial Compliance, EBike Gibraltar, Hempassion and Buytickets.gi who all demonstrated how businesses in Gibraltar are agile and great at innovating to succeed. This year could see even more innovative businesses apply, due to the challenges of COVID-19 and Brexit.
The partnership with Gibtelecom, the sponsor of this award since its inception, is also continuing and they’ll provide the winner an amazing prize of £2,000 worth of IT and communications equipment.
Danny Hook, Enterprise Director at Gibtelecom said, “We are proud to have been the GFSB’s Innovation Award partner for many years. Each year we are impressed with how local small businesses adapt and come up with creative solutions to push their businesses to the next level, as well as with how they’ve developed different technologies and processes to help them succeed in their business ventures. It is a great platform to showcase some of the local business talents, which there is plenty of in Gibraltar.”
Eran Shay GFSB Board member and one of the judges added, “Innovation is the lifeblood of business and as Steve Jobs once said ‘Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower’. The GFSB strives to help businesses succeed and there is no better way to do it than by promoting innovation. So if your place is amongst leaders, make sure to enter the Business Innovation Awards.”
Cross Frontier Group Update
For the Cross Frontier Group, the news of the prolonging of the negotiations between the European Union and the United Kingdom on Gibraltar until the first quarter of next year also means that the climate of uncertainty in which workers and companies on both sides of the Border find themselves is also extended.
In this regard, the Cross Frontier Group has wanted to urge the negotiators to conclude the agreement by the new date that has been set and that the Agreement encompasses the demands of this Group, in its capacity as a representative of civil society of both territories.
In the last month, the Cross Frontier Group has written to all of the parties involved in this negotiation asking them for a satisfactory agreement that provides the area with stability in our relations and which in turn serves to further enhance our economies and the well-being of our citizens.
The business and trade union organizations that make up the Group have thanked the Foreign Minister of Spain and the Foreign Minister of the United Kingdom for extending the memorandums until the signing of the new agreement between the European Union and the United Kingdom.
“We are aware of the complexity of the treaty that is to be signed and the framework in which the negotiating process is taking place; but we want to be reasonably optimistic insofar as agreements have already been signed by the parties which set out the key elements which will sustain the new framework of future relations ” concluded the spokespersons of the CFG.
MS IONA CALL
The Minister for Business and Tourism, the Hon Vijay Daryanani MP, welcomed MS Iona to the port of Gibraltar.
MS Iona is the new flagship of P&O Cruises, a subsidiary of Carnival Corporation PLC. It is one of the largest cruise ships, with a capacity of 5200 passengers and 1800 crew, to operate for them and it’s also one of their first LNG powered vessels. On this occasion it is carrying 2484 passengers and 1657 crew on board.
Minister Daryanani, who engaged in the traditional exchange of gifts, said “I am delighted to welcome MS Iona to Gibraltar. Carnival Corporation and P&O are one of the more important cruise companies in the world and we welcome them with open arms. IONA is the floating city example of the direction cruise ships are moving in. It is also great to see this new cruise ship visit our Port as it is LNG powered. The introduction of LNG is a major development that supports our environmental goals and decarbonisation pathway. We enjoy a very good working relationship with them and in November I met with Mr David Dingle CBE, the Chairman of Carnival UK to discuss how we can increase calls to Gibraltar. I will continue working with their itinerary planners to make sure that Gibraltar is included in future cruises.”
