Bank of Valletta hosted a financial education seminar highlighting important aspects of the local economy and investment basics with a view of helping the public make informed decisions when dealing with their financial wellbeing. The Bank is investing heavily in the financial literacy of the communities it serves. As explained by BOV CEO Kenneth Farrugia, “We feel it is our responsibility to disseminate financial knowledge and help the public to become better informed, so that they can choose financial products that really suit their requirements”. As a Bank of systemic importance, with a legacy of fifty years operating across the islands, the Bank has taken on board the responsibility to support customers in navigating the financial services world, so that they can make the most of the financial options available at different stages of their lives.”
Malcolm Bray, who heads the Bank’s Economic function, gave an overview of the local economic landscape. He highlighted several variables like the sectoral diversification achieved over the past decades, the record low unemployment rate, coupled with the expected easing of inflationary pressures, the record year for tourism, and the ongoing growth in residential house prices. “The present favourable economic conditions are also supported by the low pass-through of ECB rates to domestic lending rates. Indeed, household rates and corporate rates are currently the lowest among euro area countries,” he explained. Mr Bray also referred to the life cycle theory of consumption to highlight the critical importance of saving during our working age so that we can maintain existing consumption patterns once we retire when income decreases.
Bond and Equity Markets were particular areas of interest in the information session. Attendees were given an overview of bonds, how they work, and the main factors that affect the bond market, such as inflation, interest rates, credit rating, liquidity, and bond maturity. An overview of the local Equity Market, both by sector and industry, was also put forward, with particular emphasis on how shares entail more risk than bonds but entitle the holder to become part of the ownership of a company, with the possibility of earnings coming from dividends or increases in share price. Informative statistics about the local equity market showed a predominance in Malta by finance and real estate.
The public’s response to the financial education seminar shows that there is a growing demand in the market for further knowledge in finance, an area that Bank of Valletta is keen to invest in. The personal customer segment is showing particular interest to these sessions, with financial skills and investment basics at taking centre stage. The Bank encouraged anyone interested to participate in similar future evets to approach the Bank’s Business Development Unit by calling 22751122. Satisfaction with participants’ response to the content was expressed by Kenneth B Micallef, who heads the Bank’s Business Development arm, as well as Clayton Scicluna, one of the Bank’s Lead Portfolio Managers and David Pace Ross, Senior Manager within the Bank’s Stockbroking and Capital Advisory arm who presented the content to participants.
The Malta Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry held its Annual General Meeting (AGM) on Wednesday 20th March 2024.
“From day one, my ambition was crystal clear – to spur our Board of Management, our Council, and every single member into a formidable voice for The Malta Chamber, championing empowerment and unity,” said Chris Vassallo Cesareo, The Malta Chamber President, in his opening speech. He added that during the past year, The Malta Chamber embarked on a mission not just to continue, but to further elevate our representation of the business community.
Addressing those present, The Malta Chamber President said “as we look ahead, buoyed by the European Commission’s economic forecast, we see both opportunity and challenge. In the latest economic forecast for Malta, issued by the European Commission on the 15th of February 2024, the expectations are that Malta will continue to have GDP growth (4.6% yoy) and inflation increases (2.9% yoy) in 2024. Our GDP growth outpaces the Eurozone average, yet it brings with it the pressures of workforce demands and competitive sustainability. Rest assured, The Malta Chamber will confront these challenges head-on, with strategic foresight and unwavering dedication.”
Dr Marthese Portelli, CEO of The Malta Chamber, provided an overview of the accomplishments over the previous year. Dr Portelli detailed the policy, projects, communication endeavours, and events from the past year, as well as those planned for the future. “Our objectives for the upcoming year will emphasise enhancing quality and member value. This will be complemented by ongoing efforts in policy advocacy with government entities, as well as engagement with European and international partners,” stated The Malta Chamber CEO.
As the AGM drew to a close, Karen Spiteri Bailey, accountant with The Malta Chamber, delivered the financial reports for the fiscal year 2023.
The Malta Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry is thrilled to announce the signing of a Bronze Collaboration Agreement with Sullivan Shipping. This agreement marks a significant milestone in fostering strategic partnerships aimed at enhancing Malta’s commercial landscape.
As two prominent entities dedicated to facilitating business growth and fostering economic prosperity, this collaboration solidifies a commitment to mutual support and shared objectives. The Malta Chamber, with its rich history of advocating for businesses and driving innovation, joins forces with Sullivan Shipping, renowned for its excellence in logistics services and global reach.
Speaking on this occasion, Chris Vassallo Cesareo, President of The Malta Chamber, expressed enthusiasm about the collaboration, stating, “We are delighted to embark on this journey with Sullivan Shipping. This partnership signifies our commitment to fostering a vibrant business ecosystem and creating opportunities for our members. Together, we aim to empower businesses, drive innovation, and contribute to Malta’s economic prosperity.”
“Since its inception, Sullivan Shipping Agencies Ltd has been a strong and active supporter of The Malta Chamber, recognising its vital role in advocating for an ethical and sustainable business environment. As a responsible entity within the Maltese maritime industry, we acknowledge the fundamental role that shipping plays in our island’s ecosystem. While prioritising the preservation of our island’s environment, we also recognize our duty to add value to local businesses, which heavily depend on shipping and logistics services. Our Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) objectives underscore Sullivan Shipping’s dedication to aligning economic returns with environmental and social sustainability. We perceive this partnership as a significant stride towards fulfilling this commitment.,” noted Matthew Sullivan, Director at Sullivan Shipping.
The Bronze Collaboration Agreement between The Malta Chamber and Sullivan Shipping underscores a shared commitment to excellence, innovation, and sustainable growth. Through strategic partnerships like this, both organizations are poised to make a significant impact on Malta’s business landscape and beyond.
The agreement was signed by Chris Vassallo Cesareo, Nick Xuereb and Dr Marthese Portelli, President, Deputy President and CEO of The Malta Chamber respectively, and John Sullivan, Matthew Sullivan and Christian Sullivan, Directors at Sullivan Shipping.
KAIZEN™ in Maintenance focuses on equipment efficiency and maintenance improvement through an integrated optimisation model with production – Total Productive Maintenance.
Maintenance is one of the most significant business areas in an industrial company, with a direct impact on all stages of the production process. Industries tend to invest in high-quality equipment and machinery with a long-life cycle which must be managed and preserved effectively. Efficient maintenance ensures the continuous flow of the production process, allowing excellent operational results to be obtained in the form of cost reduction and increased productivity.
Considering that maintenance costs represent on average, 15 to 40% of the operational costs and planned stoppages result in a 5-10% loss in equipment efficiency, it is necessary to apply a model with the clear objective of reducing these and other relevant indicators like Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF), Mean Time to Repair (MTTR) and Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE). The implementation of Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) has resulted in successful cases in several industries, proving to be the approach that addresses all variables that affect equipment performance.
TPM is an approach based on a balance between planned and autonomous maintenance interventions with the objective of achieving an ideal production environment, seeking to maximize efficiency, based on a strong alignment between the operational teams – production and maintenance.
Dealing with unplanned downtime should be seen as a priority for organizations. In the automotive industry, each stop costs about $1.3 million per hour, which is represented by lost production time and, consequently, lost sales.
Despite the significant impact of downtime, 70% of companies still don’t have visibility into when their equipment should be stopped and intervened to avoid unplanned stops.
Only 26% have adopted a predictive maintenance strategy based on data and algorithms that make it possible to identify the optimal moments for equipment maintenance with greater precision.
Efficient maintenance teams are prepared to solve the challenges that arise. Still, they must also have the ability to anticipate future challenges by finding the right balance between working on resolving malfunctions – corrective maintenance – and preventing them – preventive maintenance. An efficient strategy to optimize the performance of maintenance teams is to evolve the TPM model in order to reduce the need to perform reactive maintenance while giving priority to predictive maintenance.
What are the three main maintenance strategies (reactive – preventive – predictive)
Reactive maintenance was the most common approach over a long period of time in different sectors of the economy. In a general way, it is about solving problems after failures occur. Following this approach, maintenance teams only act when called upon, and the stock of spare parts is small, only replenished with ad-hoc purchases.
When the organization opts for a reactive maintenance strategy, unexpected breakdowns force equipment downtime, reducing the availability of machines. Unplanned downtime can result in idle employees, production line stoppages, missed deadlines or late deliveries, the need to incur overtime, and energy overconsumption.
The occurrence of a failure in a single component can also compromise the condition of numerous other components inside the machine, increasing the time needed to repair them and leading to downtime costs for the organization and its repercussions.
While reactive maintenance is an approach to resolve failures and reset conditions to operate correctly, preventive maintenance seeks to prevent failures from happening, relying on a periodicity to check the need for maintenance or to effectively perform maintenance tasks on equipment.
Preventive maintenance is, in its definition, the set of activities carried out regularly (according to a planned schedule) to maintain equipment’s conditions and operational status.
Predictive maintenance has the main objective of formulating a forecast based on data and algorithms to find out, with high precision, when equipment maintenance is needed. The implementation of this approach consists of constantly monitoring the conditions of the equipment throughout its normal operating process to predict and detect potential problems and correct them promptly before they result in failures. It seeks to respond to two significant problems associated with organizational maintenance models:
The high costs associated with excessive periodic maintenance – are often unnecessary.
The high costs associated with an unplanned stoppage – which is often avoidable.
Predictive maintenance differs from preventive maintenance in that it is based on the actual condition of equipment and not on average or expected life statistics. This methodology tries to detect failure patterns and anomalies, learn from them, and then predict future failures of machine components so that they can be replaced before they fail.
The ‘predictive’ component of predictive maintenance stems from the goal of predicting the future trend of the equipment’s condition and it uses principles of statistical process control to determine at what point in the future maintenance activities will be appropriate.
In this strategy, repairs occur whenever the analysis of the equipment’s condition makes it foreseeable. Maintenance teams work on-call and have well-structured routines for lubrication, replacement of worn parts, inspection/measurement, and statistical analysis of performance. Spare parts stock management is based on anticipation based on the condition and/or forecast of a possible failure.
The image below shows the time distribution with comparisons between different maintenance approaches.
The goal and potential impact of predictive maintenance Predictive maintenance should be implemented in equipment that has a critical operational function, has failure modes that can be avoided with regular maintenance and has a failure probability that increases with time or use. Equipment that has random failures that are not maintenance-related, and that do not perform a critical function, should be disregarded in this scope.
The KAIZEN™ approach to implementing predictive maintenance contains four steps:
Selection of components and control parameters: it is crucial to start with critical assets to improve the functioning of this specific equipment. At this stage, there’s also the criteria definition, designed to prioritize equipment based on safety & environment, quality, availability, and process speed. The control parameters are also studied and defined in this particular step.
Definition of diagnostic methods and baseline values: equipment condition assessment can be done through periodic (offline) or continuous (online) monitoring of the equipment’s condition. This step aims to specify how to perform instrumentalized and non-destructive tests and inspections and define the baseline values. Most predictive inspections are performed while equipment is in service, thereby minimizing disruption of normal system operations.
Definition of suitable technologies: the predictive analysis utilizes various statistical and machine learning algorithms to provide recommendations and answers to questions related to what might happen in the future. Since it is a probabilistic method, the accuracy of the outcome depends on the data quality. There are different technologies to use, like computerized maintenance management systems, vibration analysis, remote visual inspection, acoustical analysis, infrared monitoring and analysis, oil analysis and model-based condition monitoring.
Predictive intervention: this step encompasses the design of the plan with all the information, such as which components are indicated for this approach, what are the control parameters for each piece of equipment, what are the reference values, what technologies are to be applied, and also what are the inspection points?
The main advantage of using this strategy is improving the operation of critical equipment, which will result in less need for corrective maintenance and generate savings in terms of time and money due to unplanned work avoidance. The continuous state of organization and control, which is the basis for preventive (periodic or predictive) maintenance, maximizes the availability and reliability of equipment and ensures processes at the lowest cost, allowing good decision-making for the management of assets in the long term.
Switching from reactive to predictive maintenance Today, maintenance must adopt a system more focused on prevention and less on the reaction and resolution of malfunctions; this strategy must be implemented in a global way and must necessarily be integrated with production.
The implementation of a model based on Total Productive Maintenance principles, through the application of predictive and planned approaches, which will optimize spare parts stock management and reduce equipment downtime, while maximizing efficiency, is the most effective solution to optimize maintenance processes. This new paradigm can take the organization from a repair and fault management strategy to an integrated maintenance and production management one, focused on preventing equipment anomalies.
The ultimate goal of Predictive Maintenance is to perform maintenance at a scheduled point in time when the maintenance activity is most cost-effective, and before the equipment loses performance within a threshold, reducing maintenance costs, increasing equipment availability, equipment lifetime and safety.
Impact of predictive maintenance on the overall equipment effectiveness By implementing predictive maintenance, teams will be able to gain insights into the need for maintenance before a significant downtime occurs – keeping equipment running. This makes the companies maintain not only high production time but also superior performance levels. This adoption intends to bring about an increase in the availability of resources, considered a key variable for the success of the organization, and for the OEE calculation.
The application of the predictive maintenance strategy will increase the organization’s overall OEE as it will allow preventive maintenance tasks to be carried out just before failures occur, drastically reducing both the planned stoppages of periodic inspections and the unplanned stoppages resulting from potential breakdowns.
Top challenges faced while implementing predictive maintenance Typical maintenance challenges involve for instance the lack of resources, funding, or training. However, recently, (and following the same logic as other business areas), maintenance has faced a paradigm shift as digitalization and innovation bring new variables to the equation.
Due to the need to remain competitive, organizations cannot neglect this aspect, and the paradigm must evolve. More companies are focusing on predicting possible future defects and channelling less effort into solving challenges at the moment they arise.
To develop predictive maintenance strategies, Industry 4.0 and the application of digital tools can also be differentiating factors.
There are solutions like:
Data analytics and all that can lead to predictive maintenance and conditioned-based maintenance
Digital twins and simulation improve machine reliability right from the design phase
Augmented reality increasing global remote expertise collaboration in maintenance interventions
Maintenance 4.0: cyber-physical systems
Real-time machine data availability (process and machine parameters
Digital transformation and innovation can play a key role in maintenance activities and show special relevance in the implementation of the predictive maintenance strategy. Only organizations capable of embracing these methodologies and leveraging them will achieve the much-desired transition from the current paradigm of ‘solving’ to the vision of ‘preventing’.
TradeMalta is currently in Ethiopia, assisting Malta-based businesses to unlock new opportunities.
The trade delegation, which is being organised by TradeMalta in collaboration with the Ethiopian Investment Commission, is made up of sixteen enterprises coming from different sectors – education and training, construction and building maintenance services, medical equipment, business consultancy, manufacturing, energy and sustainable solutions, ICT, financial services, and architectural and design professional services. Malta Enterprise, MCAST and the Institute of Tourism Studies are also part of the delegation.
Being the seat of the African Union, Ethiopia presents attractive opportunities for Malta-based businesses exploring new avenues for export and international expansion. Moreover, Ethiopia serves as a hub in Eastern Africa, acting as a vital gateway to tap into the broader East African market. This provides huge potential for fostering mutually beneficial economic growth and collaboration between the two nations.
The multi-sector business mission currently in Addis Ababa aims to assist Malta-based businesses to extend their reach into this untapped market, whilst capitalising on the significant benefits brought about by the setting up of Malta’s embassy in Addis Ababa two years ago. Through leveraging this diplomatic milestone, delegates can unlock new growth opportunities in the vibrant economic landscape of Addis Ababa and beyond.
Anton Buttigieg, CEO of TradeMalta commented, “This Trade Mission is an important milestone to consolidate commercial ties between Malta and Ethiopia as it will unlock untapped investment opportunities. During our first visit we are providing Malta-based businesses with insights into the intricacies of conducting business in Ethiopia. It is encouraging that so many businesses are showing an increasing interest in doing business in this part of the world.
TradeMalta encourages Malta-based companies interested in taking their business across borders to reach out with their ideas and plans and avail themselves of our support and services. We look forward to offering guidance and resources to materialise their internationalization plans into successful cross-border endeavors’.
TradeMalta is organising the first Malta – Ethiopia business forum in Addis Ababa with key Ethiopian stakeholders. This will be followed by a business-to-business matchmaking session that will provide an opportunity to the Maltese delegation to discuss potential business opportunities.
The 8th of March is synonymous with Women’s Day – a celebration of the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women worldwide. Several initiatives were undertaken by Bank of Valletta to celebrate women’s achievements while showing support towards vulnerable people in our communities.
As the Bank’s CEO Kenneth Farrugia said in a message to staff, “I recognise the crucial role that women play in the Bank’s success and can recall many colleagues who have been pivotal in shaping this organisation over the years. With 60% of our workforce comprised of women, I invite everyone to join me in this celebration and encourage the women of our workforce to continue making their presence felt until we truly become one unified family.”
Staff from across the organisation showed their unwavering support for this cause by sharing messages and selfies to highlight the many female faces of BOV. Supporting this, a unique spotlight was placed on seven female employees from across the organisation, who showcased their individual life experiences. They all highlighted the diversity that exists within the Bank and shared their roles, passions, aspirations and also their responsibilities outside the office. These were Danielle Grima, Chief Risk Officer, Julie Grech who heads the Bank’s Corporate Financing function, Rita Lovegrove who has a support role, Charline Magro from E-Banking, Marisa Said who heads Consumer Lending and Microfinancing, Christine Mizzi, Naxxar Branch Manager, and Rim Zouari from the Bank’s People & Culture team.
The Bank also reached out to several non-profit making organisations that support vulnerable women, visiting their premises and offering much-needed monetary support. Speaking about this initiative, Charles Azzopardi who heads the Bank’s CSR function explained, “In addition to supporting our own people through benefits that focus on holistic well-being, this year we lent a helping hand to NGOs that do invaluable work, sometimes in the dark, that make big differences to vulnerable people’s lives. Four of our female colleagues personally visited the shelters and presented monetary donations to help further their mission.”
Tonia Parascandalo, Head of Pensions and Insurance Services paid a visit to the St Jeanne Antide Foundation (SJAF), a family and community-focused NGO committed to offering holistic support to vulnerable families. The SOAR service offered by this NGO focuses on empowering women and children who have endured the harrowing ordeal of domestic abuse. Another shelter that found the Bank’s support was il-Milja, a shelter run by Fondazzjoni Sebħ, that provides holistic services to women and their children from twelve families running away from various forms of violence. BOV representative, Jeanette Grech, along with the rest of the CSR Team discussed the vital work carried out by this NGO.
Dr Tania Camilleri from the Bank’s People and Culture team paid a visit to the Migrant Women Association, which supports women migrants, refugees, and asylum-seekers who fall within the category of the extremely vulnerable, but who at the same time have great potential and capacity to overcome the tough situations they are going through. The last shelter included in this initiative was Dar Ġużeppa Debono in Gozo that lends a hand to single mothers and families, helping them understand their rights and re-inserting themselves into society. BOV was represented by Gozo Branch Manager Charmaine Borg who discussed the role of this NGO within the Gozitan community.
Another important initiative was a 30-minute podcast moderated by BOV’s Tonia Parascandalo. It featured Stephanie Falzon from BPW (Business Professional Women), Graziella Castillo from Aġenzija Appoġġ, and Charmaine Bugeja. The discussion focused on the hurdles that victims of domestic violence face, and how their lack of financial independence makes their situation more acute. This clip is currently being aired on the Bank’s social media channels https://fb.watch/qGDqqw55bi/. “This experience was truly a reality check for me,” said Tonia Parascandalo. “Listening to people who have lived domestic violence or who work so closely with its victims explain what an important block financial wellbeing is, is truly an eye-opener. I am convinced that if we stand with each other, we can truly help make a difference, both in supporting the vulnerable, as well as in celebrating diversity and living inclusion everywhere we are.”
Malta Business Bureau organises info session on revised Waste Framework Directive
The Malta Business Bureau organised an information session with businesses on the EU’s proposal for a revised Waste Framework Directive (WFD). The European Commission has now proposed a revision of the WFD to place a greater emphasis on the reduction and proper management of food waste and textile waste.
For the first time, the new rules put forward binding food waste reduction targets which all member states must meet. Latest EU statistics show that 139kg of food per person is wasted in the EU every year, which makes up 10% of all food made available to EU customers. In financial terms, this leads to losses of around EUR 132 billion.
By the end of 2030, member states must achieve a 10% reduction in food waste in manufacturing, and a 30% reduction in households, hospitality, and retail, compared to 2020 levels. Possible measures include supporting behavioural change, raising awareness, addressing inefficiencies in the food supply chain, encouraging food donation, redistribution, and skills development.
Opening the webinar, MBB President Alison Mizzi remarked, “by minimizing waste, businesses can achieve significant cost savings, enhance operational efficiency and foster a more sustainable approach. This not only contributes to their bottom line, but also resonates with the growing consumer demand for environmentally responsible practices.”
At the same time, selecting 2020 as the baseline year to measure food waste reduction has proved controversial. “This ignores the socioeconomic circumstances brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic. As with many industries, hospitality suffered from repeated and prolonged periods of closures or other restrictions. This means any food waste data gathered that year does not reflect the real-world scenario of hospitality establishments”, Ms. Mizzi added.
The reduction of textile waste is also a key objective of the revised Directive. Initial efforts shall be placed on strengthening producer responsibility to carry the cost of waste management.
Through Extended Producer Responsibility schemes, producers of clothing, footwear, and household textiles will financially contribute towards collecting used textiles, carrying out of compositional surveys of collected mixed municipal waste, providing information on sustainable and circular practices, data gathering, and supporting R&D to improve waste processing.
Producers would also be obliged to set up their own free collection systems for used textiles, to run alongside public collection systems operated by governments.
Textile waste poses a major challenge across the globe. Current data shows that the EU generates 12.6 million tonnes of textile waste each year, with almost half attributed to clothing and footwear waste alone. At the same time, only 22% of such waste is collected for recycling or reuse.
The webinar also featured interventions by MHRA CEO Andrew Agius Muscat and The Malta Chamber Policy Executive (Sustainability) Gabby Grech Larsson. Mr. Agius Muscat shared his views on the proposal from the perspective of hospitality, stressing that hotels and restaurants have already prioritised food waste reduction in their kitchens, while more needs to the done to tackle households. On her part, Ms. Grech Larsson shared what support The Malta Chamber may offer businesses to reduce the environmental impact of their operations, through the Enterprise Europe Network service.
As it stands, the current WFD establishes fundamental principles and definitions concerning waste management, outlining important concepts such as what is considered waste, recycling, and recovery. It also sets out how waste should be managed to avoid adverse impacts on health, the environment, noise, and other aspects. The proposal for a revised WFD is an important file to address two sources of waste which has so far lagged behind.
The information session was hosted by MBB’s EU Policy Manager on Sustainability Gabriel Cassar who also provided an overview of the proposal’s main elements and what they mean for businesses in practice. He explained how the proposal may be expanded in the future to cover more sources of food and textile waste.
The MBB has been working closely with national and EU policymakers to put forward the views and concerns of Maltese businesses. Those interested in further information are encouraged to contact the MBB EU policy team on infobrussels@mbb.org.mt.
The Malta Business Bureau is the EU business advisory organisation of The Malta Chamber and The Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association. It is also a partner of the Enterprise Europe Network.
In recent years, Malta has witnessed a dynamic transformation in its social media landscape, significantly influencing how people, businesses, and communities interact and engage with one another.
To this end, The Malta chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry, in collaboration with misco, organised an event that explored the current social media trends in Malta, highlighting the impact on society, business, and culture. The survey results from the ‘misco Social Media Usage Trends Survey 2023/24’ were presented, providing valuable insights into the strategies, challenges, and opportunities associated with the rapid evolution of digital communication platforms.
To view the full results of the survey, kindly click here.
In her opening speech, Dr Marthese Portelli, The Malta Chamber CEO, emphasised that understanding consumer behaviour and market trends is fundamental to The Malta Chamber philosophy. “The Malta Chamber’s mission is clear. We believe that digitalisation is key for business to succeed and will therefore continue fronting policy change and we will continue providing you with invaluable insights,” said Dr Portelli. She noted that amidst this digital revolution, it’s imperative to remember that technology should serve humanity, not the other way around.
Rebecca Gera, Director of Marketing and Opinion Research Unit at misco, presented the findings of the seventh survey on social media and online behaviour. “This year’s results reveal a growing acceptance of online advertising on social platforms, despite user discomfort with targeted ads. Moreover, while online shopping stabilizes, there’s a notable increase in the intensity of actions, with diverse purchases on the rise. Notably, 63% of online shoppers shop local, emphasizing the need for local enterprises to establish a digital presence,” she highlighted.
During a panel discussion, which was made up of Nick Bugeja (CEO, Ballotra), Prof. Franco Curmi (Head of the Marketing Department, University of Malta), Francesa Zammit Cutajar (Head of Marketing, P Cutajar & Co Ltd) and James Vella Clark (PR and Corporate Communications Director, Corporate ID Group), discussed several elements including: • Influencer marketing, which is very popular with the younger demographics, and whether this trend will trickle down to the older generation • The decline in breadth of sharing on social media platforms and what brands need to explore to increase engagement • The discomfort surrounding targeted ads and what measures can be taken to improve transparency and trust in this realm • Young people exhibiting a strong preference for video content over traditional text-based media, leading to lower rates of news website access • Online shopping becoming ever more prevalent with 25-34 year olds, with increasing intensity across various product categories
In her closing remarks, Rachel Bondi Attard, Head of Media and Communications Strategy at The Malta Chamber, called on businesses to embrace the digital revolution. “It’s time to kick our digital game into high gear, harnessing the power of smartphones, social media, and all things digital to take your businesses to new heights. Let’s also remain mindful of the importance of education in shaping digital literacy and the integrity of information in combating the spread of fake news,” she noted.
