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To construct a strong, resilient business, trust must be at the center of everything. Corbis via Getty Images Of all the attributes your business could develop, few are more important than building trust . When it comes to customers, 81 percent say that trust in a business is a deciding factor when deciding who to buy from. And trust is equally important with employees and business partners. In fact, research from the Harvard Business Review reveals that workers at “high-trust companies” experience 74 percent less stress, while also being 50 percent more productive. Unfortunately, building trust is sometimes easier said than done — particularly if you operate in an industry not known for trust. We’ve all heard stories about shady used car salesmen, but many other industries, such as tech, also face their fair share of skepticism. All too often, this distrust is deserved. The good news, however, is that regardless of industry, you can take actionable steps to build trust — and few things will pay greater dividends in the long run. 1. For Trust, Focus On Foundational Elements What allows a business to build trust? This can be hard for businesses to pin down because there is […]

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getty A few years ago, writing an article about agriculture in a business outlet would have appeared very out of place. Who would have been interested in a bunch of farmers plowing their fields with tractors? However, with the realities of the climate crisis becoming ever clearer, wars and natural disasters destroying livelihoods across the globe and threatening food security on top of the global finance sector being under pressure to clean up portfolios and promote sustainable futures, agriculture is now a hotbed for investment and innovation. It is also where clever tech and business brains should be heading. Without agricultural transformation, there will be no future. It’s that simple. We all need to eat and drink to survive, but the food system is in urgent need of transformation. To reel off a few stats, on average 70% of global freshwater is used for agriculture , the global food system accounts for nearly a quarter of greenhouse gas emissions and 25% of the world’s land has been degraded, all against a backdrop of the need to adapt to climate change and be prepared to feed 10 billion people. Agriculture is an industry with extremely complex and multifaceted challenges that […]

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getty I’ve spent most of my business life pursuing a dream: developing products that consumers love, made by global artisans in a way that provides decent levels of revenue back to them. To ensure those flows while maintaining profitability, I determined a good approach was shortening our supply chain. The traditional supply chain has a long process, going from the artisan/maker to the exporter and importer, then to the distributor, wholesaler and, finally, the retailer. By acting as the distributor/wholesaler, we can connect more directly with our community of artisans, thereby getting them closer to retailers. Along the way, sustainability has become non-negotiable as environmental, social and governance (ESG) frameworks and targets have become core pillars in Western economies. The industry has shown that focusing on these factors can force positive change, both for the world and for companies’ profitability. Good Business Sense—And Fair Play Consumers want high-quality, authentic items, but they also want to know that the workers making these products are treated fairly. I work closely with skilled craftspeople in India whose furniture, accessories, textiles and other items are exported all over the world. So, it was very important to be conscious of exploitative labor practices, which […]

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London CNN — Rich travelers will have to pay more to fly if the aviation industry is to transition to greener fuels , the boss of one of the world’s biggest airports said Tuesday. Speaking on a panel at the World Economic Forum in Davos hosted by CNN’s Richard Quest, Heathrow CEO John Holland-Kaye said that wealthy individuals and companies should pay extra to fly with sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) in order to bring the costs down for everyone else, particularly people in developing countries. He said that financiers and energy suppliers should invest in SAF production, including in emerging markets. “But as individuals and companies we need to be paying the premium for sustainable aviation fuels so that we can get the cost of it down so that the mass market and developing countries don’t have to pay for the energy transition. The wealthy people in this room and wealthy nations should be funding the energy transition in aviation to help support developing countries,” he added. Holland-Kaye said the solution to sustainable aviation was not to fly less, which was not necessarily an option outside Northern Europe, but to use cleaner sources of energy to travel. This company […]

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Workers walk across LaSalle Street in the Loop on Aug. 19, 2022. DOWNTOWN — A program that would give grants to small businesses looking to revitalize the LaSalle Street corridor passed a critical hurdle last week. The program would direct $5 million in tax-increment finance dollars to jumpstart a Small Business Improvement Fund for storefronts along the LaSalle Street corridor in the Loop. Grants of up to $250,000 would be available for building owners or tenants to make permanent renovations on ground-level retail space. An extra $50,000 would be available for applicants expanding to the corridor from low- and medium-income neighborhoods. A maximum is set for $1 million per property. A total of $5 million would be up for grabs, according to city documents. The expansion was approved by the City Council’s finance committee Thursday and awaits a vote from all 50 alderpeople. The proposal is being marketed as a great opportunity for local businesses, but leaders of one South Side chamber of commerce worry the increased financial benefits could lure stores away from commercial strips in lower income areas. The addition of the Small Business Improvement Fund to Downtown is part of Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s initiative to turn […]

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getty For most industries, innovation is driven by a combination of technological advances and larger global trends, and this is particularly true of the residential property management industry. The rental market continues to be shaped by economic, social and technological trends, both in terms of business challenges and resident demand. As property management teams lean on new technology to improve operational efficiency, grow their businesses and meet customer expectations, three major trends are acting as driving forces: the Internet of Things (IoT), consumer fintech and remote work. As these trends force significant change upon a variety of industries, there’s a lot that business leaders can learn from their impact on the real estate space and, ultimately, how property technology (proptech) innovation is helping property managers meet these changes. 1. The Internet Of Things The increase in cellular and wireless connectivity of everyday objects, otherwise known as the Internet of Things (IoT), has enabled new services and real-time, always-on communication. Worldwide, IoT devices are predicted to triple from 9.7 billion in 2020 to over 29 billion by 2030. Within real estate, the emergence of IoT has significantly escalated resident demand for smart home technology and provided an opportunity for property […]

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Women business owners share ‘secret sauce’ at event held at SweetGrass Vodka Lounge (WCIV) CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCIV) — "We believe in the power of connection and collaboration. We believe that you’re only one referral, one idea, and one introduction away from an entirely different life," said Whitney McDuff, The Dames Charleston Chapter President. On Wednesday, The Dames hosted an event at SweetGrass Vodka Lounge, inviting women of Charleston to expand their network and hope to receive needed business counsel. Each person was given the floor to introduce themselves, their occupation, and something they hope to gain. Woman-owned business owners share the ‘secret sauce’ at SweetGrass Vodka Lounge (WCIV) It’s a membership-based community with six, seven, and eight-figure women whose mission, the company says, is to not gate-keep the keys to more success by the power of collaboration and networking–a catalyst in moving the needle in each other’s respective businesses. The community spans 37 states and five continents. It’s why Ellen Rose, who just started her public relations firm Rose Media, attended the event. Rose previously spent 15 years in corporate as a producer in New York and D.C. in the news industry. After the Covid-19 pandemic struck, Rose entered […]

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Bonds yields are reversing an early-morning rise after a regional manufacturing survey suggested a marked contraction in business activity, underscoring concerns the economy could be headed for a recession. The Empire State Manufacturing Survey, which canvasses producers in New York state, fell to minus 33 this month, reflecting that a greater share of businesses are seeing activity decline. The reading was a sharp fall from December’s minus 11 figure. The survey is volatile: The index also fell below minus 30 last year, only to recover into positive territory months later. Still, bond traders are taking the report as a cautionary sign about economic growth, buying Treasurys in a bet on an incrementally lower projected path of Federal Reserve rate increases. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note had traded above 3.58% earlier Tuesday morning, but fell to 3.525% following the survey, according to Tradeweb. The 10-year yield is still up slightly from its close at 3.510% on Friday before Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Yields fall as bond prices rise.

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LAGOS, Nigeria, 10 January 2023 -/African Media Agency(AMA)/- With more businesses in West Africa adopting cloud technologies than ever before, the region is set to enhance its competitiveness significantly. Following years of disruption, and hampered by a lack of legacy investment into technology, West African businesses now have an opportunity to leapfrog tech adoption and leverage the cloud for rapid growth and success. Titilayo Adewumi, Regional Sales Director for West Africa at SAP, says: “Companies across the region are adopting cloud to achieve greater scalability, improve their data and analytics capabilities, drive innovation and build greater resilience. A huge part of our success in supporting the region’s digital transformation efforts is our close collaboration with expert partners that continuously find new ways to innovate.” Digitalisation a huge opportunity The World Bank recently noted that digitalisation is one of the most transformational opportunities of our time , highlighting its role in alleviating poverty and boosting shared prosperity in West Africa. In light of this, cloud technologies offer tremendous benefits to organisations in the region. These include lowering the total cost of ownership of technology capabilities, achieving faster deployment cycles, automating manual processes to boost efficiency, enabling quicker adoption of emerging […]

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According to Cox Automotive Europe, the global automotive sector is set to make a tentative recovery in 2023, despite prolonged disruption to new vehicle supply. The company cites the burgeoning transition to EV, new market entrants, and the agency model’s evolution as key factors affecting automotive retail over the next 12 months. The sector enters 2023 from yet another challenging year in which performance remained below pre-pandemic levels. Despite this, the UK outperformed many of its European neighbours, achieving 1,614,063 vehicle registrations according to official figures from SMMT, within 0.7% of Cox Automotive’s best case scenario forecast for the year. However, the performance of the UK automotive market must also be viewed in context. While other European nations grappled with similar headwinds facing the UK market, only Germany registered a year-on-year recovery for new and used sales, with a 3% increase in the new market YoY and 25.2% compared with 2019. Supply shortages will continue into 2023, shaping consumer preferences Despite signs of a recovery for vehicle manufacturing, Cox Automotive believes the sector is entering a new era of significant change amid shortening lead times, where supply is significantly below normal pre-pandemic levels. There has been a notable shift […]

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