Nova Chemicals Corp., headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, has established Nova Circular Solutions, a new line of business that focuses on lower-emission, recycled solutions. NovaCircular Solutions will be the home of the Syndigo brand, the company’s newest portfolio of recycled polyethylene (rPE). Alan Schrob, recycling director, leads Nova Circular Solutions. He has nearly 30 years of experience in plastics, manufacturing, health, safety and the environment. His team includes experts in plastics development, recycling technology, additive science, packaging design and regulatory compliance John Thayer, Nova Chemicals senior vice president of sales and marketing, says, “Plastic products play a critical role in our daily lives, and industry and consumers are placing higher value on products that contribute to the circular economy. They want products that can be recycled, reused and reimagined. “Today’s announcement underscores Nova’s commitment to be a leader in sustainable polyethylene production,” he continues. “We are investing time, resources and world-class technical knowledge into this new line of business and the Syndigo brand.” Syndigo rPE is designed to support growing demands for recycled content and the decarbonization goals of converters and brands, Nova says. Three products are available under the Syndigo brand: EX-PCR-WR3 is a mechanically recycled resin sourced from […]

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Illustration: Gabriella Turrisi/Axios With a new investment, business leaders are trying to make sure Black-owned businesses in Massachusetts aren’t left behind in the COVID-19 pandemic recovery. Why it matters: The federal government is pouring billions into states to reduce inflation, boost public infrastructure and address tech manufacturing hurdles . But business leaders worry Black owners won’t see any of that money. Many were left out of pandemic relief funding , and small businesses tend to lack the administrative resources to navigate often complicated application processes for funding and work opportunities. What’s happening: The Black Economic Council of Massachusetts is investing $750,000 from the Rockefeller Foundation in small grants, administrative resources and bidding help, says President Nicole Obi. The foundation will send BECMA the money in yearly installments of $250,000 through 2025. Obi says the Rockefeller funding will support business owners with short-term hurdles while helping those companies scale up and potentially vie for federally funded grants and contracts so they don’t end up left out again. What they’re saying: "It wasn’t too long ago … We can look back two years ago and see money that was meant to help to revive and restore the economy didn’t end up […]

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The Dry Life: Athletic Brewing cofounders Bill Shufelt and John Walker. Bill Shufelt and John Walker are making nonalcoholic beers tasty enough to please the biggest sud snobs. And with a nearly $500 million valuation, investors are intoxicated. On a dreary Wednesday in January, Bill Shufelt, the cofounder and CEO of Athletic Brewing, grabs a yellow can of golden ale off the humming conveyor belt in his new 150,000-square-foot Milford, Connecticut, brewery and cracks it open. It’s 10 a.m.—but there’s no need for an intervention. Over the last few years, Shufelt, 39, and his cofounder John Walker, 42, have created the buzziest beer brand in America by creating craft brews without the buzz. Alcohol-free beer, often bland and thin, has long been seen as the brewer’s equivalent to decaf coffee or tofu turkey. Athletic Brewing is out to eliminate the stigma, making hoppy IPAs, crisp ales and toasty porters with the flavor and feel of a craft beer—but with less alcohol than a slice of rye bread. A six-pack costs about $10. “Humans have been drinking beer for more than 5,000 years,” says Shufelt, a former hedge fund trader who, a decade ago, gave up booze to improve his […]

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Bühler headquarters in Uzwil, Switzerland. UZWIL, SWITZERLAND — Bühler said in its 2022 annual report that it has largely returned to pre-pandemic business levels with a 10.3% turnover increase and a 35.7% boost in net profit. At the group level, the Uzwil, Switzerland-based business said order intake rose 8.7% to CHF 3.3 billion ($3.58 billion), while turnover increased to CHF 3 billion. Net profit increased to CHF 154 million, up from CHF 113 million a year ago. During the year, Bühler said it was able to mitigate effects of the war in Ukraine, tense supply chains, and soaring energy and raw material prices, while further improving its financial position with a high equity ratio and repaying the first tranche of its bond. The company continued to invest in innovation, new partnerships, and education and training. “The impressive dedication of our employees worldwide helped us to be agile, resilient, and creative, even in the face of increasing volatility and uncertainties,” said Stefan Scheiber, chief executive officer of Bühler. The growth in volume came mainly from the Advanced Materials business, where order intake increased by 41% to CHF 871 million, nearly doubling its volume within the last two years. The largest […]

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Zain Jaffer is the founder and president of Zain Ventures , a family office that invests in real estate and proptech. getty Anyone who has tried out ChatGPT in recent weeks will be amazed at the state of artificial intelligence (AI) in the world today. Recently, Microsoft announced that they would be investing $10 billion in OpenAI, the startup that created ChatGPT. Clearly, AI is the buzzword of the times. People have been predicting that AI could replace many of the mundane and repetitive tasks that we humans do. Eventually, it could get to the creative and innovative part of the human mind. Actually, ChatGPT can already give us an inkling of that. Some people have asked it to write an essay, a screenplay or other tasks that would normally require human thinking. One of the jobs some people worry AI could easily replace in the near future is the customer service representative. We already see one potential sign of this on some websites that feature helpdesk chatbots and make it hard to reach an actual human for help with a question. Since many customer service jobs involve answering questions that customers ask frequently, the oft-repeated answers could help […]

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‘If you’re a businessperson in Connecticut, there are connections now that you can use to create a more peaceful world’ Founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum Klaus Schwab welcomes Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky seen on a giant screen by video link at the Congress centre during the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos on May 23, 2022. (Photo by FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP via Getty Images) The Russian invasion of Ukraine has captured the attention of Americans in ways that few other conflicts have, and created challenges that today’s business students will likely grapple with for the rest of their careers. That’s the perspective of two leading business-ethics scholars who will be the guest panelists during a Feb. 20 program called “Business, Peace and the War in Ukraine: One Year Later.’’ It is part of the School of Business’ Equity Now speaker series that addresses prominent justice and human rights issues in business. Professor Tim Fort of Indiana University and professor John Katsos of American University in Sharjah, will discuss the influence of multinational corporations on war and peace, with emphasis on how businesses addressed the Russian invasion of Ukraine. They both believe that large corporations […]

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President (Pacific Division) of American Fashion Network (AFN) Christina Ongert stands before AFN’s recently-relocated Wisconsin office in downtown West Bend, 105 N. Main St., Suite 100. West Bend city documents WEST BEND — The Wisconsin office for American Fashion Network recently moved to downtown West Bend from the Historic Third Ward district in Milwaukee. President (Pacific Division) of American Fashion Network and West Bend resident Christina Ongert spearheaded the move of AFN’s Wisconsin office to its new location at 105 N. Main Street, Suite 100. “We were in the Third Ward for almost six years and we weren’t seeing as many people face-to-face or getting as many inquires in that space,” said Ongert. “And I live here in West Bend, and I’m in tune with the community and culture and values, and our company is really focused on nearshore and made-inthe- USA production. Living in a community like ours that values those things seemed like a good fit.” Ongert also said she hopes AFN can offer the community something unique with its full-service product development options. “We wanted to make ourselves more accessible to the community and their needs for more than just basic screen-printing, apparel, and embroidery, which […]

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Carl Gould is a business transformation expert with 7 Stage Advisors . His methodologies are practiced in over 35 countries. getty The desire to be better in the new year is nothing new. In fact, New Year’s resolutions can be traced back 4,000 years to the ancient Babylonians. Maybe those traditions were a little different than ours (no need for us to crown a new king, for example), but taking time to reflect on the past year and set goals for the year ahead is still a good use of time. In the corporate world, business owners and senior executives should set aside time in the first quarter to assess what happened in 2022 and map out the possibilities for their professional growth in 2023. Here are some tips to get you started. 1. Assess your strengths and weaknesses. If you consistently did well in some areas, this is the time to pat yourself on the back. But it’s also time to think about how you can spend more time doing the things that you do best. This sets you up for more success in the coming year. Conversely, you may be able to spot some repeated business mistakes. […]

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By Dan Lahl, Global Vice President of SAP Business Technology Platform Marketing & Solutions, SAP Despite an unstable business environment of supply chain pressures, inflation, skills gaps, and talk of recession, some midsize companies are not just surviving – they’re thriving. New products are innovated to attract broader market interest, while existing brands expand into additional markets, categories, and segments. In essence, the midmarket is where many innovations are being incubated and tested out for fast and agile success. According to the IDC InfoDoc, " A Guide to Growth ," these high-growth companies expect to increase their revenue and market share by nearly 11% within the next 12 months. Behind this expansion, the secret for 81% of these high-growth respondents lies in heavy investment in technology, such as ERP, data analytics, data management, automation, business networks, digital supply chains, power-user enablement, and various line-of-business solutions. As exciting as these outcomes may be, infusing multiple new technologies into an IT landscape could become too complicated, disconnected, and unwieldy to manage and use for future innovation. However, it’s possible to avoid this risk by leveraging a cloud-based business technology platform that services the above digital investments and provides the flexibility, extensibility, […]

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getty Just over a year ago, the company I started alongside my co-founder was acquired. This was both a short and long time coming: Any entrepreneur worth their salt will always be on the lookout for a valuable exit opportunity, but rarely do these opportunities evolve into something concrete. While my co-founder and I had been in discussions with the company that acquired us for years, there was still an incredible learning curve when it came to navigating the acquisition process. Despite almost always being on our radar, the acquisition highlighted both new challenges and opportunities for our company. Small businesses, in particular, face a unique set of challenges around an acquisition—especially when the potential parent company is much larger. Every company is for sale, always. One of my company’s board members once told me, “A CEO has two main jobs: raise money and sell the company.” What changes over time are the opportunities for exit and whether there’s a match between those opportunities and your goals. For most of the life of a company, you’re looking for that alignment and it isn’t there because it’s rare. That alignment can evolve, too, developing years later even if it wasn’t […]

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