iStockgorodenkoff Kingston Economic Development has announced that the funding portal for the $2,500 Digital Main Street Digital Transformation Grant has reopened until September 30th, 2023, or until all funds are exhausted. The Digital Transformation Grant aims to provide brick-and-mortar small businesses with funding and expertise needed to digitally enhance their business. The grant has helped many Kingston area businesses establish or expand their digital presence with new or updated websites, stronger social media presence, e-commerce stores, and point-of-sale systems. In addition, businesses get the chance to tap into the knowledge and expertise offered by their Digital Service Squad. "The Digital Main Street Ontario Grants Program is a vitally important and immensely valuable resource for small businesses," said Kay Matthews, Executive Director of OBIAA. "It is very clear that businesses who took advantage of the DMS program over the past four years are now positioned for a brighter, more optimistic and sustainable future. We look forward to equipping even more small businesses with the knowledge, resources, and training to revitalize their operations with an expanded digital presence." "We are happy to be able to continue our partnership with OBIAA to support Kingston’s main street businesses," says Rob Tamblyn, Business Development […]
Fall in Indian startup valuations have created an interesting opportunity: Tim Draper
The founder of Silicon Valley VC firm Draper Associates feels global economic recovery will likely be L-shaped, with a long upward movement, like after the dotcom crash Tim Draper, founder of VC firm Draper Associates and a Silicon Valley investor, believes India has the potential to dominate the fintech, cryptocurrency, blockchain and smart contract markets if it fosters supportive policies, invests in world-class infrastructure and promotes entrepreneurship. During a recent visit to India for his show, ‘Meet The Drapers’, the third-generation venture capitalist who has invested in companies like Tesla, Baidu, Skype, Robinhood, SpaceX and Coinbase discussed with ET’s Vinod Mahanta on topics including the evolution of the Indian startup ecosystem, misgovernance in startups and why Indian regulators should change their views on crypto. Edited excerpts: The Indian government is all for banning cryptocurrency and is taxing it heavily. Should it change the mind on crypto? I believe that China, under President Xi, has decided to shut itself off from the world economy, and this presents a huge opportunity for India to position itself as a free and open country. However, if India were to eliminate or regulate cryptocurrencies with a heavy hand, I fear that they would lose […]
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Brick at Blue Star offers small businesses the opportunity to develop
(SBG San Antonio) SAN ANTONIO – Brick at Blue Star’s weekly Sunday market became the Dream Market Sunday, as part of Dreamweek. The Dream Market expands the weekly market to include more diverse merchants and new sellers in the community. Organizers say the event provides a launch pad for new businesses to take their first steps into entrepreneurship. "I think small business markets are important in general to help people you know sort of learn the tools of the trade how they can incrementally improve their businesses. And you know whether it’s just a passive form of income or something they’d like to be a primary source of income, just give them an economic way to approach their business where they can put as much creativity as they want as possible with less pressure from kinda outside more intimidating forces,” says Ann Enzminger, Event Producer at Brick.
Tata Communications sees growth opportunity in distributed cloud adoption
Rajesh Awasthi, VP, Cloud, Hosting and managed services, Tata Communications Tata Communications’ enterprise cloud platform services plans to build use cases for showcasing distributed cloud and build business intelligence capabilities, said Rajesh Awasthi, VP, Cloud, Hosting and managed services. The platform is seeing enterprises post the pandemic-driven cloud adoption recalibrate cloud costs and adopt to distributed cloud. Awasthi told businessline , “Tata Communications helps provide the right balance of private and public cloud. We are helping clients rebalance their workloads with a combination of cloud services suitable for the company. We are also repatriating workloads back into customer’s data centres as this is the approach enterprises are moving towards now.” It also plans to build capabilities that would help companies derive business analytics from the data stored on the platform, said Awasthi. The platform also aims to build a secure developer cloud that can help application vendors build applications faster. “We are looking at how to help application vendors to develop their applications faster when they are modernizing the application. We aim to provide a platform available with all tools and functions,” Awasthi said. With these services, Tata Communications aims to grow at a higher CAGR – 24 per […]
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KKR Income Opportunities Fund: An Opportunity To Add Income To Your Retirement Portfolio
DNY59 As I pass another birthday and get closer to my own retirement, I am constantly on the lookout for opportunities to increase my future income stream in retirement. In my article published earlier this month, I describe my income compounder approach to building a retirement income stream in more detail. With that background in mind, I would like to share with my readers and followers a unique opportunity to add some shares of an income fund from KKR and Co, Inc. ( KKR ). Not surprisingly, the name of the fund is the KKR Income Opportunities Fund (NYSE: KIO ). Instead of using a lot of words, here is a snapshot of fund facts from the fund website: KIO fund website The fund has been around for a while (almost 10 years) and trades at a discount to NAV (although both NAV and the discount are now higher), and pays a regular monthly dividend, which was $0.105 for quite a while until it was recently raised by 15% to $0.1215 per share starting in March. This fund, which now trades at a discount of -11.3% as of 1/26/23, pays a monthly distribution that amounts to a forward annual […]
View from India: Digital shift creates economic opportunity
Comment View from India: Digital shift creates economic opportunity Investments in intelligent process automation, touchless experience and public safety are likely to increase. Innovative business models are expected to emerge from this, along with new trends in the tech world. Skill for better incomes Large scale digital transformation spurred by the pandemic continues across industries, prompting companies to migrate to cloud-based models from the traditional server-based ones. Hence there’s a felt need for professionals to handle cloud-based skills, be it data analytics, AI or DevOps (a portmanteau of development and operations). Those companies that deploy AI-ML (artificial intelligence and machine learning) prosper, while those that don’t probably perish. Development tool and product design are enablers for topline and bottomline growth of companies. Seen futuristically, there could be bountiful opportunities in virtual reality and voice recognition. A digitally trained agile and creative workforce is required as organisations increase their digital investments. Had it not been for the pandemic, the digital transformation would have spanned out through this decade. A pandemic outcome is that the already digitally updated companies have gone that extra mile to enhance security systems and improve connectivity. Probably we could look forward to investments in security systems […]
2023 Can Be Your Opportunity To Manage Workplace Stress
Rachel Yarcony is the CEO and Founder of myAir Smart Wellness, a stress management platform of personalised smart-food and insights. getty As an entrepreneur, I know firsthand how overwhelming it can be to juggle the demands of running a business while trying to maintain balance in other areas of life. That’s why I believe that prioritizing our own well-being is more important now than ever. In the midst of a tumultuous economy, ongoing global conflicts and widespread uncertainty, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed and stressed. Chronic stress can have serious negative effects on our physical and mental health. For me, the unmet need I’m working to address in my business has provided a sense of purpose and motivation. I never would have become an entrepreneur if I hadn’t been driven to find a solution to stress. Thus, I believe the ability to effectively cope with and adapt to stress is essential for maintaining both physical and mental health. It can enable you to bounce back from difficult situations and challenges and to continue functioning at your best even in the face of adversity. Keeping Track Of Stress One way to build stress resilience is through the concept of hormesis […]
You Can’t Embrace Your Biggest Opportunity Because You Can’t See It
The missing link getty Do you know where clarity is and isn’t in your organization? After several decades of quality initiatives, lean manufacturing, lean thinking, six sigma—coupled with economic uncertainty, and competitive pressure—I guarantee that the greatest clarity in your organization can be found in your production processes. For manufacturers, your production processes are the processes that receive raw materials and parts, turn them into finished goods, and ship them out the door. For software developers, your production processes include collecting requirements, developing a design, coding, testing, and installing the software. For service organizations, your production processes are the processes essential for delivering your services. A bank takes in mortgage applications and transforms them into loans. A moving company packs, loads, transports, and delivers. A restaurant turns menu items into delicious meals. These are the processes that have been carefully mapped and streamlined. Any organization that has taken those various quality initiatives seriously now has well-defined, lean, repeatable, and efficient production processes. Employees involved in those processes know exactly what they are trying to accomplish, how, how well, and with whom, and they are given the necessary resources and opportunity to focus on the tasks at hand. Executives and […]
House Bill 8: Unleashing Opportunity From The Heart And Soul Of New Mexico
from across New Mexico gathered Thursday with House Majority Whip Reena Szczepanski and Sen. Jeff Steinborn in the Rotunda at the Roundhouse. C House Bill 8 supporters ourtesy/NMHD New Mexico House Democrats News: SANTA FE — Artists, creatives, craftspeople and entrepreneurs from across New Mexico Thursday joined House Majority Whip Reena Szczepanski (D-Santa Fe) and Sen. Jeff Steinborn (D-Doña Ana) in support of House Bill 8, legislation just introduced to establish a Division of Creative Industries within the State Economic Development Department to support the growth of economic opportunity among the full range of creative industries outside of film. “As we strive to diversify our economy, we must lift up the heart and soul of New Mexico,” Whip Szczepanski said. “From flamenco studios; to potters and furniture makers; to tech, design, and architecture this division will unlock incredible economic potential in our creative and cultural industries, creating good jobs and a larger global footprint for rural, tribal, and urban communities throughout the state.” “Part of what makes us the Land of Enchantment is because we are home to a rich diversity of artists, creatives, and cultural history that comprise the fabric of New Mexico. With Las Cruces, Albuquerque, and […]
Wood Pellets are the New High Dividend Opportunity: Enviva is the Way to Invest
Thomas Meth, President, Chief Executive Officer, and co-founder, Enviva Inc. (NYSE:EVA) The international trade in wood pellets are the fastest growing alternative energy export from the USA to the European Union. According to the US International Trade Commission , “the growth in wood pellet consumption has been heavily influenced by the EU’s Renewable Energy Directive (RED) requirements1 and the EU’s decision to designate biomass as a low-carbon renewable energy.” The immediate question is — how can investors make money from wood pellets, this little understood alternative energy source? Thomas Meth , the President, Chief Executive Officer, and a co-founder of Enviva Inc. (NYSE:EVA) has the answer to this provocative question. He is the wood pellet CEO. “Enviva is the largest wood pellet manufacturer in the world. We have a capacity of 6.2 million tons. We take a very heterogeneous, fragmented, renewable natural resource in the form of woody biomass and turn it into a commodity, a biomass fuel that can replace fossil fuels, such as gas, coal and oil across the world.” In his recent 2,409 word interview , exclusively with the Wall Street Transcript, wood pellet maestro Meth pulls no punches. “We make this product transportable and cost […]