Malta’s first crowd-funding platform, ZAAR.com.mt, has just been announced the winner of the first prize in its section at the National Enterprise Support Awards 2016. This also means that ZAAR will be one of two local projects representing Malta at the European equivalent of this contest – the European Enterprise Promotion Awards 2016, which will be held in Slovakia in November.
The ZAAR crowd-funding platform is a joint venture between the Malta Business Bureau and the University of Malta. Its name is an adaptation of the Maltese word żgħar meaning small. However, its growth at this early stage has been far from that, particularly thanks to the support of the Ministry for the Economy, Investment and Small Business, the Malta Arts Council and Grant Thornton.
George Vella, chairman of ZAAR, said: “This award gives us additional exposure and acknowledgement, as well as further credibility. As a result of this exposure, we will be able to make people more aware of the service we offer with regard to alternative finance.”
Asked about the formula for Zaar.com.mt’s success, Matthew Caruana, Zaar’s newly-appointed manager, said: “So far, this has been due to the commitment and service we offer and the support we give the teams behind our projects.”
EY top employer
EY has been named the world’s most attractive professional services employer – and third most attractive employer over-all – in Universum’s annual ‘World’s Most Attractive Employer’ ranking. The ranking is based on a survey of 267,084 business and engineering/IT students from the top academic institutions across 12 of the world’s largest economies.
In addition to its global ranking, EY was ranked the number one professional services employer in five countries – US, Canada, France, China and Australia.
Petter Nylander, Universum Group Global CEO, said: “Congratulations to EY for being ranked number one as the most attractive professional services employer among the world’s business students in 2016. EY has been very successful in positioning themselves globally around its inspiring purpose and providing a clear path for advancement combined with professional training and development.”
Ronald Attard, CSE TAS Leader and EY Malta Country managing partner said: “We are delighted with this news. People are our top priority and we have invested heavily in creating the right environment for all our employees. It is great to see this reflected in the survey.”