To view original article click here.

POLO BLUE SPORT

Celebrate this Father’s Day the time-honored thrillof competition and sportsman- ship with a NEW fragrance – POLO BLUE SPORT. The unique fragran- ce was created for the modern, active sports- man that harnesses the power of water and the exhilaration of victory.

Retailers: RalphLauren.com, Macys.com and at select retailers MSRP:

75ml (2.5oz) Eau De Toilette Spray $61.00

125ml (4.2oz) EauDe ToiletteSpray  $76.00

Fragrance Type: AROMATIC Citrus

Perfumer: Harry Fremont

To view original article click here.

10 de junio de 2013
por: Beatriz Cuartero

To view original article click here.

By Murray Pollok
June 12, 2013

Miami-based power rental company SoEnergy International has formed a partnership with UK and Dubai-based Masaood John Brown International (MJBI) that will see SoEnergy gain expertise in servicing and refurbishing of GE gas turbines in Latin America and the Caribbean.

MJBI specialises in maintenance services, spares and replacement parts for gas turbines, and in particular GE’s frame range of turbines. SoEnergy said the agreement will allow it to offer more cost-effective solutions, including co-generation and combined cycle power plants using refurbished turbines, and give it the opportunity to refurbish and maintain turbines rather than buying new ones.

In addition, MJBI gives SoEnergy a service and repair partner for gas turbines as an alternative to the original manufacturer.

SoEnergy said the combined range of services – power rental, parts, maintenance and repairs, commissioning, refurbishing, and operation of large-frame gas turbines – represented a US$250 million annual market in Latin America alone, while the worldwide market for large-scale sale of power was “in the billions”.

Andres Molano, vice president of sales with SoEnergy, said; “This strategic partnership will enable us to gain a tremendous competitive advantage as we provide clients with the cost-effective, customised power solutions along with value-added services they need so they can focus on running their core businesses.

“We are very excited to seize the tremendous market opportunities globally and in the Latin American and Caribbean regions.”

Brian Waddell, general manager of MJBI, said the company had selected SoEnergy as its strategic partner “because of its significant market knowledge, experience, and long-standing relationships with the major energy buyers in the region.”

SoEnergy – formerly called Energy International – is one of five strategic partners with Caterpillar for international power projects worldwide.

Masaood John Brown International (MJBI) has offices in United Arab Emirates (Abu Dhabi, Dubai) and the UK, with a repair facility and workshop in Dubai.

To view original article click here.
By Danielle Kucera
May 23, 2013

EBay Inc. (EBAY), owner of the biggest Internet marketplace, is boosting staff in its emerging-markets group by 50 percent this year, seeking to win loyalty in burgeoning regions where online sales may top $195 billion.

The team tasked with stepping up sales growth in Russia, Latin America and China has reached 140 employees and may increase by about 60 more people by the end of 2013, said Wendy Jones, who oversees geographic expansion and cross-border trade at San Jose, California-based EBay. The effort is “incredibly well-funded” and plans to focus first on Russia, she said.

The EBay Inc. logo is displayed at the entrance to the company’s headquarters in San Jose. EBay is reaching into developing countries as the company competes with Amazon.com for the loyalty of merchants selling on its online store.

EBay Chief Executive Officer John Donahoe is betting on regions of the world where consumers and merchants are starting buy and sell more over the Internet. The company predicts that 25 percent of its users will be in developing countries at the end of 2015, up from about 5 percent in 2012, as EBay works to narrow Amazon.com Inc.’s lead in global e-commerce.

“There is still a significant, untapped opportunity out there,” said Dan Kurnos, an analyst at Benchmark Co., who recommends buying EBay shares. “If EBay doesn’t address it, someone else will.”

EBay ended 2012 with 6 million active users in Brazil, Russia,India and China, with $3.2 billion in sales to consumers there. It had more than 112 million active users worldwide.

Language Barriers

EBay is reaching into developing countries as the company competes with Amazon (AMZN).com for the loyalty of merchants selling on its online store. Amazon is increasingly shifting to a marketplace model similar to EBay’s, with 40 percent of units on the site sold by outside vendors in the first quarter.

“We are sparing no expense,” Jones said in an interview, referring to staff dedicated to developing countries.

Donahoe’s biggest hurdle will be fostering trust in markets where fraud abounds, couriers such as FedEx Corp. (FDX) don’t exist, and most consumers don’t rely on credit cards or PayPal, instead using cash to pay for online purchases upon delivery.

“The challenges involved are significant,” said Michael DeSimone, CEO of Borderfree, which helps companies adapt e-commerce sites for new countries. “Culture is so different. Language is so different. To really do business in those countries, you need to be on the ground.”

Rapid Growth

E-commerce revenue in China, India and Latin America were estimated to exceed $185 billion in 2012, increasing at rates as fast as 44 percent a year, compared with 14 percent growth in the U.S. in the same period, according to Forrester Research. Russia’s online retail industry expanded 25 percent in 2011 to $10.5 billion, according to a report by East-West Digital News. Combined, Internet commerce in emerging regions approached the value of the U.S. market, where sales reached $231 billion in 2012.

Gaining ground abroad could help EBay close sales-growth and share-price gaps with Amazon. Shares of Seattle-based Amazon have more than tripled in the past five years, while EBay has increased 78 percent. Amazon’s sales tripled from 2008 to 2012, and EBay’s rose 65 percent.

There are reasons these emerging regions are under served. Shipping, translation, Internet search and payments all pose obstacles for companies. EBay itself closed its unprofitable Web-auction unit in China in 2006 and formed a venture with billionaire Li Ka-shing’s Tom Online Inc.

New Approach

This time, the company is trying to take a smarter approach. EBay debuted a Russian-language site earlier this year, following the release of a mobile application focused on fashion in the country in 2012. EBay saw users in Russia surge by 75 percent in 2012.

To support its efforts in Russia last year, EBay began building a team charged with forging partnerships with local companies, improving shipping times and making payments easier. The company hired Vladimir Dolgov, who most recently oversaw Google Inc.’s efforts in Russia and was previously CEO of that country’s online retailer Ozon.ru.

Dolgov’s team of less than 10 people is working to learn how to best service a country where there is no clear road map to success for non-native e-commerce sellers.

EBay focused first on smartphones and tablets, releasing its mobile application before the desktop website — an approach it may also take in Latin America, Jones said. The company is trying to reach consumers who are still in the nascent stages of online buying. While most have mobile phones, not all have laptops or desktop computers, which tend to be more expensive.

Native Content

One shortfall EBay is seeking to fill is a lack of home-grown content in emerging markets. Consumers outside the U.S. are used to to sub-par experiences because offshoots of U.S. sites tend to be badly translated, sporadically updated and prone to showing out-of-date merchandise.

Products displayed on such pages are often tailored to U.S. customer interests –- a football game on the display of a flat-screen television, for instance. This can turn off users and ruin brand trust, said Chuck Whiteman, senior vice president at MotionPoint Corp., which works with U.S. retailers to help them improve their international sites.

“It’s the world wide web — it’s a global consumer,” Whiteman said in an interview. “As soon as that consumer decides they’re in an experience that isn’t the best that company has to offer, they abandon it.”

Localizing Sites

In the summer of 2012, EBay introduced its Global Buying Hub, which focuses on localizing sites for larger markets outside the U.S., according to Sylvie de Wever, senior director of geographic expansion. Russian visitors on EBay’s site last spring saw merchandising for U.S. college basketball’s March Madness, she said.

Shipping has also long been a nightmare for retailers in new markets. Merchandise can take weeks or months to arrive because of delays when crossing country borders. Certain wildlife products -– an ostrich-skin purse with feather detailing, for example -– have to be accompanied by extra documentation. If they aren’t, they stay put in customs until the correct papers arrive.

In Russia, the delivery network is made up of local companies that service small areas within the country and are often loyal to local retailers. Theft and fraud are common, and consumers tend to pay with cash upon delivery, rather than with credit cards ahead of time.

Paying Later

“Most people think you can stick it in a FedEx box and everything will work out perfectly,” Borderfree’s DeSimone said. “It just isn’t like that.”

Jones’s team is discussing a payment-on-delivery technology that doesn’t involve cash — an attempt to stay loyal to Russian consumers, who tend to open boxes and then decide whether they’re satisfied with the products before they pay.

“If the way people shop is an environment where I physically want to see and touch and feel the goods before I pay, that’s great,” Jones said. “But we don’t necessarily want rubles handed over to a delivery person. We’re partnering with PayPal — we’re partnering with others in the market — to continue to learn and figure out how do we solve that in a uniquely EBay way.”

Because U.S. retailers have had trouble breaking into markets like Russia, the rewards of doing so at EBay are potentially that much greater. There’s latent demand for western brands, such as Michael Kors, Tory Burch and Balenciaga.

That doesn’t extend solely to luxury-fashion items. The day EBay unveiled its Russian site, the company promoted pink baseball hats featuring the New York Yankees — a brand that’s popular globally.

Local Competitors

EBay also has to deal with different search algorithms used abroad. Most U.S. companies have become accustomed to using Google’s technology to make themselves more easily findable on the Web. In Russia and China, Google isn’t the dominant search engine, with most consumers using Yandex NV’s. To learn about the nuances, EBay has begun teaming up with companies that have been in the market longer, such as Opera Software ASA (OPERA), the most popular browser in Russia with 25 percent of the market, Jones said.

There’s also the local competition. Ozon.ru describes itself as the Amazon.com of Russia, and it increased net sales by 55 percent last year, according to a statement in March. In China, EBay is going up against Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.’s Taobao, which has an estimated 90 percent share of the market, Forrester Research analyst Zia Daniell Wigder wrote in a report.

Alibaba’s billionaire founder, Jack Ma, last year said the company may go public within five years. While Alibaba already dominates in China, the company may position its initial public offering as a bet on gaining even deeper penetration in the country, according to a person familiar with the situation.

Potential Returns

Still, the potential payoff in developing regions makes the bet worthwhile for EBay. China’s online retail market is poised to reach $356.1 billion in 2016, more than tripling from $118 billion in 2011, Wigder wrote.

EBay re-entered China in November as part of partnership with luxury online seller Xiu.com. The company will probably seek additional partners as the team learns more about the market, Jones said — a similarly methodical approach to the one it’s taking in Russia.

“Will they be the only people that we potentially will work with? Probably not,” she said of Xiu.com. “We’re now in the process to start to ramp that up and spend a little bit more behind it, as we continue to learn.”

To view original article click here.

By: Debra K. Leibowitz
May 5, 2013

From left, Mark Meland, Peter Russin and Michael Budwick at the 20th anniversary celebration of their law firm.

More than 400 guests — including judges, attorneys and other community lead- ers — attended the 20th anniversary celebration of Miami-based law firm Meland, Russin and Bud- wick. The invite-only re- ception was held April 18 at the outdoor plaza at South-east Financial Center. Guests enjoyed cocktails, hors d’oeuvres and tours of MRB’s new 14,000-square- foot offices on the 32nd floor. The firm was foun- ded in 1993 by long-time Miami Beach residents Mark Meland and Peter Russin. Name partner Mi- chael Budwick joined the firm in 2002.

To view original article click here.

By: James Cassel
May 13, 2013

At a cocktail party earlier this year, my friend’s daughter took the initiative to tell me about her new startup venture. Her story piqued my interest, so I did some homework and later decided to throw a little angel money into her San Francisco-based company, “FunLoop.”

Welcome to the world of “venture capital and angel investment” in South Florida.
Although we can credit the region for its progress in cultivating a venture capital (VC) community and nurturing startups, there’s no doubt the region continues to lag behind places like California, Massachusetts and New York City in terms of access to venture capital.

Think about it: Florida is the third-largest state in the country, and South Florida is the fifth-largest Designated Market Area (DMA), but we don’t have the third-largest or even the fifth-largest number of VC’s or VC-funded companies. The area has a huge gap in seed-stage capital, which happens to be the most important stage where business concepts are proved and growth strategies are developed. Although there are a significant number of angel investors in the region, they aren’t easily found unless you know what rocks to search under.

According to a recent MoneyTree Report published by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Association, the Sunshine State dropped from No. 13 to No. 18 for VC dollars invested in 2012. Investment in Florida companies dropped $141 million, or 42 percent, from 2011.

There’s no doubt that institutions like The Knight Foundation, The Launch Pad at the University of Miami, the FIU Pino Entrepreneurship Center, the Venture Hive, among others, are making tremendous strides in promoting entrepreneurship and innovation. They must continue moving forward with their fine work, which is critical to our region’s success and future. The VC’s (not to be confused with angel investors) are a growing but still small group that includes Antares Capital, Medina Capital, HIG Ventures and Florida Growth Fund, to name a few. Angel groups and networks include New World Angels and Venture Architects Investor Network.

But the undeniable truth remains that we will not be able to reach California, Massachusetts or New York City status until we have access to more capital — or the reputation for being a prime venue for this sort of entrepreneurial activity. South Florida still simply lacks the big-name, high-quality VC funds that are commonly found in other regions.

So, how do you access venture capital? Unfortunately, there’s no magic pill. Success here will require a lot of research, networking, relationship-building and luck.

There are plenty of angel investors out there, but unfortunately there isn’t one clearinghouse to find them. More often than not, entrepreneurs are finding their angels the way my friend’s daughter found me — by luck at a cocktail party or networking event.

A good way to begin: Identify and attend the right networking events and conferences that have the most fertile ground. Let your contacts know what you’re trying to do, and ask if they know any potential investors who may be interested. Some websites might be of help. Investment bankers can always help too, but few work with startup or very early stage companies. We have posted a list of venture capital resources at http://casselsalpeter.com/knowledge/resources/

Reach out to the universities and determine what opportunities may exist for you. Florida International University, Florida Atlantic University, Nova Southeastern University and the University of Miami, for example, offer a broad range of opportunities, including everything from business plan competitions to access to funding.

Keep in mind that you may have to go find your money in other markets as well, which means you will have to travel and do lots of networking. Like it or not, you also may have to move to another city.
While we can’t ignore that VC-backed companies based in Florida, such as Citrix Systems, CBS Sportsline and Mako Surgical, have been acquired or gone public, we are still seeing many angel and VC’s investors requiring that entrepreneurs relocate to other areas before they will invest. Time and again, I’m seeing California VC’s saying: “You have to move to the valley.”

South Florida has come a very long way during the past decade. While the future looks bright, the promised land is still at least another decade away at the rate we’re going, and it will take a lot of hard work and joint effort to get there.

James S. Cassel is co-founder and chairman of Cassel Salpeter & Co., LLC, an investment-banking firm with headquarters in Miami that works with middle-market companies.www.casselsalpeter.com

To view original click here.

By Lindsey White
May 16, 2013

The rumor mill keeps churning about the looming sale of City National Bank of Florida. Recent reports suggest that Banco do Brasil SA is closing in on a purchase of Valencia, Spain-based Bankia’s Florida franchise.

On May 9, Bloomberg Television reported that Banco do Brasil is near a $900 million deal. Bloomberg originally identified Banco do Brasil as a bidder in April. On May 15, Dow Jones Newswires cited an unnamed banker as saying that the 1.18 trillion-Brazilian-real bank is in the “final stages” of acquiring Miami-based City National, in a transaction expected to close at the end of the month.

When contacted by SNL, Banco do Brasil declined to comment on its interest in growing in the Miami market — but some say the City National acquisition would make sense, given the Brazilian bank’s existing footprint in Florida.

Banco do Brasil acquired Coral Gables, Fla.-based EuroBank in early 2012. The acquisition is expected to contribute to Banco do Brasil’s expansion of business in the U.S., focusing on Brazilian and Hispanic customers, the Brazilian bank said in a first-quarter presentation.

EuroBank, renamed Banco do Brasil Americas, had $82.1 million in assets at March 31. The bank has three branches, including a recently opened location on Miami’s Brickell Avenue.

“I just couldn’t imagine them going into the Miami market and staying at less than $100 million in assets,” said Paula Johannsen, a managing director at Monroe Securities. “They didn’t come there just to buy two or three branches of a small community bank.”

James Cassel, chairman and co-founder of Miami-based investment banking firm Cassel Salpeter & Co., said it can be a wise strategy to dip a toe into the U.S. market before diving in fully. A bank that does so can put the regulatory approval process behind it before going after larger deals. If Banco do Brasil were to bid on City National, the fact that the Brazilian bank already has a charter in the U.S. could make the seller’s board more comfortable, he said.

Cassel pointed to the example of Spanish Banco de Sabadell SA, which bought Miami-based Transatlantic Holding Corp. in 2007, before further expanding with the purchase of Miami-based Mellon United National Bank. Sabadell is also among those rumored to be interested in buying City National, along with a number of other banks.

Benjamin Bishop Jr., chairman of Southeast-focused investment bank Allen C. Ewing & Co., said the Miami market is “one of the most dynamic in the country” and “very attractive” to foreign banks looking for a foothold in the U.S. “Miami had a huge number of unsold condominiums a couple years ago on Brickell Avenue,” he noted. Today, he said, many of those condos have sold as foreign nationals scooped up properties.

“A lot of the wealth in Central and South America is going to Miami, and if anything will probably be accelerating,” Bishop said.

Observers agree that if Banco do Brasil is looking to buy, City National is an attractive target. Cassel called City National a “wonderful franchise.” The bank has a long history, a network of 26 branches with good locations, a solid core group of employees and a loyal customer base that stuck with it when City National was last sold, he said. In 2008, Bankia’s Caja Madrid bought an 83% stake in City National Banc shares Inc. in a $927.0 million deal.

Observers noted that there are several banks in South Florida, but few of City National’s size and quality. The bank had $4.74 billion in assets as of March 31, and nonperforming assets totaled just 0.97% of total assets.

This could help City National fetch a good price. According to SNL data, live bank deals announced since Jan. 1, 2012, with Florida-based targets have had a median tangible book value of 100.7% and a mean value of 102.3%. Johannsen characterized pricing for recent Florida bank deals as “all over the board,” but said that many people expect City National will generate more of a premium.

“For the international-type banks that want to get in there, it’s the best quality right now,” Johannsen said.

To view original article click here.

By: Nancy Dahlberg
May 9, 2013

Miami Finance Forum panel: Matt Haggman, Melissa Krinzman, Ben Wirz, Peter Kellner, Marco Giberti, Adam Smith.

A year ago, when the Knight Foundation sponsored a Miami Finance Forum discussion about building a startup ecosystem, it was as a test case to gauge interest locally, said its Miami program director, Matt Haggman.

Now with a host of co-working spaces and accelerators for entrepreneurs, Endeavor for high-impact entrepreneurs and the eMerge conference on the way, and recent news such as Open English’s Series D raise of $65 million, what a difference a year makes.

As we know, Knight has been sponsoring and funding many of these initiatives, and on Tuesday the foundation was back sponsoring another Miami Finance Forum event about the startup community, this one focused on investor groups.

The panel for “The CEO Power Breakfast: Meet Miami’s Newest Investor Groups” included Melissa Krinzman, managing director of Venture Architects, Ben Wirz, director of business consulting, Knight Enterprise Fund, Adam Smith, partner of Medina Capital Group, Peter Kellner, co-founder of Endeavor, Marco Giberti, angel investor with Accelerated Growth Partners, and Haggman.

There’s been a shift in the conversation of late, much less talk about what Miami lacks and more about what we have. This event was no exception.

Here’s a bit on what we do have, according to the panelists:

The new Venture Architects Investor Network -– Krinzman’s venture –is a private network where investors will be matched with entrepreneurs who fit their investment profile. The deals that come through the network have been vetted; the network draws on Venture Architects’ strong New York-Miami ties, “but we want to grow the Miami piece,” Krinzman said. Just since launching in January, there are already 20 angel investors and five funds in the network, she said.

Accelerated Growth Partners, a relatively new local angel group, in less than a year has invested $2 million plus ($25K to $250K or sometimes more) in early-stage companies, some locally and many from Latin America, as well as other U.S. and European companies that are open to moving offices here. “Our position is to find the best angel investors and find the best talent here or bring that talent here,” said Giberti.

Medina Capital, founded by Manny Medina, invests in later-stage early-stage companies in spaces like cyber security, big data, cloud and storage, Smith said. “We have made a couple of investments so far and we have a couple in our pipeline. What we try to do to fill this gap (between angels and large funds) for folks that need to go to the next level … That also led to eMerge Americas (the tech conference planned for next May). … We are a natural gateway to Latin America and we should use that to our advantage,” he said

Endeavor: The global nonprofit for high impact entrepreneurship, now in 15 countries, chose Miami for its first U.S. office, which is under development. “We look for entrepreneurs across all industries that will have a very significant impact. … We are a signaling organization so when we get set up here, we believe entrepreneurs will start coming out of the woodwork,” said Kellner. (See “the Endeavor Effect: on Endeavor.org here.)

Knight Enterprise Fund: Launched a year ago, the $10 million fund has made 12 or 13 seed and Series A investments to date, said Wirz. “We are looking at companies that reduce the distance between people and information.” He said Knight Enterprise Fund has invested in one local company, Gui.de, Freddie Laker’s venture that turns blogs and online news into TV, making information more fun and interesting to consume, and he said the fund is looking at a second company.

Opportunities for growth come with exposure. “One of the challenges is communicating the experience of the money here. We have a lot of talent here and we are going to have to shout about what that talent brings beyond the dollars,” said Krinzman. On all the family offices here, Giberti said family offices often don’t have experience in investing in tech “but when they try it, they do like it. I think family offices can play a vital role in this early-stage community… it will be interesting to syndicate more and better capital for statups.” Kellner added: “I see a flow that is not one way, I see an opportunity to bring companies from Europe and elsewhere to Miami. I have two companies interested, one in Swtizerland and one in the Netherlands, and I also think there is an opportunity to bring some of Silicon Valley’s brightest here.”

Audience members, largely executives and professionals, lawyers and others, also included some startups. “The panel was world-class and the discussion helped us all get a better grasp on the increasing availability of venture capital in the South Florida region,” said Nestor Villalobos, founder of Arctico and a Miami Herald Business Plan Challenge finalist this week (at left). He believes South Florida is quickly emerging as “the place to be for startups across the country looking to start or grow their businesses.”

Glen Surnamer, COO of Bookigee, (pictured at right) said he too thought the area is hitting an inflexion point. “I think the Miami early stage scene is becoming more comfortable being Miami, rather than trying to be the Bay, NY, Boston, Austin, etc. This is important because each of those scenes emerged organically out of very specific sociological, demographic and economic circumstances,” Surnamer said. “The point here is that Miami entrepreneur culture has to organically germinate out of the seeds that underpin us. This is clearly starting to happen.”

To view original article click here.

By: Marcia Heroux Pounds
May 3, 2013

Motionpoint Co-Founder Adam Rubenstein, CEO Will Fleming and Chief Technology Officer Enrique Travieso with some of their 200 employees at their Coconut Creek headquarters. Motionpoint, a company that provides web translation services, is in the midst of expansion and plans on adding 100-150 more jobs over the next two to three years.

The Coconut Creek office of MotionPoint Corp., a website translation service company, resembles the United Nations, with employees from 40 countries including Argentina, Brazil, Germany, Korea, Spain, Russia and Zambia.

Most of these technology specialists hired in recent years came to South Florida to work for other companies, said Will Fleming, co-founder and chief executive of MotionPoint. Several were experienced workers downsized during the recession.

Now MotionPoint, which provides online translation services for major consumer brands like Best Buy and Ford Motor Co., plans to further expand. The company said this week it would hire 100 to 150 employees over the next three years.

The company’s growth is being driven by interest in the global marketplace.

“We see our business as helping companies penetrate new markets,” Fleming said. With the U.S. economy recovering, “companies are investing more aggressively, and the website is one of the areas where they tend to invest.”

As a result, technology workers are in demand.

Deborah Vazquez, chief executive of ProTech, a technology staffing specialist based in Boca Raton, said the technology job market is “very strong right now, with more jobs than people to fill them.”

ProTech’s February-March survey of South Florida employers found that 64 percent said they plan to increase their IT staff during 2013. The same high percentage of IT professionals said they had no plans to leave Florida — up from 54 percent in 2012.

“When companies were cutting back, they needed tech help to do that. When companies are beginning to grow, technology helps them do that,” she said.

For its expansion, MotionPoint is seeking IT specialists, software developers and web engineers, as well marketing, project management and sales people.

While the company hires some of its hard-to-find workers with special skills from other countries under the H-1b visa program, it primarily finds talent among workers already in the U.S., Fleming said.

MotionPoint was founded 13 years ago by Fleming and Adam Rubenstein. In the 1990s, the entrepreneurs built a prepaid calling card and wireless business, Convenience Products, which it sold to Conquest. The company eventually sold to AT&T.

While MotionPoint is private and doesn’t disclose annual sales, Fleming said the company has been growing at “an average of 50 percent” annually since 2004.

For Amtrak, for example, the company provided a train reservation and online ticket booking system in Spanish, French and German. Speakers of languages other than English “are able to conduct business in a language they understand,” Fleming said.

MotionPoint can translate from any language to any language, including all major European, Middle Eastern and Asian languages. The top five languages on the Internet are English, Chinese, Spanish, Japanese and Portuguese.

The company combines human translation with proprietary software, which makes translation less time-consuming and less expensive.

“We’re in a great business,” Fleming said. “We feel like we’re pretty well-positioned.”

Miami-based Norwegian Cruise Lines’ Rob Casas, vice president for e-commerce, said he chose MotionPoint to create a Spanish-language option on its website, NCL.com, because it involved minimal impact on its IT department and was cost-effective.

“We get a lot of interest from all over Latin America,” Casas said. “We get traffic from Mexico, Colombia and Puerto Rico, as well as a large segment [of Spanish speakers] in the U.S. who prefer the website in their language.”

Other local clients include AvMed, the Florida Lottery, the Fontainebleau resort in Miami Beach, Memorial Healthcare System, and several state and local government websites.

To view original article click here.

By: Camira Powell

May 2, 2013

When trying to entice prospective students, colleges and universities encourage students for a visit to get a feel for the campus atmosphere. But not everyone has the ability to travel to their potential dream school, which is where YouVisit enters the picture.

Literally.

YouVisit offers virtual campus tours that go beyond what you would get by simply visiting a university’s homepage, a mix of film, photography and narration that mimics actual campus tours. But these virtual tours include stops that visitors normally don’t have access to, such as a residence hall or a high-tech lab.

“[Most] virtual tours are more a grouping of pictures, but the problem with that is that it doesn’t give students a good sense of life on campus,” said Abi Mandelbaum, co-founder of YouVisit, who started the site with Endri Tolka and Taher Baderkhan. “[It saves] students and their families a lot of time and money so that they can get a better feel for what it’s like to live and study at college campuses across the country from their homes.”

The trio met at Brandeis University as international students — from Colombia, Albania and Jordan, respectively — and came up with the idea for YouVisit when trying to find a way to show their families what their college looked like. YouVisit started as a Facebook app, later expanding to the Web and a mobile app as it grew in popularity, especially with teens.

While the virtual tours are free for students, YouVisit charges schools for its services and to be featured on the Web site.

However YouVisit is accessed, users can also search for schools based on factors like location, size and tuition price. With more than 400 tours to choose from, there is a wide variety, from well-known Ivies to smaller liberal arts colleges. But even with 4,000 colleges and universities in the U.S. alone, it’s far from all-encompassing.

“We have [tours] in multiple languages, like Mandarin or Spanish … one of the biggest things for a lot of our partner schools is that they’re trying to bring in international students,” said Tolka. This is a big plus for schools trying to recruit international students, he added, especially students from China.

There are several other sites that also offer virtual tours, of course, including CampusTours.com and eCampusTours.com. In addition, many schools, such as Stanford and Yale, already incorporate mobile devices to embellish tours, or have downloadable apps.

And while none will completely replace the traditional college tour anytime soon, it is an indicator of how colleges are adjusting to the digital age. So, even if you can’t set foot on campus, you can still see it for yourself.

To view original article click here.

By: Associated Press

April 18, 2013

TEL AVIV, Israel — Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert joined forces Thursday with a leading Kazakh industrialist and an Israeli entrepreneur to launch a new high-tech venture.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Olmert said he will serve as chairman of the advisory board of “Genesis Angels” — a venture capital firm focusing on early stage investment in startup companies. The firm looks toward innovations in robotics, augmented reality, artificial intelligence and other cutting edge technologies.

Olmert, who was prime minister from 2006-2009, refused to speculate about his future political plans, but he said the foray into high-tech meshed with his vision of promoting Israel as a high-tech powerhouse.

“The Israeli relative advantage in high technology is not permanent and guaranteed forever,” Olmert told the AP. “It can change if there will not be enough investments in these areas of research and development.”

Israel has earned a reputation as a “startup nation,” helping pioneer breakthroughs such as Wi-Fi technology, the computer firewall and instant messaging. The country boasts more than 3,000 high-tech companies and the world’s third largest presence on the Nasdaq stock market. Major technology companies such as Microsoft Corp., Cisco Systems Inc. and Google Inc. maintain research and development centers in Israel.

Olmert said that while he was in office, Israel invested more in R&D than any other country in the world, relative to its size.

“I think that as a country, we do not invest sufficiently in the relative advantage of Israel,” he added in a swipe at the current government.

Olmert is teaming up with Kenges Rakishev, a Kazakh businessman with interests in infrastructure, petrochemicals, shipbuilding and technology, and Moshe Hogeg, chief executive of the Mobli photo-sharing service. The company’s chief adviser is Yuval Rabin, son of assassinated Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.

Hogeg said the fields of making information accessible, pioneered by companies like Facebook and Google, have become saturated.

“It is clear to everyone that the next layer of technology will be augmented reality, artificial intelligence and robotics,” he said, but there are few venture firms targeting these areas.

“So we see a huge opportunity to invest in upcoming technologies in a very early stage right now,” he said.

Rakishev, who Forbes says is worth $225 million, said the fund hadn’t yet been launched officially and already has raised “tens of millions” of dollars. The goal was far more ambitious, he said, noting that Toronto-based Forbes & Manhattan is already heavily invested.

He said if the project develops a strong track record, “I think we can go dramatically fast.”

For Olmert, life as a high-tech executive marks the latest chapter since his fall from power.

Olmert was forced to resign the premiership in 2009 over corruption allegations. Since then, he has been waging a series of legal battles while considering a potential political comeback.

Olmert was cleared last year of the most serious charges against him but was convicted of helping to channel government contracts to a friend’s associates and given a suspended one-year jail sentence. He faces additional corruption charges in a separate real estate case.

He has been strongly critical of his successor, Benjamin Netanyahu, for not advancing peace efforts with the Palestinians. Olmert has claimed he was close to achieving a deal with the Palestinians.

In the interview, Olmert would not discuss his future plans.

“When I didn’t run in the last election, I made it clear that I am not going to fade out from public life … you will hear me and you will hear about me,” he said. “My views are well known and they will continue to be well known. But in the meantime, while I am not playing a formal position in political life, this is one of the areas of great interest.”

To view original article click here.

By: Ingrid Lunden

April 19, 2013

For those startups in newer areas like robotics, artificial intelligence and augmented reality who complain that VCs are too focused on consumer internet companies, help is at hand: Genesis Angels is a new VC that has raised a fund of around $100 million, with a large chunk coming from co-founder and serial investor and Kazakh petrochemical mogul Kenges Rakishev, which it plans to use for early stage investments in emerging areas like these and others. Based in Israel, but looking for startups worldwide, Genesis launched just this week, naming ex-Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert as its chairman.

Moshe Hogeg, the other co-founder behind Genesis Angels (and founder and CEO of mobile video/photo startup Mobli, pictured here with Rakishev, left, and Olmert, center), says that the idea for Genesis came out of his and Rakishev’s observation that while the market for consumer internet services is saturated with a lot of me-too companies, there is a flourishing world of R&D in areas like robots and artificial intelligence that is not getting enough attention. It’s mostly giant tech companies like Google and Microsoft and academic institutions that are putting money into the very cutting edge of technology.

(Indeed, it was just yesterday, during Google’s earnings call, that CEO Larry Page talked about the “big bets” that Google wants to make on new technology. Google is not afraid to make big investments, he said, because the fear is that if it doesn’t it may miss out on the next big thing.)

The problem with this is that it leaves little room for startups. And although more recent developments like Kickstarter and Indigogo are creating a new groundswell of interest and financial support for some of these projets, there are yet others that will not want that kind of public profile for what they’re working on.

Hogeg describes Genesis’ role as something between the concept stage and when a VC may typically become interested in a company working on cutting-edge technology. “You can send the most brilliant scientist to a VC, but often it might take that scientist and his startup five years to create their products,” he explained in an interview. “VCs will say, ‘No problem, come back in four years.’ Genesis will invest in those companies in the meantime.” Typical investments will be in the range of $200,000 and $2 million.

If you visit Genesis Angels’ site, you will see that it already lists a number of companies in its portfolio, including Hogeg’s. These are listed, he says, because they are some of the investments Rakishev himself has made. Genesis, he notes, is still raising money for its first fund, with the total in play currently close to $100 million. Among those contributing to the fund are merchant bank Forbes & Manhattan, as well as private individuals who are well-known in the space of angel investments specifically around areas like hardware and new technology. The first three investments that are being made out of the new fund, Hogeg says, will be coming out shortly.

Ehud Olmert’s appointment as chairman is about laying the groundwork for the kind of assistance that Genesis Angels will be able to offer its portfolio companies, Hogeg says.

“He is a big believer in technology. Irasel invested the most in this area when he was still prime minister,” he notes. The relatively small country currently has some 3,000 tech companies, according to this report from the AP on the launch of the new VC.

Olmert took office in 2006 but left in 2009 under a corruption scandal cloud that he is still fighting. But that, apparently, has not affected his wider influence. “Mr Olmert is a very powerful man and he can use his contacts to help us and our companies, for example in partnering and joint ventures. He can open any door in the world.”

There have been other VC funds focused on these emerging areas. Dmitry Grishin, for example, the CEO of Mail.ru and founder of Grishin Robotics, last year started a $25 million fund dedicated to investing in other robotics companies (examples of his investments here, here and here).

It may be that Genesis teams up with people like this to cooperate on investments. “He shares a vision with us about this space,” says Hogeg.

To view original article click here.

By: Paul Brinkmann
April 19, 2013

Miami law firm Meland Russin & Budwick pitched a tent and threw a big party in downtown Miami on Thursday evening for its 20^th anniversary.

Partners Mark Meland, Michael Budwick and Peter Russin greeted judges, attorneys and other business people on the plaza at Southeast Financial Center.

The firm also showed off its renovated offices on the 32^nd floor of the building.

“We were going to have it in the office, but the guest list got to big,” Meland said.

The firm specializes in real estate, corporate bankruptcy, receivership, financial fraud, and general commercial litigation.

Meland co-founded the firm in 1993 with Russin. Budwick joined the firm in 2003.

[Show as slideshow]

Florida wealth managers give advice in this special report.

To view original click here.

By: Cindy Krischer Goodman
April 15, 2013

Eli Butnaru
CEO
Mora Wealth Management, Miami

Eli Butnaru’s investment strategy this year is to be cautious. “The main thing we’re doing for our clients is looking at ‘how do we protect capital,’ ‘how do we not lose money.’ ” For that reason, he is wary of investing in small U.S. companies and is particularly careful about U.S. fixed income, where he believes there’s a higher risk of losses if the market perceives that the
Federal Reserve is changing its current monetary policy. He also is staying away from investments in Europe.

Instead, he sees opportunity in Asia, particularly in Vietnam and frontier countries that are starting to develop.

With U.S. stocks, Butnaru is advising clients to buy energy and health care equities. “We do not purchase individual names in those sectors,” he says. “We try to look for those managers that on a risk-adjusted basis provide the best return.”

He’s also bullish on bank stocks, not because of their earnings potential but because he foresees mergers and acquisitions leading to higher stock prices. “I think there is opportunity.”

Butnaru says he is neutral on high yields (junk bonds). However, he believes there will not be as many defaults as in the past. “If a bond gets 4% to 5%, that will help with income in a portfolio. The key is to find the right manager who can manage quality high yields.”

Butnaru says global investors “need to know that the safest places to invest may not be as safe as they used to be. What has performed well in the past five years might not in the next five years.”

To view original article click here.
By: Francesca Cocchi
April 4, 2013

YouVisit’s tour of Yale features student narrators and stops at academic and recreational buildings.

Checking out the place your child will be spending the next four years is important, but visiting a dozen schools around the country isn’t very convenient or affordable.

YouVisit offers virtual visit and tour services for colleges via web, mobile and Facebook. The site has had 4,508,334 visits and counting.

Choose from its list of schools and you are taken to a menu page that features a brief school profile and directs you to view videos, photos and panoramas or take a full walking tour.

The walking tours feature pictures of the inside and outside of buildings around the campus, as well as street views of popular hangout spots. A virtual student from the school narrates the tour, and you click arrows to move to different locations. Tours are often offered in multiple languages.

YouVisit’s tour of Yale also stops at the Broadway district in New Haven.

YouVisit is also offering students the opportunity to receive a $10,000 scholarship through its interactive mobile app “Find Your Future” Cyber Hunt, which quizzes students on the featured campuses.

To view original article click here.
By: Francesca Cocchi
April 4, 2013

YouVisit’s tour of Yale features student narrators and stops at academic and recreational buildings.

Checking out the place your child will be spending the next four years is important, but visiting a dozen schools around the country isn’t very convenient or affordable.

YouVisit offers virtual visit and tour services for colleges via web, mobile and Facebook. The site has had 4,508,334 visits and counting.

Choose from its list of schools and you are taken to a menu page that features a brief school profile and directs you to view videos, photos and panoramas or take a full walking tour.

The walking tours feature pictures of the inside and outside of buildings around the campus, as well as street views of popular hangout spots. A virtual student from the school narrates the tour, and you click arrows to move to different locations. Tours are often offered in multiple languages.

YouVisit’s tour of Yale also stops at the Broadway district in New Haven.

YouVisit is also offering students the opportunity to receive a $10,000 scholarship through its interactive mobile app “Find Your Future” Cyber Hunt, which quizzes students on the featured campuses.

By: Paul R. La Monica
March 26, 2013

To view original click here.

Europe has been in crisis mode since 2010. This economic train is eventually going to run out of track.

Now that it looks like Cyprus won’t be leaving the eurozone, investors should not forget that the continent has bigger problems.

Sure, Cyprus yielded about a week of scary headlines, but the Cyprus obsession served as a distraction from the real story: much of Europe is still an economic mess that has nothing to do with Russian bank deposits in the tiny island nation. There never was a silent C for Cyprus in the PIIGS acronym of troubled European nations that actually matter.

Stocks did pull back Monday, after an initial celebration of the Cyprus bailout. It was a pretty mildsell-off though. And the market bounced back a bit Tuesday.

But here’s why you still need to be worried about Europe.

The most recently available unemployment rates in Greece, Spain and Portugal (which last I checked are all a tad bigger than in Cyprus) were 26.4%, 26.2% and 17.6% respectively.

The average for the 17 nations that use the euro currency is 11.9%. To put that in perspective, the U.S. unemployment rate is only 7.7%, a level that is still rightfully considered uncomfortably high. Unemployment is at least falling in the United States. In Europe, the jobless rate is higher than a year ago. Europe is getting worse, not better.

“The main problems in Europe have not disappeared, particularly in Italy and Greece,” said Ashraf Laidi, chief global strategist with City Index Ltd. in London, adding that so far, it seems European politicians only act aggressively at the last minute.

According to estimates from Eurostat, the eurozone economy is expected to shrink 0.3% this year. That follows a 0.6% contraction in 2012. What’s more, GDP is only expected to “rebound” by 1.4% in 2014.

It’s clear that austerity is not helping the most problematic economies in Europe. Voters are not happy either, as witnessed by the backlash against the party of Italian prime minister Mario Monti in recent parliamentary elections. That’s left Italy, the third-largest economy in Europe and the third-biggest bond market in the world, without a government. As they’d say in my ancestral homeland, non va bene!

And even “stronger” euro nations like France, the Netherlands and Germany are getting dragged down. Eurostat is predicting essentially no economic growth in France this year and a decline in GDP for the Dutch. Germany’s economy is expected to grow by just 0.5% this year.

Heck, one could argue that the only reason the euro is holding up as well as it has against the U.S. dollar over the past few months is because of Germany.

Resentment among the northern European countries seems to be running high and that could intensify.

Reports that Dutch Finance Minister and Eurogroup President Jeroen Dijsselbloem said the Cyprus bailout, which will tax large bank depositors at the nation’s two top banks, could be a “template” for the rest of Europe spooked investors Monday.  A spokesperson for the Eurogroup denied the comments but the damage was done.

Germany is likely to remain vehemently against substantial increases in aid for the laggards of Europe as well. After all, German chancellor Angela Merkel faces an election in September.

Clearly, both the haves and Europe would rather that the have-nots get more “bail-ins” as opposed to bailouts.

That’s a huge problem. One of the biggest criticisms of the European Union is that the second part of that name is sort of a joke.

“What we didn’t like in Europe at the start of 2012 is still going on today. The right hand is doing one thing and the left is doing another. There is no true fiscal unity,” says Eli Butnaru, CEO of Mora Wealth Management in Miami. “Structurally, nothing has been done to increase productivity. Austerity is not the answer.”

There are still big questions about the stability of the banks in the so-called peripheral nations of Europe as well. Shares of Spain’s Banco Santander (SAN) and BBVA (BBVA), the National Bank of Greece (NBG) and Italy’s UniCredit (UNCFF) have not participated in the global stock market run-up this year. In fact, neither have the stocks of banks in healthier European nations, such as Deutsche Bank (DB), ING (ING) and Societe Generale (SCGLY).

Resentment among the northern European countries seems to be running high and that could intensify.

Reports that Dutch Finance Minister and Eurogroup President Jeroen Dijsselbloem said the Cyprus bailout, which will tax large bank depositors at the nation’s two top banks, could be a “template” for the rest of Europe spooked investors Monday.  A spokesperson for the Eurogroup denied the comments but the damage was done. 

Germany is likely to remain vehemently against substantial increases in aid for the laggards of Europe as well. After all, German chancellor Angela Merkel faces an election in September.

Clearly, both the haves and Europe would rather that the have-nots get more “bail-ins” as opposed to bailouts.

That’s a huge problem. One of the biggest criticisms of the European Union is that the second part of that name is sort of a joke.

“What we didn’t like in Europe at the start of 2012 is still going on today. The right hand is doing one thing and the left is doing another. There is no true fiscal unity,” says Eli Butnaru, CEO of Mora Wealth Management in Miami. “Structurally, nothing has been done to increase productivity. Austerity is not the answer.”

There are still big questions about the stability of the banks in the so-called peripheral nations of Europe as well. Shares of Spain’s Banco Santander (SAN) and BBVA (BBVA), the National Bank of Greece (NBG) and Italy’s UniCredit (UNCFF) have not participated in the global stock market run-up this year. In fact, neither have the stocks of banks in healthier European nations, such as Deutsche Bank (DB), ING (ING) and Societe Generale (SCGLY).

That is troublesome too. As the United States learned during the Great Recession, it’s hard for the markets and economy to function normally without a healthy banking system.

“TARP is a four-letter word, but the injection of bailout funds to banks in the U.S. definitely helped the economy recover faster even though it risked taxpayers’ money,” said Scott Colbert, chief economist of Commerce Banschares (CBSH), a Kansas City, Mo.-based bank that did not take TARP funds. “There is no master plan to recapitalize European banks and there seems to be no political will to do so.”

At some point, European leaders really have to address the problems more directly instead of with a piecemeal strategy.”The sovereign debt crisis in Europe has been an excruciatingly slow-moving wreck since 2010,” said Wasif Latif, vice president of equity investments with USAA in San Antonio.  “The worst may be off the table, but we are not out of the woods yet.”

To quote British rock band (and guilty pleasure) Muse, “this chaos, it defies imagination.” Fortunately, the market has not yet completed the lyric and “arrived at panic station.” But more market sell-0ffs are inevitable as long as Europe does not take the crisis seriously.

The eurozone collectively is the world’s largest economy. Investors can’t continue to glibly dismiss Europe’s woes as an isolated problem.

“This is an interconnected global market where money moves fast. Every time there is a new flare-up in Europe, there is reason for concern,” Latif said.