World TradeWinds
June - July 2007 - Issue N. 139
A Publication of the Monterey Bay International Trade Association (MBITA)
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World TradeWindsJune - July 2007 - Issue N. 139 A Publication of the Monterey Bay International Trade Association (MBITA) |
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Contact Info P.O. Box 523 Santa Cruz, CA 95061 - U.S.A. Phone: 1-831-335-4780 Fax: 1-831-335-4822 Email: info@mbita.org Web: www.mbita.org If you would like to have an article published on this newsletter please contact the editor by email. This newsletter has been MBITA Members and Corporate Sponsors' Newsletter Links CalTrade Report World TradeWinds Sponsorship Information World TradeWinds is a monthly eZine distributed to over 3,500 subscribers located statewide, nationwide and overseas. MBITA's World TradeWinds eZine is also posted in the TradePort Collaborator, the online 'intranet' for California's global trade promotion service providers, who collectively represent over 60,000 small to mid-sized enterprises throughout California. ....
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IN THIS ISSUE |
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MBITA
New Member HALAL is an Arabic term meaning: “Permissible to Drink or Eat”. In English it refers most frequently to food that is permissible according to the Islamic Law, whereas in Arabic it refers to anything that is permissible under Islam.
Their artesian drinking water is unique due to the following mineral composition: Calcium 13 mg/L, Magnesium 16 mg/L, Silica 48 mg/L, Bicarbonates 105 mg/L, Potassium 1.1 mg/L, PH 7.4, Total Dissolved Solid 133 Their HALAL Artesian Mineral Drinking Water is available in bottles of three different sizes: 500ml, 1 L, 1.5L. Pan Pacific Export import also supplies high quality sugar-cane fiber products:
Due to the high quality of the material, these products are:
Contact: Pan Pacific Export Import
From the film industry to industrial greenhouses to gas turbine engines, Guaranty Bank's client's fogging technology has been creating special effects, controlling indoor climate and reducing energy waste and pollution since 1969.Guaranty Bank of California is very happy to be part of this company’s international expansion. Through the Ex-Im Bank working capital loan program, Guaranty Bank financed projects in Dubai and Spain with a credit line of $800,000. This allowed the company to expand their business without straining their cash flow or exposing their company to expensive long-term debt. Most recently, the Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE), a Mexican government-owned utility provider with over 23 million customers, signed a $12,000,000 contract with their client. The Bank is financing this project with an Ex-Im line of credit totaling $2,500,000. CFE also required a 10% performance bond, which Guaranty Bank of California was able to grant to complete the package. The project has been making excellent progress and is expected to be finished in May, 2007. Guaranty Bank of California received Ex-Im Bank's 2004 Regional Bank of the Year award for the western region. The Bank ranks number four in number of transactions, amongst all the Ex-Im Delegated Authority lenders in the US. Contact: Trade Finance/Guaranty Programs
Commercial Real Estate Loans
By MBITA Member Sheridan Tatsuno, Dreamscape Global Sheridan Tatsuno of Dreamscape Global and long-time MBITA member again participated in the annual Red Herring Conference in
Ken Minihan, partner at Paladin Capital Group and former NSA director, warned the IT industry is not prepared for terrorism and disasters. “Much of the government’s critical infrastructure is commercially owned and vulnerable. We have a duty to anticipate disasters our customers may face. We need to think diagnostically and collectively about the future.” He advises companies to design their technologies into solutions that assure secure business transactions for both U.S. and global markets, not an easy task in an era of market consolidation where many IT security vendors are failing. “Will terrorist attacks like 9/11 occur again? Yes, but we will be OK if we anticipate them.” Mark Jung, former COO of Fox Interactive, discussed the biggest question facing media companies today: What are sustainable Web 2.0 business models? He notes the losers are sticking with traditional offline strategies, exclusive content, their own syndication model, large portals, but have no control over Web distribution. Even user-generated content (UGC), a hot topic, is not sustainable. Rather, Jung believes user-published content (UPC), content syndicated from high-quality sources, is the wave of the future. “Today, leading portals are aggregators of published communities. Max Levchin, CEO of Slide and former PayPal co-founder, observes that companies need to understand three Web 2.0 social networking themes: flirting and personal communications, voyeurism and exhibitionism. For example, Bunny Hero Labs enables users to create bunnyhero alter egos to defeat EVIL through the use of drawings and other “objects of ridicule.” The Digital Media panel discussed a variety of Web 2.0 business opportunities. Among the top innovations and disruptions coming:
Tastemaking, such as a favorite artist’s favorite songs, movies and websites Red Herring annually announces 100 leading information technology companies. This year’s finalists, selected from 800 submissions, can be found at: www.herringevents.com/spring07/200finalists.html Web video is a popular emerging business opportunity that is pursuing $500 billion in worldwide advertising, of which $270 billion is in the U.S. and only 6% online. Entrants are trying a variety of business models: own syndicated content, user-generated content (UGC), self-service content creation, self-service (like Google), and contests, but there is still little liquidity in capital markets. Pierre Lamond of Sequoia Ventures also agrees that there is too much venture capital. Currently, there are 10,000 VCs worldwide, with only ten VC firms having good returns, while the rest are suffering terrible returns. Venture capital has become an asset class so VCs have been raising money since 2001 despite these mediocre returns. Sheridan Tatsuno is principal of Dreamscape Global, a consulting firm enabling companies to develop breakthrough strategies. He is co-founding startup companies and will teach filmmaking online for Jonkoping University in Sweden as part of a new global venture academy network. www.ryze.com/go/tatsuno, www.dreamscapeglobal.com
With a focus on global trade industry companies and professionals, the MBITA Global Jobs Center offers its members—and the industry at large—an easy-to-use and highly targeted resource for online employment connections in global trade. Both members and non-members can use the MBITA Career Center to reach qualified candidates. Employers can post jobs online, search for qualified candidates based on specific job criteria, and create an online resume agent to email qualified candidates daily. They also benefit from online reporting that provides job activity statistics. For job seekers, the MBITA Career Center is a free service that provides access to employers and jobs in the global trade industry. In addition to posting their resumes, job seekers can browse and view available jobs based on their criteria and save those jobs for later review if they choose. Job seekers can also create a search agent to provide email notifications of jobs that match their criteria. Leading up to MBITA’s “Green Trade Mission to China”, President and founder of MBITA, Tony Livoti brought together 50 members of the California's business community to Monterey California, to discuss renewable energies and green technologies. The issues that were discussed include: 1) What are the best global opportunities and investments in the burgeoning ‘Green World’? The panelists expressed that Green Technologies are not just something of the future but they are now being used aggressively in small and up incoming economies, such as Solar Power panels that are facilitating the energy needs in places of fragile environments such as the Galapagos Islands, and wind mills that are providing a great deal of power for the Netherlands. The panels agreed that the ‘Green Revolution’ is not something to be compared to the ‘IT Revolution’ because they are very different in nature; however as oil prices rise and our populations expand leading to higher energy demands, Green Technologies will play an integral part in supplying a cleaner source of energy and is certainly worth investing in, as record investment in new renewable energy capacity in 2005 exceeded $38 billion. Some of the major challenges facing renewable energy companies that were discussed included coalition building to influence US government officials of the needs and benefits of Green Technologies as well as general the general public. As a part of MBITA’s “Green Mission to China” Mr. Livoti will take many of the ideas and issues bought up in this luncheon to China in his continued effort to promote and explore Green Technologies in cross border trade.
Please go to MBITA newsletter archives to see other MBITA Members profiles and visit MBITA's Export Promotion Services.
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