Issue 60, March 2016

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Gold 5t

19th Annual Global CEO Survey Key findings in Cyprus

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anniversary issue

ISSUE 60 march 20, 2016 PRICE €3.00

Gold ISSUE 60 | march 20,

t h e

b u s i n e s s

m a g a z i n e

o f

c y p r u s

everything

2016 | everything under the sun

Under the sun

Hotel Managers At Work

9 top Managers on keeping Guests Happy

Redefining business success How CEOs lead in a changing world

5 29 12 95 00 05 77

© 2016 PricewaterhouseCoopers Ltd. All rights reserved

Plus

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Visit our website to download the report www.pwcceosurvey.com.cy

INTERVIEWS

Andrey Dashin George Hadjipieris Loizos Heracleous Evy Poumpouras Thomas Tandetzki

Global Broker with a Local Touch ForexTime (FXTM) is an award-winning online forex broker committed to providing a superior trading experience for clients around the world • Trade currencies, metals, and CFDs • Extremely competitive trading terms • Attractive partnership programs

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ForexTime (FXTM) is an international online forex broker offering financial services in forex, spot metals and CFDs. ForexTime Limited is regulated by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) under license number 185/12. There is a high level of risk involved with trading leveraged products such as forex and CFDs. You should not risk more than you can afford to lose. It is possible that you may lose more than your initial investment. You should not trade unless you fully understand the true extent of your exposure to the risk of loss. When trading, you must always take into consideration your level of experience. It is the responsibility of the Client to ensure that the Client can accept the Services and/or enter into the Transactions in the country in which the Client is resident. If the risks involved seem unclear to you, please seek independent advice. 34 | GOLD | The Business Magazine of Cyprus @2016 FXTM

ISSUE 60 MARCH 20, 2016

T H E

B U S I N E S S

| COVER STORY |

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otels have always been much more than places to sleep and eat while away from home on business or vacation. Indeed, they have been a popular source of material and locations for films – from Grand Hotel (1932) to The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2011), plays – from Neil Simon’s Plaza Suite to Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap, novels – Anita Brookner’s 1984 Booker Prize winner Hotel du Lac or John Irving’s 1981 tale of the Hotel New Hampshire and music – there can be no-one reading this who can’t sing most of Hotel California by The Eagles. But what are hotels really like? And what is it like to be the person with ultimate responsibility for making sure that guests leave in a positive frame of mind and, perhaps more importantly, will be happy to return? Given Cyprus’ longstanding economic reliance on tourism and the fact that the island has a bed capacity in excess of 87,000 (2014 figure) and more than 150 hotels, we thought that this was the perfect opportunity to get an insider’s view of what it means to be a Hotel Manager. Over and above the huge task of overseeing all the key organisational aspects – budgeting and financial management, planning, organising and directing all hotel services, including front-of-house (reception, concierge, reservations), food and beverage operations and housekeeping – the people entrusted with running the island’s hotels need to have a good eye for detail as well as strong business and communication skills, the ability to think on their feet and a sensitive and diplomatic approach to problem solving. The General Manager must also set an example for staff to deliver a standard of service and presentation that meets guests’ needs and expectations. In a large hotel, he/she may have less contact with guests but will certainly have regular meetings with heads of department to coordinate and monitor the progress of business strategies. In a smaller establishment, the manager is likely to be much more hands-on and involved in the day-to-day running of the hotel, which may even include carrying out reception duties or serving meals if the need arises. Everything under the sun! On the following pages, eleven General Managers (three of whom are responsible for two hotels) give us the benefit of their personal experience of this key position in the hospitality industry, explaining the challenges they face, the management style that they have developed over the years, their highs and lows and the qualities they believe are essential for the job.

EVERYTHING

Under the sun COVER Hotel Managers At Work By Artemis Constantinidou & Effy Pafitis Photos by Andreas Loucaides

STORY

28 | Everything Under the Sun: Hotel Managers at work Nine General Managers of some of the island’s top hotels give an insider’s view of what it takes to run them well and ensure guest satisfaction.

W WHO’S WHO

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M A G A Z I N E

O F

C Y P R U S

CONTENTS

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8 | BUSINESS BRIEFING

Economic & Business Highlights of the past month.

12 | MY WAY

Chrysostomos Papavassiliou

14 | FIVE MINUTES WITH... Harris Georgiades

16 | THEY SAID WHAT?

This month’s memorable quotes from Cypriots in the public eye.

OPINION 22 | No Greek Tragedy By Dr. Savvas Savouri

46 | Seeing the Glass Half-Full By Savia Orphanidou

FEATURES 18 | Being The Best

Interview with Prof. Loizos Heracleous of Warwick Business School.

SPECIAL ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT 1 47 | Cyprus’ Citizenship & Permanent Residence schemes for investors Sixteen companies analyse the schemes and present their own related services. operations.

24 | The Corporate Lawyer and

82

the Lazy Dragon George Hadjipieris, advocate, musician and composer.

18

82 | In the Line of Fire

Evy Poumpouras, former US Secret Agent, on her remarkable career.

86 | Free Trade and Welfare By Tassos Anastasiades

88

Seven members of the Cyprus International Businesses Association (CIBA) present their products and services.

116

88 | (Tele)

communication Breakdown Thomas Tandetzki on the changing face of the telecommunications industry.

92 | Andrey Dashin: Still Dreaming Interview with the Russian founder of ForexTime.

110 | IN GOOD COMPANY *VTW\[PUN Z[HɈ JVU[LU[TLU[ H[ Microsoft. 114 | BOOKSHELF Five of the best new business titles. 116 | LUNCH WITH GOLD Erato Kozakou-Marcoullis, Former Cypriot Ambassador and Foreign Minister.

4 | GOLD | The Business Magazine of Cyprus

SPECIAL ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT 2 95 | CIBA

119 | BUSINESS CLASS Chris Christodoulou, Managing Director, Action Global Communications 120 | WHAT’S ON Gold’s guide to the best cultural events of the coming month. 122 | A DAY IN THE LIFE Stavros Pantzaris

Let our experts find the solution International, regional and local competitive pressures and the general economic environment create opportunities and risks in the Travel, Leisure and Tourism industry. Many companies operating in the sector are finding themselves looking for innovative ways to attract new business, improve operating efficiency and increase profitability. KPMG’s team of industry specialists can help you find ways to overcome challenges including: • Business strategy • Expansion, mergers, acquisitions • Capital investment and returns • Project financing • Loan restructuring • Personnel management and remuneration • Environmental issues • Compliance • Customer Assurance For more information please contact: Demetris S. Vakis Board Member Head of Travel Leisure and Tourism T: 22 209301, F: 22 377934 E: dvakis@kpmg.com kpmg.com.cy

©2016 KPMG Limited, a Cyprus limited liability company and member of the KPMG network of independent member firms affiliated with KPMG International Cooperative (”KPMG International”), a Swiss entity. All rights reserved.

| EDITORIAL |

GOLD 5

A Time for Celebration

T H

ANNIVERSARY ISSUE

ISSUE 60 MARCH 20, 2016 PRICE €3.00

T H E

B U S I N E S S

M A G A Z I N E

O F

C Y P R U S

EVERYTHING EVERYT

Under Un nde d r thee sun su

HOTEL MANAGERS AT WORK

9 TOP Managers on keeping Guests Happy

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INTERVIEWS INT

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Andrey Dashin A Ge George Hadjipieris Loizos Heracleous L Evy Poumpouras Thomas Tandetzki

PUBLISHED BY IMH ISSN 1986 - 3543

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MANAGING DIRECTOR

George Michail

GENERAL MANAGER

Daphne Roditou Tang

t the end of this month, Cyprus officially exits the economic adjustment programme imposed by the Troika exactly three years ago in return for a €10 million bailout. Despite the fact that the provisions regarding privatisation were not fully adhered to and, as a consequence, an additional tranche of €400 million has not been disbursed, this is not the time for focusing on what was not done when so much clearly has been achieved. IMF President Christine Lagarde congratulated Cyprus on its “accomplishments under the economic adjustment programme, which has delivered an impressive turnaround” and, while the economy slumped by 5.9% in 2013 and shrank by another 2.5% in 2014, it rose by 1.4% in 2015, and it is forecast to grow by 1.5% this year. Praise and credit are due to President Anastasiades but, in particular, to Harris Georgiades who, occasionally without the unconditional support he deserved from the Presidential Palace, has proved himself to be a remarkably astute appointment and an exceptionally good Finance Minister. Low-key but firm, he has impressed his European colleagues with his grasp of the issues and his dedication to implementing the Troika’s strict programme and, not surprisingly, they were generous with their praise for his achievements at this month’s special meeting of the Eurogroup. Over the next two months, we shall all be witnesses to the unsavoury business of parliamentary elections and a campaign that will undoubtedly sink to new lows of populism. The opposition parties will – understandably – do their best to undermine the Government’s achievements, though they will certainly not point to the fact that it is they who were responsible for the Troika’s refusal to make the final payment due to their stance on the privatisation of Cyta. However, nothing can conceal the fact that the Government that came in following Demetris Christofias’ disastrous handling of the economy has succeeded beyond all expectations and deserves recognition for this. This is not the end, of course, and despite attempts by the once-powerful unions to start flexing their muscles as they used to, reforms must continue and at a much faster pace. We shall be watching developments closely. And so to a second celebration, albeit a minor one in the grand scheme of things. This issue of Gold is No. 60, marking five years since the magazine first appeared on newsstands. Thanks are due to all of you who have been with us from the start as well as to the thousands of new readers who have joined us along John Vickers, the way. We have been through one of Cyprus’ most difficult Chief Editor periods together and I hope that Gold, like the island’s economy, can continue to grow bigger and better over the next five years. Cheers! john@imhbusiness.com

6 | GOLD | The Business Magazine of Cyprus

MEDIA MANAGER

Elena Leontiou

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

John Vickers

JOURNALISTS

Effy Pafitis, Artemis Constantinidou CONTRIBUTORS TO THIS ISSUE

Tassos Anastasiades, Savia Orphanidou, Savvas Savouri PHOTOGRAPHY

Emma Louise Charalambous, Jo Michaelides, Andreas Loucaides ART DIRECTION

Anna Theodosiou

SENIOR DESIGNER

Alexia Petrou

PHOTOGRAPHY

Jo Michaelides, Harris Kyprianou MARKETING EXECUTIVE

Kevi Chishios

SALES MANAGER

Irene Georgiou

SALES EXECUTIVE

Stavros Epifaniou

OPERATIONS MANAGER

Voulla Nicolaou

SUBSCRIPTIONS

Myria Neophytou PRINTERS

Cassoulides Masterprinters CONTACT 5 Aigaleo St., Strovolos 2057, Nicosia, Cyprus Mailing address: P.O.Box 21185, 1503, Nicosia, Cyprus Tel: +357 22505555, Fax: +357 22679820 e-mail: gold@imhbusiness.com subscriptions: goldsubscriptions@imhbusiness.com www.imhbusiness.com

BUSINESS BRIEFING POLITICS

MILESTONES CELEBRATES 20TH ANNIVERSARY

Military service cut to 14 months

This month the Trident Trust Group celebrates the 20th anniversary of the establishment of its presence in Cyprus, which began on 8 March 1996. Trident Trust was HTVUN [OL ÄYZ[ PU[LYUH[PVUHS WYV]PKLYZ VM JVYWVYH[L HUK ÄK\JPHY` services to become licensed by the Central Bank of Cyprus and in ^HZ HSZV HTVUN [OL ÄYZ[ [V obtain a licence from the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission under the jurisdiction’s revised regulatory regime.

The Council of Ministers decided on February 25 to reduce the duration of compulsory military service from 24 to 14 months. Defence Minister Christoforos Fokaides described the decision as “an important step towards the evolution of the National Guard into a modern semi-professional force with increased capabilities and equipment.” The idea of reducing army service for 18-year-olds has been under discussion for more than a decade.

BUSINESS

Award for Eurofast Eurofast Global has been named Leading Corporate Adviser of the Year in South East Europe at this year’s Acquisition International Awards. The awards mark excellence in all areas of corporate business consulting and are voted for by a global network of expert professionals, advisers, clients, peers and industry insiders. Panayiotis Diallinas, Regional Director of Eurofast, mentioned: “It is great for Eurofast’s professionals to see us standing out for offering corporate advice and sharing business intelligence in this area.”

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WARGAM IN NG

BILLION WARGAMING REDESIGNS

‘MASTER OF ORION’

Cyprus-based Wargaming has announced the release of a Collector’s Edition of the new “Master of Orion – Conquer the Stars.” The redesigned new edition of the strategy game is now available. Purchase of the Collector’s Edition, aside from other bonuses, provides players with Early Access to the game. Players also get the three original Master of Orion titles, a detailed digital art book, soundtrack by original Master of Orion composer, retro pixel ships, and an exclusive race for Collector’s Edition holders: the Terran Khanate. Meanwhile, Bloomberg recently valued Wargaming at $1.5 billion and estimated founder Victor Kislyi’s net worth at $1 billion. Nicosia resident Kislyi declined to comment on the valuation, saying only that he has a “very modest” lifestyle and has never tried to put a number on his fortune. Kislyi controls 64% of the Cyprus-based business in his name and through a 25.5% stake held by his father, according to Wargaming’s ZLTP HUU\HS ÄUHUJPHS YLWVY[ ;OL I\ZPULZZ OHZ 4,000 employees on four continents and revenue of $590 million in 2015, according to data compiled by Bloomberg and estimates by analysts.

8 | GOLD | The Business Magazine of Cyprus

SOLON TRIANTAFYLLIDES

Solon Triantafyllides, a Bank of Cyprus chairman and board member died last month aged 84 after a long illness. Triantafyllides, a chartered accountant, was the MV\UKLY HUK ÄYZ[ WYLZPKLU[ VM [OL 0UZ[P[\[L VM *LY[PÄLK 7\ISPJ (Jcountants of Cyprus. He joined the BoC board in 1963, became vice chairman in 1979, and served as chairman between 1988 and 2005. Triantafyllides always regarded the creation of the Bank of Cyprus Oncology Centre as his greatest achievement.

10 YEARS OF HERMES AIRPORTS (PYWVY[Z VWLYH[VY /LYTLZ [OPZ `LHY marks 10 years of operations and ^OH[ P[ KLZJYPILZ HZ P[Z ¸ZPNUPÄcant contribution to the economy, society and tourism of Cyprus”. Currently more than 70 airlines \ZL 3HYUHJH HUK 7HWOVZ HPYWVY[Z connecting Cyprus with more than 110 destinations in 40 countries, serving over seven and a half million passengers annually. The OPNOSPNO[ VM /LYTLZ (PYWVY[Z» year celebrations will be a special event featuring the Cyprus Youth Symphony Orchestra.

FOREX EVENT

LEGION RUN CYPRUS 2016

L

egion Run Cyprus 2016 will take place on April 2 at the Latouros Quarries at Dali, Nicosia. This year’s event raises the bar with a more intense course, less running and over 20 obstacles of mud, ice and barbed wire. In fact, 90% of the obstacles have been changed, giving participants the opportunity to challenge their physical and mental limits, and share epic moments with friends and co-workers. Legion Run is designed to enhance teamwork and camaraderie. Companies have the chance to treat their employees to a premium team building event and benefit from tailored corporate packages. Cyprus is the first stop of the Legion Run tour. This year the team-oriented challenge expands to new markets, including Paris, Cap Decouverte, Brittany, Lyon, Tel Aviv and Hong Kong. Born just a few years ago in Cyprus, Legion Run is the fastest-growing obstacle course brand in Eastern and Central Europe. Nearly 40,000 people have already challenged themselves in Legion Run events and their number is constantly growing. WEALTHY

FIVE CYPRIOTS ON FORBES BILLIONAIRE LIST

F

ive Cypriots are included in the latest Forbes World’s Billionaires ranking, led by John Fredriksen, the so-called “Norwegian shipping king� who has Cypriot citizenship and a net worth of some $9 billion. He is placed 133rd on the list. He is followed, some 1,000 places down the rankings by three members of the Haji-Ioannou family. Sir Stelios HajiIoannou, is at 1,275 on Forbes’ list thanks to a net worth VM IPSSPVU MVSSV^LK I` OPZ IYV[OLY 7VS`Z IPSSPVU and their sister Clelia, a billionaire thanks to her stake in LHZ`1L[ IPSSPVU :OL PZ YHURLK QVPU[S` PU [O WSHJL with Turkish Cypriot Suat Gunsel, who founded the Near East University in the occupied areas and the majority of his wealth comes from the university and from the hospital, bank, hotel, gas station, plastics and cable production companies he owns under the same name.

FOREX FxPro enhances infrastructure with new technology

O

nline broker FxPro has partnered with Solace Systems to boost the capacity and performance of its messaging infrastructure. Specifically, the company has invested in Solace Message Router Appliances and Solace Virtual Message Routers to power internal and customer-facing interfaces over wide area networks and via web and mobile devices. FxPro CIO Panayiotis Annivas, commented: “Solace gives us a rock-solid foundation on which we know we can build and grow our business to meet customer demand.�

FXTM launches virtual MasterCard

L

imassol-based Forex brokerage firm Forex Time (FXTM) has unveiled a brand-new withdrawal option for its clients, the FXTM Virtual MasterCard, a prepaid card available in USD and EUR, directly linked to a client’s account, which allows traders to have instant payouts to the card. In addition to offering immediate access to withdrawn funds, the it offer traders the convenience of a globally-accepted payout solution, and the ability to easily pay for goods and services online from anywhere around the world.

Trust in Jordans wherever your business takes you Jordans Trust Company (Seychelles) can help your business thrive. Our professional team provide local insight and a full range of management, trust and director services. All services are regulated by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) in the Seychelles. Close links between all our -k!#1 ', 2&# -0" ,1 %0-3.A mean you have easy access to our services through our Cyprus -k!# ', '!-1' @ -,2 !2 -30 '!-1' 2# + 2-" 7@ Jordans Trust Company (Cyprus) Limited T +357 22 767 294 E info@jordans.com.cy

www.jordanstrustcompany.com www.goldnews.com.cy | GOLD | 9

BUSINESS BRIEFING

REAL ESTATE Property sales rise in February 7YVWLY[` ZHSLZ PU *`WY\Z YVZL I` 54% during February 2016 compared to the same period last year HJJVYKPUN [V VɉJPHS Z[H[PZ[PJZ W\Ilished by the Department of Lands and Surveys on March 7. ;OPZ ZPNUPÄJHU[ YPZL PU -LIY\HY` follows a 2% rise in January and a 13% rise in December 2015. February saw a total of 501 contracts for the sale of commercial and residential properties and land I\PSKPUN WSV[Z HUK ÄLSKZ ILPUN KLWVZP[LK H[ 3HUK 9LNPZ[Y` VɉJLZ HJYVZZ" [OL OPNOLZ[ TVU[OS` ÄN\YL recorded since May 2014.

Imperio Launches Ivy Residences

With immediate access to the central avenues and the centre of Limassol, Imperio’s new project Ivy Residences will soon be \UKLY KL]LSVWTLU[ PU [OL (`PVZ Nectarios area. With remarkable views, especially from the top Ă…VVYZ [OL I\PSKPUN ^PSS MLH[\YL modern architectural lines and ^PSS VɈLY H ZLK\J[P]L JVSSLJ[PVU VM six apartments designed in the OPNOLZ[ ZWLJPĂ„JH[PVUZ ;OL L_[LYPVY of the project will be decorated with vertical planting, doing justice to the name Ivy Residences. The apartment building is due for completion in October 2017.

TECHNOLOGY

UCY TECH PROJECT SCOOPS INTERNATIONAL AWARD

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University of Cyprus student project has gained international recognition, having been evaluated ninth of 50 projects submitted in the global IEEE ComSoc Student Competition entitled “Communications Technology Changing the World�. The students developed Proximaid, an innovative smartphone app that aims to help save lives in emergency situations. It is capable of operating without a connection to a network infrastructure and enables communication between a network of mobile phones without them being dependent on existing telecommunication provider networks. The app is currently implemented on Android devices that support Wi-Fi Direct functionality to enable multimedia exchange (i.e., text, pictures, and video) directly between devices.

10 | GOLD | The Business Magazine of Cyprus

TOURISM

Sea Caves Residences from Aristo (YPZ[V +L]LSVWLYZ OHZ HUUV\UJLK the latest addition to its vast property portfolio, the Sea Caves 9LZPKLUJLZ WYVQLJ[ PU 7HWOVZ adjacent to the remarkable sea cave formations near Coral Bay. “Everything about this project makes a statement of taste, X\HSP[` HUK Z[`SL š (YPZ[V UV[LZ in a statement, revealing that the residences are inspired by Mediterranean living and traditional Cypriot architecture. The project comprises six private homes, featuring spacious designs, versatile living space, the large balconies, shady pergolas, open terraces, gardens and private swimming pools.

D. Zavos Group Members Club

The prominent Cypriot real estate HUK KL]LSVWTLU[ Ă„YT + AH]VZ Group has decided to launch a Members Club for all its clients. The Members Club card will give customers the opportunity to discover new establishments in *`WY\Z HUK LUQV` [OL ILULĂ„[Z VM privileged pricing and discounts HɈVYKLK VUS` [V JHYK OVSKLYZ + AH]VZ .YV\W *S\I WHY[ULYZ PUJS\KL [OL Ă„ULZ[ OV[LSZ YLZ[H\rants, cafes, bars, boutiques, wine bars and Spas across Cyprus as well as a private hospital, which provides a variety of medical treatments.

BEST YEAR FOR TOURISM SINCE 2001

Cyprus recorded a 4.4% increase in key tourism revenue in 2015, the sector’s best earnings since 2001, according to VɉJPHS KH[H YLSLHZLK VU -LIY\HY` ;V[HS [V\YPZT PUJVTL reached ₏2.11 billion last year, up from ₏2.02 billion in 2014. The increase was fuelled by a decade-high surge of 2.1 million tourist arrivals in 2015 – a jump of 8.9% on the previous year. Revenues for the month of December alone increased by 20.4% from ₏43.7 million in 2014 to ₏52.6 million. Income MYVT [V\YPZT HJJV\U[Z MVY HYV\UK VM .+7

CHARLIE AIRLINES TO LAUNCH IN CYPRUS ;OL JV V^ULYZ VM 9\ZZPHU JHYYPLY : (PYSPULZ HYL ZL[ [V launch a new airline in Cyprus that will operate routes within ,\YVWL *OHYSPL (PYSPULZ ILNPU VWLYH[PVUZ I` [OL LUK VM The airline initially planned to start operations this spring, but had to postpone the launch due to strict EU regulation. 0UP[PHSS` *OHYSPL (PYSPULZ ^PSS Ă…` [^V ( Z MYVT [OL : Ă…LL[ The air carrier will be set up by S7 co-owners together with Cypriot investors, whose names have not been revealed. S7 shareholders will account for 40% of the ownership.

“HELLO ATHENS�

From 1 March 2016, Emirates has extended its Dubai3HYUHJH Ă…PNO[ [V ([OLUZ HSSV^PUN [YH]LSSLYZ [V IVVR [PJRL[Z IL[^LLU *`WY\Z HUK ([OLUZ ;V JLSLIYH[L [OL SH\UJO VM [OL Ă…PNO[ ILPUN VWLYH[LK Ă„]L [PTLZ H ^LLR VU :\UKH` ;\LZKH` Thursday, Friday and Saturday, Emirates held a cocktail party [YH]LS HNLU[Z HUK [OL WYLZZ ¸/LSSV ([OLUZš ^HZ [OL [OLTL VM [OL JLSLIYH[PVU H[ [OL (WLYP[P]V 1L[ZL[ 3V\UNL PU 5PJVZPH K\Ying which guests were welcomed by Emirates Country ManHNLY MVY *`WY\Z (ZTH (S 9HOTH HUK OLY [LHT HUK ^H[JOLK H JVYWVYH[L ]PKLV VM ,TPYH[LZÂť ZLY]PJL VɈLYPUNZ

THE MARSHALL ISLANDS PEOPLE

ECONOMY

CYPRUS EXITS ECONOMIC ADJUSTMENT PROGRAMME

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resident Nicos Anastasiades and Finance Minister Harris Georgiades officially announced that Cyprus’ exit from the economic adjustment programme, which was approved at a Eurogroup meeting in Brussels, will come into effect on March 31. Both men warned, however, that the serious efforts made over the past three years must continue, noting that although the country has come a long way and left the recession behind, much remains to be done. Cyprus is the fourth eurozone member state to exit its bailout following Ireland, Spain and Portugal. The island used ₏7.25 of the total ₏10 billion earmarked in the financial bailout. The Eurogroup commended the Cypriot authorities for the successful implementation of the programme and the important achievements made in the past three years. CYCLING

ELIZABETH SPEHAR

Elizabeth Spehar replaces Lisa Buttenheim as the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative and Head of the <UP[LK 5H[PVUZ 7LHJLRLLWPUN -VYJL PU *`WY\Z <5-0*@7 Spehar was previously head of [OL <5Z ,\YVWL HUK (TLYPJH Department.

AMALIA HADJIMICHAEL (THSPH /HKQPTPJOHLS OHZ QVPULK [OL 0UZ[P[\[L VM *LY[PÄLK 7\ISPJ (JJV\U[HU[Z PU *`WY\Z 0*7(* as Monitoring and Compliance 6ɉJLY :OL ^VYRLK H[ +LSVP[[L until 2007, after which she was a +PYLJ[VY VM . ( / (\KP[ :LY]PJLZ Ltd.

RECORD PARTICIPATION

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IN VW CYCLING TOUR

he island’s most important Road Cycling event, the Volkswagen Cyprus Cycling Tour, will be staged for the 5th consecutive year from April 1-3, 2016. Paphos will host the event, with the start and finish of all three days of the taking place in Castle Square. Last year, a record number of 224 professional, semi-amateur and amateur cyclists took part, a number which is expected to be exceeded this time. Many Cypriot business executives, who are amateur cyclists, participate in the event. The VW Cycling Tour will cover 247.4 kilometres in three days of competition. Media Sponsor of the event is Reporter newspaper. More info at www. cyclingcy.com

Corporate Registry

NATASA PILIDES

The new Director-General of the *`WY\Z 0U]LZ[TLU[ 7YVTV[PVU (NLUJ` *07( PZ 5H[HZH 7PSPKLZ \U[PS UV^ H +PYLJ[VY of Baker Tilly Klitou, in charge of the several departments for Cyprus, Greece, Romania, Bulgaria and Moldova.

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tel: +30 210 4294 404 piraeus@register-iri.com www.goldnews.com.cy | GOLD | 11

www.register-iri.com

MY WAY

Chrysostomos Papavassiliou

Managing Director, Island Oil

THE WORD ‘START-UP’ MAY BE RELATIVELY MODERN BUT THE CONCEPT IS NOT. ALMOST A QUARTER OF A CENTURY AGO, CHRYSOSTOMOS PAPAVASSILIOU DECIDED TO STEP OFF THE SURE PATH INTO THE PUBLIC SECTOR AND START HIS OWN COMPANY, WORKING FROM HOME. TODAY IT IS A GROUP EMPLOYING MORE THAN 4)340) -2 Ć '39286-)7 79'')77 ,) 8)007 +30( '31)7 *631 % COMBINATION OF HARD WORK, A POSITIVE OUTLOOK, GOOD ROLE MODELS, COMMUNICATION WITH ONE’S TEAM AND SOME HELPFUL, THOUGH OFTEN ELUSIVE, GOOD LUCK.

“M

y leadership style has evolved over the years. I was fortunate to have several mentors whose styles I was able to adapt. Through experience I have learned from what I have done right as well as from mistakes I have made. I believe that today I am wiser and more confident.”

“M

y greatest

professional achievement? Starting a company out of a small apartment 24 years ago and expanding it to a group of companies with offices in 8 countries, a fleet of 10 small tankers and employing over 250 personnel was the biggest challenge and risk I had ever taken, especially after having turned down a very secure and rewarding job offer in the public sector. This decision may have been at odds with my customary philosophy of taking carefully calculated risks.”

“A

combination of factors has helped me most throughout the course of my career. Coming from a humble agricultural background, where I helped out early in the morning before going to school, and then losing everything as a teenager in the 1974 invasion, I had to be totally self-sufficient, finding work from the very first day I went abroad for studies. From a young age, I strived to do my best under the circumstances. This included hard work, meeting challenges head-on, having a positive outlook and, of course, some good timing and luck are always welcome!”

“T

he biggest mistake that managers make is to jump to conclusions without carefully considering all the facts, thus taking rash decisions. On a personal level, I tend to be trusting of people until proven otherwise and this has been a costly and painful experience in the past. There needs to be mutual respect and motivation for everyone on the team, with fair treatment and delegation of tasks.”

“F

rom an early age, my late uncle Prodromos Papavassiliou and, later in my career, Stathis Papadakis, were two persons whose opinions mattered greatly to me and were an influence on who I am today. Both soft-spoken and wise, they became successful businessmen, proactive in public matters to improve society.”

12 | GOLD | The Business Magazine of Cyprus

“A

chieving a healthy balance between life at work and at home is quite a challenge. Although I do not spend as much time at home as I would like, my family is very important to me and I try to ensure that I spend quality time with them. In truth, the balance is still tipped towards work. It helps that our two sons are now w adults with careers and lives of their own and that I have an understanding wife, since she also had the challenge of balancing life at work and at home for or a number of years.”

Chrysostomos Papavassiliou holds a BA Degree in Business Administration from the University of Piraeus and an MSBA Degree with Emphasis on International Business & Shipping from San Francisco State University. With over 35 years’ experience in Greece, the US and Cyprus, he has acquired a considerable amount of expertise in business development within the shipping and marine-oil supply and trade sectors.

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FIVE

MINUTES WITH

C

yprus is ready to officially exit the bailout programme at the end of this month. We have come a long way and, yes, we are ready to safely exit the support programme. We are back on growth. We entered the programme in a recession and now we’re having growth rates around 1.5% and we have completely eliminated the deficit. We had a marginally negative deficit of 0.5% so that’s well ahead of expectations and, of course, we have stabilised the banking sector so there has been good progress on all fronts and we can take it from here. Taking it from here, if we look at what is going on more broadly – the economic backdrop – the risk sentiment right now is pretty tense. Would that push you, or could it force your hand, to perhaps request a credit line coming out of this bailout programme just to give you that extra back-up? No, we shall not be requesting a credit line but we remain very focused and very committed to maintaining the reform effort, to maintaining fiscal discipline and keeping a watchful eye on our banking sector, exactly because no-one can say that the challenges have gone, either for Cyprus or for the European economy. We do not need the programme, which is coming to its end as scheduled, but this does not signal a termination of

14 | GOLD | The Business Magazine of Cyprus

HARRIS GEORGIADES

the discipline and of the efforts that we have been making during the last three years. In fact, our own reform agenda goes above and beyond the Troika programme, so we shall continue and we are very confident that, in doing that, we

are valued by the banks? Is there is a risk of more capital being needed in the banking sector? Capital has, in fact, been raised and that’s a positive. The Cyprus banks are able to raise capital and they have done so and we have also raised provisions. NPLs are a challenge; they are high. They are a leftover of the boom and bust of the previous pr decade, actually. But here also a I am confident that we shall be seeing s progress. The escalation w will not show immediately, given tthe reporting handling of NPLs where you have to keep them in the red column for a year after they have been restructured, but viable restructurings are happening. The fact that the economy is growing again obviously helps. So, even on this front, I am confident that, with a continuation of the efforts and wi without in any way being complac placent about it, we shall be able to bring tthem down basically.

Minister of Finance

So just to underscore the point again, you’re not anticipating the banks needing any more capital because obviously, given the environment out there, it’s going to be a tough job to achieve if you actually do need to raise more capital for the banks. They have been under tight scrutiny and they are well capitalised and well provisioned. But even if at some period ahead of us, not imminently obviously, they need capital, they are perfectly able to raise capital. And that’s what is offering confidence to depositors and to investors.

shall be safe and we shall convince the market that Cyprus is indeed back on track. You’ve mentioned the banking sector twice. Non-performing loans are still a huge issue. I’ve seen some statistics saying they are 46% of total bank lending. You’re working on perhaps offsetting some of these loans by selling them on to investors but do we have a problem in that the way they

(Excerpts from an interview with Julia Chatterley, broadcast by CNBC)

QUOTES OF THE MONTH

They Said What? Some of the interesting things said by Cypriots in the public eye over the past month.

CHRISTOFOROS FAKAIDES

“WE’VE BEEN DISCUSSING THE MATTER FOR 10 YEARS. IT HAS BECOME A JOKE. I HAVE BEEN SAYING ALL ALONG THAT A PLAN WOULD BE SUBMITTED BY THE END OF 2015. THEY HEARD ME BUT THEY DIDN’T BELIEVE ME.� Defence Minister Christoforos Fokaides knows why opposition MPs were taken by surprise by the announcement to reduce national army service.

“RELATIONS BETWEEN ANASTASIADES AND AVEROF ARE LIKE REINFORCED CONCRETE. I REPEAT: REINFORCED CONCRETE. WE’VE WORKED TOGETHER FOR 31 YEARS AND HAVE NEVER BEEN ON OPPOSING SIDES. NEVER, NEVER, NEVER!� DISY Chairman Averof 1HRSK\WRX REYLRXVO\ JHWV RQ well with the President. AVEROF NEOPHYTOU

“IT IS CLEAR THAT WHERE DISTRICT STUDENT COMMITTEES ARE CONTROLLED BY AKEL, WE ARE FACED WITH PROTESTS.�

“IT’S LIKE USING A MISSILE SYSTEM TO SHOOT A MOSQUITO.� GEORGE PAMBORIDIS

+HDOWK 0LQLVWHU *HRUJH Pamboridis shows that he has a way with words ZKHQ GHVFULELQJ WKH FKDRV created in hospitals by the QXUVHV¡ GHFLVLRQ WR JR RQ VWULNH IRU KLJKHU SD\

Education Minister Costas .DGLV Ă€QDOO\ GLVFRYHUV WKH “MANY MORE WOMEN COULD HAVE UHDOLWLHV RI SROLWLFDO LQĂ XHQFH BEEN AMONG US HERE TODAY. BUT THEY ARE WORKING, EVEN IF IT IS in schools when pupils skip A SUNDAY. FOR AKEL, WORKING lessons to demonstrate WOMEN SHOULD BE AT THE DJDLQVW WZLFH \HDUO\ H[DPV What he fails to understand FOREFRONT, AND NOT POSING is that he should never LIKE DOLLS ON THE SOCIETY have let schoolkids have a SECTION OF MAGAZINES.â€? ANDROS say in education policy in KYPRINAOU prianou is AKEL leader Andros Kyprianou WKH Ă€UVW SODFH FOHDU DERXW ZKHUH D ZRPDQ¡V SODFH PDQ¡V SODFH LV LQ WRGD\¡V VRFLHW\ DV KH WULHV WR KH WULHV WR understand why so few decided to VSHQG WKHLU 6XQGD\ OLVWHQLQJ WR KLP QLQJ WR KLP 7KH\ ZHUH REYLRXVO\ HLWKHU EHLQJ KHU EHLQJ H[SORLWHG DW ZRUN RU VLWWLQJ DW KRPH J DW KRPH UHDGLQJ WKRVH PDJD]LQHV ]LQHV COSTAS KADIS

“WE NEED AN INDEPENDENT VOICE THAT WILL BE GUIDED BY THE BEST INTERESTS OF ORDINARY PEOPLE.â€? Convicted fraudster Antonis Fanieros, whose devotion to the best interests of ordinary SHRSOH LV UHĂ HFWHG LQ his nine years of prison sentences, now wants to become an MP. 7KDW Ă€JXUHV 7KDW Ă€JX J UHV

“THE CONSTITUTION MANDATES THAT, WHENEVER THE COUNTRY NEEDS IT, EVERYONE SHOULD CONTRIBUTE ACCORDING TO THEIR ABILITY. THIS IS NOT WHAT HAPPENED IN THIS CASE, AN AND THAT AT IS WHY WE TOOK TO THE COURTS.� E COURT RTS.�

Civil Service Union Head Glafkos Hadjipetrou shows his tenuous links WR UHDOLW\ E\ LQVLVWLQJ WKDW his members were hard March 2013. He done by in M REYLRXVO\ KDVQ¡W UHDG WKH REYLRXVO\ K Constitution either. Constitu

GLAFOS HADJIPETROU

“II CA CANNOT BE ON THE SAME BALLOT BAL ALLO WITH CANDIDATES WHO D DO O NO NOT PAY THEIR FINES, WHO IN INSULT NSULT L THEIR FEMALE COLLEAGUE OR A ADVERTISE THEIR ILLEGAL GASTR GASTRONOMIC PREFERENCES ON SOCIAL NETWORKSâ€? University of Cyprus professor 6WDYURV =HQLRV ZRQ¡W EH VWDQGLQJ LQ the May elections for DISY, then...

ANTONIS FANIEROS

16 | GOLD | The Business Magazine of Cyprus

STAVROS ZENIOS

info@eurofast.eu | www.eurofast.eu

Your Regional Business Advisory Organisation

VAT refund in the Western Balkans

The countries of the Western Balkans have diversified their approach to various tax aspects over the years. One of these includes the procedure for VAT refund to non-resident, the rules for which are defined by each country and need to be carefully considered by foreign companies seeking a refund. Below is some brief information related to VAT refund procedures in Serbia, Montenegro, FYR Macedonia and Croatia.

Serbia

Croatia

Serbia grants VAT refunds to taxable persons not established in Serbia but resident in a country with which Serbia has a reciprocity regime. The minimum refund threshold is EUR 200 and requirements prescribe that VAT must be entered on an invoice of a Serbian taxable person and that the refund applicant has only performed VAT-exempted transport of goods in Serbia or international passenger bus transport. The deadline for refund application is June 30th and supporting documentation includes a certificate of VAT registration in the home country as well as an original invoice.

Croatia refunds VAT to non-residents who are not established in any EU member state but are resident in a country Croatia has reciprocity with. Although the rules and deadlines are similar, the applicant should not have performed any taxable supply in any EU state (with the exception of transportation services) during the period for which VAT refund is claimed. The refund threshold is much lower in Croatia; currently set at EUR 52.

Montenegro Montenegro closely follows the VAT refund regime applicable in Serbia with the exception of the reciprocity system which is not applicable. The minimum refund threshold is EUR 300 and the application deadline June 30th. Worth noting is the fact that Montenegro requires that a resident tax representative is appointed via a POA.

Conclusion As the countries progress and evolve their legislation and tax regimes, it is worth paying attention to details which may hinder VAT refunds in multiple countries. Eurofast local advisors can help you ensure compliance and refund success.

Bosnia and Herzegovina Much like Montenegro, Bosnia & Herzegovina does not prescribe a reciprocity regime for VAT refund purposes but does require an appointment of a local tax representative. One specific aspect of the process in Bosnia & Herzegovina is the application deadline which is 14 months from the date of the invoice.

FYR Macedonia FYR Macedonian, like Serbia, honors the reciprocity system and has an extensive list of countries with which it maintains reciprocity. The refund criteria are standard as described for the other countries above but the minimum amount to be refunded is set at EUR 500. No local tax representative is required. Western Balkans Tax specialists, January 2016 Eurofast is a regional business advisory organisation employing over 200 local advisors in South East Europe and the East Mediterranean. Eurofast has almost 30 years of experience working with global businesses and leading institutions.

Please visit www.eurofast.eu. , Cyprus

| BUSINESS |

18 | GOLD | The Business Magazine of Cyprus

BEING THE BEST Prof. Loizos Heracleous, who holds a Chair in Strategy and Organisation at Warwick Business School, was in Cyprus recently to give a lecture entitled “The Essence of Business Strategy: How to be Ambidextrous”, organised by the European Institute of Management and Finance (EIMF) and Plus500. In this exclusive interview with Gold, Heracleous talks about Cyprus, what it can learn from Singapore, the need to support entrepreneurship and the secret of Apple’s success. By John Vickers | Photo by Jo Michaelides

Gold: The title of one of your papers (“On the road to disaster: From strategic misalignments to corporate failure.”) might have referred to much of what happened here in 2013. Should we have all seen it coming? Loizos Heracleous: With hindsight we can all try to attribute blame but most of the problems were systemic. Even though the Cyprus economy has always proved quite resilient and bounces back in the long term, it does have certain features that make it vulnerable: high levels of regulation where markets should be less regulated to allow more competitionand high levels of government involvement in many services that should have more private involvement. We need regulation but, in my view, its role is to make markets more efficient rather than to restrict competition. Gold: What do you say to those who argue that a lack of regulation was responsible for much of what led to the crisis in Cyprus? L.H.: I say that there are different types of regulation – it’s a bit like cholesterol: there’s the good type as well as the bad type. Good regulation ensures that markets are competitive, that allows entry into the market without too much red tape. Look at companies like Airbnb and Uber, which have restructured whole industries over the last few years. All of this is good for the customer; though it may not be good for incumbent competitors. Then, there is also a difference between regulation and its implementation. Three years ago, two Cypriot banks had several billion euros invested in Greek bonds, in a country whose GDP was around $20 billion. Was that good risk management? It was not, yet the principles of risk manage-

GOVERNMENTS HAVE NO PLACE IN BUSINESS. THEY SHOULD LEAVE IT TO THE PRIVATE SECTOR

www.goldnews.com.cy | GOLD | 19

| BUSINESS |

ment were known. The banks had corporate governance and regulation; there were transparency regulations; they were manned by educated and capable managers, and yet they made an investment move that was almost laughably risky. No portfolio manager would say that it was a good idea and yet it was done. That was not a matter of regulation. No amount of regulation can prevent unwise decisions. So while we do need good regulation for certain purposes, some of the mistakes that were made would not have been prevented by more regulation.

THE BAIL-IN WAS A MISGUIDED DECISION ON THE PART OF THE EU LEADERSHIP. IT WAS BOTH UNFAIR AND UNETHICAL

Gold: Cyprus is about to officially exit the Troika’s economic adjustment programme. Have you been impressed by how it has tackled the issues over the past three years? L.H.: Many of the actions that the Government has taken and is taking, such as privatisation, have been fraught with challenges, particularly in the form of rejection by the unions. Others, such as making the public sector more efficient, are things that the public at large wants to see but, again, the politicians find it difficult to take such actions because they want to be re-elected. So overall, I have not been impressed by the speed or the determination shown but the good thing is that change and reform are, at least, going in the right direction.

Gold: How did you view the EU’s approach to Cyprus in March 2013? L.H.: I wrote an article in the Harvard Review suggesting that, after the approach taken by the EU towards Cyprus in 2013, the country should stay in the EU but perhaps leave the eurozone. Cyprus was a bit of an experiment for the EU and the bail-in, in particular, was a misguided decision on the part of the EU leadership. It was both unfair and unethical, since those who lost their life savings did not cause the crisis. I believe that the EU did not have to inflict so much pain on Cyprus. Some have argued that Cyprus and the Cypriots would not have changed unless forced to do so but I like to think that we could still have had a programme where we would implement privatisation, make the public sector more efficient, reduce red tape and improve revenue collection for the Government, without all the pain and hardship inflicted on so many people. Gold: You know that, over the years, Cyprus has made considerable strides in its ambition to become a recognised regional business centre. We often use Singapore as a ‘role model’ in this regard. Having lived and worked there, are there certain obvious lessons that Cyprus could learn from Singapore and adopt in order to become more successful at what it does? L.H.: Yes, I think we can learn a lot from Singapore which, in

20 | GOLD | The Business Magazine of Cyprus

the 1960s, had no natural resources or reserves but followed a national strategy of gradually upgrading the economy, initially through manufacturing, then becoming a transportation node and building an excellent port and airport before focusing on financial services. Now it has one of the biggest stock exchanges in Asia. It then turned to industries such as biotechnology and medicine and, more recently, focused on education. If there is a major difference with Cyprus, I would say it is that Singapore implements very effectively and, as a nation, is extremely efficient. There are proper personnel evaluations in the public sector, for instance, unlike here where 99% are rated as “excellent”. It is true that there is not as much diversity in the political debate as you find in some other countries but in the end, comparing Cyprus with Singapore, it comes down to the question of how much political debate you are willing to give up in return for safety, security and wealth. Singapore has one of the highest GDP per capita in the world (US$56,000), with quality offerings in every sector. Its national GDP at US$307 billion is 13 times that of Cyprus, while it is a tiny country, its land mass at 719 km2 being 1/13th that of Cyprus. In Cyprus we have greater freedom and democracy but, despite what happened three years ago, we still have the old mindset of wanting a cosy job in the government or in a bank for the rest of our lives. We need to work on being competitive as a nation and, in order to do that, we have to make it easier for people to create things. Government needs to get out of the way of business and commerce and exist only as a safeguard of security, safety, legislation and against possible abuse of power. Other than that, governments have no place in business. They should leave it to the private sector. Gold: Let’s talk about one of the most successful private companies in the world: Apple. Over the years, you’ve written extensively about it and one of your papers is entitled “Charismatic leadership and rhetorical competence: An analysis of Steve Jobs’ rhetoric.” How much of Apple’s success is, or was, all down to one man? L.H.: We can think of Steve Jobs as a conductor of an orchestra. A conductor is ineffective without good musicians and they are ineffective as a group without a conductor to get the best of them as individuals and when working together. Jobs couldn’t have done what he did without all the great designers and people working for the company and one key factor was the way he gathered the best people. If he wanted to hire someone, he would go and meet them personally and talk to them. When the CEO of a multi-billion dollar company seeks you out and tells you, “We want you” it’s a big thing! It’s now five years since Steve Jobs died and Apple is still doing extremely well and is valued at over half a billion US dollars.

It is growing well and is now moving from mature markets to emerging markets. Gold: Given that Apple’s strategy has been to make an expensive product, do you think it will now change that strategy for these new markets? L.H.: No, firstly because of what Apple stands for. Its loyal customers see the products as premium, high-end, stylish and, therefore, setting them apart, even though, by definition, they don’t if almost every other person has one! Secondly, the premium price, the design and high quality differentiate Apple from its competitors. Thirdly, it has a very effective ecosystem strategy: if you have an iPhone, an iPad and/or an Apple computer, you have all the apps and the devices integrate well with each other. The strategy here is very clever because thousands of others produce the apps but Apple gets a cut. It simply manages the conduit or channel to the customer. Once, as a customer, you are part of that ecosystem, you’re willing to pay a premium price because of the barriers to exit and the branding. Gold: But are premium products and prices suitable for emerging markets? What would happen if they sold cheaper versions in China and India? L.H.: This is an interesting issue. First of all, there would soon be a black market developing in those economies where people buy cheap there to sell more expensively in developed markets, and the company would compromise the value of its brand image. If we look at the rate at which a middle class is developing in China and India, for example, it’s extremely high so Apple is riding the wave of the growing middle classes and this is a very effective strategy – far less risky than introducing cheaper products, which would be a short-sighted move, possibly leading to an initial jump in revenues but with negative effects soon afterwards.

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of success. But companies must think about process innovation – the way they make something might need to change, so that they can do it more efficiently and take advantage of the latest technology. Also, the way that they engage with their human resources may have to change. If a company adopts a hierarchical approach without trying to empower people and think about work/life balance, sustainability and all the things that people care about, it will start losing very good people. So whereas policies and processes may need to change, if the product is great a company can keep doing what it’s doing, even though sooner or later competition will come.

Gold: You spend a lot of time and energy on looking at how major established companies can continue to improve and remain viable but what is your advice to young entrepreneurs who are at the very beginning of their career, hoping that their big idea might become a start-up and then a successful company? L.H.: My advice is, “Go for it. It’s exciting. And don’t be afraid of failure.� All major entrepreneurs have a catalogue of failures. They try, they fail, they try, they fail, they fall, they get up, they learn and they try again. The same principles of strategy and competitive success apply, whatever the size of the company. Look at what is missing in the market and offer it; or see where the markets are inefficient and consumers are paying too much and come up with a new solution (as easyJet and Ryanair did in the airline industry); or create some kind of software that offers new functions to business. If you believe you can do any of these things, my advice is always to go for it. Entrepreneurship is a creative force; it is something that is crucial to economies and it can be crucial to Cyprus’ resurgence as a vibrant economy. That’s why we need to make it easier for people to do business. We need to create a situation in which the best Cypriots want to stay here and the best people from around the world want to come and work and live here. So we need leaders with the ability to take decisions on what’s best for the country, setting aside their political affiliations. They don’t need to disagree because they are with party A and others are with party B or C. They and, indeed,all of us should have a much higher goal.

ENTREPRENEURSHIP IS A CREATIVE FORCE AND IT CAN BE CRUCIAL TO CYPRUS’ RESURGENCE AS A VIBRANT ECONOMY

Gold: Two of today’s hot business concepts are innovation and change, the latter being another of your particular focuses. Is there no place in today’s world for companies that do something fantastically well and are happy to keep doing it? Must they always be moving into new areas? L.H.: If we focus on the product, the answer is no. Look at Ferrari, which has a waiting list for its cars. It could keep making Ferraris for the next couple of decades and be assured

www.goldnews.com.cy | GOLD | 21

Opinion

NO GREEK TRAGEDY LAST YEAR’S ‘GREXIT’ FEARS ARE UNFOUNDED IN THE CASE OF AN ‘OUT’ VOTE IN THE UK REFERENDUM. By Savvas Savouri

F

or long periods last summer to exploit its climate in recent years, and scenery as well as the desperate all eyes were hard currency needs of its hotels, fixed on Greece restaurants and bars, and no doubt amid frenzied triggering a price war along the talk of its Mediterranean, Adriatic, Ionian and possible withAegean seas. drawal from So, if a ‘Grexit’ would have proven the eurozone. Those encouraging such so unfavourable to Greece, why is a a defection seemed unaware that it ‘Brexit’ not equally bad for Britain? would have also meant exiting the EuFor one thing, the UK boasts a sovropean Union and whilst some might ereign currency and, whatever one claim this double whammy would might expect of the pound in the have proved favourable for Greece, in wake of an exit from the EU, the reality it would have been a descent word “trauma” would not be justiinto autarky. fied as a description. Moreover, any Following its abandonment of the attempt by the EU to isolate the UK euro, Greece would have lost its access from its single labour market or freeto the single labour market. Those many Greeks trade area would result in a self-inflicted trauma on Info: Dr. Savvas Savouri is a already working across the EU would have been a number of EU member states, from neighbouring Partner and Chief Economist forced either to return to a homeland suffering acute Ireland down to Malta and across – and somewhat of Toscafund. social and economic traumas or to search for a welironically – to Greece. Neither VW nor BMW would coming home beyond Europe. welcome any attempt to besiege their UK activities, A sunshine nation would have become ever darker as its once nor would the multiple other corporates from around the EU, white economy rapidly turned greyer and more of the nation fad- which have built a profitable presence across the UK. ed into the black market of extortionate exchange rates, as Greeks The reality is that no two EU nations share the same exit evendesperately sought to change into euros whatever their Governtualities. Consider Finland, for instance, which could depart the ment came up with for its fiat currency. Post-‘Grexit’, the elderly eurozone were it to join Norway, Sweden and Denmark in forgand infirm would have found themselves in a dystopia thought ing a unified Nordic currency. This quartet could, in fact, carve unimaginable in 21st century Europe and in what was once one out a Nordic bloc outside the EU, too big for the rump EU not of the world’s most celebrated centres of brilliance in commerce, to openly engage with. For its part, Ireland, too, could depart the arts and science. eurozone, assuming it were willing to readopt the pound. It could Another trauma brought about by a ‘Grexit’ would have been also leave the EU if it did so, in conjunction with the UK. the isolation of Greece from EU markets, at the insistence of its I am not suggesting new alliances but simply reimagining the Balkan neighbours. Indeed, for FYROM and Albania, a ‘Grexit’ strong links which once existed across Europe and which prewould have posed considerable dated the creation of the EU contagion threats. Imagine all links which were THE REALITY IS THAT NO TWO superstructure, this alongside the current asyde-emphasised as the European EU NATIONS SHARE THE SAME Commission’s reach crept ever lum crisis... EXIT EVENTUALITIES No doubt many of us would more into sovereign areas it had have flooded into Greece no legitimate right to enter.

22 | GOLD | The Business Magazine of Cyprus

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| PROFILE |

THE CORPORATE LAWYER AND THE

LAZY DRAGON GEORGE HADJIPIERIS COMBINES A SUCCESSFUL LEGAL CAREER WITH HIS MORE WIDELY-KNOWN IDENTITY AS THE COMPOSER OF THREE MUCH-LOVED ALBUMS OF CHILDREN’S SONGS. By John Vickers | Photos by Jo Michaelides

W

hen I first met George Hadjipieris, more than 20 years ago, I had no idea that he was a lawyer. I came to know him through his first CD of original songs. Similarly, over the past decade, his name has become synonymous with a series of three incredibly popular collections of children’s songs, performed by major Greek artists such as Eleftheria Arvanitaki, Socrates Malamas, Eleni Tsaligopoulou, Dionysis Savvopou-

los and Melina Kana as well as Cypriot star Alkinoos Ioannidis. And yet, it is as a partner in Colocassides Hadjipieris LLC that he spends most of his time and, as he tells me, he is very happy to combine these two diverse strands of his life. Given his success as a composer and recording artist (he has made six CDs), I can’t help asking whether he was never tempted to make a career of music but he is very clear about the situation: “No,” he says, “I have friends who are 100% involved in music and a lot of the time they’re forced to do things they don’t really want to. I have the luxury of doing the things I want to do with music, in exactly the way I want, without any compromise

I HAVE THE LUXURY OF DOING THE THINGS I WANT TO DO WITH MUSIC, IN EXACTLY THE WAY I WANT, WITHOUT ANY COMPROMISE WHATSOEVER whatsoever. I can say no to a lot of things and I say yes only when I want to, so I really have the best of both worlds.” He is adamant that he has never regretted his career choice: “I believe we are all the sum of our choices so we should never have regrets. Of course, if it appears that there may be better prospects somewhere else, we should be flexible enough to move forward.

But that hasn’t been necessary in my case.” Music was one of Hadjipieris’ first hobbies. He listened to lots of it and played guitar before forming a group and even performing concerts but, he says, “it was very much an amateur part-time thing back then.” It became more serious in 1993 when Greek singer-songwriter Nikos Papazoglou heard some of his songs and suggested he record them, which he did on I Mikri Galera (The Little Galleon). Before going into the songs that brought him airplay, concerts, record sales and a much higher musical profile, I take Hadjipieris back to the time when he took the decision to study law rather than music. It was not due to the not uncommon reason of tradition: “No, I’m not from a family of lawyers!” he says with a smile. “In my teenage years I spent a lot of time reading literature, especially after 1974 when we were made refugees (I’m from Akanthou), and books became a kind of refuge for me, as I tried to find an explanation for what had happened to us. Although I was in the science section at school, I took extra lessons in Latin and I decided that I wanted to study what I thought was a more theoretical subject. It was difficult to become a teacher at

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| PROFILE |

THE PROBLEM WITH THE CYPRIOT ENGINE IS NOT THE FUEL! the time – there were so many others waiting to be appointed – and so the next best thing was to study law.” He obtained his first degree at the University of Athens and his Masters at the University of Bristol, by which time he knew that commercial law was the area he liked most and so there was never any aspiration to go to court. A few months before finishing his studies, he sent off a number of job applications and, as luck would have it, on his very first day back in Cyprus the phone rang and he was offered his first position. A year later he moved to the Cyprus Development Bank where he stayed for 11 years. As one of the first specialized corporate lawyers on the island with almost 30 years of experience, he has seen the development of Cyprus into a flourishing regional business centre. Is it still moving in the right direction? He hesitates before answering, “I think we lost a very big opportunity to become much bigger and better than we are. We have all the credentials to become a very important hub – our geographical location, the excellence of our personnel, UK-trained lawyers and accountants, etc. – but due to the lack of vision and action by those who take decisions, Cyprus has not realized its full potential.” He describes the situation thus: “It’s like having an engine which is rusted and malfunctioning. You can fill it up with the best fuel in it but it won’t

work properly. The problem with the Cypriot engine is not the fuel!” Luckily for George Hadjipieris, he is able to escape his corporate life for his musical one. He began writing songs that would appeal to children for the obvious reason: “I had become a father and so I started writing things to sing with my first daughter! I ended up with quite a collection and when Alkinoos Ioannidis and Nikos Kyprourgos heard them, they encouraged me to record them and helped me find the excellent musicians and performers.” The result was an enjoyable, melodic and amusing album of catchy songs entitled The Lazy Dragon and Other Stories that appealed to a much broader audience than its original target, with Eleftheria Arvanitaki’sTo Skouloukouin (The Little Worm) becoming a huge favourite with all ages. Was the composer surprised by its success? He certainly was. “You can’t design a hit record. They just happen. I knew that I had made something that wasn’t just a children’s album and I felt sure that some parents and other adults would like the songs, particularly if they were fans of the singers. But I couldn’t have envisaged what actually

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happened or the fact that I would go on to make two more albums of similar material.” If he has one complaint, George Hadjipieris confides, it’s that hehasn’t had the freedom or the time to enjoy it to the full. He recalls being in a business meeting in Moscow when he received a phone call about how well the songs were doing and was not able to react properly to the news. “Or to give you a more recent example,” he says, “yesterday I was invited to a school to talk about one of my songs to the children. While I was there we looked at a book, used things from it for lyrics and wrote a song there and then. It was an hour that was so fulfilling. When I left, I had 20 e-mails waiting for me and 15 missed calls on my phone! All to do with work. So after such a joyful experience, I was suddenly grounded again, and that has happened many times.” That said, he recognizes that he is fortunate to be able to have these two very different strings to his bow. He intends to continue devoting most of his time and efforts to his legal profession and, when he has time, he will take care of the music. I wonder how his partner in the firm and his colleagues view his “other life”. “My partner is very open minded and encourages me to

YOU CAN’T DESIGN A HIT RECORD. THEY JUST HAPPEN

do my other things,” he says, “and I think the other members of staff consider it as something that makes our office a bit different from others. They enjoy it. When I wrote the music for a children’s play, I invited them all to the premiere. They all like music and they like having this slightly closer connection to it through me. So it’s positive for everyone.” Asked if he intends to try and persuade his two daughters to follow in his footsteps in either area, he says that, although they are both musical, he encourages them to be themselves, to do what they want and to discover their talents. “The elder one is good at many different subjects and she hasn’t yet decided what she would like to do,” he muses. “The younger one is a very talented pianist and I’ll be very happy if she pursues a career in music because I know that she will end up doing something that will be good for her and for society. I know from my own experience that at the age of 17-18 we are all forced to take a very big decision about our future. We don’t really know what it means at the time but eventually, if we’re lucky, we find ourselves somewhere doing a job. The most important piece of advice I can give my daughters is that they devote themselves to whatever it is that they’re doing, do the best they possibly can and make their presence there as valuable as possible. If they like what they’re doing, they’ll be happy and so will I.”

| COVER R STORY STORY Y|

EVERYTHING

Under the sun Hotel Managers At Work By Artemis Constantinidou & Effy Pafitis Photos by Andreas Loucaides

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H

otels have always been much more than places to sleep and eat while away from home on business or vacation. Indeed, they have been a popular source of material and locations for films – from Grand Hotel (1932) to The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2011), plays – from Neil Simon’s Plaza Suite to Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap, novels such as Anita Brookner’s 1984 Booker Prize winner Hotel Hote du Lac or John Irving’s 1981 tale of the Hotel New Hampshire and music musi – there can be no-one reading this who can’t sing most of Hotel California by The Eagles. Calif But what w are hotels really like? And what is it like to be the person with ultimate ultim responsibility for making sure that guests leave in a positive frame fra of mind and, perhaps more importantly, will be happy to return? Given Cyprus’ longstanding economic reliance on tourism and the fact G that the island has a bed capacity in excess of 87,000 (2014 figure) and more than 150 hotels, we thought that this was the perfect opportunity to get an insider’s view of what it means to be a Hotel Manager. Over and above the huge task of overseeing all the key organisational aspects – budgeting and financial management, planning, organising and directing all hotel services, including front-of-house (reception, concierge, reservations), food and beverage operations and housekeeping – the people entrusted with running the island’s hotels need to have a good eye for detail as well as strong business and communication skills, the ability to think on their feet and a sensitive and diplomatic approach to problem solving. The General Manager must also set an example for staff to deliver a standard of service and presentation that meets guests’ needs and expectations. In a large hotel, he/she may have less contact with guests but will certainly have regular meetings with heads of department to coordinate and monitor the progress of business strategies. In a smaller establishment, the manager is likely to be much more hands-on and involved in the day-to-day running of the hotel, which may even include carrying out reception duties or serving meals if the need arises. Everything under the sun! On the following pages, nine General Managers (three of whom are responsible for two hotels) give us the benefit of their personal experience of this key position in the hospitality industry, explaining the challenges they face, the management style that they have developed over the years, their highs and lows and the qualities they believe are essential for the job.

WHO’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A

n Italian national, she started her career more than 25 years ago as an F&B attendant at the Cavalieri Hilton in Rome (now Waldorf Astoria). She joined Columbia Beach Hotel and Columbia Beach Resort as Resident Manager in 2014.

DUTIES I lead and coordinate our four-star Columbia Beach Hotel and five-star Columbia Beach Resort’s operations, including – but not limited to – customer satisfaction, staff training, scheduling, quality and cost control, effective charting of environmental care, and, crucially, maintaining and promoting our company’s core values and vision. I act as a liaison between Columbia Hotels & Resorts’ Managing Director and the various Heads of Departments in ensuring that our properties’ mission – that of providing hospitality with heart – is faithfully fulfilled. Five departments – Food & Beverage, Housekeeping, Front Office, Spa, and Maintenance – report to me directly.

CHALLENGES The ‘…but, we have always done it this way!’ mentality is more a challenge I per-

TODAY’S

ceive and confront in the hospitality industry as a whole. I joined it more than 25 years ago, and I have worked in luxury establishments across Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and Oceania: no matter where I go, this dangerous sentence seems to follow! Today’s guests travel more, and thus have higher expectations and knowledge of what should be delivered and a clear perception of what constitutes value for money. You can’t make meaningful strides and keep up with the changing tides by staying in your comfort zone.

as a whole in making important decisions, giving everyone a sense of involvement.

guests have higher expectations SUCCESS For me, it is when and guests show their gratfor what we do. knowledge itude Of course, every comof what pany is concerned with measuring revenue, should be and profit and loss, but delivered what about the value

MANAGEMENT STYLE I am driven by a high concern for both the material tasks and human aspects of the company I work for. I am an enthusiast of creativity and innovation, as I think it fosters personal development and also ensures motivation among the team. I feel the basic premise is as follows: set clear, achievable goals; effectively communicate said objectives down the lines; promote an environment in which people take pride in their work, and thus will follow up on duties and embrace responsibility; appreciate your team members’ successes, and allow them the time and space to make a critical analysis of their work, finding and identifying their own shortcomings; offer them guidance for corrective direction, if required; encourage sharing of views and active listening, and, finally, consult the team

of when guests leave happy with their stay, having enjoyed the facilities and service, and send a heartfelt ‘thank you’ simply because one of the restaurant attendants remembered their likes and dislikes, personalising their service accordingly? It’s very much a positive cycle that can’t be quelled: happy staff members give rise to happy guests, and so on. I do feel the gravity of the role I play in this, being able to influence and inspire my colleagues without using formal authority but rather by simply personifying my passion for the job.

THE HOTEL MANAGER’S KEY QUALITY To be able to think big and see the big picture concurrent to managing and paying attention to the smaller details. A good manager in the hospitality industry has to be skillful at doing both. Other than that, a good dose of resilience, a positive attitude, and always having a ‘Plan B’ have fared me well!

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There are seven departments with a direct line of communication to each head of department

DUTIES

MANAGEMENT STYLE

orn in Germany, Sebastian Wurst began his career in Frankfurt in 1993. He later moved to New York where he spent 17 years at Hôtel Plaza Athénée, ending up as General Manager. He joined the Anassa in April 2015.

Keeping an eye on the “big picture”, guiding the staff to mutual goals, ensuring the well-being of employees and guests by setting an example, and living what I expect from the team members. You can develop lofty goals in mission statements but putting them into action is the challenge. Our staff members have very different levels of education and cultural heritage and it is important that everyone on the team understands why they are doing what they are doing in a way that makes the guest experience special. Consistency is the name of the game.

CHALLENGES Responding to employees’ different needs based on their personality. The staff is our most important asset and my goal is to make them feel happy and respected so

they can deliver a genuine experience. Everyone needs something different to motivate them and you have to understand the different personalities to make people productive and work together as a team. You become a coach and, sometimes, a referee.

DEPARTMENTS

YOU CAN develop lofty goals in mission statements but putting them into action is the challenge

Hands-on, dispensed with a sense of humour. I like to spend as much time as possible on the property – if you sit in your office you don’t know what is really going on. I don’t have a problem getting my “hands dirty” and I enjoy the interaction with the staff and guests alike. This way the employees also see you support them. And yes, a sense of humour appeals to everyone. We all need a laugh sometimes.

SUCCESS Retaining and recruiting good talent is key to success – you have to find the right people and ensure they stay on board. The hotel industry is afflicted by high turnover, which is costly and takes away from the guest experience. Anassa has many repeat guests and they want to be recognized.

FAILURE Micro-managing is always a temptation I need to resist! You can only expect your managers to be fulfilled if they get to take their decisions and sometimes my impulse is to know what’s best without considering other opinions. Once in a while, you need to watch bad decisions being made for the sake of professional development.

A MEMORABLE MOMENT A very nervous young man proposing to his girlfriend, when I had to deliver a very valuable ring to the room moments before they arrived. We were all anxious to see if she would say yes – which she did! This experience will probably stay with the young couple forever and we hope they will have their wedding here!

THE HOTEL MANAGER’S KEY QUALITY Understanding the human factor. In our profession, that is the most valuable asset. We have to be able to understand what makes people tick and that everyone has different needs – some people need praise, others are happy when they achieve their financial goals. There is no “one size fits all” approach and I learn about human beings on a daily basis.

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Y iannos G. Michaelides, a Greek Cypriot, entered the hotel industry in 1991, starting as Assistant Food & Beverage Manager. Ten years later he was appointed to his present position as Group Operations Manager for two hotels in Protaras.

DUTIES The duties and responsibilities of the General Manager are endless in what is a very demanding and challenging job. A hotel is like a living organism that needs care and attention constantly, even when the guests are asleep.

CHALLENGES In our profession there are many challenges that we have to deal with on a daily basis. As far as I am concerned, the two most important ones are (a) meeting guests’ expectations and (b) managing people. Regarding the first, our hotel is a guest’s home from home for a week or two, expectations are high and our target should be to offer them services and facilities that will live up to and even exceed those expectations. As for the second, happy employees mean happy hotel

guests so it is imperative that members of staff are pleased with their working environment and are kept motivated at all times.

Anastasia Beach Hotel in Protaras. Two weeks before the opening date, with many jobs still pending, it was ‘Mission Impossible’ according to some people who reckoned it would need a miracle be ready on time. It took a lot of hard work and many sleepless nights but we managed to open on schedule. It was success not just for me but for all those who worked with me, many of whom are still with me today.

ANYONE

DEPARTMENTS

can be a manager but not everyone can be a leader

The hotel has seven main departments: Food & Beverage, Front Office, Reservations, Housekeeping, Maintenance, Entertainment and Human Resources. To me, all departments are equally important as just one non-performing department can have a negative impact on how guests evaluate the hotel even if the others are performing to very high standards. It is important that the Hotel Manager has an excellent knowledge of all departments so as to be able to foresee and prevent problems and give immediate and correct directions to overcome any that arise.

MANAGEMENT STYLE I am very flexible and I use different management styles in order to achieve my goals and to get maximum productivity and a positive response from my team. I believe and invest a lot in the human factor I and I expect a great deal from the people around me. I strongly believe in teamwork and more teamwork.

SUCCESS My greatest managerial success goes back many years to the grand opening of the

A MEMORABLE MOMENT Three years ago I was asked by a couple getting married at the hotel to be their Best Man. It was their 4th stay and although they had around fifty guests from England, they insisted on having me as their Best Man. It was a great honour and a memorable moment that I will always cherish.

THE HOTEL MANAGER’S KEY QUALITY One quality is not enough to successfully navigate all the challenges that arise on a daily basis. I believe that a Hotel Manager should possess at least four main qualities: flexibility (able to adapt to changes and keep up to date with new trends and guests’ needs), good listening skills (ready and able to listen to both guests and employees), patience (to deal with guests and employees), and real leadership. Anyone can be a manager but not everyone can be a leader.

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e began his hospitality career in 1993 as a chef in his home country, Australia, and later worked in Germany, Singapore and Dubai. From 2005-2008 he was Executive Chef of the Anassa, taking up his present position in April 2012.

DUTIES My role as hotel manager is one of guidance and development and directing the vision of the owner. I am here to lead but also to listen. My job description cannot be summarized as a simple task list and is more about being part of something larger. Every day I enter the hotel with excitement for what the day will bring. I have a great team who make it a pleasure to lead and be part of. Every day we have new goals, activities and actions. For me, my job is to make the best team to deliver the best results.

CHALLENGES I feel strongly that a daily challenge is really a daily task. It is as simple as checking the morning croissants fresh from the bakery, a glass of fresh juice from the buffet and a walk through the grounds to make sure that all is clean and ready

for guests. It is all about being part of the hotel and you need to monitor it to make it better. Guests are 24 hours a day which means our job is 24 hours a day.

DEPARTMENTS

NO-ONE

ra hotels. When I see them arrive in the hotel lobby after a long trip and they hug the staff like long-lost family members, it is a joy to feel part of something which is bigger than just one individual.

can succeed alone and we should never overestimate our personal A MEMORABLE value

Currently in each hotel I manage between six and eight departments on a daily basis. All the departments need to communicate well to deliver the correct seamless guest experience. Sometimes my role is to establish dialogue between managers and other times it is to guide. Like a chess player, the Hotel Manager needs to be calm and think through all his moves – daily tasks in our case – to discover the best way forward

MANAGEMENT STYLE My style combines strong leadership and being part of the team. I want to be inside to get to know my guests and personally shake their hands. Walking around the hotels throughout the day can be one of the most rewarding experiences. When a guest stops you to tell you how great your staff are and how they make the stay so enjoyable, you know that you’re doing something right.

SUCCESS I see it in our repeat guests and how much they love the Annabelle and Almy-

MOMENT

The Annabelle’s 30th birthday year, 2015, was full of emotions. We had three amazing poolside birthday parties, with the final one in October being the highlight of my year. I was proud to lead the current team which was tasked to deliver on such an important celebration to so many loyal guests, past and present staff and the local community.

THE HOTEL MANAGER’S KEY QUALITY The wisdom gathered over the years and a strong will to succeed are essential. If you can always regather your thoughts and communicate to a hand-picked team, you will ride out any bad storm and look forward to those perfect sunny days. Wanting to lead a team is simple. The challenge is to gather a strong team to navigate together. No-one can succeed alone and we should never overestimate our personal value.

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A Paphos-born Cypriot, he started his hotel industry career as a receptionist in 1982. Ten years later he had reached the rank of Deputy Manager, later becoming General Manager of two hotels before joining the King Evelthon in 2015.

DUTIES My duties are very interesting and challenging. I have to coordinate people in order to achieve the objectives and goals of the organisation, using the available resources in an efficient and effective way. The manager does the planning, organises, coordinates, commands and controls. When this is done properly, the organisation becomes financially stronger and reaches its goals.

CHALLENGES Dealing with people – guests and staff – on a permanent basis is very interesting. Every day is different and every case is different, which makes the job even more interesting and challenging.

DEPARTMENTS The hotel is more or less divided into two sections: the Room division, which includes the front desk, housekeeping and maintenance, and the Food & Beverage

division, which includes the kitchen, the restaurants, the bars and their functions. As General Manager, I coordinate all these departments with the Assistant Manager, the Supervisors and Departmental Heads.

MANAGEMENT STYLE

THE

gave orders for a young couple to be charged for two face towels, which they had used to clean their shoes. The guests were lost, of course, and the reputation of Cyprus was damaged. I still use this as an example for my assistants and department heads.

General Manager has to be able to manage people IJÁGMIRXP] and A MEMOeffectively

After trying various styles and gaining the necessary experience, I would say that my preferred management style is a mixture. The one I believe to be most appropriate is the style that suits the particular situation and the requirements of the people involved. For example, I will use a different style with the Executive Chef from the one with a waiter who has come to work for one specific function or a weekend. Accumulated knowledge and experience help us to create our own style of management.

SUCCESS There are so many instances that I could write a book! I have to admit that I sometimes test my limits and I do it to see how strong I can be when I want to carry out my job with success. I will only mention a case in which, thanks to my positive approach, I managed to turn a furious guest into a collaborator and, finally, into a friend.

FAILURE About 15 years ago, when I had only few years’ experience as a hotel manager, I

RABLE MOMENT

In the early stages of my career as a manager, I remember the reaction of the hotel’s wedding coordinator when I informed her that our hotel had won an award. She was so happy and satisfied that she kept repeating with great enthusiasm, “Yes! We did it! Yes! We did it!” I’ve never forgotten that.

THE HOTEL MANAGER’S KEY QUALITY There are many qualities that a Hotel Manager requires but I would say that the main ones are these: good communication and organisational skills, creativity, understanding, flexibility, honesty and positive thinking. He/she needs to have the necessary knowledge and the experience and must to be committed to the success of the organisation and the staff. In conclusion, the General Manager has to be able to manage people efficiently and effectively and this requires all the above skills and qualities.

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Greek Cypriot, he began his career in 1985 with the Asteria Beach Hotel, before becoming Assistant Manager (Miramare Beach Hotel) and Deputy General Manager (GrandResort) and being appointed General Manager of the Elias Beach Hotel in 2010.

DUTIES The complexity of my duties and responsibilities requires that I assume a variety of roles to help me achieve the quality and financial targets set for the hotel. Most importantly, I need to be the leader providing guidance and direction to the hotel’s supervisory team and employees so as to plan, organize and deliver service excellence, ensuring guest satisfaction at all times whilst fully complying with the company’s quality standards and general operational and financial policies. I am also the personnel trainer, counsellor, mentor and facilitator, ensuring that the members of my team possess the knowledge and skills to successfully carry out their assigned duties. I play an active role in the marketing and promotion of the hotel’s facilities, services and overall business and, last but not least, I need to act as the financial controller, managing budgets and financial plans, controlling

expenditure, etc., as well as setting and achieving sales and profit targets.

CHALLENGES

EXPERIENCE

very high position on sites such as TripAdvisor, high scores in the Hotel guest questionnaires, four ISO International Quality Standard certifications and the Travel Life Gold Award. It has been totally revamped, enhanced and upgraded with new restaurants and other facilities being introduced to complement our all-inclusive service concept. I strongly believe that being able to share my vision of future success with all the team members, who made such great efforts, supported by our head office, has led to the excellent results that make me consider what we have achieved with the Elias Beach as the highlight of my career.

has taught me that the democratic approach is by far the most effective

The biggest challenge that I face on a daily basis is the consistent delivery of service and quality standards that meet and exceed customer expectations whilst at the same time meeting the hotel’s financial targets and budgets. If one considers, the complexity and variety of profiles of our clientele, it is easy to understand the huge spectrum of expectations that we face every day. Add to this the need to remain financially secure and profitable and the task of meeting these targets becomes an even greater challenge.

MANAGEMENT STYLE Over the years I have learned that in order to be efficient and to achieve results, my management style needs to be flexible and adaptable and experience has taught me that the democratic approach is by far the most effective. Building consensus through participation means that both I and the team buy into the joint ownership of decision making, planning and goal setting and therefore the team becomes more effective and efficient.

SUCCESS The progress of the Elias Beach over the last few years is reflected in its rise to a

THE HOTEL MANAGER’S KEY QUALITY Experience has taught me that you can never depend on a single skill or behaviour if you want to be successful. Every situation, every employee, every function and, above all, every guest is a different challenge. To be successful you need to be ready to adapt, be flexible and use all your knowledge and skills as well as every managerial quality you have learned or experienced in your career in order to achieve your goals. The Hotel Manager I must be able to provide strong leadership and guidance so as to inspire people to transform individual action into collective power and a willingness to achieve their objectives.

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Greek Cypriot, he began his hotel career at the Paphos Amathus Beach Hotel as Food & Beverage Manager, becoming General Manager 8 years later. He joined the St Raphael Resort as General Manager in October 2015.

DUTIES The role of the Hotel Manager has changed dramatically over the years. Once the final decision maker and the direction giver, he/she is now a leading figure required to stimulate and encourage the Departmental Managers to undertake on their full authority and responsibility. Marketing, leadership, IT and e-commerce, HR and financial skills are mostly asked for. The modern Manager must be able to delegate and monitor results, both qualitative and quantitative, and bring in the financial results that are expected from the Owners. We have to create value for our position, by managing a team in the way that a coach manages a football team.

CHALLENGES Keeping abreast of all the different segments and being able to sell to the right client, at the right time and the right

price is perhaps one of the biggest challenges that Managers face. Then there is the race to keep up to date with technology – one month ago, I completed the upgrade of our webside, only to find out that we have to start anew! And finally, guest satisfaction. The guest first interacts with the hotel via social media and he/she knows what it is like before even arriving at the property. Then he/ she expects online, real-time feedback while staying in the hotel. Finally, there is the after-visit communication. Find me a manager who is not concerned about his TripAdvisor results and I’ll show you a happy person!

IF

I have been blessed with many successes. I have always worked with great teams and enjoyed wins on many levels. My present challenge is a case in point where I am hoping to create another big success story of an amazing product that certainly deserves to be achieving top results in both guest satisfaction and financially.

people do not have passion they will not reach the stars A MEMORA-

DEPARTMENTS By tradition, managers handle between 6-8 departments in a hotel. However, these may change in accordance to the circumstances and the ability and capacity of the Heads of Department, where more or less management involvement is required.

MANAGEMENT STYLE Modern and adaptive. One size does not fit all, and each person is an individual with his/her own merits. People need guidance and not only management. It is up to the Manager to decide when what is needed.

SUCCESS After 25 years in the industry, I feel that

BLE MOMENT

I have enjoyed many very special moments in the hotel business. It always grieves me to leave the people I have shared many years with when moving to a new job but the best thing is when I happen to visit the establishments again; I am always greeted with pure, genuine pleasure at seeing me back again. This special feeling of returning and being welcome is perhaps the best reward a Manager can receive for his efforts with a company.

THE HOTEL MANAGER’S KEY QUALITY I would say unequivocally: “Passion”! People can have all the knowledge in the world, be the best leaders there are but, in the end, if they do not have passion they will not reach the stars. Passion is the fuel that drives excellence. Being passionate in what you do, is contagious, it stirs up the crowds and brings in results you could not have dreamed of.

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| COVER STORY |

A

Cypriot citizen, he studied hotel management in Greece before returning to the island to begin a 38year career in the hotel industry. The last 14 of them have been spent as General Manager of the Capo Bay.

I WOULD

describe my management style as a combination of democratic and persuasive

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DUTIES

DEPARTMENTS

As a hotel manager I am responsible for the day-to-day management of the hotel and staff and for ensuring that the hotel is running smoothly. All this has to be done while handling any problems with a patient and pleasant attitude, to ensure that guests and staff are happy. This means I have to balance several tasks: overseeing every function related to a hotel, from room cleanliness to pool safety, while having responsibility for budget and financial matters, promotion and marketing, dealing with contractors and suppliers, etc.

The hotel has 8 Departments which report directly to me.

CHALLENGES There are many. They include ensuring that high occupancy levels are maintained in order to meet and surpass the set budget, finding and training staff and controlling labour costs, overall cost control, maintaining the highest standards of cleanliness throughout the hotel and, of course, making sure that customer satisfaction remains at the highest level.

MANAGEMENT STYLE I would describe my management style as a combination of democratic and persuasive.

SUCCESS My greatest managerial success remains that of overseeing the transformation of the Capo Bay Hotel in 2009 from its original 1985 form into the new modern and elegant hotel that it is today.

FAILURE It is always a failure for everyone working in the hotel when guests’ expectations are not met.

A MEMORABLE MOMENT It’s difficult to talk about a specific memorable moment, as every season I have the pleasure of being able to welcome back numerous guests, many of whom have visited us more than 50 times. Each one is a great pleasure.

THE HOTEL MANAGER’S KEY QUALITY The most valuable qualities that a hotel manager must have in order to navigate the challenges of this particular profession are flexibility, patience and calmness.

A

Greek Cypriot, he began his career at the Athens Hilton, returning to Cyprus in 1989 to manage three major hotels. After 15 more years in Greece, he joined the Olympic Lagoon Resort, Paphos in 2015.

DUTIES The duties of a hotel manager are very diverse and fast-paced. A multitude of challenges, tasks and decisions needing to be taken, comes to you from every aspect of the hotel’s operation as well as from external elements such as the local community and associates in the travel world.

CHALLENGES The biggest management challenge is to find ways to create the best guest experience while remaining within budget.

DEPARTMENTS The hotel has between eight and 11 departments that report directly to me.

MANAGEMENT STYLE When working with a team of

professionals that have a good knowledge of what is required of them in their job and a high level of self-motivation, the management style that yields best results is the supportive one, which allows each individual to innovate, set his/her goals and prioritize. This is the one I implement at the hotel.

SUCCESS I can not single out a specific success. Success is more of an ongoing challenge that revolves around past and future goals. The most rewarding form of success is that of seeing one’s associates progress with their personal, professional and business targets. This has occurred many times in my career and has given me great personal fulfilment.

FAILURE I have been fortunate not to have had major failures in my career but I admit that there have been many decisions that were not always correct. I am still proud of these, however, because at least I took decisions which, at the time, were the best options and I was later able to take other decisions to improve on them.

A MEMORABLE MOMENT In my 36 years of experience, I have experienced many happy and sad moments. Many famous personalities have visited the hotel, among them kings, presidents, very wealthy people and even personalities with idiosyncratic needs and wants.

THE HOTEL MANAGER’S KEY QUALITY A manager should be a leader, communicative and have the personality and ability to deal with people (staff and guests) on a daily basis.

SUCCESS

is an ongoing challenge that revolves around past and future goals

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Opinion

SEEING THE GLASS HALF-FULL THE ECONOMIC ASPECTS OF A SOLUTION TO THE CYPRUS PROBLEM By Savia Orphanidou

A

lot has been said tion must fully comply with the prinabout the ecociples of the freedom of movement nomic aspects of of labour, capital, goods and services, any solution to and with policies that safeguard fiscal the Cyprus Probconsolidation, the sustainability of lem. Those who public debt and the viable managetake a negative approach to this issuee ment of public finances. Additionhave constantly made intense efforts ally, stricter supervisory policies will to downgrade the importance of the be required for the banking sector. growth that a solution will bring but The Turkish Cypriot economy must the elimination of the political probalso change, adapting to the rules of lem and the creation of conditions off the acquis communautaire, the euro-system and the European Central stability and security in the area will, Bank. I believe that the preparation undoubtedly, further boost the confi-process for the adoption of the euro dence of foreign investors in the Cyin the north of the island is a move in prus economy. The implementation off ut the right direction. large development projects throughout n The greatest difficulty with the ecoCyprus, especially the reconstruction nomic aspects concerns the way in of the closed part of Famagusta and its which compensation for property w port, will lead to the creation of new will be dealt with. It is an extremely jobs, enhancing both employment Info: Savia Orphanidou is and the competitiveness of the economy. The decomplicated matter, given that a large section of the an economist velopment of economic and commercial activities refugee population will prefer this option. It has been between the two communities and the exploitation made clear that the cost of compensation should of the large Turkish market will lead to new opportunities and not burden the tax payer in a reunited Cyprus, which is why facilitate efforts to accelerate economic growth. efforts are being made by European and Arab countries for the In truth, the so-called “cost” of the solution is not really a establishment of a Donors Fund, to cover this cost. In order cost but an investment in the future of our country. Instituto have a clearer picture of the whole issue, a study should be tions such as the European Investment Bank, the EBRD conducted to estimate the true cost of compensation, how it will be covered and, most importantly, Turkey’s contribution and the World Bank, as well as European funds, can provide to the issue, given reports suggesting that Turkey might confavourable financing for the promotion of this investment. tribute up to 40% of the cost under certain conditions. In this context, the establishment of a Reconstruction Fund would be a useful tool with which to manage the development At the end of the day, the final decision on our future will be in the hands of every Cypriot plan prudently and responsibly. citizen but I believe that reunifiThere will, of course, be some real difficulties in the unification ANY SOLUTION SHOULD cation will provide opportunities and solutions, especially on the process of the two economies. It is SAFEGUARD THE growth and welfare issues which extremely important to make sure SUSTAINABILITY OF THE Cyprus is in so much need of. It that any solution should safeguard PUBLIC FINANCES OF THE is for this reason that I choose to the sustainability of the public see the glass half full instead of finances of the unified economy. UNIFIED ECONOMY half empty. For this to be achieved, the solu-

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PRESENTS

CITIZENSHIP & PERMANENT RESIDENCY FOR

INVESTORS CONTENTS

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special promotional feature THE CYPRUS

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€

THE TREND OF HIGH NET WORTH INDIVIDUALS APPLYING FOR A SECOND RESIDENCE AND/OR CITIZENSHIP HAS GAINED CONSIDERABLE PUBLICITY IN RECENT YEARS, FOLLOWING HIGH PROFILE EXAMPLES SUCH AS FRENCH ACTOR GERARD DEPARDIEU MOVING FROM FRANCE TO RUSSIA IN 2013, AND TINA TURNER GIVING UP HER US CITIZENSHIP THE SAME YEAR TO BECOME SWISS. By John Vickers

€ € 48 | GOLD | The Business Magazine of Cyprus

E

uropean citizenship programmes are becoming ever more popular, due to the prime benefit of enabling holders to freely travel within the EU and take advantage of a stable economic environment, EU member state status, an efficient taxation system as well as good infrastructure. The desire for flexibility and mobility to meet the demands of globalisation is driving many investors into citizenship programmes with the number of “passport shoppers” having doubled in the past five years. Over half of the total number of global citizenship applications are made by people wishing to have access to the European Union (the Caribbean and North America are a distant second and third) and, over the past three years, Cyprus has taken advantage of this trend by offering High Net Worth Individuals and investors the opportunity to obtain Cypriot citizenship or permanent residence. Indeed, it has proved so popular that, even during the difficult nine-month period following the island’s economic bailout, the Government’s

“Scheme for Naturalization of Investors in Cyprus by exception” is said to have boosted the economy by more than €2 billion. Since then, minor amendments have been made to the scheme, making it even more attractive and accessible to those wishing to obtain a passport from an EU member state. A study entitled “A Shrinking World: Global Citizenship for Ultra High New Worth Individuals”, conducted by Wealth-X and Arton Capital, compares various investment immigration schemes by examining them in five main areas: (1) Overall cost; (2) Speed (the amount of time it takes to obtain citizenship); (3) Global mobility (the number of countries that the passport holder can go to visa-free or with a visa upon arrival); (4) Quality of life in the host country and (5) Simplicity (represented by the existence of a waiver to different requirements, such as knowledge of the local language, a requirement to be physically present for a certain amount of time, etc.) The Arton Index gives a maximum score of 100 and includes the 10 most sought-after countries that currently offer options to obtain second residence and/or citizenship against investment. Cyprus’ investment immigration scheme is ranked among the 10 best in the world with a score of 70, compared with Bulgaria (66), Hungary (64), the UK (56) and the USA (48). Furthermore, in 2014 Cyprus was ranked the 5th best relocation destination in the world by Knight Frank, the leading indepen-

CYPRUS’ INVESTMENT IMMIGRATION SCHEME IS RANKED AMONG THE 10 BEST IN THE WORLD

THE CYPRUS CITIZENSHIP SCHEME IS CURRENTLY CONSIDERED TO BE THE MOST ATTRACTIVE IN EUROPE dent, global real estate consultancy firm, ahead of London, Madrid and Monaco, thanks in particular to its favourable tax regime for new residents – especially High Net Worth Individuals – and its estimated 320 days of sunshine a year. The Cyprus citizenship scheme is currently considered to be the most attractive in Europe since, unlike others (the Maltese scheme, for example), it does not require any donation to be made to the local government (€650,000 in the case of Malta), nor does it require applicants to live on the island prior to or during the application, or even after citizenship has been granted. The original cost of the fast-track scheme has been reduced to a minimum investment of €2.5 million, for collective investment programmes, plus an investment of at least €500,000 in residential premises. The scheme allows not only the successful applicant but members of his/her family to hold a Cypriot passport and enjoy all the benefits of a Cyprus and EU National. On the following pages, 16 companies involved in providing services to High Net Worth Individuals wishing to take advantage of the Government’s citizenship and residency schemes present details of the schemes and their offerings.

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PAPADOPOULOS, LYCOURGOS & CO LLC CITIZENSHIP & RESIDENCE PLANNING

T

he “Citizenship by Investment” programme and the fast-track “Permanent Residency” scheme, introduced in recent years by the Cyprus Government, have rapidly converted the country into a top choice jurisdiction for investors and their families who wish to invest and live in Cyprus, while enjoying the numerous benefits of being part of the European Union. Cyprus citizenship by investment is available to investors pursuant to the “Scheme for Naturalisation of Investors in Cyprus by Exception” on the basis of Section 111A (2) of the Civil Registry Laws of 2002-2013, based on the relatively recent decision of the Council of Ministers dated 24 May 2013, which was again revised on 19 March 2014, and which outlines the criteria and conditions that must be complied with by the interested applicant. The fast track “Permanent Residency” programme is based on the provisions of Regulation 6(2) of the Aliens and Immigration Regulations, by which Cyprus issues Permanent Residence Permits to third-country nationals through an accelerated process, which normally does not exceed the period of 2 months, according to certain investment criteria. Papadopoulos, Lycourgos & Co LLC has a committed immigration law team, headed by Nicolas Th. Papaconstantinou, acting within the framework of fundamental professional principles such as ethical conduct, competence

50 | GOLD | The Business Magazine of Cyprus

and commitment. The team’s vast experience in this area and its in-depth knowledge of the relevant procedures enable it to provide assistance to investors who wish to obtain either Cyprus Citizenship or a Permanent Residence Permit. Papadopoulos, Lycourgos & Co LLC's structure tailor-made services include: • Providing legal advice on the Citizenship by Investment and Permanent Residence Schemes (economic criteria and conditions); • Undertaking Real Estate legal due diligence; • Drafting and/or reviewing the Real Estate Contracts of Sale and/or any additional contracts which may be required; • Stamping the Contract of Sale in the competent authorities, lodging the Contract of Sale in the relevant District Land Registry Office for the purposes of specific performance, as required by Cyprus Law, and providing assistance regarding the conveyancing of the Real Estate; • Offering banking services for the opening of bank accounts in Cyprus; • Services for Cyprus Company formation and a broad range of trustee services, including the establishment and

administration of trusts in Cyprus; • Reviewing and submitting the necessary applications, accompanied by all the required supporting documents.

PAPADOPOULOS, LYCOURGOS & CO LLC Papadopoulos, Lycourgos & Co LLC is a dynamic, rapidly expanding law firm, focused on providing the highest level of legal services to its clients. It provides a full spectrum of legal services to a wide-ranging client base, specialising in all spheres of business, civil and administrative law. The firm is in constant contact with all regulatory authorities and government bodies in Cyprus and is uniquely positioned to help its clients achieve their goals. The firm is revered for its impeccable client experience and unparalleled know-how, for which it has consistently been praised by The Legal 500, ranking among the top law firms in the country. The Corporate Department, headed by Doros Lycourgos, has an active international practice and is used to working in close cooperation with London, Paris, Rome and other European international law firms on an everyday basis. The department has a wealth of experience

THE FIRM PROVIDES A FULL SPECTRUM OF LEGAL SERVICES TO A WIDE-RANGING CLIENT BASE, SPECIALISING IN ALL SPHERES OF BUSINESS, CIVIL AND ADMINISTRATIVE LAW

Nic

institutions and many publicly listed NICOLAS TH. companies. PAPAPACONSTANTINOU All of the firm’s 16 lawyers have conNicolas Th. Papaconstantinou is a siderable experience in their respective partner in the Real Estate and Immifields. Papadopoulos, Lycourgos & Co gration Law Department. He focuses LLC is multi-lingual, with memhis practice on conveyancing paconstanti bers fluent in Greek, Engnou and immovable property, h. Pa T s , lish, French, Italian and immigration law, wills ola Spanish. In addition to and succession, eneracademically excelling gy and related litigain their legal qualifition. He also deals cations, all members with specialised of the firm have transnational corfurther qualified porate and comand continue their mercial matters. professional developNicolas attained a ment and specialisation BSc (Hons) in Ecoin other fields, including nomics and Politics at economics, finance, political the University of Bath and, sciences, oil & gas and chartered survey- following postgraduate study at the ing, or they have received vocational London School of Economics, an training and are members of the bar of MSc in Real Estate Economics and England & Wales. Finance. In 2008, he graduated in The contribution and input of Ioannis law (LLB with honours) from City D. Papadopoulos, a former Supreme University, London. Drawing on his Court judge with many years of experireal estate, economics and finance ence on the bench, as a consultant to background, he has added value to the firm, is invaluable. clients in several cases in his capacity Papadopoulos, Lycourgos & Co LLC as an advocate. has significant expertise in Corporate In 2015, Nicolas obtained a Master Governance, Corporate Law, Tax and of Laws (LLM) in aspects of Energy Law. The firm has Oil & Gas Law at been involved in forming and settingCONTACT Aberdeen Business up renewable energy plants in Cyprus INFORMATION: School of Robert Address: and the Balkans. It has also handled Gordon University. 2-4, Archbishop multi-billion-dollar company structures Makarios III Ave., He is also a certified 7th Floor, 1065 and the related transactions of oil & real estate valuer, Nicosia, Cyprus gas companies operating internationTel: registered with the (+357) 22676126, ally. All-round consultancy and advice, Scientific Technical Fax: including for the whole specrtum of (+357) 22674201, Chamber of Cyprus e-mail: VɉJL' corporate law matters and efficient tax (ETEK). He was adpaplyclaw.com structuring, have always been at the core mitted to the Cyprus Website: www. paplyclaw.com of the services provided by the firm. Bar in 2009.

er rtn Pa

in a range of corporate work, including joint ventures, mergers, corporate reorganizations, acquisitions, cross-border transactions, international transactions, drafting and negotiation of complex commercial contracts, finance and banking, insurance, shipping, labour law, securities, IPOs, tax, company formation and domiciliation services. The firm’s Litigation Department, headed by Dimitris Papadopoulos, has one of the most highly regarded and best-resourced practices in Cyprus, handling complex high profile commercial actions, both domestic and cross-border, and representing many multinationals in international commercial and administrative litigation. The firm’s members appear in actions before all Courts and Tribunals, including the District Courts, the Constitutional and Supreme Court, the Administrative Court as well as Administrative Forums, Commissions and Tribunals. The Real Estate and Immigration Law Department, headed by Nicolas Th. Papaconstantinou, prides itself on being comprised of lawyers with an academic background in land valuations and represents some of the country’s largest developers, construction companies, land investors and landowners in all aspects of the development process and infrastructure development. The Department’s unrivalled expertise in applications for naturalisation of investors by exception in Cyprus and permanent residence permits guarantees that each client benefits from a structure that is suitable to their respective needs. The firm’s client base includes major Cypriot, European and International companies, banking and financial

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special promotional feature THE CYPRUS

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ANDREAS NEOCLEOUS & CO LLC

ndreas Neocleous & Co LLC is the largest law firm in Cyprus by a considerable margin and is generally recognised as the leading firm in south-east Europe and the eastern Mediterranean region. In Cyprus we have more than 130 feeearners operating out of three offices and an international network of offices in Brussels, Budapest, Kiev, Moscow, Prague and Sevastopol. All the independent legal rating organisations place us at the top of their rankings. We are the only Cyprus firm to achieve a top-tier rating in every practice area from Chambers Guides and Legal 500, a distinction achieved by only a handful of firms worldwide. Having pioneered the development of business links with Central and Eastern Europe two decades ago, we have unmatched experience of assisting clients from these rapidly-developing economies. In recent years we have widened our geographic horizons to include clients in Asia, particularly in China and India, the Middle East, South America, South Africa and the rest of Africa.

54 | GOLD | The Business Magazine of Cyprus

Founder and chairm an o f th

An d

Alone among law e sN firms in Cyprus a re we have followed a strategy of specialisation, supported by investment in technology, knowledge infrastructure and an international network. Specialisation enables our people to keep at the forefront of developments in their respective fields and to develop a depth of expertise that is not possible for a general practitioner, given the complexity of modern business. Our people are experts in their field, and get things right first time. The firm’s success in the marketplace enables the firm to recruit the best people, to provide them with

challenging, ino teresting work and to give them unmatched scope to develop their career. Their guiding philosophy is to understand their clients’ aims and objectives, and to work with each client to achieve those objectives, by providing the best, businessoriented advice and assistance. They provide their clients with practical solutions to the business issues they face, rather than abstract theoretical analysis. The firm recognizes that time is precious in today’s fast-paced business environment and they pride themselves on their responsiveness and on getting things right first time. Each of the firm’s specialist lawyers is familiar with the latest developments in his or

WE PROVIDE THE CLIENT AND HIS OR HER FAMILY WITH AN INTEGRATED PACKAGE OF SERVICES TAILORED TO THEIR SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS

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ios, Advocate

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– P the best lawyers and they art deliver the best result. r ne

uv her field, and does not ezo V have to spend time tos getting up to speed in a particular area, at the client’s expense. This saves the clients money as well as time. We are the only firm in Cyprus with the necessary information technology and knowledge management infrastructure to deal with the needs of today’s multinational work, allowing us to match the levels of service offered by the world’s major legal centres. More than half our clients in number (and a much greater proportion in value terms) are based overseas. All our staff speak English and we have staff speaking almost every European language. We have specialist teams focussing on each category of work, including a partner, Christos Vezouvios, and three other staff dealing with real estate and immigration matters. According to the leading legal rating agency Chambers & Partners: “No one comes near them for service and the quality of their advice. The firm has

The team is prompt and responsive and has an amazing turnaround time.� Christos Vezouvios and his team have an excellent track record in handling applications for residence permits and for Cyprus citizenship for investors, having successfully obtained citizenship through the government’s economic citizenship program for high-networth individuals and their families from numerous countries around the world. Our immigration specialists work in collaboration with other specialists in the firm to provide the client and his or her family with an integrated package of services, tailored to their specific requirements. For example, our tax and wealth management specialists will work with the client’s home-country advisers to establish efficient and effective asset-holding structures that provide maximum security and flexibility in the most taxefficient way, giving practical guidance and helping our clients fully achieve their objectives.

SPECIALISATION ENABLES OUR PEOPLE TO KEEP AT THE FOREFRONT OF DEVELOPMENTS

AREAS OF PRACTICE

• Admiralty and Shipping • Banking and Finance • Corporate and Commercial • E-Business • Employment Law • Energy • European Union and Competition Law • Immigration Law • Intellectual Property • Litigation and Arbitration • Real Estate • Tax Law and International Tax Planning

CONTACT INFORMATION: LIMASSOL Address: Neocleous House, 195, Archbishop Makarios III Ave., 3030 Limassol, Cyprus Postal Address: P.O. Box 50613, 3608 Limassol, Cyprus Tel: (+357) 25110000 Fax: (+357) 25110001 e-mail: info@neocleous.com Website: http://www.neocleous.com NICOSIA Address: 5, Lemesou Ave., 2nd Floor, 2112 Nicosia, Cyprus Postal Address: P.O. Box 26821, 1648 Nicosia, Cyprus Tel: (+357) 22110000 Fax: (+357) 22110001 e-mail: nicosia@neocleous.com Website: http://www.neocleous.com PAPHOS (KKYLZZ! : 7 )\ZPULZZ *LU[YL [O -SVVY VɉJLZ 410-411, Neophytos Nicolaides Ave. & 17, Kilkis St., 8011 Paphos, Cyprus Postal Address: P.O. Box 61297, 8132 Paphos, Cyprus Tel: (+357) 26110000 Fax: (+357) 26110001 e-mail: paphos@neocleous.com Website: http://www.neocleous.com

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OPERA by ASKANIS – The project OPERA by ASKANIS GROUP offers luxury villas and exclusive apartments for sale in a unique surrounding and a relaxed atmosphere on the beach in Limassol. All properties have direct access to the beach and enjoy breathtaking sea views of the Mediterranean sea, top of the range finishings and high-end specifications. Communal facilities children’s playground 23x23m outdoor swimming pool communal sauna & hammam fully equipped gym

Aida and Carmen House Apartments

Available properties for sale The Apartments There are two, three and four-bedroom apartments available for sale at OPERA, all with full sea views. All apartments have elegant and comfortable bathrooms with marble flooring, walls and counter tops. Many of the bedrooms are ensuite and all private gardens and verandas have been positioned to directly overlook the Mediterranean Sea. Most apartments also enjoy their own outdoor spas, private swimming pools, wine cellars and home cinemas.

Apartment in Aida House

Apartments for sale can be found in AIDA HOUSE, ADELAIDE HOUSE and LA TRAVIATA HOUSE. Prices for Apartments start from €1.580.000+Vat Guest bedroom in Aida House

Master Bedroom in Aida House

Cinema Room in Aida House

Villa La Boheme Exterior

Villa La Boheme Living room

Villa La Boheme Bedroom

The Villas Villa La Boheme This exclusive beach villa comprises three ensuite bedrooms on the first floor and two additional bedrooms on the lower ground floor. Villa La Boheme enjoys its own outdoor swimming pool, large garden, wine cellar and wine tasting room, home cinema, gym, sauna and massage room. Total Covered Areas: 815m2 Total Land: 863m2 Villa Pagliacci and Villa Amelia Both villas boast exquisite design and the best of amenities within gorgeous interiors. They enjoy four en suite bedrooms on the first floor and an additional guest bedroom in the lower ground floor. These villas also enjoy their own wine cellar, sauna and private gym. Total Covered Areas: 483m2 Total Land: 290m2

Villa La Boheme Master Bathroom

Prices for Villas start from €2.920.000+Vat

www.askanis.com 8, Loizou Askani St, 3110 Limassol, P.O.Box 51072, CY-3501 Limassol, CYPRUS Tel. +357 25 336171, Fax +357 25 335122, E-mail: info@askanis.com

Indoor swimming pool in Aida House

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BYBLOSERVE MANAGEMENT LIMITED

ybloserve Management Limited is a licensed firm authorized to provide, inter alia, specialized corporate management, trust and fiduciary services. An assembled multilingual team of highly skilled and experienced professionals, including lawyers, accountants, tax advisors and administrators, allows us to quote “professional excellence”. The diversified composition of our team and close affiliation with the law firm I. Frangos & Associates LLC allows us to provide a wide range of services. The Council of Ministers’ decision dated 19/03/2014, by virtue of which amendments were made to the Scheme for Naturalization of Investors in Cyprus by Exception, has proved to be attractive to foreign investors. This is firstly due to the benefits attached to Cyprus citizenship, including but not limited to free movement within the European Union and, secondly, the attractiveness and flexibility offered by the said scheme. The most significant highlights of the scheme are as follows: • There are no Greek language proficiency requirements. • There is no requirement to reside in Cyprus. • The timeframe for the completion of the examination process is 3 months. • Citizenship may also be acquired by family members of the investor, without any further financial requirements. • The acquisition of Cyprus citizenship does not require the renouncement of existing citizenship, which may be retained. • A combination of investments is available,

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Iosi f Fr a

introduced: • For property acquisitions taking place prior to 31/12/2016: - The transfer fees payable at the Land Registry are reduced by 50% and totally abolished for those properties carrying VAT. - No Capital Gains Tax is payable whenever this property is subsequently sold. • After obtaining citizenship or residency, the holder may opt to become a Cyprus tax resident by residing in Cyprus for more than 183 days per annum. Albeit he may so elect, he will still remain exempted from the Special Defence Contribution tax on any dividends received from any corporate entity. As a Firm, we have for many years been involved in the provision of immigration services and our primary objective has always been the provision of high standard services characterized by immense professionalism and tailored to the specific necessities of each client. Our Firm is a fully equipped “one stop shop”, with separate Real Estate, Legal, Corporate and Banking Departments. Our Firm can undertake the entire procedure, from the CONTACT INFORMATION: commencement of Address: all initial investment 10, Patron St., 6051 Larnaca, Cyprus proceedings until Tel: the final conclusion (+357) 24812575 Fax: of the naturalization (+357) 24812583 process for both the e-mail: info@bybloserve. investor and his/her com family. Website:

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te (LLB, LLM) Exe cut Directly related tax advanive P tages have recently been

a allowing the investor to dvoc A , os spread investment risks. ng • Investments are required to be maintained for no longer than three years from the date of approval of the application. • There is the option of applying under a Major Collective Investment Scheme, whereby five or fewer investors may collectively invest the total amount of €12,500,000. This reduces the investment threshold to €2,500,000. In relation to Cyprus Permanent Residency, it is noted that in pursuance of the provisions of Regulation 6(2) of the Aliens and Immigration Regulations, permits are issued to applicants that satisfy certain financial criteria. Such criteria include the purchase of a residential property for at least €300,000 and a bank deposit of €30,000 in a Cypriot Bank, blocked for at least three years. The applicant, together with his/her spouse, should prove that they have at their disposal a secure annual income from abroad of at least €30,000, increased by €5,000 for every dependent person. The permit is granted to the applicant and his/her dependent family members. It is further noted that, on the basis of the most recent amendments which came into force on 22/02/2016, the parents of a couple are also entitled to acquire a Permanent Residency Permit, without further investments. The couple must prove additional income of at least €8,000 for each parent. The estimated timeframe for issuance of the permit is two months from the date of submission of the applications.

OUR FIRM IS A FULLY EQUIPPED ‘ONE STOP SHOP’ WITH SEPARATE REAL ESTATE, LEGAL, CORPORATE AND BANKING DEPARTMENTS

bybloserve.com

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CHRISTOS PATSALIDES LLC

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hristos Patsalides LLC and its affiliate company, Christos Patsalides Corporate Management Ltd, employ experienced and accomplished lawyers, accounting and tax consultants with advanced studies and excellent legal training in their field of expertise. With regard to the two recently introduced Schemes For Naturalization of Investors in Cyprus by Exception and the Permanent Residency by Investment Scheme, we offer a comprehensive one-stop package service for each Scheme, depending on the client’s needs. Together with our selected external team associates, we undertake all the required legal and administration services from beginning to end, guaranteeing a smooth settling down for the client and his family in their new country of residence. Citizenship through Investment is a process whereby a country, by way of exception, grants citizenship to eligible applicants that make a significant investment in its local economy. For the Citizenship through Investment Scheme, we offer all the required Legal Services including the preparation, gathering of all required information and data, drafting and submission of the application forms for Citizenship on behalf of the applicant to the Minis-

68 | GOLD | The Business Magazine of Cyprus

try of Interior in Cyprus, and all necessary Consultancy Services. According to Christos Patsalides, Founder and Managing Partner of Christos Patsalides LLC, “With its requirement of €2.5 million to invest in real estate, land development or infrastructure projects, in Government Bonds, in financial assets of Cypriot companies or Cypriot organizations, or in the purchase or creation or participation in Cypriot businesses and companies and with €500,000 to invest in a residential property, Cyprus compares well with competing jurisdictions such as Malta, etc. (Collective Scheme). In our experience, the Citizenship through Investment Scheme has been very successful from the outset. Particularly strong interest in it has been expressed by clients from the Middle East, Russia and China. Linking Citizenship with economic investment is a first for Cyprus and it is opening the doors wider to foreign investors.” At Christos Patsalides LLC, we undertake to guide you through the whole procedure, beginning with the finding of an investment (project) suitable to your needs and a residential property for acquisition, and

we guarantee that we will handle your application successfully. In relation to the Scheme for Permanent Residency by Investment, an immigration permit application under the provisions of Regulation 6(2) of the Aliens and Immigration Regulations may be submitted with the investment amount being substantially lower than that required for Cypriot Citizenship (starting from €300,000 excluding VAT) provided that applicants meet certain financial criteria. The Permanent Residency by Investment Scheme gives a Non-EU national, the right to permanently reside in Cyprus, exempting them from any immigration entry procedures and granting their family the same right. With the granting of Citizenship or Permanent Residency, you can immediately travel freely, reside and work with the European Union, freely transfer any amount of money from any EU Member State to another, purchase property in any EU Member State and invest in any activities of your choice. Through the two new Schemes, we offer a custom-made solution, based exactly on the client’s needs, from a variety of options and choices.

LINKING CITIZENSHIP WITH ECONOMIC INVESTMENT IS A FIRST FOR CYPRUS AND IT IS OPENING THE DOORS WIDER TO FOREIGN INVESTORS

These new Schemes have created a niche market, offering alternative, custom-made solutions to investors, making Cyprus an even more competitive market.

BY CHOOSING CYPRUS, YOU ARE CHOOSING:

• The lowest corporate tax in Europe at 12.5% • Full access to EU law • No Withholding Taxes on dividend payments, interest and royalties • No Taxation of profits from the sale of securities

• Access to a wide and beneficial Double Tax Treaty Network (more than 50 Double Tax Treaties) • Unilateral Tax Relief for Foreign Tax suffered is granted to all Cypriot companies • Tax-exempt dividend income (subject to non-stringent conditions) • No taxation on profits from the sale of securities (no minimum holding period, percentage etc.) • No Capital or Net Worth Taxes during the life of a Cypriot company • No Capital Gains or Income Tax on the disposal of the

THE CITIZENSHIP THROUGH INVESTMENT SCHEME HAS BEEN VERY SUCCESSFUL

shares of a Cypriot company • No Inheritance Tax • Low Property Tax • Abolishment of the Capital Gains Tax (20%) for every property purchased (valid until 31/12/2016) • A strategic location at the crossroads of three continents: Africa, Asia and Europe • Mild winters and warm-toCONTACT hot summers, INFORMATION: Address: English-speaking 31, Evagoras private schools, Avenue, Evagoras )\PSKPUN [O ÅVVY a thriving tour41-43, 1066, Nicosia, ism destination, Tel: (+357) 22677677 Fax: (+357) a rich history 22674422 and culture e-mail: info@ patsalides.com.cy • And many Website: www. more! patsalides.com.cy

www.goldnews.com.cy | GOLD | 69

Deloitte Limited

Citizenship through Investment & Permanent Residence through Investment Making the Complex Simple The success of our firm is defined by the strength of the relationships we have with our clients. Helping them succeed is at the core of everything we do.

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yprus offers an enviable combination of a Mediterranean climate, an international business oriented environment and a welcoming culture, making it one of the most popular destinations for foreign investors. The Island hosts a large expatriate community, having the third highest percentage of foreign citizen residents in European Union. Foreign citizens, both EU and non-EU, have a variety of options to choose the type of migration related status depending on their individual requirements. These include the obtainment of Cypriot Citizenship through investment, as well as the obtainment of Permanent Residence through investment.

In addition, Cyprus offers a number of personal tax incentives that aim to attract multinational companies to relocate key personnel to perform their duties from Cyprus and tax incentives appealing to HNWIs who are willing to relocate to Cyprus. The obtainment of Cyprus Citizenship and/ or Permanent Residence does not in itself influence the taxability of an individual. Tax is imposed based on the residency and domicile of an individual. In general, a Cyprus tax resident individual can benefit from a number of tax incentives, as follows: O

The Republic of Cyprus amended and simplified the criteria and requirements for obtaining Cypriot Citizenship and/or Permanent Residence, applicable for high net worth individuals / investors. A swift and smooth process is now in place and is comparatively one of the most attractive options offered by EU countries. In light of the shifting international tax landscape, businesses are focusing on establishing economic substance, cautiously considering the jurisdictions they operate from in order to safeguard their interests. Cyprus’ strategic location, full EU membership, developed legal system, competitive corporate tax rate of 12.5%, well-educated workforce and businessfriendly environment make Cyprus an ideal country to establish business presence.

O

O

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70 | GOLD | The Business Magazine of Cyprus

A Cyprus tax resident but non-domicile

individual is exempt from all taxes on dividend and interest income and from special contribution for defence on rental income An individual who was resident outside of Cyprus before commencement of employment in Cyprus earning €100.000 or more can benefit from a 50% exemption from tax for the first 10 years An individual who was resident outside of Cyprus before commencement of employment in Cyprus earning less than €100.000, can benefit from a 20% exemption from tax (with a maximum exemption of €8.550). The exemption applies for a period of five years from 1 January following the year of commencement of the employment and applies for tax years up to 2020 Personal tax rates are progressive from

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20% to 35% after allowing for a tax free amount of €19.500 Profits form the disposal of securities, are exempt from taxation Any lump sum received as a retirement gratuity is exempt from tax Pension received from abroad is taxed at a flat tax rate of 5% on amounts in excess of €3.420 There is no Capital Gains Tax on the disposal of immovable property situated abroad or if situated in Cyprus was acquired between 16 July 2015 and 31 December 2016 There is no Estate Duty, Wealth, Gift or Inheritance Tax in Cyprus

In partnering with Deloitte our clients benefit from: Integrated Solutions Our unique difference is that we are a professional services firm that has all the competencies, audit, tax, consulting, financial advisory integrated to understand our clients’ issues and serve them best with their business needs. Strong sustainable business relationships Through our positive contribution to the success of our clients we build long term relationships based on trust. International Migration Solutions Services Our International Migration team possess in-depth knowledge of the local laws and regulations, as well as extensive experience

in working with international clients. In this context, we are able to support our clients to obtain the Cypriot Citizenship and/or Permanent Residence, through this highly demanding process. Our Migration Services include: O

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Communicate the required documentation needed and provide continuous support Offer independent advice in regards to different investment options We are prompt in handling the associated documentation and procedures We act as your professional liaison with the local authorities Confidentiality is our cornerstone

Our International Migration team possess in-depth knowledge of the local laws and regulations, as well as extensive experience in working with international clients

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Acquisition & Disposal Advisory; identification, evaluation and selection of appropriate real estate solutions in relation to acquiring Cypriot Citizenship and/or Permanent Residence Valuation Feasibility / Highest & Best Use Studies Market Studies Corporate Real Estate Solutions

Pieris Markou Partner | Tax & Legal Services Leader Tel.: +357 22 360300 E-mail: pmarkou@deloitte.com George A. Pantelides Partner | Consulting Services Leader Tel.: +357 22 360300 E-mail: gpantelides@deloitte.com

Our Offices Nicosia 24 Spyrou Kyprianou Ave, CY 1075 Nicosia Tel.: 22 360300, Fax: 22 360400 E-mail: infonicosia@deloitte.com

Real Estate Advisory Services Our expert Real Estate Advisory team provides a wide range of solutions according to the specific personal and business needs or investment criteria and parameters of our clients, through services such as: O

For more information please contact:

Visit our website to access our firm’s recently produced informative leaflet entitled ‘Cypriot Citizenship and Permanent Residence Permit’ (available in English, Russian, Ukrainian, Chinese and Arabic) as well as our ‘Real Estate Advisory Services’ leaflet available in English.

Limassol Maximos Plaza, Tower 1, 3rd floor 213 Arch. Makarios III Avenue CY 3030 Limassol Tel.: 25 868686, Fax: 25 868600 E-mail: infolimassol@deloitte.com Larnaca Patroclos Tower, 4th floor 41 - 43 Spyrou Kyprianou, CY 6051 Larnaca Tel.: 24 819494, Fax: 24 661222 E-mail: infolarnaca@deloitte.com

www.deloitte.com/cy www.goldnews.com.cy | GOLD | 71

special promotional feature THE CYPRUS

RESIDENCY

CITIZENSHIP

GUIDE

LEPTOS ESTATES

LEPTOS ESTATES - THE LEADING PROPERTY DEVELOPERS

eptos Estates, a member of the Leptos Group, a long established organization with over 55 years of history, has achieved a leading position through the professionalism and team effort of its employees, its international network of sales service in 75 countries, its vast investment in land purchasing, and its effective after-sales service support. Over the years, Leptos Estates has successfully completed 325 different home developments, boasting more than 25,000 happy home owners. The organization has an extensive land bank, owning prime locations in Cyprus and Greece (Athens, Paros, Santorini, and Crete). The company has developed many lifestyle projects in Cyprus and Greece, including exclusive luxury seafront villa developments, resort residences and hilltop villa developments. Extensive in-house expertise enables Leptos Estates to offer clients a totally comprehensive service, from land purchasing and architectural design through to construction and interior design. The organization has one of the largest technical departments in Cyprus, with more than 60 civil engineers, architects, interior designers and surveyors. Leptos Calypso Hotels and Resorts, a member of the Leptos Group, is a

72 | GOLD | The Business Magazine of Cyprus

EUROPEAN PERMANENT RESIDENCE

The Cyprus Immigrant Investor Programme is one of the most popular in the world as the permit is granted for an indefinite duration.

REQUIREMENTS AND CONDITIONS

1.

Accelerated process (only 2 months) from the date of the submission of the application. No need to reside in Cyprus as long as the applicant and his family included in the Immigration Permit, visit Cyprus

2. 3.

The applicant should be an owner of a property (sold forthe first time by a development company) in Cyprus, a house,

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fut an apartment or any ure other building, for a minimum value of €300,000 + VAT (if any). Options in property purchase – i.e. two independent housing units or one housing unit and a shop or one housing unit and an office as long as the total amount is for a minimum value of €300,000 + VAT (if any). The immigration permit issued to an applicant covers his spouse and children under the age of 18. The said permit is also applicable for unmarried children aged 18 to 25 who may prove that they are students at a University and are financially dependent on the applicant. The said permit will be valid for life after the age of 25 without any other supportive document. Documentation as proof that the applicant and/or his spouse have a secured minimum annual income of €30,000, (increased by €5,000 for each dependent person) from sources originating from abroad

4.

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public listed company that owns and operates hotels in Cyprus and Greece.The Group follows an innovative path and is also involved in the Education and Healthcare sectors with its own University (Neapolis University) and Hospital (Iasis Hospital).

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tion, Leptos

5.

THE CYPRUS IMMIGRANT INVESTOR PROGRAMME IS ONE OF THE MOST POPULAR IN THE WORLD AS THE PERMIT IS GRANTED FOR AN INDEFINITE DURATION

6.

winning R award eso r a rt St

• No Inheritance Tax applies in Cyprus. • Cyprus offers an ideal family environment, enabling your children to benefit from excellent schools and universities, while healthcare and infrastructure are all state-of-the art. • Cyprus is one of the most popular destinations for setting come true wit s up companies with only a m hL a e dre 12.5% corporate tax rate, and double taxation treaties with almost 60 countries • Risk-free freehold property ensures permanent property rights.

(salaries, pensions, 5 dividends, fixed deposits, rents, etc.). The parents of the main applicant and those of his spouse may also apply and obtain the Permanent Residence Permit by just showing an extra €8,000 each on the main applicant’s income certificate.

7.

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The applicant should submit a confirmation letter from a financial institution in Cyprus that he has deposited a minimum capital of €30,000 into an account, which will be pledged for a period of at least three years. It must be proved that the said amount has been transferred to Cyprus from abroad.

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EUROPEAN CITIZENSHIP

Elegant Living

Traveling, living and working in the European Union.

REQUIREMENTS AND CONDITIONS

BENEFITS

1.

32 5

rom

• The Cyprus Residence Fast track procedure: Permit is permanent and Approval will be issued there is no need for future within approximately 3 months. reconsideration. It is a lifetime locations to choo permit. se me i r A €2.5 million p f • Cyprus Permanent (plus VAT if Residence applies any) Investment in a to the entire family selection of Residential (parents, children, Properties, of which grandparents). one property is to be • Cyprus has a used as a privatelyrelaxed, stress-free owned permanent lifestyle with the lowest residence of a minimum crime rate in Europe.

2.

value of €500,000. The remaining €2 million can be invested in a range of residential properties only, which may be resold after 3 years. Any property/ies purchased during the past 3 years can also be included in the required investment amount. Investors can be part of a collective group investment with a minimum of 5 applicants and a minimum investment amount of €12.5 million. (Leptos Estates will provide the remaining applicants). The programme applies to the immediate family of the applicant, i.e the spouse and dependent children up to the age of 28 if full time university students. No requirement to physically reside in Cyprus before/ after approval.

3. 4. 5. 6.

BENEFITS

• Same rights as any European Citizen. • The whole family can obtain Citizenship. • Cyprus allows multiple citizenship. • You can travel, live, work and study anywhere in the European Economic Area (European Union, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Switzerland). • Travel to 157+ countries without a visa. • Offers an additional insurance against politiCONTACT cal instability. INFORMATION: • Cyprus has zero inAddress: 111, Apostolou heritance tax.6 880 Pavlou Ave, 8046 • The investor is able to Paphos, Cyprus Postal Address: rent out his/her privateP. O. Box 60146, ly-owned residence. 8129 Paphos, Cyprus • Enables access to Tel: (+357) 26880100 some of the highest Fax: (+357) education and health26934719 Sales Tel: (+357) care institutions in the 26880120 world. Freephone in Cyprus: 80000707 • Free movement of e-mail: info@ capital, services and LeptosEstates. com goods. Website: www. • This is an investment, LeptosEstates. com NOT a donation.

www.goldnews.com.cy | GOLD | 73

special promotional feature THE CYPRUS

RESIDENCY

CITIZENSHIP

GUIDE

L PAPAPHILIPPOU & CO LLC

74 | GOLD | The Business Magazine of Cyprus

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panies, international liquidations, international civil and criminal litigation, establishment and protection of brands and intellectual property (IP), admiralty and shipping, banking and finance, competition as well as international tax planning corporate and commercial and real estate. In response to the increased demand for providing services to foreign high net worth individuals, L Papaphilippou & Co LLC has created a boutique Immigration Desk in the firm, comprising experienced lawyers and other dedicated personnel securing first class services and results on the

THE FIRM HAS CREATED A BOUTIQUE IMMIGRATION DESK, SECURING FIRST CLASS SERVICES AND RESULTS ON THE CITIZENSHIP BY INVESTMENT AND PERMANENT RESIDENCE PROGRAMMES

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Papaphilippou & Co LLC was founded in 1963. Through constant and consistent work, it is now one of the leading and most respectable law firms in Cyprus. The firm quickly established strong presence in the fields of corporate and shipping law, litigation, banking and finance, wealth management, immigration and citizenship, thus achieving good cross-border reputation, which led to the development of a concrete international professional network and client base. L Papaphilippou & Co LLC offers legal services to businesses, individuals, public organisations and governments. At the firm’s disposal are a number of professional contacts in North America, Europe, the Middle East and the Far East and, accordingly, the firm is equipped to provide comprehensive support to clients active in cross border business, via its multijurisdictional and multidiscipline packages. The firm is comprised of lawyers and advocates of both common law and continental law backgrounds who are totally committed to excellence in the services that they provide. The firm constantly deals with clients based abroad and has the opportunity

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to interact with ro professional nd a teams of different vocational backgrounds, for example lawyers, accountants and actuaries, all of which are based in different jurisdictions and represent a common reference point of analysis of the tasks undertaken. Moreover, the firm liaises with regulatory officials, domestic and foreign, concerning pending litigation as well as administrative matters. The firm’s main strength is its multifaceted experience over a wide range of disciplines, such as language skills, accounting and office administration and organisation. Specifically, the firm advises on matters of cross border mergers, acquisitions of com-

lippou, Senior & Man aphi agi p a ng sP

Citizenship by Investment and Permanent Residence programmes. Moreover, the firm offers legal advice and assistance in relation to wealth management and wealth planning, promoting economic growth through short- term or long-term investment solutions. Established collaborations with professionals of the highest standards in renowned offshore and onshore jurisdictions facilitate the optimization of holding structures for business or family assets. L Papaphilippou & Co LLC provides clients with structured and sound legal advice in relation to the acqui-

sition, sale or lease of residential or commercial property advising private investors, private and public companies, major property developers and real estate funds. A plethora of international awards such as 2013, 2014 and 2015 Immigration Law Firm of the Year come as recognition of our dedicated efforts and combined achievements in every field. Our firm thinks and means retention and thus capitalises constantly and heavily in the legal professional development of each member of staff joining our team at any seat. Our associates and trainees are second-

ed to, and closely supervised by, partners of our firm thus promoting teamwork mentality and efficiency, delivering high quality blended results to our clients. L Papaphilippou & Co LLC operates from its modern, state-of-the-art offices in Nicosia, reflecting its confidence to the future.

CONTACT INFORMATION:

Address: 0Ă„NLUPHZ :[YLL[ :[YV]VSVZ Cyprus Postal Address: P.O.Box 28541 2080 Nicosia, Cyprus Tel: (+357)22271000 Fax: (+357)22271111 Email: info@papaphilippou.eu Website: www.papaphilippou.eu

www.goldnews.com.cy | GOLD | 75

special promotional feature THE CYPRUS

RESIDENCY

CITIZENSHIP

GUIDE

P & P IMAGE COMMUNICATIONS

76 | GOLD | The Business Magazine of Cyprus

Anas tas ia M a

OUR SERVICES

• Media Planning & Training • Company Communication • Political Communication • Public Relations • Image Making & Personal Training • Social Media Strategy • Publicity • Web Development • Digital Marketing

A new website of the company provides a platform for users wishing to buy, sell and promote various products online. Users can upload photos of items for sale and set the price. The aim of the site is to offer an alternative Internet solution r o e l e G m for thousands of users who a i ou & eorg Nic G , i ole wish to sell items to the it gn whole world. The Internet is a new world of people and our company is continuously dealing with the challenges created by today’s needs. We speak the language of journalists and not the language of public relations. As a result, we have earned the trust of those who choose us. Because… we are creating your future!

annou djio Ha

&P Image Communications is a new company in Cyprus, established in 2015. Behind the creation of the company, however, lie 15 years of continuous presence in the Media sector and the trust of professionals, businessmen, politicians and ordinary people. The company provides consultancy services and strategic design and implements communication programmes. Its philosophy and strategy may be summarized as Integrated Strategic and Digital Communication. By using its knowledge of the market for the development and implementation of versatile and demanding communication programmes, it has set as its primary goal the provision of high-level consultancy support and the implementation of programmes which add value. A key objective is cooperation based on business ethics and responsibility. The company specializes in strategic consultancy, concerning communication, the development of strategic change management and internal communication, media relations and publicity services. P&P Image Communications believes that real cooperation begins with the commitment to the achievement of important goals. The company’s team consists of dynamic individuals experienced in the field of communication and the Internet, with the necessary knowledge and skills to achieve company objectives.

CEO: Sotiris Papadopoulos Communication Manager: Anastasia Magniti, who has knowledge of Marketing and Advertising as well as the use of the Internet for professional and communication purposes Events and Social Media Manager: Nicoletta Hadjioannou, who possesses knowledge and experience in organizing events. She is also the founder and director of the non-profit organisation ‘Minima Voithias’ Law and Media Manager: Georgia Gerolemou, who has expertise in many fields of Law, including Corporate and Media Law.

POULISTE.COM - A NEW METHOD OF SELLING YOUR STUFF

tta

P

adopoulos, CEO ris Pap i t o S

OUR PEOPLE

P&P IMAGE COMMUNICATIONS BELIEVES THAT REAL COOPERATION BEGINS WITH THE COMMITMENT TO THE ACHIEVEMENT OF IMPORTANT GOALS

CONTACT INFORMATION: Address: 31, Evagorou Avenue, 1066, Nicosia, Cyprus Tel: 70004181 Fax: (+357) 24665851 e-mail: info@ ppimco.com Website: www. ppimco.com

WE WECREATE CREATEYOUR YOURFUTURE FUTURE www.ppimco.com www.ppimco.com

P&P Image Communications provides consultants services, strategic design and implements communication programs. There are two words that can summarize our philosophy and our strategy: Integrated Strategic and Digital Communication. By reclaiming our knowledge for the market, into the development and implementation of versatile and demanding communication programs, we have set as our primary goal the provision of high level consultant support and the implementation of programs which add value. Our goal is cooperation based on business ethics and responsibility. We are specialized in the strategic consultancy, concerning topics of communication, in the development of strategic Change Management and internal Communication, Relations with the Media and Publicity Services.

Services Provided • Media Planning & Training • Firm Communication • Political Communication • Public Relations • Image Making & Personal Training • Social Media Strategy • Publicity • Web Development • Digital Marketing

We believe that real cooperation begins with the commitment for the achievement of important goals.

Address: 31, Evagorou Avenue, 1066, Nicosia, Cyprus| Tel: 70004181| Fax: +357 24 665851| e-mail: info@ppimco.com| Website: www.ppimco.com www.goldnews.com.cy | GOLD | 77

special promotional feature THE CYPRUS

RESIDENCY

CITIZENSHIP

GUIDE

E PAFILIA

lias Eliades, Managing Director of Pafilia, the Paphos-based residential developer, talks about how the Government’s citizenship and residence schemes have positively affected the Cyprus real estate market and boosted property investment. From the Developer’s standpoint, how would you evaluate the Government’s scheme to link citizenship and residence with investment in real estate? In light of the recent international economic slowdown, the Cyprus real estate market has undergone a significant shaking, being adversely affected by the banking sector crisis and capital controls. The Cyprus Government’s citizenship and residence schemes have been implemented in an effort to restart the economy and promote foreign investment in Cyprus. Linking both schemes with investment in real estate turned out to be salutary for the property market, which, since the implementation of these schemes, has shown significant improvement. Has it achieved one of its main aims of reviving the property market? The figures released by the Land Registry Department as well as the announcements by the Minister of Interior, prove that both the citizenship and residence schemes have been more than successful in achieving their objectives. The implementation of the exceptional naturalization scheme alone has yielded over €2.5 billion in revenues for the Government while the statistics released by the Land Registry Department show that buyers are returning to the market, hence improving sales activity. 78 | GOLD | The Business Magazine of Cyprus

Three years after the financial and residence schemes, is the n a a g M i n , g s crisis, are property sales demographic to which the e Dire d cto Elia s showing signs of reproperty market appeals, a r E li covery? namely a wide audiDuring the past ence of investors and years, our banks luxury home owners have undergone and, therefore, the extensive consolproducts have been idation and have adjusted accordingly. grown healthier and We now dare to promore stable, while mote unique, more the Government has complex and mainly supported the propqualitative projects, erty market by implewhich take the market menting legislation, one step further. which offers significant incentives to prospecWhat are the key tive investors as well as locations and types thorough coverage of of property that you their rights. The Govintend to focus on in ernment’s support and the coming years? the cooperation and For the coming years work undertaken by the company is focusthe private sector have ing on the developled Cyprus to steadily ment of its two landemerge as a stronger mark projects, namely economy, having seONE in Limassol and cured significant recovthe Minthis Hills Golf ery and the real estate Resort in Paphos. market is now regainONE will be among ing ground lost during the most impressive the recent financial and banking crisis. residential developments in the region, indeed soon to secure the title of highest Are you optimistic about the future of the residential seafront tower in Europe, which real estate sector? will act as a catalyst to regenerate and stimI am optimistic and positive that the unulate further interest and investment in fortunate incidents of the past have taught Cyprus. us that we need to diverge from the level of The Minthis Hills Golf Resort is one of thought that created them, to create condithe largest projects under development tions that encourage healthy competition in Cyprus, consistand ensure that there will not be any further ing of 420 luxury CONTACT privileged treatment for anyone. New infravillas, 12 clusters of INFORMATION: structure projects that are being materialized, 320 units, 18-hole Address: 33, Nicodemou the increase in tourism, the attraction of golf courses, spa, 4`SVUH :[ Paphos, Cyprus large international investment funds to the gym, tennis courts, Tel: (+357) island and positive developments in the enrestaurants, meeting 26848800 Freephone: ergy sector are all signs of a steady recovery. rooms, etc, with the 80008989 respectful integraFax: (+357) 26934910 Are you now developing projects with a tion into the natural e-mail: info@ different vision from that of pre-2013? environment of WHÄSPH JVT Website: What has changed in recent years, especially unparalleled luxury ^^^ WHÄSPH JVT after the implementation of the citizenship architecture.

THE CITIZENSHIP AND RESIDENCE SCHEMES HAVE BEEN MORE THAN SUCCESSFUL IN ACHIEVING THEIR OBJECTIVES

CYPRUS (EU)CITIZENSHIP BY INVESTMENT PROGRAM CYPRUS OFFERS A HIGHLY ATTRACTIVE AND VERY STRAIGHT FORWARD IMMIGRATION PROGRAM THAT ENABLES FOREIGN INVESTORS TO ACQUIRE CYPRUS (EU) CITIZENSHIP THROUGH A SECURE REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT.

CITIZENSHIP PROGRAM › Required investment: €2,500,000 real estate purchase

› Global tax consequences: none

› Time to Citizenship: 3 months

› Eligibility: all nationalities

› Residency requirement: none

› Includes: investor, spouse & dependents up to age 28

› Visa-free travel: 158 countries

› Process: very simple, no language/medical exam or interview

› Exit strategy: 3 years

INVEST IN CYPRUS WITH PAFILIA Cyprus, the 3rd largest Mediterranean island, is a highly attractive destination in which to invest. A full EU member since 2004, the island enjoys a strategic geographical position at the crossroads of three continents, beautiful scenery and a very pleasant climate. With a modern, free-market service based economy, its a favored business destination due to strong business and taxation advantages and an emerging energy hub following the discovery of huge hydrocarbon reserves in its Exclusive Economic zone. Pafilia is the leading luxury property developer in Cyprus with over 39 years’ experience and a range of award winning developments. We provide a total solution for Cyprus residency and citizenship, with our experienced professionals unparalleled knowledge of the Programs, we offer invaluable advice to our clients whatever their needs and wherever they may be.

PAFILIA PROPERTY DEVELOPERS 33 Nicodemou Mylona Street, Marina Court, PO Box 60159, 8101 Pafos, Cyprus T: +357 26 848 800 F: +357 26 934 910 I E: info@pafilia.com I www.pafilia.com www.goldnews.com.cy | GOLD | 79

special promotional feature THE CYPRUS

RESIDENCY

CITIZENSHIP

GUIDE

PwC CYPRUS

T

he compelling need for a safer and more stable environment that will enable High Net Worth Individuals (HNWIs) to safeguard and grow their wealth, drives them to search for alternative business and personal bases. Cyprus has in place two schemes tailored to the needs of HNWIs, granting them either the full rights and benefits of the Cyprus (and EU) citizenship or Permanent Residence in Cyprus.

WHY CYPRUS?

Cyprus has for decades been attracting reputable International groups to use the island as a business base. Relocation to Cyprus is also high on the radar of High Net Worth Individuals who choose Cyprus as a second personal base. Cyprus citizenship caters for a second personal base in Cyprus or the EU, granting the holder all the rights and benefits of EU nationals. For instance, it can provide easier access to EU higher education institutions (e.g. Universities), as well as facilitate business and investment throughout the EU. Cyprus is not just an attractive second personal and family base. The island also excels as an International Business Centre, offering top quality professional and financial services at competitive prices. An attractive tax infrastructure, which encompasses double taxation agreements with close to 60 countries, coupled with attractive incentives for foreign HNWIs (including an excellent new Non-Doms regime), makes Cyprus a great destination in which to have a base. With the EU’s lowest crime rate and the highest number of sunny days per annum, combined with an excellent transport, educational and cultural infrastructure, Cyprus is an attractive place to live.

WHY IS THE CYPRUS CITIZENSHIP SCHEME ATTRACTIVE TO FOREIGN INVESTORS?

The Cyprus Citizenship Scheme for In80 | GOLD | The Business Magazine of Cyprus

vestors is characterized by its very clear and transparent criteria as well as the robust and thorough due diligence processes carried out by the competent authorities. The Scheme is well tried and tested and has been running successfully for many years. Successful applicants obtain the passport in the relatively short timeframe of around 3-4 months from submitting a complete application. The required investment is €2.5m for collective applications and €5m for individual applications. The Scheme offers a variety of investment options (e.g. Real Estate, Government Bonds) while the required investment can be redeemed 3 years after the investor obtains the passport. The residential property (with minimum purchase value of €500,000) must be kept for life. The Cyprus Permanent Residence Scheme (Expedited Process – Category F6(2)), accommodates foreign investors who wish to reside in Cyprus being exempted from time-consuming immigration procedures. Those who choose to go with this particular scheme obtain the right for them and their family to permanently reside in Cyprus. This type of Permit does not exempt them from visa requirements to other EU countries (but can be supportive when applying for visas/permits in such countries). Following a recent upgrade of the Scheme, the parents and the in-laws of the investor are eligible to apply for the Permanent Residence Permit as the investor’s dependents.

sequently, we handle each case applying the highest levels of responsibility and confidentiality. Drawing on our 100% success rate in handling Cyprus Citizenship applications, on our significant experience in this field, and the fact that we have a large dedicated, multi-disciplinary team for this, investors are assured that they are in safe hands and receive expert advice. In addition, through PwC, an investor receives comprehensive support in all related areas, such as advice on financial criteria and requirements, preparation of the citizenship applications and monitoring of the approval process, assistance in investment implementation including setting up any vehicles to hold the assets, examining tax implications, running due diligence on the properties selected, a legal overview of purchase agreements, preparation of the Citizenship application and support with obtaining passports/IDs.

PwC HAS SUPPORTED OVER 200 APPLICANTS OBTAIN CYPRUS CITIZENSHIP

PwC’S LEADERSHIP POSITION

At PwC we provide a personalized service for investors and their families. We take care of all their Wealth Management needs, including obtaining Cyprus Citizenship or Permanent Residence. We, as PwC, have supported over 200 applicants obtain Cyprus Citizenship. We understand that applying for a second passport is a personal and sensitive matter and of key importance to HNWIs. Con-

PwC WEALTH MANAGEMENT SERVICES

Having taken into consideration the wider spectrum of the changing needs of High Net Worth Individuals and of their families, we have built up and consolidated our experiences with respect to their needs under one offering, that of Wealth Management Services (WMS). Our WMS capabilities include the following areas of expertise: • Succession Planning & Family Governance • Tax Planning for CONTACT INFORMATION: HNWIs Address: • Estate, Asset & PwC Central, 43, Demosthenis Gift Planning Severis Ave.,1080 • Family Office Nicosia, Cyprus Tel: Services (+357) 22555000 • Accounting, Fax: (+357) 22555001 Compliance & GlobWebsite: www.pwc.com.cy al Monitoring and Reporting

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www.goldnews.com.cy | GOLD | 81

| PROFILE |

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82 | GOLD | The Business Magazine of Cyprus

7

o those of us who have gained many of our ideas about the United States of America through its popular culture, in particular movies and TV series, the mere words “US Secret Service” are enough to conjure up a picture of burly agents, muscle-bound bodyguards and trigger-happy policemen surrounding the country’s President. This is just one reason why the smiling, petite blonde woman in front of me, dressed in an elegant trouser suit, could not be further from my obviously incorrect image of what US law enforce-

www.goldnews.com.cy | GOLD | 83

| PROFILE |

ment officers are supposed to look like. Evy Poumpouras – the surname betrays her father’s Greek roots – admits that she was never ‘a normal Greek girl’. “In fact when I joined the Police Department, my mother cried!” she recalls gleefully. “She said, ‘What is this? Why can’t you become a teacher like your friends?’ She didn’t speak to me for quite a while!” The surprise caused by her daughter’s decision was not limited to Mrs Poumpouras. Law enforcement was not even something that Evy herself had considered. “I didn’t like the police much when I was a young girl. Like most people of my age I would complain if they pulled me over for speeding, for example. It was only later that I understood why they have do these things,” she says. Even after graduating from university in political science and working as an intern for a congresswoman, she didn’t know what she should do with her life. The only thing she felt sure about was that she wanted to help people in a tangible way. Then came one of those chance yet defining moments: “One day I saw a police officer walking around at the train station and I thought, ‘I could do that. I could be a cop!’ It tied in well with my desire to be helping people by keeping them safe, so I went and I took the NYPD test and I decided to apply to some other federal agencies too. One of them was the US Secret Service.” Though a highly male-dominated area, and the last US law enforcement agency to accept women, Evy Poumpouras never thought that it was not for her. She knew that she needed to be very physically and mentally fit and recognised that the organisation was, in her words, “a boys’ club”, but that did not affect her determination to succeed. “There was never a moment when I said, ‘I’m a woman and maybe I shouldn’t be doing this,’ she recalls. “My mindset was that I could do whatever I wanted so I just did what I needed to do.” So she never felt that she had to work twice as hard as her male counterparts in

84 | GOLD | The Business Magazine of Cyprus

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order to gain the respect and recognition she deserved as an equal? She hesitates before responding, “Yes and no. When I did a good job, everybody noticed because there were so few women, whereas a guy who did an equally good job might have just blended in with everybody else. On the other hand, if I did a bad job, everybody noticed that, too! So there were pros and cons. I was given certain assignments that some of the men wouldn’t get and I would do more undercover work than the typical agent, precisely because I didn’t look like one. So yes, it was hard but I didn’t feel that I had to make a much greater effort to prove myself and I never looked at my gender as a negative. My view was: I’m a woman. How can I use this to move forward?” The US Secret Service has two main areas of responsibility, the first of which is protection, which entails ensuring the safety of current and former Presidents and their families as well as visiting heads of state. Evy Poumpouras started under the Clinton administration, followed by George W. Bush and the current president, and during her time she estimates that she has protected a third of the world’s leaders. She later asked to be permanently on President Obama’s protection detail and was granted her request. Did she enjoy it? “Oh yes,” she replies at once. “My office was the White House. How many people can say that? Of course, it’s very hard on your body – you may be standing for 16 hours a

day. And although it sounds amazing to be travelling around on Air Force One, it can be exhausting. I remember once during the election campaign, we did five states in two days. Eventually I started wondering, ‘Where am I?’” In addition to protection duties, the other main area of work for members of the US Secret Service is investigating financial crime and fraud. This was the subject of the conference organised in Nicosia by the Constanteion Criminology and Forensic Sciences Center – Cyprus (CCFSC) and the reason for Evy Poumpouras’ visit to Cyprus and her lecture on white collar crime. It’s something that has been around for a long time, she says, but prior to 2008 and the start of the global financial crisis, people didn’t pay it a great deal of attention. What’s new about it, she explains, is how people are using technology to commit fraud: “Smartphones, the Internet, data breaching, stealing people’s information, hacking... These are the new forms of white collar crime. A guy can sit at home in front of a computer and hack into people’s bank accounts. Just as technology is evolving, so is crime. To me, crime is a living, breathing thing that is constantly evolving. Our job is to keep up with it.” In the same way that, if you leave your window open you may be burgled, a company that does not have strong cyber security measures in place is naively leaving itself open to crime of this sort, she says. And she goes on: “A lot of companies do not have those measures in place because nothing has happened to them yet and they think that everything is OK. That’s a gamble. More and more companies are starting to understand this and while it can be expensive, it’s better to be preventive than to have something happen to you. It’s better to spend money than lose it, because if you lose it, on top of that you’ll lose your reputation too.” The hardest cases that Poumpouras had to deal with concerned financial fraud. “The difficulty is that you have to prove intent,” she explains. “People will pretend that they did something by mistake; they’ll say they didn’t know they were not supposed to do

something; they’ll claim that somebody else must have done it from their computer... It can be hard to find out exactly who did something and to prove that they knew they were doing something nefarious.� Beyond the corporate world, I wonder whether Evy Poumpouras thinks that, as individuals, we place too much trust in technology. “Probably yes but we can at least be aware of the fact that, every time we use a smartphone or the Internet, we are opening ourselves up and becoming more vulnerable,� she says, adding, “I call my phone ‘the surveillance kit’. Every morning when we wake up, we switch our ‘surveillance kit’ on and there are people out there who may try to hack into it, activate your camera or steal information so we need to be mindful of where we’re taking it or where we use our credit card and take the best decisions we can.� Does she shop online? “Yes. I do,� she admits, “and I use my credit card. There’s no way to abstain from this because you’ll be left behind when the world’s moving forward. So you can and have to be a part of this but you need to be aware of who you’re dealing with when you make a transaction online. By all means, buy books from Amazon with your credit card (Amazon has its own investigative team!) but if a company you’ve never heard of is asking for your credit card information, don’t use it. And, of course, if you’re getting e-mails telling you that somebody’s left you a million dollars, don’t respond!� I have often wondered if anyone actually replies to people who say they want to transfer millions of dollars into their account. Unfortunately, there are, says Evy Poumpouras, who has worked on such cases. “People do fall for this stuff,� she says. “They play on people’s wish to believe in something that can bring a quick fix to their problems. They want to believe that it’s true and they ignore all the red flags. Sometimes they’re ashamed to report it. There are plenty of embarrassed victims out there.� After working at the White House and

being an undercover financial fraud investigator, what made her leave the service? A bit like the start, the end also came about by chance: “When I was working inside the White House, I got to know the TV correspondents from all the networks,� she recalls. “And someone from NBC asked me if I had ever thought about doing commentary for TV. I was hesitant at first because I really did like my job but I’d been doing it for 13 years and I thought that it might be a unique opportunity that I should take. So I decided to try it out and it’s been going pretty well.� Poumpouras is now a regular contributor to a number of TV news programmes, where she does live-on-air threat assessments and analysis. “When the Paris attacks took place, I was there to discuss what was happening. Similarly with the San Bernadino shooting. Whenever issues of financial fraud, security or broader law enforcement issues come up, I’ll be talking about them.� Mention of last December’s San Bernadino shooting prompts me to ask Poumpouras for her view on the ongoing controversy surrounding Apple’s refusal to unlock an iPhone belonging to one of those responsible for the deaths of 14 people. “I understand what Apple is saying about protecting people’s privacy,� she tells me, “but I also see things from a law enforcement perspective and, to me, that iPhone can help solve so much. And my question is this: What if those people had gone to Apple’s headquarters? Would the company still be taking this line if their employees had been killed? I feel that everybody’s putting the onus on government to solve everything and it’s wrong because there has to be a uni-

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fied front. Companies like Apple, Facebook and Twitter have media that are being used to commit crime, sometimes very serious crime. I feel that everybody should be working together and for Apple to say, ‘No, sorry, we won’t do that’ is not the right answer. They should be part of the solution.� Now that she is dealing with law enforcement from the outside, her previous experience obviously still informs the way she does her work today. “I think I have a different outlook as a former law enforcement officer,� she says, noting that “in the United States now, there’s a very negative perception of the police. People have had a lot of issues and they are rightfully speaking out. But I know that the police are there to serve people; that’s why I joined and it’s why most police officers do that job, so I am always going to have more of an understanding of policing.� There has been a spate of recent police shootings in the US and I can’t help wondering if, when she was working on protecting people, Evy Poumpouras was actually aware that she was doing such a dangerous job? Was she ever scared? “No,� she says. “I was never scared. I think that when you take that job, you make peace with it. You understand that you’re willing to die for the people you’re protecting and possibly others too.� However, on September 11, 2001, she came the closest she has ever been to feeling scared. The US Secret Service offices in New York were at 7 World Trade Center... “When the buildings were hit, everybody evacuated but my colleagues and I stayed to help people. When the first tower came down, I remember thinking that I was really going to die. I was trapped and alone and I don’t think I was scared; more than anything else I was sad at the idea that I was going to die alone. That was the only time I had such a moment and it happened early in my career so after that nothing else could really make me afraid. It was as if I got into the mood of, ‘I’m going to get shot at? No problem!’ I’d already got the worst out of the way.�

www.goldnews.com.cy | GOLD | 85

| ECONOMY | Info: Tassos Anastasiades is an Economist and Former Director of the Ministry of Finance

INTERNATIONAL FREE TRADE AND WELFARE

FREE TRADE NOT ONLY LEADS TO AN INCREASE IN WORLD PRODUCTION BUT IT IMPROVES WELFARE AROUND THE WORLD

T

oday’s global market is characterized by increasingly free trade in goods and services. The movement of goods between countries with low transport costs and entry with low or no import duties has resulted in an increase in trade of an average of 7% a year over the last twenty years. The free movement of goods has increased competitiveness and has put a constraint on extreme domestic fiscal policies with high corporate taxes and high social benefits. Such measures reduce economic competitiveness and lead to reduced production and exports and higher unemployment. The same occurs when wages and salaries rise faster than productivity. International free trade leads to an increase in production and exports of goods, for which a country has a comparative advantage, and the import of those goods for which it does not have such an advantage. Free trade not only leads to an increase in world production but it improves welfare since consumers benefit from the import of goods and services (e.g. tourism) at lower prices and better quality.

86 | GOLD | The Business Magazine of Cyprus

By Tassos Anastasiades

For a number of decades, world trade has grown on average nearly twice as fast as world production and has led to better welfare. According to the World Bank, during the period 1990-2011, the number of people facing poverty had been reduced by 120,000 persons per day. The countries which benefited most were mainly in Asia and were those which adopted free trade and, as a result, attracted more investment. Specifically, globalization has taken millions of workers out of poverty in China and India and these countries’ economic development have reduced world inequality. World inequality has two aspects: between countries and within countries. Globalization has helped in the convergence of per capita income among countries, which has been rising at a faster rate in developing countries that have embraced globalization than in rich countries. In developed countries, free trade does not appear to have increased inequality although it is correct to say that inequality has widened in certain developed countries, due to higher wage increases to skilled workers who use new capital-intensive technology. Presently, negotiations are in progress for the full liberalisation of trade between the

USA and the EU, as well as among twelve countries in the Asia-Pacific region, the so-called Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) which includes the USA, Japan, New Zealand, Australia, Canada and South Korea. This agreement, if finally completed, will cover 40% of world production and will constitute the most important free trade agreement of the 21st century. In the meantime, with regard to the negotiations for the signing of a free trade agreement between the USA and the EU, many Europeans believe that only the Americans will benefit from this agreement while many Americans believe that only the Europeans will benefit! Of course, import duties between the USA and the EU are very low but present restrictions do not emanate from high import duties but from bureaucracy and the existence of many regulations which impose high costs on businesses, something that constitutes an indirect form of protectionism. In the meantime, the Chinese President Xi Jinping has also suggested that the EU and China examine the possibility of signing a free trade agreement, stressing the fact that such an agreement would create a powerhouse of world development, covering one third of world production.

Pireus Bank Cyprus presents

THE CYPRUS

PRIVATE BANKING & WEALTH MANAGEMENT CONFERENCE

The meaning of wealth management in the 21st century Featuring Speakers Arfat Qayyum, Head of Private Banking, Al Khalij Commercial Bank Q.S.C, Qatar Clare Archer, Partner, Head of Private Client and Tax, Penningtons Manches LLP, UK Charis Kynigou, Head Private Banking, Piraeus Bank, Cyprus Fedor Poskriakov, Partner, Lenz Staehelin, Switzerland Dr Rania Azmi, Strategic Advisor, Middle East Sovereign Wealth Fund, UAE Paris Karasso, Managing Director and Investment Strategist, Calamos Investments, UK Speaker from PwC

Preliminary Thematology • 2016 Investment & Wealth Management Trends • Succession Planning & Family Governance • Tax Planning • Estate, Asset & Gift Planning • Family Office Services • Accounting, Compliance & Global Monitoring and Reporting

The conference is to be attended by professionals from the following sectors: • Law firms • Fiduciary Services firms • Company Formation and Administration firms • Trust Services • Banks and other financial institutions • Wealth Planning, Wealth Management, Asset Management Firms

• Accounting, Audit and Tax firms • Wealth and Asset Management Experts • Private and International Banking Specialists • Regulators • Investment Firms • Family Offices

Friday 8 April 2016 | 08:30-14:00 | Hilton Hotel | Nicosia For further information contact: IMH, 5 Aigaleo Str., 2057 Strovolos, P.O.Box 21185, 1503, Nicosia, Cyprus Tel. +357 22505555 Fax. +357 22679820, E-mail: events@imhbusiness.com, website: www.imhbusiness.com Main Sponsor

Organizers

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| DIGITAL WORLD |

88 | GOLD | The Business Magazine of Cyprus

(Tele)communication

Breakdown

The telecommunications industry is currently in a state of [YHUZMVYTH[PVU HZ [YHKP[PVUHS WYV]PKLYZ ÄNO[ MVY [OLPY Z\Y]P]HS PU HU PUJYLHZPUNS` KPNP[HS ^VYSK ;OVTHZ ;HUKL[aRP 7^*»Z .SVIHS *VTT\UPJH[PVUZ 0UK\Z[Y` 3LHKLY ^HZ PU *`WY\Z SHZ[ TVU[O HZ [OL RL`UV[L ZWLHRLY at a conference entitled Trends and Developments in the Telecommunications Sector /LYL OL L_WSHPUZ OV^ [LSJVZ HYL ILPUN MVYJLK [V JOHUNL [OLPY VɈLYPUN HUK I\ZPULZZ TVKLS PU VYKLY [V Z[H` PU I\ZPULZZ

I

n your presentation in Nicosia, you said that the telecommunications industry needs to change fundamentally if it is to survive. What has changed in recent years to bring about this situation? Thomas Tandetzki: The pace of technological change, the expansion of the ‘ecosystem’ that telcos are now forced to compete with and the significant challenges in recent years from Over-the-Top (OTT) companies with lower cost structures and a better customer experience have made it difficult for telcos to compete. Think about SMS: this service was a cash cow for the telcos but OTT players entered the market and they have been taking market share in a very short time-frame. The value of the digital world seldom finds its way in the telco industry. In addition, increased pressure from regulators has put added pressure on prices. A good example here would be elimination of roaming rates in Europe. Hence, “business as usual” is not sustainable for telcos in the future. Gold: You also noted that the industry is actually growing in almost every

By John Vickers

region except Europe. How is this possible? T.T.: When global market growth stagnated, the European market witnessed greater pressure on EBITDA and revenues than other regions. Also, although the EU is “one market,” the telco sector is still very fragmented, very expensive for the consumer and the network speed or quality of service can vary widely. You don’t have to travel very far geographically to see a very different cost structure or service quality. Also, local and national regulations still exist that make operating in the EU difficult, particularly across regions. Many of these market attributes either do not exist or exist to a lesser degree in other regions of the world. As a result, I believe there is generally a greater adoption of mobile technologies and perhaps a greater adoption of digital innovations like e-Health, Smart Home, Industry 4.0, Smart Cities, etc. Gold: The liberalized market has brought about a situation in which, as you noted, telcos build networks but OTTs generate value. This means that telcos fuel the digital world but don’t get value from it… So what can they do? Adopt the “if you can’t beat them, join them” approach? T.T.: Telcos get some value from the

digital world but not nearly the same value as the OTT players. It is not really about “if you can’t beat them, join them”; rather it is more a function that telcos need to simplify, digitize and consolidate. The telco agenda should focus around five key areas: First, you need to define your ‘way to play’ in digital service, and I see three strategic models. A network play involves becoming an efficient provider of secure connectivity, related bundled products and services. In a customer play, you would build adjacent platforms that enable digital services by partnering with ICT and OTT players. An innovation play means becoming a comprehensive ‘digital life provider’ with best-in-class services that are vertically integrated. Second, redefine your operating model with the objective of simplifying and radically reducing your cost structure. Carefully assess your management capabilities – this knowledge base will be critical in identifying the best transformation path. Third, understand what digital means for your specific play. In any case, fundamentally new capabilities will be required in all dimensions of the business: HR, IT, processes, etc. Fourth, develop customer-centricity as a key capability for any play beyond the network. Lastly, participate in consolidation with three objectives: (a) to gain national

www.goldnews.com.cy | GOLD | 89

| DIGITAL WORLD | market share, (b) to acquire fixed assets in FMC markets, and (c) to grow your customer base to scale digital innovations. In other words, there is a lot of work to be done Definitely not business as usual! Gold: You stress the need to work on the Customer Experience – isn’t that what traditional telcos are doing already? T.T.: Yes but, historically, telcos have had more of a technology-driven view of the market: things like services and products, devices, user interfaces, BSS, OSS and access. The focus has been more on customer retention. Generally, customers today don’t care about networks, volumes, etc. Rather, they want all applications and data on all devices at all times and to seamlessly move across channels (e.g. fixed / mobile). As a result, the focus really needs to be on optimizing the customer experience around six main touch points: branding/marketing, customer premise equipment (CPE)/ Service, physical channels (outlets, retail stores, etc.), call centre, digital channels (e.g. web portal, social media, mobile app), and field operations. Gold: What is the significance of Fixed-Mobile Convergence (FMC) for consumers and telcos? T.T.: For consumers, the significance is that their data will be available to them on all devices at all times; media, such as movies or playlists, can be continued seamlessly and all OTT services can work seamlessly. It means the advent of convenient solutions, whereby FMC services are set up automatically, consumers do not realize what happens in the background and FMC services work with no requirement for customer service. Lastly, it means that consumers will have the best network available to them at all times with seamless switching between wired (e.g. DSL), nomadic (Wi-Fi), and mobile connections (e.g. 3G, LTE). For telcos, FMC is significant in that they will have to think differently and address some key questions about their offerings in service areas ranging from customer attraction and acquisition to service usage to support to loyalty and retention. Gold: How will the EU’s digital agenda affect the traditional telco business 90 | GOLD | The Business Magazine of Cyprus

CUSTOMERS TODAY WANT ALL APPLICATIONS AND DATA ON ALL DEVICES AT ALL TIMES AND TO SEAMLESSLY MOVE ACROSS CHANNELS model? In a sense, hasn’t the European Commission brought about the downfall of the old-style operators? T.T.: The EU’s “Digital Agenda” is built on seven pillars, two of which are the Digital Single Market and Fast/Ultra-Fast Internet access. I believe these two pillars will impact telcos strongly. First, the Digital Single Market means roaming charges for retail customers will end by 15 June 2017, and on wholesale charges a decision is expected soon. Especially in countries with a big influx of business travellers and tourists, telcos will suffer due to losing revenues from the inability to charge roaming fees. Another aspect of this pillar is net neutrality. This means that a telco would have to provide customers access to their network on an equal basis, without the ability to charge them higher rates for faster content delivery (priority traffic). This makes it more difficult for telcos to differentiate their products from their competitors. A telco wants its network to be more than just a “dumb pipe.” Forcing the telcos to offer fast Internet access is clearly important for the economy, especially in rural areas, but it can mean that companies have to make investments with negative returns. Do we see that also in other industries? I don’t think so. As a result, telcos will need to look for new or non-traditional revenue and earnings streams, such as expanding into other verticals (i.e., Industry 4.0, Smart Home, Smart Cities, etc.). This will require a telco to transform its business model to take advantage of these new opportunities. I

wouldn’t refer to it as a “downfall” of the old-style of operation, but rather a transformation. The world is changing, virtually every industry is changing and the telco industry is no different. Gold: Everything you say makes a clearcut argument in favour of a drastic change to how Cyta operates in Cyprus. Those in favour of privatisation make the point that there are only two stateowned telcos left in Europe but this is not true of other parts of the world, as you have indicated. Do you believe that is it the way they will all go eventually? T.T.: I can’t comment on specific companies or organisations but I would say that a lot depends on the culture, leadership and guardrails given by the government. We have seen very positive examples of privatisation in the last two decades in Europe. Not only positive for the shareholders but also for the employees. Gold: What will happen to the traditional long-term investment in infrastructure and networks that has always been the responsibility of the state-owned telecommunications organisations? Will the private sector be willing or able to make it happen? T.T.: I don’t see that state-owned telcos have better networks in place compared to privatized companies. For me, rather the opposite is reality. However, continued industry consolidation and entry into new vertical markets could help create new revenue streams that should increase profitability. As a result, it would be more economically feasible to continue to invest in infrastructure in the future. Gold: How do you visualise the European telco industry 10 years from now? T.T.: I see a much more consolidated market with fewer players. Recent European Commission decisions indicate that they support this trend with the goal of having big European-based players that can compete against, for example, big US telcos and maybe also, in the future, Chinese players. Take the recent decisions by the European Commission regarding Mergers & Acquisitions in the UK and Germany as proof points. Bigger players can be stronger in the European market; just think about purchase prices for handsets and network technology.

The Cyprus

19 May 2016

Internal Audit

08:30 - 14:30

Hilton Park Hotel Nicosia | Cyprus

Forum 2016

Internal Audit: Adding Value and Governance

Programme Highlights Include:

Keynote Speaker Richard F. Chambers President & CEO The Institute of Internal Auditors Global Headquarters USA Featuring Speakers • Martin W. Stevens, Management Board member of the European Confederation of Institutes of Internal Auditing (ECIIA), Norway • Kristiina Lagerstedt, VP Internal Audit & Assurance, Sanoma Group, Sweden • Anna Zavou-Christoforou, Commissioner of Internal Audit of the Republic of Cyprus, Internal Audit Service of the Republic of Cyprus • Konstantinos P. Triantafyllidis, Internal Audit Consultant, Greece • Nicola Rimmer, Global Board Member, The Institute of Internal Auditors Inc., UK • Nicholas Hadjiyiannis, CEO, Cooperative Central Bank, Cyprus • Dr. Alexandros Antonaras, Director of Institutional Excellence & Business Services and Assistant Professor, University of Nicosia, Cyprus • Onisiforos A. Onisiforou, Director of Internal Audit, Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation (CyBC) & Chairman of IIA Cyprus Standards & Ethics Committee, Cyprus

Addressed to • Members of the Cyprus Institute of Internal Auditors, European & other Institutes • Internal Auditors, CFOs, CEOs, Managing Directors, Chairmen and Board Members of Cypriot companies • Audit Committee Members • Members of other related professional bodies • Executives from the Internal Audit Service in the Public & Private Sectors • Media representatives

• Trends in European Governance and Internal Audit • Latest International Standards for effective Internal Auditing • Challenges and Opportunities in Internal Audit • Internal Auditor and Second Line of Defence tasks • The Role and Objectives of the Internal Audit Service in the reform of the Public Sector • Internal Audit Quality Assessment and Improvement Programme • The Business Ethics Perspective in Internal Auditing

5 Reasons to attend

• Enhance your professional knowledge and skills - Stay up to date on all the important areas of Audit, Risk,Governance, Fraud, Corruption, Cybercrime and Information Security. • Experienced Speakers – Hear exclusive case studies and keynote presentations and benefit from the first-hand advice and guidance from renowned international speakers. • Best practice – Receive a comprehensive explanation of the latest detection, investigation, response and prevention strategies employed by prominent multinational companies, banks, governments and the international community. • Networking opportunities – This is a rare opportunity to meet and discuss shared issues of concern with the representatives of local and national government, public sector organisations and private companies. • Earn 5 CPE credits.

For further information contact: IMH, 5 Aigaleo Str., 2057 Strovolos, P.O.Box 21185, 1503, Nicosia, Cyprus Tel. +357 22505555 Fax. +357 22679820, E-mail: events@imhbusiness.com, website: www.imhbusiness.com Coordinator

Communications Sponsors

Organizer

| INTERVIEW |

MORE THAN FOUR YEARS AGO, GOLD SPOKE FOR THE FIRST TIME TO ANDREY DASHIN, CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD AND OWNER OF THE ALPARI BRAND, FOUNDER OF FOREXTIME (FXTM), AND A DIRECTOR OF THE ALPARI CHARITABLE FUND AND OF ANDREY & JULIA DASHIN’S FOUNDATION. A NEW INTERVIEW WITH THE HIGH-PROFILE RUSSIAN BUSINESSMAN AND PHILANTHROPIST WAS WELL OVERDUE. BELOW, YOU CAN READ HIS VIEWS ON HOW HIS LIFE AND WORK INE. E HAVE PROGRESSED SINCE HIS FIRST APPEARANCE IN THE MAGAZINE. By John Vickers

STILL DREAMING ANDREY DASHIN

G

old: The first time I interviewed you was for Gold’s 10th issue in January 2012. Fifty months later, this is Gold’s 60th issue and a lot has changed for you too. How do you view the last four years? Andrey Dashin: Time sure flies fast! These past years were full of events and, as happens in life, some of them were good and some rather grim. What’s important is that one must always take some positive experience and knowledge from every situation that occurs – be it in business or personal affairs. Gold: One of the biggest changes was your decision to found ForexTime and wind down the operations of Alpari in 92 | GOLD | The Business Magazine of Cyprus

Cyprus. Was it a difficult step, given that Alpari had been your ‘baby’ for many years? A.D.: Let me be clear on this – these two events were not tied to each other whatsoever. Back then, there was a strategic decision to relocate the European operations of Alpari from Cyprus, centralizing them in the UK. The main reason for this was the fact that regulation in Cyprus and the UK, in terms of servicing clients from complex jurisdictions, had been to some extent equalized and the move seemed to be cost-effective at the time. With regard to ForexTime – as many very well know – I’m a demanding person who loves challenges. Setting up a new business from scratch and having it

compete with the leaders of the industry was surely a challenge and one that I believe I have succeeded in by offering advanced and innovative services, optimal customer care and perpetual devotion to our clients. Gold: In such a competitive sector as Forex, you have succeeded not once but twice in establishing yourself as a major player. What’s the secret? A.D.: Complete and utter dedication to something you truly believe in. You have to believe in the goals you set ahead of you, in your personnel, and – as many cliché coaching books will suggest – in yourself. You can surely doubt yourself but you should never doubt your ability to achieve something.

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| INTERVIEW | Hard work and dedication, plus a bit of luck – that’s my personal recipe for success. Gold: How much of a hands-on role do you play in the company’s day-to-day activities? A.D.: Obviously managing two large independent brands is not an easy task and I can’t give my attention to all the queries and issues that arise daily but I strongly believe that a successful entrepreneur must always keep his eye on the ball. I am, therefore, involved in all the key decisions and activities of my companies, as well as providing guidance and support to my personnel and colleagues. Gold: Were you and the business affected by the events of March 2013 in Cyprus? A.D.: Like every other person living in Cyprus, I would be lying if I said I wasn’t. Of course, financially, neither I nor my companies were hurt even one bit – we were prepared as one must always be in this modern environment. But the general chain of events following March 2013 and, therefore, the economic climate in Cyprus were indeed a rather sad sight for all. It created a precedent and that takes a long time for everyone to forget – not just in Cyprus but all over the world. However, such events do help shake things up, which is always good and we’re already seeing some positive results thanks to this. Gold: You made a point of staying here through the island’s most difficult moments. What was it that gave you the confidence to maintain your trust in Cyprus? A.D.: I come from Russia – a country with a rich history of peculiar events. So it is rather difficult to surprise me and catch me off guard! It is also a fact that one must always learn from one’s mistakes, whether in business or in government. Yes, it takes a big effort and even sacrifices to recover but once the wound is healed, you’ll be stronger than ever, with acquired knowledge that will help you in the future, giving you an advantage over those who have never experienced such storms. In this regard, I have said it before and will say it again: Cyprus as a country and the Cypriots as a nation have what it takes to endure and mature. Gold: ForexTime appears to be going from strength to strength these days. What is the key to staying ahead of the competition? 94 | GOLD | The Business Magazine of Cyprus

HARD WORK

AND DEDICATION,

PLUS A BIT

/&Õ,5#+ÕɣÕ4(!4 3Õ MY PERSONAL

RECIPE

FOR SUCCESS A.D.: In such a competitive environment, you must always be ahead of your game. At ForexTime we focus on innovation and on providing unparalleled quality of services to our clients. We aim to fully explore the potential of the financial markets and to place our clients’ needs at the centre of every decision we take. We will always strive to ensure maximum performance, customer satisfaction and security in every investment. Gold: You also stand out from your competitors by the fact that you, personally, maintain quite a high local profile and make a point of being an active member of the local community. Was this a conscious decision and, if so, why? A.D.: If you look at the best-known entrepreneurs around the world, you will see that most of them are open to be public and active in their local community. I am no exception. I believe that any company and any business must have a face: someone you can easily relate to and understand. This simple yet important attitude quite naturally translates into the wish to make the world around you a better place – not just for yourself, but for everyone. Gold: When we spoke in 2012, you talked about the Alpari Charitable Fund and since then, you and your wife have established Andrey & Julia Dashin’s Foundation, through which you help charitable causes. Did your desire to help those in need come from your own background in Kazan or are you simply following the lead of wealthy businessmen who turn to philanthropy? Or is it a mixture of both? A.D.: I started the Alpari Charitable Fund in Russia more than 10 years ago with a clear mindset of the necessity to give back to the community and especially to those in need. Irrespective of recent trends in philanthropy amongst wealthy businessmen, I established

Andrey & Julia Dashin’s Foundation in Cyprus to continue with that same mindset. Gold: How satisfying is this “giving back” aspect of your life? A.D.: If you have ever looked into the eyes of kids who haven’t been as lucky in life as you have, when they receive new toys or just about any present that they’ve never had before, at that moment there is no place for doubt in your heart and mind that you’re doing the right thing and must continue your course of action. I can’t stress this enough: the seeds you plant now will thrive and evolve into something that really matters years ahead. Gold: Do you ever feel that Cyprus is too small for you? Do you travel a lot in order to ‘get away’? A.D.: I moved to Cyprus years ago because it was something one would probably call love at first sight. Since I come from Kazan, I’ve never been a fan of big cities. Cyprus is a small and peaceful place with generally caring people and we must all appreciate this island for what it is. Besides, as an entrepreneur that is proactive in his business decisions, I do travel a lot so I never get that feeling of being stuck in one place, irrespective of the country. Gold: Do you miss Russia? Do you still take an interest in what’s happening there? A.D.: Being born in Kazan and having lived there for most of my life, Russia is and will always be a part of me. I obviously keep my eye on all the developments in my homeland and I travel there a lot. Gold: Four years ago, you said to me: “One day I am going to leave business behind and explore new areas, travel, go hiking, diving. It’s good thing to have a dream, especially a big dream.” That day obviously hasn’t arrived yet but is that still the plan? A.D.: It’s still the plan but now, as much as four years ago, I’m still too young and too ambitious to leave business behind, especially in these current most interesting and challenging times. Gold: So you haven’t lost that big dream? A.D.: By no means – the dream is still there, and if something has changed throughout the years, it’s just that the dream’s getting bigger.

special promotional feature

CYPRUS INTERNATIONAL

BUSINESSES

ASSOCIATION (CIBA)

T

he Cyprus International Businesses Association (CIBA) was founded 24 years ago as a non-government, fully PUKLWLUKLU[ HZZVJPH[PVU Änanced by membership fees only. Decisions are taken, and activities and initiatives are organised, by its President and a 12-member Executive Committee elected by the member companies at the Annual General Meeting. The Association was established in 1992, on the initiative of a number of businessmen who had based their international activities in Cyprus, taking advantage of the advantageous tax regime and relaxed immigration policies as well as the island’s Mediterranean climate and high standard of living. At the time, several hundred companies with foreign shareholders had already VWLULK M\SS` ÅLKNLK VɉJLZ PU *`WY\Z I\[ [OL` OHK UV ZWLJPÄJ organisation to represent and support their interests. Since its formation, CIBA has sought to represent and safeguard the interests of international businesses in Cyprus, and those of their shareholders, THUHNLYZ HUK Z[HɈ >OPSL [OPZ was a fairly simple task in the

early years of the of the EU Association, matwithout losing ters became more OF THE BOARD [OL ÄUHUJPHS complicated as EU contribution Frixos Savvides (President), Hive Management membership negotiof internationServices Ltd ations with Brussels al business Philippos Antoniades proceeded. Joining companies to (Vice-President) Chethe European Union the economy. mikalien Seetransport required substantial CIBA’s task Cyprus Ltd. Andreas Andreou, Cochanges to almost did not end lumbia Shipmanagement every aspect of with EU Ltd. business life in the accession. Marios Anastasiou, country: taxation, Today, more FBME Bank Ltd social insurance and than ever, Doxia Nikia, Stratus immigration were but it strives to Associates Ltd. Angelina Markari, Soa few of the most keep a close dexo Cyprus Ltd. important issues. watch on deLefkios Papadopoulos, CIBA has remained in velopments )HYJSH`Z >LHS[O continuous and close HɈLJ[PUN [OL George Flouros, NCR contact with the variisland’s inter(Middle East) Ltd David Bestwick, Avanti ous government denational busiHylas 2 Cyprus Ltd. partments that were ness comLiudmila Bozhedomoinvolved in those munity and va, ITERA International complex negotiation continues to Energy LLC processes. The auhelp promote Jens A. Wilhelmsen, Anchor Secondary Manthorities recognized Cyprus as an agement Ltd that CIBA repreinternational Neil Smith, Raven Russented the whole business sia Cyprus Ltd of the international centre, while Chris Koufaris, CIBA business community dealing with (General Secretary) Margarita Alexandrou, in Cyprus and it was issues that CIBA (Assistant General PUZ[Y\TLU[HS PU ÄUKcomplicate Secretary) ing compromises or hinder the between EU-driven daily operlegislation and ations of its international business requiremembers’ businesses. ments. After all, the objective On the following pages, seven of the authorities was for Cy*0)( TLTILY ÄYTZ WYLZLU[ prus to become a full member their services in detail.

MEMBERS

co ontents contents contentts t AVANTI COMMUNICATIONS GROUP PLC BANQUE BEMO SAL COLUMBIA SHIPMANAGEMENT

96 98 100

GROME MARKETING (CYPRUS) LTD HELLENIC BANK KARDEX SYSTEMS LTD NEST INVESTMENTS HOLDINGS (CYPRUS) LTD

102 104 106 108

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special promotional feature

MEMBERS OF CYPRUS INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS ASSOCIATION (CIBA)

AVANTI COMMUNICATIONS GROUP PLC

A

vanti is a leading satellite operator that connects people wherever they are – in their homes, businesses, in government and on mobiles. Through the HYLAS satellite fleet and more than 180 partners in 118 countries, the network provides ubiquitous internet service to a quarter of the world’s population. Satellites provide data communications and broadcasting services around the world. They are used versus terrestrial infrastructure in situations where they can provide superior economics to customers or where other forms of communication are not available.

Avanti operates in the fixed data communications part of the satellite market and has pioneered the use of Kaband technology, which enables us to service this market at a lower cost than legacy operators. Avanti has developed proprietary and patented technology which is deployed throughout its network. This technology has been developed in house by its employees, who are amongst the most experienced in the industry. It has fundamentally changed the quality and cost of delivering high speed data connections by satellite in EMEA, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa where 80% of its capacity is focused. This has resulted in large-scale new deployments of broadband to rural communities, schools and businesses, as well as very high-tech infrastructure for governments, broadcasters and mobile carriers.

Gateway Earth Station, Goonhilly, UK

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INGENUITY AND EXCELLENCE

Avanti employs around 230 people, 73 of whom are multi-lingual from 32 different countries speaking a total of 27 languages. Avanti’s people deliver breakthroughs in performance that change the game. Never just satisfied with new ideas, they solve challenges that few other satellite operators can overcome, creating true customer value.

RECENT SUCCESSES

Avanti delivers pioneering applications of satellite technology on a daily basis to nations around the world.

AVANTI’S PEOPLE DELIVER BREAKTHROUGHS IN PERFORMANCE THAT CHANGE THE GAME

Key successes include: • A world first in 3G and 4G backhaul over Ka-band to Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) in Europe including Vodafone; • Significant programmes for a number of national incumbent telecoms ASAP operators in Africa, including Telkom South Africa, Tanzania Telecommunications Company Limited (TTCL), Orange Kenya and TelOne in Zimbabwe, whose vast customer base includes public sector organisations, enterprises, SMEs and consumers beyond the reach of terrestrial infrastructure; • Partner to some of Africa’s largest alternative Service Providers including Wananchi, the largest media provider in East Africa, and Internet Solutions, the largest panAfrican ISP; • Satellite News Gathering (SNG) contracts with the world’s largest broadcasters, delivering global coverage of the entire Oscar Pistorius

Student using a computer lab in Tanzania connected by Avanti’s Ka-band broadband

Avanti coverage HYLAS 1, 2, 3 & 4

HYLAS 2 satellite

CYPRUS

HYLAS 2 launch in 2012 on the Ariane 5 rocket

Rose breeder in Kenya showcasing roses he is now able to sell internationally as a result of Avanti’s connectivity

court trial in South Africa and breaking news in the Middle East; • High impact digital education platforms, underpinned by satellite connectivity, to create positive and long-lasting ripple effects into thousands of communities across the African continent.

“Innovative, reliable and highly competent from a technical perspective” According to independent brand research conducted by Millward Brown, Avanti is ‘innovative, reliable and highly competent from a technical perspective’. The operator’s perceived differentiators are the quality of

its technology and its flexibility, as opposed to a ‘one size fits all’ approach of the competition. Additionally, Avanti was voted a ‘Business Superbrand’ in 2015. Such perceptions and accolades ensure that the company is well placed to capitalise on the growing demand for satellite connectivity across EMEA.

Avanti has invested heavily in Cyprus, establishing a subsidiary company here in 2010 and contracting with CYTA for the construction of a Gateway Earth Station (GES) for its HYLAS 2 satellite which launched in 2012. The GES includes two large 9.2m satellite antennas and a purpose-built Internet Data Centre, which houses computer equipment owned by Avanti and its customers. Further antenna installations are planned as Avanti continues to grow, with its services in the Middle East forming an important part of that growth. With its satellites planned to last for 15 years each, Avanti is committed to doing business in Cyprus for many years to come.

Address: 20, Black Friars Lane, London, EC4V 6EB, UK | Tel: (+44) 2077491600 | e-mail: contact@avantiplc.com | Website: www.avantiplc.com

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MEMBERS OF CYPRUS INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS ASSOCIATION (CIBA)

BANQUE BEMO SAL

E

stablished in 1994, Banque BEMO sal is a Lebanese joint-stock company registered in the Beirut Commercial Registry under No. 17837 and on Banque du Liban’s list of Banks under No. 93. Banque BEMO is a pioneer and a leader in Private and Corporate Banking in Lebanon and the region.

CORPORATE BANKING

Corporate Banking with Banque BEMO caters to large corporations and their key professionals basing its approach on a set of professional criteria and aiming to build long relationships with clients and earn their trust. Corporate Banking at Banque BEMO distinguishes itself through its swift decision processes and the quick response time to clients.

CORPORATE BANKING PILLARS

The Bank puts at its clients’ disposal success elements for their business development and growth, based on two main pillars: • Strong Relationship Management • Client Centric approach.

CORPORATE BANKING PRODUCTS AND SERVICES

• Commercial facilities such as support in Capital Financing and Trade Finance facilities • Medium & Long term facilities CAPEX financing - Subsidized loans • Project financing facilities • Securitization & Corporate Finance (in coordination with BSEC) • Syndicated loans facilities • Treasury services facilities • Other services such as SWIFT Notification, E-statements, and others.

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PRIVATE BANKING

Banque BEMO has always kept the interests of its clientele at heart. This has relentlessly been the root of the Bank’s Private Banking & Wealth Management.

PRIVATE BANKING PRODUCTS AND SERVICES

“off-the-shelf” products, Banque BEMO offers its clients a wide array of tailor-made services: • Investment Advisory, Intermediation and Research, offer clients consultation and firm guidance to help them make the appropriate investment decisions. • Premier Concierge Service, provide clients with a reliable and stable assistance in every aspect of their daily lives through a diverse array of services.

Enhancing our clients’ wealth strategy over time entails building a long-lasting relationship with them. This stems from the approach followed IN ADDITION by Banque BEMO TO A WIDE Private Banking & VARIETY OF Wealth ManageGENERIC ment, which organiz“OFF-THE-SHELF” es, builds, monitors PRODUCTS, and improves the BANQUE BEMO clients’ wealth stratOFFERS ITS egy while matching CLIENTS A their predefined risk WIDE ARRAY profile. OF TAILOR-MADE In addition to a wide SERVICES variety of generic

• Family Office assists the clients in preserving their wealth, through wealth protection, growth and succession planning. As a result, clients will be able to handle issues pertaining to generational planning, implementing broader succession, leadership, and governance plans.

/LHK 6ɉJL Address: Pasteur Building, 96, Pasteur St., Medawar Area, Beirut, Lebanon | Tel: +961-1568250/1/2/3/4 | e-mail: bemo@bemobank.com *`WY\Z )YHUJO Address: Doma Court, 227, Archbishop Makarios III Ave., Limassol, Cyprus | Postal Address: P.O.Box: 56232, 3305 Limassol, Cyprus Tel: (+357) 25583628, 25587640 | Fax: (+357) 25587064 | Swift: EUMOCY2I

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MEMBERS OF CYPRUS INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS ASSOCIATION (CIBA)

COLUMBIA SHIPMANAGEMENT

C

olumbia Shipmanagement (CSM) was founded in Limassol, Cyprus, in 1978 by Mr. Heinrich Schoeller. Today, we are one of the largest independent ship management companies worldwide and one of the leading practitioners of global ship and crew management. Our commitment to excellence, together with our expertise and passion, has earned us a reputation as a quality ship manager. By creating an awardwinning portfolio of services, CSM is able

to offer clients bespoke and cost-effective solutions. Our strong client relationships are testimony to our quality and trustworthy services. Columbia Shipmanagement is committed to protecting the environment and we continually strive to ensure that our fleet is compliant with all regulations. Our 14,500+ employees, on land and at sea, coupled with sound and ethical working practices, form the

AT COLUMBIA SHIPMANAGEMENT WE VALUE THE TRUST PLACED IN US AND AIM TO SERVE WITH TRASPARENCY foundation upon which we have built our range of services from technical, crew and commercial management, to new building supervision, consulting and cruise

Address: Columbia House, 21 Spyrou Kyprianou Ave., 4042 Limassol, Cyprus Tel: (+357) 25843100 | Fax: (+357) 25320325 e-mail: marketing@csmcy.com | Website: www.columbia-shipmanagement.com

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vessel services. For over 25 years, Columbia Shipmanagement has supervised the building of a wide range and large number of ships globally. We manage a fleet of all types of commercial and passenger vessels; operated 24/7 through our network of offices and crewing agencies around the world. We aim to deliver a dependable service, working closely together with our clients.

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MEMBERS OF CYPRUS INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS ASSOCIATION (CIBA)

KARDEX SYSTEMS LTD

G

ive us a little bit of Kardex Systems Ltd’s history. When was it established? Kardex Remstar is one of the world’s leading manufacturers and integrators of automated storage and retrieval systems and document management for the office as well as the manufacturing, warehouse, distribution and retail sectors. It is a part of the Kardex AG Group, a Swiss-based public corporation that employs over 2,000 people and is listed on the Swiss Stock Exchange (SIX). Kardex has 30 offices around the world and world class manufacturing facilities in Germany, the USA and Australia. Our products are designed to increase productivity, maximize floor space

and to improve business processes. Where does Kardex Systems Ltd and Cyprus fit in with all this? Kardex Remstar is actively represented in the Middle East and Africa through a comprehensive network of distributors which are supported by the Kardex Remstar Regional Office in Cyprus. Kardex Systems Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of Kardex AG and has been based in Cyprus for the last 35 years. It is responsible for sales, marketing and technical support for the entire product portfolio in the Middle East, the Gulf, Africa and part of the Balkans and Central Asia.

What is the company’s main business? Kardex has been at the forefront of innovation in both Document Management and Materials Handling Solutions since the launch of the first Vertical Carousel over 30 years ago. It specializes in high-density storage and retrieval systems for documents and Demetris Kouloundis, other materials, Regional Sales Director, [HSRZ HIV\[ [OL ÄYT HUK spare parts, finish its operations. goods, electronics, pharmaceutical, tooling, etc., for the office, KARDEX warehouse, production HAS VERY and distribution centre, HIGH etc. The product portfolio EXPECTATIONS includes Vertical Carousels FROM (Kardex Lektriever and THE REGION Kardex Megamat), Vertical OVER THE Lift Modules (Kardex ShutNEXT tle), Horizontal Carousel, FIVE YEARS

Oman Logistics exhibition

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Kardex Bahrain seminar

Kardex Jeddah Seminar

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Mobile Shelving and Times Two Rotary filing cabinets. Kardex supports its automated systems with a suite of in-house developed software applications, to provide integrated advanced system solutions to the world’s leading companies. Have you been with the company from the beginning? Yes, I joined the company in 1981, with the establishment of Kardex Systems Ltd in

Cyprus. Your title “Regional Sales Director” suggests that the company operates well beyond Cyprus. Which places are you responsible for? I am responsible for the whole of Africa, the Middle East, the Gulf and parts of the Balkans and Central Asia. It’s been a life of extensive travelling for the last 35 years! Given the international nature of Kardex and its customer base, would it be cor-

the price of oil. rect to say that THE COMPA- It is very well you were not NY HAS BEEN known that a affected by BASED IN CY- large number the events of PRUS FOR THE of countries in March 2013 LAST 35 YEARS. MEA region in Cyprus? IT IS RESPONSIis entirely deYes, this is BLE FOR SALES, pendent on oil correct. Even MARKETING for their revethough we are AND TECHNI- nues. Judging also active in CAL SUPPORT by what we’ve the Cyprus IN THE MIDDLE seen at the market and the EAST, THE GULF, beginning of leaders in our AFRICA AND 2016, it seems line of busiPART OF THE that we’re in ness, we were BALKANS AND for another not affected CENTRAL ASIA challenging due to its low year! percentage of the overall business. What are your aspirations and hopes for Kardex over On the other hand, a sizeathe next five years? ble part of the regions you Kardex has very high expectadeal with is suffering from tions from the region over the instability –the Middle East next five years and, for preciseand perhaps parts of Africa ly this reason, we are currently too. How does that affect focusing on a very challenging business? business plan which will allow For sure, 2015 was a very us to open new markets and challenging year due the postrengthen the company’s litical instability in the region position in existing and new as well as the dramatic drop in markets.

Address: 8, John Kennedy Str., Iris House, 8th Floor, Limassol, Cyprus Tel: (+357) 25591330 | Fax: (+357) 25590115 | e-mail: info@kardex.com.cy | Website: www.kardexinternational.com

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MEMBERS OF CYPRUS INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS ASSOCIATION (CIBA)

NEST INVESTMENTS HOLDINGS (CYPRUS) LTD

N

est Investments Holdings (Cyprus) Ltd, was established in Cyprus in1990, as the island was considered ideal as a base of operations due to its location, legal structure, human resource availability and infrastructure. Headquartered in Limassol, Nest Investments Holdings is the ultimate shareholding company of all the business assets of the Nest Group which include substantial or majority shareholding interests in excess of $5billion in Direct Insurance, Reinsurance, Property Development, Manufacturing, Banking, Licensed Operations such as World Trade Centers in 22 countries, in North America, Europe, Africa, the Middle East/Gulf Region and Asia Pacific regions. The Group employs more than 1,500 people. Everything started in Jersey in 1989 when Group Chairman and founder Ghazi Abu Nahl acquired Nest Investments (Holdings) Ltd., which rapidly grew to be a leading

general insurance provider in the MENA as well as Afro-Asian regions. He also acquired Trust International, a reinsurance company established in Bahrain to serve the entire MENA and Afro-Asia regions offering bespoke reinsurance products to other insurance companies and major corporations.

SERVICES

Direct insurance operations are carried out in Algeria, Cyprus, Lebanon, Palestine, Libya, Syria, Iraq and Yemen. The reinsurance operations lead from Bahrain is covered through branches and representative offices in Cyprus, Malaysia, Morocco, China and the USA. The company also has a 100% subsidiary, which participates in Lloyd’s syndicate’s capital. It is UK FCA and Lloyd’s regulated. Banking operations cover the Algerian territories with 36 branches providing trade finance. The Group owns real estate

THE COMPANY IS THE ULTIMATE SHAREHOLDER OF TRUST CYPRUS WHICH IS NOW THE [O 3(9.,:; INSURANCE ENTITY IN CYPRUS in Qatar, Bahrain, Cyprus, Lebanon, Palestine, UK, Yemen, Libya, Syria, and Algeria. The Group’s Insurance Broking activities are based in UK and Jordan. The UK entity providing wholesale reinsurance broking is also FCA and Lloyd’s regulated. Today the Group includes a direct insurance company operating in Cyprus (Trust International Insurance and Reinsurance) with US$18million paid-up

capital. With headquarters in Nicosia and branches in Limassol, Larnaca and Paphos, Trust employs more than 80 Cypriot nationals providing all classes of nonlife insurance. The Company started operations in August 2009 and now is the th 4 largest insurance entity in Cyprus. The Group also has a Reinsurance Branch of the Bahrain, A- rated Reinsurance entity in Cyprus, as well as World Trade Center operations in the promotion of trade facilities and consultancy services in 16 locations and 13 countries. Group Chairman Ghazi Abu Nahl is also the Chairman of the World Trade Centers Association in New York. The Association has 330 members in more than 100 countries. Mehran Eftekhar, Group Corporate Services and Finance Director, is also on the Board of the WTCA as a director, representing World Trade Center Cyprus. The Group is planning to expand its insurance and reinsurance operations in the region and has recently added a prime Limassol sea front World Trade Center building.

Address: Ariadne House, 2nd Floor, 333, 28th October Street, 3106 Limassol, Cyprus Postal Address: P.O. Box 54857, 3728 Limassol, Cyprus | Tel: (+357) 25588811 | Fax: (+357) 25587300 | E-mail: nest@nestco.org Website: www.nestco.org

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IN GOOD COMPANY

WINDOWS OF OPPORTUNITY &20387,1* 67$)) &217(170(17 $7 0,&5262)7 By Effy Pafitis | Photos by Emma Louise Charalambous

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R

egardless of global tech firms’ ubiquitous focus on developing future must-haves in devices, software and services, investing in the skills, knowledge and development of

their human capital remains their most valuable key to success. IT giant Microsoft tells this story better than any other. Named the world’s second most valuable brand (Forbes, 2015) it is also the seventh best global company to work for (Fortune, 2015). Coincidence? We spoke to Matina Hatzipavlou, Human Resources Director at Microsoft for Greece, Cyprus and Malta to ascertain the true ties between the company’s immeasurable success and its admirable HR strategy. Microsoft established its operations in Cyprus in 2003, aiming, Hatzipavlou says, to contribute to the technological and economic development of the local community to educate students in IT software

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IN GOOD COMPANY

modules and boost the Cypriot IT market at large. Its establishment was based on the same remarkable corporate culture which has proven a model for companies not only in the tech industry but in other sectors far and wide. “From the beginning, Microsoft’s mission has been to empower every person and every organisation on the planet to achieve more,� Hatzipavlou enthusiastically affirms. “As a company, and as individuals, we value integrity, honesty, openness, personal excellence, constructive self-criticism, continual self-improvement and mutual respect. We are committed to our customers and partners and have a passion for technology. We take on big challenges, and pride ourselves on seeing them through.� Microsoft’s corporate culture, she tells me earnestly, is founded in a “growth mindset� which starts with a belief that everyone can grow and develop, and that anyone can change their mindset. Thus, employees are expected to learn constantly and be insatiably curious; to be willing to lean in to uncertainty, take risks and move quickly when they make mistakes, recognizing that failure is an inevitable obstacle on the road to mastery. Indeed, they are encouraged to be open to the ideas of others and contribute to the success of others instead of focusing on their own success. “Although everyone at Microsoft brings his or her own unique set of talents and practices, there are five core competencies that employees should demonstrate in order to be successful at their roles: Adaptability, Collaboration, Influencing for Impact, Drive for Results, Judgement and Customer focus,� Hadjipavlou explains. Thanks to this mindset, impressive levels of staff retention and satisfaction continue to be achieved throughout the industry leader’s international network. In Cyprus too, employee satisfaction remains high, and Microsoft both encourages and evaluates this consistently. “There are many ways in which we evaluate employee satisfaction. Indeed, as part of our culture, employees are encouraged to provide feedback to management and speak up when they see areas for improvement.� According to the HR Director, the organisation’s main tool to measure staff contentment is the annual employee survey, MS

112 | GOLD | The Business Magazine of Cyprus

,) 3(23/( :,6+ 72 /($9( ,1 25'(5 72 3,&. 83 7+(,5 &+,/'5(1 )520 6&+22/ 25 '2 7+(,5 3(5621$/ &+25(6 7+(< $5( )5(( 72 '2 62 $1<7,0( 7+(< /,.( Poll, which offers employees the opportunity to provide anonymous feedback on various aspects of their experience working at Microsoft and, ultimately, make suggestions for improvement. “Their input is taken into consideration and turned into action plans that have a significant impact on our company’s decisions,� she attests. As though this modus operandi and inclusive approach weren’t enough to ensure the loyalty of its valuable personnel, Microsoft offers additional benefits to its people to – as Hatzipavlou puts it – “create the most rewarding work environment possible by offering fair benefits and access to advanced learning and development,� in recognition of the fact that “the passion, diversity and talent of our people are core to our success.� More specifically, employee advantages include Stock Awards; ESPP (Employee

Stock Purchase Plan, offering a 10% discount on shares); life and disability private insurance; a private medical plan for the employee and family members; optical and dental assistance; health club coverage; car allowance and parking lot; mobile phone device and call coverage; purchase of company products at a reduced price; and extra vacation days. Microsoft employees also benefit daily from the supermarket supplies offered in the workspace (coffees, snacks, fruit, cereal, etc.)

“In addition, our employees have access to unlimited training resources (classroom and on-line) that give them the opportunity for development and advancement of their careers at Microsoft,” the HR Director says, further demonstrating the multinational organisation’s focus on internal education. In addition to ensuring exceptional office premises, which the company is continuously upgrading so as to provide a healthy and enjoyable work environment, and offering initiatives for both professional and personal development, Microsoft Cyprus – following the example of other Microsoft subsidiaries – has introduced the ‘new World of Work’, an innovative working model aiming to boost employee morale and increase productivity. “Through this model,” Hatzipavlou explains, “we recognise the importance of flexible working and the opportunity to work from home. People are the owners of their own agendas and they arrange them according to their personal needs. If people wish to leave in order to pick up their children from school, or do their personal chores, they are free to do so any time they like, as long as they don’t have a prior engagement at the same time; this is arranged directly between themselves and their colleagues and partners.” Creating a flexible working culture, she says, is about trust and personal accountability. “We trust that our people will pursue their commitments to the company

even away from the office and the immediate supervision of their managers. It is also about empowering staff and giving them the freedom to work whenever and wherever they want, by measuring their effectiveness and performance in terms of output, rather than the presence in the office.” Hatzipavlou, along with her fellow Directors and department managers, never fail to recognize the significance of their people in the company’s success. “Our people are the driving force of our success and we continuously invest in their skills, knowledge and development. They are committed to continuous learning and personal development, they invest in the success of others and they are willing to contribute to the local community through Microsoft’s volunteer programme, enabling them to engage in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities to help serve and support the needs of the people and communities in Cyprus.” In the HR Director’s own words, the passion and enthusiasm that Microsoft employees bring to work every day makes the difference. “Collaboration, building on the work of others, sharing their successes with others, living the Company’s values and working as one Team are elements that differentiate our employees and make Microsoft Cyprus a great place to work for, every day!”

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BOOK SHELF

BOOKS of the month 1

What next for business over the next 10 years

1.

THE INDUSTRIES OF THE FUTURE By Alec Ross (Simon & Schuster UK, 2016) R.R.P. £20.00 (£13.60 FROM AMAZON.CO.UK)

Following the Internet’s 20-year world-changing impact on business and the global community, Ross answers the question ‘What’s next?’. He highlights the best opportunities for progress and examines the specific fields that will most shape our economic future over the next ten years, including robotics, artificial intelligence, the commercialization of genomics, cybercrime and the impact of digital technology.

2

3

4

Five practices for ensuring that strategy is implemented

Learning from the last crisis to reduce future risks

Those coincidences are not as strange as we think

5

The key to having a lifetime of good days

2.

3.

THE END OF ALCHEMY: MONEY, BANKING AND THE FUTURE OF THE GLOBAL ECONOMY By Mervyn King (Little, Brown, 2016) R.R.P. £25.00 (£17.00 FROM AMAZON.CO.UK)

CHANCING IT: THE LAWS OF CHANCE - AND WHAT THEY MEAN FOR YOU %\ 5REHUW 0DWWKHZV 3URÀOH Books, 2016) R.R.P. £14.99 (£10.49 FROM AMAZON.CO.UK)

4.

5.

The authors identify business practices that create a gap between strategy and execution and reveal five practices for connecting strategy and execution used by highly successful enterprises such as Apple, Haier, IKEA, Lego, Qualcomm and Starbucks. Supported by in-depth profiles of companies that are known for making their strategy work, this book is a guide for reconnecting strategy to its execution.

Most accounts of the recent financial crisis focus on the symptoms rather than the underlying causes. Here, the former Governor of the Bank of England asks why almost every industrialised country found it difficult to overcome the stagnation that followed the crisis and argues that fundamental changes to the financial system are needed in order to reduce future risks.

Matthews explains everyday examples of chance by revealing their underlying laws and showing how to use those laws to predict coincidences, take better decisions and make sense of things as diverse as investment advice and medical diagnoses. By the end of the book, you’ll see that the laws of probability are far more powerful than you ever imagined.

Advances in behavioural sciences are giving us greater understanding of how our brains work and why we make the choices we do. Webb explains clearly how to apply this new knowledge to help us remain at our best under pressure, be resilient in the face of setbacks and sustain our energy over the course of the day, showing us all how to have a lifetime of good days.

STRATEGY THAT WORKS By Paul Leinwand and Cesare R. Mainardi (Harvard Business Review Press, 2016) R.R.P. £20.00 (£21.69 FROM AMAZON.CO.UK)

114 | GOLD | The Business Magazine of Cyprus

HOW TO HAVE A GOOD DAY: THINK BIGGER, FEEL BETTER AND TRANSFORM YOUR WORKING LIFE By Caroline Webb (Macmillan, 2016) R.R.P. £14.99 (£10.49 FROM AMAZON.CO.UK)

Lunc Lunch with ERATO KOZAKOU-MARCOULLIS

THE FORMER CYPRIOT AMBASSADOR AND FOREIGN MINISTER LOOKS BACK OVER HER CAREER, REVEALS HOW SHE IS DEVOTING MUCH OF HER TIME TO WRITING NO FEWER THAN THREE BOOKS, AND PONDERS ON THE FUTURE OF CYPRUS.

Gold

IF 116 | GOLD | The Business Magazine of Cyprus

By John Vickers

GIORNO TUTTO IL TICA N A , ROM lli karides St. a P ora sia o ic 13, Evag N , s o it Lykav

) ERIYAKI (2 SALMON T ) (2 WINE GLASS OF WATER L A R E IN M ) COFFEE (2 TOTAL

irst met Erato Kozakou Marcoullis at the Cyprus Embassy in Washington DC more than15 years ago. She had been posted there as the country’s first (and, so far, only) female Ambassador to the United States during the Clinton administration and George W. Bush had recently been installed as the 43rd US President. I mention to her that I remember seeing a photo of the Ambassador and the new President in her office. “Yes,” she says, “your memory is good but that photo was actually taken when Bush was still Governor of Texas. My first visit outside

€32.00 €10.00 €2.50 €0.00 €44.50

Washington was to Texas and Mr. Bush had the Cyprus flag flying on the governor’s office building all day. When we met again, he was in the White House.” My dining guest has chosen to eat at one of her favourite Nicosia restaurants, Tutto il Giorno Romantica. “I like this place because it’s quiet and convenient and it serves good food,” she explains, adding, “When I like something, I tend to stick to it!” She opts for the salmon teriyaki and a glass of white wine and I am happy to follow her recommendation, which proves to be an excellent one.

Given the comparatively low representation of women in the political and diplomatic life of Cyprus, I am curious to know how Erato Kozakou-Marcoullis started out on what must have been a rather lonely path. She tells me how she and her husband George studied law and medicine respectively in Athens over the entire duration of the military Junta’s rule from 1967-1974. She has fond memories of Melina Mercouri and a month spent at the apartment the Greek actress shared with her husband Jules Dassin. When George’s training took him to Finland, Erato followed and their son was born there. In 1978 they moved to New York and she eventually started looking for a job with the UN. In 1980 she heard that the Permanent Mission of Cyprus had a three-month vacancy for an attaché whose services were needed for the UN General Assembly and she duly applied, thinking that it would give her some excellent experience until, hopefully, she received a positive response from the UN itself. “Nicos Rolandis was Foreign Minister at the time and, on one of his visits, he interviewed a number of locally based candidates for the post and I got the job. I was so excited!” she recalls, and goes on, “I was given so many opportunities, including the chance to address the Plenary. I felt very proud to speak on behalf of my country and, after the initial three months had elapsed, I was granted an extension and I stayed there as local staff for almost two years before taking

exams to obtain a permanent position.” By then, Erato Kozakou-Marcoullis was convinced that she could put her knowledge and abilities to good use for her country and she now recalls the ‘80s as a very exciting and busy time for Cyprus at the UN, with General Assembly and Security Council Resolutions, direct talks, proximity talks and numerous efforts to resolve the island’s division. It was in New York at this time that she finally met the woman she still describes as her role model: Stella Soulioti, who had been Cyprus’ first woman lawyer, the first woman to be a Cabinet minister, and the first and so far only woman to be Attorney-General. “Like her, I am from Limassol but I had never had the chance to meet her in Cyprus. We finally met in New York when she went there with President Kyprianou. I gained a lot from her as far as organisation and discipline were concerned. She had a fantastic archive on the Cyprus issue and I

remember her telling me that, although I, too, had a very rich library, I needed to put it all in order! She was always my role model and a very special person.” In 1996, Erato Kozakou-Marcoulllis was appointed Cyprus’ Ambassador to Sweden and, two years later, to the USA. I am not surprised by her answer to my request for her

to recount a memorable moment from her five-year term in Washington DC. “It has to be 9/11 of course,” she says, unhesitatingly. “It was something that I will never forget.” She relates how she was with former President George Vassiliou on September 11, 2001. “He was giving a talk that day and, at some point, we noticed that everyone around the table had become very anxious and agitated. He was eventually interrupted and we were informed of the first attack in New York. Everybody was in a state of shock. I called the embassy and my secretary couldn’t even speak. Then came the second tower and the Pentagon, etc. Suddenly we found out what terrorism meant and how it could affect all of us anywhere. It took months to get back to some kind of normal routine.” A more pleasant recollection is being included in a book entitled “And Then There Were Twelve: The Women of Embassy Row” by Professor Mary-Line Sephocle about the female am-

SUDDENLY, ON 9/11, WE FOUND OUT WHAT TERRORISM MEANT AND HOW IT COULD AFFECT ALL OF US ANYWHERE www.goldnews.com.cy | GOLD | 117

| LUNCH WITH GOLD |

bassadors in Washington whose number doubled while she was there. Having represented her country at the highest level, does the former Ambassador miss that life? “No,” she says, “and that’s partly because I like to give myself new challenges and objectives so I’m very contented.” In fact, the end of her term in Washington did not mean the end of her diplomatic career. On returning to Cyprus, she served on two separate occasions as Minister of Foreign Affairs as well as being appointed Minister of Communications & Works. But although she still keeps herself busy (she is a member of the Working Group on Property Issues, supporting the ongoing bicommunal talks, and a member of the Board of RCB Bank, not to mention numerous other obligations), Erato Kozakou Marcoullis finally has some time to devote to her own interests, one of which is writing. “I’m in the process of finalising a book of my poetry, which I’ve been writing for the past 40 years,” she tells me. “I’m in the process of putting the poems into thematic rather than chronological order right now. Then there’s a biography of my mother, set in the context of the Pontian Greeks of the former Soviet Union, who made up one of the wealthiest communities in the whole of the Black Sea region.” The former Ambassador’s mother was a Pontian Greek, born in Georgia and her first language was Russian. When the family moved to Greece in the 1930s she met Erato’s father. “She left me 150 handwritten pages in Russian, a real treasure,” she says, “and it’s been translated for me so what I’m trying to do is tell her story in that broader context. I feel that it’s something I owe to my mother.” As someone who clearly doesn’t do things by halves, she is simultaneously working on a third book, about Famagusta and all the different proposals that have been submitted since 1974. “I have never understood why Turkey treated Fama-

118 | GOLD | The Business Magazine of Cyprus

gusta the way it did,” she says wistfully. “Even a request to let experts in to take a look at the buildings and make an assessment of what is needed in the future has been refused.” So how does someone who has spent many years on the Cyprus Problem view the present situation? “I am a naturally optimistic person and I want to remain optimistic,” she says, noting that, “At this particular juncture we have two leaders who want to solve the problem and it seems that they have a common vision of a federation and we have to take advantage of this.” She considers the Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci “a good friend and a good man” and adds, jokingly, “He’s from Limassol after all!” He is, she believes, “a genuine Cypriot” and puts his support in his community down to the fact that “most of the Turkish Cypriots have realised that, it there is no solution

have very limited support from other member states, which take the attitude that it’s just about preparing to open the discussions and that it is wiser to engage with Turkey rather than appearing to be antagonistic. The Nordic countries in particular don’t understand our point of view at all.” We order coffees and the conversation moves on to broader internal issues. “We lack vision in this country,” says Erato, and she is not only referring to the Cyprus issue (“We don’t know what we want, even among ourselves”) but to the economy and business. “Twenty years ago we were talking about the concept of the ‘one-stopshop’ and we still haven’t done it yet. What does it take?” she asks, and she goes on to say that, through e-Government and other measures, Cyprus could be transformed into a very robust centre for business. “Estonia and the Baltic states were under communist rule 25 years ago and now they are flying,” she says. “We have not

TWENTY YEARS AGO WE WERE TALKING ABOUT THE CONCEPT OF THE ‘ONE-STOP-SHOP’ AND WE STILL HAVEN’T DONE IT YET to the problem, their identity as Cypriots will disappear. For them, this is the greatest threat.” On the other hand, she acknowledges that Mr Akinci’s views and those of the majority of the Turkish Cypriots are not enough to guarantee a solution. “The migrant crisis is such a sensitive issue, with millions of people suffering, that if the other points of the EU-Turkey agreement are put together (and I have my doubts about this), I think we will come under pressure to make concessions regarding the unfreezing of the blocked chapters for Turkey’s EU accession negotiations in order not to jeopardise the Cyprus talks. We

taken the right steps over the years and I really don’t know why. Is it due to a lack of courage? The power of the unions? I wish I knew.” And as we try to fathom how it is that Cyprus has failed to live up to its potential, we realise that such a task will probably take us until the restaurant starts serving dinner so we say our goodbyes, promising to repeat it more often than every 15 years. As we leave, I can’t help feeling that, while it may ultimately be literature’s gain, not making the most of Erato Kozakou-Marcoullis’ impressively extensive knowledge, experience and diplomatic skills is actually a loss to all Cypriots.

BUSINESS CLASS

How often do you travel, whether for business or pleasure?

I usually travel once or twice a month, mostly for business. I think 2015 was a record year in terms of travel, with 22 trips in total. The Action Global Communications network of agencies spans across 40 countries, so there really is a need to visit on-location as part of our ongoing support from the HQ in Cyprus.

What is the most exciting destination you have visited for work? And for pleasure?

A couple of destinations spring to mind. One would have to be Saudi Arabia, where I’ve NV[ [V RUV^ H KPɈLYLU[ J\S[\YL HUK ZLLU OV^ WLVWSL SP]L HUK KV I\ZPULZZ PU H JVTWSL[LS` KPɈLYLU[ ^H` from what we are used to here. The second one, for its diversity, is Dubai, an international destination that has established itself as a crossroads for the whole world. For pleasure, New Zealand tops the list. I am also the country’s honorary consul in Cyprus, and this year my MHTPS` HUK 0 OHK [OL JOHUJL [V ]PZP[ MVY [OL ]LY` ÄYZ[ [PTL 0[»Z YLUV^ULK MVY ZV THU` KPɈLYLU[ things, but the great outdoors took my breath away.

Chris Christodoulou

The Managing Director of Action Global Communications and Honorary Consul of New Zealand took 22 foreign trips last year. Here he tells Gold how Marrakech has impressed him, why he always returns to London and how the Far East still holds lds a fascination. Tell us about your best corporate travel experience.

What is the most impressive hotel you have ever stayed at and why?

Action represents the Financial Times The Royal Palm, Marrakech. commercially and in 2015 we were invited to I’ve never seen hotel rooms like Marrakech in Morocco for a sales conference. it anywhere any else in the world. North Africa is fascinating due to its cultural Absolutely amazing! Absolu diversity but, at the same time, it impressed me e ss. with its very professional approach to business. The whole experience was amazing. At times I felt that I was acting in a movie, having been What is your picked up from the airport in a limousine and favourite ite d e to oa d the conference conferenc ce driven an exotic resort. And air airline, and why? held right next to an incredible was h Itt de depends which way I’m p pool – a surreal experience. travelling. Going west it ttrav would wou w uld have to be British How does Cyprus C prus Cypru prrus Airways. A Air rway Going east, I compare to this location? on? would say Etihad. Cyprus is home, and always will be. It’s

If you could travel anywhere tomorrow, where would you go? I have never been to the Far East, so it would be a battle between Japan and Thailand. Both are unique in their own way, yet equally fascinating for me.

What is y your favourite favourit inte international t rnatio destination and why?

I will always have a soft spot for London. It’s such a vibrant city and a destination I have to visit at least once a year. I feel that I know it so well, yet every time I visit I discover something new and fresh.

my roots, my family, the base for work. It may never have the same dynamism as London but many cities would struggle in that match-up. I can see positive changes – business has picked up post-crisis and the cultural scene has also blossomed in recent years. We now have a greater choice and so many more options, and with three children, that can only be a good thing!

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WHAT’S

ON

THINGS

to do GREEK MUSIC It’s a great month for music fans, including performances by some of the biggest names around, including Giorgos Dalaras, Despina Vandi and Stelios Rokkos.

ILIAS VRETTOS ReBuke Lounge, Larnacaa

THURSDAY, Y, MARCH 24, 4, 10.00PM STELIOS ROKKOS Lush Beach Bar, Larnaca

RIALTO THEATRE, LIMASSOL THURSDAY, MARCH 31, 8.30PM

THURSDAY, MARCH 24, 10.00PM

VASILIS KARRAS Pavilion, Nicosia Thursday, 1EVGL TQ

MILTOS PASCHALIDIS DownTown Live, Nicosia Friday, March 25, 10.00pm Ravens Music Hall, Limassol Saturday, March 26, 10.00pm ELENI DIMOU Vinylio Wine Etc, Limassol

GIORGOS DALARAS assilis Michaelides’ poem July 9th, set to music by Cypriot composer Michalis Christodoulides in the form of an oratorio, featuring Giorgos Dalaras, Kyros Patsalides and Costas Hadjichristodoulou with the Diastasis Vocal Ensemble.

V

RITA A AN ANTONOPOULOU TON

KYKLOS KY MO MOUSIKI, LIM LIMASSOL SU SUNDAY, M 20 MARCH, 9. 9.00PM.

120 120 0 | GO GOL G GOLD OLD | The O Th T he Business he Bus Bu usi sin sin iiness ness sss Magazine Magazine Ma Mag ga gaz ga azzine ine in ne o off C Cyprus

THURSDAY, MARCH 31, 9.00PM FRIDAY, APRIL 1, 9.00PM

PANOS NOS MOUZOURAKIS UZOURAKI KS

Sto Perama, erama, Limassol ssol Thursday, sday, March h 24, 10.30pm 0pm hroniki Diachroniki Musicc Stage, Nicosia osia y, Friday, March h 25, 10.00pm 0pm

MARIA ELENA M KYRIAKOU K

CAFÉ LA MODE, LIMASSOL: FRIDAY, D APRIL A AP R 1, 9.00PM CAFE L LA M MODE, NICOSIA NICOSIA: I WEDNESDAY, WEDNESD APRIL A AP RIL 6 6, 9.00PM

DESPINA VANDI OPA OPA CLUB, LIMASSOL THURSDAY, MARCH 31, 11.30PM

THEATRE DANCE 16th CYPRUS CONTEMPORARY DANCE PLATFORM he third and RIALTO final evening THEATRE, of new dance LIMASSOL SUNDAY, projects by established MARCH 20, and upcoming Cypri8.30PM ot choreographers.

T

CLASSICAL MUSIC MUSICA RICERCATA even pianists perform 20th century works by Messiaen, Berio, LachenTECHNOP TECHNOPOLIS OPOL OL OLIS LIS PAPHOS mann and the evening’s 20, MONDAY, MARCH 21, title work by Gyorgi 8.00PM Ligeti.

S

GALINA DIMOVA ulgarian pianist Galina Dimova performs works by Bach, Beethoven, Schumann, Rachmaninov, George Gershwin and more. Technopolis 20, Paphos Thursday, March 31, 8.00pm

Shakespeare live from the National Theatre, London, a local production with English subtitles, plus a rare chance to see two versions of the same play, one in Greek and one in Russian.

TWO FOR THE SEESAW T reek-language version of William Gibson’s play, starring Kristie Papaadopoulou and Asteris Peltekis. Loukia & Michael Zampelas Art MuseL uum, Nicosia SSunday, March 20, Friday-Sunday March 25-27, 8.30pm

G

T

LEVON MOURADIAN THE SHOE FACTORY, NICOSIA WEDNESDAY, MARCH 30, 8.30PM

CASTING

T

he Cyprus Theatre Organisation’s production of Aleksandr Galin’s black comedy. In Greek with English &Turkish subtitles.

RIALTO THEATRE, LIMASSOL THOC NEW THEATRE, NICOSIA TUESDAY, MARCH 29, 8.30PM

RIALTO THEATRE, LIMASSOL TUESDAY, MARCH 22, 8.30PM

AS YOU LIKE IT ive broadcast of the Shakespeare comedy from the National Theatre, London, with Rosalie Craig as Rosalind.

L

ROCK MUSIC FREAK KITCHEN Swedish progressive rock band that has released eight studio albums since forming in 1992.

B

CELLO & PIANO he Pharos Arts Foundation presents award-winning cellist Levon Mouradian and internationally acclaimed pianist Hayk Melikyan in an all-Russian programme of works by Taneyev, Schnittke and Rachmaninov.

Live screening of the Sovremennik Theatre production from Moscow with Chulpan Khamatova and Kirill Safonov. In Russian with Greek subtitles Rialto Theatre, Limassol Wednesday, March 23, 7.00pm

FILM CONTEMPORARY SPANISH MOVIES echnopolis 20 in collaboration with the Instituto Cervantes and the Embassy of Spain presents a festival of Spanish films released in 2013. Technopolis 20, Paphos Living Is Easy with Eyes Closed (David Trueba) Wednesday, March 23, 7.30pm Stockholm (Rodrigo Sorogoyen) Wednesday, March 30, 7.30pm Black Diamonds (Miguel Alcantud) Wednesday, April 13, 7.30pm

T

SAVINO LIVE, LARNACA SATURDAY, APRIL 2, 10.00PM

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A DAY IN THE LIFE

Stavros Pantzaris

“I normally get up at 6.30am so as to spend some time before breakfast with my youngest son who’s 13 (his brother is doing his military service and my daughter is working with a law firm in London). I’m usually at the office by 8.30am at the latest, though it has been known for me to wake up at 4.00am if I have a deadline to keep. My daily routine starts with perhaps an hour going through e-mails, after which it’s a long series of meetings, which normally lasts the whole day. I also travel to Limassol for meetings at least once a week. My inclination towards maths made me realise that I wanted to study something related to the subject, which is why I decided to go for Engineering at

The Country Managing Partner of EY Cyprus talks about the challenges of the new role he took up nine months ago, his passion for photography, and how he likes to relax with… Peter Sellers and Jennifer Lopez.

the University of Surrey. I was never pushed in a particular direction and I have adopted the same attitude towards my own children, though I have to admit that my wife is a lawyer and our daughter has followed her into the profession. My Engineering degree has helped me throughout my career and provided me with the right attitude and mindset towards all kinds of problem solving. After graduation I opted to become a Chartered Accountant. Last year, after 21 years with the firm, I assumed the demanding and challenging role of Country Leader. I have to say that I enjoy being stretched to my limits; to me, this is the best thing about the job. Of course, the hours can be very long and it’s very difficult to

‘switch off’ away from the office but this is modern life. We live in very challenging times so we have to be able to adjust to the new norm and take decisions/ action quickly. I normally leave the office around 7.30-8.00pm so as to spend some time with my family and to do a bit of exercise. I manage to run around 5km four times a week on the treadmill. In general, weekends mean spending quality time with the family. I like to watch sport on TV. I’m a Liverpool fan and in Cyprus I’m an APOEL season ticket holder. My children love sports and tennis in particular and watching them play in various tournaments relaxes me. A very good book that I read recently is “The Inner Game of Tennis” by W. Timothy Gallwey, which deals with the mental obstacles that can affect maximum performance on court. It’s considered a classic (it was first published in 1974) and although it’s about tennis, the lessons extend to all walks of life. I have always enjoyed classic comedies like “The Party” with Peter Sellers and dramas/thrillers like the 2006 movie “Blood Diamond”. I also like music and I see a lot of music videos while on the treadmill. My favourite foreign singer of all is Jennifer

Lopez! From the Greek music world I like Antonis Remos. One of my hobbies is A classic of its photography kind and I enjoy taking short photographic trips in Cyprus and abroad. South Africa and Zambia are among the I love this old best places I’ve comedy ever been, for the landscape, the wildlife and the culture. My personal ambition in life is to see My favourite singer my children happy and successful, whatever they decide to do. From a professional point of view, I would like to see this firm grow and achieve the ambitious targets that we have set locally. I may be leading EY Cyprus but I don’t consider that I have now ‘reached the top’. We always have tokeep aiming for the top but we can never reach it. That’s what keeps us going.”

WE LIVE IN VERY CHALLENGING TIMES

SO WE HAVE TO BE ABLE TO ADJUST TO THE NEW NORM AND TAKE DECISIONS/ACTIONS QUICKLY 122 | GOLD | The Business Magazine of Cyprus

19th Annual Global CEO Survey .H\ ğQGLQJV LQ &\SUXV

Redefining business success How CEOs lead in a changing world Visit our website to download the report ZZZ SZFFHRVXUYH\ FRP F\

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