business lounge
Proven Management A New Breed of Business by Andre Burnett
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n the wild, Asian Bull elephants are given their due space due to the obvious dangers represented by their tremendous size, strength and deadly tusks. Even the very social lions with their famed hunting prowess dare not tackle such an animal and they couldn’t be faulted. Yet Jim Corbett, a hunter and a naturalist, recorded an account in his memoirs of two Bengal Tigers doing battle with a huge tusker for hours one night before prevailing and feasting on their kill. This account of two clever, efficient, and deliberate animals prevailing over an adversary much larger and fabled than them came to mind when the Business Lounge spoke with Mr. Peter Bunting and Mr. Christopher Williams about the development of their new initiative, Proven Management Limited. “Tried, tested and Proven”, said a smiling Christopher Williams, CEO of Proven Management Limited, the Jamaican associate of the St. Lucian based Proven Investment Limited, “we’re very happy with how things have gone in the first three months, we did one of the largest private placements, public or private, by raising $US20 million which raised the capital for the company.” As explained by the two gentlemen, this capital that was raised will be managed by Proven Investment Limited using several strategies. With the business terrain changed drastically especially with the implementation of the Jamaican Debt Exchange (JDX) programme it is increasingly important for Jamaican businesses to become leaner, more efficient machines. Mr. Bunting, Chairman of Proven Management Limited emphasized this, “Proven has to be a cost leader by having the most efficient cost structure and we have to be very meticulous because you can’t predict your revenues but you can control your costs.” Mr. Williams added, “On the note of revenues, we have gotten the approval for our application to the Financial Services Commission (FSC) to become securities dealers.
Proven Management Limited is a relatively small operation which runs with a team of 6 highly qualified members who are all at Peter Bunting (left) and Christopher Williams (right) the top of their respective fields. “The competitive landscape is shifting from the companies with the biggest balance sheet and the edge will move from size to substance”, said Mr. Bunting, “the success or failure of Proven as a securities dealer will be dependent on our ability to be efficient to our target market resulting in the protection or enhancement of their wealth.” With the Bull elephant that the Jamaican business landscape has become, Peter Bunting and Christopher Williams are assuring us that Proven is the predator that has what it takes.
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The Proven bosses explained that they did not want to depend solely on the management of their capital to generate revenue so approval by the FSC is a boon for the company. “The securities dealer approval provides two critical benefits; it gives us the type of corporate governance and transparency infrastructure that is critical for making money in 2010,” said Mr. Williams, “and it allows us to diversify our revenue streams by trading in securities, offering portfolio management services and investment banking for corporate fundraising initiatives.”
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insights
Coming soon to the dark side: Google and Apple by Andre Burnett
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ilm critic Roger Ebert, in his review of the critically panned 2001film Antitrust, quipped that he was almost surprised that the villain didn’t wear a “Hi, I’m not Bill” nametag throughout the movie to protect themselves against libel. The “Bill” to which Mr. Ebert was referring to was none other than our friendly neighbourhood monopolist William Gates III, Chairman of Microsoft, the company at the center of the biggest antitrust suit in recent history. It is therefore ironic to the point of comedy that two of the “little guys” of the 90s and early 2000s, Apple and Google, is under consideration for their own violation of the Sherman Act. Classic… Antitrust law, known to the rest of the world as competition law, originated in the US in 1890 with the Sherman act to protect against the formations of cartels and unfair monopolies. Nowadays “trusts” have little or nothing to with antitrust litigation but the term is a remnant of the method by which corporations used to conceal their business arrangements. Monopolies are not illegal especially those created through merits, but companies that use their dominant position to unfairly limit competition are in violation of competition law. As was Microsoft, which was deemed to be in violation for using the prevalence of their operating systems on personal computers to strangle, among others, Apple, Lotus and Netscape. In the case of Netscape an internet browser, Microsoft bundled its own Internet Explorer with its Windows operating system effectively sending Netscape the way of the dinosaurs.
advanced than Apple’s with proceedings rumoured to begin as soon as two weeks from this publication. AdMob as one of the largest mobile advertising platforms in the world and its acquisition by Google, the largest search engine by far, is one that if finalized could see Google with its foot at the throat of its competitors.
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In the case of Netscape an internet browser, Microsoft bundled its own Internet Explorer with its Windows operating system effectively sending Netscape the way of the dinosaurs.
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Google’s informal slogan “Don’t be evil”, and Apple’s underdog image could lose some of their gloss and it only testifies to the accuracy of age old adage about the corrupting nature of power. In the 90’s the Microsoft case was basically open and shut but with these two possible cases the twists may be many. advertisment
According to multiple “sources” and leaks over the internet, the United States Federal Trade Commission is on the verge of suing Google for its US$750 million acquisition of mobile advertising startup, AdMob and Apple for its insistence that programmers write apps that are Apple specific rather than being able to run on multiple platforms such as Google’s Android. While Apple CEO, Steve Jobs, argues that programmers will be held back by the shackles of possibly inferior software during the development, analysts see the move as Apple shoring up support for the 16.4% of the Smartphone market that they control and the newly opened iPad market. This is the second time that Google would have been under threat from the FTC after its proposed buyout of competitor Yahoo was blocked under fear of a fearsome monopoly of the search engine business. Google’s case is a bit more yourmoney ezine
special
Flight Farewell: An Account of The Last Flight Aboard Air Jamaica
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ort Lauderdale, U.S.A. April 25, 2010 8:35 pm: Checking the boarding pass and wondering what the odds were that I’d be sandwiched in the queue between two people I knew reasonably well, my meandering calculations came to an abrupt end as my former schoolmate pointed out the significance of this being our last flight on our Lovebird. I looked up quizzically at the attendants smiling face as she checked the boarding pass and wondered if the lack of mirth observed was borne solely of my mind. Seat 20D, middle seat…too bad.
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The airline with its own signature drink, in-flight fashion shows, delectable cuisine suffered the ultimate mid-life crisis, with a loss of identity in the form of a takeover by Trinidad and Tobago’s Caribbean Airlines.
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April 1, 1968 was the birthday of Jamaica’s national carrier, Air Jamaica, a company saddled with its share of financial woes over the years but one that never lost its flair. The airline with its own signature drink, in-flight fashion shows, delectable cuisine suffered the ultimate mid-life crisis, with a loss of identity in the form of a takeover by Trinidad and Tobago’s Caribbean Airlines. The airline which had grown rapidly in the 1970’s was taken over completely by the Jamaican Government through a “buy back” agreement which concluded in 1984 Somewhere over the ocean, 9:45 pm: Window seat obtained fortuitously by the absence of its intended owner, I was interrupted from a reverie by a query from a flight attendant. “No, thanks” and what I hoped to be an empathic smile saw her moving to the next person with a slight nod and a smile. I couldn’t help following the movements of the attendants as I remembered how being a child travelling alone on Air Jamaica gave you the impression of still being at home until you disembarked on foreign soil. Probably reading too much into the situation, I peered at the faces around me wondering what if they were as reflective as I was.
The airline was returned to Government ownership a decade later after financial losses, saddling the Government with an operation on its last legs. Norman Manley Airport, 10:15pm: The pilot’s and the attendants’ farewells still resonating, I checked my BlackBerry absently while trying to pick my bags out. There had been a general reluctance to leave the seats as the plane’s taxi had ground to a halt. I found the bags and pondered the melodrama associated with calling it the “end of an era”. Heading to the exits, I left that piece of home on the runway and stepped out into the coastal breeze. May 1, 2010: Caribbean Airlines assumed control of Air Jamaica making it the largest in the Caribbean. Caribbean Airlines is now financially responsible for the airline and has provided US$50 million for the capitalization of the airlines. Air Jamaica flights will still ply a number of routes during the transition period which is expected to last between 3 and 6 months.
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1986 was the only year that Air Jamaica ever recorded a profit, that being $6.8 million on revenues of $115.4; the airline business is a tough one but that’s still a tough pill to swallow. Chances are, 1994’s privatization by the Gordon “Butch” Stewart led Jamaica Acquisition Group didn’t do a whole lot to galvanize the companies financials either. Complimentary beer, wine, champagne flights, red carpet checkins seemed slightly geared towards the holidaying traveler. yourmoney ezine