Few business communities swing from boom to bust as reliably as Silicon Valley, but detecting shifts in this opaque world can be challenging. To help illuminate the field, we've created the MOQIPEOPLE Innovation News Magazine, a new weekly indicator that tracks the overall health of the business environment for private technology companies mostly that based in the U.S. and rest of the world.
MOQIPEOPLE (moqipeople.com, also written 默契人MOQIPEOPLE INSIDER) is a technology-based digital media company based in Silicon Valley. The company is an innovation news magazine delivers its content through a website, with a focus on positive journalism. The company states that it strives to deliver positive journalism to readers, with the intention of making a meaningful difference in the world by highlighting what's happening in the Silicon Valley and rest of the world passion by providing our useful Info. and resource about latest technology, science, entrepreneurs, startups, fashion, education, health wellness, promoting personal growth, and inspiring social change.
Please follow us on MOQIPEOPLE INSIDER
IG: MQPEOPLE
For a MOQI Luxury Experience, how about a fine wine tasting dinner tour of the second-largest wine collection in Europe?
Deep in the caverns of Coburg Palace’s cellar, rest a collection of about 60,000 bottles valued at over 21 million dollars. And showcase some of the most expensive bottles of wine in the world. A premium experience that will elevate your trip to Vienna.
The Palais Coburg Wine Archive encompasses a total of six wine cellars, each with unique characteristics, a special focus and an ideal climate for great, rate wines. The six cellars hold some 60.000 bottles from four centuries and offer an impressive combination of medieval architecture and atmospheric spaces for wine tastings and culinary presentations involving sophisticated wines.
Richard Branson’s Virgin travel brands already cover the air, railways, the world of luxury hotels, and even outer space—so it makes sense that the billionaire visionary is now heading for the seas. As announced earlier this year, Virgin Voyages will launch in March 2020 with the introduction of the Scarlet Lady, an 18-and-over ship that will sail between Miami and the Caribbean all year-round. (A second ship, the Mediterranean-based Valiant Lady, is scheduled to launch in 2021, followed by two more through 2023.) But before all the VIPs and entertainers board the Scarlet Lady for the first celebratory cruise, the ship had to undergo its initial sea trials—which it just passed with flying colors under the watchful eye of Branson himself.
Following the two sea trial phases, which took place between Marseille and Genoa, Branson boarded the ship with his family and some top Virgin Voyages executives for his first look at how things are coming along. As seen in a Branson-narrated video tour, the design is in line with the signature Virgin style fans love about the aircrafts and hotels, while adapting them for the seas. It’s also got plenty of nods to Virgin brand history—and its irreverent, independent spirit. “The stereotype of a cruise ship is not particularly something I want to go on,” he notes in the video, “so we thought if we could create the kind of cruise ship that ourselves and our friends would go on, then we’d go on it—and that, I think, is what the wonderful team at Virgin have done. They’ve created magic.”
As Branson further reveals, the name the Scarlet Lady is an homage to one of Virgin Atlantic’s first planes, and the ship’s on-board The Manor nightclub and entertainment space (designed by noted firm Roman and Williams) takes its name from one of Virgin Records’ first studios, at which The Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney and more recorded. Of the 1,330 cabins and 78 RockStar suites, 86 percent will have balconies and 93 percent ocean views. Designated as “adult by design” (so, 18-and-over only), the ship will have lots of fun dining options, including some new-to-the-cruise-world spots like a contemporary restaurant serving brunch with shows by the resident drag performer, a food hall with stalls and food carts, a Korean grill, and a part-school, part-restaurant Test Kitchen.
Of course, there are also numerous drinking and entertainment venues (think karaoke bars and a vinyl room with personal listening booths), world-class fitness and spa offerings, unlimited free WiFi, and much more—including the first-ever tattoo parlor at sea. Sustainability initiatives will be implemented throughout, as will engaging and game-changing on-board and shore programming. “Virgin likes to surprise,” notes Branson. “We’ve gone into quite a few sectors in my lifetime, and I think surprised people and changed those sectors—and I’m absolutely convinced we can do that in the cruise—or what we call Voyages—business.” Bookings, including for the special March 2020 Sneak-a-Peak cruises and the April 2020 inaugural sailing, are available here.
Please read more info via:
https://www.virginvoyages.com
World’s First Luxury Space Hotel Called Aurora Station Hopes To Launch in 2022 And The Von Braun Station’s Space Hotel With Artificial Gravity Will Be In Orbit By 2025 With Cruise Ship-Style Amenities
Californian company The Gateway Foundation has released plans for the Von Braun Station, a cruise ship-style hotel floating among the stars.
1. The Gateway Foundation is building a space hotel, based on the concepts of a Nazi and American rocket scientist Wernher von Braun.
2. The space station is expected to be operational by 2025.
3. The company plans to assemble it in orbit, using robots and drones.
The aim is to get the hotel off the ground by 2025 and make it fully operational for travel by 2027. Terrestrial construction on the Gateway Foundation’s project is set to begin October 1, 2019.
Modern luxury interiors help ground the space, which will have artificial gravity.
The Von Braun station is just one such space-based tourism option in development. Also planning to propel people into space are Virgin Galactic, Elon Musk’s SpaceX company and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin aerospace company, not to mention the International Space Station — which recently announced the possibility of commercial collaborations.
The Von Braun Station is also not the only space hotel design in the works. Earlier in 2019, US-based space tech startup Orion Span released plans for a luxury space hotel called Aurora Station, which it hopes to launch in 2022.
Aurora Station aims to sleep just 12, whereas the Von Braun Station will sleep 352 people with a maximum capacity of 450.
The Von Braun Space Station is the world’s first space hotel.
Among the stars
According to digitally rendered video and images released by the Gateway Foundation, the station resembles a rotating wheel, comprised of 24 modules, orbiting the Earth.
But how would the physics of the hotel work?
Tim Alatorre, a senior design architect at the Gateway Foundation, says the rotating wheel would create a simulated gravity.
“The station rotates, pushing the contents of the station out to the perimeter of the station, much in the way that you can spin a bucket of water — the water pushes out into the bucket and stays in place,” he tells CNN Travel.
“Eventually, going to space will just be another option people will pick for their vacation, just like going on a cruise, or going to Disney World.” Mr Alatorre added. But before you start counting your coffers to ensure a cabin on the station, there have been questions raised about the logistics of the project and its ambitious launch date.
Near the center of the station there’s no artificial gravity, Alatorre says, but as you move down the outside of the station, the feeling of gravity increases.
The Gateway Foundation’s hotel design is named for Wernher von Braun, an aerospace engineer who pioneered rocket technology, first in Germany and later in the United States.
SpaceX Starship and The Von Braun Rotating Space Station
This could be viewed as a controversial move. While living in Germany, von Braun was involved in the Nazi rocket development program. He later worked on the Apollo space program in the United States.
The name was voted for by the Gateway Foundation members because the station is based on designs von Braun sketched out some 60 years ago.
“The basic physics of the station hasn’t changed since the 1950s, the way the station rotates,” says Alatorre.
The main difference is the modern materials — new metal alloys, carbon composites, 3D printing, and launchpad technology that, says Alatorre, make a space hotel more probable in our current era.
Space tourism is an expensive game — Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic plans to launch passengers into sub-orbital space at the hefty sum of $250,000 per person, per trip.
Meanwhile, Aurora Station says a stay in its space hotel will cost an eye-watering $9.5 million.
Price-wise, in the early phases the Von Braun hotel will also be catering to those with dollars to spend, but the foundation is hoping to make it equivalent to “a trip on a cruise or a trip to Disneyland.”
Warm aesthetic
So what will Von Braun Station be like inside?
Alatorre says the hotel’s aesthetic was a direct response to the Stanley Kubrick movie “2001: A Space Odyssey” — just maybe not in the way you might think.
“It was almost a blueprint of what not to do,” says Alatorre. “I think the goal of Stanley Kubrick was to highlight the divide between technology and humanity and so, purposefully, he made the stations and the ships very sterile and clean and alien.”
Instead, Alatorre wanted to bring a slice of the earth to space, to avoid a laboratory, overly Star Trek-esque feel.
Onboard, there’ll be warm suites with carpets and stylish monochrome touches and chic bars that wouldn’t look out of place back on Earth, just with star-gazing views.
There will also be plenty of fun recreational activities for guests to enjoy, says Alatorre.
“We’re going to have a number of different recreation activities and games that’ll highlight the fact that you’re able to do things that you can’t do on Earth,” he says. “Because of the weightlessness and the reduced gravity, you’ll be able to jump higher, be able to lift things, be able to run in ways that you can’t on Earth.”
A sport that’s intriguingly called “supersize basketball” is one such concept, according to Alatorre.
‘Starship culture’
If it all sounds like a space-age gimmick, Alatorre is emphatic that the concept will have widespread, enduring appeal.
“People will want to go and experience this just because it’s a cool new thing and they’ve never done it before,” he admits.
“But our goal — the overall goal of the Gateway Foundation — is to create a starship culture where people are going to space, and living in space, and working in space and they want to be in space. And we believe that there’s a demand for that.”
That means having space be a place where thousands of people are “living, working and thriving.”
The Gateway Foundation also intends the space station to be used for research purposes, as well as asteroid mining.
Alatorre says the Von Braun hotel wants to be “the first in orbit,” but that even if the Gateway Foundation doesn’t launch by 2025, the company knows one of its competitors will.
Space tourism is the future, he says, and the Gateway Foundation believes that the future’s imminent.
Sustainability in space
Given the design is still exactly that — just a design — there are some questions that remain unanswered about how the space hotel will function in actuality.
For example, it’s been suggested that living in low gravity for an extended period of time is damaging to the human body. While vacationers will probably only visit the hotel for a few weeks, staff will plan to be there for six months to a year.
They’ll adjust schedules as needed, says Alatorre, but right now, the foundation thinks this proposition would be “perfectly safe.”
There’s also the sustainability question, as people look for more eco-friendly vacations, surely going to space is not the solution?
Alatorre points to SpaceX’s Raptor engine, which uses methane instead of petroleum-based fuel, suggesting “eco-friendly” rocket designs are the future.
He says recycling will be woven into the fabric of the space hotel.
“On the station itself, it’s going to be about the most environmentally friendly vacation you’ll ever have. Because we’re recycling everything,” says Alatorre.
“There’s no amount of water or trash or waste that is going to be discarded, everything will be recycled, reused, stored, converted to some other form.”
From moonshots to Mars
The US government recently vowed to revisit our lonesome natural satellite within five years, but the real action is arguably elsewhere as a trio of companies bankrolled by billionaires – Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic, Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin and Elon Musk’s SpaceX – compete to conquer the final frontier.
The obstacles are formidable; the progress is remarkable. Whether or not we witness commercial space travel take off in 2019 (in both senses of the phrase), the expert analysis of Stanford University’s Professor G. Scott Hubbard – a former director of NASA’s Ames Research Center – suggests that we stand on the threshold of a new era.
After the moonshot, the US wants to send astronauts to Mars. And then? Because we won’t stop there. Michael Collins, who piloted the Apollo 11 Command Module around the Moon as Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin bounded across its sterile surface, expressed this ever so well: ‘It’s human nature to stretch, to go, to see, to understand,’ he said. ‘Exploration is not a choice, really; it’s an imperative.’
Or as another Buzz might say: to infinity and beyond.
The Grand Tour redux
So will my children ever enjoy a Grand Tour of the Solar System, as envisaged in NASA’s charming Visions of the Future posters? (Do check them out.) Will they stand in the shadow of Mars’ Olympus Mons, which rears to more than twice the height of Everest? Will they gape at the raging auroras of Jupiter, hundreds of times more powerful than our own Northern Lights? Will they sail the methane lakes of Titan, Saturn’s most enigmatic moon?
Alas, no. If it comes to pass, such a journey would be the preserve of a privileged few for many generations; just as the original Grand Tour of Europe was restricted to the aristocracy, so a round-trip of our galactic neighbors would remain beyond the reach of all but a coterie of plutocrats for the foreseeable future.
There’s a fair chance, however, that my children’s generation will see the curvature of the Earth from a sub-orbital flight, and some of them might, just might, leave a footprint on the Moon (thanks to Wallace and Gromit, Harvey already spends a lot of time speculating about this possibility).
However, the company remain committed to their vision, viewing the Von Braun Station as the first step in mankind’s journey to colonize, and seemingly commodify, space, with the company planning to build further stations (including a hotel that can accommodate up to 3000 people per month), before colonizing Mars and mining the asteroid belt for raw materials.
Find out more about the project on the company’s official website https://gatewayspaceport.com
Sonia Cheng, CEO of the Rosewood Hotel Group Manages Her Empire. She Is Overseeing a Portfolio of 67 Properties Globally and a brood of four young children at home, Cheng appears to be juggling it all.
The Harvard-educated entrepreneur Sonia Cheng comes from a $20 billion Hong Kong family with roots in jewelry and real estate and worked in investment banking and private equity before taking the helm of her family’s Rosewood brand – Rosewood Hotel Group in 2011, becoming its CEO at age 30. She spoke to CNBC about revamping hotels for a new generation — from the Carlyle in New York to the Crillon in Paris.
No detail is too small for Sonia Cheng to consider when it comes to personalizing the properties in her Rosewood Hotel Group. That goes especially for the new Rosewood Hong Kong, which the 38-year-old CEO opened earlier this year in her hometown on the waterfront property that her grandfather first developed more than four decades ago. “I know exactly what is lacking in the hotel market here and what Hong Kong people would want to see,” says Cheng, sitting in the hotel’s commodious bridal suite inspired by her own search for wedding venues. “Every Rosewood property has an individuality where it celebrates the local culture.”
What’s the biggest challenge of running a company?
Hiring and developing the right people. It’s a people business. So, managing different personalities, different backgrounds, different skill sets, being able to identify the strengths and weaknesses: It’s crucial for the business.
What do you look for in an employee?
Passion, humility and being collaborative.
What’s the best business advice you were given?
My father and my grandfather gave me lots of advice. My father always emphasized that people will make your business successful. My grandfather was a very humble man even though he was so successful. That was also how he built a really great loyal team that helped build his empire.
What’s the first thing you do when you get into the office?
As soon as I arrive, it’s straight to the emails.
Your biggest pet peeve at work?
Texting on the phone or when people get distracted by the phone when we’re in a meeting.
Your preferred form of communication?
I’ve been using WhatsApp a lot. It’s quick and easy messaging. But email still works because it gives you time to think before responding. Sometimes with WhatsApp, because you know people are waiting for your reply, you can be too hasty. In the end, an in-person meeting is best to encourage transparency and communication. That’s what holds a culture together.
What do you do every day to keep yourself sane?
I try to fit in a workout. I run on a treadmill at home or take kickboxing and circuit training classes near our office. It’s quite efficient, like 45 minutes.
What would you tell your younger self?
When I was younger, I was even more impatient. I tended to want to move things very quickly, sometimes too quickly. It’s important to take the time to really think through strategies and decisions. That would be something I would advise my younger self.
What’s something that you would want to improve in your work life?
Work-life balance. I’m always trying to find a good balancing point. It’s never easy. I think trying to find time for myself is important.
Do you believe in to-do lists?
I do. My list is so long. It’s never-ending.
How do you cultivate female leadership in the company?
We don’t actually make an effort to make sure that we hire women. We hire for the skill set rather than gender. For some reason, most of our senior leadership is female. It’s just natural.
Read more info via:
https://www.cnbc.com/sonia-cheng-the-rosewood-ceo-on-her-family-and-her-hong-kong-hotel
https://www.rosewoodhotels.com/en/default
https://www.rosewoodhotels.com/en/hong-kong
A Startup Wellness Brand Called ‘Ladder’ by Celebrities.
LeBron James, Cindy Crawford, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Lindsey Vonn have teamed up to launch a health and wellness VEGAN-FRIENDLY company pitch direct-to-consumer energy powders and other supplements – “We believe the time has come to shift the mindset of the wellness industry.” – Wellness Industry 💪
Los Angeles Lakers’ LeBron James teamed up with actor and bodybuilder Arnold Schwarzenegger, Olympian ski racer Lindsey Vonn, and model and entrepreneur Cindy Crawford to launch a wellness brand called Ladder.
The business was born out of a desire for safe and regulated wellness items. Its products – two protein powders, an energy powder, and a greens powder – are certified by testing organization NSF International, that guarantees safe, high-quality ingredients. Three out of Ladder’s four products are vegan: the greens powder, the energy powder, and one of the protein powders.
The latter product, called Plant Protein, is made with pea and pumpkin protein. It offers all of the essential amino acids the body needs, the website says, helping users shed fat, build muscle, and improve immunity.
Claire Chen, a founder of 默契MOQI Brand – a startup digital magazine of 默契人moqipeople.com is thrilled and honored to speak at the upcoming 2019 Horasis Global Meeting on 6-9 April, to talk about “Enriching Diversity in the workplace” with discussions set to revolve under the theme of “Catalyzing the Benefits of Globalization” to ‘Inspiring our Future’ in the City of Cascais; the Horasis Global Meeting is led by Chairman Frank-Jürgen Richter, co-hosted by the Portuguese Government and the City of Cascais.
The 2019 4th Horasis Global Meeting gathers over 800 senior world leaders from business, government, academia, and civil society will gather in the enchanting fishing town of Cascais, one of Europe’s legendary seaside resorts of Cascais located just 30 minutes from Lisbon Airport.
Startups to join power brokers at 4th #Horasis Global Meeting in Cascais, Portugal, 6-9 April. At the four-day conference, startups will meet with world leaders to discuss key issues in economic inequality and the day’s persisting social dilemmas, politicians and business leaders will meet to debate and advance policies that can give rise to a more fair form of globalization, capable of nurturing and sustaining economic development globally to the benefit of all segments of society.
Over the course of the four-day of conference event, talks and discussions will be held on topics such as sustainable development, populism, climate change, cryptocurrencies, the next financial crisis, immersive technologies, diversity in the workplace, the fourth industrial revolution, the post-truth era, halting sexual harassment, modelling sustainable migration, blockchain, AI and many more.
The event will gather a long list of the world’s most prominent leaders. Among the political leaders to attend will be António Costa, Prime Minister of Portugal, Armen Sarkissian, President of Armenia, Hage G. Geingob, President of Namibia, Ilir Meta, President of Albania, Juliane Bogner-Strauß, Federal Minister for Women, Families and Youth, Austria, Guillermo Dietrich, Argentina’s Minister of Transport, and Sahar Nasr, Egypt’s Minister of Investment and International Cooperation. Joining them will be numerous CEOs and representatives of the world’s most respected corporations, including José Manuel Barroso, Chairman of Goldman Sachs International, Galia Benartzi, Co-Founder of Bancor, Deborah Wince-Smith, President, United States Council on Competitiveness, and many others.
Horasis – a global visions community dedicated to inspiring our future – provides a unique platform for companies to globalize their organizations. In addition to the Horasis Global Meeting, Horasis hosts summits with a focus on China, India, and South East Asia. Horasis have been called a ‘World Economic Forum for emerging markets’ (New York Times)
Via horasis.org
The Global Visions Community
Thurgauerstrasse 40, CH-8050 Zurich, Switzerland
Burgstrasse 8, CH-8280 Kreuzlingen
Switzerland
It can be challenging to find the right investor to get your company off the ground when you are a startup.
Further complicating the process is finding an investor who is interested in your industry, vertical, geography AND round size. This post will provide tips to help you track down the proper investors for your first round of financing.
1. Pitchbook
Pitchbook has been a holy grail for us. We are able to sort investors by over 100 different preferences and fund characteristics such as AUM, dry powder (money left for investment), preferred investment amount, preferred investment stage, etc.
All of this information can then be exported directly to Salesforce or downloaded to an excel file for easy reference and personal filtering. The user interface can be tricky to navigate at times, but the major downside is the cost of the platform: >$5,000 per year.
If you are connected to an analyst or individual with access to Pitchbook, you might save some $$$. And what if you don’t? Here are some free ones!
2. Signal
Signal.VC is a powerful investor search engine. The value to using Signal VC is that they use your LinkedIn network to determine the strength of your connection to specific investors.
The home page by default shows the highest strength connection into specific VC firms. This page also lists the min, “sweet spot” and max check size the firms typically write.
Lastly, this home page shows VC geography preference and other companies they have invested in. All of this is shown without any sorting.
The biggest asset here is the filtering and advanced filter functions.
The basic filter can break down by firm or individual name, investment range, areas of interest and whether they lead rounds.
Using the advanced filter option, position, investment location, past investments, education, and work experience can be narrowed in too.
Finally, a third filtering option would be to select the round you are raising (seed, A, B, C+) within the industry search to ensure you will be finding the right VCs for your company.
VC lists can be populated, and intros can be requested here as well. I have found Signal.VC to be the most user-friendly platform on this list. The only downside is that as a free resource, some data may be limited.
3. VCWiz
VCwiz specifically focuses its efforts on helping startups find investors for their seed round financings.
Here you are able to filter investors by stage, sector, industries, cities, and related startups. Another nice feature is the ability to see each partner in the firm and their most recent news updates, urls, investments, and descriptions.
Similar to social media, you are able to track or follow specific partners so you are alerted when they strike a deal, write a new blog post, leave the firm etc. This is a great automation instrument for tracking investors and their new investments.
Additionally, you can search investors by topics, which has a broader focus than filtering for investor industries.
The last feature is the ability to request introductions and have the platform track and organize all fundraising efforts. This simple to navigate resource offers value to those funding or planning to fund a seed round in the near future.
4. Crunchbase
CB is a well known resource where you are able to gather more information on the investors you are interested in. Here you will be able to search for VCs or investors based on a variety of criteria options.
In its free version CB limits the filtering options to two parameters. While there are dozens of parameter options, the limit of two can be frustrating if you are searching for an investor who focuses on specific verticals, locations, and check sizes.
The premium version, Crunchbase Pro, allows for unlimited filtering parameters at a cost of $29 per month. CB Pro also includes a variety of other in-depth resources such as charts, analysis tools, advanced search options, custom alerts, and excel integration. CB Pro is one of the more reasonably priced resources on the market currently when you consider the astronomical price of platforms like Pitchbook and Capital IQ.
5. AngelList
This resource is more valuable on a personal rather than company level. Here you can sort and filter for specific VC partners and angel investors.
Again, you are able to sort by role, location, market, companies, number of investments etc. What’s most useful about Angel.co is that you are able to look through your primary connections, secondary connections, and everyone else. This is rather similar to LinkedIn but serves as a smaller and more focused investor portal.
These five websites are truly valuable when searching for investors. If you are connected to a VC firm or angel network already, have conversations with your contacts first to determine who they may know who a good fit might be. The resources above can be great research and outreach tools, but your personal connections will always be number one.
Last tip, this chatbot will find you seed funding 🤖💸
3,150 investors in one place:https://www.producthunt.com/posts/fundraising-bot
Happy fundraising!
Originally published at venturebeat.com on September 16, 2018.
Over 800 World Leaders Around The World To Gather At The 2019 Horasis Global Meeting For A Vision Of Development On Sustainable Globalization
This April 6th-9th marks the 4th Horasis Global Meeting in Cascais, Portugal.
The fourth global meeting Horasis Global Meeting 2019 will bring together over 800 world high-level business and government leaders, including those from the U.S., will gather in the enchanting city, offering an ideal platform to explore and foster cooperation, impact investing, and sustainable growth across the world. To engage in discussions that revolve under the theme: “Catalysing the Benefits of Globalization.” And with the aim of fostering innovation and entrepreneurship.
After its creation in 2016, Horasis launched by Dr. Frank-Jürgen Richter, Horasis was founded on the principle that tackling the world’s most pressing economic, social, and political issues necessitates productive dialogue and collective collaboration. The Horasis Global Meeting has become one of the world’s foremost discussion forums, thanks to its dedication in advancing collaborative solutions for sustainable growth.
Horasis: The Global Visions Community is an independent international organization dedicated to inspiring our future. Horasis is a visions community – together with our members we explore, define, and implement trajectories of sustainable growth.
Horasis hosts annual meetings to advance solutions to the most critical challenges facing corporations today. Among the participants are the Chief Executive Officers of the world’s most respected corporations as well as key business leaders from emerging markets. Also participating are renowned thought leaders and relevant public figures including heads of government and ministers.
Horasis is using its unrivalled history of partnership with corporations from emerging markets to create a powerful platform for cooperation between emerging and developed markets. From the first meeting in 2005, annual gatherings have been held around the globe. The flagship events are the Horasis Global Meeting as well as regional summits focusing on China, India and South East Asia.
This year’s discussions will include sustainable development, populism, climate change, cryptocurrencies, the fourth industrial revolution, diversity in the workplace, and blockchain, among others.
The 2019 Horasis Global Meeting conference event will gather a long list of the world’s most prominent leaders. Among the political leaders to attend will be the Prime Minister of Portugal, António Costa, the President of Armenia, Armen Sarkissian, and the heads of state from Albania and Namibia. Joining them will be numerous CEOs and representatives from the world’s highest earning corporations, including José Manuel Barroso, Chairman of Goldman Sachs International, Galia Benartzi, Co-Founder of Bancor, and Deborah Wince-Smith, President, United States Council on Competitiveness.
Additional speakers include José Manuel Barroso, Chairman of Goldman Sachs International, Galia Benartzi, Co-Founder of Bancor, Deborah Wince-Smith, President, United States Council on Competitiveness, and others.
Bloomberg Interview of Frank-Jürgen Richter, Chairman, Horasis
Frank-Jürgen Richter, chairman at Horasis, previews the upcoming Horasis Global Meeting that will bring together 600 CEOs and discusses French President Emmanuel Macron’s visit with U.S. President Donald Trump, and the future of trade. He speaks with Bloomberg’s Mark Barton on “Bloomberg Markets.” (Source: Bloomberg, 25.04.2018)
“Horasis was founded on the principle that tackling the world’s most pressing economic, social, and political issues necessitates productive dialogue and collective collaboration,” said Horasis Chairman Mr. Richter.
The 2019 Horasis Global Meeting is co-hosted by the Portuguese Government and the City of Cascais. The event will be held at the seaside resort of Cascais.
Global gains, local losses? Frank-Jurgen Richter, chairman of Horasis RT — Worlds Apart
https://www.rt.com/shows/worlds-apart-oksana-boyko/452902-economics-justice-globalization-trump/?fbclid=IwAR28xzraFS1NmSvRz6CB2xFsH9fVmWteP5hZoc2IkbVLyzwcH3YvgmbylLM
Heads of State and World Leaders to Convene at Horasis Global Meeting 2019 to Explore How Best to Catalyse The Benefits Of Globalization – Colombia Focus
Taiwan Is Growing Cocoa?
Tree to Bar Chocolate All-In-One on Formosa Island
• Cacao Plantations in Taiwan
• Taiwan Has A Lot of Farming Talent
• Tea-flavored Chocolate Stuns Judges in the Asia-Pacific Region
• Taiwan Winning Nine Gold, 30 Silver and 29 Bronze Medals
• Taiwan “double ferment” method that is unique in the world, fermenting the cocoa beans twice to make “Taiwan No. 9” chocolate, which won a Gold Medal for its strong rosé champagne flavor with red wine vinegar and berry notes
• Won a Gold Medal in the Asia-Pacific Region – The winning tea-flavored chocolate bar Taiwan No. 1 contains 62 percent cocoa grown in Pingtung County, with its Tie Guan Yin Tea-flavored dark chocolate bars. It carries notes of dried tropical fruits such as a slight guava flavor
• Won a Silver Medal in the Asia-Pacific Region – The winning tea-flavored Charcoal Oolong Tea 62% chocolate bar is the favorite of FIH Regent Group Chairman Steven Pan, charms the palate with ripe fruit notes and a smoky flavor
• Tree to Bar Chocolate All-In-One on Formosa Island
• Taiwan cocoa trees are young, at an average of just ten years. Beans from younger trees Do Not Contain Enough Sugar, which is reflected in the acidity of the resulting cocoa powder
• Taiwan cocoa beans has made a virtue of necessity by adjusting the fermentation and roasting process to bring out the local flavor
A Beautiful Formosa Island of Cocoa Beans, Chocolate, Chocolate Lovers
We are not in Central or South America, where cocoa originally came from, but in Southern Taiwan’s Pingtung County, an emerging production area on the global confectionery map.
Cocoa trees, which thrive in hot, humid weather in shady spots with little wind, mainly grow in the region spanning about 20 degrees north and south of the Equator. In Taiwan, the Mt. Dawu mountain range, with its clear water, and the Wanluan and Neipu areas in Pingtung County offer good conditions for cocoa cultivation.
The International Chocolate Awards (ICA) are for chocolatiers what the Academy Awards are for the film industry. In last year’s competition, several Taiwanese chocolate brands, including Fu Wan Chocolate and Le Ruban Chocolat, shined with great results.
In September 2018, the ICA held its Asia-Pacific competition for the first time as an independent event in Asia, picking Taiwan as host. This year, more than 700 products from some 100 chocolate companies from 16 countries in the Asia-Pacific region were entered. Taiwan’s chocolatiers came away with even better results than last year, winning nine gold, 30 silver and 29 bronze medals.
“Why did the ICA pick Taiwan as its first host in Asia? Martin Christy, judging director of the ICA, explains that most crucial for the decision was that Taiwan boasts cocoa production, chocolate-making facilities, and a market with purchasing power, all in one place.”
A look at the world map shows that the major cocoa production areas are in Africa and Latin America, whereas chocolate production and consumption takes place in countries located at higher latitudes.
Christy remarks that a place like Taiwan that can produce cocoa but also possesses quite mature chocolate-making technology is hard to find. Not hiding his surprise, he recounts a visit to a cocoa plantation in Pingtung, where he saw cocoa beans being dried in the sun in the front of the farm, while sorting, roasting and grinding was done in the back.
“Here is probably the production area with the shortest processing mileage in the whole world,” Christy says.”
On top of that, Taiwan has a large consumer market. The Taiwanese are very open to different culinary cultures and savor the good things in life. It is very rare that a place provides all conditions from production to technology and consumption at the same time.
A complete gourmet environment requires cultivation and production capability, chocolate-making skills and the sensory skills to taste product on a professional level, which requires the devotion of human resources and efforts in each area. Taiwan’s craftspeople and artisans have been shining in various contests in the past. But this time, Taiwan provided the stage for high-quality confectionery, displaying its soft power.
Tea-flavored Chocolate Stuns Judges
Tea-flavored chocolate products from Taiwan did particularly well this year, becoming a hit with jurors.
Monica Meschini, a member of the European Permanent Jury, who is both a chocolate and a tea taster, notes, “This is the first time that I’ve tasted such great chocolate, such good tea.” Meschini fell in love with the great flavors of the tea series.
Fu Wan Chocolate CEO Warren Hsu (Photo by Chientong Wang)
Last year, Fu Wan Chocolate won a gold medal with its Tie Guan Yin Tea-flavored dark chocolate bars. Fu Wan Chocolate CEO Warren Hsu says he selected suitable tea flavors by taking a sip of tea and then taking a bite of chocolate. As a result, he found that partially or fully fermented teas with a stronger body and fuller flavor such as Tie Guan Yin and charcoal-roasted Oolong teas and Ruby (also known as Red Jade) black tea go particularly well with cocoa.
The gold medal-winning tea-flavored chocolate bar Taiwan No. 1 contains 62 percent cocoa grown in Pingtung County, married with Tie Guan Yin tea from the Muzha region in Taipei. It carries notes of dried tropical fruits such as a slight guava flavor.
As the chocolate slowly melts in the mouth, a subtle orchid flavor evolves in the finish. This wealth of changes in texture and flavor from the beginning to the end fascinates both the Taiwanese as habitual tea drinkers and foreigners who appreciate Eastern culture.
The Taiwan Charcoal Oolong Tea 62% chocolate bar, which won a silver medal and is the favorite of FIH Regent Group Chairman Steven Pan, charms the palate with ripe fruit notes and a smoky flavor.
Pan sings the praises of this chocolate bar, noting that it convinces with natural flower and fruit flavors, while its aftertaste carries a note of roasted charcoal. Pan calls it a “great taste that is unique in the whole world.”
Le Ruban Chocolat, a patisserie in Taipei, won a gold medal in another category with its white chocolate roasted oolong tea truffles, which deftly pair the creamy flavor of white chocolate with Oolong tea from Hualian on Taiwan’s east coast.
Fu Wan Chocolate: Tree to Bar, All in One
“Chocolate is a lingua franca in the whole world. And I want to find a path to the world stage,” remarks Hsu, who used to be a food consultant.”
A trip to Florence, Italy many years ago, where he tasted chocolates, developed a myriad of changing flavors in the mouth, inspiring Hsu to delve into researching the craft of chocolate making. He even flew to London with his wife Lin Wan-ting to gain a thorough understanding of chocolate flavors. They went on to become the first Taiwanese to obtain certificates in chocolate tasting from the International Institute of Chocolate and Cacao Tasting (IICT) in the British capital.
As a skilled chocolate taster, Hsu knows how to trigger chocolate eaters’ “taste memory”, which not only helps his products stand out in competitions but also enables them to stand the test of the market.
Hsu notes, “The chocolate-making skills must be flawless; that’s the basic requirement, and then you need to make people remember certain things about the taste.”
Most large chocolate manufacturers buy cocoa butter and cocoa powder directly and mix them based on their formulas. High-end chocolate makers emphasize their “bean to bar” processes, which means they buy cocoa beans and ferment, dry, roast and grind them themselves for their chocolate products. Fu Wan Chocolate controls the entire process from an even earlier stage, the cocoa bean production. Consequently, they call their all in one process “tree to bar.” Only a handful of Taiwanese chocolate brands use tree-to-bar chocolate making.
Hsu observes that Taiwanese farmers are good at taking care of their crops. As a result, the taste of Taiwanese cocoa is “particularly nice and energetic, like the Taiwanese people.” Noting that Taiwanese cocoa carries caramel or berry notes and a very balanced flavor, Hsu believes it is very suitable for seasoning or in combination with other foods.
However, in comparison with traditional cocoa producers in Africa and Central and Latin America, whose plantations are around 30 years old, Taiwanese cocoa trees are young, at an average of just ten years. Beans from younger trees do not contain enough sugar, which is reflected in the acidity of the resulting cocoa powder. Hsu, however, has made a virtue of necessity by adjusting the fermentation and roasting process to bring out the local flavor.
He invented a “double ferment” method that is unique in the world, fermenting the cocoa beans twice to make “Taiwan No. 9” chocolate, which won a gold medal for its strong rosé champagne flavor with red wine vinegar and berry notes.
“Taiwan has a lot of farming talent, and our next step will be to sign production contracts with [cocoa] farmers, while we concentrate on technology development,” explains Hsu.
Hsu has already been experimenting with a host of unusual chocolate flavors such as sakura shrimp from Donggang or chili pepper. He notes, somewhat tongue in cheek, that he will also try adding traditional Chinese medical herbs such as angelica sinensis (danggui) or ligusticum striatum (chuanxiong).
“Who knows? We might see [chocolates with] typical Taiwanese flavors such as pig intestines herbal soup or pig’s blood rice cakes!”
Le Ruban Chocolat: Using Floral Flavors to Interpret the Taste of Taiwan
“What language can we use to communicate with the whole world?” is the question Le Ruban Chocolat chef Hugo Lee, who looks back on 26 years of patisserie experience, has been asking himself all his professional life.
“French confectionery customarily combines hazelnut, raspberries and almonds. In the case of Japan, matcha and yuzu have already become a common language in the international food and beverage scene. But what about Taiwan? I want to use local food ingredients to try to make a chocolate that represents Taiwan, to catch up to the rest of the world,” remarks Lee.
Therefore, Lee uses floral flavors to interpret the taste of Taiwan. Last year, he chose chrysanthemums from Mt. Chike in Hualien County. This year, he tried longan flowers in combination with honey from Taitung County to make dark “longan flower” truffles.
Under the cocoa coating, the smooth and rich floral flavor of the ganache comes across as much more elegant than fresh and sweet longan fruit. So, it should not come as a surprise that the new creation fetched a gold medal.
Read and watch more via:
Bean-To-Bar and Tree-To-Bar Chocolates
https://www.fuwanshop.com
Exclusively Interview With Jim Breyer the Founder and CEO of Breyer Capital on LIVE Davos 2019 – The World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland
Sara: Welcome back to Squawk on the street live CNBC from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
Sara: Joining me now is Jim Breyer the founder and CEO of Breyer Capital, he was also an early investor and Facebook sat on the company board for a decade wears many hats talking about AI and much more.
Sara: Welcome Jim, nice to have you.
Jim: Sara, a pleasure…thank you!
Sara: I actually wanted to start up of David was talking with Viacom. Earlier they made a deal today to buy a streaming service TV you’re on the board of 21st Century Fox. How can all of these companies have their own streaming services? How many streaming services can we have?
Jim: We have dozens of streaming services but there will be dozens that are highly unprofitable there’s no doubt Netflix and Amazon were very much at the forefront of my 21st-century, Fox and Disney decided that grade scale matters and whether it’s Comcast the parent company that course reported nice numbers today like your parent company. Absolutely, 21st-century, fox and Disney there will be a couple other major studios and it’s not unlike the technology business.
Jim: My view is there are 3 to 5 very important worldwide media companies going forward. There are 3 to 5 technology companies that are going to be truly important. And it’s also great time to be a TV script writer, television producer, independent software AI developer building on the cloud services and some very optimistic about not only entrepreneurship and innovation, which is represented in today’s Viacom transaction but the opportunity to use a lot of the new technologies around cloud services to build wonderful businesses or nonprofit.
Sara: But you said you see the big players really owning the world is streaming so what does that mean is there’s room for new fox to start streaming services?
Jim: My view though is 10 years from now as an investor. The top 20 companies in the world by market cap will be in the US and China, 18 of the 20 will be technology oriented, but that also means AI first or technology first whether it’s Comcast or Disney or Facebook, Netflix, Google, Tencent others what really matters is building a great customer and enterprise software experiences and I do believe I am two years in to an AI 10 year investment strategy. I made six investments AI last year after receiving approximately 10,000 AI business plans and they run the game from cancer research to helping police forces do a better job to helping our troops all around the world have better information.
Sara: Who’s winning? The US or China on AI it’s running that race?
Jim: It’s never a soundbite but it makes the space race look tame in certain areas like facial recognition China is far ahead, in security solutions sold into governments, the US is catching up but we need to move faster, in areas like devices are of those Korea and Japan on the display devices but in semiconductors, the US has at least a five-year lead which is why I love Nvidia and Intel so many of the semiconductor stocks long-term. There will be slowdowns but the US far away has at least a five-year lead when it comes to semiconductor technologies.
Sara: How you played out in the public market as explosion of growth of AI?
Jim: I like it with some of the great software companies Salesforce, Microsoft many of the enterprise software companies that are selling into businesses and commercial accounts. I would buy Microsoft again and again and hold it and I do really like what would be the FAANG stocks, forgetting about valuations for a moment because I’d like to spend 2 to 3 years on public equity holdings. And then for private companies that I’m investing in many of them partnering with salesforce and Microsoft Oracle and others it’s a 7 to 10-year bet.
Jim: Facebook in 2005 Mark was 20 and I was there, and I helped navigate very treacherous public offering as we all remember that piece fundamental business is long-term are so important and Instagram may be even with all the accolades the most underrated application in the world.
Sara: Well, 2018 was another turbulent period for Facebook, loosing public trust, what does 2019 hold tight?
Jim: I’ve heard. I just hate to throw darts and pile on when a lot of people are, but Facebook and I sent this to Sheryl, and I said this to Sheryl and Mark and others we as Facebook should’ve been much more transparent much more out front and I hope, and I believe 2019.
Sara: So, do they get it?
Jim: I believe Mark really gets it, but I have a long-term buyer. I feel Mark Zuckerberg is a genius.
Sara: Does he deserve to be CEO and Chairman, or should they split that?
Jim: He deserves to be CEO and chairman and Sheryl Sandberg deserves president and they’re terrific and they’re a great team and this is one of the idiosyncrasies of the world we live in. I really believe in chairman and CEO for founders and young companies being in charge and whether it’s media companies whether it’s the best technology companies whether it was of the emerging AI companies where I’m spending a lot of time very often with Chairman and CEO.
Sara: Even when that company is going through the turmoil that Facebook is going for what’s the real execution and leadership questions?
Jim: There been terrible decisions in many cases and I really believe that it’s not a function of the chairman CEO being in the same position up but then again, it’s a venture capitalist my big successes and is a technology investor the biggest successes is open the chairman and CEO in the same spot.
Sara: Very quickly want to ask about China because you have been in China for more than a decade and very bullish on it cross-border deals and dried up completely can you invest in China right now during this trade war?
Jim: And the answer is yes, and I’ve been investing in China for 15 years. The team I’ve worked with investors series A Tencent and Baidu another we continue to make significant investments in China and will continue to do it. But the Internet and a lot of the opportunities in China and US diverged. But I’ll remain very active.
Sara: They don’t get approval to work together.
Jim: They do not get any approvals to work together cross-border investing for now is dead. But 3 to 5 years from now, I’m still very optimistic up. It’s really helpful for US companies in Chinese companies to build often together in different parts of the world. India will be the next show then for the market.
Sara: We can talk to you for hours about all these big topics. Thank you for sharing some of your time here.
Jim: Thank you.
Sara: Thank you so much for Jim Breyer, Breyer capital.
Originally published at www.iqmediacorp.com on Aired: January 23, 2019 at 10 am EST.
