Welcome to DailyStraits.com newest “News In Brief” column in which we have digested all the news for you and written them in no more than five paragraphs.
MassiveMusic Joins Songtradr Alongside Song Zu and Big Sync Music
Sydney: Songtradr, the world’s largest B2B music licensing tech platform, recently announced the acquisition of MassiveMusic, the world’s largest creative music agency, renowned for helping global brands become more strategic and effective with the emotional power of music and sound.
As part of the Songtradr family, MassiveMusic joins forces with Song Zu and Big Sync Music to bring together a depth of creative skill and resources the industry has not seen before.
The partnership enables brands and creators to solve all their music needs in one place including bespoke, artist collaborations, music licensing, extensive data analytics and world class sonic branding.
RAMSSOL integrates Zoom into Employee Engagement app
Kuala Lumpur: RAMSSOL Group Berhad, an innovative, digital human capital management (HCM) solutions provider in Southeast Asia inks the region’s first in-app integration of its kind with Zoom, an industry-leading enterprise unified communications platform.
Following this go-live, users of “Feet’s” – RAMSSOL’s employee engagement platform, can create customised, scalable Zoom webinars or support remote interaction for hybrid events for up to 500 participants.
Bringing together on-site and virtual attendees without having to switch out of Feet’s mobile application or invest in additional subscription fees.
Zoom’s video engagement capabilities are offered as part of the app’s existing “Connect” built-in feature.
Australia new visa scheme for farm workers from ASEAN countries criticised
Canberra: The Australian government’s new visa scheme to help farmers have been met with onslaught by the Australian Workers’ Union.
This is because the union is of the opinion that the newly designed work visa would exacerbate the already rampant abuse and exploitation happening daily on Australian farms but this time to workers coming from the South East Asian region, instead.
On Wednesday, the Australian government announced a work visa for farmers which will be offered to residents from 10 Southeast Asian countries which includes Indonesia, Myanmar, Vietnam, Singapore, the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, Laos, Brunei and Cambodia to help Australian farmers harvest their crop.
The scheme comes to effect after a new free trade deal was signed with Britain exempting British workers from carrying out such work in the future which in the past had been a prerequisite requirement for the extension of their working holiday visa.
Investors turning to early-stage venture capital to avoid greenwashing fund managers
Sydney: Investors keen on investing in socially responsible assets are increasingly turning to early stage venture capital to avoid greenwashing by fund managers that fall short on their claims.
Stoic Venture Capital Partner Geoff Waring said more investors were turning to early-stage venture capital as a means to invest more responsibly in ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) assets.
“Investors want to know that their money is working towards socially-positive goals and not contributing to environmental or social harms,” Dr Waring said.
Early-stage venture capital funds typically invest in innovative, disruptive companies that are focused on solving critical environmental and social dilemmas such as addressing climate change or major health challenges such as cancer, cardiovascular disease or diabetes, he said.
Paul Ash elected as 88th President of CIMA
London: Paul Ash has been elected the 88th President of The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA), the world’s largest professional body of management accountants, and the 6th Chair of the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants (the Association), the most influential body of professional accountants in the world.
During his one-year term, Paul will concentrate his efforts on a digitally focused agenda, reimagining the services that accounting professionals provide and demonstrating the value that they bring in a fast-changing business world.
“I am proud to have been elected as CIMA President and serve as Chair of the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants,” Ash said on his appointment.
FedEx Extends Support To India
Hong Kong: FedEx has continued its support to India in combating the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic with the arrival of a third dedicated charter flight carrying medical supplies.
Over 250,000 face shields, 100,000 goggles, more than 80,000 coveralls and gowns and over 134,000 KN95 and N95 masks to Mumbai, India from Memphis, Tennessee were donated by Dignity Health, coordinated by TMC Navya, and will be distributed by Direct Relief to medical facilities in India through Tata Memorial Centre.
To date, FedEx has moved thousands of oxygen concentrators, and hundreds of tonnes of medical supplies and aid into the country.
In a separate matter, the company also said that it had awarded four nonprofits – Arbor Day Foundation, Gawad Kalinga Community Development Foundation, United Way Mumbai and Solar Sister with grants totalling US$200,000 from its Priority Earth Global Grant Program.
Together with eight other nonprofits from other regions, each will receive a US$50,000 grant in support of their efforts to improve the environment.
SMC Wins Frost & Sullivan Asia Pacific Best Practices Award
Petaling Jaya: Sunway Medical Centre (SMC), Sunway City was recently recognised for their innovative and purposeful use of smart hospital technology at the prestigious Frost & Sullivan Asia Pacific Best Practices Awards, where the tertiary hospital bagged the 2021 Malaysia Smart Hospital Company of the Year.
The Frost & Sullivan Excellence Awards recognise companies in a variety of regional and global markets for demonstrating outstanding achievement and superior performance in areas such as leadership, technological innovation, customer service, and strategic product development.
SMC CEO Bryan Lin credits this win to a collective effort by the team.
“Our hospital has always been committed to push forward digitalisation to continuously improve operational efficiency while enhancing patient experience,” he said.
Australia’s competitiveness drops to the lowest level in 25 years
Sydney: Australia has fallen four places to the 22nd spot in a global ranking of competitiveness in 64 nations making it the worst results in 25 years.
CEDA Chief Economist Jarrod Ball said the nation’s performance at the IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook 2021 showed that it could not afford to stand still anymore, despite the country’s early success in managing the COVID-19 pandemic and recent strong economic recovery.
“We are among the lowest-ranked of 64 nations on company agility, entrepreneurship, customer satisfaction and credibility of managers,” Ball said.
Overall, Switzerland rose to first place from third in 2020, while Sweden jumped from sixth to second and Denmark slipped one place to third.
Rounding out the top five, the Netherlands remained in fourth place, while Singapore dropped from first to the fifth spot, this year.
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