CC COVER STORY
“We worked with the Maltese Government to craft Europe’s first comprehensive, business-friendly regulatory framework for digital assets.” – Gregory Klumov, CEO, Stasis
“The island is an ideal location to set up a new business thanks to the easy administrative procedures and favourable tax credits.” – Sebastian Ripard, CEO, Fetchit
FEBRUARY/MARCH 2019
The fact that so many high-quality projects are being attracted to the island also opens up exciting partnership opportunities. We hope that Malta will remain dedicated to comprehensive, business-friendly regulation as the local cryptocurrency community continues to develop.” Simultaneously, but operating in a completely different sphere within Malta’s business community, Sebastian Ripard is one of the original founders, and CEO, of Fetchit – an on-demand courier service that seeks to provide an environmentally justified solution to Malta’s mobility problems. “We pick-up and deliver food, documents and personal items across Malta seven days a week using e-bikes, scooters and a couple of cars,” he explains. “We want to avoid people making unnecessary journeys because there are already more than enough cars on the road. We’ll take care of your errand for you using two wheels instead of four. We only use our cars for bulk orders or items that wouldn’t fit on a bike.” Even though he is local, Mr Ripard sees a vast number of benefits to setting up a business in Malta. “Apart from sunshine and beaches, the island is an ideal location to set up a new business thanks to the easy administrative procedures and favourable tax credits,” he says. And Fetchit has already enjoyed some
serious success, but looks forward to further growth. “Even though we average over 200 jobs a day, it would be great to see this number increased to 500 by the end of 2019,” he continues. “To do so, we need to continue to grow with respect to scalability. Successful businesses come from great ideas and driven entrepreneurs who can source the skills they need to realise a dream as fast and efficiently as possible. With the right support from Government, these think-tanks and incubators can develop new ideas and solutions that break the mould. We have seen that the old ways don’t work, so we need to support those who think outside of the box – or in our case outside of the traffic jam!” Another company that sees Malta as an excellent base for business is BeeWits, a project management/task management software. Its service differs from other vendors out there because it is ‘templatebased’, thus allowing businesses to create a template that is suited to their needs. “Given the nature of business and SaaS (Software as a Service) today, customers are no longer particularly interested or bothered about the location of the company providing their services,” explains BeeWits Product Manager David Attard. “This gives companies like ours the ability to offer products and services worldwide, without being restricted to our own shores.
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