Doing Business in Morocco

Women in Morocco are already riding the wave of more than a decade of social advances that Americans who lived through the 1960s and ’70s would find familiar.  Girls in Morocco have more education and women can speak freely. There is less and less taboo in Moroccan society about women. And job accessibility. It’s far better. than in my mother’s age.

A leading entrepreneur says, “We have a new version of Islamic law for the family. I can go and ask for divorce if I am not satisfied with my couple. Can you think about that happening in any other Islamic country?”

“There is some financial independence for women. You are a woman, and you can go and get this job. And this is due to just the last ten years.  Doing Business in Morocco

Islamic Business Women in Morocco

Banking Worldwide: Monte Paschi

Monte Paschi needs the funds to help repay state aid and avert nationalization, and management was pushing for a January stock sale to get ahead of other Italian banks that might need to raise capital. The main shareholder, Fondazione Monte dei Paschi di Siena, vowed to oppose the offering unless it was delayed until after the first quarter to give the investor more time to repair its own finances. Monte Paschi Nationalized?

Monte Paschi Bank

The Francois Hollande Disaster

François Hollande seems like the European Left’s answer to George W. Bush, a disaster-prone buffoon who somehow makes it to the top and then wrecks his country. The comparison doesn’t quite work, however: Bush II, for all his flaws, had charm, some good fortune, and some political skill: he was re-elected, remember. Francois Hollande seems to have no redeeming qualities and rotten luck to boot. From its first day, when his plane was struck by lightning en route to Angela Merkel, his presidency has been plagued by disasters. He inspires nothing but contempt and mirth. The polls suggest ‘Monsieur Flanby’ — the nickname comes the popular French pudding — is the most unpopular French President of all time. He goes from gaffe to gaffe,  and we all laugh because it is funny.   The Francois Hollande Disaster

Hollande

Romanians and Bulgarians Can Work Anywhere in EU

Admitted to EU in 2007, citizens of Romania and Bulgaria can now work anywhere in the EU.  Certainly there will be strong financial incentives to do so.  A single Romanian or Bulgarian worker in Spain or Italy could increase his or her take home pay by 40-50% by moving to the UK.

For a worker with a spouse and two children the effect would be even stronger. At present they are already roughly three times better off in these countries than in their home countries. If they were to move North that would become a factor of four times in France, five in Germany or The Netherlands and six in the UK.  This is not a question of benefit tourism. It is the effect of working tax credits which, originally intended to lift the low paid out of poverty, are now available to all such workers from the EU.   Can EU Countries Afford the New Migration

Migration

 

Cassandra : The World in 2014

Social unrest in 2014
Protesting predictions

UKRAINE, Bulgaria, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Tunisia, Egypt and Turkey are all countries in which protests have erupted in the past twelve months. Even places traditionally more muted, such as Japan and Singapore, have seen demonstrators in the streets. Social inequalities and political discontent have spurred citizens to gather. Resistance can be co-ordinated with greater ease than ever in the age of the smartphone.
Social unrest in 2014

Risk of social unrest in 2014More about Cassandra

 

 

A Crowdfunding Site for Women Only?

Deborah Jackson, founder of Plum Alley, talks about this need:

Plum Alley Fund was not created to be another niche crowdfunding site. It arose from a problem we saw with women’s access to capital, and was a natural extension of Plum Alley’s mission to support and advance women economically.  For years I have been watching women as they go about raising money for their ideas and companies. It has not been easy and data shows there is huge disparity in women raising capital versus their male counterpart. Time and time again, I hear women say “if I just had enough money to build that prototype or buy the materials I need, I would go for it.” So many women, including some of our entrepreneurs featured on Plum Alley Commerce, have visions and ideas yet to be translated into creations. At the same time, I know so many women and men (husbands, fathers, boyfriends and brothers) who want to support women in reaching their dreams or doing good for the world.

For women creators, there are distinct advantages of using Plum Alley Fund over other crowdfunding platforms. Many projects will be created to solve problems and needs that are unique to women.   Crowdfunding for Women Only

Crowdfunding for Women

 

Has Wall Street Changed for Women?

In a survey of Wall Street professionals taken last summer, a majority said they believed their competitors engaged in illegal or unethical practices. Some 24% believe colleagues at their own firms had engaged in misconduct — the same percentage that said they would engage in insider trading themselves, if they could get away with it. The survey, by law firm Labaton Sucharow, also found that more than a third of younger respondents (those with 10 years or less experience) believe financial professionals need to behave unethically or illegally in order to be successful. Interestingly enough, the women surveyed felt that things are even worse. More women than men believe that colleagues as well as competitors are engaged in misconduct, and more believe their own firm’s top management would ignore wrongdoing from a top performer. Strikingly, women are almost twice as likely as men to fear retribution if they report wrongdoing.  The Wolves of Wall Street and Women

Wall Street Wolves

 

Twitter’s Value

Shares of the microblogging site Twitter tumbled $9.56, or 13%, to $63.75, taking a dent out of the big gains that accumulated since the San Francisco company’s initial public offering in early November. The drop wiped away about $5.2 billion in Twitter’s market capitalization, or a little less than twice that of J.C.Penney Co. Twitter shares still are up 145% since last month’s initial public offering. 

An analyst downgrade and worries about the stock’s valuation ignited Friday’s drop, burning many of the investors who had piled into the stock in recent days.

“The people who rode it up over the past few days all of a sudden got pretty nervous,” said Robert Pavlik, chief market strategist at Banyan Partners, an investment adviser in New York with $4.5 billion in assets under management. “People are always looking for a quick way to make a buck. Twitter was the bet, until it wasn’t and it ran out of steam.”   Twitter’s Decline

Twitter