Obama wants to strip funding from veterans" medical choice program - Senate backs bill to address veterans" suicide

President Obama’s 2016 budget blueprint proposes rolling back a program that gives veterans the right to receive faster care outside of the long waitlists at the troubled Veterans Affairs medical system.

Obama signed the Veterans Choice Program into law in August following months of partisan wrangling on Capitol Hill that finally led to a compromise measure to overhaul the agency.

The Veterans Choice Program was a key GOP provision in the deal.

Authored by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., the measure provides “choice” cards to veterans that can be used to obtain medical care at designated facilities outside of the VA system.

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Obama wants to strip funding from veterans" medical choice program - Senate backs bill to address veterans" suicide

Sterling Investment to seek funding via rights issue

BY STEVEN JACKSON Business reporter jacksons@jamaicaobserver.com

Wednesday, January 28, 2015    

Sterling Investment Limited (SIL) plans to hold a rights issue by March in order to raise capital.

It would represent the first public round of funding since the company went public last October.

“We haven’t determined the size yet, but it would be a non-renounceable rights issue of ordinary shares,” stated an SIL manager knowledgeable on the matter but who opted to speak on condition of anonymity because of company protocol.

Sterling listed by introduction its 4.01 million ordinary shares on the Jamaica Stock Exchange (JSE) at a price of $134 per share.

“It was a listing by introduction… and now we are doing the rights issue to raise capital for the first time since the public offer,” added the manager.

SIL previously raised cash in December 2012 with a private placement. It offered investors a $10-million minimum to buy-in the private placement.

SIL indicated that its investments in 2014 “outpaced the performance of local Jamaican dollar investment products”, yielding returns of 11.56 per cent up to September 2014. Other high-profile funds have yielded from 5.35 per cent to 8.2 per cent over the same period, it added in a release.

Sterling Asset Management Ltd (SAM) holds over $20 billion in assets under management. SAM manages SIL funds for a fee of some two per cent. The investment strategy primarily focuses on overseas financial instruments, primarily fixed-income securities that are traded on global capital markets.

Turning to opportunities in 2015, SAM chief executive Charles Ross noted that a ‘strong rally’ in US treasuries suggests that US interest rates may rise later than initially expected and that European economic weakness would persist, while commodity price declines could dampen inflation expectations.

“Attractively priced bonds provide good investment opportunities, and European Central Bank Quantitative Easing should bolster the market,” Ross commented while speaking at the company’s annual customer appreciation function last Thursday. “Our focus will be on bonds that offer the best risk-adjusted returns in the global marketplace.”

CAPTION

CHARLES ROSS, chief executive of Sterling Asset Management

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Sterling Investment to seek funding via rights issue

Sterling Investment to seek funding via rights issue

BY STEVEN JACKSON Business reporter jacksons@jamaicaobserver.com

Wednesday, January 28, 2015    

Sterling Investment Limited (SIL) plans to hold a rights issue by March in order to raise capital.

It would represent the first public round of funding since the company went public last October.

“We haven’t determined the size yet, but it would be a non-renounceable rights issue of ordinary shares,” stated an SIL manager knowledgeable on the matter but who opted to speak on condition of anonymity because of company protocol.

Sterling listed by introduction its 4.01 million ordinary shares on the Jamaica Stock Exchange (JSE) at a price of $134 per share.

“It was a listing by introduction… and now we are doing the rights issue to raise capital for the first time since the public offer,” added the manager.

SIL previously raised cash in December 2012 with a private placement. It offered investors a $10-million minimum to buy-in the private placement.

SIL indicated that its investments in 2014 “outpaced the performance of local Jamaican dollar investment products”, yielding returns of 11.56 per cent up to September 2014. Other high-profile funds have yielded from 5.35 per cent to 8.2 per cent over the same period, it added in a release.

Sterling Asset Management Ltd (SAM) holds over $20 billion in assets under management. SAM manages SIL funds for a fee of some two per cent. The investment strategy primarily focuses on overseas financial instruments, primarily fixed-income securities that are traded on global capital markets.

Turning to opportunities in 2015, SAM chief executive Charles Ross noted that a ‘strong rally’ in US treasuries suggests that US interest rates may rise later than initially expected and that European economic weakness would persist, while commodity price declines could dampen inflation expectations.

“Attractively priced bonds provide good investment opportunities, and European Central Bank Quantitative Easing should bolster the market,” Ross commented while speaking at the company’s annual customer appreciation function last Thursday. “Our focus will be on bonds that offer the best risk-adjusted returns in the global marketplace.”

CAPTION

CHARLES ROSS, chief executive of Sterling Asset Management

View the original article here

Sterling Investment to seek funding via rights issue

Caribbean Export funding tech initiative “Start Up Jamaica”

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, Monday September 15, 2014, CMC – The Barbados-based Caribbean Export Development Agency (Caribbean Export) says it will provide financial support towards the launch of “Start Up Jamaica (SUJ),” an initiative through which technology companies can access seed capital, training and mentorship in return for equity in the company.

Caribbean Export said that the funds would be provided under the Regional Private Sector Development Programme (RPSDP) that is being funded by the European Union under the 10th European Development Fund (EDF), in efforts to accelerate development in youth entrepreneurship, with a focus on the technology sector.

SUJ, a project of the Ministry of Science, Technology, Energy and Mining, aims to support talented and technologically savvy young people to tap into the growing global market for technological innovations, and further serves the social demand for more employment opportunities not only in Jamaica but also in the wider Caribbean.

“This initiative has the potential to be a regional game changer in the transitional development of the regions savvy young people who are bursting with ideas, into our future entrepreneurial successes,” said Caribbean Export’s Executive Director, Pamela Coke-Hamilton.

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Caribbean Export said the support offered through the programme is intended to grow the ideas of innovators and entrepreneurs from the region into marketable products and services, while also increasing employment and generating foreign exchange.

The strategy aims to transform Caribbean people from being “technology consumers” to “technology creators” over the next few years, and to position Jamaica as the hub for entrepreneurship and innovation in the Caribbean, it added.

‘Start Up Jamaica’ is modelled on the very successful ‘Start Up Chile’ programme, which at pilot stage in 2010 attracted 22 start-up companies from across 14 countries, and now is on track to meet its target of 1,000 participants by the end of this year.

Start Up Jamaica, which will be the first of its kind in the region, 192 applications, from across the region.

Earlier this month SUJ hosted a five day boot camp for tech entrepreneurs and Caribbean Export said 10 teams will be selected to work with SUJ in partnership with Oasis500 in October 2014.

Oasis500 is the pioneering early stage and seed investment company from the Middle East, which supports entrepreneurs with funding and training. They will also be delivering the training for the Boot Camp.

“Through SUJ, participating start-up companies are expected to be better prepared to pitch to equity investors and receive investments to achieve business growth,” Caribbean Exports aid, adding that other partners in the venture include the World Bank, LIME and Jamaica National Building Society Foundation.

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Caribbean Export funding tech initiative “Start Up Jamaica”

Local queen pleads for funding for badminton

Sport

BY RUDDY ALLEN Friday, January 03, 2014

Local badminton queen Geordine Henry says a lack of funding is preventing the sport from progressing at the international level.Speaking to the Jamaica Observer earlier this week, Henry said that the Jamaica Badminton Association (JBA) needs funding for players to get the necessary training and exposure to compete at the highest level.“The only thing that is not allowing players to compete at the highest level is the lack of experience and the quality training, which we can only get abroad,” she said.“We can only achieve that with the funding… the majority of us seniors just play for fun because it is money that makes the world go round and we can’t be playing full-time without funds… the JBA needs sponsorships,” she reiterated.The 25-year-old Henry also said that the newlyformed executive board, led by president Robert Richards, has put together a marketing team to provide some assistance in seeking sponsorship for the association.“So far, what I see Mr Richards doing is good; he has a marketing team and that is a start. He also came up with a strategy that the badminton fraternity would enter as many 5K marathons as possible in order for us to be seen and maybe sponsors can come on board,” she said.Henry further said that there are well-dedicated and hard-working players and with training and the requisite sponsorship they can make it to the Olympics.“We have some exceptional juniors coming up and also some well-seasoned seniors who are hard-working and dedicated to the sport, so with the necessary equipment and sponsorship, every Olympics a Jamaican or Jamaicans should be in it,” Henry said.HENRY… the only one thing that is not allowing the JBA to compete at the highest level is the lack of experience and the quality training

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Local queen pleads for funding for badminton