Credit Union League enters remittance market

The Jamaica Cooperative Credit Union League, through its subsidiary, Centralised Strategic Services, will be going after the remittance market with its mobile payment solution, CONEC, which has signed an agreement with MoneyGram to provide remittance services.
Heston Hutton, Managing Director of Centralised Strategic Services, announcement on Wednesday that, with the company having received a remittance licence, it will be “going for remittance… aggressively.”

Explaining the advantage to customers of using the new electronic service, he said, “instead of them having to jump on a bus, to drive to the town to go sign up or receive remittance, they can pick it up from their phone in their backyard.”

The aim, Mr Hutton said, was to have consumers receive remittances via its CONEC mobile payment solution by the end of March next year.
He was speaking at a ceremony at which it was announced that Paymaster will be a point of  sales agent for CONEC.

View the original article here

Credit Union League enters remittance market

Credit Union League enters remittance market

The Jamaica Cooperative Credit Union League, through its subsidiary, Centralised Strategic Services, will be going after the remittance market with its mobile payment solution, CONEC, which has signed an agreement with MoneyGram to provide remittance services.
Heston Hutton, Managing Director of Centralised Strategic Services, announcement on Wednesday that, with the company having received a remittance licence, it will be “going for remittance… aggressively.”

Explaining the advantage to customers of using the new electronic service, he said, “instead of them having to jump on a bus, to drive to the town to go sign up or receive remittance, they can pick it up from their phone in their backyard.”

The aim, Mr Hutton said, was to have consumers receive remittances via its CONEC mobile payment solution by the end of March next year.
He was speaking at a ceremony at which it was announced that Paymaster will be a point of  sales agent for CONEC.

View the original article here

Credit Union League enters remittance market

Deep Jahi enters another competition - Former "Kings and Queens" winner tries JCDC stage

Sadeke Brooks, Staff Reporter

Deep Jahi

Despite being the crowned king during the Magnum Kings and Queens of Dancehall competition a couple years ago, recording artiste Deep Jahi says he aims to promote Jamaica with his entry in this year’s Festival Song competition.

Deep Jahi, given name Rushane Sanderson, has entered the Festival Song competition with a song titled I Love Ja.

He explained that the decision came after the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC) approached his manager, Serani, to do production work for the competition. He said he was then consulted to participate in the competition and he decided to do it.

“I was kinda hesitant at first, but given the fact that the JCDC is a competition… it goes across the board. It will be on TV and radio… it is good promotion and known to Jamaica at large. It will be beneficial to my career. I decided to do a song to help promote Jamaica and the beauty of Jamaica and help make JCDC more mainstream,” he told THE STAR.

The other contestants in the competition are Pehtrol, Bono G, Sanj and CG Smart, Kahni, Clearance, Oliver Smoothe, Rasta Keekee and Rojjah.

Although he was the winner of Magnum Kings and Queens of Dancehall in 2012, Deep Jahi says it is quite different from the Festival Song competition.

When he entered the Magnum Kings and Queens of Dancehall, Deep Jahi said the main aim was to win the million dollar prize. This competition, he says, is a different experience.

“This one (Festival Song) is not about money. I don’t even know the prize I would get if I am the overall winner. I don’t see this as a competition, I see it as something to promote Jamaica,” he said.

The Festival Song finals will take place on July 26, and not many persons were made aware that Deep Jahi is a contestant prior to this. However, he says he is already bracing for possible negative feedback.

“In the music, there is always negative feedback. Even to this day you have persons who can’t put a face to my music and you have some who ask why I don’t put out any songs and I have been recording,” he said.

“Me just sing good music and the good nuh necessarily come up to the forefront. Any opportunity as it relates to good music, that’s what I am going to do.”

Deep Jahi stressed that although he has entered the competition, his music career is still very much active. The music video for Harsh Reality was scheduled to be premiered on CVM TV’s On Stage last Saturday and he also plans to do music videos for Conversation and Family Over All Things in coming weeks.

sadeke.brooks@gleanerjm.com

View the original article here

Deep Jahi enters another competition - Former "Kings and Queens" winner tries JCDC stage

Deep Jahi enters another competition - Former "Kings and Queens" winner tries JCDC stage

Sadeke Brooks, Staff Reporter

Deep Jahi

Despite being the crowned king during the Magnum Kings and Queens of Dancehall competition a couple years ago, recording artiste Deep Jahi says he aims to promote Jamaica with his entry in this year’s Festival Song competition.

Deep Jahi, given name Rushane Sanderson, has entered the Festival Song competition with a song titled I Love Ja.

He explained that the decision came after the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC) approached his manager, Serani, to do production work for the competition. He said he was then consulted to participate in the competition and he decided to do it.

“I was kinda hesitant at first, but given the fact that the JCDC is a competition… it goes across the board. It will be on TV and radio… it is good promotion and known to Jamaica at large. It will be beneficial to my career. I decided to do a song to help promote Jamaica and the beauty of Jamaica and help make JCDC more mainstream,” he told THE STAR.

The other contestants in the competition are Pehtrol, Bono G, Sanj and CG Smart, Kahni, Clearance, Oliver Smoothe, Rasta Keekee and Rojjah.

Although he was the winner of Magnum Kings and Queens of Dancehall in 2012, Deep Jahi says it is quite different from the Festival Song competition.

When he entered the Magnum Kings and Queens of Dancehall, Deep Jahi said the main aim was to win the million dollar prize. This competition, he says, is a different experience.

“This one (Festival Song) is not about money. I don’t even know the prize I would get if I am the overall winner. I don’t see this as a competition, I see it as something to promote Jamaica,” he said.

The Festival Song finals will take place on July 26, and not many persons were made aware that Deep Jahi is a contestant prior to this. However, he says he is already bracing for possible negative feedback.

“In the music, there is always negative feedback. Even to this day you have persons who can’t put a face to my music and you have some who ask why I don’t put out any songs and I have been recording,” he said.

“Me just sing good music and the good nuh necessarily come up to the forefront. Any opportunity as it relates to good music, that’s what I am going to do.”

Deep Jahi stressed that although he has entered the competition, his music career is still very much active. The music video for Harsh Reality was scheduled to be premiered on CVM TV’s On Stage last Saturday and he also plans to do music videos for Conversation and Family Over All Things in coming weeks.

sadeke.brooks@gleanerjm.com

View the original article here

Deep Jahi enters another competition - Former "Kings and Queens" winner tries JCDC stage

Marley Coffee enters Krogers Safeway

MARLEY Coffee has secured a landmark deal to supply Kroger and Safeway — the largest retail stores in the US with roasted coffee products prompting another US$2.5-million ($255-million) round of investment.

Large US retail stores rarely carry roasted Jamaican coffee and it will result in the hiring of roughly a dozen staff. It comes amidst the company moving its headquarters from Beverly Hills, California to Denver Colorado — the hub of organic America.Marley Coffee operates a local and US division under the chairmanship of Rohan Marley — son of the reggae legend. Kroger and Safeway are both listed on the New York Stock Exchange and are described as the largest and second largest grocery chains in North America.Management declined to give figures or volumes under the deal but Bali Vaswani, CEO of Marley Coffee (Jamaica), indicated that the company has completely emptied its inventory until September to meet the initial order.“Our current supply is sold-out,” added Vaswani in an Observer interview. “These are two milestone deals. Buyers can walk into a Kroger and Safeway and pick up products made from Jamaica. This is what I feel proud about doing. So right beside Folgers and other brands they will see Marley Coffee.”Brent Toevs, chief executive officer of Jammin Java, which trades as Marley Coffee (USA), said that “its the single biggest order” for the company.“We are pretty excited about that,” he told the Business Observer in a phone interview.Marley Coffee sales grew 350 per cent year on year to US$1.8 million based on securing similar deals across the globe. Despite the growth in sales, Marley Coffee recorded a US$4-million loss for its year ending January 2013, or two-thirds more than a year earlier. The loss was due to staff benefits and coffee costs.The company, however, remains silent on a projected timeline for profitability. Toevs acknowledged the existence of a five-year plan but declined to indicate profit or loss projections under that plan.Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee is amongst the most expensive coffees in the world due to its aroma and lack of bitterness. It can retail for some US$50 a pound (454 grams). Retailers mostly opt for cheaper US$5 a pound commodity coffee despite the bitterness.In fact, most coffee from Jamaica enters the US as green beans or cheaper unroasted beans. Then respective US roasters or specialty cafés roast the beans themselves and resell for greater profit.Last week, Marley Coffee announced that it settled trade payables totalling US$2.5 million removing those obligations from its balance sheet in exchange for the issuance of shares of its common stock to Ironridge Consumer Co, a division of Ironridge Global IV, Ltd.It’s the third time this year that Ironridge has helped the company reduce its trade payables, according to a company release posted to the US Securities and Exchange. Toevs said that Ironridge has invested about “US$5 million in total but holds under 10 per cent of total shares”.“The company recently added Safeway and a few other regional grocery chains to its distribution network, which prompted the need for increased access to capital and inventory. The company now has distribution in place with the two largest grocery retail chains in America,” stated a company release.“Jammin Java’s management team has done one of the best jobs we have ever seen of executing a business plan, increasing sales and driving growth,” commented John Kirkland, managing director of Ironridge Global Partners. “The company has been able to double its stock price, while at the same time achieving nationwide penetration into virtually every major supermarket chain. As a purely passive investor, once we have written the cheque we must rely entirely on management to execute. Ironridge Global could not be more pleased with Rohan Marley and his team’s performance. Our bet on them has paid off very well for us, and it was an easy decision to double down.”The release indicated that Ironridge allowed the company to take advantage of growth opportunities.“Ironridge is absolutely the best investment partner we’ve ever dealt with,” explained Rohan Marley, founder and chairman of Marley Coffee, in the release. “With each round of investments, we have been able to grow the company in a way that the market and our shareholders have supported. We recently consolidated operations into Denver and we’re hiring personnel to help increase sales and support the company.”

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Marley Coffee enters Krogers Safeway