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Global independent marketing and communications agency FINN Partners has announced that Hyderus, a leading international, health-focused communications and policy firm, joins FINN.   With a network in Europe, Africa, Asia and Latin America, Hyderus provides expert guidance on a range of vital health policy issues to leading biopharma companies and non-governmental organizations. Co-founders Mark Chataway and Christopher Nial join FINN and take leadership positions in the Agency's Global Health Practice and will co-lead its EMEA Public Health Group. Both will report to Gil Bashe, Chair Global Health and Purpose. In their new roles, Chataway and Nial will work closely with Fern Lazar, managing partner and Global Health Practice lead, and Washington, DC-based Richard Hatzfeld, senior partner and Global Public Health lead. Both Chataway and Nial become EMEA Public Health leads in the Global Health Practice, as well as m...

[unable to retrieve full-text content] Corporate gifting in 2023 – meaningful, mindful, custom-made    Business Chief North America

Sherralynn Arnold became a school teacher after graduating from college — but eventually, she found she kept needing her sister to look after her child during the work day. "If I wasn't going to walk into a classroom," she thought with frustration, "I might as well be at McDonald's," with no qualifications in other fields. Instead, she focused on direct selling — and not only does she bring in half her family's income, she said, her flexible hours have meant "I could tell my kids 'yes' to anything" that they needed her for. Utah is a global hub for direct selling, with the combined economic impact of its almost 100 companies, plus key suppliers and conventions, driving nearly $2.7 billion in statewide earnings in 2020 and supporting 38,000 jobs, according to a report earlier this year from the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute at the University of Utah. The report focused on direct selling companies and suppliers with headquarters and oth...

How to make money online: With the economy in turmoil and layoffs making headlines, it's a question many people are asking right now, as they seek out new income streams. But the smartest people know that making money online is a great way to release you from the 9-to-5 and give you the freedom to travel the world or live anywhere you like. Take Rita Ting-Hopper, an immigrant from Hong Kong who was the first in her family to go to college. The former lawyer is the founder of Festi, a new consumer tech startup that helps people share and monetize their talents—from yoga and dance instructors hosting classes on Zoom while they are traveling to stay-at-home moms offering backyard yoga classes to celebrity chefs creating unique culinary experiences. According to Ting-Hopper, the ideas are endless and some users have made over $30,000. "We've learned that following your passion can lead to self-employment instead of unemployment," she says. Festi is just one ex...

A Reporter at Large March 6, 2023 Issue How the Biggest Fraud in German History Unravelled The tech company Wirecard was embraced by the German élite. But a reporter discovered that behind the façade of innovation were lies and links to Russian intelligence. By Ben Taub February 27, 2023 Jan Marsalek, Wirecard's C.O.O., who embezzled tens of millions of dollars from the company, rented a secret mansion near the Russian consulate in Munich, where he held meetings with spies and government officials. Illustrations by Harol Bustos Late in the spring of 2020, Jan Marsalek, an Austrian bank executive, was suspended from his job. He was a widely admired figure in the European business community—charismatic, trilingual, and well travelled. Even at his busiest, as the chief operating officer of Wirecard, Germany's fastest-growing financial-technology company, he would assure subordinates who sought a minute of his time that he had one, just for them. "For you, always," he use...

A German cryptocurrency company that used the former football stars Lothar Matthäus, Roberto Carlos and Patrick Kluivert to promote its products has been ordered by a German watchdog to wind up its blockchain-based business after allegations it was luring customers into a pyramid scheme. Karatbars, founded by a Stuttgart-born former vacuum cleaner salesman, Harald Seiz, in 2011, has promised to revolutionise the world's financial system through its internet-based currency. The company offers online purchases of "cryptonyzed gold" tokens to prospective "affiliates", who are then offered a commission to sign up other affiliates. A fully licensed "cryptocurrency bank" in Miami and a Madagascar mine containing €900m (£772m) worth of gold have been cited by Seiz as his company's assets, thus guaranteeing the stability of his currency. Seiz claims to have raised about $100m (£78m) through sales of his KaratGold Coin (KBC). At packed launch events in Cape...

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As a teenager, Amelia was desperately looking for a part-time job, handing CVs out in cafes and bars with no luck. One day, she picked up a leaflet about an 'exciting business opportunity' to become an Avon representative. Everybody knew somebody who was selling for Avon—an auntie or a neighbour. Pity-bought lipsticks rattled around the bottom of handbags and catalogues littered kitchen tables. The ubiquity of Avon created a sense of security; this 'exciting business opportunity' could be a legitimate quick money-maker. The next thing she knew, a manicured Avon representative was at the dining room table, providing tips on how to sell products and recruit a 'team'. The catalogues were swiftly binned and forgotten, with never even a nail varnish s...