Loyyal announces development of a blockchain based program to incentivize tourism

/in , /by

Loyyal, a Privity portfolio company, today announced the development of Dubai Points, a blockchain based program to incentivize tourism, with the public backing of the Dubai Future Foundation, and as part of the Dubai Future agenda approved by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.

The announcement came from the Keynote Blockchain Technology Conference, which was held today in the Burj Al Arab Hotel, Dubai. Dubai Points brings a number of government bodies together with established private-sector corporations to enrich the tourist’s experience while visiting Dubai.

Using Loyyal, the first universal platform for loyalty and rewards built using blockchain and smart contract technology, Dubai Points will be earned and redeemed dynamically at participating locations based on the tourist’s unique lifestyle as well as any number of other data points such as time of day, past behaviour, location, age etc.

“This will be both the world’s first tourism incentification program and the largest scale public/private sector collaboration using blockchain and smart contract technology ever. We want Dubai to become the happiest city in the world by 2020. This program helps by giving Dubai a customizable and personal relationship with every visitor,” said Greg Simon, CEO and co-founder of Loyyal.

Read More …

 

Privity Logo

Privity FZ LLE will be attending the first blockchain technology conference in the middle-east at the Keynote 2016 on May 30th 2016 in Dubai.

/in /by

To outline and define the technology that will affect and shape the future, Keynote Events will be hosting the first Blockchain Technology Conference in the Middle East on Monday at the Burj Al Arab in Dubai.

The conference, being supported by the Smart Dubai initiative with Dubai’s Future Foundation as a strategic partner, will be hosting representatives from local organizations such as du, Dubai Holding, Emirates NBD, Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), Smart Dubai, Paypal, JP Morgan and Mashreq, alongside venture capital groups, regulators and banks and investors from the digital currency community.

Seen as the main technological innovation of digital asset and a payment system Bitcoin, Blockchain technology is a new way to automate cross-industry interactions and represents huge increases in efficiency and massive cost savings. This technology works by creating a new infrastructure within current industries or companies to connect them to each other in previously impossible ways.

“Having been a part of the Bitcoin and Blockchain universe for several years, I’m truly excited about what these technologies are going to do in the coming years,” Moe Levin, founder of Keynote Events and member of Global Blockchain Council, told Gulf News Journal. “At a time when the UAE is gearing up to become the regional hub for FinTech (financial technology), it makes perfect sense to host a conference of this kind. Everything within the world of finance is about to change, and the best way to stay ahead of the curve is by attending the Blockchain Technology Conference.”

Read More

 

A Dynamic Approach to Valuing Online Content

/in /by

We are on the precipice of a revolution—a content revolution. Now more than ever, we are close to a world where the fair market value of information can be unlocked and put at the forefront, a world where freedom reigns and consumers can access the quality content they want, when they want it. Amazon has done it for physical goods, Spotify for music, Hulu and Netflix for video. It’s content’s turn. The online information ecosystem is the largest and most active market in the world. It touches our lives on a daily basis and it’s singular in its liquidity, yet no one has found an accurate way to price and model this market in a sophisticated manner. There’s a missed opportunity to capitalize on impactful, well-written content and what’s more to instil an appreciation of value in consumers who expect online content to be “free.”

The Right Approach

In order to posit dynamic valuation as a way for publishers to address these challenges, first we must discern whether unscheduled news can carry an intrinsic value. Unscheduled news (for example, Company X filing for bankruptcy) is distinct from scheduled news (such as IBM’s 8:30am Earnings Release) in that it is disseminated at a non-routine time. A poignant example of unscheduled news’ ability to influence economic markets is a fallacious 2008 Tweet from the APs hacked Twitter account: “Breaking: Two Explosions in the White House and Barack Obama is Injured”. Following this spurious Tweet, the S&P dropped by 14 points, the equivalent of $136 billion. The power of breaking news (even when it is untrue) to influence our world culturally and financially is succinctly demonstrated in this example.

It is key to develop a system of valuation that not only takes into account the natural decay or half life inherent to news media, but also responds dynamically to shifting environmental drivers and user consumption patterns. Price should also be predicated on a diverse array of contributing editorial and environmental factors and shaped in real time by the abovementioned consumption patterns. What’s needed is a self-learning, adaptive system that increases in richness, accuracy, and scope as more and more content it input, analyzed, bought and sold. Dynamically shifting price will increase both interest and motivation to buy, according to good, better, best, pricing ideologies and prospect theory’s loss aversion or “fear of missing out.”

 

Read more

Privity Logo

Dubai Future Foundation and Keynote Conference in Strategic Partnership to host international platform for digital currency

/in /by

“I am honoured to be a part of this great initiative.”~Sleem Hasan

 

In line with the Dubai Future Agenda approved by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, as a roadmap for the Dubai Future Foundation to shape the future of the strategic sectors, the Foundation announced a strategic partnership with Keynote Conference to host the conference in Dubai on May 30, 2016.

As an international platform for digital currency, the event at Burj Al Arab will bring together pioneers of financial technology sector companies and inventors to discuss the latest financial technology programmes, tools and digital products and explore future opportunities to achieve sustainable growth of the UAE economy.

Read more

 

Former Grameenphone Director Joins Boloro Global Limited

/in , /by

NEW YORK, May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ — Boloro Global is pleased to announce that Delwar H Azad, a mobile financial services pioneer and executive with over 25 years of mobile financial services, telecom, and operations experience has joined the management team as Executive Vice President Strategy, Product & Solutions.

“Azad brings a wealth of global experience in Mobile Money, Payment Transactions & Mobile Technology,” says Ann Camarillo, CEO & President Boloro Global. “His dynamic and innovative approach will be a great addition.”

Most recently, Azad served as a Director in Grameenphone, a major Telenor subsidiary and the leading telecom service provider in Bangladesh with 56 million subscribers. While at Grameenphone, he held several critical positions including Head of Financial Services for payment and transactional services, Head of New Initiatives responsible for all non-voice services and strategic projects, and Head of IS/IT Architecture, Business Process & Governance looking after IS/IT investments.

“Azad is an industry leader within Financial Services and was responsible for taking the first bill payment services by a mobile operator to the market. Within the Telenor Group he is considered one of the leading authorities on mobile financial services for the unbanked,” said Petter-Borre Furberg, CEO Telenor Myanmar. “Being responsible for the Telenor group initiatives on Financial Services I had the pleasure of both working with and learning from Azad.”

Azad also served on the Board of Directors of Tameer Micro-Finance Bank in Pakistan to assist in the launch of the innovative Easypaisa Branchless Banking initiative.

“I am delighted to be a part of Boloro, a truly next generation mobile payments network,” said Azad. “Boloro’s patented process, true interoperability and multiple applications will boost commerce, digital money growth and accelerate financial inclusion worldwide.”

Prior to Grameenphone, Azad was General Manager at Square, the largest conglomerate in Bangladesh with diversified businesses, where he led the group’s ICT transformation and the launch of first of its kind satellite based communication business in the country. Azad has also worked as the Head of ICT in a leading manufacturing company to lead the complete automation of manufacturing to administration including capturing machine data.

Azad has an Engineering degree and an Executive MBA with a Leadership Diploma from Stockholm School of Economics.

About Boloro Global Limited:

Boloro is a next-generation global payments network that offers consumers the ability to securely pay for goods and services using any kind of mobile phone and account. Boloro replaces cash and offers financial services to the many unbanked in emerging markets thus accelerating financial inclusion and access. Boloro delivers financial dignity to the population at large.

Headquartered in New York City, Boloro operates in South Asia, Middle East and Africa and soon entering Latin America, Caribbean and East Asia. For more information, visit www.boloro.com.

Privity Logo

Ann Camarillo to Join Loyyal’s Board of Directors

/in , , /by

NEW YORK, NY, May 20, 2016 – (ACN Newswire) – Loyyal Corporation today announced that Ann Camarillo, President and CEO of Boloro Global Ltd. and former CEO of Maestro and Cirrus (MasterCard), has been elected to Loyyal’s Board of Directors.

Over the course of a 20-year career at MasterCard Worldwide, Ann held various leadership positions in the United States and globally, responsible for the financial contribution of all products and services and for creating and implementing next generation revenue streams.

Ann also served as Global CEO of Maestro International and Cirrus, the largest global debit card POS and ATM networks. She created the Debit Centre of Excellence and managed the Global Debit Advisory Board with responsibility for all debit and prepaid strategy, policies, financial performance and investments.

Ann is now CEO and President of Boloro, a mobile payments processing network, facilitating fast, secure and consumer-friendly payment acceptance for online/eCommerce, in-store retail, mass-transportation, government bill payments and remittances.

“Ann is a pioneer in the financial industry, with a formidable track record, and we are excited to welcome her to Loyyal’s Board of Directors,” said Greg Simon, CEO & Co-Founder Loyyal. “We believe her strong payment network experience at global leader MasterCard will be extremely valuable as Loyyal expands around the world.”

“I am delighted to join Loyyal’s Board of Directors. Loyyal has hit the ground running. Already post-revenue, Loyyal has signed coveted brand names and is launching enhanced loyalty and reward programs with compelling features such as instant redemption and interoperability,” said Ann Camarillo. “Blockchain has powerful utility as next generation technology, and Loyyal is laser-sharp in its focus to differentiate and deliver new value in the rewards industry. They have the potential to be the underlying interoperable rewards industry network, and I look forward to helping get them there.”

Sean Dennis, COO & Co-Founder Loyyal, adds “Ann has been a close friend and supporter of Loyyal since we met, and has already been an incredible help with strategy and introductions to date. Her appointment to Loyyal’s Board of Directors only further strengthens our relationship going forward, and we are honoured to have such an outstanding individual on the Board.”

Source

 

Boloro and Loyyal are both Privity portfolio companies.

 

Privity Logo

TeamUp wins ‘National Incubation Project‘

/in /by

In collaboration with Mobilink, TeamUp has won the ‘National Incubation Project’ to build the FIRST National Incubation Centre in Islamabad, Pakistan.  I am honoured to play a small yet significant role in this National entrepreneurial initiative! http://teamup.pk/about-us/ & http://teamup.pk/mentors/

Privity Partner Boloro presented at the World Economic Forum in Kigali, Rwanda

/in , /by

Yesterday, Boloro’s partners spent 3 hours presenting at the World Economic Forum on
Africa in Kigali, Rwanda. 3 hours! The conversation was all about how
Boloro, their partners and Launching Financial Inclusion in South Africa
Townships and beyond.

Please find the press release in connection with this announcement here:                                                                                                                                                               https://www.acnnewswire.com/press-release/english/29973/’ground-breaking’-mobile-payments-ecosystem-to-boost-financial-inclusion-in-south-africa

Linkagoal featured in the Huffington Post

/in , /by

Privity Partner Linkagoal is in the news: The Huffington Post writes

Linkagoal is a free social network app launched in 2015 for Apple operating system and Android devices. Its platform allows you to create goals and connect with people. And just recently, it was nominated as one of the 10 fastest growing networking companies of 2016.

You might be struggling to curb expenditures and draft a reasonable budget. Actually, its platform brings you into a community of followers facing similar issues including those who have made it through. You can tap into their wealth of experience and get over your struggles. There is also a cheering squad that keeps you motivated along the way.

Source: 8 Apps Tech Savvy Entrepreneurs Use To Achieve Their Goals Faster