Antonio Conte officially joins Tottenham Hotspurs

Nov 2 2021

English side Tottenham Hotspurs have officially announced the appointment of Italian manager Antonio Conte. The Lecce-born coach and former player is known for winning trophies and league titles wherever he coaches whether it be Juventus, Chelsea and most recently Inter Milan. Conte signed up for an 18-month deal that will see him earn around €15 million every year, he will also have an option to extend the deal.

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In Tottenham’s statement , Conte had this to say “I am extremely happy to return to coaching, and to do so at a Premier League club that has the ambition to be a protagonist again.” and “I can’t wait to start working to convey to the team and the fans the passion, mentality and determination that have always distinguished me, as a player and as a coach. ”

Antonio Conte was also reportedly very close to joining Tottenham last summer, but the deal never happened and the lilywhites went on to appoint Portuguese coach Nuno Espírito Santo. Regarding the deal that broke down last summer, Antonio said this “Last summer our union did not happen because the end of my relationship with Inter was still too recent and emotionally too involved with the end of the season, so I felt that it wasn’t yet the right time to return to coaching.” he also admitted the reason he joined now, saying “But the contagious enthusiasm and determination of Daniel Levy (Tottenham Chairman) in wanting to entrust me with this task had already hit the mark. Now that the opportunity has returned, I have chosen to take it with great conviction.”

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Managing director of football and close friend of Antonio Conte, Fabio Paratici stated “We are delighted to welcome Antonio to the Club. His track record speaks for itself, with vast experience and trophies in both Italy and England.” he went on to say “I know first-hand the qualities Antonio can bring to us, having worked with him at Juventus, and look forward to seeing his work with our talented group of players.”

Conte will not be the man in the dugout for Spurs’ next match against Dutch side Vitesse on Thursday, due to his work permit. Antonio’s first match will reportedly be this Sunday away to Everton.

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Social housing waiting list to drop to 400 by 2023

Malta and 99 other countries pledge to end deforestation by 2030

Nov 2 2021

With world leaders convening at the COP26, a total of 100 countries have pledged to end and reverse deforestation by 2030 – and Malta is one of them. This is the climate summit’s first major agreement, and is expected to be signed later today in Glasgow. The list also includes Brazil, which is home to the Amazon rainforest, where the cutting down of trees and endangerment of species, intensified over the past few years. The pledge includes €16 billion of public and private funds. Despite experts welcoming the move, a similar deal which was struck up in 2014 was brought up as having failed to slow deforestation at all.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson called the deal a landmark agreement to protect and restore the Earth’s forests. With large tracts of forests being removed annually to make space for agricultural and grazing areas, the cutting of trees contributes to climate change due to its depletion of forests, which absorb vast amounts of carbon dioxide. The Maltese tree cover is low and woodland cover is less than 5% of the area of the islands, but Malta seems to be ready to launch its own contribution to its massive cause.

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Groundbreaking eCommerce app celebrates 1-year anniversary

Nov 2 2021

The year is 2021 and following a gloomy period of business stagnation, Malta’s tech industry is back on its feet and is as active as ever thanks to the innovative minds in the country’s tech industry. Born smack bang in the middle of the global pandemic, Maltese e-Commerce platform Lifeboat is celebrating its 1-year anniversary and its founder, Dylan Grech, shared a few words on the past year’s experience and what the future holds for Lifeboat.

On November 1st Lifeboat turns 1! What a rollercoaster of a year has it been. But bigger challenges are sure to come in 2022.

In April of 2020, as the Covid-19 pandemic was wreaking havoc on the world, most businesses had to rush online. This exposed all sorts of issues with the existing services. The high-end options were too expensive for small businesses, whilst the entry-level ones felt sluggish and incomplete. Coupled with misinformation and a steep rise in advertising costs, merchants found themselves in the middle of the perfect storm.

We decided that we had to help. We had to create something complete, affordable, and we had to do it fast. The clock was ticking. It wasn’t the flashy scene you typically see in movies. It was 16-18 hour days locked up in a room endlessly coding away but in November of 2020, we did it. We had the first version of Lifeboat online.

From day one it was clear, we were shaking up the e-commerce industry. We didn’t have a flashy dashboard or any special feature, but merchants were going live in days. Most merchants were getting their first sales during their trial period. We had succeeded in our initial goals.

Fast forward one year. Lifeboat has successfully helped merchants get back and sometimes even beat pre-Covid numbers.

Merchants have seen an increase in sales of 25% – 35% on average after launching their Lifeboat site.

This didn’t come easy, in 2021 we invested heavily to make sure each merchant gets the best possible service, including;

Deploy a global serverless infrastructure, serving web pages in under half a second.
Introduction of a fully-fledged stock control solution.
Provide 15+ professional templates for free.
Introduction of review and loyalty programs, that are tightly coupled with customer relationship software.
Integration with 4 payment gateways, providing support for 135 currencies, in over 100 payment methods.
and much much more

As 2022 quickly approaches, our goals are simple, yet ambitious;

Be the most affordable e-commerce option.
Offer merchants better options to scale their business.
Automate. Automate. Automate.

2022 will be characterised by features that truly empower the small business to compete with its larger counterparts.

Pricing change

We are committed to being a partner to the merchants, not just a service provider. As of 1st November 2021, we are lifting all fixed fees for a sales-based approach. Merchants will be charged only 1% + €0.25 for every sale they make online.

Verified Partners

Digital marketers, content creators, and other service providers will be able to enrol in the “Verified Partner” program. Through this program, service providers will prove that they are well versed in using the Lifeboat platform.

100+ Integrations

The true potential of an online shop is that it can take a business beyond its geographical borders. In 2022 there will be a lot of importance in this regard with integrations to Google marketplace, Amazon, E-bay, Etsy, and more. However, that’s not all. In 2022 we’ll integrate with various ancillary software services such as bookkeeping, logistics, and warehousing. Providing merchants with a real-time picture of their stock, sales, ROI, and more.

Conclusion

2021 has been about laying foundations. We’ve worked with merchants of all sizes, and we’ve learnt a lot. Now we look forward to 2022, with more ambitious goals, and determined more than ever before, to help merchants succeed online.

We thank all of those that trusted us in a time when we were still learning to walk, and that will be joining us in this marathon to be better.

—-

Dylan
Founder
Lifeboat.app