The world around us

So, you’ve got a great new idea and want to start a business, but don’t have enough money to fund it yourself. Sounds familiar, right? That’s where Venture Alliance Partners come in the picture. Venpar is a relatively new firm, having been established in 2006 but has already established itself as a qualitative provider of private equity and have already helped create several world class companies. Venpar focuses on the venture capital marketplace and acts as a financial strategist, headhunter, investment banker and even a corporate therapist at times, to get your company on the path of success. What I really like about Venpar is that they don’t unnecessarily complicate things so that they can earn more money or lengthen their service period or other such gimmicks.

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The retail sector is the likely reason for the loss of the Congress party in Delhi, it is being said. The sealing drive made local traders and retailers band together to oppose the Congress party. Wal-Mart’s upcoming entry into the Indian retail sector has further antagonized the majority of local retailers and the Congress has now become wary of raising any issue related to retail before the general elections. Bharti’s tie up with Wal-Mart has led to protests on all fronts and although Bharti is allowed to use the US retail giant’s name on its retail format, the government is reportedly putting pressure on Bharit to avoid using the Wal-Mart name, so that there is less opposition from other parties as well as traders.

Summer is here and if you haven’t already planned what you’re going to do, it’s time to think of it. One of the most popular summer destinations is of course Orlando, which has 52 theme parks in the area, innumerable dinner shows, theatrical performances, and lots of other fun shows. Orlando is also home to the largest convention center in the world, so it might even be possible to combine business and pleasure. My personal attraction to the Orlando area would be the huge variety of golf courses. Who wouldn’t want to play in golf courses with alligators as hazards? For families it is the draw of all the theme parks that brings the majority of visitors to Orlando, although a lot of consumers do find the prices of tickets to be quite steep, and that is where OrlandoFunTickets.com comes in with some great prices for Disney World Tickets. The Disney Magic Your Way set of tickets can be bought for anytime from one to ten days, so it works out quite economical and lets you cover as much of the theme park as you are interested in.

Limetree Cafe is one of the best places for deserts and easygoing continental food. We were not able to visit Limetree Cafe in Dubai on this trip, but are looking forward to going there next time. Limetree has two branches; one on Jumeriah Beach Road and one at the Ibn Batutta Mall and is owned by two sisters from Australia. They are famous for their carrot cake, cheesecake and decadent brownies. If you can believe it, their servings are even more generous than American servings, which means that they are simply huge. It’s a great place to catch a lunch, which you can share with someone since the servings are so huge.

Wal-Mart said it will be earning a trademark liscence fee from Bharti for using the Wal-Mart name.The Economic Times reports that Bharti is likely to pay around 2% of its revenues of wholesale trading margin to Wal-Mart, along with a 2% royalty. According to Raj Jain, CEO of emerging markets for Wal-Mart, “Bharti is likely to source technology and know-how from Wal-Mart for its front-end operations and pay royalty for them, apart from sourcing goods from the cash & carry joint venture.”

Small and medium businesses are usually creative and innovative in their ways of doing business and they have been some of the first adapters to Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology. Using VoIP Small Business Phone Systems, companies are able to connect with branch offices located across the country at a discounted rate and with very little maintenance. Xpander Communications specializes in offering phone systems for small businesses. One of the main advantages of using a VoIP system is being able to share the same phone system of private extensions between the branches. There is a free 4-digit dialing system between branches, which drastically reduces both cost and maintenance.

Local kirana stores are putting in place plans to offer competitive rates so that they are able to compete with organized retailers. Earlier no kirana store sold a product below the listed Maximum Retail Price (MRP), but now most kirana stores are offering lots of schemes and discount plans just as larger retailers do. Small retailers are also aligning themselves with companies to get special deals and to become preferred suppliers. Kirana stores are finally waking up to become competitive and focusing on attracting consumers. At one time they used to have a captive audience, now consumers are making choices based on greater variables and shop at local kirana stores only if they will get some competitive advantage.

Aditya Birla Retail announced that it will be opening stores by the end of the year and will be renaming the Trinethra stores that it purchased earlier this year to create a cohesive branding for all of its stores. Trinethra has been using its name in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu and the Fabmall brand name in Kerala and Karnataka. The new brand name is being used for Trinethra, so that consumers will associate it with the value and quality of the Birla name.