News & Updates

Arriving in February full of hope that the vaccination roll out would start to ease the pandemic, it seems that the reverse is true as far as some of the restrictions go.

All of a sudden countries are announcing tougher and more strict self isolation for arrivals.

I had to travel to England during February, and the added layers of security, form filling and general bureaucracy encountered were frankly tiresome. That said, the flights were on time, only half full and staff excellent (because with lower passenger numbers they’re somewhat less stressed I imagine?)

My trip to England was for a couple of important meetings, the details of which I’m sure will feature in a future post once they are public knowledge, but returning to Brighton and seeing some of the sights again (after a period of self isolation) was good, although February being February it was rather cool by comparison to my new home in Malta!

Anyway, business news has the following updates, Alnistar Ltd (Recruitment) started its candidate generation program as previously noted, and there is a steady uptake of candidates streaming into the system now. Alnistar Ltd (Digital) has embarked on two new projects, which takes us to capacity for around 2 months. An excellent start!

We’re recruiting further at Cloud RPO – our insights from the research gathered last year are proving correct and the business focus now is that of engagement – a series of adverts, publicity shots, magazine interviews, chamber articles and of course good old fashioned face to face and telephone work are all paying off.

Okto Digital has had a busy month, the format for the pitch and board decisions from ME didn’t quite map out as expected, and another round of detail is required. We head into March full of optimism and expectation though! I’ll write more on this next month.

Okto Capital is striding ahead now, very detailed work, which is, frankly speaking, not too interesting to write about or read. The excitement will come in the next 6-8 weeks I believe when the investment rounds open.

Novem Ltd is involved in 3 very interesting ‘deals’ right now. One property based, one commodity based and another import/export based. More on these when they are concluded, but one of them has significant importance the the UK. It’s super pleasing to be operating at this level – a level I really feel at home in!

Stay safe, more news soon!

2021 started off with a flurry of activity.

A successful recruitment process for CloudRPO saw me able to fill the first vacancies quickly and easily, and best of all, the chosen candidates could start immediately. The proposition of working for this innovative start up was compelling for the candidates and choosing the best from the high calibre of the applicants was as always a challenge. The opening of the office in Gzira has also has added some impetus to the proceedings and we have had a strong month of sign ups and general engagement. The product is being received well and momentum starts to gather!

The activity with Okto Group also stepped up a notch with the business formally incorporated in Guernsey and Malta and a heavy workload preparing for an important funding pitch, by next month we’ll know the outcome of this important step in the development path. I’ve garnered a good deal of interest in the project from external private investors over recent weeks and assuming a successful bid we should gather momentum here quickly throughout the first half of 2021

Alnistar also started to spread its wings, moving into the recruitment domain with a candidate generation program operated initially through Facebook advertising. It’s too early to speculate on the results of this specific strand of their operation at the time of writing, but the signs are good, with a platform in place for candidates to register now live. The other business facets also continue to develop, their art consultancy and digital sectors have also been launched successfully.

There were several new ventures also landing on my desk to consider, not least of which, and at the front of my mind now is an electric vehicle related project which the Guernsey business Novem Ltd can operate and manage. More on this as it develops but again the opportunity looks strong.

Talking of Novem, the new website went live this month. You can take a look by visiting Novem.gg.

Finally, the AlenaCollinson.com website gets its long awaited refresh and upgrade. The site looks great now and as the new products are loaded, many of which are now available in English as well as Russian, the hard work here looks to have paid off.

February will fly past in much the same way as January has I suspect. Hopefully with the warmer weather just around the corner the business momentum will continue to to heat up too!

2020 as a whole has been a transformational year on many levels. Seeing borders closed, lockdowns in almost every country, it’s been something like living in a film screenplay in many ways, to be honest, with everyone waiting for the ‘hero’ to emerge and bring normality back.

Sadly, there seems to be no one hero, its up to all of us to get used to the new world and make the most of what we have.

My heart goes out to the people who have had, or been affected by, this terrible virus, and I can only try to imagine the fear, hurt and disruption this causes to their lives. I wish everybody well for 2021.

For me, on this island in the Mediterranean, the world seems more normal than in many places, and so I have used the year to reposition myself into a new business world. The incorporations of the companies Cloud RPO (Malta) Ltd, Novem Ltd, Alnistar Ltd and Okto Group have been time-consuming to say the least. The red tape of company incorporations and bank account openings has been a major part of the years activities for me. Along with building the strategies for these businesses of course!

On that point I am grateful to 2020 to affording me the time to do this groundwork, and I can comfortably summarise my 2020 by saying it was a year of building foundations for my future – I know this is strange, when a lot of the world as we know it has crumbled away or been put under pressure. But 2020 was really a year of building and planning for me. I’m pleased to say though, that all the work from January 2021 onwards will be ‘above ground’ and I expect to see results from every action from herein.

So, I spend the last few days of 2020 preparing for what will be an important first quarter, with significant meetings scheduled for Okto Group, an intake of staff and opening of offices for Cloud RPO and the positioning of both Novem and Alnistar to provide their respective services.

I wish you well, and hope for a prosperous 2021!

So, November arrives and before you know it, it’s almost gone… The advent calendars are posed and ready, and I honestly believe that Santa’s sleigh will be in sight soon.

On the business front, it’s been another month of innovation, creation and demonstration.

Innovation: The Okto project I mentioned in my last update has taken a serious turn. Moving the original concept into new arenas has made November simply vanish in terms of video calls, conferences, outreach to business connections and plain old hard work in front of the PC. Excitingly, the company has employed its first member of staff, organised the corporate structure and will, by the time you read this, probably have engaged with KPMG to develop the future plans, projections and route ahead. The innovation twist is to do with IT. I can’t say too much but if AI, Deep Leaning and Neural Networks are your thing then you should contact me!

Creation:, Cloud RPO has started off wonderfully. Now seeking to employ its first member staff, it is creating jobs, creating conversations, creating thoughts and most of all creating ambition…

Demonstration: I was told a long time ago not to demo anything until you have understood its worth to the person you want to demonstrate to. This is never more true than in the IT world, Car sales world etc… However, in real life you have to demonstrate your value to people, and having done this earlier in the year I was delighted to get a call to say ‘Hey Nick – come and talk to us, we’re ready now, sorry we were so long getting in touch’.
So I went along and found a simple straight-line business that needs some vital cash, management skills and creative thinking to kick start it. I can absolutely help here I thought… So, I’m just signing some paperwork now (NDA and such like) then I’ll get to work… Absolutely up my street and these are really lovely people to work with.

I’ll confirm more details on this and the other ongoing work in hand that I have next month…

Stay safe!