NEWSLETTER - SEPTEMBER 2014

Introduction

"Welcome to the monthly edition of the World Trade Center Panama Newsletter! Through this monthly newsletter we want to interconnect our members and inform our tenants by sharing useful information about WTC Panama. We will also showcase the ongoing activities and our latest updates on upcoming and past events, as well as the international relationship of WTC Panama with other WTC’s through the WTC Association." Remy Swaab, Executive Director of WTC Panama.

Close to Home

Jefes de Pisos and Brigadistas are preparing for the Fire Drill

On the 12th of August, the WTC Panama Complex, together with PCS Consultores, organized a workshop to inform and to prepare the Jefes de Pisos and the Brigadistas of the Office Tower for the upcoming Fire Drill. The purpose of this workshop was to prepare all Brigadistas and Jefes de Pisos which route to take in case of an emergency and during this workshop badges and vests were given that will identify each member: Yellow vests are for the Jefes de Pisos and the Orange vests are for the Brigadistas. The Emergency Operations Committee has been formed with Mr. Remy Swaab, Administrator of the WTC Panama Complex, together with Mr. Andres Muela, Sub-Administrator, Mr. Natividad Moran, Chief of Security and Mr. Javier Balsa, Chief of Maintenance. During this event, the members of the Committee were able to respond to questions and doubts of the Jefes de Pisos and the Brigadistas and they were also able to get to know each other better. This will lead to greater efficiency during the Fire Drill. During this year’s Fire Drill there will be third party observers and because it is a recurring Fire Drill, the Administration hopes to have an even better evacuation time than the last Fire Drills, and of course without “casualties“ (people staying in their offices, ignoring the obligation of this activity).

Please take note of the process during the Fire Drill:

• When you hear the alarm for more than 30 seconds, find your Brigadista in your office, who will know that it will be the moment to evacuate and who will be in charge of informing you where and how to leave the office and will also make sure the office has been cleared before leaving the building.
• Start the journey downstairs using the Pressurized Staircase in line; stay on the right hand side (on the wall side) because the Firefighters will use the inner side of the staircase to come up the stairs.
• Do not use the elevator.
• Do not use your cell phone during the trip downstairs.
• Leave the WTC Panama Complex together with your group, guided by your Brigadista towards the Meeting Point.
• Floor 1-15: Meeting Point will be Plaza New York
• Floor 16-20: Meeting Point will be Plaza Florida (Bank Caja de Ahorros).
• Stay with your group. You will be notified as soon as possible by the Chief of Security when you can return to your office.
• To return to the WTC Panama Complex, the Chief of Security will organize this floor by floor, assisted by the Jefes de Pisos.  

Have you seen the Banner?

In the lobby of the Office Tower in the WTC Panama Complex you will find the WTC Panama banner with all the Social Media links. By scanning the QR Codes you will be able to connect to the WTC Panama digitally and stay up to date with all the activities of WTC Panama. Additionally, you can link yourself with the WTC Panama directly through the social network of your preference by clicking on the following links:
LinkedIn, Facebook, Google+, Twitter, FourSquare, Instagram

Investments in action

The Administration continues with its 2014 investment plan to do the necessary maintenance on the cooling towers of the complex. Within their regular working hours and on weekends, the staff is carrying out the required maintenance to optimize the air conditioning system.

Members at Heart

Promote you Company on the illuminated screen

One of the benefits of being in the WTC Panama is the ability to promote your company and/or the services your company has to offer during the day for free on the big illuminated screen, that is located in the front of the WTC Panama Complex. Your promotional content needs to be provided in the form of a video (wav, avi, mp4 or mpg) or in the form of a PowerPoint presentation (max 2 minutes). In case of a PowerPoint presentation, each template can contain up to three lines of alpha numeric text with large letters to occupy more space, simple and unvarnished, the same as the logos. If you are interested in promoting your company through this channel, please stop by at the Administration’s Office, with your CD with information.

Padel WTC Panama

Padel (also known as Padel Tennis) is a racquet sport played extensively in Spain and Hispanic America. It is a modern and newly established sport and has experienced a spectacular growth in the last recent years in countries as Argentina, Mexico, Uruguay, Chile, Brazil and Spain. Now it has finally arrived in Panama via Padel Point, the pioneer company. Padel is like any other racket sport, such as tennis, squash, badminton etc. Children, youth, adults and seniors, everyone can play this game. This is why it will be a sport that will stay in this country. Padel is an ideal sport to share with family, partners and friends and also has great physical and social benefits. Padel Point wants to welcome the new fields that are being built behind the Hotel in the World Trade Center Panama Complex and invites everyone in the WTC Panama building to come and have a look when it has begun operating. Are you interested? padelpointpanama@gmail.com

Cooperation WTC Panama – Primesource / Ian Toruño

In order to empower the Business Leaders of Panama, Primesource and WTC Panama announce the launch of a collaboration/partnership. There will be a series of events, seminars and workshops where advanced accelerated learning techniques will be used for adults. These events will be focused on primarily Executives, Managers and Supervisors in the Private and Public sector who would like to improve the potential of themselves and their teams to survive and thrive in the twenty first century. Primesource would like to invite you to attend, on the 20th of October, to the Seminar-Workshop “Ingenier@Líder” that will focus exclusively for engineering professionals who would like to develop their skills to lead their technical teams. As a member of the World Trade Center Panama you will receive a discount to attend this event.

For more information about this event and others visit: www.gerentelider.com or contact directly: wtcpanama@gerentelider.com / tel. 360-5474.

All the events will be in charge of Ian Toruño, who is an expert in Strategy and Change Leadership. With an MBA from the University of Louisville and a Certificate in Project Management from the University of Stanford, he is the creator of the program: "Avanzando de Gerente a Líder" and the author of "El Secreto para ser un Gerente de Proyectos más Efectivo" and "El Manifiesto del Líder de Cambio". Ing. Toruño has led projects for Strategic Planning, Process Improvement, Outsourcing, Design PMO and Business Continuity Implementation of Technological Systems and has extensive experience in training for adults in different topics as Leadership, Strategy and Projects. The Executive Director of the World Trade Center Panama, Mr. Remy Swaab said: "We are very pleased to establish this new partnership, with which we incorporate new services that will help us to add more value to the business sector and help us fulfill our mission", where Ing. Toruño replied: "It's a great honor to be selected by World Trade Center Panama to promote and develop events through this Collaborative Partnership".

Connected to the World

Road Show Latin America in WTC Rotterdam: Success

Thanks to the cooperation between the World Trade Center Netherlands and the Dutch Council for Trade Promotion (NCH), the initiative was launched to organize a Road Show Latin America. The event hosted a variety of presentations, one-on-one meetings; case study’s and network opportunities. The Road Show took place in Beurs-WTC Rotterdam and the theme of the event was business potential in Latin America. Questions were asked, such as: Which market could one export as best as a starting exporter? How does one get started in the Latin American market, or find a reliable partner? After the individual discussions, presentations took place by, among others, Piragibe Tarrago and the Ambassador of Brazil who is located in the Netherlands. Upon completing his presentation, the Ambassador answered questions about the approach in the energy and agriculture sectors. Also Holland Brazil, Holland House Columbia, Embassy of Guatemala and Rotterdam Partners gave their vision of the market potential. More information

Gaining US Green Cards by Investment

There is now a relatively quick and safe way to secure US Green Cards. It is called the US Government's EB-5 Immigrant Investor Visa program. World Trade Center San Francisco is very focused on EB-5 and now has a patent pending on using investments in infrastructure bonds to meet the EB-5 criteria. By using highly rated infrastructure bonds for the EB-5 investment the risk level is minimized. The EB-5 is growing in popularity globally but is relatively unknown in Panama. Of the roughly 8,600 investors who took part in the program last year just seven were from Panama.

Under the program a $500,000 investment must be made into a qualified project in the US that will create at least 10 jobs over a two year period. Once the investment is made the investor and family (spouse and all children under 21) can gain a temporary US Green Card. After the two year period is over and all program criteria met, the investor and family members receive regular Green Cards. If they chose to they can also eventually apply for US citizenship. The investor and family should be able to attain their permanent Green Cards, have a secure investment and be able to sell their bonds at market rate in the future. Investments aren't made directly with the US government but are done via individual US regional centers. These regional centers aggregate investor funds to invest in bigger projects. There are currently 532 approved regional centers in the US. EB-5 investments are also required to be "at risk" (not guaranteed). Up until recently most EB-5 investments went into real estate projects, but of course real estate investments can be quite risky and illiquid for minority owners.

WTC Panama, via its sister organization WTC San Francisco, can help investors in Panama who would like to take part in this program. Anyone interested in learning more about this way of gaining a US Green Card should contact the WTC Panama via: info@wtcpanama.org.

Member Acknowledgment

Celebration with a taste of Guatemalan cuisine
Words from the Ambassador of Guatemala in Panama

Guatemala will be celebrating for the first time in Panama the Guatemala Food Festival, which will be held at the Hotel Intercontinental Miramar Panama City, from the 16th until the 19th of September. This event will be part of the commemoration of the 193rd Anniversary of our independence. Two Guatemalan chefs will travel specifically to this city to prepare Guatemalan typical dishes that will be offered during this festive event. Guatemala has rich and diverse flavors in their cuisine and our cuisine is characterized by varies of seasoning, which is originally from the Mayas, Spain and mestizo kitchen.

Between the many delicious and different dishes that the Guatemalan cuisine has to offer, you will find "Pepían", "Kak'ik" y "Subanik", our authentic guacamole with avocados, arrived from Guatemala, ceviche in Guatemala style with lemon and cilantro, "salpicón", "chojín" and much more. For dessert you will find a variety of Guatemalan sweets. And with a nice welcome Cocktail of Ron Botran and a tasting of Ron Botran Solera at the end of the night, this will be a night to enjoy. For reservations 214-1000 ext 6073

Panama News

The Construction of the Convention Center in the Amador

The new government in Panama decided not to sell the Convention Center Atlapa, built in 1979, which has been a meeting place for many spectacular fairs and conferences with a capacity of 10.500 people and which is, apparently, fully booked until the end of this year. Meanwhile, they’re continuing the ongoing construction of the new Convention Center in the Amador, which is estimated to be delivered at the end of 2015. Both Conventions Centers are expected to operate simultaneously, to complement the offer in the event market/ to add to the demand.

This project was approved at a cost of over 193 thousand dollars by HPC-Contrata-P&V. According to them, the first part of the Convention Center that will be finished will be the Exhibition Center with a capacity for 9.697 persons. The new Convention Center, which was chosen among the top 25 worldwide finalists of the WAN Architecture Awards, will be formed by 4 buildings; an Exhibition Center, a building for banquets and restaurants, a Theater and a Center for External Displays, with a total of over 81 thousand m2 and with a capacity of more than 23.000 people and to accommodate up to 4 large events simultaneously. With its location, right in between the two continents, the new Convention Center will offer a spectacular view of the Canal and a beautiful view of the capital of Panama.
Read more

For the first time in Panama: WebCongress

WebCongress is a Digital Marketing Event. It attracts web professionals and media from all over Europe, United States of Ameriand Latin- America. It has one principal goal: teaching online marketing strategies by involving leading companies in the industry. Each year it’s organized in different cities in the world such as San Francisco, Miami and Amsterdam. More than 10.000 people come together to be inspired, be educated and do business on a global scale. A general impression of WebCongress looks as follows: 1) inspirational and strategic conferences – 2) intensive training with workshops – 3) the most famous WebParty, the ideal place for networking with attendees, keynote speakers, and conference teachers.

It will be a day of inspiration, learning and networking. For more information: http://webcongress.com/panama. To attend this event, click here: http://bit.ly/1u7ra5E.

Speakers:

• Matt McGowan – Strategy at Google
• Eduardo Fernández – Vice-president of Blackberry
• Aaron Kahlow – CEO and Founder OMI (Online Marketing Institute)
• Diego Gaspar – Executive Director,  W Agency
• Michele Lo Forte – CTO of WebCongress
• Ouali Benmeziane – CEO and Founder WebCongress
• Laura Gomez – Cofounder, Vyv and former Twitter
• Rodrigo Salem – Sales US Hispanics & Pan Regional LATAM of Facebook.

• Social Media
• Search Marketing
• Conversion
• E Commerce
• Apps
• Mobil Marketing
• Content Marketing
• Email Marketing
• Analytics

Upcoming Events

About Us

WTC Panama aims to expand communication, international market culture and business services. The primary goal of the WTC Panama is to bring together the businesses involved in international commerce and provide them with services that will help facilitate growth. WTC Panama connects various economic segments locally and globally and is a member of the World Trade Centers Association. This Association stimulates trade and investment opportunities for commercial property developers, economic development agencies and international businesses looking to connect globally and prosper locally through the exclusive 330 'World Trade Center' branded properties and trade service.