Business Briefs
Published:Wednesday | August 12, 2020 | 12:12 AM
GKFG launches cashless financial store
GraceKennedy Financial Group has opened up a GK One Digital Store at its corporate building in Kingston, a cashless outlet that provides financial and money services.
Transactions will be by debit or credit cards only, said GKFG, which describes the new store as a first of its kind for Jamaica and historic. It becomes the 14th outlet in the GK ONE chain of one-stop financial services stores, but the first cashless.
The services offered at GK ONE Digital include loan applications, the opening of bank accounts, insurance, bill payment, remittances, consumer loans and electronic cambio services.
Group CEO of the GraceKennedy Limited conglomerate Don Wehby says the new store forms part of the company’s ongoing digital transformation programme.
FCJ says urban centre project delayed but undeterred
The Morant Bay Urban Centre has missed its June deadline for construction to commence, but the agency spearheading the project says the $6-billion development will proceed.
Factories Corporation of Jamaica Limited Chairman Lyttleton ‘Tanny’ Shirley said in a press statement that the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted progress on the detailed engineering designs, and the finalising of the financing arrangement.
FCJ reported that it has already secured the construction loan arrangement; drafted the construction agreement; addressed relevant environmental issues; concluded the detailed master planning and designs; among other accomplishments.
The agency now awaits final approvals from state agencies to start building the complex, a timeline that Shirley estimates will be “within the next three months”.
UConn to research poultry
University of Connecticut has been awarded a US$10-million grant to research how to raise poultry for food without giving the birds antibiotics.
The grant announced by the US Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture will fund a project led by Kumar Venkitanarayanan, an animal science professor at UConn, with a team of 30 researchers from eight colleges and universities.
The school said the project is designed to create a sustainable programme for antibiotic-restricted broiler production in the poultry industry. The United States produces nine billion birds annually, using antibiotics to prevent disease and promote faster growth.
The research project is scheduled to start in September.
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