Day: 16 March 2018

On Sunday, March 18, Stars’n’Bars will host an afternoon of family-friendly workshops, games and exhibitions on how Monaco residents can reduce their carbon footprints.

The EcoHub event, in partnership with the Mission for Energy Transition (MTE) in charge of the National Pact for Energy Transition, will be held in the StarDeck from 2 pm to 5 pm and is free and open to all nationalities and ages.

According to Stars’n’Bars co-founders Kate Powers and Didier Rubiolo, “If you live or work in Monaco, you know that Prince Albert has been a global leader in the fight to protect our planet and that the Principality has taken important steps to reduce its carbon footprint.

“These include creating eco-friendly methods of transportation, switching to renewable energy sources and managing waste, particularly plastics … but we need to do more!”

Since early 2016, Monaco’s government has been working with business leaders, educators, builders, energy suppliers and health and tourism organisations to create a national strategy to cut the Principality’s overall carbon footprint by 50 percent by 2030 and to be carbon neutral by 2050. This strategy targets Monaco’s main source of greenhouse gas emissions: transportation, waste treatment and energy use in buildings.

“That means that everyone must join in and double, triple and even quadruple efforts to be good eco-citizens,” say Kate and Didier. “To achieve these goals we must all act together to protect our environment, while improving our quality of life and preserving our health. This means adopting new habits, using clean energies and controlling our waste.”

To this end, the government has created a National Pact for Energy Transition designed to enlist the help of Monaco residents and workers to reduce the Principality’s overall carbon footprint.

MTE has designed a long-term programme that helps individuals measure their own carbon footprint – based on how much they travel, how much waste they generate and how much energy they use – and develop simple action plans to reduce their environmental impact in these areas.

According to Kate and Didier, “Once you know the size of your carbon footprint, the PACT website will help you choose a simple action plan to reduce it. The steps are simple: Can you take the bus more often or carpool to reduce carbon emissions? Can you recycle old clothes and separate your paper, glass and plastic trash? Can you better control your home heating and air conditioning? Can you shut off computers when not using them? These simple steps and other small actions you can take to reduce waste and unnecessary energy use can significantly reduce your carbon footprint.”

During the afternoon, the Mission for Energy Transition team will demonstrate various tools available to accomplish the individual’s personal action plan including an easy 10 questions “calculator” to measure carbon footprint, games to teach children the importance of recycling and tips on lowering energy consumption.

Jean-Luc Nguyen, Director of MTE, added: “First, I thank Kate and Didier for their strong commitment. The Mission for the Energy Transition team will be there on March 18 and hopes you will come and sign the Pact for Energy Transition, because it is all together that we will reach our national target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”

Other planned activities include an electricity-generating bicycle that mixes fresh smoothies, electric vehicles, children’s eco-activities and an online tool that can measure the solar energy potential of an address in Monaco.

France 2 will broadcast on Sunday, March 18, as part of its programme “D’Art Art”, a section dedicated to the famous equestrian statue of Louis XIV, which stands at Place des Victoires in Paris, work of the Monegasque sculptor François-Joseph Bosio. The statue was so impressive that Bosio and received the title of “First Sculptor of the King”.

The Prince’s Government has wanted to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the birth of this artist and to make known the importance of his work to a wider public. Bosio, supported and encouraged by the patronage of Prince Honoré III, made a brilliant career in the French capital. He continues to surprise us with the variety and richness of his work.

A new episode dedicated to another major work of Bosio will be broadcast in 2018.

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Prince Albert revealed the new Award for Sustainability with the Nobel Sustainability Trust and a Global Green Investment Bank, at the CleanEquity Monaco conference last Friday at the Fairmont Monte Carlo.

Referring to CleanEquity Monaco, which he co-founded with Mungo Park, Chairman of Innovator Capital, in 2007, the Sovereign Prince said he was proud that “the conference has become an important part of the sustainability landscape. Over the years, some 300 companies have presented their plans to over 1600 attendees.

“These companies have gone on to raise nearly $2 billion, friendships have been forged, and greater strides have been made towards a cleaner, safer and more sustainable future.”

The Prince then announced “a new initiative that has origins in the multidisciplinary nature of CleanEquity Monaco, the creation of a new Global Award for Sustainability and a Global Green Investment Bank.”

As HSH stated, the Nobel Prizes continue to be recognised as some of the world’s greatest accolades. “Sustainability was a key concept for the three Nobel brothers Alfred, Ludwig and Robert. It has now become a vital part of our modern lives; but the concept was not included in Alfred’s will. So, because the Nobel Foundation cannot add to its portfolio of prizes, four Nobel family members, in agreement with the Foundation, formed the Nobel Sustainability Trust to promote sustainability in modern life.

“The trust’s mission is to sustain quality of life in the face of threats – pollution, climate change – and to create the Award for Sustainability.”

Monaco will host the Sustainability Award Ceremony in 2020 or 2021.

Back in 2012, the Nobel Sustainability Trust co-hosted CleanEquity Monaco and engaged Innovator Capital to develop the Nobel Sustainability Fund, the world’s first multi-phase, multi-technology, multi-geography sustainable technology fund. It was launched in June 2016, by Earth Capital Partners and was seeded by the Monaco Reserve Fund.

Mungo Park added, “We are creating a multi-sovereign backed Global Green Investment Bank and other nations are waiting to participate as soon as the corporate structure is in place.”

Mr Park explained that the investment bank “will provide a service to technology companies and specifically, will not compete with the investment community”.

“Quite the opposite,” he assured. “In fact, its model will be to help companies become investor-ready, bridge financing at a fair and reasonable margin above the investment bank’s cost of money, and will enable companies to strengthen their boards, their management teams, their documentation and their intellectual property portfolios.”

Chairman of the Nobel Sustainability Trust, Professor Michael Nobel, commented, “The official recognition of the award and the Nobel Sustainability Trust foundation expressed during this CleanEquity Monaco conference is of outmost importance, both to the organisation and myself. The tremendous value of such a recognition being confirmed by a world-renown expert in the field like HSH Prince Albert in a plenary session of a meeting of this type cannot be underestimated.”

Professor Nobel went on to say, “The issue of sustainability has in recent years become vitally important for mankind’s wellbeing and even chances of long term survival. It goes far beyond what was thought necessary or important in earlier times. This is also why it has become so important that all of humanity, and not only special interest groups, recognises that sustainability policies needs to become and remain an integral part of our activities in order for us to prosper. Actions and words by recognised world leaders in the field, like Prince Albert, help create and reinforce such beliefs.”

Following the groundbreaking announcements, Prince Albert, who will celebrate his 60th birthday on Wednesday March, 14, presented the three CleanEquity Awards, designed this year by American conceptual artist Darren Bader.

The awards winners were: Superdielectrics for Excellence in the Field of Environmental Technology Research; NanoSpun for Excellence in the Field of Environmental Technology Development; and BBOXX for Excellence in the Field of Environmental Technology Commercialisation.

Over the two days, twenty-seven companies presented at the 11th edition of the invitation-only CleanEquity Monaco.

“It’s the people assembled in this room that help turn science fiction into science fact,” said Prince Albert and their clean technologies are testament to his long-standing commitment for the Principality to be a model green country, which respects the natural environment and subscribes to be carbon neutral by 2050.

Article first published on March 13, 2018.

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Creative and recreational workshops for children, from five years old, organised by the Terres méditerranéennes association will be in a new venue at the Maisons des Associations-Casa d’i Soci, Promenade Honoré II, near the Helios building.

The next workshops take place on Saturday, March 17, from 2:30 pm to 4 pm: “Chocolate items to prepare for Easter” with Raphaël Navoret, using chocolate and almond paste fish in anticipation of Easter.

Then on Saturday, March 24, also from 2:30 pm to 4 pm, there will be “Braiding of twigs” with Agata Caliendo. Learn to weave a palm to illustrate the tradition of Palm Sunday. Aprons welcome for both events.

Reservations can be made on termedmonaco@gmail.com, specifying the name and age of the children. The workshops are free, however, membership costs €25/child or €40 for 2 children.

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Another week, another ride on the Monaco Express, as I call the BA Friday flight from London.

But this was no ordinary day. With a dense drizzly fog clinging to the ground, it had the hushed atmosphere of a Sherlock Holmes movie. Planes were grounded, passengers stranded, the BA Lounge packed. I grabbed a coffee and asked a pretty blonde if I could share her table.

We soon struck up a conversation about what we both did for a living. “Dating Industry,” I shared. “Nanny for an Oligarch in Monaco,” she said.

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“Ah, so you look after someone’s loved ones and I look after the love lives of others,” I replied.

I explained that I was an International Matchmaker. “Ooh, what’s that?”

“Well, we’re like head-hunters. We find serious partnerships for exceptional but time-poor people. This is our busiest month and, in fact, the first working Monday of the year is what lawyers dub ‘Divorce Day’. We get most of our enquiries this month.”

“Really, so how does it work?” Ines, my table sharing friend, asked inquisitively.

“Well our clients pay us from £10,000 to £50,000 depending how many locations we cover for them. Clients work with a matchmaker who searches our extensive network of vetted singles, honing in on the closest matches.”

“So how successful is it – do you go to lots of weddings and christenings?”

“Well, we have an 85 percent success rate. But that’s because we turn away about a third of our enquiries and concentrate on the people that really are serious and know what they want, or can let us help them find out.

“The prospective date of the client isn’t charged – so if we ask someone to be part of our database as a potential match, it means they’re a good fit for us.”

It transpired that Ines the nanny was single and needed help with her online dating profile. With time on our hands, I offered help. She was using an app called Bumble, which matches like Tinder but lets the girls text first. The result is that men try harder with their “Billboard” and women get to be choosy and not constantly bombarded.

“Oh, Ines this won’t do!”

“Why not”, she asked, “men just look at pictures?”

“But your profile picture is of you straddling a giant tortoise! If you’re going to be astride anything, better make it a racehorse! And the others are just your face? You’ve got a great body, find one with all of you in it and add one with you smiling in the middle of a group of friends. We always photograph better surrounded by loved ones.

“Now let’s write something about you. Men are visual creatures, but they do read … What do you do that’s interesting? Men love sporty girls. Do you do any sport?”

“Oh, I run the marathon in Istanbul every November and love No Finish Line in Monaco – my girlfriends and I get competitive with that.”

“And education?”

“Well I did Politics at Gothenburg, but I’m originally from Stockholm. And I did TEFL in London where I was working in financial PR for a few years. That’s what I’m doing in Monaco, teaching twin four-year-old Russian boys English. “

“Hobbies?”

“Well I spend all my free time travelling. I share the children with another nanny, so we can each have some time off. I’ve been exploring France and Italy mostly.”

“Lastly, what are you looking for in a partner?”

“Well, I’m 35 and I love children, so someone serious, not a player. He needs to love the outdoors, have a great sense of humour and good family values. Spontaneous, not stuck-in-a-rut square. Preferably blonde.”

While I was writing up Ines’ little profile for the big wide world of online dating, I had a thought. We have a Scandinavian client, Lukas, who travels like crazy and wants to meet someone with a super-flexible career, someone with great values and a solid degree. Preferably a pretty blonde. Boom.

Lukas was in Monaco for business the following month, so I struck the match and they’ve been dating ever since.

The moral of the story? A high-flyer doesn’t always want another high-flyer. For our client, it was more important to be able to find enough time for a relationship.

Barbara Brudenell-Bruce is a matchmaker with London’s exclusive matchmaking agency, Vida, and her network boasts an impressive list of entrepreneurs, celebrities and aristocrats. She lives between Monaco and London. Article first published January 16, 2017.

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The Grimaldi Forum Monaco will host the Maria by Callas exhibition in the spring on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the death of the Greek American soprano, based on an original idea by Tom Volf.

The Maria by Callas exhibition will be presented in various facets, particularly relating to the time that she spent in the Principality, from 1960 to 1967, when the New York-born singer was living away from the limelight. During this time, she shared a great love with the Greek ship owner Aristote Onassis and attended many Monegasque parties.

Callas died of a heart attack in Paris, age 53, in 1977.

Photographs, archival footage and unpublished films will be offered, notably from the collections of Monaco cultural organisations such as the Opera, the Société des Bains de Mer, the Audio-Visual Archives of Monaco, and the Prince’s Palace.

Tom Volf, director of the film Maria By Callas, released in cinemas on December 13, and author of two reference books on the singer – Maria by Callas and Callas Confidential – will be present to help visitors rediscover her history.

The exhibit runs from April 11 to 15 at Espace Indigo. Admission is free.

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