In the loop: Why people burn their Nikes, how Edinburgh entrepreneurs may have an easy time sourcing talent and Amazon becomes $1tn company

It’s finally Friday and we picked the top stories of this week to prepare you for a well-deserved break. For instance, check out how Nike’s campaign was attacked online, Amazon joined the $1tn club and unicorns are increasingly growing outside the US

In the loop: Why people burn their Nikes

Furious Americans are burning their Nike products

Nike celebrated the 30th anniversary of the Just Do It campaign this week by naming Colin Kaepernick, the former NFL quarterback, the face of its new campaign. However, this infuriated some Americans as the athlete initiated the Take a Knee protest, opting to sit down during the national anthem to object against police brutality against black people.

His detractors responded by setting their Nike products on fire or otherwise destroying them on social media. Even Donald Trump took time out of a hectic week dealing with the latest scandal suggesting and tweeted: “Nike is getting absolutely killed with anger and boycotts.”

Interestingly, he may’ve got that wrong as the buzz around Kaepernick’s Nike ad amounted to $43m worth of media exposure in 24 hours, according to Money.

It seems as if social equality and sports is a win-win.

London’s the ninth best city to find employees

September seems to be a peak time to find new workers. As CV-Library, the job website, revealed this week the number of candidates registering for the job board grew by 4.8% in August. But surprisingly, London SMEs may find it more difficult than others to source talent.

The research revealed that the Old Smoke is only ninth in the ranking with registrations rising with just 3.3%. Edinburgh entrepreneurs seem to have it a bit easier as the number of registrations jumped by 27.1%. Glasgow came second with a 21.8% leap. The city was followed by Newcastle, Brighton and Bristol that each saw 11.8%, 8.7% and 7.4% increases respectively.

So if you are aiming to source some eager talent this September, look no further than these cities.

Amazon hits $1tn market capitalisation

Well, that didn’t take long. It was only in August that Apple became the first US $1tn company. However, it seems as if Amazon has now become the second US company to join the club.

The new market capitalisation comes after the company tripled its valuation over the past two years. Still, the last six months’ growth has been truly exceptional, with the 24-year-old business being worth $580bn earlier in 2018 before reaching the 13-digit valuation on Tuesday, September 4. This growth has been driven by its cloud business, advertising service and revenue from Amazon Prime subscriptions.

The $1tn capitalisation is a big thing. The company’s staff can now celebrate the achievements. We’re guessing with some Alexa-ordered pizza and a big Amazon Prime binge.

Silicon Valley is not the only home of unicorns

The number of unicorns is growing. In fact, this week saw five new ones join the coveted club. Interestingly, it seems as if more unicorns are springing up outside of the US, with three out of the five being international ones.

Indeed, according to the unicorn list of CB Insights, the VC analysis platform, 38 of 63 of the private companies reaching unicorn valuations this year have scaled outside America. And particularly 78% emerged from outside Silicon Valley. This just goes to show that successful startups can be launched everywhere to as long as there are talented entrepreneurs ready to take the leap.

And when it comes to Europe, the UK is still leading the way, having had more unicorns than any other country on the continent, according to a GP Bullhound report.

So look out Silicon Valley, the world is coming for you.

Cybersecurity doesn’t have to cost an arm and leg

The British Airways hack reminded us all this week about the importance of cybersecurity. However, beefing up your digital defences can often be seen as an expensive cost. Luckily for you, we had a chat with a Google online safety expert this week to hear his top tips on how you can protect your business from a cyber attack.

Startups have the power to change data’s ill fame

Leakage of private data is certainly problematic but done right data can become the engine of the modern economy, as we found out this week.

How to turn your business into an export superpower

Having guaranteed ATG Access global success, Gavin Hepburn is now sharing some tricks to help you excel internationally.

How to crack team building

Can you get your team to work better together with team-building exercises? Yes, you can if you do it right. Get some inspiration from here.

Taking care of employees’ wellbeing

If you want to sustain a healthy and happy work environment, you better pay attention to your staff’s wellbeing.

Keeping a good work-life balance must be your brand’s priority 

Smartphones are making it easier for employees to respond to work emails after working hours. But we asked some experts whether the always-on culture is working in your favour. 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Yoana Cholteeva
Yoana Cholteeva
RELATED ARTICLES






Share via
Copy link