More mulitnational investment in Costa Rica

Concentrix Expands Operations in Costa Rica

Concentrix, a SYNNEX Corporation Company inaugurated its new building in San José, Costa Rica - investing upwards of us$4 million. The new facility, located in Pavas in the vicinity of the U.S. Embassy, has capacity for up to 1,200 staff.

Currently, Concentrix Costa Rica employs 250 people who provide pre-sales, technical support and customer service in seven different languages including English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, Dutch and Italian. The Company expects to hire 150 additional employees in the next six months.

The official opening took place this morning with guests and dignitaries including the Costa Rican Foreign Trade Minister, Anabel González; the Promotions Director for the Costa Rican Investment Promotion Agency (CINDE), Irving Soto; Senior Vice President and General Manager, Concentrix, Christopher Caldwell; and Concentrix Vice President and General Manager, Costa Rica, Manfred Kissling.

According to Caldwell, "In Costa Rica, we are making an investment to grow our business based on a good mix of skilled talent, infrastructure and business climate. This new facility complements the global value we provide our customers from Asia, the United Kingdom and United States.”

On her behalf, the Foreign Trade Minister, Anabel González, indicated, "Concentrix knows how to leverage Costa Rica´s potential by establishing a significant operation in our country. We are pleased to witness how the Company has increased its number of employees, generated high quality jobs and promoted better living conditions in such a short time.”

A Global Services Platform
Concentrix Costa Rica adds to the other 20 locations the company has in Asia, Latin America, the United Kingdom and United States.

These locations serve more than 130 leading companies (many of which are Fortune 500 and S&P 500) that partner with Concentrix to help them acquire, support, retain and renew their customer relationships.

"Concentrix is a success story that validates the quality of the services that companies obtain from Costa Rica. It has been able to provide a wide variety of services in multiple languages, making Costa Rica a central location for the Company’s global customer base,” explained Irving Soto, CINDE´s Promotions Director.
Continuous Growth

Manfred Kissling, Concentrix Vice President and General Manager, Costa Rica stated, "Our new facility provides bus and metropolitan train stops next to our building and also provides excellent employee access. The new building provides ideal conditions for our staff.”

Concentrix is currently recruiting people with a good aptitude to provide technical support and fluency in Spanish, French or English. The Company provides training and competitive wages and benefits. Interested candidates may send their resumes to Alexandra.Zuniga@concentrix.com.

To read the full story visit Inside Costa Rica by clicking here

IBM to invest $300 million, create 1,000 jobs in Costa Rica

By Adam Williams

The investment is one of the largest here in the past decade.

U.S.-based technology giant IBM announced Thursday it will invest approximately $300 million over the next 10 years in a new information technology service center in Costa Rica. The center is expected to create an estimated 1,000 jobs by 2014.

President Laura Chinchilla said the IBM investment is one of the largest in the country in the past decade, and represents a vital step for her administration’s goal of achieving $9 billion in foreign direct investment by 2014. With FDI reaching $1.45 billion in 2010, Chinchilla set a goal of $1.95 billion for 2011.

“As president, my main priority is to propel Costa Rica toward development, improving its competitiveness and guiding it toward innovation through high technology, and generating employment opportunities with higher added value,” Chinchilla said Thursday morning. “The decision of IBM is a very positive sign that we are moving in the right direction. Costa Rica is welcoming new opportunities to continue developing the talent of our workers and motivating our youth in school.”

According to the Costa Rican Investment Board, in 2010 there were 210 foreign-owned companies operating in the country, generating 58,472 jobs.

To read the full story by Adam Williams in the Tico Times, click here

Detailed Jatropha report from Kenya

Click here to download a Detailed Life Cycle Assessment of Refined Vegetable Oil and Biodiesel from Jatropha Grown in Dakatacha Woodlands of Kenya

A Plant with a Bad Name

A very detailed report on Jatropha from Hardman and Co, (March 2011)

To download the report click here

Mountain Biking in NatureWalk

NatureWalk Turrubares, Costa Rica is ideal for mountain biking with something for everyone from beginner through professional

Below you'll see some pictures from a mountain biking event held in NatureWalk on weekend in June

Aviation Biofuels About to Take Off

by Dr. John CK Daly for Oilprice.com

An extraordinary convergence of recent events seems poised shortly to make aviation biofuels the belle of the investor's ball.

The first is that on 8 June the follows the international standards certifying body ASTM International announcing its approval of its BIO SPK Fuel Standard, to be made official later in the year, of the use of hydrotreated renewable jet (HRJ) Jet A-1 fuel in commercial aviation. The potential financial implications are massive, as together the airline industry and the U.S. military use more than 42.25 million gallons (1.5 million barrels) of jet fuel a day.

One of the leading contenders for ramping up production of Jet A-1 HRJ is camelina, which has undergone extensive testing by both civilian airlines and the U.S. military. Camelina HRJ qualifies as a "drop-in" fuel, which can simply be mixed with regular Jet A-1 in a 50-50 ratio, allowing jet engines to function without any modifications.

In March 2010 Biomass Advisors released their 116-page study, Camelina Aviation Biofuels Market Opportunity and Renewable Energy Strategy Report, projecting that by 2025 one billion gallons of camelina biofuel would be produced for the aviation and biodiesel sectors, creating 25,000 new jobs and producing over $5.5 billion in new revenues and $3.5 billion in new agricultural income for U.S. and Canadian farmers. Biofuels Digest is projecting that global advanced biofuels capacity will reach 4.003 billion gallons by 2015, based on company announcements to date, with capacity reaching 718 million gallons in 2011, 1.522 billion by 2012, 2.685 billion by 2013, and 3.579 billion gallons by 2014.

Fuel and oil comprise 25 percent of civilian airlines' operating costs. When the price of jet fuel rises one cent, it increases the global cost of aviation $195 million.

The second development is that the critical mass of HRJ fuels on both civilian and military aircraft has been completed, with various military and civilian aircraft flying with HRJ additives made not only from camelina, but jatpropha, algae, babasu and coconut oil, among others. Production is set to soar from small "designer" batches of HRJ produced up to now for testing.

Quick of the block in playing to the big boys, Neste Oil will showcase its NExBTL HRJ renewable aviation fuel at the Paris Air Show later this month and airlines in the Virgin Group are collaborating to attempt to develop and share aviation biofuels at their common port of Los Angeles International airport. More airlines are sure to follow.

Another unexpected development leveling the playing field for aviation biofuels was the unexpected vote on 16 June by the U.S. Senate to repeal tax credits worth about $6 billion annually for producing ethanol, produced from U.S.-grown corn. With its 73-27 vote, the Senate passed an amendment to end the 45-cent-a-gallon subsidy the government gives oil companies for blending ethanol into gasoline and the 54-cent-per-gallon tariff it places on imported ethanol to protect the domestic market. Other biofuel producers for years have complained about the subsidies, which, contrary to popular imagery, go primarily to the oil companies, not small-time farmers.

Ethanol is the most heavily produced biofuel in the U.S., with nearly one third of U.S. corn production diverted to producing it while Brazil distills its ethanol from sugarcane, as an additive to gasoline. Other biofuel producers have complained that the subsidies both gave an unfair advantage to bioethanol producers but also soaked up much of the investment funding that might have other supported other renewables.

Between receiving formal approval for civilian airline use and the federal government preparing to end its support for U.S. ethanol welfare queens, sharp investors will be looking for potential winners on a playing field that is suddenly becoming much more level. And I haven't even mentioned Pentagon interest in biofuels - yet.

A story for another time.

To read the full story visit The Market Oracle Here

7 Airlines commit to flying on Biofuels

20 June 2011

In the US, a group of seven airlines has signed letters of intent with Solena Fuels for a supply of 100% biomass-derived jet fuel to be produced in northern California.

The fuel will be produced at Solena's GreenSky California biomass-to-liquids (BtL) facility, located in northern California. At the plant, 550,000 tonnes of urban and agricultural waste will be converted into 16 million gallons a year of jet fuel by 2015. The facility will also produce 14 million gallon a year equivalents of other energy products.

'Today's announcement reinforces the ongoing steps that ATA member airlines are taking to stimulate competition in jet fuel production, contribute to the creation of green jobs, and promote energy security through economically viable alternatives that also demonstrate global and local environmental benefits,' says Nicholas Calio, the president and CEO of the industry trade organisation for the leading US airlines Air Transport Association of America (ATA).

'It is through the leadership and commitment of ATA member airlines and the Commercial Aviation Alternative Fuels Initiative (CAAFI) that we are able to bring this groundbreaking alternative aviation fuels project in California to fruition,' he continues.

American Airlines and United Continental Holdings led the development of the agreement with Solena and were joined by five additional ATA member airlines – Alaska Airlines, FedEx, JetBlue Airways, Southwest Airlines and US Airways – and ATA associate member Air Canada in signing the letters of intent, as well as Frontier Airlines and Lufthansa German Airlines.

To read more coverage visit Biofuels International