UAE-based property portal Bayut.com’s parent company, Emerging Markets Property Group (EMPG) closed a $50 million investment tranche of a larger fundraising round in a move to boost its future acquisitions. The company didn’t disclose names of its investors. Emerging Markets Property Group (EMPG) is the parent company of several property portals across MENA and South…
German technology firm SAP has opened a cloud data center in the UAE, becoming the first company to open a data center in the Gulf country. The move enables them to tap into emirates’ digital transformation drive by providing scalable cloud solutions and is part of SAP’s five-year investment plan in the UAE. The launch…
The U.A.E. government has announced that it plans to build an on-shore crude oil pipeline, which will connect landlocked Ethiopia to Assab—Eritrea’s port city—in a bid to reconcile the two countries after a two-decades-long war. The project was announced on August 10 following a meeting of Ethiopia’s Prime Minister, Dr Abiy Ahmed and Reem Al…
The eyes of the financial world remain firmly on the Turkish lira as it battles to recover from one of the most severe currency sell-offs that the financial markets have witnessed in recent history. The battered lira dropped as much as 20% on Friday August 10 and carried this freefall into Monday 13 August -…
Avengers: Infinity War recently became the fourth film ever to cross $2 billion box-office earnings in July 2018. The latest installment in the Avengers movie franchise hit the screens worldwide in May and collected $641 million—highest ever—in a weekend opening collection. The superhero-film crossed the massive number in worldwide ticket sales, 33% of which is…
Middle East governments are stepping up investments into smart cities in an effort to enhance efficiency, citizen services and sustainability. We can see the impact of this investment when it comes to the many aggressive government-driven goals: UAE Vision 2021, Saudi Vision 2030, Oman Vision 2020 and New Kuwait Vision 2035 to name a few.…
The key ingredients for the success of any brand—startup or otherwise—are the right people, the right processes and the right technology. One could have the greatest idea, but it’s nothing without the people who know what to do with it, while employing the latest innovations an industry has to offer to bring that idea to…
Social media has significant influence in all our lives today. Online exchanges, opinions and interactions are the new currency of persuasion and influence. Which makes social selling a viable means to engage buyers, participate in evolving consensus and showcase the relevance of your solutions. With buyers more empowered to research, compare and seek out solutions…
All manner of shops, pop-ups and market stalls are using cheap mobile point-of-sale systems, those card readers that look a little like calculators made for infants. Hacking them might not be child’s play, but as benevolent hackers from cybersecurity company Positive Technologies revealed Thursday, it’s certainly possible. And their attacks could drain shoppers’ bank accounts.…
The currency crisis in Turkey has taken its toll on the fortunes of the country's very wealthiest. The Turkish lira hit a record low on August 13 after sinking almost 21% against the U.S. dollar in just five days. The weaker lira knocked 13 of the 35 Turkish billionaires out of the 10-figure ranks as…
The Saudi government is pushing forward with an ambitious and expensive drive to develop its domestic tourism and entertainment sector, with potentially major consequences for the shape of Saudi society and its economy. On 28 April 2018, King Salman Bin Abdelaziz laid the foundation stone for the Al Qiddiya project, some 40km southwest of Riyadh.…
It’s hard to know if Elon Musk anticipated the uproar his tweets about taking the company private ignited, which in less than a week includes an SEC inquiry and a shareholder suit. But his explanation that Saudi Arabia is behind his “funding secured” comment, at best, suggests he jumped the gun on a half-baked plan. Tesla issued a memo from…
Indian rupee hit an all time low as it reached 70 per US dollar on August 13, in-line with a global depreciation in emerging market currencies sparked off by a fall in the Turkish lira’s value. Over the last weekend the lira’s value—which has dropped by 45% this year against USD—reached as low as 6.99…
Almost half of CEOs in the UAE’s retail industry intend to start using artificial intelligence (AI) in the next two years, as they look for ways to enhance the retail store experience for customers, according to a new survey conducted by KPMG and The Consumer Goods Forum. AI and virtual reality technologies offer a variety…
Residents in Saudi Arabia and the U.A.E. report enjoying a level of well-being that places them higher than countries such as the U.K., France and Singapore, and above the global average, according to a new survey conducted by the health insurance company Cigna. Drawing on 14,467 online interviews, including 502 in the U.A.E., Cigna conducted…
Saudi Aramco, the world’s largest oil exporter has agreed to form a $8 billion joint venture with power generation firm ACWA Power and New York-listed chemicals giant Air Products to build a power and gasification facility at Jazan Economic City (JEC) in Saudi Arabia. Through the new JV Saudi Arabia aims to transform the Jazan…
Jay Srage, Corporate Senior Vice-President at Qualcomm for the Middle East, Africa and Eastern Europe, has spent his career at the forefront of life-changing discoveries—from engineering particles in a lab coat, to developing the regional offices of the world’s largest chip manufacturer. Now he’s on the cusp of heralding a new era in digital connectivity.…
Be it restaurants, hotels, bars or vibrant nightlife hangouts, Nigeria’s hospitality industry pulses and brims with great promise and an army of enterprising Lebanese are cashing in on this industry. As Africa’s most populous nation, the logic is simple – it is a number’s game attributed to a growing middle class, rapid urbanization and a…
Amir Kanaan, Managing Director for the Middle East, Turkey and Africa at global IT security company, Kaspersky Lab, is witnessing growing threats as cybercriminals hunt out vulnerabilities in the region’s digital growth. He’s focusing on education to help businesses and individuals protect themselves. In February 2018, when Amir Kanaan was promoted from General Manager for…
Dubai lender Emirates NBD, which had inked a deal to buy Turkey’s Denizbank earlier this year for a sum of $3.2 billion, could potentially purchase it for much less after the Turkish lira fell. Turkey’s lira hit record lows over the last weekend, exacerbated by the U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from the…