Starting from mid-May, Snoonu has transitioned exclusively to car deliveries for the summer season Snoonu is Qatar's home-grown success story that aims to be the first local Unicorn company Qatar’s leading tech startup, Snoonu, has announced the launch of its ‘No Riders Under the Sun’ initiative, aimed at preserving the...

M2P Solutions works with over 500 fintechs across Asia, Middle East It has also partnered with over 30 banks in different countries to deliver on the API capabilities     M2P Solutions, the API Infrastructure company that started operations in the Middle East earlier this year with Abu Dhabi as...

EMEA awards recognize the financial performance, banking excellence and innovative products  

The company also took part in 20 percent startup funding in the Middle East

The company is also auditing vendors and supply chain for compliance with fair trade manufacturing and ethical practices It has teamed up with Dubai Carbon Center of Excellence Virgin Mobile Middle East and Africa has pledged to deliver products and services that make a positive impact on society and environment,...

  The Middle East and Africa personal computer devices market will see a decline of 2.4 percent year-on-year in the second quarter of 2021 However, the overall outlook for the region for this fiscal is that the PDC market will grow by 4.8 percent The Middle East and Africa personal...

  Svinger will oversee the strategic expansion of 3M across the region The appointment further strengthens 3M’s developing business in the MEA region 3M Wednesday announced the appointment of Laszlo Svinger as its new Vice President and Managing Director, Middle East, and Africa. In his role, Svinger will oversee the...

  Marine segment is a critical market for Cummins in the region Cummins offers both commercial and recreational marine diesel engines, marine application engineering services and a global parts and service network Cummins’ marine segment has been bolstered by a spike in the oil prices in the Middle East, where...

The WPP, the company Sorrell founded in 1985 has become the biggest advertising and communications group in the world The advertising marketing industry has shifted from Beirut to Dubai, and now to Riyadh Sir Martin Sorrell, the noted adman who founded the largest agency in the world, has forecast Riyadh...

Cyble was recognized by Forbes as one of the top 20 best cybersecurity startups to watch in 2020

Pall will lead the next phase of growth for Uber’s ride-sharing business across the region

Office will serve as a coordinating hub across 13 countries in the Middle East Best Tourism Villages of the World certification announced as one of the first initiatives driven by the office The first United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) regional office was officially opened today in Riyadh by UNWTO...

Cummins aspires to reinforce its capabilities to bring best-in-class engineering solutions The company, with its storied 100-year history, has a solid presence in Mideast Cummins has announced the addition of Cummins Kuwait to its strong distribution network. With this addition, Cummins aspires to further strengthen its scale and capabilities to...

GPF hopes appointment will strengthen its business ties with the region Active in 88 countries, GPF fosters business relations between French-speaking countries Jean Marie Bockel has been appointed as the new ambassador in charge of the Middle East at the Groupement du Patronat Francophone (GPF), the official group of employers...

Hike to compensate additional costs in freight, logistics The company plans more measures to address CO2 emission costs Birla Carbon, a supplier of carbon black, is set to increase the price for all its products made in Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region by euro 97/MT starting from June...

Turkey is all set to go for polls on June 24 to elect a head of state and a new parliament in what is widely seen as the most hotly contested and divisive poll in the country’s history, though it is a contest even many in the opposition privately admit...

By Charles Galunic Going digital requires a lot of change management and perhaps more time and energy is spent here than on anything else. Why would that be the case? As we are discussing it quite frequently, organizations on the digital journey may need to rethink core roles and processes....

The British Museum in London will open two new galleries in October with material from the Middle East, tracing the rich history and culture of the region. One gallery will feature ceramics, glass and metalwork, while the other will display some 3,000-plus examples of textiles. The British Museum’s Curator for...

Monday May 28 saw another price tumble for oil prices, after crashing down last Friday. The correction is mainly due to Saudi and Russia declaring their intent to increase oil supplies by some 1 million bpd as compensation to Venezuela’s output dropping to 1.5 million bpd in April, a fall...

By Hugo Angelmar Breaking the conversation in three parts helps people translate their strengths and interests in the tech world. Specifically, it’s important to look at the target customer, the variety of marketing roles and the stage of financing of the company. In fact, it is very essential to focus...

Weeks after Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, US secretary of state Mike Pompeo has threatened to impose some of the strongest sanctions on Iran. Terming them as ‘strongest in history’, Pompeo has urged Iran to immediately stop its missile tests, halt its entire nuclear...

When last December the Iraqi government declared victory over the co-called Islamic State group (IS), many in Iraq and elsewhere spoke of a new era of peace and reconstruction. Haider al-Abadi, prime minister, attributed the defeat of IS to “unity”, and the parliament election of May 12 would, many hoped,...

British Museum in London will in October open two new galleries with material from the Middle East, tracing the rich history and culture of the region. One will feature ceramics, glass and metalwork. The other will display some of the 3,000 examples of textiles held by the museum. Fahmida Suleman,...

Louise Beveridge, Business Communicator, Educator and Speaker, speaks to TRENDS on why it is important to enhance the Arab women representation in the boardrooms. Beveridge participated in the Top CEO Conference & Awards, which was held at the King Abdullah Economic City, Saudi Arabia, on April 10 and 11. How...

By Stanislav Shekshnia, Kirill Kravchenko and Elin Williams We often hear that running a large company is one of the most complex jobs in the world. Business schools, strategic consultancies, headhunting firms, training providers, executive coaches all have a tendency to mystify the work of the CEO. However, effective CEOs...

Despite all odds, Russia looks consistent with its Middle East policies as it is relentlessly trying to cement formidable ties with this region. Unlike the US, and despite disturbed geopolitics, Russia has utilized all the available opportunities to find a new ally in the form of Middle East. The academicians,...

The recent move of the US president Donald Trump, intended to terminate the 2015-nuclear pact with Iran, has further escalated the environment of uncertainty in the region. Besides indicating toward the upcoming instability and disturbed geopolitical equations in the region, this termination also holds many long-term economic repercussions. After months...

King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC) in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, was the centre of attraction as TRENDS, along with INSEAD Business School, held the Top CEO Conference & Awards 2018 on April 10 and 11. Into its fourth edition, the two-day mega event witnessed scores of top chief executives of publicly...

The fifth edition of arab luxury world, the Middle East’s leading conference on the business of luxury, has drawn to a successful close. This year, regional and global experts from the world of luxury converged at the JW Marriott Marquis Dubai, to discuss ‘The New Consumer, Consumption, and Change.' The...

In 1978, Egyptian journalist Mohamed Heikal declared in his book Sphinx & Commissar that Soviet influence in the Middle East was a “spent force”, undermined by Moscow’s inability to be both a superpower and “the bastion of world revolution”.  One decade later, as the Soviet Union collapsed in 1989-91, some...

The private sector can become a positive force of change through competition and innovation. TRENDS talks to Martin Roll, a top-notch Business & Brand Strategist, on why It is critical for businesses to develop products that redefine their category, delighting customers with the unexpected, thereby cementing emotional bonds. Roll will be...

After witnessing sluggish growth rates for the past few years, Middle Eastern nations finally have something to cheer about as the new financial year promises an economic rebound. Most rating agencies and international organizations forecast the regional GDP growth to recover to 2.3 percent on an average in 2018-19, as...

By Tim Kennedy Several millennia ago, the common house cat (Felis silvestriscatus) was revered in ancient Egypt and conferred the name “Mau”, a godlike honorific. Mau were welcome in households because of their ability to kill rats, mice and even snakes such as cobras.  Egypt’s Pharaonic royal families also admired...

Years of painstaking efforts toward reforms and diversification undertaken by the governments in the GCC region seem to be finally paying off. The World Bank in its biannual Gulf Economic Monitor report has predicted a new financial year of hope and optimism, with economic growth peaking to 2.1 percent, from...

In its massive drive to lessen its dependence on hydrocarbons and make earth a better place to live, GCC region is moving fast in the direction of renewables. Right from building the world’s largest solar energy part, to using latest technologies in harnessing wind energy, to going big in the...

Turkey is stepping up its investments in its defense industries, aiming to reduce its dependence on imports and insulate the country’s military capacity from embargoes and blockades, while also seeking to expand the reach of the Turkish armed forces, though it is doubtful if all of the targets set by...

By Ian C. Woodward, Dubai High altitudes hold a special place in the history of human achievement. We remember New Zealander mountaineer Sir Edmund Hillary and Nepalese sherpa Tenzing Norgay as the first climbers to reach the summit of Mount Everest. Other altitude pioneers include Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, the...

By Al Emid The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has undergone significant transformations in the relatively recent past. In 1927, the United Kingdom acknowledged the independence of the Kingdom of Hejaz and Najd, and, in 1932, the House of Saud proclaimed its unification as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia under Ibn...

Plummeting GDPs, fluctuating oil prices, a drying up of liquidity, weaker market sentiments, frequent rising or falling prices due to inflation or deflation… these are some of the predicaments that Middle East region is jostling with for the last over a decade. So are these the signs of another economic...

The public sector is being transformed under the ‘platform-economy’ model, evolving former silo-based entities into interconnected ones. TRENDS talks to Xavier Anglada, Managing Director – Accenture Digital Lead, Middle East, North Africa and Turkey, about the new digital technologies that will have a major impact on public service business models. Anglada...

Traditional ways of looking at cyber security from a pure IT lens is no longer going to yield desired benefits. TRENDS talks to Raj Mehta, Partner, Deal Advisory, KPMG, on why this calls for an organizational shift in moving the cyber security function to a wider level in the organization....

Businesses are evolving at a rapid pace in the region and with the help of technology many new jobs have been created while adding an element of swiftness in traditional jobs. TRENDS talks to Ghada Elkeissi, Director, Software Engineering & Analytics, GE Digital, Middle East & Africa, about the importance...

Arab News has unveiled a new identity and a “2020 vision” to cement its positioning as the leading Middle East English-language daily. The newspaper, which is based in Saudi Arabia with bureaus across the world, also has a new tagline: The Voice of a Changing Region. The changes were unveiled...

A massive economic diversification exercise is underway in the Middle East to gradually end dependency on fossil fuels for a sustainable future. One sector, which has immensely benefitted from the exercise is that of renewable energy. Over the years, it has not only emerged as a reliable and viable means...

While speaking exclusively with TRENDS at World Economic Forum at Davos, Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, Group Chairman and CEO, DP World, says the world is witnessing a positive shift in terms of sustainability. What would you say about the economic outlook for 2018? How is it being reflected in the shipping and transport...

Middle East investors have always been interested in the real estate market of the British city of London but lately the investment has seen a dramatic upsurge. According to market reports, billions have been poured in by regional investors in commercial as well as luxury residential properties in London and...

By Gareth Smyth When Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri took to Saudi television in November to resign and accuse the Shia group Hezbollah of planning his assassination, some amount of capital vacated Lebanon. But the market reaction was muted, with private-sector deposits at commercial banks falling just 1.5 percent month-on-month....

By Gianmario Pisanu In 2015, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia launched Vision 2030, an ambitious reform plan aimed at diversifying the economy by moving away from oil and encouraging the development of stronger private and public sectors. The plan streamlined and centralized decision-making to ensure better coordination between ministries and...

By Gareth Smyth On December 18, 2017, a visiting delegation from the International Monetary Fund gave a generally upbeat assessment of the Iranian economy, estimating 4.2 percent GDP growth in the current fiscal year ending in March. Ten days later, protests broke out in Iran’s north-eastern Iranian city of Mashhad,...

By Al Emid The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia currently stands at so many crossroads — and rather complex ones, it may be added — that a short magazine article cannot do more than just consider some of the more striking examples. The paths that KSA chooses at these crossroads will...