Posts

Showing posts from November, 2022

Amazon.sa’s Investments in Saudi Arabia will Continue to Expand Across Several Businesses

Image
Amazon.sa recently opened its new office in Riyadh, housing employees from various sectors of the company’s operations in the Kingdom. The company’s new offices in Riyadh will support Amazon’s commitment to bringing world-class e-commerce and logistics expertise to Saudi Arabia, delighting customers, empowering independent sellers, and nurturing an environment for the Kingdom’s talent to learn new skills.  Ronaldo Mouchawar, Vice President of Amazon Middle East and North Africa (MENA), shed light on Amazon’s ongoing expansion and investment in Saudi Arabia’s growing digital economy to support the Kingdom’s social and economic progress in line with Saudi Vision 2030. Mouchawar said: “Our new offices at the Riyadh Front Tower are equipped to accommodate more than 350 employees, paving the way for local talents to join the team across various areas of the business from retail, Amazon Payment Services, Alexa and devices, to Amazon Advertising, and more, increasing innovation and solutions

Baseball United set for inaugural Dubai showcase in 2023 after ownership change

Image
The United International Baseball League, a professional competition created to serve the Middle East and South Asia, has announced its name change to Baseball United. The rebranding comes with new ownership and funding, as the league builds partnerships with baseball federations in more than 50 countries worldwide. With the change in ownership, the inaugural Baseball United Showcase featuring the league’s first four franchises will now take place in Dubai in the fall of 2023. In addition to its professional league, the Baseball United ecosystem will encompass youth academies, clothing and merchandise, international content and media, and global nonprofit outreach. With its new structure, Baseball United becomes only the second minority-owned professional sports league in American history. The new company’s ownership group includes baseball hall of famers Barry Larkin and Mariano Rivera, as well as award-winning executive and entrepreneur, Kash Shaikh, and former New York Police Depart

Egyptian eco-friendly water bottle launched on sidelines of COP27

Image
Egyptian-produced eco-friendly water bottles are taking pride of place on the tables of world leaders and delegates attending the COP27 climate summit. The recently launched Good Water bottles are being distributed around a host of events taking place at the UN conference on climate change in Sharm El-Sheikh. As part of Egypt’s vision toward a more sustainable and environmentally friendly future, hundreds of young people have been handing out the mineral water bottles which are made from plant materials and fitted with caps manufactured using a biopolymer derived from sugar cane. Following the product launch on the sidelines of COP27, the inexpensive, blue, 500-mililiter Good Water bottles will go on sale in Egypt at the beginning of next year. The water is sterilized before being packaged in cartons to protect it from light. Designed to meet internationally approved environmental standards, the production process does not use any fossil fuel, the bottles can be reused, and they decomp

Saudi startup Uvera moves up as a finalist for Global FoodTech Challenge

Image
Saudi startup Uvera has been selected as one of the 12 finalists for the second edition of the global FoodTech Challenge, which is organized by the UAE Ministry of Climate Change and Environment and Tamkeen, with ASPIRE as the lead partner. The 12 finalists moved forward to the final stage of the competition where four winning startups will be selected for the pooled prize of up to $2 million from an initial submission of 667 applications across 79 countries, followed by a further shortlist of 30 finalists, according to a statement. The final 12 startups represent markets across the UAE, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Spain, the UK and the US. Five of the 12 finalists focus on food production. This will include fog-based technology that delivers more nutritious crops with 95 percent less water, using food waste to create all-natural insect products to support food production, growing plant-based protein on non-arable land, and optimizing soil quality for maximum watering eff

Saudi women creatives launch model scouting startup to bridge client and talent gap

Image
 On an ordinary November night in 2020, Lina Malaika and Farah Hammad had a conversation that changed their lives. In the midst of the global pandemic, the pair decided to embark on a business partnership that they hoped would elevate their communities and carve out a new path for them in the business world. Both women are established in their own right: Malaika has been in the creative industry for over a decade as a filmmaker, designer and entrepreneur; and Hammad is a fashion designer with an acute eye for color and texture and a repertoire that spans several continents. “Basically, me and Lina are talent agents — Clay is the name under us. We are not an agency yet — that’s the plan. Hopefully, we get investors and we become a proper agency. But for now, we are two talent agents,” Hammad told Arab News. It all started when they met in September 2020, and shortly afterwards decided to launch their business, Clay Models. It was Malaika’s brainchild. She got her start at Destination Je

Asharq News boss honored at annual Peacock Awards

Image
Palestinian broadcast journalist Dr. Nabeel Alkhatib has been named the best general manager of a news services company in the Middle East at a prestigious annual awards event. The media entrepreneur collected his Peacock Award at a ceremony held on Wednesday evening at the St. Regis Hotel Amman in Jordan. Alkhatib is general manager of Asharq News, whose subsidiary Asharq Business with Bloomberg was also recognized at the event, picking up the “Best Economic News on Social Media Platforms” prize. The Peacock Awards honor the best use of social media by individuals and organizations. Asharq Business with Bloomberg is a multi-platform business news service that offers round-the-clock coverage in Arabic, with a focus on regional and global economics. It is part of Riyadh-based Asharq News, which is a subsidiary of Saudi Research and Media Group. The company said it aims to “become the premier Arabic-language business news provider, using multiple platforms to reach business leaders as we

Two Saudi teams qualify to attend Apple Entrepreneur Camp in California

Image
  Two Saudi teams from the Riyadh-based all-female Apple Developer Academy have been selected to attend the Apple Entrepreneur Camp in California taking place between Nov. 7–11. The first team qualified for their HOVER application which offers a market that links customers with drone operators to deliver the services they desire and the numerous tools a drone operator needs, Saudi Press Agency reported. The second team qualified for their AWARE application which provides a service for people looking for reliable reviews and recommendations on skincare products and that determines their care routine. The camp focuses on apps that participants have created or co-created, giving them the opportunity to work closely with Apple engineers and experts to accelerate and drive app growth.

Can the Democrats keep control of the US House?

Image
Five days after the US midterm elections there remains a very narrow path for the Democrats to retain control of the US House of Representatives. It's going to be “perilously close”, President Joe Biden said on Sunday. Such an outcome would defy almost all polls and predictions going into the November 8 elections, and would deal a stunning rebuke to the Republican Party, which supposedly had massive advantages in recent weeks including an uncertain economy, high inflation and low approval ratings for Mr Biden. Read More : https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/us-news/2022/11/13/can-the-democrats-keep-control-of-the-us-house/

UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace calls Russia’s retreat from Kherson a 'strategic failure'

Image
Russia’s withdrawal from Kherson will bring “significant reputational damage”, according to British defence experts. Russia finished withdrawing its troops from the city on Friday. UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said Russia’s retreat marked “another strategic failure” and he pledged continued British support for Ukraine. “The Russian army has suffered a huge loss of life as a result of their illegal invasion and have only achieved international isolationism and humiliation,” he said. “Ukraine will press on.” Read More : https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/uk-news/2022/11/12/uk-defence-secretary-ben-wallace-calls-russias-retreat-from-kherson-a-strategic-failure/

Failed crypto exchange FTX hacked, reports say

Image
Cryptocurrency exchange FTX said in its official Telegram channel that it had been hacked and instructed users not to install any new upgrades and to delete all FTX apps, according to a report by Coindesk. FTX and FTX US’s wallets appear to be hacked, with more than $600 million leaving the exchange late on Friday, the report said. “FTX has been hacked. FTX apps are malware. Delete them. Chat is open. Don’t go on FTX site as it might download Trojans,” wrote an account administrator in the FTX support Telegram chat. The message was pinned by FTX general counsel Ryne Miller. Mr Miller also tweeted on Saturday that the exchange was investigating abnormalities with wallet movements related to consolidation of FTX balances across exchanges. “Investigating abnormalities with wallet movements related to consolidation of FTX balances across exchanges — unclear facts as other movements not clear. Will share more info as soon as we have it,” the tweet read. Mr Miller said on Twitter that FTX is