Abu Dhabi’s third annual Franchise Conference and Exhibition brought together more than 200 companies and 500 exhibitors from around the world at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre last week. This year’s event brought in larger numbers of Emirati business leaders and entrepreneurs, with more than 100 exhibitors from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) taking part. Read More »

The Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry was on hand at the third Africa Global Business Forum in Dubai last week to tout the emirate’s new Smart Majlis initiative. The Smart Mijlis platform lets anyone else interested in Dubai to promote and debate new ideas. Those suggestions will be acted on by the government if there’s a possibility of furthering Dubai’s development goals. Read More »

AlSafi Danone, the Arabian arm of the Paris-based packaged food giant Danone Groupe, has bolstered its long-term relationship with the packaging specialists at Tetra Pak by renewing the existing contract. The two companies have worked side-by-side over the last 35 years, building up a successful partnership. Read More »

The Women in the Financial and Banking Sector Conference will take place Nov. 30 at the Four Seasons Hotel, Bahrain Bay. The event is being organized by the Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB ) and the Supreme Council for Women (SCW). The conference's gold sponsor is United Gulf Bank (UGB), and it will be held under the patronage of Princess Sabeeka Bint Ibrahim Al Khalifa, wife of the King of Bahrain and president of the Supreme Council for Women. Read More »

Designed to inspire fledgling entrepreneurs by sharing success stories, Global Entrepreneurship Week, which took place Nov. 15 through 19 in Oman, included both workshops and educational sessions. In one of those sessions, Gulf Energy CEO Hilal Al Busaidi spoke about the challenge of growing a multi-million dollar enterprise in a competitive field. Read More »

During the fourth annual Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) forum, which was held Nov. 18 and 19, Ali Hamed Al-Mulla, assistant secretary general for the industrial projects sector of the Gulf Organization for Industrial Consulting (GOIC), headed a session titled "Indian and GCC Exports Challenges." Read More »

The American Chamber of Commerce Abu Dhabi joined the United States-UAE Business Council recently for an exclusive breakfast event for the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) American business community. The event brought representatives from both organizations together at the St. Regis Abu Dhabi Hotel, where guests were honored with appearances by U.S. Ambassador Barbara Leaf and keynote speaker Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe. Read More »

The Dubai International Financial Center (DIFC) won the Small Energy Projects category at the 2015 Emirates Energy Awards for its energy-saving initiatives at the company’s truck tunnel. The Emirates Energy Awards honor public and private sector environmental efforts and best practices. Organizations win awards for developing sustainable energy efficiency initiatives. Read More »

The Islamic Research and Training Institute and Thomson Reuters will release a set of new studies and reports on the global Islamic finance sector at the World Islamic Banking Conference next month in Bahrain. The conference aims to explore investment opportunities in high-growth emerging Islamic financial markets in Central Asia, North Africa and the Americas. Read More »

The Qatar Ministry of Transport recently launched its new service-based website, developed in partnership with IT solutions provider Gulf Business Machines (GBM). The new website explains the various functions of and services offered by the Ministry of Transport. It also has an interactive map of Qatar that gives information on the Gulf nation’s transportation networks. Read More »

KAMCO, the Kuwaiti investment and asset management firm, recently hosted a job shadowing day to let students interested in business get a taste of what it’s like to work at a major financial institution. The program was part of a partnership with Injaz-Kuwait, an NGO dedicated to developing the students who will become Kuwait’s future business leaders. Read More »

The goal of a new partnership struck between Philips SLC and Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC) is to introduce customers in the Middle East and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to more eco-friendly and sustainable solutions. To that end, SABIC, a global provider of diversified chemicals, and lighting solutions manufacturer Philips SLC have teamed up to launch the Home of Innovation initiative, where Philips will display its most cutting-edge LED lighting systems and solutions. Read More »

The GCC-India Forum is underway in Saudi Arabia’s commercial hub of Jeddah, bringing together business leaders from both regions. This year, an Omani delegation joins the forum. The two-day forum is organized to bring together key players from Gulf zone and Indian companies to network and learn about upcoming business and investment opportunities. Read More »

Oman's Ministry of Gas and Oil recently became the Dubai Mercantile Exchange's (DME) first customer. DME is a brand-new auction system based in the Middle East. Through this platform, the Oman Ministry will be able to sell more spot exports of the sultanate's crude oil. Currently, Oman uses the DME Oman crude oil contract to set the official selling prices for its oil. Read More »

Qatar Airways’ corporate jet division, Qatar Executive, is the Middle East’s first charter business jet operator to receive the Third-Country Operator Safety Certificate from the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). The third-country operator (TCO) safety certificate will allow Qatar Executive flights to enter all European Union (EU) nations. Read More »

The U.S.-based Sabin Vaccine Institute Product Development Partnership (Sabin PDP) has agreed to work with King Saud University to develop better vaccine research and development abilities in the Middle East. The agreement establishes a high-tech vaccine research institute in Saudi Arabia, which Sabin PDP will support by providing the necessary training and technical help to get the research center off the ground. Read More »

Dulsco, the Dubai-based human resource and waste management solutions company, celebrated 80 years in business this year with a special event featuring motivational speaker Brian Tracy. Tracy is one of the world’s most influential speakers and writers on leadership, business success and achieving goals. Read More »

General Automotive Company, Oman’s official distributor for Mitsubishi products, recently launched two new Mitsubishi FUSO Trucks in the Gulf nation – the FUSO FA/FI and the FUSO FJ. The latest models to come to Oman feature cutting-edge engineering to give the trucks top-notch reliability and a flexibility that allows the trucks to tackle a multitude of tasks. Read More »

Greens Real Estate, LLC is offering a large, unfurnished three-bedroom apartment in Falcon Tower in downtown Ajman for $185,127.20. The 2,008-square-foot apartment has three bedrooms and three bathrooms as well as a hall for entertaining. The kitchen is fully equipped with state of the art appliances. A balcony offers fantastic views of the sea. Read More »

Royal Jet, the Abu Dhabi-based airline, recently signed a contract with the United Arab Emirates Armed Forces to provide various technical and operational training services for Air Force staff. “This is an honor to Royal Jet, to be able to provide this specialized training to the next generation of personnel of the Air Force,” Royal Jet Interim President and CEO Patrick Gordon said. Read More »