BUSINESS ESSENTIALS

Call for Proposals to identify partners for supporting women’s participation in the Beirut’s Port Explosion response and recovery process, enhancing women’s participation in the country’s political recovery from the explosion, and addressing issues of women and men’s exclusion from relief and recovery due to lack of formal documentation. The Government of Germany, with participation from the Government of Canada and the European Union provided the funding, with UN Women serving as the Fund secretariat, and aims to fund small and emerging womenled or women’s rights organizations from across Lebanon and seeks to compliment the work of the Lebanon Humanitarian Fund.

Abu Dhabi Ports, announced the launch of a major coral relocation and conservation project, in the waters surrounding Khalifa Port. Conducted in partnership with the Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi (EAD), Khalifa Port’s coral relocation forms part of a series of mitigation measures to lessen the environmental impact from dredging, while reclaiming waters that separate the offshore port’s breakwater from the nearby

Ras Ghanada coral reef.

LIXIL EMENA, in partnership with GROHE, launched, an industry-first digital platform for the global sanitary brand, featuring multimedia content that allows visiting business partners and consumers to create their individual brand experience based on their needs.

Genesis Middle East & Africa HQs

announced the opening of the region’s first dedicated Genesis showroom, operated by First Motors, the official distributor of Genesis in Bahrain.

PwC launched its Middle East Sports Survey to review the short and longterm consequences of a crisis unprecedented in the history of modern sport in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and Qatar where the industry is expected to grow the fastest in the region compared to 50 countries across the world.

The American University of Beirut Medical Center announced the launching of its Post COVID Care Clinic (PCCC) at Hamdi al Zaim Interstitial Lung Disease Outpatient Center. In addition to providing multidisciplinary care for COVID-19 survivors, the center will also lead the clinical practice and research on post COVID care in Lebanon and the region.

SAP SE (NYSE: SAP) announced that SAP Ariba solutions has helped Middle East agribusiness Al Dahra save 10 percent to 15 percent in procurement, while helping the region avoid a potential food shortage during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Marriott International, Inc. (NASDAQ: MAR) announced a significant planned expansion of its all-inclusive portfolio through a long-term agreement with Sunwing Travel Group’s hotel division, Blue Diamond Resorts, which has an extensive portfolio of resort properties throughout the Caribbean, Central America and Mexico.

CHEP, the supply chain solutions company, announced a two-year contract renewal plus increased business with Nestlé Middle East & North Africa (MENA) to replace traditional white exchange pallets with a CHEP managed pallet pooling solution throughout the region. The switch from white wood to CHEP pooled pallets is expected to streamline Nestlé’s supply chain, while reducing cost and driving sustainability benefits mainly reducing deforestation and CO2 emissions.

Hyundai Motor Group revealed TIGER (Transforming Intelligent Ground Excursion Robot), the company’s second Ultimate Mobility Vehicle (UMV) and the first designed to be uncrewed.

The transforming intelligent ground excursion robot is designed to carry various types of payload while traveling over challenging terrain.

Marriott Bonvoy, the travel marketplace and highly awarded travel program from Marriott International, released, a redesigned, more intuitive version of its mobile app, in anticipation of increased desire and demand for travel later this year. The program also announced that the app will be available in Arabic starting August.

More than six months after the Port of Beirut explosions, efforts to mitigate the direct impact of the blast continue. To this end, UN-Habitat and the International Islamic Charity Organization (IICO) signed an agreement, on February 12, to rehabilitate 100 damaged residential units in Bourj Hammoud, directly benefiting 500 people.

Nissan began a field test of new mobility services as part of a partnership to promote future community building in Japan. The partnership agreement between three local governments and eight companies aims to develop new modes of transportation and promote the use of renewable energy in the Hamadori area of Japan’s Fukushima Prefecture. The overall goal is to help develop a revitalized, resilient, and sustainable low-carbon community. Nissan’s involvement in the project is part of the company’s vision of enriching people’s lives and its global efforts to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.

Hyundai Motor Company released new images revealing the spacious and versatile interior of the muchanticipated IONIQ 5, which made its virtual world premiere on February 23.

Khurram Shroff, the Chairman of Dubai’s IBC Group, pledged 100,000 Bitcoins (current value of $4.8 billion) to set up the Miami 2.0 Blockchain Strategy Foundation and many other related joint venture projects on

February 16. Mr. Shroff’s backing of Miami 2.0 Blockchain Strategy could turbo-charge use of the cryptocurrency, which is estimated to transact $200 billion per day by the end of 2021.

Huawei announced the appointment of Jian Wang (Ethan) as the new CEO of its Huawei Jordan and Lebanon operations who will carry on leading the company’s efforts of supporting both countries’ digital economies to drive growth.

Abu Dhabi Exports Office (ADEX), the export-financing arm of Abu

Dhabi Fund for Development (ADFD), signed an AED 22 million ($6 million) loan agreement with the Egypt-based Emirati firm Jenaan Pipes & Irrigation Systems SAE for importing raw material from the petrochemicals company Borouge to manufacture and supply irrigation systems to one of the world’s largest refineries situated in Egypt.

Palo Alto Networks (NYSE: PANW) announced the release of its clouddelivered security platform Prisma Access 2.0 for securely enabling workfrom-anywhere. Prisma Access 2.0 introduces new enhancements, including self-healing infrastructure, ML-powered security to help prevent attacks in real time, cloud SWG capabilities for a secure web gateway regardless of user location, and a reimagined cloud management experience.

The contributed an additional € 4.3 million to UNICEF’s No Lost Generation programme for vulnerable children in Lebanon. The new contribution will improve the well-being of vulnerable girls, boys, and young people – namely by increasing learning opportunities through non-formal education and skills development, and reducing risks of violence and abuse while alleviating economic hardship by providing cash assistance. In doing so, the programe will contribute to the fight against child labor and child marriage.

Government of Finland On World Cancer Day (February

4), the Cancer Prevention and Control Program at the Naef K. Basile Cancer Institute (NKBCI) at the American

University of Beirut Medical Center, in collaboration and provider-ship with King Hussein Cancer Foundation and Center (KHCC), held a virtual awareness meeting under the title of “Cancer Prevention and Control Redefined Amid COVID-19” in Lebanon and the region.

Emirates became among the first airlines in the world to operate a flight with fully vaccinated frontline teams servicing customers at every touchpoint of the travel journey.

Experience Hub, the destination partner of Abu Dhabi’s leisure and entertainment hub Yas Island, was the winner of three categories at this year’s Gulf Customer Experience Awards. Experience Hub’s expert Customer Experience team won the following three awards: Overall Winner for the Gulf Customer Experience Awards; Best Contact Centre – Gold Award; and Employee Engagement & Happiness – Silver Award. This year’s awards ceremony was held live in Dubai on February 22.

Australia’s Victoria premium food suppliers revealed that the UAE and Saudi Arabia were the highest value food and fiber export markets in the MENA region during 2019-2020.

MENA lifestyle retail company AZADEA Group announced the acquisition of the operations and franchise rights of Adidas and Reebok in Lebanon that will bring back the international sports brands to the Lebanese market and consumers. AZADEA Group will gradually reopen Adidas and Reebok stores across Lebanon, starting April 2021, in addition to e-commerce expansion plans.

Huawei Consumer Business Group (BG) announced its flagship HUAWEI Mate X2, the new-generation foldable smartphone with the new Falcon Wing Design and new mobile technology functionalities.

Global footwear brand Skechers is donating more than 52,000 pairs of BOBS shoes to children impacted by the Beirut port explosion, set to be distributed by the Lebanese non-profit organization Ahla Fawda, with help from Soles4Souls and additional coordination from Cisco, bringing total donations by Skechers to children worldwide to 16 million new pairs of shoes.

Banque BEMO is launching a Deposit Protection Program in collaboration with “BEMO Europe – Banque Privée” targeting Fresh Funds deposits held by individuals or companies, up to an amount of $50,000.

The UAE’s DIFC Academy has partnered with EdAid, the Londonbased FinTech platform dedicated to increasing access to higher education, to launch the online Future Campus. The platform will offer online education opportunities to UAE nationals and residents from leading global academic institutions.

JGroup, a Lebanon-based holding company with a vast portfolio of subsidiaries and investments across the Middle East, Europe, Asia, and United States, announced the renewal of their media representation contract with Iraqi satellite TV, Alsumaria and its subsidiaries Sumer FM and Alsumaria.tv. The contract is renewed for five more years.

Hope Consortium, an Abu Dhabi-led public-private partnership delivering large quantities of COVID-19 vaccines globally, is utilizing its internally developed “mUnity” system to ensure full visibility, safety and security, and tamper-proof distribution of the COVID-19 vaccines, despite the complexities of their transportation.

Qatar Islamic Insurance Group (QIIG) entered into a digital transformation partnership with global technology company SAP to enhance customer services.

Bahrain Airport Services, which plays a strategic role in the operations of Bahrain International Airport, announced a partnership with global technology company SAP to digitally transform Bahrain’s aviation market post-COVID-19.