A health care insurer honored a child as its 200,000th member here yesterday. Two-year-old Hanan Mohamed Al-Qarni, daughter of a security officer at a supermarket chain, was conducted on a tour of all the departments of BUPA Middle East’s headquarters in Jeddah and presented with toys and gifts. The office was decorated with balloons to welcome her. Greeting her were Loay Hisham Nazer, chairman of the BUPA Middle East and the Nazer Group, and other BUPA officials including Director and COO Wayne Close and Human Resource & Development Manager Salah R. Mahmoud. She was also presented with a commemorative plaque and a family weekend getaway at a resort in the city.
PANASONIC
Ten talented students from Dar Al-Hekma College for girls participated in a photography competition organized by Panasonic recently. Held at the La Promenade Café in Jeddah, the Panasonic Tea Party showcased the company’s latest digital still cameras and was attended by more than 100 women. Ryuichiro Tanigawa, GM, corporate communications, Panasonic Marketing Middle East-Saudi Arabia, said: “We’re very impressed by the creativity and high technical standards of the photographs taken by the talented students of Dar Al-Hekma. They all showed a commanding grasp of the advanced technical features of Lumix digital cameras which were used in the competition.” First three prizewinners were Rania Abdulrazek, Lama Assaad and Kholoud Attar. All winners were presented with the latest digital camera from Panasonic, which has introduced five new models from its Lumix range of digital cameras, each with a host of unique features to meet varied requirements of semi-professional and amateur photographers in the region.
SAUDIA/STME
STME, a major enterprise storage solution provider and integrator in the Middle East, has signed a major deal with Saudi Arabian Airlines to revamp the airlines’ storage infrastructure by implementing the latest information storage solution. STME has implemented StorageTek VSM — the state-of-the-art storage Enterprise Tape infrastructure solution from its partner StorageTek — to enable Saudia to meet increased business demands. StorageTek VSM offers high scalability and ensures a high level of data protection. The solution features a high-tech robotic design, and helps improve operating efficiencies and lower total cost of ownership by maximizing the value of storage investments and minimizing the use of mainframe production resources, STME CEO Peter Aubrey said welcoming the partnership.
TOSHIBA
As part of its Middle East expansion plans, Toshiba has appointed i2 as its distribution partner and authorized service provider for Yemen and Iraq. The move comes at a time when demand for notebooks in both markets is growing due to increasing confidence in the future economy and Toshiba views the move as one that will increase its strong foothold on the Middle East notebooks market. Samer Sayed, sales and marketing manager for Toshiba Computer Systems Division for Saudi Arabia, said the agreement with i2 was reached due to its presence in both markets in terms of sales and after-sales service. “i2 is one of the largest mobile phone distributors in the region with more than 250 stores in over 17 countries and is focused on young, tech-savvy market like us,” he said.
GERMAN DELEGATION
A German parliamentary delegation representing various sectors held a roundtable meeting with their counterparts at the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry recently to talk about ways for furthering economic cooperation and trade relations. Discussions revolved around such investment opportunities as in the King Abdullah Economic City, the railroad projects between the different cities and regions and infrastructure projects. There was also special interest in education and training programs. Mazen Batarjee, deputy chairman of JCCI, welcomed the delegation and spoke about Jeddah’s history, the role of the JCCI and the new investment opportunities in the Kingdom. The seven-member parliamentary delegation is from the Friendship Committee representing various sectors - business, education, media, culture, technology, transport, building, labor and defense - that seeks to form friendships with the Arab countries. During their visit to Saudi Arabia they went to the King Abdul Aziz Center for Dialogue, the National Society for Human Rights, the Shoura Council and Saudi-German Friendship Group.
SONY ERICSSON
Building upon its successful global PC Card business, Sony Ericsson yesterday announced the quad band GC86 EDGE PC Card, a successor to the GC85 PC Card. The GC86 features an integrated antenna and offers an optimal combination of performance, design and cost effectiveness for entry-level PC laptop users. It will be available globally in Q3 2006. “We’re seeing rapid growth in demand for EDGE as developing countries in the region begin to catch up in terms of wireless data,” said Husni El-Assi, general manager of Sony Ericsson, Middle East and Africa. “Mobility is now a fact of business life in the Middle East. Access to e-mail and the Internet on the move is essential — it’s no longer acceptable to be disconnected when traveling. The GC86 is designed to offer an entry-level solution.”
UPC
United Properties Company (UPC), a major property service companies in the Kingdom, attracted crowds of investors, businessmen, shopping mall owners and retailers at the four-day Dubai Real Estate Exhibition, which ended in Dubai yesterday. With its experience in land use space programs, designing and revamping numerous malls, the UPC showcased the master plan of major projects that are taking the Kingdom by storm, including Aliat Al-Madina Mall in Madinah and a model of the newly Danan Mall in Yanbu. The stand also displayed and presented the company’s completed projects that demonstrate its capabilities, which include design, market research, mall marketing, leasing and tenant mix, UPC’s Retail Department Vice President Mohammed Alawi said.
INVESTCORP
Investcorp President and CEO Nemir A. Kirdar has been honored by Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. Kirdar was presented with the Global Leadership Award at a formal dinner held in New York this week. The award is in recognition of his distinguished career in international banking and finance, as well as his work to enhance the role of institutions of higher education around the world. Past honorees have included former US Secretary of State Madeline Albright and Richard M. Smith, chairman, CEO and editor-in-chief of Newsweek. Arnaud de Borchgrave, editor-at-large of The Washington Times and senior adviser and director of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, described Nemir Kirdar as a bridge-builder between the Gulf, Europe & North America.
NCB
The National Commercial Bank (NCB) recently sponsored an event for Developmental Mother Endowment in Riyadh under the patronage of Riyadh Governor Prince Salman. The AlNahda Charity Organization organized the event. Prince Salman presented Mahmoud Turkistani, head of community service unit, a plaque. Turkistani said that the bank’s sponsorship of the project was due to the upper management’s sense of national duty toward society. “Hence, its contribution to this sector is part of its effort to repay its debt to the nation,” he said, adding that the bank is dedicated to social and charitable work as well. The AlNahda Charity Organization is committed to completing the Developmental Mother Endowment project on its grounds, north of Riyadh in the Yasmeen district.
O2/INFORMOBILITY
O2, a provider of premium mobile data devices in Asia Pacific, has entered into a strategic alliance with Informobility, a leading Middle East-based provider of mobile and wireless products, services, and solutions. O2 has chosen Informobility’s flagship Fee Jeibi Ein (FJE) series of Arabized products to bundle with its Xda Atom and Xda Atom Pure, both of which were launched to the Middle East market three weeks ago. Running on Windows Mobile 5.0 platform, the Xda Atom and Xda Atom Pure are the world’s smallest multimedia PDA-phones offering the latest in mobile office, messaging and multimedia functionality. Each device will include a Hijri calendar, Islamic prayer-times calendar, and Arabic News Reader, Jaffar Mansour, CEO of Informobility, said.