Ian Burgess, director of service culture, EAME (Europe, Africa, and Middle East Division), Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, recently conducted a brand service culture-training workshop for Sheraton Riyadh Hotel & Towers. A total of 72 management executives, headed by Laurent A. Voivenel, general manager, and his executive committee members as well as other departmental heads completed the 12 modules of the Sheraton service culture training — the “Sheraton brand”, the “Sheraton experience” and “Leading the Sheraton culture.” The focus of the training workshop was on creating an awareness of the Sheraton brand at the corporate level so that a guest imbibes the Sheraton experience in terms of customer service whether he is staying at Sheraton Hotel in Riyadh or any other property managed by Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide. Participants were awarded the certificate of completion.

ETA

An MOU to develop an IT special economic zone was signed by representatives of Gulf-based ETA Star Property developers and the Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation (TIDCO) in the presence of state Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi in Chennai recently. The zone and integrated township, spread over a total of about 350 acres, will come up in Kancheepuram district of the southern Indian state. TIDCO will be a partner in the joint venture project, ETA Startech City. The entire land has been purchased by the ETA Ascon Group, which is involved globally in civil construction, and no acquisition had to be done by the government, the Gulf company said in Jeddah. The project will be implemented over a period of three years. The project consists of row houses, villas, a shopping mall, car parks, hospitals, schools, hotels and serviced and other apartments. IT firms and IT enabled services will occupy 50 acres.

Tetra Pak

Tetra Pak Arabia organized a day of festivity to mark World Milk Day, a global activity promoted by Food & Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in North Obhur, Jeddah, last week. The event was marked by a range of fun activities to raise awareness of the health benefits of milk in general and long life packaged milk in particular. Families and children enjoyed various interactive games, activities, bazaars and giveaways. Tetra Pak Arabia’s local and regional dairy partners like Lacnor, KDD, Tiffany, Saudia, Nada and Safa offered free samples of long life and flavored milk. “The event gave Tetra Pak a great opportunity to raise awareness about the importance of drinking milk among the young and old, and the protection that our packages provide to milk. The event also enabled us to give back to the local communities we operate in,” said Amar Zahid, managing director, Tetra Pak Arabia.

InterContinental

During June, InterContinental Jeddah staff continued to show their support to the general welfare of the community through a blood donation program. With the Ministry of Health’s collaboration, more than 85 of them donated blood at the hotel premises in Jeddah earlier this week. Almost 40 liters of blood with up to five different blood group types were collected by the MOH. In turn, the blood collection will be delivered to the Central Blood Bank. “Setting up a blood donation program by our colleagues was a challenging task but it has really helped serve our community since blood is very important to saving lives,” Saad Khayat, director of sales and marketing said. “We are proud of this achievement and hope to continue to serve the community,” one of the blood donors said.

BIIH

Bahrain-based Board of British Islamic Insurance Holdings (BIIH) has announced an increase in its currently paid up capital from 19 million pounds to 50 million pounds through a private placement with sophisticated high net worth individuals, corporate and institutional investors in the UK and the GCC. The placement is expected to take place after the it has completed the relevant regulatory notification requirements in the GCC. BIIH increased its paid up capital to 19 million pounds in the summer of 2006 when 20 institutional and high net worth investors from the GCC joined as founder shareholders of the company. “Our market research highlighted a bigger opportunity for takaful products in the UK. The targeted capital would make BIIH one of the largest takaful firms,” BIIH Chairman Abdulaziz Hamad Aljomaih said.

MasterCard

MasterCard Worldwide has launched the 2007 MasterCard travel season campaign across Saudi Arabia. The promotion, which runs until Sept. 7, offers MasterCard credit cardholders the opportunity to win up to SR330,000 this summer. Every time credit cardholders from participating banks use their MasterCard credit cards to make purchases at home or abroad during the campaign period, they will be automatically entered into a prize draw, with a total prize pool of SR 330,000. MasterCard also cooperated with the Al-Tayyar Travel Group, the only joint stock company in the travel industry in the Kingdom to offer MasterCard credit cardholders value-added services and special prices. “Al-Tayyar Travel is delighted to team up with MasterCard this summer for the 2007 MasterCard Travel Season Campaign in the Kingdom,” Clive J. Wilkins, group manager of Eagle Holidays, Al-Tayyar Travel Group tourism department, said.