GO
Etihad Atheeb Telecom (GO) won the Best New Entrant award in the telecom sector for 2009 at a ceremony held in Dubai to announce the Telecoms World Middle East Awards 2009. Ahmed Abbas Sindi, CEO of the company, and a number of senior officials of the telecom sector in the Middle East were among those present. Telecoms World Middle East Awards is considered as one of the most significant telecommunications awards in the region. Sindi said: “Winning the Best New Entrant award is an honor given its significance in the telecoms sector and the strict evaluation criteria on which it relies. We owe this win to the directives of the esteemed board of directors, led by Prince Abdulaziz bin Ahmed bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, the chairman of the board, and the continuous efforts of the executive management and employees of the company for almost two years since the foundation of the company and less than six months into operation. GO deservedly earned this award which will act as an incentive to continue providing the best and latest of 4G technologies in Data and Voice services.”
GIGASET
Gigaset Communications aims to achieve profitable growth in its core business through regional expansion, innovation and high-quality products. “We will primarily focus on Saudi Arabia, India and Egypt. We will try to boost our market share through our high-quality products,” Hasan Palandoken, vice president sales MEA & APAC of Gigaset Communications, said while addressing media persons in Jeddah recently. “We have a distributor-led business model in the region. We have successfully aligned with 13 distributors in the region including Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, Lebanon and India,” he said. Gigaset, previously a telephone business of Siemens mobile, claims to be market leader for DECT phones in Europe and one of the largest manufacturers of cordless phones worldwide. “Gigaset market share for MEA and APAC regions is over 25 percent in the cordless Voice category. The estimated size of the market is over 70 million connections in the Middle East and India,” Shahzad Ahmed, director — marketing, Gigaset Dubai, said. “The Saudi market share is about 30 to 35 percent and is growing very fast. We sell more than 100,000 units annually in the Kingdom,” Ameen Mubarak, division manager, IT solutions at Ahmed Abdulwahed Co., the Gigaset distribution partner in Saudi Arabia, said.
CATALOG SHOW
The commercial section of the Consulate General of India, in cooperation with Jazan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, organized a two-day catalogue show of Indian companies over the weekend. The show was formally inaugurated jointly by chamber Chairman Nasser bin Abdu Muri and Mohammed Rashid Khan, consul (commercial) at the consulate. On the sidelines of the show, meetings were held with the top officials of the chamber, which also discussed the prospects of new tie-ups with Indian companies in various sectors. Khan highlighted the vast market potential of Indian products and investment opportunities in India for Saudi businessmen. Members of the chamber expressed their interest in improving bilateral linkages and exchange of business delegations.
ISUZU
Bakhashab Brothers Holding Company, the authorized dealer for Isuzu Motors Ltd. in Saudi Arabia, held a press conference in Jeddah to celebrate the first in a series of draws, at which recent buyers of Isuzu trucks are eligible to win SR50,000 in cash each. Overall, the company will give away more than SR1 million during this promotion. The company announced at the ceremony that it had maintained its dominant position as the leading trucks in Saudi Arabia, in spite of the worldwide economic downturn. Company President Hisham Khalid Bakhashab said: “These are tough times around the world, especially for the automotive business. But in spite of that, Isuzu trucks have continued to perform extremely well in Saudi Arabia. Isuzu maintained its amazing 80 percent market share in the ultra-competitive light truck segment, and we at Bakhashab exceeded our internal sales targets by 27 percent overall, proving that — more than ever — Isuzu trucks are the most reliable, hard-working, value-providing trucks for Saudi companies, private businessmen and individual truck users of all ages and professions.”
BURJ DUBAI
Emaar Properties, the developer of Burj Dubai, has unveiled a comprehensive new website dedicated to the world’s tallest building at www.burjdubai.com. The interactive portal provides a fascinating in-depth introduction to every aspect of life, work and leisure inside the world’s first “Vertical City.” Burj Dubai will be inaugurated on Jan. 4, which marks the fourth anniversary of the Accession Day of Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum as the ruler of Dubai. The new website caters to the growing international interest in the tower. Burj Dubai will soon become a vibrant community as well as a breathtaking structure, a city within a city where thousands of people come to live, work and to enjoy its astonishing facilities for entertainment and hospitality. The website is a window through which any visitor, be they a new arrival in Dubai, a long-time resident, or a foreign traveler planning his or her first trip to the UAE, can gain the most comprehensive knowledge of the world’s tallest building. Burj Dubai stands at more than 800 meters (over 2,625 ft) high and is already the world’s tallest man-made structure.
P&G
P&G Arabian Peninsula, represented by Modern Products Company (Jeddah) and Modern Industries Company (Dammam), which produces a number of “superior quality products that improve the lives of consumers every day,” has been recognized for its commitment to employees, with the “Kingdom Employer of the Year” award for the private sector that it received at the Kingdom Human Assets Expansion Awards and gathering in Riyadh recently. The award seeks to distinguish the organization that has made the biggest strides to assemble a complete and fully functioning workplace. P&G’s demonstration of excellence in human resources came through multiple systems supporting its employees to perform at their peak to provide superior quality products and services that improves the lives of its consumers. Its “manager-employee relationships” and the “employee wellness” initiatives impressed an independent panel of judges selected from the Middle East’s HR and business community.
ETIHAD
Etihad Airways has picked up top honors at the Arabian Sponsorship Awards for its support of the inaugural Formula 1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. The Abu Dhabi-based airline picked up the award in the international sponsorship category at a ceremony in the UAE capital recently. Etihad’s Chief Commercial Officer Peter Baumgartner said: “Etihad’s sponsorship of the inaugural Formula 1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix showcased both Etihad and Abu Dhabi to a global audience of more than 600 million people. “Recognized as one of the biggest and most prestigious sporting events in the world, courted by leading companies and countries alike, the Abu Dhabi F1 weekend provided unprecedented presence, visibility and credibility for a new airline brand launched only six years ago.
AQUAFINA
Within one year of it’s launch in the Saudi market, PepsiCo International has announced receiving the nationally acclaimed quality mark from the Saudi Arabian Standards Organization (SASO) for high quality bottled water brand “Aquafina” after passing all the necessary quality tests. Aquafina was very proud of the SASO accreditation on the brand only one year after its launch in the Kingdom, recognizing that the product conforms to the technical regulations and quality standards of bottled water in the Kingdom. The SASO prestigious quality mark is an important achievement that places Aquafina high among the leading consumer brands that have been awarded this accreditation and further enhances consumer trust in the brand. The purity of Aquafina product is guaranteed and SASO has awarded the quality mark to Al-Jomaih Bottling Plants in Riyadh and the Saudi Industrial Projects Company in Jeddah, where both plants have achieved the necessary levels of quality for bottled water, which has been confirmed by SASO as safe for sale and consumption. In the Middle East and North Africa, Aquafina is subjected to a rigorous purification process called Hydro 7, which is made up of seven integrated stages to remove the natural particles and unnecessary salts followed by a final purification process. Although a costly process that is unique to Aquafina, it distinguishes the brand from its competitors making it the purest water ever.
BOSCH
A new predictive emergency braking system to be rolled out by Bosch in 2010 could help significantly improve road safety throughout the Middle East. The new system has the potential to avert three out of four injury causing rear-end collisions. Middle Eastern countries are intensifying their road safety programs in response to the WHO’s warning that road-related crashes will become the number one cause of death by 2020 unless positive actions are taken. They are particularly focusing on the four hazard control measures of elimination, engineering, education and enforcement. Bosch will support the Engineering dimension by introducing a predictive emergency braking system that will provide drivers with support on three levels. “More intelligence is being built into braking systems to enable them to assess traffic conditions and provide additional braking support as needed. Rather than being sold off as separate equipment, such systems are already being built into entire automobile lines. By next year we will be installing predictive systems into Audi vehicles, which are very popular in the Middle East. With governments such as the UAE spending heavily into road safety, the introduction of our new system next year represents a significant step toward better regional prevention of road accidents,” said Volker Bischoff, GM, Robert Bosch ME.
AUTODESK
The Oman construction industry is expected to hit 1.57 billion Omani rials by 2013 — a 2.7 percent annual increase, and is likely to remain high according to Business Monitor International (BMI), a major research company in the Middle East. Amid rapidly expanding population and demand for infrastructure projects, OMNIX International, a leading regional technology service provider and integrator in the Middle East and regional distributor of Autodesk products, is eyeing the growing demand for more cost effective and resource-efficient buildings and infrastructure in the Sultanate. In line with this, the company, in partnership with value added reseller IMTAC LLC unveiled the “Autodesk Revit 2010” software portfolio in Oman at a ceremony in Muscat.