DEUTSCHE BANK

The Deutsche Bank Middle East Foundation in partnership with Bader Young Entrepreneurs Program announced recently the launch of the Deutsche Bank Awards in Lebanon. This marks the first time that the Deutsche Bank Awards have been offered outside of the UK, where they have been in place since 1993. The awards offer practical and financial support to artists, craftspeople, designers and performers to start a business or carry out a project. As a first step, Deutsche Bank will be offering two awards to Lebanese candidates at 10,000 euro each. The foundation is also considering rolling out the awards across the Middle East in the future. Henry Azzam, chairman of the Deutsche Bank Middle East Foundation and the bank's regional CEO, said: "The idea behind the Deutsche Bank Awards is to foster creative enterprises, by not only lending financial support but by offering business planning guidance and mentoring as well. We are pleased to have partnered with Bader, an organization with a strong record of support for young entrepreneurs, to launch this initiative." Bader Young Entrepreneur Program President Robert Fadel said: "Creativity is a great asset of Lebanon and a wonderful way to promote the "Lebanese savoir-faire." The creative industry can also play an important role in the development of the Lebanese entrepreneurial ecosystem as it can lead to the creation of small and medium size (SME) companies."
 
SAMSUNG WAVE

Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., a mobile phone provider, has announced the commercial availability of the Samsung Wave in the Saudi market. Unveiled at events in Riyadh and Jeddah, the Wave is the first smartphone based on Samsung's new, open smartphone platform, bada, and is the cornerstone of the company's commitment to “smartphone democratization.” With the launch of the Wave, Samsung is actively constructing a total eco-system around bada platform including Samsung Apps. Samsung Apps will be available in 80 countries when the Wave launches, and will increase the premium content and applications pool through collaboration with partner companies and developers. The availability of the Samsung bada Software Development Kit (SDK) will ensure that consumers can experience a steady stream of new applications that support bada platform. The beta version of the SDK was recently made available to applications' developers, and the complete bada SDK 1.0.0 will be available for download shortly. "The Samsung Wave represents our strategy to deliver rich, exciting smartphone experiences to everyone," said Andrew Shin, business manager of mobile phones at Samsung Electronics in the Kingdom. "This launch will make our platform vision a reality and consumers, developers and operators will experience the freedom of choice that bada enables."
 
CARTIER

As part of Cartier's responsibility toward the society and as a reflection of the company's value of generosity, Cartier has been traditionally committed to support different humanitarian associations around the globe. For the last few years, Cartier has been strongly reaffirming its dedication toward the communities through the successful “LOVE Charity” campaign that helped raise a considerable amount of money worldwide serving the underprivileged. The ENSAN Orphans Organization in the Kingdom has played an admirable role in supporting orphaned children in Riyadh through various educational, social and health initiatives, assisting more than 16,000 orphans to date. Cartier partnered with ENSAN's noble mission and presented a donation of SR915,000 at a press conference held at the Cartier boutique in Riyadh. The check was handed over to ENSAN GM Saleh Al-Yousef and represented by Awn Zureikat, sales director of Cartier Middle East and Yaqoub Al-Sharif Al-Hashemi, executive director of Sara Group, Cartier's Partner in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Cartier Middle East MG Louis Ferla said: "We are happy to bring the world of Cartier to our faithful clients in the Kingdom who are very refined and sophisticated in their tastes. I would like to thank them for their generosity, which has added to the success of the LOVE Charity initiative. We are planning to open more boutiques in the coming few years conveying our excellence, beauty and heritage."
 
 
HOSHAN

Hoshan Company Ltd. (HCL), Saudi Arabia's office technology company, won the Best Performance Company in the Middle East award for 2009 at the annual awards presented by Konica Minolta Business Technology Inc., a major manufacturer of multifunction product systems in the world. The awards ceremony was held in Japan, and attended by Konica Minolta distributors and subsidiaries from several regions and countries. This is the third award over the last four years won by HCL and it has added to the company's track record of achievements in providing cutting edge office solutions and technologies to a wide range of sectors in the Saudi market. The award also recognizes the outstanding performance and exceptional sales achieved by HCL in the Middle East. HCL's Marketing Director Iftikhar Awan received the award. Konica Minolta senior executives and subsidiaries, and distributors from all over the world attended the event. HCL Chairman Rakan Al-Hoshan said: "We are very happy to win the Best Performance Award in the Middle East for 2009. The recognition will reinforce the company's market leadership, as it demonstrates Konica Minolta's confidence in Hoshan Company and its ability to provide the best services and high quality technical solutions to its customers in the Saudi market." The company, which has achieved substantial growth in sales, also had received the Best Distributor in the Middle East for 2006 and 2007.
 
ALISSA

Alissa Universal Motors celebrated 25 years as authorized dealer for Isuzu Motors in Saudi Arabia at a function in Riyadh recently. Representatives of Isuzu Motors, Isuzu Operation in Thailand, Mitsubishi Corporation and Alissa customers (individuals and companies) attended the event. Ziyad Alissa, the board member of National General Automotive Company, sponsored the event, which demonstrated the strength of the business partnership that the company has built with its customers over the last 25 years. Alissa presented the shield and gifts to the guests and commended the fruitful partnership with Isuzu Motors, Isuzu Operations in Thailand and Mitsubishi Corporation. Alissa Universal Motors' GM Mazen Yousef said the company's achievements have been in line with its standing and reputation that is built on the basis of trust, values and loyalty to serve customers by offering the best services including after sales services covering maintenance and spare parts. Alissa recently opened a special center for technical and administrative support for Isuzu customers as part of its efforts to promote and develop customer satisfaction.
 
LG

LG Electronics (LG), a global leader and technology innovator, has announced the launch of its first official Arabic content website, http://www.lg.com/ae_ar. The new Arabic website will contribute to the company's growing brand exposure and digital presence and will make it easier for Arabic customers to interact with the brand. "Internet usage in the region has seen unprecedented growth in recent years" said LG's MD for Levant Kevin Cha said: "The new Arabic language website will allow us to interact with a much wider audience." With hundreds of thousands of visitors a month, the LG English website is often the first stop for many consumers looking for information about the company's products and services. The dedicated Arabic website will enable LG to further consolidate its online presence in the region by helping to bridge the wide gap between English and Arabic content. In fact out of the world's 1.8 billion web users, 60.2 million (3.3 percent) are Arabic speakers. Launching an Arabic content website is a strategic move on LG's part. The new portal has been specifically developed to cater for LG's Arabic customers residing in the Arab world.
 
TOYOTA/DUMANKAYA

Dumankaya Group, a major company in real estate and automotive industries with its 47 year-old experience, continues to grow through investments in automotive and real estate industries. Dumankaya's 20-year-old cooperation with the world's leading automotive brand Toyota expanded with the opening of Toyota Plaza Dumankaya Gebze on Saturday (June 19). Halit Dumankaya, chairman of Dumankaya, said: "We are one of the leading companies in real estate industry and have cooperated with Toyota for many years. We continue to strengthen our position in the automotive industry as well as real estate through the opening of this plaza today. Customer satisfaction and quality service has made Toyota Plaza Dumankaya Pendik a brand in the last 20 years, and now Toyota Plaza Dumankaya Gebze will successfully carry this approach further. We will start to work on our fourth investment in the automotive industry after Toyota Plaza Dumankaya Gebze." Ali Haydar Bozkurt, CEO of Toyota Pazarlama ve Sati A., said: "Dumankaya has been cooperating with Toyota for 20 years and continues to grow stronger with its new plaza. Power of world's leading brand Toyota and our commitment in customer satisfaction help us to differentiate in our competitive market. This approach, which has brought Toyota the leadership around the world, is also the key to our leadership in Turkey. Today, Dumankaya is opening its second plaza in Gebze and this investment will make Toyota stronger in Turkey." Toyota Plaza Dumankaya Gebze is one of the biggest Toyota Plazas in Turkey and has seven floors.
 
SAMSUNG AIRCONDITIONERS

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. has unveiled its new range of premium air conditioners and an ionizer device in MENA, which feature a cutting edge “Virus Doctor” air filtration technology. The technology has been incorporated in both, an air purifying electronic device of the same name and the Crystal air conditioners. The technology claims to improve indoor air quality, enhancing consumers' wellbeing and kills more than 99.9 percent of harmful airborne viruses including SARS and H1N1, to guarantee contamination-free indoor air. "Recent outbreaks of infectious diseases such as Avian Influenza, SARS and H1N1 have brought increasing attention to the health hazards posed by indoor air pollution. Samsung has therefore invested heavily in R&D and leveraged its technological innovation to develop the groundbreaking Virus Doctor technology, which is featured in both these products, to address a growing need for protection against airborne infections," said Myungsoo Koo, regional senior manager of digital air solutions, MENA headquarters, Samsung Electronics. Samsung's Virus Doctor technology neutralizes dust mites, moulds and viruses that cause skin irritation and respiratory problems, fungi, high-allergen agents that cause allergies, active oxygen that speeds up the skin-aging process, airborne bacteria and viruses such as influenza, chicken pox and life-threatening viruses including H1N1 and SARS. "Tests have proven Virus Doctor's consistent effectiveness in eliminating a wide range of harmful pollutants in different settings," said Professor Sang-Heui Seo of South Korea's Chungnam National University.