Al Faisaliah Center

The World Travel Awards for “World’s Leading Multi-use Complex” marked the 10th major award for the Al Khozama Management Company (AKMC) within the year 2010. This was a fitting cap on the Al Faisaliah Center’s 10th anniversary, also celebrated this year. The award was announced at the 17th annual grand final gala ceremony of the World Travel Awards, which took place on Sunday in London. AKMC developed, owns, and manages the acclaimed center in Riyadh. Designed by Lord Norman Foster, the center has been described as a city within a city, combining an ultra-luxury five-star hotel, which offers full butler service to all rooms and suites, the country’s largest column-free conference and banqueting facilities with a capacity for 4,000 people, a lavish shopping mall housing the world-class departmental stores such as Harvey Nichols, Al Faisaliah Office Tower with the leading blue-chip companies’ corporate offices therein, and the iconic Globe, located atop the Al Faisaliah Tower. The center was the product of a visionary initiative fashioned by Khaled Al-Faisal and executed by Prince Bandar bin Saud bin Khalid. “At AKMC, we pride ourselves on setting new standards and offering many ‘firsts’ for tourism, real estate development and hospitality in Saudi Arabia,” said AKMC Chairman Prince Bandar. “We enjoy a unique position in the real estate development and management, with a wide range of portfolio,” added Prince Bandar.

Avis

Avis Saudi Arabia, a subsidiary of Arabian Hala Group, is making car rental services available for handicapped people. Handmik devices have been installed in a fleet of cars solely assigned for this purpose. Such cars are initially available in Riyadh, Jeddah and Alkhobar, and later will cover other cities. The service requires a pre-booking through the unified phone number (920028281) at least 72 hours in advance. Avis Director Assad A. Atyani said: “It’s not new to Avis Saudi Arabia to be keen on such social initiatives. It’s, in fact, part of the company’s social responsibility program run in coordination governmental departments, providing support to all segments of society.” Mazen Al Khayat, a member of the Saudi Consulting Council, has commended this initiative considering Avis as a leader of such social service programs. He urged all other companies to follow suit and give more attention to the handicapped people, enter into their world and open the doors for them, and provide every possible support. Avis Saudi Arabia has received several awards over the past years on both international and local levels, the latest being the “We Try Harder 2010” award by Avis International in Istanbul, Turkey. Avis Saudi Arabia is currently working on its expansion plans to open up more rental locations throughout the Kingdom and continue update its fleet.
 
Leica

The Altuwairqi Holding Company’s Scientific & Medical Division, under the leadership of chairman Dr. Hilal H. Al-Tuwairqi, recently organized seminars for Leica Microsystems to mark the Leica Pathology Day in Jeddah and Dammam. The seminars focused on recent advancement in the laboratory segment of health care industry, especially hi-tech and state-of-the-art technologies. Four product and marketing managers from Leica Microsystems Germany — Harald Desch, Remi Millant, Dr. Kiran Ghanekar and Michael Uhl were present to introduce clinical product lines, such as Digital Slide Scanning System (SCN400), Fluorescence Microscopy (DM3000 B), and Rapid Tissue Processor PELORIS (Fastest processing for biopsy/tissues). All major doctors relevant to pathology from the Kingdom’s major hospitals, universities, research institutes and other bodies attended he seminars. Practical demonstration and workshop sessions were also held. Altuwairqi Holding Company General Manager Sales Shafqat Ali Sharif presented souvenirs.
 
Siyaha/SHUAA

Siyaha International Company has appointed SHUAA Capital Saudi Arabia cjsc to assist the company in redeveloping King Fahd Park in Dammam. Abdul Mohsen Rashid Al Rashid, chairman of Siyaha, and Omar Al Jaroudi, CEO of SHUAA Capital Saudi Arabia, signed the agreement. Present at the signing ceremony were Dhaifallah A. Al-Utaibi, mayor of the Eastern Province, Siyaha’s board members and upper management, and senior executives from SHUAA Capital’s Riyadh and Dubai offices, in addition to several senior government and tourism board officials from the Eastern Province. King Fahd Park is the largest park in the Kingdom with 1.1 million square meters and tens of thousands of mature trees. Located along the Dammam-Dhahran Highway with excellent road access, at a mid-point between Dammam, Dhahran and Alkhobar, the Park was originally designed in the 1980’s for the inhabitants and tourists of the Eastern Province. As the Park facilities began to age, the Municipality of the Eastern Region awarded Siyaha a long-term lease on the Park in 2010. The objective of the lease is to regenerate the Park and develop integrated mixed-use real estate components that would serve local residents and tourists.
 
ALJ

Abdul Latif Jameel Co. (ALJ) organized the second draw to determine the remaining 50 winners as part of its “Win free lifetime maintenance from Toyota service ... Yes I want” campaign in Jeddah recently. The first 50 winners were picked in the first draw. The campaign was launched on Aug. 7 and ended on Sept. 30. The draw was held in the presence of ALJ Managing Director of Guest Service Operations Lup Hang Wong and Ahmed Mahmoud Farag, senior general manager of service marketing, as well as an official from the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry and media representatives. The campaign gave the opportunity to all Service guests who have visited or booked a service appointment with any ALJ service center kingdomwide to participate in the draw. The two grand prizewinners of the campaign got free lifetime periodic maintenance service for their vehicle.
 
Sony Gulf

Sony Gulf, the regional arm of consumer electronics giant Sony, has announced the Middle East launch of Handycam NEX-VG10, its first consumer HD camcorder with an interchangeable lens system. A breakthrough in digital imaging, it blends the best of D-SLR and camcorder technology. Featuring a 14.2-megapixel Exmor APS HD CMOS image sensor, the Handycam exposes users to a whole new realm of videography, providing the option to use a wide variety of lenses for achieving a myriad of visual results including fisheye, telephoto and wide-angle shots. When used with the bundled E-mount 18-200mm F3.5-6.3 OSS zoom lens, it features 11x optical zoom as well as optical image stabilization with Active Mode that is able to correct strong camera shakes. Additional features with the 18-200mm lens include silent auto focus and iris control. Users can also mount various A-mount lenses, including the award-winning G Lenses and high performance Carl Zeiss lenses via an optional lens adaptor, expanding imaging possibilities — be it for stills or video. Reflecting the demands of serious videographers, sound quality in NEX-VG10 matches its phenomenal imaging performance. The Quad Capsule Spatial Array Stereo Microphone uses advanced processing algorithms to combine signals from four separate omni-directional microphone capsules. The result is exceptionally clear stereo audio with a highly directional response allowing videographers to capture more sound from the subject they are shooting.