Sahara Net’s Chief Operations Offices (COO) Kais Al-Essa was invited by Communications & Information Technology Commission (CITC) to present Sahara Net’s experience in deploying IPv6 at the recently held “2nd Workshop on IPv6” which was organized by CITC in Riyadh. Many local government and private organizations seeking to know more about this technology attended the event. The workshop was divided into three main sessions where each focused on a certain topic and was presented by leading international and local experts. Al-Essa presented his paper on “IPv6 Local Experience” in a session that also had presenters from King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology, Saudi Telecommunications Co. (STC) and Mobily. Al-Essa paper showed that Sahara Net is the first, and still the only, “IPv6 Ready” ISP today in Saudi Arabia. He went on to show the different steps that Sahara Net went through to achieve this distinguished status. He also shared with the audience the main issues that faced the deployment and how they were overcome. Al-Essa also explained that Sahara Net is currently working with a “select” number of enterprise customers to enable IPv6 with them. Among the things Al-Essa stressed the need for training and awareness. Sahara Net offered several free seminars on the topic last year and this year. It also published a website last year, which is dedicated to sharing knowledge on the topic. IPv6 will gradually replace the current Internet Protocol (IPv4).
 

Global Finance Magazine has honored Saudi Arabia’s Jadwa Investment with the Overall Best Islamic Investment Bank Award for 2011. The announcement was made at Global Finance’s fourth annual awards for the World’s Best Islamic Financial Institutions recently. The awards are given to banks and investment houses that have contributed to the progress of Islamic finance and have delivered innovative and high performing Shariah-compliant products to their clients. The award winners were chosen based on objective criteria including growth in assets, profitability, geographic reach, strategic relationships, new business development and innovation in products. Global Finance also factored in the opinions of equity analysts, banking consultants and others involved in the industry. Ahmed Al-Khateeb, MD & CEO, Jadwa Investment, said: “We are pleased to receive this prestigious award from Global Finance, which is a must-read magazine for finance professionals everywhere. We created Jadwa in 2006 to build a leading investment bank serving the fast growing economies in emerging markets. This award from Global Finance is a validation of both our strategy and execution. We are now the largest independent asset manager in Saudi Arabia with $2 billion in AUMs, and our performance in ECM and M&A league tables has been strong. We have rewarded shareholders as well. Since launch, our shareholders’ equity has grown from $133 million to $338 million, in addition to paying out 15 percent dividends for 2009 and 2010.”
 

BMG Financial Group continues its efforts in promoting exchange of information that concerns family business, a vital component of the Saudi economy. The third annual BMG Family Business Forum is being held on Thursday (June 16) at the Institute of Directors, London. To cover the integral and ever-changing role of family businesses within the GCC and Saudi Arabia, the forum is hosting esteemed speakers, from Italy, the UK and the Middle East, with backgrounds in management consulting, law, and business owners themselves. With merchant families spanning decades in their operations, the forum is set to tackle how imperative it is to sustain these powerhouses, especially within the Kingdom where close to 90 percent are family owned, for generations to come in the hopes of continuing their respective legacies while enjoying a healthy growth cycle. The forum will look to highlight the effects on the second and third generation family members in facilitating a smooth transition and different ways to corporatize the business and establish governance mechanisms to enable the business to withstand the challenges of a dynamic market more and more affected by global trends, downturns and swings. From showcasing the implications of separating management from ownership, to hiring the right skills and resources, to leveraging external sources of finance, the BMG Family Business Forum will focus on the institutionalization of these trading houses.
 

Mohamed Yousuf Naghi Motors(MYNM), exclusive dealer of Hyundai cars in the Western Region, organized the third edition of Naghi Hyundai Motor National Skill Olympics, which was held at Naghi Motors Training Academy in Jeddah recently. The event is organized once every two years, where nine highly-skilled and well-qualified mechanics from all Naghi-Hyundai branches participate in the contest to determine the winners. The contest was the first round of Hyundai Motor World Skills Olympics for the world’s best Hyundai technician. Winners of both prime positions will participate in the second round of Hyundai Motor World Skills Olympics, with finalists from MEA countries in Dubai. The third round will be held in Seoul, South Korea, where finalists from Hyundai dealers worldwide will compete for the title. Osama Abu Ahmed, MYNM’s director after-sales, said: “The contest started in 2007, and aims to raise skills of Naghi-Hyundai mechanics at all Naghi-Hyundai maintenance centers in the Western Region.” During the competition, a number of senior engineers will fabricate similar technical failures in some of Hyundai cars and then Hyundai mechanics participating in the contest check these cars, diagnose the ‘faults’ and set them right within a specific time. Mechanic Iyan Filia De Will from Heraa street, Jeddah, who got the first place, said: “Winning was not easy at all as all contestants were highly qualified, well-experienced and professional mechanics.”
 

Saudi Hollandi Bank (SHB), described as the Kingdom’s first established bank, has partnered with the Saudi Postal Corporation (Saudi Post) as part of the bank’s commitment to continually develop and improve its customer service. Saudi Post, the national postal service of Saudi Arabia, will become the exclusive distributor of all credit and debit cards issued by SHB to its customers in the Kingdom. The agreement between SHB and Saudi Post covers the sorting, labeling, and shipping of all credit and debit cards issued by SHB on behalf of customers. As part of the agreement, Saudi Post will deploy a number of different security measures and technology solutions to ensure that customers enjoy the most efficient and fastest service when receiving their cards. Saudi Post President Mohammed Saleh Benten and SHB’s MD Bernd van Linder signed the deal in Riyadh. Benten said: “This partnership will ensure that Saudi Hollandi is ideally placed to provide the best service to both its retail and business customers. As the Kingdom’s national provider of postal services, we have the largest and most widespread distribution network. Saudi Post will work with Saudi Hollandi to develop a service that is convenient for customers that will ensure their privacy, and will guarantee the fastest delivery within the Kingdom thanks to the latest technology and the dedication of our staff.” Saudi Hollandi’s MD Bernd van Linder said the agreement is the latest effort by the bank to raise the bar for customer service in Saudi Arabia.