This September, H&M will take its support for UNICEF-All for Children initiative with a special collection of fashionable, covetable clothes for children. Available at 150 stores worldwide including across Saudi Arabia and also online, 25 percent of all sales from the collection will go directly to support UNICEF’s projects to promote children’s rights to education and protection among vulnerable communities. H&M and UNICEF launched the initiative in November 2009. It is a five-year project that is supported by a $4.5 million donation from H&M and the project is now being extended from communities in southern India to also help children in Bangladesh. H&M’s All for Children collection is full of playful and timeless pieces, which parents as well as their kids will love. The collection is made to be versatile, so the pieces can be mixed and matched and worn throughout the season and beyond. It is also one to be coveted, with cashmere used throughout to provide comfort for when the colder weather comes in. For girls there are dresses, skirts, shorts and gilets, with floral prints, bow-tie decorations and stripe trimmings, all in autumnal colors of nude, mole and coral. For boys, there are check shirts, sweat-pants and hoodies, cord blazers and the essential parka. Funds raised by the collection will support the initiative, which aims to create long-term change for generations of children in some of the poorest parts of the world, where many of H&M’s clothes are made.

Acxiom Corporation has been named as No. 1 on the Direct Marketing 2011 Agency report compiled by Direct Marketing News, a recognized media corporation focusing on new trends and technologies in marketing. In the last six months, Acxiom has been listed as the No. 1 US Agency by Advertising Age magazine for the third year in a row and No. 1 also by Advertising Age in Top Direct and CRM Agencies in the US. Also, The Black Book of Outsourcing, in the only survey based solely on customer feedback, named Acxiom No. 1 for Customer Satisfaction for IT Outsourcing. With this recognition, Acxiom scores its fourth top position this year as a leader in marketing and services technology. “This is an incredible set of achievements for the third year consecutively,” said Yousef Hamidaddin, CEO of Acxiom MENA. “Leveraging its consumer data and analytics, superior technology and talent, Acxiom is uniquely positioned to deliver customer insight across channels and media, identifying customer preferences and allowing marketers to engage with them with the highest level of certainty,” he added. In its Annual Business Report, Direct Marketing News noted that Acxiom is a more than $1 billion company “serving top-tier clients across the automotive, travel, entertainment, health care and technology industries.” Acxiom MENA Marketing and Communications Director Nevin Ceylan Aydar said: “The ‘Ad Age’ and ‘DM News’ rankings are a strong confirmation that we are on the right track and well-equipped to continue delivering innovation, client value and real solutions.”

Saudi Hollandi Bank (SHB) in association with MasterCard Worldwide on Saturday announced the launch of the premium MasterCard world credit card in Saudi Arabia, thereby becoming the first bank in the Kingdom to introduce the world credit card and the first in the Middle East to offer it with a silver mark. The new credit card has been designed to meet the global aspirations of the bank’s affluent customers, as it offers advanced security with the MasterCard EMV chip and exclusive lifestyle and travel benefits along with innovative rewards. “Our MasterCard World Credit Card will be accepted across the globe at more than 32.2 million merchant outlets and over 1.5 million ATM’s across 210 countries and territories worldwide and will be available in both Islamic and conventional financing variants,” said Bernd van Linder, managing director of SHB. “It’s truly a benchmark product that will make a lasting statement and will redefine the luxury and lifestyle behavior for our prestigious customers,” he said. “We are proud to introduce this unique credit card in the Kingdom which will offer unmatched rewards and recognition to our customers worldwide.” The World Credit Card offers a host of lifestyle benefits including the world concierge and assistance services that will help customers with air travel reservations, luxury car and limousine rentals, rail and ferry information along with hotel, restaurant and holiday package reservations across the world.

Kipling is to launch flagship stores all over Saudi Arabia. The Belgian fashion accessories brand plans to grow even more its business in the Kingdom with its partner Jumairah, Bindawood Group. Started in 2005 in the Kingdom with Jumairah Bindawood Group, Kipling today is operating five standalone stores and 12 corners, and became a well-established casual brand and a successful and worldwide-perceived fashion accessories brand. To strengthen their partnership, both companies, Jumairah Bindawood Group and Kipling, have decided that it is right time to elevate Kipling to the next phase in the Kingdom. The two partners believe that opening prime standalone Kipling stores is the logical next step that comes to mind to reach out to their consumers. Undoubtedly, Kipling stores give them the space to reach out to new customers and to reflect what the brand stands for today. Kipling has currently 250 standalone stores worldwide and has plans to open up more in the Gulf region, especially across Saudi Arabia. Jumairah has set up a specific plan to open standalone stores at prime locations, with first priority in Riyadh and Jeddah. Opening new standalone stores will give Jumairah and Kipling an opportunity to approach end consumers easily. Adopting the tools of CRM and Facebook, Kipling will start a new trendier course in the Kingdom, says Olivier Bioul, Kipling’s international area sales manager.

Ewaan Global Residential Company and Dar Al Tamleek signed a cooperative agreement for Shariah-compliant financing of real estate for the Alfareeda Residential Project. Ewaan’s CEO Fahad Mohammed Al-Mutawa Dar Al Tamleek’s CEO Yasser Abu Atiq signed the deal under which Dar Al Tamleek will provide the customers of Alfareeda, which is being developed by Ewaan, in the northwest of Jeddah with a variety of finance programs. The agreement aims to provide housing finance to meet the need of the middle-income people to own homes through flexible, long-term and Shariah-compliant solutions. The agreement was signed on the sidelines of this week’s Cityscape Jeddah. The Alfareeda project, an integrated one comprising 2,088 residential units (villas) on more than one million square meter land, aims to create a sophisticated residential environment and integrated services for the middle-income people. Mutawa said Dar Al Tamleek has been chosen as a specialized home finance company, which was awarded in 2009 the Best Home Finance Program in KSA. Abdul Wahab Dahlawi, financial affairs director at Ewaan, added that there were plans and other agreements in the pipeline for achieving the objectives of the company to be a successful leader in providing high-quality residential units. Such agreements, confirm the Kingdom’s orientation to finance housing for the middle-income people. The Eighth Development Plan estimates a total demand of one million housing units at a range of 200,000 units per year.

Shoaibi Group, a commercial, technical and market expert in Saudi Arabia’s oil and gas industry, has signed an exclusive distribution agreement with Emerson Process Management, a wholly-owned US-based Emerson company, to offer a complete line of multi-phase flow meters and products for reservoir management and production optimization in Saudi Arabia. The agreement complements the Alkhobar-based Shoaibi Group’s existing rights for distributing Roxar’s reservoir management software in the Kingdom. An Emerson Process Management-owned company, Roxar’s complete line of products includes instrumentation for topside, sub sea and down hole monitoring, high temperature reservoir monitoring, multiphase metering, sand erosion sensors, and oil in water monitoring and corrosion detection. Shoaibi’s Group Director Khalid Al-Shoaibi said: “Combined with our existing portfolio of reservoir management software, the deal will no doubt position us as the ultimate solutions provider for reservoir management and production optimization in the region.” John Currie, VP, Roxar from Emerson MENA said: “With rising production costs and growing demand, the global oil and gas industry is faced with the challenge of not only producing cost-effectively but also prolonging reservoir productivity and ensuring revenue growth. Considering Shoaibi Group’s strong market knowledge and presence in Saudi Arabia and in depth knowledge of the oil and gas industry, we are confident of the success of this partnership.”

Gulf Finance House BSC (GFH), the Bahrain-based Islamic investment bank, has signed a partnership agreement with Wadhwa Group, a real estate developer in India. The agreement will see GFH and Wadhwa develop core infrastructure of the bank’s Energy City Navi Mumbai (ECNM) and Mumbai IT & Telecom City (MITTIC) projects (together termed as the Mumbai Economic Development Zone), and also secure a successful exit for investors. Following the infrastructure development GFH and Wadhwa will together develop integrated homes, affordable housing, hotels and malls on the two sites, which hold a strategic location on the outskirts of Mumbai. This follows GFH’s recent announcement of returning back to profitability in Q1 of 2011 with a net profit of $11.9 million for the quarter. The partnership creates a consortium, which will benefit from the local expertise of Wadhwa Group, an organization with over 40 years of proven development experience in Mumbai. GFH’s Executive Chairman Esam Janahi said: “The partnership with Wadhwa Group shows the results of our revised strategy, as well as the faith international economies have in our ability to follow through on projects.” Launched by GFH in 2007 and 2008 respectively, the ECNM and MITTIC projects cover 1,250 acres of prime development land at Navi Mumbai in India’s western state of Maharashtra. Wadhwa Group’s MD Sanjay Chhabria said: “We are impressed with GFH’s ability to conceptualize such developments.”