Prince Alwaleed ibn Talal, chairman of Kingdom Holding Company, has been presented with a “Lifetime Achievement Award” for services to tourism at the Arabian Hotel Investment Conference (AHIC) in Dubai on Sunday. Prince Alwaleed, who established the Kingdom Hotel Investment Group, is recognized as a global player in the tourism sector and is noted for his astute investments. He has substantial holdings in Four Seasons, Fairmont and Movenpick hotel groups, as well as diversified, successful ventures in banking, real estate, entertainment and broadcast media, IT, fashion retailing, supermarkets, agriculture, and the automotive industry. The award was the result of voting across a panel of regional tourism leaders. “Prince Alwaleed was the natural choice as the first recipient of our lifetime achievement. He has mixed studied investment opportunities around the world with a measured expansion plan in the Middle East, and is widely recognized as one of the most visionary leaders in Arabia,” conference organizer Jonathan Worsley said. The Kingdom has substantial developments under way, including Four Seasons hotels in Alexandria, Beirut, Damascus, Kuwait, Dubai and Doha, while Fairmont’s flag is due to be planted in Cairo, Abu Dhabi and The Palm, Dubai, and Movenpick also has extensive expansion plans covering Dubai, Libya, Lebanon and Egypt in particular.
PepsiCo
Steven Reinemund, chairman and CEO of the US-based PepsiCo Inc., paid a historic visit to Qahtani Plant and market territory recently. He lauded the product quality, and technological and sales excellence of Qahtani-Pepsi. Saad Abdul Latif, PepsiCo International president for the Middle East & Africa region, presented the MEA president award to Abdul Aziz Al-Qahtani, chairman, and Khalid Al-Qahtani, member of the board of directors, in recognition of their outstanding achievement in driving their yearly average share of the soft drink market in the Kingdom’s southern region to 83 percent in 2004. Saad Abdul Latif commended the overwhelming market share of Pepsi-Cola in Qahtani territory (south of the Kingdom), and expressed his optimism and conviction for further growth. Abdel Hadi Abdallah Al-Qahtani & Sons Ltd., Khamis Mushayt, Pepsi-Cola Bottlers for South of Saudi Arabia, won gold quality award 2004 from PepsiCo International for product quality and operational excellence conforming to the best international standards. This is the second consecutive year that this award has been won by the company. “Our objective is not just to sell Pepsi-Cola, but also ensure that our product quality meets with the high aspirations of Saudi consumers which they rightly deserve,” Abdul Aziz Al-Qahtani said welcoming Reinemund. Qahtani-Pepsi Managing Director Abdul Karim Al-Yusuf emphasized the group’s commitment to promote Saudization and provide highly motivating work environment.
BUPA Middle East
BUPA Middle East, which is soon to be known as BUPA Arabia, has achieved a milestone as its membership level climbed to its highest ever in the first quarter of 2005. As of March-end 2005, the Kingdom’s medical insurer has more than 130,000 members from over 350 of the leading companies. This is a remarkable 25 percent increase from its membership level in the same quarter of 2004. The first three months of 2005 saw BUPA welcoming more than 70 new companies, surpassing its target for the period by 159 percent. Similarly, the company over achieved its customer retention target by 110 percent. “This remarkable achievement was the result of a number of programs and projects implemented over the last year,” BUPA Chairman Loay Nazer said. In 2004, BUPA Middle East upgraded its claims management system to allow it to handle bigger volume with better speed and functionality. “We also launched in 2004 several programs aimed at improving our service levels. Under the banner of BUPA connections, our staff went out to visit our hospital and clinic partners in Makkah and Jeddah,” he said. Aside from an intensified buildup of membership and its focus on customer satisfaction, BUPA Middle East is concentrating its efforts on the current licensing application, which saw the company qualifying in the first batch of companies to be issued a license as a cooperative insurance company in the Kingdom.
Amiantit
Saudi Arabian Amiantit Company was a leading participant at the Saudi Exhibition for Technology and Expertise in Water Desalination Projects held at Jeddah Hilton recently. Amiantit Group is claimed to be the world’s biggest manufacturer of fiberglass pipes with 33 factories in 15 countries and is the industry’s leader in research, development and ownership of advanced pipe manufacturing technologies. Glass fiber reinforced polyester (GRP) pipes are used globally for water supply and wastewater infrastructure projects and their resistance to corrosion makes them ideal for use transporting highly corrosive seawater through cooling bypass lines in desalination plants. Amiantit will sponsor the second annual seminar for development and transfer of skills and technology that will be held in Riyadh from May 8-9, where Abdul Rahman Al-Kilani will give a presentation on Amiantit’s experience in nationalizing these skills.
