Day: July 18, 2022

Posted on

Hamdan bin Mohammed launches Dubai Metaverse Strategy

DUBAI, In line with the directives of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, H.H. Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of Dubai Executive Council, today launched the Dubai Metaverse Strategy that aims to turn Dubai into one the world’s top 10 metaverse economies as well as a global hub for the metaverse community.

His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed underscored the importance of consolidating Dubai’s status as a hub offering the most advanced ecosystem for the metaverse and as a frontrunner in adopting digital solutions globally, which reflects the ambitious vision of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum for transforming the emirate into a global capital of advanced technologies, primarily artificial intelligence (AI) and Web3.

The strategy aims to build on Dubai’s achievement of attracting more than 1,000 companies in the fields of blockchain and metaverse. It also promotes Dubai’s ambitions to support more than 40,000 virtual jobs by 2030. This would further boost Dubai’s economy and support the UAE government’s vision of increasing the number of blockchain companies by five times the present number.

Sheikh Hamdan said that Dubai is making great strides in enhancing its position as a global testbed for metaverse technology while investing judiciously in building capabilities and talent in creating the region’s most robust and largest ecosystem for the metaverse community. His Highness added that adopting new technologies will be a stepping stone in Dubai’s vision to use future technologies to create new work models in vital sectors and increase the metaverse’s impact on regional and global economies.

Commenting on the launch of the Dubai Metaverse Strategy, Omar bin Sultan Al Olama, Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, Digital Economy, and Teleworking Applications, and Deputy Managing Director of the Dubai Future Foundation, reiterated the importance of designing the future with new digital strategies for adopting the metaverse in vital sectors. He added that the metaverse would drive the UAE’s and Dubai’s efforts to provide innovative solutions, positively impact people’s lives, and transform the city into one of the smartest hubs worldwide offering new economic opportunities.

Al Olama said the Dubai Metaverse Strategy is in line with the objectives of the UAE AI Strategy to enhance the country’s status as one of the world’s leading countries in futuristic sectors by investing in new initiatives and empowering talent to drive digital transformation and the adoption of future technologies.

The Dubai Metaverse Strategy aims to foster innovation, enhance the metaverse’s economic contributions through R&D collaborations, and promote advanced ecosystems utilising accelerators and incubators that attract companies and projects to Dubai.

The strategy emphasises fostering talent and investing in future capabilities by providing the necessary support in metaverse education aimed at developers, content creators and users of digital platforms in the metaverse community.

The Dubai Metaverse Strategy supports the development of Web3 technology and its applications to create new governmental work models and development in vital sectors, including tourism, education, retail, remote work, healthcare, and the legal sector. The strategy also aims to develop global standards in building safe and secure platforms for users and develop metaverse infrastructure and regulations to accelerate the adoption of these technologies.

The strategy’s key pillars focus on extended reality (which blends the physical and virtual worlds), augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), mixed reality, and digital twins (a virtual representation of an object or system). The strategy aims at leveraging real-time data, using machine learning and IoT, and employing AI simulation and blockchain to enhance the human thinking processes.

Data, network, cloud, and edge computing are technology pillars of the metaverse strategy that focus on real-world data that is obtained, validated, stored, processed, and managed. Other pillars include promoting the full deployment of 5G networks to enable edge computing and provide on-demand computer system resources. Edge computing allows data to be collected, stored, and processed locally via smart devices and local networks instead of the cloud.

VR and AR are two key enablers of the metaverse, responsible for 6,700 jobs and contributing US$500 million to the UAE’s economy, which is expected to increase significantly in the future. The metaverse provides an array of economic opportunities. Globally, the value of venture capital and private equity financing in the metaverse reached US$13 billion in 2021, while real estate sales in the metaverse surpassed US$500 million last year.

Second Life – a virtual world in which participants can explore fantasy landscapes and build their own – contributed more than $650 million to global GDP in 2021. The metaverse also achieved 200 strategic partnerships with Sandbox, a decentralised gaming virtual world, which includes the launch of the Warner Music Group as a music-themed virtual world in the metaverse.

Analysts estimate that the metaverse will contribute up to US$5 trillion to the global economy by 2030. The market value of NFTs is expected to reach $80 billion, while consumer spending on in-game purchases is reckoned to reach US$75 billion by 2025. Recent studies show that the daily active users on Roblox, one of the leading global metaverse communities, has increased to 55 million. At the same time, 59 percent of global consumers are keen to transition at least one of their everyday activities to the metaverse.

H.H. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum directed government teams to start developing the Dubai Metaverse Strategy 60 days before its launch. The strategy promotes the employment of a connected network of virtual spaces to enhance the community’s wellbeing in Dubai and enhance initiatives making it a role model in metaverse technologies with a robust digital infrastructure.

Source: Emirates News Agency

Posted on

Lord Abbett expands global presence selecting DIFC for first Middle East branch

DUBAI, Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) today announced that Lord Abbett (Middle East) Limited, a leading asset manager, has received approval from the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) to operate its first and only Middle East office.

The approval will enable the company to bring its investment and client-led proposition to the Middle East investment community. Lord Abbett has more than 50 years of experience in multi-sector credit investment and an impressive depth of analytical credit research. The company will use its DIFC presence to deliver relevant investment solutions and deepen relationships with regional asset owners.

Lord Abbett joins more than 250 leading wealth and asset managers at DIFC, the region’s largest Wealth and Asset Management hub. Collectively, these firms oversee more than US$450 billion of assets under management and over 100 significant domiciled funds.

DIFC’s strategic position helps wealth and asset managers access emerging wealth across the fast-growing markets across the Middle East, Asia and South Africa region. The Centre provides wealth and asset managers with direct access to institutional and high-net-worth individuals seeking conventional and alternative investment products. With an independent and internationally recognised common law system, combined with a robust and dynamic regulatory environment, DIFC provides an attractive jurisdiction for wealth and asset management firms.

James Savastano, Senior Executive Officer and Head of MEA at Lord Abbett, said, “We are delighted to launch our MEA business within DIFC. This strategic hub will allow us to serve our regional client base even better by operating closer to them, while also bringing the full breadth of Lord Abbett’s investment capabilities to the Middle East market.”

Arif Amiri, CEO of DIFC Authority, said, “DIFC is home to more than 250 wealth and asset management firms, making us the largest and most important hub for the sector in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia region. The opening of Lord Abbett’s first and only Middle East office at DIFC reflects our reputation and reaffirms the opportunity for asset management companies in the region. DIFC continues to strengthen its global position as one of the world’s leading financial centres by attracting firms like Lord Abbett who are bringing their legacy experience as well as commitment to help us shape the future of finance.”

Among the 3,644 registered companies, DIFC hosts 17 of the top 20 banks in the world, 25 of the 30 most key banks globally, five of the top ten insurance companies, five of the most prominent ten asset management firms, and many more world-leading law firms and advisory firms.

Source: Emirates News Agency

Posted on

DUBAI CHAMBER OF COMMERCE SEES RECORD MEMBERSHIP GROWTH IN H1-2022

Dubai, UAE – Dubai Chamber of Commerce achieved record growth in new membership in the first half of 2022 as more than 21,000 companies joined the Chamber during the period, bringing total membership to over 308,000.

An 80% year-over-year (y-o-y) surge in new members was recorded between January and June 2022 as the Chamber expanded its role to support the business community in Dubai and attract companies in target markets in line with the new Dubai Chambers structure and 2022-2024 strategy.

A total of 2,326 ATA Carnets were issued and received by the Chamber in H1-2022, recording a 32% y-o-y increase, while the value of ATA Carnets reached AED 1.18 billion. The number of e-transactions increased 10% over the same period to reach over 378,000.

H.E. Hamad Buamim, President & CEO of Dubai Chambers, said the latest performance figures reflect the positive impact of new Chamber-led initiatives and plans to improve ease of doing business, boost Dubai’s foreign trade and support local businesses with global expansion – all of which align with Dubai Chambers’ 2022-2024 strategy.

He noted that the Chamber’s integral role as Expo 2020 Dubai’s Official Business Integration Partner gave a major boost to performance in the first three months of this year, as it organised a record number of events, initiatives and activities and established new bridges of cooperation between businesses communities in Dubai and abroad. He also revealed that Dubai Chambers achieved an Emiratisation rate of 59% as of the end of June 2022.

“Following our record performance in the first half, we expect the positive momentum to continue and project new membership and total membership to reach 40,000 and 330,000 companies, respectively. These are ambitious yet achievable targets considering that Dubai Chambers and the three chambers operating under its structure are rolling out several major initiatives in the coming six months that are designed to support the growth of the business community in Dubai and attract global companies to the emirate,” he added.

Source: Dubai Chamber of Commerce & Industry

Posted on

DFM welcomes listing of Union Coop, largest retail cooperative in UAE

DUBAI, Dubai Financial Market (DFM) today welcomed the listing of Union Coop’s shares, becoming the first cooperative society in the UAE to take this pioneering step, in line with the Government’s decision pertaining to the trading of cooperative societies’ shares on financial markets, which aims to strengthen the regulatory environment for the cooperatives’ sector and reinforce competitiveness.

To celebrate the listing, Majed Hamad Rahma Al Shamsi, Chairman of the Union Coop, rang the DFM market-opening bell in the presence of Hamed Ali, CEO of DFM and Nasdaq Dubai and senior representatives from both sides.

Trading commenced on Union Coop’s shares under the trading symbol “UNIONCOOP”, allowing members to trade Union Coop shares in exactly the same way as the other companies listed on DFM within the Consumer Staples and Discretionary Sector. This listing further strengthens the prominent position of DFM as the leading listing venue for prominent local and regional companies and also supports accelerating the efforts of market participants to implement Dubai’s strategy in further developing its financial markets.

As one of the largest retail cooperatives in the UAE, the value of Union Coop’s shareholders’ equity exceeded AED3 billion. It maintains a momentous record of operational and financial excellence since 1984, as net profits recorded a compound annual growth rate of 20.5 percent, while its sales increased 16.85 percent. The Union Coop registered a 2.6 percent increase in net profits of the first quarter of 2022 to AED116.5 million, while net profits of the full year 2021 reached to AED413 million, with a profit margin of 21 percent.

Khalid Al Falasi, CEO of Union Coop, said, “The listing underscores our commitment to protect members’ interests by providing them with a regulated, efficient and transparent marketplace for trading Union Coop shares. We are determined to leverage the facilities and services offered by the capital markets to implement our growth strategy and to provide our members with cutting-edge financial market services through DFM.”

Hamed Ali, CEO of DFM and Nasdaq Dubai, said, “We are pleased to welcome the listing of Union Coop as a significant milestone in line with efforts to implement Dubai’s strategy to develop its financial markets and DFM’s endeavor to diversify investment opportunities offered to investors. This listing will enable investors to participate in a notable success story for one of the prominent cooperatives in the UAE and a leading brand in the retail sector, noting this sector’s importance as a key economic driver in Dubai, which is poised to gain further momentum with the listing on the market as we look to welcome more cooperatives in the future.”

Union Coop’s strategy focuses on increasing profits and returns for its members by driving sales and revenues as well as closely monitoring costs in addition to the unceasing development of services for the benefit of its customers.

Union Coop’s operations witnessed a remarkable expansion over the years from two branches in 1984 to 24 branches and 4 malls in 2021. Within the same context, the number of its members reached to 36,659 at the end of 2021 compared to 315 members in 1984.

Source: Emirates News Agency

Posted on

Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation honours companies that tripled Emiratisation target within two months

DUBAI, The Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation (MoHRE) has honoured 16 companies that achieved more than triple of their Emiratisation ratios in two months only – June and July 2022.

At the honouring ceremony, Dr. Abdulrahman Abdulmannan Al Awar, Minister of Human Resources and Emiratisation, reiterated that the private sector in the UAE continues to benefit from the national economy’s high competitiveness.

The UAE’s economy is making strides towards achieving greater successes in the coming years, to enhance business sustainability in the UAE, which has become a hub for talent, companies and investments, and continues to progress, he stated.

Al Awar highlighted that the UAE prioritises economic growth and human capital empowerment to achieve its vision for the upcoming 50 years, reaching the goal of building the best and most active economy in the world.

“Effective partnerships with the private sector companies are key to realising the UAE’s vision for the business environment. The private sector plays a crucial role in creating job opportunities and opening new horizons for economic activities in sectors that respond to the priorities of the future and benefits from the capabilities of Emirati talent,” he said.

“Emiratis possess advanced levels of education and training, and have gained experience in an international economy that is dynamic and open to diverse cultures and civilisations and applies the most advanced technologies available.”

The Minister noted that honouring the companies follows the launch of a series of initiatives, decisions, laws and regulations to realise a comprehensive development vision to enhance the business environment in the UAE and lay out new foundations that contribute to the Emiratisation of jobs in the private sector.

“These steps will also enhance the capabilities of local talents and increase the attractiveness of the job market in the country, as well as its ability to attract these talents through a group of incentives and safety nets that support healthy and sustainable economic growth,” he explained.

He added, “Today, we celebrate the exceptional achievements of a group of pioneering companies that have achieved three times the Emiratisation target in a record time of two months, which is testament that we are on the right track.

“The response of local talents, their readiness to fill the job opportunities available and the swift response of the UAE’s business community align with the nation’s development goals and the effectiveness of the valuable stimulus packages offered.”

The Emiratisation target is set at two percent annually for high-skilled jobs in establishments that employ 50 workers or more.

“The public-private partnership achieves the best socio-economic results, which is what the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation is focused on in its approach to developing the business environment in the country and increasing Emiratisation levels in the private sector,” Al Awar went on to say.

“This is evident through the decisions adopted by the UAE Cabinet regarding raising the Emiratisation rates in the private sector and the unprecedented incentives offered to companies that train and employ UAE nationals.

“This, along with other relevant decisions, form part of the legislative and legal structure that the government of the UAE is keen on developing in line with the priorities of the national economy and contributing to achieving the goals of the Emirati Talent Competitiveness Council (Nafis).”

He continued, “Thanks to these exceptional results, 1,166 opportunities have been created for UAE nationals in high-skilled jobs, opening the doors of the future for them to develop their capabilities and enhance their competencies. This also boosts the competitiveness of the companies by enabling them to benefit from national talents.”

In addition to representatives of the private sector companies being honoured and select Emirati employees, high-profile government officials attended the ceremony.

The companies that were honoured include Majid Al Futtaim Hypermarkets, Emirates Gateway Security Services, Teleperformance Middle East Business Services, Orient Insurance, Azam Recruitment, Ras Al Khaimah Ceramics, Majid Al Futtaim Cinemas, Riyadh School, Magic Planet, Ahalia Hospital, Dubai Insurance Company, Halliburton Worldwide Limited, IGG Emirates Advanced Training, Halcon Systems, G42 and Bayanat for Mapping and Surveying Services.

These companies will benefit from several incentives, including upgrading their classification to the first category, which is entitled to significant benefits, including the reduction of up to 80 percent of the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation’s fees.

Source: Emirates News Agency