Author: Stuart

SCC appointed Daniel Valle on Tuesday to lead its first Middle Eastern operation, targeting 50 employees by late 2026 as the British technology provider chases a slice of the UAE’s projected $96 billion AI economy. The Birmingham-based firm—Europe’s largest privately owned tech company—will base its new regional headquarters in the Emirates. Valle brings two decades of international technology leadership to the role. The timing matters. AI investment across the Middle East is forecast to inject $320 billion into regional economies by 2030, according to industry projections, with the UAE claiming nearly a third of that figure. Governments from Riyadh to…

Saudi Arabia’s banking app market will hit SAR 121.71 billion by 2030, growing at 4.88% annually as the Kingdom accelerates its shift toward cashless transactions. On 9 June, over 50 young professionals walked into Alinma Bank’s Riyadh headquarters to begin a 12-week intensive programme designed to prepare them for that reality. The gap between demand and talent has never been wider. The Future Bankers Program, delivered in partnership with Kaplan Professional MENA, targets the skills banks desperately need: artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, data management, fraud prevention, and digital banking operations. Participants—mostly Alinma employees and fresh graduates selected through a competitive process—will…

Where Rehabilitation Meets the Water For many wounded veterans, the first weightless breath underwater changes everything. Adaptive scuba diving for veterans uses modified techniques and dedicated support so that injury or disability no longer closes the door on the sport. Darrell Seale has built much of a long diving career around opening that door and keeping it open. An internationally recognized scuba instructor since 1999, the diver has logged more than 2,500 dives and certified over 300 students, and operates between Trophy Club, Texas, and Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. The mission, however, has always been about people more than…

Win your match, get free shots for the table. That’s the promise buried inside Rixos The Palm Dubai’s pricier World Cup viewing package, unveiled Tuesday for the 2026 tournament. Bar1, the hotel’s venue on Palm Jumeirah’s eastern crescent, has launched two watch-party packages ahead of next summer’s tournament across the United States, Canada and Mexico. The time zones will test fans’ commitment—many matches will kick off before breakfast in Dubai. The top-tier option costs AED 249 per person. Called The Full 90, it includes three hours of unlimited premium spirits, house wines and beers, plus a personalised welcome cocktail. Groups…

Nearly two decades at one company would make most executives institutional fixtures. For Ashok Kumar, that longevity just earned him the mandate to tear down what he helped build. RoyalJet announced Tuesday that Kumar has been appointed Vice-President for Resources and Transformation, a newly configured role that hands the finance veteran responsibility for steering the Abu Dhabi-based private jet operator through digital transformation and fleet replacement. The appointment, revealed on 8 June, elevates Kumar from his previous post as VP of Finance and Corporate Services—a position he used to oversee operations generating roughly AED 1 billion annually. The timing signals…

The UAE real estate market will hit AED 2.98 trillion by 2031, according to Statista Market Insights. That’s five years to absorb a wave of residential towers, commercial districts and mixed-use developments spread across a country already synonymous with architectural ambition. The projection, released Tuesday from Dubai, signals sustained investor confidence despite global economic headwinds. Population growth and foreign direct investment continue to fuel demand, whilst the Emirates positions itself as a destination for capital seeking stability and returns. For developers, the timeline poses a practical question: how do you plan, finance and sell projects that won’t exist for years?…

Sung Woo Ahn has overseen exits worth more than KRW 1 trillion across two decades. The deals included taking golf equipment maker Titleist public on the New York Stock Exchange, selling Coffee Bean to Philippines-based Jollibee Foods for $350 million, and steering pre-IPO investments in Twitter and Impossible Foods through to liquidity events. Now he’s applying that experience to a different challenge. 500 Global announced on Wednesday that Ahn will join as Partner to lead the venture capital firm’s Seoul office, a move that brings institutional-grade exit expertise to a portfolio of more than 90 Korean technology companies the firm…

Dubai South recorded 1,357 property sales worth AED1.6 billion in May 2026, marking its third consecutive month as the emirate’s top-performing real estate zone. The figures cap a seven-month run in the top five areas, with transaction volumes climbing 15.9% from April. The surge accelerated after regional conflict erupted at the end of February. Since then, residential sales transactions across the sprawling master development have jumped 36.4%, according to a market report from fäm Properties released on Wednesday. Developer off-plan sales drove the gains. Those transactions climbed 24.8% in May to reach 1,233 deals, following a 35.71% spike in April.…

Brian Reilly spent nearly a decade navigating compliance frameworks across three continents before landing at the Dubai Financial Services Authority. Now he’s made a different bet: that Channel Islands-based Praxis can capture a growing slice of the Middle East’s increasingly complex regulatory advisory market. Praxis announced Tuesday it had hired Reilly as Senior Regulatory Adviser, based in Dubai. The appointment marks the latest senior hire for the independent professional services firm as it expands its corporate and funds platform across the Gulf Cooperation Council. Reilly brings 25 years of financial services experience spanning fund administration, investment management, banking and regulatory…

UiPath secured certification from Dubai’s Electronic Security Center on June 3rd, ending a regulatory lockout that had barred the automation giant from serving the emirate’s government agencies. The approval covers UiPath’s Automation Cloud Commercial UAE region and certifies the New York-listed company’s suite of AI and automation tools against cybersecurity standards mandated by Dubai law. Until now, government and semi-government organisations in Dubai were prohibited from purchasing cloud services from providers lacking DESC certification. That barrier no longer exists for UiPath. The door is now open. Dubai’s Electronic Security Center operates under the Digital Dubai Authority and serves as the…