Author: Sam Allcock

Ninety-three townhouses. That’s where Keturah Reserve drew the line—not 900, not 300, but 93 units alongside 90 villas and 533 apartments across Mohammed Bin Rashid City’s District 7. The restraint wasn’t accidental. Talal M. Al Gaddah watched the maths carefully. The Keturah founder could have packed more units into the AED5.7 billion bio-living community. Higher volume typically means faster returns. But on 10th February, he explained why his firm deliberately chose otherwise—and what that constraint reveals about which Dubai developers will thrive and which will struggle through 2026. “The UAE real estate market in 2026 is entering a phase of…

Park Hyatt Dubai’s ballroom filled with senior executives and VIPs on February 10th, 2026, as iCAUR staged the global launch of its V27 hybrid SUV. The Emirati premiere marked the vehicle’s first commercial availability worldwide. Chery International’s premium sub-brand chose the UAE over established automotive capitals, positioning the Gulf state as the entry point for what the company calls a “new-energy classic.” Tim Zhang, General Manager of Chery International Middle East, acknowledged the strategic weight of that decision. “iCAUR’s global debut in the UAE reflects our commitment to consumers across the Middle East,” he said at the launch. “We are…

When Grantify and Alpha Group signed their partnership agreement on 9 February 2026, the Dubai AI Campus conference room held more than just business executives. His Excellency Almaz Tasbolat, Kazakhstan’s consul general in Dubai, sat alongside three senior diplomatic officials and directors from three Kazakh schools. That level of attention signals something beyond routine corporate collaboration. The memorandum of understanding between Dubai-based Grantify—an education technology platform matching students with scholarships and university placements—and Almaty’s Alpha Group aims to open international education pathways for students across Kazakhstan and Central Asia. The partnership combines Grantify’s digital admissions platform with Alpha Group’s established…

For hundreds of years, the ritual remained unchanged: light the bakhoor, let it smoulder, watch the smoke rise. Emirates Pride Perfumes just stopped doing that. The Dubai-based fragrance house announced it has become the first Arabic perfumer to abandon the burning of bakhoor entirely, instead capturing its scent through laboratory technology and bottling it as wearable perfume. The move arrives as two new fragrances—Future Oud and Future Bakhoor—launch across London, Paris, Barcelona, and Dubai. What’s at stake isn’t merely tradition. Bakhoor, a fragrant wood chip mixture burned in homes and majlis across the Gulf, has anchored Arab hospitality and ritual…

Brett Lee stood alongside the Sajan family on February 9th as Danube Properties unveiled Serenz by Danube, a twin-tower development in Jumeirah Village Circle that the developer claims offers the most extensive amenity package in Dubai. The numbers are striking: 120,000 square feet dedicated purely to lifestyle facilities. The project comprises a 50-storey main tower paired with a 25-storey companion structure, wedged between Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Road and Al Khail Road. Danube Properties is marketing what it calls “2-minutes-in, 2-minutes-out” highway access—a reference to the development’s proximity to major arterial routes through the emirate. Rizwan Sajan, who founded the…

Careem Quik will launch daily flash sales between 3pm and 5pm throughout Ramadan, offering discounts of up to 50% during the frantic hours before Iftar when Dubai and Abu Dhabi households scramble to complete their evening meal preparations. The two-hour window targets what the company sees as peak demand for last-minute grocery runs. The campaign, launching Tuesday across both emirates, centres on 15-minute delivery promises for fresh produce, pantry staples and household essentials. Careem has secured direct partnerships with UAE farms to guarantee fruits and vegetables reach its Quik stores within 24 hours of harvest. That farm-to-store claim matters. Speed…

OMODA&JAECOO sold 3,000 vehicles in the UAE over 12 months. For a brand that didn’t exist in the market until February 2025, the figure represents an aggressive entry into territory dominated by Japanese and European manufacturers. The Chinese marque, operating under Chery International, launched with no showrooms and no brand recognition. By this month, it operates six facilities across Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Fujairah and Ras Al Khaimah. A seventh—the second Dubai location—opens at Oasis Mall before February ends. That’s one new showroom every eight weeks. The expansion comes as OMODA&JAECOO rolls out Ramadan promotions designed to accelerate momentum. Buyers…

On Thursday, 6th February, Al Barari marked something rare in Dubai’s relentless property market: an ending. The groundbreaking ceremony for The Cape wasn’t just another launch—it was the final residential development from a company that spent two decades turning desert into botanical refuge. The moment carried weight. Twenty years of transforming barren land into one of Dubai’s most distinctive communities, and this would be the last chapter. Hazza Zaal stood before the gathering as Al Barari’s CEO, reflecting on a journey that began when the site was nothing but sand. The community that emerged—low-density, green-focused, deliberately unhurried—stood in stark contrast…

Submissions close Saturday at midnight. That’s the deadline facing Malayalam singers across the UAE who want their shot at performing on the Star Singer Season 10 set in Kochi, in front of playback legends K.S. Chithra, Sithara, and Vidhu Prathap. Asianet ME launched its latest Star Singer UAE Talent Hunt on 6th February, giving vocalists aged 18 and above a narrow window to upload a two-minute video of themselves singing a Malayalam song. The prize? An all-expenses-paid trip to Kerala, a backstage pass to one of Malayalam television’s most-watched music shows, and a live performance slot. For diaspora singers, that’s…

Order an Iftar box at 4pm. Someone in need receives it by 4:15pm. That’s the promise Amazon.ae made on Thursday when it launched its Ramadan sale, running until February 14th across the Emirates. The e-commerce giant isn’t just discounting kitchen appliances and groceries this year—it’s turned its Amazon Now service into a charity distribution channel, letting customers send pre-packed Iftar meals to families across the UAE within minutes of ordering. The logistics play out through the Amazon app or www.amazon.ae/now. Customers select an Iftar box, punch in a delivery address—their own or someone else’s—and Amazon’s existing rapid-delivery network handles the…