Author: Sam Allcock

Six million students will start learning artificial intelligence in Saudi Arabia’s classrooms when the 2025-2026 academic year begins. The Kingdom aims to develop 20,000 AI specialists by 2030, with 779,000 citizens already trained and 9,775 reaching specialist level. On Tuesday, EC-Council rolled out four new AI security certifications designed to turn that momentum into job-ready credentials. The cybersecurity training giant announced the Enterprise AI Credential Suite from Riyadh on 11th February, marking its largest portfolio expansion in 25 years. The launch comes as Gulf states pour resources into AI-driven infrastructure whilst grappling with a stubborn reality: production AI systems are…

Young philanthropic leaders from Gulf families arrived in Athens in early February for an immersion most wouldn’t choose voluntarily: four days inside Greece’s humanitarian infrastructure, witnessing operations that have supported more than 305,000 displaced people since 2020. The Pearl Initiative orchestrated the trip alongside the Shefa Fund and the International Organization for Migration. No conference rooms. No PowerPoint decks. Instead, participants visited Reception and Identification Services facilities, Safe Zones for unaccompanied children, and health centres where migration’s human cost plays out daily. It’s governance training with a difference. Rather than lectures on accountability frameworks, the next-generation heirs toured operational sites…

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…