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Smiling until he sees the bill: mobile data does not come cheap in Dubai

Dubai ranks as most expensive city for mobile data

Dubai has taken the unenviable top spot as the most expensive city for affordability of mobile data, with the average cost of 1GB equating to 0.55 percent of personal disposable income, said a new study. In second place is Auckland with 0.37 percent, followed by Seoul (0.32 percent), Buenos Aires (0.32 percent) and Manila with 0.31 […]

BlackRock may spur wealthy to make crypto leap

Institutional investors and high net worth individuals have traditionally shunned cryptocurrencies as volatile and untrustworthy. The ongoing turbulence in the market, with the value of bitcoin dropping by nearly half so far this year, has not helped sentiment but there are signs this is changing. BlackRock, which has $8.49 trillion of assets under management, yesterday […]

  • Analysis

Dubai crypto chief predicts a $200k Bitcoin by 2024

“It might get worse,” Vineet Budki, managing partner and CEO at Cypher Capital, told AGBI when asked: Just how bad is the crypto market crash? Yet, the UAE-based venture capital (VC) firm has been deploying millions in Bitcoin, even as cryptocurrencies suffered their most brutal collapse this year. A major sell-off in cryptocurrencies in May […]

Virtual reality headsets are becoming more affordable, allowing more people to meet in the metaverse
  • Analysis

Inside Dubai’s big $4bn metaverse push

The UAE is punting big on the next iteration of reality. Crown prince Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed announced the launch of the Dubai Metaverse Strategy earlier this month, with an aim to place the emirate among the top 10 metaverse economies in the world. Many observers may have been sceptical but there are already early […]

Shoe, Footwear, Clothing
  • Analysis

MENA startup funding poised to recover in second half of 2022

Last year was a standout for Middle East and North African startups in which many notable records were broken, including the largest funding round to date and the highest number of deals. The total amount of investment raised by regional startups was pushed to $2.8 billion across 639 deals. This constituted a quadrupling of investment, […]

Ethical fashion: it’s so right now, but it’s granny chic too

Sustainable fashion is a buzzword that’s becoming a sound business proposition, particularly for MENA manufacturers returning to the thrifty practices of their grandparents The QR code on the clothing label takes you to a field where the cotton is grown. Shoppers can swipe to see the cotton being picked by hand and gathered into fluffy […]

UAE seeks 27 trade deals as global growth slows

Global trade growth is forecast to remain resilient this year, expanding at a rate of three percent, despite a fierce onslaught of headwinds, according to the Dubai Multi Commodities Centre.  But that represents a significant slowdown from nearly 10 percent in 2021 when global trade hit a record-high of $28.5 trillion. DMCC’s Future of Trade […]

The number of expats in Saudi Arabia fell but female nationals found more work

Saudi unemployment rate drops as over 1 million expats leave

The unemployment rate among Saudi nationals, especially women, continues to decline, as the latest data from the Saudi General Authority for Statistics (GASTAT) also showed that over a million expats left the kingdom during the pandemic. The population at the mid-year point in 2021 was 34.1 million, a 2.6 percent year-on-year decrease. Foreign workers and […]

Hamad Buamim, second from right, says organisations must not be afraid to disrupt

‘Embrace digital, don’t just change the cushions’ says official

Dubai’s biggest companies must embrace digital transformation as a way to advance the financial sector, instead of joining the “innovation theatre”, according to a government official. Hamad Buamim, president and chief executive of Dubai Chamber of Commerce, said large organisations, especially banks, need to steer clear of superficial efforts if they are truly to make […]

Changpeng Zhao

Binance CEO warns Gulf banks they must adapt

Banks that fail to catch up with blockchain and decentralised finance technologies will have a “hard time in the future”, the chief executive of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange has warned. Changpeng Zhao, CEO and co-founder of Binance, told a conference in Dubai today that embracing these tech advances allowed entrepreneurs to raise tens of […]

Many amateur investors took a hit when cryptocurrencies crashed but there is now a gap to exploit by those with a solid business plan

Crypto crisis will weed out the Gulf’s weak players, say analysts

The region’s cryptocurrency industry has grown rapidly – and is now being hit hard by the worldwide plunge in prices, but experts and businesses are welcoming the shake-up The value of the cryptocurrency market has slumped by more than $2 trillion since November, with bitcoin’s price dropping 70 percent and some in the sector laying […]

  • Analysis

What the metaverse actually means for your business

Should you believe the hype or is this yet another marketing buzzword? Not a day goes by without a brand or celebrity broadcasting their foray into the “metaverse”. While some naysayers may dismiss this nascent Web3 sector as unfounded hype, swathes of metaverse advocates envision trillions of dollars worth of opportunities in this new digital […]

  • Analysis

Mena region has record year for startup investment

The geographic location of the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) provides access to large markets in Europe, Africa and Asia, and is home to a large, young population.  In a context of geopolitical instability and high unemployment, many of these young people are increasingly seeking new opportunities and looking to improve the world via […]

Blockchain allows secure transactions of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin

UAE blockchain firm links with powerhouse Roland Berger

Crypto Oasis, a Dubai-based organisation claiming to represent more than 1,000 startups and stakeholders in the blockchain industry, has formed an alliance with management consultancy Roland Berger to help grow the Middle East’s crypto economy. The strategic tie-up will combine Roland Berger’s industry-leading management consulting expertise with Crypto Oasis’s talent, innovation and infrastructure, the two […]

The Mall of the Emirates in Dubai. Owner Majid Al Futtaim Group is one of the few companies praised by a report into net zero targets

Beware the NFT bandwagon, crypto lawyer warns shoppers

As Gulf retail brands venture into non-fungible tokens (NFTs), customers need to be careful not to fall for fear-of-missing-out (FOMO) syndrome, and jump on the digital bandwagon without fully understanding what they’re buying into, a leading cryptocurrency and blockchain lawyer has said.  Her warning comes as Dubai-based retail giant Majid Al Futtaim (MAF) and blockchain […]