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Aerofarms

Abu Dhabi backs women-led food security startups in Mena

Dana Global, an Abu Dhabi-based venture builder and investment platform that supports women-led startups in agricultural technology (agtech) and water solutions, has announced a new partnership to tackle the food security situation in the Middle East and North Africa. Its agreement with Silal, a subsidiary of Abu Dhabi’s $110 billion state holding company ADQ, focused […]

MTN lands subsea cable to boost Africa’s connectivity with Mideast

MTN South Africa and MTN GlobalConnect, in partnership with a consortium, have landed a 45,000 km subsea cable in South Africa, part of plans to build a subsea network to connect African countries to Europe and the Middle East. Africa’s big economies have a fast growing population of internet users, with growth fuelled by rapidly […]

Dubai Chambers
  • Analysis

New Dubai plan to support overseas expansion a ‘win-win’

A new initiative to support the expansion of Dubai-based businesses into international markets has been described by experts as a “win-win situation”. Dubai Chambers has launched In Focus, which aims to drive its members’ interest in selected regions as potential destinations for their global expansion plans. At the same time, it has launched new representative […]

Seven African stock exchanges launch integration project

Seven African stock exchanges launched an integration project in Ivory Coast on Wednesday to facilitate cross-border trading of securities on the continent. The initiative, called the African Exchanges Linkage project, includes the stock exchanges of Nigeria, Mauritius, Morocco, South Africa, Kenya, Egypt, and West Africa. Ghana’s and Botswana’s will join in a later phase. The […]

Tower, Building, Architecture

Global fintechs target Dubai but Mena expansion still elusive

Dubai is seeing elevated levels of interest from fintech companies based in Singapore, southeast Asia and Asia-Pacific as the emirate builds its status as a regional hub. Dubai International Financial Centre said that during the first nine months of 2022, the number of fintech and innovation firms joining DIFC exceeded the total for the whole […]

Qatar 2022

Flight searches to Qatar soar from South Korea and Australia

Searches for travel to Qatar from nations competing in the World Cup surged in November as fans raced to reserve last-minute flights and accommodation in the tournament’s host country.  Enquiries for Qatar on travel aggregator website Wego from internet users in South Korea were up 168 percent in November versus the same period of 2021, […]

Machine, Car, Vehicle

Exxon to exit Equatorial Guinea amid wider Africa crude phaseout

Exxon Mobil Corp will wind down oil production in Equatorial Guinea and leave the West African country after its license expires in 2026, two sources close to the matter told Reuters. The departure reflects a wider move by major oil producers to reduce crude production in West Africa and shift investments to lower-carbon natural gas […]

Egypt is developing its wind farm with Sumitomo Corporation and solar energy project in collaboration with Dubai-based Amea Power

Dubai firm plans $1.1bn clean energy investment in Egypt

Dubai-based Amea Power announced on Wednesday that it has achieved a financial close to deliver 1 gigawatts (gw) of wind and solar energy projects in Egypt. The 500mw wind and 500mw solar projects, represent $1.1 billion of investment into the Egyptian economy and takes the company’s clean energy portfolio to 2gw in the country. Amea […]

An Iran fan in the Khalifa stadium, Doha, ahead of her team's opening World Cup match against England on November 21. A marine link from Bushehr, southern Iran, to Qatar has opened for the tournament

Qatar scores, with vital assists from Iran, Turkey and the UAE

Alongside the massive investment and the 12 years of preparation, Qatar has called in more than a few favours to aid the smooth running of the World Cup. While its allies have proved keen to help, Doha has had to tiptoe carefully around the geopolitical faultlines that run through the Gulf. Turkey has sent more […]

Ministers deliver statements during the closing plenary at Cop27

Cop27 deal delivers landmark on ‘loss and damage’, but little else

Countries adopted a hard-fought final agreement at the Cop27 climate summit early on Sunday that sets up a fund to help poor countries being battered by climate disasters – but does not boost efforts to tackle the emissions causing them. After tense negotiations that ran through the night, the Egyptian Cop27 presidency released the final […]

Venturesouq climate investment fund

Mena VC firm VentureSouq to set up climate-focused fund

Middle East and North Africa-based Venture capital firm VentureSouq is to launch a new climate-focused fund to support companies developing solutions for the green economy. Achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050 globally will require as much as $173 trillion in investments in the energy transition, according to BloombergNEF’s (BNEF) New Energy Outlook 2021 (NEO), […]

Cop27 sign in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt

Sticking points slow crunch talks to agree final deal at Cop27

Government ministers and negotiators from nearly 200 countries began working towards a Cop27 final deal on Tuesday, with the summit host Egypt issuing assurances that the slow-moving talks remain on track. On the conference floor in Sharm El Sheikh, however, some delegates have begun to speculate that the UN talks could run over time into […]

Fintech Pyypl mulls more fundraising amid investor demand

Pyypl, the Middle East and Africa (Mena) focused financial services platform, is mulling plans for a new fundraising drive after closing its Series B raise of $20 million. The company said it is considering opening a second tranche for further investment due to interest from investors. Since inception in 2017, Pyypl has raised almost $40 […]

Table Lamp, Lamp, Woman

Cherie Blair ‘optimistic’ for Middle East entrepreneurial equality

Nearly 20 years ago, Cherie Blair CBE, leading King’s Counsel and committed campaigner for women’s rights, predicted that the UAE would lead the Middle East’s drive on gender equality. Her first visit to the GCC region – during her husband Tony’s 10-year stint as British Prime Minister – was promptly followed by the appointment of […]

Sudan borrowing limited amounts from central bank

Sudan’s finance minister said on Wednesday said the government was borrowing limited amounts from the central bank, but was still able to control inflation. Sudan’s economy has been in crisis for years. That crisis has deepened and the economic activity has stagnated since a military takeover in October 2021 derailed a political transition that was […]

The Entertainer app offers deals in many sectors including attractions, such as the Dubai Aquarium and Underwater Zoo

Saudi and Egypt offer ideal stage for UAE’s The Entertainer

The Entertainer, a Dubai-based tech company that offers thousands of lifestyle product discounts, is focusing on Saudi Arabia and Egypt for expansion as demand rises amid the current cost of living crunch. New CEO Ahmed Gaber, who was previously general manager of Visa’s operations in North Africa where he was responsible for developing the digital […]

Egypt’s ‘Golden License’ bonanza aims to plug ailing private sector

Egyptian President Abdel Fateh Al-Sisi has announced that Egypt will accept all applications from investors for “Golden Licenses” for the next three months, in a bid to spur private investment in the Arab world’s most populated country. The Golden Licenses allow foreign investors to buy or rent land, operate and manage projects, and allocate the […]

Person, Human, Shelf

Tunisia to start tough economic reforms soon for IMF package

Tunisia will soon enact difficult economic reforms that have been delayed for years, the central bank governor said on Saturday, adding that financial authorities were trying to keep the dinar currency stable. Tunisia this month reached a preliminary agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a $1.9 billion rescue package that could be finalised […]