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  • Saudi Arabia’s Neom Hydrogen Project Sees Output Starting Next Year

    The Neom hydrogen project, part of a $500 billion industrial and tourist development on Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea coast, will begin producing fuel for transportation next year, according to the head of the venture. By mid-2024, Neom will be making hydrogen for vehicles such as buses and trucks, Dave Edmondson, chief executive officer of Neom Green Hydrogen Co., said in Dubai. A larger plant, focusing on exports, is also being developed. NGHC — a venture between local firm ACWA Power, state-backed Neom and US-based Air Products & Chemicals Inc. — is part of Riyadh’s ambitious plans to expand in clean-tech industries as it prepares for a future beyond fossil fuels. Green hydrogen is still far more expensive than oil and natural gas, but developers are confident they can reduce costs enough to make it competitive.

  • Anger in Iraq after Jordan renews credentials of Saddam Hussein’s Baath party

    The Independent Electoral Commission in Jordan on 14 May approved the participation of 27 new political parties, including the Arab Socialist Baath Party, the Jordanian branch of the Pan-Arab nationalist movement associated with the late Iraqi president Saddam Hussein. In Iraq, the Islamic Dawa Party, one of the Baath Party's most vocal opponents and to which Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani belongs, branded the move as a "hostile and provocative act". "Iraqis were surprised, shocked, and outraged by the news of the Jordanian government's permission for the [Saddam's Baath] party to engage in political activities," the party said in a statement on Wednesday.

  • MCIT inks partnership with PepsiCo and AstroLabs to empower over 100 Saudi entrepreneurs

    PepsiCo — one of the leading global food and beverage manufacturers — celebrated the success of its ‘Scale Up Accelerator’ program. Showcasing the achievements of the program’s participants, the event spotlighted the growth of entrepreneurship in the Kingdom, calling attention to Saudi Arabia’s development as a thriving SME hub.

  • Who’s who: Abdulrahman Justaniah: 1st Saudi partner at Kearney

    After obtaining his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals in Dhahran, Abdulrahman Justaniah kicked off his career at Procter & Gamble, where he spent close to a dozen years across its operations in Saudi Arabia and Egypt. Having grown the ranks at the consumer goods giant, Justaniah latterly served as demand planning leader for the Middle East and Africa, and led part of the manufacturing operations in Dammam.

  • Chart: Cars Still Dominate the American Commute

    According to Statista Consumer Insights, 73 percent of American commuters use their own car to move between home and work, making it by far the most popular mode of transportation. Meanwhile, only 13 percent of the 7,649 respondents use public transportation while 11 percent ride their bike. As our chart shows, alternatives to the car have become more popular since 2019, but none comes close to challenging the car's status as the king of the American commute.

  • Saudi Arabia Changes Tack With Pop Stars and Pop Art

    What does arguably the world’s greatest footballer have in common with a leading light of mid-century pop art and a Grammy-winning singer? Until recently, not much. That was until Saudi Arabia decided to start spending billions to use icons of western culture like Lionel Messi, Andy Warhol and Alicia Keys to turn itself into the next tourist hotspot. The kingdom, under de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, wants to diversify its economy by tapping the disposable income of travelers and its own burgeoning younger generation.

  • Community Jameel Saudi Joins MITs JWEL Network to Launch StartSmart Competition

    Community Jameel Saudi announces its membership in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT) Jameel World Education Lab (J-WEL) network. The pilot innovation cohort is a joint initiative between J-WEL and Community Jameel Saudi, facilitating learnings and programmes supporting entrepreneurial learning and development in settings with growing demand for innovation linked to technology.

  • Minor Hotels seals Saudi partnership

    Minor Hotels, a hotel owner, operator and investor with a portfolio of 530 hotels worldwide, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Saudi Arabia’s Tourism Development Fund to develop and operate hospitality and lifestyle projects jointly. The projects will focus on mountain resorts, wellness resorts and urban hotels in Saudi Arabia. The first project under this partnership is expected to be announced during the second half of this year, with multiple projects over the next couple of years.

  • Mubadala Capital’s Ajami Says Money Is ‘No Longer a Moat’ for Startups

    Amid a funding crunch and an economic slowdown, venture capitalists and founders have increasingly been turning to the Middle East. At the center of this growing interest: Mubadala Capital Ventures. In 2017, SoftBank launched its $100 billion Vision Fund with backing from Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund and Mubadala Investment Co., an Abu Dhabi-based sovereign wealth fund. That same year Mubadala opened its first U.S. offices, looking to invest in Silicon Valley founders. The difference now is that founders and investors don’t need firms like Mubadala to come to them — they’re going overseas to give talks, party-crash and raise funds now that capital is scarce.  In an environment where venture spending by almost everyone else is down significantly, Mubadala is finding itself suddenly popular by simply maintaining its steady pace.

  • Mubadala Capital’s Ajami Says Money Is ‘No Longer a Moat’ for Startups

    Mubadala Capital Ventures, the venture arm of Mubadala Investment Company, has made five new investments in 2023 through April, compared with 14 for all of last year. This year’s bets include Precision Neuroscience, Chroma Medicine, and Epi Biologics. Overall, MCV has deployed $800 million into the U.S. market since its launch in October 2017 and $358 million into Europe since it start there in 2019. That's a small part of the robust $284 billion Mubadala Investment Co. has on its balance sheet.