Wave Medical, the leading developer of clinical decision-support information and technology for healthcare professionals, announced today that InterSystems Corporation has incorporated the Wave Medical drug database into its leading TrakCare health information system.

“We are dedicated to offering the best available information to optimize patient care and safety,” says Michel Amous, InterSystems Country Manager, Middle East and India.  “We are excited to partner with Wave Medical to provide the most appropriate regional drug information and tools needed for our customers.”

The Wave Medical drug data will be a component of the InterSystems TrakCare™ Web-based unified health information system that provides local drug information, dosing, drug interaction and drug-allergy alerts to authorized users.

“I am very pleased to partner with an industry EHR leader to help meet the needs of clinicians to maximize safety and efficiency,” says John Wagner, Wave Medical chairman. “We are committed to providing the highest quality drug information and support through this partnership, and this relationship will embed Wave Medical’s drug information and tools directly into the workflow of healthcare professionals.”

TrakCare with Wave Medical drug information will fill existing gaps in the industry to provide regional drug names and support the electronic health records initiative throughout the GCC. TrakCare is already working successfully with language and calendar regionalization in many hospitals throughout Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates.

Wave Medical’s reputable clinical and pharmacological content is designed to support clinicians through every stage of the decision support process, increasing safety and accuracy through better-informed patient care. The partnership between Wave and InterSystems will help drive the rapid growth of electronic health records in the GCC.

The Cyprus Tourism Organisation (CTO) has launched a new campaign, with the slogan “Cyprus in Your Heart,” which is designed to put Cyprus on the international tourism map in 2011. Backed by a budget of 19 million Euro (AED 99 million), CTO sees great potential to increase tourist arrivals in 2011.

According to Alecos Orountiotis, CTO chairman, the campaign will promote Cyprus’ history and culture, friendliness and hospitality, its mix of modern and contemporary and the wide range of activities that one can enjoy by exploring the island. The campaign is being run through posters and short TV spots.”

Early results are encouraging, with tourist arrivals in April up by a whopping 43% over the same period last year. This was confirmed by figures released by the Statistical Service of the Republic of Cyprus. According to the report, tourists from the Middle East played a significant role in the increase with the UAE and Lebanon being the largest source countries from the region.

On the basis of the results of the Passengers Survey conducted by the Statistics Service, arrivals of tourists reached 199,762 in April 2011 compared to 139,658 in April 2010, recording an increase of 43%. An increase of 29.1% was recorded in tourist arrivals from the United Kingdom (from 62,742 in April 2010 to 80,998 in April 2011), a 74% increase from Russia (from 10,910 to 18,987) and a 30.8% increase of arrivals from Germany (from 13.724 to 17.956 this year).

A grand total of 405,463 tourists arrived in the all-weather Mediterranean island paradise between the months of January-April 2011, as compared to 344.664 in the corresponding period of 2010, recording an overall increase of 17.6% - a potent sign that the tourism industry was rapidly picking up the pace again.

Orountiotis said that in 2010 promotion efforts were affected by the harsh prevailing environment, with the consequences of the global financial crisis, the eruption of the volcano in Iceland, the global drop in recreation trips from Britain, reduced credit, pressure from travel organisers, viability problems faced by travel agents and air carriers, and the void left by the closing of Eurocypria airline.

He noted that, despite the drop in the UK market, there have been increases from the Russian, German and Scandinavian markets.

Orountiotis also referred to the prospect of increasing air connectivity, noting that ”the lively interest expressed by important airlines in Cyprus, the launch of new flights and the enhancement of existing ones, are not at all haphazard but the result of our unwavering efforts.”

Orountiotis pointed out that ”We have before us, significant opportunities, and to achieve multiple results for tourism, establishing Cyprus as an all-year-round destination, we have to exploit them.”

Release Date: 3rd November 2011

UAE firms are expected to increase exports of local products and services to Saudi Arabia’s booming construction sector over the coming year, as a result of their recent participation at Saudi Build 2011, the Middle East’s largest construction and building material exhibition in the region.

An extensive business matchmaking event, organised by Dubai Exports, an agency of the Department of Economic Development (DED), witnessed a strong response from Saudi Build key buyers and investors. The event served as an important venue for mutual trade cooperation between companies from both countries including discussion of government facilities and services provided by Dubai Exports.

Engineer Saed Al Awadi, Chief Executive Officer, Dubai Exports, said that Saudi Arabia’s booming building and construction sector provided potential opportunities for UAE exports. “Our successful participation at Saudi Build signifies a continuous growth of the country’s exports in the construction and building materials sectors. The business matchmaking event, one of our supports to UAE companies, provided them with a venue to meet with key buyers which aims to increase their export opportunities in regional markets such as Saudi Arabia,” he said.

The matchmaking event, which was attended by 35 local companies and more than 35 major Saudi buyers, resulted to overwhelming sales and business leads of export opportunities. Among the local companies that participated in the event were based in Dubai Investment Park and other companies from the manufacturing sector.

“We are keen to enter new markets for our companies at Dubai Investment Park and Saudi Build is an important exhibition for us to introduce our products to the Kingdom as well as enhance the awareness of the services our companies can provide to the construction sector. We have had remarkable success in our latest participation at Saudi Build and Dubai Exports’ support and the matchmaking event it organised was key in closing deals during the show,” said Abdul Aziz Al Serkal, Chief Executive Officer, Masharie, the private equity arm of Dubai Investments.

Saudi Build 2011, the largest business to business construction fair in the Kingdom, provided contractors, real estate developers and building owners with a full range of building solutions.

Manama, Bahrain – :  Gulf Finance House (“GFH” or “the Bank”) today announced its third quarter financial results for 2011.  The Bank has continued to grow its earnings, recording a net profit of US$ 4.1million for the first nine months of 2011, as compared to a net loss of US$ 162.2 million for the same period in 2010.  Specifically, net profit for the third quarter 2011 amounted to US$ 3.4 million compared with a net loss of US$ 115.1million for third quarter 2010.

During the first nine months of the year, GFH increased its earnings by 279 per cent to US$50.02 million, compared to US$ 13.1 million during the same period last year. This increase in total income was mainly attributable to income from asset sales and settlement of liabilities. 

Commenting on the Q3 results, Mohammed H. Al-Nusuf, Deputy CEO of GFH said: “The increase in net profit to US$3.4 million is a testament to the Bank’s diligent and professional management as well as its revised investment strategy. We are committed to providing our shareholders and investors with optimal returns with the continued support of our Board members and stakeholders will”

The Bank has undergone significant restructuring and reassessing of its business model in order to return to the profitability. The positive results mark a significant achievement for the bank, which experienced some challenges in 2009 and 2010 due to the global financial crisis. The bank’s recovery plan, which emphasizes a return to its core strength of conceptualizing, deploying, and managing pioneering Islamic financial institutions while successfully exiting from its non-core assets, has proven to be the backbone of our performance in 2011.

Company remains as number one retailer this year

Release Date: 16th October 2011

Jacky’s Electronics, the UAE’s leading multi-brand consumer electronics retailer, has surpassed its initial sales projections and remained as the top retailer during the eight-day exhibition of Gitex Shopper 2011.

The company has experienced an increase of 16 per cent in sales from last year’s event. Better product bundles and lower price points on fast-moving products such as notebooks, digital cameras and smartphones fuelled the total sales of the company.

“During the middle of Gitex Shopper, price points came down where we saw many entry level digital SLR cameras in AED2,000 price range, while prices for several brands in the notebook category dropped to as low as AED1,699. Along with great freebies bundled to these products, boosted our sales this year,” said Ashish Panjabi, Chief Operating Officer, Jacky’s Electronics.

The company also recorded that sales in DSLR, tablets and LED TVs more than doubled from last year. BlackBerry continues to dominate the smartphone category while Samsung and Sony brands dominated the TV segments. Canon and Nikon were especially aggressive in the DSLR category this year.

“Among the brands that performed well were HP with its ON campaign and their collaboration with Beats Audio, Lenovo had a good increase too thanks to an improved overall awareness on its range of Intel core i5 laptops, while Dell also had a good share on the total notebook sales. Apple iPad 2 remained as the tablet of choice for most of the shoppers, while Asus and Viewsonic also had good sales this year,” he added.

The exclusive launch of the ultrabook category during the second day of the show also generated huge interests from the shoppers, which led to stocks being sold out within a few days.

“Our participation this year has well exceeded our expectations and we are very optimistic that our sales will also translate even after Gitex until the big Eid and the festive seasons. We will continue to provide our customers with innovative promotions and great bundle offers on the latest products and gadgets in the market,” Panjabi said.

Regular updates, exclusive offers, great deals and price enquiries were also made on Jacky’s Electronics’ Facebook and Twitter accounts. The company will remain an exhibitor on next year’s Gitex Shopper.

NBAD AED 1.15 Billion Increase in SME Deposits

Abu Dhabi (September 7th, 2011) - The National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD), the Number One Bank in the UAE, opened a new business banking centre in Abu Dhabi’s Mina area in heels of the Bank’s success in acquiring new small- and medium-sized enterprise (SME) clients in 2011.

HE Mohammed Omar Abdullah, Undersecretary of the Department of Economic Development - Abu Dhabi (DED), and NBAD board member; Saif Ali Al Shehhi, the Senior General Manager of the Domestic Banking Division of NBAD and senior executives of the bank inaugurated the new business centre. 

“We have significantly increased accounts, deposits and loans so far this year. This has been accomplished through the many SME-exclusive new products and services the National Bank of Abu Dhabi launched this year as well as our business banking centres that serve this sector,” said Haitham AlRefaie, the Head of Business Banking Group at NBAD. “This shows that SME sector is still under-penetrated by the banking industry; however, NBAD continues to focus on serving it, which offers a valuable service to SMEs, who are the backbone of the economy; and provides the Bank a solid vehicle for growth.”

In the first half of 2011, NBAD acquired about 3,000 new SME accounts and increased SME deposits by AED 1.15 billion; and loans rose by AED 400 million.

“The business banking centres that we have been opening since the beginning of the year have been very crucial in our strategy to serve SMEs because these centres are specifically designed and staffed to serve this segment,” Mr. AlRefaie said.

The newest NBAD business banking centre is the Bank’s first inside the Island of Abu Dhabi and the fifth in the UAE. It is located within the NBAD Mina Branch.

NBAD launched its first business banking centre in February 2011 in Abu Dhabi Industrial City (ICAD) and followed with new centres in Al Ain, Jebel Ali and Sheikh Zayed Road in Dubai.

In addition to the centres, NBAD has launched several SME-oriented products and services that include Rent Finance, Visa Business Credit Card, as well as several partnerships. 

Recent statistics reveal that SMEs account for more than 46% of the UAE’s GDP and around 90% of all businesses in the country.

“NBAD plans to have 14 dedicated business banking centres throughout the UAE by the end of 2011, which is in line with our strategic objective to serve this significant sector,” Mr. Al Refaie said.

NBAD plan to launch two (2) more business banking centres in Dubai and one in each of the Emirates of Sharjah, Ajman, Ras Al Khaimah/Umm Al Qaiwain, and Fujairah this year.

Business Banking Group at NBAD provides optimal solutions for financial transactions of all companies operating in the commercial segment through the Bank’s extensive branch network in the UAE and specialised products.  NBAD offers world class services in Export Letters of Credit, advising LCs, Discounting of Export Documents, Transferrable LC, negotiation and discounting of Documents, Assignments.

Mr. Al Refaie added. “NBAD is an integral part of UAE fabric and is fully committed to the Government’s initiatives and plans to support SMEs and UAE economy.”

Abu Dhabi, August 21, 2011 – In an official signing ceremony held at  the corporate headquarters of the Abu Dhabi Health Services Company (SEHA), Abu Dhabi National Insurance Company (ADNIC), one of the leading insurance companies in the UAE, signed an agreement with (SEHA), a leading UAE-based healthcare  facilities company, allowing ADNIC’s medical insurance cardholders to benefit from SEHA’s network of  12 Hospitals and more than 60 Ambulatory and Primary Healthcare Clinics  across the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.

The agreement represents an added value to ADNIC’s medical insurance cardholders as it will provide access, on a direct-debit basis, to a network of internationally recognized healthcare leaders and partners such as Johns Hopkins Medicine, Cleveland Clinic, Bumrungrad International, Vamed, and Vienna Medical University. 

Walid Sidani, ADNIC CEO, said: “We are honored today to embark on this new partnership and agreement with SEHA, which will not only increase our medical network coverage in the UAE, but also - and most importantly – will ensure our customers receive top-notch medical healthcare services from renowned hospitals and healthcare centers .”

“Being one of the first private insurance companies to sign such an agreement with SEHA will represent a new milestone in our efforts to respond to the evolving needs of our growing medical insurance customer base, he added.”

“We are very pleased to have this agreement in place,” said Mr.  Mohamed Hamad Al Hameli, Chief, Support Services Officer, Abu Dhabi Health Services Company PJSC (SEHA). “Our vision is to provide our customers and communities with world-class healthcare in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. We wished to engage another competent health insurance company so that SEHA may achieve world class healthcare status and results. We believe we have such a partner in ADNIC” 

Leading company reveals penetration levels in GCC countries exceeding by 100 per cent

August 15, 2011

Tech Mahindra, a leading IT outsourcing company offering web development, Offshore development, application development, software development and is part of the Mahindra Group, has released the consolidated financial results for its first quarter ending June 30, 2011, revealing a 15.4 per cent Year–on-Year (YoY) growth in global revenue. The report shows that revenue for the first quarter reached USD 289.8 million, up by a 4.1 per cent Quarter-on-Quarter (QoQ) growth. The company has also revealed some new wins during the first quarter for the Middle East and African (MEA) regions. With multiple projects underway across the Middle East, Tech Mahindra is enjoying penetration levels in GCC countries exceeding 100 per cent. Operators are currently seized with the issue of controlling costs, increasing revenues and sweating assets. Tech Mahindra aims at addressing these issues by enabling businesses to focus on core business and handle key functions like IT and networks. Present trends also show an increased focus on market segmentation and customer loyalty.

In the Middle East region, Tech Mahindra has strong relationships with all operators and the company plans to focus on expanding its footprint in Saudi Arabia and are investing in efforts to make that happen. While Tech Mahindra has successfully done projects in the IT space covering OSS, BSS, ERP, EAI etc, the strategy is to offer a broader range of services to operators covering VAS, BPO, e-Security, Infrastructure Management Services and Network Services also to customers and prospects in the Middle East.

Some of the company’s offerings can be leveraged across key industry verticals. One that offers itself immediately is e-Security, where it has already started working with a leading bank in Dubai. In addition, software testing and infra services are areas where the company plans to use the Mahindra Satyam customer or prospect base to seek revenue streams. Also, with the recent contracts around Managed Services, Tech Mahindra has positioned resources and also hired resources locally. BPO and Security are new areas of growth in addition to systems integration work and managed services.

“Middle East and Africa are clearly the emerging markets that are crucial for our growth,” said Krishna Gopal, Vice President, MEA – Sales, Tech Mahindra. “These markets offer us the opportunity to develop and showcase some of our high end capabilities in terms of consulting, system integration and managed services. Our wins and healthy ongoing traction bears testimony to our growth momentum in the region and we will continue to leverage the same.”

Tech Mahindra also reported that revenue, in terms of a constant currency basis, came to USD 284.1 million, which increased by two per cent QoQ. The company’s operating profit was USD 54.1 million and showed an increase of 16.6 per cent YoY. Profit After Tax (PAT) was USD 61.7 million, driving in a 96.3 percent YoY increase and a 203.6 per cent QoQ. Tech Mahindra has also posted a total head count of 42,850 with 27,920 software professionals, 13,804 BPO employees and a support staff of 1,126. The company added 4,517 personnel during the first quarter, where 2,793 were in BPO.

“We continue to build our business portfolio at a measured pace, despite low discretionary spend in the telecom vertical. This has been enabled by our diversification into new geographies and customers,” said Anand Mahindra, Chairman, Tech Mahindra.

Other developments during the first quarter include the announcement of Nigeria as the headquarters for Tech Mahindra’s BPO operations in Africa with operations already commencing in Gabon. Also, the company has been selected by Microsoft to set up an authorized Encoder Conformance Testing Lab (ECT Lab) for video encoders used in deployment of IPTV solutions on Microsoft Media room based platforms.

“We have aligned ourselves with changing customer priorities and needs, which has helped us navigate in these volatile times. Our continued focus on core competencies has enabled us to show sustained growth across our key clients and geographies. The changing macro economic conditions could pose new challenges, which we are closely monitoring,” concluded Vineet Nayyar, Vice Chairman, MD and CEO of Tech Mahindra.

Hotels-BookingWesbite

Dubai, U.A.E, 2nd May 2011 - Hotels.com, part of Expedia Inc and one of the world’s leading hotel booking websites, will be present this year at the Arabian Travel Market to discuss its current successes and future plans for the Middle East in Dubai from 2nd to 5th May 2011. The number of Middle East hotels offered across the award-winning website will reach the 1,000 mark this year.

At the event, senior delegates from Hotels.com will meet with industry delegates, media and consumers to showcase the site’s functionality and user interface, while at the same time, providing insight into Hotels.com’s expansion plans for the Middle East.

Hari Nair, Vice President Market Management EMEA Expedia Inc. commented, “The ATM exhibition is an ideal platform for us to highlight our progress as part of the largest online leisure travel company and further explore the potential of this dynamic region.”

Hotels.com launched its Middle East Arabic website in 2009 and since then, has seen massive growth.

“The Middle East domestic demand for hotel accommodation has been growing exponentially and we are very pleased with the progress of Hotels.com so far. Bookings have continued to grow substantially year by year. Our hotel supply in key international destinations such as New York, London and Paris is excellent but we also have a growing number of Middle Eastern hotels on the site for domestic visitors. We already offer more than 350 hotels in Dubai, 100 in Sharm El-Sheikh and 70 in Amman, and are constantly adding new properties across the region”, added Nair.

8th CSR Summit kicks off with the PepsiCo Youth Forum addressing growing need for ‘environmental sustainability’ and ‘empowerment through education’

Maxime Chaya

Dubai – April 25th, 2011: The concept of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is fast moving away from the traditional approach of charitable giving and financially-driven projects, to a more comprehensive long term understanding of how business can help society develop more equitably. According to the Second Annual CSR Middle East Survey, conducted by Sustainability Advisory Group (SAG), 70 percent of the respondents believe that CSR helps capture new markets and market share while 90 percent believed credible CSR programs can enable companies to build a solid reputation. Over 80 percent thought that CSR can attract new customers and foster innovation.

Elaborating on the survey, Maria Sillanpaa, Founding Director of SAG and speaker at the 8th CSR Summit in Dubai said: “We are clearly witnessing a shift in attitudes towards CSR in the region. This maturing attitude is evident in businesses’ perception of the govern-ment’s role regarding CSR. There is a considerable increase in the number of organisa-tions which say that CSR is not just a government agenda, but an internal one, which will ensure the sustainability and long term success of their business.”

Leading CSR initiatives in the region, PepsiCo, the official CSR sponsor launched its first ‘Youth CSR Forum’ as part of IIR Middle East’s 8th CSR Summit. The forum witnessed the participation of over 50 students from universities such as American University of Dubai, American University of Sharjah, Hult International Business School and Dubai Women’s College. Students between 15 and 30 years old discussed and debated two key issues, ‘Sustaining the Environment’ and ‘Empowerment through Education’.

“We believe that CSR is to act in a responsible and sustainable manner; therefore, we are committed to the sustainable balancing of economic, ecological and social goals in our business,” said Memosh Khawaja, General Manager of Henkel Arabia. “CSR is an exten-sion of Henkel’s global strategy and we believe that sustainable development is essential in the Middle East and other emerging markets.”

Key speakers at the CSR Summit in Dubai, being from April 24th to 28th 2011 include Maxime Chaya, Explorer and Mountaineer from Lebanon and Khaled Khalifa, Head of Middle East – Asia Bureau, UN IRIN News Service, Office for the Coordination of Humani-tarian Affairs, UAE among others. The summit’s Silver sponsors are Dow Chemical Com-pany IMEA GMBH and Henkel.