DUBAI: Dubai is set to benefit from the spillover effect of a Saudi Aramco listing and other market reforms underway in Saudi Arabia, according to the chief of the emirate’s financial hub
The planned listing of Saudi Aramco and the opening of financial markets in Saudi Arabia will “increase the pie” of financial services in the region, said Dubai International Financial Center (DIFC) Governor Essa Kazim, in an interview on the sidelines of a World Economic Forum meeting in Dubai.
“Opening Saudi is completely a positive for the whole region,” said Kazim. “Our market is highly interactive with the Saudi market, so the investment flow that would come to Saudi would have a spillover into our market.
“So we are very much supportive of Saudi opening up , reforming, restructuring and meeting their 2030 Vision. It’s good for the whole region,” he said.
The planned listing of Saudi Aramco could be worth about $100 billion based on a 5 percent offering – about four times the size of the existing record held by Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, which listed in 2014.
London and New York are among the international financial centers seeking to attract the prized Aramco share sale, which represents a touchstone for wider financial reforms underway in the Kingdom, as it opens up to increased foreign investment.
DIFC reported a 14 percent rise in the total number of firms last year despite a prolonged period of oil price weakness that contributed to economic jitters in the emirate.
Kazim said that despite wider economic headwinds facing the region, DIFC had managed to double the number of new occupiers at about 300 on an annual basis over the last three years – compared to the previous three years.
“That means companies are still coming here despite geopolitical issues,” he said. “Life and business has to go on.”
He said that the business park remains 99 percent occupied as it expands with new buildings under development.
Dubai to get spillover boost from Aramco listing says DIFC chief
Dubai to get spillover boost from Aramco listing says DIFC chief
Lebanese social entrepreneur Omar Itani recognized by Schwab Foundation
- FabricAID co-founder among 21 global recipients recognized for social innovation
DAVOS: Lebanon’s Omar Itani is one of 21 recipients of the Social Entrepreneurs and Innovators of the Year Award by the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship.
Itani is the co-founder of social enterprise FabricAID, which aims to “eradicate symptoms of poverty” by collecting and sanitizing secondhand clothing before placing items in stores in “extremely marginalized areas,” he told Arab News on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
With prices ranging from $0.25 to $4, the goal is for people to have a “dignified shopping experience” at affordable prices, he added.
FabricAID operates a network of clothing collection bins across key locations in Lebanon and Jordan, allowing people to donate pre-loved items. The garments are cleaned and sorted before being sold through the organization’s stores, while items that cannot be resold due to damage or heavy wear are repurposed for other uses, including corporate merchandise.
Since its launch, FabricAID has sold more than 1 million items, reached 200,000 beneficiaries and is preparing to expand into the Egyptian market.
Amid uncertainty in the Middle East, Itani advised young entrepreneurs to reframe challenges as opportunities.
“In Lebanon and the Arab world, we complain a lot,” he said. Understandably so, as “there are a lot of issues” in the region, resulting in people feeling frustrated and wanting to move away. But, he added, “a good portion of the challenges” facing the Middle East are “great economic and commercial opportunities.”
Over the past year, social innovators raised a combined $970 million in funding and secured a further $89 million in non-cash contributions, according to the Schwab Foundation’s recent report, “Built to Last: Social Innovation in Transition.”
This is particularly significant in an environment of geopolitical uncertainty and at a time when 82 percent report being affected by shrinking resources, triggering delays in program rollout (70 percent) and disruptions to scaling plans (72 percent).
Francois Bonnici, director of the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship and a member of the World Economic Forum’s Executive Committee, said: “The next decade must move the models of social innovation decisively from the margins to the mainstream, transforming not only markets but mindsets.”
Award recipients take part in a structured three-year engagement with the Schwab Foundation, after which they join its global network as lifelong members. The program connects social entrepreneurs with international peers, collaborative initiatives, and capacity-building support aimed at strengthening and scaling their work.
