Online construction marketplace Tenderd has become the first UAE-based company invited to join the World Economic Forum’s Global Innovators Community.
The company will offer its support on two initiatives being worked on by members of the community – accelerating the impact of Internet of Things (IoT) technology and a circular economy action agenda for capital equipment.
The Global Innovators Community is a group of some of the world’s most promising start-ups offering technologies or business advancements that can have a broader impact on society.
Its members include US-based flying vehicle company Joby Aviation, UK-based genomic data analyser Congenica and India-based agricultural technology company MoooFarm, which uses sensors to monitor the health of cattle.
“We are thrilled to be using the UAE as a platform and engage on the global stage with policy and business leaders, to help initiate and guide sustainability and technology initiatives,” Arjun Mohan, founder and chief executive of Tenderd, said in a statement.
Tenderd offers companies the opportunity to lend or borrow construction machinery which it fits with telematics equipment to track how efficiently they are used. The company raised $5.8m in an initial funding round in late 2018 from Silicon Valley accelerator Y Combinator, PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel, Germany’s Rocket Internet and Dubai-based venture capital firm Beco Capital.
Tenderd will be part of a business advisory council on accelerating IoT use across the world.
The World Economic Forum has already run a pilot project in Brazil where IoT devices were used to help 120 small and medium-sized businesses improve their efficiency, sustainability and profitability. That programme is now being rolled out to other markets including Saudi Arabia, Kazakhstan, Turkey, South Africa and Colombia.
The company will also provide data collected from its own IoT devices connected to machines registered on its platform and use machine learning methods to identify patterns and ways of improving utilisation.
Construction is responsible for some 25 per cent of the world’s carbon emissions, according to Tenderd. Improved data collection can help companies to track and regulate equipment emissions, the company said.
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Your rights as an employee
The government has taken an increasingly tough line against companies that fail to pay employees on time. Three years ago, the Cabinet passed a decree allowing the government to halt the granting of work permits to companies with wage backlogs.
The new measures passed by the Cabinet in 2016 were an update to the Wage Protection System, which is in place to track whether a company pays its employees on time or not.
If wages are 10 days late, the new measures kick in and the company is alerted it is in breach of labour rules. If wages remain unpaid for a total of 16 days, the authorities can cancel work permits, effectively shutting off operations. Fines of up to Dh5,000 per unpaid employee follow after 60 days.
Despite those measures, late payments remain an issue, particularly in the construction sector. Smaller contractors, such as electrical, plumbing and fit-out businesses, often blame the bigger companies that hire them for wages being late.
The authorities have urged employees to report their companies at the labour ministry or Tawafuq service centres — there are 15 in Abu Dhabi.
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New schools in Dubai
Results
2.30pm: Park Avenue – Conditions (PA) Dh80,000 (Dirt) 2,000m; Winner: Rb Seqondtonone, Abdul Aziz Al Balushi (jockey), Helal Al Alawi (trainer)
3.05pm: Al Furjan – Maiden (TB) Dh82,500 (Turf) 1,200m; Winner: Bosphorus, Dane O’Neill, Bhupat Seemar
3.40pm: Mina – Rated Condition (TB) Dh105,000 (D) 1,600m; Winner: Royal Mews, Tadhg O’Shea, Bhupat Seemar
4.15pm: Aliyah – Handicap (TB) Dh87,500 (T) 1,900m; Winner: Ursa Minor, Ray Dawson, Ahmad bin Harmash
4.50pm: Riviera Beach – Rated Conditions (TB) Dh95,000 (D) 2,200m; Winner: Woodditton, Saif Al Balushi, Ahmad bin Harmash
5.25pm: Riviera – Handicap (TB) Dh2,000 (T) 2,000m; Winner: Al Madhar, Antonio Fresu, Musabah Al Muhairi
6pm: Creek Views – Handicap (TB) Dh95,000 (T) 1,400m; Winner: Al Salt, Dane O’Neill, Erwan Charpy
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WHAT ARE NFTs?
Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are tokens that represent ownership of unique items. They allow the tokenisation of things such as art, collectibles and even real estate.
An NFT can have only one official owner at one time. And since they're minted and secured on the Ethereum blockchain, no one can modify the record of ownership, not even copy-paste it into a new one.
This means NFTs are not interchangeable and cannot be exchanged with other items. In contrast, fungible items, such as fiat currencies, can be exchanged because their value defines them rather than their unique properties.
Stamp duty timeline
December 2014: Former UK finance minister George Osbourne reforms stamp duty, replacing the slab system with a blended rate scheme, with the top rate increasing to 12 per cent from 10 per cent:
Up to £125,000 - 0%; £125,000 to £250,000 – 2%; £250,000 to £925,000 – 5%; £925,000 to £1.5m: 10%; Over £1.5m – 12%
April 2016: New 3% surcharge applied to any buy-to-let properties or additional homes purchased.
July 2020: Rishi Sunak unveils SDLT holiday, with no tax to pay on the first £500,000, with buyers saving up to £15,000.
March 2021: Mr Sunak decides the fate of SDLT holiday at his March 3 budget, with expectations he will extend the perk unti June.
April 2021: 2% SDLT surcharge added to property transactions made by overseas buyers.
