UAE telecoms and technology company e& has entered into a partnership valued at more than $1 billion with Amazon Web Services, the world's largest cloud services provider, to accelerate the adoption of cloud solutions and drive digital transformation in the region.
The partnership, announced at Gitex Global in Dubai, will focus on delivering services such as cloud storage, computing, networking, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence and machine learning over the next six years, the companies said in a joint statement on Tuesday.
E& said that it will harness AWS's suite of 200 services to modernise key platforms, including Starzplay Arabia, a TV streaming service in which e& holds a majority stake, and Careem, the super app that offers services such as food delivery, mobility and digital payments.
The UAE company said it will also enable small and medium-sized businesses to access the AWS marketplace.
“We are enabling businesses across the region to lead in an AI-powered, data-driven economy,” said Hatem Dowidar, group chief executive of e&, which serves more than 175 million subscribers in 34 countries.
“By investing in both critical infrastructure and talent development, we are … supporting the region’s economy, digital resilience, and … its people, who will be instrumental in realising the UAE’s vision of becoming a world-leading digital powerhouse.”
AWS launched its second Middle East cloud region in the UAE in 2022, alongside a planned $5 billion investment in the local economy through 2036. In August 2022, the company announced that its facility would contribute an estimated $11 billion to the UAE’s economy over the next 15 years.
AWS said it will enable regional companies to access generative AI technology using its Amazon Bedrock solutions, helping them boost productivity and improve customer experience. The Seattle-based company, a cloud subsidiary of Amazon – the world’s largest e-commerce firm – provides on-demand cloud computing platforms to businesses.
Cloud companies around the world are recording growing demand amid the AI boom. Nearly 68 per cent of Middle East companies surveyed by PwC last year said they planned to migrate most of their operations to the cloud within two years. Consultancy Telecom Advisory Services expects public cloud adoption to unlock $733 billion in economic value across the Middle East and North Africa by 2033, according to its report last year.
The cloud computing market in Middle East and Africa is expected to reach more than $178.52 billion by 2030, growing at a compound annual growth rate of 18.8 per cent from 2024 to 2030, according to California-based Grand View Research.
With a 31 per cent market share, AWS is the biggest player in the global cloud infrastructure services sector, followed by Microsoft Azure with 25 per cent and Google Cloud with 10 per cent, data from Statista shows.
The e& partnership will fast-track the UAE's 2031 vision that aims to raise its gross domestic product to Dh3 trillion ($816.88 billion) by the next decade, said Tanuja Randery, vice president for Europe, Middle East and Africa at AWS.
AWS and e& will also work on developing a local upskilling initiative, with plans to provide training opportunities to thousands of individuals, including UAE nationals, in cloud technologies and AI.
“Our investment in developing the skills of UAE nationals will have a positive impact on the region’s economic growth and technological leadership,” said Ms Randery.
Separately, Microsoft said at Gitex on Tuesday that its cloud ecosystem is projected to contribute $74.4 billion to the UAE economy and create more than 152,530 jobs by 2028. These jobs will be created both directly within Microsoft and indirectly through its partner ecosystem and cloud-using customers, according to a report by International Data Corporation that was sponsored by Microsoft.
Over the next four years, Microsoft and its partner ecosystem will spend approximately $5.1 billion in the UAE’s data centre regions for services and products in local economies, it said. “This investment will fuel the growth of enterprises, particularly those looking to harness the power of cloud and AI,” it added.
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
Black Panther
Dir: Ryan Coogler
Starring: Chadwick Boseman, Michael B Jordan, Lupita Nyong'o
Five stars
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
What can victims do?
Always use only regulated platforms
Stop all transactions and communication on suspicion
Save all evidence (screenshots, chat logs, transaction IDs)
Report to local authorities
Warn others to prevent further harm
Courtesy: Crystal Intelligence
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 261hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 405Nm at 1,750-3,500rpm
Transmission: 9-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 6.9L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh117,059
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
It’ll be summer in the city as car show tries to move with the times
If 2008 was the year that rocked Detroit, 2019 will be when Motor City gives its annual car extravaganza a revamp that aims to move with the times.
A major change is that this week's North American International Auto Show will be the last to be held in January, after which the event will switch to June.
The new date, organisers said, will allow exhibitors to move vehicles and activities outside the Cobo Center's halls and into other city venues, unencumbered by cold January weather, exemplified this week by snow and ice.
In a market in which trends can easily be outpaced beyond one event, the need to do so was probably exacerbated by the decision of Germany's big three carmakers – BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Audi – to skip the auto show this year.
The show has long allowed car enthusiasts to sit behind the wheel of the latest models at the start of the calendar year but a more fluid car market in an online world has made sales less seasonal.
Similarly, everyday technology seems to be catching up on those whose job it is to get behind microphones and try and tempt the visiting public into making a purchase.
Although sparkly announcers clasp iPads and outline the technical gadgetry hidden beneath bonnets, people's obsession with their own smartphones often appeared to offer a more tempting distraction.
“It's maddening,” said one such worker at Nissan's stand.
The absence of some pizzazz, as well as top marques, was also noted by patrons.
“It looks like there are a few less cars this year,” one annual attendee said of this year's exhibitors.
“I can't help but think it's easier to stay at home than to brave the snow and come here.”
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Our legal columnist
Name: Yousef Al Bahar
Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994
Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Rain Management
Year started: 2017
Based: Bahrain
Employees: 100-120
Amount raised: $2.5m from BitMex Ventures and Blockwater. Another $6m raised from MEVP, Coinbase, Vision Ventures, CMT, Jimco and DIFC Fintech Fund
COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Alaan%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202021%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Dubai%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Parthi%20Duraisamy%20and%20Karun%20Kurien%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20FinTech%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%20stage%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20%247%20million%20raised%20in%20total%20%E2%80%94%20%242.5%20million%20in%20a%20seed%20round%20and%20%244.5%20million%20in%20a%20pre-series%20A%20round%3Cbr%3E%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Personalities on the Plate: The Lives and Minds of Animals We Eat
Barbara J King, University of Chicago Press
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cylinder turbo
Power: 240hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 390Nm at 3,000rpm
Transmission: eight-speed auto
Price: from Dh122,745
On sale: now
Business Insights
- As per the document, there are six filing options, including choosing to report on a realisation basis and transitional rules for pre-tax period gains or losses.
- SMEs with revenue below Dh3 million per annum can opt for transitional relief until 2026, treating them as having no taxable income.
- Larger entities have specific provisions for asset and liability movements, business restructuring, and handling foreign permanent establishments.
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Tips for job-seekers
- Do not submit your application through the Easy Apply button on LinkedIn. Employers receive between 600 and 800 replies for each job advert on the platform. If you are the right fit for a job, connect to a relevant person in the company on LinkedIn and send them a direct message.
- Make sure you are an exact fit for the job advertised. If you are an HR manager with five years’ experience in retail and the job requires a similar candidate with five years’ experience in consumer, you should apply. But if you have no experience in HR, do not apply for the job.
David Mackenzie, founder of recruitment agency Mackenzie Jones Middle East
Profile of MoneyFellows
Founder: Ahmed Wadi
Launched: 2016
Employees: 76
Financing stage: Series A ($4 million)
Investors: Partech, Sawari Ventures, 500 Startups, Dubai Angel Investors, Phoenician Fund
THE BIO
Favourite place to go to in the UAE: The desert sand dunes, just after some rain
Who inspires you: Anybody with new and smart ideas, challenging questions, an open mind and a positive attitude
Where would you like to retire: Most probably in my home country, Hungary, but with frequent returns to the UAE
Favorite book: A book by Transilvanian author, Albert Wass, entitled ‘Sword and Reap’ (Kard es Kasza) - not really known internationally
Favourite subjects in school: Mathematics and science
Some of Darwish's last words
"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008
His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.
