Fast Company Middle East

#WatchNow In the inaugural episode of the #JourneysUnpacked KSA series, powered by Visa, Dr Saeeda Jaffar, Senior Vice President and Group Country Manager for the GCC region at Visa is joined by Adam Boukadida, Chief Financial Officer at Riyadh Air | طيران الرياض. Together they discuss the future of travel to streamline travel experiences, enhance digital payments, and elevate customer experience. To watch the full episode, click here: https://lnkd.in/gRfnHc7i

The Ministry of Finance, UAE introduced the “Financial Sustainability Standards Guide in the Federal Government” during a meeting at the Sustainability and Innovation Centre in Dubai. Rooted in the UAE Sustainable Finance Framework, the guide adopts a dual approach, addressing socio-environmental risks while advancing sustainable projects across various sectors. It aims to embed sustainability into public sector operations, leveraging UAE-centric financial practices inspired by global best practices.

Get ready to meet the game-changers, trailblazers, and innovators who made the cut for the 2024 #MostInnovativeCompanies in the Middle East! This year’s honorees include industry giants and dynamic startups that redefined innovation—reacting swiftly to shifting consumer demands, leveraging groundbreaking tech, and paving new paths for growth. Who’s leading the future of innovation? Find out in just 3 days #MIC2024 #MiddleEastInnovation 

According to Global Media Insight, an impressive 99% of the population in both countries are internet users, amounting to 10.14 million individuals in the UAE and 37.10 million in Saudi Arabia. This widespread connectivity has driven substantial engagement with social media platforms, reshaping consumer behaviors, especially within the beauty and lifestyle sectors. In the UAE, platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok dominate, with usage rates of 80.3%, 80.1%, and 71.8%, respectively. Meanwhile, in Saudi Arabia, Instagram leads with 72.7% of users, closely followed by TikTok at 71.8% and Snapchat at 70.5%.

Think of how much has happened since March 2020 when millions of employees started working from home: Two presidential elections, war and humanitarian crises, countless climate disasters, a roller-coaster economy of inflation and interest rates, the birth of ChatGPT and AI anxiety, eight Taylor Swift albums, and an endless string of debates about if, how, and when employees should return to office (RTO). The first wave of RTO started in late 2021 and early 2022. But here we are at the end of 2024 still debating the topic. So what’s really behind the yearslong struggle over return to office and where do we go from here?

Lunar Outpost said on Thursday that SpaceX will deliver its first Lunar Terrain Vehicle, Eagle, to the Moon by 2029. The Colorado-based company’s rover, the size of a heavy-duty truck, is being built under contract with NASA and recently finished a battery of human factors testing at Johnson Space Center. “The main reason we went with SpaceX is the technological maturity and the pace at which they’re able to accomplish their objectives, especially after seeing flight five,” Lunar Outpost CEO Justin Cyrus said. 

To prepare ChatGPT to take on this role, the researchers started by prompting the AI bot to behave as it has observed professors communicating in its training data. The specific prompt, according to a paper published by the researchers, was: “You are a professor at one of the world’s leading research universities, specializing in qualitative research methods with a focus on conducting interviews. In the following, you will conduct an interview with a human respondent to find out the participant’s motivations and reasoning regarding their voting choice during the legislative elections on June 30, 2024, in France, a few days after the interview.”

#FASTCOWORKS The launch of Riyadh Air will position Riyadh as a premier travel and business destination, reflecting Saudi Arabia’s broader Vision 2030 agenda to diversify its economy. With a fleet that rivals some of the world’s leading airlines, Riyadh Air aims to capture a share of the burgeoning tourism and transit markets. Following the success of Fast Company Middle East’s Journeys Unpacked podcast series in the UAE, the Saudi edition was a natural next step. In the inaugural episode of the KSA series, Dr Saeeda Jaffar, Senior Vice President & Group Country Manager—GCC at Visa, speaks with Adam Boukadida, Chief Financial Officer at Riyadh Air | طيران الرياض, about their goal to reach 100 destinations and position Riyadh as a major gateway for travelers.

The Middle East has emerged as one of the most digitally connected regions in the world, with the UAE and Saudi Arabia leading the charge. “The UAE and Saudi Arabia are at the forefront when it comes to social media’s influence on the beauty industry,” says Christian Kiefer, CEO and Founder of Spa Wellness Project Management. Social media platforms have revolutionized consumer behavior, says Dr. Nisreen Ameen, Associate Professor in Digital Marketing at Royal Holloway, University of London and Director of the Digital Organisation and Society research center, adding that it has also changed how brands communicate with consumers. Emily Booroff, founder and CEO of Social Climbers, says that reviews, tagged posts, and working with influencers have become critical to developing communities and driving a subtle solution-selling strategy for organizations in this sector. Read more: https://lnkd.in/gEcmQh2B

Elon Musk has big plans for his new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) once Donald Trump takes the White House in January. Prior to the election, the Tesla CEO said he would help cut $2 trillion from the federal budget. “This will send shockwaves through the system, and anyone involved in Government waste, which is a lot of people!” Musk said in a statement. (DOGE, which Musk will co-lead alongside former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, will actually sit outside government and will only “provide advice and guidance from outside of government,” according to Trump.) So, what does efficiency look like under the world’s richest man? And how exactly does he typically go about minimizing “waste”?