LinkedIn as a Goldmine for the Middle East and a new F1 investor

In Today's Issue for you...

• News from Star-CaT
• Saudi News
• News from the rest of the Middle East
• Stats You Should Know To Become More Skilled in the Gulf In 5 Minutes…

NEW RESOURCES for you

1️⃣ Just ANNOUNCED: "LinkedIn as a Goldmine MasterClass" with Top LinkedIn Voice Niraj Kapur Kapur on 3rd January 2025 - register here.

No gate keeping - tools, resources and everything you need to nail LinkedIn in 2025.

2️⃣ 2025 Planner, MasterClass (with explanations) and gorgeous E-Card Templates. Get it here.

Working on your Budget for next year and need to know the best events to attend?

3️⃣ The Middle East Trade Events and Conference Calendar 2024-2025 will help you + we update this weekly. Get it now.

Star-CaT Updates

🗞️ Corina was a guest on the Hidden Secrets of Thriving Entrepreneurs Podcast - you can listen here.

💻 Our new and improved Website is now live here

🇸🇦 Saudi News:

🤝 You might remember in one of our latest newsletters we mentioned the Diriyah project and the 7 luxurious hotels being part of it. Diriyah Company just announced plans for two multi-billion Dollar districts within the Giga-Project (see the link here for more Giga-Projects). The Qurain Cultural District and the Northern District will include residential spaces, arts, retail areas as well hotels and arts spaces. 

💸 Saudi Arabia will introduce a value added tax (VAT) refund system for tourists in 2025, as outlined in the Saudi Budget statement for the upcoming fiscal year. The Kingdom aims to attract 127 million visitors by the end of 2025 and this strategy promotes Saudi as a global destination of choice. 

News from the Rest of the Middle East:

🇦🇪 UAE

🥳 If you, like the Star-CaT-Team, are a fan of passport stamps then you might want to go to Dubai before the end of the year. Until the 31st of December you will receive a commemorative passport stamp for the UAE National Day celebrations. It reflects deep gratitude for the visionary leadership of the UAE's Founding Fathers. 

✈️ InterNations conduct an annual survey which city is the best for Expats and in the 2024 edition Ras Al Khaimah (see our blog post as well) won the honours. Especially the housing situation which makes it very easy to find accommodation was one of the strong points next to the ease of settling in. The diverse landscape with 64 km of coastline, desert and with Jebel Jais the highest mountain in the UAE make RAK an interesting place to live. 

🇴🇲 Oman

💸 Inflation in Oman at 0.8% according to official data. 

🇰🇼 Kuwait

🏠 After roughly 60 years, Kuwait announced new residency laws for expats. You can find a great summary under this link.

🇧🇭 Bahrain

↗️ Bahrain’s economy is projected to grow 3% in 2024 but accelerate to 3.5% in 2025. The growth is driven mainly by non-hydrocarbon GDP which will account for 90% of Bahrain’s economy by 2029.

🇶🇦 Qatar

🏎️ The Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) has agreed to acquire a “significant minority” stake in Audi’s Formula 1 team, becoming a long-term investor and strategic partner. This aligns with QIA’s strategy of investing into long-term growth potential and gives the Audi F1 team solid funding when it is officially entering F1 as a factory team in 2026. The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals. No financial terms of the deal were not given.

GCC

💸 The change in the UK's non-dom tax structure triggers large-scale property sales by long-term GCC investors and benefits the Dubai property market. The same tax implications of the current UK government proposals are also seen to be prompting a significant number of ultra-high net worth individuals (UHNWIs) residing in the UK to look at relocation to the GCC region, sector experts said.

Stats You Should Know To Become More Skilled in the Gulf In 5 Minutes…

➡️ UAE non-oil economy expected to grow 4.7% in 2024

➡️ Saudi non-oil exports up by 16.8% in Q3 ‘24 compared to 2023 and in September by 22.8% compared to 2023.

➡️ The kingdom revised their unemployment target among Saudis for Vision 2030 from 7% to 5% as the initial target has already been achieved. With the ongoing plans (e.g. 450,000 additional jobs in the entertainment sector by 2030) had to be adjusted. 

That is all for now and we will be back with more later this month! Corina and The Star-CaT Team

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Also, if you want even more support, here are 3 more ways that we can help you:

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