Business

Metaverse, tokenization to revolutionize real estate sector: Dar Global CEO

While the global paradigm shift to digital is evident, UAE and the region in their quest for economic diversification have set their pace for digitalization on overdrive on the back of concerted government efforts to bring in strategic digital investments, propagate rapid Artificial Intelligence (AI) adoption, foray into the Metaverse, to name a few, and, needless to say, the real estate sector is reaping the benefit of it.
“As the virtual and real worlds continue to converge, today, the concept of space has changed forever. With people turning to technology or the internet for every light bulb moment, digitalization in real estate has evolved from being a crucial business tool to being the business. Technology has come to infiltrate every aspect of the built environment, renovating, and innovating it for the future,” according to Ziad El Chaar, Chief Executive Officer of Dar Global.
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From planning and design to property management, technology and digitalization have found commonplace in the development lifecycle catering to the rising needs for better efficiencies, cost reduction, transparency, and enhanced decision-making, further helping organizations deliver customer experiences and satisfaction with improved agility than before.

“Whether it is virtual reality tours, increased adoption of 3D printing technology, AI becoming a common fixture across the development and management cycle, or Web 3.0 redefining how we co-develop and co-design our built and virtual spaces, there has been a transformative shift in how we manage, develop, and sell properties today, making every real estate contender rethink their strategy playbook and rightly so,” said El Chaar.
Looking at Web 3.0, there is no denying the fact that the Metaverse has come to be the buzzword of the current times. “With the sector likely to increase its contribution to Dubai’s economy to $4 billion by 2030 and users constantly gravitating to the virtual universe for a variety of experiences and social interactions, it possesses endless possibilities for real estate players to explore beyond the realms of the two-dimensional world,” he said.
According to El Chaar, “3D printing is another ground-breaking technology that meets our need for affordable, efficient, and sustainable results in real estate. Companies today are investing in this rapidly evolving technology for a variety of reasons, ranging from selling new plans and products to clients and investors to more efficient manufacturing and construction. But more importantly, for its sustainability benefits.
“With its attributes rooted in the usage of fewer materials, generating less waste, decreasing transportation needs, and potentially using natural or recycled materials, printed buildings are increasingly being viewed as a possible solution to weather the climate crisis. Thus, governments like the UAE, have come to champion the accelerated implementation of 3D printing as it is destined to cement the future of construction.”
Regarding investments, the Dar Global CEO said, “security tokenization has the potential to shake up this aspect of realty. A one-of-a-kind invention that will aid the UAE real estate market in maintaining its allure and glamour as it prepares to assume the guise of a digital economy. With blockchain becoming the operational term in the convergence of technology and real estate, applying it creatively to real estate investing can help the sector scale new heights.”
To tokenize an asset is essentially to divide it into shares, or tokens, which represent a clearly defined share of the asset in consideration. This is what we call a security token.

The tokens are secured through the immutability of blockchain technology, and every token transaction is completed with automated smart contracts (software algorithms integrated into a blockchain with trigger actions based on pre-defined parameters).
“Unlike utility tokens like Bitcoin, real estate security tokens have many advantages,” said El Chaar. “For instance, it represents ownership in underlying assets while allowing real estate owners and investors to offer smaller investment tickets, expanding distribution to a broader group, make online purchases accessible from anywhere, on a 24-hour basis. It can also help individuals build diversified portfolios with limited funds, and owing to the high level of automation, help in the reduction of insurance, administrative, and distribution costs. Tokenization also does not require a middleman, making it easier, cheaper, and more transparent.”
“Although future-proofed, the real estate industry has always been restricted to high-ticket investments and is illiquid, complicated, and opaque. Serving as an intersection between real estate and the digital economy, tokenization has the potential to resolve these problems,” he said.
Looking forward, the future of real estate in the region has never seemed brighter. “While today we continue to perceive technology and digitalization as a trend in real estate, there will come a time when it becomes more of a mindset or norm deeply embedded in the industry culture and processes,” said El Chaar.

Business

Almarai signs multiple agreements to localize jobs through training and recruitment programs

Almarai signed a cooperation memorandum with the Food Industries Polytechnic, the
Transport General Authority, and the Saudi Logistics Academy to localize jobs in the
food and beverages sector through training and rehabilitation programs ending in
employment. This came within the first international conference on the labor market,
organized by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development on 13 – 14
December 2023 at the King Abdulaziz Convention Center in Riyadh.

‘These agreements are part of Almarai’s corporate program for the social responsibility
to achieve localization in the food industry sector, which is one of the top priorities of the
comprehensive strategic plans in Almarai, especially since the company is one of the
largest working environments in the kingdom, with more than 9,000 Saudi employees,
including more than 900 Saudi female employees.”Fahad Aldrees, Chief Human
Resources Officer of Almarai, said.

He added that the agreements signed to train and qualify young people are part of the
integrated initiatives and training and rehabilitation programs for national human
resources in Almarai. He pointed out that the company provided about half a million
employee training hours during 2022, raising its retention rate to 90% during 2022.

It is worth mentioning that Almarai is the world’s largest vertically integrated dairy
company, and the largest food and beverage producer and distributor in the Middle
East. Almarai was ranked among LinkedIn’s top 15 Saudi companies for professional
career development for 2022.

Business

SEBA Bank rebrands to AMINA Bank and continues to write its success story

a fully licensed Swiss crypto bank, announced today its new brand identity: AMINA Bank AG. The group operates
globally from its regulated hubs in Zug, Abu Dhabi and Hong Kong, offering its clients traditional and crypto banking services.
SEBA Bank made history in 2019 by becoming one of the first FINMA-regulated institutions to provide crypto banking services. This rebrand marks a new chapter for the company, which has proudly been in operation for more than four years. AMINA Bank is inspired by the same trailblazing ambition to lead the way for its clients and to write its own future as a Swiss-
regulated crypto bank offering services to its traditional and crypto savvy clients around the globe. The name ‘AMINA’ stems from the term ‘transAMINAtion’, meaning transference of one compound to another. AMINA is a brand driven by perpetual change, bringing together the various ‘compounds’ of traditional, digital, and crypto banking to unlock new potential and
growth for our clients. This vision of change represents the transformation of our clients’ financial future. Franz Bergmueller, CEO of AMINA, said: “We are delighted to introduce the world to our new brand identity. While we say goodbye to the SEBA name, we remain forever proud of the achievements made by the group under the former brand. “Our brand signifies a new era in the company’s growth and strategy; we are a key player in crypto banking and are here to define the future of finance. With our client-focused approach, our years of traversing traditional and crypto finance, we offer a platform for investors to build
wealth safely and under the highest regulatory standards.” “We are grateful to be encouraged by our supportive and committed investors who have been very helpful, supporting the growth of the company. We thank our employees in all the regions
for their dedication and client focus. As we look forward to 2024, our ambition is to accelerate the growth of our strategic hubs in Switzerland, Hong Kong, and Abu Dhabi, and to continue our global expansion, building on all the successes we have laid down over the past years.” Current clients of AMINA Bank (formerly SEBA Bank) will be unaffected by the rebrand other than encountering the new name; all operations will be business as usual across the board. The branch office based in Abu Dhabi and the subsidiaries in Hong Kong and Singapore will subsequently apply for a name change to align with the head office in Zug.

Business

Uptime Appoints Mustapha Louni Chief Business Officer

Uptime Institute is pleased to announce the appointment of Mustapha Louni to the position of Chief Business Officer, a role specifically created to drive strategic leadership and client success. In this new role, Mr. Louni will assume responsibility for the global Uptime sales and marketing organizations and drive overall business value for all Uptime clients. He will retain his existing responsibilities overseeing operations in the Middle East, India, Africa, and the Asia Pacific regions. In this elevated capacity, Mr. Louni is poised to play a pivotal role in driving Uptime’s next phase of global expansion through strategic initiatives to enhance market awareness of the dramatically expanding global service lines and delivery capabilities of Uptime that uniquely support the global data center industry in its pursuit of ever higher performance through elevated availability, resiliency, sustainability, and cyber-security of digital infrastructure. Louni’s appointment renews and expands Uptime

Institute 39;s 30-year commitment to advancing excellence in the data center sector on a global scale. “Today we are experiencing the next phase of the one-time, planetary transformation from analog to digital. This unprecedented, once-in-a-generation growth in data center demand is primarily driven by continuing cloud adoption, the new promise of AI, and the demonstrable fact
that hybrid digital infrastructure is here to stay for the foreseeable future,” said Martin McCarthy, CEO, Uptime Institute. “These complex and nuanced market demands require a visionary talent like Mustapha Louni. He is someone who cannot only deftly manage specific aspects of the business but also remain ahead of accelerating changes and trends. He continues to earn client
trust and respect by timely delivery on demanding commitments while he also inspires and energizes colleagues and clients alike. I am delighted to announce Mr. Louni’s new position and know that he will continue to expand the impact that he has already brought to Uptime since his arrival.” In 2014, Mr. Louni joined the Uptime organization in the United Arab Emirates, leveraging his extensive experience from roles at Panduit and Schneider Electric in Paris and Dubai. As the company’s first commercial resource in the Middle East and Africa region, Mr. Louni played a pivotal role in expanding Uptime’s presence. Within a year, he successfully established what became and remains Uptime’s fastest growing regional office. Under his leadership, Uptime has
extended his impressive trajectory of growth in MEA to the Asia-Pacific regions, augmenting the Uptime workforce with dedicated team members spanning more than a dozen countries across these regions. A new Uptime office has been inaugurated in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) this year, further fortifying the company’s ability to meet its commitment to sustained
growth and excellence and serve clients in critical, accelerating markets for digital infrastructure.

Uptime Institute began development of its proprietary and now globally recognized Tier Standards and its Tier Certifications 30 years ago to ensure that the mission critical computing needs of all organizations could be met with confidence and understood by executive management. Since that time, Uptime Tier Certification as well as other Uptime offerings including assessments and awards in digital infrastructure for ensuring business performance in areas of management and operations, risk and resilience, sustainability, and more recently cyber- security have gained global adoption. Uptime’s expanding success is based on delivering a
unique business service that is based upon unparalleled engineering excellence and technical mastery, while remaining vendor independent and technology agnostic.