Author: Arabian Media staff
When Covid-19 hit, Abdelilah Hlallouch, a tech entrepreneur of Moroccan heritage who was born and raised in the Netherlands, seized the opportunity to fulfil a long-held ambition of launching a business in the country of his forebears. Like most other countries, Morocco closed its borders and suspended flights in response to the pandemic, implementing one of the strictest lockdown regimes in the region. It meant Hlallouch, who was visiting family in Tangier at the time, found himself trapped there for almost a year. The result was Tingis Web, a digital marketing and tech solutions company based in the northern port…
Stay informed with free updatesSimply sign up to the UK inflation myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox.A spectre is haunting the City of London — the spectre of VED.Two weeks ago, Britain’s latest inflation statistics landed with a nasty shock, although which part was shocking was a matter of perspective.Headline consumer prices came in 3.5 per cent higher year-on-year, a leap from 2.6pc that set social media managers’ mouths frothing. But for the sell- and buy-siders — who were braced for a major uptick — the real shock lurked in the subcomponents.Everyone knows April is the cruellest month,…
When the rains come, Gore Ladu’s town of Mangala on the banks of the Nile in South Sudan is transformed into an island. Anyone without a boat is at risk of being stranded by the floods.Ladu has turned this seasonal threat into an opportunity. With the help of two loans worth $9,240 from the Rwanda-based microfinance start-up Inkomoko, he scaled up his business making canoes and has helped to keep life flowing for his neighbours in Mangala. Inkomoko was dreamt up in 2012 by two US entrepreneurs, Julienne Oyler, its chief executive, and Sara Leedom, the chief operating officer, when they…
Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Long queues and midnight store openings have marked the global launch of Nintendo’s Switch 2, a long-awaited console that analysts see as a catalyst for the next wave of video game industry growth.More powerful and sleeker than its predecessor, with new features and upgraded controllers, the Switch 2 carries the hopes that gamers, developers and companies will be energised by its launch and that it can emulate the success of the original Switch. More than 150mn units of the hybrid of handheld…
Top investors including Qatar are realising they may have backed a business that largely reported artificial revenues Source link
Image: Getty Images/ For illustrative purposes Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the UAE are maintaining a steady sense of optimism despite rising costs and economic headwinds, according to RAKBANK’s latest SME Confidence Index. The 2025 report, compiled in partnership with RFI Global, reflects a confidence score of 57, signalling continued resilience in the sector. The findings are based on responses from over 1,200 SMEs across the UAE, surveyed between October and December 2024. While the Index score has declined from 61 in 2023 to 57 in 2024, it remains above the base level of 50, pointing to overall positive…
Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for freeYour guide to what Trump’s second term means for Washington, business and the worldBig institutional investors are shifting away from US markets as Donald Trump’s trade wars and the country’s escalating debt fuel fears about the dominance of American assets in global portfolios. The US president’s erratic trade policy has shaken global markets in recent months, sparking a sharp sell-off in the US dollar and leaving Wall Street stocks lagging far behind European rivals this year. Trump’s landmark tax bill, which is forecast to add $2.4tn to Washington’s debt over the next decade,…
The chief executive of Herholdt’s Group, a South African solar equipment supplier ranked 25th in this year’s FT-Statista rankings of Africa’ fastest growing companies, can pinpoint the moment when the company’s fortunes were transformed. Heine Herholdt had been sent to the sparsely populated Northern Cape to set up a branch of the family business in Kimberley, the provincial capital. The company, co-founded in 1964 by Herholdt’s father Bernhard, then a young electrician, had developed steadily as a wholesaler of standard electrical equipment, including light switches, electric cable, lamps, plugs, switches and sockets. It was doing decent business, but nothing earth-shattering.…
Stay informed with free updatesSimply sign up to the Financial services myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox.UK savers pay higher pension fees and miss out on interest payments by failing to shop around, industry figures have warned. More than 80 per cent of savers are unaware what they pay in pension fees, according to investment platform Interactive Investor. At the same time, 80 per cent of the 8.3mn current accounts in the UK containing balances of £10,000 or more are earning zero interest, said Spring, a savings app.Those failing to switch pension platforms when faced with higher administration…
A $23bn sale of ports by CK Hutchison has raised concerns in the logistics industry that the deal could hurt competition and disadvantage rivals by making the world’s biggest shipping company the top operator of container terminals globally.The deal to sell 80 per cent of the Hong Kong conglomerate’s global ports portfolio to a subsidiary of the Mediterranean Shipping Company would hand the Swiss-Italian shipping line control over a critical amount of the world’s port infrastructure, some industry analysts and executives fear.The impact of the sale is “massive”, said one port industry executive, with the proposed MSC agreement raising “significant…