du and Accenture Collaborate to Revolutionize Telecom Services

Recent reports from Ras Al Khaimah’s Department of Economic Development reveal a significant upswing in economic activity, highlighting the Emirate’s thriving business environment. By September 2024, the total capital of valid licenses rose to AED9.26 billion, marking a 15% increase from AED8.00 billion last year, which translates to an additional AED250 million.

The number of valid licenses has also seen a healthy growth of 2.9%, now totaling 20,408. This expansion spans several sectors, with professional licenses totaling 10,077—an increase of 2.9%—commercial licenses reaching 9,729, and industrial licenses growing by 3.4% to 578.

Particularly noteworthy is the Nakheel area, which has emerged as a key player in this growth, showcasing 2,266 valid licenses and capital approximating AED2.2 billion. This area alone has experienced a remarkable capital increase of 29.1% year-on-year.

Amina Qahtan, Director of the Department of Commercial Affairs, credits this positive momentum to the proactive economic strategies implemented by the Emirate, alongside the government’s dedication to nurturing a supportive business landscape. She emphasized that the introduction of various measures to streamline business operations has been essential in propelling this impressive growth.

A Thriving Economic Landscape

The emirate has seen substantial growth in recent years, establishing itself as an attractive hub for investment and tourism, as well as a prime location to live, work, and explore. Ras Al Khaimah boasts a robust manufacturing and industrial sector, which accounts for approximately 30 percent of its overall GDP. The remaining GDP is distributed across various complementary sectors, showcasing the economy’s diversity and its capacity to attract and retain a wide range of businesses, from small and medium-sized enterprises to large multinational corporations.

At 34, Kait Giordano is juggling her job, a newborn and two parents with dementia.

Just over a month into motherhood, she tends to her infant son and her live-in parents in the morning and afternoon, some days with the help of a rotating cast of paid companions at their Tucker, Ga., home. In the evenings, her husband, Tamrin, takes over while she colours hair.

They had already delayed starting a family when Kait’s father moved in a few years ago. Her mother moved in this year. “We chose to take this on,” she says. “We didn’t want to wait any longer.”

More Americans shoulder a double load of caring for their children and at least one adult , often a parent. The “sandwich generation” has grown to at least 11 million in the U.S., according to one estimate, and shifts in demographics, costs and work are making it a longer and tougher slog.

People are having children later, and they are living longer , often with care-intensive conditions such as dementia. That means many are taking care of elderly parents when their own kids are still young and require more intensive parenting—and for longer stretches of their lives than previous generations of sandwiched caregivers.

As the oldest millennials start to hit middle age —and baby boomers near their 80s—the number of Americans caring for older and younger family makes up a significant part of the electorate. Vice President Kamala Harris invoked the sandwich generation when she recently proposed expanding Medicare benefits to cover home healthcare.

“There are so many people in our country who are right in the middle,” the Democratic presidential candidate said on ABC’s “The View” this month. “It’s just almost impossible to do it all, especially if they work.”

Responding to the Harris proposal, former President Donald Trump ’s campaign said he would give priority to home-care benefits by shifting resources to at-home senior care and provide tax credits to support unpaid family caregivers.

The growing burden on this sandwich generation weakens careers and quality of life, and has ramifications for society at large. It is a drag on monthly budgets and long-term financial health.

A 40-something contributing $1,500 a month over five years to support an aging parent stands to lose more than $1 million in retirement savings, according to an analysis by Steph Wagner , national director of women and wealth at Northern Trust Wealth Management.

“It’s become incredibly expensive to manage the longevity that we’ve created,” says Bradley Schurman , an author and demographic strategist, who says that the demands of caring for older generations could push more people in midlife to retreat from the workforce, particularly women. “That’s a massive risk for the U.S. economy.”

Career goals on hold

Not too long ago, the typical sandwich caregiver was a woman in her late 40s with teenage kids and maybe a part-time job. Now, according to a 2023 AARP report, the average age of these caregivers is 44, and a growing share are men. Nearly a third are millennials and Gen Z. They are in the critical early-to-middle stages of their careers and three-quarters of them work full or part time.

Diana Fuller, 49, says being the go-to person for her 83-year-old mother’s care for more than four years has been stressful, even with her mother now living in a nearby, $10,000-a month memory-care centre in Charlotte., N.C. (Long-term-care insurance covers 75%; the rest is paid out of her mother’s savings.)

She has put on the back burner career goals such as ramping up the leg warmer business she started with her sister. She has missed moments such as her 9-year-old son’s school holiday concert last year because of her mother’s frequent hospital stays.

Her husband picks up a lot of the child care duties when her mom is in the hospital. Still, she says, “it often feels like everything is about to implode.”

The financial pressures are also growing for the sandwich generation. According to a Care.com survey of 2,000 parents, 60% of U.S. families spent 20% or more of their annual household income on child care last year, up from 51% of families in 2021. Meanwhile, the median cost of a home health aide climbed 10% last year to $75,500, data from long-term-care insurer Genworth Financial show.

Caregivers often risk paying for such costs in their own old age, financial advisers say. More than half reported in a 2023 New York Life survey that they had made a sacrifice to their own financial security to provide care for their parents on top of their children.

Long-distance care

Many in the sandwich generation say they feel torn between the needs of their kids and parents. Liam Davitt , a public-relations professional, and his wife, Lisa Fels Davitt , recently moved from their Washington, D.C., condo to suburban New Jersey so that their 7-year-old son could be closer to cousins and go to a good public school. (They had previously paid for private school.)

That meant moving away from his 84-year-old mother in an independent living community. The long distance has made helping her even with little things more complicated, such as troubleshooting glitches with her iPhone. He recently enlisted a nearby fraternity brother to help her assemble a new walker.

An avid runner, he says he finds himself taking care of himself—avoiding potentially ankle-twisting mud runs and keeping up with his doctors’ appointments, for example—out of fear he won’t be able to care for his younger and older family.

“If all of a sudden I’m less mobile, then I’m more of a burden on my own family” says Davitt. He is planning to move his mother closer by.

The Giordanos, in Georgia, have made adjustments, too. With their newborn keeping them busy, they installed cameras and door chimes to help monitor Kait’s parents.

Her parents enjoy pushing their grandson in the stroller around the house while supervised, she says. When Tamrin comes home from work, he gives his in-laws dinner and medications while holding the baby.

The couple isn’t sure when they’ll have another child, which would require paying for more help.

“We may have to wait,” Kait said. “We’re very much living in the moment.”

October is traditionally the time to break out the cozy sweaters and consume as many pumpkin-spice drinks as possible. Instead, people are now using it to reset their goals.

Dubbed “October Theory,” these people are rethinking their approach to the last three months of the year. They’re using it as a time to set goals, pick up new habits and reflect—essentially taking on the role New Year’s plays.

October Theory is the latest “theory” social media has latched onto. Between the uneven job market, inflation, and the usual daily grind, people are looking for something they can control. Setting goals and improving their lives —whether it’s their health, finances or mindset—is something they are gravitating toward.

Sarah Stone, a 35-year-old Realtor in Kansas City, Mo., says October is a better time to reflect on the previous nine months and also home in on what she wants to achieve in the last few months of the year. This month, she’s decluttering her home and purging habits such as too much impulse shopping at TJ Maxx.

“It feels almost like the beginning of the year is in the wrong place on the calendar,” says Stone.

October can feel like an introspective time for people since the seasons are changing, a new academic school year has started and the current year is on its way out, says Laurie Kramer, a licensed clinical psychologist and a professor of applied psychology at Northeastern University. The Jewish new year—Rosh Hashana—also takes place in September or October, giving millions a time to reflect.

“This is a great time, 90 days from the new year, from the holidays, to reassess, see where you are with things,” Kramer says.

Start now, win later

October Theory is catching on partly because it sets someone up for success by the time January rolls around, say fans of the trend. Instead of picking up a new habit in the dead of winter—at the same time everyone else is trying to make it to the gym, for instance—it has already been in place for three months.

Every new year, Allison Bucheleres, a 30-year-old lifestyle and fashion content creator in Miami, tries to set new goals. Often, she fails because she doesn’t have a routine in place to make it happen.

Most of her goals this month revolve around setting new daily routines, such as waking up at 7 a.m., journaling her thoughts and writing self-affirmations to reframe her thinking. Around the middle of the day, she’ll repeat her positive phrases—at times over 100 of them—and will sometimes write one on a sticky note to post on her bathroom mirror.

Bucheleres’s newest self-mantra: “I can control my work and my self belief, but not the timing.”

Simple behaviours that are easy to repeat could take as few as 30 times to become a habit. More complex ones, such as going to the gym, could take up to three months of daily practice, says Wendy Wood, professor emerita of psychology and business at the University of Southern California.

The best time to change behaviour is during a big life change, such as moving to a new house or starting a new job or relationship—regardless of whether it’s in January or October, she says.

“You have a sort of window of opportunity to make decisions about what you want to do without your old habits getting in the way,” Wood says.

Making the most of 2024

Others view October as a last chance to fulfil the goals and aspirations they set months ago.

That includes Mateo Pérez, who is in the final stretch for his weightlifting and running regimen. The 19-year-old sophomore, who is majoring in creative advertising at the University of Miami, is also working on an application to transfer to New York University for the fall 2025 semester. Pérez wants to finish the application by the end of this semester in December.

“Right now, it’s like a reflection of this whole year and how can we make the most of the last three months,” Pérez says.

Psychologists say being introspective—at any time of the year—helps people develop habits and routines. It is often the key to following through on your goals.

Two Octobers ago, Kelly Sites, a 38-year-old customer-support manager and content creator, decided to stop living overseas. By February, she had moved to Kansas City, Mo.

This year, she’s trying to set up a daily meditation and breathing practice, and eat more whole foods. In a TikTok post on Oct. 2, Sites encouraged people to go to their photo albums and type in October to see how much their lives have changed in the 10th month of the year.

“It’s this idea of hibernation, seasons changing,” Sites says. “There’s always seeds of my life that were planted in October that changed the rest of the year.”

I N THE COURSE of one conversation, Salma Hayek Pinault mourns the death of her pet rescue owl, reveals that she never signed a prenup in her marriage to French billionaire François-Henri Pinault and bemoans the obnoxiousness of certain wealthy people who assume they’re interesting just because they’re rich.

But ask about her typical day, and she has no words.

“Nothing in my life is typical,” she says, her smoky voice filling the low-ceilinged room in a London pub, where she shows up on an overcast Monday afternoon awash in head-to-toe Gucci and perfume drawn from ingredients that include Mexican tuberose and queen of the night, an opulent cactus with flowers that each bloom just once a year in the dark.

The Mexican-born actress, 58, famous for her curves and sultry accent, took the objectification of Salma Hayek and bent it to her will: She used her Hollywood clout to create roles for Latina women that defy ethnic stereotypes and channeled her influence into a decadeslong fight against domestic violence. She defied the odds to become one of a tiny handful of Latina leading ladies in the 1990s, and then, while working to preserve that status, developed parallel careers as a producer and a philanthropist.

“I’m talking with my mouth full,” she says after dipping some crust from a sourdough boule into melted rosemary and garlic Camembert, on-brand for a person who professes no strict fitness regimen. “Emotional intelligence,” she’s saying of the forces that drive her. “Human, real connection.”

She’s got a high-drama aura but she’s also pragmatic, a trait visible in her charity work. “I’m passionate,” she says, “but I’m a strategist.” In just three years, Hayek Pinault has turned the Kering Foundation’s annual fundraising dinner in New York, Caring for Women, into a mini Met Gala. The event sponsored by her husband’s luxury goods company Kering sprang fully formed onto the fashion circuit—it wasn’t a slow-building phenomenon like the behemoth Met Gala—and in many ways it’s an expression of Hayek Pinault herself. Every detail runs through her for a gathering that, while raising roughly $3 million, brings attention to the fight against gender-based violence.

As a charity hostess, who on red carpets often appears bejewelled like a modern Elizabeth Taylor, she has curated her own group of tastemakers with guests including Jessica Chastain, Leonardo DiCaprio and Viola Davis.

“She gets you on board,” says friend Eva Longoria, “and she doesn’t take no for undefined an answer.”

I T’S TEMPTING to think of Hayek Pinault’s story as a rags-to-riches tale: The young actress from a small town in southern Mexico gets cast in the leading role on a telenovela and leapfrogs to stardom. In fact, she came from a wealthy family in the coastal city of Coatzacoalcos. Her father was an oil executive of Lebanese descent, her mother an opera singer with Spanish roots, and she grew up with four live-in maids. She saw Europe as a 2-year-old and traveled by private jet. She loved her pet bobcat.

After she moved to L.A. in her mid-20s, her father lost his fortune, Hayek Pinault says. She was a struggling actress with the stress of supporting herself and her family back in Mexico. “That’s when I became the best version of myself,” she says.

In Hollywood, studios first saw her accent as a liability. But director Robert Rodriguez cast her in the 1995 drug-crime western Desperado , followed a year later by his cult hit From Dusk Till Dawn , where she dances with a huge yellow python slung around her shoulders and sticks her toes in Quentin Tarantino’s mouth. Her breakthrough came in 1997 with Fools Rush In , a shotgun-marriage rom-com co-starring Matthew Perry.

With her success came Hollywood money. But her finances leapt into another dimension with her 2009 marriage to Pinault, the chief executive of Kering, a corporate giant that owns Gucci, Saint Laurent and other major luxury brands. The reality of marrying into extreme wealth surprised her.

“To me, the excitement about having a lot of money was that I didn’t have to think about money, and it turned out all people wanted to talk to me about was money,” she says of her life after joining the Pinault family. “Strangers coming to me that aren’t even friends, but they think we should be friends because they’re rich, too.”

She and Pinault keep their finances separate, she says, and there’s no prenuptial agreement dividing assets. The more she thinks about it lately, she says, the more she’d like to increase her own net worth.

“I support a lot of the aspects of my life and myself,” she says. “I have the pressure to make a certain amount of money, and I like it. And now, I decided, I want to make more.”

With their 17-year-old daughter, Valentina, on the cusp of adulthood, Hayek Pinault is pursuing business ideas, which she isn’t ready to reveal. Pinault likes this ambition, she says. “I think he finds it kind of sexy.”

ONE ATTRIBUTE that’s made Hayek Pinault famous is her body. Much has been made of her breasts: Talk-show hosts ask her questions about them, her movie characters comment on them, her red-carpet fashions flaunt them. During our interview, when I say I want to ask her a trivia question, she assumes I’m after her bra size.

No, I tell her in a total left turn, I want to learn about the time on the Frida movie set when her monkey co-star bit her, specifically where it bit her. Coincidentally, I’d just gotten a video of a monkey bite in a group chat so I thought I’d show Hayek Pinault a screenshot. It was a picture of a raised pink welt on pale skin—actually a bite on a man’s back—but Hayek Pinault assumed it was an R-rated close-up of a topless woman.

“It is a thing about the boobs,” she scolds when she sees the photo. I explain she’s looking at a monkey bite on a man’s back. “Oh. This isn’t a monkey bite in the boobs?” she asks. No, I tell her, but is she saying that’s where the monkey bit her? No, she replies. This is turning into a who’s-on-first of monkey bites and lady parts. “Can I tell you something?” she says, clutching her breasts with both hands, still horrified by the photo. “My nipples began to hurt when I saw that.”

It turns out, the Frida monkey bit her on the right hand between her thumb and forefinger, and she needed rabies shots. I asked if those were painful and she said, “Yes, yes. Stop it.” She and the monkey, whose name was Tyson, were alone in her trailer, and he started throwing all her CDs at the walls and breaking them. They got into a tug-of-war over a disc, and he bit her. “They should have told me the monkey has been possessed by the devil,” she says.

Frida was her passion project, a major moment for her now 25-year-old production company, Ventanarosa—Spanish for “pink window”—and a big learning opportunity for her. It had been a fight for her to control the material. In one meeting, while trying to wrest back the project from a studio she’d decided against, she had her agent’s attorney friend come as a prop to intimidate executives. “You sit there, nod your head, look mean,” she told him.

The strategy worked. The project was ultimately made at Miramax, the studio co-founded by Harvey Weinstein. Later, she would write a searing op-ed about being sexually harassed by Weinstein.

Hayek Pinault described in the piece having to film a “senseless” full-frontal nude love scene with another woman to placate Weinstein so he wouldn’t block the completion of Frida . Hayek Pinault, distraught over Weinstein’s tactics, vomited for the length of the shoot.

In a statement, Weinstein’s spokesman says “he apologises to Ms. Hayek for ever making her feel sad or uncomfortable.” He says that Weinstein has “a different memory of those times but isn’t looking to talk about them.”

The roughly $12 million film went on to gross $56 million worldwide and made Hayek Pinault one of the first Latinas ever to be nominated for a best actress Oscar.

With Ugly Betty , an American version of a popular Colombian telenovela, Hayek Pinault initially met resistance from ABC, she says. The actress personally presold international rights and advertising to prove the show’s worth. The series, which supercharged the career of actress America Ferrera, was considered a risk partly because it featured a Latina lead who was not Hollywood’s idea of universal beauty. Hayek Pinault pushed back when some executives wanted to give Betty a makeover. “It got really heated,” she says. Ferrera went on to win the Emmy for best actress in a comedy in 2007.

Most of Ventanarosa’s film and TV works are in Spanish and do not feature Hayek Pinault. Recent titles include the 2019 TV series Monarca , a Succession -style drama on Netflix about a family’s tequila empire, and the Spanish-language HBO series Like Water for Chocolate , premiering this fall. Separately, she continues her own work as an actress, recently premiering the Angelina Jolie–directed wartime film Without Blood at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Hayek Pinault’s longtime producing partner, José “Pepe” Tamez, says the two have been looking at shows like Squid Game , the blockbuster Korean series, to get Latinos in front of a worldwide audience in a similar way. The company had focused on the U.S. and Latin American markets for years, but now they’re thinking more globally. That’s where the opportunity is, Tamez says.

In pitch meetings, Hayek Pinault’s ability to read her audience has been a secret weapon. “Maybe this has to do with the fact that she’s an actress,” Tamez says. “She knows how to listen.”

HAYEK PINAULT’S WORK as a producer did not inform her philanthropy, she says: Her philanthropy made her a better producer.

Her interest in volunteering began in childhood, and her efforts fighting violence against women stretch back to her early days in 2004 working with the Avon Foundation. On a 2009 Unicef trip to Sierra Leone, she famously breast-fed another woman’s baby, a newborn the same age as her own daughter, to combat a regional stigma around breast-feeding. The moment was captured on camera for ABC’s Nightline .

Pinault was keenly interested in her philanthropy. Once when the two were dating and she was volunteering in South America, he asked on the phone about her day. “I said, ‘Oh, it was great. We were with the prostitutes all morning in the red-light district,’ ” she recalls. She talked for an hour, then asked about his day. “He said, ‘I’m embarrassed to tell you what was my day.’ ”

In 2008, a year before they married, the couple began working together to build the Kering Foundation, which Pinault had created to focus on women’s causes.

Over time, Hayek Pinault realised she could broaden her reach even further. In 2013, she and Beyoncé Knowles-Carter founded Gucci Chime for Change, a global campaign by the Kering brand to promote gender equality.

For her signature event, the Caring for Women dinner and charity auction in New York, Hayek Pinault keeps the scope small. The evening’s 200 guests can see each other at 20 tables around a cozy room. For an event that kicks out press, it gets a ton. This year and last, Lauren Sánchez, who is engaged to Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, got in a tabloid-perfect bidding war with Kim Kardashian over a Balenciaga couture lot.

Last year, Hayek Pinault adorned the space with plants and played bird sound effects. She personally wrote fellow celebrities to make sure they’d come. Before they arrived, she lit copal, a rock incense used in Mexican rituals, and waved it around for spiritual cleansing.

“My spirit,” she says, “wants to micromanage.”

O N THIS DAY at the pub, Hayek Pinault is mourning the death of Kering, a rescue owl who became famous on her Instagram. A fox got into the aviary on the grounds of their London estate and ate Kering not long ago. The owl slept in her bedroom many nights, though not that evening. “We had our own way of communicating,” Hayek Pinault says. “She would hold my hand and play and try to pull me.” Kering was a pet but also a wild animal. “I never took that owl in if she didn’t want to come in,” she says. The actress knows her owl would have been eaten by a predator long ago if she’d lived in nature. “She had a good life,” she says.

Over the past decade, Hayek Pinault has dealt with losses like this and life’s other challenges by practicing meditation.

A session might take three hours. She knows a meditation DJ who plays music while she lets go in her mindfulness space, which is the smallest room in her house. Sometimes she’s dancing. She’s usually blindfolded, which makes standing on her head tricky. The DJ later debriefs her because she loses herself so completely that she can’t always recall what’s just happened. She finds herself accomplishing physical feats she could never achieve otherwise. She is sparing on details. “I do strange things,” she says.

In the meditation sessions, nothing hurts, she feels elastic in body and spirit. “I’m ready to go in a room wanting nothing and not knowing what to do or what you’re supposed to do—surrendering and understanding your instincts,” she says. “It’s very advanced.”

Like much in Hayek Pinault’s world, the practice is unconventional. “It’s completely the opposite of no pain, no gain,” she says. “It’s completely the opposite of what everyone does.”

Hair, Nao Kawakami; makeup, Wendy Rowe; manicure, Kate Williamson; set design, Max Bellhouse and Tilly Power; production, Bellhouse.

Ever used the office printer for your kid’s homework assignment or scrolled Facebook Marketplace during an all-hands Zoom meeting? Fair warning: Your employer may be paying close attention.

Big companies on the hunt for efficiency are deploying perk police to bust employees for seemingly minor infractions that, by the letter of company law, can result in termination.

“We have had lots of requests for new controls,” says Katie MacKillop, U.S. director of Payhawk, which administers company credit-card accounts and watches for misuse.

Clients are asking Payhawk to restrict when and where company cards work. For example, a company can limit a lunch allowance to be available only on weekdays from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and be usable at Chipotle but not at Kroger . In partnership with Visa and Mastercard , Payhawk is developing a feature that sends real-time spending alerts to corporate finance teams and allows them to instantly block suspicious transactions by employees.

MacKillop’s firm doesn’t track what happens to employees who violate company policies, but she says there is little doubt employers are taking codes of conduct more seriously.

That helps explain reports of crackdowns at Meta , where employees were fired for spending $25 meal allowances on other items, Ernst & Young dismissing workers who watched multiple training videos at the same time, and Target canning employees who jumped the line to buy coveted Stanley water bottles ahead of the general public. The companies declined to comment on the incidents.

As the employer-employee power struggle tilts in companies’ favour, some businesses are using strict rules enforcement to make an example of rule-breakers or reduce payroll without having a real layoff. An employer feeling buyer’s remorse after a post pandemic hiring spree can use the company handbook to push out unwanted employees, says human-resources consultant Suzanne Lucas.

“When you are desperately hiring, you’re definitely overlooking things,” says Lucas, who cheekily brands herself the Evil HR Lady. “When you need to cut head count, you tighten up the rules.”

Workers argue many so-called perks are designed to increase productivity. A free meal is an enticement to stay at your desk. A recorded HR tutorial is less a reprieve from the awkwardness of in-person, sexual-harassment training than an invitation to keep plugging away while paying half attention to a video on your second monitor.

Why gin up excuses to fire people instead of simply announcing a round of job cuts? A few reasons, Lucas says.

Layoffs imply a business is struggling, and companies may want to avoid shaking the confidence of customers or investors. Employers often feel obligated—or are contractually bound—to offer severance packages to laid-off workers. Firing people for cause can save money, she says.

Then there’s the effect on a company’s remaining employees. Few things put workers on notice like seeing colleagues pink-slipped for minor offences. And, as a matter of principle, stealing is stealing even if it is a small amount of company money or time.

Warning shot

If a goal of harsh consequences is to keep people in line, then it’s working on Matt Tedesco.

When he read a Financial Times report that Meta fired employees who spent Grubhub meal allowances on things like acne pads and laundry detergent in a saga dubbed “Grubgate,” he flashed back to a similar episode at a defunct company where he used to work. He says a half dozen colleagues in sales were shown the door because they used meal stipends to buy groceries.

Tedesco, 47, describes himself as a rule follower in general and says he is doubly sure to do everything by the book in the current climate. He started this fall as a sales account executive at Hearst after being laid off by S&P Global last year.

“It’s hard to get a job right now—it took me months,” he says. “From an employee standpoint, my takeaway is don’t abuse any privilege because it’s not worth the risk.”

People in a range of industries admitted to me privately that they’ve broken rules like these in the past but said they’d never cop to it publicly. One likened today’s workplace to a street with a 30 mph speed limit, where you routinely get away with driving 37 mph and feel blindsided when you’re pulled over and ticketed. Enforcement levels fluctuate, this person said, and seem to be high right now.

Cracking down is a time-honoured tactic when companies feel financial pressure. In 2009, in the teeth of the Great Recession, a former private-client relationship manager at Fidelity told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that he and three colleagues lost their jobs for running fantasy-football leagues at work, in violation of a corporate policy against gambling. The stakes in his league: $20. Fidelity had laid off 1,700 employees earlier that year.

And in 2018, when Wells Fargo announced significant head count cuts, the bank fired or suspended more than a dozen bankers who put dinners on the company tab and doctored the receipts. The bank said at the time that it pays for meals when employees work late, but some ordered takeout before the allowed hour and changed the timestamps on the bills.

Without knowing all the details, it can be hard to understand why companies police small dollars when they appear to spend freely on pricier items, says Jennifer Dulski , chief executive of Rising Team, a maker of employee-engagement software. She notes Meta offices are known for vending machines stocked with headphones, keyboards and other electronics available to employees free of charge, yet the company is getting serious about lunch money.

“They’re either weeding or just trying to make an example of behaviour they think is inappropriate,” Dulski says.

Employers have good reasons to be sticklers in some cases, says Cedar Boschan, a forensic accountant in Culver City, Calif. Companies can invite tax trouble if money earmarked for perks and business expenses is misspent on other things.

So, don’t put all of the blame for policy crackdowns on human resources. Save some for the one department that HR might beat in a popularity contest: accounting.

Global tech corporation FPT has inaugurated its regional headquarters in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, as part of its global expansion strategy to meet the rising demand for digital services and solutions. This expansion marks FPT the first Vietnamese firm licensed for regional operations in Saudi Arabia, reaffirming its dedication to the Kingdom’s digital transformation and Vision 2030. The opening ceremony coincided with Vietnam Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh’s official visit to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Located in the heart of the region’s largest economy, the Riyadh headquarters positions FPT closer to key clients and unlocks new business opportunities. By leveraging FPT’s global network and extensive expertise in AI and semiconductors, along with deep insights in manufacturing, banking, government, transportation, and beyond, the regional headquarters strengthens the company’s ability to expand its regional presence and enhance service delivery throughout the Middle East.

As the first Vietnam-based enterprise authorized for regional operations in Saudi Arabia, FPT is poised to meet the region’s growing demand for advanced technology. With a young, tech-savvy population across the Middle East driving digital adoption in various industries, FPT is well-positioned to seize new business opportunities, foster local employment, facilitate cultural exchange, and promote knowledge transfer. The new regional headquarters is also set to build sustainable partnerships with public and private entities, playing an active role in advancing Saudi Arabia and the region’s technological ecosystem.

Dang Tran Phuong, FPT Software’s Senior Executive Vice President shared: “As FPT continues to expand our global presence and client base, the Middle East remains an important part of our strategy. Our strategic direction aligns closely with that of the region, particularly in AI. With our extensive experience in this market, we understand the unique aspects of the business culture in the Middle East and are dedicated to actively collaborating with local companies and enhancing local recruitment. This commitment enables us to provide the best services for our clients while consistently supporting them on their digital transformation journeys.”

“Our new regional headquarters symbolizes our firm commitment to Saudi Arabia’s journey to becoming the Middle East’s leading technology hub. FPT remains steadfast with our commitment to enabling speed, agility, and scalability for our regional customers and promoting cross-border collaborations.” Rimah Ghaddar, Chief Executive Officer of FPT Software Middle East, pledged.

FPT’s strategic focus on AI, integrated into all its services and solutions, aligns with Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030, which aims to diversify the economy, foster innovation, and enhance public services through technological advancements. Since establishing its first office in the Middle East in 2020, FPT has rapidly expanded its footprint, experiencing significant growth with key clients across various sectors. Leveraging its global expertise and technology, FPT is poised to drive transformative change and contribute to the Kingdom’s and the region’s ambitious development goals, while strengthening global partnerships and building strong regional collaborations.

FPT’s regional headquarters in Saudi Arabia is located at the Esplanade, Prince Turki Bin Abdulaziz Al Awwal, King Saud University, Riyadh, 12371, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Bitget has released its Q3 2024 Transparency Report, showcasing significant advancements in user growth, token offerings, and strategic initiatives. With a strong focus on enhancing financial accessibility and advancing blockchain technology, Bitget has reinforced its position as one of the top global players in the crypto industry.

Key Q3 2024 Highlights:

Surpassing 45 Million Users and Strengthening Market Position in Q3 2024, Bitget achieved a milestone by surpassing 45 million registered users globally, placing it as the 4th largest crypto exchange by trading volume. The platform’s user base growth, up by 400% since last year, was fueled by innovative product offerings and expansion into new regions, including Africa, South Asia, and Southeast Asia. The company’s focus on accessibility and user-centric design aligns with its mission of enabling financial freedom for all.

Expanding Token Offerings and Staking Opportunities Bitget added 72 new token listings in Q3, bringing its lineup to over 800 tokens and 900+ spot trading pairs. Among the new listings, POL, DRIFT, WUSD, REEF, and MOTHER stood out with the highest Total Value Locked (TVL) growth. Bitget’s Pre-market platform continued to attract early traders, featuring 12 tokens like CATI, MOCA, HMSTR, DOGS, and ZKL in Q3, with 53,800 traders participating and a cumulative transaction volume of $23 million.

Additionally, Bitget’s PoolX staking platform, launched in April, has become a popular choice among users, offering high yield staking options. In Q3, PoolX recorded over 94,805 participants, with the total staked amount doubling from Q2 to reach $2.3 billion USD. Popular pools include BGB, BTC, ETH, and USDT, providing users with new avenues to earn rewards on the platform.

Commitment to the TON Ecosystem and Strategic Investments As part of its $30 million joint investment with Foresight Ventures into The Open Network (TON) ecosystem, Bitget has supported the rapid expansion of Telegram-based projects, including DOGS, Hamster Kombat, and Notcoin. With nearly 1 billion Telegram users worldwide, TON’s ecosystem has seen exponential growth, making Bitget a vital entry point for users interested in TON-based projects and decentralized applications.

Strategic Partnership with LALIGA to Drive Web3 Adoption Bitget expanded its footprint in sports by forming a multi-million dollar partnership with LALIGA. This collaboration aims to increase crypto awareness and Web3 adoption across Eastern Europe, Southeast Asia, and LATAM, leveraging LALIGA’s massive global audience to attract a new wave of crypto enthusiasts. This partnership aligns with Bitget’s mission to bring blockchain technology to mainstream audiences.

Enhanced Token-Discovery Through Nansen Collaboration Bitget collaborated with Nansen to refine its token-discovery strategies. By leveraging on-chain data and community insights, Bitget offers traders an advanced toolkit for identifying promising tokens. The strategic approach, combined with Nansen’s analytical tools, led to 240 new token listings since April, making it one of the most active exchanges in early-stage token offerings.

Gracy Chen, CEO of Bitget, commented on the report: “Our growth in Q3 2024 reflects our commitment to creating an accessible, secure, and innovative trading platform for users worldwide. By continuously expanding our offerings, supporting impactful projects, and forming strategic partnerships, Bitget is helping shape the future of blockchain and finance. We remain focused on our mission to drive financial freedom and to empower the next billion users through accessible and user-friendly digital solutions.”

Bitget’s success in Q3 2024 shows its growing influence in the crypto industry, marked by strategic initiatives, innovative products, and a commitment to user engagement. Looking ahead, Bitget is bound to continue its mission of bridging the gap between centralized and decentralized finance while expanding its global reach.

The Saudi Reinsurance Company “Saudi Re” has announced its financial results for the nine months ending September 30, 2024. The company achieved a net profit after zakat of SAR 475 million, marking an impressive increase of 351% compared to the same period last year. The financial results also highlighted a significant rise in total written premiums, which reached SAR 1.94 billion, up from SAR 1.55 billion in the corresponding period of the previous year, reflecting a growth rate of 25%.

The company experienced strong underwriting performance, with net insurance results in the third quarter reaching SAR 53.6 million, a growth of 88%. Net insurance results for the first nine months of 2024 stood at SAR 140.7 million, up 39% from the same period last year.

These positive financial results accompany several key developments that strengthen the company’s position in achieving its objectives and increasing its investments. Saudi Re realized capital gains of SAR 366 million (SAR 355 million after deducting the effect of the forward contract related to GBP) from the sale of its stake in Probitas Holding, underscoring the company’s robust performance in investments and enhancing its cash flow.

Ahmed Al-Jabr, CEO of Saudi Re, stated that the company maintains a sustainable growth trajectory and enjoys a solid financial position, with a distinguished credit rating of -A from Standard & Poor’s and A3 from Moody’s. He explained that, with promising opportunities ahead, the company aims to redirect the proceeds from the Probitas sale to develop new growth opportunities, particularly in the Saudi market, in light of the evolving regulatory landscape and increasing demand for insurance services.

Furthermore, Saudi Re has signed several agreements, including a reinsurance contract with the AL Etihad Cooperative Insurance Company, providing coverage against employer’s default valued at SAR 208 million. The company also announced the renewal of a one-year reinsurance contract with Probitas Corporate Capital valued at £33.5 million, which will enhance its competitive capabilities and expand its operational scope in the market.

Listed in the Saudi Market Exchange and operating under the supervision of Insurance Authority, Saudi Re operates in more than 40 countries across the Middle East, Asia, Africa and Lloyd’s market in the UK, and specializes in life and non-life treaty and facultative reinsurance solutions.

The Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi (DCT Abu Dhabi) has renewed its strategic partnership with WebBeds, the premier global marketplace for the travel trade, expanding its scope to over 30 markets and aiming for a 25% year-over-year increase in the number of hotel guests. This expansion will not only focus on Abu Dhabi City but will also extend its reach to Al Ain, highlighting the emirate’s wide spectrum of tourism experiences.

Mamo, a leading payments solutions provider in the UAE, announced a strategic partnership with CredibleX to introduce a credit card offering for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the UAE. This partnership will help businesses address critical gaps in their working capital needs, and will provide a lifeline to those that operate in specific sectors such as retail and e-commerce. Mamo’s goal is to help these businesses to thrive in today’s competitive market.

Through this collaboration, Mamo and CredibleX will launch an innovative corporate credit card specifically designed to address the short-term lending needs of SMEs. The credit card will provide businesses with spend management, spend limits, expense management, and more. SMEs can look forward to numerous benefits, including real-time expense tracking, department budgets across cards, multi-currency spending capabilities, a streamlined approval process, and up to 3% cashback giving them the peace of mind necessary to focus on business growth and expansion.

Small and medium enterprises are crucial drivers of the UAE’s economy, contributing to over 94% of total businesses. Despite this, only 10.4 percent of the total accumulated balance of financial facilities and loans reaches such businesses. With SMEs set to play an even larger role in shaping the UAE’s future, the demand for flexible financial products, such as credit cards, has surged over the last few years. Mamo’s partnership with CredibleX aims to address the gap and provide businesses with the tools they need to manage day-to-day expenses more effectively.

“Partnering with CredibleX is an important step in our journey to empower businesses with an all-in-one payment solution that not only helps them survive, but helps them thrive. Our goal is to help SMEs in the UAE become wealthy. We provide businesses with tools that are as empathetic as they are beautiful. Our products are built with purpose, trust and transparency by a team that shares these values. This partnership strengthens our ability to deliver on that promise”, commented Imad Gharazeddine, co-founder and CEO of Mamo.

“We are delighted to partner with Mamo to offer financing solutions to businesses towards their card-able spends,” said Anand Nagaraj, co-Founder and CEO of CredibleX. “As our payable financing product is restricted towards approved business expenses, this partnership offers us the technology to address the requirement. Looking forward to growing this embedded financing proposition with Mamo to help SMEs with their working capital and business expense requirements.”

Recent discussions among representatives of the Amir and His Highness the Crown Prince Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah at the 79th United Nations General Assembly highlighted Kuwait’s commitment to attracting foreign investors. These efforts are designed to stimulate economic development and create mutually beneficial opportunities for investors.

One significant step forward was the recent activation of seven agreements with China, originally signed during the Amir’s visit to the country in September 2023. This includes visits from various Chinese delegations, which explored avenues for cooperation and initiated previously established agreements. The trust feeling regarding Sino-Kuwaiti relations was evident in the recent visit of the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCC) to Kuwait.

In response, the Kuwaiti cabinet has empowered ministers and relevant state entities to implement these agreements while encouraging measures to further improve the investment climate. This includes a commitment to involving the private sector in projects like the Gulf of Sulaibikhat development and the Jahra waterfront corniche.

On the economic front, Finance Minister Nora Al-Fassam emphasized the need for financial stability by diversifying income sources, attracting foreign investment, and strengthening local talent during her meeting with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission chief, Francisco Parodi.

To further bolster foreign investments, Kuwait’s Direct Investment Promotion Authority (KDIPA) has introduced new provisions allowing businesses with less than a year of operation to apply for benefits and exemptions. Additionally, the country’s 2024-2025 development plan aims to establish a specialized economic development zone with unique regulations to attract high-value global investors and promote financial transparency.

Recent agreements with Oman and South Korea illustrate Kuwait’s efforts to strengthen economic cooperation and encourage direct investments. Notably, London-based construction firm Joseph Gallagher has entered the Kuwaiti market, and Google Cloud opened a new office in the country last July, signaling confidence in Kuwait’s potential for digital transformation and economic growth.

Between January 2015 and March 2024, direct investments flowing into Kuwait reached approximately KD 1.7 billion (around USD 5.55 billion), with KD 206.9 million (about USD 675 million) in inward investments reported during the fiscal year 2023-2024. This influx of investment came from 95 entities across 34 countries, with European investors leading the charge, accounting for nearly 60% of direct investments in the country.

PIF and Google Cloud today announced a strategic partnership to create a new global artificial intelligence (AI) hub. The new AI hub will be based near Dammam, in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province.

The landmark partnership, which was signed at the Future Investment Initiative 8th Edition (FII8), further establishes Saudi Arabia as a global hub and top AI destination for local and global enterprises and startups. This partnership aims to develop the Saudi workforce through AI programs for millions of students and professionals, supporting the national objective of growing the information and communication technology (ICT) sector by 50%.

Under the partnership, customers will be able to use Google Cloud’s technology to support growth across industries and increase capacity for the delivery of AI applications. Businesses and their end consumers can expect to benefit from better quality AI applications and data services, delivered faster locally.

The partnership, which is subject to obtaining regulatory approvals, will feature joint research on Arabic language models as well as Saudi-specific AI applications. Enabled by Google Cloud’s years of investment and leadership in custom silicon, this high-performance, purpose-built infrastructure will include the newest tensor processing unit (TPU) and graphics processing unit (GPU) accelerators as well as the Vertex AI platform – Google Cloud’s specialized development platform that enables customers to build generative AI applications.

The partnership demonstrates the attractiveness of Saudi Arabia for major technology projects. Investors can benefit from the country’s strategic location at the intersection of three continents, its advanced infrastructure, its position in the rapidly growing markets of the Middle East, and the prospect of reliable and affordable renewable energy to supply the AI hub.

H.E. Yasir Al-Rumayyan, Governor of PIF, said: “We are delighted to welcome this new Google Cloud AI hub to Saudi Arabia. This partnership demonstrates PIF’s dedication to fostering an AI-friendly environment through investments in human capital and technology, upskilling thousands with cutting-edge tools to support our sustainable and innovative infrastructure goals. Saudi Arabia is a prime location for global tech partners as PIF brings both sector expertise and a long-term approach to investment.”

Ruth Porat, President and Chief Investment Officer of Alphabet and Google said: “This strategic partnership will accelerate adoption of AI in the local language and across industries — including healthcare, retail, financial services and more — for enterprises and startups in Saudi Arabia, across the Middle East, Africa and around the world. As part of Saudi Arabia’s rich technology ecosystem, we aim to create highly skilled jobs for Saudis and opportunities for global businesses to fuel growth through cloud adoption.”

The technology sector is one of PIF’s priority investment sectors, being a key enabler of other key areas of the economy, including entertainment, financial services, healthcare, transport and logistics, and utilities and renewables. PIF’s investments in the telecoms, communications and technology sector include the Saudi Information Technology Company (SITE), which provides digital and cyber services and solutions through national talents, and “iot squared,” which specializes in the Internet of Things.

To advance Arabic-language models, PIF and Google Cloud will explore enhancing the Arabic-language capabilities of Gemini — Google’s generative AI model family — by combining additional Arabic datasets with Google Cloud’s technology. Local businesses, researchers and developers will have the opportunity to connect these models to their systems so they can build sophisticated Arabic language AI agents and applications.

Preliminary research commissioned by Google Cloud and conducted by Access Partnership, a global tech policy advisory firm, estimates the new AI hub could add a cumulative $71 billion in GDP to the Saudi economy over eight years. The increased economic activity from AI adoption in Saudi Arabia is expected to support the creation of thousands of highly skilled direct and indirect jobs.

The new investments build on Google’s Cloud’s existing presence in Saudi Arabia, which includes the Dammam cloud region, which launched last year and is part of Google Cloud’s current global network of 40 regions.

Bahrain’s non-oil exports experienced a slight increase of 1% in the third quarter of 2024, totaling BD949 million ($2.52 billion), compared to BD943 million in the same quarter last year. This data is outlined in the recent Foreign Trade report from the Information & eGovernment Authority (iGA), which identifies the main factors driving this growth.

Saudi Arabia emerged as the leading destination for Bahrain’s non-oil exports, accounting for BD201 million (21% of the total). The United States and the United Arab Emirates followed, with exports valued at BD105 million (11%) and BD81 million (9%), respectively. The report reveals that the top ten countries collectively comprised 67% of the total export value.

In terms of products, unwrought aluminum alloys topped the list with a significant contribution of BD242 million (26%). Agglomerated iron ores and concentrates followed closely at BD147 million (15%), while unwrought aluminum not alloyed contributed BD79 million (8%).

Rise in Non-Oil Re-Exports

Bahrain also experienced a 3% increase in non-oil re-exports, totaling BD190 million in Q3 2024 compared to BD184 million in the same quarter last year. The UAE was the primary market for these re-exports, accounting for BD64 million (34%). Saudi Arabia and Germany followed, with BD41 million (22%) and BD8 million (4%), respectively. The top ten re-exporting countries made up 81% of the total re-export value.

Among the leading re-exported products, turbo-jets were the most notable, valued at BD26 million (14%), followed by smartphones at BD15.3 million (8.1%) and private cars at BD14.8 million (7.8%).

Bahrain’s non-oil imports also saw an uptick, rising by 3% to reach BD1.44 billion in Q3 2024, compared to BD1.4 billion in Q3 2023. The report indicates that the top ten countries for imports accounted for 68% of the total value. China was the largest source of imports, contributing BD212 million (15%), followed by Australia with BD166 million (12%) and Brazil at BD126 million (9%).

In terms of imported goods, other aluminum oxide topped the list with BD170 million (11.8%), followed by non-agglomerated iron ores and concentrates at BD166 million (11.5%), and private cars, which amounted to BD44 million (3%).

The trade balance, reflecting the difference between exports and imports, showed a widening deficit, increasing to BD304 million in Q3 2024 from BD275 million in the same quarter of the previous year. This indicates ongoing challenges in achieving a favorable balance between Bahrain’s exports and imports as the nation continues to navigate its economic landscape.