Technology major Google aims to expand its offerings in Saudi Arabia as part of efforts to increase the amount of Arabic language content on the internet to better serve the needs of the hundreds of millions of Arabic speakers.
Google is targeting growth in Saudi Arabia through a dedicated team of staff – including some Saudi nationals, Lino Cattaruzzi, the Dubai-based managing director for Google Mena, told The National. The team, which is to be based in the company's regional headquarters in Dubai, will assess business opportunities in the kingdom over the coming months and devise a package of initiatives to be implemented over the next three years and beyond.
“We are going deep into enabling the digital transformation of Saudi Arabia with a multi-year, multi-project initiative,” Mr Cattaruzzi said.
The new programme is in line with the kingdom’s Vision 2030 economic diversification efforts. Saudi Arabia 2020 National Transformation Plan revealed in 2016 aims to increase the number of internet users in the kingdom to 85 per cent from 63.7 per cent.
There are an estimated 400 million Arabic speakers across the world and the proportion of global users that access the internet in Arabic has risen from around 58 per cent in 2013 to 78 per cent in 2017, according to the Internetworldstats.com research portal.
To address this demand, Google will this year ramp up efforts to improve Arabic responses to Google Search queries, increase and disseminate Arabic language digital content on YouTube and other platforms, and forge better links between Arabic news publishers and advertisers.
"The majority of Arabs in Mena do not speak English and do not query [on Google Search] in English," said Mr Cattaruzzi.
“One of the things we are doing as a top priority is to get Arabic presence and content at the core of our engagement in the region.”
The majority of Arabic speakers reside in Mena, which accounts for the lion's share of the increase because of the region's high mobile penetration and internet connectivity rates.
With the exception of the UAE – where English is widely spoken – the majority of search queries received on a daily basis by Google in Mena are in Arabic, although the company does not provide a detailed breakdown.
“We are trying to make sure that the quality of our query replies in Arabic is on a par with the replies we get in other languages,” Mr Cattaruzzi said.
Mr Cattaruzzi said Google has a three-pronged strategy to increase the volume and quality of Arabic content available on the internet. In the coming weeks, Google's 11th global "YouTube Space" training and production studio will open in in Dubai Studio City, targeted at YouTube content creators producing in the Arabic language.
The facility is expected to drive a significant proportion of the production of new online video in Arabic, a spokeswoman for Google Mena said.
In the past two years Google launched the YouTube Aflam and Mosalsalat channels, which together have added 13,000 hours of Arabic content to YouTube. The two channels are dedicated to Arabic movies and TV shows.
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Google Mena is also working to link Arabic language content creators with advertisers to build revenue-generating digital platforms. "If the content creators can get more revenues [from advertising], they can produce even more content," said Mr Cattaruzzi.
"What we are trying to do is share with the content creators what is it that the advertisers are looking for, and vice versa, so they can match."
The third plank of the strategy is to equip Arabic news publishers with data-driven insight and skills to more effectively disseminate digital content and monetise their businesses.
“The average Mena user likes to see local publishers and this is where we are really directing our focus," he said. "Because they will service the type of content the majority of people want to see.”
In addition, Google's artificial intelligence-based Machine Learning technology is updating Google Translate services on a minute-by-minute basis, including Arabic languages. Meanwhile, there are more than 17,000 books in Arabic on the Google Play Store, the company said.
Google does not reveal its digital advertising revenues for Mena or elsewhere, but Mr Cattaruzzi said the company is seeing "phenomenal" growth in the region due to the rise of e-commerce and increasingly sophisticated corporate advertising strategies. Digital advertising spend in emerging markets in general is growing at rates almost twice as fast as in mature markets, he added.
Digital advertising spend in the Middle East stood at US$3.8 billion in 2017 and is projected to grow by as much as 20 per cent annually to $6.5bn by 2020, according to 2016 figures from research firm eMarketer.
INFO
MEDIEVIL (1998)
Developer: SCE Studio Cambridge
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
Console: PlayStation, PlayStation 4 and 5
Rating: 3.5/5
Some of Darwish's last words
"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008
His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.
COMPANY PROFILE
Company: Eco Way
Started: December 2023
Founder: Ivan Kroshnyi
Based: Dubai, UAE
Industry: Electric vehicles
Investors: Bootstrapped with undisclosed funding. Looking to raise funds from outside
The specs
Engine: 5.2-litre V10
Power: 640hp at 8,000rpm
Torque: 565Nm at 6,500rpm
Transmission: 7-speed dual-clutch auto
Price: From Dh1 million
On sale: Q3 or Q4 2022
The Breadwinner
Director: Nora Twomey
Starring: Saara Chaudry, Soma Chhaya, Laara Sadiq
Three stars
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Harry & Meghan
Director: Liz Garbus
Stars: Duke and Duchess of Sussex
Rating: 3/5
Company Profile
Company name: Namara
Started: June 2022
Founder: Mohammed Alnamara
Based: Dubai
Sector: Microfinance
Current number of staff: 16
Investment stage: Series A
Investors: Family offices
'My Son'
Director: Christian Carion
Starring: James McAvoy, Claire Foy, Tom Cullen, Gary Lewis
Rating: 2/5
The specs
Powertrain: Single electric motor
Power: 201hp
Torque: 310Nm
Transmission: Single-speed auto
Battery: 53kWh lithium-ion battery pack (GS base model); 70kWh battery pack (GF)
Touring range: 350km (GS); 480km (GF)
Price: From Dh129,900 (GS); Dh149,000 (GF)
On sale: Now
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Another way to earn air miles
In addition to the Emirates and Etihad programmes, there is the Air Miles Middle East card, which offers members the ability to choose any airline, has no black-out dates and no restrictions on seat availability. Air Miles is linked up to HSBC credit cards and can also be earned through retail partners such as Spinneys, Sharaf DG and The Toy Store.
An Emirates Dubai-London round-trip ticket costs 180,000 miles on the Air Miles website. But customers earn these ‘miles’ at a much faster rate than airline miles. Adidas offers two air miles per Dh1 spent. Air Miles has partnerships with websites as well, so booking.com and agoda.com offer three miles per Dh1 spent.
“If you use your HSBC credit card when shopping at our partners, you are able to earn Air Miles twice which will mean you can get that flight reward faster and for less spend,” says Paul Lacey, the managing director for Europe, Middle East and India for Aimia, which owns and operates Air Miles Middle East.
Emiratisation at work
Emiratisation was introduced in the UAE more than 10 years ago
It aims to boost the number of citizens in the workforce particularly in the private sector.
Growing the number of Emiratis in the workplace will help the UAE reduce dependence on overseas workers
The Cabinet in December last year, approved a national fund for Emirati jobseekers and guaranteed citizens working in the private sector a comparable pension
President Sheikh Khalifa has described Emiratisation as “a true measure for success”.
During the UAE’s 48th National Day, Sheikh Khalifa named education, entrepreneurship, Emiratisation and space travel among cornerstones of national development
More than 80 per cent of Emiratis work in the federal or local government as per 2017 statistics
The Emiratisation programme includes the creation of 20,000 new jobs for UAE citizens
UAE citizens will be given priority in managerial positions in the government sphere
The purpose is to raise the contribution of UAE nationals in the job market and create a diverse workforce of citizens
Company Profile
Company name: myZoi
Started: 2021
Founders: Syed Ali, Christian Buchholz, Shanawaz Rouf, Arsalan Siddiqui, Nabid Hassan
Based: UAE
Number of staff: 37
Investment: Initial undisclosed funding from SC Ventures; second round of funding totalling $14 million from a consortium of SBI, a Japanese VC firm, and SC Venture
MATCH DETAILS
Juventus 2 (Bonucci 36, Ronaldo 90+6)
Genoa 1 (Kouame 40)
Company profile
Company name: Fasset
Started: 2019
Founders: Mohammad Raafi Hossain, Daniel Ahmed
Based: Dubai
Sector: FinTech
Initial investment: $2.45 million
Current number of staff: 86
Investment stage: Pre-series B
Investors: Investcorp, Liberty City Ventures, Fatima Gobi Ventures, Primal Capital, Wealthwell Ventures, FHS Capital, VN2 Capital, local family offices
