ArabWeeks

In line with their expansion plans, leading online food ordering platforms, hellofood and HungerStation strengthened their operations and footprint in Saudi Arabia through a newborn strategic partnership. The merger was recently announced by foodpanda, the global group that originally started the brand hellofood in March 2013, and aims at consolidating the company’s market leadership in the region.

 Under the leadership of Ebrahim Al-Jassim, Founder and CEO of HungerStation, both brands will continue to operate in the Kingdom to cater to the different segments of the Saudi population and offer the largest variety of food outlets and restaurants. The partnership will bring together a strong dedicated team to lead the operations and provide better services and food offerings to the more than +20 million Saudis residents currently covered by the platforms in more than 47 cities across the Kingdom.

 “foodpanda is always on the lookout for strategic opportunities, to combine the best global operational practices with great successful entrepreneurs, obtaining solid local market knowledge and strive to bring the most convenient food delivery experience to our customers” said Co-founder and COO of foodpanda Global, Felix Plog.

 “hellofood and HungerStation have already proved the effectiveness of this merger in just three months; we can already foresee the prosperous future of this partnership,” added Plog.

 Anass Boumediene, Managing Director of foodpanda Middle East commented: “This merger presents an opportunity for two market leaders to combine their skills and expertise to further provide enhanced services and food offerings for our customers in Saudi Arabia.

 “With Ebrahim’s ambition and great entrepreneurial spirit, coupled with our diverse operational practices we can set assure that this partnership is the perfect successful combo for Saudi Arabia,” added Mehdi Oudghiri Co-Managing Director of foodpanda Middle East.

“With the experience, resources and technology that foodpanda brings to the table, we are very excited and ready to take the next big step in order to provide a world class service and experience to our growing customer base in Saudi Arabia.” said Ebrahim Al-Jassim, Founder and CEO of HungerStation. “We have worked very hard during the last years, in developing strategic alliances with the main players in the food industry and building trust among our customers. That together with our working ethics and culture helped us to become the leader of online food delivery in Saudi Arabia, leading to this great opportunity to join hands with hellofood.”

 The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia represents a unique opportunity for unmatched growth in the online-food-ordering platform. The online food ordering industry will continue to grow, and could possibly become the fastest growing industry in the e-commerce arena. HungerStation and hellofood will

 certainly be capitalizing and feeding this growth, as online food delivery gradually turns more into a ‘norm’ rather than a differentiation.

 HungerStation and hellofood remain committed to the Saudi market and are set to outgrow the online food industry, by continuing to expanding into new cities, introducing new complimentary services as well as partnering with more and more food outlets to ensure it meets all consumers’ tastes.

 foodpanda entered the Middle East in March 2013 under its hellofood brand. Further, the company operates the food delivery businesses 24h in the United Arab Emirates and Otlob in Egypt.

  Tourism & Culture Authority (TCA Abu Dhabi), which conserves and promotes the emirate’s heritage, culture and traditions and is developing a leading cultural landscape to support its evolution into a world-class, sustainable destination of distinction, has launched a new worldwide promotional campaign aimed at encouraging travellers to experience Abu Dhabi’s ‘extraordinary stories.’

The campaign highlights Abu Dhabi as the inspiring destination for those wanting to experience cultural authenticity and diverse natural assets aligned to the Abu Dhabi Plan’s objectives of delivering an original and attractive tourism and cultural destination.

“It tells the extraordinary story of Abu Dhabi, from its ancient past to its modern wonders, guiding audiences through breathtaking natural environments and exhilarating experiences,” explained His Excellency Mohamed Khalifa Al Mubarak, Chairman, TCA Abu Dhabi. “Every filmed moment, every photograph and word evokes the poetic beauty and authenticity of the emirate, which invites travellers to become a part of its story.

“Audiences will also discover a dynamic, family-leisure entertainment destination and one which also holds out ambitious business opportunities. The campaign will unearth these stories and bring them to life for our potential visitors, inspiring them to journey here.”

Following an eight-month development process, the campaign comprises a two-series television commercial dedicated to GCC and international markets which will be broadcast and run across TV networks, digital channels and in-flight entertainment systems.

Also in production are five-promotional videos which highlight Abu Dhabi’s tourism, culture, MICE, events and cruise experiences which will be available to Abu Dhabi’s tourism stakeholders to be used in exhibitions, roadshows, and events.

The commercials and videos capture a range of authentic moments, landscapes and emotions shot across 40 locations throughout the emirate. These include UAE capital cityscapes and landmarks, nature reserves and island resorts, forts and palaces in Al Ain, as well as the awe-inspiring deserts and coastline of the Al Gharbia Western Region.

The campaign will be rolled out internationally from November 1 and will primarily focus on Abu Dhabi’s core markets of the UAE, India, China, the UK, Germany, USA and the GCC. Other markets will be activated through intense PR activities run via TCA Abu Dhabi’s overseas offices.

The campaign, according to TCA Abu Dhabi Director General, His Excellency Saif Saeed Ghobash, has been aligned to a go-to-market strategy of prioritising source market channels according to their travel booking preferences and periods.

“This means it will run heavily in the UK and Germany straight after New Year when travellers’ minds turn to sunshine breaks and in China, specifically to catch Chinese New Year and the Golden Weeks. Other markets will be addressed in a like-minded booking preference approach,” he explained.

“We will also target the USA’s high potential Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions market – the US being where many international associations are headquartered and from where bids for annual conventions emanate.”

In addition to the TV commercials and promotional videos, the roll-out of a new range of supporting destination collateral and a new image library of inspiring photography will follow.

 To know more about the new campaign and to play the new TV commercial visit the official destination website visitabudhabi.ae

The Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Riyadh organized a workshop on “Seaweed as an alternative protein source for alfalfa” at ARASCO Head Quarters in Riyadh. The workshop was organised in close collaboration with ARASCO, Wageningen University & Research and Royal IHC in the Netherlands. The aim of the workshop was to discuss the development and cultivation of seaweed in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, as a protein source for animal feed and as a promising alternative for the local growing of alfalfa. The Saudi government took measures to phase out alfalfa production in the Kingdom in the nearby future. The need for an alternative protein source for animal feed therefor is urgent to prevent the Kingdom of becoming to much depending on protein import. Seaweed is such an alternative. The 120,000 ha alfalfa that was planted in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in the year 2015 required the use of large quantities of non-renewable underground water. The benefit of seaweed is that it does not require fresh water for its production at all. This can be explained by the fact that seaweed is grown in saline water, in the open sea, and, depending on the area where they are cultivated, plant nutrients are freely available. The interest by different partners was significant. A working group will be formed between Dutch and Saudi partners to carry this interesting topic further in KSA.

 The workshop aimed to bring together experts on this topic, coming not only from ARASCO, Wageningen University and Royal IHC, but also from the Saudi private, public and knowledge sector, to speak about the potential of seaweed as an alternative for alfalfa, the general discussion was led by Dr. Hans van der Beek, agricultural counsellor at the Embassy of the Netherlands in KSA. During the seminar innovative knowledge was shared that is required on growing seaweed as a crop in the sea and to learn how to extract proteins from it. This is in line with the strategic objective of the Saudi Vision 2030. It is envisioned to start a demonstration project as soon as possible in the Kingdom, with Saudi partners, in order to do preparatory work for a successful follow up.