Business Club

In light of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, talabat Jordan, the largest online food delivery platform in the Middle East, stepped up to support local communities in myriad ways throughout the year, adapting its operations in order to meet the needs of individuals and families across the Kingdom.

The company shared its latest achievements, lessons, and future plans with local media representatives during a virtual roundtable event.

Recognising the increasingly vital importance of delivery services in a year of worldwide lockdowns and social distancing, talabat Jordan shifted its business model from that of a profit-led business to one of a purpose-led company, and began working tirelessly to provide and deliver essential goods and services to people throughout the country.

This new purpose-driven focus also led the company to expand its geographic reach and create more jobs: Last year, while many businesses and industries were forced to resort to lay-offs and pay cuts, talabat’s in-office workforce grew by 57 per cent, while its number of drivers across Jordan more than doubled.

With talabat Jordan now operating in Amman, Irbid, Zarqa, and Aqaba, the application’s users in the Kingdom increased by 42 per cent in 2020, as more and more customers came to rely on the company for essential goods and services.

Reflecting back on the previous year, Hala Siraj, managing director of talabat Jordan, said, “From the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis, we at talabat recognised that we had a responsibility to serve and support local communities however we could. By expanding our services and capabilities in ways that address core needs and increase job opportunities, we have proudly been able to help alleviate some of the socioeconomic burdens caused by the pandemic.

This operational shift represents more than a strategic business decision: it reflects a complete transformation of our business model, toward one that puts purpose and social good at the forefront of everything we do.”

Ayla Oasis Development Company, launched its Christmas calendar that promises fun for the entire family.

Ayla will continue to comply with the government’s COVID-19 regulations, which include wearing masks and physical distancing, and has implemented a set of guidelines that includes frequent sanitising of all the public areas.

Festivities kicked off on December 17 with the opening of the Christmas Open Market at Marina Village, continuing well into January, with activities, events and fun surprises every day excluding Friday, in line with the government’s lockdown guidelines.

This year for the first time, Marina Village and Cloud7 Residences will be ablaze with the season’s ambience, with stunning decorations at every turn and down every street, and a giant snow globe photo booth where unforgettable memories can be preserved.

Ayla’s Marina Village provides its guests with a carefully curated group of seaside retail outlets, including shops, entertainment facilities and hospitality services that exude relaxation and contemporary living. Children will enjoy visiting Santa’s Grotto, full of sparkling decorations, a stunning tree and most important of all, a photo opportunity with Santa! 

At IKEA, we believe in taking social and environmental responsibility throughout our supply chain, as well as being transparent about how we work.

For our wood supply, we deploy a comprehensive due diligence system to secure that the wood we use in our products meets our “strict requirements and legal obligations”, which includes being able to trace where the wood comes from.

Under no circumstances do we accept wood that does not meet our requirements. If the company discovers irregularities, it takes immediate action. During the fall of 2020, IKEA wood supply and forestry specialists proactively performed a routine audit at a supplier in China.

The audit discovered falsified documents related to the origin of the wood. This was a clear violation of the company’s requirements and against the foundation of our business model and values. Therefore, IKEA moved quickly to address it.

In line with its values, Fine Hygienic Holding has announced its support of the United Nations Relief and Work Agency (UNRWA) through providing its anti-viral face masks to those who need it most, Palestinian refugees and UNRWA’s frontline health workers in Gaza as they combat the spread of COVID-19.

Palestinian refugees have been facing extreme difficulties accessing vital essentials and personal protective equipment throughout the crisis, putting many at risk of contracting the virus.

Fine’s donation comes to help mitigate this risk. Fine Hygienic Holding CEO, James Michael Lafferty, said, “Palestinian heritage is at the heart of Fine — our founder, Elia Nuqul, was a Palestinian who worked tirelessly for years to build his company from the ground up and the values he instilled in the business are ones we uphold to this day. One such value is our belief in doing the right thing. Always.

On a personal level, I feel very strongly towards refugees and the reality they face on a daily basis, which is why I am proud to be a part of a company that is determined to aid all its communities, especially those most in need.” In a recent study, which was conducted by the Free University of Berlin and RWTH Aachen University in Germany, it was confirmed that the technology incorporated in the masks effectively eliminates pathogens of all types, including the virus responsible for COVID-19. 

A leading marketing communications group, MENACOM Jordan, is celebrating 25 years of continuous operations in the local market.

During this time, the company has been a trailblazer for the marketing communications sector—both in Jordan and throughout the MENA region—leading the industry through creativity, innovation, and a steadfast commitment to superior client servicing.

Founded in 1995, and driven by the ambitious vision of its leadership team, MENACOM Jordan quickly garnered a reputation for excellence in the market, attracting an ever-growing portfolio of local, regional, and international clients.

With an emphasis on providing comprehensive communications services, MENACOM Jordan has continuously worked to add real value to its clients’ brands and strategic business objectives.

Through its client-centric approach, MENACOM has been a stable, constant force in Jordan’s communications sector, demonstrating sustainable, steady growth in spite of various marketing challenges, from regional instability to economic recessions.

Today, the group is composed of six fully fledged, highly integrated agencies that run the gamut of clients’ communications needs: These include advertising agencies VMLY&R and Intermarkets, marketing and digital agency Wunderman, public relations firm Asda’a BCW, media and content specialists Wavemaker, and the newest addition, retail marketing firm Interface.

“Jobs Now: Going digital during COVID-19”, organised by the international non-governmental organisation SPARK with the contributions of the Qatar Development Fund (QFFD), was held online.

At the meeting, besides the digitalisation opportunities that will pave the way for immigrant SMEs, entrepreneurs, students, future trends and the importance of digitalisation for different industries were discussed in detail.

SPARK’s CEO Yannick Du Pont said: “Although the worldwide pandemic affects our lives deeply, we are going through a period of learning more about technology in our daily and business lives.

We do our jobs by using opportunities offered by technology too and digitalisation is the future of all sectors.

As SPARK, we will continue to support entrepreneurs, students and SMEs to keep up with the transformation in the digitalising to keep their strengths during these challenging period.” SPARK, an international non-governmental development organisation, working to create pathways for young people to rebuild their future, organised an important conference with the support of the Qatar Development Fund (QFFD), a public development institution committed, on behalf of the state of Qatar, to implement external aid projects.

While “Going digital during COVID-19” bringing together national and international business leaders, the advantages of digitalisation were discussed in details for SMEs, entrepreneurs and students who want to invest in different sectors.

Mental health, career and life coaching, early childhood development and family wellbeing are at the core of approximately 50 vodcasts produced by Al Marji’ Publications and Arab Media Network (AMN).“We are very pleased of our cooperation with Al Marji’ Publications and this is in line with our mutual efforts to expand our digital and visual presence to serve our followers with valuable Arabic content,” explains Tareq Abu Lughod, AMN (Abu Lughod Studios) co-founder and chief executive officer.

Publisher and managing director of Al Marji’ Publications, Hind-Lara Mango notes that “relevant to the times, these audio and video recordings are the result of the hard work of over 20 contributing experts in Family Flavours and Nakahat ‘Ailyieh, who share credible advice to support the mental and physical wellness of the family”.

Packed with information relating to inclusion and special needs, self-care, brain development and much more, these vodcasts, which can be sponsored or tailored, come at a time when families are in dire need of support and professional guidance. These vodcasts can be viewed on the YouTube channels of both Mazaj FM and Al Marji’ Publications and on the social media platforms of both partners.

The ever-growing gaming industry has been booming for several years now with a turnover in excess of over $33 trillion in 2020.It is worth noting that the mobile gaming industry has reached a turnover of over $74 billion in 2019.

Now the cryptocurrency market is set on a course towards carving a slice of the gaming industry. Introducing new technologies that enable gamers and game developers to capitalise with in-game content-based crypto-trading and supportive eco-systems.

Introducing cryptocurrency into the gaming industry is a new tendency that is gathering momentum due to the development of infrastructure technologies such as Non-Fungible Tokens based on Ethereum. 
Ethereum has introduced the Smart-Contracts infrastructure into the crypto-world, yet new emerging coin-based platforms are utilising the technologies that have now been proven reliable, thus providing a whole new set of finance trading capabilities. The years 2020 through 2021 will see the first large-scale platforms for in-game virtual goods and items which will be capitalised by means of Ethereum NFT technologies. As a consequence, the cryptocurrency and gaming industries will be incorporated into one block chain-based gaming industry.

Combining the human tendency for ownership with the long-existing custom of trading in a capitalistic digital universe constitutes the new finance frontier. A frontier that now attracts giant players into the NFT`s based crypto-capital market. Several large enterprises such as Microsoft`s Minecraft, Roblox`s Sandbox, Decentraland, Atari and Epic Games Unreal have already ventured into these promising financial opportunities.
For hundreds of millions of players that are already active in these digital gaming worlds, the benefits of NFTs could mean permanent ownership over their virtual goods and items. With the prospect of securing their virtual items by trading safely due to the incorporation of smart-contracts via dedicated platforms, this could obviously be the catalyst for further growth in an already vast market.

PlayFuel is an example of a platform that seems ahead of the curve by allowing game developers and gamers to exploit the robustness of these technologies. PlayFuel a Korean crypto-based company that introduced an Ethereum token (PLF) coupled with a comprehensive ecosystem for game developers as well as a dedicated marketplace. That not only allows game developers to build the next level in game-monetisation but also supports open-source platforms for game development such as Epic`s Unreal Engine. Thus, gamers can develop games on the open-source Unreal`s Engine with a profit revenue of up to $1 million with no commissions or strings attached. One should bear in mind that substantial in-game PLF`s NFT profits have no limits, thereby introducing a new element of utilisation to NFTs. Additionally, PlayFuel`s innovative marketplace offers yet another layer of monetisation to game developers.

PlayFuel`s PLF token shows real promise for catapulting the joined industries in the coming years. PlayFuel has also attracted some serious cryptocurrency market influencers such as Allen Weiss, former president of worldwide operations for Walt Disney Parks and Resorts business. Weiss was recently appointed as chairman at PlayFuel while acting as chairman for Global Blockchain Ventures& AppleSeed Companies Inc. His vast experience is bound to play a key role in PlayFuel`s meteoric rise.

To summarise, 2021 is just around the corner and we have now glimpsed into the future of the cryptocurrency market, and the future is crypto-gaming.

Young journalism graduates and members of Civil Society Organisations received training at the Jordan Media Institute, on Media and Information Literacy in partnership with the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

This training took place in the framework of the MENA-OECD Governance Programme and the Jordan Citizens’ Voice Project, which has been organised through the support of the Foreign Federal Office of Germany.

A key objective of these efforts is to bring together young people, stakeholders from non-profits, government and academia to pool their expertise and collaborate to develop the tools on skills to increase media literacy across the country. “Such trainings are especially relevant given a rapidly evolving media landscape and changing ways of consuming and sharing information,” according to Michael Jelenic, OECD Policy Analyst who helped to organise the trainings.

During the training, a group of 44 youths were split into three groups over three weeks and supported with skills to identify disinformation and misinformation and be more critical and responsible consumers and producers of news and information.

The sessions also included ways to identify and fight hate speech, racism and bullying. As a key output of the training, participants were trained to produce content that disseminates MIL skills and concepts in different forms including photo essays, memes, and videos which would benefit their peers and organisations. The implementation of the training programme complements OECD’s engagement with the Government of Jordan to build capacities for youth-responsive policymaking through the “Youth in Public Life” project (2016-21), financially supported by the MENA Transition Fund of the G7 Deauville Partnership.