Business Club

AMMAN — Mediterranean Tourism Investment Company (METICO), the owning company of Four Seasons Hotel Amman, hosted a luxurious gala dinner on Thursday, July 6,2023, celebrating a remarkable milestone as the hotel marks 20 years as one of Jordan’s most sought-after addresses.

In his welcoming speech, Hani Al Qadi, Chairman of METICO, said: “The company is proud of its accomplishment of developing the first Four Seasons Hotel to be built in the Middle East that introduced the concept of luxury hospitality to Jordan and the wider region.”

The event was attended by Alejandro Reynal, President and CEO of Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts, who had a few remarks to share voicing his pride of the team, and Rainer Stamfer, President of Global Operations at Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts.

A video was presented showcasing the unique achievements of METICO as the owner of Four Seasons Hotel Amman, sharing the journey of the hotel while taking guests down the memory lane.

Another integral part of the event was the appreciation and recognition of the 22 employees who have completed 20 years of service at the Four Seasons Hotel Amman with the utmost passion and dedication.

The entertainment saw Jihad Akl on the violin, who performed at the grand opening of the Hotel 20 years ago, and Lebanese-Greek singer Pavo.

The gala dinner was attended by prominent partners, patrons and long-term guests of the hotel as well as representatives of local, Arab and international media outlets.

Opened in May 2003 as the first-ever luxury hotel in the Kingdom’s capital city, Four Seasons Hotel Amman is a beacon of elegance that has won the hearts of locals and travellers from across the globe and claimed its place at the pinnacle of the local hospitality scene.

TPAY, the leader in payments in the Middle East, Africa, and Turkey (META), has named Işık Uman as its new Group CEO, effective July 1, 2023. 

Uman, who has been acting Chief Product Officer as well as Chief Marketing Officer for the last year, will succeed current CEO Gaston Aussems, who will move into a strategic advisory role.  

"I am confident that under Işık's guidance, TPAY will witness tremendous growth, remarkable achievements, and setting new standards of excellence in the region," said Aussems. "And I feel privileged to have had the chance to work with all talented members of the TPAY family." 

“I am very excited to take the helm from Gaston now”, Uman commented. “Gaston and the team did a great job. My main focus will be to deploy a true merchant-centric approach that exceeds the region's expectations. I believe TPAY has enormous potential, and we will work to deliver exceptional products and innovative solutions to our merchants."  

Uman has been working as the Chief Product Officer (CPO) at TPAY. He joined TPAY’s executive leadership in 2020, right after the acquisition of the Turkish payments start-up, Payguru, of which he had been a founding partner and the Chairman. Uman brings a wealth of experience working with mobile network operators. He led the buy-out of Neomobile's Turkish mobile payment business, which, under the Payguru brand in 2016, became the first Direct Carrier Billing (DCB) company to which the Turkish Financial Regulator granted a payment licence. Under his leadership, Payguru became a successful Turkish alternative payment provider, processing $70 million a year through its DCB and Bank Transfer services.

The Dada Group for Trade and Investment and Beko’s parent company Arçelik on Sunday announced the commemoration of their 20-year partnership in Jordan, marking a significant milestone in their successful collaboration. 

To celebrate this achievement, the two companies introduced Beko’s new line of household appliances “The Beyond Series”, further strengthening their commitment to providing innovative and high-quality products to the Jordanian market.

Since the inception of their partnership in 2003, the Dada Group and Arçelik have combined their expertise and resources to deliver exceptional household appliances that have become an integral part of Jordanian households. 

With a shared vision of enhancing the quality of life and creating lasting value, the two companies have consistently met the evolving needs of consumers while maintaining a focus on sustainability and technological advancement.

The product range will encompass a wide variety of innovative and efficient appliances designed to enhance convenience, comfort and overall well-being in households across the country by bringing to the market eco-friendly and energy efficient products with minimalistic designs, which means wider screens and wider doors added to the outstanding features.

"The 20-year partnership between the Dada Group and Arçelik has been a testament to our shared values and commitment to excellence," said Nassim El Dada, CEO of the Dada Group. 

Erman Korkmaz of Arçelik said: "This new line redefines the boundaries of what is possible in home appliances, incorporating advanced technologies and intuitive features that cater to the diverse needs of modern consumers. From smart kitchen solutions to intelligent laundry systems, the Beyond series offers an exceptional range of products designed to simplify daily routines and elevate the overall home experience."

Estarta, a global engineering and IT company, is pleased to announce the launch of its newest location in Athens, Greece. With much elation, Estarta highlighted this milestone by celebrating its ongoing global growth and expansion at the new delivery site through a prime event.

During the celebration at the Athens site, Phil Wolfenden (CXC EMEA VP, Cisco Systems), Leith Al Masri (Chairman, Estarta) and Mutaz Nabulsi (CEO, Estarta) provided an overview of the business relationship between Estarta and Cisco, which spanned over two decades. Estarta executives and partners discussed the future growth plans and opportunities arising from the new site and highlighted their expectations for many more milestones in the near future.

With its expanded presence in Athens, Estarta aims to foster local talent, promote knowledge exchange, and contribute to the digital transformation initiatives of both Greek and international businesses, given the country’s attractive position in the heart of Europe. Estarta launched its operations with an initial team of 150 members and anticipates significant future growth in the size of the delivery site.

Estarta’s CEO, Mutaz H. Nabulsi, comments, "We are very excited to be launching our operations in Greece as part of a long-term plan to expand our capabilities to deliver best-in-class services globally. Estarta has hired more than 150 resources in Athens, and we believe the availability of highly qualified resources is a key value proposition of the Greek market as we look forward to growing rapidly over the coming period."

About Estarta:

Estarta is a leading global engineering and IT company specialising in outsourcing comprehensive technical and premium service solutions. Throughout its 31 years of operation, Estarta has delivered expertise and specialised services to both the public and private sectors on Cisco and Microsoft technologies, utilising a team of 1500 professionals across eight geographic locations.

Estarta’s partnership experience with global ICT players has sharpened its skills and services to be best-in-class, continually exploring new technologies and partnerships to enhance excellence in customer service delivery.

For more information or to learn more about the opening, kindly visit the company's official website: 

https://estartasolutions.com/

https://estarta.com/.

AMMAN — Careem Jordan has recently launched “Careem Plus”, a subscription-based loyalty programme that offers exclusive discounts and benefits on select services.

For a monthly fee of only JD2.99, the service offers customers in Jordan unlimited free delivery on food orders over JD5 from over 1,500 restaurants, 10 per cent credit back on 10 economy rides per month and expedited support from Careem’s top customer care agents. Subscribers enjoy an average savings of JD20 monthly through the new service.

Careem Plus was first piloted in December 2022, and started off strong at its official March 2023 launch.

Careem has managed to establish itself as the everyday “Super App” in the region, said Farah Odeh, General Manager of Careem Jordan, who described the company’s purpose of simplifying lives: “We offer our customers a one-stop-shop to complete their daily tasks, freeing up customer’s valuable time for the things that matter most.”

“With the introduction of Careem Plus, we are creating even more value for our customers by unlocking big savings on food delivery and rides,” Odeh added, noting that around half of Careem’s clients are already benefitting from the new service.

Careem Plus customer Ahmad Abed takes the record for highest savings since the service launched in Jordan.

Abed has been a loyal Careem customer for half a decade, using the super-app for food orders and transportation.

Two months ago, he became a Careem Plus subscriber, and has since saved an impressive JD352 using the service.

“I live a bit far from all restaurants, so I used to pay at least JD3 for each delivery order,” Abed said.

“Thanks to Careem plus, I can now enjoy free delivery from a large number of restaurants for a monthly subscription fee of only JD2.99,” he said.

Beyond providing customers with notable savings, the launch of Careem Plus has led to a 20 per cent increase in daily delivery orders for Careem Captain Husam Msameh.

“The demand has notably increased over the past few months … I am benefiting from this service as much as customers,” Msameh said.

Established in July 2012, Careem currently operates in over 70 cities across 10 countries. It commenced its operations in Jordan in 2015, and has so far created two million income-generating job opportunities in the region.

As a pioneer in the Middle East region’s ride-share industry, Careem offers its customers a wide range of services that cater to their daily needs in one unified smartphone app, including ride-share services, food delivery, business-to-door shopping and on-demand delivery services (BOX).

To subscribe to Careem Plus and be part of Careem’s growing community, download the Careem app on the App Store or Google Play, or update the app to the latest version to access new potential savings.

Careem, the region’s leading everything app, invests in its engineering hubs in Pakistan, Jordan and Egypt, with dozens of open engineering roles across Amman, Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Cairo and Alexandria. 

More than 600 tech professionals already work in Careem’s engineering hubs to build technology to power Careem’s Super App services across the region, with 55 per cent of Careem's total engineering organisation based in Jordan, Pakistan and Egypt. Careem also has engineers in the UAE and Germany. 

The open roles in Careem’s Jordan, Pakistan and Egypt engineering hubs include front-end, back-end, and full stack engineering, web engineering, mobile engineering (IOS and android), data and AI and infrastructure engineering. Since the start of 2023, Careem has hired nearly 80 tech-focused roles in Jordan, Pakistan and Egypt.

Careem’s engineering leaders apply experience from leading global technology companies to solve real-life regional problems and build innovative products across the Super App platform services, including Careem Rides, Careem Food, Careem Quik, Careem Pay, and partner services.

Stephen Kruger, Chief Technology Officer at Careem, commented: “Since Careem’s inception, hundreds of technology professionals have played a role in building the region’s first marketplace platform and leapfrogging the region into the digital future.

Universities in Jordan, Pakistan and Egypt graduate around 90,000 software engineers annually but there are only a few regional mid-size tech companies for these graduates to join.

This lack of opportunity can lead to a ‘brain drain’ from the region and Careem is trying to prevent and reverse this brain drain. We feel we have a responsibility to drive progress for the region by building a lasting institution that can provide meaningful opportunities for the region’s most talented minds.” 

Selim Turki, Senior Director of Engineering at Careem, said: “Our engineering team is growing rapidly and there are multiple exciting opportunities for tech talent in Jordan, Pakistan and Egypt to join Careem’s ambitious journey. Our first line of code was written in Pakistan, and Careem has shown for over a decade that globally-competitive technology can be built in our region.

Now we’re creating even more opportunities for talented engineers in Jordan, Pakistan and Egypt to help us build the next generation of technology. We’re looking for candidates that feel passionate about our purpose of simplifying and improving the lives of people and driving progress across the region.”

Careem partners with regional and global academic institutions to conduct research on previously unsolved regional challenges to aid in the acceleration of the economic development of the region.

Recently, Careem partnered with Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) to introduce STEF-DHNet, a demand prediction model that combines a convolutional neural network (CNN) and long short-term memory (LSTM) to integrate external features as spatiotemporal information and capture their influence on ride-hailing demand.

Careem’s “Next Gen” programme offers valuable learning and employment prospects for young, ambitious engineers throughout the region. Next Gen engineers collaborate with the most senior technical experts in the organisation and gain hands-on experience in tackling real-world challenges through an embedded technical training programme that utilises state-of-the-art resources and cutting edge technologies. “Next Gen” learning opportunities are available in all of Careem’s engineering hubs.

AMMAN — HYPERLINK "https://www.fourseasons.com/london/" \t "_blank"Four Seasons Hotel Amman is celebrating the summer with the opening of the newly renovated FIVE Grill & Lounge, an open yet sculpted space combined with a fresh colour scheme and a striking balance of nature’s greenery and dimmed lights.

Immersed within a tastefully curated spectrum of neutral hues, the ambience exudes an exquisite charm, expertly crafted through the comforting allure of plush searing nestled beneath the canopy roofs.

The restaurant overlooks the Fifth Circle along with an opulent cityscape contributing to the aesthetics. Bedouin-inspired canopies and independent trees resemble the vast desert shrubs with a modern twist. Tranquil and serene lounge music alleviates the ambience for early evening dining and later transcends into DJ music throughout the night.

The open kitchen was curated to allow the fragrances of live food preparation fused with exquisite tastes that elevate the dining experience.

FIVE Grill & Lounge represents the five human senses of sight, smell, touch, taste and hearing, which creates a wholesome experience in a quaint and warm atmosphere.

Natural and biophilic materials, like raw-cut marbles, enhance the dual nature of the space for dining and lounging.

The locally grown plants not only add to the aesthetics, but also serve a meaning to the space enhance the visual, thematic and sensory experience.

FIVE Grill & Lounge is 420 sq. m. and can accommodate 34 guests in the dining area and 64 guests in the lounge area.

Guests can order from a variety of snacks, sandwiches and wraps from the lounge area or delicious pastas and steak by the dining area combined with a special variety of mocktails and cocktails including the signature “5 o’clock” or the “Basil Lemonade”.