SMC issues supplementary prospectus with Tawuniya as cornerstone investor
Specialized Medical Co. (SMC) issued a supplementary prospectus, disclosing that it received a binding commitment from The Company for Cooperative Insurance (Tawuniya) to subscribe as a cornerstone investor for 5.875 million shares in the offering, representing 2.35% of the company's post-offering share capital.
According to the supplementary prospectus, the company has approved the allocation of these shares to Tawuniya as part of the offering process.
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Arab News
4 hours ago
- Arab News
Lebanon aims to lure back wealthy Gulf tourists to jumpstart its war-torn economy
BEIRUT: Fireworks lit up the night sky over Beirut's famous St. Georges Hotel as hit songs from the 1960s and 70s filled the air in a courtyard overlooking the Mediterranean retro-themed event was hosted last month by Lebanon's Tourism Ministry to promote the upcoming summer season and perhaps recapture some of the good vibes from an era viewed as a golden one for the country. In the years before a civil war began in 1975, Lebanon was the go-to destination for wealthy tourists from neighboring Gulf countries seeking beaches in summer, snow-capped mountains in winter and urban nightlife the decade after the war, tourists from Gulf countries – and crucially, Saudi Arabia – came back, and so did Lebanon's economy. But by the early 2000s, as the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah gained power, Lebanon's relations with Gulf countries began to sour. Tourism gradually dried up, starving its economy of billions of dollars in annual after last year's bruising war with Israel, Hezbollah is much weaker and Lebanon's new political leaders sense an opportunity to revitalize the economy once again with help from wealthy neighbors. They aim to disarm Hezbollah and rekindle ties with Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries, which in recent years have prohibited their citizens from visiting Lebanon or importing its products.'Tourism is a big catalyst, and so it's very important that the bans get lifted,' said Laura Khazen Lahoud, the country's tourism the highway leading to the Beirut airport, once-ubiquitous banners touting Hezbollah's leadership have been replaced with commercial billboards and posters that read 'a new era for Lebanon.' In the center of Beirut, and especially in neighborhoods that hope to attract tourists, political posters are coming down, and police and army patrols are on the are signs of thawing relations with some Gulf neighbors. The United Arab Emirates and Kuwait have lifted yearslong travel eyes are now on Saudi Arabia, a regional political and economic powerhouse, to see if it will follow suit, according to Lahoud and other Lebanese officials. A key sticking point is security, these officials say. Although a ceasefire with Israel has been in place since November, near-daily airstrikes have continued in southern and eastern Lebanon, where Hezbollah over the years had built its political base and powerful military as a diplomatic and economic bridgeAs vital as tourism is — it accounted for almost 20 percent of Lebanon's economy before it tanked in 2019 — the country's leaders say it is just one piece of a larger puzzle they are trying to put back agricultural and industrial sectors are in shambles, suffering a major blow in 2021, when Saudi Arabia banned their exports after accusing Hezbollah of smuggling drugs into Riyadh. Years of economic dysfunction have left the country's once-thriving middle class in a state of World Bank says poverty nearly tripled in Lebanon over the past decade, affecting close to half its population of nearly 6 million. To make matters worse, inflation is soaring, with the Lebanese pound losing 90 percent of its value, and many families lost their savings when banks is seen by Lebanon's leaders as the best way to kickstart the reconciliation needed with Gulf countries — and only then can they move on to exports and other economic growth opportunities.'It's the thing that makes most sense, because that's all Lebanon can sell now,' said Sami Zoughaib, research manager at The Policy Initiative, a Beirut-based think summer still weeks away, flights to Lebanon are already packed with expats and locals from countries that overturned their travel bans, and hotels say bookings have been the event hosted last month by the tourism ministry, the owner of the St. Georges Hotel, Fady El-Khoury, beamed. The hotel, owned by his father in its heyday, has acutely felt Lebanon's ups and downs over the decades, closing and reopening multiple times because of wars. 'I have a feeling that the country is coming back after 50 years,' he a recent weekend, as people crammed the beaches of the northern city of Batroun, and jet skis whizzed along the Mediterranean, local business people sounded optimistic that the country was on the right path.'We are happy, and everyone here is happy,' said Jad Nasr, co-owner of a private beach club. 'After years of being boycotted by the Arabs and our brothers in the Gulf, we expect this year for us to always be full.'Still, tourism is not a panacea for Lebanon's economy, which for decades has suffered from rampant corruption and has been in talks with the International Monetary Fund for years over a recovery plan that would include billions in loans and require the country to combat corruption, restructure its banks, and bring improvements to a range of public services, including electricity and those and other reforms, Lebanon's wealthy neighbors will lack confidence to invest there, experts said. A tourism boom alone would serve as a 'morphine shot that would only temporarily ease the pain' rather than stop the deepening poverty in Lebanon, Zoughaib tourism minister, Lahoud, agreed, saying a long-term process has only just begun.'But we're talking about subjects we never talked about before,' she said. 'And I think the whole country has realized that war doesn't serve anyone, and that we really need our economy to be back and flourish again.'
Arab News
14 hours ago
- Arab News
How companies should — and should not — deploy AI
Even though nearly half of office workers now turn to generative AI in their daily work, fewer than one in four CEOs report that the technology has delivered its promised value at scale. What is going on? The answer may lie in the fact that generative AI was initially presented as a productivity tool, which led to it being strongly associated with cost-cutting and workforce reductions. Spotting the risk, some 42 percent of employees surveyed in 2024 worried that their job might not exist in the next decade. In the absence of training and upskilling to harness the technology's potential, it is not surprising that there would be more resistance than enthusiasm. Like antibodies fighting off a foreign body, there can be an 'immune response' within organizations, with employees and managers alike resisting change and looking for reasons why AI 'won't work' for them. In addition to slowing adoption, such resistance has prevented a fuller exploration of other potential benefits, such as improved decision-making, enhanced creativity, the elimination of routine tasks and higher job satisfaction. As a result, there has been little consideration of how to 'reinvest' the time that AI can save. AI adoption is not about saving minutes. It is about reinventing work for the benefit of employees and the organization. Vinciane Beauchene and Allison Bailey Yet our research finds that employees who use generative AI regularly can already save five hours per working week, allowing them to pursue new tasks, further experiment with the technology, collaborate in new ways with coworkers or simply finish earlier. The challenge for business leaders, then, is to emphasize these potential benefits and provide guidance on where to refocus one's time to maximize value creation. Consider the example of a global healthcare provider that recently deployed generative AI across its 100,000 employees. It created a scalable AI learning program with three objectives: high AI literacy across the organization, so that all employees could make the most of the technology; a broad suite of AI tools for every work scenario; and compliant usage. Owing to this holistic approach, the company soon improved employee satisfaction and productivity at the same time. But AI adoption is not about saving minutes. It is about reinventing work for the benefit of employees and the organization. When a company treats generative AI merely as a timesaving tool, it is more likely to chase piecemeal use cases — 10 minutes saved here, 30 minutes saved there — which will not have a meaningful impact on the overall business. After all, small-scale AI applications that yield diffuse productivity gains are difficult to reinvest or capture on a profit and loss statement. Without a holistic strategy to redesign their core processes around AI, organizations risk optimizing isolated tasks rather than fundamentally improving how work gets done. The result, all too often, is that bottlenecks will simply be relocated to other parts of the process or value chain, limiting overall productivity gains. For example, in software development, an AI that speeds up coding can lead to more arduous debugging or other delays, negating any efficiency gains. Real value comes from integrating AI across the entire development lifecycle. This example also raises a larger issue: Too many organizations pursue scale without first reimagining the structures and workflows needed to harness cumulative gains. The usual result is a missed opportunity, because time savings that are not reinvested strategically tend to dissipate. Rather than adopting a let-a-hundred-flowers-bloom approach, organizations should pursue a few big transformational initiatives focused on reimagining work from end to end. The true promise of generative AI lies in unlocking what we call the 'golden triangle' of value: productivity, quality and engagement/joy. An AI strategy should reimagine workflows to eliminate inefficiencies, augment decision-making and processes to encourage innovation and creativity, and enhance work, not mechanize it. Employees are more likely to embrace AI enthusiastically when it eliminates drudgery, feeds creativity and accelerates learning. Proper attention to upskilling will ensure that the technology augments human potential, boosting workplace engagement and job satisfaction. By emphasizing engagement and the quality of experience alongside productivity, organizations can move beyond a cost-driven perspective to one that creates more value for the business, its employees and its customers. AI can be much more than an automation mechanism, provided that firms adopt a comprehensive strategy for deploying it. Organizations should pursue a few big transformational initiatives focused on reimagining work from end to end. Vinciane Beauchene and Allison Bailey Business leaders should keep five imperatives in mind. The first is to focus on the biggest pools of value with the best-defined business cases for integrating AI. The second is to reimagine work, rather than simply optimizing it. AI should be used to transform entire workflows, not just automate a few steps. Third, managers must invest in upskilling, so that everyone understands the technology and its potential. Fourth, the golden triangle, with its balance between productivity, quality and employee engagement/joy, should be businesses' golden rule. Lastly, organizations should measure value beyond cost savings. Businesses that deploy generative AI most effectively will track its effects on workforce empowerment, agility and new revenue streams, not just operational costs. By heeding these imperatives, companies can use AI as a force for reinvention, rather than just a productivity tool. In the process, they will set the pace for the next era of business.
Arab News
19 hours ago
- Arab News
Pakistani PM holds informal meeting with Saudi Crown Prince at royal court luncheon
ISLAMABAD: Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif held 'informal talks' with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman today, Friday, at a special luncheon at the royal court, ahead of bilateral talks between the two leaders. Sharif arrived in the Kingdom on Thursday on a two-day visit in which he will hold bilateral discussions with the Saudi Crown Prince on enhancing cooperation in trade, investment and regional security. A statement from Sharif's office said the Crown Prince gave a 'special welcome' to the PM and personally drove him to attend the lunch. 'The Saudi Crown Prince warmly welcomed Prime Minister Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif at the lunch and informal talks were held between the two leaders,' the statement said. 'The lunch was attended by important leaders from the Middle East, including members of the Saudi cabinet and top Saudi civil and military leadership.' Sharif reached Jeddah on Thursday evening and departed for Makkah to perform Umrah, the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) had said in an earlier statement. 'The two leaders will discuss ways to further strengthen bilateral cooperation in various fields, including trade and investment, welfare of the Muslim Ummah, and regional peace and security,' PMO said about Sharif's meeting with the Saudi Crown Prince later today, Friday. Sharif is also expected to express gratitude to the Saudi leadership for their role in de-escalating recent tensions between Pakistan and India. Last month, following the worst military confrontation between India and Pakistan in decades, Saudi Arabia, along with other Gulf nations, played a key role in mediating between the two nuclear-armed neighbors, helping to avert a potential war. The visit also comes amid deepening economic ties between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. In recent months, the two countries have signed multiple agreements aimed at boosting bilateral trade and investment. Notably, Saudi Arabia has committed to a $5 billion investment package to support Pakistan's economy, which has been grappling with a balance of payments crisis. Last year, Saudi and Pakistani businessmen signed 34 memorandums of understanding worth $2.8 billion, covering sectors such as industry, technology, and agriculture. Additionally, Saudi Arabia's Manara Minerals is in talks to acquire a 10-20 percent stake in Pakistan's $9 billion Reko Diq copper and gold mining project, one of the largest of its kind globally. Defense cooperation is also a key component of the bilateral relationship. The two nations have a history of military collaboration, with Saudi Arabia providing support to Pakistan during times of regional tension and Pakistan training Saudi forces. Pakistan has a 2.7 million-strong diaspora in Saudi Arabia, which accounts for the highest remittance inflow, a crucial lifeline for the country's economy.
