Dubai Riyadh Mumbai London New York AN ITP MEDIA GROUP PUBLICATION UAE: AED 15 KSA: SAR 15 BAHRAIN: BHD 1.500 OMAN: OMR 1.500 KUWAIT: KWD 1.200 #23/04 April 2022 Meet the business icons who have raised benchmarks across key industries in the Middle East INDIAN POWER LIST 2022arabianbusiness.com 3 Poland is the leader in the produc- tion of six to nine-metre yachts in Europe and the second country in the world after the United States. Luxury vessels are in great demand in Norway, France and Germany. Compa- nies and shipyards operating in this sector are gaining more and more recog- nition also in the Middle East. They recently took part in the Dubai Boat Show and promoted their achievements at Expo 2020 Dubai for six months. Polish yachts meet the needs of the most demanding customers from every corner of the world. They are praised for their top quality, modern technologies and ecological solutions. The leading Polish manufacturer is Conrad Shipyard, which specialises in building luxury steel and aluminium yachts up to 100 metres in length. It employs more than 400 specialists qualifi ed in shipbuilding and comprehensive engineering. The company from Gdansk also stands out because of its creativity. For Expo 2020 Dubai, it designed a miniature yacht hull, which was an important part of the interactive Polish Table installation in the Polish Pavilion. Sunreef Yachts is a Polish shipyard that launched the world's first luxury catamaran with a built-in sun deck. The company from Gdansk produces tech- nologically advanced yachts with hand- made upholstery, padding and furniture. Sunreef Yachts regularly wins pres- tigious awards and one of its luxury cata- marans is owned by tennis player Rafael Nadal. He will soon be joined by Fernando Alonso, who in 2021 ordered a yacht with ultra-modern electric drive and an innovative photovoltaic system with ultra-lightweight batteries. Learn more and discover the fastest growing industries in Poland: https://expo.gov.pl/reports/ POLISH LUXURY YACHTS ARE CONQUERING THE WORLD The country is home to luxury vessels that are comfortable, environmentally friendly and based on technologies of the future www.arabianbusiness.com SUBSCRIBE NOW +971 4444 3000 www.itp.com/subscription arabianbusiness #arabianbusiness arabianbusiness UPFRONT 10 THE EXPLAINER Mustafa Kheriba sheds light on the impact of Dubai’s new virtual assets regulatory law on UAE investors COMMENT 12 TECHNOLOGY We simply can’t ignore the progress that’s taking place in AI and machine learning, says Shadman Sakib STARTUP 70 WELLNESS UAE’s Selfologi platform COVER STORY INDIAN POWER LIST 2022 Forming a vital part of the region’s expatriate community, Indians have left an indelible mark on their respective industries in the Middle East, while remaining an invaluable part of the Middle East community FEATURES #23/04 April 2022 Arabian Business / Contents 06 FIRST WORD q If you missed it, you missed out, but don’t be too sad, you’ll continue to feel the Expo effect for many years to come” Scott Armstrong scott.armstrong@itp.com LOGISTICS PORT STRATEGY The region’s dynamic maritime industry offers huge opportunities for the French marine sector 081172 HOSPITALITY LEVA HOTELS LEVA Hotels offer the quintessential blend of leisure and business, says founder JS Anand 26 REVIEW RITZ-CARLTON AL WADI We experience the spellbinding magic of the desert at Ritz-Carlton Ras Al Khaimah, Al Wadi Desert u Around 22,000 yachts are manufactured in Poland annuallyINDEPTH NEWS SUBSCRIBE NOW www.itp.com/subscriptions +971 4 4443000 EXPERT VIEWS EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEWS PUBLISHED BY AND © 2022 ITP MEDIA GROUP FZ-LLC. NOTICE The publishers regret that they cannot accept liability for error or omissions contained in this publication, however caused. The opinions and views contained in this publication are not necessarily those of the publishers. Readers are advised to seek specialist advice before acting on information contained in this publication, which is provided for general use and may not be appropriate for the readers’ particular circumstances. The ownership of trademarks is acknowledged. No part of this publication or any part of the contents thereof may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form without the permission of the publishers in writing. An exemption is hereby granted for extracts used for the purpose of fair review. PO Box 500024, Dubai, UAE Tel: +971 4 444 3000 Offices in KSA, UAE, UK, US, and INDIA ITP MEDIA GROUP CEO Ali Akawi MANAGING DIRECTOR Alex Reeve EDITORIAL EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Rob Corder, rob.corder@itp.com EDITOR Scott Armstrong, +971 4 444 3513, scott.armstrong@itp.com DIGITAL EDITOR Anup Oommen, +971 4 444 3448, anup.oommen@itp.com REPORTER Nabila Rahal, +971 4 444 3466, nabila.rahal@itp.com REPORTER Lara Abouelkheir, +971 4 444 3420, lara.abouelkheir@itp.com SUB EDITOR Edward Liamzon, +971 4 444 3474, edward.liamzon@itp.com ARABIANBUSINESS.COM UK EDITOR Alicia Buller INDIA EDITOR James Mathew DESIGN DESIGNER Mohammed Irqsosy STUDIO STUDIO MANAGER Abuzar Samo SENIOR IMAGE EDITOR Emmalyn Robles SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER Efraim Evidor STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Ajith Narendra PRODUCTION & DISTRIBUTION GROUP PRODUCTION & DISTRIBUTION DIRECTOR Kyle Smith PRODUCTION MANAGER Denny Kollannoor PRODUCTION COORDINATOR Mahendra Pawar EVENTS & MARKETING DIRECTOR OF AWARDS & MARKETING Daniel Fewtrell, +971 4 444 3684, daniel fewtrell@itp.com CIRCULATION DISTRIBUTION & CIRCULATION MANAGER Evijin Pathrose DISTRIBUTION COORDINATOR Avinash Pereira CIRCULATION EXECUTIVE Rajesh Pillai ADVERTISING GROUP COMMERCIAL DIRECTOR Saraswati Agarwal, +971 4 444 3352, saraswati.agarwal@itp.com SENIOR COMMERCIAL MANAGER Mansi Khatwani, +971 4 444 3242, mansi.khatwani@itp.com ITP GROUP CEO Ali Akawi CFO Toby Jay Spencer-Davies CORPORATE WEBSITE itp.com CIRCULATION CUSTOMER SERVICE +971 4 444 3000 WEB arabianbusiness.comFIRST WORD / Scott Armstrong, Editor in chief 6 Vol. 23/04, April 2022 O ne of my favourite movies of all time, the Field of Dreams from 1989, contains a single line, which has been misquoted over and over: “If you build it, they will come’. Movie nerds (such as myself) would tell you that Kevin Costner’s character Ray Kinsella actually hears, “If you build it, he will come” but for the purposes of this clumsy intro it’s fair to say that Dubai has breathed incredible life into the premise of “If you build it, they will come” with its faith and vision pay-ing off with more than 24 million visits. In fact the 24,102,967 visits put the exposition tantalizingly close to organisers’ pre-event target of 25 million. An incred- ible achievement considering the backdrop of the pandemic. It seems fitting that Expo 2020 Dubai even had a space named ‘the field of dreams’ as the event was a monument to the whole “Build it and they will come”, a philosophy that didn’t end on March 31 for the sprawling site. As Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, said at the closing ceremony: “Today is not the end of Expo 2020, but a new beginning.” Close to 80 percent of Expo-built structures will be reim- agined and reworked to create a mixed-use, flexible environ- ment where people can live, work, and explore. The post-Expo District 2020 site aims to become a hub for global tech innovation, with the first business tenants set to take up their places from the fourth quarter of 2022. Indeed already, District 2020’s global entrepreneurship programme Scale2Dubai will welcome its first cohort of 85 start- ups and small businesses before the end of this year, joining the diverse organisations living and working in the post-Expo 2020 Dubai community. The ripple effect of Expo 2020 Dubai contin- ues to felt in the business community at large. According to a report commissioned by the Dubai Chamber of Commerce, more than three in four companies – approximately 76.5 percent – in Dubai registered business growth during Expo 2020, while 73.5 percent of them managed to build new business relations during the six-month World Expo, according to a report commis- sioned by the Dubai Chamber of Commerce. In total, Dubai Chamber of Commerce alone organised 98 events during Expo 2020 Dubai, which were attended by more than 25,000 participants from across 130 countries. The Dubai Chamber of Commerce also facilitated 1,500 bilateral business meetings between UAE investors and their global counterparts, received 1,746 visiting delegations from over 60 countries during the mega event, and hosted 3,350 government and business leaders. While Expo 2020 Dubai may be over its legacy will live on, both economically and emotionally for many in the UAE. For me, the closing days reminded me too of one line from the movie I’ve shoehorned into this piece repeatedly, when Archie Graham says: “We just don’t recognise life’s most signif- icant moments while they’re happening. Back then I thought, ‘Well, there’ll be other days’. I didn’t realise that that was the only day.” If you missed it, you missed out, but don’t be too sad, you’ll continue to feel the Expo effect for many years to come I believe. 24,102,967 The number of visits recorded by Expo 2020 Dubai during its six-month run Expo 2020 Dubai proved to be a fi eld of dreams for the UAE The event is an unbelievable achievement of the Emirates and its legacy will live on for many years, both economically and emotionally SCOTT ARMSTRONGIN LINE WITH FRANCE’S NEW NATIONAL port strategy, Maurice Georges, CEO of Port of Dunkirk, Philippe Guillaumet, head of International Relations at the Port of Marseille-Fos, and Matthieu Vis, head of International and Strategy at Provence Promotion, reveal the perfect opportunity for UAE’s maritime sector to leverage collaborative opportunities with France. France’s new national port strategy France and the UAE have long been partners. Given the many projects to come, the future continues to look bright for this high-level economic and technological partnership. The region’s highly dynamic maritime industry offers a wealth of oppor- tunities for the French marine sector: port infrastructure or extension projects, opera- tions of new vessels, maintenance and construction of dry docks in accordance with international maritime safety stand- ards, and marine environment protection. A key impetus is France’s new national port strategy covers all metropolitan and overseas French seaports and plans to increase the share of containerised freight handled by French seaports from 60 percent to 80 percent by 2050. Some of its key goals are to establish a seaport network out of business logistics chains, promote economic development and foster ecologi- cal and digital transitions. By 2050, the number of direct and indirect jobs related to ports activity will be doubled and a key goal is to achieve carbon neutrality objectives in the field of transportation. The maritime transport industry defied Covid disruption with faster recovery, according to Georges. Maritime suffered similarly to other industries during the Covid-19 restrictions in 2020. “However, now we are doing better than recovering in the container segment,” he says. In addition to its intrinsic resilience, the Port of Marseilles-Fos has a very strategic position, connecting European, African, and Asian markets via the Mediter- ranean Sea. Guillaumet says: “Despite the decrease in 2020, the Port of Marseilles-Fos had a robust growth at 9 percent in 2021, and has The French government has set up an ambitious stimulus package to support economic development and preserve the country’s competitiveness France’s new national port strategy fosters maritime opportunities for the Middle East market exceeded its previous record for containers goods traffic.” Environmental investments in Dunkirk From investments into battery clusters to hydrogen plant projects, and provision of electricity to vessels to avoid the burning of fuel, Dunkirk has a long tradition of being an energy-efficient port. Highlighting key projects, Georges says: “We operate an LNG terminal and an unloading, storage and regasification plant in Dunkirk with an annual regasification capacity of 13 billion metric tonnes of gas.” “Also, the ArcelorMittal factory in Dunkirk has recently announced a multi- billion euro investment to completely transform the port by replacing coal with electricity or hydrogen,” he adds. Another project fuelling decarbonisa- tion efforts is the 600-megawatt windmill for Europe’s largest nuclear power plant. A goal for carbon neutrality by 2050 Part of the pioneering efforts to combat climate change, Georges explains: “We are aiming for carbon neutrality by 2050 by implementing actions in terms of sea, river and land transport, particularly by developing our containerised freight offer and opening up to the masses river and rail transport serving the port.” In 2022, the Port of Dunkirk will be one of the first ports to have renewable energy produced by an almost 40 hectares of solar energy farm. “We are organising future strategic networks for decarbonisation: power supply, CO2 hub, heat superhighway, and of course, hydrogen which will play a major role in our territory’s future ecosystem,” Georges says. “The time is ripe for collaboration.” Key transitions of the Port of Marseilles-Fos To foster UAE ambitions towards superla- tive logistics and port developments, Guillaumet explains that size-wise at 10,000 hectares, the Port of Marseilles-Fos is one of the biggest ports in the Mediter- ranean with world-class industrial/logis- tics clusters. Underlying the port strategy are three key transitions, including economic transi- tion, which involves developing low carbon logistics solutions. “For the digital transi- tion, the Port of Marseilles-Fos has just u The port of Dunkirk will be powered by renewable energy produced by 40 hectares of solar farm 8 Vol. 23/04, April 2022 SPOTLIGHT / FRANCE’S NEW NATIONAL PORT STRATEGYbecome the seventh leading in the world, a hub for digital submarine cables connecting all the continents, develop- ing a digital ecosystem, with data centres and soon a dedicated landing station for these cables, which has stimulated digital- related investments,” he says. “To align with our green transition, we have a strong investment in hydrogen, cold ironing, projects for capturing/stor- ing CO2, projects in photovoltaic farms, marine energy, etc.” Provence Promotion helps support eco-transition in the Middle East As France looks to enhance its ecological transition, opportunities are being created for Middle East companies looking to drive a similar narrative with French firms. Vis explains that Provence Promotion supports investors willing to expand their businesses to the South of France, free of charge and in link with Business France. He adds: “We are part of the Mediterra- nean Sea, which is similar to Arabian Gulf in that both are semi-closed seas.” According to the latest IPCC report, the Mediterranean Sea will be 20 percent more affected in terms of global warming; so there is an urgency to address this. “Already, large corporations like Total- Energies, ArcellorMittal, Lyondell Basell and Engie are investing altogether €2.2bn ($2.41bn) in terms of decarbonisation,” says Vis, who believes this low carbon economy in Provence is a shared goal of both France and the Middle East. Creating momentum for digital and ecological transformation According to Vis, digital transformation and ecological transition are two impor- tant business performance factors. “We are addressing this need to train and to educate people, on the digital side and the environmental side of decarbonisa- tion,” he says, with the state investing into institutions for maritime decarbonisation. “For example, the shipping company with its headquarters in Marseilles; CMA CGM, is expanding its academy, Tangram, and will host the future national insti- tute for maritime decarbonation to train people,” says Vis. The second is the Port of Marseilles- Fos’ smart port initiative with its Brain Port Academy, enlisting academic experts. Another is La Platforme, a project about digital transformation set to train around 20,000 young people with its partners from the Big Marseille digital project. Also, with 20 other ports around the Mediterranean, the Port of Marseilles-Fos created the Mediterranean Ports Asso- ciation in 2018, which now represents 70 percent of the total traffic operating in the Mediterranean. A simplifi ed process for GCC investors The French government has set up an ambitious stimulus package to support economic development and preserve the country’s competitiveness. The $113bn (€100bn) package, with 40 percent provided by the European Union, strives to support the strategic reorienta- tion of production models, businesses, transform infrastructure as well as boost workforce training. “One international project being supported is a GCC-based company which is currently investing in a green chemistry plant in Marseille,” Vis says. The $32.6m (€30m) project is benefit- ting from controlled platforms based on circular economic principles such as shared utilities. Vis reveals the company also has six ready-to-use turnkey sites of the total 127 ready-to-use sites in France. “Some of these are in logistics, some in industrial zones; so we can definitely provide a simplified process for those investors coming from the GCC to invest right in France,” Vis explains. Time is ripe for collaboration According to Goerges, Dunkirk hinges upon a three-pillar development based firstly on logistics development and smart, green automated warehouses. “Secondly, green and the new industrial development in Northern France, with three different projects for automatic batteries,” he says. One area in Dunkirk will provide expertise, jobs, and new logistics. The third pillar is green development of IT and transport; all of which will yield incremental value for overseas customers. “Dunkirk has plans to double the capac- ity based upon high-quality customer demand,” Goerges says. Georges believes that a mutual exchange and sharing of experience, skills, and knowledge will mutually benefit both the UAE and France. Further adding, Guillaumet explains: “If we want to win individually, we have to work together; this is why we want to develop cooperation with Middle East ports.” And with UAE’s Net Zero 2050 Strategic Initiative, Vis adds: “With our very large port in Marseille, we share the same goal and are driving innovation, with disruptive technologies that are looking for more test grounds,” making it the right momentum for investment from the UAE. 9% The growth recorded by the port of Marseilles-Fos in 2021 arabianbusiness.com 9 / FRANCE’S NEW NATIONAL PORT STRATEGY u The port of Marseilles-Fos have exceeded its previous record for container traffi cNext >