There was no pandemic the last time the Dubai Airshow was held in November 2019. Two years later, beginning November 14, the exhibition is set to bring together a changed aviation industry. The National's aviation correspondent Deena Kamel outlines the trends shaping the major players in commercial, cargo and defence and what to expect from the biggest in-person aviation event since the Covid-19 crisis began. Hosted by Mustafa Alrawi and Kelsey Warner Produced by Ayesha Khan and Arthur Eddyson I...
Nov 10, 2021•18 min•Ep. 255
Addressing the opening session of Cop26, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said it was “one minute to midnight” on the climate doomsday clock. But sharp rhetoric is not the business of the day in Glasgow: 196 nations are convening in a test of commitment to avert a climate disaster. The National's London bureau chief Damien McElroy joins co-hosts Mustafa Alrawi and Kelsey Warner this week to talk about what to expect from the high-stakes conference and the big decisions to be made over the 12 days...
Nov 01, 2021•13 min•Ep. 254
Understanding algorithms, rolling out 5G, developing quantum computing, building cyber defences and establishing sovereignty online are among the challenges and opportunities facing decision makers navigating the impact of the Fourth Industrial Revolution on countries and their citizens. Krzysztof Szubert, Poland’s High Representative of the Prime Minister for European Digital Policy talks to Kelsey Warner and Mustafa Alrawi about crafting and executing a successful strategy for today’s fast-cha...
Oct 27, 2021•22 min•Ep. 253
A decade ago, IBM introduced the power of artificial intelligence to the masses with Watson. The computer system made its debut on the popular American quiz show Jeopardy! and beat the best player in the show's history, Ken Jennings. In the years since, AI has seeped into nearly every corner of life, from the streaming suggestions served up by Spotify or Netflix to the global effort to come up with a vaccine against the Covid-19 pandemic. This new paradigm has brought up questions of data privac...
Oct 20, 2021•20 min•Ep. 252
What do a coal shortage in China, a cold winter in Europe and oil's rally to a three-year high have in common? Herman Wang, managing editor at S&P Global Platts, joins co-hosts Mustafa Alrawi and Kelsey Warner this week to answer that, and what to expect going forward. They discuss what will happen to oil prices amid the energy crisis and how we got here. The answers are more complicated than tidy narratives about underinvestment in hydrocarbons amid the energy transition, or basic fundament...
Oct 13, 2021•18 min•Ep. 251
Does this decision compromise the ability of future generations to meet their own needs? This is the overarching question guiding Sophie Howe's work. As the world's first Commissioner for Future Generations in her home country of Wales, she enforces a legally-binding plan for national and local government to improve the well-being of Welsh citizens and think long-term. She joins co-host Kelsey Warner this week to talk about how government can implement such a strategy and what it means for the e...
Oct 06, 2021•22 min•Ep. 250
For the first time in more than two years, airline executives will meet in-person at an industry-wide event. The 77th IATA Annual General Meeting (AGM) and World Air Transport Summit will take place in Boston starting October 3, against a backdrop of surging travel demand and an urgent need to tackle the industry's carbon emissions. The National's aviation correspondent Deena Kamel is headed to Boston next week to cover the event. She joins co-hosts Mustafa Alrawi and Kelsey Warner to discuss he...
Sep 29, 2021•19 min•Ep. 249
UpLink was launched at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting at Davos in January 2020, with an ambition to accelerate the Decade of Delivery – to source and scale the innovative solutions that would make achieving the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030 a reality. Through co-operation between the WEF, Salesforce, Deloitte and Microsoft/LinkedIn, a crowdsourcing platform was built to connect grassroots solutions with investors, experts and potential markets to help them scale their business...
Sep 22, 2021•18 min•Ep. 248
A little more than a third of humans on the planet use Facebook each month, that’s 2.8 billion people in more than 160 countries and growing. Outside its home country, Facebook is under the scrutiny of governments, who are grappling with how to handle the scope of tech companies today, as well as harness their potential for their own economies and people. To help drive the agenda on the future of social media is Facebook's public policy team. Azzam Alameddin is the US-listed company's head of pu...
Sep 15, 2021•23 min•Ep. 247
Three months ahead of marking its 50th year, a flurry of announcements has given way to a greater understanding of the UAE's roadmap for growth over the coming decades, and plans to attract and support innovation. On Sunday the UAE's leadership unveiled Projects of the 50, a series of developmental and economic projects that will be rolled out throughout September. Meanwhile, Abu Dhabi's Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence launched a programme to train the UAE's government an...
Sep 08, 2021•17 min•Ep. 246
The Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia region is at a turning point. There are opportunities for sustainable economic development through reforms and technological shifts but there are challenges in the form of political obstacles and conflict. Recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic will also be uneven. After the success of a summit in Baghdad this week that brought together regional leaders, Iraq's President Barham Salih said the country has become a “point of convergence”. Mr Salih said t...
Sep 01, 2021•15 min•Ep. 245
Students at Zayed University began a new bachelor's degree programme on Tuesday. It is the first stage in a plan to transform the way the Abu Dhabi university teaches students over the next five years. The course is designed to build skills in critical thinking and project management, alongside studies in entrepreneurship, artificial intelligence and social change. The programme is a tie-up with US education provider Minerva Project, called Zayed University X Minerva. "For the last 30 years univ...
Aug 25, 2021•20 min•Ep. 244
The numbers are striking: over the next 20 years, 127 million young people will enter the labour force in the Middle East and North Africa, but face an unemployment rate of 23 per cent. At the same time, nearly 29 million jobs are at risk of being displaced by 2030 because of automation. In a new report McKinsey lays out solutions to address the issue of youth unemployment in a changing labour market. Tom Isherwood, a senior partner at the consultancy, joins co-hosts Mustafa Alrawi and Kelsey Wa...
Aug 18, 2021•19 min•Ep. 243
Clean hydrogen is one of the most hyped solutions to achieving net zero in time to avert climate catastrophe. While it's true the molecule has a major role to play in decarbonised economies, massive hurdles remain. But Paddy Padmanathan, chief executive of Acwa Power, is a believer. He says over the next decade, challenges around transport and pricing will rapidly diminish, paving the way for a hydrogen-powered future. He joins co-hosts Mustafa Alrawi and Kelsey Warner this week to explain how t...
Aug 11, 2021•23 min•Ep. 242
Do robots care? What should companies keep in mind before using facial recognition or machine learning? Can new laws being mulled in the EU protect citizens from fast-changing technology? Kay Firth-Butterfield, the head of AI and machine learning at the World Economic Forum, joins host and The National 's Future Editor, Kelsey Warner this week to field these questions, and more. In this episode: Who is Kay Firth-Butterfield? (0m 38s) The benefits of AI (1m 09s) Problems which come with AI (4m 38...
Aug 04, 2021•24 min•Ep. 241
More Saudi Arabian women are joining the workforce than ever before as wide-sweeping reforms bear fruit. But the country's recent progress is an outlier in a global jobs market much changed by the Covid-19 pandemic. The National's Deena Kamel's recent reporting uncovers how working women are juggling heightened workloads and more household duties, leading to job dissatisfaction, pessimism about career prospects and deteriorating mental health. She joins co-hosts Mustafa Alrawi and Kelsey Warner ...
Jul 28, 2021•24 min•Ep. 240
Regional sovereign funds backed local economies amid pandemic while investors have also shifted their strategies to focus more on equity markets and ESG opportunities. This is according to the latest report from US asset management firm Invesco, which surveyed 141 chief investment officers, heads of asset classes and portfolio strategists at 82 sovereign wealth funds and 59 central banks across the globe, who manage a combined $19 trillion in assets. Josette Rizk, Middle East and Africa director...
Jul 21, 2021•20 min•Ep. 239
Automation, e-commerce and the push for sustainability all have major roles to play in the future of retail. That's according to Majid Al Futtaim chief executive Alain Bejjani. He joins co-hosts Mustafa Alrawi and Kelsey Warner this week to talk about how the Middle East's biggest mall operator is catering to changing consumer behaviour - and why cinema will never go away. In this episode: MAF and the future of retail (0m 40s) Automation and carbon footprint (9m 21s) Technology v human capital (...
Jul 14, 2021•32 min•Ep. 238
Opec and oil-producing allies are at a new impasse. But what does it mean and why is it happening? To unpack a historic convergence of market dynamics, The National 's energy correspondent Jennifer Gnana joins co-hosts Mustafa Alrawi and Kelsey Warner. They explain Opec's current role in the energy industry, why US oil and Brent, the international oil benchmark under which two thirds of the world's crude trades, reached seven and three-year highs. Also discussed: why balancing the energy market ...
Jul 08, 2021•22 min
The Basrah Gas Company is a 25-year joint venture between Iraq’s South Gas Company, Shell and Mitsubishi. It was established in 2013 to process associated gas produced from three huge oilfields in the south of Iraq, that otherwise would be flared off. This gas then supplies power to the domestic market as well as to those manufacturing products for export. On Tuesday, it was announced that the World Bank's International Finance Corporation would provide $360 million to support the company’s grow...
Jun 29, 2021•23 min
Abu Dhabi plans to invest $6 billion over the next five years in its cultural and creative industries to create new jobs and attract talent. One of the mega-projects at the heart of the plan is the Yas Creative Hub, a 27-hectare development expected to create 16,000 jobs over the next decade, tripling the number of people employed in the sector in the UAE capital. Michael Garin, chief executive of TwoFour54 Abu Dhabi, which is behind the project, joins co-hosts Mustafa Alrawi and Kelsey Warner t...
Jun 23, 2021•21 min
Poland hopes its role as a central and eastern European technology hub will help create cross-investment opportunities in the financial, healthcare and food sectors for Gulf investors, according to a senior official. Pawel Jablonski, Poland’s undersecretary of state for economic and development co-operation, for Africa and the Middle East, was in Abu Dhabi this month to explore ways to expand the country’s trade and commerce beyond its traditional main partners, such as Germany. There are many a...
Jun 16, 2021•21 min
With a new Iran nuclear deal on the horizon and the possible lifting of US sanctions, up to 1.5 million barrels per day of oil exports could return to the market. However, the country's energy sector is in dire need of both cash and international equipment. The National's columnist Robin Mills discusses what is still an uncertain outlook for Iran's oil and gas industry with host Mustafa Alrawi. In this episode: The future of the Iranian oil industry (0m 55s) The dynamics of the market (5m 41s) T...
Jun 09, 2021•21 min
More than 13,000 businesses in the Middle East have expressed interest in using Stripe since the payments platform announced its regional debut and office in Dubai last month. “There's just so much momentum in the UAE and the surrounding area,” said Matt Henderson, the business lead at Stripe for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, regions where the company is rapidly expanding. Stripe offers products that allow merchants to accept digital payments and a range of business banking services. Clien...
Jun 02, 2021•25 min
The future of travel in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic will be characterised by higher air fares, cheaper hotel rooms and fewer but longer trips, according to industry expert Sadiq Gillani. Speaking to the Business Extra podcast’s Mustafa Alrawi and Kelsey Warner, Mr Gillani, a lecturer at Stanford Graduate School of Business, outlined what we are likely to experience when travelling as the recovery picks up pace. There will be an imbalance of capacity, for example, when comparing airline sea...
May 26, 2021•27 min
The chief executives of the world’s largest companies are showing a “strong appetite” for in-person conferences taking place in the final three months of the year. Justin B Smith, chief executive of Bloomberg Media, which organises hundreds of events a year, speaking exclusively to The National and the Business Extra podcast, said that the company has "identified a very, very strong appetite for engaging in person again” following a period of mostly online-only conferences amid the Covid-19 pand...
May 18, 2021•22 min
Heading into summer, airline bookings in April and May were "pretty positive" for domestic travel while bookings for international journeys remained "exceptionally weak" as travel restrictions continued in many countries due to new cases of the Covid-19 virus, according to the International Air Transport Association (Iata). To determine if summer will provide a lift, a patchwork of issues are in play: a global vaccination effort rallying sentiment in some parts of the world to a devastating spik...
May 10, 2021•21 min
The long-promised new era of technology is taking shape, from the quantum computing race between nations, to the battle over fair competition being fought in a US court between Apple and Epic Games. While the future remains uncertain, developments in recent days and months reveal a path that will change the way consumers and companies interact online and who will be the guardians of our digital lives. This week, host Mustafa Alrawi, assistant editor-in-chief, and co-host Kelsey Warner, Future ed...
May 05, 2021•20 min
Bitcoin mining now uses enough electricity annually to power a country equivalent in size to the UAE. Can warnings over cryptocurrencies' carbon footprint challenge - and help us reimagine - how we utilise energy resources? And amid a rising tide of digital assets, what can be learnt from Bitcoin's shift to renewable energy? Host Mustafa Alrawi, assistant editor-in-chief, and co-host Kelsey Warner, future editor, discuss these issues in this week's episode. In this episode: Bitcoin's energy cons...
Apr 28, 2021•15 min
Archegos Capital Management's spectacular failure over a couple of days in March has cost Wall Street's biggest banks billions of dollars. So far, the losses are being chalked up to one bad apple: the fund’s founder, Bill Hwang. Mr Hwang’s record-breaking loss of an estimated $20 billion fortune in two days is a cautionary tale. But this is not only about how far any one investor may fall during a historic bull market. The cascade of consequences was limited to a few large firms. But what about ...
Apr 21, 2021•15 min
