Business Club

Fine Hygienic Holding (FHH) received several awards at the Break the Ceiling Touch the Sky Leonie Awards ceremony.

The Leonie awards, also known as the Global Gender Diversity and Leadership Excellence Awards, recognise companies and individuals that have made significant contributions to the progress of women in leadership roles around the world.

Fine got three of the awards; namely the third place in the Mentor of the Year category, received by its Chairman Ghassan Nuqul, and the second place in the Diversity and Inclusion/HR Leader Champions category, received by its Chief Human Energy Nicola Billeh, while its CEO James Michael Lafferty received an award in the Male Champion for Gender Diversity category, and was recognised in the Best CEO’s/Presidents Leading on Gender Diversity category.

In the last six months, Fine increased the representation of women on its leadership team to 30 per cent, a trend the company is eager to continue building upon.

The ceremony was held in Singapore following the annual success and leadership summit for women, which welcomed the attendance and participation of more than 500 individuals from more than 30 countries. 

Supported by Jordan Tourism Board, InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) in Jordan, believes in working together to maintain and grow their business network.

The group also considers this as a means to promote Jordan and its facilities as the ideal destination for various reasons and objectives.

Therefore, IHG Jordan’s sales team organised a four day trip to Lebanon from September 3rd till September 6th, where they visited and networked with many prominent prospect corporate clients in several fields and industries.

There, they promoted both Jordan and IHG Jordan properties as an ideal destination and as the perfect venue for comfortable, luxurious stays and successful events of various sorts. 

On the last day of the trip, a reception was held at sister hotel InterContinental Phoenicia in the heart of Beirut.

The guests included all clients and prospect clients, as well as Lebanese media. During the reception, Mark Ryan, director of commercial (dept.)-UAE, Levant & Africa, thanked Nabil Massarweh, Jordan’s ambassador to Lebanon, and the attendees for their support.

A short video showcasing Jordan as a tourism, religious and medical destination was presented.

Zalloum & Laswi, a prominent law firm with a presence in Amman, Jordan, has signed a collaboration agreement with Andersen Global, an international association of tax and law firms.

Andersen Tax LLC CEO, Mark Vorsatz, said, “The collaboration in Jordan provides us with a platform in a key market and our growth here is part of a larger strategy to continue our existing build-out of the Middle East throughout the next year.

Zalloum & Laswi’s vast experience in commercial litigation and transactions, as well as their insight on the Jordanian judicial system positions us for continued opportunities for expansion.

We feel that quality and people are the heart of the Andersen Global culture, so we are excited to join the team and collaborate with like-minded individuals who share our value of putting people, both internal and external, at the forefront,” commented Rasha Laswi. “…Our collaboration with Andersen Global will allow us to combine best-in-class tax and legal services internationally and even better service our clientele.” Andersen Global is an international association of legally separate, independent member firms comprised of tax and legal professionals around the world.

Aviation Handling Services Co. (AHS) has executed an agreement with Etihad Airways, underwhich AHS, a strategic partner of Menzies Aviation for Ground Handling, will undertake the provision of a full range of ground handling services for Etihad Airways flights at Queen Alia International Airport (QAIA) in Amman, Jordan.

Under this agreement, AHS Co. will offer an array of ground handling services to Etihad Airways, a flag carrier for the United Arab Emirates, including passenger and ramp services.

This cooperation reflects active efforts by AHS-Menzies after the expansion of its scope of works, regionally and internationally, currently serving at QAIA 22 airlines, operating an average of 250 weekly flights.

In recognition of its commitment to excellence, Ayla will be honoured at the Arabian Property Awards in Dubai, taking place at The Waldorf Astoria Palm Jumeirah Hotel on October 11, 2018.

Ayla will compete against some of the best property professionals across the region, and will be recognised in three categories.

They are leisure development, residential development, and residential property. Celebrating its 25th anniversary in 2018, the Arabian Property Awards is the largest, most prestigious and widely recognised property award programme in the region, judged by an independent panel of 80 industry experts.

In comments, Ayla’s managing director, Sahl Dudin, said: “Ayla is immensely honoured to participate in the 2018 Arabian Property Awards and to stand next to the most prominent property development giants in the region.” 

Royal Jordanian (RJ) and Tunisair concluded a free sale code share agreement, under which Tunisair will market RJ flights and thus put its carrier code on flights running between Amman and Tunis (Tunisair does not operate flights between the two Arab capitals).

This agreement with Tunisair will enhance cooperation between the two flag carriers and improve passenger traffic by providing Tunisair customers with convenient options to fly to Amman. They can also plan their trips to reach further destinations on RJ’s global route network. 

In remarks, RJ President/CEO Stefan Pichler said “We are glad to offer our services to Tunisair passengers, who will experience compelling services on board our aircraft.

This partnership is the first step on the way to enhancing relations with Tunisair, and will bring great benefit to both airlines, from a commercial perspective.” The agreement will give Tunisair customers the opportunity to visit Jordan and learn about its historical and tourist attractions, he added.

This latest agreement raises the number of code share agreements concluded by RJ to 17. Half of them were concluded with oneworld carriers and the other half with Arab and international airlines.

These include American Airlines, British Airways, Iberia, Siberia Airlines, Malaysia Airlines, Sri Lankan Airlines, Turkish Airways, Oman Air, Middle East Airlines, Tarom, Gulf Air, Syrian Air, Alitalia, Meridiana Fly Airlines, Qatar Airways and Tunisair.

The Information and Communications Technology Association (INTAJ) and the Jordan Inbound Tour Operators Association (JITOA) signed a cooperation agreement, aimed at increasing the integration between information technology and tourism sectors.

The agreement will work to increase the digitalisation of the tourism sector. Under the agreement, signed by INTAJ Chairman Bashar Hawamdeh and JITOA Chairman Awni Kawar, the two sides have agreed to boost coordination and training exchange. Hawamdeh said the agreement comes within the framework of  "INTAJ", to increase the integration of the IT sector with other sectors.

It will be the beginning of a business plan to provide IT services to the tourism sector in the areas of applications, software and other areas, he said. Kawar said the agreement is in line with this year’s celebration of the World Tourism Day, which falls on September 27 of each year, noting that the theme of the celebration this year as directed by the UNWTO will be "Digital Transformation". He said the agreement will help improve the services provided by the tourism business and increase their efficiency.

The Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research has approved the new name of “Talal Abu-Ghazaleh University College for Innovation” (TAGUCI) to become the official name of the newly established university college.

TAGUCI is a university college specialised in business and information technology.

It focuses on providing the appropriate environment for creativity and innovation through modern learning methods while granting students the potential to transform their ideas and inventions into marketable products.

The university is considered the first educational institution of its kind in the world that requires graduates to create a digital invention as a condition for graduation.

Abu-Ghazaleh Intellectual Property has submitted an application to protect the rights of this new educational method at a global level to be the sole property of Talal Abu-Ghazaleh Organisation.

Branches for TAGUCI will be established in Iraq, the United Arab Emirates and Ramallah in Palestine, with the aim of promoting the vision of the university in making a shift in higher education in Jordan, the Arab world and around the globe. 

Ayla recently announced that it is co-funding Solar PiezoClean project, launched by international awards-winning Jordanian innovators, Maher Yousef Maymoun and Tala Nasraween.

Ayla Solar Project will be used as a platform for the research and development of the PiezoClean innovation, with a 14-month plan to design, install, test, optimise, and report the performance of several cleaning technologies on several groups of solar panels.

It will also build on that to bring the Solar PiezoClean technologies into the world. Solar PiezoClean team will include a group of creative Jordanian students, engineers, interns, and experts with different backgrounds in various fields.

"By mobilising its financial and logistical resources to support this project, Ayla is operating under a long-term strategy to contribute to sustainable development in the Kingdom," commented Sahl Dudin, the managing director of Ayla, noting that Solar PiezoClean is a shining example of innovative projects that will have long-term positive effects on the Jordanian economy.

Royal Jordanian signed a bimodal partnership agreement with SNCF’s (French National Railway Company) TGV AIR, underwhich Royal Jordanian (RJ) passengers will benefit from a pre- and post-transportation service by TGV from Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport to 19 French cities, in addition to Brussels:  The code share agreement will come into effect on September 3.

This TGV AIR railway service offers air passengers the opportunity to travel to TGV destinations based on a single, combined, TGV and RJ ticket, with a single fare and a single reservation at an attractive price.

Passengers can book a train seat through all RJ sales channels and connect to many cities via SNCF's high-speed network.

In remarks, RJ CEO Stefan Pichler said: "Our desire is to serve and expand our network, and provide our customers with various services beyond air transport.”

This partnership demonstrates RJ's commitment to adopting the services TGV AIR offer as a major tool in its overall strategy, which aims to provide more travel options to its passengers, he added.