09 April, 2020

AUC HOLDS FIRST MEDIA VIRTUAL DISCUSSION ON MAINTAINING MENTAL WELLNESS DURING COVID- 19








April 6, 2020, Cairo – The American University in Cairo (AUC) held yesterday the first Media Virtual Discussion, titled “Maintaining Mental Wellness during the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic.” The speaker was Hani Henry, associate professor at the Department of Psychology and associate dean of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at AUC. During the discussion, Henry shared advice on how to maintain mental wellness and reduce the anxiety and stress caused by the outbreak of COVID-19.



As millions in Egypt and the world are in self-isolation and with the constant stream of breaking news notifications, many are feeling overwhelmed and stressed. Henry explained that when there is a global crisis of this magnitude, there must be a scientific evaluation of it. "So we must ask ourselves what is affecting us most, and determine the type of feelings that we feel, is it fear? Fear of what? We must understand the nature of our reactions and feelings. Some people, as Henry said, feel deprived, for example, of their inability to go to mosques or churches. Others feel deprived of their inability to see their parents. "So people must try to protect themselves and their nervous system by determining what affects them and what does not so that they can ignore the issues that are not relevant to them.”



Henry also stressed the need to identify that there are things one can’t control. “The main problem that many people face is trying to control things that they can't control, such as anticipating what will happen tomorrow or the actions of others. So instead, they can control their attitude or the news they choose to read.”



Henry also shared pieces of advice, and several tips from The American Psychological Association to help control feelings of anxiety and stress during COVID-19, including:



- Reducing exposure to negative news since it may lead to an increased sense of panic. Staying informed but setting a limit to watching or reading stories about the development of COVID-19 to 30 minutes a day, for example.



- Continuing the daily routine, such as waking up at the same time, as well as maintaining boundaries between family and work life while working at home.



- Trying to discover new hobbies or working on the delayed tasks.



- Choosing to pay attention to the value of the present moment and the value of health, for example, using “optimism bias”. For example, during self-isolation at home, many people now have the opportunity to spend better quality time with their children, which has not always been the case with the fast pace of life.



- Trying to avoid negative people and reducing the sources of stress.



- Helping others and finding ways to give back to society.



- Recording video clips with family members to highlight how the family is overcoming the current crisis. Such techniques could give the person a degree of control and hope.



- Seeking help from others, from close friends or family members, or seeking psychological help through online cognitive behavioral therapy.



- Expressing and talking about feelings of anger or psychological pain because suppressing such feelings may lead to depression or increased mental illnesses, the effects of which may not appear now.



- Meditating through exercises on mobile applications or doing simple physical activities at home.



Henry also discussed the psychological pressures that many of the underprivileged labor force face daily. He believes that they have a different kind of perseverance, determination, and faith in their ability to overcome difficulties because they have always faced problems that many people of privilege haven't encountered. "So we can learn how they deal with their hardships and try to adopt simpler ways of looking at problems.”



When dealing with children who are suffering from anxiety or stress, Henry believes that stressed-out parents can become wounded healers. “The parents’ feelings allow them to resonate with their children. It is important that they acknowledge the children’s feelings and not underestimate them. Yet parents should also give them hope and encouragement and try to simplify the idea that the only constant in life is change.”



Henry also stressed the need for families to support each other in such difficult times and show appreciation to the women and mothers, who currently bear a lot of pressure at homes taking care of their families due to self-isolation at home.



As for the mental health of the workers in the medical sector during the COVID-19 pandemic, Henry said: "The heroic role of those working in the medical sector must be recognized. Currently, they are like soldiers in a state of war, and they won’t necessarily have time to consider their mental well-being. However, their mental health must be taken care of after the end of this crisis, as some of them might suffer from post-traumatic stress. He added: "We can currently continue to support and encourage them morally through initiatives that are taking place around the world, such as applauding them at seven in the evening from our homes and highlighting their heroic efforts."



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05 January, 2020

سوديك تُوقّع على تسهيل ائتماني متوسط الأجل بقيمة مليار جنيه مع البنك التجاري الدولي (CIB) لتمويل مشروع EDNC بشرق القاهرة





القاهرة في 29 ديسمبر 2019 - أعلنت سوديك أنّ شركة سوريل المملوكة لها بالكامل، قامت بالتوقيع على تسهيل ائتماني متوسط الأجل مع البنك التجاري الدولي (CIB) بقيمة اجمالية تصل الى مليار جنيه مصري. سيتم استخدام التسهيل الائتماني لتمويل جزء من التكلفة الاستثمارية لمشروع EDNC، والذي يعد أولى مشروعات سوديك التجارية بشرق القاهرة. 



مشروع EDNC هو المكون التجاري لمشروع ايستاون بالقاهرة الجديدة، ويشغل موقعًا استراتيجيًا في شارع التسعين، الشارع الرئيسي والمحور المركزي للقاهرة الجديدة بأكملها بجوار الجامعة الأمريكية بالقاهرة. يضم EDNC مساحة 90،000 متر مربع من مساحات تجارية ومتاجر تجزئة كما سيمثل حجر الزاوية في محفظة سوديك للإيرادات المتكررة. 




وتعليقًا على التوقيع على هذا التسهيل الائتماني، يقول ماجد شريف-العضو المنتدب لشركة سوديك: “نحن سعداء للغاية بتعاوننا مرة أخرى مع البنك التجاري الدولي (CIB) وخاصة في تمويل مشروع EDNC. إنّ التوقيع على هذا التسهيل الائتماني يمثل شهادة عملية على قوة علاقاتنا مع البنك التجاري الدولي، كما يُعد تأكيداً على ثقة البنك في سوديك وفي رؤيتها الخاصة بتطوير هذا المشروع الفريد من نوعه." 




تم تصميم EDNC بحيث يمثل مجمعًا متميزًا للمكاتب الإدارية ومتاجر التجزئة. وتم تطوير المشروع مع التركيز على الاستدامة، من خلال تصميم شكل وواجهات المباني بيحث توفر الإضاءة الطبيعية على مدار اليوم، كما تم تنظيم المساحات المكتبية بشكل أكثر كفاءة من أجل توفير بيئة عمل صحية ومنتجة، وتقليل الانبعاثات الكربونية للمشروع.

Ahmed Elsewedy Named Amongst the 100 Most Influential Africans in 2019




Cairo – 29 December 2019: Eng. Ahmed Elsewedy, President & CEO of Elsewedy Electric, has been selected amongst the 100 Most Influential Africans of 2019, by the bestselling pan-African magazine “New African” in its December edition.

The magazine’s 100 Most Influential Africans listing is a tribute to the leaders of the public and private sector entities behind major achievements throughout the year. Eng. Ahmed Elsewedy has been recognized for having led the transformation of the family business once known as Arab Cables into a giant with 25 production facilities in 9 countries that sells its services in more than 110 markets, making it one of the world’s largest integrated energy solutions providers.

With over 80 years of history, Elsewedy Electric has become a key energy & infrastructure player in both Egypt and Africa by taking part in some of the top energy and infrastructure megaprojects designed to enrich the economic landscape across the continent. Over the years, Elsewedy Electric has consolidated its position and managed to become a trusted partner within Africa through its continuous efforts and deep commitment to grow a better future for the communities in which it operates by taking proactive steps to benefit all stakeholders and by establishing long-term partnerships with the various countries across Africa.
أحمد السويدي في قائمة أكثر 100 شخصية أفريقية تأثيراً لعام 2019
القاهرة في 29ديسمبر 2019-اختارت مجلة "New African" الأوسع انتشاراً في أفريقيا في عددها الصادر في ديسمبر، المهندس/أحمد السويدي- الرئيس التنفيذي للسويدي اليكتريك، ليكون ضمن قائمة أكثر 100 شخصية أفريقية تأثيراً لعام 2019. 

يأتي اختيار الـ 100 شخصية أفريقية الأكثر تأثيراً من بين قادة مؤسسات وشركات القطاعين العام والخاص الذين تمكنوا من تحقيق أهم الإنجازات في القارة على مدار العام. وقد تم ادراج المهندس/أحمد السويدي ضمن القائمة، تقديراً لجهوده الكبيرة وقيادته لعملية التحول الكبيرة التي شهدتها السويدي وتطورها من شركة عائلية كانت تُعرف من قبل باسم الشركة العربية للكابلات، لتصبح مجموعة عملاقة تضم 25 منشأة إنتاجية في 9 دولة حول العالم، كما تقوم المجموعة بتسويق منتجاتها وخدماتها في أكثر من 110 سوق، مما يجعلها واحدة من كبرى الشركات العالمية المتخصصة في تقديم حلول الطاقة المتكاملة. 



تتمتع السويدي اليكتريك بتاريخ يمتد لأكثر من 80 عاماً تمكنت أن تصبح من خلاله كبرى الشركات العاملة في قطاع الطاقة والبنية التحتية في كل من مصر وأفريقيا، حيث شاركت في تنفيذ مجموعة من أهم المشروعات العملاقة التي تم تصميها لدعم وإثراء النظم الاقتصادية لدول القارة. وعلى مدار السنوات الماضية، تمكنت السويدي اليكتريك من ترسيخ مكانتها السوقية وأصبحت شريكاً موثوقاً لدول القارة من خلال جهودها المتواصلة والتزامها التام بصياغة مستقبل أفضل في المجتمعات التي تعمل بها، وتطبيق عدد من المبادرات الرائدة التي تصب في مصلحة كافة الأطراف المشاركة فيها، وإقامة شراكات طويلة الأجل مع العديد من الدول الأفريقية.

2020 Technology Predictions – Subscription Models Will be the Norm; Increased Investment in Hybrid Clouds and Emergence of AI-Powered Autonomous Datacentres




At the start of 2020, two top executives from Nutanix share their vision of major technology trends that will shape the industry this year.


Dheeraj Pandey, Co-founder & CEO of Nutanix


Subscription models will become the norm for cloud vendors and the IT industry as a whole. In 2020, more businesses will continue to make this long-term investment and transition to offering subscription plans in order to offer customers the convenience and customizability they require to grow. Not only will vendors embrace subscription, but consumers will also benefit from asset-lite business models.


Beyond the IT industry, I expect zero companies — with anything other than a subscription business model — will go public in 2020 and beyond.


Blockchain will transform digital transactions. In 2020, more businesses will embrace blockchain for digital transactions because of its ability to decrease errors and improve overall efficiency. By optimizing transactions, blockchain will help businesses become more efficient and increase value for customers



Rajiv Mirani, CTO of Nutanix


In 2020, we will increasingly see CIOs shift from a cloud-first strategy to a cloud-smart strategy. This trend will be driven by a combination of business reasons (primarily cost), and technical reasons, such as security and performance.




Enterprises will continue to invest in hybrid cloud and look for greater interoperability between private and public clouds for all workloads, including legacy as well as cloud native. Customers will begin to look to vendors who can offer a software to run any workload on any location without the burden of rearchitecting or refactoring applications.


One of the biggest challenges IT leaders will face in 2020 is data mobility. In light of compliance policies and data sovereignty laws, such as CCPA and GDPR, it is critical for companies to account for legal compliance in how their data is mobilized among clouds.


Speaking of mobility, another key challenge impacting IT leaders in 2020 will be application mobility between clouds due to differences in licensing and consumption models between private and public clouds. To address this challenge, enterprises will look to vendors with uniform licensing policies to optimize application mobility.


The private cloud will continue evolving to look more like a public cloud with an increased focus on automation. 2020 will mark the emergence of AI-powered autonomous datacentres.

AUC PARTNERS WITH AAIB FOR TEACHER DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM


December 30, 2019, Cairo – The American University in Cairo (AUC) recently partnered with the Arab African International Bank (AAIB) for the training and continuing education of 150 public school teachers of primary and preparatory students. The four-month Teacher Development Program, which launched this month at the Tahrir Square campus through AUC’s School of Continuing Education, aims to train public school teachers in best practices, helping them gain new techniques that would enable them to enrich the student learning experience and well-being.

The program will foster instructor skills and competencies in a variety of areas, including teaching methodology, lesson planning, assessment, classroom management, as well as educational technology and gamification. It introduces the teachers to pedagogies and learning theories that promote the cognitive, social and emotional development of students.

“To surpass the dynamics of our landscape, our education needs to move from theoretical-based learning to one that informs and inspires teaching practices,” said Sherif Elwy, vice chairman and managing director of AAIB. “In this context and given AAIB’s commitment to the SDGs [Sustainable Development Goals], the initiation of the Teacher Development Program in collaboration with AUC seeks to empower the education workforce through developing their capabilities to achieve a substantial wide impact on our young generation.”

According to the program criteria, primary and preparatory school teachers participating in the program should be Egyptians residing in the Greater Cairo area. They should be teaching Arabic, science, mathematics or social studies in public schools, and they must be willing to apply new teaching methods based on what they’ve learned in the program.

This partnership is one pivotal milestone in the long series of partnerships between AUC and AAIB over the years. This includes the AUC Venture Lab, to which AAIB has consistently given full support to empower Egypt’s future entrepreneurs to expand their creativity and make their business ideas come to life.

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