Alberto Gutiérrez appointed Head of Military Aircraft at Airbus Defence and Space

Amsterdam, 12 December 2018 – Airbus SE (stock exchange symbol: AIR) has appointed Alberto Gutiérrez, 56, Head of Military Aircraft within Airbus Defence and Space, effective 1 January 2019. He will report to Airbus Defence and Space Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Dirk Hoke and become Member of the division’s Executive Committee. Furthermore, Alberto Gutiérrez will also serve as Head of Airbus Spain, overseeing the company’s overall business activities in the country. He succeeds Fernando Alonso, 62, who will retire after 40 years in the aerospace industry, thereof 37 at Airbus. Fernando Alonso will stay on until the end of March 2019 to ensure a smooth transition with his successor.

“I thank Fernando for his outstanding engagement and inspiring leadership over all these years. In fact, he’s one of the best people leaders I have ever met in our industry. Fernando looks back on an excellent career with countless achievements. Not only was he instrumental in recovering the critical A400M situation at the helm of Military Aircraft in recent years; he also contributed to the development and bringing to operation all of our Airbus Familiy Aircraft as a Flight Test Engineer. With thousands of flight test hours under his belt, he performed the maiden flights of the A340-200 in 1992, the A319 in 1997, the A380 in April 2005 and the A350 XWB in June 2013. That is one impressive track record! I wish him a well-deserved retirement”, said Airbus CEO Tom Enders.

Dirk Hoke, CEO of Airbus Defence and Space, said: “With Alberto Gutiérrez, we have a successor to Fernando who brings an extensive background and expertise in Military Aircraft. His business intimacy is a crucial asset as we look towards exploring a range of new opportunities in the defence business ranging from campaigns on existing platforms like the Eurofighter or the A330MRTT to new projects like the Future Combat Air System. Alberto’s strong customer focus combined with programme and engineering expertise, make him the ideal candidate to continue our improvement and growth journey in our Military Aircraft business in the coming years.”

Alberto Gutiérrez, currently Deputy Head of Military Aircraft within Airbus Defence and Space since July 2017, was CEO for Eurofighter GmbH based in Germany from 2013 to 2016. He started his career in 1985 as an engineer and has held many senior management positions in Airbus Defence and Space as Head of Operations for Airbus Military and Head of Eurofighter Production for Germany and Spain. He has a Telecommunications Engineering degree from the Universidad Politécnica of Madrid.

تعيين البيرتو جوتيريز رئيساً للطائرات العسكرية في إيرباص للدفاع والفضاء

أمستردام - ديسمبر ١٦، ٢٠١٨ – أعلنت إيرباص، المدرجة تحت رمز AIR، عن تعيين البيرتو جوتيريز (٥٦ عاماً) رئيساً للطائرات العسكرية في إيرباص للدفاع والفضاء، ابتداءً من الأول من يناير ٢٠١٩. وسيعمل البيرتو ضمن فريق ديرك هوك، الرئيس التنفيذي لـ إيرباص للدفاع والفضاء، وسيشغل عضوية اللجنة التنفيذية في الشركة عن هذا القسم من أعمالها.

كما سيترأس البيرتو إيرباص في اسبانيا، ليخلف فيرناردو الونسو (٦٢ عاماً) الذي سيتقاعد بعد مسيرة مهنية في قطاع الطيران والفضاء امتدت لـ٤٠ عاماً. وسيواصل الونسو مهامه حتى مارس من العام ٢٠١٩ لضمان عملية تسليم سلسة للأعمال. 

وقال توم أندرز، الرئيس التنفيذي لـ إيرباص: "أتوجه بالشكر لفيرناردو على قيادته الملهمة على مدار هذه السنوات، واعتبره واحداً من أفضل القادة على مستوى القطاع. وهنا لا بد من الإشادة بدوره في استعادة برنامج طائرة A400M مكانته خلال السنوات الماضية، كما أسهم في تطوير مختلف عائلات طائرات إيرباص بكونه مهندس اختبار لرحلات الطيران".

ولفت أندرز إلى أن فيرناردو لديه رصيد من آلاف ساعات رحلات الاختبار، حيث قام بالرحلات الاختبارية الأولى لطائرة A340-200 في عام ١٩٩٢، وطائرة A319 في عام ١٩٩٧، وطائرة A380 في ابريل من عام ٢٠٠٥، وطائرة A350 XWB في يونيو من عام ٢٠١٣، وهو ما يعتبر سجلاً نوعياً. 

من جانبه قال ديرك هوك، الرئيس التنفيذي لـ إيرباص للدفاع والفضاء: "نحن نرى في البيرتو جوتيريز خلفاً نموذجياً لفيرناردو، نظراً لخبراته العميقة في مجال الطائرات العسكرية. ستسهم قدراته بشكل مؤثر في المرحلة المقبلة، التي نتطلع خلالها إلى استكشاف فرص جديدة في مجال الدفاع تشمل البرامج القائمة مثل طائرتي Eurofighter وA330MRTT، والمشاريع الجديدة مثل نظم الطيران القتالي المستقبلية Future Combat Air System". 

وأضاف هوك: "من شأن خبرات البيرتو في مجال الهندسة وبرامج الطائرات، وكذلك مستوى التزامه في خدمة ودعم الزبائن، العمل على تعزيز أعمال الطائرات العسكرية خلال السنوات المقبلة". 

ويشغل البيرتو منذ يوليو ٢٠١٧ منصب نائب رئيس الطائرات العسكرية في إيرباص للدفاع والفضاء. وشغل في الفترة من ٢٠١٣ إلى ٢٠١٦ منصب الرئيس التنفيذي لشركة Eurofighter، التي تتخذ من ألمانيا مقراً لها. استهل البيرتو مسيرته المهنية في عام ١٩٨٥ كمهندس، وعمل منذ ذاك الحين في مجموعة من المناصب الإدارية في إيرباص للدفاع والفضاء، كرئيس للعمليات في إيرباص العسكرية، ورئيس خطوط انتاج Eurofighter في ألمانيا وإسبانيا. ويحمل البيرتو شهادة في هندسة الاتصالات من جامعة بوليتكنيك في مدريد.

LoopDev Launches Presentlee for Android

A game changer in the note taking apps


NewYork, Cairo, December 16th 2018: LoopDev, a startup app development company, has just launched Presentlee on Google’s Play Store. The application got traction as the only application of its kind on the AppStore transforming live lectures and meetings into powerful multimedia PowerPoint presentations.


Presentlee turns lectures and meetings into PowerPoint presentation by simply snapping a photo every time the lecturer changes their slides. The audio gets recorded automatically and users can also type down notes in the bottom half of the screen which will later appear in the notes section in the slides once they export the recorded session.


The Android launch coincided with the introduction of the 3rd version of the application on Apple’s App store. Various improvements were introduced to the application UX/UI since its launch such as the ability to resume previously finished presentations, and backup the entire database for safekeeping.


Baher Aboulfetouh, CTO, LoopDev, said: “The launch of the Android version is a stepping stone and a game changer in the note taking apps industry as it opens the door for more than 2.5 billion devices to make use of Presentlee’s great features.”


“We are continuously working on the application to improve our users experience. We made sure we design the application with older devices in mind to enable the vast majority of people to benefit from the app’s great features. The app works with IOS devices starting version 9 and 5 for the Android.” He added.

Presentlee is intended for those who attend conferences, meetings, classrooms and struggle with taking notes. They will now effectively listen, analyze, understand and take notes within the app while Presentlee does the hard work of recording, arranging and exporting the final presentation for them. Once exported the presentation can be reviewed later for the specific sections that were missed or were hard during class.


Presentlee comes free to try for one month afterwards users get 4 free PPTX presentation exports each month and are free to choose any of the various subscription models available from within the store section in the app.

Wamda launches Wamda X

First-of-its-kind fellowship programme offers grants and unlocks its network to budding entrepreneurs looking to start their business



Wamda, the leading entrepreneurship empowering organisation that supports and invests in some of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region’s most successful and innovative startups – including Mumzworld, BitOasis and Careem – has launched a first-of-its-kind fellowship programme for the region’s most aspiring entrepreneurs.



To safe-route the often financially gruelling and solitary path to entrepreneurship, Wamda X offers each Fellow a grant of $16,000 along with in-kind support including a workspace in Dubai, and other cities in the future, such Amman, Cairo and Riyadh. The programme will be curriculum light, and will instead emphasise relationships with mentors and the wider Wamda network as a key offering. It will run for four months and take place at a Wamda-dedicated new facility at Dubai Design District.



While the goal of the grant-based mentorship programme is to get entrepreneurs, the Fellows, ready to start initial-testing of their business models and to propel them into the first startup stages, the programme is flexible in its selection criteria and anyone is welcome to apply, regardless of stage.



As the MENA entrepreneurship ecosystem continues to evolve, Wamda X arrives to plug the gap present in today’s regional startup financing model and the ecosystem’s support networks. Wamda X is looking to capitalise on the network of successful entrepreneurs it has backed, offering them a platform through which they can empower future business leaders. Fares Ghandour who leads the programme and is Partner at Wamda, explains: “Wamda X is a continuation of the work we’ve done at Wamda to support founders and startups in MENA since 2010. What started as a media platform, evolved into a mentorship programme, a research lab, a VC [venture capital] fund, and now we’re looking to continue building on our experience by offering something unique that serves the needs of today’s aspiring founders”.



The programme aims to ease the barriers to starting a business by reducing dependency on “family and friends”, often the first people founders go to for financing. Wamda X wants to be the initial financiers in founders and offers access to Wamda Capital in later stages of financing.



Commenting on the introduction of Wamda X and its mission to empower those who want to create solutions and take the leap into entrepreneurship, Fares Ghandoursaid: “The most critical component to any startup is the founding team. Founder-run businesses outperform other types of businesses, and Wamda X looks to capture and empower entrepreneurs from the moment they start their journey. We invest in people and provide an environment that is designed to help entrepreneurs formulate and solidify their budding ideas into startups. It’s a critical phase of the startup cycle that is currently lacking support.”



In search of fellows eager to disrupt the status quo, but also mature enough to know how to manoeuvre in the real world, applicants will be selected based on their ability to think critically about a problem and solve it, to work under stress and alongside peers and be driven in solving a market failure. The programme aims to capture a broad range of fellows, anyone who has a business idea, at any stage, can apply.



The programme will be primarily based in Dubai but allows Fellows from various parts of the region the ability to work from their home markets during the second half of the programme. The inaugural batch will begin towards the middle of Q1 2019 for which applications will close on January 20th.

ومضة تُـطلـق برنامج "ومضة إكس"

برنامج الزمالة الأول من نوعه الذي يقدم المنح ويتيح شبكته لرواد الأعمال الصاعدين الذين يتطلعون لبدء شركاتهم الخاصة

أعلنت ومضة - الشركة الرائدة لتمكين ريادة الأعمال والتي تدعم وتستثمر في بعض الشركات الأكثر نجاحاً وإبداعاً بمنطقة الشرق الأوسط وشمال إفريقيا بما في ذلك "ممزورلد" و "بيتأويسيس" و "كريم" - عن إطلاق برنامج الزمالة الأول من نوعه لرواد الأعمال والذي يعد الأكثر طموحاً في المنطقة. 

بهدف تأمين مسار آمن في تلك الرحلة الشائكة والمنعزلة غالباً من الناحية المالية نحو ريادة الأعمال، يمنح برنامج "ومضة إكس" (Wamda X) لكل زميل منحة قدرها 16,000 دولار أميركي، مع دعم متنوع يشمل مساحة للعمل في دبي، ومدن أخرى في المستقبل مثل عمّان، والقاهرة، والرياض. وسيتضمن جزء بسيط من البرنامج منهاجاً تعليمياً، حيث سيركز بدلاً من ذلك على العلاقات مع الموجهين وشبكة "ومضة" الأوسع كإحدى الركائز الأساسية التي يقدمها. وسيُقام البرنامج الذي يستمر على مدى أربعة أشهر في منشأة "ومضة" الجديدة المخصصة في حي دبي للتصميم.

بينما يتمثّل هدف برنامج الزمالة المرتكز على المنح في إعداد رواد الأعمال من زملاء البرنامج لبدء الاختبارات الأولية لنماذج أعمالهم، وتحفيزهم خلال المراحل الأولى من التأسيس؛ يمتاز البرنامج بمرونته من ناحية معايير الاختيار ويرحّب بالجميع للتقدّم والتسجيل بغض النظر عن المرحلة التي تمر فيها الشركة. 

مع استمرار تطور البيئة الحاضنة لريادة الأعمال في منطقة الشرق الأوسط وشمال إفريقيا، يأتي برنامج "ومضة إكس" لسد الفجوة الحالية في نموذج التمويل للشركات الناشئة بالمنطقة، وكذلك في شبكات الدعم الخاصة بالبيئة الحاضنة. ويتطلع برنامج "ومضة إكس" للاستفادة من شبكة رواد الأعمال الناجحين التي قدمت لهم الدعم فيما سبق، لتتيح منصة يمكنها من خلالها دعم قادة الأعمال في المستقبل. يوضح فارس غندور، الشريك في "ومضة" والذي يترأس البرنامج: "يواصل برنامج ’ومضة إكس‘ جهودنا المستمرة في ومضة لدعم المؤسسين والشركات الناشئة في الشرق الأوسط وشمال إفريقيا منذ 2010. فما بدأ كمنصة إعلامية تطوّر الآن ليصبح برنامجاً للزمالة، ومختبراً للأبحاث، وصندوقاً استثمارياً لرأس المال المخاطر، ونتطلع لمواصلة تسخير خبراتنا لتقديم شيء فريد من نوعه يلبي احتياجات المؤسسين الطموحين اليوم".

يهدف البرنامج إلى تذليل العقبات التي تحول دون البدء في عمل تجاري، وذلك عن طريق تقليل الاعتماد على "العائلة والأصدقاء"، إذ أنهم في الغالب أول من يختارهم مؤسسو الأعمال للحصول على التمويل. ويرغب برنامج "ومضة إكس" في أن يكون الخيار الأول للتمويل بالنسبة إلى المؤسسين، وفي أن يكون نافذة تتيح الوصول إلى "ومضة كابيتال" في مراحل لاحقة من متطلبات التمويل. 

تعليقاً على إطلاق "ومضة إكس" ومهمتها في تمكين أولئك الذين يرغبون في ابتكار الحلول والمضي قدماً نحو عالم ريادة الأعمال، قال فارس غندور: "يعتبر فريق التأسيس بمثابة المكوّن الأهم بالنسبة إلى أي شركة ناشئة. وتتفوّق الشركات التي تُدار من قبل مؤسسيها على الأنواع الأخرى من الشركات، وتتطلع ’ومضة إكس‘ لاجتذاب وتمكين رواد الأعمال من اللحظة التي يبدؤون فيها مشوارهم. إننا نستثمر في الأفراد، ونوفر بيئة مُصممة لمساعدة رواد الأعمال على صياغة أفكارهم وبلورتها وتحويلها إلى شركات ناشئة. إنها مرحلة حسّاسة من دورة تأسيس الأعمال والتي تفتقر حالياً للدعم".

بحثاً عن الزملاء المتلهّـفين لتغيير الوضع الراهن، ولكنهم ناضجين أيضاً بما يكفي لمعرفة كيفية التعامل مع معطيات العالم الحقيقي؛ سيتم اختيار المتقدّمين استناداً إلى مقدرتهم على التفكير بصورة بنّاءة حول مشكلة ما وحلها، وعلى العمل تحت الضغط مع أقرانهم، وأن يتمتعوا بالإصرار على معالجة أي فشل في الأسواق. ويهدف البرنامج إلى جذب مجموعة واسعة من الزملاء، ويمكن لأي شخص لديه فكرة عمل، في أي مرحلة؛ أن يتقدم للتسجيل.

سيكون المقر الرئيسي للبرنامج في دبي، لكنه يسمح للزملاء من مختلف أنحاء المنطقة بالقدرة على العمل من أسواقهم المحلية خلال النصف الثاني من البرنامج. وستبدأ الدفعة الأولى بالعمل خلال منتصف الربع الأول من 2019، حيث يتم إغلاق باب التسجيل والالتحاق بالبرنامج يوم 20 يناير. 

Is IoT Widening Today’s IT Security Gap?

Author: Rabih Itani, Regional Business Development Manager, Security, Middle East and Turkey at Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company

What’s stopping global businesses from protecting their assets despite significant investments in cyber security programmes? That’s the question we asked ourselves when trying to determine what the reasons are behind the dangerous gap in modern IT security.


We define the gap as the inability of an organisation’s people, processes and technologies to keep up with a constantly changing threat landscape. And, given that data breaches are now so common that on average 58 records are stolen every second, we know it’s a problem that needs to be addressed urgently.


Here’s a closer look at some of the hurdles that are stopping businesses from identifying, detecting, containing and resolving data breaches and other security incidents in an IoT era.


Expanding and blurring the line of the corporate perimeter

Firstly, it’s no secret that the volume of IoT devices connecting to corporate networks has exploded – eclipsing that of the global population. This level of proliferation is impacting the requirements each organisation has when it comes to network security. Over half (fifty-five percent) of respondents from our global study with The Ponemon Institute said it is hard to protect the expanding and blurring IT perimeter considering IoT, especially with BYOD, cloud and the opening up of networks to partners. A clear lack in security strategy around IoT is only compounding this problem. In fact, only 24 percent of respondents said that their organisation’s IoT devices are appropriately secured with a proper security strategy in place.




Tackling the security issue without the skills and expertise

A big part of this problem is rooted in the difficulty organisations have in recruiting security staff with the necessary skills and expertise to protect complex and dynamically changing attack surfaces. Half of Ponemon’s respondents said staff lack the crucial expertise to match the risks these attackers and corresponding threats present, citing it as the main reason behind security gaps.




Accountability is another issue for consideration. When asked who inside their organisation was responsible for IoT security, responses ranged from CTO, CIO, CISO and line-of-business leaders. Lack of ownership of course impacts the ability of an organisation to tackle complex cybersecurity threats – as there is no clear consensus over where the responsibility lies.




A disconnect on IT process and training

In addition to this, employees lack security understanding. For example, in a previous study, over 70 percent of global employees revealed they were compromising network security by sharing passwords and devices. It’s these kind of behaviours that can cause immense damage. Just imagine an employee with local administrator rights disabling security solutions on their PC. It could allow an infection to spread onto the entire corporate network.

To keep up with these threats and future-proof against the insider threat, of course training is valuable, but we also need to keep ahead of sophisticated and well financed attackers by being able to act with speed and deep visibility into user activity. That way we can spot potential changes in behaviour and respond quickly enough to threats before it is too late.




Closing the gap: pairing human and technical

People and process must be prioritised if we’re to close the IT security gap, but there are also technical steps that can support organisations in tackling these hurdles while also augmenting the existing work security staff are doing.




And businesses are starting to catch on. We know from Ponemon’s study that more than a quarter of security professionals are already embedding AI into security systems. Doing so, they’re able to reduce false positives, improve the efficiency of security investigations and detect attacks that are evading traditional perimeter defences.




Using a combination of AI and machine learning, IT staff can recognise, profile and connect every device accessing their network, giving each its own risk profile, and raising an alert if unusual behaviour is detected. In fact, over half (64%) of IT professionals confirmed that these new technologies, like machine learning, are needed to discover and understand threats that are active in the IT infrastructure. A similar number (51%) agreed that AI technologies like machine learning and behavioural analytics are essential to detecting attacks on the inside before they do damage.




Against this backdrop, AI-based security tools, which can automate tasks and free up IT personnel to manage other aspects of a security programme, were viewed as critical for helping businesses keep up with increasing threat levels. What steps are you taking to address the IT security gap? Read here to find out more about Aruba’s thinking on behavioural analytics, automated security and its role in the workplace so we can start getting ahead of security threats.

Emirates Steel finalizes USD 400 million Murabaha facility

New loan facility to support Emirates Steel’s growth and development

16 December 2018, Abu Dhabi, UAE – Emirates Steel, the only integrated steel plant in the UAE and a subsidiary of the General Holding Corporation (SENAAT), has finalized a significant loan refinancing deal that will enable the Company to accelerate deleveraging, increase financial flexibility, simplify its debt structure and fund its growth plans.

The new financing replaces Emirates Steel’s outstanding secured debt with a corporate financing structure reflecting the established nature of the company. The loan facility has a tenure of four years and is structured as an unsecured amortizing term loan.

The successful issuing of US$300 million by Senaat, which recently listed on the Abu Dhabi stock market as the first-of-its-kind dual listing between ADX and the London Stock Exchange, has strengthened the position and ability of Emirates Steel to complete a loan refinance by obtaining preferential refinancing options based on a Sharia compliant financing instrument.

The new loan facility will be used for general corporate purposes, including the refinancing of the company’s existing bank debt. The facility was coordinated by BNP Paribas, with Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank acting as the Islamic Structuring Bank. . The lenders are: AB Svensk Exportkredit; Citibank N.A., First Abu Dhabi Bank PJSC; MUFG Bank Ltd.,Union National Bank PJSC; BNP Paribas; and Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank.

Eng. Saeed Ghumran Al Remeithi, CEO of Emirates Steel, said: “The successful closing of this Murabaha agreement demonstrates Emirates Steel financial strength and stature among local and international financial markets. It is a testament to Emirates Steel's ability to secure its funding requirements on attractive terms. “
“While Emirates Steel is more than capable of meeting its current financial obligations, in the context of its long-term financial strategy, it seeks to capitalize on the current market situation by taking advantage of available financing opportunities in order to obtain low interest rates,” added Al Remeithi.



The new loan facility has been structured as a Sharia compliant financing instrument. While based on a commodity Murabaha structure, the facility seeks to avoid the need for repeat commodity trades on a rolling basis and instead relies on a fixed rate, long-term commodity Murabaha contract, with an alternative mechanism to achieve a floating rate. This innovative Sharia compliant financing is a first for the syndicated loan market in the region.