Page 11 - SAMENA Trends - April 2020

REGIONAL & MEMBERS UPDATES SAMENA TRENDS

InspireU Continues to Support Startups after Its SR 300 Million Success in
Developing Technology Applications

InspireU, a program launched by stc to support startups and software and services. The project carried out air thermal scans
entrepreneurship in the region, announced that despite the using the latest drone technologies to accurately and rapidly
difficult conditions that countries all over the world are facing in check and analyze body temperatures at crowded gatherings as
light of the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID - 19), it will part of the precautionary measures taken to address the threat of
continue to incubate many startup projects in its sixth and seventh the coronavirus in cooperation with the Qassim Municipality. One
intakes, whose agenda will be announced in the upcoming days. more project is the Carwah platform, an electronic system that
Since its establishment in 2015, the program has managed to makes it easy for customers to search for cars to rent across the
launch 38 startup projects and offer them support through many cities of the Kingdom via phone by facilitating the booking of cars
services such as financing, training and consulting. The launched and showing all nearby branches available offering customers a
companies have obtained investments amounting to SR 60 million; selection from thousand distinctive economic , sedan, or luxury
the market value of these investments is SR 300 million. Around vehicles. Customers can book a car to their name and have it
16 million users benefit from InspireU projects, which contributed delivered to their location at competitive daily rates. In the field
to the creation of 160 thousand job opportunities, including part- of education, ‎the Dhad application for audiobooks has been
time jobs. Othman Dahash Aldahash, Corporate Development adopted, offering a large collection of Arabic books and novels
VP at stc Group, stated that among the program's many that can be accessed at any time free of charge, especially during
successful accomplishments, was the adoption by the Ministry the current conditions that require everyone to stay at home for
of Communications and Information Technology of a number of long periods.
projects supported by the program in the field of marketing and
learning, in order to facilitate people's lives during the current
period, since many precautionary measures have been taken by
the Kingdom to limit the spread of the coronavirus and encourage
all residents to stay at home and work remotely to maintain their
safety. He added: "We are proud to see that InspireU's outputs
are contributing to the Kingdom's digital economy and this is
only a testament to our effective role in Digital Empowerment
". Among the projects adopted within the initiative taken by the
Communications and Information Technology Commission to
optimize the technologies used in shopping and purchasing of
necessities, or distance learning is the Mrsool application that
provides delivery services, in addition to the Haseel application, a
fresh fruits and vegetables e-commerce platform that contributes
to the delivery of fresh vegetables and fruits to the customer in
refrigerated cars after processing them in a private laboratory to
maintain a high level of quality, with several distribution points
available in Riyadh to ensure that customers are being served in a
timely manner. Other projects adopted by the Commission include
the Zid app, a mobile app for retailers that simplifies e-commerce
and makes it accessible at a competitive cost. Another project is
the Voxel project specializing in air and ground 3D digital scanning

stc Extends Timeframe for Completing Acquisition of Stake in Vodafone
Egypt

Saudi Arabian telecoms operator Saudi Telecom Company (stc) pandemic’, saying that these meant more time was needed to
has announced that it has extended the duration of a non-binding complete the processes related to the transaction, including due
memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Vodafone Group under diligence. As previously reported by CommsUpdate, in January
which it plans to acquire the latter’s 55% stake in Vodafone Egypt. 2020 stc and UK-based Vodafone Group agreed on a cash
In an announcement to the Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul) stc consideration of USD2.392 billion for the latter’s shareholding
confirmed that the parties involved in the proposed deal have in Vodafone Egypt, equivalent to an enterprise value for 100% of
agreed to extend the MoU for 90 days, starting from 13 April. In the Vodafone Egypt of USD4.350 billion; the final consideration will be
filing, stc cited the ‘logistical challenges caused by the COVID-19 determined upon signing of the definitive agreements.

11 APRIL 2020