EXCLUSIVE: How GCC fund managers test startups, pick sectors and follow crisis money
GCC fund managers have no shortage of capital to place. The harder question is what deserves it. One Stride Ventures report puts GCC venture capital funding at about $3.3 billion across 541 deals in 2025, up 14 percent on the year. Saudi Arabia and the UAE took most of that total. Hasnae Taleb has a […]
UAE business accelerators 2026: what founders get and what they give up
UAE business accelerators no longer sell classroom time, and ICN.live research across Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Sharjah found that the shift is close to complete. Founder value now sits in four places: market access, institutional balance sheet backing, regulatory permission, and enterprise procurement. Desks and workshops still exist. They stopped being the reason anyone applies. […]
Elie Saab H&M Collection Lands October 22 With Prices Starting at $39.99
The Elie Saab H&M collection does something simple. It takes the glamour usually seen on award-show stages and puts it on a rack most people can afford. Saab has spent decades dressing famous faces. Starting October 22, his designs reach the high street at high-street prices. That gap, couture on one end and a shopping-mall […]
Made in the Emirates vehicles begin rolling out at the ROX Abu Dhabi plant
Made in the Emirates vehicles have rolled out of a new plant in Abu Dhabi, and the first three ROX ADAMAS units now carry that badge. ROX finished its Advanced AI Manufacturing Centre in the emirate and switched on local production. Picture a factory that assembles a car, tests it, and signs it off under […]
UAE at the G20 finance meeting backs future skills and global debt action
The UAE at the G20 finance meeting brought a clear message to Asheville: economies grow when people gain new skills. Its Ministry of Finance took part in the second G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors gathering, held in North Carolina on 31 August and 1 September 2026 under the United States G20 Presidency. Behind […]
TDRA grants Starlink license to provide satellite internet services in UAE
The Telecommunications and Digital Government Regulatory Authority (TDRA) has granted Starlink Satellite Communications LLC a 10-year General Space Services License, authorising the company to establish, operate, and manage a public satellite communications network and provide broadband satellite internet services in the UAE, WAM announced. The license marks an important milestone in the UAE’s regulatory framework […]
Emirati Women’s Day 2026 Becomes a Month as UAE Counts Its Policy Gains
Emirati Women’s Day 2026 arrives on 28 August with a change of format, as the UAE extends a single date into a month of national programming that ends on 28 September. The country fixed the date in 2015, choosing 28 August because the General Women’s Union was founded that day in 1975. Sheikha Fatima bint […]
UAE Insurance Sector Growth 2025: Total Assets Reach AED164.9 Billion Mark
Start with the profit line. AED2.6 billion became AED4 billion in a single year, a jump of roughly 54 percent that sits at the center of the UAE insurance sector growth story for 2025 now taking shape in the Central Bank’s latest figures. Numbers like that rarely move alone. Behind them sits a year of […]
Gulf Investment Priorities Shift as Geopolitical Risk Redraws Capital Flows
Gulf investment priorities are under fresh scrutiny, and the questions investors ask have changed shape. Bilal Sabouni runs the Middle East, Africa, Turkiye and Central Asia business at Guidepoint, the global expert network. He told ICN Business that client demand now circles one theme. “A lot of the questions we are hearing come back to […]
UAE vape tax from September 1: what the AED 1 per mL rule means for you
The UAE vape tax from September 1 changes how much tax a bottle of e-liquid carries, even though the tax rate itself stays where it is. The Ministry of Finance has confirmed a minimum excise price of AED 1 per millilitre for liquids used in electronic smoking devices and tools. The rule covers e-cigarette liquids […]
Parkin’s regional growth plans extend to Egypt with smart parking deal
Parkin’s regional growth plans now stretch past the UAE, after the Dubai-listed parking operator signed a memorandum of understanding to take its technology into Egypt. The agreement brings in three local partners: Modon Misr for Asset and Facility Management, transport services provider Mwasalat Misr, and Redcon Properties. They control the ground. Parkin brings the cameras […]
Iran Trade Suspension in the UAE Halts Commercial and Banking Dealings
Iran trade suspension in the UAE took effect late on August 18, covering all trade, commercial exchanges, and financial transactions until further notice. Afra Al Hameli, director of the strategic communications department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, announced the decision. She cited regional escalations undermining regional and international peace and security. Officials gave no […]
