Business Extra

The future of work, trade and commerce is in sharp focus as the implications of the global effort to contain the spread of the coronavirus shows how we are falling short of being digitally equipped enough to keep regular levels of activity going through crises – health or otherwise - which we should expect to happen regularly in a more interconnected world. We should potentially expect a surge in...

Host Kelsey Warner, future editor at The National talks to Dr Rakesh Suri, chief executive of Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi about the future of medicine, robotics and open-heart surgery. Later on, they talk about the global response to the Coronavirus and why there is no reason for paranoia. In this episode: Open-heart surgery and robotics (0m 37s) The impact of 5G in hospitals (5m 59s) The Coronavir...

Parent company Port and Free Zone World has offered to acquire the 19.55 per cent of DP World's shares traded on Nasdaq Dubai, returning the company to private ownership. It is going to give shareholders an almost 30 per cent premium on the share price before the announcement as a sweetener. This week, Mustafa Alrawi, assistant editor in chief at The National, and Kelsey Warner, future editor, tal...

Bill and Melinda Gates have spent tens of billions of dollars over two decades to support efforts to improve global health, education, gender equality and fight climate change. They say the experience has made them optimists. This week, host Mustafa Alrawi, assistant editor in chief at The National, and Kelsey Warner, future editor, are at the Milken Institute Middle East and Africa Summit. We als...

A new source of energy discovered in the UAE on 5,000 square kilometres of land on the border between Dubai and Abu Dhabi will support the country's aim to be totally self-sufficient and also provide additional power capacity to boost broader economic diversification efforts. This week, host Mustafa Alrawi, assistant editor in chief, and Kelsey Warner, future editor of The National, talk to energy...

We are at peak hysteria over the coronavirus outbreak in China with equity and commodity markets reacting to fears it could impact economic growth in the world’s second largest economy.   This week from The National’s newsroom in Abu Dhabi host Mustafa Alrawi, assistant editor in chief, and future editor, Kelsey Warner are joined by Phil Bahoshy, chief executive of Magnitt, which describes itself...

The World Economic Forum's 50th Annual Meeting is underway in the Swiss ski resort of Davos-Klosters in the Alps. This year's theme: 'Stakeholders for a sustainable and cohesive world'.    Kelsey Warner, future editor and assistant editor-in-chief Mustafa Alrawi discuss US president Donald Trump's speech on the opening day, the meaning of this year's theme and who the most talked-about guests are,...

Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week kicks off and it has been a pretty big week for the champions of sustainability as investors and companies show they are becoming more climate conscious. A very public mea culpa from Siemens chief executive Joe Kaeser in an exclusive interview with The National’s energy correspondent Jennifer Gnana. Siemens' involvement in an Australian coal mining project involving I...

Uncertainty over US-Iran tensions have led investors to take - at least for the moment - a risk-off stance. Stock markets are volatile and gold is at a six-year high while US treasury yields are rising. Meanwhile, oil prices have spiked amid concerns over the potential disruption to Middle East supply. All in all, it is a delicate time for local, regional and global economies.      Host Mustafa Al...

Expectations of a pickup in the global economy, a recovery for aviation following the 737 Max crisis and the continued consequences for private equity in the region from Abraaj’s collapse will all likely be features of the business landscape in 2020.   The National's Assistant Editor-in-Chief Mustafa Alrawi speaks to Editor-in-Chief Mina Al-Oraibi about some of the biggest business news stories fr...

Streaming wars. Tiktok. Billie Eilish. EDM concerts in Saudi Arabia. What do these things all have in common? Business Extra is recapping the year in the business of entertainment and pop culture. Host and The National’s Future Editor Kelsey Warner is joined by colleagues Nyree McFarlane, Head of Arts and Lifestyle and Jason Von Berg, Head of Audience Growth to discuss the biggest business news fr...

In this week's podcast, host Kelsey Warner is joined by John Garvey, the global financial services industry leader at PwC. They discuss a new phase of the US-China tariff war and an underwhelming end to the United Nations' climate change summit, COP25. Are signs of action from the private sector cause for optimism? Also discussed: the future of work in the financial services industry and why produ...

Hosts Mustafa Alrawi and Kelsey Warner are joined by David Young, CEO of Oxford Analytica, a strategic consulting and advisory firm. They discuss Google rolling out its digital assistant in Arabic across the MENA region, Saudi Arabia's 1.02 trillion riyal budget for 2020 and how Oxford Analytica started 45 years ago to provide daily briefs inspired by the White House. In this episode:  Google's vi...

Egypt wants at least one person in each household to work in tourism as part of wider plans to develop a resilient and sustainable sector through structural reforms that will boost its competitiveness globally. In this week's Business Extra, Mina Al-Oraibi, The National's editor in chief, and Mustafa Alrawi, The National's assistant editor in chief, speak exclusively to Dr Rania Al Mashat, Egypt's...

Tesla’s launch of its cybertruck has sent the hype around electric vehicles into a frenzy –  where are we in reality in terms of the mass take up of electric vehicles – but one thing is certain -  Elon Musk has radically changed our perceptions of the future of transport. Hosts Mustafa Alrawi, assistant editor in chief and The National’s future editor, Kelsey Warner talk to Yunshi Wang (Director o...

Billions of dollars of aircraft orders, manufacturing and maintenance tie ups, advancements on how to make aviation more sustainable – it must be the Dubai Airshow which is proving to be another blockbuster week for the industry. Host Mustafa Alrawi, assistant editor in chief and Kelsey Warner, The National's future editor talk about the Mubadala Aerospace merger of its three aerospace and industr...

The world’s biggest crude oil producer, Saudi Aramco launches the subscription period for its much-anticipated IPO as it rolls on with its ambitions to become the globe’s pre-eminent integrated energy and chemicals company. This week host Mustafa Alrawi, assistant editor in chief and Kelsey Warner, The National's future editor talk with Dr. Nasser Saidi, regular contributor to The National and pre...

It’s been a busy week for the Business Extra team as the cooler weather kicks off the UAE conference season. The World Economic Forum has been in town, it is Dubai Future Week, the world’s largest oil and gas exhibition is set for Abu Dhabi in a few days’ time and we have the air show coming up before the end of this month. Those are only a handful of the things going on in November. Amid the acti...

The world’s most powerful investors, heads of state, former leaders, entrepreneurs and government ministers are gathering in the Saudi Arabian capital this week to discuss the future of technology, sustainable development, capital markets, infrastructure financing, energy – old and new – gene editing and cellular therapies. Host Mustafa Alrawi talks to Kelsey Warner, future editor of The National...

After flight software aboard its 737Max jet was found to be the culprit of two airline crashes within the last 12 months, Boeing was forced to ground all 387 of the aircraft worldwide; impacting 8600 weekly flights and forcing 59 airlines to come up with alternatives. It is the world's largest manufacturer of commercial aircraft. But a fall from grace has Boeing facing regulators and customers dem...

Boeing and Porsche are working together to develop the concept and test the prototype for and electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) car. The National’s Mustafa Alrawi Assistant Editor in Chief and Future Editor Kelsey Warner discuss their enthusiasm or skepticisms about the announcements before taking a look at the WeWork.   WeWork promised to change the way people work and eventually how...

HSBC may cut as many as 10 thousand jobs worldwide as part of its latest cost cutting drive but where next for the bank that was at one time the poster child of globalisation? Host Mustafa Alrawi, Assistant Editor in Chief, takes a look at how banks in Europe are looking to make savings. In a world where the US-China trade war, Brexit, a weak European economy, lower interest rates and the resultin...

Saudi Arabia’s opens up and begins to issue tourist visas for the first time. Host Mustafa Alrawi, assistant editor in chief and future editor Kelsey Warner, speak to The National’s Ashleigh Stewart who is in Saudi Arabia as they launch their latest tourism industry initiative.   People from 49 countries are able to obtain a 90 day, multiple entry tourist visa for the kingdom. Tourism is a key com...

In 1841, 500 passengers took a 24-mile round-trip by train from Leicester in central England to the neighbouring town of Loughborough. This was the first excursion organised by a Mr  Thomas Cook 178 years later his eponymous company announces it has ceased trading disrupting the travel plans of some 600,000 people from Goa to Gambia to Greece and threatening tens of thousands of jobs worldwide. Th...

Early on Saturday morning, attacks on Saudi Aramco’s giant oil plant caused major fires, disrupting about half of the kingdom’s crude production. From a record spike in oil prices to an escalation of tensions in the region after the US blamed Iran for being behind the strikes. The fallout has everyone inside the region and around the world on tenterhooks for what it could mean for global energy ma...