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JEDDAH: Sharief Aslam, a littérateur and social activist, was honored recently with the Nishat-e-Deccan (Pleasure of Deccan) title by the All Andhra Pradesh United Organizations for his services to the community.

For over 50 years, 30 of them in Jeddah, Aslam has been promoting humanitarian, literary, cultural, social and educational activities among the expatriate community in general and Andhra Pradesh community in particular.

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DUBAI – Resuming its robust growth trend, Initial Public Offering (IPO) activity in the Middle East and North Africa region rose significantly in the first quarter of 2010 with the volume of funds raised almost doubling compared to the corresponding period last year, according to Cayman Islands-headquartered alternate asset management major, Al Masah Capital.

Regional IPOs in the first quarter of the fiscal raised $6.8 billion through 62 issues compared to $3.7 billion in Q1 2009 through 29 issues, signaling a strong recovery in the IPO market, Al Masah Capital said in its Q1 2010 IPO update on Monday.

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JEDDAH – Prince Khaled Al-Faisal, Emir of Makkah, in a ceremony Wednesday evening honoring volunteers who brought aid to victims of the disastrous floods which hit the city last November, announced that he has asked the mayor of the city to build a large park in a new district in eastern Jeddah and to name it Jeddah Youth.

“Everybody who participated in the aid campaign will have hisher name written in a visible place in this park,” said the Prince.

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JEDDAH – International Thomson Publishing Company (ITP) has named Dr. Walid Fitaihi as “best healthcare CEO in the Kingdom”.

Fitaihi, who is chairman and executive president of Jeddahs International Medical Center (IMC), was one of 16 winners from a range of fields including the energy, banks and media sectors, and was honored at an ITP-hosted banquet on Monday at the InterContinental Hotel in Riyadh.

Fitaihi is a graduate of Harvard University and lived in the US for 25 years before returning to the Kingdom, and as a main founder of the IMC describes his vision through the IMCs aim to “create a model for medical care through mental, physical and spiritual treatment and applying the measures of the divine”.

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RIYADH – As part of events for the Janadriya Festival, 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus gave a lecture Saturday at the King Faisal Conference Center in Riyadh in which he spoke of his work to combat poverty.

Yunus described the various ways he had employed to create job opportunities for impoverished people through loans from the bank he set up to “give them a significant boost towards changing the course of their lives”.

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JEDDAH – The Stop TB (tuberculoses) Group of Saudi Arabia will launch its annual campaign here March 15.

The campaign, to continue till March 26, under the patronage of Prince Mishal Bin Majed, Governor of Jeddah, is being organized with the cooperation of the Ministry of Health and the World Health Organization in six major malls with new and innovative ideas for combating this deadly disease.

This year, the motto for the Stop TB 2010 campaign has been chosen by the World Health Organization which is introducing new ways to diagnose the disease and develop other research, Mohammed Bakhrieba, the founder of the Stop TB Group of Saudi Arabia, told Saudi Gazette.

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JEDDAH: The only clinic for visually impaired people in Saudi Arabia has been closed since last month because there is no trained optometrist or ophthalmologist to help run it.

The clinic’s last optometrist, who was there for the last two years, left as she received a better job offer elsewhere.

Mohammad Tawfiq Bellow, who is the founder and general manager of Ebsar Foundation which runs the clinic, says getting the right person is not easy as special training is required. Those who are trained prefer to work in hospitals because of better perks and financial security.

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RIYADH: There are plans to set up a multi-million riyal health care center to treat cardiac-related diseases.

The SR562-million private facility is the brainchild of the Dr. Sulaiman Al-Habib Medical Group and Al-Faisaliah Medical Systems Co. (FMS).

This cardiac center falls in line with our policy to develop pilot projects in the field of health care in Saudi Arabia, said chairman of the Al-Habib Group Sulaiman Al-Habib.

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LONDON – Philanthropy has become a new battleground for Britains private banks as they line up to offer rich clients the slickest methods to mimic the charitable giving of the likes of Bill Gates and George Soros.

Industry experts say the initiative by the UKs largest wealth managers reflects part of a push to attract clients with niche services beyond traditional areas such as investment advice in an increasingly competitive market. “Private banks are competing in a very tight market place. A lot of them offer services they dont charge for … and philanthropy is part of that,” said Chris Groves, a partner at law firm Withers.

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JEDDAH: A Saudi-German joint venture has been formed in the home appliances sector with plans for investments and job opportunities across the Kingdom.

The newly-formed BSH Home Appliances Saudi Arabia LLC is aimed at driving the growth of Bosch and Siemens products, which are renowned for their quality and technological superiority in the Kingdom, said Mohammed Al-Saggaff, a member of the board of BSH Home Appliances Saudi Arabia LLC, at a press conference held at the Park Hyatt Hotel on Saturday night.

Al-Saggaff and Jean Dufour, member of the board of BSH Group, took part in the signing ceremony.

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