Business Extra

Brendan Wallace, co-founder and managing partner of Fifth Wall, the world’s largest venture capital firm at the intersection of real estate and tech, joins host Kelsey Warner this week.

Fifth Wall had a massive 2022, closing its $866 million Fund III in December, the biggest property start-up investment fund ever, on the heels of a $500 million climate fund it closed last July.

The LA-based VC fund brings together some of the largest owners and operators of real estate globally, including here in the UAE, with Aldar and Damac as limited partners.

In this episode:

Defining PropTech and the future of real estate (1m 01s)

What opportunities does Fifth Wall see in the Middle East region? (5m 15s)

Evaluating tech ecosystems (6m 54s)

AI and start-ups (9m 39s)

A new nationwide programme in the UAE, the Parent-friendly Label, is aimed at identifying employers supporting parents who are juggling work and home life.

Laila Al Hassan, chief culture officer and lead of the Parent-friendly Label at the Abu Dhabi Early Childhood Authority, talks to host Kelsey Warner about what inspired the programme and the criteria organisations need to be considered parent-friendly.

Ms Al Hassan says the programme aims to support working families in the UAE, where a majority of parents are expats without a typical family support system.

She explains that parent-friendly policies go beyond just offering nursing rooms, to understanding the needs of employees and considering their wellbeing. To get this label, companies go through an assessment to check if they meet certain criteria, such as parental leave, family care, family wellbeing innovation and company culture, Ms Al Hassan says.

In this episode:

What is the Parent-friendly Label and which criteria is used in awarding the label? (0m 41s)

How can a company apply? (3m 59s)

The benchmarks for the Parent-friendly Label (5m 39s)

Policies parents should look for when applying at a parent-friendly company (7m 12s)

Ramadan is the time of year when consumers in the Middle East tend to up their TV, streaming and media consumption.

Joe Kawkabani, chief executive of OSN Group, one of the largest entertainment content companies in the region, joins Business Extra this week to talk about trends in streaming this Ramadan.

OSN is investing in data science to know more about their customers’ preferences and consumption behaviour to better recommend content to them, Mr Kawkabani said. The privately held media conglomerate is open for acquisitions and partnerships, he added.

In this episode:

OSN's content, partners and viewership (0m 33s)

Ramadan viewership trends and the subscription model (4m 03s)

OSN Originals and competing for attention (7m 27s)

Recruiting talent and what's next for streaming services (13m 37s)

The senior vice president and executive editor of Associated Press, Julie Pace, joins Business Extra host Kelsey Warner this week to talk about the transformation of the news industry in the age of artificial intelligence.

Ms Pace was appointed to this position in September 2021. She leads AP’s global news operations and oversees news content and all formats from journalists across the world, with 250 locations in more than 100 countries.

Moving from text only to a multi-format platform, AP is expanding in digital advertising, e-commerce and fact checking, Pace said.

She said AP now considers itself a digital news company to help its customers to meet the demands of a new type of audience.

In this episode:

The AP's business model and its mission (0m 45s)

Fact-checking and social media (6m 25s)

Evolving media and the revolution of AI (11m 48s)

Covering the US election and the future of work in media (17m 28s)

Gary Vaynerchuk, also known as Gary Vee, documents his life on social media, dispensing advice on entrepreneurship, technology and media to his more than 44 million followers.

As an early investor in Facebook, Uber and Twitter and chairman of VaynerX and chief executive of VaynerMedia, the serial entrepreneur and investor has strong views on ChatGPT, social media use and NFTs.

He joins Business Extra host Kelsey Warner this week from Abu Dhabi.

In this episode:

The state of consumer culture, content creation and the role of influencers (0m 48s)

The evolution of content and the influence of ChatGPT (5m 13s)

Creating value with NFTs and decentralisation (7m 26s)

Advice for SMBs, opting out social media and staying motivated (11m 44s)

Founder and managing director of 4 Day Week Global, Charlotte Lockhart, joins Business Extra host Kelsey Warner this week to share the results of the world’s largest trial to reduce working week.

Ms Lockhart led the trial with dozens of employers and thousands of employees in the UK, US, Canada, Ireland, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.

The results showed that reducing work time doesn’t affect productivity of employees, highlighting that some companies were able to reduce official work hours by 20% without decreasing their pay.

It also revealed a significant decrease in rates of stress and illness among the approximately 2,900 staff who participated in the shorter working week.

Sacha Haider, a partner at Global Ventures, joins Business Extra host Kelsey Warner this week to discuss supply chain technology. Haider is the youngest partner in venture capital in the region and she is leading the investment team, focusing on technology and emerging markets.

In this podcast episode, they speak on investing in emerging markets, access to digital services and goods, and recent consumption trends.

Looking at building a sustainable future, Haider said that supply chain sustainability is among the main areas of importance, in addition to agriculture technology, food security and energy scarcity.

In this episode:

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Professor Eric Xing, the president of Abu Dhabi's Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence, joins host Kelsey Warner this week after the university graduated its inaugural class.

They speak on jobs prospects for the fresh grads, the less-discussed risks of ChatGPT and other newsmakers in the field of AI.

In this episode:

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Host Kelsey Warner talks to the chief executive of US based agtech firm Aerofarms David Rosenberg about who they are and why they are opening an R&D centre in Abu Dhabi.

In this episode:

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