SmartCity Malta and TECOM Investments’ Education Cluster networking event for Maltese companies held recently in Dubai was a success, with a number of Maltese educational companies eyeing opportunities in the Gulf market.
Held on 7 December at the Dubai Knowledge Village Conference Centre, the event brought together companies of the Gulf countries that operate in the training and educational sector seeking to expand in the Mediterranean region.
“The concept of Malta as a hub of the Mediterranean is one which appeals to the companies in Dubai as they see Malta as a bridge to Libya and the North African market. Various pre-arranged one-to-one meetings were organized which served as an initiation for potential business opportunities, some of which are currently being actively followed-up and more visits are being planned by both sides,” commented Nick Callus, chairman of Domain Group and managing director of Computer Domain Ltd.
Dr Charles Theuma, Principal of St Martin’s Institute of Information Technology added, “It was a pleasure interacting with Dubai-based educational institutes to share our vision and ideas. Both countries are similar due to the fact that Dubai is the hub of the Middle East and Malta of the Mediterranean. It has been a fruitful visit and we look forward to mutual growth between the two regions.”
Mario Cassar, chief executive officer representing NSTS, who also formed part of the delegation, said, “We have been able to make contact with many key players in Knowledge Village. Following the successful visit, we are hoping to see the results throughout the coming year.”
The full day event included one-to-one meetings between companies with common business interests. The truly diversified and unique education fields of the participating companies included project management, security training, hair-professional agency, IT institutes, universities, HR consultancy, dance school and many more. The participants had very encouraging exchanges on co-marketing of programmes, licensing of teaching expertise, and developing courses currently unavailable in the region.
Most interestingly, the strategic importance of Malta and its business links to Libya and the rest of North Africa attracted investors and government officials from Gulf countries to the event.
Jin Won Choi, Executive Director of Strategy and Business Development at SmartCity said that GCC countries sponsor education of their students and public officers, and he was pleased to hear from participating government officials that Malta can be their alternative location to traditional destinations.
Fareed Abdulrahman, chief executive officer of SmartCity Malta, said: “Under our motto, ‘Network of Opportunities’, we develop programmes that connect both countries and other regions of our presence. Today’s event served companies of the education sector, and our contribution will expand to other knowledge industries.”
Dr Ayoub Kazim, managing director of TECOM Investment’s Education Cluster, observed: “Education providers around the world, including business partners of Dubai Knowledge Village and Dubai International Academic City, are keen to forge partnerships to expand their operations. With the objective of creating new values for our business partners, we have brought together companies from the Republic of Malta and our business parks to explore the potential for collaboration.”