SAMI-AEC joins LEAP 2025 as diamond sponsor

The Social Development Bank hosted an event to train and empower local craftsmen and jewelry designers in the Asir region, in association with the Italian Institute of Contemporary Art, one of the world’s leading institutes specializing in contemporary craft design and artistic jewelry making.

The event, “Asir: Craftsmanship Celebration,” offered specialized training in creating handicrafts using copper and gold leaf, reflecting the artists’ national identity while aligning with contemporary artistic trends. It drew inspiration from local cultural heritage, particularly Asir’s Al-Qatt art form, to reimagine traditional techniques in a modern context, capturing the spirit and cultural uniqueness of the region.

This initiative enhanced participants’ technical and production skills in metal forming and professional techniques, ensuring they can produce high-quality pieces that meet market demands. Additionally, the aim is to transform these skills into sustainable economic opportunities by enabling participants to design and implement marketable models for the hospitality, hotel, and luxury gift sectors.

The event witnessed the signing of a strategic cooperation agreement between the SDB and the IICA. This agreement is part of the bank’s efforts to expand its international partnerships and transfer global expertise to the local market by offering specialized training programs in several regions of the Kingdom, supporting the empowerment of productive groups, and enhancing their competitiveness.

The event also hosted a session titled “Asir’s Most Splendid Diwaniya,” which featured a group of entrepreneurs, investors, and local experts. It addressed strategic themes related to the integration of the crafts and tourism sectors, the role of freelance work in enhancing project readiness and reducing costs for seasonal establishments, and ways to invest in local resources and develop culturally relevant products. Participants spotlighted the significance of raising the economic value of national crafts and linking them to tourism and hospitality.

The “Asir: Craftsmanship Celebration” event reflects the SDB’s commitment to empowering craft and creative project owners by transforming skills into economic opportunities. Since launching its specialized training program in 2023, the bank has trained more than 300 beneficiaries, created 250 quality products, and qualified 30 percent of participants for financing, enabling more than 150 productive families to expand their businesses. Over the last two years, the initiative has conducted more than 15 training programs, with 40 percent of participants receiving funding, resulting in a 40 percent increase in sales for existing projects. The program also organized seven dialogue forums to foster collaboration with supporting entities.

The event serves as a key interactive track within this training program, linking productive families and self-employed individuals with investors, and enhancing the integration of crafts and tourism in the Asir region. It highlights the crucial role of handicrafts in the tourism experience and the importance of self-employment in the local hospitality sector.

Huawei Cloud, in collaboration with the Center for Digital Entrepreneurship and NAUATECH, recently hosted the Saudi Arabia 2025 Huawei Cloud Developer Conference. Held at CODE’s headquarters in Riyadh, the event brought together a group of developers and startup founders from across the Kingdom.

The conference highlighted the added value Huawei Cloud brings to the local developer and startup ecosystems. It showcased Huawei’s comprehensive, AI-powered cloud services and its suite of cloud-native development tools. Serving as a strategic platform for knowledge exchange, the event reinforced Huawei’s commitment to building a robust digital ecosystem and enabling technical talent in alignment with Saudi Arabia’s ambitious digital transformation agenda.

A key focus of the event was hands-on empowerment through specialized training programs, advanced development tools, and globally recognized professional certifications. Saudi developers now have direct access to Huawei’s global cloud initiatives, including the Huawei Cloud Developer Program, the Huawei Cloud Startup Program, and the Huawei Cloud Certified Developer for AI. These initiatives not only provide technical training but also offer integrated business support and international certifications — enabling developers to build strong career paths, scale their innovations, and contribute to Saudi Arabia’s growing cloud ecosystem.

During the event, Huawei Cloud reaffirmed its support for the Kingdom’s expanding developer community. The company currently offers more than 90 cloud services, with plans to expand to more than 200 services through three availability zones in the Riyadh region. Huawei continues to invest in infrastructure, training, and tooling to accelerate the growth of Saudi Arabia’s cloud landscape. 

Notably, Huawei Cloud has received “Class C” certification — the highest cloud classification awarded by the Communications, Space and Technology Commission — demonstrating the platform’s compliance with strict local and international standards for security, performance, and reliability.

The conference also featured highlights of Huawei’s latest AI infrastructure innovations. Attendees were introduced to ModelArts, Huawei’s cutting-edge AI development platform that significantly reduces the time and complexity of deploying AI solutions — from months to just days.