An Egyptian company has teamed up with a Saudi start-up to bring sustainable farming practices to the kingdom.
Schaduf, a hydroponic farming business in Cairo, and Mishkat, a Saudi Arabian agritech company, will grow dozens of varieties of produce in the kingdom, strengthening the country's food security by decreasing reliance on imports.
Schaduf was the first company to introduce vertical gardens — plants that are attached with special materials and a built-in automatic irrigation system — to the Egyptian market and has expanded to neighbouring Gulf countries, including Saudi Arabia.
“We want Cairo, and all cities in the Arab World to be ideal sustainable cities, to ease the process of growing organic and reusing minimal amounts of water to grow their products,” said Sherif Hosny, vice president of Schaduf.
We want Cairo, and all cities in the Arab World to be ideal sustainable cities, to ease the process of growing organic and reusing minimal amounts of water to grow their products
Sherif Hosny,
Schaduf
“We currently have a partner in Saudi Arabia, Mishkat, and we have been working together on organic hydroponic, vegetables and tomatoes in the middle of the desert in extreme weather.
“Using these kinds of technologies here in Saudi Arabia makes a lot of sense.”
After its establishment in 2017, Mishkat opened Naeem Farms, Saudi Arabia's first certified organic hydroponic farm.
“Once the greenhouse was built and the production facilities were up and running, we focused on collating organic seeds from the best providers in the world and tried many different seeds and variations to get to the ones that actually work the best for the environment here,” said Fadi Ghalayini, vice president of business development at Mishkat.
This week, the kingdom's Public Investment Fund and US sustainable agriculture company AeroFarms signed a joint-venture agreement to build indoor vertical farms in the kingdom and the wider Middle East and North Africa region.
Schaduf is an Arabic word that describes an ancient agricultural tool used to lift water from the Nile in low tide.
“It's one of the first irrigation tools in the world and had a huge impact on Egyptian civilisation,” Mr Hosny said. “We still use it in Egypt today.”
How does hydroponic farming work?
Hydroponic farming saves up to 80 per cent of the water typically used in standard methods, Mr Hosny said.
By removing soil from the process and placing the roots directly in nutrient-rich water, food can be grown in almost any controlled environment. This allows precise adjustments to important growing factors while using 70 to 90 per cent less water than conventional farming.
The word “hydroponic” is of Greek origin — “hydro” meaning “water” and “ponic” meaning “work”.
This method of farming, the water can be reused by pumping it back into the aquifer, the underground layer of water-bearing rocks in the soil.
Hydroponic oases in Saudi Arabia's deserts
In 2020, Saudi Arabia announced two initiatives worth 2.5 billion riyals ($665 million) to support farmers and enable food imports in an effort to bolster the country's food security.
“One of the sectors that we were looking into to provide business solutions for was agriculture, to consolidate Saudi Arabia's food security goals,” said Fares Bardeesi, founder and managing partner at Sukna ventures, one of the co-founding companies of Mishkat.
“We only plant organic and non-GMO seeds,” said Mr Ghalayini.
The farm is only 40 minutes outside Jeddah and takes advantage of the kingdom's plentiful sunlight to provide organic and pesticide-free produce.
The farms source their water from wells or aquifers that hold water with higher than normal saline levels.
Saudi Arabia receives more than half of its water through desalination methods and continues to invest significant resources in trying to make these more efficient.
The kingdom now has one of the world's largest seawater desalination plants, the Al Jubeil plant, which produces 1.4 million cubic metres a day.
“The water that we use has some salinity, so we do apply desalination methods,” Mr Ghalayini said.
The two companies are seeking to spread the message of sustainable farming by hosting workshops for farmers and schoolchildren at their greenhouses.
“It is important to provide local farmers and future agro-entrepreneurs, both economical and environmentally-beneficial solutions for a future that's food secure and more mindful of our already scarce water resources,” said Mr Bardeesi.
One of the major drawbacks of hydroponic farming, however, is that only a handful of crops can be successfully grown using the technique.
“There are limitations to hydroponics — it's more usually suited for leafy greens, tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers for now,” said Mr Ghalayini.
The organic greens are quite affordable too, competing with other organic produce in the market in price. A 250g pack of wild arugula sells for 13 rials.
Mr Hosny believes the greatest benefit of this farming technique is improving water security in an arid climate.
“By recirculating the water, both Schaduf and Mishkat have been able to decrease their water consumption by up to 80 per cent,” he said.
Water resources in the Middle East are becoming increasingly scarce, having diminished over the decades due to the region's arid climate.
Rising global temperatures and drought are putting food security in peril, with Unicef identifying the Middle East and North Africa as the most water-scarce region in the world in 2021.
Countries reliant on fresh water have seen their rivers dry up or have had to contend with political water-sharing problems, in a region where agriculture plays a crucial role in socio-economic life.
The President's Cake
Director: Hasan Hadi
Starring: Baneen Ahmad Nayyef, Waheed Thabet Khreibat, Sajad Mohamad Qasem
Rating: 4/5
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MATCH INFO
Delhi Daredevils 174-4 (20 ovs)
Mumbai Indians 163 (19.3 ovs)
Delhi won the match by 11 runs
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder MHEV
Power: 360bhp
Torque: 500Nm
Transmission: eight-speed automatic
Price: from Dh282,870
On sale: now
BUNDESLIGA FIXTURES
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The five pillars of Islam
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2. Prayer
3. Hajj
4. Shahada
5. Zakat
Tips for avoiding trouble online
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Timeline
2012-2015
The company offers payments/bribes to win key contracts in the Middle East
May 2017
The UK SFO officially opens investigation into Petrofac’s use of agents, corruption, and potential bribery to secure contracts
September 2021
Petrofac pleads guilty to seven counts of failing to prevent bribery under the UK Bribery Act
October 2021
Court fines Petrofac £77 million for bribery. Former executive receives a two-year suspended sentence
December 2024
Petrofac enters into comprehensive restructuring to strengthen the financial position of the group
May 2025
The High Court of England and Wales approves the company’s restructuring plan
July 2025
The Court of Appeal issues a judgment challenging parts of the restructuring plan
August 2025
Petrofac issues a business update to execute the restructuring and confirms it will appeal the Court of Appeal decision
October 2025
Petrofac loses a major TenneT offshore wind contract worth €13 billion. Holding company files for administration in the UK. Petrofac delisted from the London Stock Exchange
November 2025
180 Petrofac employees laid off in the UAE
GAC GS8 Specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 248hp at 5,200rpm
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Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 9.1L/100km
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Price: From Dh149,900
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COMPANY PROFILE
Company name: Happy Tenant
Started: January 2019
Co-founders: Joe Moufarrej and Umar Rana
Based: Dubai
Sector: Technology, real-estate
Initial investment: Dh2.5 million
Investors: Self-funded
Total customers: 4,000
More on animal trafficking
Company profile
Company: Verity
Date started: May 2021
Founders: Kamal Al-Samarrai, Dina Shoman and Omar Al Sharif
Based: Dubai
Sector: FinTech
Size: four team members
Stage: Intially bootstrapped but recently closed its first pre-seed round of $800,000
Investors: Wamda, VentureSouq, Beyond Capital and regional angel investors
The specs: 2018 Audi RS5
Price, base: Dh359,200
Engine: 2.9L twin-turbo V6
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Power: 450hp at 5,700rpm
Torque: 600Nm at 1,900rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 8.7L / 100km
Yahya Al Ghassani's bio
Date of birth: April 18, 1998
Playing position: Winger
Clubs: 2015-2017 – Al Ahli Dubai; March-June 2018 – Paris FC; August – Al Wahda
Desert Warrior
Starring: Anthony Mackie, Aiysha Hart, Ben Kingsley
Director: Rupert Wyatt
Rating: 3/5
Teaching in coronavirus times
The years Ramadan fell in May
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Auron Mein Kahan Dum Tha
Starring: Ajay Devgn, Tabu, Shantanu Maheshwari, Jimmy Shergill, Saiee Manjrekar
Director: Neeraj Pandey
Rating: 2.5/5
VEZEETA PROFILE
Date started: 2012
Founder: Amir Barsoum
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: HealthTech / MedTech
Size: 300 employees
Funding: $22.6 million (as of September 2018)
Investors: Technology Development Fund, Silicon Badia, Beco Capital, Vostok New Ventures, Endeavour Catalyst, Crescent Enterprises’ CE-Ventures, Saudi Technology Ventures and IFC
Company%20Profile
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How will Gen Alpha invest?
Mark Chahwan, co-founder and chief executive of robo-advisory firm Sarwa, forecasts that Generation Alpha (born between 2010 and 2024) will start investing in their teenage years and therefore benefit from compound interest.
“Technology and education should be the main drivers to make this happen, whether it’s investing in a few clicks or their schools/parents stepping up their personal finance education skills,” he adds.
Mr Chahwan says younger generations have a higher capacity to take on risk, but for some their appetite can be more cautious because they are investing for the first time. “Schools still do not teach personal finance and stock market investing, so a lot of the learning journey can feel daunting and intimidating,” he says.
He advises millennials to not always start with an aggressive portfolio even if they can afford to take risks. “We always advise to work your way up to your risk capacity, that way you experience volatility and get used to it. Given the higher risk capacity for the younger generations, stocks are a favourite,” says Mr Chahwan.
Highlighting the role technology has played in encouraging millennials and Gen Z to invest, he says: “They were often excluded, but with lower account minimums ... a customer with $1,000 [Dh3,672] in their account has their money working for them just as hard as the portfolio of a high get-worth individual.”
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League final:
Who: Real Madrid v Liverpool
Where: NSC Olimpiyskiy Stadium, Kiev, Ukraine
When: Saturday, May 26, 10.45pm (UAE)
TV: Match on BeIN Sports
About Proto21
Date started: May 2018
Founder: Pir Arkam
Based: Dubai
Sector: Additive manufacturing (aka, 3D printing)
Staff: 18
Funding: Invested, supported and partnered by Joseph Group
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THE SPECS
Engine: 6.75-litre twin-turbocharged V12 petrol engine
Power: 420kW
Torque: 780Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh1,350,000
On sale: Available for preorder now
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
Company profile
Date started: 2015
Founder: John Tsioris and Ioanna Angelidaki
Based: Dubai
Sector: Online grocery delivery
Staff: 200
Funding: Undisclosed, but investors include the Jabbar Internet Group and Venture Friends
Empty Words
By Mario Levrero
(Coffee House Press)
Tour de France Stage 16:
165km run from Le Puy-en-Velay to Romans-sur-Isère
Straightforward ways to reduce sugar in your family's diet
- Ban fruit juice and sodas
- Eat a hearty breakfast that contains fats and wholegrains, such as peanut butter on multigrain toast or full-fat plain yoghurt with whole fruit and nuts, to avoid the need for a 10am snack
- Give young children plain yoghurt with whole fruits mashed into it
- Reduce the number of cakes, biscuits and sweets. Reserve them for a treat
- Don’t eat dessert every day
- Make your own smoothies. Always use the whole fruit to maintain the benefit of its fibre content and don’t add any sweeteners
- Always go for natural whole foods over processed, packaged foods. Ask yourself would your grandmother have eaten it?
- Read food labels if you really do feel the need to buy processed food
- Eat everything in moderation
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
