Clear insight

Blogs 17 May, 2023

The UAE-based firms shipping Russian oil around the world

Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, international sanctions have forced major players in the oil trading business to wind down their operations with Russian oil producers such as Rosneft and Gazprom. As Russia redirects...

Blogs 6 April, 2023

How the Validation Agent role can help bring greater transparency, trust and confidence to the Middle East and Africa

In November 2022, Diligencia was appointed by GLEIF – the Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation – as a Validation Agent to verify entity data required as part of the LEI application process. To help promote the use of LEIs...

Blogs 15 March, 2023

An African EU? The opportunities and challenges of a continental trade bloc

This is, we are frequently told, Africa’s century – a time when African economies will finally emerge onto the world stage as a political and economic force. Today, trade with Africa is an attractive opportunity; economies around...

Marketing material 14 February, 2023

Diligencia company overview

Learn how we support our customers with specialist business intelligence and due diligence services based exclusively on primary sources in the Middle East and Africa. Access your copy of our PDF by clicking the button below....

Marketing material 14 February, 2023

ClarifiedBy.com product information

Find out about ClarifiedBy.com and the legal entity data available to help clients understand the corporate interests of companies and shareholders across Africa and the wider Middle East. Access your copy of our PDF by clicking...

Blogs 10 January, 2023

The Middle East & Africa to take centre stage in 2023

As the 2022 calendar heads for the recycling bin, it is worth reflecting on the three major global events that were held in the MEA region in the last quarter of the year: in October, the Future Investment Initiative (FII, or...

Blogs 20 December, 2022

Land grab: the winners (and losers) of coastal land reclamation in the Middle East

When people think of the Middle East and environmental issues, often the first thing that comes to mind is the scarcity of water. The region is home to 6.3% of the world's population, but only has access to 2% of its renewable...

Blogs 7 December, 2022

Identity with Clarity: the factors driving growth in the global adoption of LEI

Earlier this year the Global LEI Foundation announced that over 2 million active LEIs are now in circulation, a significant milestone in the worldwide adoption of the transparency initiative first introduced by the G20 and the...

Blogs 14 November, 2022

Investing in education: for-profit schools in the UAE

“We don’t need no education,” sang Pink Floyd in 1979, a sentiment that present day UAE investors are unlikely to share. In a country where 85% of the population are foreign residents, where only Emirati nationals can attend...

Blogs, Sport 11 October, 2022

All to play for: Qatar bids for sporting glory, soft power and legacy

When hosts Qatar meet Ecuador on 20 November it will be a landmark moment in international football as it will signal the start of the first World Cup Finals to be staged in the Middle East as well as the Arab world. With its...

Blogs, Infrastructure 6 September, 2022

International buyers and real estate in Turkey: a pressure cooker

Migration is currently one of the hot topics dominating everyday Turkish discourse. Although the exact figures are unclear, Turkey may have received as many as eight million foreign nationals over the last ten years, representing...

Blogs, Sport 4 August, 2022

A tale of two gym industries: Iran & the UAE

A recent study by global health and fitness body IHRSA suggests that consumer awareness in the MENA region of the importance of sport and exercise has spiked in the last decade, and that 25% of the population spend three to five...

Blogs, Sport 11 May, 2022

The PIF and LIV Golf — lessons on how to challenge the established order of world sport

Breakaway sporting competitions are almost as old as professional sport itself. Ever since 21 northern English rugby clubs set up their own League in 1895 over a row about wanting to pay their players, two codes of rugby have...

Blogs, Sport 11 April, 2022

Squash and the Egyptian formula for sporting success

“Success breeds success” is a saying that is often used to explain the kind of sporting dominance enjoyed by different nations at various times over the last century: think Hungary’s “Mighty Magyars” who were at the top of world...

Blogs, Sport 17 March, 2022

Soft power and the unstoppable rise of sport in the Middle East

If any doubts remained about the link between geopolitics and international sport, then the recent reaction of global sporting bodies to the Russia-Ukraine conflict has surely dispelled them....

Blogs, Sport 17 March, 2022

Diligencia to focus on sport in the Middle East & Africa

Later this year one of the world’s most watched sporting events, the FIFA World Cup, will be hosted in the Middle East for the first time, in Qatar....

Blogs, Sport 17 March, 2022

Bids for Chelsea FC: who are the ‘Saudi Media Group’?

Roman Abramovich’s decision to put Chelsea Football Club up for sale (shortly before he was sanctioned by the UK government for his links to Russian president Vladimir Putin) has already attracted a number of potential buyers....

Blogs, Clean energy 17 February, 2022

The challenges facing Iran's quest for clean and renewable energy

The latest in our series on clean energy in the Middle East and Africa takes a closer look at the progress being made in Iran in pursuit of reducing carbon emissions....

Blogs 17 January, 2022

Turkish TV drama, and other conversation starters

Studying the Middle East as a Turkish researcher is no easy task. There are the practical challenges of conducting fieldwork in the region – navigating visa restrictions that are often subject to the political relations between...

Blogs 4 January, 2022

Resolutions for 2022: Keep good company

While I generally try to avoid making ill-fated predictions and resolutions at this time of year, there are times when a passing comment or suggestion seems to put a new complexion on, and even set the tone for, the 12 months...