KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 23 (Bernama) -- The TERA‑Award 2026 has been launched with a total prize pool of US$1.15 million to accelerate breakthrough energy technologies for climate solutions, with applications open until late April. (US$1=RM3.88)
The award has expanded its global reach through strategic collaborations with the United Nations Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL).
UNCTAD provides UN policy expertise and global networks to connect TERA-Award innovations with international markets for rapid deployment, while CISL strengthens evaluation through world-leading climate/energy research to identify commercially viable projects.
“By collaborating with international organisations and governments worldwide, we aim to accelerate the real-world deployment of TERA‑Award projects and deliver practical technology pathways for the global energy transition,” said TERA‑Award Organising Committee Executive Chairman, Alan Chan Ying-lung.
Founded in 2021 by Dr Peter Lee Ka‑kit, the TERA-Award has attracted nearly 2,000 projects from 76 countries and has awarded a total of US$4.65 million, positioning itself as an international platform combining prize funding, real-world applications, industry collaboration and capital support for frontier climate innovations.
In response to emerging technological challenges, TERA-Award 2026 will introduce two new categories alongside its four established tracks, namely AI × Energy and Next-Generation Energy, according to a statement.
The AI × Energy category promotes the integration of artificial intelligence into energy systems to enhance efficiency and resilience, while the Next-Generation Energy category expands beyond renewables to include advanced nuclear technologies.
Last year’s edition attracted 785 projects and concluded with an award ceremony at the University of Cambridge.
-- BERNAMA
Monday, 23 February 2026
AGIBOT Accelerates Singapore Engagement with Diversified Approaches and Deployment-Focused Initiatives
SINGAPORE, Feb 23 (Bernama-GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- AGIBOT, a leading robotics company specializing in embodied intelligence, is continuing to build its presence in Singapore following its initial market entry in 2025. Through a series of industry engagements, technical exchanges, and infrastructure visits, AGIBOT is engaging with local stakeholders to better understand the needs of Singapore’s aviation and infrastructure sectors and explore practical deployment opportunities.
“Singapore is an important strategic market for AGIBOT as we continue to grow our presence across Asia-Pacific,” said Abel Deng, President, Asia-Pacific & Middle East Region, AGIBOT. “Through our engagement here, we hope to better understand local industry needs and explore practical collaboration opportunities with partners in Singapore.”
Following its official market entry in Singapore in October 2025, AGIBOT initiated a new phase of local engagement on 11 February through participation in a Chinese New Year event held in Singapore. During the program, AGIBOT presented selected elements of its robotics portfolio, including a robotic dog demonstration. The event provided an opportunity to introduce its technological capabilities to invited guests from the business and professional community.
As part of its ongoing Singapore market engagement, AGIBOT took part in a blessing ceremony at Sentosa on 17 February, with subsequent activities held on 20 and 21 February. The events were attended by global tourists, invited guests, and business representatives. AGIBOT showcased its humanoid robotics in a hospitality environment, providing guests with an opportunity to observe its system design and mobility features. The event formed part of AGIBOT’s broader introduction of its robotics portfolio to the Singapore market.
Further advancing its deployment-oriented approach, AGIBOT featured its robotics technology at Changi Airport Terminal 5 (T5) in collaboration with Certis Group. The T5 display marked an important step in assessing robotics integration within one of the world’s leading aviation hubs. The showcase focused on evaluating operational suitability in complex, high-security and high-traffic environments, supporting continued exploration of intelligent systems within aviation and infrastructure settings.
According to global research firm Omdia, AGIBOT shipped more than 5,100 humanoid robots worldwide in 2025, ranking first globally in shipment. The milestone reflects AGIBOT’s industrial-scale production capability and expanding international footprint across research, industrial, and commercial environments.
In Singapore, AGIBOT is adopting a phased deployment strategy centred on controlled testing, operational feedback, and local collaboration. Rather than focusing solely on demonstration, AGIBOT is prioritising measurable performance assessment and alignment with real operational workflows to ensure long-term sustainability of humanoid robotics applications.
Beyond on-site evaluations, AGIBOT is exploring diversified market approaches in Singapore, including potential joint ventures, leasing collaborations, and the establishment of a regional experience centre to support technical demonstrations, system evaluation, and enterprise training. These initiatives are intended to facilitate knowledge exchange while ensuring that future robotics deployment models remain aligned with local operational expectations.
Through progressive engagement and practical deployment assessment, AGIBOT is steadily expanding its presence in Singapore as part of its broader Southeast Asia growth strategy.
For more information, please visit AGIBOT online at AGIBOT.com and follow AGIBOT on socials:
https://www.facebook.com/AGIBOT.zhiyuan
https://x.com/AGIBOT_zhiyuan
https://www.instagram.com/AGIBOT_
https://www.youtube.com/@AGIBOT-robot
About AGIBOT
AGIBOT is dedicated to driving innovation through the integration of AI and robotics, creating world-leading general-purpose embodied robot products and an application ecosystem. Built on the foundation of the robotic body and powered by the fusion of interaction, manipulation, and locomotion intelligence - "1 Robotic Body + 3 Intelligence" - AGIBOT is a leading robotics company in the industry to deliver a complete product portfolio and deploy across all major application scenarios. According to industry analysts, AGIBOT ranked No.1 globally in humanoid robot shipments in 2025.
Media Contacts:
Jason Liu
AGIBOT
liupeng1@agibot.com
Aineena Rozario (PR Consultant)
PNTR Group
aineena@pntr.group
Photos accompanying this announcement are available at:
https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/46075e45-1def-439c-adaf-4d5957c93a4f
https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/f8728799-a1b7-4225-bf39-f0a511429786
https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/08890cbc-97d5-45e7-8d2c-f918a66e9386
SOURCE: AgiBot Innovation (Shanghai) Technology Co., Ltd.
“Singapore is an important strategic market for AGIBOT as we continue to grow our presence across Asia-Pacific,” said Abel Deng, President, Asia-Pacific & Middle East Region, AGIBOT. “Through our engagement here, we hope to better understand local industry needs and explore practical collaboration opportunities with partners in Singapore.”
Following its official market entry in Singapore in October 2025, AGIBOT initiated a new phase of local engagement on 11 February through participation in a Chinese New Year event held in Singapore. During the program, AGIBOT presented selected elements of its robotics portfolio, including a robotic dog demonstration. The event provided an opportunity to introduce its technological capabilities to invited guests from the business and professional community.
As part of its ongoing Singapore market engagement, AGIBOT took part in a blessing ceremony at Sentosa on 17 February, with subsequent activities held on 20 and 21 February. The events were attended by global tourists, invited guests, and business representatives. AGIBOT showcased its humanoid robotics in a hospitality environment, providing guests with an opportunity to observe its system design and mobility features. The event formed part of AGIBOT’s broader introduction of its robotics portfolio to the Singapore market.
Further advancing its deployment-oriented approach, AGIBOT featured its robotics technology at Changi Airport Terminal 5 (T5) in collaboration with Certis Group. The T5 display marked an important step in assessing robotics integration within one of the world’s leading aviation hubs. The showcase focused on evaluating operational suitability in complex, high-security and high-traffic environments, supporting continued exploration of intelligent systems within aviation and infrastructure settings.
According to global research firm Omdia, AGIBOT shipped more than 5,100 humanoid robots worldwide in 2025, ranking first globally in shipment. The milestone reflects AGIBOT’s industrial-scale production capability and expanding international footprint across research, industrial, and commercial environments.
In Singapore, AGIBOT is adopting a phased deployment strategy centred on controlled testing, operational feedback, and local collaboration. Rather than focusing solely on demonstration, AGIBOT is prioritising measurable performance assessment and alignment with real operational workflows to ensure long-term sustainability of humanoid robotics applications.
Beyond on-site evaluations, AGIBOT is exploring diversified market approaches in Singapore, including potential joint ventures, leasing collaborations, and the establishment of a regional experience centre to support technical demonstrations, system evaluation, and enterprise training. These initiatives are intended to facilitate knowledge exchange while ensuring that future robotics deployment models remain aligned with local operational expectations.
Through progressive engagement and practical deployment assessment, AGIBOT is steadily expanding its presence in Singapore as part of its broader Southeast Asia growth strategy.
For more information, please visit AGIBOT online at AGIBOT.com and follow AGIBOT on socials:
https://www.facebook.com/AGIBOT.zhiyuan
https://x.com/AGIBOT_zhiyuan
https://www.instagram.com/AGIBOT_
https://www.youtube.com/@AGIBOT-robot
About AGIBOT
AGIBOT is dedicated to driving innovation through the integration of AI and robotics, creating world-leading general-purpose embodied robot products and an application ecosystem. Built on the foundation of the robotic body and powered by the fusion of interaction, manipulation, and locomotion intelligence - "1 Robotic Body + 3 Intelligence" - AGIBOT is a leading robotics company in the industry to deliver a complete product portfolio and deploy across all major application scenarios. According to industry analysts, AGIBOT ranked No.1 globally in humanoid robot shipments in 2025.
Media Contacts:
Jason Liu
AGIBOT
liupeng1@agibot.com
Aineena Rozario (PR Consultant)
PNTR Group
aineena@pntr.group
Photos accompanying this announcement are available at:
https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/46075e45-1def-439c-adaf-4d5957c93a4f
https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/f8728799-a1b7-4225-bf39-f0a511429786
https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/08890cbc-97d5-45e7-8d2c-f918a66e9386
SOURCE: AgiBot Innovation (Shanghai) Technology Co., Ltd.
Friday, 20 February 2026
Project B Taps Fashion Industry Veteran William Kim as Chief Lifestyle Officer
Global basketball platform merges elite sport with fashion, design, and culture
SINGAPORE. Feb 20 (Bernama-BUSINESS WIRE) -- Project B, an elite global women’s and men’s basketball grand prix built for a new generation of athletes and fans, today announced the appointment of William Kim as Chief Lifestyle Officer. In this strategic role, Kim will lead Project B’s premium lifestyle business across merchandise, brand collaborations, and cultural partnerships as Project B expands across Europe, Asia, and the Americas to create the most premium cultural platform in global sport.
“We are building a model designed for 2030 and beyond,” said Kim. “It starts with creating exceptional products. We’re sourcing the highest quality natural fibers for every moment in an athlete’s day and offering those same collections to the broader fan community. From design to supply chain to final consumer experience, we are operating with the same discipline and control as a luxury house, overseeing product, distribution, and brand experience holistically.”
Kim will lead Project B’s global lifestyle strategy, integrating sport, fashion, and community into a unified identity centered on quality and iconic design. He will oversee the development of high-quality performance apparel for athletes using natural fibers, elevated collections for fans, and brand collaborations tied to host cities and culture-defining partners. He will also shape an AI-driven commerce model built for a streaming-first, social-native platform, ensuring that product, distribution, and brand experience operate cohesively across markets.
“Basketball is culture,” said Geoff Prentice, Co-Founder of Project B. “From day one, we are building a premium platform rooted in uncompromising quality. Our collections will be crafted from natural fabrics with no synthetics and no shortcuts, designed and developed in house so we control the standard end to end. William understands how to build brands that live beyond the game, and his global perspective and design sensibility will be instrumental as we scale.”
Kim brings extensive international experience in brand building, retail innovation, and cultural strategy, with a track record of elevating global businesses at the intersection of sport, fashion, and consumer experience. He previously served as CEO of Shinsegae International, CEO of Rapha, CEO of AllSaints, Global EVP at Samsung Mobile, SVP at Burberry, and held executive roles within Gucci Group.
As Project B expands into key international markets the appointment signals the company’s commitment to building a global cultural platform that will outfit players and fans in the very best natural fibers and high-quality textiles.
About Project B
Project B is a global sports platform built for players and fans. Starting with basketball, Project B is creating a high-stakes, international tournament circuit featuring the world’s top men’s and women’s players, competing in world-class cities across Asia, Europe, and the Americas. Designed for a streaming, social, and mobile-first world, Project B combines live elite competition with deep storytelling, reaching audiences globally.
View source version on businesswire.com:
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260219529241/en/
Contact
Press Contacts
johanna@trailrunnerint.com
Source : Project B
SINGAPORE. Feb 20 (Bernama-BUSINESS WIRE) -- Project B, an elite global women’s and men’s basketball grand prix built for a new generation of athletes and fans, today announced the appointment of William Kim as Chief Lifestyle Officer. In this strategic role, Kim will lead Project B’s premium lifestyle business across merchandise, brand collaborations, and cultural partnerships as Project B expands across Europe, Asia, and the Americas to create the most premium cultural platform in global sport.
“We are building a model designed for 2030 and beyond,” said Kim. “It starts with creating exceptional products. We’re sourcing the highest quality natural fibers for every moment in an athlete’s day and offering those same collections to the broader fan community. From design to supply chain to final consumer experience, we are operating with the same discipline and control as a luxury house, overseeing product, distribution, and brand experience holistically.”
Kim will lead Project B’s global lifestyle strategy, integrating sport, fashion, and community into a unified identity centered on quality and iconic design. He will oversee the development of high-quality performance apparel for athletes using natural fibers, elevated collections for fans, and brand collaborations tied to host cities and culture-defining partners. He will also shape an AI-driven commerce model built for a streaming-first, social-native platform, ensuring that product, distribution, and brand experience operate cohesively across markets.
“Basketball is culture,” said Geoff Prentice, Co-Founder of Project B. “From day one, we are building a premium platform rooted in uncompromising quality. Our collections will be crafted from natural fabrics with no synthetics and no shortcuts, designed and developed in house so we control the standard end to end. William understands how to build brands that live beyond the game, and his global perspective and design sensibility will be instrumental as we scale.”
Kim brings extensive international experience in brand building, retail innovation, and cultural strategy, with a track record of elevating global businesses at the intersection of sport, fashion, and consumer experience. He previously served as CEO of Shinsegae International, CEO of Rapha, CEO of AllSaints, Global EVP at Samsung Mobile, SVP at Burberry, and held executive roles within Gucci Group.
As Project B expands into key international markets the appointment signals the company’s commitment to building a global cultural platform that will outfit players and fans in the very best natural fibers and high-quality textiles.
About Project B
Project B is a global sports platform built for players and fans. Starting with basketball, Project B is creating a high-stakes, international tournament circuit featuring the world’s top men’s and women’s players, competing in world-class cities across Asia, Europe, and the Americas. Designed for a streaming, social, and mobile-first world, Project B combines live elite competition with deep storytelling, reaching audiences globally.
View source version on businesswire.com:
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260219529241/en/
Contact
Press Contacts
johanna@trailrunnerint.com
Source : Project B
Thursday, 19 February 2026
Mavenir Collaborates with Red Hat to Deliver Carrier-Grade On-Premise Conversational AI and Agentic AI Service Assurance for Telcos
RICHARDSON, Texas, Feb 19 (Bernama-GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Mavenir, the software company building AI-by-design mobile networks, today announced a collaboration with Red Hat, the world's leading provider of open-source solutions, to deliver Conversational AI and Agentic AI service assurance solutions using Red Hat AI. These carrier-grade generative AI (gen AI) offerings are powered by Red Hat OpenShift AI running on-premise, empowering telecommunications service providers with a highly scalable, security-focused, resilient and cost-optimized foundation for network operations.
This collaboration is focused on transforming the telecommunications industry by providing service providers with AI solutions that leverage their existing platform investments while delivering additional security, resiliency, with low latency that is critical for real-time network operations.
With this effort, Mavenir provides AI solutions tailored to the telecommunications industry that are purpose built to be more cost-effective and more secure than hosted as-a-service AI solutions.
Sachin Karkala, EVP & General Manager, IMS & RAN of Mavenir, stated: "In the race to monetize AI and evolve to autonomous networks, service providers need control of the user experience, cost and data privacy. Our collaboration with Red Hat enables us to develop on-premise AI solutions that do just that. Generative AI models can be fine-tuned using service provider data to build specialized, on-premise agents helping deliver optimal performance."
With conversational AI, the industry is moving up the value chain from merely providing connectivity between entities, to AI agents taking over critical control of acting on the content and intent of the communication.
Agentic service assurance is a significant evolution of today's service assurance solutions relying on machine learning models alone. Agentic systems have a broader perspective, being able to create workflows and drive decision making between different domains in the network and disparate data sources. They adapt and self-learn, ultimately being able to detect and correct issues before they impact the customer.
As a step toward deployment readiness, Mavenir and Red Hat engaged with the Dell Technologies Open Telecom Ecosystem Lab (OTEL) which hosts an advanced AI infrastructure based on the Dell PowerEdge R760xa – a high-performance air-cooled server engineered for a wide range of applications, including AI, machine learning and deep learning-training and inferencing. Dell's OTEL AI experts collaborated with the Mavenir and Red Hat engineering teams to fine tune the large language model and maximize the solution's efficient use of the underlying infrastructure.
By deploying these solutions on-premise with Red Hat OpenShift AI, service providers can optimize the efficiency of their GPU resources, maintain full control of security and governance requirements and more easily manage the complex AI lifecycle.
Honoré LaBourdette, Vice President of the Global Telco Partner Ecosystem at Red Hat, commented: "For enterprise AI to move from proof-of-concept to production, it requires a validated foundation with mandatory components like guardrails, observability and a robust lifecycle. Red Hat OpenShift AI provides that necessary foundation. Together with Mavenir, we are demonstrating cost-effective GPU efficiency through tools like Kueue and Dynamic Accelerator Slicer (DAS) for multi-tenant resource sharing, which helps optimize utilization of high-dollar hardware investments. This, paired with low-latency model serving using vLLM, helps ensure that real-time applications like AI voice translation, achieve the deterministic performance the market demands, proving the tangible value of the on-premise model. This is our first announcement in a series of joint initiatives with Mavenir to leverage Red Hat AI technology."
About Mavenir
Mavenir is enabling intelligent, automated, programmable networks through the development of telco-first, cloud-native, AI-by-design software solutions for mobile operators. The company's deep telco domain expertise has been proven through deployments with 300+ operators globally in over 120 countries, which together serve more than 50% of the world's subscribers. Mavenir combines its deep telco experience with the cloud and IT expertise and data science skillsets essential to solving real customer challenges. Its proven software solutions are AI by design, delivering the AI-native future and operators' evolution to TechCos.
For more information, please visit www.mavenir.com.
Mavenir PR Contacts:
Emmanuela Spiteri
PR@mavenir.com
Red Hat, the Red Hat logo and OpenShift are trademarks or registered trademarks of Red Hat, Inc. or its subsidiaries in the U.S. and other countries.
SOURCE: Mavenir Systems, Inc.
This collaboration is focused on transforming the telecommunications industry by providing service providers with AI solutions that leverage their existing platform investments while delivering additional security, resiliency, with low latency that is critical for real-time network operations.
With this effort, Mavenir provides AI solutions tailored to the telecommunications industry that are purpose built to be more cost-effective and more secure than hosted as-a-service AI solutions.
Sachin Karkala, EVP & General Manager, IMS & RAN of Mavenir, stated: "In the race to monetize AI and evolve to autonomous networks, service providers need control of the user experience, cost and data privacy. Our collaboration with Red Hat enables us to develop on-premise AI solutions that do just that. Generative AI models can be fine-tuned using service provider data to build specialized, on-premise agents helping deliver optimal performance."
With conversational AI, the industry is moving up the value chain from merely providing connectivity between entities, to AI agents taking over critical control of acting on the content and intent of the communication.
Agentic service assurance is a significant evolution of today's service assurance solutions relying on machine learning models alone. Agentic systems have a broader perspective, being able to create workflows and drive decision making between different domains in the network and disparate data sources. They adapt and self-learn, ultimately being able to detect and correct issues before they impact the customer.
As a step toward deployment readiness, Mavenir and Red Hat engaged with the Dell Technologies Open Telecom Ecosystem Lab (OTEL) which hosts an advanced AI infrastructure based on the Dell PowerEdge R760xa – a high-performance air-cooled server engineered for a wide range of applications, including AI, machine learning and deep learning-training and inferencing. Dell's OTEL AI experts collaborated with the Mavenir and Red Hat engineering teams to fine tune the large language model and maximize the solution's efficient use of the underlying infrastructure.
By deploying these solutions on-premise with Red Hat OpenShift AI, service providers can optimize the efficiency of their GPU resources, maintain full control of security and governance requirements and more easily manage the complex AI lifecycle.
Honoré LaBourdette, Vice President of the Global Telco Partner Ecosystem at Red Hat, commented: "For enterprise AI to move from proof-of-concept to production, it requires a validated foundation with mandatory components like guardrails, observability and a robust lifecycle. Red Hat OpenShift AI provides that necessary foundation. Together with Mavenir, we are demonstrating cost-effective GPU efficiency through tools like Kueue and Dynamic Accelerator Slicer (DAS) for multi-tenant resource sharing, which helps optimize utilization of high-dollar hardware investments. This, paired with low-latency model serving using vLLM, helps ensure that real-time applications like AI voice translation, achieve the deterministic performance the market demands, proving the tangible value of the on-premise model. This is our first announcement in a series of joint initiatives with Mavenir to leverage Red Hat AI technology."
About Mavenir
Mavenir is enabling intelligent, automated, programmable networks through the development of telco-first, cloud-native, AI-by-design software solutions for mobile operators. The company's deep telco domain expertise has been proven through deployments with 300+ operators globally in over 120 countries, which together serve more than 50% of the world's subscribers. Mavenir combines its deep telco experience with the cloud and IT expertise and data science skillsets essential to solving real customer challenges. Its proven software solutions are AI by design, delivering the AI-native future and operators' evolution to TechCos.
For more information, please visit www.mavenir.com.
Mavenir PR Contacts:
Emmanuela Spiteri
PR@mavenir.com
Red Hat, the Red Hat logo and OpenShift are trademarks or registered trademarks of Red Hat, Inc. or its subsidiaries in the U.S. and other countries.
SOURCE: Mavenir Systems, Inc.
Friday, 13 February 2026
MAVENIR, TERRESTAR LAUNCH CANADA’S FIRST 3GPP-BASED HYBRID SATELLITE–CELLULAR IOT PLATFORM
KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 12 (Bernama) -- Mavenir, together with Terrestar Solutions Inc, Canada’s only domestically headquartered and controlled mobile satellite service operator, announced the commercial launch of Terrestar’s Hybrid Satellite Internet of Things (IoT) connectivity service.
The new service is Canada’s first domestically controlled hybrid satellite–cellular IoT platform built entirely on 3GPP Release 17 standards, designed to integrate seamlessly with existing and future mobile networks and to support resilient IoT services across urban, rural, remote and northern regions of the country.
The non-terrestrial service is delivered over Terrestar’s Echostar T1 geostationary satellite using licensed S band mobile satellite spectrum and powered by Mavenir’s cloud-native virtualised RAN (vRAN), Converged Packet Core, and network management and analytics solutions, integrated within Terrestar’s broader Hybrid IoT connectivity ecosystem.
Mavenir President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Pardeep Kohli said this deployment is a clear signal to the global operator community that 3GPP-based NTN is ready for commercial scale.
“By combining Mavenir’s cloud‑native vRAN and Converged Core with Terrestar’s satellite expertise, we have delivered a fully standards‑compliant, operator‑grade hybrid IoT network,” he said in a statement.
Meanwhile, Terrestar CEO, Jacques Leduc said launching Canada’s first standards-based hybrid satellite–cellular IoT platform is a major milestone for satellite connectivity in Canada, enabled by Mavenir’s cloud-native vRAN and core technology to deliver resilient nationwide IoT services and support future direct-to-device connectivity.
The deployment leverages Mavenir’s Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN) technology, purpose-built to meet mobile network operator regulatory and operational requirements worldwide.
The solution includes a 3GPP Release 17-based vRAN architecture, a fully containerised cloud-native Converged Packet Core delivering carrier-grade reliability and scalability for NTN services, and network service assurance through Mavenir’s mCMS, XA Analytics and managed services.
The commercial launch strengthens Mavenir’s position as a global leader in NTN-ready mobile network software and positions Terrestar as a pioneer in standards-based satellite-cellular integration.
The companies are also advancing additional capabilities, including voice and messaging over NTN, 5G NR NTN evolution, and expanded direct-to-device service models.
-- BERNAMA
HAMAT, RLC GLOBAL FORUM HONOUR RETAIL LEADERS IN RIYADH
KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 13 (Bernama) -- Hamat, together with RLC Global Forum, co-hosted the RLC Honors Gala Dinner on Feb 3, bringing together senior leaders from the global retail, luxury and consumer ecosystem for an evening recognising excellence, leadership and long-term impact.
Held on the sidelines of the 2026 RLC Global Forum, the RLC Honors recognise individuals whose careers have shaped businesses, industries and markets over time, while underscoring the role of consistent, responsible leadership through periods of change.
The 2026 RLC Honors were presented in an intimate setting in Riyadh in partnership with Hamat, a long-standing supporter of the RLC Global Forum and its international community.
Speaking at the ceremony, RLC Global Forum Chairman, Panos Linardos said the awards highlight consistency of leadership and depth of contribution across an entire career, while Hamat’s leadership underscored the importance of linking global insight with regional execution.
According to a statement, this year’s ceremony recognised two industry leaders whose influence has had a lasting impact on both global and regional retail.
Marco Bizzarri, Gucci’s former chief executive officer, received the Lifetime Achievement Award for Excellence in Luxury Retail, in recognition of his role in transforming the brand into a global cultural and commercial force.
Meanwhile, Ingie Chalhoub, Etoile Group Founder and President, was honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award for Pioneering Women’s Leadership in Retail for her contribution to the Middle East’s luxury retail development and women’s leadership.
Together, Hamat and RLC Global Forum, in partnership, reaffirmed their shared commitment to strengthening cross-border collaboration and supporting a more resilient, forward-looking global retail industry.
-- BERNAMA
Held on the sidelines of the 2026 RLC Global Forum, the RLC Honors recognise individuals whose careers have shaped businesses, industries and markets over time, while underscoring the role of consistent, responsible leadership through periods of change.
The 2026 RLC Honors were presented in an intimate setting in Riyadh in partnership with Hamat, a long-standing supporter of the RLC Global Forum and its international community.
Speaking at the ceremony, RLC Global Forum Chairman, Panos Linardos said the awards highlight consistency of leadership and depth of contribution across an entire career, while Hamat’s leadership underscored the importance of linking global insight with regional execution.
According to a statement, this year’s ceremony recognised two industry leaders whose influence has had a lasting impact on both global and regional retail.
Marco Bizzarri, Gucci’s former chief executive officer, received the Lifetime Achievement Award for Excellence in Luxury Retail, in recognition of his role in transforming the brand into a global cultural and commercial force.
Meanwhile, Ingie Chalhoub, Etoile Group Founder and President, was honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award for Pioneering Women’s Leadership in Retail for her contribution to the Middle East’s luxury retail development and women’s leadership.
Together, Hamat and RLC Global Forum, in partnership, reaffirmed their shared commitment to strengthening cross-border collaboration and supporting a more resilient, forward-looking global retail industry.
-- BERNAMA
FENGDU ORANGES POWER MODERN AGRICULTURE, RURAL PROSPERITY IN CHONGQING
KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 12 (Bernama) -- The harvest season is in full swing in Longkong Town of Fengdu County, a major orange-producing hub in west China’s Chongqing Municipality, as freshly picked fruit moves rapidly from orchards to nationwide markets through an increasingly modernised supply chain.
At the Common Prosperity Orange Orchard in Nanzhu Village, crates of oranges are transported directly to Fengdu Orange’s integrated production base, where the fruit is cleaned, polished, dried, graded and packaged before being shipped across the country.
According to a statement, to ensure smooth operations during the peak harvest is Bai Xiaohua, director of a local agricultural development professional cooperative, who coordinates picking schedules between orchards and processing facilities while personally overseeing quality control.
Raised among orange trees, Bai founded the cooperative in 2018 to organise scattered growers and promote standardised, large-scale citrus production through unified management.
To strengthen technical capacity, Bai conducts monthly on-site training sessions for farmers and has actively introduced modern practices. After completing professional agricultural programmes and study visits across China, he obtained a drone operation licence in 2020 and pioneered the use of drones for orchard management, which has since been adopted across the cooperative.
His efforts reflect the broader upgrading of Fengdu’s orange industry. Longkong Town now has 25,000 mu of orange orchards, producing more than 30,000 tonnes annually with an output value of 110 million Chinese yuan. Its citrus received National Geographical Indication trademark certification in 2011. (100 Chinese yuan = RM56.58)
Nanzhu Village was named a national speciality product demonstration village in 2019, while Fengdu oranges have been exported to the Middle East and other markets, establishing a strong regional brand.
Countywide, Fengdu Orange covers 52,500 mu, with an annual output reaching 70,000 tonnes and a total income of 150 million Chinese yuan. Through cooperative organisation, digital tools and brand development, the local orange industry is evolving from a traditional speciality into a modern agricultural value chain driving sustained rural prosperity
-- BERNAMA
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