years: 2024

July 2024 – Sherpa Communications is set to help Remotepass, a prominent remote team management and global payroll platform, announce its partnership with Clara, a leading digital legal and admin software provider.

This partnership combines Clara’s innovative company operating system with RemotePass’s expertise in remote workforce management. Together, they create a seamless experience for businesses dealing with the complexities of establishing foreign entities and managing cross-border teams.

Using Clara’s platform, businesses can digitally incorporate companies in a range of jurisdictions, manage their cap tables and generate and sign legal agreements. RemotePass’s robust payroll system handles multi-currency payments and local tax compliance, reducing the administrative burden on companies and ensuring compliance with local regulations in more than 100 countries. This partnership aims to empower businesses to expand their global footprint efficiently and compliantly.

The Middle East remote work market is expected to grow by 30% by 2025, highlighting the increasing demand for solutions that simplify remote team management and global payroll.

Together, Clara and RemotePass will offer an integrated solution that addresses the multifaceted challenges of legal documentation, compliance, payroll, and remote team management.

July 2024 – We are excited to announce that Sherpa Communications, with Anastasiya Golovatenko at the helm, has been selected to join the Dubai Business Women Council (DBWC). As a firm dedicated to strategic communication, we are deeply committed to supporting the growth and development of enterprises and a rising number of SMEs across the UAE and the broader region. Our membership with DBWC, an esteemed platform under the umbrella of the Dubai Chamber of Commerce known for advancing the professional and personal development of women in business, enhances our ability to empower more female entrepreneurs.

Through this collaboration, we aim to leverage our expertise to foster diversity, leadership, and empowerment in the business community. We are enthusiastic about the opportunities this membership will provide to further support female led businesses in Dubai/UAE.

June 2024: Sherpa Communications continues to support Yango, the international ride-hailing service, in its new partnership with Sparklo, a global cleantech company transforming the recycling industry. Through this collaboration, Sparklo users in Dubai can earn points by recycling plastic bottles and aluminum cans up to two liters using Sparklo’s innovative reverse vending machines, known as Sparklomats. These points can be redeemed for 10% and 20% discounts on Yango rides. This initiative marks the first phase of a major collaboration, highlighting Yango’s dedication to minimizing its environmental footprint and promoting eco-friendly practices.

This partnership is in line with the UAE’s environmental initiatives, such as the ban on single-use plastic bags in effect this month and Dubai Municipality’s goal to collect and recycle 3 million pieces of plastic packaging in the emirate. Yango’s commitment to contributing to the nation’s ESG objectives is demonstrated by using AI & data-powered mapping, routing, and navigation systems. These systems optimise route planning by analysing vast amounts of historical traffic data and real-time updates, to determine the most efficient routes, reducing travel time and fuel consumption while minimising carbon emissions.

Sparklo has been at the forefront of promoting sustainable practices worldwide through its cutting-edge software and hardware solutions that utilise AI and machine learning to optimise recycling processes. With over 250,000 users globally and key local partnerships like Dubai Municipality, Carrefour, Accor, and ADNOC, Sparklo has collected almost 30 million plastic bottles and aluminium cans worldwide. In the UAE alone, Sparklo has amassed over 150,000 users, making it the most popular sustainability app in the region. Each day, Sparklo collects more than 180,000 bottles and cans for recycling, which is equivalent to collecting 2.5 bottles per second and almost 2% of all consumption in the country

Users can start recycling today and enjoy the benefits of discounted rides in Dubai, contributing to a greener and more sustainable future. Sparklomats are conveniently located across Dubai and Abu Dhabi in supermarkets, malls, cinemas, petrol stations, and other public places. Users can easily locate the nearest Sparklomat using the Sparklo App, which features an interactive map.

This long-term partnership aims to bring even more convenience and value to the communities in the UAE, with plans to expand the initiative to Abu Dhabi in the coming months.

June 2024 – Sherpa Communications has assisted in announcing that Amsaan Accessible Tours (AAT) is a leading pioneer in inclusive tourism for Deaf and hard-of-hearing travelers. Operating from offices in both the UAE and the UK, AAT specializes in customized tours designed for Deaf individuals worldwide. With approximately 1.5 billion people globally experiencing varying degrees of hearing loss, the company’s primary goal is to establish an inclusive tourism environment that caters specifically to the needs of Deaf travelers, ensuring a seamless and enjoyable travel experience without barriers.

In the UK, the demand for accessible tours has been steadily increasing due to legal requirements, changing demographics, and rising awareness of accessibility rights. AAT is meeting this demand by providing comprehensive, Deaf-friendly travel solutions that cater to the unique needs of Deaf tourists. Research shows there is a high demand for more inclusive travel options worldwide, and oversight of the accessible tourism market has led to a US$150 billion loss. This underscores the need for Deaf tourism companies, like Amsaan, who have established strategic partnerships to create a more inclusive tourism ecosystem.

The company offers a Deaf accessible website with access to British and International sign language, sign language tours for Deaf travellers, excursions with Deaf tour guides, Deaf-friendly accommodations, accessible transport options, and extendable tours. The team uses more than eight different sign languages to ensure clear communication. To further enhance the travel experience, Amsaan offers an exclusive mobile app designed specifically for Deaf travellers, which includes useful travel information, detailed tour programmes, and an accessibility map, all interpreted in sign language, ensuring that necessary information is easily accessible.

Since the British Sign Language Act 2022, BSL has been recognised as an official language with its grammar and syntax. This recognition has prompted tour operators and attractions to provide BSL interpretation services, ensuring Deaf visitors can fully participate in guided tours and cultural experiences, underscoring the importance of linguistic diversity and inclusion in accessible tourism. This has influenced AAT’s expansion to create an inclusive tourism ecosystem and offer more opportunities for Deaf travellers to enjoy barrier-free travel experiences around the world.

The development of the Amsaan Tours mobile app, which includes accessible travel information, has facilitated the expansion by ensuring consistent service across all locations. Establishing partnerships with local service providers in new destinations has also allowed AAT to offer a wider range of excursions and activities, ensuring that Deaf travellers receive the same level of service and accessibility no matter where they go.

In response to increasing client demand, the company has announced new destinations for its UK offerings, including Spain and Greece, through the Amsaan Tours app. AAT plans to introduce more holiday spots for summer 2025 and beyond while expanding the app’s features.

The team is actively seeking partnerships with organisations within the UK to enhance tour offerings for Deaf clients. They will be attending a host of events this year where their Deaf staff will be available to showcase new destinations and answer any questions about their tours, including the Edinburgh Deaf Festival, the Festival Clin d’Oeil 2024 – France, and the Deaf International Festival 2024 – Italy.

June 2024 – Sherpa Communications is happy to help H-E-B spreading the news about the opening of a new e-commerce fulfillment center in Cibolo, Texas, to support curbside and home delivery orders throughout Cibolo, New Braunfels and surrounding cities around the San Antonio area.

The 55,000-square-foot facility marks H-E-B’s eighth e-commerce fulfillment center the company has opened since 2018 and features AutoStore empowered by Swisslog and operating on synchronized intelligence from Swisslog’s SynQ software. The most recent of these facilities was opened in Plano, Texas in July 2023.

Five members of the Swisslog team attended the ribbon-cutting ceremony to mark the opening of the facility and showcase the ongoing partnership between the two companies. Swisslog continues to help H-E-B achieve their automated fulfillment goals and provide unmatched service and support to their communities.

H-E-B said the e-commerce fulfillment center further expands the retailer’s commitment to integrate innovative technologies that drive omnichannel growth and provide a more convenient and better shopping experience for Texans. The company further explained that these facilities have enabled H-E-B to grow its supply chain capacity to help improve and power the expansion of its curbside and home delivery services, which are available at more than 270 stores in Texas.

With this facility now operational, H-E-B said it plans to continue to open additional facilities across the state to help support the retailer’s expansion plans.

May 2024: Sherpa Communications is delighted to support Mappable, the global company that brings powerful and highly customizable mapping solutions to local markets. On May 9^th, 2024,  Mappable announced the launch of its new product — the Neurogeocoder API, now available to all clients in the UAE.

The Neurogeocoder API, powered by machine learning and AI, is a game-changer in geospatial solutions, particularly in light of the projected 14.2% CAGR growth of the global digital map market by 2030. Unlike standard geocoders with fixed algorithms set by the development team, Neurogeocoder’s adaptive nature ensures precise results, even with unstructured location queries containing errors or typos. This advanced tool allows for the seamless display of user-entered addresses on maps and facilitates the transformation of map points into detailed street addresses, ensuring precise and reliable location results. By recognizing local expressions for districts, towers, and roads, the Neurogeocoder effectively links them to specific addresses or points, a feat beyond the capabilities of standard geocoders.

The Neurogeocoder API is a powerful tool for various industries, including e-commerce, real estate, food-tech, ride-tech, and logistics. It helps quickly translate large address volumes into coordinates and vice versa, as well as process intricate or locally specific location queries for different business scenarios. For e-commerce, the Neurogeocoder can enhance customer service by displaying pickup points on maps, allowing users to choose the most convenient location when placing orders. For real estate companies, the tool can accurately showcase property locations, helping potential buyers visualize the surroundings to make informed decisions when considering a purchase. For logistics services, the API optimizes operations by providing accurate addresses to managers for better cost estimation of deliveries, leading to increased operational efficiency and cost savings for the business.

In addition to the Neurogeocoder API, Mappable offers a comprehensive suite of solutions tailored to multiple business needs:

• Performative, customizable, and data-rich maps for clients’ websites, apps, or CRM.
• Automatic geo verification and easy search by address, coordinates, and other parameters.
• Navigation and route planning tools that take into account traffic and weather forecasts as well as other parameters, to help drivers, couriers, and other professionals efficiently move around the country.

All Mappable solutions provide extensive customization opportunities, and a wide range of licensing choices. The company has also launched an online self-service desk, which gives easy and fast access to its APIs — for trial or license purchase.

Applications are open until June 1st, 2024, inviting women-led ventures to demonstrate their innovation and business savvy to join a powerful network of changemakers

May 2024 – Sherpa Communications is proud to continue its tradition of supporting community-focused initiatives by extending an invitation to women-led businesses to apply and be part of the TiE Women 2024 initiative. On May 16th, 2024, the Dubai chapter of The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE) officially launched the fifth annual TiE Women MENA Program 2024. This empowering initiative is designed to support and elevate women entrepreneurs across the MENA region. The program now includes five categories: UAE, Emirati, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and the rest of the Middle East.

The competition kicks off with an application phase open until June 1st, 2024. Through several rounds of screening, an unbiased jury with TiE Dubai Charter members will select the top innovative ideas from each of the five categories. The selected finalists will showcase their ventures in five rigorous pitch competitions. The winners of these competitions prep for the MENA finals, previously hosted at the North Star Expand at GITEX. At every stage, the program will include mentorship sessions with renowned and experienced industry leaders, financial advisory services, strategy coaching, workshops on practical business planning, an online global accelerator program and tips to nail the perfect investor pitch. The competition will conclude with the Global Finals in December 2024.

The program seeks to create equal opportunities for women entrepreneurs to excel and contribute significantly to their economies. This year’s theme continues to highlight the role of women in business, with a focus on nurturing their skills through a structured framework. Participating startups undergo several stages of development, from initial application, through intensive 1:1 mentorship, to pitching their ideas in front of a seasoned panel of judges at the MENA and Global finals.

Global and regional winners will receive prizes and recognition for their accomplishments. In the past, winners have received equity-free cash prizes of up to $50,000 at the Global finals and up to $25,000 at the MENA finals in Dubai, and have gone on to achieve much more.

Women founders or co-founders from any industry who hold at least 33% equity, either individually or jointly, in businesses up to seven years old that operate from or for the MENA region are encouraged to apply. Application details and submission can be accessed through the official TiE Dubai website.

Dubai, UAE, 15^th January 2024 – Sherpa Communications, an award-winning B2B-focused communications agency based in Dubai, has been featured among Communicate’s Best Place to Work 2024, a list of organisations in MENA’s marketing and advertising sector that are actively working to create a workplace dedicated to cultivating environments that attract, retain, and support top-tier talent.

Communicate Magazine, a leading voice in the marketing, advertising, and creative industries, had a refined process to gather insights and analyse organisations based on their workplace initiatives, employee benefits, opportunities for professional development, and commitment to fostering diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) in their operations. This helped them shortlist companies that upheld commendable work policies, culture, and practices. Selection for this list was determined through an anonymous survey completed by employees, serving as the key factor in the shortlisting process.

On this occasion, Anastasiya Golovatenko, PR Director, at Sherpa Communications, said: “We are incredibly honoured to be recognised by Communicate as one of MENA’s Best Places to Work. This acknowledgement validates our commitment to fostering an inclusive, collaborative, and inspiring workplace where our team members can excel and grow professionally. At Sherpa, we believe in cultivating a culture of ‘sharing and caring’ among our team members, bridging connections and fostering collaboration. Our focus extends beyond mere business strategies; the company is a platform that cultivates professional growth opportunities, empowering our team, and nurturing a sense of belonging and purpose within the workplace.”

Sherpa Communications, an expert in Public Relations that understands the importance of human-centred approach, places a strategic emphasis on cultivating a robust corporate culture, recognizing its significance and importance. This conviction is supported by various studies, including a Glassdoor survey, which revealed that 77% of potential employees assess a company’s culture before applying. By implementing progressive initiatives and offering comprehensive professional development opportunities, Sherpa Communications cultivates an inclusive and supportive environment that encourages creativity and individual growth. Their commitment to pushing boundaries and fostering innovation ensures their employees feel valued and motivated to deliver their best.

For more information on Sherpa Communications, visit https://sherpacomms.com/ or contact the team at [email protected].

– End –

About Sherpa Communications

Sherpa Communications is a business consultancy and an award-winning B2B-focused communications agency based in Dubai. Providing services for companies within the UAE and the Middle East & Africa (MENA) region, Sherpa Communications supports businesses of any size and structure across various sectors. Operating as a full business partner and communication advisor, Sherpa Communications offers strategic business counsel, quality consultation, and strategic communication advice to its clients.