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22 Local Startups Nominated for Saudi Entertainment Industry

Saudi Arabia’s entertainment sector is witnessing an unprecedented leap. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Saudi Arabia’s entertainment sector is witnessing an unprecedented leap. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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22 Local Startups Nominated for Saudi Entertainment Industry

Saudi Arabia’s entertainment sector is witnessing an unprecedented leap. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Saudi Arabia’s entertainment sector is witnessing an unprecedented leap. (Asharq Al-Awsat)

The General Entertainment Authority has nominated 22 startups for the first Entertainment Business Accelerator, which aims to provide support for entrepreneurs interested in the sector.

The authority launched the business accelerator on Feb. 26, in a step that seeks to empower local competencies and emerging projects, given the unprecedented leap in recreational activities, in line with the Kingdom’s trends to diversify sources of income and increase non-oil revenues.

The program is intensifying its services for a period of 12 weeks, and aims to raise local competencies and empower entrepreneurs and startups in the field of entertainment by offering them workshops and guidance, and connecting them to a wide network of investors in the sector.

Entertainment projects in Saudi Arabia have proven their success in diversifying sources of income and increasing contribution to the gross domestic product, in addition to creating a number of jobs for male and female citizens.

The Business Accelerator program will enable startups to expand their business in the field of entertainment, by competing to provide the best quality of services in line with the government’s ambition and create multiple jobs for Saudis, in addition to diversifying sources of income and raising the sector’s contribution to the gross domestic product.

Observers believe that the program will contribute to raising local competencies and enhance the Kingdom’s readiness to host major entertainment projects.

Turki Al-Sheikh, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the General Entertainment Authority, said in earlier remarks that with the support of Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, entertainment events held by the Authority from 2019 until the first quarter of this year attracted more than 120 million visitors - a record number that highlights the government’s interest in this vital and promising sector.

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Varieties

Ozempic Hailed as 'Fountain of Youth' that Slows Aging

The is available under the brand names Wegovy and Ozempic (Photo by Reuters)
The is available under the brand names Wegovy and Ozempic (Photo by Reuters)
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Ozempic Hailed as 'Fountain of Youth' that Slows Aging

The is available under the brand names Wegovy and Ozempic (Photo by Reuters)
The is available under the brand names Wegovy and Ozempic (Photo by Reuters)

The anti-obesity drug Ozempic could slow down ageing and has “far-reaching benefits” beyond what was imagined, researchers have suggested.

Multiple studies have found semaglutide (available under the brand names Wegovy and Ozempic) reduced the risk of death in people who were obese or overweight and had cardiovascular disease without diabetes, The Independent reported.

Responding to research published in JACC, the flagship journal of the American College of Cardiology, Professor Harlan M Krumholz from the Yale School of Medicine, said: “Semaglutide, perhaps by improving cardiometabolic health, has far-reaching benefits beyond what we initially imagined.”

He added: “These ground-breaking medications are poised to revolutionise cardiovascular care and could dramatically enhance cardiovascular health.”

Multiple reports also quoted Professor Krumholz saying: “Is it a fountain of youth?”

He said: “I would say if you’re improving someone’s cardiometabolic health substantially, then you are putting them in a position to live longer and better.

“It’s not just avoiding heart attacks. These are health promoters. It wouldn’t surprise me that improving people’s health this way actually slows down the ageing process.”

The studies, presented at the European Society of Cardiology Conference 2024 in London, were produced from the Select trial which studied 17,604 people aged 45 or older who were overweight or obese and had established cardiovascular disease but not diabetes.

They received 2.4 mg of semaglutide or a placebo and were tracked for more than three years.

A total of 833 participants died during the study with 5 percent of the deaths were related to cardiovascular causes and 42 per cent from others.

Infection was the most common cause death beyond cardiovascular, but it occurred at a lower rate in the semaglutide group than the placebo group.

People using the weight-loss drug were just as likely to catch Covid-19, but they were less likely to die from it – 2.6 percent dying among those on semaglutide versus 3.1 per cent on the placebo.

Researchers found women experienced fewer major adverse cardiovascular events, but semaglutide “consistently reduced the risk” of adverse cardiovascular outcomes regardless of sex.

Dr Benjamin Scirica, lead author of one of the studies and a professor of cardiovascular medicine at Harvard Medical School, said: “The robust reduction in non-cardiovascular death, and particularly infections deaths, was surprising and perhaps only detectable because of the Covid-19-related surge in non-cardiovascular deaths.

“These findings reinforce that overweight and obesity increases the risk of death due to many etiologies, which can be modified with potent incretin-based therapies like semaglutide.”

Dr Jeremy Samuel Faust, an emergency medicine physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, praised the researchers for adapting the study to look at Covid-19 when the pandemic started.

He said the findings that the weight-loss drug to reduce Covid-19 mortality rates were “akin to a vaccine against the indirect effects of a pathogen.”