Due to the current situation with Covid-19, the Build Dubai March meeting was held online as a webinar, with a selected group of guests within the Design and build industry invited by our members.

This month we had two presenters – Brian Brennan, head of trade at Artemest, one of the world’s largest digital platforms for luxury design, and Build Dubai member, Gavin Kwas, senior manager platform commercialization at National Bank of Fujairah.

Titled “Craftmanship, Digital Economy and User Experience”, Brian introduced how Artemest supports highly-skilled producers, artisans and designers from Italy to adapt to the new digital economy and gives global visibility to unique products. Artemest is the leading online marketplace for Italian design and handmade luxury products, offering more than 50,000 products.

The e-commerce platform also features B2B trade program for architects and interior designers, allowing them to specify products for both residential and hospitality projects easily.

In a second presentation, titled “NBF Connect: The New Journey”, Gavin introduce the bank’s latest platform – NBF Connect, which is a dedicated and exclusive banking platform for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and the first of its kind in the UAE.
“NBF Connect is co-created with SMEs, this is the first time a bank joins hands with the SME community to create a platform of this kind “for SMEs, by SMEs,” explained Gavin.