The MEED web site states, “MEED (Middle East Economic Digest) is internationally recognised as providing essential information for anyone doing business in, or with, the Middle East and North Africa. With journalists and contacts across the entire Middle East and North Africa region, MEED is considered unique, bringing you reliable, up-to-date business news, facts and data in both print and online.
MEED now attracts over 70,000 individual readers each week, across 70 countries worldwide. They rely on MEED to provide an independent and authoritative information service. People read MEED because it gives them practical information on which to base significant business decisions.”
As a division within the Emap media network MEED (print and online) have an extensive information network from which to source quality up-to-date news, analysis, and other relevant resources. All of this information does come at a cost though, as only the basic, surface level information appears to be free.
The costs, for example, of subscribing to the MEED web site and print version together for 1 year is £562.26 ($968), although they do offer a 10% discount if you subscribe for 2 years. The print publication is issued weekly.
Subscribing does give access to a good deal of extra, valuable information. Content is broken down into sections covering News by Industry (eg Petrochemicals, Oil & Gas, Power & Water) and News by Country (within the Middle East). There are other sections that give information on open tenders (broken down further by country), as well as going into some considerable depth on a range of special reports – e.g. Qatar – impact assessment, compressed natural gas, or enhanced oil recovery, etc. Subscription also permits access to the extensive 5-year archive of previous articles, publications and reports – which is all stored online and is fully searchable through the web site.
However, it is important to note that the publication and web site are predominantly information based – and therefore jobs, careers and recruitment are secondary aspects to what they do. The printed publication, for example, does not even feature vacancy listings (only business opportunities). The web site does have a link to International Construction jobs, but this links back to the Emap owned Careers in Construction – which is predominantly UK oriented (for example, a random search on the site for Middle East jobs showed there to be 29 positions being advertised out of a total of 1,195 on the site).
But this is not to undervalue the contribution that this site can make to any business in terms of the level of information available. Additionally, there is the facility for visitors to the site to subscribe to their FREE daily news bulletin – so it is our belief that if you’re interested in working in the Middle East, have a commercial and/or business interest there, then this web site should certainly be included within your online portfolio.
Disclaimer: this web site review reflects the opinions of one NES recruitment consultant and not necessarily those of the NES Group. It is intended for informational purposes only and not a recommendation or endorsement of the site.