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Empower and Elevate: Canon Central and North Africa Announce the ‘Women in Sales’ Programme

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Canon

The women-only initiative was rolled out during International Women’s Month last year in 2022, with the objective to identify 10 fresh-graduate women and provide them with skill-enhancing opportunities

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, March 9, 2023/APO Group/ — 

In alignment with the company’s core philosophy of ‘Kyosei’, meaning living and working together for the common good, Canon (Canon-CNA.com) will continue its ‘Women in Sales’ programme for the second year in a row, in its endeavor to empower young women; The initiative reinforces Canon’s commitment to gender-equality, emphasizing an enhanced need for female representation in sales through its year-long programme, centering internship and mentorship opportunities for young women in Central and North Africa.

Canon Central and North Africa announced the second-year continuation of its ‘Women in Sales’ programme, aligned to address the growing need for women representation in sales management by empowering them through dedicated internship and mentorship opportunities designed to advance their skills and knowledge.

The women-only initiative was rolled out during International Women’s Month last year in 2022, with the objective to identify 10 fresh-graduate women and provide them with skill-enhancing opportunities such as trainings with mentors and blended/experiential learnings from across various regions in Central and North Africa. The selected participants were offered a year-long holistic training with the opportunity to be employed full-time by Canon. As a successful outcome of the programme, 7 out of 10 women were offered full-time employment at Canon while various others were supported in embarking on their career journey in sales. Out of the seven women who went on to pursue full-time roles with Canon, three were chosen from Turkey, two from Saudi Arabia, one from Kenya, and one from UAE.

Key to Progress – Equal Amplification of Opportunities 

As an extension of Canon’s overarching guiding principle of ‘Kyosei’, meaning living and working together for the common good, the 2023 ‘Women in Sales’ programme will focus primarily on gender-inclusivity and amplification of equal opportunities for men and women alike. Given the lack of female-led roles in Sales across the industry, the initiative will drive progressive opportunities for women allowing them to hone their skills. The 2023 programme will again invite young, fresh-graduate women to engage and learn, however with an augmented goal of targeting 17 full-time positions across Turkey, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Morocco, Kenya, Egypt, and Ivory Coast.

Women empowerment has always been a priority for Canon, and it is reflected through our various endeavors that are designed with the intent to support this cause. The overwhelming response received during last year convinced us that we need to continue this progressive path of empowerment and inclusivity. We are delighted to see that we exceeded our initial goal of converting 50% of the selected women into full-time employees, which proves that more women need to come forward and be supported in their sales careers. Celebrating the success of last year, we are now setting our eyes on 2023 with heightened goals,” says Veronica Juul-Nyholm, HR Director, Canon Middle East, Central North Africa, and Turkey.

Women empowerment has always been a priority for Canon, and it is reflected through our various endeavors that are designed with the intent to support this cause

Educate, Empower, and Excel

The launch of the ‘Women in Sales’ initiative was lauded by the managing director of the company and has also been awarded for its people-centric approach in alignment with the company’s core beliefs. Beginning in February 2022, 10 women participants namely Rahaf Alharbi, Ruba Moafa, and Fatima Alamer from Riyadh – Saudi Arabia, Sila Uçar, Billur Konukçu, and Senab Bayram from Istanbul – Turkey, Ajuma Gabriel from Lagos – Nigeria, Hind Abdoudaime from Casablanca – Morocco, Scholarstica Ochieng from Nairobi – Kenya, and Shahnaz Bhandari from Dubai – UAE, were invited to become part of the ‘Women in Sales’ programme. The first phase of the programme focused on education, the second on the execution aspect of learning followed by certification and onboarding of successful participants as permanent Canon employees.

“Canon’s commitment to the environment, education, and empowerment is clearly reflected in its internal and external initiatives. From my experience as a trainee, I feel the ‘Women in Sales’ programme is very cleverly and objectively designed to give interns the opportunity to become full-time employees – the growth is supported from every direction during the training phase so they can be confident when it’s time for a transition into full-time roles. I feel privileged to have received this chance to learn and grow under a company like Canon, remarked Ajuma Gabriel, who joined the Women in Sales programme from Nigeria as a Sales Trainee at Canon.

A Stepping-Stone for Success

Announcing the continuation of its ‘Women in Sales’ programme for 2023, Canon envisions celebrating this International Women’s Day by providing women with a platform that acts as a stepping-stone for success in their sales careers. Last year’s 12-month programme was divided into two parts, the training programme, and the on-the-job experience. Each participant was also assigned a mentor to ensure support and guidance for every woman that participated in the programme.

Selected participants from the programme also received an opportunity to be part of meet and greets, as well as conferences in Dubai to align with the company’s greater women in sales objective. The women participants were also recognized by fellow company leaders and colleagues for their contribution towards different company events, such as during their diversity, equity, and inclusion presentation during the Human Resources Learning and Development Conference. The 2022 ‘Women in Sales’ programme culminated in a graduation ceremony that honored the efforts of all participants in the presence of Canon’s senior leadership team.

“It was always a dream for me to work for a global organization like Canon with a fast-paced environment that is full of opportunities and challenges to grow, learn, and excel. And receiving this opportunity to first learn as an intern and then work as a full-time employee was really a dream come true for me. My role at Canon today allows me to work with an international team as big as 46 people, and that’s how great it gets! I am amazed at how far I have come from being an intern to an employee working on such big projects now; I am very thankful to Canon for it,” said Scholarstica Ochieng from Nairobi, Kenya, previous participant and now, Sales Support Supervisor at Canon.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Canon Central and North Africa (CCNA).

Business

Frasers Hospitality unveils Fraser Suites Reserve, a new luxury serviced living brand

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Fraser Suites

Fraser Suites Reserve Bangkok starts welcoming guests at One Bangkok in December 2026
SINGAPORE – Media OutReach Newswire – 22 September 2026 – Frasers Hospitality, a business unit of Frasers Property, today announced Fraser Suites Reserve, a new luxury serviced living brand created for discerning global travellers seeking the privacy, ease and familiarity of home while away, complemented by the service and standards of luxury hospitality.

Building on Frasers Hospitality’s longstanding expertise and established track record in extended stays, Fraser Suites Reserve addresses a distinct segment at the luxury end of the market. Its introduction further sharpens the company’s portfolio of clearly differentiated brands.

 




 
 

“Fraser Suites Reserve represents the next strategic step in strengthening our portfolio,” said Eu Chin Fen, Chief Executive Officer, Frasers Hospitality. “It draws on our experience in long stays, while responding to the evolving expectations of an increasingly sophisticated segment of travellers accustomed to the world’s finest hospitality.”

Time for what matters

Fraser Suites Reserve is anchored in the belief that time is the ultimate luxury for today’s global professionals. Each property brings together refined design, intuitive service, curated wellness and lifestyle experiences intended to make life away from home easier, leaving guests free to focus on what matters most, whether their work, wellbeing, relationships or personal pursuits.

Designed as private sanctuaries within the city, its rooms are designed to offer privacy and calm. Many feature integrated kitchenettes, allowing guests to maintain familiar routines of home while away, an independence that becomes particularly valuable during longer stays. The experience is complemented by the discreet yet highly personalised service of luxury hospitality.

Beyond the rooms, guests can enjoy distinctive dining concepts, wellness and leisure experiences on property, as well as Club Frasers, a private lounge designed for conversation, connection and curated experiences.

“For guests accustomed to the highest standards, luxury service gives the assurance that every detail has been carefully thought through and every need understood,” said Chew Hang Song, Chief Operating Officer, Frasers Hospitality. “With Fraser Suites Reserve, this means providing an experience that feels immediately familiar and deeply human, supported by service that is warm and intuitive, yet respectful of their privacy.”

Wellbeing, made part of everyday

Holistic wellbeing is integrated into the Fraser Suites Reserve experience. At Fraser Suites Reserve Bangkok, the House of Rejuvenation will offer a dedicated environment for recovery and renewal, pairing therapist-led treatments with advanced wellness facilities such as thermal pools, cold plunges, compression therapy, dry flotation and red-light therapy.

Guests will also have access to The Wellness Edit, Frasers Hospitality’s proprietary global wellness programme. Through simple, repeatable everyday rituals that can be incorporated naturally into a guest’s stay, the programme is designed to integrate wellbeing with simple gestures, making wellbeing easier to sustain even amid demanding schedules and frequent travel.

Global debut at One Bangkok

Fraser Suites Reserve Bangkok, the brand’s first property, will begin welcoming guests in December 2026 as part of a phased opening. Its grand opening is planned for March 2027 when the complete range of facilities and experiences will be available.

The 255-room property will occupy the top ten floors of a 45-storey premium office and retail tower at One Bangkok, located right in the heart of Bangkok at the intersection of Rama IV Road and Wireless Road, with panoramic views of the Bangkok skyline and Chao Phraya River with easy access to Bangkok’s dining, entertainment and cultural attractions. Further details to be announced in the coming months.

Find out more about Fraser Suites Reserve at frasershospitality.com/en/our-brands/fraser-suites-reserve/

NOTE:
For more information, please visit www.frasershospitality.com.

About Frasers Hospitality
Frasers Hospitality is a leading investor-operator within the lodging sector, backed by 28 years of proven expertise. Frasers Hospitality specialises in optimising and managing hospitality assets to deliver sustainable value for its stakeholders. As a business unit of Frasers Property Limited, its presence spans Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

With a diversified portfolio of over 100 lodging assets across geographies and segments, Frasers Hospitality offers a comprehensive end-to-end ecosystem of bespoke lodging expertise and solutions to maximise performance, value and growth for its partners across the real estate value chain. Frasers Hospitality is a trusted expert and preferred partner within the lodging sector with a proven track record and a business model optimised to deliver value.

Frasers Hospitality is distinguished by its style of hospitality from their progressive mindset that fosters innovation and matched with an award-winning brand portfolio tailored to new ways of travelling, living and socialising. Recognised globally for our commitment to hospitality excellence, Frasers Hospitality has earned numerous industry accolades and awards, showcasing its leadership in delivering exemplary, quality services, and curating memorable, life-enriching experiences for its guests and residents – by people, for people.

For more information on Frasers Hospitality, please visit www.frasershospitality.com or follow us on LinkedIn.

About Frasers Property Limited
Frasers Property Limited (“Frasers Property” and together with its subsidiaries, the “Frasers Property Group” or the “Group”) is an integrated investor-developer-operator of real estate products and services. Listed on the Main Board of the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Limited (“SGX-ST”) and headquartered in Singapore, the Group has total assets of approximately S$40.0 billion as at 31 March 2026.

Frasers Property operates across five asset classes: industrial & logistics, retail, commercial & business parks, residential and hospitality. Its businesses span Southeast Asia, Australia, Europe and China, and its well-established hospitality business owns and/or operates serviced apartments and hotels in 20 countries.

The Group is the sponsor of real estate investment trusts (“REITs”), Frasers Centrepoint Trust and Frasers Logistics & Commercial Trust, listed on the SGX-ST, as well as Frasers Property Thailand Industrial Freehold & Leasehold REIT and Golden Ventures Leasehold Real Estate Investment Trust, listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand.

Guided by its purpose of inspiring experiences and creating places for good, the Group promotes an ESG framework that supports long-term value creation through focus areas such as transparent governance, sustainable finance, inclusive communities and reducing its carbon emissions. Frasers Property aims to deliver lasting shared value for its customers, people, investors and communities, while fostering a progressive, collaborative and respectful culture.

For more information on Frasers Property, please visit frasersproperty.com or follow us on LinkedIn.
 




 

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Energy

Building a Knowledge Hub for China-ASEAN Energy Cooperation

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ASEAN

NANNING, CHINA – Media OutReach Newswire – 21 September 2026 – During the 23rd China-ASEAN Expo and the China-ASEAN Business and Investment Summit, China Southern Power Grid showcased a range of innovations designed to support energy cooperation between China and ASEAN. These included the DaWatt – Lao Language Large Language Model (LLM) for the Energy and Power Sector V2.0 and the Flexible Grayscale Intelligent Monitoring & Analysis Platform for power system cybersecurity, highlighting expanding opportunities for cooperation in digitalization, intelligent technologies and green energy.

The Lao-language LLM has been deployed at Electricité du Laos Transmission Company Limited (EDL-T), where it can automatically analyze thousands of inspection images within a short period of time. After its algorithms were optimized for Laos’ mountainous and rainforest terrain, the model completed intelligent inspection analysis for four transmission lines, processing 26,000 drone inspection images and identifying more than 3,600 equipment defects.

 




 
 

Liu Ying, general manager of the Digitalization Department at Guangxi Power Grid Co., Ltd., said the company has been building multilingual professional corpora for the power sector, covering ASEAN countries including Laos, Vietnam and Malaysia. Drawing on the capabilities of the DaWatt foundation model, the company is developing energy and power models tailored to ASEAN languages and real-world power industry applications.

Talent development is another focus of the cooperation. The China-ASEAN Institute of Energy, jointly established by Guangxi Power Grid Co., Ltd. and Guangxi University, is exploring an industry-university training model with a strong emphasis on practical experience. So far, two cohorts totaling 53 students from ASEAN countries have enrolled.

Cooperation is also evolving from one-way training toward joint innovation. Guangxi Power Grid Co., Ltd. and the Royal Academy of Cambodia have jointly established a laboratory for artificial intelligence and safety equipment, while the company has also launched peer-to-peer exchanges with Electricité du Laos on improving power supply reliability.

To address language barriers in cross-border technical exchanges, Guangxi Power Grid Co., Ltd. has developed an AI-powered translation platform backed by a specialized database containing terminology for more than 1,800 types of power equipment. The platform supports accurate translation between Chinese and English, Chinese and Lao, and Chinese and Vietnamese.

At a recent training program for Chinese and overseas engineers, the system supported one-click generation of bilingual course materials and real-time speech translation, helping participants navigate highly specialized power-sector terminology.

To support regular international exchanges, Guangxi Power Grid Co., Ltd. has also established an international talent pool covering management, technical and skilled personnel. It has developed 24 hours of courses on international affairs as well as 20 short-form video courses.

“This year, we will also explore joint postgraduate programs with universities in ASEAN countries,” said Sun Xiaohua, deputy director of the Human Resources Department at Guangxi Power Grid Co., Ltd.

Looking ahead, Guangxi Power Grid Co., Ltd. plans to further advance a development model featuring “R&D in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdong, integration in Guangxi, and application in ASEAN.” The company will continue expanding its multilingual power-sector corpora and explore a “Token Goes Global” model for power-sector AI, with computing resources and models based in Guangxi while knowledge services are delivered overseas. The effort is aimed at creating new forms of China-ASEAN energy cooperation and supporting the green development of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area 3.0.
 




 

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Events

24th Sichuan Guangwu Mountain International Red Leaf Festival to Showcase Asia’s Spectacular Autumn Colors

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Red Leaf Festival

BAZHONG, CHINA – Media OutReach Newswire – 21 September 2026 – The 24th Sichuan Guangwu Mountain International Red Leaf Festival will run from October 1 to November 18 at the Guangwu Mountain Tourism Area in Bazhong, Sichuan Province, China.

Located in southwest China, Guangwu Mountain boasts a forest coverage rate of 97%, earning its reputation as a “natural oxygen bar.” Each autumn, 680 square kilometers of mountain forests burst into a dazzling palette. Over 40 tree species, including Fagus pashanica, maples and lindens, weave the mountains into a stunning autumn landscape.

Known as “Asia’s longest natural red carpet,” the Mountain has become a top autumn destination for backpackers, photographers and travelers seeking immersive cultural and nature experiences, and is widely recognized as one of western China’s signature autumn attractions.

 




 
 

The tourism area caters to international visitors who prefer slower-paced, in-depth, off-the-beaten-path travel. The new Yanziling Loop Boardwalk, launched in May 2026, winds along mountain cliffs, with a sea of clouds rolling beneath visitors’ feet and brilliant foliage unfolding alongside the trail, creating the feeling of “stepping into a painting.”

Guangwu Mountain offers a wealth of outdoor attractions. Highlights include the 1,888-meter Red Leaf Coaster and a glass water slide certified by Guinness World Record, combining thrilling experiences with stunning natural scenery.

The large-scale immersive production “New Dream of Guangwu Mountain” integrates cutting-edge light and visual technology with Bashan folklore and traditions, transforming the forest into an atmospheric nighttime experience. Visitors can also enjoy welcome performances and interactive robot activities, which offer more ways to discover the mountain’s late-autumn charm.

A major highlight of this year’s festival is the newly completed Micang Avenue. Stretching 85 kilometers, the route connects seven core scenic spots, including Guangwu Mountain, Micang Mountain, and Nuoshui River, reducing a four-hour drive to just one hour. Lined with continuous stretches of colorful forest and layered peaks, the avenue brings brand-new travel experiences for autumn foliage enthusiasts.

The festival will also feature cultural, sports and international exchange activities, including the third season of the “Sending You a Red Leaf” campaign, the China Micang Avenue International Road Cycling Race, and the “World Red Leaf Landmark” global collection campaign.

In addition, 31 scenic attractions and 18 museums and cultural venues across Bazhong will provide special ticket offers and visitor benefits during the festival.

Across mountains and seas, Guangwu Mountain invites visitors from around the world to witness one of China’s most vibrant red-and-gold autumn displays.
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
 
 




 

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