14-times FIA Middle East champion back in action to support Al Qassimi initiative to revive rallying in UAE

Together they formed the most successful partnership in Arab rallying history, securing the Middle East title ten times and enjoying an unprecedented level of international rally success in the Middle East and overseas.

Sulayem has accepted an invitation to compete in the Sharjah Rally from Sheikh Abdullah Al Qassimi, founder and President of the Emirates Motorsport Club, organisers of the UAE National Rally Championship

“When Sheikh Abdullah asked me to enter I couldn’t turn him down,” said Sulayem, President of the Automobile and Touring Club of the UAE.

“He is doing so much good work to revive rallying in the UAE, and I have to support him and do what I can to promote a sport which has given me so much in my life. If my appearance can help to encourage more young Emiratis to take up rallying, or persuade some of our older local competitors to return, that will be very satisfying.”

Sulayem and Morgan will compete in the rebuilt Ford Escort WRC which they took to victory in the 1999 Jordan International Rally, the car’s last competitive event.

Said Sulayem: “I’m excited, I’m a little nervous, and I really don’t know what to expect after being out of rallying for more than 12 years. I’ve prepared as well as I can in a very short period of time. I’ve been able to do a little bit of testing in the desert and I’ll get some practice on the route before the rally and just take it from there.

“Ronan was surprised as anyone when I told him I’d be entering the event. He retired a year before I did and, like myself until recently, thought his rallying days were well behind him. But we both want to give something back to this sport we love, which is where motor sport started in the Middle East back in the 1970s.

“Rallying has been overtaken by other motor sport disciplines in recent years. But it’s is my passion and, like Sheikh Abdullah, I want to see it go from strength to strength again in the future here in the UAE and across the region.”

Sulayem and Morgan, who are top seeds in the Sharjah Rally, will be reunited with some great rallying friends in the event, which gets under way from Sharjah Corniche at 11am on Saturday. They include Sheikh Abdullah and his long-time co-driver, Gaby Khoury, and veteran Lebanese driver Michel Saleh and Ahmad Ghaziri.

Sulayem first entered rallying in 1982, winning in his first event, a local rally in Dubai, to launch a remarkable career which took him to more FIA titles and international tally victories than any driver in history.

He captured the FIA Middle East title for the first time in 1986, winning it the next five years, again in 1994 and seven years in a row from 1996 before retiring.  His first overseas rally win came in Turkey in 1991. He also recorded World Rally Championship Group N victories in Spain and Argentina over the next two years.

His achievements brought him widespread recognition, including medals of honour from King Hussein of Jordan and Lebanese President Emile Lahoud. In 1999, he was named       UAE Sportsman of the Century by Agence France-Press.

Sulayem took over as President of the ATCUAE in 2006 and two years later became the first Arab to be elected Vice President of the FIA and member of the World Motor Sport Council. Morgan is now the ATCUAE’s General Manager

The post RECORD-BREAKER SULAYEM STEPS OUT OF RETIREMENT FOR UAE NATIONAL RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP appeared first on Core Sector Communique.

New Delhi/ Mumbai, May 29, 2014: PolicyBazaar.com, the leading destination for online insurance in India, today announced that it has raised $20 million (INR Rs 119 crore) in a Series C round of funding. The capital is expected to be utilized to further strengthen the portal’s technology and place increased emphasis on brand awareness. The company’s existing investors did not participate in the current round.

The future plans of PolicyBazaar.com are directed towards consolidation of its position in the digital space and enable customers to make informed investment decision. The company has played an important role in the development of online term insurance and will now further build on increasing awareness and knowledge about key insurance products to plan for death (term), disability (personal accident), health, major critical illnesses, Retirement insurance & child education costs (pension/investment plans).

Speaking on the funding, Mr. Yashish Dahiya, CEO & co-founder, PolicyBazaar.com said, “This development re-instates our core belief that both the consumers and industry will benefit equally through online comparison and retail of financial products like insurance. Immense faith has been placed in our platform which is evident in our substantial growth in the last six years. We will be infusing this capital to ramp up our technology and work towards enhanced customer experience, seamless platforms and an extensive range of product offerings. We have grown 28 times in the past 3 years and will aim to grow 10X in the coming 3 years and take our premium collection figures to Rs. 2,000 by 2017-18. We will also use this investment to focus on increasing the awareness levels of our services and brand to educate the customers on the advantages of comparing insurance products before making any purchase decision.”

The digital platform has worked well for the aggregation space; in India travel websites have capitalized the comparison space extremely well, and internationally UK is a very strong example of the values that the aggregation platform brings. Insurance and financial services aggregation is powerful in the UK where the sector growth is driven by aggregators and not the insurance companies. PolicyBazaar.com has played an integral role in developing the online insurance market in India and will continue to do so. Associated with almost every leading insurance brand, the portal showcases and retails up-to-date products in Life, Health, Car insurance, ULIP, Child plans and retirement. The company’s industry knowledge, focus on user interface and innovative technologies have led it to gain a leading market share in the online insurance market. PolicyBazaar.com was awarded the “Best Financial Website” at the IAMAI Digital Awards 2014.

About PolicyBazaar.com:

Policybazaar is India’s largest online financial services platform and is an InfoEdge (Naukri.com), Intel Capital, and Inventus Capital Investee Company. The company began operations in 2008 as a key force in establishing an informative online financial services platform in India. Over the next six years the company has marked a staggering growth in terms of revenue and customer acquisition to become the largest online aggregator in India. Policybazaar.com boasts of over 20 million unique visitors each year who compare the best suited financial products for them and the sale of over 20,000 policies on a month.

Policbazaar.com specializes in making easy purchase decision by helping the consumer with analysis of financial products based on price, quality and key features. The portal showcases an array of insurance plans offered by a reputed pool of insurers as well as up-to-date information on financial products and prompt, solution driven customer service.

Owing to our customer centric approach, we’ve gained a huge credibility across the nation. More than 5 million registered users log on to our website to compare and buy plans from the leading insurers.

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