On course for bigger numbers at twofour54

twofour54 was established by the Abu Dhabi Government as a centre of excellence for media content creation. Jaime Puebla / The National

The Abu Dhabi media zone twofour54 says it has 30 additional partners set to join this year and is pursuing further investments as part of its goal to boost the Arabic content industry.

There are currently about 160 companies based at twofour54, including CNN, the Financial Times, and Sky News Arabia, which begins broadcasting on Sunday.

Noura Al Kaabi, the new chief executive of twofour54, said the zone was set to grow to a community of 190 partners by the end of this year.

"We have more than 30 in the pipeline this year," she said. "They range from broadcasters to PR, production and digital start-ups."

The executive declined to specify what companies were looking to join the centre.

She said the new partners might include facilities and services companies such as restaurants and printing firms.

Ms Al Kaabi formally took the reins at the beginning of this week, replacing the former head Tony Orsten.

She said twofour54 would have a greater focus on youth under her leadership, but continue with the "robust vision" established under her predecessor.

"We want to help get more content produced in Abu Dhabi. That will drive more job opportunities, having more freelancers around, and sustain the production business," she said.

The media zone last year invested more than US$2.5 million (Dh9.1m) in stakes in two Arabic gaming companies. Ms Al Kaabi said twofour54 was considering further investments in start-ups in conjunction with other players.

"We are looking into other investments," she said. "There are external parties who are looking to come and invest with us. We're looking into also investing in smaller-scale projects, start-ups mostly."

The media zone is based at a cluster near Khalifa Park and other city centre sites. It plans to move to a single site in the future, said Ms Al Kaabi.

In 2010, twofour54 scrapped a plan to build a campus at the Mena Zayed waterfront site near the Abu Dhabi Corniche. It will instead choose another location for its planned expansion.

"There will be an update of a new location," said Ms Al Kaabi. "We're looking into an expansion model. That means more office space that will accommodate the number of partners we foresee in the future … We want to encourage having this community, this cluster, all in one place."

The media zone is funded by the Abu Dhabi Government, although Ms Al Kaabi said its subsidies were being reduced as its commercial activities grow.

Ms Al Kaabi is a board member of Abu Dhabi Media, which also owns and publishes The National.

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