Al Hilal Group has unveiled the latest version of its rapidly growing marketing database, the Arabian Business Community (ABC), which generated more than 2.1 million business referrals last year.

Launched in July 2014, the interactive community directory now has 12 interlinked editions covering the GCC countries as well as an international edition featuring thousands of companies from all over the world, which are either doing business or wanting to do business in the GCC region.

According to Al Hilal Group managing director Ronnie Middleton, the portal has generated a massive response in terms of business referrals to the thousands of companies registered on the database.

“During 2016, ABC generated more than 2.1 million business referrals to thousands of companies on our database and in Bahrain alone we registered 779,638 referrals. This means that more than three quarters of a million enquiries were received by Bahrain-based companies across the five sectors, which ABC covers – consumer, commercial, construction, industrial and oil and gas,” Middleton said.

“With growing usage of the portal not only in Bahrain but also across the GCC countries, the initial trend for 2017 looks even more promising.

“We have already registered a huge increase in January with Bahrain companies receiving an extra 60,000-plus business referrals compared with the same month last year.

“The entire database across all GCC countries and the international edition registered almost 330,000 referrals, which represents a 250 per cent increase in the same month last year,” said Middleton.

ABC provides an interactive marketing facility, which allows companies to add or edit their corporate information on a series of local and pan-regional databases interlinked by business categories.

The portal carries up-to-date business news as well as community news relating to companies that become premium partners on the sites. The community news is carried on the home page of the site as well as on the online edition of the Gulf Daily News in Bahrain.

Social media platforms such as Instagram and Facebook take premium partners’ news and promotions to an even wider audience ensuring maximum exposure for members of the community. ABC partners also have access to the portal’s mailing lists of more than 150,000 email addresses in the GCC alone.

Latest additions to the site include tenders for each country and detailed project information providing businesses with unparalleled market insight and intelligence free of cost.

“ABC represents a unique marketing facility, which is being used by more and more companies everyday,” said  Middleton.

“As the portal develops, it is becoming one of the most important marketing tools for any company doing business in the GCC or wishing to enter the GCC market. ABC is the future of marketing in this region,” he added. - TradeArabia News Service