paBefore GetOffers.com, I worked in travel tech for several years. I started in customer support and later moved into sales. In both roles, I kept hearing the same complaints from business clients: a service fee was added to every ticket, and companies paid it because nobody had offered them another way to book.

Smaller firms had it worse. Most corporate travel tools were designed for large organisations, so a company of 40 people would end up booking through consumer websites. At the end of the quarter, the finance team had no clear picture of what had been spent or why.

There is no shortage of flights or hotels. What companies were really paying for was a chain of intermediaries, each adding its own margin, with no one competing for the booking.

We launched GetOffers.com this year to give businesses net rates. A company describes the trip in one message, and competing offers from suppliers come back in the same conversation, alongside approval rules and reporting. Because we started recently, we could build the product around an AI assistant from the beginning.

A model for three markets

Large online travel agencies are built for people booking holidays. Established corporate platforms mostly serve large enterprises, with the pricing and implementation time that come with that. A mid-sized company that travels frequently but has no travel manager doesn’t really fit either model.

We work with three groups. Companies get net rates and can set travel policies, approve trips and see reports in the same place. Connecting is free, and in our standard model, we don’t add a GetOffers booking fee. We make our money through agreements with suppliers, including revenue sharing. The customer should see the full price and the supplier’s terms before approving the trip.

Travel agencies use the platform to build trips from net rates. The assistant assembles the whole trip from competing supplier offers, usually the most time-consuming part of a manager’s work, and the agency keeps its margin.

Hotels can offer guests transfers, excursions and eSIMs directly, without paying commission to an intermediary.

For clients, this mainly means lower prices and less time spent on bookings. For us, it means we don’t depend on a single type of customer.

Where AI helps

You can speak to the assistant or type to it at any time. A typical request might be: “I have a meeting in Limassol on Tuesday morning, I need to be back on Wednesday evening, and it has to be within our policy.”

The assistant puts competing offers side by side and highlights the one that fits best. Once the traveller or their manager agrees, it books everything, including the flight, hotel and airport transfer.

Before booking, though, it should ask about things you might not have mentioned. Are you taking equipment with you? Will you be arriving at the hotel late? Those answers could change what it recommends. I’d rather it asked than left you to sort out a problem when you get there.

At the moment, it’s most useful for routine work: searching, comparing prices, combining several services into one trip and checking everything against company rules. When a trip is complicated or something unusual comes up, a person still needs to make the decision. We tell clients that from the start.

Over the next five years, I expect assistants to do more before and after booking. If a team is going to a trade fair and nearby hotels are filling up, the assistant should warn them while rooms are still available.

With cancellations, it gets harder. A replacement flight might get you to the right city, but too late for the meeting. The hotel and transfer may need changing, too. That’s the work I’d like the assistant to take on, with the traveller agreeing to any changes in price or booking conditions.

Expense reporting will change as well. Most reports should be generated from booking data, so employees don’t have to collect receipts after every trip.

I don’t expect travel agents to disappear. Those who use these tools will be able to handle more clients, putting pressure on those who don’t.

Earning clients’ trust

GetOffers.com launched this year, and we’re not publishing figures yet. It’s too early for the numbers to say much.

The hardest part so far is getting companies to trust us with their travel. Some have used the same agency for years. Their agent knows who prefers an early flight, who approves the budget and who to call when plans change. I understand why they wouldn’t switch on price alone. We have to show we understand how they work and that moving their bookings to us won’t mean more work for them.

Working with three types of clients also makes growth harder to plan. Companies come to us for prices and choice, while suppliers want to see booking volume before offering good rates. We’ve already signed agreements with several major wholesalers, which lets us offer competitive prices before volume builds up.

Every client comes to us through direct conversations, and each one teaches us something about the product. The clients most open to trying it are independent agencies, whose managers spend hours assembling trips by hand, and mid-sized firms that travel internationally but have no one dedicated to travel. Both feel the problem most directly, so that is where we are focusing.

Growth plans and Cyprus

In three years, I’d like GetOffers.com to be the first place a travel agency or a company without a travel department goes when they need to put together a trip.

We’re currently concentrating on the product and our first clients. We’ll consider raising money when there’s a clear need for it, and we’re happy to talk to investors who know the travel sector. We plan to expand into new markets as client demand appears, rather than following a fixed timetable.

On the product side, we want the assistant to handle more of the trip after booking. That includes dealing with delays and cancellations, recording expenses automatically and connecting through our API to the accounting and HR systems companies already use.

Cyprus is an important market for us. It has been a difficult year for tourism here, and hotels are looking closely at every source of revenue. Services beyond the room, such as transfers or activities, can make a real difference. Hotels should be able to sell them without giving a large share to intermediaries.

The hotel association has just called for AI to become part of the national tourism strategy. I agree, but for smaller hotels, the tools have to be affordable and simple to set up. Otherwise, only the large chains will benefit.

Business travel is the other part of the picture. Limassol and Larnaca are home to many international companies whose staff travel constantly and the government is now supporting conference tourism outside the summer months. Business trips and events help hotels fill rooms in the quieter season, and that is where we would like to be useful.

https://getoffers.com/

Across Europe, entrepreneurship increasingly happens on a laptop. Online sellers, freelancers, consultants, traders and software founders can serve customers in any country, yet the legal home of their business is still a choice they must make. For many of them, that choice is a Seychelles International Business Company (IBC).

Before comparing jurisdictions, it is worth separating marketing from mechanics. A company structure is a legal tool. Whether it suits a particular business depends on how that business operates, where its owners live and which rules apply to them.

How a Seychelles IBC works

Seychelles companies are governed by the International Business Companies Act 2016 and supervised by the Seychelles Financial Services Authority (FSA). Incorporation is handled through a licensed registered agent, who also provides the company’s registered office in Seychelles.

The basic requirements are comparatively light:

• a minimum of one director and one shareholder;
• no requirement for a local resident director;
• no statutory minimum share capital; and
• registered shares only, as bearer shares are prohibited.

Directors and shareholders may be individuals or corporate entities, and may be of any nationality or residency.

Beyond holding companies: why online businesses are choosing Seychelles

Seychelles has long been used for traditional holding structures, but its profile has changed. Today it has become a popular choice for internet-based businesses. E-commerce sellers and dropshippers use Seychelles companies to contract with suppliers and sell through global online storefronts. Freelancers, developers and digital agencies use them to invoice international clients and bring their income into a single business entity. Online traders and Web3 teams use them to manage treasuries and digital assets, while shipping, import-export and intellectual property businesses use them alongside the classic holding company.

The reasons are practical. Incorporation can often be completed within a few business days, set-up and renewal costs are modest, and a single person can act as both director and shareholder. There is no minimum share capital and no requirement for local premises or staff. For a founder whose customers, suppliers and platforms are spread across many countries, a lean, remotely managed company is a natural fit. Seychelles also generally does not tax the income of an IBC that is earned outside the country, although, as outlined below, a founder’s home country may still apply its own rules.

It is not a shortcut for every model. Operating a custodial crypto exchange or wallet from Seychelles requires a regulated licence, payment platforms and marketplaces apply their own documentation checks, and sellers remain responsible for VAT in the countries where their customers live.

Transparency is part of the picture

A common misconception is that offshore companies operate without oversight. In practice, Seychelles has strengthened its framework in line with international standards. Under the Beneficial Ownership Act, the individuals who ultimately own or control a company must be identified to the registered agent, and that information is reported to a secure national database. It is not part of the public register, but it is available to authorities.

Companies must also keep proper accounting records that explain their transactions and financial position, and retain supporting documents for at least seven years.

Economic substance

Economic substance rules do not apply to every Seychelles IBC. They primarily affect companies carrying out defined “relevant activities”, such as headquarters, financing, shipping, distribution or fund management. Companies in scope must demonstrate genuine activity in Seychelles. Pure equity holding companies face lighter requirements. Founders should confirm early whether their activity falls within the rules.

What Cyprus-based founders must consider

For readers living in Cyprus, the most important point is that forming a company abroad does not remove obligations at home. Individuals who are tax resident in Cyprus are generally taxed on worldwide income, and a foreign company that is managed and controlled from Cyprus may itself be treated as having a Cyprus tax presence. Reporting and disclosure rules can also apply to owners of foreign entities.

Banking is a further practical consideration. Banks and payment providers carry out their own due diligence on ownership, activity and source of funds, and applicants should expect detailed questions regardless of where a company is registered.

For these reasons, founders are well advised to take independent tax and legal advice before incorporating, and to match the structure to genuine commercial needs.

Choosing a provider

Because incorporation must run through a licensed registered agent, the choice of provider matters. Founders should check that the agent is licensed, that fees are clearly stated, that annual renewal costs are explained and that ownership information is handled securely. An independent company formation agent can now complete the process fully online for non-residents, but speed should never replace compliance.

Conclusion

A Seychelles IBC is a practical, low-cost vehicle for e-commerce, freelance and other online businesses, but it is not a way around the rules. Understood properly, with its transparency and substance requirements, it is one of several options available to international founders. Those ready to proceed can start a Seychelles company online.

DISCLAIMER – “Views Expressed Disclaimer – The information provided in this content is intended for general informational purposes only and should not be considered financial, investment, legal, tax, or health advice, nor relied upon as a substitute for professional guidance tailored to your personal circumstances. The opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of any other individual, organization, agency, employer, or company, including NEO CYMED PUBLISHING LIMITED (operating under the name Cyprus-Mail).

Chemonics International opened its office in Damascus on July 5, 2026, and used the occasion to mark 14 years of work in Syria. Syrian leaders, partner organizations and program alumni attended. The agenda they set out runs well past emergency relief, into education, essential services, livelihoods, economic recovery, and the institutional capacity needed to support Syria’s new government, private sector and civil society.

Jamey Butcher, the company’s chief executive officer and chair, said: “Today is a celebration of what Syrian people have achieved through some of the hardest years their country has known. For 14 years, Chemonics has been honored to stand alongside Syrian communities, organizations, and institutions — and the opening of our Damascus office reflects our continued commitment to Syrian-led recovery as Syria builds its future.”

14 years of Chemonics’ work in Syria

The Syria portfolio dates to 2012. Chemonics puts the value of that work at more than $572 million across 24 projects, figures the company gave the Syrian Arab News Agency, and says nearly 600 local Syrian organizations have benefited.

Those projects have names that mean more inside Syria than outside it: Idarah, the Syria Regional Program, the White Helmets Assistance Program, Manahel and Injaz. Through Idarah and the Syria Regional Program, Chemonics worked with Syrian partners to reach more than one million peopletogether reached more than one million people. Together, the two programs sustained essential services, strengthened local governance and civil society, and rehabilitated critical infrastructure in communities across the country.

Chemonics’ work in education: the Manahel program

Manahel takes its name from the Arabic word for fountains. The Syria Education Programme it names is funded by UK aid and implemented by Chemonics.

Its first phase ran from 2018 to 2023 and reached more than 600,000 children across Idlib and Aleppo. A second phase opened in 2024. Chemonics reports that Manahel has now reached more than 950,000 students and works alongside education directorates in Aleppo and Idlib.

The program’s remit runs across the school system. It covers teacher compensation, curriculum development, child protection, girls’ education, psychosocial support, literacy and numeracy instruction, and accommodations for students with disabilities.

In Northeast Syria, a separate program, Injaz, worked in post-ISIS areas through learning, vocational training, educator development and school rehabilitation. It supported more than 12,300 children and provided psychosocial support to more than 19,000 people.

Emergency response and the Syria Civil Defense partnership

Chemonics’ emergency response work is organized around rapid analysis, procurement and logistics, emergency financing, and crisis communications. In Syria, the clearest expression of it has been the long-standing partnership with the Syria Civil Defense, the volunteer rescue organization known internationally as the White Helmets.

Chemonics helped strengthen training, operational systems and institutional capacity for more than 3,000 Syrian responders. Those responders are credited with saving over 127,000 lives.

Raed al-Saleh, Syria’s minister of emergency and disaster management, spoke at the Damascus event. “Chemonics believed in the capabilities of the Syrian people and their determination to confront and overcome challenges,” he said at the Damascus event. “This belief has had a tangible impact on the lives of millions of Syrians and has left a lasting mark on the landscape of humanitarian and development work over the past years.”

On the next phase, he said: “What began as collaboration under exceptional humanitarian circumstances is evolving into a broader partnership that supports early recovery, strengthens institutional capacities, drives sustainable development, and empowers communities to build a more stable and prosperous future.”

Locally led development as the operating model

Nearly 600 local Syrian organizations have been part of this work. Partnerships on that scale depend on people on the ground and relationships built over many years.

Taj Alkaisi, a deputy team lead for Chemonics, said: “Syria’s recovery requires long-term commitment, trusted partnerships and practical delivery. We are proud to continue working alongside Syrian partners to strengthen institutions, support communities and help create the conditions for a stable and prosperous future.”

What the Damascus office signals about Syria’s recovery phase

Bahjat Hajjar, representing the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor, told the event that cooperation among government institutions, civil society, the private sector, and international partners is essential to Syria’s recovery and reconstruction. He cited the government’s Syria Without Camps initiative, which aims to help displaced Syrians return home safely, as an example of where that cooperation is needed.

Helping families return home touches housing, schools, clinics, water, documentation and livelihoods, and brings many ministries and partners together at once.

Chemonics’ work in Syria has been building toward that transition for some time. Teacher training and curriculum development inside the education programming, Syrian responders trained through civil defense work, and a partner network built inside the country all point the same direction. With an office in Damascus, Chemonics can work more directly alongside the Syrian institutions, partners and communities leading the country’s recovery.

Chemonics enters this phase with 14 years of work alongside Syrian colleagues, partner organizations and institutions, and a commitment to supporting Syria’s new government, private sector and civil society through the transition. Its new office in Damascus brings the company closer to the Syrian institutions, partners and communities leading the country’s recovery.

DISCLAIMER – “Views Expressed Disclaimer – The information provided in this content is intended for general informational purposes only and should not be considered financial, investment, legal, tax, or health advice, nor relied upon as a substitute for professional guidance tailored to your personal circumstances. The opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of any other individual, organization, agency, employer, or company, including NEO CYMED PUBLISHING LIMITED (operating under the name Cyprus-Mail).

• Entrepreneurship comes with risk and uncertainty. As one founder put it, "You have to be insane."
• Two successful founders share the mindsets that helped them push through when failure felt possible.
• They explain how anyone can develop the resilience and confidence to take entrepreneurial risks.

A traditional job typically comes with a regular paycheck and benefits — a measure of stability and predictability.

Entrepreneurship offers neither. It comes with risk and uncertainty. There is potential for a big payoff, but no guarantees.

Popsmith CEO Tal Moore put it bluntly: "You have to be insane to be an entrepreneur," he told Business Insider. "Because there's so much risk. There's so much turbulence."

He and his cofounder nearly ran out of money while building their high-end stovetop popcorn popper.

"I ended up selling $600,000 worth of my personal stock to keep us afloat," Moore said.

It was stressful, of course, but Moore felt he had to find a way through — not only because he had invested heavily in Popsmith, but because friends and family had, too.

"They bet on me. They bet on my brand," he said. "If you lose your own money, that's one thing. But there was just no f---ing way that I was going to lose my friends' and family's money."

Kyle Ray had a different source of motivation. In high school, one of his teachers told him he'd end up working at McDonald's.

Rather than feeling discouraged, Ray used the comment as fuel.

He never finished college, but he did turn a window-cleaning side hustle he started with $100 into a six-figure business, Geek Window Cleaning, which now serves hundreds of clients across multiple Texas cities.

Ray said he had doubts "all the time" that the business would work, but wanting to disprove that teacher meant adopting a failure-is-not-an-option mindset.

"I'm going to make this work," he decided. "I'm just going to figure it out."

Throwing "Hail Marys"

When Moore and his business partner had just two weeks of cash runway left, saving the business meant getting attention and moving product without spending much money.

"At this point, I had to throw some Hail Marys," Moore said.

His first idea, which he called "harebrained," was to send poppers directly to the CEOs of Williams-Sonoma and Crate & Barrel. He'd designed the product with those retailers in mind, but couldn't get their attention.

"I know my popper will sell on their shelves," he thought. "I just have to get it in their hands."

Moore bought the most upscale, high-quality paper he could find at Kinko's, handwrote notes to both CEOs, and "blind-shipped" poppers to them. Within two months, buying teams from both companies had reached out, he said.

Then came Oprah.

Moore had no idea how to get on Oprah's annual "Favorite Things" list — "it's just like a total black box," he said — until he spotted an opening on LinkedIn. A junior editor at Oprah Daily had posted about popcorn, so Moore sent her a cold message. She replied, requested a popper, and eventually helped get the product in front of Oprah.

An Oprah Daily editor told Moore that the team considers about 15,000 products each year before Oprah makes her final selections. In 2024, Popsmith made the cut.

After the list was announced, the company sold out of every popper within weeks. Popsmith went on to sell out three more times over the next five months.

As an entrepreneur, "there's a pressure and a will to win," Moore said. "There's an endless drive that just never goes away. I wake up hungry, and I will not stop."

Developing the entrepreneur mindset

Like Moore, Ray has a refusal-to-quit mentality. He views entrepreneurship as a highway without an off-ramp — no Plan B waiting at the next exit.

"If there is no exit, then there's just one path," he said. "And you just have to get through it."

That doesn't mean every business will succeed. In fact, many won't. But Ray believes entrepreneurs need to be willing to take risks, potentially look foolish, fail, and move on to the next idea if necessary.

Often, he said, fear of failure — and other people's judgment — is the real obstacle.

At the core of his mindset is a willingness to care less about both.

"If Geek fails now, I'm going to look stupid, but it's like, 'Okay, cool. What's next?' Like, I don't care," he said. "And the earlier you can develop that carelessness — the 'I don't care if I look stupid' or 'I can fall flat on my face. I am still going to go for it' — I think if you get to that point, anybody can go out and be an entrepreneur."

That mindset can be learned, he said. Like any other skill, from swinging a tennis racket to ballroom dancing, it takes time, consistent work, and patience. Ray recommends three steps:

1. Start with books. They're cheap — or free at the library. Ray's top picks include "Inner Excellence" and "Can't Hurt Me." Moore prefers biographies of entrepreneurs and business leaders, from Warren Buffett and Richard Branson to John D. Rockefeller.

2. Find someone who is already doing what you want to do at a high level. Then ask questions, Ray said: "What are you doing that I'm not? What am I doing that's preventing me from breaking through?"

3. Join a mastermind or hire a coach. Ray has multiple.

"When there's something I don't know, or I need to learn, I start to look for coaches," he said. "It's like a wormhole, right? If you can find somebody that knows something about where you want to be, they can help you collapse time and just jump forward to that spot."

Average price for property stands at £273,566 in October, flat on previous month, says Nationwide

• Business live – latest updates

UK house prices grew by an annual rate of just 0.5% in October, the slowest pace in more than two years, as higher mortgage rates put off potential buyers.

The average price for a property in the UK stood at £273,566 in October, flat on the previous month and down from 0.8% in the year to September, according to the lender Nationwide.

Artificial intelligence is beginning to reshape the legal profession, with law firms increasingly exploring how emerging technologies can improve research, document analysis and other aspects of legal work without compromising professional judgement.

Speaking to the Cyprus Mail for the latest issue of Cyprus 4.0, Elias Neocleous, managing partner of Elias Neocleous & Co. LLC, explained that the development of NeoLaw.ai reflects a longer-term effort to integrate technology into legal practice rather than a response to the recent AI boom.

Developed as an internal legal support environment, NeoLaw.ai is intended to assist lawyers with research, complex documentation, case preparation, preliminary risk analysis and routine administrative work.

Neocleous argued that the value of AI lies not in replacing legal expertise, but in freeing lawyers to concentrate on areas where human judgement, creativity and professional responsibility remain essential.

The discussion also examined the safeguards required when AI is used in a profession where accuracy and confidentiality are fundamental, as well as the potential for Cyprus to develop into a regional hub for technology-enabled professional services.

Looking ahead, Neocleous considered how AI could gradually change the delivery of legal services and why the future of LegalTech may ultimately involve rethinking the role of the lawyer itself.

What problem in the legal sector led you to create NeoLaw.ai, and what gap were you trying to address that existing legal tools could not adequately solve?

The origins of NeoLaw.ai predate the recent surge of interest in large language models. Its development was not a reaction to technological fashion, but a continuation of a long-standing philosophy: that the legal profession must evolve in step with the broader trajectory of human progress. Automation, in various forms, has shaped industries since the industrial revolution; artificial intelligence represents simply the next phase of that continuum.

From our perspective, the gap was not merely technological, but conceptual. Existing tools often approached legal work as a process to be accelerated, rather than a discipline to be enhanced. Our objective was different. We sought to create an environment in which our lawyers are empowered – freed from repetitive tasks, yet supported in exercising judgement, creativity and precision.

Ultimately, NeoLaw.ai was designed not as a substitute for legal expertise, but as a mechanism to elevate it, ensuring that we serve our clients with greater clarity, consistency and foresight.

For someone encountering NeoLaw.ai for the first time, how does the platform work and what can it do for lawyers or legal teams in practical terms?

NeoLaw.ai is designed as an integrated legal support environment, embedded within the daily workflow of our lawyers rather than operating as a detached tool. In practical terms, it enables in-depth legal research across multiple sources, assists in the review and analysis of complex documentation and supports case preparation through structured insights and references to relevant case law.

It can also provide preliminary risk analysis, helping legal teams to identify potential issues at an early stage and contributes to the automation of routine administrative tasks that would otherwise consume valuable time.

Importantly, its development is not static. NeoLaw.ai evolves in parallel with our firm’s broader commitment to continuous improvement. Each use case informs further refinement, ensuring that the platform becomes progressively more aligned with the realities of legal practice and the increasing demands placed upon it.

What role does artificial intelligence play within the firm, and how have you approached issues such as accuracy, reliability and the risk of AI-generated errors in a legal context?

Artificial intelligence occupies a central, but carefully defined, role within the firm. It is not viewed as an autonomous decision-maker, but as a tool that enhances the capabilities of experienced practitioners. Accuracy and reliability are therefore not secondary considerations – they are foundational. Every output generated through NeoLaw.ai is subject to review by our legal professionals, ensuring that judgement remains firmly in human hands.

We approach this as a co-existing relationship: the system supports our lawyers, while our lawyers continuously refine and train the system through informed use. This dynamic mitigates the risk of error while strengthening the overall quality of output. In a legal context, where precision is inseparable from responsibility, such safeguards are essential. The objective is not simply efficiency, but the preservation- and enhancement – of professional integrity.

LegalTech is developing rapidly internationally. Where do you believe NeoLaw.ai can differentiate itself from the growing number of AI-powered legal tools entering the market?

NeoLaw.ai distinguishes itself not by attempting to compete with every emerging LegalTech solution, but by being deliberately and precisely tailored to the realities of our own practice. It has been developed around our internal processes, structures, templates and accumulated institutional knowledge – elements that no external platform, however sophisticated, can fully replicate. In that sense, its primary advantage lies in its alignment with how we actually work, rather than how legal work is generically modelled.

Equally important is our underlying approach. We have not built NeoLaw.ai with commercialisation as the driving force, but with a practical question in mind: how can this system meaningfully enhance the quality and efficiency of our legal services? This inward focus allows for a level of refinement and adaptability that would be difficult to achieve otherwise.

Finally, the platform is hosted entirely on our internal infrastructure, ensuring the highest standards of confidentiality and data security – an essential consideration in the legal profession.

What have you learned from developing and bringing NeoLaw.ai to market so far, particularly from working with lawyers and other users who are adopting AI into their professional workflows?

What the development of NeoLaw.ai has revealed, perhaps more than anything else, is that technological progress is ultimately a human question. The success of such an initiative depends less on the sophistication of the tool itself and more on the willingness of people to engage with it. It requires a team with vision-one that does not merely tolerate change, but recognises it as a constant parameter of professional life. In that sense, we have not sought to “invent” technology, but to thoughtfully integrate it into our existing systems.

Equally instructive has been the pattern of adoption. Even within a large and forward-looking organisation, the familiar dynamics of the bell curve apply – early adopters lead, others follow more cautiously. This has reinforced the importance of structured implementation and internal dialogue.

Perhaps most importantly, the process has sharpened our understanding of what truly matters in legal practice: distinguishing enduring value from operational noise, and identifying where change is genuinely necessary.

Do you see Cyprus developing a significant LegalTech ecosystem of its own, and what would need to happen for the country to become a stronger regional hub for legal technology and innovation?

Cyprus is unlikely, at least in the near term, to develop a LegalTech ecosystem on the scale of larger jurisdictions such as the United Kingdom, the United States, or key Central European markets. These are environments where the sheer volume and international reach of law firms create the natural demand that drives large-scale LegalTech innovation. By comparison, the Cypriot legal market is more focused and specialised, which inevitably shapes the direction and scale of technological development within it.

That said, the broader technology ecosystem in Cyprus is stronger than it has ever been. The entry of globally recognised innovation platforms, such as Plug and Play Tech Center, signals a meaningful shift. Combined with Cyprus’ strategic location, regulatory alignment with the European Union, and an increasingly sophisticated professional services sector, this creates a compelling foundation.

Rather than leading in LegalTech production, Cyprus is well positioned to emerge as a regional hub for technology-enabled services-where innovation is applied, refined, and integrated into high-value professional practice.

Looking beyond the current product, what opportunities do you see for AI to transform the legal profession over the next five years, and where do you expect NeoLaw.ai to fit into that transformation?

Over the next five years, artificial intelligence is likely to reshape the legal profession not through sudden disruption, but through gradual and structural refinement. The more routine aspects of legal work – research, document analysis and process management – will increasingly be absorbed by intelligent systems. This will not diminish the role of the lawyer; rather, it will reorient it towards judgement, strategy, and the exercise of professional responsibility.

The more important question, however, is not what AI can do, but how it is governed and integrated. The legal profession carries an inherent duty to uphold trust, accuracy, and accountability-principles that must remain intact as technology advances.

Within this transformation, NeoLaw.ai will continue to evolve as an internal framework that supports our lawyers in meeting these obligations. Its role is not to redefine the profession, but to ensure that we adapt to change without compromising its core values.

What makes you believe the future of LegalTech is not simply about automating existing legal processes, but about fundamentally rethinking how legal services are delivered?

The future of LegalTech cannot be confined to the automation of existing processes, because the legal profession itself is not merely procedural. At its core lies the role of the lawyer as a trusted advisor – someone who navigates complexity not only through technical knowledge, but through relationships built on trust, continuity and understanding. These relationships are not incidental; they are the foundation upon which effective legal counsel is delivered.

In parallel, lawyers often play a quiet but essential role in shaping legislative and regulatory frameworks. Through sustained engagement with institutions, policymakers and market participants, they contribute to the refinement of laws in a way that reflects practical realities. This is a function that cannot be automated – it requires judgement, dialogue and credibility developed over time.

Technology, therefore, must be understood as an enabler. By relieving lawyers of routine burdens, it allows them to invest more meaningfully in these higher-order functions: advising with clarity, fostering trust, and contributing to the evolution of the legal and regulatory environment itself.

Website: https://neo.law

LinkedIn page: https://www.linkedin.com/company/elias-neocleous-&-co-llc?originalSubdomain=cy

Third-quarter underlying ​replacement ⁠cost profit rises to $8.46bn, up from $2.2bn ​a year ​ago

BP has posted a jump in its quarterly profits as the war in the Middle East drove up oil and gas prices and led to “significantly higher” trading.

The energy company said on ⁠Friday ⁠that third-quarter underlying ​replacement ⁠cost profit – a key measure of its income – rose to $8.46bn, up from $2.2bn ​a year ​ago. Analysts had expected profits of $7.33bn.