MEA October 2017

October 2017

Understanding Cultural and Commercial Nuances Musthafa & Almana is an international consulting and advisory firm headquartered in Dubai with offices in the United States, the United Kingdom and India. We enjoyed an in-depth chat with the esteemed Founder & Mg. Director, Musthafa Zafeer to find out more about the firm’s innovative solutions.

Also in this Issue: Powered by Passion - Petrofac Qatar Experience, Expertise and Excellence - Safair Operations

Minty Fresh Designers

Bespoke Solutions That Create the Right Opportunities

Founding and Managing Greatness

Editor’s Note

, Welcome to the October edition of MEA Markets magazine, bringing you the latest news, deals and developments across the Middle East and Africa region.

In this issue, we learn more about BrandMint, a Beirut based branding boutique, possessing a team of 12 designers, specialized in brand building from conception to execution. The firm’s clients range from F&B to banking, fintech, retail, entertainment, medical, education and cultural companies. Taking time to reveal more about BrandMint is Raya Nawbar who gives us a breakdown of the firm’s services and all the essential strategies it uses to maintaining a successful company.

In other news, it was announced on the 13th October by global leader in applied addictive technology solutions, Stratasys, that they are officially kicking off their 2018 Extreme Redesign 3D Printing Challenge with a “callfor-entries.” Entering its 14th year, the contest is widely recognized as the premier event to highlight excellence in 3D printed design from student innovators.

Elsewhere in this edition, we discover more about Genphram Services, a market access regional pharmaceutical company, focussed on the segment of rare and genetic diseases. Karim Smaira and Kamel Ghammachi talk to us about the company and the team’s vision for the firm, as well as what it strives to do for patients.

Here at MEA Markets, we hope you thoroughly enjoy reading this edition and look forward to hearing from you.

Jessica Daykin, Editor Phone: +44 (0) 203 725 6842 Email: jessica.daykin@ai-globalmedia.com Website: www.middleeast-markets.com AI Global Media, Ltd. (AI) takes reasonable measures to ensure the quality of the information on this web site. However, AI will not assume any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, correctness or completeness of any information that is available through this web site. If errors are brought to our attention, we will try to correct them.

The information available through the website and our partner publications is for your general information and use and is not intended to address any particular finance or investment requirements. In particular, the information does not constitute any form of advice or recommendation by us or any of our partner publications and is not intended to be relied upon by users in making or refraining from making any investment or financial decisions.

Appropriate independent advice should be obtained before making any such decision.

Any arrangement made between you and any third party named in the site is at your sole risk and responsibility.

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Contents

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, 4. News 6.

Understanding Cultural and Commercial Nuances

12. Experience, Expertise and Excellence 16. Founding and Managing Greatness 18. Bespoke Solutions That Create the Right Opportunities 19. Minty Fresh Designers 20. Powered by Passion 22. Your Partner of Choice 24. SafeHeal Appoints Dr. Karl Blohm as CEO to Prepare for Launch and Commercialization 26. SANS’ Largest Information Security Training Event in the Middle East ‘SANS Gulf Region 2017’ Opens for Registration 28. The Global Mobile Payment Market is on the Rise 30. BIOS and Takaful Emarat Enter into Agreement for Managed Cloud Service 32. Local Operations Personnel Connect with the International Sour Gas/Sulphur Community 34. Savvy Companies Take Mergers and Acquisitions Route to Expand Geographical Footprint

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NEWS

, Expanding its information capture ecosystem, Kodak Alaris is delivering on the promise of digital transformation for organizations in the Middle East and around the world.

At GITEX Technology Week 2017, the global solution provider will expand the previously announced Alaris IN2 Ecosystem by unveiling the Alaris S2000 Series Scanners – a new family of network/wireless and USB connected desktop devices – and showcase its award-winning software and services, which are designed to take the complexity out of information capture and improve the way people work.

Information Capture: Cornerstone of Digital Transformation In a recently published white paper, IDC reports that digitizing, automating, and optimizing document workflows offer compelling benefits to organizations, including, on average, a 35% reduction in costs, 42% reduction in paper documents, and 52% reduction in errors. “Manual processes present an unnecessary hurdle to creating transparency and efficiency for organizations,” said Siddhartha Bhattacharya, Vice President, Global Marketing, Alaris Information Management. “Any paper-based process such as loan requests or driver’s licence applications must be digitized to facilitate sharing and reduce risk. Digital capture of paper documents is an essential first step toward achieving this.”

Kodak Alaris Shines Spotlight on Information Capture Ecosystem at GITEX Technology Week 2017 Kodak Alaris is expanding its information capture ecosystem, delivering on the promise of digital transformation for organizations in the Middle East and around the world.

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IN2 Ecosystem Offers Powerful Solutions The Alaris IN2 Ecosystem will be the focus of the booth at GITEX. Alaris launched its ecosystem earlier this year to help remove complexity from information capture. Now, the next wave of the IN2 Ecosystem offers new features and tight integration between scanners, software and services.

The headliner at GITEX is the Alaris S2000 Series Scanner, which increases productivity by automating much of the work traditionally done by people and host computers. Embedded Image Processing within the scanner delivers crisp, high-quality images without requiring a host PC. Active Feed Technology aligns the leading edge of paper to avoid misfeeds and multi-feeds and Controlled Output Stacking places paper neatly in the output

NEWS

, tray. As a result, users spend less time preparing documents for scanning and dealing with messy output stacks.

The S2000 Series captures documents at rated speeds between 50 and 80 pages per minute (ppm).

They are compact, powerful, and easy to use with a robust feeding system that efficiently handles a wide range of media. Three optional flatbed accessories can be integrated with the scanners for increased versatility and productivity.

For example, the S2000 Series is designed to ‘dock’ on top of the new Alaris Passport Flatbed Accessory. This is a quick and easy solution for scanning passports and other small, fragile documents. Users can scan a passport photo-page in as little as two seconds – or two pages in about three seconds – at 300 dpi.

There’s no need to place the document in a sleeve and it does not have to leave the sight of its owner.

Alaris will have designated areas where experts will showcase solutions for the Banking & Finance, Government, and Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) segments, three verticals where the firm’s solutions have been widely adopted in the region. Some of Alaris’ high-profile customers include Sharjah Electricity and Water Authority (SEWA), where the IN2 Ecosystem has been instrumental in helping the utility digitize massive volumes of documents. Alaris is also a strategic partner of BPOs like InfoFort, Tejouri and RSTN that offer digital records management services to government agencies and private enterprises in the region.

Partner and developer communities play a vital role in the ecosystem through their ability to connect, configure and create new solutions that meet customer needs. With this in mind, Alaris will also have a dedicated area for resellers and system integrators to learn more about its revamped Alaris Partner Programme.

“Our new partner programme is designed to enable channel partners to offer best-in-class technology, sophisticated solutions and services, and to grow their businesses,” said Samer Mihyar, MEAF Field Marketing Manager, Alaris Information Management. “We are eager to showcase our new partner portal, sales tools, incentives and technical resources designed to help partners win in the marketplace.”

IST Expands Cloud Customer Experience Solution Offering with PureCloud by Genesys IST, the customer experience technology specialists, announced on the 4th October that it has expanded its partnership with Genesys, the global leader in omnichannel customer experience and contact center solutions with the addition of the PureCloud by Genesys to its solution offering.

On the 4th October, customer experience technology specialists, IST announced that it has expanded its partnership with Genesys, the global leader in omnichannel customer experience and contact center solutions with the addition of the PureCloud by Genesys to its solution offering. Designed to help businesses in the Middle East deliver a consistent, seamless and personalized next-generation customer experience, PureCloud is a unified, all-in-one customer engagement and employee collaboration solution that’s intuitive, easy to use and quick to deploy.

“With a proven track record of deploying Genesys-based solutions at leading regional organizations such as Careem, Dubai Islamic Bank, Mobily, SABIC, and STC, IST has quickly established itself as one of the most trusted Genesys partners in the Middle East,” said Mohamed Afifi, managing director, Middle East, Genesys. “Following the successful rollout of Genesys Omnicloud earlier this year, we are very pleased to expand the relationship with our Gold partner for the region with our latest PureCloud solution. This addition to IST’s portfolio will allow us to provide our Middle East customers best-in-class cloud-enabled customer engagement solutions.

comparison site in the Middle East.

With PureCloud, Yalla Compare will provide 40 agents and two supervisors access to a best-of-breed contact center solution that includes call recording, IVR flows, agents scripting, manual outbound dialling, real time and historical reporting and WebRTC Phones.

PureCloud is a fully loaded cloud contact center delivering a wealth of functionality. The solution provides omnichannel engagement, speech enabled IVR, customized reporting and analytics, workforce optimization, outbound campaigns, CRM integrations, graphical agent scripting, and social channel management that delivers an exceptional customer experience. Key features include: • • • • • • •

•

• IST is already seeing significant demand for PureCloud from customers in the region. In fact, IST is currently working on launching PureCloud for Yalla Compare, a leading finance

Lightning-fast deployment Simple pricing, month-tomonth terms A modern web and mobile user experience Unparalleled reliability and disaster recovery Seasonal adoption to your dynamic market needs A feature-rich solution for complete customer engagement IP telephony and Collaboration services to your enterprise needs Amazon Web Services elastic infrastructure with limitless capacity A true cloud architecture that provides continuous improvements

Commenting on the importance of Genesys PureCoud for IST custom-

ers in the region, Mohamed Fahmy, chief executive officer at IST, said, “Our Middle Eastern customers have shown a strong appetite for cloud solutions in an effort to lower capital expenditure costs. The scalability and flexibility of PureCloud can help organizations easily expand and shrink their contact center based on fluctuating business demands.”

“That being said, one of the challenges facing many organizations when it comes to cloud contact center deployments is how to handle the voice traffic. With Genesys PureCloud’s Edge, all voice traffic will be handled locally at the customer office, while all contact center management and decision-making applications are hosted in the cloud.

As such, we can offer our customers a proven, feature-rich solution that provides reliable voice traffic over the internet. Most importantly, it integrates all the different customer engagement channels into one solution, ultimately enabling businesses to offer the highest quality customer experience,” concluded Mr. Fahmy.

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Understanding Cultural and Commercial Nuances Musthafa & Almana is an international consulting and advisory firm headquartered in Dubai with offices in the United States, the United Kingdom and India. We enjoyed an in-depth chat with the esteemed Founder & Mg. Director, Musthafa Zafeer to find out more about the firm’s innovative solutions.

Musthafa & Almana’s expertise lies in providing bespoke and innovative solutions to their clients’ requirements, while leveraging a deep understanding of the unique cultural and commercial nuances that exist in each jurisdiction they operate under. Their clients span multiple industries and sectors and range from start-ups to government entities.

Founder & Mg. Director, Musthafa Zafeer explains something of the firm’s current emphasis, reputation and background.

“Over two decades, we have placed an emphasis on fostering long lasting relationships with clients and other key stakeholders in the jurisdictions that we are present in. We are distinguished by the depth and scope of our advisory services and an unmatched understanding of the business dynamics in the firm’s focus industries.

“Musthafa & Almana is a leading Global Consultancy firm of Indian origin, headquartered in Dubai with an international presence in four major jurisdictions (India, UAE, UK and US). The firm was

founded as a law practice in India in 1992, in the state of Kerala,

by Mr. Musthafa Zafeer O.V. and Mrs. Almana Zafeer, the founding partners.

“We are a full service legal and business consulting firm renowned for multi-jurisdictional commercial practice and cross border trade and investments.

The firm comprises of 100+ legal and financial professionals who are passionate and driven in providing bespoke and innovative corporate services.”

Client oriented corporate services Musthafa & Almana’s expertise lies in providing bespoke and innovative solutions (corporate advisory and legal strategies) in accordance to the clients’ requirements, by leveraging their deep understanding of the unique cultural and commercial nuances that exist in each jurisdiction they operate in.

relationships with our clients and other key stakeholders in the jurisdictions we operate in.

The depth and scope of the firm’s advisory services - and unrivalled understanding of the business dynamics of our focus industries - distinguishes us from competitors.

“Musthafa & Almana’s experience has enabled us to capture the true spirit of doing business. We are passionate about innovation, entrepreneurship and law which has led us to evolve from a full service legal firm in India, to a business and consultancy firm specialising in facilitation of foreign direct investments, growing organically with the needs of the clients.

Musthafa tells us that their clients span multiple industries and sectors, ranging from start-ups to government entities, plus he tells us about their holistic platform for value creation.

“We have simplified and modernised the mode of doing business through our innovative platforms - MASS (Musthafa & Almana Start-up Support), LLB (Legal Lounge for Business) and IAS (Internal Arbitration System).

Through these unique platforms, we offer our clients a wide range of innovative corporate solutions, throughout the life of their business.”

“For over two decades, we have placed emphasis on fostering long lasting

Finance & private equity Musthafa & Almana’s Finance and Private Equity Practice

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Group provides strategic opportunities and representations to some of most active financial sponsors, funds and investor groups looking strategically at the Middle East and the Indian Sub-continent.

Musthafa then reveals the full spectrum of services the firm provides, the expertise they offer and the type of clients they cater for.

“Musthafa & Almana’s provides a full spectrum solutions to clients and has extensive experience, ranging from early-stage and venture transactions, to growth capital and high value deals. Our cross-border teams work in close coordination to provide strategic, technical and commercial advice on due diligence and compliance, entry and exit strategies, deal negotiation and execution as well as corporate governance.

“The firm’s expertise and detail oriented process, has helped us in pre-empting the issues in capital raising and this build efficiency behind our engagements. We place paramount importance to the symbiotic client-investor relationship and play the role to ensure an optimum framework of engagement.

g Understanding Cultural and Commercial Nuances

Company: Musthafa & Almana Name: Musthafa Zafeer Email: info@musthafa-almana.com Web Address: www.musthafa-almana.com Address: PO Box 122704, Office No.602,6th Floor, The Maze Tower, Pop DIFC, Sheikh Zayed Road, Dubai United Arab Emirates Telephone: +971 04 386 9993

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“Musthafa & Almana’s clients include asset managers, building societies, capital markets and their participants, investment banks, national regulators, private banks, private equity firms, professional services organisations engaged principally in financial services and retail banks. Our firm has a strong relationship with large corporates and buyout funds who are looking at opportunities of inorganic growth/portfolio augmentation. We maintain periodic dialogue with such entities to share and discuss opportunities.”

Healthcare Musthafa & Almana’s Healthcare Practice Group has a client base that consists of state of the art medical facilities, national health authorities, healthcare insurance providers and firms specialised in investing in the industry.

Musthafa is keen to reveal more about this aspect of the firm’s work.

“Over the years, we have facilitated some of the largest transactions in the healthcare sector in India and the MiddleEast, by assisting our clients incorporate, license, merge and acquire, while also guiding them to resolve their disputes and raise equity capital. In addition to those services, we also help them in finding a property suitable for the setting up of a medical institute, and its construction.

“The healthcare industry is an industry that does not face the risk of becoming obsolete. Great opportunities lie in this industry, which can be exploited through joint ventures, distribution, licensing, supply agreements, international trade and strategic acquisition.

“Musthafa & Almana provides effective guidance for our clients.

We help them navigate through all aspects of the regulatory requirements imposed by local governments of the markets that we are present in. Our holistic approach to service provision, supports cliental, both locally and globally to meet the required

regulatory standard imposed in the sector they are in. We offer bespoke, tailor-made services to the needs of clients, to provide solutions that are both time and cost efficient, for the benefit of their business.”

Energy and infrastructure Musthafa & Almana’s Energy and Infrastructure Practice Group provides advise for clients in every stage of the development, financing, construction, ownership and running of energy and infrastructure projects in some of the most promising markets in the world. Musthafa is eager to spill the beans on this interesting aspect of the business.

“Energy and infrastructure lies at the intersection between private & public sector. For more than 20 years, the group has represented various stakeholders within the intersection, facilitating and advising on some of the most significant projects in this sector.

“Facilitation of these projects requires a comprehensive understanding and knowledge of the sector, coupled with the skillset to, evaluate & predict risks and allocate resources to needs. In addition, we have ample experience with the public sector, as evident by our relationships with various governmental agencies over the world, which puts us able to positively impact the numerous markets that we are actively present in.

“Musthafa & Almana’s crossborder multi-disciplinary team provides advice and solutions to meet the needs of clients in various sub-sectors. The complete asset life cycle from development to acquisition falls under the range of activities we offer advice and guidance in. That includes, raising debt capital or sponsors, sales of assets, to portfolio management and asset sales. We particularly pay attention to financing key infrastructure projects, mergers and acquisitions, asset financing, regulatory matters, securitisation, construction projects and infrastructure fund information.”

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The infrastructure sectors Musthafa & Almana’s are involved in include: transport infrastructure: airports; bridges and tunnels; ports; rail and road. In terms of gas and power transmission sectors, the firm is involved with: oil & gas; petrochemicals; power generation (including renewables); waste and energy from waste and telecommunications and satellites. When it comes to social infrastructure, the firm is working with the following sectors: education; healthcare; municipal facilities; prisons; stadia and sporting facilities as well as water, desalination and wastewater.

Musthafa & Almana’s energy team’s deep expertise in this sector enables them to advice clients on matters regarding power and utilities, transmission and distribution, oil and gas, climate change and renewable energy. Musthafa explains this point in further detail.

“We aid from the start of the lifecycle of these assets to the end, which includes the consenting and planning procedure, financing, construction, operation, maintenance and finally its sale or refinancing. The energy market is international in nature, due to its various cross border deals. Our presence in UK, Middle East, Indian Subcontinent, the United States and close tie-ups in the African continent, enables us to truly leverage our global network and deliver a continuous service.”

Hospitality Musthafa & Almana’s Hospitality Practice Group advises clients in all the different sectors of the hospitality ecosystem. It creates innovative solutions for companies having strategic and financial interests in the hospitality industry. Musthafa is keen to elaborate on this point.

“The Hospitality Group understands the special needs of companies at all stages of development. No matter where they stand, it is critical to adapt

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a robust commercial model, to attain competitive advantage in a dynamic market.

“The group has extensive experience advising companies on transactions in the GCC, India, Africa, Europe and the Philippines on deals of all sizes.

Our team is well versed with the variety of hospitality issues that arise on development, management, operations, acquisition, divestment, gaming operations, franchise, management, outsourcing operations, joint ventures and fund formation, finance and restructuring, construction, investment in real estate, lease, litigation and crossborder investments as well as repatriation in various jurisdictions.

“Musthafa & Almana’s clients include owners, managers, franchisors, developers and lenders; global, regional and national hotels; resort businesses plus serviced apartments and leisure and sports operators (golf courses, theme and amusement parks, health and fitness facilities, spas, gyms, cinemas).”

Real estate Musthafa & Almana’s Real Estate Practice Group handles sophisticated real estate transactions in some of the most challenging emerging markets of the world. Musthafa reveals the firm’s competitive advantage in this sector, plus how they work with their stakeholders and clients.

“Our work with stakeholders in the global industry, be it an investor, borrower, developer, occupier or lender, has given us a deep insight into this sector and its operations. Our competitive advantage in this sector is due to the strong presence we have in within it, in both the developing and developed markets of the world. The real estate needs of stakeholders in these markets vary vastly, giving us a more holistic understanding of the sector, which enables the firm to offer bespoke advice over various areas of practice.

“We also assist various stakeholders of the global real estate sector, to pick up on cues and trends of the industry, whilst guiding them through the intricacies of the markets which they currently or planning to operate in. We synergise, our commercial knowledge to provide clients with a safe pathway for their transactions and successful outcomes for their disputes.

“Musthafa & Almana’s client base mirrors the diversity and effervescence of the practice.

Our cliental consists of, private and public companies, private equity funds, real estate funds, hoteliers and owners, public sector entities, retailers, developers and unit trusts, investment banks and other financial institutions.”

Fashion, retail & consumer products Musthafa & Almana’s Fashion, Retail and Consumer Products Practice Group is a dynamic multi-disciplinary practice group that provides strategic advice for fashion houses, brands, consumer product companies, private equity firms, designers and technologists in the highly nuanced and complex matters of the global fashion, retail and consumer products industry.

Musthafa underlines that the firm works with companies at all life-cycle stages, from start-ups to multinational fashion houses and retailers, a point he is keen to expand in his own words.

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“We help them navigate all the challenges and the opportunities offered by new markets, new technologies and rapidly changing regulations. In addition, the consumer products industry is a dynamic industry.

The consumer goods and retail industry faces several challenges in today’s ever changing and complex marketplace, including shifting consumer attitudes towards products and brands, new entrants to the sector and increasingly stringent regulation.

We believe that it is fundamental to our clients to anticipate and react to changes in their supply chain and change in technology, so that they can survive and thrive.

“With extensive experience across all relevant areas and our international presence, we help clients navigate through these challenges and work across borders to find simple and creative solutions. We are also focused on providing advice, based on our in-depth sector knowledge, local experience and international best practice. This sector is driven by increased growth in consumer spending which attracts local and international retailers, fashion brands, luxury brands, investors and developers.

“Musthafa & Almana’s services in this respect include giving an overview to clients about the market they are about to enter, advising them on the ever-changing tax and pricing environment surrounding the industry, negotiation leases for the shops, flagship stores or counters, advising strategically and technically on franchising and M&A transactions, managing government compliances and consulting them on HR solutions.”

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Experience, Expertise and Excellence Safair Operations is an aviation related company based at OR Tambo International Airport South Africa. The company holds an Aircraft Operating Certificate (AOC) issued by the South African Civil Aviation Authority and is IOSA accredited and certificated. We invited Cornelis Schoonderwoerd to provide an in-depth profile of the firm’s remarkable success in the aviation industry today.

IOSA refers to IATA Operational Safety Audit. All IATA members must be compliant in order to maintain membership. Our core function is providing wet lease / ACMI and charter services within the aviation industry.

Safair commenced operations in 1965 and has been operating for over 51 years. Our footprint is worldwide, having operated on all seven continents, including as far north as the Arctic Circle and as far south as Antarctica. The name Safair is well respected for offering ‘Experience, Expertise and Excellence’ to our numerous customers.

the less fortunate and underprivileged communities in South Africa.

Our approach is straight forward, in that we aim to deliver an excellent service and to achieve that, we look at appointing the right people. We look for people who meet the ‘Safair Culture’.

Such people are ‘gladiators’, who challenge the status quo, drive change and find better ways to do things). They also have ‘loving hearts’, in that they proactively anticipate and exceed our customers’ expectations). They should also have a ‘great attitude’ in that they should remain humble, stay grateful, remain hungry and build positive teams plus a family atmosphere.

Our mission statement is, ‘we are pioneers and adventurers, delivering wherever, whatever and whenever through dependability, expertise and a caring and can-do attitude’.

Our vision is to be the preferred provider of unique and specialist airlift services. Safair is also a socially responsible company and contributes via various means, to uplift the lives of

The Safair fleet consists of six Lockheed Hercules and 2 x B737-400 Combi aircraft.

Both the aircraft types are well suited to airfields with limited infrastructure. In addition, the safety of our people and assets is non-negotiable. Some of the areas of operation are within a hostile environment, and, prior to any contract or charter, a risk assessment on the base of

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operation, routes to be flown is undertaken.

The Hercules aircraft has a structural payload of 21,000 kilogrammes and the rear loading cargo door is perfect for all types, whether it be bulk, vehicles or palletised. In addition, the aircraft is capable of operating into short, unprepared runways and is pretty much self-sufficient.

The B737-400 Combi is also very versatile. It can accommodate 10,000 kilogrammes of cargo, plus 72 passengers on the upper deck. There is a fixed bulkhead separating the cargo and the passengers. This configuration makes it ideal for troop and baggage equipment transportation, both in the military and governmental sphere, plus the oil and gas industry.

The humanitarian aid and relief arena is a large part of the Safair business, where we provide aircraft for several NGO’s. We are currently very active in both airlift and airdrop operations to regions of Republic of South Sudan. We are pioneers in the

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delivering of humanitarian aid via airdrop with the Hercules and have many years of experience in this sector. We drop 18,000 kilogrammes in 50 kilogrammes bags which are triple-bagged.

This triple-bagging enables a recovery rate of over 99%.

Our operations involve both the Hercules and the B737400 Combi providing logistical support and we are very active in Central / East Africa. In addition, Safair provided aircraft for logistical support to ISAF (Afghanistan), the SANDF and a number of other governments and agencies.

Commercial operations are also a large part of our business. For example, some other interesting missions we have undertaken are: • Relocating Rhino’s into to Zambia and Tanzania; • Transporting an aquarium of Manta Rays and Hammerhead Sharks from Taipei to Singapore; • Transporting rescue personnel and equipment from South Africa in support of the relief effort in the Philippines after Typhoon Haiyan in 2013; • Oil spill spraying operations; • A major item on our calendar are our annual flights from New Zealand to Antarctica whereby we provide logistical support to a government research unit; • Transporting ‘adventure seekers’ from Chile to a base in Antarctica called Patriot Hills and; • Sea searches for missing yachts / vessels.

In August 2014, Safair launched a low-cost airline (FlySafair). The airline operates domestically within South Africa, utilising 6 x B737-400 and 3 x B737-800 aircraft. FlySafair operates between the main cities within South Africa namely Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban, Port Elizabeth, East London and George. In August 2016, it commenced serving Johannesburg’s secondary airport, Lanseria International.

The airline has been a remarkable success in terms of transporting in the region of 2.7 million passengers. Within two years, it began to make a profit.

Safair is part of the ASL Aviation Holdings DAC, with headquarters in Dublin, Ireland. The group consists of airlines, leasing services, spares and technical support, handling and training services.

Finally, ASL employ in the region of 3,000 people and have a fleet of over 140 aircraft. Companies within the group are: • • • • • • • • • •

ASL Ireland (formerly Air Contractors); ASL France (formerly Europe Air Post); ASL Switzerland (formerly Farnair); ASL Spain (formerly TNT); ASL Hungary; Quickjet; K-Mile; Safair Operations; ACLAS Technics and; Farnair Training and Handling.

Company: Safair Operations (Pty) Ltd Name: Cornelis Schoonderwoerd Email: CSchoonderwoerd@ safair.co.za Web Address: www.safairoperations.com Address: PO Box 938, Kempton Park, 1620, South Africa.

Telephone: +27 11 928 0066

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Founding and Managing Greatness Design Group Engineering Consultants LLC (DGEC) is one of the leading Engineering Consultancy firms in Oman, offering specialized Architectural & Engineering services, including BIM (Building Information Modelling), as well as Project Management Consultancy. Damodar R Katti talks to us about the company’s success and his own, discussing being awarded 2017 Leading Founder and Managing Director Awards and Most Trusted Founder and Managing Director for Providing Outstanding Business Services – Oman.

DGEC specializes in implementing Building Information & Modeling (BIM), and offers consulting services and solutions to the challenges in various sectors and on a variety of projects, including iconic buildings, healthcare and educational buildings. Alongside these offerings, the firm also works on projects such as logistics warehousing, industrial, roads and infrastructures, multi-level car parking lots and project management. Damodar discusses the reputation of DGEC and talks about the team he has behind him, all of which contributes to the company’s continuing success.

“Today, DGEC are renowned and highly recommended among major Architects, Builders, Contractors, Developers, Corporate Giants, and fraternity of Structural Engineers. Our Senior Design Team comprises of highly qualified, experienced and motivated Architects, Designers and Engineers, and are enriched with experience in typical fields of engineering and who form the nucleus of the team.

“Dedicated talents pool with core engineering skills in key industry segments which is our

hallmark makes our service line a completely integrated service model. Complex projects, collaboration with downstream parties for project delivery, cost effective, environmentally friendly solutions, core engineering and quality systems – DGEC has proven track record of providing integrated engineering solutions.

“We are proud to announce that DGEC has achieved ISO 9001:2015 Certification during August 2017. This accreditation will help further improve our

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service to customers making us more efficient and maintain high standard of service delivery.

We are now working towards achieving the ISO 14001:2015 and OHSAS 18001 Certification” A couple of accolades received

by DGEC are as follows: •

‘Consultant of the Year 2012’ for our involvement in the prestigious Royal Opera House for Diwan of Royal Court. We are also working on the current Mini Royal

Opera House - a 500 Seat Theatre coming up behind the Royal Opera House for Diwan of Royal Court.

•

Awarded by MEED in the National Winners category for 2015 for ‘Small Project of the Year’ for a logistics project.

•

We were shortlisted as the finalists for ‘Construction Week Oman Awards 2016’ in three categories: Consultant of the Year, Infrastructure Project of the Year and Project Manager of the Year.

•

Damodar R. Katti was awarded ‘Construction Executive of the year 2017’

by Construction Week Oman Awards.

Integrated into the firm is the approach to client service.

Reflected in its values, staff strive to provide the best possible customer service. Damodar explains how the company maintains the high standards set by himself, across all staff.

“Client service is the experience we deliver to our clients. It is the promise we keep to the client. It is how we follow through for the client. It is how we make them feel when they do business with us.”

“Placing a firm emphasis on our customers, our client is central to everything that we do at DGEC. Profits are certainly our goal but, without client satisfaction, profits are bound to suffer. Consequently, I attach a lot of importance to client service. A business is not worthwhile without its clients and it is important to recognize this. I believe I have strong client service skills, and working with people is certainly something I enjoy. It is not always easy of course.”

There are high quality demands on the performance of staff and the company. As Damodar points out, the customer retention rate is very high for the firm with all the staff performing to the levels expected of them. With a management plan in place, Damodar tells us how he ensures each project will be completed to the utmost quality.

“Here at DGEC, we constantly reaffirm client loyalty and provide sustainable cost-effective services and solutions with a view to generate maximum benefits for our clients. Each employee is expected to perform services to the expected level of quality & standards, critically examine these services with a view to improvise them and look for any lacunae that can be eliminated.”

“Essentially, our Quality Management Plan defines the acceptable level of quality and describes how the project will ensure this level of quality in its deliverables and work processes. Our QMS activities ensure that deliverables meet

the agreed upon standards and requirements, work processes are efficient and documented, and finally that non-conformances are identified, appropriate corrective actions taken and looped back to whoever necessary.”

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Discussing what makes the firm unique, Damodar explains how the firm distinguishes itself from other competitors, presenting themselves as the best possible option for clients, as he alludes to the fact that it is not just the customer service which makes it successful.

“Maintaining a professional approach with a personal touch and understanding what our clients value makes DGEC a preferred choice. Growth as such is not a value. It is the way in which this growth is achieved that is important. At DGEC, we aim to grow in three ways: profitably, value-oriented, and sustainably. It is incumbent upon every professional in DGEC to find out exactly what the prospective client values. We lead with our ears and ask the questions that reveal what the prospect actually values.”

Differentiating its services means DGEC is able to sell value.

Making sure the client is aware that their project is unique and that a personal focus is being out into their work, the company exploits every aspect of the different nature of each individual project, something Damodar is happy to tell us about.

“Commodity is a product or service with no discernible differences, one from another, that is available from multiple sources. Every effort is made to create a powerful and distinct difference to the client without which, everyone seems to be providing the same service. Here at DGEC, we have got to be different – really different. And it’s not always about price.”

“Services enhancements is a major initiative at DGEC. We exploit every aspect of the difference and tie it into what the prospective client values; based on this, we come up with both UCAs (unique competitive advantages) and RAs (relative advantages). At DGEC, we harness the power of relationships and lock out the competition, regardless of the marketplace.”

“Unsophisticated marketing often think the best way to get business is by under-pricing everybody else. Thin margins have put more companies out of business than any other single factor. In my opinion, this is the worst avenue of approach in trying to build a viable long-term enterprise.”

Ultimately, Damodar signs off by predicting what the future holds for DGEC. He tells us about the future plans for the firm, as the company looks to diversify its services, and expand its opportunities. With Damodar at the helm, the company is well placed to build a successful future.

Describing how it feels to have been selected in the 2017 Leading Founder and Managing Director Awards as the Most Trusted Founder and Managing Director for Providing Outstanding Business Services – Oman, Damodar is clearly thrilled, but is quick to attribute this success to his staff and clients. Expectation is growing at the company, and as it moves forward, Damodar is preparing to meet these expectations.

“Looking ahead, we believe in complementing each other and move forward together. In the years to come, we see ourselves attempting larger projects by associating with one or more firms and serve the industry in a more professional manner. By doing so, it will help us in bidding diversified opportunities.”

“It is an honour and I am thrilled at being selected. However, the success truly belongs not only to each of the employees of DGEC but also our invaluable clients without whom, this feat would have been impossible.

“As an individual, my role was that of an orchestra conductor whose primary responsibilities are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble, and to control the interpretation and pacing of the music. Success brings greater responsibilities and greater expectations, and I am gearing up to meet those challenges.”

“Moving forward, we are entering a phase wherein we want to be recognized as specialist vendors in Healthcare & Educational sector. Lastly, we are confident of winning more projects in these sectors because of our in-house expertise and thorough project understandings.”

Company Name: Design Group Engineering Consultants LLC Contact Name: Damodar R Katti Designation: Managing Director Contact Email: damodar@dgcon.com Address: Ruwi, MBD area, Way No. 3516, Building NO. 1287, 5th Floor, Office No. 52. Muscat, Sultanate of Oman Web: www.dgcon.com

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Bespoke Solutions That Create the Right Opportunities Acorn Strategy is a strategy-led marketing and communications agency, helping companies to achieve successful and tailored growth, from acorns to mighty oak trees. We recently invited Acorn Strategy’s Managing Director, Kate Midttun to tell us more about how they ensure their approach is tailored to the business requirements of their clients.

Acorn Strategy has been helping clients to grow their businesses for seven years. Based in the UAE, with a team of more than 10 nationalities, their work has seen companies increase revenue by as much as 60% in three months. By unravelling the complexities of the market and competition to create strategy and plans that optimise performance, Acorn Strategy’s marketing and communications management and optimisation sees real results for companies of all sizes.

Managing Director, Kate Midttun explains the process which is undertaken by Acorn Strategy to ensure the clients receive the best possible outcome.

“Acorn always puts the client first, ensuring that the approach is tailored to the business requirements, there are no off the shelf solutions. By gaining a deep understanding of their clients’ businesses, they can optimise the opportunities in the market place. Firstly, researching and assessing the external market for opportunities and quick wins before doing a deep dive analysis on the internal market. Thereafter, the marketing strategy and planning is created to maximise available budget and business requirements.”

At this current moment, the UAE economy creates both unique and interesting opportunities for companies who are looking to grow. Whilst many companies are reducing budgets and headcount, those who are savvy can make the most of their limited budgets to gain an edge on their competition.

Acorn’s consultants and culture revolve around curiousness and the desire to find the solution to the problem, agility to adapt and create, and intelligence in delivery of strategy. This means that their clients receive bespoke solutions that create the right opportunities.

As for those who work at Acorn Strategy and where the company is based, Kate reveals the personality traits it takes to work for the agency, as well as the benefits of being based in the UAE. “Acorn Strategy has a unique internal culture, as all consultants have access to paid continuous education, they are encouraged to cross-train and develop skills.

Naturally, this means that they need to be curious, proactive and engaged in finding the best possible result for a client, so it takes a certain type of personality to work for the agency.

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“The benefit of having a physical office in the UAE, is that it is a launchpad to the world. Being based in the Middle East and servicing the GCC region, Acorn Strategy works with many international clients who are looking to cut through the complexities of the market and find their feet on the ground faster.

Likewise, those businesses which have been home grown in the UAE benefit from the international expertise and local understanding that Acorn brings. Having a partnership with other agencies is core to delivering, it also means often working with international expertise.

“The fact that Acorn Strategy’s work is unique in itself, it’s a wonderful achievement to be recognised as UAE’s Most

Innovative Marketing Agency”, says Kate. “Our consultants have experience working on the most complex and challenging problems, making them some of the highest calibre people in the market. We are able to deliver international level quality and skill without having to fly consultants in from around the world. GCC clients really appreciate the combination of local experience and international standards.”

In closing, Acorn Strategy will look to expand its roots in Australia over the upcoming year and have sights set on Europe for the future years.

Website: www.acornstrategy.com/

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Minty Fresh Designers BrandMint are a Beirut based branding boutique, possessing a team of 12 designers, specialized in brand building from conception to execution. Clients range from F&B to banking, fintech, retail, entertainment, medical, education and cultural. Raya Nawbar gives us a breakdown of the firm’s services, as she is being featured in 2017 Leading Chief Executive Officer Awards & Most Trusted Chief Executive Officer for Providing Outstanding Business Services in Lebanon.

BrandMint’s true love remains in the F&B sector.

The team loves everything about the sector, the naming, food tasting, menu engineering, table ware selection, environmental branding, experience design and of course all the usual branding and communication tools. Raya notes why the company enjoys working in the sector so much, as well as describing how it feels seeing its brand come to life, observing people engaging with its brands.

Describing the firm’s philosophy behind client service, Raya notes how the team maintains the high standards they set themselves across the company. Building relationships and earning trust are all essential strategies to maintaining a successful company.

“Here at BrandMint, we focus on building a trusting relationship with our clients. The way we see it, brand building is most successful when it is a partnership with our clients, an ongoing journey that starts the moment we meet the client for a brief, but definitely does not end when the brand is launched.

“Seeing people react and interact with the brand is all part of the

brand growth, and we make it a point to play the role of the consultant, constantly looking for the best interest of the brand, identifying potential opportunities and tweaking any possible weaknesses.”

Raya tells us what makes BrandMint unique, distinguishing themselves from its competitors, and present themselves as the best option for clients. These are all important attributes for the company to have, particularly when working in an industry that is constantly changing, describing what measures the firm must take to ensure that it is at the forefront of any emerging developments and trends.

“The digital revolution has changed the communication landscape. It created a power shift, allowing for more competitiveness and giving todays customer a voice to talk back to brands, making them more demanding and less loyal.

“Basically, we wanted to challenge the traditional branding model, making it more customer centric. Our years of experience in branding has allowed us to develop our very own brand building framework.

This framework is based on our belief that brands are just like people, they have a job to do, a

personality, a style and most of all brands have dreams. Using this framework, the team delivers strategic agile brand roadmaps instead of the traditional restricting brand guidelines.”

Following on from discussing what makes BrandMint successful and unique, Raya tells us about the culture within the company, and the things they do to maintain and develop the company. She explains what she looks for when attracting new staff, and how these traits help the new employee integrate themselves into the company.

Crucially, we see ourselves as the guardians. Beyond being brand guardians, we are guardians for each other as well.

We believe in a flat hierarchy, where we are all responsible for each other’s growth and have developed a culture of knowledge sharing.

It is everybody’s responsibility to look for the next workshop to attend, the next article to be shared or the latest trend to watch out for. Also, we are always searching for talent with diverse backgrounds that can add to the richness of the team dynamics.

Overall, there are exciting times ahead for BrandMint and Raya,

as she explains that 2017 has been a year of transformation, and now it is time to build on the solid foundations that have been laid at BrandMint.

“Essentially, 2017 has been the year of transformation for BrandMint. In our quest to challenge the traditional branding model, we ended up redesigning our own services, internal structure and operations, accompanied by an intensive upscaling program for the team and are now in the process of developing all the necessary communication tools to launch BrandMint 2.0 by early 2018.”

Contact: Raya Nawbar Contact Email: raya.nawbar@brandmint.com Address: Kantari, May Ziadeh St, Antwork Bldg, Beirut, Lebanon Phone: 00961 1748 204 Website: www.brandmint.com

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Powered by Passion Petrofac Qatar is a company focused on the Oil & Gas, Petrochemicals, Infrastructure (Power/ Water) and Construction Industries. We spoke to CEO Rony Paul Thekkanath as we discuss what makes the firm unique, as well as how it operates within the Middle East.

Established in 1997 in Doha, Qatar, Petrofac Qatar is a ISO 9001:2008, ISO 14001:2004, OHSAS 18001:2007 and TRACE Certified company. The firm’s core business involves providing customers with a comprehensive range of engineering products and solutions, sourced from world-renowned principals and manufacturers. Rony explains Petrofac Qatar’s philosophy behind client service, detailing how the team is able to maintain the high standards it sets itself across the company.

“Here at Petrofac Qatar, our philosophy is to be the reliable partner to our customers. We took a conscious decision to invest in manpower, technology and process, which we strongly believe is a key factor for our success. The team strive hard to meet the growing demand and expectations of our customers, offering them quality products in a timely manner at a competitive price.”

Telling us more about the state of Qatar itself, Rony refers to the fact that Qatar is smaller than its surrounding countries, but this has not stopped it developing and progressing at an impressive rate. He does speak about some challenges which may arise, but also the opportunities which have arisen that the company can explore, including the FIFA World Cup in 2022.

“Qatar is relatively a small country compared to its

neighbors, but it is a fastdeveloping nation with a progressive leadership and has created a unique identity for itself within the region. Qatar is the largest exporter of LNG and has the third largest natural gas reserves in the world. With the highest Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita in the world, it ranks 14th in the Global Competitiveness Index, second only to the UAE in the GCC region. This abundance of natural resources coupled with recent legal liberalization, economic diversification and a flourishing economy mean that there are many opportunities.

These opportunities have been greatly enhanced by Qatar being chosen to host the FIFA World Cup in 2022. However, the recent Gulf Crisis has created some challenge which we hope will be resolved soon.”

Crucially, the company is able to stand out from its competitors in the market, as Rony mentions what makes Petrofac Qatar unique. He alludes to the fact that customers rely on the firm for urgent and critical requirements, and this is thanks to trust built by the firm, along with being able to uphold its sterling reputation.

“Presenting ourselves as the best possible option for clients, our unique identity is our know-how, our capability to source the right materials, offer professional support and timely response to customer queries, making realistic promises and going all out to honour our commitments, these are some of the traits

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we believe that sets us apart from our competitors. Here at Petrofac Qatar, we have invested multi-million dollars’ worth of materials locally in Qatar, to ensure immediate availability for our clients. Our customers rely on us for any of their urgent and critical requirements, this is purely based on the trust and reputation we have established over the years.”

Regarding the culture within the company, Rony tells us the things the company does in order to maintain its internal culture, and what the team look for when attracting new staff. The right hiring structure is important in order to be a successful firm, and Rony divulges how the specific traits the team look for help the new employee integrate themselves into the company.

“Building relationships and trust, we value our partners and our customers. Above all, we value the people who work with us, our employees. As a knowledgebased company, we firmly believe the key to our success is our talented and competent team of employees. Our corporate culture promotes integrity and diversity. Each individual working with us is a brand ambassador - responsible for upholding the values of our organization.

“Significantly, our goal is to attract, develop and retain highly qualified people from the broadest possible pool to meet our business needs. In this work environment, they will expand their knowledge from working

alongside people from a variety of backgrounds and cultures.

“At Petrofac Qatar, good corporate citizenship is a cornerstone of our culture. High standards of integrity, legal compliance, governance, and management control systems are integral to our business model.

How we achieve business results is as important as the results themselves. While attracting new employees, apart from looking at their education, experience, knowledge, skills, attitude etc; we mainly look for one key attribute in the person.”

Working in an industry that is constantly changing, it is important to ensure that the company stays ahead of any potential developments within the industry. Rony describes what measures Petrofac Qatar take in order to stay ahead of any advances, referring us to how the team is constantly reviewing the market dynamics, therefore can work out its business strategies accordingly.

“It is very important for us to always look ahead of the current market trend in order to survive and grow in today’s challenging market scenario.

The team constantly reviews the market dynamics and works out our business strategies accordingly. Also, we always try to understand the key challenges faced by our customers and try to come out with innovate solutions.

Reliability and Availability of right materials has been the key issues.

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“Petrofac Qatar had introduced stringent pre-qualification and vendor approval procedures in order to ensure the reliability of our principals and their products. Similarly, we have been promoting the concept of long term call-off contracts with our customer for their regularly purchased items, which will not only ensure immediate availability, but also maintain the price and optimize their resources effectively.”

Ultimately, Rony describes what, in his opinion, are the key advantages to being based in Qatar. He comments on the forecast for Qatar by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which will ultimately see its population grow in 2017. He

signs off by predicting what the future holds for the company, along with what upcoming plans and projects Petrofac Qatar have going forward.

business based in Qatar for the past two decades, with strong market knowledge and relationship, we believe it is a major advantage for us.

“Moving forward, the IMF forecasted that Qatar will have the highest real growth in the region over the next four years.

Its population is expected to grow by 7% in 2017 due to a large influx in expatriates. Qatar plans to invest up to US$220 billion in infrastructure over the next seven years. This is in support of the Football World Cup in 2022 and its National Vision 2030.

It is one of the most ambitious infrastructure programs in the world. Qatar is very much a market where local knowledge is the key. Being a well-established

“Qatar has very ambitious plans for the next 10 years as part of the Qatar National Vision 2030, mainly for the infrastructure development. Qatar has recently announced their plans to expand the LNG products by 30% to maintain their leadership position in the world. Also, we are optimistic that this holds a good opportunity for our company to grow in the coming years.

“Looking ahead, we plan to set up 20,000 Square Meters state-of-the-art warehousing and machine shop facility in

2018. This facility will serve as the authorized service center for some of the major manufacturers and reputed brands within the industry, to provide after sales repair & maintenance services to our valued customers.”

Company: Petrofac Qatar W.L.L. Contact: Rony Paul Thekkanath Contact Email: rony@petrofac-qatar.com Address: Petrofac Qatar Building, C-Ring Road, P.O. Box 4404, Doha – Qatar Tel: +974 44478800 Fax: +974 44478811 Email: sales@petrofac-qatar.com Web: www.petrofac-qatar.com

MEA MARKETS / October 2017 21

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Your Partner of Choice Genpharm Services are a market access regional pharmaceutical company, focused on the segment of rare and genetic disease. Karim Smaira and Kamel Ghammachi talk to us about the company, discussing what it feels like to be awarded Best Pharmaceutical Marketing & Consulting Firm – MENA. Genpharm supports both patients and physicians by raising disease awareness, establishing early diagnosis and identifying treatments for these diseases, all of which are approved by the highest regulatory authorities such as the FDA in the USA and EMA in Europe. Karim gives us an overview of the firm’s services, noting its mission and the team’s vision for the company, as well as what it strives to do for patients.

“Here at Genpharm, we are committed to educating the community about these conditions and the heavy burden of these diseases. Most of the genetic conditions are paediatric and they can mean social stigma and seclusion for these children.

It is important that the mindset changes and we realise that despite these disabilities, many patients could live longer and have a better quality of life, once the all the stakeholders are better educated in how to care for these cases.

“Furthermore, we aim to provide a consistent high quality service to all of our partners. The team employs a very transparent approach and our model allows very close coordination and collaboration with our partners.”

Discussing what it feels like for the firm to win this award, Kamel

gives us what he believes are the reasons behind the company’s success and how it has showcased its win since winning the award.

“Winning this award was very important and meant a lot of things to us, as when you start your entrepreneurial journey, the risks are always high. In addition, there are always doubters and people that are expecting you to fail. Entrepreneurship can be a very lonely journey and there are many days where a person may doubt their decision”.

“This award was the recognition that despite the challenges, our strategy to become the partner of choice in the pharmaceutical sector was working well and we had established a strong reputation and brand recognition in the market. The combination of being committed to the Rare Disease community, by making medicine available for patients across the MENA region, and the community service through raising awareness with the general public, were the main reasons behind this award.”

Setting itself apart from its competitors is something which helps Genpharm be the success it is today. Marking itself out as the best possible option for partners, Karim explains that the firm sticks to its values, always putting the patient first and looking to do the best for them.

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“Staff remain very close to our vision and to our organisational values. The most important of them being Patient Centric.

The patient remains at the core of our principles and we try to always link what we do to what it concretely means in terms of outcomes and impact on the patients and their families.

Employees are always reminded that we are bound by a larger purpose, and their job needs to be seen as their contribution to the mission of improving people’s lives. If this is not a motivator to get out of bed every morning, then they are definitely not a good fit for our organisation.”

Ultimately, in their concluding comments, Karim and Kamel outline what they see for the future of Genpharm, explaining how the company plans to build on its continuous success, growing even further and

establishing itself as true leader within the healthcare industry.

“Moving forward, we will continue to build on our winning strategy by attracting the most innovative players in the rare disease space. We have also expanded to grow our portfolio in broader indications and have started looking at acquiring brands ourselves. This is our vision to the future growth plan of Genpharm. It is a very challenging and exciting time at the same time.”

Company: Genpharm Services Contact: Karim Smaira Contact Email: karim.smaira@ genpharmservices.com Address: Office 2805, Business Bay, Al Manara Tower, Dubai, UAE Phone: 97144227010 Website: www.genpharmservices.com

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SafeHeal Appoints Dr. Karl Blohm as CEO to Prepare for Launch and Commercialization SafeHeal, an MD started company and a pioneer in the prevention of digestive surgery complications, on the 16th October announced the appointment of Karl Blohm, Ph.D., as CEO. On the 16th October, SafeHeal, an MD started company and a pioneer in the prevention of digestive surgery complications announced the appointment of Karl Blohm, Ph.D., as CEO. Anne Osdoit, co-founder of SafeHeal who has been CEO since the inception of SafeHeal, will remain involved as President of SafeHeal.

Dr. Blohm was most recently Vice President International of GI Dynamics, an innovator in the field of endoscopically inserted treatments for management of type 2 diabetes and obesity, where he was instrumental in developing clinical evidence, physician support and market access pathways, securing the Endobarrier product launch in Europe and Middle East.

He is a senior executive with more than 25 years of experience managing international business

operations, combining capital equipment and medical devices in both large- and small-company environments. Dr. Blohm played a key role in successfully launching several innovative medical devices and technologies in his previous positions at Accuray, EndoGastric Solutions and Siemens, with particular focus on gastrointestinal surgical and endoscopic markets. Karl holds a Ph.D. in Elementary Particle Physics from the University of Paris.

“MD Start builds companies on strong fundamentals breakthrough technologies that really have value, focused on large, unaddressed clinical need, and significant market opportunity.

SafeHeal is a great example of such high-impact therapy, which is essential to the development of the company,” said Dr. Blohm.

“I have been consistently impressed by the speed and quality of strategic planning and execution during the incubation of SafeHeal, with significant

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milestones already achieved, and a deep understanding of clinical endpoints relevant to patients, regulators and payers. The streamlined SafeHeal team has done a superb job bringing the technology from concept through preclinical validation, and I am thrilled to join the company to make its innovation available to patients around the world.”

“Karl is a perfect fit and brings a directly relevant experience to the company to move this technology successfully from the bench to the patient,” said Anne Osdoit.

“His network of clinicians, his knowledge of the regulatory and reimbursement processes and his expertise in bringing products to the market in the digestive field give us a unique opportunity to prepare for commercialization in Europe, the US and ultimately China, while continuing to advance our R&D and clinical validation programs. We are very excited to have him leading the company through the next phase of product launch.”

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MEA MARKETS / October 2017 25

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SANS’ Largest Information Security Training Event in the Middle East ‘SANS Gulf Region 2017’ Opens for Registration SANS Institute announced on the 16th October its largest ever cyber security training event in the Middle East, taking place in Dubai from the 4th to the 16th of November.

On the 16th October, SANS Institute announced its largest ever cyber security training event in the Middle East, taking place in Dubai from the 4th to the 16th of November. SANS Gulf Region 2017 will feature eight classroom style instructor-led courses covering key security topics including ethical hacking, penetration testing, digital forensics and incident response, smartphone security and threat intelligence.

The duration of each course is either five or six days and SANS will conduct four within the first week and the remaining four the following week. “We are providing Middle East businesses with the rare opportunity to get their security professionals expertly trained in region by internationally qualified instructors, all of whom are active industry practitioners. In under a week, each comprehensive training

will dive deep into the subject matter and enable attendees to cement the skill sets they have learned through extensive practical hands-on sessions,” explained Ned Baltagi, Managing Director, Middle East & Africa at SANS. Depending on the course attended, participants will also be prepared to undertake the GSEC, GCIH, GPEN, GCCC, GCFA, GASF and GRID Certifications.

Among the courses that have been specifically included to address the prime cyber security concerns that Middle East enterprises face are FOR578: Cyber Threat Intelligence, SEC566: Implementing and Auditing the Critical Security Controls - In-Depth, and SEC560: Network Penetration Testing and Ethical Hacking. “These courses shift cyber defences from a reactive to a proactive standpoint and help strengthen the organization’s security posture during the critical initial stages of the attack chain. Recent high-

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profile attacks such as WannaCry and Petya highlight how attackers continue to go after the lowest hanging fruit with devastating success. We are however ready to arm attendees with the knowledge and skills they need to stay a step ahead,” said Baltagi.

get companies to take threats seriously, pursue the truth, and share their findings.” And “The tools provided in SEC504 are ready-to-use in the ‘real-world,’ and I can already see how I’ll be using and applying this course to my job.”

Kai Thomsen, instructor of the ICS Active Defence and Incident Response course said, “Active defence plays a key role in the protection of ICS networks. The SANS ICS Active Defence and Incident Response class teaches the principles of defending an ICS environment against targeted threats, showing delegates how the modern approach of intelligence driven incident response can be applied to ICS and helping them start their journey of making their environment a much harder target to crack.”

SANS Gulf Region 2017 features courses for all levels of security professional ranging from the introductory SEC401: Security Essentials Bootcamp Style, to the advanced SEC504: Hacker Tools, Techniques, Exploits, and Incident Handling. “The common feature of all these trainings is that attendees will learn something new and they will be ready to apply their new cyber security skills as soon as they return to work,” said Baltagi.

Previous attendees of the SANS courses commented “This course is the missing piece to

For a complete list of courses and instructors, or to register for SANS Gulf Region 2017, please visit: https://www.sans.org/event/ gulf-region-2017.

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SANS’ Largest Information Security Training Event in the Middle East ‘SANS Gulf Region 2017’ Opens for Registration

MEA MARKETS / October 2017 27

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The Global Mobile Payment Market is on the Rise According to a research report published by Transparency Market Research, the global Mobile Payment Technology (MPT) market is expected to be worth US$1,773.17 billion by the end of 2024 and growing at a CAGR of 20.5%.

The report indicates that currently, the MPT market is expanding at a higher rate due to the increasing adoption of smart phones and tablets across emerging economies. These developing regions, such as Asia Pacific, the Middle East and Africa are showing strong support for adopting payment technologies as governments are initiating cashless economies.

Analysts anticipate that Asia Pacific will lead the pack in the coming years as it is slated to account for a share of 42.5% in the global market by the end of 2024. Glance Technologies Inc., Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., PayPal Holdings Inc., Square, Inc., Tencent Holding Ltd. In the Asia Pacific region, China plays an important role.

“The Payment and Clearing Association of China reveals that the transaction volume of nonbanking payments grew to almost RMB 100 trillion ($15 trillion) in 2016, increasing twofold from 2015. The number of third-party mobile payment users increased to 469 million in 2016, which is about 70% of China’s mobile user base,” Forbes reported.

Glance Technologies Inc. also listed on the Canadian Stock Exchange under the Ticker ‘GET’.

Just earlier today the company announced headline breaking news, “Glance Technologies Announces Definite Agreement to Receive $1 Million in Licensing Fees for a Mobile Payment App Tailored for Asians in North America,” that, “further to the letter of intent announced on April 26, 2017, it has now entered into a definitive agreement with Euro Asia Pay Holdings Inc. to license its existing mobile payment system to create an app tailored for residents, students and tourists in North America from Asia and Europe.”

“I have watched the mobile payments industry grow and evolve in Asia, North America and globally. Of all my ventures, I’m most excited about this one.

There is no question that mobile payments are the future, they are already dominant in China and it is only a matter of time until the rest of the world follows,” says Morris Chen, Euro Asia Pay Holdings Director.

Glance Pay is positioned to provide payment services that are similar to the ones in China

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and Europe using its Glance Pay Anywhere technology, which allows users to initiate and send payments to merchants from any location. Alipay, and WeChat Pay together hold a commanding 90% of the market in China, leaving Apple Pay struggling to make inroads. This creates an opportunity to provide the alternative for visitors and new residents from China in Canada and the US. “Visitors and new residents from the Asia Pacific region are already accustomed to mobile payments, which are overtaking cash and credit cards abroad, and we believe the trend is set to accelerate in Canada and the US as well. We believe we are well positioned to serve this growing market,” says Desmond Griffin, CEO of Glance.

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. enable businesses to transform the way they market, sell and operate. The company provides the fundamental technology infrastructure and marketing reach to help merchants, brands and other businesses to leverage the power of the Internet to engage with their users and customers. In addition, the

company have a profit-sharing interest in Ant Financial Services, the financial services group that operates mainly through Alipay, the leading third-party online payment platform in China. Launched in 2004, Alipay currently has over 520 million active users and over 400 financial institution partners.

Alipay has evolved from a digital wallet to a lifestyle enabler. Users can hail a taxi, book a hotel, buy movie tickets, pay utility bills, make appointments with doctors, or purchase wealth management products directly from within the app.

PayPal Holdings Inc. is committed to democratizing financial services and empowering people and businesses to join and thrive in the global economy. The company’s open digital payments platform gives PayPal’s 210 million active account holders the confidence to connect and transact in new and powerful ways, whether they are online, on a mobile device, in an app, or in person. On July 26, 2017, the company PayPal and Bank of America announced a strategic partnership that will soon enable Bank of America

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customers to transact with PayPal in stores and seamlessly link their Bank of America cards into PayPal. The agreement will take effect immediately, with new experiences available to Bank of America customers in the first half of 2018 that will make it even easier for them to shop how, where and when they choose by leveraging the power and convenience of PayPal’s platform.

Square, Inc. creates tools that help sellers start, run, and grow their businesses. The company enables sellers to accept card

The Global Mobile Payment Market is on the Rise

payments and also provides reporting and analytics, nextday settlement, and chargeback protection. On September 28, 2017, the company announced a strategic partnership with Eventbrite, in which Square will drive Eventbrite’s payments systems, including online, mobile, and in-person transactions.

Additionally, to support Eventbrite’s vision to power the world’s largest platform for live experiences, Square has invested $25 million in the company. Eventbrite is the world’s leading event technology platform. The company has

processed more than $8 billion in gross ticket sales since inception and powers nearly three million events each year.

Tencent Holding Ltd. provides social platforms and digital content services under the “Connection” Strategy. Tencent’s leading Internet platforms in China - QQ (Instant Messenger), Weixin/WeChat, QQ.com, QQ Games, Qzone, and Tenpay have brought together China’s largest Internet community, to meet the various needs of Internet users including communication, information,

entertainment, financial services and others. Tenpay, an integrated payment platform launched by Tencent to meet the needs of its 1.1 billion QQ users, has grown into one of China’s leading online payment platform. Tenpay commits to provide airlines, logistics, insurance, games, B2C business and other industries with professional and secure online payment solutions. The company’s products include both Tenpay Online Payment & PC WeChat Payment

MEA MARKETS / October 2017 29

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BIOS and Takaful Emarat Enter into Agreement for Managed Cloud Service New technology investment with BIOS to accelerate Takaful Emarat’s growth and digital expansion.

Takaful Emarat, UAE’s premier provider of Shariahcompliant life and health insurance, is enhancing its infrastructure with BIOS, United Arab Emirates’ foremost cloud computing and disaster recovery specialist. After an exhaustive search by a panel of internal experts, the Dubaibased Takaful Emarat chose to work with BIOS’s, in-country cloud, CloudHPT. Key among Takaful Emarat’s requirements was an in-country cloud infrastructure, which could leverage various technologies for a complex IT environment.

The company’s tech refresh will replace much of Takaful Emarat’s legacy IT infrastructure, allowing the company to remain competitive in a challenging marketplace Mohammad Alhawari, Takaful Emarat’s Managing Director and Executive Board Member commented:

This is a very exciting time for Takaful Emarat as we continue focus on growing our business in tandem with accelerating our digital and online capabilities as we access new customer markets.

Our investment in technology is central to this objective and, will give us a competitive edge to strengthen our market position, as a leading UAE provider of innovative insurance products and services. From a customer perspective, our new IT infrastructure will also enable our business to provide optimal value through improved business efficiencies and enhanced customer service support. We will continue to invest in our business to drive growth and I look forward to reporting new initiatives in due course.”

Dominic Docherty, Chairman, BIOS agrees. “Even in traditional sectors such as Insurance, customers expect modern technological capabilities.

30 MEA MARKETS / October 2017

g BIOS and Takaful Emarat Enter into Agreement for Managed Cloud Service

Strategic positioning through superior technology is critical for Takaful Emarat’s continued success.”

BIOS will leverage industryleading cloud solutions to offer Takaful Emarat a suite of services. Takaful Emarat’s new technology will include a complete Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) package, which features hosting for Takaful’s core insurance application of Oracle and critical services such as file server, contact centre, among others. BIOS will migrate Takaful Emarat’s email Office 365 setup, with complete email

security and archiving provided through Mimecast. These critical improvements will increase Takaful Emarat’s operational efficiency with BIOS’ powerful platform.

Any failure of these applications could have an adverse effect on the organization. To protect against any unforeseen situations, BIOS is building a disaster recovery (DR) solution that replicates workloads back to Takaful Emarat’s offices on their old hardware. This provides further cost savings on infrastructure, while derisking IT and improving industry compliance.

As with any technological upgrade, information security was a major concern for the team at Takaful Emarat. To protect their assets, BIOS leveraged CloudHPT, which offers the region’s first SIEM protected cloud with 24/7 SOC services.

CloudHPT is also fully protected by 1TB of anti-DDoS protection, which no other local cloud service vendor provides. Built on Cisco’s Application Centric Infrastructure (ACI), CloudHPT is the only Cisco Powered Cloud in the Middle East. This secure platform is supported by BIOS’ 24/7 network operations centre, which monitors all infrastructure around the clock,

stopping problems before they become disasters.

Lalitha Prasad Rao, Chief Operating Officer at Takaful Emarat said: “Our technology refresh is a critical investment for our business. It will improve daily operations and reduce IT spend by increasing efficiency through technological improvement, offering us a key market advantage over our in-region competition.”

MEA MARKETS / October 2017 31

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Local Operations Personnel Connect with the International Sour Gas/Sulphur Community More than 200 delegates from various sour gas and refinery facilities in UAE and around the world are taking part in the fourth annual MESPON (Middle East Sulphur Plant Operations Network) Forum, supported by ADNOC and organized by UniverSUL Consulting The opening session of this year’s event auspiciously coincided with the ‘One ADNOC’ brand launch at the Sheikh Khalifa Energy Complex (SKEC), which took place next door to the MESPON conference venue on the morning of October 15.

During the Welcome Address, Angie Slavens, Managing Director of UniverSUL Consulting, stated that, “it is very rewarding to be holding the MESPON Forum during such an exciting time for sour gas processing and sulphur recovery in the region.

With lower oil prices, it is more important than ever to employ creative solutions to reduce the cost of delivering energy to the local population, while also

continuing to draw upon best practices which have already proven successful over ADNOC’s many decades of safe and effective sour gas production.”

Ms. Slavens emphasized that, “the MESPON Forum is not just a conference, but is rather a community of local operators and international industry experts who come together once a year to progress these objectives and to build relationships which will keep the discussion going throughout the year.”

The three-day MESPON agenda features over 15 technical presentations, along with multiple panel and poster sessions, focused on design and operational considerations for gas sweetening units, sulphur recovery units and sulphur

32 MEA MARKETS / October 2017

handling facilities in the Middle East. In its fourth year, the MESPON Forum is fast-becoming one of the industry’s premier global events for the exchange of operational knowledge and experience amongst operating companies and the global sulphur community. The participation of local companies at this year’s forum is stronger than ever, demonstrating the vital importance of sulphur to the region.

With the recent start-ups of two major world class sour gas processing facilities in the UAE (comprising nearly five million tons per annum of sulphur production), the country has become the world’s largest sulphur exporter and a major contributor to the Middle East’s

position as the world’s largest sulphur producing region - a position that was held by North America until 2015. Given this shift in geographical focus, and the upcoming development of many other world-class sour gas projects in the GCC, there is clearly an incentive to further enhance local capabilities in sour gas treating and sulphur recovery.

Since 2014, the annual MESPON Forum has been a driving force in fostering the development of a tight-knit sulphur technical community, centred in the Middle East.

About UniverSUL Consulting: UniverSUL Consulting is an owner’s engineering firm based in Abu Dhabi, which provides specialized, technology-neutral expertise in sour gas processing

g Local Operations Personnel Connect with the International Sour Gas/Sulphur Community

and sulphur recovery. UniverSUL established the first MESPON Forum in Abu Dhabi in October 2014. UniverSUL’s primary focus is the safe, effective development of sour gas projects and operation of sour gas facilities at lowest lifecycle cost. While elemental sulphur is a by-product of oil and gas processing, it has a robust supply chain of its own, which drives the fertilizer value chain - UniverSUL seeks to maximize value for all stakeholders throughout the sour oil/gas and sulphur value chains.

MEA MARKETS / October 2017 33

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Savvy Companies Take Mergers and Acquisitions Route to Expand Geographical Footprint Edge Analytics Market: Savvy Companies take mergers and acquisitions route to expand geographical footprint.

In order to establish a stronghold, keen players in the global edge analytics market are trying to expand their geographical footprints through carefullyconsidered mergers and acquisitions. To that end they are also banking upon strategic partnerships. Another popular strategy with companies wanting to bolster their positions is diversification of product portfolio.

Players are also pouring money into development of highly effective analytical models to entice more takers.

a phenomenal 27.6% CAGR during the period between 2017 and 2025. Rising at this pace, the market is projected to attain a value of US$25.569bn by 2025.

Based on industry vertical, the manufacturing segment, is predicted to hold a market share of 16.4% for the global edge analytics market in 2025. This is because of the emergence of industry 4.0 concept, in which automation and data exchange are used in manufacturing technologies through cyberphysical systems, the IoT, cloud computing, and cognitive computing.

Some of the prominent participants in the global edge analytics market are AGT International, Inc., Cisco Systems, Inc., General Electric, IBM Corporation, Microsoft Corporation, Oracle Corporation, Greenwave Systems, PTC Inc., SAP SE, and SAS Institute.

As per a report by Transparency Market Research, the global edge analytics market will clock

Geographically, the key segments of the global edge analytics market are North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and the Middle East and Africa.

Of them, Asia Pacific outshines all other regions when it comes to growth pace on account of the thrust by governments in various developing economies of the region on building smart cities.

The TMR report predicts the

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region to expand at a CAGR of 28.5% in the forecast period.

Soaring Adoption of IoT Primary Growth Driver At the forefront of driving growth in the global edge analytics market is the Internet of Things (IoT). The massive amounts of data generated by them need to be analysed for actionable insights by organizations.

Transferring such crucial data from their place of origination, which can be remote locations, via internet or Bluetooth, to cloud data centres for analysis can be risky and slow. This in turn can affect an organization’s proper functioning.

“Edge analytics help organizations to get more advanced data faster by applying advanced analytics and machine learning at the point of data collection. In addition, it also boosts yields, increases throughput, reduces downtime, and improves efficiency. The proliferation of IoT and connected devices is expected to drive

the edge analytics market.

Proliferation of data due to the rise of internet of thing (IoT) globally, and increased threats to the enterprise network such as cyber-attacks and other security breaches are some of the reasons which are expected to drive the edge analytics market globally,” explains the lead analyst of the report.

Smart Manufacturing at the Fore of Benefitting Market The rising use of IoT in smart cities, smart manufacturing, oil and drilling, etc. has had a positive impact on the global edge analytics market so far.

In the years ahead too, these segments will likely boost the market. In fact, quite a few companies in the edge analytics domain are doing strategic collaborations to help manufacturing with the edge analytics. This has helped the market.

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Savvy Companies Take Mergers and Acquisitions Route to Expand Geographical Footprint

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