Business Review Middle East - May 2016

May 2016 • www.businessreviewmiddleeast.com

Namshi’s reinvention of e-commerce in the UAE TOP 10 businesses on Twitter

Sustainable

finance The National Bank of Abu Dhabi The first bank in the region to set up a sustainable business team

Featured special reports: Al Safwa Cement Company & Schindler Middle East

IN THIS ISSUE

EDITOR’S COMMENT

Socially smart W E L C O M E T O T H E M A Y issue of

Business Review Middle East magazine. And once again we have a fantastic selection of features this month, starting off with an interview with the National Bank of Abu Dhabi – we spoke to Nathan Weatherstone, who is heading up the bank’s sustainable finance team. We also spoke to Namshi, an innovative online fashion retailer, about how it is using technology and social media to engage with potential customers across the Middle East.

Continuing the theme of digital media, we also showcase some of the region’s most successful businesses when it comes to their use of Twitter. Other leading Middle Eastern companies we are profiling in this issue include Al Safwa Cement Company & Schindler Middle East.

We do hope you enjoy the issue, please send your feedback to @BusinessRevME on Twitter.

Lucy Dixon Managing Editor EMEA lucy.dixon@bizclikmedia.com

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LEADERSHIP INTERVIEW

Sustainable finance

TOP 10

Middle Eastern businesses on Twitter

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TECHNOLOGY

18

Fashion forward 5

C O M PA N Y P R O F I L E S CONSTRUCTION

SUPPLY CHAIN

TECHNOLOGY

38 Al Safwa Cement Company (ASCC)

116 Masar Railway Management & Service

150 Omnix International LLC

50 Al Kifah Precast Company

126 NAS Group

60 Schindler Middle-East 72 Dubai Parks and Resorts

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136 Qatar Port Management

Al Safwa Cement Company (ASCC)

Kifah Precast Company

50 72

Dubai Parks and Resorts

Masar Railway Management & Service

116 126

NAS Group Schindler Middle-East

60 136 Qatar Port Management

Omnix International LLC

150 7

Sustainable

finance W r i t t e n b y : LU C Y D I X O N

LEADERSHIP

The National Bank of Abu Dhabi is the first bank in the region to set up a sustainable business team. Business Review Middle East talks to the team’s Nathan Weatherstone to find out what it has planned 9

LEADERSHIP Why was the decision taken to set up the Sustainable Business team at NBAD? We are committed to supporting sustainable business, because we think that environmental considerations and sustainability will be one of the enduring forces shaping the business world of the future, and we can see significant opportunities for the bank. The data from NBAD’s Financing the Future of Energy report and our own analysis tells us that there is a large pool of profitable business to target in renewable energy alone, and sustainable business is much wider than clean power generation.

In addition to that, over 20 percent of our large corporate clients are already active in sustainable business.

Establishing a team dedicated to promoting sustainable business is our institutional response to the challenges and opportunities of one of the major issues of our time.

What is the ultimate goal for the team?

NBAD set a target of financing, investing or facilitating $10 billion of sustainable business over the next 10 years. This serves as both 10 May 2016

a statement of strategic intent and a direction of travel for the bank, and it is the Sustainable Business team’s responsibility to ensure that we achieve this target.

We will do this through generating new business opportunities for new and existing core clients by seeking thus far untapped but promising sources of business. At NBAD, we are positioning sustainability as one of our core focusses. We want to be the leading regional bank in sustainable business and have developed the architecture to be so.

Is there anything similar elsewhere in the UAE? We are not aware of any other regional bank with a similar target or business focus. We are happy to commit to a long term target and join a platform shared by a handful of internationals banks – such as Citibank and Bank of America Merrill Lynch – that have done so elsewhere.

How is the department structured?

The team is growing and working across all banking sectors in order to maximise the impact. Sustainable

S U S TA I N A B L E F I N A N C E

“Establishing a team dedicated to promoting sustainable business is our institutional response to the challenges and opportunities of one of the major issues of our time�

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LEADERSHIP Business banking is not confined to one team. It is here to generate business across the whole spectrum of the bank’s activities and product offerings. My team will be the bridge between our client-facing coverage teams and our product specialists and, over time, we will build up a deeper understanding of the sector to enhance the bank’s execution capability for the benefit of our clients.

What are the types of projects that you are investing in and financing?

We are generally adopting the sustainable definition set out in the Green Bond Principles issued

12 May 2016

by the International Capital Market Association (ICMA). They include energy efficiency programmes such as retrofitting energy management systems to make buildings operate more sustainably; green real estate development with reduced power and water consumption; clean transportation that promotes modal shift from road to rail; sustainable water management; sustainable waste management; decarbonising technologies; climate change adaptation; as well as renewable energy projects.

The $10 billion target is based on financing, investing

S U S TA I N A B L E F I N A N C E

or facilitating finance in the sustainable business arena. The most obvious form of financing will be direct lending for projects that are eligible. But it is also about facilitating finance from others where we underwrite and distribute via our syndications practice, advising on eligible project financings to raise debt and equity or taking bookrunner or lead manager positions on eligible bond transactions.

How does the team decide what constitutes a ‘sustainable’ project?

Our approach will be client driven and that is why our definition is relatively wide. We do not have a preference of one type of sustainable

business activity over another. The team will become involved where our core clients have a touch point with one of these activities.

Is the team working in partnership with any other institutions?

NBAD partnered with the University of Cambridge and PricewaterhouseCoopers to produce the Financing the Future of Energy report.

The management of the bank’s own sustainability footprint has been at the forefront of the region’s evolution in sustainability which has been recognised by a number of third parties. For example, NBAD

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LEADERSHIP was ranked among the top three organisations in the S&P/Hawkamah ESG Pan Arab Index for the fourth consecutive year, reflecting NBAD’s strong environmental, social and corporate governance practices and robust standing among publiclytraded MENA companies. Our Sustainability Report in 2015 aligned to international best practice in accordance with Global Reporting Initiative’s guidelines and we are to date the only regional bank to report our annual climate and carbon emissions data using the Carbon Disclosure Project.

In future, the Sustainable Business team will be engaging a lot more with our core clients to fullly understand their needs and requirements and frame our institutional response.

How do you think the UAE (and the Middle East more widely) is positioned to make an impact on sustainable development?

We think the potential in the region is enormous. The demand for energy is huge and we know already that renewables will form a material part of that: the UAE government alone has committed to AED 72 billion to 14 May 2016

renewable energy by 2021 and we have other initiatives to promote sustainability in examples such as the Estidama real estate rating system in Abu Dhabi. We foresee planned clean transportation schemes such as metros and rail networks which will facilitate a modal shift from cars and trucks to public transport and freight rail. And lately we have seen the ambition of solar projects in the GCC stepped up significantly. At our ‘Global Financial Markets Forum’ (GFMF) in Abu Dhabi in March 2015, we had the CEO of Kuwait Petroleum Company explain why renewables were an important driver of his company’s future thinking. We think that the scale of sustainable business will only snowball going forward.

How do you think NBAD can encourage further sustainable investment from the business community?

As the world is changing, our core clients are also changing. We now have a large universe of clients who want and need a specialist capability in sustainable financing. At NBAD, we are now positioning sustainability as one of our core focuses. As the

“We were the only regional bank to report our annual climate and carbon emissions data using the Carbon Disclosure Project� leading bank in this region, we want and must show leadership in this sector. The good news is that we now see economically viable projects supported by strong government policy commitments and our core clients transacting more sustainable business on a commercial basis across the West to East Corridor.

Of course, the $10 billion commitment is not a promise to support every piece of sustainable activity that the bank is asked to consider and NBAD will always continue to uphold the highest standards of credit risk management.

But the data from the Financing the Future of Energy report and our own analysis tells us that there is a large pool of profitable business to target.

Could you describe your background and why you were chosen to lead the team?

As a project financier for the best part of the previous two decades, evaluating the social and environmental aspects of major capital projects has always been a feature of my previous work, particular with respect to the Equator Principles (which is the international benchmark 15

LEADERSHIP

for identifying, measuring and managing social and environmental risks in projects – and I’m pleased that NBAD was the first bank in the UAE to sign up). Given that my team will bridge between our sector relationship teams and our product and lending specialists, the bank required somebody who had seen all aspects of the business cycle. We have also imported some environmental 16 May 2016

consultancy skill sets into my team to augment our technical competencies.

Can you describe the engagement programme you have undertaken with key regulators and policy makers?

NBAD has always had a very strong corporate sustainability practice. We have maintained a top three position in the Hawkamah sustainability index for

S U S TA I N A B L E F I N A N C E

“Data from the Financing the Future of Energy report and our own analysis tells us that there is a large pool of profitable business to target� the last four years and our Corporate Sustainability colleagues pay a lot of attention to keeping our own house in order. We were also the first UAE bank to commit to the Equator Principles, the global benchmark that obliges us to follow international best practices when it comes to environmental and social analysis and risk evaluation.

Which areas of sustainability do you think offer the best opportunities for NBAD? The regional sustainable business market is characterised by government-sponsored initiatives at the current stage of its evolution

and because of this, our banking response tends to be focused on tailored financial products for our clients, meaning our initial focus will be on serving our large corportate clients. Again, wherever our core clients have a touch point with one or another of these activities our team will become involved. In time, we would also expect an enterprisedriven culture to develop which will be more inclusive of the SME sector, particularly when the trend for subsidy removal matures further.

The $10 billion target will apply across our full product range and is not geographically constrained. This is a bank-wide target so where the bank transacts, the target will apply.

We operate across five continents in 18 countries and have defined a West-East Corridor as our primary target, a super-region stretching from the west coast of Africa through to South East Asia, including MENA, the GCC and India. Our strategy remains focused on supporting economic growth and financing transformative projects across this Corridor although we would expect a significant proportion of the $10 billion to happen locally in the first few years.

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TECHNOLOGY

FASHION F

In just four years Namshi has grown retailers in the region, as Busine Writ ten by:

FORWARD

n to one of the biggest online fashion ess Review Middle East reports LU C Y D I X O N

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TECHNOLOGY Since launching in 2012, Namshi. com has grown to become one of the Middle East’s leading online fashion retailers, with customers across the region from Kuwait to Bahrain.

Featuring an ever-growing portfolio of over 500 international and local brands, Namshi offers free and fast deliveries in the GCC, 24-hour delivery in the UAE, a 14-day exchange policy and the option of cash on delivery.

Ian Smith, Namshi’s Marketing and Brand Director, is responsible for all the creative direction describes how the company operates:

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“We are the largest fashion pure play in the Middle East and the majority of our business is in Saudi Arabia, followed by the UAE. We sell global and internationally recognised brands, from big sportswear players like Nike and Adidas to British high street brands.”

Namshi has, Smith explains, cherry picked the best brands to appeal to its fashion-savvy customer base.

In a region in which the majority do not like to use e-commerce sites, Namshi has seen remarkable success.

Smith says: “We might be new but we’ve seen phenomenal growth over those first four years. We’re targeting the 20-something customer and we’re really trying to pioneer a lifestyle aspect in the

FA S H I O N F O RWA R D

Middle East. A lot of people are still very reluctant to buy online so we’re trying to bring together fashionloving people who are interested and inspired, to build the community of like-minded individuals.”

The reluctance to buy online is the result of several things, including the huge mall culture, as Smith says.

“Everyone loves going to the shopping mall. So it’s very, very established in that sense and online is still relatively new. So the big barriers are people don’t trust it. People don’t trust putting their card details online. And also, I think the region was plagued with a lot of fake products being available online. So those are two big barriers.”

To overcome these barriers, Namshi accepts cash on delivery for orders (something that any new e-commerce site in the GCC would need to do in order to succeed) but it has also been making the most of what digital technology and social media can offer. Raising awareness of its brand – and the safety of buying from them – as well as creating an audience of fashion fans across social media platforms. And it’s a strategy that is working. Smith says: “Saudi Arabia has taken to online shopping in a big

“I’m very much a believer in localisation, being understanding and respectful of local traditions, but we also want to create one brand and have one voice” – Ian Smith, Namshi’s Marketing and Brand Director 21

TECHNOLOGY

“From a technology point of view, the big leap forward was actually launching our app, we saw a huge step change in the size of the business when we did that” – Ian Smith, Namshi’s Marketing and Brand Director 22

May 2016

FA S H I O N F O RWA R D

way. The mall culture isn’t there and it’s more difficult for women especially to go to the mall and try things on.

Using Namshi, women can shop from the comfort of their own homes.

They understand the convenience and the speed of it and they trust it.”

Another advantage that Namshi has is that it is a local company. “We’re Arabic as well so we’re talking in their language. A lot of international retailers ship to Saudi Arabia but they don’t talk in Arabic,” says Smith. And using content marketing and digital marketing techniques, Namshi is able to maximise its presence there. “We’re very, very strong from a digital

marketing point of view, so we’re in the right area to talk to the right people. And we can get the products to the customer from a logistical point of view in a very short space of time, days.

Whereas some others take three to four weeks to ship. Clearly competition is going to come and that is a good thing as far as I’m concerned, but that is certainly one of our success stories.”

Namshi’s site works exactly the same across the whole of the GCC, while keeping in mind the differing cultures of each country. Smith adds: “I’m very much a believer in localisation, being understanding and respectful of local traditions, but we also want to create 23

TECHNOLOGY

one brand and have one voice.” The majority – around 80 percent – of Namshi’s business comes from mobile devices, which is a huge amount that reflects the age of Namshi’s customers as well as the region’s love of mobile technology. Smith says: “It’s so vitally important for us. People here are consuming media on mobile faster than anybody else in the world, especially in Saudi Arabia. It’s an interesting dynamic and something 24

May 2016

we’re working hard on to tap into.”

When it comes to innovative technology, Namshi’s app was a game changer for the business. Smith says: “From a technology point of view, the big leap forward was actually launching our app, we saw a huge step change in the size of the business when we did that.” He can’t give away too many secrets of what Namshi has planned in the future but it is constantly thinking the ease and convenience of online

FA S H I O N F O RWA R D

“Saudi Arabia has taken to online shopping in a big way” – Ian Smith, Namshi’s Marketing and Brand Director shopping. “We’re thinking all the time about how we incentivise people to try us, working on deals with partners to raise awareness and put Namshi in places where potential customers haven’t seen us before. So we’re doing some offline events, including pop-up stalls. To get people engaged in the brand, signed up to our email programme and following us on social media. We aim to build confidence and trust that way. It’s not a hard sell. It’s

how we connect and inspire people who are interested in fashion. We have a huge social following already and we’re looking at a few bits of technology that will help to be a bit cleverer with how we use content.

For example, we use user-generated content as well by getting our customers to contribute. The Middle East is very fashion-forward and we’re trying to be at the forefront of that.”

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TOP 10

Middle Eastern businesses on Twitter Social media use is growing rapidly in the Middle East – but which companies are doing it well? Business Review Middle East presents 10 accounts you should be following Written by: Sarah Arnold

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TOP 10

10 Qatar National Bank / 141k Twitter: @QNBGroup

As the largest Qatari bank, Qatar National Bank is part-owned by the public sector in Qatar Investment Authority and part owned by the private sector. It had profits of $3.1 billion, an increase of eight percent on the previous year. It also shares worldwide news from the banking and finance industries.

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MIDDLE EASTERN BUSINESSES ON TWITTER

09 Ooredoo Qatar / 250k Twitter: @OoredooQatar

Ooredoo Qatar is an international telecommunications company with over 100 million customers across the Middle East, north Africa, and south-east Asia. It is partly state-owned with headquarters in Doha. In 2015, it upgraded its internet services by launching ‘Ooredoo SuperNet’ and now provides customers higher maximum speeds and greater average connection speeds.

Ooredoo is another company that tweets bilingually and focuses on showing its products to followers. It also tweets about health and wellbeing, mentioning awareness day.

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TOP 10

08 skinlaserdubai.com / 289k Twitter: @skinlase

Skin Laser Dubai provides cosmetic dermatology to people all other the world from its surgery in Dubai. Dr Mahaveer Mehta leads a team which provides services including laser hair removal and acne treatments.

Its Twitter feed informs users of the conferences staff members attend including Cannes and San Francisco along with awards they have won.

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MIDDLE EASTERN BUSINESSES ON TWITTER

07 Lifestyle Gulf / 290k Twitter: @Lifestylegulf

Lifestyle Gulf is a website for women to purchase goods in the interior design, beauty and gift areas. It is part of the Landmark Group, which has 55,000 employees worldwide.

Lifestyle uses Twitter to showcase its products in both English and Arabic. It encourages the use of the hashtag #HomeAtLifestyle with its products.

TOP 10

06 Etihad Airways / 414k Twitter: @EtihadAirways

Etihad Airways employs over 25,000 people from 143 nationalities and services 116 destinations. Recently, The Residence, the first three-room suite on a commercial airline was added to its Airbus 380 fleet. It hosts a bedroom, living room, and ensuite shower room.

As well as promoting Abu Dhabi and the UAE, Etihad uses Twitter to share the experiences of customers, especially those that experience business class. It also engages with followers by asking questions.

MIDDLE EASTERN BUSINESSES ON TWITTER

05 The Dubai Mall / 470k Twitter: @TheDubaiMall

The Dubai Mall is the 10th largest shopping centre in the world with 635 stores. As well as shopping there are many places to eat and stay and it also includes an indoor ice rink and underwater zoo.

The Dubai Mall is a keen user of Periscope (live video streaming), using it to promote events inside the mall and using Twitter to engage users with the what stores have to offer.

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TOP 10

04 Emirates / 691k Twitter: @emirates

Emirates is a subsidiary of the Emirates Group owned by the Dubai government. It is the largest airline in the Middle East with over 3,300 flights each week. It has the largest fleet worldwide of both the Airbus 380 and Boeing 787.

One of its most recent tweets shows the cabin crew providing a Bollywood-style onboard demonstration at the ICC T20 Cricket World Cup. 34

May 2016

MIDDLE EASTERN BUSINESSES ON TWITTER

03 Qatar Airways / 912k Twitter: @qatarairways

Since its launch in 1997, Qatar Airways has become one of the world’s most impressive airlines. It employs 40,000 people worldwide and covers over 150 destinations. It flies both the Airbus 380 and Boeing 787 Dreamliner.

On Twitter, it keeps followers updated on campaigns and it is currently showing users the construction of the 50th Boeing 777 in its fleet. It is also encouraging users to connect on Snapchat.

TOP 10

02 Zain / 1.13m Twitter: @Zain

Zain is another telecommunications company that tweets in two languages. The company originated in Kuwait and now provides mobile and data services across eight countries to more than 45 million customers.

Its tweets focus on the latest innovations in consumer technology, sharing articles from large technology firms including HP and Apple. It also uses the account to promote competitions, such as one for start-up businesses it sponsors.

MIDDLE EASTERN BUSINESSES ON TWITTER

01 Du / 1.3m Twitter: @dutweets

Du, a Dubai-based communications company tops the Twitter list with 1.3 million followers. It brings together people and businesses offering mobile and internet connectivity to 6.5 million customers in the UAE and provide satellites to broadcasters.

The account tweets both in English and Arabic, covering things like offers on its mobile tariffs and how followers can watch large sporting events. Most recently, it covered Kevin Hart’s performance at Abu Dhabi’s Du sponsored arena.

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Cementi

ing the supply chain Written by: Nell Walker

Produced by: Heykel Ouni 39

A L S A F WA C E M E N T C O M PA N Y ( A S C C )

Riad Bestani, Supply Chain Director of Alsafwa Cement, describes the positive effect his procurement overhaul has had on the prestigious company

A

2008

The year that ASCC was founded

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lsafwa is a joint venture between four partners, with half of them private and half public, the former being two industrial partners – LafargeHolcim, the world leader in the building materials industry, and El Khayyat, a red brick manufacturer. Based in Saudi Arabia, this cluster of companies has led to Alsafwa becoming a trusted and respected company across the GCC, to the point that it plans to double capacity by 2017.

Riad Bestani, the CPO of Alsafwa’s cement arm, joined the company in 2013 after many years of procurement experience. This familiarity with the industry means that he is well aware of the safety issues of providing cement in a region like Saudi Arabia, even outside the company’s property.

“Road safety is a real challenge in this part of the world,” he says, “and Alsafwa people need to drive back and forth more than 300km per day. One of the things we’ve done to ensure the best health and safety conditions for our staff is reducing the travelling hazards for them by

CONSTRUCTION

providing buses, in addition to adequate accommodation onsite for the majority of plant staff.

Our plant is far from town, so the least we can do is reduce risks by making sure our employees get back home safe and sound. ” The processes involved in creating cement – grinding stone, burning it (up to 1400 degrees Celsius) until it’s liquefied, and grinding again into a powder – involves behaviors and practices that can be dangerous if they are not properly anticipated and secured.

The company ensures strict control of every situation to guarantee safety procedures are followed.

“The quarry area we have onsite has a very tough mountain topography, and working on it is very complex,” Bestani explains.

“We need to drill, to blast materials, vehicles need to go up and down, and we need excavators to ensure full control over falling rocks.

Geomining experts that have visited our quarry warned us on the high numbers of hazards that have to be monitored and anticipated. We have

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As a leader in fabrication, maintenance and erection service of heavy industrial plants, INTERMAINT has the human , technical resources , the depth of know-how and experience to help clients achieve success domestically and overseas.

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Contact: www.acerosysuministros.com cement@acerosysuministros.com

CONSTRUCTION

strict safety exigencies towards our suppliers working on-site, and our employees make sure health and safety requirements are being fulfilled.

“We have to be very careful, so we assess suppliers to ensure they understand our safety procedures. We train them, and we refresh that training regularly. We make checks and audits across every level, and really these are basic requirements. Lives are at stake. When a safety problem appears, everyone is empowered to stop it and report it for deep analysis of its root causes. We have company-wide reviews with health and safety committees which makes sure we’re implementing the action plans.”

When Bestani joined the company, one of his main missions was to create a proper process for procurement activity and build a structured procurement organisation. Due to a growing market and a high number of job opportunities, one challenge in Saudi Arabia – and across the GCC – is employees’ tendency to quickly move on, especially the younger generation, making it challenging to acquire and retain the right staff. Bestani immediately brought on board new people for his team composed of trusted connections he had made during his career, and he ensured the existing team was properly positioned for tasks they fitted into.

“It’s about networking, putting together the right organisation, delegating to people in

“We are one of the very few, if not the only company to be using alternative fuel in the cement industry” – Riad Bestani, Supply Chain Director of Alsafwa Cement

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A L S A F WA C E M E N T C O M PA N Y ( A S C C )

300

The number of ASCC employees

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key areas, and building trust with people you believe can bring you the performance. The procurement team was split into three groups – industrial sourcing, general services sourcing, and performance activities, which give you the performance and evaluation of the way you’re managing your supply chain. We track a number of KPIs among the suppliers, assessing their performance, cost reduction for main strategic suppliers, and lead time between requests and orders as well as spend coverage.”

Bestani spent two years implementing a task force composed of people from main interacting departments of the company – plant, finance, and IT – making sure they worked intelligently and understood what their individual responsibilities were. It has meant enormous progress in terms of procurement, but it is a continuous task to keep people trained and engaged in their job role.

Bestani explains: “I had to drive far-reaching changes. It’s not easy to accept that there are hurdles to overcome and a lot of convincing that

CONSTRUCTION

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A L S A F WA C E M E N T C O M PA N Y ( A S C C )

needed to happen, but in the end it was worth the effort, and it’s been quite positive with results translating to some big savings.

Saudi having such a high employee turnover is challenging, so you have to stick with your managers to understand how to overcome the situation and to retain the talent.”

Saudisation is being heavily promoted in the country, and involves retaining as much

business as possible in the Kingdom itself. The rule in Saudi is that if a foreign company wants to invest, it has to be making a partnership with a local company.

It is also required that investors procure obligations depending on the sector – for cement, there has to be a minimum level of Saudisation.

“HR, for example, needs to be Saudi national,” Bestani says. “The minimum general Saudisation in our sector needs to be 12 percent, and we have 49 percent

Efficient Operation Through Quality Lubrication

CONSTRUCTION

as of today. It gives us all kinds of advantages; there’s a sort of mileage card and the more Saudi nationals you have on board, the more you can get loans and subsidies from banks and the government. It’s a great incentive.”

The company also tries hard to increase female employees number into work, since national law allows it only in specific areas. Alsafwa hired its first female employee in 2010, and Bestani is pleased to have contributed in his department last year with the first female in procurement: “I’m proud of being able to do that, because it’s challenging, since women have a long way to go to gain access to the job market. We hire most of them into entry positions and train them up for better opportunities later on.”

The cement business in Saudi Arabia is enormous; the nation produces 50-60 million tons a year, compared with the US which creates 75 million tons with ten times the population. Most of the companies that produce it are 20-30 years old, and the way Alsafwa’s cement business differentiates itself is through innovation and sustainability.

“We focus a lot on innovative solutions. Oil is becoming a scarcer commodity, so we’re looking at alternative fuels, and we’re working with municipalities and utilities companies who are eager to develop more environmentally-friendly use of energy through waste management

“Saudi having such a high employee turnover is challenging, so you have to stick with your managers to understand how to overcome the situation” – Riad Bestani, Supply Chain Director of Alsafwa Cement

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A L S A F WA C E M E N T C O M PA N Y ( A S C C )

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and recycling initiatives. This is one of the great advantages the LafargeHolcim group has in terms of developing solutions.

“Its highly state-of-the-art research center in Lyon, France, allows different business units of the group around the world to benefit from its knowledge and experts in key practices.

However, the move is very slow here, and it takes a while to get approvals. It requires a lot of involvement, patience, and commitment to achieve what we want to. We are one of the very few, if not the only company to be using alternative fuel in the cement industry.”

The company’s motto is ‘think global, act local’, and Bestani is keen to stand out from other Saudi businesses with Alsafwa’s unique approach: “The support we get from the group in terms of worldwide supplier panel and Best Cost Countries solutions – a platform based in China helping to source alternatively to European brands – is definitely giving us a step ahead compared to competition, and we always need to keep that advantage.

“In two years’ time, we are not going to be doing procurement the same way. Procurement evolves with the needs, and sustainability will change with it. This procurement department wasn’t always making use of all these advantages, and I’ve had to adapt it to bring it up-to-date. Business isn’t static; we’ll be improving all the time.”

500m Riyal ASCC’s annual revenue

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Concrete e

Written by: Nell Walker Pro

efficiency

oduced by: Jordan Platten

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K I FA H P R E C A S T C O M PA N Y

Kifah Precast Company’s General Manager, José Neto, describes the ways in which he has overhauled the company’s business model in order to massively increase productivity

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he popularity of precast concrete can be attributed to many attractive features: short construction time, high quality, durable and flexible products, customisable aesthetics, and good economic value. Kifah Precast Company uses its high-end technology to create architectural cladding, structural precast units, skeleton products, wall panels, hollow core slabs, and auxiliary elements. José Neto, Kifah Precast Company’s General Manager, has worked hard to ensure processes run as efficiently as possible since he began with the

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company over two years ago.

“The company was set up in 2009 on the whim of a construction boom,” Neto explains. “And in an effort to diversify the investments of the holding company, it was decided to invest in a precast production facility. This decision foresaw an enhancement of the construction capabilities within the group. I joined the Kifah Precast Company as a Business Development Manager, and after about 18 months it was proposed that I become the

General Manager. My main initial focus was the enhancement of the sales process and to increase our exposure to the Saudi market.”

When exploring Kifah Precast Company’s sales processes, Neto was forced to address the changeable nature of business in Saudi Arabia: “You have to work around a high employee turnover,” he says. “The only thing that had to be permanent in the company was a process and a culture, regardless of who came and went.

That’s the one standard thing that has to be solid. There was

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a requirement of process, in which you can monitor and modify, to continuously improve it.”

“Looking into the sales process, there was a clear marketing strategy in place, which needed to be implemented and followed.

The first order of work was to generate a series of traceable steps from inception to the materialisation of a sale. Not just that, but the constant monitoring of all steps in between, from first meeting a client to signing a contract.

“Once we had a steady in-flow of business, the second action was to focus on the control of operations. This was only possible to achieve through the joint efforts of the all the operational departments and their respective managers. There was a necessary cultural change to adopt one integrated system of monitoring all major steps in the operational process. This required the internal promotion of a different MO, and the introduction of a cloud computing environment. The outcome of the initiative was a completely integrated, real-time data generation, which enabled performance monitoring and better decision-making with reliable figures.”

Strictly monitoring the company’s processes ensures that Al Kifah is able to stay ahead in a very competitive market: “We’re aiming to be the most efficient provider – not necessarily

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“I can optimistically say that Kifah Precast Company is geared for solid growth with a strong market position” – José Neto, General Manager at Kifah Precast Company

the cheapest, but certainly the most efficient. Currently it is possible to gauge every single step in the operation, and know exactly what the estimated cost will be.

Therefore, ahead of time we are in full control whether it’s a project that we should enter or not. This level of control and accuracy is, in a way, unique to the environment, so it allows us to stay ahead in such a competitive market.”

Neto defines the products themselves as highly-engineered commodities. As the product sold is precast concrete, it cannot be easily differentiated from elements made by the competition. What makes customers flock to Al Kifah is the reliability and service offered.

Al Kifah is careful with its suppliers, knowing that it requires reliability to maintain its positive reputation. The main materials the company requires are cement, sand, aggregate, and steel: “The process by which we accept a

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vendor for these raw materials is by forming a vendor approval committee, with company employees,” says Neto. “This brings out all possible wrongdoings in the procurement side. I have direct contact with the suppliers, which gives us a direct link to the supply chain.

“Our suppliers add a lot of

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value to the organisation, since they allow our products to be produced faster, better, and assembled in a more efficient way. The approval process of our suppliers, ends with a direct link to the general management. This ensures that the product being supplied is

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clearly beneficial to us.”

According to Neto, “to keep suppliers satisfied you need to make your payments on time,” but the relationships with clients require a little more work to ensure fulfilment: “We consider clients even if we haven’t signed a contract. The relationship between our Sales and Marketing team and the clients are natural to the region, and our experienced sales engineers who promote our company, our capabilities, allow a clear vision to the client where we stand in the market.

“Given that our product is sold in

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a mature and competitive market, contracts can only be signed with a clear commercial advantage to the client. Once a business relationship is stablished, repeated business only happens if we deliver on our promise. If you’ve done business with us once, you will do it again if you’re satisfied regardless of the competition.

So we focus on operational efficiency, which is the sole KPI that generates return business.”

Kifah Precast Company is currently working on a high-end residential beach villa development on the shores of Khobar, a

project with the MOD, and a large substation development for the Saudi Electricity Company: “These will be industrial buildings in the outskirts of Riyadh,” Neto explains.

“Lastly, there is a very large housing development for Saudi Aramco in which we are working on a part of it. The current outlook for the future is showing signs on clear improvement, and since all the precautionary measures have been taken, I can optimistically say that Kifah Precast Company is geared for solid growth with a strong market position.”

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Escalating innovation Written by: Alice Young Produced by: Craig Daniels

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SCHINDLER MIDDLE-EAST

Having grown from a company with almost 150 years of experience, Schindler Middle East is poised to dominate its target markets backed up by a number of innovations

F

or almost 150 years, Swissbased Schindler has been a world leader for elevators, escalators and moving walks. With a reach that spans roughly 100 countries and over 1,000 offices, the company has operated in the MENA region for seven years and previously with distributors.

As skyscrapers were erected all across the region in the wake of the oil boom, Schindler Middle East was perfectly positioned to deliver its long-standing expertise. Far from complacent, the company is focused on fine-tuning its competitive strategy, expanding territorially and developing its talent base.

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Operations Schindler’s remit covers the manufacture, installation, and servicing of elevators, escalators and moving walks, as well as the added ability to modernise legacy installations. As well as delivering the most high-tech engineering in the industry, the company also specialises in providing building transit solutions in line with the latest safety and reliability standards.

Through a series of offices, distributors, warehouses and affiliates, Schindler Middle East has operations in Kuwait, Iraq, Bahrain, Egypt, Lebanon, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Iran, Oman, and Jordan. All told, the region is served by seven main branches and six distributors, as well as training centres in Jeddah and Dubai. In order to ensure that this offering consistently delivers for customers, the company has a strong improvement programme in place, which brings together all aspects of its operations, spearheaded by the company’s R&D department.

Matteo Napoli, UAE Managing Director explains: “We have a culture of continuous improvement - we never stop looking for improvements to our operations, our processes, and our products.

Mostly we are delivering input related to the field in order to provide continuous feedback on the process, material, and tools so that these can be improved and we can bring more innovation.

“Sending information back to our headquarters and every branch in each territory makes us aware of these improvements. We value customer feedback because it pushes us to continuously improve our operations.”

Schindler is also in the process of further aligning its distribution channels to more closely meet the needs of its customer base.

Not only does a distributor need to make economic sense for the company, it also needs to meet the company’s stringent standards, which includes a particular focus on health and safety.

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TECHNOLOGY

Philippe Boue Managing Director Schindler Middle East Philippe has been working for Schindler for the last 18 years and has served Schindler organisation in multiple roles in France, China and lately in Japan. At his current position Philippe leads the Middle East Region. w w w. s c h i n d l e r. c o m

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‘The Solar Impulse project aims to develop long-range, solar powered aircraft; 2015 saw the longest solar powered flight in history between Abu Dhabi and Hawaii’ Talent management Schindler’s industry necessitates that its 3,000 Middle East employees are not only well-trained in health and safety measures, but also a variety of essential technical skills, which is why the company has developed a robust talent management programme.

Alongside its holistic training protocols, Schindler also enables its employees to progress to new levels of responsibility. Alongside pathways to senior management, members of the workforce are also able to develop their expertise across the company and specialise in a variety of fields.

Philippe Boue, Schindler’s Middle East Managing Director explains: “Our business is a

people business, especially when it comes to maintenance.

We developed management systems to make sure that our field technicians are safe and that they live the values of our company.”

He adds that Schindler combines its years of experience with the latest best practices: “We make a distinction between technical training and general training.

Everything related to technical training is done in house. We have more almost 150 years of history, expertise, and experience that is passed on in training courses but when it comes to new innovations or general training we use a mix of in-house and external. When it comes to training for our leaders and senior

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executives we may often source technical training from business schools to get fresh views.�

The company still bears the surname of co-founder Robert Schindler and, as Napoli explains, retains a strong sense of identity: “This is very peculiar market compared to many others in the rest of the world, because we are all basically expatriates. One of the most important

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values is that we are a family company and we want employees to feel part of the Schindler family.

“To attract, retain and motivate our employees we have a solid training plan, which encourages job rotation; we have a retention plan for loyal employees company with a rewards package.”

Competitive strategy Many companies would become complacent with such an established and developed offering as Schindler, but it is keen to

remain in control of its destiny and therefore has a number of initiatives in place to keep ahead of its competition. An example of this is its willingness to utilise technology to facilitate communication; via its Field Link platform, engineers are able to utilise mobile technology to order parts and liaise with the company call centre.

Napoli adds: “Technology is, of course, a clear success factor in our operations to differentiate our product and services from the competition.

Lately, we have invested a lot in terms of digitalisation.

“We have

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embraced the digital world and we now see technology as more than just tools or gadgets - we are really focused on embedding our processes to make us more efficient and more competitive.”

The company, Boue explains, is also in the process of refining some of its supply chain processes in order to operate more efficiently: “We are also working on continuous improvement programs for our subcontractors in order to deliver the best quality for every single project.”

Always keen to keep abreast of future technologies, Schindler Middle East is engaged in a number of innovative, high-profile ventures. Most prominent of these is the Solar Impulse project which aims to develop long-range, solar powered aircraft; 2015 saw

the longest solar powered flight in history between Abu Dhabi and Hawaii. The company has also been instrumental in the development of a solar powered elevator, which will enable businesses to seamlessly reduce their carbon footprints.

Schindler Middle East has developed an already strong presence in a region that has experienced substantial growth, and it is set to continue on this trajectory. Having invested considerable time and resources in ensuring that the business is firmly in line with the demands of its customers, the company has been able to demonstrate to the world that it is home to some of the most talented and innovative engineers on the planet, and that its position is very much secured for years to come.

Number of employees

3,000

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Matteo Napoli Managing Director Schindler UAE Matteo Napoli holds a Master of Science (MSc) degree in Management, from the University “Politecnico di Milano”. In 2009, he joined Schindler in Italy. Since then, Matteo has served in various roles, starting with sales in Italy, then becoming the executive assistant to the Deputy CEO in Spain, to continue as a project manager in the UAE. He is currently the managing director of UAE.

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Park life

The Dubai Parks and Resorts project

Written by: LUCY DIXON Produced by: JORDAN PLATTEN

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In just a few months the doors will open on the Middle East’s most exciting and ambitious theme park resort

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hen you think of theme parks, you inevitably conjure up images of Mickey Mouse at Disney World or the King Kong ride at Universal Studios in Orlando. And Dubai Parks and Resorts is planning to join that prestigious handful of household names by creating a mustattend entertainment destination in the heart of the UAE. As Chief Technical Officer Matthew Priddy explains: “We have the ability to become a regional leader in the entertainment business. And as we develop the brand of Dubai Parks and Resorts, we can become one of the top three in the world.

That’s the goal, we are all very committed to that. And we’ve made a very good start.”

Priddy’s hand-picked team of 30 people boasts at least 500 years of theme park experience between them, each one of them a specialist in his or her field. Despite this degree of knowledge, the industry remains niche, and this allows Priddy and his team to ensure Matthew Priddy, Chief Technical Officer 74

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500

The number of combined years of experience the management team have in the theme park industry

“As we develop the brand of Dubai Parks and Resorts, we can become one of the top three in the world” – Matthew Priddy, Chief Technical Officer

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the highest quality at every point of logistical point of the operation. The Dubai Parks and Resorts project was developed in support of H.H. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum’s vision for the tourism sector. “His Highness’s idea for 2020 involved bringing 20 million visitors,” Priddy explains. “He wanted to diversify the economy and create a family entertainment destination. Design for this project began in January 2013, and ground was broken in March that year. Throughout the remainder of 2013 and the majority or 2014, all the infrastructure was installed and erected, and by 2015 we were integrating the finishes, interiors, and finally the shows and rides themselves.”

And having spent a morning touring the Dubai Parks and Resorts site, talking

‘H.H. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum wants to diversify the economy and create a family entertainment destination’

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20m

The expected number of vistors to the region by 2020

to Priddy, who is responsible for design, engineering and production of shows and rides, it’s easy to see how the goal of becoming one of the top three theme park destination is going to be achieved. This ambitious and exciting destination is due to open in October this year, and the site comprises three theme parks – Legoland® Dubai (and Legoland ® Water Park), Bollywood ParksTM Dubai and motiongateTM Dubai, as well as the family oriented, Polynesian-themed LapitaTM Hotel, and a retail, dining and entertainment district called RiverlandTM Dubai. The facts and figures are impressive – the finished site is expecting 6.7 million visits in 2017 and will include over

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100 rides and attractions, with 15,860 trees and 6,100 palms on 25 million square feet of land.

The site still looks very much like a construction project – albeit one with a giant meatball (from the movie Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs) gracing the site – with rides starting to be installed and the buildings that will house many of the attractions going up. Priddy says: “We started a little over three years ago, and back then this site was nothing but desert. In the last two years we have put in the underground utilities, and all primary infrastructure that goes with that, meaning sub stations, water treatment facilities and sewage plants.” With the majority of that background work complete now, the team is focussing on everything from cultivating plants in its nursery for the landscaped areas and moving the first Lego models into position to recruiting over 4,000 staff that will be needed in time for the grand opening.

Dubai Parks and Resorts is located on the Sheikh Zayed Road, the main

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route between Dubai and Abu Dhabi. And it really is the perfect location, says Priddy. “It’s a terrific site because it is equidistant between the two international airports – Abu Dhabi and Dubai. It’s also 10 kilometres from new Al Maktoum airport, which is going to take on the existing traffic from some of the terminals at DXB. It is also close to the Expo 2020 site, so the city is going to grow in this direction.

“What ends up happening, from what I’ve seen in my experience at Disney and Universal, is that all the support vendors and suppliers will spring up around the site and

15,850

The number of trees planted

6,100

The number of palms planted

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“We started a little over three years ago, and back then this site was nothing but desert” – Matthew Priddy, CTO

become an economic engine, driving growth in this direction.”

The career experience that Priddy refers to includes a 20year career at Disney, including serving as Senior Vice President of Worldwide Production for Walt Disney Imagineering. As Priddy says: “My background really is the theatrical side of the theme park business.”

Describing his current team and its role in the strategy of Dubai Parks and Resorts, Priddy says: “My group is an interesting mix of development and operations. We have procurement, contracts, media, R&D, control systems, creative,

facilities management, show and ride engineering, technical services. Our role is diverse, but the important thing for us is to ensure the guest experience.

“A theme park and a resort is looking to offer a compelling experience that will make people want to come and it needs to be so compelling that they want to come back and next time they want to bring their friends and their grandparents and they want to stay longer.

A longer stay equates to more per capita spending, and that’s the concept of an integrated resort – a theme park on its own, out of town, has a hard job with

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repeat visitation and length of stay. It doesn’t end up being a destination. Dubai Parks and Resorts is a destination. People will come here and stay for a day, two days, two and a half days.”

And Priddy certainly isn’t afraid of any local competition, in fact, he welcomes it. “We are fortunate that we have additional theme parks springing up around the UAE. We don’t look at them as competition, we look at them

as another reason to drive the UAE, Dubai and Abu Dhabi as international destinations. We will probably partner with them at some point in the future, when it comes to things like safety standards and creating a theme park organisational mentality in the UAE.” Content is key for the success of any theme park and the team at Dubai Parks and Resorts has carefully selected a rich

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“A theme park and a resort is looking to offer a compelling experience that will make people want to come and it needs to be so compelling that they want to come back and next time they want to bring their friends and their grandparents and they want to stay longer.”

– Matthew Priddy, CTO

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mix of attractions and experiences that will enable it to quickly become a leader in the region. Firstly, there is Bollywood ParksTM Dubai, a product that is unique. “Bollywood has never been done as a theme park before and there are millions of Bollywood fans within just a few hours of our site, so we are expecting to have to start the expansion from day one!

Bollywood is such a large part of the culture here that making it part of the business plan was a no brainer.”

And it is a very vibrant part of the overall Dubai Parks and Resorts offering – the stunning Rajmahal theatre is a striking setting for the 850-seat shows. Priddy adds: “The theatre is very high end in terms of its finishes and its technology for the shows. During the day it will operate as a typical theme park theatre with 20-minute shows. Then at night it turns into a Broadway-style theatre, with an

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extravagant production based on Kingdom of Dreams, with a cast and crew of 150 people.

That’s a separate ticket, which is all part of our strategy to extend the length of stay. A visitor could spend the day at one of the parks, go to Riverland TM Dubai for lunch, go to the hotel for a rest if they are staying there, then go to Bollywood ParksTM Dubai in the evening for a meal at the high-end themed Indian restaurant, then go to the theatre show.�

The second theme park is motiongateTM Dubai, which Priddy describes as a typical movie park as the attractions are based

150

The number of cast and crew for the production Kingdom of Dreams

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on films from Hollywood. But, he says, it is atypical as there are many different and diverse IPs at the park. He says: “In the states they would be seen as competitors but they are all together here.� The park will offer attractions based on Sony PictureStudios films (Hotel Transylvania, Ghostbusters and Zombieland, as well as Lionsgate (The

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‘The park will offer attractions based on Sony PictureStudios films (Hotel Transylvania, Ghostbusters and Zombieland, as well as Lionsgate (The Hunger Games).’

Hunger Games). Priddy adds: “Those are not new products but they have never been done in a theme park environment before, so we have been very fortunate. Sony has allowed us to use some of the new ghosts from Ghostbusters. So we are really bringing the films to life in the theme park environment.”

Visitors to motiongateTM Dubai will also get

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LINQ, Las Vegas

Universal Studios Hollywood

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Master Planner for

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Doha Oasis

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to enjoy attractions based on Dreamworks animation films which Priddy says will be housed in one enormous building – big enough to fit in five Airbus 380s. He adds: “Dreamworks has a demographic that runs all the way from little kids to adults, and in my opinion the Dreamworks franchise has the best sense of humour. We will have all sorts of effects that have never been done before – including Kung Fu Panda, How to Train Your Dragon, Shrek and Madagascar.

And all these will be unique in the way the ride technology and animation is being combined and presented to the world.”

The park that is aimed at families with

5

The number of Airbus A380s that would fit inside the Dreamworks building

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younger children is Legoland ® Dubai, and the Legoland ® Water Park alongside it. Priddy says: “Legoland® Dubai is not unlike the other seven around the world, although we do have one unique feature. Our Miniland a 90-metre diameter dome, which houses architectural icons from

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the region, created using Lego bricks,– this is clearly weather driven and architecturally it makes a great centrepoint.” The weather in Dubai has definitely been a factor in the design of the attractions, continues Priddy.

“We have a fairly elaborate shade programme, to

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minimise guests being outside. When they’re outside, we try to keep them in the shade. All of our queues are 30 minutes of air-conditioned queue plus 30-45 minutes of cool overflow queue” Talking about the months ahead, Priddy describes the run-up to opening a theme park as a ‘very happy train wreck’. He is referring to all the different teams pushing to get their elements ready, the extensive testing of rides and attractions. “You have to make sure it all works and it’s safe and

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“We’re using lighting, projection, holograms, animated figures, and that is all run by computerised control systems. It’s quite technologically rich” – Matthew Priddy, CTO

reliable,” he says. And there is a lot of technology that needs to be tested. “Whether it is control systems, music, development, exterior entertainment lighting, the list just goes on and on and on. The technologies that we’re combining are programmable ride systems which can vary at speed and has to be put together in conjunction with the soundtrack, with the music, with the media to make sure that we’re hitting all those marks. We’re using lighting, projection, holograms, animated figures, and that is all run by computerised control systems.

It’s quite technologically rich.”

To make sure all is working as it should when the crowds arrive in October this year, Dubai Parks and Resorts will be initiating what Priddy calls a testing and commissioning.

“You might, depending upon the status of things, open one park one day, open another park the next day and so on. This serves two functions. It allows us to bring out the systems and make sure they’re properly tuned and identify any problems that we might have in parts. It also means we can train the staff. We’re bringing in over 4,000 people, many of whom have limited

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park operations experience so there is a lot of training and development that has to go on.”

Recruiting – and training – this many people is clearly a big challenge but, for Priddy and his team, the procurement phase was equally tricky, because there is only a certain number of people who can produce what a theme park needs, so there may be timing and capacity issues.

He says: “Other projects going on in the world were chasing similar resources. So we had to get creative in procuring these packages. And the procurement team did a fabulous job - we managed to find the vendors and structure the packages that we think we’ve got it covered.

But it was a challenge.”

The hard work was well worth it though, as the park currently has

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Abu Dhabi International Airport, Midfield Terminal Complex Abu Dhabi, UAE

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CONSTRUCTION

95 percent of its ride systems either installed or in the warehouse ready to go. “And we’ve got a good 50 percent of all the shows either in the warehouse or on the water which is a tremendous accomplishment by our guys,” Priddy adds. “The goal is to get in and start playing with it so we can make sure we can dig out all problems and deal with them as early as we can. The role of the project manager and the technical division is to look for bad news. It is to look for problems and deal with them now. Not later. We’re doing a great job.”

Without exception, everyone we spoke to at Dubai Parks and Resorts had a love of theme parks running through their bloodstream.

A passion that Priddy epitomises. He says: “I majored in theatre technology in UCLA. That is really all about lighting, audio, rigging, scenic construction and stuff like that.” This eventually led to a call from Walt Disney requesting that Priddy join its team building scenery for the Epcot Center.

“Typically theme parks at that time used the Hollywood film studios to build all the scenery but it didn’t have the capacity for Epcot so we needed to set up our own. So we built 3.5 million square feet of scenery plus Tokyo Disneyland at the same time and

“When we mature as a park and we have the right dialled-in level of talent, I know for a fact that we will become known as one of the top innovators in the business” – Matthew Priddy, CTO

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shipped it out of California in 18 months. It was a lot of all nighters but it was a lot of fun.”

Earlier on, Priddy mentioned that R&D is part of his responsibility, and it is a fascinating part of a theme park as new and unique attractions are sought. He says: “It’s natural for all of us. You see something and you say ‘Ooooh, I could

apply that to some part of the theme park’. Whether it is a technology or a combination of technologies; maybe you have an idea of a special effect and the technology doesn’t exist. Then you have to come up with it. You have to figure it out with all your smart people what combination of systems technologies and products you can combine

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and utilise. When we mature as a park and we have the right dialled-in level of talent, I know for a fact that we will become known as one of the top innovators in the business.”

While touring the Dubai Parks and Resorts site, our guide was regularly pointing out space that has been allocated for future expansion.

And it’s easy to see that will be in the very near future, as it’s impossible to imagine the site being anything other than a huge success.

“Once we open and based on market demand we have to think of expansion within the existing parks - each has probably 30 percent

“We believe our business plan is such that it’s best to have more demand than capacity” – Matthew Priddy, CTO

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of its original size available. We believe our business plan is such that it’s best to have more demand than capacity but at some point that deteriorates the guest experience so we have to be ready to expand. The rule of thumb is every 18 months, maybe two years, you should be putting in a new attraction that gives you a marketing hit

and a spike in attendance.”

So, will the site be ready for the crowds in October this year.

The answer is a very loud ‘yes’, thanks largely, says Priddy, to strong relationships with suppliers. He says: “I really believe we couldn’t have done this without all of our suppliers, our contractors, our architects and IT consultants. It’s a world

25m 10.5bn 2.4bn

The total land size of development in sq. ft.

Total estimated cost in AED, 6.3 bn equity and 4.2 bn finance facility

100+ 6.7m The number of Rides and attractions

Projected number of visits in 2017 across the theme parks

Projected revenue, in AED, for first full year of operation

Oct ‘16 Grand Opening for the Dubai Parks & Resorts

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class bunch of companies. They have supported us really well. I think in turn we have been a very good client to work with. We pay our bills and we respect their

“I really believe we couldn’t have done this without all of our suppliers, our contractors, our architects and IT consultants.”

– Matthew Priddy, CTO

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requirements. There was a bit of the stigma from 2008 when the financial crash happened and a lot of people didn’t get paid. So there was a little bit

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of trepidation on part of some of our partners, but we have done an awesome job dispelling all that to the extent that I believe that every one of our contractors will be back here next time around. Happily.”

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THE RIGHT TRACK Written by: Nell Walker Produced by: Dennis Morales

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M A S A R R A I LWAY M A N A G E M E N T & S E R V I C E S C O

Masar Railway Management & Services Co.’s Rohan Roy discusses the company’s incredible work in advancing Saudi Arabia’s railway system to a world-class standard

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asar was created when one of its shareholders became part of a highspeed rail project, after which an entity was established to work specifically within the railway sector; thus, Masar’s mission began. The initial idea was to slowly bring international technology companies into Saudi Arabia and the railway sector, localising content, services, and products. Rohan Roy is the Head of Business Development at Masar, and as the first person to be employed after the CEO himself, maintains a deep insight into the company’s history and workings.

“We work with several international technology companies, from consultancy in

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the railway sector all the way to rolling stock and even operation and maintenance,” says Roy. “What we typically do is identify the company that has the expertise overseas, and then form a partnership – the structure of the partnership is different in each case. For some, it’s just a projectrelated partnership; for others, it’s an integrated joint venture, and in some cases we actually create a local company itself. So depending on the nature of the business, we take the necessary steps to make the most of the opportunity.”

Masar’s growth As part of the business development, responsibilities begin with identifying

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these opportunities for long-distance growth in Saudi Arabia: “At Masar we look for potential projects in the region, and then for partners with whom we can team up, because the railway sector is very new here. It’s only been active for about eight years.

There has been a railway line for the last seven decades, but it’s only one line and nothing much happened after

that. In 2008, however, mineral freight lines were constructed, and a highspeed project was awarded in 2012.

There’s now a metro in the capital city of Riyadh, and several more coming up in Makkah and Jeddah.

“We have to decide whether to create a consortium out of a beta project, or a joint venture so we as a company can support international

“We work with several international technology companies, from consultancy in the railway sector all the way to rolling stock and even operation and maintenance” – Rohan Roy, Director - Business Development

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partners in terms of local and technical resources, whether it’s the know-how in terms of the local market, logistics, legal, and even financial support when required. We provide the necessary platform for international companies to be present in the countries. That’s part of my responsibility.”

New directions Although the railway sector in Saudi Arabia is new, Masar is doing its part to bring it up to date with the rest of the world in an extraordinarily short amount of time: “There’s not much technological advancement you can make in terms of operations in this industry, but what we can do is replicate the models being used in Europe and the US,” Roy explains.

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M A S A R R A I LWAY M A N A G E M E N T & S E R V I C E S C O

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S U P P LY C H A I N

“We’re just repeating what has been done elsewhere in the world, but it’s 2016 technology. The metro in Riyadh – the first in the country – is already driverless. It’s the best the world is using right now; we’ve started from the very top of the technology pyramid, and as the sector grows, this will reflect in the environment here.”

“We don’t see ourselves getting involved on a day-to-day basis with the supply chain for another three or four years; by that time we’ll be better equipped to handle it. As of now, we integrate ourselves with the existing supply chain of our partner companies, because they have an established structure. It’s a set system.”

Supply chain Masar’s supply chain is made up of 15-20 product companies supplying its operational vendors directly, “So we don’t really have a project team or people on the ground,” explains Roy. “We have manufacturers who produce the products and supply them to the government. There are quite a lot of these tenders, since the existing railway line is up and running 2,500 kilometres of railway line, meaning that there are a lot of ongoing products and services that the authorities require on a weekly or monthly basis.

Future projects While projects for Masar have been slowed by reductions in oil prices, and the government has taken more time to review projects, the company still boasts plenty of future plans: “The metro lines in Makkah and in Jeddah are both very critical projects to the government, and we’re supporting companies that are bidding. We are not an official bidder as Masar because the tender requires companies with a great deal of specialisations over a long time to formally bid.

“We’ve got a couple of affiliated

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“From just being a support company to developing resources locally and going forward, we’ve got all kinds of plans for localisation” – Rohan Roy

2k

The total number of staff employed

by MASAR

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companies that do services specifically in the rail sector, and two companies that deal with track construction and signalling and telecommunication construction. Through these companies, we usually support the consortiums that are bidding for the projects. Once the formed consortium puts in its tendered document, we wait for the government to make the next announcement and take the deal forward. The metro deals have been pending for a few months, and in the second quarter the government will review priorities and expense, and decide from there which projects to go ahead with.”

What sets Masar apart is its dedication to the rail industry: “We were the first company that was set up specifically for that reason,” Roy explains. “There have been plenty of companies

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before and since us working in this sector, but they have all focussed on other themes like oil and gas or construction, and rail just happens to have been an extra project for them. We deal with one sector alone, and our CEO used to be the representative of Saudi Arabia on the GCC Railway Committee, which is something we think keeps us different.

“We’re moving from being a more commercial and management-

Abdulrahim Al Qurashi, Director - Projects

Ali Al Karni, CEO

oriented rail company to a technical one; the government wants local companies to develop more technical know-how.

Understanding the reality of this is the backbone of our strategy, which means we’ve already started the process of establishing local manufacturing facilities. From just being a support company to developing resources locally and going forward, we’ve got all kinds of plans for localisation.”

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Reaching new heights Written by: Nell Walker Produced by: Dennis Morales

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NAS GROUP

NAS COO Gerold Tumulka details the Kuwaitbased company’s enormous contribution to aviation and swift rise to distinction

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ational Aviation Services – known as NAS – is a fully private company with no governmental input, and as such, is not bound to any specific airline. Established in 2003, NAS is 95 percent owned by the Agility Group – a world-spanning Logistics Group – and five percent owned by Bahrain Airport Services. It started in Kuwait with just one customer – KLM – and one flight per day; today, it serves 36 airlines with eight million passengers and around 55,000 flights per year.

Gerold Tumulka, Chief Operating Officer of NAS, primarily heads up the Kuwait station, which is around 50 percent of its worldwide presence: “I’m basically in the role of Managing Director here,” he says. “We currently serve 15 airports; the 16th will join us later this year with a total of about 4,500 staff, out of which 2,000 are here with us in Kuwait.”

Tumulka joined the company a year ago when the management team was restructured: “The top level management team decided to separate the

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roles of operations and commercial.

My predecessor has taken over on the commercial side, when previously he had covered both, but with the sheer size the company has achieved, it was no longer feasible for one person to control both.”

The expanding NAS team now includes over 40 nationalities:

“That is quite a mix and we have a lot of staff that remain with us for 10 years or longer,” Tumulka says.

“Since the company’s inception it has been developing positively, which encourages employees to stay. Some staff go home after a couple of years, or go looking for other opportunities in the region, but

“We currently serve 15 airports; the 16th will join us later this year with a total of about 4,500 staff, out of which 2,000 are here with us in Kuwait”

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many of them stay for a long time.”

It’s no wonder that Tumulka’s team chooses NAS as an employer, given its enormous growth in such a short time. It serves airports in the Middle East, Asia, and Africa, and is always looking to expand its portfolio: “Our mid-term target is to serve 20 airports. We look for a certain duration of licensing in any given business opportunity, and long-term projects because they are more worthwhile. In Kuwait itself we have achieved a market share of around 70 percent of the total market.”

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NAS acquires overseas business through both government tenders and acquiring suitable candidates itself: “We can approach governments or airport authorities from our own side, and suggest certain business propositions to them, under which we join forces or we take over certain parts.

Sometimes we even take over management of the whole facility; for example, in Abu Dhabi we manage an entire VIP terminal.”

NAS recently achieved ISAGO certification for the fifth time. The

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“We can approach governments or airport authorities from our own side, and suggest certain business propositions to them, under which we join forces or we take over certain parts. Sometimes we even take over management of the whole facility; for example, in Abu Dhabi we manage an entire VIP terminal” – Gerold Tumulka, Chief Operating Officer of NAS

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company was one of the first three businesses to be certified, and inhouse it has developed its own set of standards: “We have our own training centre and academy, and have an exchange between the stations to make sure our design standards are met and carried out.”

“We have a dedicated unit which manages our supply chain and maintains relationships across the board, and we’re planning more

integration to ensure a network supply chain that services NAS in all our locations. It means a certain level of commonality between vehicle fleets and products, and then we give multi-station agreements for our customer airlines at the same level. We can then use that same multi-station methodology with our suppliers.”

The management dashboard created by NAS can monitor all of

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NAS’s stations in real-time: “We are now working towards stage two, which will include much more detail and can be monitored from the top management downwards. We are also developing an Operations Control Suite, which will enable the local stations to better monitor and manage traffic, and obviously that’s linked to the management dashboards that are centralised.

All of this software is tailored to our requirements. We didn’t buy – we went the other way and developed

this ourselves. NAS has created a dedicated IT Division for this purpose – NAS Airport Technologies – which also develops tailormade solutions for customers.”

To aid with the sustainability of its operations, NAS has also implemented unique ways to reduce fuel and waste: “We have a 250-strong motorised vehicle fleet in Kuwait,” Tumulka explains, “and we do our own set of modifications because looking at our geographical environment and particularly climatic

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“Emerging markets always have a risk factor attached, but we’re not shy to go into them” – Gerold Tumulka, Chief Operating Officer of NAS

conditions, we have found that we have gained certain expertise in regard to handling those conditions. We have certain ways of maintaining the vehicle fleets so that we can get 15 rather than 10 years of lifetime out of the special equipment.

“We’re testing now on the cargo side and have implemented a battery driver forklift system. That was quite easy. Kuwait Airport is looking for a new terminal product and sustainability initiatives play a big role in that. We’re looking into charging stations for all electronic vehicles across the airfield.”

NAS continues to grow, planning to expand its workforce by 50 percent over the next twoto-three years: “That creates opportunities for our own staff to grow, and for our organizational structure to grow with it. We are not bogged down by public service structures, meaning we can act and react quickly. We have a lean management team, making internal communication and coordination better, and we concentrate on markets that are not to everyone’s tastes.

Emerging markets always have a risk factor attached, but we’re not shy to go into them as long as they are reasonable and can be managed.”

FACT BOX 4,500 staff, 2,000 of which are in Kuwait The team includes over 40 nationalities NAS serves 36 airlines with eight million passengers and around 55,000 flights per year The fastest growing aviation services provider in emerging markets, National Aviation NAS recently achieved ISAGO certification for the fifth time

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Pride of Qatar Written by: Nye Longman Produced by: Dennis Morales

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Tasked with developing a new ‘mega port’ Qatar Ports Management is set to play a major role in the economic diversification of the country

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ay-to-day, Qatar Ports Management is responsible for managing the nation’s seaports and shipping terminals, but the integrated port and logistics services provider is also playing a more pivotal role. By substantially developing Hamad Port, the authority is not only strongly positioned to develop a regional shipping hub in the GCC, but also to play a major role in diversifying the Qatari economy ready for a posthydrocarbon future. Business Review Middle East explores how the framework for this was developed and how, under the watch of CEO Captain Abdulla Al-Khanji, this vision for the future is being achieved.

Hamad Port and beyond Alongside its oversight of the country’s quays, dry ports, and container terminals, Qatar Ports Management Company also provides navigation

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$7.5bn The cost of the Hamad Port project in USD

assistance and pilotage, towage, and Aids to Navigation (AtoNs) as well as loading, unloading, cargo handling, and storage. Furthermore, the company is also involved in developing seaports and related services in line with international standards.

Through its dual emphasis on continuous improvement across its shipping lines and by enhancing

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its focus on better meeting the needs of its customers, the provider is hoping to make Qatar’s the first port of call for companies operating in the region and beyond.

The business is responsible for two main commercial ports in Qatar, as well as the development of the new Hamad Port. The port also acts a long-term, physical manifestation of the

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Qatar National Vision 2030 – a project focusing on the social, economic, environmental and human development of the nation.

The $7.5 billion USD development does not merely offer expanded capacity in the form of three container terminals, but also brings a host of new, sector-specific capabilities.

Alongside general cargo traffic, the port will be able to handle a variety of specialist imports including livestock, automobiles, and bulk grain.

Alongside this offering, the port will also host a base for offshore and marine support vessels.

“The authority is not only strongly positioned to develop a regional shipping hub in the GCC, but also to play a major role in diversifying the Qatari economy ready for a posthydrocarbon future�

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Hamad Port covers 26 square kilometres and will have the yearly capacity for 1.7 million tonnes of general freight and 1 million tonnes of grain, with a specialist terminal supporting the entry of around 500,000 vehicles per year.

Capt. Al-Khanji adds: “Hamad Port is so far the largest Port Project in the Middle East. It will open endless opportunities for domestic and

foreign investment, especially in Um Al-Houl economic zone. Both the port and economic zone will form an industrial and logistics hub which will provide competitive advantage to industries and businesses through provision of highly efficient and cost effective logistics services.� “Hamad Port is a crucial milestone in the transport strategy of the Ministry of Transport and

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26

The number of square kilometres that the Hamad Port project covers

Communications (MOTC) since it is the premier commercial maritime gateway of Qatar to the world.

Hamad Port dovetails perfectly into the Qatar National Vision 2030. So too, developing the country into an import hub for the region will

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make Qatar more resilient against changes in the global economic environment.� “Hamad Port will provide increased throughput with a capacity for 2 million containers per year, eventually increasing to over 6 million. This will then be

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supported by transhipment links by rail, sea and road to the region.�

The business is also working to encourage tourists to visit the country, and has partnered with the Qatar Tourism Authority in order to promote and facilitate cruise visits to Qatar. There are also plans for Doha Port to be redeveloped

into a cruise and leisure yacht terminal facility, with its commercial operations moving to the new Hamad Port development.

Capt. Al-Khanji explains: “As part of the infrastructure preparations for the 2022 FIFA world cup, Mwani Qatar along with the Ministry of Transport &

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‘Hamad Port will also being supported by an integrated logistics park that will connect the Qatar and GCC rail network, which will link incoming sea freight with the rest of the country and beyond’

Communications is working with stakeholders to increase tourism through international cruise liners visits to Doha. The projection of a 15.9 percent increase in tourism revenue would eventually witness 3.7 million tourist arrivals by 2022.”

The Hamad Port will also being supported by an integrated logistics park that will connect the Qatar and GCC rail network, which will link incoming sea freight with the rest of the country and beyond. The port is also situated adjacent to Qatar’s Hamad International Airport, as well as civilian rail links; together these contribute to the

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port’s future as an international hub.

Pride of Qatar Hamad Port will be situated next to the Um Al-Houl economic zone which is equipped with the latest infrastructure and is served by a dedicated industrial canal, which adds a further logistical dimension to its operations. Backed up by road, rail, a canal and a nearby

airport, the port is well-furnished for any cargo coming into or leaving the country.

“A good business environment, strong international framework and its ever-growing portfolio of customers and partners around the world are some key factors that contributed to the success of the nation,” says Capt. Al-Khanji, “This unprecedented growth also

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creates opportunities for the development of commercial and business prospects. “Qatar has diversified its investment portfolio in the world as for many years the economy of the State has driven by the liquefied natural gas exports; Qatar has invested along the LNG value chain from upstream gas production, throughout the transportation system and ports, till distribution to the corresponding grid. “The GCC region is growing at fast pace and so the level of infrastructure including ports. Studies show that the sea trade of GCC Countries with the rest of the world will grow rapidly during the next decade following the GDP growth in the region. At the same time, the port infrastructure suffers from lack of appropriate water depth to accommodate large vessels.�

There are but few ports in both the Middle East and GCC region that are equipped with adequate facilities to cope with large ships; in fact, the only hub-sized port in the region is approaching its maximum capacity. Not only does this evidence the fact that trade in the GCC region is booming, but also that the region is overdue a world-class shipping and logistics hub.

As the global oil price invariably fluctuates, the importance of economic diversification is becoming more pressing by the day.

Home to the third largest oil and gas reserves in the world, Qatar faces a number of tough decisions ahead. Leveraging its strategic geographic position and economic clout, the Gulf State is increasingly prepared for an economic future not subject to the oil market.

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The growth of Omnix Written by: Nye Longman Produced by: Stuart Shirra 151

O M N I X I N T E R N AT I O N A L L L C

Enterprise software and IT provider Omnix is well-positioned to expand its vast, verticallyorientated services and solutions offering in the MENA region and beyond

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perating out of the UAE and serving both public and private sector clients across the whole MENA region, Omnix provides a range of industries with best-in-class IT, professionalgrade audio-visual technology, and enterprise software solutions.

Founded in 1987, the company has been able to accrue an enviable amount of experience in the market it serves, and it is now strategically positioned to engage with fresh technological innovations as well as a regional expansion.

Operations Operationally, Omnix International has five divisions: computer-aided engineering (CAE), enterprise

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networking solutions (ENS), public services (PSS), enterprise software (ESS), and AV Integrated Systems solution (Promedia) offerings.

The company has the in-house experience to deliver its solutions to a range of different operations, which include healthcare, oil and gas, architectural and engineering, financial services, education, telecommunications, hospitality, and government institutions.

Alongside sector-specific offerings, the company is also able to cater to a range of corporate clients.

Mamoun Arsan, General Manager at Omnix ESS Division, explains how the company operates: “What we are often doing is educating our customers

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and, in some cases, creating new technologies for them. Omnix is built to provide technology solutions for the market. We use technology extensively, both internally and externally.

“We have an internal portal so our people can post feedback and communicate with other departments in the organisation. It also enables our sales teams to monitor clients and spot any potential opportunities. I don’t actually use any paper in my office. It’s all digital because we deliver digital solutions to our customers.

We have to use it before we deliver it.”

Not only does the company work extremely hard to meet the needs and expectations of the market, it also seeks to predict and address the needs of the future – looking to technology in particular.

Alongside making a significant proportion of office-based operations paperless, Omnix has provided technological solutions for a number of smart city projects across the GCC and Levant.

Arsan explains how Omnix has integrated a culture of continuous improvement into its operations: “There are many aspects of the business apart from growth that we work to improve on a year-on-year basis. We actively work to improve our delivery, our solutions offering, and customer references. We also try to improve Mr. Jamal Abu Issa, President and CEO w w w. o m n i x . a e

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“There are many aspects of the business apart from gro that we work to improve on a year-on-year basis. We ac work to improve our delivery, our solutions offering, and customer references. We also try to improve our certific programmes as well as our partnership models” – Mamoun Arsan, General Manager - ESS Division

our certification programmes as well as our partnership models.

“We have seen that our industry is changing - the normal solutions we used to offer in the past are changing with this. People are going for cloud-based software as a service infrastructure, for all types of projects and all types of business. So we started looking at opportunities in the market; we looked into new areas including transportation, migration, and healthcare. We asked ourselves how we would like to see citizens treated in terms of services, so we took the immigration

part and we created a scenario for the government of the UAE.” Innovation strategy Headquartered in Dubai, with offices in Abu Dhabi, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait and Jordan, Omnix employs over 1,000 people who, by necessity, are trained to cover a truly diverse range of specialities, although all are focused on achieving customer satisfaction: “We have a thorough process to go through with our customers to get their feedback on our projects and how we deliver them,” Arsan explains.

Mr. Mamoun Arsan, General Manager

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owth ctively d ation

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SOFTWARE VALUE DISTRIBUTION FZ LLC

SVD FZ LLC is IBM SW value added distributor in GCC. Winner of IBM 2015 MEA VAD Award for its contribution towards IBM SW channel ecosystem development. SVD is focused on the support of its channel by helping in improving its professional skills thus reaping the full benefits of IBM’s Rebate Programs. SVD is proud to count Omnix International as one of its key and esteemed Business Partners.

Address: Building 9, Office G15, DIC, P.O.Box 6079, Dubai, UAE. Satyen Singh - Tel: +971-4-2767220 | Mobile: +97152-3492670 Email: s.singh@sv-d.com | Web: www.sv-d.com

TECHNOLOGY

As well as ensuring its diverse employee base shares a common operational goal, amid varying roles, Omnix also dedicates a great deal of time and resources to training, employee development, and fostering a culture of openness.

Arsan says: “Our KPIs cover employee evaluation. We have different tools in the organisation and each tool has a prerequisite in terms of certification and training. We encourage people to go for training to enhance their skills in a particular area and we pay for that training.

“We have an open environment for employees to give feedback; using internal tools, employees give their feedback on issues that they’re having in the workplace, as well as on the products and services that we deliver to our customers.

We have dedicated people to look at the market and make sure our partners and our solutions that we offer are rated very highly in the different organisations in the world.

“If an employee wants a different a role within the organisation – we do a lot of internal hiring – we encourage them to go for that certification. We liaise with our partners, such as IBM or Oracle, to keep up to date with what kind of training is suitable. We do a lot of such work with our partners and internally we do a lot of checks on our employees with KPIs.” Combining its years of in-house expertise with a flexible yet focussed partnership model has ensured that Omnix has the best-in-breed offering, alongside a roster of major supporting players; in other words, the company is positioned to be a major innovator in its region.

“We are growing two directions,” Arsan says, “Geographically, as we are going to do business in other countries in the region and beyond, and at the same time we are investing in Public Private Partnership projects – so long-term relationships are

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what we are striving for.”

He adds that the company is also pioneering green initiatives holistically, and is seeking to extend its reputation as a thought-leader in this aspect. He says: “We want to reduce environment impact not only from Omnix’s perspective, but from the markets that we serve.

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When we use driverless cars, for example, they are battery operated.

“The smart mobility solutions such as the car-sharing model that we are proposing uses either hybrid or electronically operated cars. We want things to be green. We want to help in the green community initiative worldwide. So the kind of solutions

TECHNOLOGY

‘Having aligned its business model to work in harmony with the requirements of its markets, its partners, and its omers, Omnix has shored up its position as a vital part of the IT and technology sector for the MENA region’

that we would like and offer today is based around the community in terms of emissions and reduce the impact on global warming.�

Having aligned its business model to work in harmony with the requirements of its markets, its partners, and its customers, Omnix has shored up its position as a

vital part of the IT and technology sector for the MENA region.

Concentrating on delivering a best-in-class package across its products, services and solutions has positioned the company to be not only profitable, but future-proof.

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