Dshr65ehuy4startup august 2015

PREPARE FOR DIGITAL DISRUPTION p.40

THE IMPACT OF ART IN YOUR OFFICE p.54

HOW TO

RELAXAND TAKEA BREAK PAGE 14

SETTING SALARIES HOW MUCH SHOULD START-UP FOUNDERS PAY THEMSELVES?

JIM WILL FIX IT REDEFINING MAINTENANCE IN DUBAI

ASHISH THAKKAR'S

GLOBAL MISSION The new chairman of the UN's Global Entrepreneurs Council on how he plans to boost start-ups around the world

PATENT PENDING

TAKAMUL'S DRIVE FOR A KNOWLEDGEBASED ECONOMY EVERY ISSUE

The Socialite

HOW TO GROW USING SOCIAL MEDIA

An ITP Executive Publication

VOL. 3 ISSUE 11

AUGUST

2015

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IN THIS ISSUE VOL. 3 • ISSUE 11 • AUGUST 2015

COVER STORY

ASHISH THAKKAR ON HIS NEW ROLE AS CHAIR OF THE UN’S GLOBAL ENTREPRENEURS COUNCIL

05 EDITOR’S LETTER 06 NEWS

The top SME stories from across the region.

08 MARKETING

Is your marketing strategy failing? We look at possible reasons why.

10 SHOULD I?

Is it time to hire a personal assistant?

11 NETWORKING

DBWC’s Nadine Halabi on the benefits of networking with likeminded women.

12 SOCIALITE

Melissa O’Malley from PayPal advises on how to grow using social media.

14 HOW TO

We analyse how entrepreneurs can relax and take a break.

[03]

IN THIS ISSUE VOL.3 ISSUE 11

28 F&B ENTREPRENEURS

Tamara Pupic takes a closer look at the UAE’s fast-growing food-related start-up scene.

34 WORLD START-UP EVENTS

We look at a number of intriguing and exciting global start-up events, coming up in the next few months.

40 DIGITAL DISRUPTION

Alex Rauser of Prototype Interactive on how to prepare your business for digital disrpution.

44 KIDS TECH

How two Dubai-based start-ups are changing the face of kids entertainment in both the physical and digital spheres.

50 KAEC

The entrepreneurial focus of Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah Economic City.

54 CREATIVITY

Can art boost creativity?

We consider the beneďŹ ts of having artwork around your workplace.

56 JIM WILL FIX IT 16 FINANCE

How much should you pay yourself? We examine founder paycheck trends around the world.

18 JOURNAL

We catch up with the start-up adventures of KinTrans.

20 ASHISH THAKKAR

The founder of Mara Group discusses the UN, global impact, and how the UAE has excelled in entrepreneurship.

26 INTRAPRENEURSHIP Balvinder Powar on the increasingly important role of the intrapreneur.

[04]

Co-founder Colin Thomas explains how the company has redeďŹ ned Dubai’s maintenance industry.

63 TAKAMUL

The government scheme which is putting patents at the heart of the UAE’s vision to expand its knowledge-based economy.

68 STARTUP ACADEMY

A duo of industry experts discuss the challenges of online payments, and how to overcome commonplace hurdles.

74 HOW I DID IT

Pure Gold Group’s Firoz Merchant discusses philanthropy. |

vol. 3 /august 2015

Editor’s letter

Registered at Dubai Media City ITP Executive Publishing PO Box 500024, Dubai, United Arab Emirates TEL +971 4 444 3000 FAX +971 4 444 3030 ITP EXECUTIVE PUBLISHING CEO Walid Akawi MD, ITP PUBLISHING GROUP Neil Davies MANAGING DIRECTOR, ITP EXECUTIVE Karam Awad PUBLISHING DIRECTOR Neil Wood EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Anil Bhoyrul EDITORIAL EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Rob Corder, EMAIL rob.corder@itp.com EDITOR Neil King TEL +971 4 444 3142 EMAIL neil.king@itp.com SENIOR REPORTER Tamara Pupic TEL +971 4 444 3615 EMAIL tamara.pupic@itp.com SUB EDITOR Edward Liamzon TEL +971 4 444 3474 EMAIL edward.liamzon@itp.com ARABIANBUSINESS.COM EXECUTIVE EDITOR Shane McGinley TEL +971 4 444 3631 EMAIL shane.mcginley@itp.com STUDIO GROUP ART EDITOR Daniel Prescott SENIOR DESIGNER Rey Delante DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY Patrick Littlejohn SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER Rajesh Raghav, Efraim Evidor STAFF PHOTOGRAPHERS Aasiya Jagadeesh, Ausra Osipaviciute, Efraim Evidor, Ethan Mann, Rajesh Raghav, Richard Hall, Grace Guino, Fritz Asuro, Sharon Haridas PRODUCTION & DISTRIBUTION GROUP PRODUCTION & DISTRIBUTION DIRECTOR Kyle Smith PRODUCTION MANAGER Basel Al Kassem OUTSOURCING MANAGER Aamar Shawwa PRODUCTION COORDINATOR Imad Aad IMAGE EDITOR Emmalyn Robles DISTRIBUTION EXECUTIVE Nada Al Alami CIRCULATION RETAIL DEVELOPMENT MANAGER Osama Baraka TEL +971 4 444 3629 EMAIL osama.baraka@itp.com HEAD OF CIRCULATION & DATABASE Gaurav Gulati ADVERTISING SALES MANAGER Leticia Escuris TEL +971 4 444 3589, EMAIL leticia.escuris@itp.com HEAD OF DIRECT CLIENT SALES James Fraser-Thorburn TEL +971 4 444 3393, EMAIL james.thorburn@itp.com HEAD OF SALES - AGENCIES Mario Saaiby TEL +971 4 444 3592, EMAIL mario.saaiby@itp.com ONLINE ADVERTISING DIGITAL PUBLISHING DIRECTOR Ahmad Bashour, TEL +971 4 444 3549, EMAIL ahmad.bashour@itp.com INTERNET APPS MANAGER Mohammed Affan OPERATIONS MANAGER Asad Azizi MARKETING HEAD OF MARKETING Daniel Fewtrell TEL +971 4 444 3684, EMAIL daniel.fewtrell@itp.com EVENTS MANAGER Michelle Meyrick TEL +971 4 444 3328, EMAIL michelle.meyrick@itp.com MARKETING BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER Omar Kawas TEL +971 4 444 3360, EMAIL omar.kawas@itp.com ITP GROUP CHAIRMAN Andrew Neil MANAGING DIRECTOR Robert Serafin FINANCE DIRECTOR Toby Jay Spencer-Davies BOARD OF DIRECTORS Walid Akawi,Neil Davies, Rob Corder, Mary Serafin CORPORATE WEBSITE www.itp.com CIRCULATION CUSTOMER SERVICE TEL: +971 4 4443000 WEB www.arabianbusiness.com NOTICE The publishers regret that they cannot accept liability for error or omissions contained in this publication, however caused. The opinions and views contained in this publication are not necessarily those of the publishers. Readers are advised to seek specialist advice before acting on information contained in this publication, which is provided for general use and may not be appropriate for the readers’ particular circumstances. The ownership of trademarks is acknowledged. No part of this publication or any part of the contents thereof may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form without the permission of the publishers in writing. An exemption is hereby granted for extracts used for the purpose of fair review.

PRINTED by United Printing Press, Abu Dhabi CONTROLLED DISTRIBUTION by Blue Truck All photos used in this magazine are by Gallo Images/Getty Images/Shutterstock/ Bloomberg Images unless otherwise credited.

PUBLISHED BY AND ©2015 ITP EXECUTIVE PUBLISHING, A DIVISION OF THE ITP PUBLISHING GROUP LTD, REGISTERED IN THE BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS COMPANY NUMBER 1402846

READY TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE WITH ASHISH THAKKAR AT THE HELM, THE UN’S GEC CAN EXPECT GREAT THINGS I HAD NEVER MET this month’s cover star before interviewing him for Arabian Business StartUp. Colleauges had given me glowing accounts of the young entrepreneur, and even a basic level or internet research was enough to show me the scale of his numerous achievements. But I didn’t quite know what to expect face to face.

Visiting Mara Group’s elegant offices in Dubai, I was to speak with founder and CEO Ashish Thakkar about his new role as chair of the UN’s Global Entrepreneurs Council (GEC), and about entrepreneurship generally in the MEA region.

Having been announced as the new chairman by the UN’s secretary-general Ban Ki-Moon, Thakkar will assume his position in September, so this was the perfect time to hear about his aims.

My first impressions? This is a man for whom action and interaction are a second nature. Welcoming, curious, gregarious, informed, astute and witty, I was immediately put at ease.

The knowledge with which he spoke about entrepreneurship, on various levels and from different angles, was matched by his passion for developing the ecosystem, and specifically his drive to improve the business landscape for young and women entrepreneurs.

Orginially developed through his Mara Foundation, his focus on informal education, access to finance, and public policy will form the basis of his chairmanship, and I see no reason why he can’t make a huge impact worldwide.

With Ashish Thakkar at the helm, the GEC has a great opportunity to help millions of entrepreneurs succeed.

NEIL KING EDITOR

[05]

News > ACQUISITIONS

PAYFORT acquires Dubai start-up

NEW COMPETITION FOR ISLAMIC DIGITAL ECONOMY START-UPS A new competition by Dubai Silicon Oasis Authority and Dubai Islamic Economy Development Centre to boost start-ups in the Islamic digital economy.

A

new competition to support start-ups and businesses in the Islamic digital economy will be inaugurated at the Global Islamic Economy Summit (GIES 2015) on 5-6 October.

The Innovation 4 Impact competition will be hosted by Dubai Silicon Oasis Authority (DSOA) and the Dubai Islamic Economy Development Centre (DIEDC), in collaboration with Thomson Reuters.

Also working with the American Muslim Consumer Consortium, it seeks to support start-ups and businesses in the Islamic digital economy and serve as an incubator for SMEs across the world.

Due to take place at Madinat Jumeirah in Dubai, the competition is open for applications from any company or entrepreneur with an idea or business venture in e-commerce, mobile computing, cloud computing, big data, hyper-converged platforms, and new media and social media.

[06]

The applicants will be judged on aspects including innovation, economic and social impact as well as scalability across markets and regions.

The jury and the audience will vote to decide on the winner on 6 October.

Dr Mohammed Alzarooni, vice chairman and CEO of DSOA (pictured above), said: “The first Innovation 4 Impact competition has been developed to empower Islamic businesses in the digital and Arabic content field in line with the leadership’s vision to transform Dubai into the ‘Capital of Islamic Economy’.

“The competition is a platform for start-ups and businesses to gain support and entrepreneurial advice to further develop their value propositions that will allow them to play a major role in the growth of the digital Islamic economy sector in the MENA region.”

For information on the Innovation 4 Impact Competition and details on participation, visit www.innovation4impact.net.

Dubai-based online payment gateway PAYFORT has acquired White Payments, a start-up offering new online payments solution to small businesses, it announced last month.

The acquisition is part of a larger plan to seek out start-ups that can enhance its offering as PAYFORT will use White Payments’ platform to create a new programme to allow start-ups and small businesses fast-track their online payment options.

Speaking about the acquisition, Omar Soudodi, managing director of PAYFORT, said: “Start-ups have special requirements and constraints when it comes to setting up an online payment process.

“White Payments has developed a great product offering to help meet these challenges and we look forward leveraging these to create a new PAYFORT solution called START.” PAYFORT makes online payments safe and secure for buyers and sellers across the Arab world by delivering a complete suite of payment solutions tailored to Arab online buying habits and trends.

In addition to forging relationships with banks across the region, the company supports credit/debit card payment, through globally recognised payment leaders such as American Express, cashU, MasterCard, and Visa.

|

vol. 3 /august 2015

NEWS UPDATE

TECHNOLOGY

UAE BRAND LAUNCHES NEW SMARTPHONES UAE smartphone brand Four has announced the launch of three new models priced from $46.

“We understand that it is important for our customers to stay connected with their social circles on-the-go, in the UAE’s fast-paced lifestyle. Our latest smartphones were carefully constructed to serve those looking for the ultimate mobile

surfing experience, as well as customers looking to fulfil their basic smartphone needs,” said Faisal Al Bannai, Founder and CEO of Four.

Four’s new smartphones are all dual-sim, feature rear and front cameras, and come with complementary covers.

Priced at AED169 ($46), the S40 comes with a 3.5-inch screen, while

BUSINESS GURU ADVISES YOUNG ENTREPRENEURS HE Khalaf Ahmed Al Habtoor advised young Emiratis on business and life during his Ramadan Majlis

A

leading Emirati businessman has called upon young Emirati entrepreneurs to develop a positive trading mentality and also urged the first generation of Dubai traders to share with them their knowledge.

HE Khalaf Ahmed Al Habtoor, chairman of Al Habtoor Group, said at his Ramadan Majlis that the key to success was to lead a balanced lifestyle by concentrating on your work while giving the best of your time to your family.

“It’s always good to focus on business areas and disciplines one is familiar with rather than to take on unfamiliar projects which offer minimal possibility of success,” he added.

The Majilis was attended by high profile representatives of the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry, including HE Hamad Buamim, the chamber’s president and CEO of the Dubai Chamber, HE Hesham Al Shirawi, and members of the newly-founded Tejar Dubai Youth Council.

NEW PIZZA CONCEPT FOR DUBAI

T

he founders of New York pizza chain,The Pizza Guys, have introduced a new pizza concept to Dubai.

PI.DUBAI, a full-service pizza restaurant located on the lower ground floor of The Dubai Mall, opened its doors in July.

Teaming up with an awardwinning chef, Joe Truex, the entrepreneurial duo of Amber Haque and Rami Badawi have

composed a menu of dishes that will showcase fresh, organic seasonal vegetables, wild harvested seafood, and humanely raised antibiotic-free and hormone-free meats.

Ingredients are sourced from various European markets, including Rungis in Paris, Australia and Canada, whilst poultry is carefully selected from a local UAE farm.

the S40 version comes with a 1.3 GHz Dual Core Processor and the Android 4.2 OS. For heavier internet users, customers can get faster internet roaming on the 3G S180 with a stunning 4-inch screen at AED249.

The S300 features a 5.5 inch screen, a sharp 8MP rear camera, 1.2 GHz Quadcore processor and the Android 4.4 OS for AED299.

NETWORKING

New networking platform for Dubai SMEs A new networking platform has been launched to foster ties among Dubai-based SMEs. The network has been created by Club Fit For Business, a sports business community, and Creative Zone, a business setup consultancy located in Downtown Dubai.

The two entities will enable access to high quality events and develop a wider network of entrepreneurs. start-up founders and SME owners.

Speaking about the new initiative, Mahesh Dalamal and Steve Mayne, joint managing directors of Creative Zone, said: “Our work does not end with the issuance of a client’s trade license, it starts there.

“This partnership with Club Fit For Business, which also shares our vision of supporting SMEs, is certain to bring great value to our existing customers as well as provide an opportunity for us to increase our visibility with new markets and audiences.”

Founder of Fit For Business, Liam Mooney, said: “By joining forces we can help strengthen our business networks and enhance opportunities for businesses in the SME sector, through a platform of shared values and principles.”

[07]

Comment

YOUR MARKETING STRATEGY IS NO LONGER WORKING

BEN CAMPBELL SUGGESTS WHY YOU MIGHT NOT HAVE THE MARKETING TRACTION YOU WERE HOPING FOR.

T

2

1

3

he world of marketing is ever-changing and this is one of the reasons your strategy in this field can stop working. Not to mention the fact that Google is constantly updating its algorithms, customer tastes regularly change, new platforms are emerging and new competitors appear.

How do you know when your strategy needs an overhaul?

Here are five signs…

YOU’RE NOT KEEPING UP WITH CHANGES IN THE MARKET Changes within the world of marketing can really trip businesses up as techniques that once worked well can just fizzle out. Then there are the trends and technologies that grow in prominence.

Take SMS marketing, for example. This has been around for a long time but the explosion in use of mobile devices makes it even more important than ever. Yet many businesses are not taking advantage of the astonishing open rates (98 percent) and clickthroughs (19 percent).

Keep an eye on what’s happening in the world of marketing by reading authority websites, getting involved in marketing discussions on social media, and connecting with others in the industry.

[08]

YOU’RE NOT LISTENING TO YOUR CUSTOMERS If you focus on simply talking about your business and not giving your customers what they want, you’re likely to drive them away. If you’re unsure as to what your customers are looking for, conduct some market research or some A/B testing to see what they respond to. This is particularly important for content marketing and advertising.

YOU’RE NOT ENCOURAGING ENGAGEMENT FROM YOUR CUSTOMERS Even if customers are seeing your content, that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re engaging with it. This kind of engagement is so important because it helps people to create a real connection with your business. This might be through sharing a branded video, commenting on a blog post or attending an event.

You should make it as easy as possible for customers to share your content. Do this by making sure there are share buttons on your blog posts and perhaps even offer incentives for those who share content – competitions work fantastically for this.

Similarly, make sure you are easy to get in touch with. If customers see your business as approachable, they’ll make more effort to contact you if they have a question or want to buy a product. Equally,

no-one will spend too long trying to find out how to get hold of you.

4

YOUR BRAND IMAGE ISN’T QUITE RIGHT As your business evolves, your brand image may need to as well. If your branding doesn’t match up with the content you post, you may be sending mixed signals. Review your tone, message and target market and ensure you are doing all you can to keep your branding right. A good marketing strategy will not succeed if the core of your business isn’t correctly focussed.

5

YOU’RE NOT LOOKING AT METRICS In order to see what’s working and what could be improved, you need to be tracking all sorts of metrics. To begin with, use Google Analytics to see where your website traffic and conversions are coming from. If you have a channel that doesn’t seem to being doing what it should, it’s time to review that marketing activity.

The trick to keeping your marketing activities on track is to constantly monitor them and make sure you’re keeping an eye on the latest trends.

A periodic review of all your marketing activities is always a good idea. Take a look at the metrics on a weekly/monthly basis but give your marketing a full audit once every quarter. |

vol. 3 /august 2015

Should I...

hire a PA? 3526

SAVES TIME ADDS VALUE A PERSON TO RELY ON

&216

CAN BE COSTLY DIFFICULT TO DELEGATE HARD TO FIND A GOOD MATCH

What does a PA do?

In a nutshell, a PA – or personal assistant – supports the work of a manager or executive by undertaking a variety of different tasks, both professional and personal.

With executives becoming more on-the-go people, their PAs have also been forced to adjust their business offering. As a result, we now hear more and more about a VA – or virtual assistant – who often does the same things, but only onlineenabled work.

How could they help me?

The main idea is to give them the tasks you are not good at, don’t enjoy doing, or the ones that are simply too repetitive. Thus, you’ll be able to focus on what you like, know best, and what keeps you interested.

The variety of their tasks ranges from basic clerical tasks, scheduling and handling your appointments or making travel arrangements, to doing some market research or even becoming an important part in increasing your sales figures.

However, we also hear about them writing holiday cards or sending ‘thank you’ notes on behalf of their employers, picking up their laundry or driving their kids to school, and many other similar assignments a very busy person doesn’t have the time to, or doesn’t want to do him or herself.

What kind of person needs one?

No general rule will answer this question, but a person who needs more free time to fulfil many [10]

of his or her roles would easily fit the description. It can be an entrepreneur just starting a business, an entrepreneur coping with the demands of the start-up’s growth stage, a high net worth individual, or simply a very busy working mum. All of them need to have more time on their hands.

Isn’t it a bit of a luxury?

It is often perceived in that manner. The prestige factor has been highlighted by many stories revealing PAs staying in the finest suites in the world’s best hotels, flying in luxurious private jets, eating and drinking the most expensive food and drinks.

But, that is just one side of the coin. In reality, PAs offer a hands-on approach to organising the smallest details of your business or overall lifestyle. From your clients’ perspective, a PA will appear as another level of professionalism and help in promoting your brand.

When is a good time to hire one?

‘Whenever your life becomes too complicated,’ is a common answer, and one that makes a lot of sense. When the day-to-day tasks get too timeconsuming for you, it’s probably time to bring in some help.

An important note is that in order to save time, you’ll first need to invest some time in getting to know your PA, explaining the details of your requests, and also allowing them to do their job.

The latter often proves to be a struggle due to the mixture of professional and private duties that people don’t always feel comfortable entrusting to others.

What should I consider before hiring?

First and foremost, your PA or VA will represent you. A professional, friendly, and intelligent person will add value to your business’s image.

However, the special nature of this business arrangement also requires hiring a discreet, dependable, resourceful and proactive person.

Hard to find, but could be worth every penny. |

vol. 3 /august 2015

Networking

Nurturing female networks for shared success NADINE HALABI, MANAGER OF BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT AT DUBAI BUSINESS WOMEN COUNCIL, EXPLAINS HOW A STRONG NETWORK CAN WORK WONDERS FOR YOUR ENTREPRENEURIAL ENDEAVOURS. very entrepreneur would agree that it’s important to be surrounded by likeminded individuals for motivation and lucrative support.

Networking councils like the Dubai Business Women Council (DBWC) are created to fill a very large gap in the Dubai economy.

They provide a platform for likeminded business women to interact and engage in educational and innovative activities.

They provide guidance to their businesses and allow people to meet industry experts, discuss new business opportunities and create mutually beneficial relations.

Support structures like these also connect members, which opens opportunities for collaborations and partnerships. We often see members help each other solve intricate matters and working together to reach success.

Furthermore, a networking group of likeminded women is beneficial for several reasons, including inspiration, motivation, learning from each other’s experiences, and willingness to support each other.

The DBWC’s strategy is to build awareness, educate, promote opportunities and enhance positive change in the community towards the acceptance of women in business. This is also at the heart of the DBWC’s belief in empowering women and motivating them to be productive members of the society and economy.

Its monthly Network Majlis events are hosted to provide information about the latest

E

u Ro’Ya is one of the initiatives launched by DBWC.

u Nadine Halabi, manager of business development at DBWC.

knowledge, skills and best practices for women entrepreneurs and leaders, as the council is invested in strengthening the bond between business and professional women in the UAE. As more networks rise in the UAE, the DBWC’s aim is to encourage leadership and advocate responsible action, while identifying key issues, offering information, and pooling our resources to ensure the well-being of women as entrepreneurs and members of the workforce.

For more information about the DBWC or how to become a member, visit www.dbwc.ae.

About DBWC

Established in 2002, under the umbrella of the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Dubai Business Women Council is the official representative organisation for business women, both professionals and entrepreneurs, in the Emirate of Dubai.

[11]

The socialite >

MAXIMISING SOCIAL MEDIA SUCCESS TO ACHIEVE GLOBAL GROWTH MELISSA O’MALLEY, DIRECTOR OF GLOBAL MERCHANT AND CROSS BORDER TRADE INITIATIVES AT PAYPAL EXPLAINS HOW THE RIGHT SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGY CAN LEAD TO GROWTH INTO NEW MARKETS

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ig brands and retailers have been going all-in on social media in recent years to engage with shoppers – with good reason.

According to a recent study from Crowdtap, 64 percent of shoppers use social media for inspiration when shopping and 68 percent cite recommendations from friends and family on social media as a major influence on purchasing, proof that the era of ‘social shopping’ has truly begun.

HOW DO SMES FIT IN? Despite all the hype, nearly half of small businesses have yet to venture into social media.

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Many may be intimidated by the sheer number of channels to work with – Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Google+, and more – or the time, effort, and money that can be involved in implementing a social media strategy.

Nevertheless, with the rise in social shopping, embracing social media is a must for businesses looking to not only survive but grow in 2015.

HOW CAN SMES LEVERAGE SOCIAL MEDIA TO GROW THEIR BUSINESS? Engaging on social channels not only allows merchants to compete with the big companies they are up against,

it provides an opportunity to establish a global presence and interact with shoppers everywhere – from down the street to half-way across the world – more easily.

For merchants, having a robust blog can be incredibly helpful in connecting with shoppers since it can give your business a point of interest beyond the product, as well as offer advice on coordinating accessories, trends in your industry, various uses for items, or advice on which product is best for buyers – the options are endless.

Australia-based Black Milk clothing founder James Lillis created a blog about fash |

vol. 3 /august 2015

MELISSA O’MALLEY

ion, where he quickly grew a dedicated fan base throughout North America and Europe that then turned to buy his products too – five years after starting his company, he leads a 130-person operation and sells into markets all over the world to his dedicated fan base that found him via his blog.

A Facebook page can be a great place to post additional products photos, hint at new items you’re creating, or even offer up pictures of your business and employees at work to give buyers a peek of the people behind the product or service.

Merchants can also leverage Twitter’s real-time engagement platform to generate brand awareness, connect with new and existing customers and, ultimately, drive more sales.

Whether it’s running a hashtag campaign, offering exclusive promotions and discounts, or handling customer service questions, Twitter is a valuable platform for engaging with customers directly, from all around the world.

Instagram is also a very useful tool for merchants, but is especially valuable for artists, designers, and culinary-focused sellers that benefit from a visual medium.

Featuring lifestyle products such as home goods, fashion/ apparel and food, with key hashtags is an increasingly popular way for brands to reach this engaged social community.

For example, the app’s video feature has been used to great effect by major brands and small business owners alike to give a ‘behind the scenes’ look at items in production, or ready to be shipped to customers. Many retailers use Pinterest to create boards that show how to mix and match items to wear or decorate a house, as well as to showcase how products fit into that season’s most popular trends and colors.

Additionally, a strong social presence can put buyers abroad at ease. Some shoppers are hesitant to purchase from a foreign seller if they can’t find much information on them, or feel they don’t have an easy way

u O’Malley says almost half of SMEs have not yet ventured into social media media.

FOR MERCHANTS, HAVING A ROBUST BLOG CAN BE INCREDIBLY HELPFUL IN CONNECTING WITH SHOPPERS. to contact them with questions or concerns before or after a purchase is made. Making your company accessible and engaged on multiple social platforms will go a long way to making shoppers feel secure enough to go ahead and hit the ‘buy’ button.

MAKE SURE MOBILE IS PART OF ANY AND ALL STRATEGIES. Around the world, more and more shoppers are turning to mobile devices to research product information – to the tune of 36 percent, according to a 2014 global survey by PayPal and Ipsos. An additional 33 percent already buy via mobile – and that figure will only continue to grow.

Not only does this mean your website needs to be optimised for mobile devices – having a firmlyestablished social media presence is crucial as consumers use their phones to simultaneously research products and make purchases via mobile browsers as well as Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram’s mobile apps.

Companies like Twitter and Facebook already have mobile offerings, so having a presence on these platforms already helps your chances of getting in front of the fast-growing group of mobile movers who are glued to their smartphones.

When shoppers open up these apps to explore what friends are buying, being present on these channels with an easy-to-find link to a mobile-friendly site can make sure you’re able to reach shoppers any time and any place they might be compelled to buy.

Social media can seem rather daunting for those just starting out, but even with a simple, maintained social media presence and strategy, small businesses worldwide can enhance their global selling opportunities and raise brand awareness as well as sales.

[13]

How to

detach and relax FROM THE ERA OF FOMO [FEAR OF MISSING OUT], WHEN ENTREPRENEURS USED TO SKIP THEIR VACATIONS OR WORK DURING THEIR TIME AWAY, WE’VE REACHED THE ERA OF JOMO [JOY OF MISSING OUT]. WE LOOK AT HOW TO ENJOY YOUR TIME AWAY FROM YOUR BUSINESS s an entrepreneur, how many balls do you juggle on a monthly basis? And how many of them do you allow yourself to drop every now and then? “None or only one” is a typical response.

More often than not, that ball has a ‘vacation’ sign on it.

Are we right?

Many entrepreneurs conclude that the ball, which they assume is made of rubber, will bounce and get back into their hands when the timing is better, the business is more stable, the team is more experienced to work without supervision, and so on.

However, what if it is made of glass and will break into small little pieces? Pieces that can be labelled health, good sleep, tranquility, emotional balance, strong focus, and many more.

The picture in the corporate world is not much different.

A 2014 study by the US Travel Association, revealed that 56 percent of senior business leaders thought taking time off was harder the higher up you go and 54 percent thought

A

[14]

u Bill Gates is said to read for at least an hour before bed.

nobody else could do the work. Among those who did manage to take some time off, 46 percent were responding to work emails while on vacation, and 22 percent were spending some time working.

If both entrepreneurs and senior executives put some effort into planning their vacations, they might manage to unwind and come back rejuvenated to a still successful business.

Here are a few tips:

HOW TO PREPARE

In order to reduce vacation anxiety, undertake some preparatory activities to leave your business in good hands when you’re off.

Firstly, inform your people that you’re leaving and tell them for how long.

If you’ve been afraid to delegate, this is also a perfect moment to face that fear.

When assigning certain additional tasks to your team |

vol. 3 /august 2015

RELAXATION

members, make sure that they receive enough information, and also try to prepare them for various types of problems that may arise.

Secondly, inform your clients, at least the more important ones, of the same. In that manner, you’ll communicate how important they are to your company and that their needs will be well taken care of by your colleauges in your absence.

Lastly, we are all aware that you’ll hardly be able to recharge your batteries without feeling guilty. Therefore, carve out a time of a day to attend to business if you must. That can be even twice a day, an hour in the morning and an hour at night, when you’ll be checking your emails and messages, returning phone calls and similar.

An important note is to refrain from extending the time designated for your business matters.

u Warren Buffett takes vacations at his holiday home in Laguna Beach.

WHERE TO GO? There is no ‘one size fits all’ when it comes to entrepreneurs’ and corporate executives’ choice of where to spend their vacations.

Those who travel a lot on business purposes tend to stay closer to home when going on a holiday. Warren Buffett spends most of his vacations at a holiday home in Laguna Beach, California, which is not that far from Omaha, the place where he has built his empire.

Others choose far-flung destinations, such as Richard Branson’s private island retreat and holiday resort in the British Virgin Islands. Since 1979, when he bought now the famous Necker Island, Branson has even turned it into his permanent place of residence.

The latest generation of entrepreneurs has added a new option to this list – joining a travelling community of locationindependent bloggers, designers, or early-career entrepreneurs, to share a co-working space in Vietnam, Bali, Thailand or the Philippines.

A number of co-working retreats worldwide offer structured packages that include a month of accommodation, meals, a WiFi connection and

u Arianna Huffington advocates meditation as a way to ‘detach’’.

u Richard Branson bought Necker Island as a remote retreat.

office space, as well as various trainings or workshops if requested.

Huffington Post Media Group, is often quoted as saying that if a business leader practises meditation, the business will enjoy a competitive advantage.

Throughout the day and in the evenings, spend time with family and, preferably, in nature.

A good habit to take back from your vacation is also a commitment to read at least an hour before going to bed. That’s what Microsoft billionaire Bill Gates does every night.

Lastly, the relaxing days will allow you to reflect on what’s really important and what you could accomplish more efficiently in your business. But, to achieve that, you’ll need to stick to your plan above.

Good luck!

HOW TO RELAX? Getting there is only half of the mission – you’ll need to unwind as well. And that’s easier said than done.

Famous entrepreneurs advise on the importance of not upsetting your daily routine even on a holiday. In case you haven’t committed to some morning or evening rituals, this is a good chance to get into a new routine.

Most of the tips of successful people include getting up early for a good 20-minute-long workout or a meditation practice.

Arianna Huffington, president and editor-in-chief at the

[15]

Finance

u Setting your own salary provides a challenge which can set the tone for your company’s financial policy.

Founders’ paychecks LOW OR HIGH BURN RATES CAN SPEAK VOLUMES NOT ONLY ABOUT YOU AS A START-UP FOUNDER, BUT ALSO ABOUT THE FUTURE OF YOUR BUSINESS. WE ANALYSE WHY THE BEST ENTREPRENEURS AVOID LAVISH COMPENSATION PACKAGES

W

hen it comes to setting your salary, just like every decision with your business, you are the boss.

You can set the budget, so the size of your paycheck is entirely up to you.

However, in spite of the risks and responsibility you’ve put on your shoulders, rare [16]

are those around you who would look positively at a high amount on your paycheck.

The salary you decide to pay to yourself sends out a strong message to the world – whether you’re in it for money or want to see your idea and business grow.

One person to publicly point this out was one of the co-founders of PayPal and the

first outside investor in Facebook, Peter Thiel. Speaking at TechCrunch50 in 2008, he said: “The lower the CEO salary, the more likely it is to succeed.”

A sneak peek into the paychecks of managers who nearly destroyed their own companies provides strong evidence for this reasoning.

Michael Dell, who founded Dell as a college student in |

vol. 3 /august 2015

SALARIES

Concept

39,907

Working prototype

39,559 41,376

Development

44,624

Functional product (limited users)

63,424

Functional product (High growth)

70,109

Mature product 0

20,000

40,000 SALARY

60,000

80,000

u Average founder salary (USD) by product phase, according to the study by Compass.

35,529

$0-$500k

38,287

$500k-1M FUNDING LEVEL

1984 and led it to become one of the largest computer system providers at the turn of the millennium, failed to innovate enough to catch up with the rise of tablets and smartphones, taking the company to the brink of bankruptcy.

Around the same time that the company was fined $100 million, and Dell himself $4 million, by the US Security & Exchange Commission for misrepresenting Dell’s financials, he was reportedly earning an eight-figure salary.

On the other side of the spectrum is Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple, who kept his salary at $1 since 1997 when he became the company’s chief executive.

“I get 50 cents a year for showing up, and the other 50 cents is based on my performance,” he used to joke.

In her HBR article, The Founder’s Dilemma, Noam Wasserman presented her study of 528 new ventures set up between 1996 and 2002 showing that 51 percent of entrepreneurs made the same or less money than at least one person who reported to them.

Not many entrepreneurs agree to reveal their market worth and, thus, the assumptions about an average salary of start-up founders and its pros and cons has been largely left to independent bloggers and online newspaper comment sections.

However, a recent study by Compass, a San Francisco-based start-up that emerged out of Startup Genome, a data-driven research project on examining reasons for business success and failure, revealed that 75 percent of founders pay themselves less than $75,000 per year and 66 percent pay themselves less than $50,000 per year.

From a pool of 11,160 startups around the world, it has managed to create a comprehensive analysis of start-up founders’ salaries on the basis of various criteria, including data on average salary by product phase or funding level.

When it comes to start-up ecosystems around the world, the majority of start-up founders prefer lower salaries with 64

45,755

$1M-$5M

62,150

$5M-$10M

81,659

>$10M 0

22,500

45,000

67,500

90,000

SALARY u Average founder salary (USD) by funding level, according to the study by Compass.

"THE SALARY YOU DECIDE TO PAY YOURSELF SENDS OUT A STRONG MESSAGE TO THE WORLD." percent in Silicon Valley opting for a salary of up to $50,000 per year.

Some 72 percent of entrepreneurs in Berlin and London opt for this salary while 15 percent in

Berlin and 14 percent in London set their annual paychecks between $50,000 and $75,000 – considerably higher than only nine percent in Silicon Valley.

India is home to more costconscious start-up founders with 90 percent of them keeping their salary less than $50,000 and only five percent opting to raise it up to $75,000.

High or low, these figures reflect how they value their personal expertise, hard work, risks involved, costs of living, and many more. But, more importantly, it’s a forward-looking calculation so it might pay off very well.

[17]

Journal

A start-up’s progress: Part 4 WE CONTINUE OUR SERIES FOLLOWING KINTRANS AND ITS START-UP JOURNEY WITH TURN8 SEED ACCELERATOR

T

he first TURN8 Investor Demo Day was held in January 2014. Nine of the 10 teams that had entered the fourmonth accelerator programme in autumn 2013 prepared to present their start-up ideas – now fledgling businesses – to investors and media.

One of the graduating startups, KinTrans, was founded by Mohamed Elwazer who had left Egypt to join the TURN8 Seed Accelerator in Dubai.

“I had less than 24 hours before the demo day and for KinTrans to pass the acceleration stage,” Elwazer recalls. “Less than 24 hours to show the hard work, passion and motivation of the past four months.”

Elwazer sought advice from Rabieh Al Khoder, who worked with the teams to help them improve their pitches (elevator speeches about the start-up, the market need, and the team).

His advice was very simple: “The core of any successful pitch is pitching from your heart, as what comes from heart will reach the heart.”

Elwazer knew he had to succinctly explain the pain point that KinTrans solves and the smart technology behind the advice. KinTrans translates sign language into audible words so hearing impaired individuals can communicate more easily.

“I finally realised what Rabieh was trying to say,” Elwazer says.

“The pitch is not only words that you can speak or a show that you can do, but it is a real demonstration of the capabilities, resources and efforts of a start-up that you believe in, and when the investors see that they will understand your motivation, they will see

[18]

u Elwazer pitched infront of investors at the TURN8 Investor Demo Day.

your passion, hence, they will trust you and your team.”

The next day, Elwazer and his team felt a sense of accomplishment for making it as far as they had. As he explains: “I can’t describe how happy we were at this time, after all the challenges that we had faced. But as we used to say, there is no end to the challenges and one may appear at any time.”

He practised his pitch in front of the other teams, but in his estimation delivered one of his worst ever pitches. The stress was taking its toll. He went to sit alone before his pitch. Suddenly, inspiration struck.

“I remembered my father (God bless his soul) when he used to tell me “If you did your best, I don’t care about the results”. Then I thought, KinTrans as a team did their best so I don’t care about the results. I will go there on that stage and I will tell everyone that we did our best and that we believe in what we are doing.

After that I had a total mind shift and I was totally relaxed.”

He returned to the stage and the words started to fly, until he reached the last words of his pitch ‘KinTrans – hands can talk’.

“I saw the people clapping their hands so hard and some of them

stood up while they were clapping,” he says. “At this moment I said to myself, ‘well done, let the new journey begin’.”

After the pitches, the founders made themselves available to speak with attendees. Elwazer was approached by a woman who presented her card and spoke of a possible investment in KinTrans. As he took her card, the woman added, “My husband is hearing impaired. I think you are doing a great business and impact to the world.”

NEXT MONTH… CAN KINTRANS GET ADDITIONAL INVESTMENT? About TURN8 TURN8 is a seed accelerator program initiated by DP World.

The programme is designed to encourage innovative entrepreneurship worldwide, starting with Dubai. www.turn8.co/ About the Author Debra Jennings has more than 15 years of experience writing on a variety of topics. She is the Director of Storytelling for Innovation 360, a Dubai-based consultancy that manages the TURN8 program on behalf of DP World. |

vol. 3 /august 2015

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ASHISH THAKKAR ENTREPRENEURSHIP

“I’m a big believer that if you want start-ups to succeed, and if you want to truly enable, empower and inspire entrepreneurs, you’ve got to look at this as an ecosystem.”

[20]

|

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ENTREPRENEURSHIP ACROSS THE

GLOBE FOR THE NEXT TWO YEARS, DUBAI-BASED MARA GROUP FOUNDER AND CEO ASHISH THAKKAR WILL CHAIR THE UN’S GLOBAL ENTREPRENEURS COUNCIL. IN AN EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH STARTUP HE REVEALS HIS PLANS FOR THE COUNCIL, THE SCALE OF THE UAE’S SUCCESS IN DEVELOPING ENTREPRENEURSHIP, AND HOW AFRICA IS EMERGING AS A HOTBED OF NEW BUSINESS.

By Neil King

Y

ou wonder where on earth he finds the time.

Whether he’s running his billion dollar company, advancing his social enterprise foundation, writing his book, or developing his nascent financial institution, Ashish Thakkar seems to extract a few more hours from the day than the rest of us.

Such is the scale of his activity.

But busy though he is, as of September the founder and CEO of Mara Group can add a new responsibility to his list.

It is then that he will take his seat as chairman of the UN’s Global Entrepreneurs Council (GEC), overseeing the council’s activities not just in the Gulf region, not just in Africa where

most of his business takes place, but across the entire world.

His high profile appointment is the latest stage in the 34-yearold’s impressive career, which started at the tender age of 15.

In 1996 the teenage Thakkar quit school in Uganda to launch his first business importing computer parts, using a $5,000 loan. In the course of the [21]

ASHISH THAKKAR next 10 years, Mara Group expanded into numerous industries including manufacturing, real estate, agriculture and IT services. From a small shop at a mall in Kampala, he eventually relocated to Dubai, while keeping his core business in Africa.

Mara Group is now a billiondollar, multi-sector business services giant, with more than 11,000 employees, and no plans to alter its upwards trajectory.

Building a reputation as one of the most astute and successful young businessmen in the region, if not the world, Thakkar became involved with entrepreneurial projects, including those hosted by the UN, as well as launching his own through the Mara Foundation.

His efforts, and his incredible success, led him to be announced as chairman as of the GEC by UN secretary-general, Ban Ki-Moon at the United Nations’ 70th anniversary celebrations in San Francisco – the city where the UN Charter was signed in 1945.

“I got exposed to the UN quite a few years ago in different forms and in different ways,” says Thakkar.

“The big exposure for me was at the general assembly that I attended last year, which was really inspiring to see the UN’s convening power and the things that they’re trying to do.

“I was also a keynote speaker at the UN Foundation’s Global Entrepreneurs Council last year, and they held a global accelerator at the UN. That’s when I got exposed to the Global Entrepreneurship Council and started understanding what they’re doing.

“They then offered me the chairmanship of the Global Entrepreneurship Council, which was quite an exciting role, and it was kind of in line with what we’re doing with the Mara Foundation.”

The foundation is a social enterprise which is, as Thakkar says, “focused on enabling, empowering and inspiring young entrepreneurs and women entrepreneurs” in Africa and the UAE. Expected to launch in other countries soon, the foundation offers programmes designed to address the life-cycle of an entrepreneur’s business idea.

[22]

u Thakkar, author of The Lion Awakes, is a popular keynote speaker.

“The target that we have... is that we want to impact entrepreneurs in every country on earth.”

“When the UN offered this role we kind of mulled it over for some time before we took it up, and the reason for taking it up first is that it’s really in line with what we’re doing as Mara Foundation.

“It’s in line with our passion and our drive that entrepreneurship is the answer. Unemployment is a big issue around the world, especially in the Middle East and Africa region, due to the young demographic our countries possess.

“The answer to unemployment is not the foreign direct investment (FDI) for large projects like our governments have been focussing on. It’s really going to be nurturing small and medium enterprises in a real sense. How do you enable, empower and inspire these organisations, these entrepreneurs, these start-ups?

“So with that focus and passion that we have as Mara, and I have personally, it’s really in line with what the UN’s trying to achieve.

Having it with the UN, with their convening power and their global presence, it made a lot of sense.”

By taking up the role, Thakkar becomes not only the first African to lead the council, but the first African to even sit on the board.

And what’s more, it’s the first time |

vol. 3 /august 2015

Global entrepreneurship

u Thakkar is involved with the Hult Prize, with other high-profile entrepreneurs.

that the chair’s office will be based out of the UAE. And his aims are as grand as you might expect.

“The target that we have as the UN Foundation, and myself as the chairman of the Global Entrepreneurship Council, is that we want to impact entrepreneurs in every country on earth… [to] ensure that the impact is going to be felt in all countries, regardless of size or scale or position or which part of the world they are in.

“That’s what we feel we can truly achieve, especially given the UN’s footprint around the world.”

Part of his plans revolve around an initiative launched by the Mara Foundation: Mara Mentor.

Already active across Africa, and in the UAE through the Emirates Foundation, Mara Mentor is an online community which aims to connect young entrepreneurs with business leader from across the globe, giving them access to expert advice, helping them develop leadership, decision making and planning, and providing interaction with fellow entrepreneurs.

“It’s a platform we expect to take globally,” asserts Thakkar.

“Through our own initiatives with the Mara Foundation we’ve got over 650,000 entrepreneurs on to this platform. We expect to get together millions of entrepreneurs, mentors and mentees.

“Eventually you can imagine these peer to peer conversations are just going to be so powerful, where these entrepreneurs will have conversations among themselves. Mentors are going to be irrelevant in this whole exercise eventually, further down the line.

“An entrepreneur in Nigeria, an entrepreneur in Mexico, and

u UN secretary-general. Ban Ki-Moon.

“We need organisations and corporates to also play an active role in this space because it’s important.” an entrepreneur in Sharjah, for example, can share ideas about setting up a little waste recycling plant. They can share their experiences, potentially even collaborate, but giving them that platform and ability to do so, giving them the ability to talk to people who have been there, who have done it, is so much more powerful than the theory that you get otherwise.”

For Thakkar, it feeds into a much bigger picture that he aims to impact through Mara and the GEC. “I’m a big believer that if you want start-ups to succeed, and if you want to truly enable, empower and inspire entrepreneurs, you’ve got to look at this as an ecosystem,” he says.

He points to three elements that he considers vital to the development and sustenance of this ecosystem.

“There’s informal education.

Education is crucial, but our education system doesn’t teach entrepreneurship. If you think about the youth particularly in Africa, their parents are either civil servants or farmers. Who do they turn to for advice if the education system doesn’t provide if?

“They can’t get it in their households, they can’t go up to you randomly in the street and nudge your shoulder and ask you a question. Where do they go for advice? As important as education is, informal education is crucial.

Things like mentorship, which is very important.

“As a young entrepreneur, if I’d had access to mentors’ advice and practical guidance, I wouldn’t have tripped up as many times as I did.”

The second element he highlights is access to capital, something he explains comes in two forms: access to debt and access to equity.

“We need banks to lend to SMEs, which currently is not the case,” he continues.

“The banking model in the Middle East and Africa has really been focused around the large corporates and the large organisations where they feel more comfortable. Lending to SMEs is a crucial, crucial, crucial piece of our ecosystem.

“For access to equity, we need more venture capital funds. We don’t have enough venture capital funds in the Middle East and Africa. The UAE probably has more than the rest of the region but it’s still not enough compared to what the demand is, and the requirements.

“So we need to cultivate an environment for venture capital funds to make progress, and we need organisations and corporates to also play an active role in this space because it’s important.

“It’s important for them, too.

Disruption within their own organisations needs to happen, and the only way to disrupt themselves is by funding people who have the ability to disrupt them, so venture capital - even if they don’t want to do it from [23]

ASHISH THAKKAR the good of their heart, I think it’s a smart and prudent business decision.”

The third and final aspect of the ecosystem is public policy.

Thakkar says: “We need to ensure that laws and policies are in line to support start-ups and scale-ups in their environments.

“There are so many countries where 65 percent of private sector employment is created by SMEs, yet four out of five SMEs fail. Some of them fail because of public policy, because the laws for a huge mining company are exactly the same for a start-up.

“Things like labour laws, where if you fire somebody in a start-up you’ve got to put 18 months of their salary in an escrow account while you battle it out, you’re collapsed, you’re gone. So you have to create policies which will encourage entrepreneurs.

“Here we don’t have this issue, but in other parts of the world, such as Africa and India, there’s a huge informal sector. Start-ups don’t want to register themselves because why pay tax and why be part of the formal sector? Creating favourable tax policies to encourage them from the informal sector to the formal sector is a huge element which can in the medium term hugely benefit governance, but also help these organisations because then they have access to debt, they can value themselves, have access to equity, and so on.

“Starting a business at the age of 15 with no capital, no ability to network, I understand first-hand what it’s like. It’s not a feel-good factor, it’s something I’ve lived through personally, and it’s something we’re really focussing on.”

With his chairmanship due to run for two years, Thakkar believes there is plenty of time to set positive change in motion.

“We need to ensure that laws and policies are in line to support start-ups and scale-ups.”

[24]

u Thakkar launched Atlas Mara with Bob Diamond (above) to service African SMEs.

u Developing African entrepreneurship is a key aspect of the Mara Foundation.

u Thakkar’s Mara Group is based in Dubai.

Especially, he says, because of the passion coming out of the UN. “I’m very lucky that the team at the UN Foundation and the UN are so passionate about this cause – they really do take this seriously.

“The previous leadership of the organisation has been amazing and really set the groundwork and framework, so it’s a very exciting time to be a part of this.

“If we end up impacting entrepreneurs in every country on earth at all, that in itself is going to be such a huge thing for us. But the vision is obviously the entire ecosystem, even if we start in some of the processes of the entire ecosystem, it will be a great thing.

“This is not a destination, this is definitely a journey.”

Thakkar’s own journey has led him to Dubai, where Mara Group |

vol. 3 /august 2015

Global entrepreneurship is headquartered, and from where he coordinates his operations.

It’s a city, and the UAE is a country, that he feels particularly excited about when it comes to entrepreneurship.

“I think it’s amazing when you think about what the UAE government has done overall,” he says.

“Abu Dhabi particularly with the Emirates Foundation is hugely passionate about entrepreneurship and enterprise, how to cultivate it and take it to the next level.

“It’s really encouraging to see because sometimes these concepts and initiatives are at the 30,000ft level and never get down to the grass roots, and in this I’ve really seen that it truly is getting down to the grass roots.

“And then you think about His Highness’s office here - Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum - his entire organisation, from people like HE Muhammad Al Gargawi, to Ohood Al Roumi, his team members. These two individuals I know well, and every time I engage with them they are so passionate about this course, they are so on top of things.

“Dubai is really a vision that turned into a reality. Dreaming things and coming up with things and being inspired is one thing; executing on that and making it happen is an entirely different ball game, which Dubai has proved it has the ability to do and continues to demonstrate that ability. And that is hugely inspiring.”

Dubai’s emergence as a fertile land for entrepreneurship encourages Thakkar to believe that the city is a viable place for the GEC chairman’s office to be based.

“I am confident we as the UAE do possess that strength and ability to demonstrate and lead by example in terms of what that atmosphere should look like,” he says.

“As chair of the GEC, I see that the UAE will act as our hub base for the Arab world - it’s a global role and this is the global chair’s office, but I can see this being a functional office for the Arab world as well.”

Outside the GCC, Thakkar’s focus is firmly trained on Africa.

Mara Group, Mara Foundation and Atlas Mara are all, of course, Africa-centric, and the founder is

“It’s inspiring to see presidents and heads of state and governments beingsopassionate about it.”

u Thakkar will be chairman for two years.

excited about how the continent is embracing entrepreneurship.

“Being a fourth generation African I’m hugely passionate and patriotic, and in the last few years particularly entrepreneurship has really become more central to everything that’s happening.

“Governments were very focused on FDI and large projects and not really paying attention to SMEs, but right now it is completely different.

“It’s inspiring to see presidents and heads of state and governments being so passionate about it. President Kagame of Rwanda is a great example of encouraging entrepreneurship. President Buhari [of Nigeria] is excited about the whole entrepreneurship space. President Zuma on National Youth Day in South Africa on 16 June launched Mara Mentor as the main initiative of the government. President Mahama in Ghana is very savvy when it comes to this kind of stuff.

“So with leaders like this it’s hugely encouraging. The continent is truly going to transform, and our time is now.”

One hurdle Thakkar does highlight, however, is that of perception; something he aims to address in his book, The Lion Awakes.

“We are 54 countries. We’re very diverse as a continent,” he says.

“It’s one of those cases where one country sneezes and all the others get pneumonia. And that’s why I wrote The Lion Awakes, which is all about the perception versus reality on the continent and demonstrating that what we live every day is very different to what is perceived.

“So it’s really exciting to see countries take entrepreneurship more seriously, SMEs more seriously, and they are really creating systems to ensure they can truly enable, empower and inspire.”

Returning to finance, Thakkar explains the reason behind launching Atlas Mara, developed in partnership with former Barclays CEO Bob Diamond.

“We’re creating access to capital with Atlas Mara, and hopefully others will follow suit, lend to SMEs [in Africa], and be real banks of business,” he says.

“I was on the receiving end of financial services for 17 years, and earlier as a true SME was never getting the access to capital that I required to grow as a business.

It’s something I’ve been through, and hopefully Atlas Mara will play a small role towards solving that, and inspire other financial institutions to do the same.”

Something he believes isn’t too necessary, however, is for Africa to look to the West for inspiration.

“It’s very easy to follow the West’s footprints, or even other emerging markets’ footprints,” he says,“but I think it’s more exciting to learn what they did wrong than what they did right, and do it better.

“We’re over one billion people.

We have 100 million smartphones today, we’re expected to have 700 million in the next five years. You can imaging the transformation that’s going to take place. We created mobile money as a continent, so we have the ability.

“The fact that we don’t have so many legacies means we have the ability to create so many leapfrogging opportunities. It’s real. It’s our time. And entrepreneurship is at the forefront of that.”

[25]

Comment

UNDERSTANDING INTRAPRENEURSHIP

BALVINDER SINGH POWAR, PROFESSOR AT IE BUSINESS SCHOOL IN MADRID, AND FOUNDER OF SEVERAL START-UPS, INCLUDING BOOSTER SPACE INDUSTRIES, AND AERDRON, LOOKS AT THE ROLE OF INTRAPRENEURS AND WHAT THEY CAN BRING TO COMPANIES.

hen graduate students in Spain (where I live) and the US were asked several years ago “What do you want to be in the future?”, most of the Spanish students said that they would like to be high ranking civil servants and most of the American students

W

[26]

said that they would like to be entrepreneurs.

But since then, the world has changed and things are not so black and white.

In these uncertain times, the idea of being an entrepreneur has become a very exciting and attractive option. We speak highly of the qualities needed to start and strive to make a

business successful: It´s like a trip to Space (something we at BOOSTER work on), you need: stamina, perseverance, belief, confidence, courage, technical skills, ability to communicate and influence, and a positive attitude.

In my talks around the world, we find out that those soft skills are key to success, and |

vol. 3 /august 2015

INTRAPRENEURS

until now, we have assigned these attributes mainly to the ‘entrepreneur’. But that is where we have a problem, and also an opportunity.

Not everyone has the profile, will, interest or spirit to be a risktaking entrepreneur. Companies now compete on a global level for human talent, which is key for many of them, especially if you need your staff to be creative and innovative. This means that companies have to provide an environment that is stimulating for their workers, and workers are looking for environments where they can grow, feel valued, be somewhat autonomous, comfortable and motivated.

In practice this means that companies are creating a startup-like feel in their offices.

We know that when people have enough money and other hygiene factors are in place (see Maslow´s hierarchy of needs), more money will not necessarily motivate them and may motivate them in a way that is not desirable. For example, focusing on material reward and not on doing a better job.

Here this fairly new concept of ‘Intrapreneurship’ comes in to play as something which can be crucial for employees and companies to increase motivation, pro-activity and, ultimately, success.

When students come to me at IE Business School (a top 10 ranking global business school) and talk about becoming entrepreneurs, it is exciting stuff but I think that one has to do some personal reflection to know if you have the profile to be a businessman and if it is the right time for you to become one.

On the other hand, we have to be clear that being entrepreneurial is not only confined to starting a business, but we can apply these skills, values and attitude to our work as employees. We now talk a lot about these attributes being applied as employees and they add great value to companies who need people to drive the business, be creative, dynamic, motivated and take responsibility.

When we talk about entrepreneurship now, we can broaden

u Balvinder Singh Powar Powar, professor at IE Business School School.

"NOT EVERYONE HAS THE PROFILE, WILL, INTEREST OR SPIRIT TO BE A RISK-TAKING ENTREPRENEUR." the scope to employees and how they work to add more value.

Why do companies pay for their employees to do an MBA nowadays? Partly it is because they want to increase the application of entrepreneurial skills, tools, knowledge, experience and attitude in their companies to increase productivity, make a cultural change, prepare the future leaders. Personally, I like to hire people with this entrepreneurial/intrapreneurial attitude.

Basically, an intrapreneur behaves like an entrepreneur, but within a company.

It is very beneficial to have intrapreneurs in your company and to promote intrapreneurship

and specialised business training for employees, for several reasons. The intrapreneur´s focus is on processes in a company, a part of the business, not the whole broader vision and they will take risks depending on their responsibilities. In this way, they increase productivity through risk – taking, creativity and by taking charge of important tasks to be done.

Often, these people will drive innovation in a company and will be open and aware of trends and novelties in the market place.

Because of the attributes we have mentioned, these people also naturally tend to be the future company management, executives and leaders.

Intrapreneurs also tend to enjoy their work more as it is not just about material benefits for them. They also take ownership of their work. I recommend that we build a culture of intrapreneurship in our companies to create a foundation for increased productivity, creativity/innovation, positive work culture and better results.

There are many examples of successful intrapreneurship and it is becoming, more and more, an integral part of our organisations.

[27]

ENTREPRENEURS F&B

FOR

ENTREPRENEURS’ [28]

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vol. 3 /august 2015

“We have been doubling our orders for the first two years. We are now on the double digit growth path.”

WHAT KIND OF MARKET OPPORTUNITIES DO THE GROWING PREFERENCES OF CONSUMERS OFFER TO ASPIRING F&B ENTREPRENEURS? TAMARA PUPIC SPOKE WITH ONLINE GROCERY SHOPPING AND FOOD DELIVERY START-UP FOUNDERS TO FIND OUT.

C

ustomer obsession has been a driver for countless start-ups to thrive over the years.

In the food and beverages sector, it seems that the obsessions of customers themselves are also an inexhaustible source of new business ideas.

“Both locals and expats had to spend a lot of money on buying goods and trying to get the targeted taste and qual-

ity, but their expectations were not always met,” says Vasso Kousathana, the founder and managing director of Award Deli, a Dubai-based online shopping portal for award-winning food products.

A newcomer on the emirate’s online grocery shopping scene, Kousathana is the first to launch an award-winning-products-only concept. The portal now offers around 52 different products

which have all been awarded by independent, internationally recognised taste experts.

“Rather than the consumers having to rely on word of mouth, purchase experiments or subjective recommendations, they can now simply make their purchase decisions on the best taste guaranteed by the awards the products have won,” she adds.

A growing number of foodrelated start-ups worldwide have been using technology to disrupt the industry, making the lives of consumers easier or responding to their increasing demands.

From online grocery shopping to online food delivery platforms, rent-a-chef options, new street food, high end restaurants, and introducing new food categories such as meatless chicken strips or egg-free mayonnaise, the list of food-related innovations appears endless.

Investors have also been bullish on the prospects. According to CB Insights, a venture-capital researcher, the US venture capital-backed food tech companies raised $1.07 billion in 2014, which is a 272 percent rise year-on-year.

Embracing the mobile shift worldwide will further boost the growth of online grocery shopping and food delivery, with the sales of the former alone expected to hit $18 billion by the end of 2018, according to the business research service at Business Insider.

With the most recent big exit in the GCC region being an acquisition of a food takeaway platform – Rocket Internet, a Berlin-based e-commerce group, acquired Kuwait’s online food delivery portal, Talabat.com for $170 million in March – the food tech wave is slowly, but surely [29]

ENTREPRENEURS

u Vasso Kousathana, founder and MD of Award Deli.

hitting these shores.

Dubai’s first online supermarket store, Trolley.ae, commenced operations in February 2012 with a pilot implementation covering The Palm Jumeirah, Dubai Marina and Jumeirah Lakes Towers. It has since expanded to include Business Bay, DIFC and most of Bur Dubai.

Omar Awwad, CEO of Trolley.ae, says the company’s growth is measured by the increase in the number of orders and number of registered users, and, secondly, by the adaptation level of users.

He says: “For the first, we have witnessed a great adaptation when the service was first launched in 2012 and, as a new service, we have been doubling our orders for the first two years.

We are now on the double digit growth path year-to-year.”

Often described as a busy and on the go person, using a smartphone and having Internet access every step of the way, a typical Dubai resident is a complicated customer to cater to.

After working long hours, he or she prefers to eat out and choose from gastronomic diversity due to the city’s 200-plus nationali[30]

ties. The findings of the KPMG 2015 Food and Beverage Survey for the UAE reveal that 66 percent of the respondents eat dinner out at least once during the week with an average spend of AED120 per person.

When staying at home, the survey suggests residents increasingly opt for organic and/ or healthy products and require greater convenience in grocery shopping or food delivery.

Awwad adds that recently more than 15,000 products distributed into 14 main categories have been available through its mobile app launched on both Android and iOS. With the app in place the company expects the number of users to grow,

“These numbers are expected to grow regionally and globally as technology evolves.”

although 36 percent of them are already making online orders – 29 percent use mobile devices while seven percent use tablets.

“At the beginning, people were testing the services and orders,” he adds about the change in consumer preferences they have experienced. “They [orders] were mainly around nonperishable items like general household stuff, canned food, packs, and similar. Today, our top items being ordered are fresh products of fruits, vegetables and meat.”

Awwad predicts that big data will shape the online grocery shopping industry and require companies to adapt to customer behaviours and be closer to their needs. “Global trends show a good five to seven percent of adaptation of online grocery versus conventional,” he says.

“We are not half way through those numbers in our region, however, these numbers are expected to grow regionally and globally as technology evolves.”

Charles S Boghos, the owner and founder of Chez Charles, a Dubai-based online gourmet food shopping portal and catering company, says: “A fantastic meal is easily done with fantastic |

vol. 3 /august 2015

Food for thought

“It has been estimated all around the globe... to be around a $100 billion business.”

u Omar Awwad, CEO of Trolley.ae.

u Trolley.ae’s fleet of grocery delivery vehicles.

produce. The ingredients are 80 percent of a good meal.”

Passionate about food, the Lebanese entrepreneur used to travel and source ingredients that didn’t exist in Dubai. However, in 2012 he decided to quit his career in advertising, and set up Chez Charles, which now offers 11 distinctive food categories with free delivery for minimum orders of AED200.

In the course of the past three years, Boghos has developed his online portal to become a base for further business expansion.

“The online gourmet store is the backbone of the company, but is not the business driver.

What is driving the company is the private chef and catering side because of the skills that we have onboard,” he says.

The decision to expand into catering came from his insight that people in Dubai look for special experiences.

“They evolve whenever something new opens, they talk a lot about it and try to put it in a folder that fits whatever suits them,” he says. “They say, for

example, this place is good for music and drinks.

“They also request more at-home experiences. Although there are a lot of restaurants in Dubai, not many are very good ones. Good ones you’ll have, but not very good ones. In summary, they look for experiences and we provide experiences.”

As opposed to catering, Kıvanç Arkaç, CEO of Foodonclick.com, an online food delivery portal set up in Dubai in 2011, says their business model is a conventional food delivery B2C business. It records 200 percent growth yearon-year, he says.

“It is growing more rapidly here than around the world,” Arkaç told StartUp before the Startup Grind Dubai at the Hult International Business School, where he shared his insights as a CEO of an e-commerce company with a number of students.

“It’s growing because people are getting more attached to technology. It’s easier to order now with apps and platforms like ours. Time is more important to you now.

“But it is growing in general. It’s a very big business. It has been estimated all around the globe, just delivery, to be around a $100 billion business.”

And Arkaç knows a lot about big numbers.

Yemeksepeti, a Turkey-based food ordering portal, whose regional offshoot is Foodonclick, was acquired by Delivery Hero, a Berlin-based food delivery service in which Rocket Internet owns more than 30 percent, for $589 million in May 2015.

Not only has the acquisition surpassed the amount paid for Kuwait’s Talabat.com, but it has become the biggest exit [31]

ENTREPRENEURS within the online food delivery sector worldwide.

The sought-after business model around the world has obviously found fertile ground in the region. Arkaç says that its digital food court, headquartered in Dubai Internet City, has grown to over 300,000 registered users and around 120,000 orders per month.

His next target is to take the lead in the transition from phone to online ordering.

Interestingly, another Dubaibased online food ordering portal, Eateasily.com, has already elevated this transition to another level. In 2013, it launched an offline food ordering mobile application.

A few minutes after ordering food through the app, which doesn’t require a WiFi or 3G connection, the order is submitted to the restaurant while the person receives an SMS confirming the order.

When asked about the challenges encountered during the 22 months he has been leading Foodonclick in Dubai, Arkaç says: “The industry is not that much ready here, and by that I mean the delivery service.

“You have to have your food delivered in less than, let’s say, 45 minutes. What we deal with is psychology. Imagine that you go to a restaurant and they look at you for 45 minutes, but they don’t serve you.

“When you order, you don’t want to wait for an hour. So it’s not a different situation whether you are in a restaurant or you order. You are the same customer and you pay the same money.”

The late delivery, he says, affects the company’s brand although it’s not part of their responsibility.

When asked by the moderator whether Foodonclick was a $1 billion brand, Arkaç said there was a potential for that high valuation, but declined to reveal any details. “It’s complicated,” he said.

As a food entrepreneur at heart, Boghos is quite the opposite when it comes to seeking high profits, scaling quickly or franchising which, he says, is “a threatening thing to do for a young brand.”

[32]

u Charles Boghos, founder and owner of Chez Charles.

“I have a philosophy that we’re building a brand, and money will come at a later stage. If I wanted to make money fast, I would have stayed in the corporate world,” he explains.

“The online grocery was the phase one, and private chefs phase two, so now we’re going to push catering full-fledge, then

“Money will come at a later stage. If I wanted to make money fast, I would have stayed in the corporate world.”

the restaurant, and then we’re going to expand out of Dubai.”

A step-by-step approach to building a brand has helped him get familiar with the ins and outs of the city’s food scene, which in his opinion is still evolving. “It’s still in a junior phase, and we will see a lot more coming in, and a lot more coming out as well because the cost of operation is becoming too high,” he says.

Despite the constant influx of new restaurants due to the city’s predominant expat population and an eating out culture, he opines that the opening of two international restaurant brands, Zuma and La Petite Maison, proved a game changer.

“They’ve changed the food scene in Dubai,” he says. “Everybody wanted to catch up with them by doing better or bench |

vol. 3 /august 2015

Food for thought

u Kivanç Arkaç, CEO of Foodonclick.com.

marking against them which in my opinion is wrong because a lot of high end restaurants that tried to be like one of them didn’t succeed.

“In the restaurant and food industry there are so many ideas, so many varieties, why focus on being another one? This is basically what we did. We didn’t want to be like anyone, we just wanted to be ourselves, and we worked very hard on having full differentiation versus other people in town.”

The company was founded via an investment of AED450,000 by his father and himself. He resisted taking investors on board at an early stage and preferred to keep re-investing profits into the business.

As we speak, the company is preparing to take a new leap of

faith. The 15-strong team will more than triple its number

by September, and move to a new central kitchen and bigger warehouse in Business Bay. The big move is due to the two investors coming on board.

Boghos says: “The idea is that we have enough brand equity in the market, our brand is very

“We just wanted to be ourselves, and we worked very hard on having full differentiation.”

strong, and we can’t cope with the demand that we have.

“We’ve now reached a level where we have to expand and grow bigger so that we can answer to that demand.

“Everyone wants to invest in a project they believe in, especially in Dubai. A lot of people offered investments, but our investors are people that I really trust and believe in, and they believe in me, I’ve known them for ages.”

Explaining that he will remain the majority shareholder, he declines to reveal the terms of the agreement but adds that the overall investment will be around AED9 million from the establishment of the company.

“Money wasn’t the criteria for investment,” he says.

The emirate’s entrepreneurial ecosystem is also slowly shifting its focus to helping entrepreneurs who aim to enter the food industry sector. Abu Dhabi’s Khalifa Fund for Enterprise Development was in talks with the United Arab University in Al Ain to launch a food innovation training programme – The Kitchen Incubator – to encourage UAE nationals to seize new opportunities.

More concrete steps have recently been taken by Aseel, a Dubai-based consultancy, which launched Imago, the MENA’s first accelerator dedicated to helping food and beverage companies scale.

Targeting growth-stage entrepreneurs, the three-month programme commenced in May this year.

Speaking about the future market opportunities for all of them, Boghos points out: “I see that the food truck trend is going to grow in Dubai.

“It has started with one or two and now there are a lot of permits that are in the pipeline. I think that Dubai lacks the real street approach in food.

“And there is a big opportunity in the mid segment for good food, mid-range food segment with an average check of AED100, which is something that is very rare.

“Now, you barely eat good food in Dubai if you pay AED100.”

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EVENTS

START-UP EVENTS

AROUND THE WORLD FROM THE UAE TO COLOMBIA VIA JAPAN, THE WORLD IS FULL OF OUTSTANDING AND INNOVATIVE START-UP EVENTS. WE LOOK AT SOME OF THE BEST SUMMITS AND EXHIBITIONS AIMED AT ENTREPRENEURS AND NEW BUSINESSES COMING UP IN THE NEXT FEW MONTHS.

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|

vol. 3 /august 2015

PIRATE SUMMIT, GERMANY

2-3 September, 2015 Cologne, Germany

ho would have thought that a junk yard in the German city of Cologne could play host to W what has been billed as one of the most important European networking events for tech entrepreneurs? Over the course of the past few years, Pirate Summit has built a reputation for being exciting, edgy, and (most importantly) hugely beneficial to its attendees.

Named after Mike Arrington’s claim that entrepreneurs are like pirates – risk takers and independent

– the event has a festival feel, including food and music, as well the more business-oriented items on the agenda.

The Walk-the-Plank pitching competition is one of the highlights, as will be the numerous talks, presentations and workshops. The Summit is part of the broader Pirate Week, which incorporates the World Bitcoin Forum, Pirate Camp, and Exec I/O Mobile. More than 2,000 entrepreneurs, developers, investors, and executives are expected to attend.

TECH IN ASIA, TOKYO

8-9 September, 2015 Shibuya Hikarie Tokyo, Japan

eld tri-annually in Singapore, Tokyo and Jakarta, Tech In Asia is one of the most H popular and respected conferences in the East.

The forthcoming Tokyo edition promises to be as good as ever, with Ben Horowitz of Andreessen Horowitz among the numerous high-profile speakers turning the two-day affair.

Attention-grabbing highlights during the event include the Arena, which pits 10 top startups against each other; the Main Stage and Kickstart Stage; Bootstrap Alley, which features 200 start-ups exhibiting for free; Start-up Investor Speed Dating, during which start-ups can queue up to make an elevator pitch to invited investors;

and the Investors Lounge. Covering different aspects of Asia’s start-up ecosystem, Tech In Asia could provide great information and exposure for GCC start-ups looking to expand.

[35]

EVENTS

WEB SUMMIT, DUBLIN

3-5 November, 2015 RDS Main Hall Dublin, Ireland

ubbed ‘the best technology conference on the planet’, Web Summit attracts 22,000 D attendees from more than 100 countries, as well as companies ranging from those in the Fortune 500 to the most exciting new up-and-comers.

The largest technology conference in Europe says it takes a different approach to its peers by using data science to augment every part of the events, from the attendees’ networking, to the

programme of content, to the show-floor layout.

Running since 2010, CEOs and start-ups rub shoulders at Web Summit, and this year will see 500 speakers, 10 stages, 2,000 worldwide startups, 200 satellite events, 1,000 investors, and 800 tech journalists.

The stages focus on niche topics including digital marketing, the Internet of Things, enterprise, and Builders Summits, with a Sport Summit providing one of the most notable sidesummit, featuring speakers including former footballer Edwin van der Sar, and cyclist Chris Froome.

Former Apple CEO John Scully will be one of the highlights of the event.

SLUSH, HELSINKI

11-12 November, 2015 Helsinki Exhibition and Fair Centre Helsinki, Finland lush calls itself ‘the focal point for start-ups and tech talent to meet with top-tier international S investors, executives and media’.

Their claim is strong. In 2014 the event brought together 14,000 attendees and more than 3,500 companies, as well as 750 investors who has 3,800 pre-booked meetings with start-ups. Impressive figures all round.

Across the two days industry-specific sessions in areas such as gaming, health tech, clean tech, education and entertainment will take place.

E-commerce and industrial internet have been added for 2015, and all sessions will be built around keynote speeches, fireside chats, and workshops.

[36]

Built by entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs, startups are a big focus of the event, with the Slush 100 pitching competition. Growth-stage start-ups feature in the programme as well with investor matchmaking, showcasing opportunities, and job posting and recruiting. |

vol. 3 /august 2015

Around the world

WORLD FUTURE ENERGY SUMMIT, ABU DHABI

18-21 January, 2016 Abu Dhabi Nation Exhibition Centre Abu Dhabi, UAE

ot strictly speaking a start-up event, the World Future Energy Summit holds plenty of opporN tunities for entrepreneurs and small businesses, nonetheless.

WFES is dedicated to advancing future energy, energy efficiency and clean technologies, welcoming

policy makers, industry leaders and experts, investors, academic and the media to discuss and consider sustainable solutions to future energy challenges.

Entrepreneurs, start-ups and SMEs within the energy sector will be an important part of these discussions, and will be key attendees on various other fronts, not least giving corporations the opportunity to discover their cutting-edge products and services, which will help both parties to grow.

The Summit expects to welcome more than 32,000 people to the 2016 edition, making it one of the best chances to put your company and idea in front of major industry players.

4YFN, BARCELONA

22-25 February, 2016 Fira de Barcelona, and Avinguda Joan Carles I, 64 Barcelona, Spain art of the GSMA Mobile World Congress, 4YFN is a start-up event dedicated to innovation in the P mobile ecosystem.

Launched in 2014, it cites its focus as being on ‘building ideas and forging lasting relationships for international start-ups, investors and corporations’.

An acronym for ‘4 Years From Now’, there is a very strong spotlight on the future, including future trends, future companies, future technologies, and future industries.

Conferences, workshops, networking, competitions, awards, and more add up to a proactive experience for start-ups.

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EVENTS

SME WORLD SUMMIT, DUBAI

TBC, March 2016 Jumeirah Beach Hotel Dubai, UAE

he largest SME event in the region, SME World Summit is a huge draw for entrepreT neurs and small businesses in the UAE, the GCC and beyond.

A series of keynotes speeches, panel discussions, workshops, a speed networking session,

and other activities will be open to the 3,000 attendees from the worlds of entrepreneurship, small businesses, investment, corporations, governments, and various industries.

This is a must-attend event with huge potential for generating partnerships, investment deals, collaborations, new ideas, and fresh ways of working.

Not just a platform for new businesses, the summit will also highlight the region’s business road-map and where start-ups and SMEs fit into the bigger picture.

GLOBAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP CONGRESS, MEDELLIN

14-17 March, 2016 Plaza Mayor Convention and Exhibition Centre Medellin, Colombia

ue to be held in the Colombian city of Medellin, the Global Entrepreneurship Congress D - part of Global Entrepreneurship Week - aims to develop the world’s ecosystems and bind them together as a united whole.

Connecting people and businesses from across borders, and helping them transform their ideas into reality, the congress is a joint project between the Global Entrepreneurship Network and the Kauffman Foundation. A plethora of start-up, SME and entrepreneurial topics will be covered in a number of sessions, speeches, and more, with representatives from big-name corporations [38]

rubbing shoulders with fresh-faced new-comers.

Big name speakers such as Richard Branson have helped give GEC a richly deserved reputation as a key event in the calendar. |

vol. 3 /august 2015

Around the world

SME EXPO 2016, KENYA

7-9 April, 2016 KICC, Nairobi Nairobi, Kenya

he 2016 instalment of this annual event will be held T under the theme ‘Innovative Solutions to Boost SME Revenue Growth’, and will aim to help small and medium sized companies multiply their business growth.

Workshops will range from cash flow and inventory management, to technology solutions for SMEs, and there will be a one-day conference, featuring the expo’s first SME Thought Leaders Forum.

Add to that an international business matchmaking programme, and you have the

basis for a vibrant, informative, and proactive event.

The keynote speaker will be entrepreneur Dorcas Muthoni, a computer scientist who launched

BUSINESS ROCKS, MANCHESTER

21-22 April, 2016 Manchester Central Manchester, UK

his global tech media leadership summit T could be the ideal place to not only find out more about the UK market, but also engineer a way to break into it.

The event will feature a number of cluster zones, including the headline stage, Developer, Innov8 startup, Apps, IoT, International techcluster, HackJam, Wearables, STEM, Drones/ Robotics, and many more.

Speakers from Microsoft, Adobe, government departments, crowdfunding companies and other areas will share their experience, advice, and knowledge at this event which has been described as ‘fun and engaging’.

her company OPENWORLD LTD aged just 24. The business has grown to become a leading e-Government and business software services firm in Africa.

STARTUP CAMP, BERLIN

Date TBC, 2016 Humboldt Universitat zu Berlin Berlin, Germany

largest start-up event has a huge amount going for it.

BAerlin’s conference with expert speakers; networking opportunities with angels, VCs and fellow entrepreneurs; a fundraising camp; a marketing camp; social entrepreneurship; female founders camp; growth camp; monetisation camp; tech camp, and more all contribute to a fascinating and holistic programme.

The StartUp Expo will also provide the opportunity for new businesses to showcase their products and reach out to a wider audience.

Aimed at early-stage start-ups, this event offers an opening to the German market, as well as other European markets, and prides itself on the networking and educational potential for attendees.

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Comment

PREPARE YOUR ORGANISATION FOR DIGITAL DISRUPTION

ALEX RAUSER, CEO OF PROTOTYPE INTERACTIVE, EXPLAINS HOW YOU CAN SUCCESSFULLY TRANSFORM YOUR BUSINESS TO EXCEL DIGITALLY.

igital disruption has been a hot topic in recent years. While companies of all sizes are trying to catch up with technological innovation, pretty much all industries and niches get disrupted daily.

It’s a constant process of innovation and the development of new technologies accelerates the introduction of fresh ideas into the market.

The best a company can do to prepare for digital disruption is by means of creating digital strategies that identify

D [40]

risks and opportunities early enough in order to tackle them and to innovate.

Digital disruption is not a new concept and it has been around since the start of the digital age.

It means that a new innovative technology or business model is disrupting an industry and therefore brings a new way of doing business, servicing customers or offering new products altogether.

One classic example of digital disruption would be the personal computer. When PCs became more mainstream they disrupted many indus-

tries either by replacing them, for example the typesetter manufacturers, or by changing the way they work, for example desktop publishing. So, if you were in the typesetter business in the 1980s, you wanted to watch out for this new technology and how it would affect your business over time.

You would have to change your business model and maybe start selling keyboards to PC companies. Today we need to plan for digital disruption on a much smaller scale and rather than looking at new inventions, we need to look at new ways |

vol. 3 /august 2015

PROTOTYPE

of doing business or serving our customers. This ultimately affects how we do business altogether.

In my early working days, I experienced digital disruption myself while working at a music record label in Germany. One day, one of my colleagues showed me an article about the increased adoption of mp3s and file sharing, as well as the rise of file sharing sites such as Napster at the time. That was one year before the first iPod hit the market in 2001. We looked at it without giving it too much thought at the time. However, without necessarily noticing it, the industry changed. While the industry was offering more and more digital services over time, we know now over 10 years later the music industry still struggles to figure out how to deal with the change.

In the meantime, companies such as Apple, Microsoft, Amazon and Spotify who are newcomers to this industry are the ones that control the music distribution market leaving labels and their distributors behind. The same happened to the printing press, the hotel industry, the advertising industry… the list goes on.

The question is, what could have happened to these companies if they had managed the disruption to their own advantage?

You may also be asking yourself, how come there seems to be an increase in disruptions? One could argue that there always were disruptions, but they were not that large in scale and they did not cause enough ripples to get noticed. However, there seems to be another movement going on which has to do with entrepreneurship.

More and more people are enabled in our current age to realise the value of their inventions compared to before.

This is due to the ability to easily share knowledge, funds and production capabilities. Think about sites like Kickstarter, the availability of 3D printers, Google’s lending club and the technical capability of companies in China.

All these new technologies enable everyone to invent and create in a much higher volume than before.

This is one reason why we have seen more digital disruption in

u Digital disruption has helped evolve industries at a fast pace. pace

"MORE PEOPLE ARE ENABLED IN OUR CURRENT AGE TO REALISE THE VALUE OF THEIR INVENTIONS."

u Alex Rauser, CEO of Prototype Interactive.

recent years. In addition to this, smaller companies or start-ups have taken over large portions of the market share from very established businesses in no time at all.

Consider how Netflix sidestepped Blockbuster Video to take ownership of the video rental industry.

A company like AirBnB is now assumed to be valued more than Hyatt hotels; that’s a seven-yearold company versus a 50-plus year company and AirBnB doesn’t even own any assets.

Today a new breed of innovation disrupts entire industries. In many cases and, as seen in the mentioned examples, it’s new software that enables companies to solve an existing need by providing a service in an original or more efficient way.

But why do established businesses struggle to innovate? The argument: smaller businesses simply move faster in today’s digital age.

Back in the day people said: “You don’t get fired for hiring IBM”, however in today’s age I would argue you may lose your job either way for doing so in the long run. (No hard feelings, IBM) Large companies tend to buy from other large companies, especially when it comes to technology. What happens, however, is that you have two large companies trying to innovate and essentially compete with that five-man [41]

Comment start-up round the corner. We have all seen where this is going to end: they either buy the startup or end up getting taken for a ride by a bunch of teenage kids.

To achieve digital disruption, companies have a lot of homework to do. The main challenge is to proactively counter disruption by having a working digital environment in the first place.

There are three main factors that are involved in digital disruption: The pace of innovation, the increase in competition and the speed of change.

Innovation is tough and that’s why digital disruption is an imminent threat to any industry or business. The question is what’s the next innovation that will strike your industry or affect your business? Once that question is answered, you wonder who will disrupt the disruptors. This essentially means there is and will be a constant flow of disruptions, because disruption ultimately equals innovation.

In order to identify or avoid digital disruption a company can use different tools:

1

SELF EVALUATION DIGITAL STRATEGY Having a clear strategy on how to implement and maintain your digital offering can show shortcomings and opportunities.

A good digital strategy will evaluate your business and show you where you stand, but also it will show you where your competitors stand within your industry. It will identify the areas that you need to improve and, by continuously improving your service offering, you will eventually innovate. In this scenario, we can think of innovation as significantly setting yourself apart through ongoing improvements and shall not be confused with creating something totally new also called an invention.

2

SET UP INNOVATION LABS By setting up innovation labs and investing into your own tools and digital offerings, you may be able to create competitive advantages for yourself. Innovation labs are all about improvements and finding new ways of [42]

"FOR A BUSINESS, DISRUPTION IS UNPREDICTABLE AND CAN BE OVERWHELMING YET NECESSARY." doing things. Try and disrupt your own industry or company from within. Innovation labs, however, need to be managed carefully and are a big commitment and investment for a company. Innovation needs to be planned and budgeted for, otherwise it may not lead to any noticeable success.

3

ITERATIVE METHODOLOGY As mentioned above, being slow can be fatal. Therefore, companies need to become faster in improving their products, services and operations. Instead of long and painful projects try and create smaller achievable steps and measure

the impact your changes bring.

Smaller units can also operate more agilely, therefore implementing a governance model rather than a controlling digital body across your entire organisation. This can help to improve turnaround times and digital efficiency.

4

PARTNER WITH THE RIGHT PEOPLE The truth is, not every company can be a digital innovation start-up. The big companies with the right funds can maybe buy their way in, but we all know even the biggest players in technology spend millions to just attract the best talent. Therefore, it can be wise to build the right partnerships with companies that can help you to innovate and take your business or industry to the next level.

Digital disruption is changing the way we live and the way we think. For a business, disruption is unpredictable and can be overwhelming yet necessary, powerful, and in the right company, fascinating. How do you plan on combating digital disruption within your industry to drive more business? |

vol. 3 /august 2015

EDUCATION ENTREPRENEURS

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|

vol. 4 /august 2015

ENJOYING FAMILY TIME

THE FOUNDERS OF TWO DUBAI-BASED START-UPS, AFTERSCHOOL.AE AND PIXELBUG, HAVE A PENCHANT FOR MAKING CHILDREN HAPPY. TAMARA PUPIC FINDS OUT WHAT KIND OF WORLD THESE AND OTHER ENTREPRENEURS ARE MAKING FOR YOUNG PEOPLE.

“The lines between physical and digital are going to be even more blurred.”

[45]

EDUCATION

F

or every status quo, there is potential for disruption. The tech sector has proved that time and again.

However, when it comes to the kids-tech space there appears to be much more hesitation, even among forwardlooking players.

But because every resistance brings with it a possibility of acceptance through understanding, we take a look at what Dubai-based start-ups have in store for both parents and children.

“Kids entertainment is massive,” says Joanna Santillan, founder of Afterschool, an online portal for searching and booking after-school activities for children, when asked whether today’s children prefer to enjoy the wonders of the digital or the real world.

“As a parent you want your kid to have everything in the world.

“Kids love physical activities and parents are forcing them actually. Even with my own kids I make sure that they do some physical activity and socialise.”

Determined to solve her own problem of how to entertain her three children, Santillan founded the portal in April 2014 as a daughter company of her first Dubai-based venture, Searchfuse, a digital marketing agency located at Ibn Battuta Gate Office.

Harvesting the power of digital platforms to allow others to connect, share, and create value, the portal now lists various afterschool activities from about 500 providers.

Afterschool regularly cooperates with the Knowledge and Human Development

“The best way is to fuse something traditional... and keep the innovation aspect.”

[46]

u Joanna Santillan, founder of Afterschool.

Authority (KHDA) and other relevant government bodies to ensure that the providers have obtained all necessary work permits and licences before registering on the website.

The platform offers two types of subscriptions packages – professional and premium – with annual fees starting from AED2,500. With an average of 12 to 15 inquires per month, Santillan states that the revenue generated for providers has reached $48,000 in the year-to-date.

“In Abu Dhabi we have very few providers when compared to Dubai,” she adds. “In Dubai, there are a lot of options for parents. I think it’s because in

Abu Dhabi most of the afterschool activities are free, funded by the government.

“At the beginning it was tough, but with the marketing that we’ve done so far, and the quality of leads that we gave to the first providers on board, it has just been word of mouth ever since.

“It’s not a listing website where you just list your website and leave it like that. It has a booking management system where a provider can see how many page views they have had, how many leads they have had and how they performed compared to their competitors.”

When it comes to the services offered to the 20,000 registered parents, Santillan doesn’t leave anything to chance. “This is a bit of a mummy thing and I want my people to think like a parent,” she explains.

“As soon as we get enrollment, we call both the parents and the provider to make sure that they [the parents] are taken care of.”

The company now enjoys 92 percent growth on a monthly basis, and plans to expand across the UAE as well as to expatdominated countries like Qatar and Kuwait.

A glimpse into its data shows that more than 20 percent of parents search for swimmingrelated activities, a bit more than 10 percent look for more educational options, less than 10 percent for art classes or workshops, while football and tennis share the bottom rank with less than five percent each.

At the same time, these children are often referred to as belonging to a “touch screen generation”.

Around 11 percent of children aged three to four and 34 percent of children between five and 15 years old now have their own tablet, a recent study by Ofcom, the UK’s media and telecoms regulator, shows.

Although most of the parents want their children to embrace technology, they don’t want them to be consumed by it.

So where is the balance?

“We found that this was a very suitable type of application that would solve a genuine problem and a pain point for parents who |

vol. 4 /august 2015

Kids-tech

are now feeling alienated from their kids’ use of technology,” explains Dany El Eid, CEO and managing partner at Pixelbug, about their edutainment app Colorbug.

“In the interviews that we’ve done [we hear] that sometimes they are completely banning the use of technology in their household. So they resist the use, but we all know that if you resist something, it makes it worse.

“We can’t escape the use of technology, it’s part of our everyday life.

“So the best way is to fuse something traditional, which kids do using their hands and motor skills, and, at the same time, keep the innovative aspect of technology. Augmented reality (AR) was perfectly suited to combine both.”

The Colorbug app, which is free to download on Apple’s iTunes and Google’s Play Store, while the Android version will be launched soon, uses AR to help children between four and 10 years old to engage with content, improve their motor skills and learn in interactive ways.

In simple terms that means that when a child records with a camera-enabled device a previously chosen and coloured-in stencil (a colouring page containing a character, such as Bugsy or Ricky the Rabbit, or a renowned architectural structure, such as the Burj Khalifa) the app uses the recording to unlock AR

experiences.

Keeping the child engaged and excited, the drawing of the character or a structure appears on the screen with music, and the user hears the story of the drawing, plus other entertaining or educational content.

In each case, the experience of the reality is enhanced.

The idea to apply this kind of technology to kids’ entertainment and education came to El Eid and the two other managing partners – chief strategy and product development officer Elie C Youssef, and chief technology officer Denis Kruger– in the summer of 2014.

“It’s definitely emerging. There are other companies that are trying to do something similar, but they are a handful. We are definitely amongst the first,” says El Eid about their invention.

That is one of their similarities with the well-known start-up innovators of Silicon Valley.

However, they’ve added a

“The whole objective is for the kids to learn in a more fun and interactive way.”

modern Dubai take to it.

“We started working at a hotel lobby actually. You know how Silicon Valley has garage stories.

In Dubai, it’s five star hotel lobbies [stories]. So we were working there,” explains El Eid. Long-time friends and former flatmates El Eid and Youssef set up Pixelbug, a marketing technology company to help businesses adopt new technologies to drive engagement across the range of industries, through Creative Zone in April 2012.

Now with 10 employees, the company is based at popular co-working space, The Cribb.

Initially bootstrapped by El Eid and Youssef, the business started to take off due to customised projects they did for multinationals including Procter&Gamble, Nestle, Sony, HSBC, as well as many advertising and media agencies.

“Initially, we were focused on developing advanced technologies for multinational brands, mostly including augmented reality, gesturebased technologies, projection technologies and mobile and web services,” El Eid explains.

“These were the four building blocks we used to focus on.

“It was done very consciously because we wanted to still have the flexibility to experiment with these technologies.

“We knew that by getting projects of substantial amounts we could reinvest in R&D [47]

EDUCATION

u Dany El Eid, Elie Youssef and Denis Kruger of Pixelbug.

(research and development) very quickly, instead of having to get external investors, whom we would have to convince about these technologies, because we are not dealing with any copycat model.”

Their eureka moment happened while engaged in a project to develop a kids-focused app for Nesquik.

“We realised that there was a big demand for this type of application for kids. Kids are a lot more intuitive and flexible in terms of what’s possible with this technology,” El Eid says.

“So then we realised that the best way to go further was to combine the physical aspect of colouring books with innovation of augmented reality.

“The whole objective is for the kids to learn in a more fun and interactive way.”

With around 5,000 organic downloads to date, Youssef explains that once a few improvements are done, they’ll invest in advertising to attract more users. However, media and popular tech bloggers already have Pixelbug firmly on their radars.

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“They don’t distinguish what’s offline and online. It’s just one massive experience.”

A recent meeting with Robert Scoble, the Napa Valley-based tech blogger credited for helping young entrepreneurs who went on to develop Instagram, Flipboard, or Twitter, ended with him sharing a Facebook post about the company calling them “the coolest start-up in Dubai.”

It has received over 71,000 views and 800 shares on Facebook so far.

Currently, the Colorbug app is free to download as well as a certain amount of stencils, but to activate them, users need to make in-app purchases. In addition to English and Arabic, the versions in French and German, a new package for

famous architectural structures, and a few other new features are in the pipeline.

The trio’s work has been recognised by the industry with awards at the UAE finals of the Get in The Ring Competition in October 2014, and first place at the MIT Enterprise Forum Arab Startup competition in April this year. El Eid says the awards add credibility while the prize money provides “some breathing space.”

As an additional revenue stream, they still work with companies to develop stencils – sponsored stencils – which are designed to appeal to their specific audiences. One example was the app for the Abu Dhabi Royal Family for the inauguration of Mushrif Central Park in March.

“We are not aggressively pursuing investment now. We are [more] focused on traction at the moment,” says Youssef.

And the future of the sector looks bright.

“We are focusing on the education and entertainment industry and mobile, which is approximately a $4 billion market globally,” he adds. “If |

vol. 4 /august 2015

Kids-tech you think that revenues from mobile applications are $75 billion, then we are talking about a $4 billion market just for the entertainment and education.”

A report by CCS Insight, a consultancy on global trends in mobile communications and the Internet, states that, in addition to the expected continued increase in smartphone use, shipments of AR devices will increase 16-fold, from 300,000 to four million, by 2018.

More established industry leaders are following suit either by entering the realms of AR, such as Apple’s recent acquisition of Metaio, a German AR software company, or focusing on its bigger sister, virtual reality, such as Microsoft developing Hololens, Facebook buying the Oculus Rift headset, or Google releasing Google Glass.

“AR will become part of our lives in various industries,” El Eid explains. “Next year will be the year of virtual reality, the year after that will be owned by augmented reality.

“Once Google and all these companies develop hardware, they will need to fill it in with some content, like Apple needed apps to be developed to fill the App store. So now we know that we are already at the forefront of it and we are ready to ride that way.”

However, to say that they are seen as by local investors as risky would be an understatement.

One reason for this is the lack of big exits in the sector.

“There are no big exits, it’s an innovation,” El Eid adds. “It has the potential for something we maybe haven’t envisioned yet, but it will reveal itself as we progress.

“That’s part of the excitement, we are part of the leading edge of innovation. Is there some reluctance? Obviously, like with any type of innovation that is not widely understood.”

A handful of forward-thinking regional investors have shown interest, including Dubai-based WOMENA, and Kuwait-based Arzan Venture Capital, as well and a few companies from Lebanon.

“We need fast acceleration and fast growth. We want smart money, so we need strategic investors,” El Eid adds.

“But eventually we’ll need to go where the money is, which for our industry is in Silicon Valley.

I don’t think there’s any way of going around that place to attract investments.”

Preparing for the big moment, the co-founders recently brought a financial advisory firm on board to help them structure future investments worldwide.

“The reasoning was that since at some point we’ll have to hire a CFO anyway, with these guys you don’t get only one person, but a firm that will see us grow and pursue the next funding round,” El Eid explains.

As a start-up that’s preparing to take off from its Dubai base, El Eid is encouraged by the

entrepreneurial upheaval in the emirate, but pointed out a number of issues that need to be addressed: The encouragement of risk-averse investors, elimination of red tape, and a decrease in costs.

“There’s no infrastructure,” Youssef adds.

“To simply stay in the country you need a work visa and a lot of capital unless your parents are living here, but even then after a certain age you can’t be on their visa.

“So the very basic infrastructure is not available.

“I think a lot of ideas are crashed early on because people can’t take that risk in Dubai.

It’s not only one of the most expensive places, but legally you can’t stay [here]. So, it’s a big challenge.”

In spite of the various challenges, their app has made its mark in developing the next generation of innovators.

Youssef says: “The trend now is the ‘maker culture’ [a tech-based extension of the Do It Yourself (DIY) ethic that promotes selfsufficiency] for them [children] to be able to build something on their own.”

“For them the digital and the physical have fused already,” El Eid adds. “They don’t distinguish what’s offline and online, it’s just one massive experience.

“And the more they grow in the future, the lines between physical and digital are going to be even more blurred.”

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KAEC FUTURE CITY

ENTREPRENEURIAL FOCUS FOR THE CITY OF THE FUTURE A DECADE AFTER THE WORLD’S MOST EXPENSIVE REAL ESTATE PROJECT WAS ANNOUNCED, KING ABDULLAH ECONOMIC CITY HAS COMPLETED MANY OF ITS KEY COMPONENTS. CHIEF EXECUTIVE FAHD AL RASHEED EXPLAINS WHY TOURISM, EDUCATION AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP ARE NOW HIS BIGGEST FOCUS

T

here can’t be many Saudi projects that can claim to have been unaffected by the oil price slide, but then again, King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC) is no ordinary undertaking.

Located an hour’s drive north of Jeddah, KAEC has been described as the world’s largest real estate project. By the time it

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is completed, probably at some point in the mid-2030s, roughly $100 billion worth of investment will have been ploughed into the city, which is set to play a vital role in the diversification of Saudi Arabia’s economy away from oil.

A public private partnership between Dubai’s Emaar and local investors, the megaproject involves the construction

of an entire city — from scratch — on a site that’s about the size of Washington, DC. Launched about a decade ago, some of the city’s components, such as King Abdullah Port, are now operational.

Some of the world’s most famous companies, including Mars, Sanofi, Pfizer and Danone, are among the 100 corporates that have set up |

vol. 3 /august 2015

“We don’t see education as a moneymaker, we see it as an enriching part of the city.” shop in KAEC’s Industrial Valley, while a slew of big-name local firms are also building facilities there.

And in a part of the world where commercial vehicle manufacturing is conspicuous by its absence, KAEC notched up another milestone earlier this year when the first Volvo truck rolled out of the Arabian Vehicles & Trucks Industry plant in the city. It will be one of the first factories worldwide to produce Volvo and Renault trucks from the same assembly line. By the end of this year, city planners are hoping to have 50 factories up and running.

But it’s not only about big corporations and industry. SMEs and entrepreneurship are also major factors for the project.

Earlier this year, Prince Saud Al Faisal, the deputy governor of SAGIA, told CEO Middle East: “We’re going after value-added investments — and our definition of that is investors that create quality jobs that contribute to the transfer of technology, and larger anchor investments that could support and catalyse SMEs.” With that in mind, Fahd Al Rasheed the long-serving group CEO of publicly listed Emaar Economic City, the firm behind KAEC sees education and entrepreneurship as keys sector where KAEC can make a difference.

“We don’t see education as a moneymaker, we see it as an enriching part of the city,” he says. “They say if you want a great city, build a university and wait 200 years. Well, we can’t wait 200 years, so we’re building right now a college of business entrepreneurship with the help of Babson Global.”

The tie-up with the Boston

u CEO of King Abdullah Economic City, Fahd Al Rasheed.

u Artist impressions of a station for the Haramain high speed railway.

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KAEC

u The high speed railways will connect KAEC to the rest of Saudi Arabia, helping make it a business hub.

college — often referred to as America’s ‘entrepreneur’s college’ — should yield results quickly; the CEO says the first MBA programme should begin in January next year. There’s also an incubator on the cards, which Al Rasheed says will attract innovators from around the region, and talks are ongoing with the government to build six vocational training colleges.

“We are now talking to different funding partners, as well as creating markets for these entrepreneurs to address,” he says. “And we are launching an initiative with the king of Jordan to make KAEC a landing pad for entrepreneurs from Jordan.

“About 75 percent of all digital Arabic content is produced in Jordan — they just need to scale.

And the best place to scale is Saudi Arabia.”

As well as colleges and schools, the city has concentrated on training programmes, and is trying to find jobs for the companies that have based themselves in KAEC. The CEO says that for the 2,500 jobs that were offered for KAEC clients, there were 20,000 applicants.

“The quality of the applicants was unbelievable,” he adds. “I [52]

u The King Abdullah Port is fast becoming one of the largest in the world. |

vol. 3 /august 2015

Future city

u KAEC sold 2,500 residential units last year.

think there is a perception of a lack of a skills [in Saudi Arabia] but frankly, on the ground, I don’t see it.”

The city itself is growing. It may only have 3,000 residents right now, but more are clearly on the way. Last year, KAED sold 2,500 units, making it one of the largest private developers in Saudi Arabia.

Its King Abdullah Port is swiftly becoming one of the largest in the world, and has signed up two of the biggest shipping lines – Denmark’s Maersh, and Genevabased MSC. Capacity stands at 2.7 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) but Al Rasheed says that will grow to 4 million in 2016, 5 million the year after, up to a final total of 20 million TEUs. Testing is currently taking place on the Haramain highspeed railway, a network that will link Madinah to Makkah, with stops at KAEC and in Jeddah.

According to the Saudi Railways Organisation, around 19,600 passengers will travel on the route every hour. It will take just 30 minutes for KAEC’s residents or visitors to travel to the newly revamped King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah.

The link will enable KAEC to tap into Saudi Arabia’s colossal religious tourism market. In fact, the CEO says that tourism is the most important sector for the city right now, helped by the fact that the new rail link will put KAEC in the heart of a triangle that will attract around 20 million visitors every year.

“We’re the 17th most-visited country in the world, thanks to Hajj and Umrah, and we have a large population — more than 10 million Saudis spend their holidays outside the kingdom.

“We want to give them an alternative in Saudi Arabia for the rest of the year — not just for vacation but also as a weekend destination.”

Al Rasheed says KAEC is targeting 100,000 visitors this year, 160,000 in 2016 and 1 million by 2020.

All of which bodes well for the entrepreneurs, start-ups and SMEs looking to find a footing in one of the most exciting city-building projects of the modern age.

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Creativity

Artistic in{uences

WHAT IS THE IMPACT OF HAVING ART IN YOUR OFFICE? WE EXAMINE SOME OF THE POSITIVE EFFECTS PAINTINGS, MURALS AND SCULPTURES CAN HAVE ON YOUR WORKPLACE.

T

he benefits of having artwork in your office are more numerous than you might think.

Of course it can look good, but the effect it can have on you, your team, clients and customers, and your brand, are manifold.

Here are a few ways that art can make a difference to your business.

Unlocks creative potential

When faced with a painting, photograph or sculpture, many people will feel inspired.

It’s no surprise that motivational posters and memes often include beautiful sunsets, natural beauty, and impressive [54]

architecture. The general idea of motivation is exactly the same for works of art. The inspiration and motivation we feel when looking at it can unlock creative potential that helps generate innovative ideas.

Creative thinking can not only lead to new business practices, advertising campaigns, and so on, but also a boost in morale among employees, which can generate even more inspired ideas.

Some analysts have linked the presence of artwork to employees’ awareness of value, while others have suggested that the intricacies of art enliven specific parts of the brain that urge it to look at tasks in a new

way. Whatever the truth of the matter, it’s fair to say that the creativity of the artist has tangible effects on the creativity of the employees.

Builds bond with clients

There’s an argument to say that art makes businesses come across in different ways.

It can make a business seem approachable, successful, intelligent, high-brow, and so on.

It can also have the opposite effect, depending on the nature of the art.

A picture is worth a thousand words, according to the pithy phrase, and that can often be the case for customers or clients coming into your office. |

vol. 3 /august 2015

ART

Depending on the nature of your work, you may wish to hang art that allows people to bond with your business on an emotional level. If you are in healthcare, for example, you will probably want to show art that makes patients feel comfortable and at ease. If you are in the music industry, you may want to show something edgier, reflecting the type of music you prefer, and that your customers or clients listen to as well.

It’s a fairly simple psychology, but an effective one. First impressions can speak volumes.

Atmosphere of room

Imagine your office was full of art with a focus on war. It might not be long before your team starts to feel tetchy or agitated.

Now imagine romantic artwork, pastoral scenes, and landscapes.

You and your staff are much more likely to feel peaceful, perhaps even content. This is more likely to be the kind of atmosphere you want to generate.

Similarly, if you’re in a fastpaced industry where intensity is key, you may want to think about hanging artwork that generates a more dynamic energy.

a The style of art in your office can speak volumes about your company.

Numerous surveys have pointed to the value of having artwork in the office. One set of results showed that 83 percent of employees felt that artwork was important in the work environment. Of those employees, 73 percent also said that their perceptions of the workplace and their work experience would change if the art were to be removed.

Employee satisfaction should never be taken for granted.

Neither should their wellbeing, satisfaction and productivity. Art can be an easy way to ensure they enjoy being in the workplace, and aren’t looking elsewhere.

Can promote brand

What you put up on the wall can say a lot about what your business is. Or does. Or means. It conveys a message, and can speak to customers and clients long before a human utters a word.

Bruce Rolff / Shutterstock.com

Improves employee experiences

a Art can create an ambient working environment.

Should the art be complex or simple? What about the colour scheme? What style of art is in line with your company? If you’re using

"WHEN FACED WITH A PAINTING...

MANY PEOPLE WILL FEEL INSPIRED."

the art to promote your brand, there are several things you’ll need to ask yourself.

For example, if your brand’s success depends on the idea that people will view it as ‘timeless’ or ‘enduring’ then it would probably make sense to show art that evokes nostalgia as it would hint at longevity.

If, however, you want to position your brand as being cutting-edge and a risk-taker, then vibrant, maybe even outlandish abstract art from contemporary artists could fit the bill.

[55]

COLIN THOMAS MAINTENANCE

FIXING UP THE MAINTENANCE INDUSTRY CO-FOUNDER OF MAINTENANCE COMPANY JIM WILL FIX IT, COLIN THOMAS, EXPLAINS WHY HE LAUNCHED THE COMPANY AND HOW IT CONTINUES TO BE AT THE FOREFRONT OF THE SECTOR’S EVOLUTION.

By Neil King f you have lived in, or even just visited Dubai in the past seven or eight years, you will have almost certainly seen the purple and yellow Jim Will Fix It vans going from job to job.

Their noticeable presence not only speaks volumes about their eye-catching branding, but also the company’s success in redefining the emirate’s approach to home repairs and maintenance.

Offering a range of services including DIY, plumbing, electrics, air conditioning, carpentry, and painting and decorating, the business was founded in 2007 by two men who wanted to change a maintenance landscape which they believed was restrictive and often poor quality.

Colin Thomas and Daniel Garner both arrived in Dubai from the UK in the early years of the new millen-

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nium – Thomas with Sony PlayStation, and Garner with Morgan McKinley. But despite the heady days of pre-global financial crisis Dubai, there was something that the duo felt compelled to address. So much so that they started their own business to deal with it.

“I was living in a big place in Al Barsha, and the whole nugget of the idea came when the AC broke down,” explains Thomas.

“On three different occasions I phoned three different companies. They either needed an annual contract and wanted all the money upfront, or alternatively it was a guy who spoke no English and came with one screwdriver.

“We thought surely there’s a better way of doing maintenance than this. So we kind of started from there.”

Joining forces with Garner, the duo “sort of did

it backwards” by quitting their jobs before embarking on a six-month research period, culminating in a business plan.

“We did our market research - we were stood outside Spinneys and Choithrams every evening for about a week, and that research came back to say quite clearly that there was room for something that was radically different,” continues Thomas.

“And that ‘different’ is exactly where we sat. Back home you would never have somebody coming to you saying ‘pay me £3,000 for the year and I’ll look after your house for you’. People would laugh them out the door.

So we couldn’t understand why up until then Dubai had been operating in that way.”

The important thing in the early days was for people to try out the fledgling company.

|

vol. 3 /august 2015

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COLIN THOMAS “The real key to the business was: can we get the quality service without needing an annual maintenance contract, so people have the option of trying us to work out whether we›re as good as we say we are?” says Thomas.

“If we offer them a warranty not only on parts but also the service that we do, then they can have the peace of mind that they haven’t spent a small fortune before finding out whether we’re any good or not, and they have a warranty so if anything does go wrong they have that peace of mind there as well.”

The timing, however, was not ideal. The company launched in 2007, shortly before the financial crisis engulfed most of the globe. But while many new businesses were struggling to stay afloat, Thomas says Jim Will Fix It proved to be somewhat recession-proof.

He explains: “It was quite clear within a month or so that the recession was very much upon us here in Dubai and at that stage there was a big question mark of whether or not the business would work.

“But what became clear was that things break even in a recession, and you either lived with it or you get it repaired. It kind of grew exponentially from day one. And that’s continued for the last seven years which has been fantastic.”

Part of the company’s early success, according to Thomas, has been its balance between offering a full range of services, and building a reputation for honesty with clients.

“We couldn’t just look after one particular facet, like a plumbing service,” he says.

“We really needed to offer people enough of a breadth that we were almost a one-stop-shop for their maintenance needs.

“That said if there was something too specialist, unlike some companies that claim to be experts in everything, we had to be prepared to walk away from it if it wasn’t within our core expertise. That’s really helped us build a rapport with our customers.

They know if it’s a job we’ve taken on then we’re good at it.”

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u Colin Thomas and Daniel Garner launched Jim Will Fix It in 2007.

This kind of rapport has helped Jim Will Fix It compete against other companies in the facilities management sphere, but for Thomas there is a much more important differentiator.

“What you tend to find with those guys is that they’re very much competing on price, while we’re very much competing on quality,” he explains.

“For us it was important that we had the right staff - really capable people who come to us with qualifications. For example all our AC guys are three years qualified in the Philippines and then we retrain them again, so they go through a really rigorous training process with our senior technicians to ensure they’re the required quality.

“Then we have ongoing training. So every three months they go through a refresher course on customer training, and then we have a refresher team on the road

“We really needed to offer people enough of a breadth that we were almost a one-stop-shop.”

that just trains, trains, trains and shadows each of our teams.

“It’s permanent because we have to maintain that quality, even as we’re growing at a very quick rate.”

The company’s tag line – ‘one call, one visit, job done’ – is “more than just a mantra”, according to Thomas.

He explains that the quality of service needs to be strong throughout the entire process, starting with the initial call to the bookings team.

“The first call is critical because that call is for us to be able to determine that we’ve got the right person there, make sure we have the materials we need to do that job, and make sure the customer understands exactly what that job is.

“And that’s followed up by the fact that our staff are all English speaking - they are able to communicate, and are constantly retrained in communication with the customer.

“They are there to eke out the maximum amount of information so that we can go there in one visit, can get the job done, ensure it’s going to be right, and that we’ve got all the right materials to proceed.”

The company also has back-up plans in place, just in case the job turns out to be more difficult than first expected, or if parts aren’t available. |

vol. 3 /august 2015

Jim Will Fix It

“We’ve now done 55,000 jobs and we’re kind of at the stage where we’ve seen everything before.”

u Jim Will Fix It’s customers donated 11 tonnes of goods to the Nepal relief drive.

“We now have a fleet of very big vans that float around Dubai and work as mobile warehouses as well,” says Thomas.

“So if we do have a job where those parts aren’t available, there’s a good chance they’ll be in the mobile vans, so we can get the parts to people quickly and still get everything done in that one job.

“However, there are always going to be those jobs where you’ve got specific items, so when a technician is still on the roof, for example, from the roof he can call the parts team in office,

and they will call in immediately the part details. The parts team will then call our driver who is already in the area of the supplier.

So in effect from diagnosis to part being available, it can be as quick as half an hour. It’s something we’ve really worked on perfecting as we’ve got bigger.

“We’ve now done 55,000 jobs and we’re kind of at the stage where we’ve seen everything before, without a doubt, and we’ll know how to deal with it.”

The focus on quality is something that Thomas and Garner were adamant about from the

very beginning. While starting out, they took advice from friends who had also launched businesses in Dubai, and decided that there were certain things they would leave in the hands of other professionals.

“We sat down with those guys to learn from their mistakes, and what that told us was that we didn’t need to worry about the bureaucracy of setting up. We could focus on our business and find a facilitation company to look at the set up requirements.

We’ve got a great one that we still use to this day.

“There’s a real decision to make when setting up a business, which is what will you spend money on, and what will you focus on yourself. We knew that our product delivery had to be better than the lowest common denominator operators, and the established operators as well, and we couldn’t just match it, we had to be significantly, demonstratively better. We wanted to focus on that.”

That focus paid dividends almost immediately.

Despite the challenges the founders faced in the form of competition and a generally poor perception of the maintenance industry, the quality that they were so intent on establishing shone through.

“Within probably six months of us starting, Dubai’s word of mouth kicked in massively for us and it made our significant advertising efforts pale in significance,” says Thomas.

“Expat Woman was probably the best source we had for word of mouth and we were getting 60-70 percent of our work on referral alone. For us that was absolutely critical.

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COLIN THOMAS “As well as that, there were just huge amounts of hard work and graft. When you’re signing the cheques yourselves, and it’s money you’ve earned yourselves [the start-up money came from the founders and their families] it makes you beyond hungry to make sure it works.

“So for us it was ridiculous hours, ridiculous days. I lost a huge amount of weight, and for the first six months I spent a lot of time on the road going to the jobs, being on the roofs in 50C heat to ensure our service delivery was right, and I’m able to talk about jobs knowledgeably, which was absolutely key.”

Having established a strong following, and ensured a consistent quality of service through continual training, a system of spot checks, and customer feedback, the company began to expand its offering.

In order to provide the best possible service, Thomas explains that he and Garner keep a close eye on new products and procedures available in other parts of the world which could enhance their offering in Dubai.

One example is the addition of duct cleaning to their AC service.

Thomas explains that they have brought in a specific piece of equipment from the US which cleans AC units and ducts much more quickly and efficiently than they were previously able to do.

Another new addition to the company’s offerings is window cleaning, which is due to be available by the end of 2015. “Not a mop and bucket,” says Thomas, but a high tech system that’s being brought in from the UK and uses pure water as the main cleaning method to eliminate smears and droplet marks caused by ‘total dissolved solids’ (TDS).

With any new product, there needs to be a tangible benefit to the customer and the company, explains Thomas.

“If we can keep our quality level, but use the technology to make it faster while maintaining that quality, and get to the point where we reach a really nice competitive price, then it means it’s feasible for the Dubai market, and feasible for us.

“There’s a bit of chicken and egg [60]

u The company’s founders focussed on quality as their main differentiator.

“When you’re signing the cheques yourselves... it makes you beyond hungry to make sure it works.” situation with new products, in as much as we know it’s being used in a certain way, but can we tweak it to get the quality we need, and can we get the economies of scale that we need to get to a price that will make it mainstream in Dubai?”

The answer for an increasing number of products appears to be yes. But while the breadth

of what they are able to do is increasing, the geography in which they do it is not. Yet. “At the moment we’re in Dubai, and the reason we’ve stuck to Dubai so far is that for our services and the reputation we have here, we have a really strong amount of growth year on year, every year,” continues Thomas.

“But we are looking at Abu Dhabi, without a doubt - it’s just a case of how soon we will roll it out.

“We also get approached on an almost weekly basis for franchises abroad. To date we’ve decided not to do that. It’s so critical that anything we do, we do to our quality level, and to package all of that up into a little manual is not really possible in the way it might be for a fast food outlet.

‘If our key is quality, then it doesn’t really franchise that well, in our view, and we have to stick to maintaining that quality.”

Speaking with Thomas, it is clear that his business is about much more than making money.

The company’s dedication to quality service is matched by the partners’ assertion that it should be a place their employees feel comfortable working, and also a company that isn’t afraid to work hard for a good cause.

A prime example of this occurred earlier this year when Nepal was struck by an earthquake measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale, killing thousands, injuring many more, and leaving hundreds of thousands of others |

vol. 3 /august 2015

Jim Will Fix It homeless and without provisions, clothing or belongings.

“The night when all of the news reports were coming in from Nepal, Dan gave me a phone call and said we really need to get involved with this,” says Thomas.

“We realised that we’ve got a whole bunch of vans in Dubai, a huge amount of customers looking for an outlet to donate to Nepal, and it was quite clear we needed to move quickly.

“Dan drove to Abu Dhabi, to the Nepalese embassy, and agreed with them that we would collect and donate directly to them.

“We arranged with our customers that anyone who wanted to donate, we would pick up from their houses, collate it back at the warehouse, and then take it down to the embassy ourselves. In the end it all went pretty crazy - we ended up with 11 tonnes of donations, which to give you an idea is three of our massive vans filled to the gunnels.

“We turned up there and it was the most amazing sight. There

u Thomas says the company could expand into Abu Dhabi soon.

“We were getting 60-70 percent of our work on referral alone.

For us that was absolutely critical.”

were hundreds of Nepalese workers from around the UAE who were just at the embassy to help.

They didn’t know what they were helping with, but they were there just to help.

“It was such a positive atmosphere - we had these human chains that got rid of these 11 tonnes in about 45 minutes. It was just a constant shaking of hands, and a real feeling of positivity about getting Nepal back on its feet. It was an amazing experience, and something that we’d really like to it again.”

It’s an episode that speaks volumes about what Thomas and Garner stand for, and the ethos that they infuse into their business.

People are at the heart of what they do, and the quality they are keen to provide at every turn is a constant reminder of this.

Having helped fix the reputation of the maintenance sector in Dubai, no doubt Jim Will Fix It will continue to be at the forefront of its development in the future.

TAKAMUL INNOVATION

THE

THOUGHT

LABORATORY A GOVERNMENT-BACKED SCHEME IN ABU DHABI AIMS TO KICKSTART THE COUNTRY’S KNOWLEDGE ECONOMY BY FILING INTERNATIONAL PATENTS TO PROTECT REAMS OF SCIENTIFIC INVENTIONS – FROM THE SEEMINGLY TRIVIAL TO THE TECHNOLOGICALLY CRITICAL.

T

he UAE government tries not to reject too many applications to its ‘Takamul’ patenting initiative.

This is because the scheme is less about cultivating the first Emirati Nobel Prize winner and more about encouraging people – whether they are academics or not – to think outside the box and put science to practical and commercial use.

However, there are times when it must draw a line.

“We’ve had a couple of applications proposing a perpetual motion engine,” sighs Enrico Valla, a chemical engineer and director of enterprise development and innovation at Abu Dhabi Technology Development Committee (TDC), the government agency responsible for Takamul.

[62]

By Sarah Townsend “This cannot be done because it violates the principles of thermodynamics. You cannot produce motion without consuming energy. It would be great, but believe me it’s not possible. So we said, sorry, absolutely not, and that was that.”

But there are dozens of other ideas the TDC has chosen to support, by offering inventors the financial, legal and administrative assistance to apply for the exclusive right to make and sell their inventions. A process that can cost $20,000 per patent.

Among the innovations backed by Takamul are a ‘heat transfer’ apparatus for rapid cooling of automotive and medical engines, a system to steer a vehicle using only your feet, a device to detect toxic gases in oil and gas fields, and the first numbers-based internet search engine.

Since the scheme was launched in 2011, 20 patents have been granted, 102 are in the pipeline and one patent holder has secured a commercial deal to bring his idea – a sophisticated type of carbon nanotube – to market.

“We are not IBM [the number one patent filer in the US, which files around 6,000 patents a year],”says Valla. “But our track record is good.”

Takamul is part of the UAE’s vision to expand its nascent knowledge-based economy. ‘Innovation’ – that clichéd word that describes original thinking and original solutions – is spilling from policymakers’ mouths as they seek to diversify the economy away from oil and gas and cultivate a sustainable, home-grown Emirati workforce. |

vol. 3 /august 2015

“Innovation is going to be the next big enabler of development in the UAE.” [63]

TAKAMUL

u Takamul is part of the UAE’s vision to expand its nascent knowledge-based economy.

In an interview at the agency’s headquarters in Abu Dhabi, TDC director general Ahmed Al Calily and Enrico Valla reveal their ambitions for the programme, how it works and what it has achieved to date. Al Calily tells Arabian Business the UAE wants to move from being a “knowledge-consuming society to a knowledge-producing society” - and Takamul works to facilitate this.

“The programme is about raising awareness among research institutions and the general public of the importance of innovation to the UAE. It encourages people to think about academic output not just in terms of pure research, but also how could that contribute to improving people’s lives and what economic impact it could have.”

2015 has been branded the UAE’s ‘Year of Innovation’.

In February the government announced a National Innovation Strategy to position the UAE as one of the most forward-thinking nations in the world over the next decade. The strategy identified seven industry sectors [64]

– renewable energy, transport, education, health, technology, water and space – in which to invest and develop over the period. And a series of events, festivals and competitions will be held over the course of the year to engage the public in scientific pursuits.

“Innovation is going to be the next big enabler of development in the UAE,” says Al Calily. “Our economy is moving away from traditional sectors and embracing new ones – ones that require deep knowledge to add value.

“It’s about changing people’s mindsets, because we want the entire community – children,

“Before Takamul, we hardly had any professors talking about registering intellectual property.”

young people, parents, teachers, the private sector – aligned to the same goal.

“Before Takamul, we hardly had any professors talking about registering intellectual property [IP]. Their output would stay within the academic community, either in files or published in niche journals. Nobody thought about the potential commercial value of their work. Now everybody’s talking about patenting and even non-academics are excited about the prospect of coming up with new ideas they could patent.”

The process of applying for a patent takes between two and three years and costs around $10,000 to $15,000 per patent, depending on the country. There is no such thing as a blanket international patent; inventors have to register their patent separately with the patent offices of each country in which they wish to market their idea, making the system prohibitively expensive for many.

“If you want to file in the US, that’s $20,000; if you also want to file in Italy, that’s great, but it’ll |

vol. 3 /august 2015

Innovation

“There is a higher probably we will get quality ideas if we have more coming in.”

u Enrico Villa.

u Ahmed Al Calily

cost you another $15,000,” says Enrico Valla. “This is a significant cost for a start-up and it’s why, unless you are Apple, you need to make choices and identify your main market.”

Valla says the Takamul process is “fairly simple”. Once an inventor has developed an invention he or she can apply to the programme by completing a form on the website asking for information about the invention and the applicant. Next, the applicant attends an interview with a panel of five or six experts – compris-

ing IP lawyers, engineers and other scientists – in which they are questioned in greater detail about the characteristics of their invention. Certain criteria are used to assess the ‘patentability’ of the idea, including how novel it is and whether it complies with international laws on what can and cannot be patented.

“Certain processes – business strategies or techniques, for example – can be subject to copyright, but not patented,” explains Valla. Nothing at this stage judges the invention on its

commercial viability and this is deliberate, he adds.

“The IP landscape [in the UAE] is at a very early stage. We are a young country and all we want to do at this stage is to increase the number of patents and put ourselves on the global stage.

We don’t want to become too selective, we want to incentivise people to come up with ideas that could be patented even if there is not much money to take them forward in future. Right now, the government is subsidising up to 90 percent of the cost.”

The funding works on a reimbursement basis. If the applicant is an individual, they will get 90 percent of the cost of filing the patent; if they are a company they will get 50 percent, and if they are an academic institution they will get 75 percent if there are one or more UAE nationals in the research team and 60 percent otherwise.

The scheme is only open to UAE-based companies, institutions and individuals because, for the reasons Al Calily outlined, it is extremely important that the patents are owned by the UAE so that each idea contributes to the build-up of IP within the country.

The inventor of the carbon nanotube technology is an Egyptian based in Qatar. He developed the idea while studying at the University of the UAE in Al Ain. The key, Valla insists, is to develop a critical mass of patentable ideas. “You can never be 100 percent sure if there is no potential, little potential or great potential. If there is really no potential we try to push back a bit [for example, in the case of the perpetual motion ‘non-concept’], but if the potential is ‘little’ we go for it.”

[65]

TAKAMUL

u The UAE wants to move from being a knowledge-consuming society to a knowledge-producing one, says Al Calily.

When Takamul launched in 2011 it filed 13 patents on behalf of inventors; in 2012 it filed 20, in 2013 it filed 33, 40 in 2014 and this year it had filed 16 patents at the time of going to press and there were 48 in the pipeline. No application has yet been rejected by any international patent office, Valla claims, and this is a key indicator of success.

However, in terms of the quality of the ideas both Valla and Al Calily are frank. “The quality of the ideas is good, don’t get me wrong,” says Al Calily. “But the biggest value I see is in attracting people from across society.

The big institutions can work on high-quality, high-impact, high-cost ideas, but we want to support ideas coming from regular people too.”

Valla says: “There is a higher probability we will get quality ideas if we have more coming in. So I am not concerned about having too many patents and at the moment we are not filtering for quality.” Takamul’s record of 20 registered patents is equivalent to the number of patents secured by IBM in just one week.

Clearly, at this stage, it is about building quantity over quality, “but there may come a time when we have to rethink that approach”, Valla adds.

The majority of ideas Takamul receives are from the ICT (information and communications [66]

u 2015 has been branded the UAE’s ‘Year of Innovation’.

technology) sector, representing around 30 percent of applications. Other notable sectors are medical, advanced materials and oil and gas. Is the latter a problem given that the UAE is trying to diversify its economy away from the hydrocarbon sector?

“I have two observations,” Valla responds. “First, oil and gasrelated innovations account for a minority – maybe 10 percent at best – of all submissions to date.

“Second, I wouldn’t say the UAE wants to move away from oil and gas. It wants to move away from reliance on the revenues generated from selling oil and gas. Developing the technology

related to oil and gas is more sustainable because we can export it to other oil-producing countries.

“We don’t want to export oil, we want to export knowledge.”

Takamul draws on advice and expertise from its two corporate partners – Isis Innovation, a commercial subsidiary of the University of Oxford in the UK, and 360ip, a quasi-government research institution that is part of Battelle Ventures in the US. In the final stage of the application process the panel, including experts from the two partner organisations, assesses the commercial potential of the |

vol. 3 /august 2015

Innovation

u The National Innovation Strategy aims to position the UAE as one of the most forward-thinking nations in the world over the next decade.

patent. This informs decisions on the target market and the level of protection the inventor requires (he may wish to patent something with multiple variations, such as a water bottle with a square top as well as a round one).

The TDC also helps inventors develop a marketing pitch and value proposition, and introduces them to potential investors. There are two licensing deals under negotiation at present. However, Takamul does not support inventors at ‘proof of concept’ stage – that is, when investors ask to see a prototype or some form of testing to prove the concept works. This is a

“missing link”, says Valla. The TDC is lobbying the government to make funding available for such tests. “It’s a natural area for the government to play in because it’s the stage where the

“Connecting Takamul with initiatives elsewhere in the emirates should be our target.”

investor would not normally engage because it’s too early and too risky.”

He declines to reveal how much the agency has asked for but says proof of concept testing typically costs between AED300,000 and AED500,000 and most research institutions will have a dedicated fund of around $5m over several years. “We are not talking huge sums because this is the end of the process when you know you have a marketable concept.” Is it proving difficult to persuade the government to fork out? “I will not answer without my lawyer,” Valla jokes. “It is a normal government budgeting process.”

Takamul’s overall budget is AED2.5 million this year, a 10 percent reduction from 2014/15 in line with cuts made to other departmental budgets.

The government is also helping to improve the landscape for inventors by revising IP legislation. One proposal is to establish a specialist IP court to ensure effective implementation of the law. “In general our laws are adequate for a country that is consuming knowledge,” Al Calily says. “For companies coming in and selling their products and services there is ample protection against infringement of rights.

“But if we are to move to an economy that is producing knowledge and generating new IP there needs to be a further level of definition.”

To strengthen Takamul over the next two years, the TDC plans to connect the programme with other government initiatives intended to support and drive innovation. “There shouldn’t really be a single body overseeing the entire process from concept to commercialisation, says Valla. “Connecting Takamul with initiatives elsewhere in the emirates should be our target, inshallah, and that should be achievable. You’ve seen our numbers, we are not yet IBM.” He concludes: “All the foundations of the scheme are there, we just need to expand it and join the dots. I don’t need eight lanes.

Give me a small road so I can drive my little Fiat 500 from here to there, and we will do what we set out to do.”

[67]

STARTUP ACADEMY WORKSHOP ENTREPRENEUR

r Alaeddin El Majed, payments manager at HyperPay.

OVERCOMING THE CHALLENGES OF ONLINE PAYMENTS EXPERTS IN E-COMMERCE ADDRESSED SCORES OF ATTENDEES AT THE LATEST ARABIAN BUSINESS STARTUP ACADEMY, HELPING THEM OVERCOME COMMON HURDLES IN ONLINE PAYMENTS. he unstoppable rise of online business has seen more and more start-ups, SMEs and entrepreneurs flock to the banners of e-and-m-commerce.

Indeed it seems unfathomable that any new business today would shun an

T [68]

online presence and the opportunities it brings to make transactions.

But oftentimes there has been a fly in the online ointment which has frustrated and foiled entrepreneurs and small businesses: payment gateways. |

vol. 3 /august 2015

“A payment partner should provide more than just a basic service to merchants.�

[69]

STARTUP ACADEMY It’s an industry which is changing fast, and making great leaps forward in the region, yet some issues still exist for merchants looking for the right provider for them.

With that in mind, the July edition of the Arabian Business StartUp Academy invited two industry experts to discuss important aspects of the payment puzzle.

First on stage was Alaeddin El Majed, payments manager at HyperPay, to discuss the differences between analytics and insights.

El Majed told his audience that HyperPay is the fastest growing online payment gateway in the MENA region, featuring a range of payment process services for business selling both online and offline.

The company connects merchants to a consolidated network of global, regional and local payment methods, and currently processes payments for more than 400 merchants including MBC Group, Zain, and Al Hokair Group.

To add to its credentials, HyperPay has partnered with PAY.ON, a German payment technology provider with more than 10 years of experience which processes 1.2 million transactions per day.

Launching into his presentation, El Majed immediately sought to highlight the difference between analytics and insights.

He used a quote from basketball star Charles Barkley, that “analytics don’t work at all,” and that “it’s just some term that people who were really smart made up to try to get in the game they had no talent to be able to play.”

Conversely, he explained an insight to be “an instance of apprehending the true nature of a thing, especially through intuitive understanding”.

To express the differences between the two, and what they can mean for the future of a startup’s online payments, El Majed took statistics from the UAE and Saudi Arabia and explained how analytics and insights can view then differently.

[70]

u The Academy welcomed more than 80 people to The Address Downtown Dubai.

“Analytics are just statistics, and while they are important they are not always reliable.”

For example, while analytics will say that the 39 percent of the UAE’s population shop online, and 14 percent of Saudi Arabia’s do the same, insights will say that the UAE has 61 percent of untapped potential, and Saudi Arabia 86 percent.

Standing alone, the difference in approach is clear, but add in growth forecasts and that picture changes yet further.

Analytic growth forecasts are based on historical rates, while insightful forecasts will take into consideration the aforementioned untapped potential.

Another example is that of the male to female online transaction ratio in Saudi Arabia, which stands at 85:15.

Analytics would suggest that men are far out-transacting women online, but the insight would be that in many cases male relatives are making the purchase on behalf of the women, using their credit or debit card. The results, therefore, offer a different picture when insight is used rather than analytics.

El Majed explained that analytics are just statistics, and while they are important they are not always reliable. More important in the world of online payments, he suggested, was |

vol. 3 /august 2015

Online payments

u Sirish Kumar, CEO and co-founder of Telr.

to have a partner that could deliver valuable insights.

Following a brief networking break, the Academy’s second speaker took to the stage.

Sirish Kumar, CEO of Telr, who counts among his former roles CFO of PayPal for South East Asia, co-founded the Dubai and Singapore-based payment gateway solution in 2013.

Hi presentation highlighted a number of payment issues that Telr was launched in order to address, including pain points from different stages of a startup’s growth.

These include the cost of setting up online payment, the lengthy onboarding process, and the use of local currencies, all of which Telr has sought to improve though a series of innovations and partnerships.

One such partnership is with Amman-based Arab Bank,

u The Academy is held in partnership with RAK Free Trade Zone.

[71]

STARTUP ACADEMY which was announced in June and is designed to ease the process for merchants looking to offer online transactions, as well customers buying from their websites.

Kumar said that he hoped the partnership would encourage other banks across the region to follow suit and, in doing so, help nurture and support start-ups and SMEs – the backbone of many economies throughout the Middle East and Africa.

Similarly to El Majed, Kumar explained that a payment partner should provide more than just a basic service to merchants.

He said that they should offer expertise in innovation, industry growth, technology, market knowledge, and market opportunities among other things.

These kinds of expertise can help them develop opportunities in the growing sphere of social commerce. Kumar highlighted that Facebook and Instagram are on course to become the largest platforms for merchants in years to come.

Partnerships with banks, and aiding social commerce is one way in which Telr is “changing the formula”, he explained.

Another is the development of the company’s new Store Builder facility which allows merchants to customise their own mobilefriendly website, complete with content management, order management, social media integration, data analytics, customer support, loyalty programme, and integrated Telr payment gateway.

Kumar explained that the stores are easy to set up and can be ready in just 15 minutes, eliminating yet more of the common time and cost difficulties associated with the existing processes of setting up payment gateways.

It emphasises something that Kumar was keen to address – the issue of fragmentation.

Too often, he said, the different aspects of setting up a small business are fragmented and difficult to pull together – one part of which is payments.

With Telr not only providing a multi-lingual and multicurrency payment gateways, but also logistical support and fund[72]

u Attendees took the opportunity to ask questions of the two speakers.

ing options, Kumar believes this fragmentation is being reduced, helping to solve many problems for merchants, and allowing them to grow their businesses.

Following Kumar’s presentation, the two speakers returned

“Facebook and Instagram are on course to become the largest platforms for merchants.”

to the stage to field a series of questions from the floor.

And after the microphones were finally turned off and coffee-cups drained, they continued to answer numerous questions and queries from attendees eager to gain the benefit of their knowledge and experience.

The next Arabian Business StartUp Academy will take place at the Address Downtown Dubai on Monday, 17 August. Guest speakers Sam Quawasmi, MD and co-founder of Eureeca, and Craig Moore, founder and CEO of Beehive, will discuss the topic of alternative finance options. |

vol. 2 /august 2015

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ANALYTICS

How I did it...

FIROZ MERCHANT THE SELF-MADE MILLIONAIRE DESCRIBES HOW HE USED HIS MONEY FOR PHILANTHROPY

S

oftly-spoken Indian businessman Firoz Merchant is a selfmade millionaire, ranked number 30 on the recent Arabian Business 50 Richest Indians List, with a wealth estimated at around $440 million. This is a far cry from having to leave school at the age of 11 because his parents could not afford the fees and living in a cramped Mumbai bedroom with his eight siblings.

Fast forward to Dubai and he now owns a gold retail conglomerate that is one of the biggest names in the industry and, in the midst of a challenging retail sector, has just announced multi-million-dollar expansion plans, is set to create 2,000 new jobs and is aiming to enter the hospitality sector.

But what really sets Merchant apart from the rest are his phenomenal and very personal philanthropic ventures. Starting in 2011, he has helped repatriate

[74]

"I didn’t just come for the money. How can I pay back the country?” around 4,000 insolvent prisoners from Dubai jails, forking out more than AED3.5 million ($952,914) to pay off their debts.

“I believe we have forgotten about this area. Nobody looks at this area,” he says when I ask him why he goes personally to the cells to help these forgotten men.

“My philosophy is simple.

When I came from my country to the host country I didn’t just come for the money. How can I pay back the country? Saying

tthanks is not enough. How good a human are you? You g have to prove it. h “I was in Sharjah Central JJail where I had a meeting with the deputy director w and we discussed how to a ttake this subject forward.

When the population grows W tthe crime grows and, when ccrime grows, there are more prisoners. In prison there p are good people and bad, a which we cannot judge, it is w ssubject to the judiciary. But, at the end of the day, they a need support. Recently we n ssigned up for AED1.2 million tto support the release of prisoners. p Merchant knows what it means to struggle to make it m iin an unknown market like Dubai. After helping run the D ffamily business in Mumbai, he first came to Dubai on h honeymoon back in 1981, h with the plan to head back w home and, like a dutiful son, h ttake over the reins of his father’s real estate business.

But during his holiday, he toured the gold souks in Deira and was struck by a flash of inspiration.

“I said to my father, ‘I don’t really understand it, but I’m totally convinced I have to go into the gold market’. My father laughed at me. My whole family laughed at me.

They thought I was crazy,” he recalls.

The gamble paid off.

He started in 1989 with no capital, buying and selling gold bars for just AED5 in profit at the start. Within three years, he had enough money saved up to establish Pure Gold Group, which is now a $1 billion retail phenomenon which comprises Pure Gold Jewellers, La Moda Sunglasses, Arianna and Pure Gold Properties.

Today, two decades later, it has 125 outlets in 13 countries, including the GCC, Sri Lanka, Jordan, France, Singapore and India, a staff pool of over 3,500 employees and factories in China and India. |

vol. 3 /august 2015