The Edge - June 2013 (Issue 45)

Exclusive Interview: KPMG’s first international Arab board member Jamal Fakhro

Vol. 5 No. 6 - Issue 45 - June 2013

OF MICE AND BUSINESSMEN Doha's ambition to become the Middle East's premier events locale

UNDER DIGITAL ATTACK Are Qatar's firms really prepared against network infiltration?

GOLDEN RULES OF RETAIL Retail Price: QR20 / AED20

Eminent architect Tim Makower on Qatar's shopping space developments

PLUS:

Where are all of Doha’s family IPOs? London’s Qatari property investment boom Qatar’s oil industry expansion plans Country Focus: Indonesia

contents june 2013 w w w.t h e e d ge. m e

cover story 56

With Doha now hosting various global and regional exhibitions and conferences throughout the year, The Edge’s Aparajita Mukherjee probes the sector to see if the stakeholders involved are really prepared to make the Qatari capital the events capital of the Middle East.

Hamad Mohammed Al Abdan, director of Doha Exhibition Center, says that the Qatar Motor Show, the HYA Abaya Exhibition and the Doha Trade Fair are some of the largest and most well attended exhibitions, the former in February 2013 attracting more than 100,000 people.

features Feature Story: Qatar under attack

46

Targeted financial crimes and cyber espionage are all on the rise around the world. The Edge’s Shehan Mashood explores the challenges organisations in Qatar face in securing their IT systems.

Business Interview: Jamal Fakhro 52

Managing partner, KPMG Qatar, Jamal Fakhro is the first Arab national to join the global board of the multinational auditing company. In an exclusive interview with The Edge, he talks about transparency in the Qatari workplace.

Feature Story: The golden rules of retail

64

Tim Makower, the architectural language advisor for Msheireb Properties, writes that retailers and developers need to adpot a holisitc approach to planning Doha’s shopping spaces.

Business Management: Managing staff

70

The London Business School’s Julian Birkinshaw, Vyla Rollins and Stefano Turconi tell how poor managers can change to become true leaders.

64 Doha’s Souq Waqif is a good example of the blend between urban and old city elements that mall developers should look into, says leading architect Tim Makower.

(Image Corbis)

The Edge | 3

contents page

sectors Finance & Markets

23

Qatar’s prime minister wants companies to list on the Qatar Exchange. But are Doha’s family-owned businesses ready or even willing?

Energy & Sustainability 29

Qatar’s crude oil extraction activities are showing no signs of slowing as a huge rig makes its way to the nation from Singapore.

Construction & Real Estate 33

A tour of Qatar’s new building Jaidah Square reveals what sets the building apart in downtown Doha.

Tech. & Communications 37

A recent study revealed that ‘showrooming’ has emerged as a significant threat to traditional retailers.

Business Insight 75

Tue Mantoni, CEO Bang & Olufsen discusses the luxury market; Ryan Peden of Peden Consulting shares his insights on workplace usage of language in Qatar and Wayne Merrick, general manager of The Links Group Qatar talks about the hurdles of the company formation process in Qatar.

80

Tue Mantoni, the CEO of Bang & Olufsen, discusses the growth of the luxury goods sector in emerging markets such as Qatar.

regulars From the Editor 8 Photo of the month 12 Business News 14 Qatar Impact 20 Country Focus 42 Products Page 86 10 Things 88 4 | The Edge

publications director mohamed jaidah m.jaidah@firefly-me.com managing editor miles masterson m.masterson@theedge-me.com senior business editor aparajita mukherjee a.mukherjee@theedge-me.com deputy editor farwa zahra f.zahra@theedge-me.com digital editor/editorial asst. shehan mashood s.mashood@theedge-me.com regional sales director julia toon j.toon@firefly-me.com | +974 66880228 head of business sales manu parmar m.parmar@theedge-me.com | +974 33325038 sales managers adam kynnersley a.kynnersley@theedge-me.com | +974 66079716 joseph issac j.issac@firefly-me.com | +974 33675301 distribution & subscriptions azqa haroon a.haroon@firefly-me.com | +974 55692471 design coordinator sarah jabari finaliser ronald alvin baron photographer herbert villadelrey proofreader geoff instone printer ali bin ali printing press Doha, Qatar

firefly communications PO Box 11596, Doha , Qatar Tel: +974 44340360 / Fax: +974 44340359 www.firefly-me.com The Edge is printed monthly Š 2013 Firefly Communications. All material strictly copyright and all rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part, without the prior written permission of Firefly Communications, is strictly forbidden. All content is believed to be factual at the time of publication. Views expressed by contributors are their own derived opinions and not necessarily endorsed by The Edge or Firefly Communications. No responsibility or liability is accepted by the editorial staff or the publishers for any loss occasioned to any individual or company, legal or physical, acting or refraining from action as a result of any statement, fact, figure, expression of opinion or belief contained in The Edge. The publisher (Firefly Communications) does not officially endorse any advertising or advertorial content for third party products.

Photography/image credits and copyright, where not specifically stated, are that of Shutterstock and/or iStock Photo or Firefly Communications.

6 | The Edge

editor’sletter Our company recently conducted an internal workshop in Doha. Involving all departments, the exercise was aimed at fostering internal collaboration among individuals within the firm who may not regularly interact.

Our host was Nancy Mathis of First Take Communications, a public relations expert from the United States (US). Mathis is an award winning television anchor who has worked in print and radio and as a communications director and consultant for various government entities in Washington, as well as many small firms, large corporations and organisations in the US and around the world.

A regular visitor to Qatar and the Middle East, Mathis has also been a guest speaker for the Qatar chapter of the Entrepreneurs Organization (EO).

Following a day of training with her, the exercise was simple: break up the employees attending into small groups of people who do not normally work with one another, each of which had to come up in less than 24 hours with a pitch aimed at the Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA) to ‘Brand Qatar’.

They would then present their pitch at a company dinner the next evening. What followed was an insight into the group dynamics of teams of employees from separate departments and varied backgrounds, as well as how they perceive Qatar and how they think it should present itself to the world.

Being largely attended by creative people from our firm, ideas and execution were not a challenge. The point of the exercise was more to illustrate how, when it comes to people, any organisation is more than just the sum of its parts, and that sharing more in different ways

between departments can unearth creative ideas and business opportunities that may not have surfaced otherwise.

This can be true anywhere, but is perhaps more so in Qatar, which has so many nationalities working together. Employees here tend to gravitate towards colleagues with whom they have to interact every day, and only socialise at work and after hours within certain cliques. Often, this can be to the overall detriment of their company, as any organisation can only benefit from more effective internal communication of ideas and sales leads, etcetera.

Apart from many other pieces of advice when it comes to sharing information within the company and beyond, our workshop was also an opportunity to get to know our peers better. In the beginning, each employee had to stand up and tell the rest of his or her colleagues some background information about themselves.

A cringeworthy process for the shy and reticent, it was nevertheless a good tool to start collaboration between staff members, some of whom barely knew one another’s name or nationality, all working towards a common goal.

Being largely made up of expatriates from the Middle East, Africa, Asia, Europe, North America and Australasia, the natural direction for all the teams was to create a positive global brand profile for Qatar for the world, beyond simply attracting tourists.

The final concepts and ideas varied greatly, ranging from dispelling misconceptions about Qatar, to attracting the greatest minds to come and work here, to focusing on the great culture of hospitality of Qataris, the secure environment the country presents for families, the great career opportunities and financial stability here, and finally, Doha’s sporting and creative realms.

But as refreshing as it was to focus purely on this country’s many positive attributes, for me the biggest take out of that workshop was to be reminded of the great variety of talented people we have working here – local and expatriate – who are all contributing to the future promise of Qatar every day.

To me, that is the real ‘Brand Qatar’.

Any organisation is more than just the sum of its parts, and sharing more between departments can unearth creative ideas Miles Masterson and business opportunities. Managing Editor 8 | The Edge

12 | The Edge

photo of the month

Golden Moment

Qatari football club Al Rayyan’s Fabio Cesar and his teammate Abdulrahman Musabeh kiss the trophy after winning the Emir Cup soccer tournament final match against Al Sadd in Doha in May. The Emir Cup is the premier tournament played every season in Qatar by first and second division teams. The Cup is played on a knockout format and involves all 16 professional clubs in Qatar. The most successful is Al Sadd which has won the tournament 13 times. The Emir Cup was played for the first time in 1972, and was won by Al Ahli. 2013’s final attracted a capacity crowd of 50,000 fans at Khalifa Stadium in Doha.

(Image Reuters/Arabian Eye) The Edge | 13

news business

Qatar Financial Centre releases Middle East Wealth Study 2013

QFC and Campden Wealth have released a survey of wealth in the Middle East which reveals that the region has approximately 35 US dollar billionaires.

The Qatar Financial Centre Authority and Campden Wealth in its regional wealth study, Beyond Conventions, pegged the region’s overall wealth at more than USD4.5 trillion (QAR16.4 trillion), with approximately 35 billionaires. It said that the region is driven by family businesses, adding that as much as 75 percent of the private sector’s economic activity in the Gulf Cooperation Council is controlled by family businesses.

The study noted that though family businesses are dominant, the spirit of entrepreneurship in the Middle East is thriving. The study said that the two categories might not be mutually exclusive, whereby people behind a family business would often describe themselves as entrepreneurs as well as family business owners.

This was particularly true of companies that were still in transition between generations.

Nearly 40 percent of the sample group, the study added, said they had an excellent relationship with their private banker and/or wealth manager, with only seven percent saying it was poor. This compared favourably with Campden Wealth’s annual European family office study, where satisfaction levels were much lower than the fallout from the financial crisis of 2008 to 2009. The study added that for the most part, the Middle East avoided the worst of the crisis and this certainly had a bearing on wealth owners’ relationships with service providers, such as private banks. “There is a growing trend among wealthy families in the Middle East to invest in the region,” Yousuf Al Jaida, the chief strategic development officer, Qatar Financial Centre Authority told The Edge, “55 percent of respondents said they were investing more in the region.

For many, the preference is for low risk asset classes they feel they understand, such as property. There is less interest in intangible classes such as hedge funds.”

QNRF awards QAR440 million in research funding to projects The Qatar National Research Fund (QNRF) recently held its 5th Annual Forum where the national agency announced its five-year strategy. Dr. Abdul Sattar Al Taie, executive director at QNRF told The Edge that the new phase of growth will expand the role of the QNRF as the prime enabler of research by allocating funding to research that is of national priority. Under the National Priorities Research Program (NPRP), more than 29 research organisations based in Qatar have benefitted from research grants worth QAR1.8 billion over the past five years. The newly announced strategy includes setting up a Research Outcomes Centre to share details with the public and relevant stakeholders.

The success rate so far for research projects has been 20 percent for projects awarded. Dr. Taie reveals that the QNRF funded research has so far led to 15 patents filed with two being granted so 14 | The Edge

far. This year QNRF announced research grants worth QAR440 million. The NPRP, its flagship programme focuses on research that is of national interest to Qatar and “addresses the grand challenges of the country,” said Dr. Al Taie.

Faisal Alsuwaidi, the president of research and development at Qatar Foundation speaks at the 5th Annual Forum of the QNRF where their new five-year strategy was unveiled.

news business

Sasol and Shell collaborate with Qatar’s SMEs

Energy players are increasingly turning toward SMEs enabling them to participate in their value chain, says Saleh Al Khulaifi, Bedaya Center Manager.

Number of the month The number of shops in the Mall of Qatar.

400

Visitors at the Cityscape 2013 having a closer look at the model of the Mall of Qatar.

In two recent events, Qatar Shell and Sasol welcomed small and medium enterprises (SMEs) into their supply chain business opportunities for local companies. Qatar Shell organised a workshop along with Qatar Development Bank (QDB) in which there were more than 100 participants from various sectors.

Talking at the signing ceremony, Wael Sawan, managing director and chairman, Qatar Shell said, “A healthy private sector, which begins

with SMEs and entrepreneurs, is beneficial to large organisations; and we hope that Qatar Shell will become the lead example that has succeeded in delivering and then operating world-scale projects with local suppliers.”

Talking to The Edge about the Shell initiative, Saleh Al Khulaifi, Bedaya Center Manager said, “It is good that Shell is heavily approaching SMEs through the QDB so that these companies learn how to be part of Shell’s value chain.” Bedaya Center is a non-governmental organisation with a mission to connect people in the 18-30 age group with enterprise and financing opportunities.

On the Sasol and Bedaya Center tie-up to help SMEs, Khulaifi was of the opinion that Sasol was helping Bedaya and the entrepreneurs with acquiring technical expertise in the oil and gas fields and in the chemical manufacturing fields.

Sasol has selected two entrepreneurs to whom they would impart the best practices in the chemical and manufacturing field, added Khulaifi.

Cityscape unveils Qatar’s new projects Started last year, Cityscape returned to Qatar highlighting the scope of Qatar’s property development opportunities and infrastructure projects to investors and key industry professionals from around the globe.

Speaking with The Edge, senior marketing manager of IIR Middle East, Adele Laker said, “Many companies are from outside Qatar; they are attracted to the country due to the development in its real estate market and the huge opportunities and potential.”

One of the major highlights of this year’s Cityscape was the ribbon cutting ceremony of the Mall of Qatar, falling under the umbrella of UrbaCon General Contracting. The Mall of Qatar was officially launched May 21. The mall, which is scheduled for completion in the third quarter of 2015, will have a dedicated metro station opening directly into the development.

Other features include 400 shops, 7000 parking spaces, a major hypermarket, five departmental stores, 20 international restaurants and an indoor streetscape. “The project is set to make a substantial contribution to the development of the country,” said Shem Krey, deputy managing director of the Mall of Qatar.

On the first day of the Cityscape, Barwa Real Estate also showcased models of its three major projects: Oryx Island, the Gulf Resort and Dara.

The Edge | 15

news

business in brief Words & Numbers

“For there to be a change [in World Cup’s dates] to winter, it is necessary that Qatar ask for it.”

FIFA president Sepp Blatter when asked about the rumour that moving the dates of World Cup would need a revote.

Phase 3 of Msheireb Downtown Doha set to begin

Turkish Airlines recognises its business contributors

Qatar’s real estate developer Msheireb Properties has awarded the QAR2.5 billion construction contract to Obayashi Corporation and HBK Contracting for the third and penultimate stage of Msheireb Downtown Doha. Phase 3 will have a mosque, 11 residential buildings, two office buildings, 84 retail units and a hotel.

“Awarding the construction contract for Phase 3 symbolises our commitment to the implementation of this project,” said Abdulla Hassan Al Mehshadi, CEO at Msheireb Properties.

Acknowledging the services of Regency Travel & Tours, Turkish Airlines in Qatar awarded a memento to the Executives of Turkish Airlines and Regency Travel travel agency for & Tours at the recognition being the highest award event in Doha. seller for the airline in Qatar. The award was presented to the CEO of Regency Travel & Tours, Tareq Abdullatif Taha. Mehmed Kursad Caymaz, general manager of Turkish Airlines in Qatar, said, “The number of tourists flying to Turkey from Qatar has risen exponentially over the past few years, led by our status as a business and year-round leisure destination.”

380

QAR380 billion.

Total assets of QNB, which increased by 22.2 percent since 31 March, 2012. The bank has topped Bloomberg’s ranking of the World’s Strongest Banks.

“By reaching the summit of Mount Everest, Sheikh Mohamed has taken ROTA to new heights.”

Reach Out To Asia executive director Essa Al Manna while praising Sheikh Mohamed bin Abdulla Al Thani, the first Qatari to climb Mount Everest.

364

QAR364 million. Amount of Enterprise Qatar’s fund aimed at financing SMEs.

16 | The Edge

Katara acquires Somerset Doha Phase 3 of Msheireb Downtown Doha will feature 11 residential buildings.

Qatar Finance and Business Academy unveils Kawader Qatar Finance and Business Academy (QFBA) has launched Kawader, a programme that aims to persuade CEO of QFBA, Dr. talented young Abdulazziz Al Horr Qataris to choose said that Kawader’s objective is to a career in the encourage young financial sector.

Qataris to engage in the financial “QFBA works hard sector for qualitative Qatarisation. to position Qatar as an international financial hub. We dream of transforming Doha into the capital of capital cities,” said Dr. Abdulazziz Al Horr, CEO of QFBA. Only 15 candidates will be selected to participate in the programme based on specific entrance prerequisites.

Temperley London opens in Salam Stores Qatar’s first Temperley London store has been launched in The Gate Mall. Alice Temperley, the brand’s designer who was in Doha for the launching ceremony, said, “We have worked on a store concept together that showcases us perfectly in this market.

We are delighted to be coming out to Doha for the store opening.”

Katara Hospitality has recently completed the acquisition of Somerset West Bay Doha, following the signing of a Memorandum of CEO of Katara Hospitality Hamad Understanding with Abdulla Al Mulla said Barwa Real Estate last that the company’s goal is to own 30 year. This is the first properties by 2016. operational property out of three assets to be acquired under the agreement. Somerset West Bay Doha represents the company’s first venture into the niche market of serviced residences.

Katara Hospitality is a company worth more than QAR182 billion, noted Hamad Abdulla Al Mulla, CEO of Katara Hospitality.

Enterprise Qatar to train entrepreneurs and managers Enterprise Qatar (EQ) has recently introduced Core Skills Programme, a subsidised programme for entrepreneurs and managers of SMEs in Qatar.

Partnering with leading international training firms and educational institutions, EQ’s trainings series will provide professional advisory services.

Noora Al Mannai, CEO of EQ, commented that the Core Skills Programme is a groundbreaking effort to raise the ability of SMEs in Qatar to improve their services and operations, compete more effectively and achieve higher profitability rates.

events business Qatar, June 2013

event of the month 4-6 June

CHRVI Qatar

Organised by the Heights Exhibitions and Conferences, the Cooling, Heating, Refrigeration, Ventilation and Insulation exhibition will be held at the Doha Exhibition Center from the 4th to the 6th of June. A press release from the company states that this will be the first time an international event of its kind will be held in Qatar and the wider Middle East. “The exhibition is coinciding with the fast development of the State of Qatar and the preparation of World Cup projects,” said Waleed Wahba, CEO of Heights Exhibitions and Conferences.

The event will showcase specialised technologies with both manufacturing and commercial applications. It is expected that 100 local, regional and international companies will participate. The group CEO of Mannai Trading, Alekh Grewal noted that, “This international exhibition is the right platform to showcase our HVAC system capabilities, whether it is for commercial or high-end residential developments.”

3-5 June

World Stadium Congress

Following the success of last year’s World Stadium Congress, the event returns to Qatar, to be held at The Torch Doha. The programmes during the three-day event are expected to bring together influential members from host nations and international experts from across the stadium industry. Topics include achieving sustainability of sports facilities for Qatar 2022 and managing the stadium experience to generate long-term legacy.

The Aspire Dome located in Doha. (Image Corbis)

10 June

Innovation for business series

The Importance of ICT is the latest event in the Qatar Success Series, sponsored by the Qatar Development Bank and Shell. The event will focus on the role that technology can play in the private sector. A one-day event to be held at the Renaissance Hotel, Doha will examine the opportunities for business development, cross-border trade and investment opportunities through ICT.

upcoming events 16 - 17 September ITS road safety forum

16 - 18 September Global refining technology forum Qatar has implemented numerous ambitious projects such as the district cooling plants around West Bay operated by Qatar Cool, which provide chilled water through a network of pipes to residential and commercial building for air conditioning purposes. (Image Corbis)

18 | The Edge

17 - 19 September GCC Europe SME forum

qatar impact

EDUCATING QATAR Doha parents know how much of a concern the cost and availability of education is in Qatar. Kamahl Santamaria thinks business is in a great position to assist.

A

mong the many benefits of living and working in Doha come a few downsides. Traffic is a major one.

The brutal heat of the desert summer is another. And if you have children, education is very high on that list too.

This is mostly about expatriate families here. While I am not aware of any crisis in Qatari or Arabic education, I do not hesitate to use the word ‘crisis’ when I talk about what is essentially a gap between supply and demand.

Consider this. Hamad Hospital alone sees an average of 40 births a day. That is quite a number for such a small country, and does not take into account the many births at Qatar’s private hospitals. Years down the track, it means that those children will need placement at schools.

Right now, there are not enough schools in Doha, and competition for the existing ones is high. It is not just a case of filling out an application form and presenting a cheque. There are assessments for the children, and with a very few spots available, many parents end up in disappointment.

Education in Qatar is not cheap either.

While some are fortunate enough to have their employers cover all education costs, others do not have that luxury. To send a three or four-year-old child to school can cost at least QAR10,000 every term, which is a sobering reminder that schooling is a business as well as a means of education.

Some of these issues were highlighted recently when Doha College (DC) announced the opening of a new primary school campus in West Bay. It sent a shudder through some parents, especially those with 20 | The Edge

older children at Doha English Speaking School (DESS), which acts as a feeder for DC. Another primary school meant fewer places when the time came for secondary education.

The hope is that the Supreme Education Council sees that approval for new schools as an urgent issue. It takes time for facilities to be built and become functional, so decisions now rather than later are crucial.

Another hope is that private education businesses look to Doha as a place where they could have a big impact. Much is made of the GEMS Education schools – an organisation which clearly sees the business potential in education, and fills gaps in the markets in places such as Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and countries across Africa. It plans to enter the Qatari market with an Indian-curriculum school in Wakra next year, and a Britishcurriculum school just north of Doha on the Shamal Road the year after.

In the meantime, what role can businesses here play? There are always regular sponsorship opportunities out there

– local but high-profile events which ensure a business gets good exposure and is seen as contributing to the community.

But I can think of no better way to contribute to a community than to invest in – not just sponsor – its children and their education.

I was astonished on a recent trip to Qatar Academy at Education City to see the amount of teaching and work done on computers. Clearly, this is the way things are going, and it presents a great opportunity for the right business to supply students with the tools they now need.

Or what about financial assistance with new facilities? At DESS, one of the children’s play areas is named the IBQ Quadrangle.

You could argue that corporate signage in an education facility is not ideal, but at least it represents a tangible contribution that a business has made to the school.

What I am suggesting involves a great deal of philanthropy and goodwill, and naturally businesses cannot just be giving their money away to any old cause. But so much is made of the great business conditions that exist in Qatar. Would it not be great to put some of that success back into the community in a truly meaningful way?

Kamahl Santamaria is a Doha-based news anchor with Al Jazeera English and host of the channel’s business and economics programme Counting the Cost.

This section is brought to you by Qatar Financial Centre Contents: Where are all of Doha’s family IPOs? 23 . Fitch affirms ratings for seven Qatari banks 25 . Opportunity in Islamic finance for local rating agencies 25 . FATCA intensifies global efforts against tax evasion 26. Major projects trigger a rise in state spending 28.

finance & markets

Where are all of Doha’s family IPOs?

The prime minister and foreign minister HE Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem bin Jabor Al Thani has said recently that big family-owned businesses and other private sector players still remained out of the ambit of the QE. (Image Reuters/Arabian Eye)

In a recent speech, the prime minister of Qatar HE Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem bin Jabor Al Thani has urged more private sector companies to list on the Qatar Exchange (QE), saying that the limited number of listings do not reflect the size of the Qatari economy. But are the familyowned businesses ready? asks Aparajita Mukherjee The Edge’s Senior Business Editor.

O

pening a conference that mulled ways to encourage private companies to go public and help the country achieve its national vision, the prime minister HE Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem bin Jabor Al Thani exhorted familyowned businesses to seek listing, saying that it would be beneficial for both the owners as well as the national economy.

Lamenting a limited number of listed companies on the Qatari bourse, the prime minister has said that larger business entities – a hint at big family-owned businesses and other private sector players – still remained out of the ambit of the QE which has 42 listed entities, with the last IPO taking place some three years ago.

The spirit of reluctance to list on the bourse is a pan-Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) phenomenon, which has been reflected in a study done by Deloitte recently. Deloitte attributes the low number of IPOs in the GCC due to stricter regulatory measures and lack of liquidity. Commenting on the Deloitte study, Matthew Lewis director of Middle East and North Africa

Brought to you by:

The Edge | 23

sectors | finance & markets

for Boyden Global Executive Search said, “Regulatory factors are a key determinant and a lack of liquidity in the traded stocks means little incentive for the investor in seeing any upside in their investment. To incentivise more local companies to list, they should be provided with the relevant expertise and assistance, and given professional support from advisors and companies that have been through that process before.”

Declan Hayes, managing director at Deloitte Corporate Finance Limited in the Middle East and North Africa region, says, “Whether a business is contemplating a listing on the Bourse Dubai, the Muscat Stock Market or a future SME market (as has been tabled in Doha and Dubai), a company’s readiness to list will be the key differentiating factor between those that are first past the finish line when the IPO window opens.”

fields, which are then managed by a holding company. So it is very difficult to put a unified strategy in place for so many different divisions.” Contrarily, most companies in the United States or Europe have a single business focus which makes it easier for them to put in place a single and unified growth strategy.

Lewis echoed Jaidah’s sentiments and said that in most cases family companies are not currently at the relevant stage of their development to list in Qatar. Reflecting Jaidah’s take on the growth strategy of companies, Lewis added, “First companies have to decide that they want to go ahead with listing, which often has implications that they had not previously considered or had to achieve, like three years fully audited accounts, and implementing levels of transparency required by the market, investors and regulators.”

“A company needs to put in place its growth strategy before it opts to list on a stock exchange,” - Mohamed J. Jaidah, group executive director, Jaidah Group.

Advantages of listing

Talking to The Edge on the advantages of listing, Sheikh Faisal bin Qassim Al Thani, chairman of Aamal Company, a listed entity on the QE, said, “Aamal Company has benefitted from all the advantages of public listing. Today, investors in the Gulf and in more developed financial markets regard Aamal Company as one of the best managed companies in the region.

Since its listing, the company has grown in headcount, revenues and shareholders, establishing joint ventures with leading world-class multinational companies, since these companies regard Aamal as the partner of choice when wanting to enter the Qatari market.”

Agreeing in spirit with the fact that listing brings many advantages, for Mohamed J. Jaidah, group executive director, Jaidah Group (a non-listed familyowned business group) said, “Listing gives a company access to capital which can be used for the development of the company.

But the company needs to put in place its growth strategy before it opts to list on a stock exchange, since the strategy would dictate that growth, mainly pertaining to the use of the capital that a company raises by way of the listing.”

Diversified entities

One of the main problems of the traditional family-run businesses in Qatar is that they have a very classical take on the way their businesses need to run. Jaidah said, “Most family-owned businesses have different business divisions, in different 24 | The Edge

Sheikh Faisal bin Qassim Al Thani, chairman of Aamal Company, which owns numerous businesses including City Center Doha, noted that the organisation has benefitted significantly from listing on the local stock market.

finance & markets | sectors

Bank ratings

Fitch affirms ratings for seven Qatari banks

“Given Qatar’s robust economy and the authorities’ strong track record of support for local banks, downside pressure is considered low,” Fitch stated.

Abdulbasit Al Shaibei, chief executive officer of Qatar International Islamic Bank says that the recent affirmation by Fitch is a reflection of the fundamental strength and soundness of the bank.

Qatari banks’ ratings reflect their strong capital base and healthy performance, says ratings agency Fitch.

Fitch’s view of support is based on a strong history of sovereign support including measures to boost capital, as well as asset purchases, as clearly demonstrated in recent years. Support is the primary factor driving the issuer default ratings (IDRs).

Fitch’s opinion of support is based on the ability and willingness of Qatar to support the banking sector. The government owns stakes in all the banks, following capital injections into the banking system between 2009 and the first quarter of 2011.

“Given Qatar’s robust economy and the authorities’ strong track record of support Fitch Qatar Banking ratings QNB

(‘A ‘/’F1’/’a’)

Commercial bank

(‘A’/’F1’/’bbb’)

Qatar Islamic Bank

(‘A’/’F1’/’bbb’)

Doha Bank

(‘A’/’F1’/’bbb’)

Ahli Bank

(‘A-’/’F2’/’bbb-’)

al khaliji

(‘A-’/’F2’/’bb ‘)

International Islamic

(‘A-’/’F2’/’bb ‘).

for local banks, downside pressure is considered low,” Fitch stated.

Interpreting the ratings for The Edge, Salah Murad, chief executive officer, Ahli Bank said that the affirmation of the credit rating by Fitch reflects the bank’s solid profitability, adequate liquidity, strong capitalisation and sound asset quality. The ratings were affirmed with ‘stable outlook’ For Al Khaliji chief executive officer Robin McCall, Fitch’s rating is a reaffirmation of the bank’s medium-term strategy. “With our focus on supporting our preferred clients and supporting the growth in the Qatari economy,” he said, “it is pleasing that Fitch has recognised the coherence of our strategy and believes that we will continue to expand.”

Abdulbasit Al Shaibei, chief executive officer of Qatar International Islamic Bank added, “The recent affirmation by Fitch is a reflection of the fundamental strength and soundness of the bank, which in turn is a reflection of the bank managing its business well to benefit from the strong economic development being experienced in Qatar.”

Credit ratings

Opportunity in Islamic finance for local rating agencies There has been much discussion of a local credit ratings agency, following the announcement of Qatar’s central bank governor Sheikh Abdullah Saud Al Thani.

But how can it differentiate it self to stand out against the global rating agencies? By Shehan Mashood

Speaking at a Sukuk Conference held in Doha recently, Faheem Ahmad a senior technical advisor with the Islamic International Rating Agency (IIRA) noted that it is a positive move that Qatar wants to develop a local credit ratings agency, but is not clear yet what the framework for the ratings will be. The thrust of his talk was the importance of credit ratings within the context of Islamic finance.

Islamic finance has been experiencing significant growth in the region, and Qatar specifically. The latest report from Ernst & Young showed that Islamic banking assets are expected to have grown by as much as 23 percent in 2012. The central bank governor of Qatar also pointed out that assets in Islamic banks have multiplied 20 times in the past 10 years, from QAR8.8 billion to QAR195 billion. However, this growth has not been matched in financial support systems such as credit ratings.

Credit ratings agencies are tasked with providing investors with informed analysis of risks associated with specific debt securities.

However, conventional ratings products like those offered by global credit ratings agencies such as Standard & Poor’s (S&P), Fitch and Moody’s use the same criteria for rating both Islamic banking and conventional banking.

Ahmad offered that Islamic banks should look beyond credit risk and corporate governance, and establish a more comprehensive criterion to judge the The Edge | 25

sectors | finance & markets

stability of Islamic banks, one that recognises the mutually dependent nature of credit and fiduciary risks.

It is important to know if the ‘mudarib’ the entrepreneurial partner in a mudaraba partnership that provides the expertise and management – can be trusted with the money given to them, explained Ahmad.

The IIRA for example uses a combination of factors, corporate governance, shari’ah governance and the asset manger quality to create a fiduciary score.

However, Stuart Anderson, the managing director and regional head at S&P, told The Edge that sometimes complex Islamic financing structures do follow the same basic principles as non-Islamic ones.

Anderson did admit that there are certain “singular characteristics” that influence their credit profiles, for instance their funding.

He noted that they take these into account on a case-by-case basis when applying the criteria to Islamic banks.

As mentioned, it is unclear what the framework for any possible local credit ratings agency is. But, considering that Qatar is positioning itself as a hub for Islamic finance, it would serve the country well to develop a ratings agency that caters to this underdeveloped market.

QAR

195 billion

Qatar’s Islamic banks’ current assets that have multiplied 20 times over the past 10 years, according to the central bank governor of Qatar.

CEO of EastNets Hazem Mulhim says that FATCA would require an increased scrutiny on any foreign investments.

Tax disclosures

FATCA intensifies global efforts against tax evasion

Tax evasion in the US is getting a new dimension with the recently introduced Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA). CEO of EastNets Hazem Mulhim tells The Edge’s Aparajita Mukherjee that by adhering to the FATCA, financial institutions have an obligation of tracking and properly documenting any foreign financial assets.

Qatar’s growth in Islamic banking presents a unique opportunity for a future credit ratings agency.

However, the IIRA is currently the sole rating agency for capital markets and the banking sector in predominantly Islamic countries.

26 | The Edge

FATCA, which came to effect on January 1, 2013, has made it compulsory for Foreign Financial Institutions (FFIs) to collect, manage and report all information that could reasonably point to individual’s liability for US taxation to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Although the act is intended to prevent tax evasion among US citizens living and working abroad, it has also been raising concerns among

financial institutions that want to honour international policies and yet are hesitant to possibly compromise the confidentiality of client information.

Giving his take on how FATCA will impact business in the region and Qatar, Mulhim was of the opinion that businesses looking to expand their global reach and directly invest and operate outside their home country have to take into consideration the tax being imposed by FATCA. “For many big companies, this does not pose as a threat, but smaller ones will definitely face some challenges, and some might even retreat from having a global presence if cost compliance proves too high.”

Talking about how FATCA could possibly compromise the confidentiality of client information, which has been a cause for concern among many financial institutions, Mulhim agreed that this is very true and it is a matter of concern. FATCA is a tool, he says, that governments will use to combat tax evasion. “So it is essentially a regulation, based on reporting information on the financial institution which has, as its customer, a FFI.”

Impact of FATCA

Mulhim said, “FATCA would impact the way FI do business with US citizens in the future. New foreign customers would undergo a much stricter process, and more information would be demanded.”

On the other hand, FATCA did motivate Financial institutions (FIs) to enhance, said Mulhim, their current procedures of customer due diligence. “So a lot of local banks are reviewing and enhancing their current process, expecting other countries to start implementing their own versions of a FATCA tax evasion law,” he added.

sectors | finance & markets

Qatar budget

Major projects trigger rise in state spending With the 2022 FIFA World Cup less than a decade away, Qatar’s government is poised to speed up its infrastructure and development programme after raising expenditures on April 1 for the new financial year, writes OBG’s Bill Sellars.

Government spending has been increased by 18 percent in the budget for fiscal year 2013 to 2014. Interest from local players in the construction industry and related segments is expected to be high, with business leaders aware that investment levels will likely ease once the state projects are completed.

The budget sets out spending of USD57.8 billion (QAR210.4 billion) against revenue of USD59.9 billion (QAR218 billion), leaving a surplus of USD2.1 billion (QAR7.6 billion). The budget’s revenue figures are based on a cautious oil price of just USD65 (QAR236.6) per barrel, according to a statement by the minister of economy and finance, Yousef Hussain Kamal, to the QNA state news agency.

Much of this year’s budget has been dedicated to infrastructure projects, with capital works set to take up around 30 percent of all spending. Infrastructure’s allocation is up 28 percent in a year-onyear comparison. Farah Ahmed Hersi, an economist with regional bank and finance house Masraf Al Rayan, said the lower budgetary surplus forecast for Qatar was not unexpected. “When external accounts are that healthy, there is a natural tendency to increase spending, and in doing so, you dig into your surplus,” he said in an interview with Reuters news agency on April 2. “The budget shows how serious the country is about speeding up infrastructure development to get ready for 2022.”

Increased expenditure

The government has already increased expenditure by almost a fifth this fiscal year. A report by the Qatar National Bank (QNB) suggests spending levels could rise even higher in the 12 months to end March 2014. The report, issued in mid28 | The Edge

Qatar’s budget revenue figures are based on a cautious oil price of just USD65 per barrel, according to a statement by the minister of economy and finance, Yousef Hussain Kamal.

April, revealed the combined spending programmes outlined for the current financial year could push up expenditure to as much as QAR240.2 billion for the 2013 to 2014 budgetary cycle.

Although the government is pumping more funds into the economy this year and looks set to maintain spending levels in the coming years, the minister of economy and finance expects to scale down investment in the second half of the decade once several of the state’s big ticket projects are finalised. “The budget of course until the year 2015 or 2017 will be at the same

210.4

level, but later on it could go down again because most of the infrastructure would be completed at that time,” Kamal said, after handing down the new budget.

However, some business leaders are concerned that not enough funds are finding their way into the domestic economy. Nasser Al Khaledy, the chief executive officer of mixed business and industrial firm Qatar-Oman Investment Company, pointed out that most of the work was going to foreign contractors.

There are concerns firms may be hardpressed to manage the workload that the infrastructure developments, which are valued at more than USD200 billion (QAR728 billion) and set to be rolled out over the next 10 years, will produce.

Delays could have a knock-on effect on the programme, slowing other projects and forcing the government to put back plans to reduce spending. However, as long as Qatar’s projects are delivered on schedule, surpluses should start to rise once again after 2017.

Total spending by the government in 2013 to 2014 fiscal year.

Bill Sellars is an analyst at Oxford Business Group.

QAR

billion

Contents: Qatar expands oil extraction plans 29 . Private sector rejects Qatar carbon storage bid 30 . Qatar’s growing need for economic diversification 31 . Qatar extends downstream hydrocarbon push 32 . Total takes interest in Qatar solar sector 32.

energy & sustainability Qatar expands oil extraction plans Qatar’s crude oil extraction activities are showing no signs of slowing as a huge rig makes it way to the nation, says Jamie Stewart, The Edge’s Energy and Sustainability Sector editor.

Built by Singapore shipyard PPL, the Al Jassra rig will drill super-deep wells in the Al Shaheen field, Qatar’s largest operational offshore oil reserve. (Image PPL)

Qatar’s crude oil export revenues are expected to far exceed overlyconservative price assumptions.

atar-based hydrocarbon extraction giant Gulf Drilling International (GDI) has taken a major step in its bid to expand its oil business, taking delivery of what is, in the words of the energy ministry “one of the most technologically advanced offshore drilling rigs to ever work in the State of Qatar.” The expansion looks set to coincide with a boost in Doha’s oil related income, because crude oil export revenues are expected to far exceed overly-conservative price assumptions set by the Ministry of Economy and Finance in its budget for the ongoing fiscal period, according to the Qatar National Bank (QNB) Group.

At the end of April, GDI took delivery of the Al Jassra rig. The facility, which is being transferred from Singapore to Qatar, is the first of three new offshore rigs being built for GDI by Singaporean shipyard PPL for GDI. The company aims to add seven new rigs to its fleet by the end of next year.

Al Khaliji Commercial Bank played a major role in financing the rig, which GDI estimates cost QAR900 million to put into service. “Our contribution further fuels the ongoing development of Qatar’s economy,” the banking group’s CEO Robin McCall said, “We expect Al Khaliji to play an even larger role in this sector as the State of Qatar continues to drive its diversification plans.”

Al Jassra will drill super-deep wells that are needed to exploit long, thin reservoirs of crude oil in the Al Shaheen field, Qatar’s largest offshore oil reserve. It will be The Edge | 29

sectors | energy & sustainability

operated jointly by GDI and Maersk Qatar Oil. “We expect GDI’s expansion plans to contribute significantly to the increased revenues of [GDI parent company] Gulf International Services,” energy minister Mohammed bin Saleh Al Sada said.

Revenue

Qatar will see revenue totalling almost QAR270 billion from oil exports during the ongoing fiscal year, according to a statement from the QNB Group, because the global oil price will average USD107 (QAR390) per barrel between the start of April this year and the end of March next year. The figure stands 65 percent higher than the cautious USD65 per barrel that the government based its budget on.

This, QNB Group revealed, will pave the way for estimated revenue that stands just over QAR50 billion in excess of the ministry’s forecast of QAR218 billion, which will leave room for significantly higher spending than planned, stating that Qatar, as with most GCC countries, tends to spend considerably more than budgeted as these are based on conservative oil price assumptions.

The specific oil price that is of most relevance to Doha is of Qatar Land Crude Oil (QLCO). The black gold is extracted from the country’s largest active oil field, the Dukhan onshore field, which is home to three oil reservoirs along an 80 kilometre stretch near the west coast of the peninsula. Prices have been relatively high for a sustained period of time in recent months (see graph).

At the time of writing, QLCO was valued just under USD104 (QAR379) per barrel. The Dukhan field can produce up to 335,000 barrels of crude oil per day, which at today’s prices is equivalent to daily revenue of QAR127 million.

30 | The Edge

QAR

270 billion

Total estimated revenue of Qatar from oil exports during the current fiscal year.

Carbon sequestration

Private sector rejects Qatar carbon storage bid

UNESCO’s Benno Boer is of the view that Qatar’s high-profit companies need to come forward to support carbon storage projects.

Qatar must find a means of monetising its carbon emissions if the private sector is going to take notice, says a UNESCO advisor.

The ecological sciences advisor for the UNESCO Arab Region has hit out at the lack of interest from the Qatar’s private sector in funding a high-profile carbon storage project.

As reported last month, Qatar recently unveiled its floating mangroves project at Lusail Marina. But speaking to The Edge in May, UNESCO’s Benno Boer revealed that a lack of interest from investors could threaten the project.

“I am surprised and disappointed that none of the high-profit companies in Qatar has come forward and made funding available for the next step of the project, which is the development of the prototype of floating mangroves coupled with the production of young Gulf Arab MSc and PhD level scientists,” he said.

Boer pointed out that the profitability associated with capturing and storing carbon in Qatar is not sufficient to encourage private sector projects.

This means schemes that remove carbon from the atmosphere have to date

energy & sustainability | sectors

50%

Reduction in Qatar Cool’s capital costs for heating as a result of limiting carbon emissions.

been based around a more stable, mature and profitable function in order to be viable.

“The carbon sequestration profitability is currently not developed enough,” Boer said. Because of this, the Lusail scheme “is currently more based on the possibility of developing clean bio-fuel, livestock fodder, and other cash crop products, that can generate jobs, income, and profit, and without utilising any precious freshwater,” he added.

The comments should raise questions at the very top in Qatar regarding a market-based price for carbon. The viability of such a move has long been a dilemma, triggering debate over economic competitiveness when reliance on carbonintensive industries such as energy and construction remains high.

The private sector has therefore been forced to develop business plans that cash in through other areas – ones that also happen to remove carbon from the atmosphere. For example, district cooling firm Qatar Cool supplies air conditioning systems, reducing energy demand through the centralisation of the technology.

Cool in Qatar

District cooling is recognised as being up to 60 percent more efficient than a decentralised, individual system. Qatar Cool technology is claimed to employ strict limits on carbon emissions while cutting upfront capital costs for heating by up to 50 percent.

And unsurprisingly, control of the built environment is a big business in Qatar. The CHRVI event in Doha in early June is set to attract firms from over 20 nations involved in the cooling, heating, refrigeration, ventilation and isolation sectors.

These are examples of how to monetise carbon reduction in the absence of a market price on carbon dioxide emissions, yet it can be argued that all human development and growth must result in increased levels of carbon in the atmosphere.

The profits from capturing and storing carbon in Qatar are insufficient to encourage private sector projects.

Yet despite emissions associated with growth, the need to cut carbon is no less urgent. In reference to Hurricane Sandy which struck the United States (US) in 2012 and Cyclone Gonu, which whipped across the Arabian Sea in 2007, Boer said, “We have got to find ways to reduce carbon from the atmosphere in order to keep the carbon concentration in balance and reduce devastating weather events, such as Hurricane Sandy or Cyclone Gonu, which are not only tragic from the human point of view, but also very costly.”

The European Union Emissions Trading System is the world’s largest carbon market, while California is the sole US state to have launched its scheme, and China has also expressed interest.

Elsewhere, however, progress has been less palpable. Australian politicians have wrestled with the public over the likely economic impact of a domestic carbon market, with 2015 set as a date when the country’s carbon price will float. Other US states have also been less inclined to follow in California’s lead.

Energy investment

Qatar’s growing need for economic diversification

Almost 100 percent of Qatar’s electricity generation needs are met by gas-fired power plants. (Image Corbis)

The outlook for Qatar’s natural gas sector and its interaction with the country’s power generation needs do not match.

This is shown in a research carried out by Ali Aissaoui, a senior consultant at the Arab Petroleum Investments Corporation (Apicorp).

But what should on the surface be positive news could contribute to an encroaching trillion-riyal problem.

According to Aissaoui’s research, Qatar leads the entire Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region in gas supply sustainability by running almost 20 percentage points clear of its optimal gas supply threshold – a metric developed by Apicorp to measure the share of natural gas production in total hydrocarbon extraction, with that of natural gas in total hydrocarbon reserves.

A zero percent rating would indicate equalisation – domestic gas supply and consumption are finely balanced.

Therefore, Qatar’s rating indicates a state awash with gas that, despite the fact that almost 100 percent of its electricity generation needs are met by gas-fired power plants, cannot possibly consume its very generous natural resources.

But Qatar faces a somewhat unique The Edge | 31

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Qatar has proven natural gas reserves to last 200 years, but to diversify a national economy, two centuries are not enough. challenge in this respect: forcing change across the domestic energy system when, on the surface, there appears to be little need for it.

The issue facing Qatar is complex.

The state has enough proven natural gas reserves to see it through the next 200 years, yet in terms of diversifying a national economy, two centuries is not a long time.

To lend the challenge some context, fast growing electricity demand and lagging supply have led to chronic power shortages across many MENA countries, Apicorp points out, because of this, bridging the widening demand-supply gap through increased supplies “is perceived as politically and socially more desirable”, when the alternative is to risk stunting wider economic growth.

But according to the group’s figures, without active demand side management and serious cuts in subsidies, the required increase in power generation capacity, including related transmission and distribution, will translate to an immense capital requirement of USD283 billion – almost equivalent to QAR1 trillion.

And therein lies the challenge. Qatar leads the MENA region, springing ahead of its optimal gas supply threshold, but can you imagine how much of this resource goes towards fuelling the evergrowing national economy, when the picture is dominated by the supply side of the equation?

This is therefore a question that remains to be answered.

32 | The Edge

Project development

Green energy

Qatar’s hydrocarbon businesses are clustered around Ras Laffan Industrial City. (Image QFCA)

To produce cost-effective solar energy, solar panels must be installed on ample space for increased exposure to sunlight. (Image Corbis)

Qatar extends downstream hydrocarbon push

Qatar petroleum has joined with a number of companies to develop the QAR5.5 billion Laffan Refinery 2 (LR2) project, the company revealed last month.

The refinery, which is expected to begin operations in the second half of 2016, will have a daily production capacity of 146,000 barrels and in joining a similar size facility at Ras Laffan, it will double the condensate refining capacity of the site. The project is a major move in the downstream hydrocarbon sector, upon which Qatar is relying on for further economic growth as its more traditional upstream industry plateaus.

An underconstruction diesel hydrotreater at the site, which is expected to be commissioned in the second quarter of 2014, will have enough capacity to process all the light gasoil from both Laffan refineries into ultra-low sulphur diesel which, energy minister Mohammed bin Saleh Al Sada said at the signing will meet “the most stringent environmental specifications”.

Ras Laffan 2 will process untreated condensate from Qatar’s North Field.

Capacity will be broken down into 60,000 barrels of naphtha, 53,000 barrels of jet fuel, 24,000 barrels of gasoil, and 9000 barrels of liquefied petroleum gas.

146,000 Estimated production capacity in barrels of Ras Laffan Refinery 2.

Total takes interest in Qatar solar sector

Qatar’s plans for the solar power generation have aroused the interest of some of the globe’s leading energy companies, including the French firm Total.

The solar sector has over the past decade taken major steps towards “grid parity”, generating electricity at the same cost per megawatt hour as more established sources such as fossil fuel-fired power plants. French energy giant Total is the latest company to join Qatar’s solar ambitions. Qatar is pushing to produce 10 percent of the electricity it uses in energy-intensive water desalination from solar power by 2018, which will require an installed capacity of some 1800 megawatts.

This, Total new energies division senior vice-president Arnaud Chaperon said, had spurred their interest: “The costs of solar energy are coming down, year after year.

Now it is competitive in some countries.”

Total has had operations in Qatar since 1936, but until now its interest have been confined to hydrocarbons.

Jamie Stewart is a freelance journalist and oil and gas industry researcher and analyst based in the United Kingdom.

Contents: Jaidah Square: a break from Qatar’s vertical architecture 33 . Has London become Qataris’ second home? 34 .

Project Qatar 2013 sees highest visitor turnover 35 . Will Qatar build less stadiums for 2022? 36.

real estate & construction

From the outside, Jaidah Square is unique partly because of its location in downtown Doha and partly because of its non-perpendicular façade. (Image Jaidah Square)

Jaidah Square: a break from Qatar’s vertical architecture A tour of Jaidah Square with Richard Ingall, assisting the project management team, reveals what sets the building apart, writes Farwa Zahra

A

dding to the list of state-of-the-art buildings, Qatar now has Jaidah Square in its completion stage.

Situated next to HSBC on the Airport Road, the seven-floor black building enjoys a prime location in downtown Doha. “It’s very close to the airport, which is a big attraction and next door to the building is the interchange for Qatar rail (scheduled

for construction),” said Richard Ingall, senior MEP engineer at White Young, who is currently assisting the project management and building operations team of Jaidah Square.

A tour of the building with Ingall and meeting with Nicholas Young, head of health, safety and building management at Jaidah Square, further unveiled the building’s features beyond its unique façade.

one does not see many. Jaidah Square’s design features blends traditional with the modern. “The inspiration behind the design features is Arabic Mashrabiya,” Young told The Edge. The pattern that runs across the building is reminiscent of the Islamic art, while the glass façade lends a modern feel to the building. With its slopelike structure, Jaidah Squares breaks away from the vertical structure of most modern buildings in Doha.

Design features There are some very distinctive buildings in West Bay, but in downtown Doha,

Green credentials Jaidah Square is designed to incorporate sustainability elements. “We have reduced The Edge | 33

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4000m

2

Office space provided on each level of Jaidah Square.

energy usage as far as possible with the use of LED lighting, energy efficient glass and intelligent building management systems,” said Young. The elevators self generate electricity and the building’s design allows ample sunlight. Natural sunlight was earlier considered for generating energy as well.

“The owner wanted to be a leader in Qatar and show that buildings should use the solar energy,” said Ingall. However, the space on the roof did not allow the installation of enough solar panels to be useful.

Community concerns While the building provides more than 650 parking spaces in its three-level underground parking, it has not been tenanted to businesses which could potentially lead to traffic congestion. “We turned some tenants away, potentially because they wanted to use the ground floor as the supermarket,” said Ingall, “Even though we were turning down good revenue, it was for the benefit of the community.” For the physically challenged visitors, the building supports wheelchair access to most parts.

Customisation Tenanted on shell and core basis, Jaidah Square provides a high level of customisation from ceilings to floor. The finished floor of the lobbies is 15 inches above the rest of the surface. “Within the raised flooring, all the cable management is taken care of,” reasoned Ingall.

Similarly, the building provides flexibility in terms of the office space. With 4000 m2 office space on each floor, seven to eight office zones were originally intended for every floor. However, the demand for smaller offices led the project management team to make a few changes. “Instead of eight, we are splitting it into 12 to 16, depending on what the tenants want,” said Ingall. The office spaces can fall between 250 and 12,000 m2.

Security measures Cautious of the fire outbreaks in some of the recently constructed buildings in Qatar, Jaidah Square features advanced fire security system. With six exit stairways, 34 | The Edge

the building is equipped with fire location detectors to guide the fire fighters. Adding to the sprinkler system, the air ventilation tunnels help the smoke to settle down, thereby increasing the visibility.

Environmental concerns The parking areas are equipped with carbon monoxide (CO) sensors, which constantly regulate its level. Once the amount of CO rises above safe levels due to more cars parked, the fans on the roof speed up to get rid of the concentration of exhaust fumes. This also guards against heat-generated fires.

Facilities One of the elevators opens in an Italian restaurant housed on the first floor of Jaidah Square. The building has a cafeteria for the employees. A gymnasium and children’s daycare make Jaidah Square all the more attractive for tenants. The control room on the ground floor monitors CCTV cameras, air-conditioning and fire command system, and the IT support system has the capacity to serve the needs of the entire building.

The building opened its doors for tenancy a year ago and 60 clients have already closed the deals with some already operational, while others are still moving in. Providing more details of the occupants from communications, financial, medical and commercial sector, Ingall told us that the building has attracted a great deal of “interest from some very high-end tenants.”

“The inspiration behind the design features is Arabic Mashrabiya,” -Nicholas Young, Jaidah Square.

Has London become Qataris’ second home?

Most high-end properties in London are owned by foreign investors. (Image Corbis)

Qataris are getting increasingly interested in owning residences in London.

Middle Eastern investors form 15 percent of the total buyers for London’s sold properties, making the highest foreign investment share after South East Asia.

While these investments fall in every price range, most of those owned by MENA buyers are in the high-end category, making them the majority owners of any property priced at more than GBP5 million (QAR27 million), suggested a joint report by CBRE and Savills.

While a large number of these deals are primarily business focused for resell or renting purposes, many purchases are made for private use.

Mark Collins, chairman of the London residential business at CBRE was in Doha recently. When asked about his opinion on Qataris’ motivation to buy London residential properties, Collins said, “I think it is a combination of reasons. In some cases their children might be educated in London; sometimes it is simply because they want it as an investment, but often it is as a home and to have a very nice base when they are in London.”

For Julian Mills, senior director in the residential development team of Savills in London, it is precisely the variety of reasons that makes London home to less risky investments, “There are so many different reasons to purchase a residential property in London and that is why it is so popular globally,” said Mills of Savills.

real estate & construction | sectors

Construction market

Project Qatar 2013 sees highest visitor turnover

Project Qatar 2013 awarded three companies for their 10-year participation in the event. (Image Corbis)

Whether it is about visiting London during holidays or to spend some time with their children studying abroad, the cultural preferences of Arabs are reflected in the type of residential units Qataris prefer to buy. “We are seeing a significant change where people might like larger apartments where they might want two or three bedrooms penthouses so they can be with their children,” observed Collins of CBRE. From their meetings with the local investors in Doha, both Collins and Mills agreed that Qataris seem to have a clear idea of where they are investing their money.

Mills was surprised to find out that the locals in Doha not only had a good understanding of London properties but, he said, they also appreciated the attention to detail and the design of the apartments.

From an investment point of view, the Qatari investors seem to have a fair idea about the returns these residential investments can generate. Providing the industry speculations, Collins told that the prices of London’s residential properties are expected to increase roughly 25 percent in the next five years.

While the halt of Chelsea Barracks housing development could have created a negative sentiment for Qatari buyers, Mills said that “most of the time when you are talking about something which is in such a prime location, whatever trips or stalls it

“Often, Qataris buy residential property in London to have a home,” – Mark Collins, chairman residential, CBRE.

might have, at the end of the day, they are not going to affect its value in the long term.”

The overwhelming amount of foreign investments in London’s residential market has raised concerns of overpricing and lack of availability for the locals. “At the moment in central and wider London, there are about 16,000 to 20,000 new homes being built, the mayor for London’s target is between 30,000 and 40,000. So, there is a major gap between what is currently being delivered versus what is needed,” closed Collins.

At Project Qatar 2013 held in May in Doha, 50 countries marked their presence with 2100 local and international exhibitors.

Project Qatar, the long name for which is The 10th International Trade Exhibition for Construction Technology, Building Materials, Equipment and Environmental Technology, concluded after a four-day display of products from all four areas.

While the first day reportedly saw 11,265 visitors, Project Qatar 2013 had attracted 45,000 visitors at the end of the four-day show. At a special Gala Dinner, 72 companies were recognised for their recurrent participation for more than five years. Many of the participating companies were from the United Kingdom (UK).

“The UK companies who participated at the show have built new contacts and met potential business partners and clients,” said Bassam Al Tahtamouni, senior commercial attaché, British Embassy Doha, who added, “Project Qatar has given them serious insight into the major opportunities available to them not only in Qatar, but also in the region as a whole.”

45,000 Number of persons who visited the fourday Project Qatar 2013.

The Edge | 35

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Sports facilities

Will Qatar build less stadiums for 2022?

Al Rayyan Stadium is one of the three stadiums in Qatar that are planned for renovation ahead of the World Cup 2022. (Image Corbis)

With FIFA’s recent announcement that Qatar can cut down the number of proposed stadiums, the country faces the question whether it will drop some of its best-planned stadiums.

In its winning FIFA bid, Qatar proposed 12 stadiums to meet the needs of the World Cup tournament in 2022. However, during a recent press conference, FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke indicated that the host country could explore options for cutting this number down to four stadiums.

Anthony Holmes, co-founder and director of the Institute for Infrastructure Studies Qatar, recently spoke with The Edge. “The principal benefit of reducing the number of stadiums,” he said, “is that it simplifies the programme. This is particularly important in relation to the World Cup as, like all major sporting events, the start date cannot easily be changed to accommodate delays in the preparation of facilities.”

From FIFA’s side, the relaxation does not come with a consideration of cost cutting but as a concern for the country’s size. For Qatar, however, cost will remain a major concern.

36 | The Edge

“Most large complex infrastructure projects encounter delays and run over budget. If delays cannot be tolerated, then programme acceleration is acquired only at an increased cost,” said Holmes adding, “Simplification by building fewer stadiums concentrates resources, and

“The principal benefit of reducing the number of stadiums is that it simplifies the programme.”

should improve management of the overall programme.”

However, reducing the number of stadiums will also lead to a potential decrease in the seating capacity, unless considerable design changes are made to the projects. It also leaves little space for a contingency plan. “112 games played in a month and distributed across eight stadiums leaves little capacity to compensate for any major issue,” explained Homles.

While nine stadiums have been planned to be built from scratch, three of the existing ones – Khalifa International Stadium, Al Rayyan Stadium and Al Gharafa Stadium – are set to meet FIFA needs by renovation with a primary focus on their seating capacity.

Whether it is about the creation of new stadiums or renovation of the existing ones, according to Holmes, “The key is to invest in a programme assurance capability that is independent of the contractors and has the expertise to identify problems at an early stage and the authority to take remedial action.”

Farwa Zahra is the deputy editor of The Edge.

Contents: Can mobile save Qatar’s retailers from online shopping ‘showroomers’? 37 . Storing an organisation’s information 39 . Cybersquatting in Qatar 39 . Planning Qatar’s smart cities 40.

tech & communications

Can mobile save Qatar’s retailers from online shopping ‘showroomers’?

A recent study by global market research firm TNS revealed that ‘showrooming’ - a concept where customers visit stores to test products but buy them elsewhere – especially online - has emerged as a significant threat to traditional retailers. By Shehan Mashood

S

howrooming is a global phenomenon, and the role played by mobiles varies significantly across markets.

The reason behind this trend has been the growth of mobile phone usage. According to the global survey one third of mobile users admitted to the practice. So how much of an issue is this for Qatar’s traditional retailers? In markets where the first Internet introduction has been via a handset, shoppers are highly likely to use their mobile when showrooming.

The TNS study suggests a 87 percent likelihood in the Middle East and North Africa.

This presents retailers with the opportunity to interact with their consumers via mobile and turn browsers into buyers, said Steve Hamilton Clark, CEO of TNS MENA. A recent survey conducted by Northwestern University Qatar (NUQ) on media use in the Middle East showed that in fact around 15 percent of people in Qatar use the Internet at least once a day to get information about a product (it does not make the distinction of where they are when they access this information).

The emergence of ‘showrooming’ as a trend could affect the future profitability of Qatar’s retailers. One expert believes that developing instore customer engagement methods especially relying on mobile could help traditional retailers prepare for the incoming trend. (Image Arabian Eye)

No interest in online shopping

The NUQ study also shows that only three percent of those surveyed in Qatar use the The Edge | 37

sectors | technology & communications

Internet to purchase goods online. This figure is important because showroomers that use their mobile phones tend to do so to compare prices online which are in most cases cheaper. The lack of interest in online retail in Qatar suggests that showrooming is not an immediate threat to the traditional retail market.

Online shopping is still in its early stages, Clark explained to The Edge, but it is likely to grow exponentially as barriers such as trust and speed of delivery for goods are addressed. The NUQ survey showed that 45 percent of those surveyed in Qatar were concerned to some extent about security online, while 21 percent claimed they did not own a bank or credit card.

Shipping products is another obstacle to the growth of online shopping in Qatar, and a barrier that will likely stave off the impacts of showrooming a little longer. “Given the variable reliability of the postal system and time for delivery, and given Qatar’s geographic size, it is often faster to just visit a store and buy on the spot,” added Clark.

Other factors

While price was one of the biggest drivers of showrooming, 16 percent of respondents said that reading reviews or checking social media in-store helped in the decisionmaking, and a quarter asked friends and family what they would recommend.

Around 67 percent of the respondents in Qatar placed high value on interpersonal sources such as friends and family for news and entertainment information, according to the NUQ study.

The convergence of these trends should not be viewed as a threat said Matthew Froggatt, chief development officer for TNS Global. Instead he said it is an opportunity for brands that have proper customer engagement methods. “Some behaviours, such as using a mobile to conduct independent research in-store, present risks to retailers as external influences may increase a shopper’s likelihood of purchasing elsewhere, meaning that the retail outlets are left with loss-making display cabinets,” he said. However, the study also notes many positives for engagement by retailers (see Infographic).

There is no evidence yet to suggest that showrooming is a significant trend in Qatar, said Clark, but that is only as long as online shopping does not offer a fast and reliable service. However, he said that to be proactive, in the future retailers will need to make sure they have effective online stores available to local consumers.

38 | The Edge

technology & communications | sectors

Data backup

Storing an organisation’s information

is estimated to be just 2.6 percent, which is significantly less.

The most common reaction to solving the problem is to simply buy more storage, or archiving data. This reflex reaction proves to be the quick fix but often reflects the lack of the ability to carry out predictive capacity planning. And blind archiving, without insight into the data landscape does not result in any reduction.

However, applying these data management strategies individually and independently will not permit efficient planning, which keeps capacity ahead of demand. The Integrated Data Reduction approach is the hot topic in the data management world. By applying a combination of strategies, organisations can reduce their overall data volume. The disproportionality between data and budget growth is set to increase and companies

Web domains

Data growth within organisations is projected to grow at 40 percent to 60 percent. However, growth in overall IT budgets is estimated to only be around 2.6 percent.

Data is the essence of a successful organisation, and effective management of data resources plays a vital role in its smooth operation, says Henrik Pedersen an expert on data storage and management.

The growing number of processes and regulations result in the accumulation of large amounts of both business and nonbusiness related content. According to a survey conducted by Gartner, 47 percent of large enterprises identify data growth as the biggest data centre hardware infrastructure challenge. On average, the data capacity in enterprises is growing at 40 percent to 60 percent.

Research further shows that more than 70 percent of this content is generated by end-users within the organisation.

Employees often store personal data on company resources knowing that it will be securely maintained and regularly backed up. Thus, the data pool contains a mixture of data that is business-critical as well as data with no business value.

The real challenge that organisations in the Middle East face is the effective and strategic management of data. After all, while data growth is projected at 40 percent to 60 percent per year, growth in IT budgets

Cyber squatting in Qatar

Qatar Domains Registry recently launched an application for both iOS and Android platforms that allows users to check domain name availability and register their domain name with an accredited registrar.

Two years ago, Qatar announced the availability of local domain. If your organisation does not have an online presence yet, it might be a good idea to register your company trademark soon, explains Theuns van de Merwe, a consultant with a Doha-based law firm.

Cybersquatting is best explained by an example: Company A owns the trademark

are starting to realise that addressing the problem in an ad-hoc manner is ineffective and carries severe long-term implications.

When properly implemented, an Integrated Data Management strategy can dramatically reduce inefficiency, enhance manageability and drastically reduce operational expenses.

Henrik Pedersen is a senior technical account manager at CommVault Systems a company that deals in data storage, protection and management.

15,891

Local domain names have been registered via the Qatar Domains Registry since its opening to the public in 2011.

XYZ. Company B determines that company A does not own a registration for the domain name online and proceeds to register it without company A’s consent. The domain name is then pointed towards a webpage showing it is for sale. Company B then offers to sell the domain name to Company A for an exorbitant amount. Company A’s trademark in the form of a domain name is now held to ransom. Even worse, Company B subsequently redirects the domain name to a webpage selling Company A’s competitors’ products. Company A is now also potentially losing sales.

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and its domain name registrars do not generally monitor domain names to ensure that the legitimate owners of trademarks are protected from cybersquatting. Previously, trademark owners were left to employ defensive domain registrations and engage in post offending domain name registration recovery negotiation and dispute resolution to combat cybersquatting. Given the almost limitless possibility of domain name The Edge | 39

sectors | technology & communications

variations, most trademark owners face a losing battle against this practice.

The Trade Mark Clearinghouse system, built to combat cybersquatting is a monitoring service by ICANN that warns recorded trademark owners of a potentially infringing domain name application, and it offers solutions to address the impending registration. Some of the limitations to the Trade Mark Clearinghouse system are that it will only identify domain names which are identical to recorded trademarks (not similar domain names) and only certain categories or types of trademarks will be accepted for recording in the system.

Despite its limitations, the creation of the Trade Mark Clearinghouse system is a step in the right direction in the fight against cybersquatting. Owners would be well advised to record their trademarks under the system in terms of an overall trademark protection strategy, but specialist advice should always be obtained when dealing with such issues.

Theuns van de Merwe is a consultant with a Doha-based law firm Cedar White Bradley.

Technology infrastructure

Planning Qatar’s smart cities

The race to prosper in the next era of urban development is on, and Qatar is already showing encouraging signs that it can lead on both a regional and global scale. By Sean Patrick O’Brien.

Small-time thinking has been cast aside, with the country’s 2030 vision rapidly progressing and the recent announcement of a new law regulating public-private partnerships astutely paving the way for key infrastructure projects.

More than USD140 billion (QAR510 billion) have been earmarked for megaprojects in Qatar’s 2030 vision plan 40 | The Edge

Source: SAP

“Urbanisation demands smarter economics and unlocking the potential of people,” - Sean Patrick O’Brien, urban matters and public security, SAP. across energy, transport, education, health and tourism sectors. But if the country’s bold, visionary developmental blueprint is to last the course and inspire genuine change, it must effectively apply new design principles for being a best-run city.

According to the United Nations, the number of people living in cities will increase to 6.3 billion by 2050, up from 3.6 billion in 2010. By 2025, there will be 37 megacities with populations of more than 10 million.

Meanwhile, the Economist Intelligence Unit states that 50 percent of the world’s population already lives in urban centres, with the 120 top cities accounting for 29 percent of the GDP while 80 percent of the world’s entire gross domestic product stems from urban environments.

Drawing on a more than 30-year old record of helping cities innovate and sustain themselves (1700 urban governments worldwide and counting), we are confronting the urban conundrum head on with what we call the ‘five-by-five’ philosophy.

A strategy that entails building the future via an intricate, interlinked combination of good governance, user empowerment, community engagement, service innovation and urban resilience.

Cities are continually evolving, as hugely complex entities. Clinical top-down impositions of infrastructure and policy

are simply not viable routes to progress.

To develop on a sustainable path requires human interaction, it requires considerable data-led insight, and it requires the ability to react in real time to problems ranging from mere inconveniences to life and death situations. Rapid urbanisation demands sustainable growth, smarter economics and, most importantly, unlocking the potential of people.

What we need is good governance through efficient strategies, resource optimisation and smarter transport grids. A new report from Pike Research reveals that such explosive urbanisation is set to drive a new era of smart city initiatives defined by the integration of technology with a strategic approach to sustainability, wellbeing, and economic development.

More than ever before, cities including Doha are faced with massive challenges in governance, finance, public safety, infrastructure and supply. In most cases the status quo is no longer feasible. We need something better. We need something more vital and interactive. We need a holistic ‘fiveby-five’ approach.

Sean Patrick O’Brien is the global vice president of Urban Matters and Public Security at SAP.

country focus | indonesia

Qatar and Indonesia: Exploring new business sectors As a G20 member from South-East Asia with a stable government, Indonesia is a promising economy and the venue of two of Qatar’s prominent investments in the telecom and the banking sectors. In an exclusive conversation with The Edge, Deddy Saiful Hadi, Ambassador of the Republic of Indonesia to Qatar talks about how he plans to increase the level of cooperation between Indonesia and Qatar. Aparajita Mukherjee reports.

In 2012, Jakarta’s imports from Qatar, mostly in the energy sector was USD1.59 billion (QAR5.8 billion) while its exports to Qatar, comprising mainly home appliances, food products and automobile parts, were worth USD92.7 million (QAR337.4 million). (Image Corbis)

42 | The Edge

indonesia | country focus

I

ndonesia’s gross domestic product (GDP) has been increasing at a rate of nine percent every year since 2009, which makes it one of the better performing SouthEast Asian economies. However, this positive GDP growth has not altered the way Deddy Saiful Hadi, Ambassador of the Republic of Indonesia to Qatar looks at the dimensions of bilateral relations. For him, interactions between two countries do not hinge on the economic peg alone, but are based on three main areas – political, economic and social.

Commenting on the political dimension of the relations between Indonesia and Qatar, Hadi says that in the realm of politics, there are no issues between Qatar and Indonesia, adding that even though Indonesia is not an Islamic country, it has the largest Muslim population in the world. “There are 240 million people living there and 85 percent of them are Muslim so that is massive. Both countries are very active in their foreign policies. “Qatar,” Hadi adds, “is actively contributing to the political dynamics in the Middle East, specifically within the Gulf Cooperation Council countries.” I ndonesia, according to him is one of the biggest economies in the South-East Asian market and among the Association of SouthEast Asian Nations (ASEAN). “We are also an active member of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation,” Hadi says, elaborating, “So both our nations have a similar psychology as far as foreign policy goes.”

Having the largest population and land area among the South-East Asian nations, Indonesia is also responsible for a third of the combined GDP of the 10-nation bloc, ASEAN, says Hadi.

Economic cooperation

In 2012, Indonesia’s imports from Qatar, mostly in the energy sector was USD1.59 billion (QAR5.8 billion) while its exports to Qatar, comprising mainly home appliances, food products and automobile parts, were worth USD92.7 million (QAR337.4 million).

These figures show that there is scope for increasing the economic and trade balances between the two countries, especially when it comes to Indonesia’s exports to Qatar.

Qatar has two prominent investments in Indonesia – Ooredoo’s majority stake in Indosat, one of the largest telecom companies in the country and QNB’s accquisition of a majority stake in Bank Kesawan, primarily an investment bank, branding it as QNBKesawan.

Talking about Qatar’s investments in Indonesia, Hadi says, “Indosat is Indonesia’s

second largest telecom provider, providing telecom service for a large percentage of the 240 million people that live there. It is a very good investment decision that Ooredoo made, especially since there is an increase in the size of the middle class, which has brought mobile telephony within the reach of a large number of people in Indonesia.”

Soon after Ooredoo’s investment came QNB’s acquisition of Bank Kesawan and post QNB’s acquisition, the number of the bank’s branches has doubled, showing a positive growth story.

Qatar has also set up investment fund worth USD1 billion (QAR3.64 billion) some time ago with a focus on mineral resources and infrastructure projects, and has repeatedly reiterated its interest to increase cooperation with the Indonesian economy, mainly to level the trade balance between the two countries.

Indonesia is now pushing its ‘Masterplan for Acceleration and Expansion of Indonesia’s Economic Development,’ a directive for the country’s economic development that started in 2011 and runs up to the year 2025.

This programme identifies six main economic corridors as growth centres located in Java, Sumatra, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, Bali and Papua, of which Sumatra has been identified as the place for processing the country’s natural resources and energy reserves. It is in these corridors that Indonesia hopes to find Qatari investors.

An investment or a partnership in the downstream oil and gas business could be a major step for Qatar to intensify and strengthen its ties with Indonesia, adds Hadi.

Apart from the scope for economic cooperation, for Hadi, Islamic education is one area that he is pushing his government on. For him, though traditionally the place for Islamic studies was Cairo, with the Qatar Faculty of Islamic Studies open within the ambit of Qatar Foundation, Hadi is projecting Qatar as the next-best destination after Cairo for Islamic studies, though he adds that there are other branches of study that Indonesian students can explore here as well.

INDONESIA at a glance Government: Presidential system, Constitutional republic, Unitary state Capital: Jakarta Population: 242.3 million (2011) GDP: USD1208 trillion (QAR4397 trillion)

Diplomatic milestones

Qatar opened its embassy in Jakarta in 1997 and Indonesia opened its embassy in 1999 in Doha, though relations between the two countries have been warm since 1976, according to Hadi.

There have been a series of diplomatic visits between the two countries. The president of Indonesia Dr. Susilo Bambang

Deddy Saiful Hadi, Ambassador of the Republic of Indonesia to Qatar says that both Qatar and Indonesia have a similar psychology as far as foreign policy goes.

The Edge | 43

country focus | indonesia

Yudhoyono visited Doha in April 2006, and HH the Emir of Qatar Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani visited Jakarta in May 2009. In November 2011, HE Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabor Al Thani, prime minister and minister of foreign affairs attended the Bali Democracy Forum and held bilateral talks with the president of Indonesia.

With Indonesia now having taken up membership of the G20, there have been discussions among international analysts pegging Indonesia as one of the emerging economic powers of the South-East Asian region. Commenting on these discussions and the impact it may have on the bilateral relations with Qatar, Hadi says, “Indonesia is confident that we are on the right direction as far as economic development.

In our relations with Qatar, it gives us the confidence that the investments that Qatar has made in Indonesia are in the right place, and all the economic stability in my country is also a kind of invitation for Qatar to add to their investment basket in the future.”

Construction companies

In the run up to the FIFA World Cup 2022 especially with the huge infrastructure growth that Qatar has planned, Hadi is hopeful that he will see more Indonesian construction companies coming to Qatar.

“We have been trying since my arrival here to invite the Indonesian construction companies especially as there are huge opportunities within the infrastructure sector. One of the largest Indonesian construction companies has already come here twice to see the Qatar construction sector and map some numbers. Now, they are probably calculating and looking into ways they can contribute here.”

Hadi continues that the construction and real estate growth in Qatar opens up many opportunities for ancillary industries in Indonesia. “I will inform companies back home that there are enough prospects not only in the construction sector but also in the other associated sectors here in Qatar.” His logic is that the huge construction activities that are going on or have been planned will require ancillary support, which means that furnishing, interior design and many other sectors will have opportunities for Indonesian companies in Qatar.

Indonesian professionals

A majority of Indonesian citizens who are based in Qatar are in unskilled or semiskilled jobs. When asked if Hadi has plans of increasing the number of professional 44 | The Edge

workers, he says, “This is another very interesting question because sometime back, the chairman of the National Board of Policing and Protection of Indonesian workers visited Qatar and met some relevant stakeholders here. They agree with me that there are many opportunities to increase the number of professional workers in Qatar especially since it has been proven that Indonesian professional workers in Qatar have been positively contributing mainly in the oil and gas, as well as in the hospitality sectors.”

Hadi also talks about the personality traits of Indonesians that make them welcome in a foreign land. “I think it is natural for Qatar to want Indonesians because they are hard-workers, loyal and humble, all of which makes it easy for them to be acceptable in a foreign country.”

“Qatar has also set up an investment fund worth QAR3.64 billion in Indonesia with a focus on mineral resources and infrastructure projects.”

Reach Out To Asia partners with VCU-Q to send 20 students to Indonesia Recently, Qatar’s notfor-profit educational organisation, Reach Out To Asia (ROTA) has partnered with the Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar (VCU-Q) to send 25 student and faculty volunteers on a seven-day trip to visit a ROTA-funded technical and vocational education project in Indonesia.

The trip is supported by the Vodafone Qatar ROTA volunteers with students in Indonesia last year. charitable fund dedicated to supporting students and individuals who have the desire to volunteer through ROTA’s International Outreach Programme. The trip offers a unique service opportunity for undergraduate students to explore and expand their skills.

“Vodafone Qatar has been funding the ROTA International Outreach Programme for the past three years because we believe in the impact that volunteering and community service can have on peoples’ personal and professional development. It really helps volunteers see the world in a whole new light and urges them to take a much more active role in making a difference in the world,” said Dana Haidan, Head of Corporate Responsibility at Vodafone Qatar.

In May 2011 and 2012, the ROTA Volunteer Programme coordinated International Volunteer Trips for VCU-Q students in collaboration with VCU-Q Student Life.

UNDER DIGITAL ATTACK

The fight to protect Qatar’s borders in cyberspace

feature story | cyber security

Qatar’s increasingly prominent role in the world and its involvement in regional politics has made it a mark for its detractors. Targeted financial crimes and cyber espionage are all on the rise around the world. The growing private sector has become just as important as state secrets and needs to be protected. But what are the challenges organisations in Qatar face in securing their systems? By Shehan Mashood

T

he news today contains many stories of cyber hacking, of varying complexity and intent. Most recently the Twitter feed of the Associated Press’ account was hacked and a false tweet was sent out claiming an explosion at the White House in the United States (US). The result? The Standard & Poor’s 500 index lost USD136billion(QAR495billion)inmarketvaluebeforeitrecovered.The Syrian Electronic Army, which claimed responsibility for the attack, has also targeted Qatar and its organisations such as Qatar Foundation.

Last year’s attack on RasGas crippled the company’s administrative IT system, according to a spokesperson with the company at the time. If RasGas, as Qatar’s one of two LNG producers, were to be taken offline, the ramifications would have been significant to the economy.

The looming threat is to critical national infrastructures and protecting these is a matter of national security. If it is possible for someone to hack into Iranian nuclear facilities, then what is to stop them from doing the same? asked Eric Winsborrow, the president and CEO of Zanttz, who was in Doha recently to give a talk organised by the Qatar Computing Research Institute (QCRI).

Zanttz is a company based in the US that develops stealth cyber technology solutions.

Communications infrastructure, electricity, transportation, water, banking and financial systems are all possible targets for attacks, explains Winsborrow, According to Winsborrow, the speed at which both state and non-state actors have tried to leverage vulnerabilities in network based technology is alarming. Three decades ago a virus would take three months to spread around the world, but in September of 2001 the Internet world changed; The first complex blended threat – one that uses multiple intrusion techniques – was introduced. “This took three days to propagate, and that was 10 years ago, can you imagine how real-time the attacks are now?” he adds.

Financial crime

Financial crimes are usually the forte of criminal organisations, according to Craig Shultz, the vice president of security and research at Zanttz, who also attended the event. However, it is interesting to note that these organisations do very little software development themselves. Instead they are able to purchase it from the software market. “It is an illicit market,” Shultz told The Edge, “one that is almost as big as the commercial [legitimate] software market.” Most attacks originating from ‘over the counter’ software are targets of opportunity.

Recently, two prominent Middle Eastern banks, the Bank Muscat from Oman and the National Bank of Ras Al Khaimah (RAKBANK) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) were victims of an elaborate and targeted attack. According to US authorities that uncovered the breach, two card processing companies, based in India, had their systems penetrated. The hackers then raised the credit balances and withdrawal limits on the cards which were then distributed all around the world and money was withdrawn from ATM machines in 27 different countries. The heist according to some reports amounts to as much as USD45 million (QAR164 million).

164

QAR million

The amount stolen from two Middle East based banks recently.

48 | The Edge

Eric Winsborrow, the CEO of US based stealth cyber security company, Zanttz, explains that the entry of state actors engaging in cyber attacks has significantly increased the number of targeted attacks, and most companies are unaware that it is happening. (Image QCRI)

cyber security | feature story

Khalid Al Hashimi, executive director Qatar Computer Emergency Readiness Team (Q-CERT) speaks at a Secure Energy conference held in Doha recently where he noted that Japan CERT is interested in implementing the Qatari guidelines to its own energy sector. (Image ictQatar)

Cyber espionage

Numerous experts in the field of cyber security point towards China as the most egregious state participant in cyber espionage. The entry of state actors engaging in cyber attacks has led to a shocking increase in the numbers. Winsborrow says that in a single year the number of attacks went up suddenly from 200 million to 1.3 billion. “The numbers now are in trillions. One of our customers the US Navy gets six billion attacks a year, alone.”

The Qatar Computer Emergency Readiness Team (Q-CERT) which is the cyber security arm of the Supreme Council of Information and Communications Technology (ictQatar) works with government agencies, organisations and even citizens to monitor risks and resolve problems. It also offers training to IT professionals in key sectors that sustain the national economy such as government, energy and finance. A document produced by Q-CERT titled Government Information Assurance Policy maps out in detail policy and procedures that agencies, departments and individuals must follow to protect their information. For example the policy states that cabling carrying nationally classified information needs to be on separate cabling.

The organisation also develops legislation and regulations that cover e-commerce, data protection and protection of critical information infrastructures. Khalid Al Hashimi, the executive director at Q-CERT recently revealed that an awareness campaign would be launched in collaboration with the Central Bank to stress the importance of security in the sector.

In addition to this, the QCRI recently announced that it will set up a research centre aiming to develop solutions around cyber security issues. Commenting on the centre, Paul Wright from AccessData, a digital forensics and litigation support company, tells The Edge that the evidence from several countries indicates that implementing efficient crime prevention initiatives, such as a research centre

“The illicit software market is almost as big as the commercial software market,” - Craig Shultz, vice president of security and research, Zanttz.

The Edge | 49

feature story | cyber security

Dr. Ahmed Elmagarmid, executive director of QCRI announced recently they would be setting up a cyber security research centre that will investigate advanced threats. (Image QCRI)

can contribute significantly to safe and secure societies; the same applies to the electronic environment.” Dr. Ahmed Elmagarmid, executive director of QCRI, speaking at the same event recently noted that they were working to map out a framework for the research centre. “We are in the early stage of planning for this research centre, but the primary objectives will be to improve the preparedness against emerging cyber threats as part of the nation’s security,” he said.

In order to protect themselves, organisations need to look at where they are exposed and vulnerable to cyber crime, says Wright. That will tell them two important things, he adds, “Firstly are they a ‘target of choice’ or a ‘target of opportunity’, and secondly are they the ‘low hanging fruit’ that can be picked quite easily.”

Symantec, a security software company’s latest Internet Security Threat Report 2013 showed that there has been a 42 percent increase in targeted attacks in 2012. Their objective, explains Shultz from Zanttz, is to go after important data like intellectual property (IP). The numerous research projects in Qatar, some of which have commercial applications are prime targets for such attacks. In the US and Europe, more IP has been lost in the past year and

50 | The Edge

a half than in the entire history, claims Shultz, “If you look at the actual damage and losses which we do a lot of, it is in excess of a trillion dollars.” The economic damage this inflicts is enormous and many companies do not know they are victims until it is too late.

Sometimes hackers are looking for sensitive data, “A lot of clients come to us because they have lost the last dozen bids, because the are being underbid by the exact same percentage every single time they go, and it is suspicious. Typically when we come in, it is after one of the executives has been fired,” adds Shultz.

Mike Chung, an expert on cloud computing and security at KPMG Netherlands, who was recently in Doha, offers that the biggest problem with cyber crime in general and espionage in particular is that we simply do not know much about our adversaries.

Countries such as China have been singled out numerous times but have denied the accusations.

The CEO of Huawei - one of China’s biggest technology companies also blamed for engaging in espionage – in a rare briefing to the press noted that, “We have never sold any key equipment to major US carriers, nor have we sold any equipment to any US government agency. Huawei has no connection to the cyber security issues the US has encountered in the past, current and future.”

There is also another war being waged. While the media on a daily basis show attacks that cause physical destruction, what it does not show, what it cannot show is a war being waged using technology, says Zanttz’s Winsborrow. “There is a cyber war being waged. It is not a war fought with bombs or bullets, but a far more insidious one because it is done from far, far away.” However, Chung disagrees, telling The Edge, “We have to be careful with the word ‘cyber warfare’.” At this time, he says, we cannot talk about war because it would imply that people are dying or that entire IT systems are being destroyed, which is not the case yet.

cyber security | feature story

“There is a war being waged. It is not a war fought with bombs or bullets, but a far more insidious one.”

- Eric Winsborrow, CEO Zanttz.

The US government for the first time in a report to Congress balmed China, stating that numerous systems owned by the government had been targeted for intrusions, some directly attributable to the Chinese government and military. The increasing use of proxywar strategies to commit cyber attacks will further complicate the issue of identification, according to a Royal United Services Institute journal publication on Proxy warfare and the future of conflict. To date there is no global treaty in place to manage cyber warfare.

Social engineering

When it comes to business one of the key areas of weakness in any security system is the human aspect, and companies must be mindful of this when developing an IT policy for an organisation.

Social engineering in the context of cyber security is simply the ability to trick individuals into divulging confidential information. Most recently, the Qatari Ministry of Interior (MOI) notified users of a ransomware trojan that was infecting computers in Qatar. The malicious code functioned by blocking the user from accessing any functions on the PC until they made a payment.

RasGas is one of Qatar’s two LNG producing companies. The company’s Doha headquarter was the victim of a cyber attack last year, though critical facilities such as oil production were not affected.

Continued on page 74

Source: Center for Strategic and International Studies, Brookings Institute, Hackmageddon.com, Reuters, Kaspersky, Symantec, New York Times, and the US Committee on Homeland Security

The Edge | 51

economic overview | business interview

Transforming

Qatari companies Managing partner, KPMG Qatar, Jamal Fakhro has recently been appointed as a board member of KPMG International, the first time that an Arab national has joined the global board of the multinational auditing company. In an exclusive conversation with The Edge’s Aparajita Mukherjee, Fakhro talks about his reaction to this appointment as well as the transition that he sees local companies going through as far as sharing information and transparency are concerned.

What exactly does your appointment as a board member for KPMG International mean for the Middle East and for KPMG in general?

In the global context, the appointment means that the Middle East has been recognised as an important market within KPMG. In the past, in many of the global organisations you would hardly come across anybody on the board from this part of the world. The transition has happened because the region has been changing for the past 15 to 20 years, because the economies of this region started becoming really successful, mature and international. All these factors have made this region a very important market, not only for KPMG but also for the world at large. To put things in perspective, today, KPMG makes approximately USD300 million (QAR1.1 billion) worth of revenue from the Middle East.

For us in Qatar, it means a lot to have somebody from the KPMG Qatar practice to be appointed on

the board of KPMG International. This is clear recognition for the success of the country, and it is a way of showing the world that the people who lead in Qatar are top-class, international quality people.

“People in Qatar have started realising that sharing information is important because if you want to be part of this growing economy, you have to respond to the demands of the globalising economy.”

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business interview | economic overview

1.1

QAR billion

The revenue that KPMG makes from the Middle East annually.

If you were to sum up five important lessons from your experiences here in Qatar, what would they be?

First of all, there was a great vision by the government to invest seriously into petrochemicals. That was really a big decision to come in the last 20 years, to start investing in the hydrocarbon resources of the country. Number two is that the money that was generated in Qatar was spent in Qatar; it was invested in and for the country. We see that in terms of infrastructure, businesses, and industries. Third, there is a huge focus on Qataris, enhancing and developing and making them to be the preferred employees and leaders. It will take some time for the policies of Qatarisation to take full effect, but the ball has started rolling and Qataris are now being seen occupying important positions in Qatar, not simply because they are Qataris but also because they deserve the position. There is a big focus on education, a big focus on giving the Qataris the chance to excel. Fourth is the nature of the economy and the way it has transformed itself from being a closed economy until 1995 to the open economy that you see today, by virtue of which many global companies want to come to Qatar, and those companies will never come to a market unless it is an attractive investment. Fifth is that the lifestyle in Qatar is becoming much more open, you will see all of the nationalities of the world, you will see the availability of recreational places, golf courses, tennis, etcetera. So the quality of life is excellent.

This again is very important for the professionals who look for the quality of life when they decide they want to relocate to Qatar.

What is your take on the way the economy is diversifying?

Diversifying the economy, not only in Qatar but in the whole region, is a subject that has been talked about for the last 20 to 25 years. I would say that very few countries have been successful in diversifying their economies, and this would require some time to do that even in Qatar, though the country has started to focus really on non-oil and gas related revenues or participants in the gross domestic product (GDP), so that they can diversify the economy. But whether 54 | The Edge

we like it or not, for the coming 15 to 20 years, oil and gas will continue to be a major contributor to the Qatari economy. It will also continue to play a major part in funding the government expenditures, though diversifying the economy is one key pillar of the Qatar National Vision 2030. My own take is that it will take some time. I would say that gradually the gap will narrow between hydrocarbon revenues and non-hydrocarbon revenues. Today, oil and gas contributes 56 percent of the gross domestic product, the rest make up the remaining 44 percent. The highest of the nonhydrocarbon sector is financial services and manufacturing, and they will continue to be the highest for the foreseeable future.

With hydrocarbon production and exports levelling off for the next few years, what is your take on the way Qatar will have to manage its growth expectations?

The chances of economic growth being double digit are brighter when the economy is small, and this is what happened in Qatar over the past years. The state of the economy was growing by 15 to 18 percent until Qatar became a sizeable economy. Now with a critical mass being achieved in terms of the size of the economy, we cannot say that seven or eight percent is low because they are fantastic rates compared with Europe, where they hardly reach one or two percent. So our economy will continue to grow by seven or eight percent, not only because of the oil and gas but also because of the contribution and fast growth of other sectors.

With the international energy market at the current level, if the market went down, that would have a major effect on our economy. Historically, we have seen how the prices of oil and gas were fluctuating over the past 20 years. No one had expected that the oil prices in 2008 to 2009 would reach USD147 (QAR535) but then now, it has come down to USD100 (QAR364) on certain days, though it stabilises around USD110 (QAR400.4) and if that continues, Qatar’s growth rate at seven to eight percent per annum will be achieved.

“Qataris are now being seen occupying important positions, not simply because they are Qataris but also because they deserve the position.�

What is your take on the business processes of local clients?

The local clients are changing, and they are moving from the thinking of the owner-managed businesses to professionallymanaged businesses and a more corporate structure. We are seeing lots of our local clients asking us today to review their corporate governance practices. Even small family businesses are talking about corporate governance, let alone the large ones. We are seeing local clients starting to talk about having independent directors on their boards while in the past and until recent years people would not see the value of an independent director.

Soon, they will accept the fact that the chairman should be an independent director, because history is telling us that we need to

economic overview | business interview

segregate between ownership and management, and this is happening today. We are seeing lots of changes in family-run businesses, which is a major part of the business ownership pattern.

The percentage of corporations in this region is very small – they may be big in size but in number they are very small. The private sector today is limited in number but the family businesses are really the backbone of the economy. The wealth is in their hands, and we have seen over the years that they are the ones that have built this country and will continue to do so.

With financial recession now hopefully out of the way, what is your take on the way risk is perceived in the region?

Risk is not only associated with recession. Risk is an issue that we have to consider in everything we do. This is a new term in our business language in this part of the world and it has come in the last 10 years. In the old days, maybe a few entities talked about risk, and for them risk was only financial risk. Today, risk means a lot and one of the most important subjects is reputation risk. In the past, people did not care about that, but today because it is a global economy, you need to protect the brand of your organisation and apply this at every single decision you take within the organisation. Today you find that banks, large companies, public companies have started to form board committees which look after internal audit and risk. Medium-sized companies have started to look into how they can minimise their risk by introducing the internal audit department and introducing more controls.

I believe risk is associated with both recession and boom time. Really people tend to take more risks when there is higher growth in the market. When there is a decline in the economy, they would definitely take better care and longer time before they take any decision. I would say that the high risk is always associated with higher growth because you want to grow faster than your competitors so you will take decisions that will give you more profit despite the fact that it is higher risk.

How fast are these companies learning as far as transparency goes?

Transparency is still an issue, people still believe their figures are confidential and they should not be shared. But even this is changing. In the past, if you asked any

“We are seeing local clients starting to talk about having independent directors on their boards.”

Qatari businessman to file his financial statements at the ministry, they would question that and fight not to do it. Today, the new tax law forces the national companies including the Qatari family companies to file their financial statements and they file them without any hesitation. This is part of the change as far as the private sector is concerned.

If you go to the public companies you see the amount of transparency in their annual reports. The kind of information being shared, whether it is on the director’s report, the corporate governance report, the management report, the financial statements was unheard of. Recently, I was in the Annual General Meeting of Aamal and I was surprised by the exhaustive disclosures. If you read the financial statement, it goes into 50 to 60 pages. So people have started realising that sharing information is important, because if you want to be part of this growing economy, you have to respond to the demands of the globalising economy and grow with the wave of change and be part of it.

Local clients are asking global audit firms like KPMG to review their corporate governance practices, says Jamal Fakhro managing partner for the firm in Qatar and its first Arab global board member.

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Photo Credit: Herbert Villadelrey

Of MICE and businessmen: Qatar’s growing events and exhibitions industry

An important barometer of economic buoyancy of a country is the frequency and magnitude of its business events. With Doha now hosting various global and regional exhibitions and conferences throughout the year, The Edge’s Aparajita Mukherjee probes the sector to see if all the stakeholders involved are really prepared to make the Qatari capital the most sought after MICE location of the Middle East.

cover story | business tourism

I

n its most recent annual report, the Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA), reveals some impressive numbers. It states that the total number of tourists visiting Qatar in 2012 reached 217,540. This was up by 10 percent over the previous year (2011) with a majority of the visitors coming for businessrelated activities. The growth in the number of tourists is in tandem with the fact that in 2012 alone, a total of 18,931 rooms were available in 110 hotels in Qatar which clearly conveys the country is seriously positioning itself as an attractive destination for business tourism.

This was recently confirmed further with the recently announced International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) 2012 Country and City Rankings. The ICCA reveals that Doha has strengthened its ranking among the world’s most popular convention destinations. The city moved up by 49 positions to share the 111th position with Florence, Riga and San Juan, in a list of more than 360 participating cities in the meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions (MICE) sector.

With the number of available hotel rooms increasing along with the volume of conventions and conferences, so is the relatively wider choice of exhibition and conference venues that have opened in the past three years. Before that, it was a lone Doha Exhibition Centre (DEC) that could play host to events such as the Project Qatar, Qatar Motor Show or the Doha Watches and Jewellery Exhibition, which, by virtue of their size, could not be held in hotels.

An apt indicator of the MICE volumes in Qatar comes from Trevor McCartney, director of business development of the

Hamad Mohammed Al Abdan, Director of Doha Exhibitions Center, says that among the brands that the QTA owns, all are crowd pullers such as the Qatar Motor Show, the HYA Abaya Exhibition and the Doha Trade Fair.

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“The yearround focus is on exhibitions, which number between 25 and 35 per year.” – Hamad Mohammed Al Abdan, director of DEC, QTA.

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Qatar National Convention Centre (QNCC), who reveals that since its opening in December 2011, to date, it has hosted 304 events – large and small – and welcomed 176,915 delegates and visitors. “The economic impact generated from overseas delegates currently stands at an impressive QAR291 million,” says McCartney.

Evidently, MICE is not a uniform category and the scale of events that the QNCC or the Doha Exhibitions Centre (DEC) holds are of bigger scale and size than the hotels can accommodate. Also, there can be events of various target audience and themes. While convention centres and big hotels cater to larger events,

100,000 The number of visitors at the Qatar Motor Show in 2013.

Doha has moved up by 49 positions to share the 111th position with Florence, Riga and San Juan, in a list of more than 360 participating cities.

What MICE means for hotels in Doha Hotels in the city, a major venue for business events, are slightly guarded about giving a precise figure about the MICE sector and its contribution to their business volumes, though some of them do indicate a broad range.

Abdo Kayali, group director, sales and marketing, Souq Waqif Boutique Hotels says that the average number of events taking place per year is 54, “which means that on average, Doha hosts one major event per week.” This adds to the guests staying at the hotel which hosts the delegates to many of the events held in the city.

Andre Jacques, director of sales and marketing, St. Regis puts MICE as a 40 percent contributor to their overall budget while Wael Rashed, area director of sales and marketing Gulf and Saudi Arabia of W Doha says that for his hotel, the MICE business ranges between 11 percent and 13 percent.

Evidently, the contribution of the MICE sector in a hotel’s business volumes reflects the hotel’s strategy and the extent to which it pursues business from the sector, and it varies not only between the players, but also between two properties of the same hotel group.

For example, according to Avsar Koc, regional director of sales and marketing, Kempinski Hotels, “We expect to have 25 percent of our business from the MICE segment to come from our upcoming The Pearl property.”

Kempinski Residences & Suites, Doha provides luxury accommodation for large events such as TedxYouth@Doha, the COP 18 and the Doha Watches and Jewellery Exhibition.

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when it comes to themed events such as seminars or business or press conferences, event organisers choose hotels. Zeid F. Talhami, director of sales and marketing, Grand Heritage Doha Hotel and Spa, explains the focus of the hotel’s MICE business by saying, “We are a boutique hotel. We focus more on national and international sport teams, events, media press conferences and seminars.”

Avsar Koc, regional director of sales and marketing, Kempinski Doha, adds that they have provided the much-needed luxury accommodation for large events such as TedxYouth@Doha, COP 18 and the Doha Watches and Jewellery Exhibition and event space for the Doha Tribeca Film Festival. For Hamad Mohammed Al Abdan, director of DEC, QTA, the year-round focus is on exhibitions, which number between 25 and 35 per year.

Most of the events, which have now become brands in themselves, held annually at the DEC, are all crowd pullers. Al Abdan says that the Qatar Motor Show attracts more than 100,000 per year; the HYA Abaya Exhibition has a visitor turnout of over 35,000; and the Doha Trade Fair averages around 130,000 visitors per year.

Project Qatar, in its 10th edition, held last May at the DEC had exhibitors numbering 2100 from 50 countries housed in a 62,000 m2 of indoor and outdoor exhibition space. More than 45,000 people visited Project Qatar 2013 during its four-day run.

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QAR

291 million

The total amount earned by the QNCC since December 2011.

Location

With a multiplicity of venue options, for event organisers, the ultimate choice of a venue depends on various factors – size, nature and what the event aims to achieve.

Walid Al Banna, founder – marketing and communications advisor, iPonti says that the decision on the venue, “depends really on the nature and the requirements of the event; and whether the delegates are local or international. Hotels have the lodging advantages, which make them more convenient for international events, while convention centres have larger space for big events, and they are usually better equipped, not to forget that they are designed to meet the needs of the MICE industry”.

“The choice depends a lot on what kind of events we are organising and also the size of the events. If any event is more than 1000 square metres (m2), we prefer going to an exhibition centre, though hotels work out much better when it is a smaller event,” says Fady Jreissati, vice president operations, IFP Group, echoing Banna’s sentiments.

A hotel is preferred over a convention centre for several reasons. Some, like Rachel Pullen, director events, Qanect Communications say that hotels are self-sufficient so the organiser does not need to build floors or supply power or cleaning crews. She says, “Given the growing number of hotels in Doha, one of them is also bound to have availability on your event dates, whereas the DEC, QNCC and Katara generally do not unless you are booking space more than nine months in advance.”

Location and accessibility are the key factors for event organiser Informa Tharawat’s general manager Allan Kelly, who is of the opinion that especially for exhibitions, where the visitors are not obliged to attend, they have to be comfortable knowing that they can park and access the venue easily. Kelly says, “The facilities of course are vital – private and interchangeable meeting rooms, audio-visual presentation facilities, unobstructed views, suitable lighting, unlimited internet access, among others. A supportive sales team is also vital – a venue can have all the amenities but if their sales and management are indifferent to your requirements, it can make management of your event very difficult.”

Mark Gunner, founder and chief executive officer Mark Gunner Associates Limited, attributes his choice of venue to one single factor – people. “As with any business, people are always the chief advocates. When it comes to choosing an event partner, we always look to work with venues where the staff and management have a ‘can do’ attitude.”

The most important things to consider when deciding on a venue is the contract, according to David James, senior operations director, Qatar MICE Development Institute (QMDI). James is of the view that careful negotiation of a venue contract by people who truly

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understand the ramifications of the various clauses that can benefit or harm an event is vital.

Certain events held annually, such as Project Qatar, have almost become synonymous with the venue – Doha’s original exhibition space, DEC. Is it because of the ease of organising the event at the same place year after year?

Jreissati who has been behind all 10 editions of Project Qatar at the DEC says, the success of the event measured by client satisfaction and profitability of the show that made the IFP Group repeat the venue, though he adds, “Next year onwards, we will have to move since the DEC is getting small for us.”

For Gunner, it is the sectors that he works with that dictate his choice for repeat venues. Much of his work is with automotive and consumer brands. He explains, “These sectors need the creation of unique consumer experience and a changing environment that will engage audiences. Therefore, the experience leads the way and not the venue, which arguably disempowers venue loyalty.

Having said this, certain events demand a certain type of venue with a specific degree of infrastructure, for example the Qatar Motor Show. There are limited venues, which could host such an event. Generally, the venue of choice at the moment for our clients is Katara and we have hosted three events there in the past eight months.”

The cost factor

The venue of an event is dependent on the budget that the client has, but that, in turn, cannot be allowed to adversely affect the scale of an event or client expectation, suggest the event organisers.

Kelly of Informa Tharawat says that if one books an event at a large convention centre, but only delivers an event half of what was initially planned, the venue can become very expensive and look embarrassingly empty. “We look for flexibility to have the option to increase or decrease the size of the space due to a larger or lower than expected number of delegates or exhibitors. What is important to note is that the majority of events grow from small beginnings and if you do it right, the event will grow organically year on year, in some cases achieving growth of over 100 percent.”

Hilton Doha has emerged as one of the primary venues of holding conferences and seminars in Qatar.

Since its opening in December 2011, to date, QNCC has hosted 304 events – large and small – and welcomed 176,915 delegates and visitors.

Trevor McCartney, director of business development, QNCC says the centre’s rates are benchmarked against regional and international venues.

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Held annually, Qatar Motor Show has become one of the must-visit exhibitions in which automobile manufacturers showcase and launch luxury models in the Doha market.

Pullen of Qanect Communications says, “The DEC offers extremely competitive rates in terms of rental fee per m2, but when you take into account the cost to build your event from the ground up, costs can quickly add up. QNCC’s pricing strategy tends to exceed most small to medium event budgets and while Katara is competitive in terms of price, they are often booked for months in advance.”

However, McCartney of QNCC rebuts the cost angle pointed out by Pullen by saying, “The QNCC rates have been benchmarked against both regional and international venues and our competitive positioning makes QNCC an attractive proposition for most exhibition organisers. For the first time in Doha, QNCC offers a fully serviced and turnkey solution to organisers. This allows for a better and more efficient delivery system to our clients as expected from all similar international venues.”

Competition and the future

Doha’s MICE calendar is full between September and May, with the remaining months being relatively quiet. Hoteliers and exhibition centres have made their business plans to suit the seasonal nature of the MICE business in the city.

Carsten Fritz, general manager, Sharq Village and Spa says that his establishment has created summer packages to attract families.“This year, we have created and customised a special package for GCC residents with a minimum of two nights’ stay,” he adds.

For some others like the Hilton, the choices are wider and it has small meetings, conferences, social and entertainment events, weddings, graduations, product launches, family days as part of the summer focus reveals Amal Daou, conferences and events manager Hilton Doha, At the DEC, this summer there is going to be a summer festival for the first time, 62 | The Edge

Abdullah Bin Hamad Al Attiyah, the president of COP 18/CMP 8 Doha, addressing one of the panels at the UN Climate Change Conference that was held at the QNCC in December 2012.

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which will be an extended exhibition in a souq style of handicrafts and traditional items. “The exhibition will start right after the Doha Trade Fair that is slated between June 26 and July 6,” says Al Abdan of the DEC. As the sector, hotels are in fierce competition to attract events, and as more events come to the city, each hotel has clear strategies in place of how they are going to deal with competition and attract more events to their respective hotels.

Some hotels such as the Kempinski hint at a proactive approach, with a recently introduced interactive online MICE brochure and is in the process of developing an online MICE management portal, which will enable events professionals to plan entire events online.

Speaking on behalf of the QTA, Al Abdan is of the view that hotels and exhibition centres are complementary parts of the business of MICE, and the DEC in no way competes with any venue whatsoever.

“As the regulator of the hospitality and MICE business in Qatar, the QTA encourages hotels to promote themselves and in the process increase the number of conferences in Doha. Even the QNCC, which is managed by Qatar Foundation, has to come back to us for exhibition licensing.” In the run-up to FIFA 2022, the traffic for holding more events in the country will only increase, a challenge which convention centres and hoteliers are preparing to meet.

McCartney of QNCC says, “This certainly augurs well for us. It strengthens Doha’s offering as one of the top business destinations in the region. With its rich culture and heritage, Doha is a unique destination for attracting international delegates. The opening of new properties will certainly support QNCC and the Continued on page 74

Established annual events held in Doha: • • • • • • • • • • •

Doha Watches and Jewellery Exhibition (January) Qatar Motor Show (February) MultaQa Qatar (March) Bloomberg Link (April) Project Qatar (May) Cityscape (May) Doha Trade Fair (June) EcoQ (October) TedxYouth@Doha (November) Aspire4Sport (November) Euromoney (December)

Global events held in Doha: • • • • •

20th World Petroleum Congress (December 2011).

United Nations Conference on Trade and DevelopmentXIII (April 2012).

25th Universal Postal Union (September 2012).

2012 WISE Summit (November 2013).

United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP 18/CMP 8) (December 2012).

The state-of-the-art QNCC has scaled up Doha’s exhibition calendar to include global events which have guests coming from international locations as participants.

Many of these events are in the process of becoming more regular features in Doha’s convention and exhibition pattern.

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The Golden Rules of Retail

Exploring the aesthetics of Qatar’s shopping spaces

by Tim Makower

feature story | retail development

As a self-confessed ‘urbanist’, world traveller and the masterplan architect of Doha’s Msheireb regeneration project, eminent British architect Tim Makower is always thinking about city spaces. How to improve their aesthetics, how to make them more habitable, all the while serving one of their primary purposes, as hubs of commerce. In this special feature, Makower offers The Edge what he calls his ‘Golden Rules of Retail’ on how retailers and developers in the rapidly growing conurbation of the Qatari capital could and should adopt a more holistic approach to planning and redefining the city’s shopping spaces.

T

here is a small shop in old Doha, in a rough old alleyway in Al Asmakh, just south of Msheireb and only a few hundred yards from the Souk Waqif, which sells thread. Every kind of thread you could ever want, in every colour, every thickness. It is all laid out beautifully from floor to ceiling, as if a library of colour. As well as holding the best stock of thread in the whole of Qatar, this is a place full of character and evokes a sense of a bygone era, when shopping was a far more visceral experience than it often is today.

Yet apart from the intrinsic value of this shop, as with all of the urban fabric of Doha’s history, its very future is under threat due to the forever increasing speed of redevelopment across the city - which can often replace warm, welcoming retail spaces such as this humble thread shop, with unwelcoming environments made of concrete, glass and steel.

So what can it teach us about retail in Qatar for now and for the future? A walk from this shop to Souk Waqif, and a look at the plans for Msheireb, now emerging fast out of the ground in the area, reveals certain principles, which could be called the ‘Golden Rules of Retail’. The idea that they are made of gold reminds us of the ancient traditions of these marketplaces, barter and exchange, and the value of precious things. Certainly, making sense and a success of retail has value – long-term value – for the health and sustainability of communities.

Inside outside

The best retail environment, whether it is outside in the sunshine or the rain, or part of an internal mall, should have the qualities of our favourite city streets and spaces.

The great 15th century Italian architect, Leon Battista Alberti, said that “a city is like a large house and a house is like a small city.” This is certainly as true today as it was then, especially when you consider that 66 | The Edge

both are made up of rooms – outdoors and indoors - which we humans inhabit.

The feeling of being ‘at home in a city’ is something difficult to define, but whatever it means for different people, it involves being comfortable, both in the privacy of your house and out on the street, and retail is the heartbeat of the street.

The ‘outdoor rooms’ of the city are generally made of stone, concrete, clay or render; perforated and illuminated with openings. The most effective city spaces feel permanent, and improve with age. The permanence of the well-made city street is complemented by the dynamic transience of retail, its changing displays and the diverse parade of characters it attracts.

A walk down London’s New Bond Street, across Piccadilly and into the open arcades of St. James’ reveals a prime example of this urban collage.

Whether we are inside a mall or out in the street, when we are shopping, we are ‘out’. We are playing our part. The stage set is the street. Lessons could be learnt for so many internal malls, such as Landmark or Villaggio in Doha, which lack the humanising qualities of a real piece of city, feeling more like large spaceships, with wide concourses and walkways inside, and a sense of being disconnected from their surroundings.

Conversely, Souk Waqif is a paradigm, albeit on a scale which is very different from the retail needs and expectations of 21st century Doha. Its buildings are a continuum, all made of similar materials, whether covered or not. It is roofed in places, to provide shade, but the exterior facades continue. But none of Souq Waqif is fully indoors and this is benefit to its urban feel. It is indeed warm in the Souq in high summer, but certain areas benefit from cool air spilling out of the wide-open shop-fronts within, and shade is plentiful.

But this ‘feel of the street’ can be achieved in a fully enclosed mall also. The

qualities of daylight and material can simply emulate the exterior world and in so doing, they can bind the environment of a mall into its wider context. Whether indoors or outdoors, shopping streets are public spaces and today, with an increasing percentage of shopping done from the privacy of home via the Internet, the benefit of being out on the street as part of enhancing a sense of community will only increase.

Stream of life

Retail is like plumbing; the connecting of flows. Like water (or blood), retail brings life.

Like water, it can rush fast in some places and create quiet eddies in others; it makes vibrant places for people, both to enliven and relax.

The nature of shopping is linear. To achieve the right balance between clear directionality and freedom of choice, between interconnectivity and focus, is a

The nature of shopping is linear. To achieve the right balance between clear directionality and freedom of choice, between interconnectivity and focus, is a fine art.

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fine art. Of course it is in the interests of every shopkeeper and every retail landlord, to pump as many people past as many shops as possible, while being sure to make the experience enjoyable and satisfying.

One obvious environmental need in Doha is to create shade. Arcades work well but all too often they are not wide enough.

But generous single arcades in Doha can make a street walkable for all but two months of the year. Even better, particularly in the case of cafes and restaurants, is a double arcade or ‘liwan’; the inner arcade can be for walking, the outer one for café tables, for example on the main square of the new Sidra Village in Doha.

At Msheireb, the main shopping galleria, whilst being internal, has been designed to be a truly integrated piece of the city. Not only does it connect the natural lines of flow from Souq Waqif up into Msheireb’s main square, the exterior feel and character of the facades continue through the interior of the galleria, even though it is indoors.

Opening the lens

Doha’s Souq Waqif is a combination of urban and old city elements and the author, noted architect Tim Makower, writes that mall developers shoulld use it as a good example of retail space design. (Image Corbis)

Shop windows are like lenses. Their contents are projected outwards, via the window, and the view is focused in. They are also like a funnel. People flood in and goods spill out.

If we turn now and look perpendicular to the line of flow, we are looking at, and into, the shop window. Shop windows do much for the character of a street. They want to draw the eye to the contents within and some do this by being eye-catching in their own right.

This blurring of the boundaries between inside and outside lies at the heart of successful retail frontage, whether it involves foldaway glazing or not. To allow the shop interior to spill out onto the street is made easy in covered shopping spaces such as the Gallerie des Panorames in Paris and is of course traditional in the Middle East region’s souqs. The extrovert nature of goods displayed out on the pavement goes hand in hand with the typical use of awnings to protect goods, and to some extent, shoppers from the sun.

Jewellery and jazz

Shop signage is the jewellery of the street and every shop should wear what suits it best, but it will only enhance the city if it is well designed and well made.

Well-crafted streets - built to mature over generations - make successful cities.

However, without the ephemera of shop windows and signage, an overtly handsome retail street can be sterile. Every retailer

Makower also writes that street signage, If not executed creatively and with some sort of common purpose, can damage the aesthetic potential of a city. (Image Photosbymilo)

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The qualities of daylight and material can emulate the exterior world and in so doing, they can bind the environment of a mall into its wider context. signage; both of past and future.

Good retail is like jazz. Each individual should be free to play his own instrument but without a tune and a beat – something to hold the band together – it will not be music. Similarly, successful retail balances unity and diversity, with its elements in the architecture of the street or binding themes within the shopfront and signage design itself.

Body and bones

Colourful goods spilling from spacious store frontages onto walkways and/or streets embody the spirit of a retail environment that is a pleasure for shoppers and can increase profits, explains Makower. (Image Corbis)

carries its own brand, and it is right that they should be encouraged to celebrate this. However, this can be manifested in many ways, ranging from garish illuminated fascia panels to exquisite sculptural forms with sophisticated lighting.

Therefore, some aesthetic guidance for retail signage is good; not to lessen the individuality of the shops but to raise the quality of the whole to a higher level. Yet signage is often over-controlled. Buildings should be created with confidence that they will be able to host a wide variety of signage designs – shapes, sizes, and 68 | The Edge

colours – to enrich rather than detract from their character. Retail is organic and should be allowed to have a life of its own.

In Doha, there is a strong tradition of calligraphic signage, some hand-painted and much of it in neon. This could become one of Doha’s identifying features – that all retail signage should be innovative, fresh and beautifully honed. Kharaba Street at Msheireb (Electricity Street) which was Doha’s first illuminated shopping street, described as the ‘Champs Elysees of Doha’ in its heyday through the sixties – is an example of strong, flamboyant and harmonious

For healthy retail, the ‘organs and bone structure of the body’ need to function well. The right mix, the right relationships and the ability to adapt, are essential to a successful shopping cluster.

Some shopping areas are designed as a single piece and some grow organically, but in either case a degree of designedmix will be of benefit. This may take the form of a development framework by a local authority, or a masterplan by a largescale landowner. There are many technical orthodoxies of critical mass, destination planning and footfall which are essential to the design of a successful retail engine.

However, if retail planning is treated merely as the design of an economic machine, rather than the creation of a real piece of a city, then it will never fulfil its potential.

Instead, the rhythms of retail from day to night, and the other activities that surround it, must be fundamental to its character and longevity.

Like an ecosystem, people living and working near shops create a natural balance; symbiotic relationships develop which make shopping and dining more

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than just the act of purchasing goods or eating out. More than an act of buying, shopping or even visiting the thread shop in the Souq is a visceral experience.

Retail is like a living, breathing body; it has a pulse and a heartbeat; it needs air in its lungs. The central ‘organ’ will often be a marketplace or souq, as is found in the majority of towns through history. The ‘parts of the body’ are public spaces, just as much as they are units of retail space; the spatial qualities of courtyards, narrow lanes, sometimes on more than one level, create the richness of experience which is so much part of feeling being at home in the city.

But there is also the unseen to consider, the ‘back of house’ worlds of retail are generally invisible although many shops are serviced from the street, out of hours, however there are many supply, access and other logistical considerations that are as important as the less tangible issues of character and feel, for the long-term success of retail estates.

It is, therefore, essential to build a solid base of human knowledge, skill and commitment in support of the retail economy. For a fast-changing country such as Qatar, this will be essential for it to meet its high aspirations, and to deliver a quality of service in a pleasant, safe, environment, which enables shoppers to go away happy and return for more. It is about seeing urban retail development as building communities, not just the creation of commodities.

Tim Makower, founder of Makower Architects, is the architectural language advisor of Msheireb Properties and has been the architectural voice of Msheireb for more than five years.

Tim Makower’s top five retail spaces Gallerie des Panorames, Paris, France A magical journey through secret inner spaces, threading northwards from Palais Royale to Montmartre. My favourite signage anywhere.

Rode Hall Farmers’ Market, Cheshire, UK This home-grown epicentre of excellence in food and craft is an example of how to bring places to life with ‘natural economics’. It also has wonderful cheeses.

Via Tornabuoni, Florence, Italy Vast solid walls of stone, framing jewel-like windows with all the best names; solidity adds emphasis. And of course the most famous truffle sandwiches in Italy.

Borough Market, UK In the shadow of Southwark Cathedral, beneath Dickensian railway arches, the freshest fruit and finest foods are being bought and sold, every Friday and Saturday. This is the ‘Larder of London’.

Milan’s Galleria, UK Unique and exceptional as a destination whilst also being an integrated piece of the city, not a shopping mall. Timeless elegance.

Like Souq Waqif and other Middle East markets, the cafes and shops of Gallerie des Panorames in Paris spill from the confines of conventional retail, making it one of the author’s all time world shopping and dining spaces.

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Managing through the eyes

and ears of staff 70 | The Edge

effective leadership | business management

Employees who find their work frustrating, boring and worthless have found their hero in Scott Adams’ world famous cartoon character Dilbert, the nine-to-five man who lets us know just how bad managers can be at their jobs. But Julian Birkinshaw, Vyla Rollins and Stefano Turconi believe that bad bosses can change to become true leaders.

M

ost books written on management and leadership are written from the perspective of the manager. These books are typically based on interviews with managers.

The authors of such books often offer advice aimed at helping managers do their jobs better.

While there is value in such books, they pay far too little attention to the fears, doubts, aspirations or needs of the employee. This focus on the person doing the managing, rather than the one being managed, perpetuates many traditional assumptions about management being a top-down and control-oriented activity.

In our recent research (which involved interviews with more than 50 employees across a dozen companies as well as questionnaire data from more than 200 employees), we took an employeecentred approach to management - starting with the view that management should be about percieving the world through the eyes and ears of the employee. According to this perspective, the job of the manager is essentially to enable employees to do their best work, to help them reach their own personal goals while also delivering on the organisation’s goals.

This employee-centred approach seeks to recast the role of the manager as one of tapping into an employee’s strengths, enabling her aspirations and negating her fears.

Thus, we sought employees’ views on the aspects of their work that they found motivating and engaging, as well as the various concerns, fears or frustrations that got in the way of them delivering their best work. We then asked them more narrowly about their relationship with their immediate boss and the things he or she did to shape the working environment for individual employees in a positive or negative way.

What employees want

There were five characteristics that employees seemed to recognise as most important and valuable: • Having responsibility for doing something worthwhile

• Being given a high level of freedom for how results are achieved • Having an opportunity to extend oneself and to develop expertise • Being given an opportunity to work with good colleagues • Achieving recognition for doing a good job.

What is surprising is that so many people, in very different working environments, find themselves doing work that does not have these attributes. Moreover, it is worth underlining that money is nowhere to be seen. Only some salespeople, who have a large variable component to their pay, mentioned it. Likewise, there was no discussion of the physical working environment.

The five characteristics were consistently mentioned across a wide variety of contexts - from white-collar office workers to factory machinists, frontline hotel employees and IT help desk workers. Most working environments, we believe, would benefit by utilising these broad principles in their management practices.

What frustrates workers

Effective management is potentially as much about getting rid of the negatives as it is about enhancing the positives.

The list of fears, concerns and frustrations mentioned by employees was very long but the major sources of fear or concern, in hierarchical order, boiled down to seven issues: • Lack of opportunities for personal development • Fear of failing to deliver on (high) expectations • Concern with the stress of the work • Frustration with ineffective processes • Concern about not fitting in • Concern with uncertainty and change • Fear of redundancy It is always good to know what your employees are worrying about, what their most immediate and easily articulated concerns are. The things that are worrying your employees may also be

Each employee has a unique set of skills and motivations, the right balance for one person is likely to be the wrong balance for the next.

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business management | effective leadership

indicative of their overall situation, including the things that they are content with. For example, if your employees express concerns about their personal development and their worries about not delivering against expectations, it is likely that they are not worried about job security and fitting in, the lower rungs of the hierarchy of fears. Equally, for those employees who express concern about job security and fitting in, it is unlikely the higher rungs on the hierarchy are even on their list of concerns. In which case, any initiatives directed at higher-level concerns that do not first address lower-level concerns are likely to be a waste of time.

Finally, the hierarchy of fears applies only to the workplace, and work is only one part of an individual’s life. The workplace cannot satisfy all an employee’s needs, but we believe it has the potential to satisfy many of them.

Good boss? Bad boss?

We asked respondents what made their bosses effective or ineffective. We also asked them about their best and worst bosses ever.

A good boss gives employees challenging work to do, creates space for them to do it, provides support when needed, gives recognition and praise and is not afraid to make tough decisions. A bad boss tends to provide confusing or unclear objectives, micromanages and meddles, is selfish and focused on his own agenda, provides little and mostly negative feedback and dithers.

Our research led us to two difficult questions: first, if it is so easy to draw up a list of what makes an effective manager, why are there so many bad managers out there? Further, given that this gap exists and has existed for a long time, what can we do about it?

Managerial hurdles

We asked many of our interviewees why potentially good managers become bad ones. The answers are grouped into three basic categories.

Managing well is harder than it seems. For most aspects of management, it is possible to get it wrong in both directions. So, while giving employees space to act is a good thing, it is also possible to give them too much space. Providing challenging tasks is good, but impossible tasks are not. Balance is the key in both areas. But what makes this really difficult is that each employee has a unique set of skills and motivations, the right balance for one person is likely to be the wrong balance for the next.

There just are not enough hours in the day.

Managers have competing priorities and limited time.

Many managers have five or six people reporting to them (and, today, some managers have many more), each with different needs. Throw all these things into the mix and then add whatever economic or corporate crisis has just hit, and it is no surprise that even the most well-intentioned and skilled executives fail to do the managerial part of their jobs well on a consistent basis.

72 | The Edge

Managing well requires non-intuitive behaviour. The third reason why many managers fail to walk the talk is that being a good manager requires them to act in non-intuitive or ‘unnatural’ ways. There is a great deal of academic research looking at the natural predispositions we have as humans. This research shows, for example, that we are fairly selfish, control-oriented and risk-averse. There is nothing wrong with these traits per se, but these are not the traits of a good manager.

Becoming a better manager

Management is not an easy job, but there are some things that any manager can do to become better. The path to managerial improvement starts with three steps.

1. See the world through the employee’s eyes The trouble is, most of us will never get a real undercover experience. So we have to find alternative ways of getting into the heads of our employees, such as: • • • • •

Institutionalised skip-level meetings - To talk directly with the two layers below you in the hierarchy.

Web-enabled chat and discussion forums - To encourage top-of-mind conversations on specific topics, without regard for rank.

Frontline work - Top executives to spend some time doing the frontline activities Smokers’ corner - To strike up conversation with a random slice of people at all levels in the company, typically in a much less hierarchical manner.

Reverse mentoring - To discuss a wide range of issues on a much more informal basis than would normally be possible.

2. Package work - even routine work - into projects One way of making routine work more fulfilling and motivating for employees is to structure their work into a series of projects. The essence of a project is simply (a) a clear objective, (b) a deadline by which the objective needs to be reached and (c) a clear sense of who is doing the work and who is responsible.

3. Work yourself out of a job A useful way of approaching a management job is to imagine that the role would not exist in, say, two years’ time and that your job is to train everyone so that they can do your job as well as their own. Doing that encourages you to hire and promote the best people. It forces you to question why you do certain things at all, and it inspires you to delegate many of your tasks to the people working for you.

Julian Birkinshaw is professor of strategic and international management and senior fellow of the Advanced Institute of Management Research at London Business School. He is also co-founder of the Management Lab (MLab).

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Spillover Continued from page 63

Of MICE and Businessmen

country towards the goal of establishing the destination as a global meetings centre.” In the meantime, the QNCC has won the Best Events Venue at the Middle East awards 2013.

One way to increase the MICE business is to understand the market, the customer’s expectation and the need of the country. Outlining their method in attracting more MICE events to the hotel, Fritz of Sharq Village and Spa says, “Our strategy is to grow with the country. We are getting a lot of government and sport delegations, and we want to make sure they will have the best experience with us, and they will look forward to coming back.”

Location of the hotel is also to an extent a determinant of the kind of events that it will attract. Talhami of Grand Heritage Doha Hotel and Spa is of the opinion that being located in the Aspire Zone and close to Aspetar will be really beneficial for the hotel. He says, “We have had a lot of sports team meetings and press conferences held in the hotel. Also the hotel gains more room nights by groups of exhibitors staying with us. On the other hand, as our hotel style really attracts the Qatari market, we receive large number of local banquet bookings as well.”

Daou of Hilton Doha believes that a number of conferences and exhibitions are already scheduled and will take place in relation to the FIFA 2022 World Cup. According to her, Hilton aims to strengthen their position in the market place and to capture its fair market share by being approachable and by targeting all international and local segments.

Daou feels that more opportunities lie in the MICE and sports sectors though 74 | The Edge

once all projects underway are actualised, including the new facilities of the DEC, the Doha Festival City project and the new Hamad International Airport, the opportunities will then lie in the leisure segment.

Clearly, the players show optimism in their business sentiments and are planning ahead to meet the increasing MICE volumes that the FIFA 2022 World Cup will bring. This is evident not only in the plans that they have for their existing properties, but also in the business segmentation that they are creating with their upcoming ventures, as in the case of the Kempinski property in The Pearl which will have a greater MICE focus.

These initiatives of the hospitality players support Qatar’s intention of positioning itself as a major MICE venue of the Middle East, which some years back was limited to Dubai or Abu Dhabi, both of which are likely to be more saturated than Doha is as far as the MICE business is concerned.

Some hospitality players such as the Mövenpick Tower & Suites have segmented their business focus in a different way, and do not focus on big events and conventions. It is a conscious choice that these players have made which is reflected in the architecture of the hotel building, with the absence of large conference or meetings facilities. Instead these hotels have a number of smaller meeting rooms which serve a good purpose in holding company board meetings or smaller corporate get togethers. These rooms, many times, are booked throughout the year, which shows that demand for smaller rooms and venues are no less than the bigger facilities that some other hotels have. With business segments varying, different players have taken different routes to satisfying the needs of the MICE market. All the hospitality players are keen to keep abreast of the business trends that will gradually surface both in the run up to FIFA and afterwards. For the present, players are keen to prepare themselves for the growing number of events.

Giving a rough estimate of the average number of events, Abdo Kayali of Souq Waqif Boutique Hotels says that the number per year is around 54, which means that there is more than one event per week. “Qatar is becoming a known destination for MICE and therefore strategically speaking for most leading hotels in Doha, including ours, the percentage of business prospects as a result of MICE is huge.”

Continued from page 51

Under Digital Attack

In this case the page that appears is a dummy MOI website. Social engineering is a very effective method utilised by hackers. Most are probably aware of the email scam masquerading as ridiculous claims from a Nigerian prince. What you might not know is that social engineering is the reason this scam has been successful for so long. A recent research paper from Microsoft explained that scammers have begun to intentionally dumb down messages, eliminating anyone who might make things more difficult for them.

Education and protection

Relatively new technologies such as the cloud, that are being adopted by organisations have significant security issues to contend with. Since resource sharing is an essential component of cloud computing, each security incident may impact multiple customers. Chung explains that there is not much that can be done to avert security risks other than to have a good exit scenario and incident response mechanism. He does, however, add the caveat that the overall level of security is high in the cloud when compared with internally managed IT services.

Qatar’s increasing prominence and the current regional dynamics make it a prime target for attacks. And it is one that both companies and government should take seriously.

One such example in Qatar is Vodafone Qatar. Farrukh Ahmed, Vodafone Qatar’s chief technology security officer tells The Edge that they are acutely aware of the rise in global cyber attacks, and are centrally monitoring their defences. “We continue to invest heavily to protect our assets as well as those belonging to our customers.

It’s imperative that businesses in Qatar take this threat seriously and ensure they are poised to meet these challenges.”

Inside the minds of leading business figures

business insight A focus on emerging markets for luxury goods>80

80

Tue Mantoni, CEO of audio and video products manufacturer Bang & Olufsen tells The Edge about the company’s latest product and his views on the future of luxury goods in emerging markets.

also in this section English language training can have a large impact on workplace efficiency >78 Ryan Peden is the managing consultant at Peden Consulting, specialised in the areas of learning and development, education, language and business development across Europe and the Gulf. Speaking with The Edge, Peden shares his insights on workplace language usage in Qatar.

Despite challenges, setting up a firm in Qatar is becoming easier>76

In an exclusive interview with The Edge, Wayne Merrick, general manager of The Links Group Qatar, says that some company formation experts tend to mislead prospective companies from entering Qatar, which explains why many are put off by the process altogether, even if it is becoming easier

Realising the lack of aesthetic appeal in typical black sound systems, Bang & Olufsen offers high quality speakers with artistic feel to their exterior looks, says the company’s CEO Tue Mantoni.

business insight | expatriate businesses

start-up assistance

Despite challenges, setting up a firm in Qatar is becoming easier

Wayne Merrick, general manager, The Links Group Qatar says that government e-services are certainly helping to make setting up a business in Qatar more efficient.

Wayne Merrick general manager, The Links Group Qatar, tells The Edge in an exclusive interview that some company formation experts tend to mislead prospective companies from entering Qatar, which explains why many companies are put off by the process altogether.

76 | The Edge

If you were to recommend five steps for setting up a company in Doha in the shortest possible time, what would they be?

I think the first one would be to know the market. It is important that whatever the type of business may be, you need to understand the demand for the products or the service within the marketplace, so feasibility and obviously doing a business plan would be the first ones. Second would be to find any gaps that are there within the market, maybe look at your competition and see what scope there is for you to get the benefits of any potential

contracts that are available. Third would be to choose the right business format, the right legal entity, and the support, that you get expert advice from the onset, whether that is legal advice or professional services company like the Links Group.

Fourth is to be prepared for the challenges in generating finance. I do believe that this is an area in which Qatar has vastly improved, but it still can be a challenge for foreign companies looking to obtain credit in order to fund the projects that they are awarded. Fifth would be to be aware of any barriers or pitfalls. It is important to remember that for a limited liability company (LLC), foreign companies need to be aware that according to the proxy law, you cannot have a completely silent partner. You need to have a partner that is active, and you need to make sure that documentation is updated every single year with an annual general meeting (AGM) and that you invite all of the general shareholders to that AGM and keep a copy of the minutes held on file for all shareholders. So it is very, very important that the partner is active in the business and that is something for you to be aware of prior to entry into the market.

It is often said that due to the paperwork there is not a unified guideline for people to use when setting up a firm in Qatar. What in your view needs to be done to that process?

Government e-services are certainly helping to make setting up a business in Qatar more efficient. At the moment, the difficulty lies in certain businesses and structures requiring different documentation and procedures.

Unfortunately, some company formation

expatriate businesses | business insight

providers exploit these inefficiencies in the system to make their clients overly dependent on their services. What invariably ends up happening is that clients become confused, frustrated and put off setting up a company in the region.

We believe a screening process for facilitators of company incorporation services could significantly reduce the time it takes for foreign companies to enter the market, and could also contribute to the improvement of trade and investment flows for the country.

If you were to draw a benchmark to the simplest processes that one needs to set up a company, which country would you choose and why?

The procedure of setting up a business in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and especially in Dubai has been made a lot more efficient in recent years. The UAE has significantly enhanced its global competitiveness ranking and is now the easiest country in the Arab world in which to do business. This year, the UAE’s ranking in the Ease of Doing Business report jumped from 24 to 22 out of 183 countries. A key initiative of Dubai’s Department of Economic Development (DED) in this regard was automating 95 percent of the traditional business registration process to, and integrating it with the electronic platforms of the federal and local government concerned to reduce time

“It is important to remember that for a limited liability company, the foreign companies cannot have a completely silent partner.”

and effort for investors and business owners.

The DED has also strengthened its cooperation with the private sector by outsourcing the services of the Business Registration and Licensing Sector (BRL) to selected law firms and private companies capable of providing such services to customers over extended hours.

What can Qatar adopt from Dubai?

Qatar is following similar initiatives like the UAE, but we think the country can involve more private sector collaboration.

In Dubai for example, The Links Group has established strong relationships with the DED to help encourage inward investments.

The Links Group is the only company of its kind to be associated with the Foreign Investment Office (FDI) of the DED. It has been said that the way that Dubai does things is more advanced than the way that Qatar does, especially with regards to rules and regulations and the opening up of the country. What is your take on this?

The rapid rate of growth in Qatar and the UAE has outpaced the advancement of regulations and administrative systems.

Even in international markets, regulation tends to play a game of catch-up with business needs.

The UAE is a few years ahead in its development cycle, but I think we also have to recognise the improvements Qatar is making. The leadership has introduced e-government services to make company formation more efficient. This is certainly enticing the future entrants. Enterprise Qatar is a fantastic government initiative established to provide financial support and advice to the SME market (a lifeblood of many economies around the world). Qatar Development Bank (QDB) is now providing financial assistance for start-ups requiring credit facilities whereby QDB may act as the benefactor. The new Economic Zones will also attract more foreign investment.

Although we do not yet know the full details of this proposition, it may follow a similar free zone model to the UAE. What are the differences for Qataris setting up offices in the same timeframe?

If a Qatari national is looking to establish an entity in Qatar the setup

procedures are much quicker than that of a foreign party. This is due to the requirement of the foreign party to get some of their documents notarised and attested at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Qatar Embassy in the country of origin.

What are the sectors that you give advice on – is it as wide as hospitality to education and from technology to restaurants?

The Links Group’s core business is advising corporations and individuals from different sectors on how best to establish a legal commercial presence in the Middle East. We work across all sectors and with all sizes of businesses – from SMEs to Multinational Corporations (MNCs). However, we do have a depth of specialist experience in engineering, construction, education, healthcare and hospitality industries.

The Links Group provides an unrivalled network of corporate services to assist the company formation process with a particular focus on the UAE and Qatar.

This includes company formation, legal structures, licences and visa documentation, serviced offices, resource management and marketing support.

How can an expatriate set up a company here in say three months?

And what would be the requirements?

To conduct business in Qatar on a regular basis, foreign investors are required to establish a legal presence.

Currently, foreign companies can choose from the following options: incorporating a local entity under the Commercial Companies Law; obtaining a license for a branch office or trade representative office; entering into a commercial agency relationship; incorporating or registering with the Qatar Financial Centre; or setting up a free zone entity within the Qatar Science and Technology Park.

However, not all these entities will have free reign to trade wherever and with whomever they like. It is also important to understand ownership requirements for any Qatar-based entity. It is important to seek advice from specialists in company formation to ensure your business is established correctly from the outset and in the most efficient manner possible.

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business insight | professional training

LINGUISTIC COMPETENCE

English language training can have a large impact on workplace efficiency With many nationalities in its workforce, the need for a lingua franca in Qatar cannot be underestimated. What comes along with cultural diversity are the challenges of clear communication among the employees, something identified in the second language survey on workplace communication conducted

by Peden Consulting, specialised in the areas of learning and development, education, language and business development across Europe and the Gulf. Speaking with The Edge, Ryan Peden, managing consultant at Peden Consulting, shares his insights on workplace language usage in Qatar.

What were some of the major findings of the language survey done this year?

Firstly, the vast majority of respondents confirmed the significant language diversity that exists in Qatar’s workplaces. Only two percent of respondents identified that they had one common native language among all staff at their workplace, while nearly half said they had five or more different native languages spoken in their workplace.

Secondly, over half of the organisations participating in the survey believed that language and communication challenges impacted workplace performance. When specifically asked about sales, marketing and customer service activities, nearly 40 percent believed that language difficulties had negatively impacted their results.

Finally, in this year’s survey we explored

the perceived English language abilities of staff based on region of origin. These questions were asked because depending on where staff come from, there may be different standards of English education and knowledge, and correspondingly a need for further language training to work effectively in English-speaking working environments. The results indicated that those from MENA, South Asia and local Qatari staff could benefit most from improvements in English language ability.

What are some of the changes you have seen in the survey results of this year compared to the last one?

Two areas of note were the perceived English language ability of local Qatari staff and how organisations rate their language

“Effective language training often requires a large time investment of several months.”

78 | The Edge

training courses.

The percentage of respondents saying their Qatari staff had a high proficiency in English increased from 40 to 59 percent.

The 2013 survey had significantly more respondents, which may explain some of this variance, but also a possible reason for this change could be the high investment organisations recently made in training their Qatari staff connected to Qatarisation programmes.

The second major change is the number of respondents rating their workplace English courses as highly effective. The past few years have seen new arrivals to the language training market in Qatar, and as new international organisations set up operations locally, and those already established providers continue to improve their services to remain competitive, more high quality language training options are available to companies in Qatar.

How willing are the companies in Qatar to train their employees in English language?

In general, I believe most organisations have a willingness to invest in English language training, but a number of factors influence this decision, including the budget allocated towards staff training and perceived urgency of language training.

Unfortunately, seeking language training is often triggered when a communication issue already exists, and unlike some other forms of training which can be quickly delivered in a single workshop, effective language training often requires a large time investment of several months.

In addition to the above, although many companies are willing to

professional training | business insight

invest in training for local Qatari staff, fewer organisations allocate training investment for staff of other nationalities.

Eventually, language training is something that can have a significant impact on workplace performance regardless of staff nationality.

What are the challenges when convincing the companies in Qatar to arrange English training programmes for their employees?

One of the main challenges I have observed is convincing companies to choose programmes that are relevant to their business needs. Although some organisations are quite advanced in their vendor selection procedures, others are still developing in this area.

Customised courses offered in the companies’ own premises offer them the chance to receive training specifically tailored to their own business needs and can significantly reduce the per head training cost over time.

Another key challenge is convincing companies of training course quality from local providers. There are a number of low cost options, but with variable trainer quality. Negative experiences with local providers have led some companies who can afford it to invest in overseas training options. Local vendors need to ensure they are conforming to the highest professional standards, to overcome this challenge.

What is the weakest area of language you see in employees in Qatar?

The weakest area of English language I have observed in Qatar is writing, and unfortunately this is often the hardest area to train for. Many organisations I have worked with find that although conversational English ability means verbally most things can be conveyed easily, with so much of business relying on written communication like e-mails and reports, writing skills can lead to misunderstandings that impact workplace performance. This is a common problem for most non-native speakers of English regardless of where they come from, and training options to overcome this need to focus on practice and feedback over a period of time and not just a single workshop or other quick-fix solutions.

Some companies in Qatar have in-house English training programmes. How effective are they?

Although investing in such a programme is beyond the financial capacity of some organisations, these programmes tend to be very effective as they can be tailored specifically to the companies’ needs. However, many of these programmes still rely on outside providers to deliver course content when further training capacity is needed or when speciality language areas need to be covered.

Most English training programmes are designed for managers and middle managers, what about the lower staff of the organisation?

Training for lower levels of staff is also important for some organisations, particularly those who have a large number of lower level staff in client-facing positions, for example in service-based

Ryan Peden, managing consultant at Peden Consulting, believes that the response of Qatar organisations towards English language training has improved over time.

industries. What is important for such organisations is to identify the level of language needed in different positions, as where some positions may require a high level of proficiency to ensure effective workplace communication, others may only require a moderate level of proficiency focussed on the specific tasks they need to perform.

When it comes to conducting surveys, the responses are highly subjective. How then do you ensure the results are reliable?

Unfortunately, one of the biggest challenges in a survey of this nature is that it is based on the perceptions of individuals filling in the survey. However, these general perceptions do provide interesting insights that need to be accompanied with more scientific assessment of language ability for companies that are considering investing in workplace language training.

Are the surveys supported by secondary research tools such as interviews or case studies?

Over the coming months, we will be following up with survey respondents to develop case studies on how organisations have addressed communication and language challenges in their workplaces. We hope the experiences of these organisations will help others in addressing their own workplace communication challenges.

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business insight | luxury products

Audiovisual technology

A focus on emerging markets for luxury goods Bang & Olufsen takes sound seriously. The Danish company has recently unveiled its latest creation the BeoLab 14 surround sound system. Laura Hamilton spoke exclusively with CEO Tue Mantoni in London, about the new product and the future of luxury goods in emerging markets.

Bang & Olufsen CEO, Tue Mantoni explains that more can be done to develop the luxury sector in emerging markets such as Qatar, starting with working more closely with master dealers to build the brand.

80 | The Edge

luxury products | business insight

Bang & Olufsen has a highly distinctive style. Why is design so important to technology?

Acoustic performance is not enough.

People are investing more and more into furniture, into art and they do not want to be spoiling that interior with big black speakers.

Therefore, we like to create the products for that market which are high performance and beautiful at the same time.

BeoLab 14 is a very aesthetic but very different surround sound system. What we really wanted to create was an alternative to the black speakers and black subwoofer, that is so common in the market. The subwoofer has all of the amplifiers hidden inside it, and we have created it so it takes up the minimum floor space possible, but it is a beautiful sculpture that you do not need to hide away. The smaller speakers fit in with the interior, but still stand out at the same time. We really wanted to create something from a craftsmanship angle, something that was flowing; the speakers were inspired by spinning plates at the circus. Technically speaking, we created it in a way that I believe no other company has done. We used aluminium in our design instead of wood. The speakers are made from a single, seamless piece of the metal to which we applied 170 tonnes of pressure to get a smooth circular raw wheel for the speaker.

This was done to minimise waste, so it is one dynamic form and gives the engineer as much space as possible. The aluminium also has an anodised edge so it absorbs the colours in the room, making the speakers appear smaller than they actually are.

What makes BeoLab 14 different from other surround sound systems in the market?

When we went out and looked at the market, we saw that there were two ways of creating a product. Either it is design led or the acoustic performance drives the piece.

We found a lot of products in the market that had really amazing sounds, created for the audiophile who wants fantastic sound but cares less about how it looks, someone who is happy to hide the subwoofer under their sofa and have plain black speakers. We also found products that were beautiful, but they were more focused on looks than they were on substance. So what we did was create a product that brought the two

“Products that are probably a bit too expensive for European tastes are very popular in the Gulf.”

together. What we are trying to give you is the experience of the material, whether it is a film, or a sports event or a concert, in the way that the artist intended it to be.

It is not a coincidence that the products were one or the other. In these companies, the designer works on the look and the engineers work on the sound and there is not a lot of communication; usually what happens is one wins and the other loses. The philosophy in Bang & Olufsen is that we believe in breaking that conflict between designer and engineer so they can work together over time to create the best compromise between design and the acoustic performance to come up with solutions together.

Who is the target audience?

It is a 4.1 system, meaning that there are four speakers and one subwoofer. Most Bang & Olufsen TVs come with strong speakers built in, but you can connect this to a third party TV, too, although for that, you will need a 5.1 system, an extra speaker, to ensure that the sound is perfect. It was a very conscious decision for us to think about third party TVs – it is pure maths, it is pure business.

We are very niche and sell about 30,000 TVs a year. We sold more TVs in the last year than we have done previously, but it is a very small business. So if we were only targeting 30,000 customers a year, then that would not be very profitable. 200 million TVs are sold a year worldwide. We do not believe that everyone in the market is looking for a surround sound system like this, but even if we target five percent or even one percent, it is significantly bigger than if we target only those who buy Bang & Olufsen TVs. So, it was a very conscious decision to make it open for potentially everyone who has a TV. We have also thought about how you can place the surround sound system around your house. We have created stand options and we have even created a way of hanging them from the ceiling, or the walls, so they will fit in with everyone’s decor and indeed, their lifestyle.

Could you talk about your presence in the Middle East and what your plans are for expansion in the market?

We have most of the countries in the Middle East covered through what we call master dealers, they are not our own companies, but people who represent us. I think we have had until now, a good presence, but I think there is potential to do a lot more. In the future we will probably work more with the master dealers, getting closer to them, building the brand. You can work with master dealers in two different ways, either at arm’s length or by getting very close to them and supporting them more and I believe the latter is an opportunity.

Emerging markets have some of the largest concentrations of large net worth individuals. Could you talk about how you plan to make the most of these markets?

One of the markets that we have had the most focus in the last few years is China, simply because of the sheer size and the wealth. We are a small company and so we can only focus on so many things at the same time, so we decided to look at China and that is really paying off for us, China is a big part of what we do and we see strong growth there. We think that other emerging markets could follow in a similar fashion.

The Edge | 81

business insight | luxury products

The company recently singed a deal with a luxury importer in China. What sort of growth potential do you see in there?

Right now, about five percent of our global sales come from China. I could see that in the next three to five years our global sales growing closer to 20 percent. This is because our emphasis on China really only started about one and a half years ago and we were operating it at arm’s length, but now, we have set up an office in Shanghai, we have a partnership with a local player in China and we have taken over about 30 stores ourselves. With that focus and emphasis, we think it is going to grow exponentially.

India is a very interesting market, since it still has very high duties on luxury goods. Has this dampened growth in the market?

India is a small market for Bang & Olufsen, it is a market where we have a very niche positioning with the ultra high net worth individuals and the import duties are definitely making it more difficult for us. So up until now, our focus has been more on China and less on India. There is room for us to be in five of the major cities, but first we have to nurture our expansion in China before we think of focusing on India.

How are you planning to attract new customers to the brand in relatively new markets like the Middle East?

I think we should do the same as we have in other markets. Firstly, create great products.

Secondly, create shops that appeal to the kind of audience that we want to attract. We have just launched a new store concept that we recently piloted in Copenhagen. It is a very luxury-focused, interactive system, where you can try out all the products, play with them in a different way than you have ever been able to before and it demonstrates the best of what Bang & Olufsen can do. I think by rolling that out to places like the Middle East, we can build more on the strength of the product we have.

What are some of the challenges that you face in building customer loyalty in new markets?

I think our biggest issue is awareness.

We have a tendency to attract loyalty; once 82 | The Edge

Pictured is the new BeoLab 14. CEO Tue Mantoni thinks that people are investing more and more into furniture, art and do not want to spoil that interior with big black speakers.

people try out our products, they end up buying them. We try to get as many people to come into our shops and have an experience with our Bang & Olufsen products. As we say, “when they try them, they will buy them.” We have noticed, from experience, once we get people hooked, they will stay with us because we take care of them. If there are ever any issues with the products, we have a good service operation. We also have VIP sessions where customers can see new products before they are launched.

The drop in sales in European markets has shown your products not be to recession proof, yet you are pushing for expansion in the United States (US). Is luxury retail growing there?

We have had a very focused and very narrow niche position in the US, which is one of the world’s biggest luxury markets. What we will do now is to expand that further. We will expand it with more shops, by introducing our sister brand BeoPlay, which has been very popular in the US so far – it focuses on products like headphones and wireless speakers. I think there is a lot more we can do in the US. Are there any particular products that are more popular in one region than another?

What, for example, is more popular in the Middle East?

In the Middle East, we have been very successful with our large 85-inch and 103-inch TVs and also the BeoLab 5 speakers. Products that are probably a bit too expensive for European tastes are very popular in the Gulf.

How do you think Beolab 14 will perform in the Middle East, where the predominant style is very ostentatious?

I think there will still be people who want to build a full cinema room, with five speakers and the big 103-inch TV, but for the living room set-up, where you want great sound and the speakers to be discrete and fit in with the interior, I think it will do well for us.

products and reviews

Canon EOS 6D

Read it: HBR’s 10 Must Reads on Strategy Revisit some of the foundational ideas from business managements gurus like Michael Porter or learn more from the recent studies of scholars such as Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne. HBR’s 10 Must Reads on Strategy provides you the right combination of articles on business strategy, compiled by the Harvard Business Review, giving you a “timeless advice that will be relevant regardless of an ever-changing business environment.”

Writers of the selected articles are CEOs, professors at world-known universities and leading professionals from research and consulting firms in the areas of strategy and management. Spread across 248 pages, the 10 articles not only offer multiple perspectives on strategy but also provide quick reads through the articles that interest you best.

The book features a wide scope for the understanding of the concept of strategy. While Porter’s article deals with the marketing strategy governed by competitive forces, James Collins and Jerry Porras’ writing is more about the corporate strategy formulating a company’s vision.

Similarly, while some articles touch a broad area of business strategy, others are more specific in their approach with focus on strategic performance measures like balanced scorecard.

Considering the busy schedule of most managers, every article is accompanied by a summarised idea.

While most books on strategic practices are limited to the theoretical ideas, HBR’s 10 Must Reads on Strategy provides a separate section “Idea in practice” focusing on the application of the theory presented in each article.

Available at Virgin Megastore for QAR106 86 | The Edge

Canon’s latest offering EOS 6D is one of the world’s lightest DSLR to feature a full-frame CMOS sensor. The Wi-Fi and GPS lets you capture images on the move, tag them with location information and wirelessly transfer them to a computer, the cloud or smartphones. The camera comes with 20.2 Megapixel full-frame CMOS sensor.

Its new 11-point AF system offers the strongest low light performance of any Canon AF system to date. Apart from the pictures, the camera gives you full HD video. For the beginners, EOS 6D has a number of automatic modes and creative shooting features.

Samsung Galaxy S4 Samsung has recently launched its latest smartphone Galaxy S4 in the Gulf. Its Air View and Smart Scroll features enable you to use major functions like zooming and scrolling without touching the screen. Instead, you only have to wave your hand above the screen or move your eyes in the intended direction. Dual Camera function lets you take pictures and make videos simultaneously from front and rear 13-megapixel camera. Dual Video Call function adds advanced interactivity to the dual photo-imaging features. Its Share Music option allows you to wirelessly connect up to 11 Samsung Galaxy S4 smartphones together to create a powerful sound system.

Panasonic’s wireless speaker systems Panasonic has recently launched its two new styles of wireless speaker system models, SC-NE5 and SC-NE3.

Their docking/CD units send audio signals from CDs, iPhone 5 or iPod touch wirelessly to the speaker unit.

The products come with a two-way speaker system with woofer. The Pure Direct Sound function minimises

the effect of sounds reverberating off the speakers themselves. Design of the two products is both simple and elegant, with distinctive ovalshaped sides. The crystal edge gives a luxurious touch while maintaining an overall thinness of the products.

10 things

Small countries with outsized economic influence

Size does not matter. The statement sounds true for countries which, although geographically small, have become some of the world’s richest economies, as indicated by their gross domestic product (GDP) per capita.

Qatar

Brunei

Luxembourg

Kuwait

Qatar was estimated to have the highest per capita income of USD102,800 (QAR374,264) in 2012.

The country’s economy is mostly dependent on its hydrocarbon resources. The diversification into nonoil sectors has been a major concern of the state but its economy continues to grow rapidly.

10 things

The tiny European state has maintained stable economic figures over the last few years. According to some estimates, Luxembourg’s GDP per capita reached USD80,700 (QAR293,804) in 2012.

Financial and industrial sectors have been the core of the country’s economy, which has 60 percent expatriates in its workforce.

Monaco

Covering a total area of only two square kilometres, the Principality of Monaco is the world’s smallest country with a coastline and has a population of about 31,000. Tourism is a major contributor to its economy with the casino and climate being main visitor attractions. Monaco had a GDP per capita of USD70,700 (QAR257,397) in 2011.

Singapore

Having seven percent of the crude oil reserves worldwide, half of Kuwait’s GDP is dependent on hydrocarbon resources. Its GDP per capita for 2012 was estimated to be USD43,800 (QAR159,462).

Hydrocarbon exports, comprise more than 90 percent of Kuwait’s total exports.

The Bahamas

The Bahamas is one of the wealthiest Caribbean countries, with 90 percent of its GDP generated by the services sector. Half of the workforce is directly or indirectly affiliated with tourism, which forms a vital component of the country’s economy, followed by offshore banking. In 2012, the Bahamas had a per capita income of USD31,300 (QAR113,954).

Seychelles

More than half of the employed population in Singapore is affiliated with the areas of manufacturing and financial business services. Electronics and chemicals are Singapore’s major exports. The country’s GDP per capita stands at USD60,900 (QAR221719), according to 2012 estimates.

Unlike many other rich countries with hydrocarbondependent economies, Seychelles’ economy is primarily supported by its tourism industry. Since independence in 1976, the Indian Ocean archipelago’s per capita output has grown by seven times. Its last year estimates indicated a GDP per capita of USD26,200 (QAR95,386).

Hong Kong

Liechtenstein

With a service-oriented economy, Hong Kong has a free market economic policy, with international trade and finance central to its economy. Wholesale and retail trade, restaurants, and hotels employ the major part of Hong Kong’s workforce. The last year’s estimation of Hong Kong’s per capita income was USD50,700 (QAR184,583).

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A major part of Brunei’s GDP is generated by the export of crude oil and natural gas. Another considerable part of the country income is driven by foreign investments.

With an estimated per capita income of USD50,500 (QAR183,855), Brunei was ranked 14th in the world last year. Pictured is Brunei’s Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah.

Geographically, Liechtenstein is one of the 10 smallest countries, and its per capita income is also among the top 10 in the world. The economy of Liechtenstein is backed by financial services. Diversification into multiple sectors by a large number of small businesses strengthens Liechtenstein’s economy.

Source: CIA World Fact Book.