contents August 2014
w w w.t h e e d ge. m e
100% Qatari
REDEFINING RETAIL WITH MALL OF QATAR’S DEPUTY MD SHEM KREY
PLUS:
Health and safety in Qatar’s energy sector EMC’s Adrian McDonald on the power of IT Qatar construction’s paperless future Khawar Qureshi QC: Are you prepared for another financial crisis?
Vol. 6 No. 8 - Issue 58 - August 2014
- QATAR’S BUSINESS MAGAZINE - Vol. 6 No. 8 - Issue 58 - August 2014
cover story
DOHA METRO:
CAN IT WORK? Qatar Rail’s MD, Eng. Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Turki Al Subaie argues that it can and must
#1 WELCOME
GIVEN TO FLY
Qatari entrepreneurs on challenges and obstacles to their regional and international expansion ambitions
Katara CEO Hamad Abdulla Al Mulla explains why authentic Arabian warmth has made it the region’s leading hospitality group
36
Amid concerns including Qatar’s hot climate, high percentage of private cars per household and past urban environment not conducive for an intra-city rail network, questions have been raised about the efficacy of the Doha Metro project. In an interview with The Edge’s Farwa Zahra, Qatar Rail Company’s managing director and chairman of the executive committee, Engineer Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Turki Al Subaie disagrees, and shares the company’s strategies to ensure successful delivery and effectiveness of the Doha Metro.
52 Hamad Abdulla Al Mulla, chief executive officer of Katara Hospitality says, “We work with operators such as Starwood, Merweb and Ritz-Carlton whose values and principles align with ours. However, rather than strive for a uniform identity across all our properties, we encourage the properties we have invested in to retain their own distinct character.”
features
Feature Story: Expanding Doha’s retail scene
42 42
In 2015, the Mall of Qatar will add 195,000 square metres (sqm) of gross leasable area to Doha’s existing retail base of 629,000 sqm. In an exclusive interview with The Edge, Shem Krey, deputy managing director of the Mall of Qatar, discusses the project’s current status, features and its potential positioning in the region’s retail scene.
Business Interview: We concentrate on authentic Arabian hospitality 52
‘We are new, yet historic’ may seem like an oxymoron, but Hamad Abdulla Al Mulla, chief executive officer, Katara Hospitality disagrees. To him, it is the essence of what the company is all about. In an interview with The Edge, Al Mulla talks about Katara Hospitality’s business philosophy.
Feature Story: Health, safety and environment in Qatar’s energy sectors 58 Today’s energy industry uses some of the most complex infrastructure, equipment and software, and yet the sector’s workforce is prone to some of the highest risks and hazards. Pooja Fotedar examines issues and solutions related to health, safety and environment in Qatar’s energy sector.
Set to be the largest mall to be built in Qatar so far, the Mall of Qatar is scheduled to have its soft launch in 2015.
The Edge | 3
contents page
sectors
Though the Middle East region is home to a great deal of personal wealth, much of it is poorly managed, according to a recent report. (Image Corbis)
Finance & Markets 21
A new report highlights the remarkable growth in the wealth of high net worth individuals in the region but warns of a general lack of personal wealth management strategies.
Energy & Sustainability 25
Following the unveiling by Qatar Solar Energy of a new vertically-integrated solar panel manufacturing and research facility, the firm has signed a landmark agreement with a Kazakhstan-based energy company.
Real Estate & Construction 29
Use of wireless technologies can benefit construction industry at every stage, but how is Qatar’s construction sector faring in transitioning towards more technology driven processes?
Tech & Communications 33
The Ministry of Information and Communications Technology recently announced a public consultation on a draft of an e-participation policy, which would increase citizens’ access to information from ministries.
Business Insight 63
Jim McKelvey, cofounder of Square, speaks to The Edge about the qualities it takes to be a successful entrepreneur. Adrian McDonald, the president of EMC Corporation for the EMEA region, reveals how technology is impacting business strategy.
“There are not nearly enough skilled people in our industry, and this will have an impact on wage inflation,” says Adrian McDonald, president of EMC Corporation for Europe, Middle East and Africa.
regulars From the Editor 8 Photo of the month 10 Business News 12 Qatar Perspectives 16 Products 69 4 | The Edge
sector name | banner heading
MBII/OR
The Edge | 5
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6 | The Edge
sector name | banner heading
editor’s letter The small and medium business (SME) sector in Qatar is one that receives much media attention. While there is no doubt plenty of activity in this space – and ostensibly grand intentions and requisite support from officialdom – through qualitative analysis, it does seem that the reality does not always match the hubris. Though there are thousands of small businesses here, most are in fact joint ventures, partnerships between nationals and expatriates, local franchises of regional or international firms, or components of large and resourceful groups or holding companies. Without these, arguably the number of bona fide local ‘start-ups’ suddenly becomes a lot smaller. And in the words of one national intimately involved in the scene, it mostly seems to be the same well-resourced and astute individuals involved in many high profile independent Qatari entrepreneurial ventures. True successful startups, while on the increase in comparison to established firms, are still rare in Qatar. There is, it appears, a long way to go and much work to do before a pervasive culture of entrepreneurship will take root in Qatar. The relevance of this sentiment for our content in the current issue is our coverage, in the feature ‘Given to Fly’ by senior business editor Aparajita Mukherjee on page 48, of whether any Qatari SMEs are making headway regionally or internationally. A conversation with Qatari national, a successful entrepreneur in his own right, in part inspired the idea for the article. This local businessman told The Edge that he felt that Qatar, geographically, and because it has such inherent wealth and access to a major regional and global aviation hub, is theoretically an ideal place from which a company can expand regionally and internationally. The international expansion of government or
semi-government entities such as Ooredoo, which also partly inspired the story, is evidence of that. But he also expressed that in order for smaller businesses to do so requires more support from official institutions, for example to allow them to be exclusively involved to some degree in projects or ventures funded by the Qatari government entities in other countries, instead of using overseas firms. What The Edge could conclude from our conversations with a variety of business owners in Qatar, the ambition to expand regionally and internationally is there. Indeed the drive for a few is so strong they have managed to do so alone, without any official assistance. An increase in the latter, they say however, would nevertheless be highly welcomed. But it also appears that perhaps such a determination to literally conquer the business world for smaller independent Qatari businesses may be premature, and it will be some time before they follow the precedent set by their larger statebacked compatriot firms. This makes sense. A robust domestic presence, whether it is in manufacturing or services or any other sector, is undeniably a much stronger platform from which to enter the wider regional or international business realm, which will always have opportunities for the taking for astute Qatari business owners. Elsewhere this issue, we meet some top executives of some larger state-backed and independent companies in Qatar and take a look at their activities and the opportunities these might present at home. These include Katara, another Doha-backed entity currently bullish on international project investments but also with strong local ambitions on page 42; our cover story on page 36 on Qatar Rail, whose Doha Metro megaproject is gathering momentum; and on page 52, the Mall of Qatar, arguably one of Doha’s most ambitious private projects to date that seems set to change the face of retail in the country forever. Enjoy the issue.
It may be premature for smaller independent Qatari businesses to expand internationally like their larger state-backed compatriot Miles Masterson firms. Managing Editor
Looming large 10 | The Edge
photo of the month
A huge poster of Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan hangs in the country’s capital Ankara ahead of its first ever direct presidential election, which Erdoğan won with overwhelming support. The politically strong conservative leader has dominated headlines in his homeland for more than a decade, and as prime minister, his various reforms are largely credited with strengthening Turkey’s economy. The increased prosperity among most of the population, guarantees his continued influence in Turkish politics as he seeks to increase his power through his new position. Though Turkish markets rallied briefly following Erdoğan’s victory, concerns remain over the state of its economy, which has shown signs of slowing and vulnerability of late. (Image Corbis) The Edge | 11
news business
HH the Emir approves increase in foreign ownership limits for stock listed on Qatar Exchange In a continuing bid to reform and develop the Qatar Exchange, a formal law has been issued raising foreign ownership limits on listed companies to 49 percent. by Shehan Mashood
Number of the month
QAR 7.6 billion
The net foreign portfolio investment inflow to the Qatar Exchange, to date in 2014. As part of the new law, GCC citizens investing in the Qatar Exchange for the purpose of trading will be considered local investors. The law will be enacted as soon as it is published in the official gazette.
The law was first announced in May of this year before Qatar was upgraded on the MSCI Index from Developing Market status to an Emerging Market. It was officially signed by HH the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani in early August, and is expected to be implemented soon. Most companies trading on the exchange currently have foreign ownership limits (FOL) of around 25 percent, with some exceptions. The new rule will allow foreign ownership of up to 49 percent. Additionally, Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) citizens will, for the purpose of trading, be treated as Qatari nationals. This will mean stakes owned by them will not count towards the foreign ownership. However, HE Minister of Finance, Ali Sharif Al Emadi , who is also the secretary general of the Supreme Council For Economic Affairs and Investment, said in a QNA statement, “The non-Qatari citizens who are not members of the GCC may possess shares of the companies listed in QSE and by a percentage not exceeding 49 percent, and this will be up to the desire of each company through amending its statute.” It is unclear as of yet if this will mean companies will be allowed to set limits below the 49 percent threshold. Vodafone Qatar’s chief
Gulf Stockmarket Indices
(rebased with June 30, 2014 = 100) 125 120 115 110 105 100
30 - June
07 - July
Bahrain Qatar
14 - July Kuwait Saudi Arabia
Sources: Bloomberg and QNB Group analysis
12 | The Edge
21 - July Oman Dubai
28 - July
financial officer, Steve Walters, told The Edge, “Whilst we are a 73 percent Qatari owned company, Vodafone Qatar has no foreign ownership restrictions.” Increasing the FOL can only be positive for the market and would be welcomed, he added. The law was likely enacted as part of a number of steps the Exchange has made since it upgraded to Emerging Market along with the UAE. According to QNB Financial Services analysis, so far in 2014, there has been a net foreign portfolio investment inflow of USD2.1 billion (QAR7.6 billion). Foreign institutions remained bullish during the week of the announcement, according to QNB reports, with net buying of QAR143 million versus QAR98 million in the week prior. Walters said that several factors had led to the good performance of Vodafone share price over the past 12 months, including the period running up to the MSCI upgrade, where he said, the whole market benefited from the increased liquidity. Qatar’s stock exchange is the second largest in the Middle East in terms of market cap, behind only Saudi Arabia which recently announced that from 2015, it would allow foreign investors into its previously closed-off stock market.
news business
Android mobile OS among the biggest concerns in enterprise mobility A recent survey of IT decision makers in the Middle East by Aruba Networks revealed that the adoption of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policies by businesses in the region is accelerating, but that security concerns remain the biggest obstacle to adaptation. by Roisin Bailey The survey found that nearly 60 percent of organisations either already support BYOD or intend to do so in the near future. A general lack of preparedness in managing employee mobile devices is holding back broader adoption, the study revealed. Among the main security threats to enterprise mobility, the perceived vulnerabilities associated with the Android operating system was the highest at 40 percent. Device theft or loss was second at 31 percent. According to Aruba Networks, these concerns can be effectively mitigated if appropriate mobile management solutions are implemented. “While the workforce is clearly eager and ready to embrace mobility, employers in the Middle East are scrambling to catch up,” said Bashar Bashaireh, regional director, Gulf and
Pakistan, Aruba Networks Middle East. “They need to have measures in place to secure mobile devices and applications in a systematic and scalable manner. We are seeing the emergence of a breed of workforce Bashaireh, dubbed ‘GenMobile’. This Bashar regional director, Gulf and Pakistan, Aruba generation is blending Networks Middle East. work and play via their mobile devices and will further accelerate the need for IT to respond.” Given that security remains a top priority for any mobility deployment, organisations also need to look into diversifying their tools for monitoring mobile networks and their usage, so that they can address every potential vulnerability, he added.
Qatar to seek lessons from Brazil’s World Cup Representatives from Qatar Green Building Council (QGBC) visit Brazil in August to share experiences from the recent World Cup. by Farwa Zahra With the culmination of Brazil’s 2014 World Cup, the deadline for Qatar’s 2022 World Cup comes even closer. With Brazil’s World Cup being the first one ever since Qatar’s winning bid for the 2022 World Cup, the country had the latest tournament under scrutiny to learn its lessons for the future. A significant forum for this kinds of knowledge
Brazil’s Castelao Stadium, the first LEED certified stadium in the world. (Image Reuters/Arabian Eye)
sharing was the World Green Building Council Congress held in Sao Paulo, Brazil, in the first week of August. Giving a preview of the event in late July, Meshal Al Shamari, director, QGBC, told The Edge, “World Green Building Council is the umbrella of the Green Building Councils in the world. So the next congress will be in Brazil next month, there will be experience sharing between all the Green Building Councils and the Brazil Green Building Council to see what are the problems that they have faced in their development.” “Brazil has launched the first LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified stadium in the world and they had some problems in it,” Al Shamari explained, adding that learning the details of such experiences will benefit Qatar’s successful delivery of green stadiums. Speaking about what has been done to this end, Shamari said, “Professional engineers from ASTAD and from Qatar Foundation visited the teams there in Brazil and tried to see what they have achieved and what the problems that they had faced because in the last two months it was the operation of the first LEED certified stadium or green stadium in the world,” adding that, “I think we will start having some reports and some outcomes of those stadiums soon in the next six months that will benefit Qatar.” The Edge | 13
news
business in brief
Words & Numbers “Qatar does not support Hamas, Qatar supports the Palestinians.” Qatar’s Foreign Minister Dr. Khalid Al Attiyah, in an interview with CNN, denies claims from Israeli officials that Qatar is financially supporting Hamas.
3.4%
Qatar’s rate of inflation for the 12-month period through May 2014. The Statistical Centre for the Cooperation Council for the Arab Countries of the Gulf stated that the inflation rate in Qatar is the highest in the region. “Countries affected to date simply do not have the capacity to manage an outbreak of this size and complexity on their own...I urge the international community to provide this support.” Margaret Chan, director-general of the World Health Organisation, on the Ebola virus at a press conference.
QAR
95 billion The value of projects Qatar is expected to award in 2014 compared to QAR34 billion last year.
14 | The Edge
GCC infrastructure spend set to rise by 78 percent in 2014 Infrastructure project awards across the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) are forecast to exceed USD86 billion (QAR313 billion) in 2014, an increase of 77.8 percent over 2013. New figures released by construction intelligence firm Ventures Onsite, show a dramatic increase in contract awards across the region, in every country except Saudi Arabia. Infrastructure projects make up 16 percent of the total construction value of GCC projects.
Al khaliji reports 37 percent increase in net profit
Darwish Technology debuts BeoVision Avant TV
The new BeoVision Avant TV adjusts the screen to compensate for the room’s colour tones.
Darwish Technology, the technological arm of Darwish Holding, and Bang & Olufsen, an international audio-visual brand, announced the availability of the Bang & Olufsen’s BeoVision Avant Television. The TV offers an ultra high definition (4k) video performance and acoustic quality in addition to being able to compensate for a room’s colour tones.
Audi releases H1 2014 figures
Total Assets of al khaliji at QAR48.3 billion are 48 percent higher than the first half of 2013.
Al khaliji, in Qatar, announced its financial results for the second quarter of 2014, reporting a net profit of QAR149.6 million. This represents an increase of 37 percent over its financial results for the first quarter. Profit for the first six months, at QAR258.8 million, reflects a continued growth in the core banking franchise. Al Khaliji France SA’s net profit was at QAR31.6 million in H1 2014 and represents 12 percent of the group net income.
MENA’s Labour Market Confidence Index to be launched soon In a recent attempt to understand emerging human capital trends, Informa Middle East and The Talent Enterprise will jointly launch the region’s first Labour Market Confidence Index. Based on opinions of more than 1000 professionals from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, the research study will present some of the key indicators of employment, wages, youth employability and nationalisation.
In the period of January through June, the Ingolstadtbased carmaker Audi, set a record with deliveries of 869,355 In the first half of 2014, vehicles. The Audi Audi was at the upper Group posted end of its strategic target range of eight to first-half revenue 10 percent sales. of EUR26.7 billion (QAR130 billion) and operating profit of EUR2.7 billion (QAR13.15 billion). In the first six months of this year, the company achieved an operating return on sales of 10 percent.
Middle East Methanol Forum to be held in Qatar Amid the rapidly growing demand for methanol in the region and across the globe, Qatar Fuel Additives Company Limited will be holding the first-ever Middle East Methanol Forum (MEMF) on November 26 2014 at the Sharq Village & Spa in Doha, Qatar. The 2014 MEMF is planned to have the main theme of ‘Miracle Energy On Hand’. The event will be attended by leading experts of methanol from all over the world. Key topics to be discussed at the forum include a global methanol markets overview and analysis of current and future opportunities.
events Qatar, H2 2014
UPCOMING EVENTS
OTHER UPCOMING EVENTS
17 - 18 September
1 October
Waste Management and Recycling Summit
Back 2 Business One of the biggest local business networking events in Qatar, Back 2 Business is organised this year by the Italian Chamber of Commerce and the Turkish Business Association. This year, the event is expected to attract more than 700 guests from the Qatari business community, and is a great place for both new and returning residents to develop contacts and generate new business opportunities.
14 - 17 September Qatar’s foray into waste-to-energy indicates the lucrative business opportunities in the emerging sustainable waste management sector, according to the event organisers Nispana. (Image Corbis)
Qatar has one of the highest per capita waste generation rates worldwide at around 1.8 kilograms per day. Qatar also produces more than 2.5 million tonnes of municipal solid waste each year, with the country’s growing population is likely to accelerate. According to the event organisers, discussions will revolve around the long-term impacts of new technologies and how they will be paid for as well as the shortterm options for financing of waste energy technology.
Marine and Coastal Engineering Summit
14 - 17 September Middle East Health, Safety Environment and Sustainable Development Exhibition and Conference
19 - 22 October International Association of Science Parks World Conference
8-9 September
22 - 23 October
Future Interiors
ITS and Road Safety Forum
This is a brand new conference being launched this year as part of the Project Qatar Conference Series to address challenges and opportunities within the architecture, design and interior construction industry. Qatar is expected to see a significant increase in the value of market opportunities in this industry’s activities across numerous sectors, which are all contributing to the rapid growth in the interiors market in Qatar.
27 - 28 October Future Landscape & Public Realm Qatar
29 - 30 October World Refining and Petrochemical Technology Summit
The Edge | 15
qatar perspectives
Culture of late payments arguably starts with appointed representatives Many fast-growing markets face challenges affecting their growth rate, which if unsolved, could lead to unfortunate future consequences. An example of such a challenge is the apparent culture of late payment in Qatar’s construction industry. Qatari entrepreneur and contractor Zeyad Al Jaidah discusses the consequences and possible solutions to this dilemma. Construction companies from around the world are drawn to Qatar to win contracts for the many mega projects the country has to offer. Some have come backed by political influence, others with competitive prices and few were invited because of their capabilities. However, they almost all share one problem here: late payment. This often starts right from the initial advance payment (even though the contractor has submitted the statutory 10 percent advance payment guarantee and a 10 percent performance bond) and continues through all payment cycles, causing the contractor to absorb often crippling costs. The reason for these delays begins, in my experience, with the mindset of the project manager (PM) assigned by the government and not because of insufficient funds. Expatriate PMs often do not sign off on payments because they fear something on the project may have been overlooked and will not be implemented once payment has been made, jeopardising their job. Other PMs often seem to, I feel, think that all contractors are dishonest, with the sole intention of ripping them off. They do not seem to understand the relationship with the contractor must be equitable and fair, and that they must be paid on time to ensure quality delivery of the project. It bothers me greatly to see some local PMs taking pride in how they squeezed a certain contractor or saved money by not paying them for certain variations in the contract. 16 | The Edge
Payment delays are not caused because of insufficient funds, but because of the flawed mindset of the project manager. Ideally, the relation between the contractor and the client should be based on trust. Unfortunately, however, most times, a badly delivered project or its postponement is a result of these kinds of payment delays. Indeed, the contractor is often forced to sign a one-sided contract where he cannot stop the work because of payment delays. Sometimes the contractor is also penalised for delay. In such a situation, whereas a foreign contractor has the choice of working here or another country, a local contractor has not much of an option but to accept this one-sided contract or close his business. Another related issue is the practice of some contractors revising their quote upwards after winning a contract, but that is not universal. There certainly are others who maintain the costing they started with and make fair client servicing a priority. It is very important for PMs to distinguish between these two categories of contractors. In the absence of this assessment, contractors are encouraged to be unethical and change prices just to recover part of the losses they might incur because of anticipated late payments. One devastating consequence of this problem is apparent in many of our infrastructure projects. Some of them have either been executed in a slipshod manner or are incomplete. As a result, the country ends up spending double the justified cost. In my opinion, one way to avoid this is to put PMs through special training, especially those handling mega projects that involve practical tailor-made experience in consultancy firms and with international contractors, so they get exposure from both sides. Ashghal, for instance, could start with Qatari engineers who are soon to graduate from engineering schools,
locally or abroad. This will open their minds to assessing contractors who face delayed payments and the impact this can have. The Ministry of Justice can also set up a division to oversee changes in the awarding of contracts by the government or semi-government entities, some of which have been described by contractors as being one-sided. It is frustrating for a contractor to be told that the government does not have the budget provisions for a bill presented. Thus another possibility is the Qatar Chamber and/or Shura Council recommending to the government to accept a penalty for late payments, similar to those contractors face for late delivery. A reputation for a culture of late payment can dissuade international firms from operating in Qatar or might persuade them to leave, but local companies also suffer under this unfortunate trend. Therefore, it is also the responsibility of Qatari contractors to keep lobbying for changes in the current system.
Zeyad Al Jaidah is the managing director of TechnoQ, a systems integrator company based in Qatar.
qatar perspectives
What can Qatar do to avoid the next financial crisis Even with an abundance of energy reserves, Qatar is not isolated from the global economy. Analysts have been warning that financial and property markets are overheating again in certain jurisdictions, such as Dubai and England (or more accurately, just London). Is another crash looming over the horizon? asks Khawar Qureshi and suggests measures that Qatar needs to adopt to avoid becoming embroiled in the next crisis. It was not that long ago that every economy in the world suffered a great shock. Almost six years ago to be precise, the collapse of the subprime and collateralised debt security market in the United States (US) created a domino effect, which revealed serious deficiencies in basic riskreduction approaches followed by the global financial markets and institutions. Why did this happen and what can be done to prevent this happening again? The simple answer is greed, which led to recklessness, whether by financial institutions, some of which used cleverly disguised seemingly complex structures to conceal what was, in fact fraud. The other was members of the population who borrowed as if there was no tomorrow in the hope of ‘turning’ or ‘flipping’ to make a profit. In some respects, Qatar emerged very lightly affected by the crisis of August 2008. The reasons for this include the strong underlying liquidity of the State and the financial sector, as well as the relatively less connected nature of the economy to the global financial system. Ironically, not being completely integrated in the global financial system was beneficial to Qatar at that stage. Since then, the financial regulatory authorities in Qatar have announced that they have adopted more stringent mechanisms 18 | The Edge
The financial regulatory authorities in Qatar have announced the adoption of more stringent mechanisms to provide for capital adequacy. to provide for capital adequacy within financial institutions, as well as enhancing their scrutiny and supervision of regulated entities. While it is arguable that real lessons from the crash of 2008 have not been learnt in some jurisdictions (which appear to be embarking on mega projects and experiencing seemingly unsustainable property price increases), the reason for this may not be too complicated. Whether we start with the Great Depression of October 1929 in the US, the recession of 1991 (which many people will have forgotten), or the recent financial crisis of 2008 (which people appear to be forgetting very quickly), the themes were the same. These included inadequate or inexperienced regulatory oversight; loose internal compliance and monitoring systems within the financial services sector, a ‘greed is good’ culture being encouraged within the financial services sector; and public attention being focused on quick profits and little attention being paid to unjustified risk taking in the name of greater financial gain. At a time of perceived economic prosperity, it is understandable that very few people wish to focus upon the possibility of a financial crisis emerging. However, recent history indicates that, if anything, the gap between recessions or the cycle of boom and bust is becoming smaller. This must mean that real lessons are not being learnt and effective systemic changes are not being made to provide safeguards for the future following the last crisis.
As Qatar continues to enjoy unprecedented growth, prosperity and economic stability, it is perhaps prudent to ensure that effective monitoring is in place to insulate the country from the next financial crisis, as is not a question of ‘if’ another crisis will happen; rather it is a question of ‘when’ it will happen.
Professor Khawar Qureshi QC is one of the United Kingdom’s top Queen’s Counsels and a leading global commercial litigation and international arbitration expert.
Contents: Growing business remains the priority of Middle East’s wealthy 21. Qatar Holding’s strategic London Stock Exchange sale 22. Deloitte workshops address risk management and talent issues 23.
finance & markets
Though the Middle East region is home to a great deal of personal wealth, much of it is poorly managed, according to a recent report. (Image Corbis)
Growing business remains the priority of Middle East’s wealthy A new report by Standard Chartered Private Bank highlights the remarkable growth in the wealth of high net worth individuals in the region but warns of a general lack of personal wealth management strategies, particularly in terms of transferring wealth to the next generation, writes Simon Watkins
T
he Standard Chartered Private Bank (SCPB) report – Business Before Wealth shows that growing their business remains the primary and dominant goal for such high net worth (HNW) business owners in the Middle East. The report surveyed stakeholders in family businesses with a 2012 turnover and family net worth in excess of USD100
million (QAR364 million), as well as stakeholders in non-family businesses with a 2012 turnover and individual net worth in excess of USD25 million (QAR91 million). The past decade has seen remarkable continued growth in the wealth of HNW individuals in the region (see chart on next page). This is set to endure, with private
wealth in the Middle East and Africa, projected by SCPB to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 6.5 percent (to an estimated USD7.2 trillion or QAR26 trillion) by the end of 2018, with most of the increase coming from new wealth creation in oil-rich economies. In this vein, 82 percent of the Middle East business owners surveyed have
The Edge | 21
sectors | finance & markets
The role of family business in the Middle East remains paramount, constituting around 75 percent of the region’s entire private sector and creating 70 percent of employment in the region.
Stephen Richard-Evans, regional head of private banking for Europe, Middle East, Africa and South Asia, SPCB, says that structures for wealth transfer are more likely to be found among respondents who were not part of the founding generation of the business in the Middle East.
already internationalised their businesses (compared to 58 percent of their Asian counterparts, and 42 percent of their African ones). However, almost half lack formal plans to transfer their wealth to the next generation. Given this, and the fact that 85 percent of respondents are heavily involved in the daily management and financial affairs of their business, little
time is left for personal wealth strategies. According to SCPB’s regional head of private banking for Europe, Middle East, Africa and South Asia, Stephen RichardsEvans, for HNW in the Middle East, structures for wealth transfer are more likely to be found among respondents who were not part of the founding generation of the business (in other words, the next generation), with some 67 percent of this group having such a structure in place. Overall, the role of the family business in the Middle East remains paramount, with this strand constituting around 75 percent of the region’s entire private sector, creating 70 percent of employment in the region, and playing a critical role in helping to diversify a regional economy dominated by the public sector and the oil and gas industry.
Foreign investments
Qatar Holding’s strategic London Stock Exchange sale
Growth of high net worth individuals 2012-2013 Asia
Africa
Middle East
+16.7% +16.0%
+18.2% +17.3%
+7.3% +3.7% Source: Capgemini
22 | The Edge
Increase in wealth of high net worth Individuals Increase in number of high net worth Individuals
Qatar’s release of its stake in the LSE is a prudent financial move. (Image Corbis)
The sale of a five percent stake in the United Kingdom (UK) London Stock Exchange (LSE) by Qatar Holding (QH) for an estimated USD442.6 million (QAR1.6 billion) is a simple re-positioning of the sovereign investment house’s strategic stake in the bourse. This is ahead of major plans by the LSE in the global indices market later this year, writes Simon Watkins Talking to The Edge on the LSE stake sale, Roger Nightingale, CEO of RN
finance & markets | sectors
Associates, in London said, “Qatar is likely to use the money from the sale to buy stock in an upcoming rights issue by the LSE that will help fund the exchange group’s USD2.7 billion (QAR9.8 billion) purchase of US indices and investment management business Russell Group. The LSE’s rights issue will total around USD1.6 billion (QAR6 billion), and is likely to [be] executed at a substantial discount to current prices, which means Qatar will be able to buy back in at a much better rate, having booked in a profit already on part of its holding; it’s a very clever move.” Indeed, Qatar Holding (QH) originally bought a total of 20.86 percent of the LSE in 2007 at a price reportedly of GBP15.85 (QAR97 at current exchange rates) per share. This implies a profit of around 20 percent in the recent five percent sale,
given estimates of an offered price of GBP9.15 (QAR56) per share. It is believed that the fund still holds around 10 percent of the London bourse. Strategically as well, adds Nightingale, the dilution of QH’s stake ahead of the rights issue is likely to encourage a wider audience of buyers. These buyers might otherwise have been deterred by such big holdings from institutional investors, and the executive power over LSE policy that this implies. “This is likely to push up prices even further for the existing stock, which means that Qatar will benefit triply from this sale: first on the profit booked, second from the implied profit on the stake it has left, and third from the rights issue stock that no doubt it will pick up.” The LSE stock is likely to rise further on a longer-term basis after the Russell Group
acquisition as well, thinks Nightingale. He believes the USD2.7 billion (QAR9.8 billion) move will launch Europe’s oldest independent bourse firmly into the world’s biggest fund management market and the largest single market for exchange traded funds. Indeed, by combining Russell with the LSE’s FTSE International brand, the UK exchange will gain the firepower to compete with market leaders MSCI and S&P Dow Jones.
20%
Qatar Holding’s estimated profit in its recent LSE five percent stake sale.
Islamic finance
Deloitte workshops address risk management and talent issues The ongoing development of the global Islamic finance industry, and the concomitant challenges surrounding the interpretation of risk management within the parameters of shari’ah principles, continue to be hot topics, writes Simon Watkins
Issues of risk governance and talent development in Islamic finance were addressed during two workshops held recently by Deloitte Islamic Finance Knowledge Center (IFKC) in the Middle East and the Islamic Research & Training Institute (IRTI), a member of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) Group. “Risk management in Islamic finance is one of the major concerns faced by all industry practitioners, as the numerous types of risks faced by Islamic banks – shari’ah compliance, liquidity, credit, operational and regulatory risks – all have a significant impact on the business sustainability and going concern,” says Joe El Fadl, financial services industry leader for Deloitte Middle East. “As such, the board’s risk oversight role is critical in providing clarity in the direction of strong risk mitigating controls.”
The first workshop, entitled ‘Strengthening Risk Governance in Islamic Finance’, addressed the challenges that need to be faced to strengthen risk governance in the sector. This included discussing and providing practical insights to successfully structure and manage an effective risk governance strategy, and to strengthen risk management strategies and methods to comply with regulatory and selfregulatory requirements. “The Islamic finance industry has been in operation for more than 40 years, but it lacks risk management standards, risk assessment, and risk mitigation tools needed
for it to compete on a level playing field with traditional banks,” underlines Professor Mohammad Azmi Omar, director general of the IRTI, “and this workshop addressed these issues and provided participants with best practices learned from leading Islamic banks.” The second workshop, entitled ‘Talent Development in Islamic Finance’, discussed issues regarding the quantity and quality of the workforce in the financial industry. It also looked at ways to enhance talent development, with a focus on how Islamic finance industry practitioners can play a role in contributing to industry growth.
“Risk management in Islamic finance is one of the major concerns faced by the industry.” Joe El Fadl, financial services industry leader for Deloitte Middle East. The Edge | 23
Q a t a r ’s B u s i n e s s M a g a z i n e
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Contents: Qatar at the forefront of the MENA solar energy complex 25. Fertilisers present lucrative sector for Qatar 26. QPI formalises ties with Shell in Brazilian oil venture 27.
energy & sustainability Qatar at the forefront of the MENA solar energy complex A new deal between Qatar and Kazakhstan could mean that the former becomes the top solar energy power producer in the region. (Image Reuters/Arabian Eye).
Following the unveiling in June by Qatar Solar Energy (QSE) – a private initiative supported by the Qatar government – of a new, vertically-integrated solar panel manufacturing and research facility located in Doha’s New Industrial Area, the firm has signed a landmark agreement with Kazakhstan-based energy company, Kazatomprom, which will supply QSE with raw materials used in the production of solar panels. by Simon Watkins
T
his partnership allows QSE to secure the entire value chain from raw material to smart-grid development and provides a powerful foundation from which QSE will further expand its production capacity to 2.5 gigawatts (GW),” says QSE chief executive officer Salim Abbassi. Under the agreement, Kazatomprom will supply QSE with solar grade silicon, the raw material used to make solar panels, at a competitive fixed cost for the next 10 years, securing Qatar’s position at the forefront of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) solar energy market, given that demand for raw polysilicon is projected to increase exponentially, in line with the global move towards utilising more renewable energy as part of the global energy mix. Kazatomprom itself – the world’s
largest producer of uranium – has been active in the renewable energy sector since 2009, boasting a number of high-tech innovative projects in the field, including the production of photovoltaic modules (Astana Solar), production of ingots, wafers and cells (Kazakhstan Solar Silicon), and solar grade silicon production (Kaz Silicon). According to Abbassi, the solar grade silicon from Kazatomprom will allow QSE to lower costs and increase efficiency in its panels, which are capable of generating as much as 300 megawatts (MW) of energy annually, the largest in the MENA region. This will put QSE in an optimal position to eventually reach capacity of 2.5 GW, which would make Qatar one of the largest individual state producers of solar power in the world, as the total combined capacity of
production in Europe and the United States currently stands at 3.4 GW. As an adjunct to this agreement, QSE and Kazatomprom have also committed to deepening their business relationship through knowledge sharing and training, to which effect this September will see the first delegation of Kazatomprom engineers travelling to QSE headquarters in Qatar. A broader sign of the increasing importance with which the development of the solar energy sector is regarded in Qatar came in the news that Qatar Foundation (QF) has launched the Gulf region’s first Energy Monitoring Centre (EMC) to manage its smart grid and monitor solar power generation across all sites within Education City. In fact, QF is now responsible for up to The Edge | 25
sectors | energy & sustainability
85 percent of Qatar’s solar photovoltaic (PV) current installed capacity of roughly four megawatts (MW), and it is also the first commercial PV project in Qatar approved for grid connection from Kahramaa. “The advanced EMC, which is one of the first-of-its-kind in the region, marks the integration and centralisation of Qatar Foundation’s ongoing efforts to remain at the forefront of energy efficiency through the adoption of a smart solar system,” says Jassim Telefat, Group Executive Director of QF Capital Projects and Facilities Management, in Doha. The EMC is part of the recently completed Solar Smart-Grid Project that added a total of 1.68MW of new PV systems at various facilities within the QF campus, which, in itself, will have almost eight MW solar energy installations in the future, making it the largest renewable energy producer in Qatar. With the PV systems at QF generating 5180 megawatt hours of clean energy annually, savings of around 2590 tonnes of CO2 emissions every year are generated, according to Ibrahim Al Haidos, project manager Solar Smart Grid, QF, adding, “The energy produced through the grid offset annual electricity usage of 471 Qatari houses, so its carbon emission saving is equivalent to conserving 6023 barrels of oil annually or growing 66,410 tree seedlings for 10 years.” More generally, EMC will be the first of its kind energy monitoring system in the Gulf, allowing real-time monitoring at 15 centres at QF and – having been developed by GreenGulf, in partnership with QF Capital Projects and ASTAD Project Management – it will enable real-time administration of all solar and power quality monitoring systems from a central location aiding in their efficient operations and maintenance.
2.5
Gigawatts
The capacity QSE hopes to eventually reach, which would make Qatar one of the largest individual state producers of solar power in the world. 26 | The Edge
Petrochemicals
Qatar seeking downstream growth via fertilisers
Like its principal export LNG, Asia presents a lucrative market for Qatari nitrogen fertilisers.
Fertiliser production, one of Qatar’s primary downstream petrochemical industries, is playing a significant role as Qatar continues to diversify beyond energy sales. Oxford Business Group’s Lorraine Turner explores the opportunities and challenges faced by this sector and how global demand might impact growth.
Qatar is on the way to becoming one of the world’s leading producers of chemical fertilisers, developing capacity and new markets as it diversifies its economy. However, rising production levels across the Gulf and a competitive global market may limit returns in the medium term. Currently, oil and natural gas production accounts for around 60 percent of Qatar’s gross domestic product (GDP) and up to 85 percent of its export earnings according to the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). This revenue may well come under pressure in the coming years as shale gas production in the United States and conventional gas output in Australia increases. Doha has long recognised the need to
diversify to underpin its economy and has been investing extensively in downstream petrochemical industries, with fertiliser production one of the centrepieces in this programme. Since beginning production in 1973, Qatar Fertiliser Company (QAFCO) has expanded to become one of the world’s biggest fertiliser producers, and is already the world’s largest exporter of urea with a 15 percent market share, shipping to 45 countries.
Output set to rise
According to data from the Gulf Petrochemicals and Chemicals Association (GPCA), Qatar accounts for around 35 percent of all fertiliser production in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). As existing facilities expand and new plants open, the GPCA has estimated Qatar’s fertiliser output will more than double by 2020 to reach 29.5 million (mn) tonnes – 13mn tonnes of ammonia and 16.5mn tonnes of urea. This rate is likely to outstrip that of increases across the rest of the region, with the GPCA forecasting installed capacity to increase by 47 percent from 2012 levels to reach 46.6mn tonnes by 2018. This growth, fuelled by $10bn or more worth of new
sectors | energy & sustainability
29.5m tonnes
Qatar’s predicted fertiliser output by 2020.
developments, would produce 10 percent year-on-year production expansion. While Qatar will be leading the way with capacity expansion, the anticipated pace of growth may not be matched by global demand. The GPCA has projected that global fertiliser demand will rise by a more modest 1.8 percent a year through to 2018 - just one of a number of factors that will make the operational environment more difficult.
Tough competition
Saudi Arabia will present strong competition. Already the region’s largest producer of chemical fertilisers, the Kingdom has decided to scale back on its own agricultural production which could free up more locally produced fertilisers for export. Despite this potential rivalry, QAFCO’s chairman Abdulaziz bin Ahmed Al Malki says Qatar can carve out an increasingly large niche in the international market. “The global demand is currently such that there is room for all the current players to supply the market,” he told Oxford Business Group. “QAFCO has to ensure that the quality and production of our products are excellent and there will always be a place for them.” One of the world’s largest buyers of fertilisers, India, has been looking to reduce imports with suggestions that the new government will promote domestic fertiliser production. This, combined with calls to raise prices of petrochemical-based fertilisers to encourage greater use of phosphates and potash, could see a shrinking of demand from the world’s second most populous country. Long-term prospects remain strong, however, with the world’s population set to top over nine billion by 2050, according to the United Nations, meaning that the demand for food, and thus fertilisers, will keep on increasing.
International expansion
QPI formalises ties with Shell in Brazilian oil venture Qatar Petroleum International (QPI) and Shell have signed a memorandum of cooperation in support of their ongoing international upstream partnership in the South American country of Brazil.
This follows the USD1 billion (QAR3.64 billion) purchase in April by Qatar Petroleum International (QPI) of a 23 percent stake in a major oil production asset offshore Brazil operated by Shell (known as BC-10, or Parque das Conchas). Indeed, since coming on-stream in 2009, BC-10 has produced more than 80 million barrels of oil equivalent (boe), and is currently producing around 50,000 boe per day (boe/d), while Phase 2 of the project, which tied-in the Argonauta O-North field and came online on 1 October 2013, has an expected peak production of 35,000 boe/d. The final investment decision for Phase 3 of the BC-10 project was taken in July 2013, and once online peak production is expected to reach 28,000 boe/d.
Overall, BC-10 represents a milestone in the development and commercialisation of Brazil’s deep-water oil, with three fields in the Campos basin having been developed with subsea wells and manifolds, and each field tied back to the heart of the Parque das Conchas – a centrally located Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel moored in around 1780 metres of water. For its part, Shell had acquired an additional 23 percent interest in BC-10 on December 30 2013 from a buy-out of Petrobras’ interest in the project for approximately USD1 billion (QAR3.64 billion), which brought Shell’s total interest in BC-10 to 73 percent, whilst India’s Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC) also acquired an additional 12 percent interest, having previously held just a 15 percent working interest. It was also in December 2013 that Shell first entered into an agreement with QPI to on-sell for approximately USD1 billion (QAR3.64 billion), the additional 23 percent interest that Shell acquired – the deal completed in April of this year (QPI’s first upstream investment in Latin America) – although Shell will continue as operator and as a 50 percent equity owner, with ONGC holding a 27 percent interest and QPI holding 23 percent. This deal complements an already strong commercial partnership between Shell and QPI that dates back to 2007 when the two parties signed a memorandum of The Shell oil deal represents QPI’s first venture into Latin America.
The Edge | 27
sectors | energy & sustainability
Qatar Shell’s managing director and chairman Wael Sawan.
USD
1
billion
The approximate value of the agreement between Shell and QPI to on-sell the additional 23 percent interest in the BC-10 project that Shell acquired, QPI’s first upstream investment in Latin America.
understanding aimed at identifying and developing international projects of mutual interest throughout the energy chain. Indeed, in 2009, QPI became a shareholder in two Shell chemical joint ventures in Singapore, and in 2012, the two firms signed a deal to develop a major refining complex in China. “The BC-10 opportunity represents a major achievement in our long-term partnership with Qatar Petroleum, with which we have built two of the world’s largest energy projects: Pearl GTL and Qatargas4,” concluded Qatar Shell Companies’ managing director and chairman, Wael Sawan. “Looking forward, we hope in the near future to reach a final investment decision for the Al Karaana Petrochemicals project, another groundbreaking joint venture between QP and Shell,” he added.
28 | The Edge
Contents: Moving Qatar’s construction industry to a paperless future 29. Dragon Mart opens doors in Qatar 30. Qatar to publish a national green directory in September 2014 31.
real estate & construction Effective project collaboration starts with managing information well. Towards this goal, Qatar’s construction industry can benefit by encouraging use of portable devices instead of paper for documentation. (Image Corbis)
Moving Qatar’s construction industry to a paperless future Use of wireless technologies can benefit the construction industry to enable efficient means of procurement, logistics and workforce planning during the construction phase. Farwa Zahra explores how Qatar’s construction sector is faring in transitioning towards more technology driven processes.
A
s smart technologies are integrated into large real estate developments in Qatar, such as Lusail City, what remains less discussed is the penetration of technology in the country’s construction sector. Discussing the application of technology is construction industry, Wesam Al Assaf, technical sales manager, Qatar, Aruba Networks, told The Edge, that much of the technology currently being used during construction is for collaboration between owners, architects, consultants and contractors.
These stakeholders communicate using construction document management systems which are used to share designs or CAD files. On the benefits of technological penetration, Assaf said that, “Project members need to access current and accurate information without searching for documents, waiting for files, or working off the wrong designs. Document management tools enable everyone working on the project to access, retrieve and manage information on a secure platform. This ‘anywhere, any
time access’ increases efficiency and aids collaboration.”
Challenges
Ahmed Fouad, head of planning at Consolidated Contractors Company, believes that while the use of portable devices is very common at the stage of material handling at stores and their dispatch to sites, the penetration of portable devices for communication is weak on sites. “Many solutions are being applied in the Unites States, Europe and Japan. These solutions can be adapted
The Edge | 29
sectors | real estate & construction
“Many solutions are being applied in the Unites States, Europe and Japan. These can be adapted to the construction industry in Qatar, but it requires initial investment.” - Ahmed Fouad, CCC. to the construction industry in Qatar too, but it requires initial investment in the required infrastructure as well as training for construction teams,” he said, discussing the challenges in the way of Qatar’s construction industry to go paperless. Another challenge, he said, is the requirement of clients to have physical proof of the documentation done during construction phase, translating into “many containers filled with documents”. The level of site supervisors’ education is another key issue keeping smart devices away from sites. The issue can be addressed by training the workforce on site. Similarly, physical evidence can be replaced by electronic signature. However, what remains as the key factor in way of technological penetration is “raising the awareness across all stake holders about the importance and benefits of implantation.”
Promoters
The clients, Fouad said, can play a major role in increasing the trend towards a paper-less construction industry in
30 | The Edge
Retail sector
Dragon Mart opens doors in Qatar Qatar’s retail sector expands with the soft launch of China’s Dragon Mart.
According to Wesam Al Assaf, technical sales manager, Qatar, Aruba Networks, construction collaboration technologies are essentially deployed to support the requirements of a multi-disciplinary construction project team.
Qatar, an example set by the Pearl GTL project. “The contractors welcomed the initiative which saved tonnes of paper and saved a lot of storage space,” he said. The concept, according to Assaf, is also being promoted by companies such as Autodesk, Bentley and Aconex, which are the major technology providers in Qatar. “There are also various non-profit groups in Qatar who promote the use of such modern technology in their projects,” Fouad added.
Located on Industrial Area Road, the mart’s first phase of launch includes opening of its furniture section. What serves as a unique selling point for Dragon Mart is its pricing strategy for Chinese products available at cheaper rates. With the store to go fully operational in the coming few months, the next anticipated retail space in line this year is Ezdan Al Wakrah Mall set to open doors in December, and will cover an area of 75,600 square metres (sqm). In its Q2 2014 report, Colliers International reported Doha’s gross leasable area (GLA) standing at approximately 629,000 sqm and estimated delivery of a further 900,000 sqm within the next five years provided that construction timelines are met. Stated differently, Doha’s retail sector is estimated to grow by more than 100 percent in the next five years.
Security concerns
A move from paper to portable devices can certainly save tonnes of paper, but how secure are these documents on the internet, prone to viruses and malware. Addressing the issue of risks, Wesam stressed the need to back up online data with protective tools, “Any confidential data, whether physical or digital is subject to risk. Developers must always balance the risk against the cost of securing the information. Today, there is no lack of technologies to safeguard data. Content can be protected by security detailed monitoring.” Al Assaf further explained that in addition to investing in the right tools for collaboration and security, sufficient focus must be laid on educating employees in correctly utilising these platforms. “Effective project collaboration starts with managing information well,” he said.
QAR
900,000 sqm
Estimated increased in Doha’s gross leasable area in the next five years.
sectors | real estate & construction
Sustainability programme
Qatar to publish a national green directory in September 2014 To make green buildings a convenient option in the country, Qatar Green Building Council is set to release a green directory featuring information on companies dealing in sustainable products and services. by Farwa Zahra
In an exclusive interview with The Edge, director, Qatar Green Building Council (QGBC), Meshal Al Shamari revealed plans to release the country’s first ever national green directory. Planned to be published on an annual basis with its first edition targeted to be released in September, the document will work as a reference for clients interested in promoting sustainable development in Qatar. “One of the challenges that we face here is the non-availability of the right information, so many investors or developers would like to use green
materials but they don’t know what are the services that are available in Qatar, which kind of materials that available in Qatar. So, what we are trying is to make kind of a platform for those products, which is open directly for everybody,” said Shamari. Giving more details of the project, he told that the document’s marketing is scheduled to start in August, while the registration to be featured in the green directory will be free of any charges. “Any company that would like to register itself has to come to us…we have categories for companies that are available in Qatar,” he said. Once a company is registered, the next stage for QGBC is to review whether their products are green as claimed. “The most important process is the review process of the products because you get so many products from all over the world claiming that they are green products. So we need A shot from within Qatar Foundation’s Education City, which is considered as one of the leading green projects in the country.
Meshal Al Shamari, director, Qatar Green Building Council, told The Edge that the first edition of Qatar’s national green directory is planned to be released in September 2014.
“Many investors or developers would like to use green materials but they don’t know what are the services that are available in Qatar.” – Meshal Al Shamari, director, QGBC.
to review their products and make sure that those are green products as per the certifications, if they have already registered with Global Sustainability. Assessment System (GSAS) or Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) or US Green Building Council.” Speaking about fair representation of companies dealing in green building industry in Qatar, Shamari said that QGBC aims to register the highest number of companies in this directory. “We’ll do whatever we can to register the companies, we’ll advertise in the newspaper inviting companies to register,” he said. Having contacts with most of the companies registered with Qatar’s Ministry of Commerce, the council will invite all relevant organisations while also advertising in newspapers to encourage other companies.
The Edge | 31
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Contents: New policy will require ministries to involve public in decision making 33. How virtualisation is transforming mobile operators 34 . The consumer privacy paradox 35.
tech & communications
New policy will require ministries to involve public in decision making The Ministry of Information and Communications Technology (MICT) recently announced a public consultation on a draft of an e-participation policy, one which would increase citizen access to information from ministries and provide them with the ability to participate in certain areas of decisionmaking. by Shehan Mashood
T
The new e-participation policy will allow citizens and residents in Qatar to voice their opinions on policy in a number of areas, specifically in issues that directly impact the general public, communities or businesses in Qatar as service recipients. (Image Corbis)
he broad objectives of the new e-participation policy will be to push all government agencies to, according to a document released by MICT, “actively consult, solicit residents’ opinion, feedback and input through public consultation, engaging and empowering the people to be involved in the process of policy and decision making through various online communication tools.” The introduction of public consultation, where the public and key stakeholders will be asked for their views and ideas before implementation of policies, will likely be a welcome change. The MICT has held an open consultation process for a while now with regards to its policies and has seen active participation and received feedback, which is publicly viewable, from firms such as Ooredoo, Vodafone Qatar and Qatar National Broadband Network, increasing transparency within the sector. The scope of public consultation, however, is limited according to the same
The Edge | 33
sectors | technology & communications
To make sure ministries take public consultation seriously, the e-participation policy will require them to publish their responses with reasons for rejecting suggestions. document. Specifically, it states “any policy issue or a related matter that has a direct impact on the general public, communities or businesses in Qatar as service recipients, should be identified for public consultation.” However, there are exceptions singled out, policies related to the State of Qatar’s internal security, bilateral or multilateral relations with other countries, internal procedural matters and, “any other issue as deemed sensitive or unrelated to public, communities or businesses in general in Qatar, may not be subjected to public consultation,” stated the document. Hassan Jassim Al Sayed, assistant secretary general, Information Technology Sector, ICT Government Programs, ictQATAR, said, “It is imperative that to successfully embrace e-participation in the State of
Network infrastructure
How virtualisation is transforming mobile operators Both telecom operators in the country, Oooredoo and Vodafone Qatar, have introduced 4G LTE capabilities to their networks. Nathan Pearce, product manager for Europe Middle East and Asia at F5 Networks, looks at how mobile operators are changing IT structures to meet future demands and remain profitable.
34 | The Edge
Qatar, thereby ensuring social and economic progress of the nation, all government agencies implement the provisions as laid out in the draft policy provisions.” In order to make sure that ministries take public consultation seriously, the e-participation policy will require departments to acknowledge responses, provide summaries on the views expressed by the public and, perhaps critically, publish the agency’s responses with reasons for rejecting suggestions. The public consultation policy guidelines suggested by MICT are very similar to those it has implemented for itself, and would add transparency to the other ministries in the State. In addition, ministries will also be required to maintain social media accounts and allow the public to make suggestions
The move to IP-networks with LTE (Long-Term Evolution) is fundamentally changing the way service providers are organising their networks. The increased reliance on packet switching means that mobile network operators (MNOs) are becoming more and more like traditional IT businesses in their infrastructure. It would be no surprise to me if service providers were to become the largest users of cloud technology in the next year or so as they increasingly look to virtualise more of their network. But what does this mean for the future of the network? We are going to see an increased dependence on Software Defined Networking (SDN) as mobile operators look for more innovative ways to monetise their networks. For example, managing quality of service by routing different subscribers’ data traffic to various optimisation tools based on their data plans, without
on general governance issues. Despite the rising number of social media users online in Qatar, a trend also seen in the wider region, governments’ use of the Internet and social media channels to communicate have been somewhat limited. Fadi Salem, director of the Governance and Innovation Program at the Mohammed Bin Rashid School of Government in the United Arab Emirates, and member of the Gulf Cooperation Council Government Social Media Summit 2014 advisory board said, “Arabs today have a positive attitude towards governments engaging with citizens via social media channels.”
55%
Of respondents in a recent Middle East wide survey said they strongly support governments’ use of social media in delivering public services.
As costs increase and revenue from traditional services such as voice and SMS decrease over time in developed markets, managing hardware that handles IP-networks will help telcos such as Vodafone Qatar which recently launched its 4G LTE network, stay competitive and profitable.
requiring dedicated hardware switches and routers to achieve this. This will almost certainly start to become the norm for LTE in 2014. Beyond SDN, Network Function Virtualisation (NFV) will be the next stage
technology & communications | sectors
in mobile operators’ journey to the cloud: network operators are tiring of needing to have dedicated hardware for each function in their networks. They want to virtualise the hardware. In a more traditional network infrastructure, operators would have a Box A from Vendor Y doing routing, Box B from Vendor X managing the network address translation, and so on; every function requiring its own dedicated hardware. Ultimately, the ideal end result is for operators to rely on virtualised instances of specialised equipment on general computing hardware in a datacentre. Luckily for mobile operators, most of the necessary network functions are already available as virtualised functions; the challenge that many of them will face in the short term is matching the performance of dedicated hardware. However, the rewards for success are potentially massive. Successful in virtualising their networks would mean that hardware becomes more scalable and virtual machines can be spooled up as and when necessary - using the available network computing power for the tasks that are most needed in real time, driving down both operating expenditure and capital expenditure requirements. NFV is coming, and the transition towards it is already in motion. But while full virtualisation might be further down the tracks, it will not be very long until we see virtualisation of value-added services and optimisation services being deployed commercially. Those service providers that get ahead early stand a good chance of leading the market for some time to come.
Nathan Pearce is product manager for Europe Middle East and Asia at F5 Networks
Cyber security
The consumer privacy paradox A recent study, the Privacy Index, conducted by technology firm EMC, assessed consumer attitudes towards online privacy. It looked at the varying viewpoints of online users and reveals the conflicting views they hold regarding privacy and measures taken to protect themselves. The study was based on responses from 1000 consumers in Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. It explored how consumers in the region view their online privacy rights and measured willingness to forfeit the benefits and conveniences of the connected world for the assurances of privacy. The study found that 87 percent of respondents wanted the benefit of “easier access to information and knowledge” that technology affords them, yet only 32 percent said they were willing to trade some privacy to receive benefits offered by the Internet. One of the major findings was that although privacy risks directly impact many consumers, most take virtually no special action to protect their privacy – instead placing the onus on those handling their information such as government or businesses. Of the respondents, 42 percent said they do not customise their privacy setting on social media profiles and 32 percent said they do not use password protection on mobile devices. However, when asked about the risks to the future of privacy, the most cited were financial fraud, identity theft, hackers and anarchist groups and businesses leveraging or selling personal data for financial gain. The same paradox is revealed when it comes to socially sharing information on networks such as Facebook, Twitter or Instagram among others. The study found that users of social media sites claimed they value privacy, yet said they freely
share large quantities of personal data despite expressing a lack of confidence and trust in those institutions to protect that information. Eighty one percent of respondents reported to using social media to connect with people and organisations, while 63 percent said they share stories, videos and photos via social media. Yet, 39 percent said they did not have confidence in the skills of providers to protect personal data, and only 55 percent said they had the confidence in those organisations’ ethics. Over the past year, the study also found that consumers’ views on privacy have changed, with almost 56 percent of respondents stating they feel they have less privacy now. Seventy percent of them also said they expect privacy to decrease in the coming five years. According to EMC, businesses that are able to understand customer perceptions and improve privacy across their offerings without having to compromise on user experience, performance and capabilities of systems will have the biggest chance of succeeding. Mohammed Amin, senior vice president of EMC Turkey, Eastern Europe, Africa and Middle East said the study revealed a global divergence of views around the critical issues of privacy, adding that it was, “a warning call that responsibility for transparency, fairness, safe online behaviour and trustworthy use of personal data must be shared by business, governments and individuals alike.”
Online Privacy: The take-no-action paradox
55% Do not change passwords regularly
42%
Do not customise privacy settings on social networks
32%
Source: EMC Privacy Index
Do not have password protection on mobile devices
The Edge | 35
cover story | transport infrastructure
36 | The Edge
transport infrastructure | cover story
Doha Metro: Can it work? Amid concerns, including Qatar’s hot climate, a high percentage of private cars per household and a legacy of urban environment not conducive to an intra-city rail network, questions have been raised about the efficacy of the Doha Metro project. In an exclusive interview with The Edge, Qatar Rail Company’s (Qatar Rail) managing director and chairman of the executive committee, Engineer Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Turki Al Subaie, shares the company’s strategies to ensure successful delivery and effectiveness of the Doha Metro. by Farwa Zahra
The Edge | 37
cover story | transport infrastructure
G
iven the harsh climatic conditions in the Gulf, can a public transport project like the Doha Metro work in Qatar? Engineer Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Turki Al Subaie, managing director (MD) and chairman of the executive committee of Qatar Rail, shares some of the strategies Qatar Rail has adopted to deliver an effective means of public transport. First, the weather. The locations of the 38 stations of the Doha Metro are strategised to be in highly dense areas around Doha, says Al Subaie, “We will try to connect to the surrounding buildings through some kind of corridors, shaded or sometimes even cooled. The stations will provide shelter for people in the hot weather, so it will be more convenient for them to use these stations to move from place to place.” While the temperature levels within stations and their surroundings can be maintained, what cannot be controlled is the city’s overall climate, making it difficult for commuters to travel by foot. The reach of the metro service is planned to be broadened by the use of feeder buses to
The reach of the metro service will be broadened by feeder buses to cover neighbourhoods not accessible by foot. 38 | The Edge
“In the future you may not be able to park your car near the place you would like to see,” says Engineer Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Subaie, managing director of Qatar Rail Company, adding that a change in mind-set will be required, every person owning a car is just not sustainable.
cover neighbourhoods not accessible by foot. “We can have them every five minutes or three minutes or 10 minutes, depending on the demand and time of the day,” says Al Subaie, explaining that the frequency of feeder buses will be governed by the trains’ schedules. Another major concern making Doha’s Metro tough terrain involves the challenges during its construction phase. With the current state of congestion on roads, Doha can ill-afford traffic disruptions. As part of its traffic control strategy, Al Subaie says that the company is trying to avoid road closures wherever possible. In cases where it’s unavoidable, “we always think of diversions of the same capacity. We are trying to keep the time of these road closures or diversions as minimal as possible. Also, we pick a time, if possible, during the year when we have less demand on the road, for instance in summer.” Qatar Rail has recently received seven tunnel boring machines (TBM). The idea for TBMs, Al Subaie says, came after consideration to avoid traffic disruptions, “We are working on many stations but people probably don’t feel it” due to minimal diversions and closures. To maintain traffic flow, Qatar Rail is coordinating with Ashghal and has recently signed an agreement with Qatar Mobility
Innovations Center (QMIC), which will provide services for traffic monitoring, congestion management and logistic management of contractors. Al Subaie says, “We have a lot of materials to be disposed off after this excavation and the contractors usually move these materials to outside the city. We have big fleets between all contractors. We don’t want these fleets to worsen the situation of traffic inside the city, so we use QMIC for monitoring the fleets, selecting the best time, selecting the best route, trying not to affect the city.” The successful delivery of the Doha Metro is also associated with a ready supply of imported building materials. While the limited capacity of Doha’s old port has been a topic of discussion in the country’s construction sector, Al Subaie does not see it as a problem. “I’m in communication with head of the port authority and he says that they are not running even at their maximum capacity,” he says, adding that the real demand for imported materials will emerge around the finishing stage of the project. By the time the Doha Metro reaches this stage, Al Subaie is positive the new port will be up and running. For the initial stages such as excavation and concrete, he says, primary materials are used which are usually found in Qatar, “Cement is produced here, sand is available here, water is here, so only the aggregate is imported from outside and
transport infrastructure | cover story
QAR
46
billion
The approximate total cost of the Doha Metro project.
Al Subaie says, the process starts with awareness and expression of interest from companies all over the world. These companies are invited in a forum where Qatar Rail introduces the project, its scope, requirement, conditions and client’s expectations, along with the risks and opportunities involved. The second stage, he continues, involves pre-qualifying them for different activities or disciplines for civil works, underground works and systems, etcetera. The next stage involves the formation of consortiums featuring a mix of local and international contractors. Explaining the rationale behind this, Al Subaie says, “The idea is that there are many international contractors who have experience of railway project outside of Qatar but they don’t have local projects’ know-how, and we have our local
contractors with local projects’ knowledge but lacking the experience of railway projects.” A consortium, then, he says, is rich in a sense that each party adds value to the project. The selection of these contractors is based on criteria involving financial capacity, previous projects, success rate and client feedback, etcetera. This leads to invitation to bid, after which, the quality of the bid is assessed, followed by technical assessment, technical ranking and commercial ranking.
Taking calculated risks
As construction works continue to progress, questions related to postconstruction phase need to be addressed through estimates on headways (frequency of trains) and ridership (number of passengers), further dictating decisions on
there is a big stock in the country, which is sufficient for one year.”
Work in progress
With plans to award construction packages for the elevated part in the Red Line North and Green Line by the end of this year, Qatar Rail has awarded seven line packages of the Doha Metro during the last 12 months. “The contractors now have mobilised, started the ground breaking for the stations in 38 locations. In six stations, we have reached to the basis lab which is the bottom line of the stations, around 27 metres deep, from where we start building our station from bottom to top,” says Al Subaie. Considering the scope of the Doha Metro spread across the city and beyond, management of the project is bound to involve dealing with multiple contractors. “If we have our lines moving from Wakrah in the south of the city to the north, it will intersect with power, with water, telecommunication, gas, sewer, roads, the bridge and also buildings, and if you are also moving this below the ground, you need to study topography and geology,” explains Al Subaie. This intersection, hence, means involving contractors to provide services in areas from engineering to facility and asset management. The key is to select the right contractors and monitor them. In selecting the right contractor,
“We are trying to minimise the number of cars entering the city from outskirts of Doha,” says Engineer Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Turki Al Subaie, managing director of Qatar Rail Company.
The Edge | 39
Once fully functional, the Doha Metro project is expected to reduce traffic on Doha’s roads by half.
“There are many international contractors that have experience of railways projects outside of Qatar, but they don’t have local projects knowhow.” 40 | The Edge
procurement of trains. Qatar Rail is currently carrying out a study to analyse passenger demands. A part of this study also involves demand estimates during special occasions such as the 2022 World Cup. “The maximum frequency is to have a train every oneand-a-half minutes, but usually trains run in different cycles during different periods. So during rush hour, it will run at higher frequency,” he explains. While the subject of headways can be explored conclusively once the project is near completion, Al Subaie says the company is exploring options to make it as flexible as possible while maintaining robust safety conditions. “It is dynamic, it is not something fixed, but every one-and-a-half minute is considered one of the highest frequencies in the world. You cannot achieve beyond this standard because of safety aspects,” he says. A conclusive finding on headways will also lead to decisions on the number of trains to be procured. With their modular structure, the trains used for the Doha Metro will allow flexibility for varying passenger capacities. “We are starting with half of the train’s length so we can add the same capacity later on in future years whenever we need so…it can go up to 2500,” tells Al Subaie. While tram contracts
for Lusail Light Transit have already been awarded, Qatar Rail is yet to announce the winning train providers for the Doha Metro project, “Before the end of this year we will know who the winning bidder is, who is winning for this train set,” reveals Subaie.
A question of attitude shift
Ostensibly, Qatar Rail is equipped with strategies to ensure the metro project sees smooth progress towards its execution. However, the efficacy of this multi-billion project will only be defined by its utility, something that demands an attitude shift from the current transport scene backed by personal vehicles. For instance, stations located in central Doha will not necessarily be equipped with a large number of parking lots. “In the future, you may not always be able to park your car just near to the place you would like to see,” says Al Subaie, adding that the option to park-your-car and ride-the-metro will only be encouraged for passengers coming from the outskirts of Doha. “We are trying to minimise the number of cars entering the city from outskirts of Doha. So we don’t want, for example, someone to come into the city and park inside the city,” he explains. “When the metro has been built,” he says, “you need a mindset that supports
transport infrastructure | cover story
The Doha Metro project will have 38 stations across the city.
Rail metro in numbers
2500
maximum capacity of a Doha Metro train public transport and the concept of ‘sharing is caring’. At the end, it is not sustainable that everyone has their own car and we have to be very conscious of our environment,” says Al Subaie, explaining the company’s final strategy to educate the public in order to increase the metro’s ridership. Accomplishing the company’s vision “to be the favoured mode of transport for all” requires intensive awareness campaigns involving all groups of stakeholders. Qatar Rail plans to launch focused communication campaigns to promote optimum use of metro facilities and to encourage people to use the metro as part of their daily traffic life. These campaigns will also help to educate the general public on the social, economic and environmental benefits. “Our vision is for Qatar to have one of the world’s best integrated transport systems connecting people, places, goods and services enabling economic prosperity and quality of life for all. We are proud to be undertaking this challenge,” says Al Subaie. “We are heading to achieve the target date for starting the [first phase of] the metro that involves three lines - Red, Green and Gold – running by October 2019,” concludes Al Subaie.
1.5
minutes
Minimum headway between trains
7
Tunnel boring machines received
Doha Metro: Impacts • Reduced air pollution, as CO2 emissions will decrease, resulting in improved human health. • Reduced number of road accidents. • Reduced traffic congestion, potentially cutting down the number of cars from one million to 500,000. • Ability for youngsters to travel alone. • Job opportunities at the Doha Metro. • Increased trading between the GCC countries, as each train will remove around 300 lorries or trucks from the road. • An important step towards accomplishment of the National Vision 2030.
3
minutes
Minimum headway between feeder busses
38
Station locations
Depth of stations’ bottom line
27
metres
Excavation area at the Doha Metro’s Al Diwan site. (Image Qatar Rail)
A tunnel boring machine at work at the Doha Metro’s Al Wahd site. (Image Qatar Rail)
The Edge | 41
The Mall of
Expanding Doha
of Qatar:
oha’s retail scene
With Deputy Managing Director, Shem Krey
The Mall of Qatar is scheduled to open doors for public in 2015. Pictured here is a model of the upcoming retail space.
feature story | commercial retail
The Mall of Qatar will add 195,000 square metres (sqm) of gross leasable area in 2015 to Doha’s retail sector. With an existing base of 629,000 sqm, this would mean having more than 20 percent of the leasable retail market, and emerging as the largest mall in Qatar’s capital. In an exclusive interview with The Edge, Shem Krey, deputy managing director, the Mall of Qatar, discusses the project’s current status, features and its potential positioning in the region’s retail scene. by Farwa Zahra
A
ccording to Colliers International’s Q2 report, Doha currently offers 629,000 square metres (sqm) of gross leasable area (GLA), dominated by City Centre, Villaggio Mall and Porto Arabia, sharing 20 percent, 17 percent and 15 percent of the total space, respectively. Based on guidelines published by the International Council of Shopping Centres, by the end of 2013 Doha had the capacity to absorb a total supply of 700,000 sqm of formal shopping mall space. With 50 percent of its structure finished, the Mall of Qatar will add 195,000 sqm of GLA, exceeding the shares of City Center’s 125,800sqm and Villaggio’s
Deputy managing director tells The Edge that the company aims to position the Mall of Qatar as a regional shopping destination which will give boost to Qatar’s tourism industry.
44 | The Edge
Of 400 shops the Mall of Qatar will house, there will be 40 to 60 new brands debuting in Doha’s retail scene. 106,930 sqm. Started in August 2012, the mall is scheduled to finish construction works leading to a three-month soft launch in the last quarter of 2015, which Shem Krey, deputy managing director, the Mall of Qatar, says is a definitive deadline, “That’s what we’re committing to the major tenants and all the other tenants and we’re on schedule.” What makes Krey sure is the fact that all key entities involved in the construction of this project are working under one roof. “Urbacon Trading and Contracting is developer, design manager and the general contractor, and we’re also going to be operating them all so we can make decisions relatively quickly and we can move around without much difficulty on meeting the needs of the various tenants,” he explains. “We are building our own electrical substation on this project with Kahramaa.” Giving more details about the ongoing site activities, Krey tells that the current labour force on the site stands at 1000 persons, but “at peak, when we are doing all of the interior finishes and the contractors come in for the tenants, it will easily reach
2500 skilled and unskilled labourers.” By the end of this year, he says, the majority of the leasing will be finished and all the tenants will be signed up.
Tenant mix
Of the 400 shops the Mall of Qatar will house, Krey informs The Edge, that there will be 40 to 60 new brands debuting in Doha’s retail scene. “The percentage of new brands, I would say, is going to be running between 10 to 15 percent. These brands have to establish themselves and license themselves in Qatar, find their sponsors and so forth, but we are working with many of them right now and those would be coming to fruition by the third quarter of this year.” Speaking about the criteria for selecting the tenants, Krey says, “What’s very important for a large regional shopping centre, is to have a proper mix of food and beverage, entertainment, high fashion, luxury fashion and value. And between our 400 shops that are available, we have put together a mix of a brand where you try to achieve between 15 to 20 percent share of food and beverage, a certain percentage of anchors, a certain percentage of fashion and high-end luxury.” This, he explains, would mean 85 food and beverage outlets,
Shem Krey, the deputy managing director tells The Edge “Brands have to establish themselves and license themselves in Qatar, find their sponsors and so forth, but we are working with many of them right now and those would be coming to fruition by the third quarter of this year.”
42 to 50 high-end elite luxury shops, and up to 30 to 35 bridge brands, and then some high street and value brands. “We are trying to appeal to every market segment in a regional mall because it is so large,” says Krey.
Entertainment
Appealing to every market segment also means providing a variety of entertainment activities, something Doha generally lacks compared to malls in Dubai. Tapping into this market demand, Krey points out, “We have a very high-end entertainment component which includes the 19-screen cinema with the IMAX laser technology as well as 10,000sqm of Family Entertainment Center.” The Family Center will have the Angry Bird theme, the Juniverse and the Virtuosity themes. While cinemas are already a part of the Mall of Qatar’s immediate competitors such as City Center and Villaggio, what can set the upcoming retail space apart is QLive. “The QLive component is a series of [live] performances that will take place, three to
four times in the course of the day. They are small mini-acts that will take about 15 to 20 minutes a piece and what it is, is that there will be portions of shows and shows that will be conducted with gymnasts, with acrobatics, with fine trapeze, with clowns.” A part of QLive will have “branded shows” themed on Disney, Barney and Angry Birds etcetera. “In the course of shopping, maybe every 20 or 25 minutes, people can take a pause and see a lovely, very highend professional performance.” These performances, Krey explains, will be done by a casting crew that will be hired fulltime in the mall and will be professionally trained for over 25 different types of shows that are already in production.
Staffing
Having a permanent staff for live performances will directly translate into an increase in the mall’s working staff. The staff estimate for now, Krey says, is around 450, “They would be running a couple of shifts, so there will always be a couple of hundred that will be needed in addition
“Qatar is one of the fastest emergent markets. If you look at the United States, there are very few new malls being developed there.” The Edge | 45
feature story | commercial retail
to the semi-management that will be on security, life safety, cleaning, parking management and other aspects.” The life safety staff, Krey tells, will be trained through a 400-day rule. “The 400-day rule is that the installers of these [safety] systems are responsible to maintain, operate and train the staff for 400 days after the project is completed.” During this period, the installers and the engineers of the safety systems will be directly accountable and responsible to train the relevant staff. “They know the things that were buried behind the walls and ceilings and can immediately react to issues that may arise,” rationalises Krey.
Safety systems
Before the role of safety staff comes the robustness and reliability of supporting safety systems. “We’ve been very careful to look at population movement, population trends, both in normal and emergency conditions and we’re looking at every one of these aspects from different angles, and with the cooperation of the civil defence, we’re leading all of those stringent requirements and going beyond those requirements.” One of these systems includes a stateof-the-art fire alarm sprinkler systems both above and below ceilings. The number of exits in the mall is dictated by certain codes requiring a minimum number of exits depending on the area and distance. The idea is to make sure that exits are readily available for every end of the mall in case of
“We have a very high-end entertainment component which includes the 19-screen cinema with the IMAX laser technology as well as 10,000 sqm of Family Entertainment Center.”
The Mall of Qatar is planned to accommodate more than 7000 parking spaces.
46 | The Edge
emergency. “We do not have any dead end sections of the mall. In other words, you do not, you cannot go to one section of the mall where in order to get out you have to retreat. You can always go in two different directions,” adds Krey.
Challenges
Once completed in 2015, the Mall of Qatar will provide the largest leasable area in Doha with 7000 parking spaces available, making up about 25 percent more parking availability per GLA. Krey envisions the project as a tipping point in Qatar’s retail scene, “It is going to be the first major regional mall in Qatar which will attract a lot more of tourism as per the evidence of Emaar Mall and the Dubai Festival… Dubai Mall in Dubai, as well as the Emirates Mall.” Reaching all the goals set for 2015, however, is not simple. Speaking about some challenges, Krey says, “There are certain things that are typical to every large project. There are number of stakeholders that have to be coordinated, nevermind 400 tenants. We have many architects and engineers, we have all the civil defence issues to deal with, we have logistics concerns for getting things in and out.” Another challenge, he mentions, is related to human resource. Coordinating the
Deputy managing director, Shem Krey, says that Qatar is one of the fastest growing emergent markets, significantly because of its high income per capita.
labour in such a confined and constricted area when you’re building both the core and shell, he says, is another challenge.” Krey, however, believes the company is equipped with the right strategies to deal with these challenges. By building major warehouses on the project, he explains, it will avoid delays due to logistical issues. “We have plans and procedures for all of this, and our contractors are cooperating very well for all of these issues,” reassures Krey, who sees great potential in Qatar’s market. Highlighting the opportunities and scope of Qatar’s retail sector, he says, “It is one of the fastest emergent markets. If you look at the United States (US), there are very few new malls being developed there, and in England and in the European Union, retail mall development is pretty much stabilised… I do not know the statistics on China, I would assume that it is growing rapidly as well but certainly Qatar is the outstanding place.” The reason for this, he explains, is that Qatar’s “income per capita is the highest of all other countries in the world which spurs a very high purchasing power and furthermore to that, income is tax free as compared to places like Europe and US where people’s spending capacity is not as capable.”
The Mall Of Qatar In Numbers
195,000
sqm of leasable area
1000
7000+
workers on site
parking spaces
400
400 shops
85
days of safety staff training Up to
60
new brands
3
anchor stores
food and beverage outlets
450
staff members
1
five-star hotel
The Edge | 47
feature story | entrepreneurship
48 | The Edge
feature story | entrepreneurship
D
ue to its central location within the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, and its proximity to the lucrative growing markets of Africa and Asia, as well as the established markets of Europe, Qatar could ostensibly become an ideal location for local SMEs to grow internationally. It can also be argued that in the medium to long-term, this impetus is essential for fostering growth in the SME sector, given Qatar’s market size, and the saturation level that any new product or service is likely to experience here. However, given this backdrop, it needs some introspection, are the authorities looking beyond deliberate efforts of moving the country to a knowledgebased economy or setting up support organisations such as Enterprise Qatar (EQ)? Is it taking measures to encourage and support the countries SMEs to venture beyond the borders of the country? Indeed, besides the above-mentioned well-backed government and semigovernment organisations, most local firms that conduct business beyond Qatar’s shore have done so on their own cognisance. One such company is Qatari multisector conglomerate Aamal. “We started our investments outside of Qatar in the early 2000s, by which time our group had been successfully operating inside Qatar for four decades,” says HE Sheikh Mohamed bin Faisal Al Thani, vice chairman
Tarek Coury, senior economist and research programme manager at Silatech says that as a proportion of the non-hydrocarbon economy, the manufacturing sector accounts for 16 percent of economic activity while building and construction contributes 17 percent.
50 | The Edge
Khalid Al Jaber, chairman, Innovation Group says that the government plays an active role in promoting expansions in listed entities such as Ooredoo or QNB, Qatari Diar or Barwa. But when it comes to entrepreneurs, commensurate measures have yet to happen.
of Aamal Company, adding that since the company is a 100 percent privately-owned business, “expanding outside of Qatar was our initiative and realisation of our vision... we had laid the foundations required to be able to expand oversees as we had established a leading market position.” Qatari entrepreneur Khalid Al Jaber, chairman of the Innovation Group agrees that the government plays an active role in promoting expansion in listed entities such as Ooredoo or QNB, Qatari Diar and Barwa. But when it comes to entrepreneurs, commensurate measures are yet to happen. “I was hoping to see an event organised by the government of Qatar that represents the young entrepreneurs abroad,” he tells The Edge. “I have been to one of those conferences in Europe and I was disappointed to see that SME owners were neither present nor invited.” Zeyad Al Jaidah, managing director, TechnoQ is categorical that any out-ofthe-border business activity happens at the sole initiative of the entrepreneur. His
“It is rare to see Qatari entrepreneurs expanding outside the borders of Qatar since the country needs SMEs to grow and consolidate their presence within the nation.” – Khalid Al Jaber, chairman, Innovation Group. firm has set up a business arm in Oman, and he says, “I have not got any government support in opening our Oman branch. The only push I can think of is the good diplomatic ties between the two countries.” Analysing the reasons for this apparent dearth of government support to SMEs setting up operations beyond Qatar, Bassam Yousef Al Ibrahim, CEO of Innovation Films and member of Entrepreneurs’ Organisation Qatar Chapter, rationalised, “There has been no direct support for SMEs to expand outside Qatar as the focus is purely to create a local system that would grow and expand in time.”
Future prospects
With little obvious direct government initiatives to help grow local SMEs beyond Qatar, what prospects do these companies have, if they want to expand? Both Sheikh Mohamed bin Faisal Al Thani and Al Jaber opine that with the rapid economic development, the country has been experiencing over the last two decades, Qatar itself has been an attractive Percentage of contribution of the services sector in the non-hydrocarbon investment environment. This has motivated many Qataris eager to enter the economy of Qatar.
46 %
entrepreneurship | feature story
business world establish their own private businesses to service the local market. Reflecting on how SMEs in Qatar can naturally progress to other markets in the GCC countries to begin with, Sheikh Al Thani says, “Expansion to the GCC is a natural progression given the attractive investment facilities given to GCC citizens as part of the GCC trade agreements. Several of the forward-thinking entrepreneurs have already expanded their operations outside the borders of Qatar, to GCC countries and beyond, looking at new, more dynamic, and relevant trends that can further enhance their investment portfolios.” Giving another perspective, Al Jaber comments, “It is rare to see Qatari entrepreneurs expanding outside the borders of Qatar since the country needs SMEs to grow and consolidate their presence within the nation.” For Al Jaidah of TechnoQ, the most important factor behind local SMEs not moving beyond Qatar lies in the commonplace businesses that local entrepreneurs own. He adds, “I believe if the product is right, the sky is the limit. We need more innovation, we need fresh ideas.”
“Expansion to GCC is a natural progression given the attractive investment facilities given to GCC citizens as part of the trade agreements.” – Sheikh Mohamed bin Faisal Al Thani, vice chairman, Aamal Company.
Aamal Company’s vice chairman Sheikh Mohamed bin Faisal Al Thani believes expansion for Qatari firms into the GCC at the very least should be a natural progression. “Several of the forwardthinking entrepreneurs have already expanded their operations outside the borders of Qatar,” he says, “expanding outside of Qatar was our initiative and realisation of our vision.”
On a similar strain of thought, Ben Aissa of QPAY says that currently most of the entrepreneur success stories are bound to industries that produce physical assets such as real estate development, manufacturing, food or farming, etcetera. “The problem with technology entrepreneurism,” he says, “is that though technology can be easily scaled and exported outside Qatar, there is very little capital for technology entrepreneurs since they do not produce a real ‘physical asset’ to guarantee the capital needed to grow their entrepreneurial venture. This creates a huge obstacle for entrepreneurs with great business models to start companies in Qatar, let alone export to the GCC.”
What might help?
Given these challenges, what recommendation would local entrepreneurs make to the government or the Chamber of Commerce or businessmen’s associations so that they become more receptive to expansion moves by Qatari entrepreneurs? Al Jaber says that getting SMEs involved in the Chamber’s or Enterprise Qatar’s regular activities is a productive way of starting a symbiotic process. Citing reasons behind his recommendation, Al Jaber says, “I believe they are isolated somehow, or there is a gap between them. It is a good
starting point to form a committee of local entrepreneurs to encourage SMEs to grow faster and cross the border of Qatar.” He recommends that these entities should also be more involved in constructive roles when it comes to international activities and given priority treatment when it comes to licences, company registrations, and memberships of the Chamber of Commerce, “There should be regular meetings with large businesses to find possible cooperation between them.” Al Jaber’s colleague Al Ibrahim says that the government and businessmen’s associations could support local SMEs by providing them with potential projects outside Qatar through their business ventures. “For entrepreneurs, this support could provide guidance to launch into external markets and learn from their experience,” he says. Tarek Coury of Silatech recommends that, given Qatar’s prominent focus on hydrocarbons, it is useful to look at diversified, knowledge-based economies. He explains that Singapore’s manufacturing sector for example accounts for about one-third of its gross domestic product (GDP) and the services sector accounts for 64 percent of its GDP. Seventy-three percent of the United Kingdom’s GDP is in the services sector. “These numbers suggest that a successful economic diversification strategy will reduce the size of the hydrocarbon sector in the overall economy by increasing the size of the services and manufacturing sectors in the nonhydrocarbon economy,” says Coury. In order to stimulate SME growth in the manufacturing and services sectors, Coury also recommends that Qatar should endeavour to develop a comprehensive national SME strategy that allows local companies to plug into regional and global supply chains. He emphasises, “Elements of this strategy involve increased capacity to attract foreign entrepreneurs to incorporate and operate from Qatar, including changes in ownership laws; the development and activation of properlydesigned economic zones, including increased logistics and warehousing capacity feeding into the transport network (seaport and airport); and changes in labour laws to allow knowledge workers to transfer to high-productivity, high-growth sectors.” The Edge | 51
business interview | hospitality
“We concentrate on authentic
Arabian hospitality ‘We are new, yet historic’ may seem like an oxymoron to some, but Hamad Abdulla Al Mulla, chief executive officer, Katara Hospitality disagrees. To him, it is the essence of what the company is all about. In an exclusive interview with The Edge, Al Mulla talks Aparajita Mukherjee through Katara Hospitality’s business philosophy, which integrates cultural diversity with élan and gives his take on the company’s prospects in light of the 2022 World Cup.
52 | The Edge
hospitality | business interview
concentrate authentic
hospitality” Hamad Abdulla Al Mulla, chief executive officer of Katara Hospitality, says, “We work with operators such as Starwood, Merweb, Ritz-Carlton whose values and principles align with ours. However, rather than strive for a uniform identity across all our properties, we encourage the properties we have invested in to retain their own distinct character.”
The Edge | 53
business interview | hospitality
K
atara Hospitality launched its new brand identity and name in 2012. Describing this change, Hamad Abdulla Al Mulla, chief executive officer of Katara Hospitality, points out, “What we got was not merely a new name or brand. We also got a new strategic vision that clearly defined our philosophy and aspirations for the future.” Explaining the historical context of the company’s name, Al Mulla says, “Our business philosophy can be explained through the etymology of our brand name. The meaning of Katara – taken from the ancient name for the Qatar peninsula – is attributed to cartographer Claudius Ptolemaeus in 150 AD. The name reflects our curiosity to charter new territory and our spirit of discovery.” “We are redeveloping iconic, historical
“When we decide to acquire a property, we look for hotels that have created a legacy in their respective markets.” 54 | The Edge
Raffles Singapore is one of Katara Hospitality’s prestigious properties within Asia. The company has another hotel in Thailand.
properties locally, and in new territories, such as the European and Asian markets. We are also investing in the future by pioneering architectural and hospitality projects in Qatar and around the world,” says Al Mulla, establishing a connection between the historic context and how that translates into the business philosophy of Katara Hospitality. International operators run hotels that are managed by Katara Hospitality. The company operates on three different continents – Asia, Europe, Africa – as well as the Middle East region. Commenting on how Katara Hospitality manages this diversity, Al Mulla says that instead of thrusting down a pre-decided identity on its hotels, the company encourages its hotels to keep their distinctness. He explains, “We work with operators such as Starwood, Merweb, Ritz-Carlton whose values and principles align with ours. However, rather than strive for a uniform identity across all our properties, we encourage the properties we have invested in to retain their own distinct character. We are mindful that the properties we invest in have their own unique position in the market, and, as an owner, we work with discretion in order to keep the property’s identity as authentic as possible.” Given the diversity of brands that Katara Hospitality has under its ownership, it is a decision that has been thought through. Explaining the logic with which partnerships are struck across the world, Al Mulla says, “Partnerships with operating
brands are established on a rigorous basis. We take into account the particularities and requirements of each property compared to the operator’s area of expertise to ensure optimum operational benefits for the property and best return on investment for the owner.” Each opportunity, adds Al Mulla, is considered in close consultation with stakeholders against certain performance and opportunity criteria. “We have partnered with some of the most reputable operating brands in the world, including Ritz-Carlton, Starwood Hotels & Resorts, Raffles Hotels & Resorts, Marriott and Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts to manage our portfolio of hotels,” says Al Mulla.
Ownership model and business size
Katara Hospitality owns the majority of properties in its portfolio. Commenting on their ownership model in foreign markets, Al Mulla says, “When we decide to acquire a property, we generally look for hotels that have created a legacy in their respective markets and have a special resonance within the local market.” Focusing on the local market, Al Mulla says that domestic competition in Qatar is intensifying with investors identifying growing opportunities in the economy. “Qatar’s economy presents sound growth prospects for the hospitality sector,” explains Al Mulla. Commenting on how the local market conditions impact the way Katara
hospitality | business interview
operations arm – the Merweb brand in Doha – with four hotels set to open within the coming two years. Commenting on the total business size of Katara Hospitality, Al Mulla says, “The business is now worth more than USD50 billion (QAR182 billion) with more than 6000 rooms operating or under development, making us an increasingly major player in the markets in which we operate.”
2022 World Cup business impact
Hospitality plans its projects, Al Mulla says, “Renovation of our current Qatar properties is important to ensure that we remain the market leaders. Our ability to think ahead and generate new trends ensures that we are consistently delivering high-quality service and growing our business at a comfortable pace.” Al Mulla mentions that Katara Hospitality is also developing its
and
30
The number of hotels Katara Hospitality aims to own by 2016.
its
The anticipated increase in the volume of visitors to Qatar over the next few years is ramping up local efforts to not only accommodate guests but to also surprise them with a comprehensive leisure and tourism offering, according to Al Mulla, who adds, “The 2022 World Cup will give us the opportunity to showcase to the world a country that has developed into a world-class destination, embracing modernity while nurturing its cultural heritage.” Commenting on how Katara Hospitality is planning to take advantage of the prospects in light of the 2022 World Cup, Al Mulla says, “We are looking forward to playing a key role in providing the
authentic and famous Arabian hospitality to all visitors to the State of Qatar.” One of the company’s prestigious ongoing projects, mentions Al Mulla, is Katara Towers in the Lusail City district, Doha. The project has 614 rooms including five-star hotel accommodation and one five-star deluxe hotel as well
Katara Hospitality Total Rooms Number of rooms in operational hotels
3575
(Qatar, Thailand, Singapore, The Netherlands, France, Spain, Germany, Switzerland, Italy and Egypt)
Number of rooms of hotels under development
2474
(Qatar, Switzerland, Italy and Morocco)
One of the company’s prestigious ongoing projects, mentions Al Mulla, is Katara Towers in the Lusail City district, Doha. The project has 614 rooms including five-star hotel accommodation and one five-star deluxe hotel as well as private offices and residential space.
The Edge | 55
business interview | hospitality
as private offices and residential space. “Katara Towers will provide Qatar with an architectural symbol that will be recognised throughout the world,” says Al Mulla.
Business lessons
Asked what lessons the company has learnt from the 2008 global recession, Al Mulla mentions, “Our global experience has taught us many key lessons about business. It has taught us a lesson in ‘thinking local’.” Elaborating on the ‘thinking local’ philosophy, Al Mulla says that while Katara Hospitality partners with global operators to manage its properties, it is important that these partners understand the depths and heights of that particular market – the customers’ wants and needs, the competition and the core product’s strengths and challenges. Al Mulla adds, “We recognise that customers crave unique travel experiences and local insight when in new locations.” Having an international presence, according to Al Mulla, also opens up the ability of Katara Hospitality to think laterally and boost its overall performance. “Lateral thinking draws on creativity, reasoning and originality. The international exposure provides a continuous learning experience for us,” he says. Katara Hospitality has been named the region’s leading hospitality development company. Al Mulla outlines the factors which he believes have made this possible, explaining, “A hospitality organisation such as ours is only as good as the people who work there – they are the backbone of our operations and the engine of our success. I am privileged to work with an expert, multinational team in Doha who champion our own aspirational values of achievement in our day to day operations.” Al Mulla also talks of the high impression that he has of his team members whom he regularly meets at every level of the business in other markets when visiting hotels. He says, “Their tenacity for delivering exceptional service continues to amaze me and it is without doubt that our success as the world’s leading hospitality development company is indebted to them.” Talking about the corporate ambitions for Katara Hospitality in the coming three years, Al Mulla says that his mission is 56 | The Edge
“In place of uniform identity, we encourage the properties we have invested in to retain their own distinct character.”
Le Roy Monceau Hotel Paris , an operational property under Katara Hospitality. Currently, the company has hotels in Amsterdam, Paris, Cannes, Madrid, Frankfurt, Rome and Bern.
hospitality | business interview
Total number of hotels under Katara Hospitality:
Netherlands France 4 Spain 1
28
1 1 3
Germany Switzerland 2 Italy
1
Morocco
10
1
Egypt
spread across three continents.
Qatar
1
Thailand 1
Commenting on the role its employees play in the company’s success, Al Mulla says, “A hospitality organisation such as ours is only as good as the people who work there – they are the backbone of our operations and the engine of our success.”
to become one of the world’s leading hospitality organisations. “We have ambitious growth targets in place to ensure we achieve this,” says Al Mulla, adding that the next phase of growth across the coming three years is based on what has been achieved in the the past three years. Al Mulla says that Katara Hospitality has
Singapore
Some properties in Milan, Lausanne, Morocco and Lucerne are under development. achieved significant growth in the number of properties it has acquired, with major acquisitions in Europe in particular, as well as increased activity in its investments. “Success in three years’ time looks like a combination of profit growth, more hotels in our global portfolio, particularly in new markets; and continued satisfaction from
our employees. We are also committed to the development of Qatar’s local talent; and healthy returns on our investment. We have a target of owning 30 hotels by 2016, and a further 30 across the following decade – we are continuously thinking ahead and identifying new opportunities,” concludes Al Mulla.
Some Important Milestones For Katara Hospitality:
1970
1982
1993
2001
2006
2007 2012
Qatar National Hotels Limited is established by the government of Qatar to manage the Gulf Hotel, the first five-star property in Qatar, currently known as the Doha Marriott Hotel.
Sheraton Doha opens as Qatar’s first internationally branded hotel.
Qatar National Hotels Company (QNH) is established in accordance with Emiri Decree no. 12 and takes over all assets and liabilities from Qatar National Hotels Limited.
The RitzCarlton, Doha and Mövenpick Hotel Doha open.
Renaissance Sharq Village Sharm El Sheikh & Spa opens Golden View as Qatar’s first Beach Resort in branded luxury Egypt becomes resort, with the the first hotel managed by international Ritz-Carlton Hotel acquisition. Company and the spa managed by the Six Senses Spa LLC, being the largest spa of its kind in the region.
Qatar National Hotels Company is renamed as Katara Hospitality to reflect the company’s heritage and its international expansion plans.
2014 The Sheraton Doha Resort & Convention Hotel enters major renovation.
The Edge | 57
human resources | employee risk
Health, safety andenvironment in Qatar’s energy-related sectors From oil and gas, to shale and nuclear, from coal, wind and solar to hydro, biogas and biofuels, and whether on land or offshore, today’s energy industry applies varying designs, processes, and procedures for the extraction and consumption of these vital resources. And as it uses some of the most complex infrastructure, equipment and software of any industrial sector, the energy industry’s workforce is prone to some of the highest risks and hazards. Pooja Fotedar, senior conference producer, Fleming Gulf, examines issues and solutions related to health, safety and environment (HSE) in Qatar’s energy sector.
I
n Qatar, the energy and industrial sector is made up of a diverse mix of upstream, midstream and downstream hydrocarbon-related companies. Producing a wide range of products and services that support Qatar’s development and are exported across the Gulf region and to more than 60 countries worldwide, the country’s several subsectors have complex interdependent technical systems with personal safety risks to all staff in operations. The companies comprising Qatar’s energy and industry sector operate within eight sub-sectors: Oil and gas, liquid natural gas (LNG) and natural gas
58 | The Edge
(NG), refinery, petrochemical, mining and minerals, power and utilities, transport, storage and distribution, and support services. These companies are located at offshore sites and across the three major industrial cities of Ras Laffan Industrial City (RLC), Mesaieed Industrial City (MIC) and in Dukhan. In order to address concerns around health, safety and environment (HSE) as well as sustainability issues and concerns in Qatar’s energy and industry sector, a Sector Sustainability Programme started in 2010 with the establishment of the Sustainable Development Industry Reporting (SDIR) scheme. Such efforts are further
strengthened by the annual HSE Forum in Energy 2014, to be hosted in Qatar, which aims to highlight opportunities for HSE professionals and organisations to tackle the latest technical and strategic HSE concerns and enable them to come up with new best practices for the industry. Qatar’s SDIR scheme was initially a voluntary programme that focused on encouraging companies in the sector to develop their own sustainability reports and information consolidated to create a sector-wide report. Since then, the Sector Sustainability Programme has incorporated additional dimensions such as: an awards scheme, strategy development,
human resources | employee risk
performance assessment and target setting, policy input and alignment, and national and international engagement.
Recent data
Based on the data submitted by the 36 companies within Qatar’s energy and industry sector that participated in the sector-wide sustainability initiative, some of 2013’s highlights include a 16 percent reduction in contractor Lost-Time Injury Rate (LTIR) and Total Recordable Injury Rate (TRIR); a 13 percent reduction in employee occupational illness; a 15 percent reduction in employee TRIR; and 6104 emergency response drills conducted in the Health and Safety area. As far as the Environment area is concerned, 36 percent of waste was recycled; freshwater purchased was reduced by two percent; 24.5 million cubic metres of water was recycled by the sector; and NOx emissions (mono-nitrogen oxides NO and NO2) were reduced by nine percent. In the Climate Change and Energy area, natural gas consumed per tonne of production was reduced by three percent; natural gas usage fell by 2.4 percent; flaring decreased by 13 percent; and electricity consumption per capita was likewise reduced by 10 percent. There were 39,002 full-time employees with 306 more Qataris employed by the sector and a 15 percent increase in average hours of training from one million hours of training delivered. With regard to employee and contractor fatalities, zero employee fatalities were
Many of Qatar’s energy-related subsectors have shown significant statistical gains in employee safety in 2013 compared to 2012.
Qatar’s energy subsectors have complex interdependent technical systems with safety risks to all staff in operations. The Edge | 59
human resources | employee risk
recorded in 2013, down from three fatalities in 2012. Although contractor fatalities were reduced from nine in 2012, regrettably, one contractor fatality was recorded in 2013 among the 32 companies that reported. In terms of Qatar’s energy and Industry sector’s fatality rate (FAR) visà-vis the International Association of Oil and Gas Producers (OGP), the combined employee and contractor FAR was 0.29 in 2013, a significant reduction on 2012. This is also well below the OGP combined employee and contractor FAR in 2012 of 2.38, and the OGP Middle East employee and contractor FAR in 2012 of 1.95. On a more detailed analysis of the employee and contractor lost-time injury rate (LTIR), 34 out of the 36 companies that reported the number of employee lost-time injuries and total employee work-hours completed, employee LTIR (per million work-hours completed) for the sector increased to 0.65 in 2013, compared to 0.53 in 2012. Such an increase can be primarily attributed to the transport, storage and distribution subsector, particularly for two companies. On the other hand, three subsectors reported improved employee LTIR in 2013, including the power and utilities, refining, and support services subsectors. As far as contractors are concerned, of the 30 companies that reported the number of lost time injuries and total
To address concerns around health, safety and environment, and sustainability in Qatar’s energy and industry sector, a Sector Sustainability Programme was started in 2010. 60 | The Edge
work-hours in 2013, contractor LTIR (measured per million work-hours) for the sector was 0.23 in 2013, a 16 percent decrease from 0.27 in 2012, despite a significant increase in lost time in the transport storage and distribution subsector. While two subsectors (oil and gas and transport, storage and distribution) recorded declined performance, two other subsectors (refining and support services), managed to achieve zero contractor LTIR in 2013. Five subsectors improved their performance from 2012 to 2013, with mining, minerals and others, power and utilities, and petrochemicals and chemicals all recording a 50 percent improvement.
Encouraging trends
Meanwhile, with regard to Qatar’s energy and industry sectors’ employee LTIR and contractor LTIR vis-à-vis the OGP’s 2012 benchmark, the sector LTIR for employees indicates further room for improvement, while the sector LTIR for contractors is significantly better. This represents an encouraging trend and may reflect the more extensive levels of engagement with contractors on safety issues that have been reported in recent years. Overall, the sector’s combined employee and contractor LTIR for 2012 and 2013 is better than the 2012 OGP benchmark for all regions, but narrowly above the 2012 OGP benchmark for the Middle East. On the employee and contractor TRIR, the sector’s employee TRIR (measured per million hours worked) improved by 15 percent in 2013, down to 1.76 from 2.08 in 2012. The support services subsector was the only one to achieve zero TRIR in 2013. Furthermore, five subsectors reported improved employee TRIR in 2013: LNG/ NG (79 percent improvement); mining, minerals and other (29 percent); oil and gas (nine percent); petrochemicals and chemicals (30 percent); and power utilities (75 percent). On the contractor side, its TRIR (per million work-hours) in 2013 was lower at 1.06 as compared with 1.27 in 2012. Despite a significant number of incidents
recorded by the transport, storage and distribution subsector, such reduction represented a 16.5 percent improvement. At the subsector level, support services achieved zero TRIR, while three subsectors reported improved results (mining, minerals and others, power and utilities, and refining). All other subsectors recorded slight declines. With regard to the overall employee TRIR and contractor TRIR performance against the OGP benchmarks, employee TRIR continues to have a below-par performance despite a 16 percent improvement. For contractor TRIR, the sector continues to perform better than the OGP benchmark. However, the sector’s combined employee and contractor TRIR in 2012 and 2013 is lower than the 2012 OGP combined TRIR, but higher than the 2012 OGP Middle East combined TRIR.
Avoiding incidents
In order to understand the root causes of an incident, investigation is an essential practice that results in reformative actions that prevent recurrence of similar events in the future. It also helps to address control weaknesses that could contribute to other incidents. For 2013, Qatar’s energy and industry sector initiated 4825 incident investigations and completed 3906. The
The annual HSE Forum in Energy, in Doha aims to highlight issues within the sector and to encourage awareness in health and safety in general within Qatari industry.
Qatar’s Energy Sector Safety Key Figures In 2013, Qatar’s energy and industry sector initiated
4825
difference between investigations initiated and completed can be attributed to those being initiated in December and rolling over into 2014, as well as backlogs in investigations. Categorising incidents and classifying the activities being performed while incidents occur, all the 36 companies provided breakdowns of incidents by category and activity for employees and contractors. These include fatalities, losttime injuries (LTI) and restricted work cases (RWC), but exclude medical treatment cases (MTC). Activities that led to the most incidents were construction (26 percent) as well as maintenance, inspection and testing (21 percent). The most common categories of incident were “struck by...” (26 percent) and “caught in, under or between...”(23 percent). Being aware of such information allows companies within the sector to review safety procedures and launch targeted awareness campaigns that focus on avoiding particular types of incident in the future.
Annual HSE Forum in Energy
Created with the goal of raising awareness about HSE practices in the region’s energy sector, the annual HSE Forum in Energy will return for the 10th year from November 3 to 5, 2014 in Doha. Organised by Fleming Gulf, this year’s edition is themed ‘Reinventing HSE DNA’, a holistic approach to embedding active HSE awareness in the energy sector’s workforce.
incident investigations and
3906
were completed
In 2013, contractor fatalities were reduced from
The sector experienced a
13 %
9
reduction in total recordable injuries.
to 1
And the contractor lost time injury rate compared to work hours completed, compared to 2012 increased from
Across the whole sector this ratio actually dropped by
16%
0.53% to 0.65% In 2013 activities that lead to the most injuries were
16%
construction
26%
maintenance, inspection and testing
Qatar’s LNG/NG energy subsector showed the greatest improvement in lost time injury rates from 2012 to 2013 with an improvement of
79%
21%
and the most common categories were “struck by...”
26%
and “caught in, under or between...” Source: Fleming Gulf/Sector Sustainability Programme
The Edge | 61
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Inside the minds of leading business figures
business insight Do not look at start-ups as pursuing ideas, instead focus on a problem to solve > 64
In an exclusive conversation with The Edge, Jim McKelvey, co-founder of Square talks about the qualities it takes to be an entrepreneur, and what sets them apart from CEOs.
The scale of IT is growing immensely, and for firms it is about harnessing that immense power > 66 Adrian McDonald, president of EMC Corporation for Europe, Middle East and Africa, reveals how technology is impacting business strategy for firms as more processes become automated.
64
Jim McKelvey is co-founder of Square, a credit card payment reader and service that plugs into devices such as an iPhone or iPad to conduct transactions. He is a serial entrepreneur who says he has never let an idea of his fail. (Image Corbis)
The Edge | 63
business insight | entrepreneurship
Start-ups
Do not look at start-ups as pursuing ideas, instead focus on a problem to solve Jim McKelvey, co-founder of Square, was in Doha recently to talk about entrepreneurship. Speaking with The Edge, he discussed the challenges he faced as an entrepreneur, and how he views it as problem solving more than anything else. McKelvey has launched numerous businesses throughout his varied career in the United States including arguably his most succesful projects yet, Square. McKelvey started Square with Twitter’s co-founder Jack Dorsey, who also worked at one of his previous companies. Square is a free credit card reader that plugs into mobile devices allowing businesses to accept credit card payments. It is especially popular among smaller businesses, paying a fixed rate per transaction with no other fees. Can you tell us about one of the biggest challenges you face as an entrepreneur? Well not having enough information, the problem is that you would like to know everything. But you just don’t. You have to be willing to proceed with the imperfect information, and that is just not how we are trained. In school, we are trained to study more and figure it out, learn more. Then in business, the established businesses typically want to have a very thorough diligence on any topic. Frequently, I found, and these are just personal things, that entrepreneurs like myself do not have that information. You just do not know. So, the trick is to be able to proceed even though you do not know, and that is tough.
Jim McKelvey, co-founder of Square, tells The Edge that to in order be a successful entrepreneur, one has to be willing to proceed with imperfect information. (Image Flickr ictQATAR)
64 | The Edge
Can you tell us about one instance where that happened with Square or otherwise? Square is almost a bad example because everything went so well. I mean Square has been a rip burn success. But not that everything has gone perfectly. But, as an engineer you are trained to live in a world of mistakes. So, I think of it more as a mindset. To give you an example, the engineer is trained to fix problems, you fix stuff, you build stuff, which means you are always focused on things that do not work. If it works, the engineers are not involved. The marketing department is involved once it works, the sales department is involved once it works. I am very comfortable working with things that are not functioning. I do not think anything works perfectly the first time, and when it does, I am so surprised. For instance, in my printing company, we had a terrible problem with our printers, and eventually we figured those out. I had a roofing company and it was a disaster at first and you know eventually you
entrepreneurship | business insight
figure these things out. The stories are, funny, but that’s how you learn. So, I will give you an example, we could not get permission from the credit card brands at the beginning, to do what we wanted. So, we had all this technology working, everything was functioning, money was actually moving, but without the approval of MasterCard and Visa. And I had a meeting with the head of MasterCard and I showed him the product. Jack Dorsey and I were there, and he looked at me and said, “You realise this violates our merchant acquiring rules?” And I said, “Yes sir, it does.” And he said, “then I guess we have to change the rules, and I will make it happen,” and he left the room, just got up and walked out. I still believe to this day if we had not built the product first to show him first what we were doing, he would never have changed the rules. He changed his rules, and then Visa followed. Then we got the rules written for systems like ours. So that was a case where we were in a failure state continually until we got the final piece to fall in and then things changed. Do you think people should never stop pursuing ideas? You obviously knew about this hurdle from the start. I do not look at it as pursuing ideas. I think you focus on a problem. I think you solve a problem - that is the job of an entrepreneur. I am not one of these people who say, ‘Oh this is my dream, I want to build the next ‘X’.’ Do not build it just to build it you know? I do not need an airport, I need transportation. If it turns out the airport is not a good way for me to get around, then I should be laying rails, not building runways. So, you get down to the problem and focus on the problem, that provides a context for everything you are doing. Then of course you are going to have many setbacks, and at some point everybody quits, but hopefully you get to the solution before you run out of your ability to keep going. You have worked on quite a few business ideas, when is it time to say this is not working out, and move onto the next thing? I have never quit. I have never had a business not work out. I have had businesses fail for years and years and then they work out. So, this whole sort
“I have never quit. I have never had a business not work out. I have had businesses fail for years and years and then they work out.” of embracing failure thing, no! Failure is the default daily state. There is always something that is failing. I mean I have had my company wiped out to one person, me. I have lost all my staff, the company did not close because I was still alive, and I built it back up and it has been around for 26 years now. That was my first company, that was where I first employed Jack Dorsey. So I do not think in terms of failure, but in terms of fixing the problem, and it is usually going to be a lot of work, more than you think. Going back to how Square came about, is it true that you lost a sale because a credit card was not accepted, can you talk about that? What happened? It is very simple. Jack and I had already decided to start a company which was sort of in violation of what I said. He asked me to start a company with him, and I was getting bored flying planes and being an artist. My companies are all run by other people, so I was not that involved. We wanted to start a company but we did not have an idea. So Jack actually had an idea for a different product that was one that we were going to pursue. Then all of a sudden, I was in my studio and had this real problem and said okay, I want to fix this problem. Coincidentally I happened to be starting a company with my buddy, so I said okay so we need to fix this problem. It took me about a week to convince Jack that this was a business we need to go into and it worked out. How different is it creating a physical product as opposed to say something in software development? Software development tends to be very fast. Physical products have an inertia to them. Although that is changing with 3D printing and CAD/CAM (computer aided design and manufacturing), we can now create physical objects more readily. When I built the first Square readers, I had to live in China. I was
trying to find people in the United States (US) who knew how to build things because I could only go into the shop and build one or two at a time. Actually I was the guy that built all the early readers, hundreds of the things. I have pictures of my wife working the milling machine. Anybody I had, I put to work. But at some point we needed to scale and I went to look for companies that could manufacture the product and there weren’t any. The US does not have manufacturing anymore. So my wife and I moved to Shenzhen, China, right across from Hong Kong and we lived at the Sheraton. So I moved to China, that was how I fixed it. I understand you have now stepped away from the day-to-day operations of Square. Why is that? I step away from the day-to-day operations of all my companies because I am not good at it. I am good at starting companies, I am the guy you want when there is a problem, when it seems overwhelming and we do not know how to do it, I am great. Once we figure out how to do it, and execute on a daily basis, it’s time for me to leave. So I was at Square for two years, I was at Mira for five years. I was at Third Degree for four years and I still own interests in all those companies, but I do not run them anymore. So what is the difference between entrepreneurs, innovators and CEOs. Do they have a different skill set? I think so. You know Jack wanted to run Square. I did not. I like getting things going. I am comfortable in unknown territory. I am probably most comfortable in unknown territory. I am still uncomfortable but less uncomfortable than everybody else. That is probably my single saving grace, is that when I am afraid or do not have knowledge or when something is going wrong, I can still function. The problem is that, that skill set, is not the one you want to build a company around. That is good for getting things going, and then I want to get out. The Edge | 65
business insight | technology
IT AS A SERVICE
The scale of IT is growing immensely and for firms it is about harnessing that immense power Adrian McDonald, president of EMC Corporation for Europe, Middle East and Africa spoke exclusively with The Edge about how the IT company has evolved over the years, how technology is impacting business strategy and the challenges in securing employees to fill the increasingly high-skilled positions the IT sector is demanding. You have worked at EMC since the 1980s, can you tell us about how the company has changed over time and your role there? When I joined EMC there were 700 people globally. The company was founded in 1979, back then we had just moved into the form of IT that we are now known for. At the time we were selling memory boards, it was quite different, they were closed markets around IBM, Hewlett-Packard, Prime and Digital Equipment Corporation. So as a firm once you bought the system there was no more competition, we, in essence instituted competition around system enhancement in the addons and upgrades environment. That was the big change agent for EMC. At the time the company was doing USD125 million (QAR455 million) in sales with 700 people. We used to sell and do the service ourselves, the sales people. I would not recommend that going forward. EMC alongside Dell was the fastest growing IT company in the world in the 1990s, we then moved into storage systems, the thing we have, I guess, become known for, and so it was a storage system based company throughout the 1990s. Then from 2000 to 2010, we started to focus much more on information infrastructure. We realised there is no point having storage 66 | The Edge
without backup recovery, archiving without security or without content management, so you might say an expansion of the value proposition. Did you move into these areas because you had to? As in all these decisions, because it is desirable and because you have to, so it is playing both offence and defence. People often ask me what made EMC, what EMC is, and my answer is always, the ability to change and to lead. At that time it meant giving a full portfolio of information infrastructure, product and services. Nowadays, it needs something different. We are going through a fundamental change in the IT industry; we are going through a fundamental change in business. Increasingly, business is IT. Even government is IT. If you want to provide a service to a citizen, it is primarily IT-driven nowadays which is causing immense changes in IT and likewise there are things that are possible in IT that were not possible just a few years ago. Among all this massive fragmentation in IT, I would say that the entire market is up in the air, the whole USD2.5 trillion (QAR9 trillion) to USD3 trillion (QAR11 trillion), and we are currently waiting to see where it lands. The scale of IT is growing immensely
and for firms it is just about harnessing all that immense power. When you say, “things are up in the air�, and people are not sure about how these technology trends are going to play out, are companies apprehensive about investing in these technologies, and if they do not invest now, are they going to be left behind? There is actually a number of ways of answering this question. So number one, they know they have to. There is no chief information officer (CIO) out there that does not feel exposed about the fact that IT is now, the centre of business and is not getting beaten up by the board on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. So today, do they know they need to invest? Yes. The other question is where and how? And I will tell you right now, there is actually so much choice and so much fragmentation that if anything CIOs are reticent to make big career influencing bets. They are tending to pick a path, and they are trying to make smaller decisions that move them towards that path, so things that make a return within six to 18 months from a return on investment point of view. But I think that is going to change as things become more clear. Then people will start to make bigger bets and we feel that
technology | business insight
Adrian McDonald, president of EMC for Europe, Middle East and Africa tells The Edge that acquisitions are an important growth strategy for EMC.
coming back hopefully. You know the next wave of the IT industry because obviously IT at the moment is, in stock market terms at least, in a lull. We always have a kind of three-year shoot forward and then we have a lull for a little while and then we have another shoot forward again. Therefore, in our industry, we also have another big shake out, some companies were very strong in what we call a second platform of IT will not make it, they will not be able to change. Thankfully, we are very strong in second platform of IT and we leave a great deal of benefits for our customers there today but we are also possibly the strongest in third platform. You have to do a dance in both areas to provide all the benefits today in second platform but to bring leadership and relevance for your customers in the new ways of doing IT going forward. So we are spending 12.5 percent of sales reinvested into research and development. Nowadays, that means USD3 billion (QAR10.9 billion) worth of spend, primarily working on integrating technologies going forward. Is that the big challenge and opportunity now, to bring all these technologies together? Yes, that is right. We have platforms in the business that it continues to build out. We also acquire, we have become skilled at acquiring in the last 14 years or so, since Joe Tucci our CEO came on board, and there is a great engineering effort to make sure that we can make this one contiguous stack for
our customers. With one contiguous stack we believe that everyone should buy the whole stack, but we are also engineering in choice. We believe one of the big subthemes here is that no one wants to get locked in and we have all been through the mainframe wave, and there are still people who are locked in to mainframes from the 1970s, today. We are really trying to lead with a preference, we are trying to lead with, I think technological innovation that no one else has, but we are also hardwiring in the ability for choice. Going back to your mergers and acquisitions strategy, can you talk about that? EMC spent a lot since the 2000s and how important have acquisitions been for growth? It is massively important as we spend on average USD2 billion (QAR7.28 billion) to USD3 billion (QAR11 billion) on acquisition, and ultimately the market’s moving so quickly you have to constantly adapt to where you think you are going to need to be a few years from now. Thankfully, Joe Tucci has been very adept at doing that. A number of years ago, I got to spend a great deal of time in the US. Joe outlined exactly where he thought industry was going, he was 100 percent correct. And if I look at the acquisitions we have made, obviously VMware’s been incredible, RSA has been phenomenal, lot of the acquisitions that we have put together around our backup and recovery
“Candidly, there are not nearly enough skilled people in our industry, and this will have an impact on wage inflation. But the bigger fear is having to slow down.”
portfolios have worked out phenomenally well, basically there is not a loser amongst the portfolio Joe has put together. We will be acquiring more, we will be an acquisitive company and it is because we aim to build out this world beating automated information infrastructure platform. So where do you see growth going forward? Is there a lot of innovation and acquisitions of startups on the B2B side? What is the business nowadays? Any company, a bank, is a good example, there are only two things and you talk to the CEOs of banks and they would say the same thing. All it is, is a brand and a factory, so within the factory you can have a number of different things, in a finance organisation most of the factories are IT. I mean all the bank does is quote on money, quote on opportunity, deliver that to a customer, calculate risk, build profiles for a business going forward. It is all driven by IT and it comes to an answer through IT. Likewise, once you drive a brand, how do you drive a brand nowadays? You have traditional marketing tools but the main way is social media. The Edge | 67
business insight | technology
So the digital customer experience has become critical for companies. That is probably why the big money, the kind of high profile acquisition of USD20 billion price tags are in that space. But what we do enables things like social media, if you do not get our bit right, which is let us say more factory orientated, you do not have the platform to do the fancy digital customer experience thing and within business that is well understood. So do you think there is a lot of demand? Are you seeing a lot of demand for these technologies in the Middle East? Absolutely, I mean let us face it, Qatar and the Middle East are in a boom phase at the moment and I would say an actual fact, in our studies, and we intimately studied each market particularly in the Middle East, we see a profile of investment and a willingness to get to the new thing that is higher than the rest of the world. So one of the trends that we have seen is that Europe with the recession is more prone to try to save money and not necessarily thinking of new ideas. Whereas we saw Russia and Middle East and Africa in a different place looking for the new opportunity, investing for change. Most importantly it went very well in the Middle East and clearly it also helped to build a larger base of skilled people in their industry. As a tech company, how much of a challenge is it finding skilled people? And how much time do you spend trying to find the right people? It is a massive subject. This year, we are committed for the market to be USD25 billion in sales, by 2016 we are committed to be at USD30 billion, so we want to double the company in a hurry. Today we have 65,000 people and we are going to need to double that in the near future. Candidly, there are not nearly enough skilled people in our industry to go around. Clearly this will have an impact on wage inflation to some degree, but secondly, the bigger fear would be, would we have to slow down, would we have to not run at the pace we want to run if we do not have enough efficient and skilled people in each of these areas. That is why, for example, we have a number of side programmes with some of the bigger technical universities globally to develop curriculums around some of the new IT subjects. So for example, in 68 | The Edge
the Big Data analytics there is a massive worldwide shortage in data scientists. So we have a whole programme to try and produce more data scientists globally in the world, to help us get to what is possible fundamentally earlier. Likewise, in research and development, in our technical pre-sales community, we have an active programme to get in people, probably with two years experience before they get to us, but then we accelerate their development from there. That has been the focus for us, and we look to put more and more of you know, you might say‌ tech college facilities into the field and probably build those up. So will there be a time when this demand will catch up with the supply? Hopefully. You know it is a nice problem to have, if you think about it. I think our industry is one of the most paranoid of all. Before this, everyone was worried that there would be a great deal of unemployment
in our industry, that we would automate things to such a degree that we would not need all these IT people anymore and now the fear is, we are not going to have enough. Current studies show that while productivity is going to increase immensely, so for example, in terms of how one runs IT, a single person will be able to run 10 times the amount of IT that they could have done previously. This would mean massive productivity gains, but we are still going to need more people. Now we are going to need them in newer skill areas so there is a subtle change. We will not need so many people to just run large IT systems, increasingly IT systems will be highly automated. We need many of those skills to transfer to some of the newer areas such as data analytics, security analytics. IT gets to, I think, make a bigger difference in the world, both, commercially and in governmental terms, employment goes up and we all get to learn more.
“There is no CIO out there that does not feel exposed about the fact that IT is now the centre of business,� says Adrian McDonald, president of EMC for Europe, Middle East and Africa.
prouduct & reviews
Reviews
Lexus IS-F Sport
T
he Lexus IS F Sport is the IS series’ top of the range luxury sports sedan. The design sets itself apart from the regular IS models immediately with its front bumper that features a dramatic intake designed to make the car more aerodynamic and enhance the brake cooling system. Its 18-inch wheels’ Y-spoke designs are borrowed from Lexus’ iconic LFA. In fact, the IS F Sport has taken numerous design cues from the LFA including the dashboard gauge panel for the driver. The
interior trim detailing includes an F Sport steering wheel and shift knob, and aluminium pedals and scuff plates with the Lexus logo. Both front and rear suspension systems and the electric power steering (EPS) are exclusively tuned in the F Sport. The longer wheelbase of the Lexus increases both rear seating space and luggage capacity. A new Drive Mode Select system features up to four driving modes. The Normal Mode provides for the standard driving performance required within the city and on
the highway. The Eco Mode offers controlled driving performance for optimum fuel economy, while the Sport and Sport S Mode places the full power of the car for you to test its real abilities. It also includes an optional Variable Gear Ratio Steering that controls the steering angle of the car in accordance with the speed and driver operation to realise better control at all speeds and improve driving feel during lane-changing and when navigating winding roads.
The Edge | 69
products & reviews
Read it:
Increase your Financial IQ With the complete title Rich Dad’s Increase your Financial IQ - Get Smarter With Your Money, the question begs: who is this ‘Rich Dad’? He is, it seems, American financial guru and author Robert T. Kiyosaki, who has had an illustrious career penning ‘best selling’ financial self-help books, mostly under the ‘Rich Dad’ mantle. Echoed by Donald Trump and the author of another of the book’s forewords, Steve Forbes, the basic premise of Kiyosaki’s underlying motivation is that financial education – in other words, becoming more savvy about all aspects of money – is the only way to real wealth. When selecting this book for review, our writer did consider that perhaps many of The Edge’s readers may be highly financially astute and also very wealthy. But perhaps, like our humble writer, many may not be but aspire towards making more sense of the often-confusing world of finance,
investment, etcetera. That is where a book like this, if it is any good, can be useful. Kiyosaki certainly has the pedigree and the purported book sales. So is it any good? For starters, unlike many similar books, this is indeed very well written in a simple accessible style, that doles out nuggets of advice by the bucketload, none more valuable than the idea that it is information and not money itself that is the key to increasing one’s wealth. Financial intelligence, as Kiyosaki calls it, is the key to solving one’s money problems. Under this banner, he further breaks this down into five financial IQs: making more money, protecting your money, budgeting your money, leveraging your money, and improving your financial information. The remainder of the book explores these themes, through both personal anecdotes of a man who has been involved in numerous successful and failed
investments and business ventures (and clearly does know what he is talking about) and other examples. Along the way, Kiyosaki both validates and debunks some truisms and myths about money in a book that is as entertaining as it is informative. Available at Virgin Megastores in Doha.
Read it:
Dogfight: How Apple and Google Went To War And Started A Revolution Fred Vogelstein’s book on Apple and Google’s ‘war’ to win our screens is probably best looked at as a book of two halves, and the first half certainly makes for a riveting read. Vogelstein spins a great narrative around how the iPhone came to be, told through the perspective of numerous insiders at Apple involved in, which was at the time, a very secretive project. “We put a sign over the front door of the iPhone building that said FIGHT CLUB because the first rule of fight club is you don’t talk about fight club,” explains Scott Forstall, who ran the iPhone project for a while. The development of Android, which Vogelstein also charts in the book, told with much greater detail, 70 | The Edge
is even more enthralling. Google at the time had been paranoid about Microsoft developing a ‘killer phone’ that would use its own search and other services to the detriment of their own. So, when Jobs got on stage in 2007 and presented the first iPhone to the world, it was a real “kick in the stomach”, for the Android team, writes Vogelstein, as they scrambled to re-envision their phone. Chris DeSalvo says, “What we had suddenly looked just so... ni-neties. It’s just one of those things that are obvious when you see it.” However, where this book fails is the second half, which simply does not match in intensity or offer any analysis on the future of these companies. For anyone that follows the technology sector, much of it is filled with the everyday news stories of how ‘software has eaten the world’, how the proliferation of mobile devices has impacted the music, publishing, news and even cable industries. Vogelstein writes that although Steve Jobs and Google executives such as Eric Schmidt, Larry Page, Sergey Brin and Andy Rubin get all the credit for building the iPhone and everything that came out of the Android project, the many engineers that worked on the projects - who inform much of the story - are the unseen heroes of Silicon Valley, whom he rightly highlights. Much of this is found in the first half of this book, which is nevertheless worth reading.
Available at Virgin Megastores in Doha.
products & reviews
App Reviews
Lumia 930 The Lumia 930 with Windows Phone 8.1 comes with a fiveinch full high definition organic light-emitting display (OLED) and a 2420 mAh battery with built-in wireless charging. It has a 20MP PureView camera with optical image stabilisation and Zeiss optics. The four microphones allow for directional audio and support for surround sound capture and playback while the new SensorCore brings low power motion sensing.
Foursquare
Acer Extensa 15 series The Acer Extensa 15 series has a 15.6inch display and a 4th Gen Intel® Core™ (EX2510) or Intel® Celeron/Pentium Quad Core™ (EX2509) processor running on Windows 8.1. It has a seven-hour battery life, weighs 2.5kg and can store data for up to 1000 years. The Extensa 15 notebook has wireless access and is equipped with two speakers with a built-in digital microphone based on micro electro mechanical systems (MEMS) technology, allowing for web conferencing.
Canon LEGRIA mini X The Canon LEGRIA mini X camcorder has a built-in stereo microphone with a twolayer structure of mesh cloth and sponge to reduce background noise and static. The camcorder features an f/2.8 170° ultra-wide angle lens, built-in stand and vari-angle 6.8cm (2.7”) LCD touchscreen. It comes with built-in Wi-Fi and can be controlled wirelessly via a smartphone or tablet, allowing 200 degrees of horizontal panning which, coupled with its ultra-wide angle lens, meaning the camcorder can deliver a full 360° view.
The redesigned Foursquare has updated the way the entire app works in addition to its user interface and logo. After having spun off its check-in feature, and gamification to a separate app, Swarm, earlier in the summer, the app is focused on becoming one thing: a great recommendation engine. Add in your interests, and likes, and it will pop up suggestions from friends and make recommendations and tips when you visit places they have already been to.
App Mahal Developed in Jordan, AppMahal, which is available on Android, is a sort of social recommendation network for mobile apps. Linking your Facebook account to the app allows you to see what apps friends are using on their phones serving as a social recommendation engine where you can tell your friends what you think of a particular app.
Scribe If you have ever wanted to copy paste text, a link or a photo quickly from your computer to the mobile phone, this simple app does that really well. Unfortunately the app is only currently available within the Apple ecosystem. Selecting some text and hitting a shortcut key allows you to send the information over Bluetooth, that pops up as a notification on your phone.
The Edge | 71
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