Business Insight Issue 24 - 2016

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of Trade The UK Bribery Act Reaches the Middle East US Data and Oil Prices

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Editor’s Foreword

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ith the recent roaring success of the DMCC Future of Trade event that kicked off this month in London, we have dedicated this issue to trade.

Global trade can be a tricky business. Did you know that the UK Bribery Act is now enforceable for business that is done on our shores? Or that with all the innovation within the region, there is now more need than ever before for a unified trademark mark process. But what is happening legally on these two subjects?

In our two articles, ‘The UK Bribery Act Reaches the Middle East’ and ‘Unifying Trademark laws in the GCC – Are you prepared?’ lawyers tell you exactly what should you be aware of to ensure your business is protected.

Retail is the forefront of trade, but with the digitisation of business striding ahead, how can companies keep shoppers in their stores? In our article ‘6 Mobile First ways for Retailers to keep Shoppers in their Stores’ we seek to answer this, and with training your staff to ‘Anticipate what Customers Want’ you can ensure your staff are versed on some customer service training tricks to fully maximize their potential.

Publisher & CEO Liam Williams liam@flipflopmedia.ae Managing Director Harry Norman harry@flipflopmedia.ae +971 4 369 9062 Business Development Executive Paul Davis info@flipflopmedia.ae +971 04 369 9061 Editorial Editor Tanya Selley tanya@flipflopmedia.ae +971 4 369 9063 Staff Writer Rachel Stracey info@flipflopmedia.ae Design & Photography Head of Design Marlou Delaben design@flipflopmedia.ae

Enjoy!

Operation Steve Miller Operations@flipflopmedia.ae circulation & Production Circulation and Distribution Manager Antonio de Marco circulationdm@flipflopmedia.ae Database and Circulation Manager Aaliya Khan databaseandcm@flipflopmedia.ae

Tanya Talk to me at tanya@flipflopmedia.ae and let me know what information you need to take your business forward — and I will try to help you in the next issue.

Production Manager Juan Vasquez productionmanager@flipflopmedia.ae Digital webmaster@flipflopmedia.ae Published by

Registered at Fujairah Free Zone PO Box 26734 Dubai, UAE Tel: +971 4 369 9063 Fax: +971 4 369 8989 www.flipflopmedia.ae printed by Printwell © Copyright 2016 FlipFlop Media All rights reserved While the publisher has made every effort to ensure the accuracy of all information in this magazine, they will not be held responsible for any errors therein.

The Future of Trade *The UK Bribery Act Reaches the Middle East *US Data and Oil Prices

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Contents Foresight

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Page 16 – US Economic Data Reassures The Global Outlook Page 20 – Application Downtime Is Expensive to Business

Success Series Page 26 – Fats Lazarides and Grace Harding Ocean Basket

Money

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Page 32 – Pressure on Banks Funding Page 34 – To Compliment, Not Compete

People Page 38 – Social Responsibility in Action Page 39 - CSR Another Way...

Legal

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Page 40 - The UK Bribery Act Reaches the Middle East Page 42 - Unifying Trademark Laws in the GCC Page 44 – The New AbuDhabi Real Estate Law

DMCC Page 46 – Going Digital to Create 350m New Exporters, Says DMCC’s ‘Future of Trade’ Report Page 48 – The Future of Trade

Marketing Page 50 – How to Facebook and Tweet to Maximum Effect Page 54 - Live Your Brand

Technology Page 50 - How to Build A Killer Website Page 52 – Seven Tips to Kick Off an ‘IOT’ Initiative Page 54 – Sony Xperia Z5 Review

Business Incubator Page 64 – 6 ‘Mobile-First’ Ways for Middle East Retailers to Keep Shoppers in their Stores Page 66 – Making the Most of the Dubai Hub Page 68 – Anticipating what your customers want

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Caroline Jones Director Infopod

John Brash Founder & Chief Executive Brash Brands

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Hind Abdulrazak Creative Director Audax Investment

Sara Abdulrazak Managing Director Audax Investment

Dr. Tommy Weir Founder Emerging Markets Leadership Center

Jeffrey Rhodes Founder & Managing Consultant Rhodes Precious Metals Consultancy DMCC

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US Economic Data Reassures The Global Outlook By: Franklin Templeton Investments

The resilience of the US economy, as demonstrated by recent data, aligns with previously outlined thinking that US fundamentals remain relatively solid, and that market movements at the start of 2016 may have overstated the external risks to US growth olicymakers at the US Federal Reserve (Fed) have given a variety of indications about how much these external developments will influence future decisions, but given their consistent emphasis that any such moves will be data-dependent, it seems likely that the past month’s broadly positive economic numbers will feature prominently in their thinking.

Over the course of February and immediately following month-end, reassuring signs emerged that the US economy remained on course despite slowing global growth. In tandem with a stabilisation of oil prices, such developments helped to quell the unease seen across financial markets since the start of the year. Uncertainty about how the US economy would deal with weakness in other countries

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and a tightening of financial conditions peaked in mid-February, exacerbating market volatility.

The Results As a result, 10-year US Treasury yields fell to their lowest level since 2012 amid rising risk aversion among investors, while the already significant distance between the Fed’s own forecasts for the timing of future rises in US policy rates and the far slower pace forecasted by market consensus widened even further.

However, during the second half of February, several pieces of economic data beat consensus expectations, refuting more bearish forecasts that the US economy was about to tip into recession. The positive news included an upward revision of annualised gross domestic

product (GDP) growth for the fourth quarter of 2015 from 0.7 percent to 1.0 percent. This was largely due to a build-up of inventories, which was seen as a potential headwind for the US economy over the first three months of 2016.

The Consumer The strength of the US consumer was underlined by January’s acceleration of both personal income and consumer spending by 0.5 percent compared with the previous month, suggesting this key driver of the US economy remained intact. Income was boosted by a 0.6 percent monthly rise in wages and salaries, the third healthy gain in the last four months, underlining how the robust US labor market was likely feeding into consumer demand.

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holding up reasonably well, even as conditions for exporters and energyrelated sectors remained difficult. The ISM’s PMI for services remained in expansionary territory in February, showing little change from the previous month except for the employment element of the survey, which marginally contracted for the first time since early 2014.

Overall, the picture indicated domestic demand for most companies was holding up reasonably well, even as conditions for exporters and energy-related sectors remained difficult The February payroll report provided further evidence that the path for the US economy had not yet been significantly affected by external headwinds. An addition of 242,000 jobs was much higher than expected and was accompanied by upward revisions to the number of jobs added in each of the two prior months. The unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.9 percent, remaining at its lowest level since 2008, while the labor force participation rate continued to rebound, rising slightly to 62.9 percent as the strong labor market encouraged more people to start, or resume, looking for jobs. The February report, however, did contain some less encouraging news on wages, with average hourly earnings weaker than forecast, sliding 0.1 percent month-on-month compared with January’s 0.5

percent expansion, and the annual rate falling 0.3 percent from the previous month to 2.2 percent.

Manufacturing There was some more encouraging news from US manufacturers, with January’s industrial production and durable goods numbers indicating that concerns about previously weak data might have been overdone. Though the Institute for Supply Management’s (ISM’s) manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) for February remained slightly below the 50 levels that would signify expansion, the trend within the survey for production and new orders was positive. Overall, the picture indicated domestic demand for most companies was

Inflation Signs emerged that inflationary pressures within the US economy could be gathering pace. Data readings were strong; the Fed’s preferred measure, the core personal consumer expenditures price index, rose more than expected in January to 1.7 percent year-on-year, its highest level for more than three years and not far short of the Fed’s 2 percent target. Core consumer prices jumped 0.3 percent on a monthly basis and gained 2.2 percent over 12 months, with the latter reading reflecting a rise of 0.1 percent from December’s figure.

The equivalent headline data (including food and energy) were unchanged month-on-month, with an increase of 1.4 percent year-on-year, held back by monthly declines of 2.8 percent in energy and 4.8 percent in gasoline.

The depth of the slump in energy prices was underlined by the fall in the US oil benchmark, West Texas Intermediate, which reached a 12-year low of around US$26 per barrel in the second week of February. However greater stability in oil prices over the second half of the month - alongside the positive tone of economic data - helped spark a wider rebound in riskier assets, with equities collectively recovering a significant portion of the losses they had sustained since the start of 2016. In addition, a widely used measure of future inflation based on US Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities, which had mirrored the slump in the price of oil and had fallen to its lowest level since the global financial crisis by early February, rebounded in line with the pickup in oil prices.

China With the more upbeat tone from the United States, the picture for much of the rest of the world remained somewhat uncertain. Data from China underlined the extent of the slowdown in that country’s economy, with official PMIs for both manufacturing and services

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slipping in February, the former to its lowest level since 2009.

In response to weaker growth, Chinese policymakers trimmed official growth forecasts for 2016 to 6.5 percent - 7.0 percent and also announced a fiscal stimulus package, although the projected budget deficit of 3 percent of GDP for this year was less than consensus expectations. Credit-rating agency Moody’s lowered its outlook for Chinese sovereign debt from stable to negative, citing rising debt and falling foreign exchange reserves, as well as uncertainty about the capacity of the Chinese authorities to implement reforms.

The problem of how to address the low level of global growth overshadowed the G20 meeting of finance ministers that took place in Shanghai in February. There was little support for a globally coordinated stimulus package - as called for by the International Monetary Fund ahead of the meeting - and little sign of agreement among countries on other potential policy responses. However, the head of the People’s Bank of China did indicate that Chinese policymakers were aware of the need to manage market expectations of their renminbi strategy, following investors’ confusion over messaging since last summer.

Commodities In spite of ongoing concerns about the Chinese slowdown, the steadying of oil prices provided better news for countries that are significant oil producers, as did a further rally in industrial metals and iron ore, which rose to their highest levels so far this year. As a result, many of these countries’ currencies performed strongly in February, reversing some of their earlier losses

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suffered as commodity prices tumbled.

The impact of the Bank of Japan’s (BOJ’s) move to adopt negative interest rates continued to be felt. As 10year Japanese government bond yields remained below zero over the latter part of February, at its subsequent auction the Japanese government sold new 10-year bonds at a negative yield for the first time, becoming only the second sovereign issuer (after Switzerland) to do so. Much of the offering was expected to be sold back to the BOJ as part of its wider bondbuying program. The continued strength of the Japanese yen raised questions about the efficacy of the BOJ’s policy shift to negative rates, particularly since it adopted a tiered structure that seemed designed to encourage currency weakness while protecting banks and savers.

Elsewhere the prospect of a return to international capital markets by Argentina grew closer after the country’s new government agreed to a prospective settlement with its most significant creditors, who had held out against previous restructuring offers. The negotiation of such an agreement had long been rejected by the previous populist administration, leading creditors to gain a ruling in US courts that precipitated Argentina’s default in 2014, and so prevented it from issuing further debt. The incoming government moved to carry out many promised reforms, including the removal of capital controls and reduction of high export tariffs. Though subject to approval by Argentina’s congress, the deal seemed set to be passed, paving the way for what Argentinian Finance Minister Alfonso Prat-Gay

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said was likely to be a US$15 billion issue of new bonds.

Europe The Eurozone fell back into deflation in February for the first time since September 2015, with most of the year-on-year decline in prices due to the slump in energy prices. At the core level, prices rose by 0.7 percent over the same period, a slowdown from the 1.0 percent seen in the previous month. Such a weak inflation backdrop helped to persuade the ECB to unveil an aggressive set of measures at its March meeting, consisting of a cut in its benchmark rate, another reduction in its deposit rate - taking it further into negative territory - and an expansion of the size and scope of its bond-buying program. At the same time, the ECB cut its inflation forecast for 2016 from 1.0 percent to 0.1 percent.

In terms of other data, the overall tone is Europe slightly negative. This gives some weight to the argument that Europe was more exposed than the United States to the effects of weakness in emerging markets. The Ifo survey of German business expectations fell to 98.8 in February, down from 102.3 in January and to its lowest level since 2012.

A survey of German consumers, who have made a significant contribution to driving growth in Europe’s largest economy, came in higher than consensus expectations during February, as the country’s tight labor market bolstered confidence.

The electoral pattern seen in recent times across several European countries, in which voters have turned away from incumbent political parties and toward more populist alternatives, was repeated in Ireland’s parliamentary elections in February, as an inconclusive result left the country in limbo ahead of potentially protracted negotiations to form a governing coalition.

Elections in Slovakia produced a similar outcome and added to previous indecisive results in countries such as Portugal

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A number of near-term risks clearly exist for European markets, not least the potential for the United Kingdom to vote to leave the EU in June, particularly if data coming out of Europe deteriorates in the run-up to the referendum or if there is an escalation in the refugee crisis and Spain. Collectively they emphasised the breadth of disenchantment among eurozone voters with the mixture of austerity and weakto-negligible growth in their incomes since the global financial crisis and subsequent regional debt problems. In Spain, which has been without a government since the end of last year, fresh elections in June still appeared the most likely course after attempts by the Socialist party to form a minority administration failed, although polls suggested another round of voting would probably see little change in the country’s deeply divided political landscape.

As expected, the UK government announced a referendum would take place in June to decide whether Britain would remain part of the European Union (EU).

Following a leading Conservative politician’s announcement of his support for the campaign to leave, volatility increased in some UKspecific financial assets, with spreads for some UK issuers of euro-denominated bonds widening considerably and the British pound falling to its lowest level against the US dollar since 2009.

A number of near-term risks clearly exist for European markets, not least the potential for the United Kingdom to vote to leave the EU

in June, particularly if data coming out of Europe deteriorates in the run-up to the referendum or if there is an escalation in the refugee crisis. It is believed however that the overall performance of the European economy is reasonable and that the “real economy”, the parts tied to the production of goods and services, seems so far to have been broadly insulated from the recent volatility in financial markets.

While inflation has remained low, it at least has been on a positive trajectory, and similarly though growth is by no means robust, it is being led for the most part by domestic consumption. l

The Eurozone fell back into deflation in February for the first time since September 2015, with most of the year-on-year decline in prices due to the slump in energy prices

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Application Downtime Is Expensive to Business Application downtime is costing enterprises in UAE US$5.5 Million Each Year a study reveals. It illustrates that there is alarming disconnect between user demands and IT’s ability to enable the 24/7 Always-On Enterprise

ew research from Veeam® Software clearly illustrates that despite numerous high-profile incidents in the last year, global enterprises are still not paying enough attention to the needs of their users. In its fifth year, Veeam Availability Report 2016 showed that 84 percent, a two percent increase on 2014, of senior IT decisions-makers (ITDMs) across the globe admit to suffering an ‘Availability Gap’ (the gap between what IT can deliver and what users demand). This costs businesses up to US$16 million a year in lost revenue and productivity, in addition to the negative impact on customer confidence and brand integrity. UAE enterprises were surveyed as part of the global report and the corresponding cost of application downtime for UAE businesses is US$5.5 million a year.

Globally, this figure has risen a staggering US$6 million in 12 months, despite almost all respondents saying that they have implemented tightened measures to reduce availability incidents

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“Modern enterprises are becoming softwaredriven businesses, so IT departments can no longer get away with services that are ‘ok’; always-on availability is paramount” Ratmir Timashev, CEO, Veeam and that 48 percent of all workloads classified as ‘mission-critical (rising to 53 percent by 2017).

Gregg Petersen, Regional Director, Middle East and SAARC, Veeam Software says, “There is an urgent need for organisations in this region to plug the availability gap. It is a good sign that nine in

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ten companies in UAE intend to change or augment their current backup and disaster recovery solution, with the average timeframe for this change being 5 months. It is not always easy to divert precious funds to invest on infrastructure, but there is acceptance that this needs to be done. We are seeing enterprises starting to realise the importance of availability solutions and in particular, the role cloud and cloud-based services such as Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS) can play. Enterprises appreciate the need for an AlwaysOn, always-available operation and I am confident that users will see this become a reality sooner rather than later.”

Why The Worry?

With the number of the world’s connected population

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soaring to record levels last year (3.4 billion or around 42 percent of the globe) and predictions there will be almost 21 BILLION connected devices by the end of 2020. This need to deliver 24/7 accesses to data and applications has never been more important. However, it seems that enterprises have not received that message despite more than two-thirds of respondents stating that they have invested heavily in data center modernisation specifically to increase availability levels.

“When you talk to more than 1,000 senior ITDMs you expect that there will be some that are still struggling to deliver on the needs of the Always-On Enterprise – the Enterprise that operates 24/7/365, but these findings are alarming,” stated Ratmir Timashev, CEO at Veeam. “Modern companies are becoming software-driven businesses, so IT

“There is an urgent need for organisations in this region to plug the availability gap” Gregg Petersen, Regional Director, Middle East and SAARC, Veeam Software departments can no longer get away with services that are ‘ok’; always-on availability is paramount. However since our last study, the number of annual unplanned downtime events has increased (from 13 to 15) and they are also lasting longer and taking a far greater amount of time to recover. In today’s economy, where speed and reliability are imperative, this is unacceptable. If this trend continues, I fear for the companies we surveyed.” l

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Key findings from the UAE in 2016 Veeam Availability Report include: Availability is of paramount importance… yet businesses are failing. zz zz

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Users want support for real-time operations (50 percent) and 24/7 global access to IT services to support international business (43 percent) When modernising their data centers, lower operational costs for IT (70 percent) and enabling 24/7 always-on business operations to cater to increasing user demands (40 percent) are the two most sought-after capabilities; however, cost and lack of skills is inhibiting deployment Organisations have increased their service level requirements to minimise application downtime (100 percent) or guarantee access to data (77 percent) to some extent over the past two years, but the Availability Gap still remains To address this, respondents stated that their commpanies are currently, or are intending in the near future, to modernise their data center in some way – virtualisation (76 percent) and backups (93 percent) are among the most common areas to update for this purpose

Data At Risk zz 70 percent of respondents (senior IT decisions-makers) in the UAE admitted to an ‘Availability Gap’ (the gap between how fast you can recover applications and how fast you need applications to be recovered) and cannot meet end-users’ requirements for an always-on business zz Respondents report that the organisation’s written Service Level Agreements (SLAs) average for recovery point objectives (RPOs) for its mission-critical applications

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is 40 minutes and for non missioncritical applications is a little over 1 hour.

Respondents say that their organisations can recover mission-critical data in an average of 50 minutes for its mission-critical applications and 1 hour 20 minutes for its non-mission critical applications. As a result, a gap remains.

A high 50 percent of respondents revealed their company’s applications encounter unplanned downtime caused by IT failures, external forces or other factors 21 to 30 times a year! On an average, business applications encounter unplanned downtime 22 times a year On an average, each individual instance of unplanned downtime of mission-critical applications lasts for 1 hour 22 minutes. The same for non mission-critical applications is over an hour and a half When IT services fail, an important consideration is whether back-ups can be recovered with certainty. The recovery of organisations’ backups fails in an average of nearly 40 percent of cases!

An average of only 1.18 percent of backups are tested for recoverability each quarter by companies. Long gaps between testing increase the chance of issues being found when data needs to be recovered – at which point it may be too late for these businesses

‘Financial’ impact is substantial zz As a result, the estimated average annual cost of downtime to enterprises can be up to US$5.5 million zz Average per hour cost of one mission-critical application downtime is a little under US$ 70,000 zz Non-backed-up data will be lost in the event of IT failure. The average per hour cost of data loss, i.e. data that is proved to be unrecoverable in the event of one critical application downtime is over US$ 66,000 zz Damage to brand integrity (77 percent) and Loss of employee confidence (70 percent) were the top two ‘non-financial’ results of poor availability cited Drawbacks Of Legacy Technology And Prohibitive Cost Of New Technology zz 70 percent respondents would like to have data loss avoidance, but of this group, over 70 percent cannot not achieve this because of the cost of new technology. Nearly a third (30 percent) also say their current product does not provide these capabilities. 37 percent respondents also say they would like to have high speed recovery for any application or server or virtual machine that goes down, but out of these 73 percent say their current product does not provide these capabilities l

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success

Fats Lazarides and Grace Harding Success Series Interview:

Ocean Basket

Being an absolute foodie, I jumped at the chance to interview Ocean Basket’s Fats Lazarides (the Founder) and Grace Harding. Together they have turned their single, simple fish restaurant, which opened in Pretoria in South Africa in 1995, into a worldwide brand with over 160 stores globally. We speak to them on why simple is the name of the game throughout their business model ou would be forgiven for not necessarily knowing who Ocean Basket is in the UAE. With restaurants in the UAE and Saudi Arabia from a regional perspective, they are focusing on other locations where they can bring their concept of reasonably price, delicious, simply cooked fish to our tables. However, their meteoric rise to the worlds 6th largest seafood casual dining restaurant chain, illustrates that simple really is best.

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Your start up is well documented, but can you please explain to our readers a bit about Ocean Basket?

Lazarides: There was a stigma until 1995 that only a certain bracket would eat seafood in South Africa. Meat was in abundance but seafood was sold in only a few restaurants and also at a ridiculous price. So we came along and asked, “Why must it be served a ridiculous price? Lets take all the frills away and lets go directly to the what the consumer wants.”

We know he wants good quality fish and chip, fish and rice, complete without the frills. In 1995, fish and chips were sold

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for the equivalent of $1 today. At the moment, it is sitting at $4. Initially we started in Pretoria and moved quickly to Johannesburg and infiltrated them. We had 15 stores in Pretoria when we went to Capetown – the other side of SA. This was a steady slow growth. But it was Durban that proved the most difficult.

How did you deal with this?

Lazarides: Firstly, we aren’t ‘durbanites’. Durban is on the coast and we came from inland to teach them how to eat fish… They loved the concept, the idea, but took their time to warm to us. They loved, the simplicity of affordable seafood.

We just stuck to what we knew would work. It did.

So what made you enter Dubai?

Lazarides: The strategy that Al Tayer offered was a phenomenal strategy. Our first store brought international exposure when it went into the airport. For the second store, they chose this mall. It’s a family mall. You see expats and

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“We came along and asked, Why must it be served at a ridiculous price? Lets take all the frills away and lets go directly to the what the consumer wants” Fats Lazarides, Ocean Basket locals here. All the tourists will go to the Mall of Dubai or the Mall of the Emirates. They won’t come here. Who comes here are the people that live here meaning that Al Tayers strategy works in parallel with our own. Now we are ready to go to store number three and store number four.

Yesterday we were chatting about the energy you can feel in Dubai. I truly believe that Dubai is the new New York of the world.

This the new world and everybody passes here.

We believe that the right thing to do for us is to create a Middle East Head Office. Currently, we service the Middle East from South Africa and Cyprus, but that can’t last. Why? Egypt is on-board with Ocean Basket as is Saudi Arabia and Lebanon is knocking on our door. Dubai is literally in the centre of all of these.

What has been your most successful restaurant? What was your strategy with this?

Lazarides: When we went into Cyprus, we went in the back door. We went in via Pathos.

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We didn’t do the strip/beach front exposure, as you would expect. We went in through a hotel.

The hotel had brilliant occupancy; over 90%, and we knew it serviced the expats community – the Brits and Germans community, who through social media, took that one store to number 1. Globally, it is still our number one store and it is still hidden away.

Surely this had an effect on the competition then?

Lazarides: Absolutely. Despite coming in discretely, within a year there were four copycat restaurants. And you know what? All we did was continue what we were doing; Good food, good service and just stuck to our game.

Today all the others have been eliminated. It is all because we thought about our strategy, wrote it down and stuck to it. Yes, we reviewed it, but we decided not to change. We looked at what we were here to do. We were here to satisfy the consumer. The only way we could satisfy them was through our food. We don’t have anything else. OK, so we will offer our

smile, but at the end of the day, you come for our food. That is what we do. Through that single store, we have managed to open 8 stores! And through that store we now have exposure into Greece, which has just opened.

I read that you are opening one restaurant every six weeks…

Harding: If you work it out, yes, we are opening one every six weeks. The big international brands are opening stores every five minutes almost though.

Lazarides: They open three stores every two days.

Harding: But they have a different strategy to us. Ocean Basket’s strategy is a deliberately, revolutionary strategy. You know there are two things that we are obsessed with. 1 is simplicity and the other is focus. Nothing can deviate us from this. Sometimes, when there are opportunities that present themselves, if they don’t meet these criteria, then we back off them.

It is the absolute, absolute simplicity that made the brand so successful. Even if you look at

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success

the menu, it looks like a lot of choice, but actually, it is the same ingredients that are configured differently. So, it is a different strategy.

If you look at the big global companies, they have to meet shareholder criteria. Now, because we are still owned by the original shareholders, we can design our own criteria.

This is an important message for entrepreneurs. You must decide what road you have to take. Our criteria is about being relevant and building relationships within that community, building a brand and creating customer relations… now that all supersedes numbers.

We don’t ever sit in the boardroom and say, how many, how much… never, never, never! We will ask things like, how many people came to eat? What did they eat? Is there an opportunity to give them something else to eat? For us it is not growth at any cost.

What is very interesting is about two years ago; we did sit in a room and start talking about numbers. The minute you start to deviate from your course, you fall into problems and we started to trip. So we decided to rewind and we don’t talk like this any more.

So you have managed to retain your SME structure?

Harding: We are obsessed with it.

We don’t have hierarchy. We don’t have titles. We don’t have divisions, upon divisions. Here, everyone is on one line.

“There are two things that we are obsessed with. 1 is simplicity and the other is focus.

Nothing can deviate us from this. Sometimes, when there are opportunities that present themselves, if they don’t meet these criteria, then we back off them” Grace Harding, Ocean Basket

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Lazarides: We run a lateral structure.

There is no one above, or below.

Harding: Fats and I, and our colleagues, have the one line but with different roles.

Lazarides: The two important things that we wake up in the morning with are, what are you driving, or were you delivering?

I drive certain projects and deliver certain results. You can say the same to your next colleague. Our flat line structure allows anybody in the Ocean Basket management team, access to everybody at anytime. Cell phones are not allowed to be off. We do have respect; we won’t phone you on a Sunday at lunch time at 12pm and bug you. But I can whatsapp you if I need something. That is the respect that we have for one another.

Grace always says that in this company, you never stop working. It is mental and very hard work. We are always looking and reviewing.

Harding: We are truly customer focused.

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“You must decide what road you have to take.

Our criteria is about being relevant and building relationships within that community, building a brand and creating customer relations…” Grace Harding, Ocean Basket It truly is. It’s not just lip service. The strategy evolves.

Lazarides: If I wake up in the morning and hear there was a bad complaint that is like killing me. If we have served 1mil customers and only one complained, I would have rather we had served 500,000 with no complaints.

You can’t service more customers and have no complaints. I know that, but this is how focused we are with the consumer. We always say amongst ourselves, when does the consumer decide that they will eat at Ocean

Basket? When did she decide, “Tonight we will eat out and eat at Ocean Basket?” She decided the last time she walked out of one. If she left and she was satisfied, she has accepted us as meal solution. It doesn’t matter when she will return, it may be two days from now, two weeks or even two months, but the fact is that she will be back.

If she walked out and was not happy, she may forgive you once, even twice, but it is unlikely that you will be forgiven for this again. Once you lose it, it is very difficult to get a consumer back. We have to protect our consumer and our operational standards. We are obsessed with this.

Harding: The culture is driven from the shareholders sitting in a room. They are all heads of department. The are sitting there as head of department, not as shareholders, but as actively working for the company.

What is your one-standout piece of advice?

Lazarides: It is a standard answer. Fight, fight, fight and never give up. l

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MONEY

Pressure on Banks Funding

Persistently low oil prices continue to pressure the funding environment for banks across the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, says Moody’s Investors Service in a report published today.

oody’s report, entitled “Banks - Gulf Cooperation Council: Persistently Low Oil Prices Challenge Regional Liquidity Conditions” is available on www.moodys.com. The rating agency’s report is an update to the markets and does not constitute a rating action.

The impact of low oil prices on GCC banks’ stand-alone profiles has so far been most acute in terms of more challenging liquidity conditions, reflecting increasing government borrowings, reduced deposit inflows and rising interest rates.

“Lower oil revenues are driving tightening of liquidity in the GCC, with overall deposit growth slowing down significantly to around 3 percent in 2015 from around 10 percent in 2014,” says Nitish Bhojnagarwala, an Assistant Vice President at Moody’s and author of the report. “Moreover, liquid asset buffers are broadly expected to decline by around 20 percent across the region over 2016” he adds.

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Although liquid asset buffers remain sound at around 20 percent -25 percent of total assets, these trends are driving up market funding levels of domestic banks, increasing their overall cost of funds and dampening profitability.

“While credit growth has slowed in the region due to lower GDP growth combined with falling business and consumer confidence, impact on loan performance so far has been limited and capital buffers remain robust,” adds Nitish.

The report also highlights that GCC governments are increasingly financing their fiscal deficits through the banks.

“The banking system exposure to their respective sovereigns is increasing, such lending is broadly supportive of bank solvency profiles given the high credit quality and higher yields associated with the new longer term borrowing” says Khalid F. Howladar, a Senior Vice President at Moody’s. “However, such borrowing can reduce the availability of bank credit to the private sector and increase concentration” he adds. l

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MONEY

To Compliment, Not Compete

Islamic Finance today is one of the fastest growing financial sectors, growing at an annual rate of 20%. Sharia Compliant financial assets around the world hit US$1.3 trillion in 2012, a 150% increase over the last five years, and from a mere US$5 billion back in 1980s, according to a report by a lobby group, UK Islamic Finance Secretariat (UKIFS)

Globally, banks hold over 90 percent of Islamic assets, and together with funds are big investors in sukuk bond, the most popular instrument in this sector and is growing at a phenomenal rate.

2012 reports from Zawya showed that global sukuk issuance nearly doubled in 2012 when compared to 2011. More than 500 institutions globally offer Islamic banking and investment products and services to both retail and corporate customers.

On average 12 percent of Muslims around the world use Islamic financial products, but with other countries expressing interest in increasing services, the market is likely to grow bigger over the next few years Interestingly, apart from growing faster, Islamic banks have emerged from the crisis with their balance sheet unscathed mainly because of their business model and

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exclusion of certain things; which has given them natural shield from the general meltdown and edge over conventional banking for offering safety and stability.

Advantages to Islamic Finance The above has been possible because of the basic tenants of Islamic finance; see our previous article on Islamic Finance Issue 2 for more information. Within Islamic finance key precepts is a commitment to back all financial contracts by assets and activities in the real economy, as well as an emphasis on the principles of morality and ethics in conducting business. The moral and ethical consideration of Islamic banks cannot be detached from the banking practices and has to be consistent with the standards laid down by the Sharia board.

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MONEY

Tirad M. Mahmoud, CEO, Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank summarises the benefits of Islamic finance and the resilience of this sector, “Islamic banks comply with a number of laws as well as regulations and values based in religion. Generally speaking, sharia-compliant banks have targeted businesses that are connected to the real economy. These include trade, development, housing programmes, infrastructure and other assets that are part of the long-term economic development cycle. Since Islamic banks do not indulge in speculation and are attached to normal economic activities, risks taken by them are less.”

Furthermore Islamic banks bring ‘saver’ and ‘investor’ closer to real market by eliminating the barriers between them. The nature of the financial intermediation of Islamic banks significantly defers from conventional banks and it is in harmony with real market and developmental changes in it.

In Islamic Finance the use of interest is prohibited for borrowing as in that case the borrower only bears the risk of loosing or making money, instead Islamic finance propagates sharing of profits and losses equally between borrowers and lenders. So, instead of lending money in return for interest payments, Islamic banks would lend money in return for an eventual share of the profits or loss generated from the business.

Another important characteristic, which forms the basis for the development of Islamic banks, is the relationship with depositors.

They deal with their customers on investment grounds rather than a predetermined fixed interest rate. They invest the money of their depositors on high profitable projects after going through a strategic analysis in order to give a substantial return to their depositors. Thus in Islamic banking industry, each bank will attempt to out-perform other banks if it wants to attract funds from investors.

Are the advantages strong enough to outpace conventional banking? Mahmoud says, “In light of what has happened with the global financial crisis, businesses are taking stock and listening to clients’ demand for morally-sound practices. Islamic

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Another important characteristic, which forms the basis for the development of Islamic banks, is the relationship with depositors. They deal with their customers on investment grounds rather than a pre-determined fixed interest rate banks are well suited to cater to this gap in the market. If this business model is more successfully publicised, then demand for sharia-compliant banks and their services will increase dramatically and outpace conventional banks.”

Expansion The nature of Islamic finance and the face of Islamic banking have changed drastically over the years. It is no longer considered archaic and only religion bound with primitive rules and regulations, but more as an alternate mode of finance curving its own niche, inching space in the world of conventional finance and spreading beyond the ready made customer base of 1.2 billion Muslims to non-Muslims as well.

The introduction of new instruments and financial products upgrades earlier practices; and with the evolution of regulatory and legal framework has made it more user and market friendly. The potential for growth of course depends on Islamic banks offering products with broader appeal. While Sukuk

(Islamic Bonds) appears to be the most popular Islamic financial products, there is significant demand for other Islamic financial services such as insurance, wealth management, project finance, private equity, mortgage and capital market insurance and of course last but not the least is Takaful or Islamic insurance.

Seeing immense potential of Islamic Finance, France and Korea have introduced new laws for issuing sukuk; furthermore new Islamic banks have recently opened in China.

Citigroup, Standard Chartered, HSBC and BNP Paribas have all taken steps to seize growth opportunities in Islamic finance.

Germany will soon have its first Islamic bank. Ireland, a country of arguably staunch Catholics, is also making a bid to be a global hub for Islamic finance.

There are more joining the fray. Bloomberg have built deep product suites and a raft of indices to offer their customers Islamic finance instruments. London's Islamic property funds encompass buildings from the Shard to regular family homes. The UK capital has more shariacompliant financial institutions than any other

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MONEY

western city. Following that, Paris, Frankfurt and Luxembourg are determined to become competitive hubs in the Islamic finance sector And in the center for all these popularity is once again the core principles of Islamic finance like prohibition of usury, disdain for investing in industries like alcohol or gambling thus extending its reach beyond Muslim community into those individuals and institutions traditionally termed as ‘responsible investors.’

However, despite its ethical nature and safer approach to financial dealings, it has its own challenges.

Challenges to Islamic finance One of the major issues with Islamic finance expanding around the globe is varying interpretation of Islamic laws in different countries. For example a contract drawn in Dubai may not be recognized in Malaysia.

Even the local markets suffer from lack of clarity in rules and regulations when entering international arena.

"In Malaysia we have best practices. We have existing rules and regulation but what we have additionally for Islamic banking is clear regulations that allow us to have a better turnaround time for products and services.

This is what we hope to have in other countries as well," says Muzaffar Hisham, Head of Maybank Islamic, the Islamic finance arm of Malaysian bank Maybank, whose Islamic wing focuses on South East Asia, operating in Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia.

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Mahmoud explains the problem behind attempting the uniformity of laws globally slightly differently, “Many people would like to have sharia regulations simplified but this is not easy. Interpretation of Islamic religious laws can be more flexible in one school of thought than another, but no one law can overwrite another. Sharia rules around the world have similar fundamentals, which are interpreted differently as a result of these different schools of thought. There is sufficient diversity, which in turn brings more flexibility into Islamic financial products and services.”

A lack of standardisation is not the only hurdle the sector is facing. As a financial practice which is supposed to be based on ethics only, there are questions of integrity in certain products. According to Mohamed Akram Laldin, Executive Director of International Shariah Research Academy for Islamic finance, “80 percent of Islamic financial products are merely Islamised versions of conventional ones.”

Also there is shortage of expertise in this field resulting in many Sharia scholars sitting on multiple boards.

To prevent these types of conflicts Laldin is leading the negotiations with his counterpart in Saudi Arabia to create common regulations for Sharia scholars, and to set up a global certification board. "This is important because we want to boost the confidence of the investors and we want to be transparent," he says. "At the end of the day, this is what Islam is propagating."

“80% of Islamic financial products are merely Islamised versions of conventional ones” Mohamed Akram Laldin, Executive Director of International Shariah Research Academy for Islamic finance

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MONEY

Because of inherent challenges and lack of proper and effective marketing Islamic assets represent approximately 1 percent of the global financial market. To what extent will Islamic finance, for institutional and individual investors, continue to grow outside of the Muslim world? This depends on few key parameters. It certainly depends on the issue as to what extent it can offer more tangible solutions beyond the Muslim community over and above being just an ethical spin on conventional

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finance!

“The industry needs more product innovation backed by a commitment to steer away from the conventional banking framework.

That way, the fundamental principles that govern its approach is used to produce distinct banking solutions accompanied by more socially responsible initiatives with the ability to better society,” Khumri points out.

While the prognosis will be clearer few years down, it is true that suddenly it's become more about the numbers and interests, and less about a leap of faith. l

In the center for all these popularity is once again the core principles of Islamic finance like prohibition of usury, disdain for investing in industries like alcohol or gambling thus extending its reach beyond Muslim community into those individuals and institutions traditionally termed as ‘responsible investors’

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people

Social Responsibility In Action What can you do?

When Business Insight is out and about, talking about CSR programs, more often than not, people say, “We are only a small start up. We have no need or requirement for CSR as we just aren’t big enough”. This view, whilst understandable isn’t necessarily correct. Corporate Social Responsibility can start with just taking over a couple of tins of baby food to give to an orphanage when on that business trip to Africa (which is exactly what one diamond training company in the DMCC does whenever their staff travel for business). Another two-man company drops of colouring pencils, erasers and paper to schools.

Whilst far from the SME size group, the Wall Street Exchange, UAE’s leading comprehensive money

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exchange service provider and a member of Emirates Post Group, successfully hosts a medical camp for construction workers in Dubai.

Over 200 workers from Al Naboodah Construction’s Al Ruwyyah Camp participated in the programme. The initiative was held in association with Belhoul Specialty Hospital.

“The medical mission was a part of our corporate social responsibility initiative and aimed to create awareness about good health and quality healthcare programs for workers,” said Sultan AL Mahmoud, Chief Marketing & Support Services Officer, Wall Street Exchange.

“The medical tests conducted in the camp were for blood pressure and blood sugar,” he added.

What would you do? l

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people

CSR Another Way…

CSR May be a HR Initiative, but it isn’t just about helping people. Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club is Leading the Environmental Revolution by Composting Food and Organic Waste Onsite n a bid to continue its positive impact on the environment, Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club will begin composting all staff cafeteria food waste onsite which includes meat, bones, fruit, vegetable peelings, plate scrapings, spoilt food, wasted food from plates, trimmings. The team will be cleverly utilising all discarded and unused food to feed back into enriching the beautiful gardens, lawns, plants and trees and also have plans to roll out this fantastic initiative to include all onsite restaurants.

“Each year nearly one third of food produced for human consumption is lost or wasted globally, which amounts to about 1.3 billion tons per year. These organisational responsibilities form an important part of our mission to have the greatest possible impact on

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the environment. Therefore food and organic waste composting is an important step we all need to take together to make a difference for our planet,” said Christopher May, Chief Executive Officer, Dubai Golf.

Not only will the initiative be benefiting the environment, it will lead to cost efficiencies, site cleanliness and continue Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club’s leadership in supporting green practices. In January 2016 Dubai Creek followed sister club Emirates Golf Club who became the first golf club in the MENA region to become GEO certified in January 2015, as part of this initiative the Club’s continuously commit to improving sustainability, water, nature, energy, supply chain and pollution control; the newly introduced food composting initiative aids to nurturing this goal. l

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LEGAL

The UK Bribery Act Reaches the Middle East

By: Adam Vause, Partner, Sharif Hamadeh, Senior Legal Consultant and Ali Al-Zarrad, Legal Consultant, DLA Piper

The UK’s Serious Fraud Office (“SFO”) secured a recent victory against foreign bribery when, on 19 February 2016, Sweett Group Plc (“Sweett”), a company headquartered in London, was sentenced and ordered to pay GB£2.25 million (US$3.15 million) following its conviction under the UK Bribery Act. The conviction is in connection with the bribery of an individual in the United Arab Emirates (“UAE”)

Adam Vause Partner T +971 4 438 6343 E adam.vause@dlapiper.com

Sharif Hamadeh Senior Legal Consultant T +971 4 438 6382 E sharif.hamadeh@dlapiper.com

Ali Al-Zarrad Legal Consultant T +971 4 438 6335 E ali.al-zarrad@dlapiper.com

his is the first conviction under the section 7 Bribery Act corporate offences of failing to prevent an act of bribery, and serves as an urgent reminder that companies with a business connection to the UK may be held accountable for the actions of their business associates globally, including in the Middle East.

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Background Sweett is a construction and professional services company listed on the AIM market in London and operating internationally.

Following the publication of certain allegations concerning bribery and corruption, in 2014, the SFO - the UK body that investigates and prosecutes serious and complex

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fraud, bribery and corruption announced that it had opened a formal investigation into Sweett.

In December 2015, following the SFO’s investigation and an internal investigation undertaken by Sweett and its external counsel, Sweett pleaded guilty to a charge of failing to prevent an act of bribery committed by the employee of one of its subsidiaries. The corrupt payments related to the employee's attempt to secure a contract in relation to the construction of a hotel in Abu Dhabi.

On 19 February 2016, a Crown Court judge ordered Sweett to pay GB£2.25 million, comprised of a fine of GB£1.4 million, GB£850,000 by way of confiscation of the benefit of the conduct and GB£95,000 in costs to the SFO.

Immediately following the company’s guilty plea, the value of its share price dropped by 23 percent. Sweett also announced its decision to close its entire Middle East operations.

The SFO has stated that it is still investigating individuals in connection with this matter.

Why Is This Relevant?

The Sweett conviction marks a new era of assertiveness against foreign bribery on the part of the SFO. It also highlights the pressing need for companies to take action to ensure that they have adequate and proportionate Anti-Bribery and Corruption ("ABAC") policies and procedures in place to minimise the risks of their associates (including subsidiary companies, agents and distributors, etc)

committing acts of bribery and corruption on their behalf.

As the Sweett conviction demonstrates, it is imperative that companies not only have a firm understanding of their business dealings with third parties, but also take proactive measures to prevent bribery from being committed on their behalf by their associates.

In addition, the conviction reinforces the importance of companies cooperating fully with the SFO when an investigation has been initiated. Sweett was reportedly criticised for failing to cooperate sufficiently with the SFO during the course of its investigation and it has been noted that Sweett's counsel were unable to reach agreement with the SFO for a Deferred Prosecution Agreement in place of a conviction. l

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LEGAL

Unifying Trademark Laws In The GCC By: DLA Piper

The GCC member states appear to be moving closer to harmonisation of their trademark laws. This article considers the next steps in the process and the implications of the new law for businesses with brand assets in the GCC

The New Legislation Although the concept of a harmonised trademark law across the GCC is hardly new, it was only in 2013, following the publication of a revised draft unified law governing trademarks across the GCC (“Trademark Law”), that further steps were undertaken with a view to bringing the law into force.

The GCC’s highest decision-making body, the Supreme Council, has issued a resolution requiring each member state to implement the Trademark Law into their respective national laws within 6 months of the publication of the Implementing Regulations.

We now appear to be reaching the final stage of this process because the Implementing Regulations are expected to be published in early 2016.

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In some countries (most notably the UAE and Saudi Arabia) further national legislation will likely be required before the Trademark Law comes into force. Other countries (such as Bahrain) have already made provision to implement the Trademark Law without amendment (and to repeal any conflicting legislation). Local variations to the Trademark Law seem highly likely and it also seems fairly clear that the Trademark Law will be effective in some GCC countries well before it comes into force in others.

What Does The Trademark Law Mean For Owners Of Brand Assets?

The GCC Trademark Law is a unifying, not a unitary law. Unlike (for example) the EUTM, which allows unitary registration and

The Trademark Office of each GCC state will continue to receive applications and register trademarks on a national basis.

Registering a trademark in all six GCC states will still require an applicant to file separate national trademark applications (and to pay official fees in each country)

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included and the law anticipates the availability of remedies that are not routinely available in every GCC state at the moment. For example, claimants may seek an account of profits from the infringer who may be ordered by the court to disclose the identity of any third parties involved in the infringement.

Rights holders may also apply for an injunction to “stop or prevent� infringement, implying that interim relief may be available.

What Happens Next?

There remains considerable uncertainty over how the Trademark Law will be interpreted and applied in practice. For example, it is not clear how uniformity across member states will be achieved in the absence of a central body to ensure consistent interpretation. However, the move towards greater harmonisation is a positive one and we will issue a further briefing once the Implementing Regulations are published. l

A key feature of the Trademark Law is that it will likely permit multi-class applications, which will offer significant costs savings for applicants enforcement across all member countries, the Trademark Law sets out a single set of provisions that will apply uniformly across all the GCC states. The Trademark Office of each GCC state will continue to receive applications and register trademarks on a national basis.

Registering a trademark in all six GCC states will still require an applicant to file separate national trademark applications (and to pay official fees in each country).

The overriding advantage for brand owners is that the Trademark Law should ensure consistency in filing procedure, examination, prosecution, oppositions and enforcement

across all GCC countries. It is common for brandowners to exploit their trademarks across more than one GCC country and currently the outcome of any dispute or challenge can vary according to national rules, leading to considerable uncertainly.

A key feature of the Trademark Law is that it will likely permit multi-class applications, which will offer significant costs savings for applicants.

The Trademark Law also contains improved provisions relating to well-known marks, exclusivity and parallel imports. New penalties for trademark infringement are

Paul Allen Head of Intellectual Property & Technology, Middle East Paul.allen@dlapiper.com T: +971 4438 6295

Katie Montazeri Partner Katie.montazeri@dlapiper.com T: +971 4438 6388

Mohamed Moussallati Legal Consultant Mohamed.moussallati@dlapiper.com T: +966 11 201 8989

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LEGAL

The New Abu Dhabi Real Estate Laws

and the Effect of the new Law No. 3 of 2015 concerning the regulation of real estate sector in the emirate of Abu Dhabi on developers, lenders, end users he Law No. 3 of 2015, which came into force in January 2016, introduced a wave of new changes in regulations for developers, lenders, & end-users. At the outset, we will focus on the developers and its obligations as per the new Law. There is no doubt that the changes introduced by the new Law provide a clear framework for both developers and financers in the emirate of Abu Dhabi. Its introduction is evidently providing more confidence in the real estate sector in Abu Dhabi. It is clearly outlined that the new Law does not regulate the rents in Abu Dhabi. Accordingly, Rents and other matters concerning landlord and tenancy relationships shall be governed under Law No. 20 of 2006 Concerning the Leasing of Spaces and Regulating the Leasing Relations between Landlords and Tenants in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.

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The Law The New Law has regulated and restrained the unconventional practices in the emirate of Abu Dhabi. It includes articles which state

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that it is obligatory to any person who wishes to practice a real estate development activity to be registered in the Real Estate Development Register as a principal developer or subdeveloper, in addition to registration of the Real Estate Projects.

Moreover, the new Law stipulates that any person who would like to practice any activities pertaining to the Real Estate Development Activity as a mediator, mediator’s employee, auctioneer, director of Owners Union or even an evaluator without being registered or being licensed in the Real Estate Development Register shall been penalized by imprisonment and fines. Such penalties were not stipulated in any previous law.

Also, the new Law has stated that any person who practices a Real Estate Development Activity and submits incorrect documents or data to the competent authorities for obtaining a license for the practice of real estate development activity or offer units for sale in fake real estate projects shall be penalised by a fine not less than AED 100,000 and not more than AED 2,000,000.

This fine wshall put an end to all the illegal practices in Abu Dhabi.

The new Law stipulates that any person who would like to practice any activities pertaining to the Real Estate Development Activity as a mediator, mediator’s employee, auctioneer, director of Owners Union or even an evaluator without being registered or being licensed in the Real Estate Development Register shall been penalised by imprisonment and fines

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the concerned real estate development project.

Moreover, The real estate development project established before the enforcement of the provisions of this Law shall be exempted from opening a project guarantee account providing that all approvals necessary for the commencement of projects have been issued and that the percentage of building accomplishment is not less than 70 percent of the project.

Developers will be restricted to sell units offplan unless they provide documents that prove they own real estate rights over the project and that it has opened an escrow account for the development The New Law allows developers to charge administrative fees from the end-users that must first be approved by the authorities. However, it restricts the developers from imposing any charge of registration on the buyers.

The Owners Union The new Law has set the precedent in the history of the UAE Laws by referring to the definition of “The owners union” which shall be established upon the registration of the property giving the Owners union some privileges in relation to the management of the property operation of common parts, including the repair and maintenance and collect service fees. It also states that owners associations will have the right to apply to the courts for an order to sell the units of an owners who haven’t paid their services charge after addressing a registered mail to pay delayed service fees within three months of the date of notification.

Off Plan Sales Developers will be restricted to sell units off-plan unless they provide documents that prove they own real estate rights over the project and that it has opened an escrow account for the development. Previously, there was no clear legislation to safeguard property purchasers in off plan projects in Abu Dhabi. Accordingly, purchasers had to accept the credit risk of the property developer as Purchasers used to be reliant on the developers

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maintaining an accurate interim registry to register the real estate rights in the property, without the involvement of an independent third party or supervisory authority.

On the other hand, The Municipal Affairs Department shall be the supervisory authority in maintaining an accurate interim registry to register the real estate rights in the property it is also entitled to add entry in the Real Estate Register on the plot of land on which the real estate development project shall be established indicating that it is a project subject to the provisions of law.

Eventually, The Municipal Affairs Department will be the competent authority to remove the entry in the Real Estate Register after the completion of the real estate development project and registering its units by the names of purchasers in the Real Estate Register.

It shall be permissible to dispose of real estate units registered in the Initial Real Estate Register by sale, mortgage and other disposals in accordance with the rules determined by the Executive Regulation.

Project Guarantee Account One of the requirements and guarantees that have been generated by the new Law pertaining the sale and marketing of off-plan units as per the new law is the the setting up of an Escrow Account. At all events, it shall not be permissible to dispose of any amount unless the developer has accomplished no less than 20 percent of the construction works of

Delayed Projects Another crucial improvement, that was previously a concern of buyers, was the regulations that safeguard the property purchasers against the delay, non-completion or defects of the property.

The Municipal Affairs Department may impose fines on the developers in order to compensate customers where the developer is delayed beyond six months. Prominently, this shall apply to existing developments depending on the percentage of completion.

The new law states, that if the developer failed to complete the real estate development project, the account trustee shall take necessary measures after obtaining the Department’s approval for the preservation of the rights of purchasers, to guarantee the completion of the project according to permissions granted thereto.

Such measures may include that the financer of the real estate development project or another developer may complete it.

Right To Terminate An Off-Plan Purchase Examples are given in the new Law for the Off-plan buyers to terminate their purchase of the units in the case of “Material Default”. Examples for Material Default such as the changes of the specifications contained in the unit Sale and Purchase Agreements or delivery of a unit that is unusable due to fundamental defects in construction executed by the developer.

In conclusion, it is clearly outlined that the new Law brings with it a clear guideline of rights and obligations of all parties that are involved in practicing a real estate activity in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. However, since the law has only come into force in January 2016, it has to be observed how quickly the Municipal Affairs Department shall effectively implement and enforce the new Law, and pursuant to our connection with the Department it is still only under the process of implementation. l

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dMCC

Going Digital to Create 350m New Exporters, Says DMCC’s ‘Future of Trade’ Report

he report provides a view of how ‘The Future of Trade’ will unfold over the next ten years, and builds on insights shared by 150 experts across five continents over twelve months. ‘The Future of Trade’ report was produced by DMCC in conjunction with Futureagenda.org and the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr), a leading UK economics consultancy.

The report’s most striking conclusion was the scale and impact of digitalisation on global trade. DMCC’s research suggests that full digitalisation of commerce could lead to a sixfold increase in the number of business that export goods. This could mean between 100 million and 350 million businesses would become engaged in global export trade for the first time.

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“The conclusions of our report are clear,” said Gautam Sashittal, Chief Executive Officer, DMCC. “Companies that want to succeed in today’s challenging marketplace must adopt a robust digital strategy, think globally and embrace change. If the world of global trade collaborates around these maxims, we will all surely benefit.”

To highlight the importance of their findings, DMCC and Cebr created the Industry Digitalisation Index (IDI) to track the progress of change across geographies and sectors. The index will be updated regularly to provide a real-time picture of digital progress in global trade.

The IDI finds that 42 percent of all business are fully digitalised today.

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DMCC

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dMCC

DMCC is home to more than 11,500 companies and attracts billions of dollars’ worth of foreign direct investment a year, particularly in the commodities sector. DMCC and Dubai are natural partners with Futureagenda.org and Cebr in determining The Future of Trade.

“Dubai is positioned at the centre of the world’s busiest trade routes, and has been for centuries,” said Ahmed Bin Sulayem, Executive Chairman, DMCC. “Research such as DMCC’s ‘The Future of Trade’ provides actionable insights for businesses in a time when trade routes are rebalanced by new technologies and increasing global connectivity.”

Chapter highlights from The Future of Trade report include: zz The Impact of Digital on Global Trade has never before been analysed in such depth. Our discussions revealed that the adoption of digital strategy by global importers and exporters presents such a profound shift in the future of trade that as many as 350 million more businesses could begin to export goods and services through digital commerce, providing the first significant boost to worldwide trade since the great recession and ushering in a ‘digital revolution in trade’ zz Shifting Power and Influence looks at the contextual global view of how economic power is changing, which countries and regions such as China and India are on the rise, which, such as Europe, are on the decline and considers the pivotal role of the US. With uncertainty in some quarters about how new alliances may play out, it sets out the consensus zz Access to Funding highlights the growing concern over the lack of capital available from the world’s banks to support more trade and looks at some of the reactions taking place. With a specific focus on some of the options emerging, for better SME funding, it looks at how new initiatives may place an increasing role in the next decade, especially in emerging markets zz Securing Talent looks at the double challenge of being able to attract the very best talent to work in the world of trade and in ensuring that the next generation is equipped with the right mix of skills and abilities. As the elite global nomads take to the fore, it raises questions on how and where talent will align with the emerging trade infrastructure zz Supportive Regulation suggests how different parts of the world see changes in global and local regulation having impact. This looks at the growing preference of regional and bilateral agreements over global WTO pacts and explores some of the opportunities afforded by proactive actions in specific locations to help make trade more effective and transparent zz System Efficiency brings together a number of views on how the overall effectiveness of global trade and distribution is likely to be improved over the next decade.

From the adoption of increasingly open supply webs to enhancing the efficiency of the last mile, it also looks at the role of autonomous vehicles and new exchange and distribution model The ‘Future of Trade’ report can be accessed via www.futureoftrade.ae.

For more on twitter: @DMCCAuthority #futureoftrade.

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section Official section Official section Official section Official section Official section Official section O Official section Official section Official section Official section Official section Official section Official sectio section Official section Official section Official section Official section Official section Official section O

DMCC

THE FUTURE OF TRADE

MCC, the authority on trade, enterprise and commodities, has produced the ‘The Future of Trade’, a unique report into the future of global trade, that was presented via The Future of Trade webcast and broadcast simultaneously from London and Dubai on Thursday, 17 March 2016.

The webcast featured a panel of experts moderated

by Ian King, host of ‘Ian King Live’, the Sky News flagship evening business programme. The experts include: DMCC Chief Executive Officer Gautam Sashittal; HSBC Chief Economist Simon Williams; YouGov UK Chief Executive Alex McIntosh; former Wall Street Journal Europe Editor and Non-Executive Director of Fiat Chrysler Baroness Wheatcroft; and founder of the Ethiopian Commodities Exchange Dr Eleni Gabre-Mahdin.

“In the Future of Trade report, we have explored key areas impacting global trade,“ Sashittal said. “Market participants did not want to miss The Future of Trade

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webcast to discover the power and influence that drives US$40 trillion of global trade a year, and how it will change in the next decade.”

Building on research conducted over the last 12 months, The Future of Trade brings together the collective thinking of 150 global industry leaders, academics and experts across five continents.

The Future of Trade highlights the emerging impact of digital transformation for importers and exporters, along with the ongoing shifts in global economic power and burgeoning improvements in system efficiency.

DMCC Partners in The Future of Trade include: Google Campus London, The Centre for Economics and Business Research, NYU Abu Dhabi, AstroLabs, Oxford Business Group, SP Jain School of Global Management. l To find out more please visit www.futureoftrade.ae.

For more on twitter: @DMCCAuthority #futureoftrade.

Issue 24 | 49

technology

How to Build a Killer Business Website

By Mark Hirst, Founder & CEO, Blue Beetle

Did you know that there are 60 trillion websites on the internet? Standing out from these to be the best in your field is tough, but it is doable

ebsites come in all shapes and sizes. They can be super simple one-page microsites or ultrasophisticated multilingual, multi-page sites integrated with powerful content management systems (CMS), and everything in between.

Likewise, websites can be very simple to put together in a matter of hours or they can be incredibly complex and need a team of specialised experts working over the course of several months. No matter whether your site is super simple or ultra complex, there are some basic do’s and don’ts that should be adhered to, to make sure that it does its job.

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Business Requirements The first do and don’t is about the purpose of the website. You need to have a clear objective as to why you need it. Don’t merely create a website because everyone else has one, so you need one too. Do be clear in your mind as to why you need it. What is it for? What should the site do for you? What will be its return on investment (ROI)?

Who Is The Website For The website should represent your business and be in line with your brand, but at the end of the day, the website is for people using it. It’s for your customers. You want to pander to their tastes and preferences. So design your website with the end-user in mind.

Don’t design something based solely on your personal preferences.

What Next?

Related to the last point, think about what you want your users to do. Each page should have a call-to-action (CTA) or lead the user on

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to somewhere else. For example, on a magazine site, you shouldn’t end the article and leave it at that. You want the user to stay on your site and continue reading so there should be somewhere for the user to go when they get to the end. It could be related articles or the next one in line, for example. On a shopping site, users could be directed to view similar products or be lead to the checkout section. Other CTA’s include filling in a form, connecting or sharing on social media, subscribing to a newsletter, picking up the phone, etc. Always think about the purpose of each page and what you want the user to do on it or from it.

The Design Is Everything That might sound a bit strong, but it’s not really. There is a deep relationship between design and quality. Take the time to make it beautiful. Pay attention to the little details.

As legendary designer Charles Eames said, “The details are not the details. They make the design.” Be willing to spend what might seem to be an unreasonable amount of time to get it right. It will be worth it. Don’t ship something you’re not entirely proud of.

Don’t Make Your Users Think Closely related to design is usability. In short, don’t make your users have to think.

It should be immediately apparent to anyone on any page where they are, what they are looking at and what is expected from them next. Use best practises to capitalise on your users experience and intuition. An excellent website should get out of the way of the user and present the content in an as simple way as possible while guiding them along the way.

The old adage of “less is more” is a useful one to follow in this regard.

Write For Your Users Search engine optimisation (SEO) has changed a lot over the years, but for the better.

Previously you could increase your page rank by doing all sorts of things to make your site look more valuable to search engines. Today search engines are smarter than that.

Search engines want to deliver the best search results they can for their users, so they have invested a lot of time in figuring out what sites genuinely meet their needs. Gone are the days of keyword stuffing or creating dubious backlinks to fool them. Today, the best strategy is to do exactly what they are doing, and that is thinking about the user. Write your content for the user, not for the search engine.

Invest all your time and energy in meeting your users’ needs and the search engines will recognise that and present your content over

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technology

another that is trying to fool it. Be genuine and authentic and produce content of real value. That is the SEO strategy of today.

Accessibility This one is simple. Make sure your website is accessible on as many browsers, platforms and devices as possible. The best way to do this is to code following best practise standards and to test. Test early and test often. If you find a problem, fix it right away before continuing with other parts of the website. Fixing something for a mobile phone device can have knock on effects for the site when it’s viewed on a tablet or laptop. Don’t leave your mobile testing right till the end! In fact, it’s probably a good idea to design with a mobile first approach.

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#GenMobile, as the name suggests, are 100% comfortable with mobility, flexible working and using multiple mobile devices to get the job done. #GenMobile will stop at nothing to get their work tasks completed, and 51% say that mobile technologies enable them to be more productive and engaged at work

Content Is King Lastly, but most importantly, there’s no use of having a beautiful website if your content is not up to par. Content truly is king. It’s not about the quantity of content, but it is about the quality of it. Yes it should be presented beautifully text should be designed so that user can quickly scan the page and see if it’s relevant

before diving in, but once they do dive in, the content needs to be great. Anything less and your users will leave.

There you have it. Some important do’s and don’ts that no matter how simple or complex your site is. Get them right and you’ll be in good stead to building a killer business website. l

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technology

Seven Tips to Kick Off an IoT Initiative By: Colin McCabe, Director, Consulting and Training, Red Hat

The growing ecosystem of web-connected devices and platforms known as the Internet of Things (IoT) has the potential to effect major changes in many industries, including manufacturing, retail, and transportation. The IoT represents big opportunities, and businesses need to know how make the most of it artner, Inc. forecasts that 6.4 billion connected things will be in use worldwide in 2016 - up 30 percent from 2015, and will reach 20.8 billion by 2020. In 2016, 5.5 million new things will get connected every day. This will likely include smart sensors for predictive maintenance, RFID tags in retail to manage inventory, and intelligent gateways for real-time analysis and decision making at the edge of the network. The rate at which organisations of all sizes and from all industries are finding ways to make the IoT work for their business is astonishing. Even if it is something as simple as creating a new smartphone app or inserting a monitoring platform into an existing business system, companies can tap into the potential this amazing ecosystem of devices offers.

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The 7 Wonders Often however, businesses have no idea where they should start when it comes to things IoT. We would recommend a seven-point checklist for organisations kicking off their IoT journey: 1. Involve the right team(s) - IoT planning should be a cross-enterprise endeavour involving the IT department, various business divisions, and all security operations teams.

2. Look for the greatest value - Define specific business objectives that can drive the greatest overall benefit, such as improved operational efficiencies or better customer experience.

3. Start small, aim big - Start with smaller projects that

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demonstrate value and create a solid business case before beginning larger-scale deployments.

4. Prioritise security - An IoT infrastructure can increase an organisation’s potential attack surface, thanks to the connectivity between devices and business systems. Companies should make sure security-planning needs are met before an IoT initiative is put into play.

5. Cloud compatibility - How will the IoT initiative work in a cloud environment? This is an important consideration as it is the cloud that will often provide the scalable platform through which those connected devices will be managed and operated. It is also the cloud that will provide a cost-effective solution for the volume of data they generate.

6. Maintenance - How will IoT devices be upgraded or repaired? How will the data be managed effectively and ethically? Develop a clear strategy for managing the IoT within the organisation.

7. Analyse the data - Businesses need to implement a platform that can analyse the data from the IoT devices they have tapped into, and act on that data at the right time. l

State-sponsored hackers can hide attacks in encrypted SSL traffic to evade detection

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technology

Sony Xperia Z5 Review By: Tanya Selley, Editor

With Apples new iPhone Se about to launch, Sony Xperia Z5 is expected to be offered globally at a discount. Why would you want to choose the Sony Xperia over an Apple? Because it is the best Android phone on the market and it is perfect for businesses This is a big claim I can hear you say. And I grant you, it is. It is also very true. Not only does the Sony Xperia have the look and feel of a quality mobile phone, but you also benefit from Sony technology across the board, with a 5.2-inch Full HD screen. This means what ever you are watching or reading, the picture quality is unrivalled.

And then you have the most superior camera built into any mobile phone. Again, with the Sony powerhouse behind them, the Xperia has Z5 can boast a 23-megapixel rear sensor and a 5.1 megapixel front facing camera. This makes it the perfect tool for social media photo updates as the quality is second to none and will really bring your Instagram and Facebook feeds to life.

The raw imagining output is exceptional. For those of us who don’t do tech speak, this basically means that by using

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the enhanced Superior Auto mode, you can adjust the colour temperature and exposure in real time, whilst still shooting your pictures at the camera’s full resolution.

There are greater claims too, with one of the most powerful chips on the market, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 810, the 64-bit octa-core processor means you get incredibly responsive performance for everything from checking your emails and calendar to intensive 3D gaming (everyone is allowed downtime don’t you know). Oh, and the phone is waterproof too – Great for taking the family photos when you are by the pool or the sea.

With impressive performance, fun, great imagining capabilities and lots of storage room for your downloads, the Sony Xperia is a great phone for any business. I should know as I am using it for mine. l

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marketing

How To Facebook & Tweet For Maximum Business Effect By: Ahmed Abugosh, Astrolabs

Businesses have always tried to promote themselves on the Internet, but often without much success. Ahmed Abugosh, the Learning and Development Manager from Astrolabs, explains what we are doing wrong In the early days, it was through Forums, Usenet groups, chatrooms, and any other platform where people congregated. With the rise of Social Media, businesses finally had a legitimate outlet to open themselves up to the public, without having to be spammy and in-your-face about it (or at least less so). The age of permission marketing is in its last stages. People choose to follow what you want to say as a company now, and that is an empowering thing. However since literally almost every single business in the world is on Social Media nowadays, it is that much harder to be heard. You have to do a lot to stand out, and that takes both time and dedication. I’ll be discussing in this article how best to leverage the two most popular social media communities: Facebook and Twitter, for maximum business effect.

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The first thing you should keep in mind with your social media channels, is that there are two kinds of traffic you can generate from them: 1. Organic traffic, which is the free traffic you get when you normally post something and 2. Paid Traffic, which as the name suggests is traffic you get from paying Facebook and Twitter money to promote your content to a wider audience.

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I know that people like to get things for free, but the fact is that nowadays, it is almost a requirement to have a budget dedicated to paid social media ads. You can get by with just organic ads, but especially after Facebook’s recent EdgeRank algorithm update, it is nearly impossible for you to gain traction on social media without spending some money. The key is to spend it wisely.

Don’t Waste Your Time Now the first thing you need to have in place, to ensure that you aren’t wasting your time and money with your social media efforts, is to start implementing Analytics.

That’s just a fancy word that means you start tracking the number of people that come to your site through other websites (and in this case through social media). The most popular and free tool to use is Google Analytics. This tool allows you to easily tag each URL you post on social media, as a marketing campaign, so you can compare performance and look at conversion rates across different marketing channels, campaigns and date ranges. Once in place, Google Analytics can provide you with not only the source of each person coming to your website, but also exactly what they do once they’re on your website. Facebook and Twitter also have their own built in Analytics tools (when you have paid ads), but this is only

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marketing

limited to the performance of the ads. Once they click on the ad, you need to have Analytics setup on your own website to truly make informed decisions.

What to Post Once you have Analytics setup, you can begin to post on your social media channels.

But what should you post? To start, you can start posting about your company. Mention the products and services you offer. Mention any deals or special offers you have to encourage people to go to your website or interact with your brand. That’s not enough though. In this modern day and age, if you only have a page that promotes your own products and services in a direct way, people will get turned off. You need to harness the social side of social media. That can be done through, posting about topics related to your business industry, posting company news and highlights (company outings, new hires etc.), or

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getting creative and creating blog posts, or video vlogs on different areas your company is focusing on. Everyone has heard the overused phrase “Content is King” (and Queen). It’s overused because it’s true. If you have content people want to engage with, people will engage with it. A good way to test this is to step back before you post something and ask yourself if you yourself or any of your colleagues would like, share, or retweet what you’re about to post. You can’t expect someone to interact with something that you yourself wouldn’t interact with.

Let’s say you’re assured that the content you have is worth posting. The next stage is to start posting! The best place to start is to start posting organically. Organically just means that you post it normally from your company account without paying any money. Although you won’t receive as many targeting options as you would if you were posting a paid ad, there are still a few ways you can optimise what you post.

You can get by with just organic ads, but especially after Facebook’s recent EdgeRank algorithm update, it is nearly impossible for you to gain traction on social media without spending some money. The key is to spend it wisely

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One such tool is Dlvr.It, which allows you to add different sites, and topics, which will post automatically to your social media channels once a new post is found from those topics Optimise Your Posts The first way you can optimise organic posts on Facebook and Twitter, is to use third-party software that lets you easily post across different channels, and schedule posts. Tools like Hootsuite, and Buffer allow you to choose exactly what, where and when you want your posts to go live. This really improves workflow, as it allows you to spend time coming up with what you want to post for the next few days, weeks or even months, then you don’t have to worry about it until all your posts are posted (you would still need to regularly check your accounts to respond to interactions though).

Many third party tools/Apps even offer you suggestions based on categories you choose to about different trending and relevant articles from the web that you might find useful to post. That really helps you get out of your bubble and can give you fresh ideas of content to post.

Another cool type of third party tool you might consider are tools that automatically post from sources that you find relevant using RSS feeds. One such tool is Dlvr.It, which allows you to add different

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sites, and topics, which will post automatically to your social media channels once a new post is found from those topics. This is a powerful tool to use, but has disadvantages as it can come off as spammy if used too often, and has the risk of posting something that is not in line with your brand identity, so it should be used sparingly and with caution.

When To Post Something else that should be kept in mind when posting is the time and frequency that you post. This is different for every business and your numbers may vary, but from what I’ve seen from industry best practice for small businesses, typically Facebook is posted to at least 1-2 times a day, and Twitter 2-5 times a day (that can include retweets and mentions).

That is just a ballpark figure, and in the end of the day, you’re using Facebook and Twitter to promote your business, so it should only be focused on if it’s beneficial to your business.

For Facebook, since EdgeRank (Facebook’s algorithm) has been updated, it has become much harder to gain visibility when posting organically on your Facebook page. Unless your post goes viral, it is pretty hard to gain

a large following from Facebook without paying. That’s why you need to allocate a certain budget to grow your fan base, and even make your posts appear to all of your fans. The main ways to grow your audience is

by Boosting your posts, Promoting your events, or creating Ads to show on the side of Facebook and the Newsfeed. Some more advanced tools you can use on Facebook are remarketing lists (retargeting people that visited your site), or targeting people based on emails you gather from your mailing list.

Twitter, unlike Facebook, does not filter out posts based on any algorithm, so in that way it is easier to gain exposure. You do have less space to work with, with only 140 characters, so you have to be creative and use hashtags, pictures, and links effectively. Don’t be scared to post the same thing multiple times on Twitter for that reason, as often times each time you post, someone else will see it (just don’ t be too spammy).

Twitter recently opened their own Analytics platform to the public, so you can look there to see what’s working at what time and what’s not (A Hubspot study found that the best time to post for Twitter and Facebook is in the afternoon between 1-4pm on weekdays).

Jump The Hurdles One of the obstacles of Twitter, is to get people to follow you. The best way to do this is to post content people want to follow, but it is also important to engage with the community.

That includes following along and posting on popular hashtags, answering mentions quickly and following new people- an area that is often overlooked.

Following people is something that is unique to Twitter that is not an option on Facebook. Following people exposes you to them, and often you’ll get a follow-back if they find your content relevant.

Facebook and Twitter can be powerful tools for your business.

The trick is to keep the best practices mentioned here in mind, but also tailor your posting behavior based on what your Analytics data tells you, and what ultimately helps your business grow. l

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marketing

Live Your Brand!

By: Jim Wheat : Marketer & Dollarsandart Founder

Your brand is you. And from first thing in the morning to last thing at night both on and offline, you shouldn’t forget that what you do reflects on your brand

ranted, the brand YOU maybe different to work as it is at home, at the Supermarket, in that yoga class. Ideally Brand YOU should be an extension of who you are, whatever the circumstances and ideally you can make your mark being true to yourself.

Work, for many just pays the bills and it’s ‘keep turning up and grinning’ that helps them pass the time during the political minefield of a working week. In an age of uncertainty it’s easier said than done. This article will help you shine in your current capacity so you can boldly start living your own brand even if you’re an extension of another.

As a reader of this article, you probably fall into one of the following categories:

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Living Someone Else’s Brand You work for a big company and live their brand when you are working 5/6 days a week.

Your personal brand is really when you get the time to ‘switch off ’ and really do the stuff you enjoy.

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Partly Living Your Brand You’re part of an SME and work for ‘the brand’ with a vested interest in the company through hands on obligations with some form of ownership/business recognition scheme in place.

Living Your Brand Probably an entrepreneur - living day in/ day out and are a walking talking extension of your brand Not Branded You’re actively seeking opportunities.

Lived Your Brand You’re retired and (hopefully) are reading this article somewhere exotic but would like to help others live the brand.

Maybe you have dipped in and out of all 5 categories? Whatever one you are in now you have every opportunity to start building and living your brand right now.

Who Me - Living My Brand?

Whichever bracket you fall into the more you turn up as you are, walking and talking your true self, mistakes and all, then the more fulfilled you are likely to be. There’s a great power in showing vulnerability, rather than covering it up and in corporate that’s often easier said than done. Those networking events and how you come across on social media are all part of who you are, your personal brand.

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As you read this you are living your brand right now, regardless of your position in the company or your stage in life. If you have a Linkedin account, or a Facebook, Twitter and/ or Instagram account then you are already building your brand. You have laid the stones that will show you to the world. On the back of these, people will be making their judgments on you (rightly or wrongly). You may be part of something bigger, or you may be not wanting to create any views from other people, but it is unavoidable in the modern age of social media.

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Like it or hate it, you are part of something bigger. Why not just accept it? Remember, Everything you do from here on in should ideally take into account who you are, what you do and what does it do for you.

The perception is the larger the disparity and difference in this work/life paradigm than the less likely you are to walk and talk your true calling and realise your true potential.

No matter what you situation – you can still work on your brand. Maybe you have a hobby that you would love to get paid for,

sharing your time with those who need it, aliging with a cause close to your heart or another step towards that dream job that you always promise yourself you will ‘go for one day’.

Brand Beckham Look how David Beckham has emerged as a global icon. He is many things to many people from sex symbol, father, husband, style icon and an ad man’s dream. To others he is a model, an actor and a businessmen, and lets not forget that he is a former world class footballer!

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Sharing, collaborative economy concepts are being implemented and it points towards a new direction whatever you do, whatever your brand.

The malleability (bend it like Beckham) of his brand helps explain its longevity and its adaptability – credit to the people around him for help moulding him into this global icon.

Use Time Wisely Ok we’re not all blessed with the looks, talent and team surrounding Brand Beckham but he’s pushed the norms of leaving it be at ‘just a footballer’. Whatever your current predicament push the norms of your current world and really start living your brand. Find something within your current organisation that excites you and make it your business to get involved.

Volunteer to help out and show an interest.

Think about it this way - there’s the bank of time gifting us with 86,400 seconds per day.

It’s entirely up to you how much time

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you spend building your brand – as part of, aside to or aswell as your ‘day job’. Sacrifices such as less time with the old crowd, less box sets on TV and doing the stuff you’ve always done, will need to be made.

Time waits for nobody and is marching on at a rapid rate of knots: those gifted 86,400 seconds a day flying by as more tech, more connections and more information bombard us - if we let it as there’s a work/life/tech balance there also.

You Are Not Alone!

Many people have figured out that it doesn’t make any sense to go on by yourself.

Many people have awakened from the “each man for himself ” mentality.

Stop, take a step back and think. Isn’t it absurd that we, 7 billion of us living in the same planet, have grown further apart from each other? Driving home on the bumper to

bumper, can we not try smiling the car next to you or making a hands free phone call to congratulate the often faceless bumper sticker of ‘How am I driving?’ on exemplary driving.

Sharing, collaborative economy concepts are being implemented and it points towards a new direction - whatever you do, whatever your brand. Social media likes, shares and high 5’s is far from the answer but across the right platform it certainly has it’s part to play in validation.

Live Your Brand If you love what you do and there aren’t enough hours in the day then the chances are you’re close to living your brand. If there feels a huge disparity then there is still time during every day.

So go live your brand and whatever it means to you – you will be surprised at the results!

• • • •

Find something you love and really care about Find common ground with others Write about it: share it – someone will pick up on it Harness your energy and enthusiasm more effectively

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#ThankUShkMohd

Crowd sourced by DMCC employees in honour of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai via social media platform Yammer

business incubator

6 ‘Mobile-First’ Ways for Middle East Retailers to Keep Shoppers in their Stores

By: Manish Bhardwaj, Sr. Marketing Manager, Middle East and Turkey at Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company

During the National Retail Federation (NRF) Retail’s BIG Show 2016, the largest retail show of the year, wireless network provider Aruba took the opportunity to collect new data on the impact of shoppers’ mobile phone and retail mobile app usage on brick-and-mortar stores

uring the course of the multi-day study, Aruba surveyed 500+ global consumers including those from Middle East and Turkey in order to determine how mobile usage has impacted shopping in traditional stores.

Based on the results, it is clear that mobile phones have a powerful role in the in-store shopping experience.

Below are the biggest takeaways that will give retailers in the Middle East an insight into what they need to do to attract and retain customers:

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Retail Mobile Apps Can Be Addictive Many of us have been incentivised with special promotional offerings to download retailers’ mobile apps, but how many people have actually downloaded them, and do they use these apps regularly? We discovered a staggering 83 percent of respondents use a retail mobile app, and 26 percent use them up to five times per week - If you think that’s impressive, we discovered that one in ten shoppers use retail mobile apps more than 10 times a week!

Move Over Sales Associate. Hello Mobile Phone Do you find sales associates uninformed about products or sometimes too aggressive to make a sale? Many respondents of this

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survey have the same feeling too.

When asked about how they would prefer to peruse products in a store, 38 percent of respondents would rather pass up human interaction with a sales associate and turn to their mobile phones to continue their shopping experience.

Retail Loyalty Apps Keep Customers Returning When respondents were presented with the option of shopping at a nearby competitor’s store versus a similar store where they are a loyalty member, less than nine percent would actually go with the competitive store. While 10 percent admitted to being indifferent to the option, a whopping 50 percent would select the store they were part of a loyalty membership scheme, over other options.

In-Store Navigation Gets Top Billing Gone are the days of static mobile content. A retail mobile app should not be built just for basic catalog purposes or to give store information.

Consumers want to be engaged by the retailer and that’s being accomplished through real-time, location-based information. As part of this study we discovered that in-store maps and indoor navigation is considered a top incentive for downloading retail mobile

83% of respondents use a retail mobile app, and 26 % use them up to five times per week - If you think that’s impressive, we discovered that one in ten shoppers use retail mobile apps more than 10 times a week!

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business incubator

apps, making real-time location to products a key selling point for both the shopper and the store.

In-Store Incentives = High Conversion Rates One of the main drivers for retailers to create mobile apps is to encourage their customers to purchase more with special in-store incentives. But do these incentive really yield results?

Do shoppers actually take stores up on their offer? According to the study they do. A hefty 63 percent said they are likely to take advantage of an in-store offer if it’s presented to them.

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Wi-Fi Is King Mobile data coverage is ubiquitous in most populated areas. However once inside the walls of large stores, the coverage can quickly degrade and bandwidth becomes unpredictable. Given the fact that the modern shopper is tethered to their mobile phone to facilitate in-store purchases, providing easy-to-access Wi-Fi is key for retailers. In fact, when respondents were asked what they used their mobile phones for most inside stores, connecting to in-store Wi-Fi came in number one. l

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business incubator

Making the Most of the Dubai Hub

By Stefano Pollotti, Managing Director, GEFCO Dubai

Thanks to its location, its infrastructure and its relative ease of business, it is not exactly shocking that Dubai has been hailed so often as the ‘crossroads of East and West’, one of the ‘most strategic commercial hubs in the world’ and an ‘essential traditional trade route’.

They are phrases that may even be overused, but there is no doubt why Dubai has earned its reputation. What is perhaps a little more surprising is, that despite these massive logistical advantages, there is still reluctance by many companies to take full advantage of them here can often be a lack of understanding in the logistics of importing, exporting and transportation that leads dealers, manufacturers and distributors down the wrong business path. In many cases, the historic view that keeping logistics in-house saves money is simply no longer valid.

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The Opportunities I believe there are plenty of opportunities to be more timeeffective and cost-efficient and can say with substantial authority as GEFCO is one of Europe’s ten largest logistics integrators and we opened our Dubai Branch three years ago using our international expertise to exceed expectations within the region.

Dubai has an extremely rich history as a successful trading post, but the phenomenal effects that have come with the city’s rapid rise to a leading world economy have changed the way we conduct business and the way we expand but not necessarily the way we think.

On a cargo that may cross seven land borders and three shipping zones, we have seen companies try to work out which is the cheapest supplier for each leg of that journey. This is where a consultant can step in and explain that there are one-stop-shop solutions that can deliver discounts, economies of scale and eliminate the unnecessary investment

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in time and money. Consultants are not a threat to their logistics set up but we can act as a partner and help them to progress and develop their options. It is a question of mindset as well as business acumen.

Don’t Take The Obvious Route It may surprise you, but you can very easily get substantial discount on cost and time if you think outside of the box. Previously, we worked with the distributor of the Korean carmakers Hyundai and Kia to Jordan and Iraq. The cars had been exported directly to Jordan from Korea, which looked on paper like the best option. However, on greater analysis, and taking into account the well-developed customs, import and export procedures of Jebel Ali, timings, length of transit and sophisticated infrastructure, we advised to export through Dubai. Not only did it save considerable costs, it also avoided any possible contact with the Syrian conflict, shipping the cars to Iraq by sea to Um-Qasr and then by road distribution to the rest of the country.

Logistics, storage, transportation and distribution are extremely competitive businesses, particularly in this part of the world and the way to progress is to adopt new practices and accept new services. We are living and working in an age where companies must constantly reassess their operations and outgoings. Even though tough competition is always a danger, false economies can be the greatest threat of all. l

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Anticipating what your customers want Anticipating exactly what it is that your customers want is vital in business today. Not only will it lead to repeat business, but being one step ahead will ensure your survival, as getting to your customers first means they will stay loyal to you, and not look elsewhere which could spell disaster for your company; so how can you ensure you meet your customers needs? ou can note things like the desires of an individual customer (actually, a well known department store’s UK arm would note your personal purchases so that husbands, partners and family get the right presents whenever they wanted), but there are also more fundamental steps to take.

Customer service is an integral part of our business. They are your most vital assets, as without them, your business would not survive. When you satisfy your customers, they not only help us grow but they recommend you, so you immediately gain loyal customers who already have the trust element.

When you’re a start-up with few employees and few customers, it’s easy to stay on top of what customers want and what they’re getting. However, as you add more customers and employees, you add links to the customer service chain, which not only creates the potential for growth, but also the potential for poor service. That’s why creating a customer service policy and adhering to it is so important. In order to do this there are a few points that you need to consider.

the body language and facial cues.

Always ask for market feedback. You may believe that your service is the best, but your clients will be happy to tell you honestly if this is not the case.

Also, ensure you ask yourself if you have you taken time to try out or play with your products or services? What things did you discover about them that you would like to be helped with as a customer? Think about your own customer experience in general. How do you like to be treated and helped when getting service?

Do not forget though, that your casual ‘bronze’ customers will have a different set of requirements to those of your ‘gold’ clients, so consider this; for example, your gold clients may be price orientated, whereas your bronze need you to fill a gap in their supply chain.

Be The Customer Ask yourself, what the experience is like for the customer. Their needs might be unusual, recurring, or even just basic.

If working on a retail sale, or business pitch, the anticipation of a customer’s needs is to ensure you not only ask the right questions, but also to take note of all unspoken language; by this we mean,

Be Accommodating Always make yourself look like you are going above and beyond the call of duty for your client. Do not allow them to see your reluctance, or laziness. Find polite and reassuring ways to let the customer know how you can achieve their request or give reasons on why you can’t.

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Listen to the actual request of your customers This is the easiest ‘want’. If an unusual need becomes recurring, and your establishment is able to accommodate this customer, expect them to be your best advertisement ever.

When you listen to your customers, they let you know what they want and how you can provide good service.

Customers are not always right, however they do appreciate honesty. Honesty is vital to good customer service

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Policy And Procedure Policy and procedure that all staff can follow is equally important. Your staff should know just how important customer satisfaction is; and that it is a directive from the top down.

You are in business to service customer needs, and you can only do that if you know what it is your customer’s want. When you listen to your customers, they let you know

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what they want and how you can provide good service. Customers are not always right, however they do appreciate honesty. Honesty is vital to good customer service. It is also important to remember that customers naturally seek out places where they won’t be belittled or brushed off, even for unusual requests.

Top Tips for Customer Service 1. Become a good listener: Identify

customer needs by asking questions and concentrating on what the customer is really saying. Beware of making assumptions and thinking you intuitively know what the customer wants. Do you know what three things are most important to your customer?

Effective listening and undivided attention are important, as you need to know this answer.

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Always ask for market feedback.

You may believe that your service is the best, but your clients will be happy to tell you honestly if this is not the case

even nothing was purchased?

What can you give customers that they wouldn’t unexpected?

8. Request feedback: Encourage and welcome suggestions about how you could improve. There are several ways in which you can find out what customers think and feel about your services: • Listen carefully to what they say and do not be afraid to question • Check back regularly to see how things are going • Provide a method that invites constructive criticism, comments and suggestions 9. Treat employees well: Treat your employees with respect and chances are they will have a higher regard for customers.

10. Put your customer service policy in writing: These principles should come from you, but every employee should know the rules are and live by them.

Something as simple as “Be honest with the customers” can suffice, although you may want to get more detailed to cover yourselves.

•

Always make yourself look like you are going above and beyond the call of duty for your client. Do not allow them to see your reluctance, or laziness

2.

3.

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Identify and anticipate needs: Customers don’t buy products or services.

They buy good feelings and solutions to problems.

Most customer needs are emotional rather than logical. The more you know your customers, the better you become at anticipating their needs. Communicate regularly so that you are aware of problems or upcoming needs.

Make customers feel important and appreciated byt asking their opinions: Treat them as individuals.

Always use their name and

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4.

5.

6.

7.

• •

find ways to compliment them, but be sincere.

People value sincerity. Thank them every time you get a chance. Your words and actions should be congruent.

Help customers understand your systems: Your may have the world’s best systems for getting things done, but if customers don’t understand them, they can get confused, impatient and angry.

Take time to explain how your systems work and how they simplify transactions. Systems should replace the human element though.

“Yes”: Always look for ways to help your customers. When they have a reasonable request say, “Yes” and figure out how to do it afterwards.

Look for ways to make doing business with you easy and never make promises you can’t keep.

Don’t be afraid to say sorry: When something goes wrong, apologise. It’s easy and customers like it. The customer may not always be right, but the customer must either understand the reasons behind a decision, or feel as though they have won. Make it simple for customers to complain.

As much as you may dislike it, it gives you an opportunity to improve.

Be a surprise: As the only way a business can survive is to keep customers happy, think of ways to ‘out-do’ the competition. Consider the following: What can you give customers that they cannot get elsewhere?

What can you do to follow-up and thank people

Finally, don’t forget to smile. Smiling shows that you are approachable; even if you are not face to face with your customer, ensure both yourself and all staff get into the habit of smiling; including when on the phone. Try it; you can ‘hear a smile’ as it naturally changes the tone of your voice, getting people to engage with you on an emotional level.

By implementing all of these points you will be able to actively anticipate what your customers want and get ahead of the competition. l

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THE PHILLIPS GROUP SPECIALIZING IN LEADERSHIP SOLUTIONS The Phillips Group is a boutique executive search firm specializing in placements in the MENA Region. From assisting Fortune 500 companies acquire and retain top performing senior executives or to advising leading Chief Executive Officers on developing their human capital, The Phillips Group has experience acquiring leadership talent from all four corners of the world.

WE ARE THE EXECUTIVE SEARCH SPECIALISTS. Call us now for high touch bespoke service if you are looking to hire the best in your industry.

M: +971 50 940 7537 T: + 971 4 352 2849 shane@tpgleadership.com www.tpgleadership.com

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