In partnership with
Telecommunication partner
INSURANCEfrom your Insurance What to Expect Consultant
TECHNOLOGY omenon
ISSUE
7
The BYOD Phen
PEOPLE
Office Injuries Most Common
Google Teams up with Astrolabs on its latest venture in Dubai Why do it Now?
Become an entrepreneur today
Starting Movements How to lead
The Legal Basics All Employers Should Know
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Publisher Liam Williams liam@flipflopmedia.ae Editorial Editor Tanya Selley tanya@flipflopmedia.ae +971 4 369 9063 Staff Writer Rachel Stracey info@flipflopmedia.ae
FROM THE EDITOR
FROM THE PUBLISHER
hat can I say…?!?! We are back!!!! After a long hiatus (following maternity leave and a new publisher), we are better than before! Our new look magazine still features everything you would expect from Business Insight; with expert advice, business tips from global business leaders and information on what you need to think of to take your business to the next level. We are your one-stop-shop for ideas when you start out in your business. This time round though, we have cranked it up a level. We still have the dedicated sections on ‘Money’, ‘Legal’, ‘People’ and ‘Technology’, but we now will be bringing you the latest information in ‘Telecoms’, advice on all matters ‘Property’ related, as well as information on how and where to get the best return on your investment on all your corporate ‘Travel and Hospitality’ matters. Our first issue won’t disappoint. We have everything from analysing, ‘Why do it Now?’ on page 6, which is an article to determine if now is the right time to live that dream and start your business, to ‘Let’s go Digital’, page 48, a guide to what you should be considering when you take your business digital. We found in writing this article, that Bring Your Own Device also known as BYOD, was such a huge mine field, that we gave it it’s own article, so turn to page 52 to make sure you know how to navigate it. If you turn to page 36, we give you a high brow overview of the ‘Legal Basics Every Employer Should Know’. Some of these are pretty shocking and were new to all of us, so if it sets your pulse racing, and stress levels rocket, read ‘Feel the Burn’ with Russell Hemmings as he lets you know the things to watch out before you hit the wall. Most exciting of all though, is the inside scoop that Business Insight Magazine have been given the first interview the founders of AstroLabs, the company which is bringing Google For Entrepreneurs to the Middle East, with their partnership, AstroLabs and Google For Entrepreneurs Tech Hub – the first of it’s kind in the MENA region. If you want to find out what this could mean for you, make sure you read our article on page 13 to find out…
elcome to the regions leading SME business magazine. We are very excited to be bringing you our new look to Business Insight, although it will still have all the latest news and products that the SME community need, including giving you the advice that you need to take your business forward. We have moved away slightly from the original format and have sought partnerships with business leaders globally to enable us to ensure that the information we provide comes only from the very best leaders. We are also thrilled to announce that we can now bring you more advice led content from many different areas of your business. We are extremely proud of the team’s collaboration to make this re-launch as exciting as it has been and I wish to thank all of our advertisers and partners for believing in us.
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Marketing Head of Marketing Harry Norman harry@flipflopmedia.ae +971 4 369 9062 Design design@flipflopmedia.ae +971 4 369 9063 circulation & Production Circulation and Distribution Manager Antonio de Marco circulationdm@flipflopmedia.ae +971 4 369 9063 Database and Circulation Manager Aaliya Khan databaseandcm@flipflopmedia.ae +971 4 369 9063 Production Manager Juan Vasquez productionmanager@flipflopmedia.ae +971 4 369 9063 Digital webmaster@flipflopmedia.ae Published by
Thanks
Liam Williams Publisher
Registered at Fujairah Free Zone PO Box 27634 Dubai, UAE Tel: +971 4 369 9063 Fax: +971 4 369 8989 www.flipflopmedia.ae printed by CMS Printing Press LLC © Copyright 2014 FlipFlop Media All rights reserved While the publisher have made every effort to ensure the accuracy of all information in this magazine, they will not be held responsible for any errors therein.
What more could a business leader of tomorrow wish
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.
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October 2014 | 3
FREE ZONE SUCCESS STARTS HERE Grow your business in Dubai and beyond by being part of the region's ultimate business hub. By setting up your company in the largest and fastest growing Free Zone in the UAE, you'll benefit from our innovative exchanges, trade finance solutions, flexible real estate offerings and legal and regulatory frameworks; which allows you to completely focus on conducting your business activities. This is why we won Best Free Zone in the World for SMEs at the fDi Global Free Zones of the Year Awards 2014.
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Contents 8
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16 19 22 24
26
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The Execs Wish List
Success Series Interview Caroline Jones, Director, Infopod
Success Series Interview Mohan Valrani, MD, Al Shirawi Group
Cash is King We help you understand Cashflow
The Midas Touch Jeffrey Rhodes, CEO of BTC, explains about gold and how to invest in it
The Most Common Injuries What to train staff on so you can avoid a costly court case
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Why Dubai? A look at what Dubai can offer the business community
14 It’s All in the Stars AstroLabs talk to us about their venture with Google for Entrepreneurs
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Why Do it Now? We talk about why is not the best time for you to take the plunge and work for yourself
Starting Movements How to become an effective team leader Going for Gold We explain how a Golden Visa can help entrepreneurs The Legal Basics All Employers Should Know Ludmila Yamalova explains all you need to be aware of
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48
50
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Let’s Go Digital A look at the things you need to consider when going digital
The Rise of the Machines A look at the things you need to consider when going digital
The BYOD Phenomenon What you should think of when allowing BYOD
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Tweeting your Way to Better Business A look at tweeting effectively All About Brands John Brash, CEO Brach Brands, explains its importance
What to Expect from you Insurance Consultant We explain what you service you should expect
Buy in Dubai Is now the right time for you to buy property in Dubai?
Detox to Success How detoxing will help you and the profitability of your business
The Artful Dollar Jim Wheat explains how art can impact your business
Feeling the Burn Russell Hemmings explains what you should look out for before hitting the wall Business Directory
70 Competitions
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FORESIGHT
Why do it now?
We all know the past few years have BEEN tough – Those of us who live in the UAE are still occasionally hearing stories of those who can’t pay their debts, but we can also feel the optimism in the air. Construction is everywhere. 2020 has illustrated the boom is most definitely back… So is now the best time to start your own business and capitalise on it?!
he indications are there that this is the perfect time to start. Abu Dhabi media freezone, TwoFour54 are launching initiatives for international entrepreneurs to become more competitive, whilst the DMCC in Dubai won Global Winner; fDi Global Free Zone of The Year for SME’s and this comes as no surprise. In H1 they registered 1,270 companies, a 30% rise of the same half in the previous year. Currently, the DMCC advise that they have an average of 200 companies join them every month. This equates to 6 companies a day of which 95% are completely new to Dubai. Since the recession started, people are acutely aware that the job market isn’t what it was once. Here in the UAE in March, youth unemployment (those aged 18-25) accounted for 8%, whilst in the UK, this figure stands at 16.9% and in the States, it’s 14.3%. These figures are huge and it illustrates that youth don’t believe that there is work for them, so instead, many are starting
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their own businesses. Which got us thinking, why aren’t others?! According to the Huffington Post, 543,000 new businesses are created every month in the United States. In the last 30 years, these SMEs have added a further 40 million jobs to the US economy. These numbers are staggering and growing daily. The reasons for this can vary. Some people cite that now-a-days, we have grown used to banks not lending to small business as they would have pre recession. SME’s have become very clever when it comes to financing, often self-financing or looking at other options to get the money they need. The Kauffman/LegalZoom survey published in December 2013 found that 86% of entrepreneurs used personal savings for funding in 2013, up from 66% in 2012. Other sources of funding were also being used. Credit Cards 16% (compared to 10% in 2013). 8.5% of people reported using their retirement fund (6.5% for 2013). All the while, only 6.5% used bank/remortgaging as their chosen route (4.5% in 2012).
Technology Advances in technology has helped the acceleration of this process. The young, old and everyone in between can quite literally work from home and set up a business in their bedroom. Look at what Steve Jobs achieved from his parents house. The onslaught of mobile computing, cloud technology, and cheap (and sometimes even free) online tools have enabled businesses to boom where they may otherwise have not. Social Media The boom in social media has enabled even those with the most basic grasp of self awareness, to suddenly become more aware. Everyone now understands that you want to look your best in front of others in the virtual world and everyone has learnt for free how to market themselves in the best possible light. This has jumped to the business world, where even the most computer illiterate person (but someone who has a Facebook account) is able to successfully market their business with no real over-heads, apart from the cost of their time. This compounded with the linkages that social media accounts can do to link together so one action works across several platforms, means even the time factor is dramatically reduced.
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FORESIGHT
Advertising Advertising can be free…ish. For example, Google Adwords means you can apply a tiny budget to produce an advert and you can wave goodbye to the Mad Men days of big billboard/TV and radio budgets, but focus entirely on your target market. We discuss Google as a Marketing Tool in more detail in our next issue. Office Location Here in the UAE, you can go for an actual office or a virtual office, so you too can work from the comfort of your bed if you so wish; Just remember to change into a shirt if you are conducting a skype meeting with partners! Globally, millions of small businesses are entirely virtual, run not from a physical office but from a laptop, tablet, smart phone and a set of mobile business apps. It gives flexibility to you and your staff. There are so many things to consider for this that we look into this in a whole separate article next month. A recent study of J2 Global mid year small business report found that 36% of small businesses use more than five mobile apps to run their businesses.
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Work on the Go Long gone are the times when you have the excuse of people not being able to contact you because you are on the tube/metro. Now-a-days, with WIFI hot spots, Skype and other virtual meeting hosts mean that you are able to operate your business fully from almost any coffee shop/gym/bar you wish to frequent. Locally Dubai, in it’s race to become the region’s premier digital city, has even swathed the whole Emaar Boulevard, Downtown with free Wi-Fi hosted by Du; what this means for entrepreneurs is that they can be more responsive to clients as they can literally connect with anyone, anywhere. And with tablets becoming big business in business, the business people of tomorrow state that they can imagine in a year, running their business entirely from a tablet (source j2 Global). Business Mentors Back in the day, the bank would play a large part in mentoring, by discussing the business plan and talking of options. Now though, thanks to the internet, there is a whole source of ideas that you can easily read up on to take your idea to the next level.
The DMCC advise that they have an average of 200 companies join them every month. This equates to 6 companies a day of which 95% are completely new to Dubai Networking opportunities are another great way to ingratiate yourself with the business community. People are always happy to shout about their achievements and let them, you can learn a great deal from their doing so! To maximise this opportunity though, research who is going and then decide whom you would most like to speak with. Don’t ignore anyone who talks to you though, you never know when they could help you in the future! If you can’t attend an event, read. Blogs, crowdsourcing and social media tools can all help you connect to your audience and get advice. Many people will offer to help too – all at the touch of a button. With all the help available at the touch of a button or on the phone, the question shouldn’t be, “Is now the best time to be an Entrepreneur?” The question should be, “Why aren’t you already living your dream?” n
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foresight
Why Dubai?!
When I am asked this question, I often think ‘Where do I start?’ probably as countless other expats have before me. Is it the tax free income, lifestyle and great weather? Having a hub with which to tap into the (highly) lucrative Middle Eastern market? Or, just the thought of the glitz and glamour; Ferrari cars and designer handbags? Quite possibly the answer would be all of the above…
hen we first moved to the UAE, both my husband and myself were very excited. We had both been here before, so we knew the shiny new Dubai and what it had in store for us. We were only going for two years… Two years on (to the day in fact when writing this), we just can’t imagine going home right now and have already started putting our names down for when our daughter is to start school in three years time. We are not alone though, Cerri McVittie, Life and Executive Coach, Your Absolute Life explains, “There is opportunity here and a healthy job market and growing economy. Dubai is the ideal place if you want to become an entrepreneur, as there is the means and support to set yourself up. The lifestyle is a big part of the attraction of Dubai too as it is nice to be able to enjoy the outdoor life in the cooler months as well as having every kind of entertainment right on your doorstep. With so much investment in Dubai there are new amenities opening all the time that are improving the lifestyle here.” So what makes Dubai so popular?
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Tax Free Initially, the main reason people want to come to the UAE is the tax-free income. The change in the law to foreign ownership means that many leading global companies have opened offices here, without fear of having to give substantial shares away in the process. This influx of foreign businesses has lead to an increase in excellent career opportunities with a tax-free income and gives an excellent opportunity of returning to your home country considerably richer. Economy and Location One of the reasons businesses and people are flocking to the UAE is the stable economy that is offered here and Dubai is widely considered as having one of the fastest growing economies in the world. The Dirham (AED) is the local currency and is pegged against the dollar which helps stabilise it. Currently the dirham hovers around 3.67 to the US$. Increasingly international businesses are coming here to set up their Middle Eastern Business arm. The stable government and
economy is the big draw enabling them to tap into the huge financial rewards by moving into the cash rich Middle Eastern market. Virtual meetings arranged from here are also easier. “One of great advantages of Dubai is a super convenient time zone in not only for conducting business but also reaching hundreds of active business destinations within 1 to 6 hours. A typical day for a constructively busy entrepreneur in Dubai sees him getting 7-8 hours sleep every day say between 11pm to 7am, so the whole day in the life of a Dubai businessman, gives him access to check on his deals on the east coast, say good evenings to all his associates in Vancouver and Hellos to his business partners in Singapore and Tokyo while working a whole day in the Middle East, South Asia, Russia and Europe,” says as Sudhaker Tomar, Managing Director of Hakan Foods. Travel to and from the UAE is easy. Only 7 hours away from both the UK and Hong Kong it is unsurprising that Dubai International Airport is the world’s second busiest airport with an increase in passengers travelling
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foresight
Dubai brings with it a promise of opulence, glitz and glamour and if the truth be told, it lives up to this promise
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foresight
through it by 15.3% in 2013; Emirates Airlines alone fly to 142 destinations across 78 countries. Forward Thinking Dubai, and its citizen’s (both expat and Emirati) are surprisingly very forward thinking. This shouldn’t be a surprise when you think about Dubai’s meteoric rise to move away from a reliance on oil to become a financial powerhouse in literally just 20 years; forward thinking is its culture. Everyone is looking for new opportunities. You can meet people in Dubai that you would only ever dream of meeting back in the UK – And everyone wants the same thing - To prosper. Multicultural Being in the main, a Mediterranean mongrel myself and brought up in England, I have always considered England as multicultural, but even I have to admit the UAE blows this out of the window. Recently, the UN commented that both the UAE and the UK have something in common – The fact that both countries accommodate 7.8million migrants. In the UAE, this accounts for over 200 nationalities in the labour force. This is a huge number especially when you consider that Dubai’s Emirati population is between 10% and 15% (the national average hovers around 20%). The Lifestyle Dubai brings with it a promise of opulence, glitz and glamour and if the truth be told, it lives up to this promise. With car finance so cheap here, plus the cost of petrol being so reasonable, you can really very comfortably afford to run that Porsche you have always wanted, whilst the very good (clean) infrastructure will make you look very differently to the roads and trains back at home. The year round sunshine, means you are outside a lot. Joining a beach club is not unusual and with staff to cater your every whim, you are very well looked after. There are also numerous free beaches that you can enjoy and during the winter months, parks are full with people Bar-B-Qing or picnicking. During high summer though, things take a different turn. The heat and humidity mean that you don’t want to spend much time in the sunshine. With the air conditioning, you really don’t feel the heat though as you go from the air-conditioned car to the air-conditioned mall/hotel/sports facility. With luxurious cinemas, ice skating, indoor parachuting experiences and a full size ski slope, with real snow (yup, you really can learn to ski in Dubai when the temperature
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The change in the law to foreign ownership means that many leading global companies have opened offices here. This influx of foreign businesses has lead to an increase in excellent career opportunities with a tax-free income
can peak at 49 degrees), keeping the little ones occupied during the summer isn’t difficult. Restaurants and Bars We have all come here for one main reason and that is to earn money, so the culture in Dubai is very much work hard, play harder. There are great rewards for putting in a lot of effort, so down time is especially important, and this means Dubai’s bars and restaurants are virtually always full. Almost every type of food is available, and if you don’t want to go out, everywhere delivers too. Being Without Family and Friends I’m not going to lie, this can be tough initially, but surprisingly easily to get over once you are immersed in work and meeting new people. No one wants to leave their loved ones behind, but because the majority of the population is expat, and therefore has been in the same situation as you, everyone will go the extra mile to help you out and invite you out. It is astonishing how quickly good friendships are formed. Another worry for those with kids can be how will they survive without the additional help and support a lot of them get from their family and friends at home – especially when they will be working so hard and trying to forge a new life for them and their family, other areas of life could slip. Most people in the UAE, either employ a maid full time, or have a part time maid regularly work at their home. A survey conducted by Gulf News in 2011 stated that 94% of children, ‘Are raised
by Nannies’. However, all families are in need extra help. Hours at work can be long, and (the private) schooling that is offered often falls short of the typical working day. Unsurprisingly, parents want someone that their child knows and they trust to watch over them. Ordinarily, in your home country you could fall back on family to help but here you don’t have that luxury, so you look elsewhere. The cost of employing a full time Nanny/ Maid is typically set by their home country government and is affordable as this tends to be a little in comparison to the western way of thinking. For us, our parents are only just coming around to the idea that we won’t be returning in the near future, we have far too much to be getting on with here. n
The UAE
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The UAE is the No.1 Middle Eastern country on the 2014 Prosperity Index and 28th globally The working week is typically between 40 and 48 hours The weekend is Friday and Saturday English is commonly spoken. All signs are in English and it is very uncommon to find people of any nationality, that don’t speak English. Unemployment is below 2%. National Service has been made compulsory for Emirati’s in a bid to lower this even further There are 69 shopping malls in Dubai with another 8 under construction Sport events include Dubai World Cup (horse racing), the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix (racing), the World Parachute Championships The UAE is very liberal and readily accepts other religions and cultures Expats from over 150 countries make up 85% of the population
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foresight
execs wish list We are all in business to earn money so in our wish list, we show you how to spend it with style...
Carolina herrera POA
The Worlds Finest Money Clip Exclusively available from DG Golf General Trading LLC www.dggolfdubai.com
STD BRIEFCASE CBL AED 7,715
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STD ELYSEE BP MATT PLACED LACQUER AED 2,685
Colonia Leather 100ml AED 705
October 2014 | 13
foresight
It’s all in the stars The big business news in Dubai was that Google for Entrepreneurs (GFE) is coming! “What is GFE? How will this help me?” I hear you ask… Business Insight has been given an exclusive interview with Louis Lebbos and Michelle Joseph of AstroLabs, the chosen partner of GFE, to bring you the inside scoop on what this means for business in the UAE.
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The space will offer entrepreneurs the platform and resources to create and develop their business. We’re codesigning a Device Lab with Google so we can equip our startups with the most advanced mobile development tools” Louis Lebbos
hile Dubai already has its share of coworking spaces, Google for Entrepreneurs has chosen AstroLabs Dubai to be the newest member of its global Tech Hub network, making it the first Google-partnered Tech Hub throughout the Middle East and North Africa. So what makes this coworking space differ from any other? “In part, we’re building from experience. We first launched AstroLabs to tackle some of the problems we confronted while running Namshi.com, the e-commerce fashion website. We’re trying to close these gaps by reconstructing the startup ecosystem and providing tangible support to entrepreneurs, both with the physical space itself and with formal training programs,“ said Lebbos. Clearly it is working. AstroLabs has already built one of the largest networks of high-growth startups in the MENA region. In the past year, their flagship ‘Scaling Online Startups’ acceleration program has trained the founders of over 100 different
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startups in cities across the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, and Lebanon. Alumni of the program have gone on to raise over USD 20 million in funding and create hundreds of jobs. Collaboration There has been a noticeable shift towards encouraging collaboration, especially in creative work. “It’s rooted in the belief that major discovery moments are often triggered by chance encounters and spontaneous exchanges. As a result, we’re seeing some of the world’s most innovative companies incorporate these elements into the architecture of the workplace,” explains Joseph, “Steve Jobs famously planned Pixar’s headquarters around the central atrium and included just one set of restrooms so that members of different departments would literally bump into each other. Tony Hsieh, CEO of online retailer Zappos, says he designed their new headquarters in downtown Las Vegas to maximise ‘Return on Collision,’ even at the expense of convenience. He actually closed off the sky-
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bridge connecting the parking garage to their office building so that employees have to interact with pedestrians along the way to work. In fact Google, which says Gmail and Street View were the product of casual employee conversations, is aiming to maximise creative collisions in designing its new headquarters. Allegedly, every worker in the new 1.1 million-square-foot office will be within a 2.5 minute walk from each other.” It is this that AstroLabs Dubai are recreating. “We try to foster moments of serendipity without forcing them; we’ve put a lot of thought into designing spaces and scenarios that allow these exchanges to occur organically. You might strike up an interesting conversation while sitting at the communal table in our café. Or maybe you’ll schedule your next meeting as a walk-and-talk around the park outside,” adds Joseph. Regardless of how it is done, they want to create these opportunities, but real collaboration demands participation. “It’s what Brad Feld writes about in Startup Communities: the ‘Give Before You Get’ mentality. We saw this firsthand in our Scaling Online Startups (SOS) workshops. Beyond the content, these really worked because we created an environment where founders were willing to share their successes and failures and were open to learning from one another,” Lebbos says. Training and Development The SOS workshops were the beginning of AstroLabs, and that
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Major discovery moments are often triggered by chance encounters and spontaneous exchanges”
Michelle Joseph
educational element remains at the root of everything they are building, and so the training room will be at the core of their space. “We obviously want to give our startups great coffee and internet, the latest technology, and a comfortable environment to work in, but we also want to provide them with functional support and tactical skills that they can take with them when they grow out of our space,” proclaims Lebbos. Through their AstroLabs Academy programs, resident startups will have the chance to learn from in-house experts in UX design, digital marketing, web development, and operational optimisation. Lebbos continues, “The learning element helps startups develop. We plan on offering a range of content, from short but high impact training workshops to longer, fully immersive programs.” Bias To Action Experimentation is an integral part of that development process. Startups all too frequently get stuck in neutral at the planning stage, but action is needed. “We truly believe we’re at the forefront of change in the region. With the evolution of e-commerce, the highest smartphone penetration in the world, and among the highest levels of social media engagement, the conditions are ripe for innovation,” says Joseph. “The space will offer entrepreneurs the platform and resources to create and develop their business. We’re co-designing a Device Lab with Google so we can equip our startups with the most advanced mobile development tools,” promises Lebbos.
Joseph continues, “Beyond that, we’re also keeping the human-element top of mind. With 90% of Dubai’s population coming from other countries, our startups will get exposure to a truly cosmopolitan city and its diversity of opinion. And with one-third of the entire world’s population – that’s 2 billion people - within a four-hour flight, they’ll have unparalleled access to emerging markets.” Network Effects Throughout Business Insight, you will read that all entrepreneurs need a support system to fall back on. Lebbos and Joseph are no strangers to this notion, as Lebbos says, “Our partnerships are vital. As part of the Google for Entrepreneurs Tech Hub network, our startups will be able to connect with other hubs worldwide and even work out of their spaces while traveling. Earlier this year, each Tech Hub was able to send its top startup to Silicon Valley to pitch at Demo Day, something we hope AstroLabs Dubai will participate in next year.” Joseph continues, “By collaborating with the DMCC, we’re able to offer our startups subsidised and fast-tracked company licensing through a single point of contact. And the free zone itself affords startups the flexibility to hire talent from anywhere in the world while enjoying tax-free status and maintaining full foreign ownership.” With all these sorts of promises, we can’t wait for AstroLabs to open early next year and check it out for ourselves! n
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success
Caroline Jones Director, Infopod
Interview:
Caroline Jones
Our Success Series is a chance to ask business leaders the secrets of their success and the lessons that they have learnt - so you don’t have to learn the hard way. We met with Caroline Jones, Director of InfoPod to find out about how she came up with her business idea, and the problems she has encountered along her journey…
three answers: 1. Help yourself door to door. 2. You can leave a pile at reception. 3. Not at all. Most of the buildings were concerned with the potential mess, not to mention the security risk of unknown individuals accessing the private residential areas,” she states pointedly. Thus InfoPod was born; A premium, professionally managed service, that enables local and global companies to market themselves directly to the consumer, all-thewhile ensuring that buildings are kept tidy and that residents have access to neatly presented, current literature. This is (unsurprisingly) a concept that construction and property management companies love the idea of too, “I am delighted to have just installed the 100th InfoPod with many more in the pipeline,” explains Jones with a grin. What have been your celebratory moments? With her business in 2 parts; the buildings installing InfoPods and the
advertisers using the pods, she is as understandably proud of when she won her first contract with a building for her InfoPods – Just as much as she is of securing her first long term advertising client, “It was exciting when InfoPod reached a size where large household names began to incorporate the service in their annual marketing plans.” From a starting point of 8 InfoPod locations to the current 100, Jones’s tenacity and determination to make this work is clear whilst explaining the time and patience it has taken her to reach this stage,
You never know when you could meet the right person who will want to invest in you”
“So how is it all going?” I asked Caroline Jones: “InfoPod is going very well! I had some key objectives to reach and most of these have been achieved. I have succeeded in maintaining the growth of the InfoPod network across Dubai, as well as increasing the awareness of the service and the volume of clients working regularly with us,” she says with a smile. And she should be smiling. Jones has been on an increasing trajectory ever since her graduation from Kings College London, gaining a variety of experience that, although a far cry from running her own marketing business, has stood her in good stead to lead her business; A Regional Sales Manager for a leading medical devices company, Executive Search in London and three years relocation work in Dubai has honed her sales and people skills which, when coupled with a great business concept and her professional ambition, has led her to the position she now finds herself in with InfoPod. “The idea for InfoPod came from hearing of a friend’s experience trying to promote her business in JLT with a flyer campaign. When she approached buildings, she received one of
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success
People are willing to share experiences and offer advice or suggestions on how to improve the business”
“Only by keeping at it and not caving at the first, second or third obstacle,” is she achieving the results she seeks. Securing investment in 2013 was also a major milestone for InfoPod. It has enabled the business to grow more quickly than had this injection of capital not happened. As well as the financial benefits, Jones now also has a valuable sounding board in her investor for major decisions as the business develops. How did you go about finding an investor? Caroline considers herself to have been lucky in finding her investor through a personal introduction, but is clear that there are lots of options out there for other businesses and she would have just kept looking, “You never know when you could meet the right person who will want to invest in you. Networking events are huge and can be worthwhile if you are prepared to put the effort in. Speak to everyone. I
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have friends who have found investment at networking events, others from Business Angels and some from family members.” But don’t be surprised that it feels differently after you get the investment, “Getting an investor was definitely the biggest step I made business wise. But it does make you feel slightly differently than before. I was suddenly aware that there was now someone else who is relying on me to bring in results so there is a different type of pressure…” she explains smiling. What should businesses do to market themselves? “Planning ahead is the key and by targeting the right sector at the optimum time will get the results. We find nothing beats getting on the phone, introducing the service and ensuring thereafter, a consistent and appropriate follow up. This combined with referrals from satisfied clients, and general word of mouth amongst businesses is how we have secured all our contracts.” She suggests thinking like your target audience and determine when in the business calendar would be the best time to approach them, and make sure you contact them then.
“I wouldn’t cut my marketing budget if I was in a financial squeeze. I include cushions in my business plan against anticipated revenue to negate these possible issues,” explains Caroline. “We really feel it when someone is out of the office - the sales drop off. I need to understand this, understand what’s coming in and what is going out of the business. A business plan should be revised regularly. Your Profit and Loss (P&L) accounts are your life blood and need constant reviewing.” What has been you biggest challenge? Again, Caroline looks thoughtful, “Getting the right team working with me to represent InfoPod has been critical. There have been several hurdles and learning experiences along the way but I have a very solid team now who do a great job. Long may this continue!” What is your one piece of standout advice? Easily, Jones explains, “Before having my own business in Dubai, I underestimated the power and benefits of networking. I am not sure if Dubai is unique on this front, but I have always found that people are willing to share experiences and offer advice or suggestions on how to improve the business. Entrepreneurs help each other with client contact’s, business leads and ideas so I would always recommend listening to what people have to say. It may not be right for you but on the other hand, you may just come across some advice that is highly relevant and leads to great things!” n
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Announcing AstroLabs Dubai
2 billion people 4½ hours away The premier tech startup hub to access emerging markets
Success
Mohan Valrani
Senior Vice-Chairman and Managing Director, Al Shirawi Group hat can I say about Mohan Valrani…? Really, no introduction is necessary, and certainly non can summarise the achievements better than Forbes, who have placed him at number 10 in their Top 100 Indian Leaders in the UAE. His achievements are phenomenal. His highly successful partnership with the Al Shirawi Group started in 1971 and now he is viewed as the 33rd Most Powerful Indian by Arabian Business in the whole of the Gulf region. This is accolade enough but the basics speak for themselves. Mohan Valrani leads 7,000 employees of which, rather astonishingly, 20% of whom are MBA holders in over 29 diversified companies. Very impressive I think you would agree…?!
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How did you come to Dubai? I came over with a promise for my uncle; to develop the family business and become successful. I come from a family of entrepreneurs. Business is in our blood. When I first came to Dubai, I had only a few dollars in my pocket, but I did have the promise of a good job in the textile trade. Living conditions were harsh. Sadly, when I arrived, there was not as much to do as there is now. Also, despite the fact that there were many Indians living here, there was not the sense of community that there is now. I felt rather lonely at times. This is why I provided some of the impetus and
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the idea of community took off. Hopefully, it is easier for everyone now. Dubai back then was a small city in those days, but I had the very good fortune of meeting Abdullha Al Shirawi who helped me climb onwards and upwards. It was in 1971 that we set up a partnership that has lasted to this day - all those years! The partnership is based on mutual trust and faith in each other and now, with our families taking over, with them too; This partnership continues to flourish even after our business empire has been passed onto the second generation. Together we have built a big business conglomerate; brick by brick. Surely this has been difficult at times? Certainly. It has it’s good times and it’s bad times; we have weathered the storms and rode the waves crests, but throughout it all, we always strive to do this in harmony and will always have mutual respect for the opinions of others. I truely believe that this is a vital ingredient if you are to make a success of your business partnership. You are known as family man, does this mean you will return to India? No! My family are all here; My wife, sons and their wives. Not to mention the growing tribe of grandchildren. We all feel completely at home in Dubai and have done for many many years now. I intend to
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success
The preparation for the transition of management to the second generation has been ongoing for over 10 years. I am now very very confident that that the second generation are well prepared to deal with all the challenging environments that are likely to come their way�
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keep my main home here surrounded by my family and friends. What are the prospects for the Al Shirawi group now that the second generation is taking control? The preparation for the transition of management to the second generation has been ongoing for over 10 years. I am now very very confident that that the second generation are well prepared to deal with all the challenging environments that are likely to come their way. Each member has specific management responsibilities within our group and we have directed their education and training towards an active participation in the group. They have also learnt that it is important to build their own teams that they can rely on and are therefore supported by them. It should also be noted that as a company we only hire the best people and therefore all of their support comes from the most competent of people.
Because of this, I am very confident in their ability to carry on and develop the business long after I retire. My role is changing; I am now more of a father figure and mentor to the business, so you could say that this is slowly taking place. The future is already in safe and capable hands. Do you think having a family of entrepreneurs has helped? I certainly believe that a child who grows up in a business environment is more likely to show an interest in it at a later age, so yes, I would presume that this is an advantage. Do you believe you would have achieved your success without your partnership? This is tough as I cannot see where I would have taken another road. We are very lucky as we are now classed as “one of the most financially formidable entities� and this was even how we were spoken about during the economic crisis. I believe that
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SUCCESS
I have Been quick to form decisions in business matters. Not autocratically though. But this does means that I do not wait when there is trouble brewing. I get in and deal with it immediately�
a successful partnership enables this, as our trust in each other means that we can make the correct decisions for the company. Would you say money is important? Money is important to business however, both how you make it and what you do with it matters just as much. You have to be very careful to balance the books. Also, the acquisition of wealth through honest industry, whilst providing employment and sustenance to others is something that should not be taken lightly. Money has empowered me to be able to do the things that truly matter. I am actively involved in supporting the noble cause of the Rashid Pediatric Centre for Children with Special Needs as well as many many more noble charities. Would I have been in a position to help as I can now had I have not worked so hard in my lifetime, no one knows. We all know that being in business can be tough, with many competitors trying to take away your share.
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What do you believe sets you apart from the rest? Being a family run business as ours means we can offer flexibility and quick reaction to change which is normally found only in the SME environment. With us, we have a collegiate process, quick identification of the problem, immediately followed with the response as to how it will be dealt with; all on a consensual basis at board level. Personally, I have also been quick to form decisions in business matters. Not autocratically though. But this does means that I do not wait when there is trouble brewing. I get in and deal with it immediately. Have you achieved all that you would like in business? I am not yet satisfied, although I have now achieved a wonderful state of contentedness. I just feel that there
is more for me to give. It may be that I start to travel more, or I may look at a new piece of business. Whatever it is, I am now able to start each day with a spring in my step; some achievement for a man of my age! What’s the one piece of standout advice that you have learnt and would like to impart on other entrepreneurs? During the crisis we were fortunate enough to have spotted this and prepared ourselves immediately, so quite early in 2008, when it appeared to me that the property frenzy was at its height, we had already formulated a contingency plan for the rapid withdrawal from the vulnerable sectors of the economy. Therefore, always look to the future and trust your instincts; they are likely to be correct. In your business plan, formulate ideas for all eventualities and have contingency plan for each of these also. n
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MONEY
Cash is King
Cashflow is critical to the success for a small or medium sized business. Your business survival depends on it. We explain what cashflow is, how it impacts on profits, and include tips on how to improve it.
veryone thinks they know the principles about balancing their books, but the figures suggest otherwise. Equifax reported that 66% of new start up businesses will only survive two years, 44% survive four years, and just 31% survive for at least 7 years. Insufficient capital is one of the main reasons for small business failure, coupled with lack of experience, poor location, poor inventory management and over-investment in fixed assets.
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Hazards of Poor Cashflow Management Knowing your company’s exact cashflow is essential, and if it is not under your control, you risk: • Not being able to execute your business plan, purchase supplies, pay your staff or invest in marketing etc. • Not being able to pay your suppliers on time, threatening your entire supply chain • Ultimately, stunting the growth of your company
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What is Cashflow? Cashflow is the movement of funds in and out of your business that should be reviewed weekly, monthly or quarterly. There are two kinds of cashflows: 1. Positive cashflow: Accounts Receivable etc., is higher than the amount of the cash leaving your businesses through accounts payable, monthly expenses, salaries, etc. 2. Negative cashflow: This is when the outflow of cash is greater than incoming cash. To remedy this, you have to be strict and proactive in your procedures. To fully understand your Cashflow, you must constantly analyse and manage it to effectively control the inflow and outflow of cash. Achieve this by viewing your cashflow budgets as a ‘living’ document and undertaking regular cashflow analysis to ensure you have enough cash each month to cover your obligations. Salvos Advisors have a free cashflow worksheet you can download and use for this purpose – www.salvusadvisors.com. In addition, most
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MONEY
66% of new start up businesses will only survive two years, 44% survive four years, and just 31% survive for at least 7 years” Equifax
accounting software packages geared to small or mid-sized businesses, such as QuickBooks, will help you to produce a cashflow statement. Profit v Cashflow Don’t be mistaken; profit does not equal cashflow. Many factors establish Cashflow, including accounts receivable, inventory, accounts payable, capital expenditures and debtors. Focus on each of these drivers of cash, in addition to your profit or loss. Invoicing a customer for products (or services sold to them) creates revenue, but it is actually collecting the money on the invoice creates cash. A positive cashflow is needed to generate profits; which you have once you have paid your employees and suppliers. Creating Growth You need to actively structure your business to have a positive Cashflow and for your business to grow and profit. Remember though, that growing your business places a huge demand on cash before achieving higher revenue and profits from successful growth. Take proactive steps like investing in accounting software, taking a course, hiring a management consultant and/or specialist training to understand where
Upselling to existing customers is cheaper. Analyse what they’re buying and why
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the money is made or lost at any given point between your current and future position. Be careful not to grow too quickly as this will put more pressure on your finances. Plan for growth and related cash outlays in advance, so you don’t threaten your current business structure. For example, if you want to move into bigger premises, ask yourself if you can sufficiently pay for: • Quarterly rent in advance, deposit and monthly bills • Telecommunications infrastructure • Office insurance • New furniture and equipment • Fees for amendment to trading license • New staff salaries and visa costs Collect Receivables To make sure you get paid as soon as possible, you need to have a proactive process in place. Don’t just send out invoices and hope clients will pay – It is unlikely they will. Consider: • Avoiding extending credit unless you have 3-6 months worth of outgoings in your account • Offering discounts to customers if they pay bills quickly • Asking new clients to prepay or request cash on delivery (COD), to establish their account with you • Always, implement structured payment plans where credit terms are offered. Ask customers to pay with post-dated cheques so you know when the cash will be received Tightening Credit Requirements Do your research beforehand to determine the risk of extending credit to each customer. Can they pay their bills on time? Ask new customers to fill out a credit application, check references and make a decision accordingly. Accept credit cards. This will cost you a percentage,
generally 2-5% of the sale, but you will be paid on time. Increasing Sales New customer acquisition is essential to a growing business, but it can take time and money to convert prospects into sales. Upselling to existing customers is cheaper. Analyse what they’re buying and why, but be careful when increasing sales and incurring unbudgeted costs; your sales team doesn’t need to be seeing a client on a sale which wouldn’t be double their time costs. Keep control of this! Pricing Discounts You can offer your customers discounts for paying early. This may slightly reduce your profit margin but it will help your cashflow by incentivising customers to make payments earlier. You may also take advantage of this with suppliers and others that you owe. Getting Control Back Financial experts suggest asking yourself the following two questions to determine if you have your business cashflow under control: 1. What is my current cash balance right now? 2. Where do I expect my cash balance to be six months from now? If you cannot answer these two questions your cash flow isn’t under control. Remedy this is by tracking your cashflow results every month to determine if your company spending is needed. Finally, spend regular time working with your cashflow ‘budget/actual’ documents to move forward with your business. This approach is the difference between starting your business and running your business. n
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MONEY
The Midas Touch With Dubai being smack bang in the middle of the gold universe, it made complete sense for us to talk about gold, look at what the expectations are for the future, how the Chinese are storming ahead with their gold market, what this means for the market, why you should have it in your portfolio, and how the average person can invest in it.
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n our article we talk to Jeffrey Rhodes CEO of BTC (a division of New Egypt Gold), who wants to take the Dubai Good Delivery standard to Egypt. Also known as ‘The Man with the Midas Touch’, we interview him to find out more.
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There are lots of changes especially with what is happening in China. What is the impact of this? In 2008 when the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) hit banks stopped trusting other banks due
to credit fears, and importantly the bullion banks that provided derivatives structures to clients, found it difficult to hedge their risks as liquidity in longer dated forwards and options dried up. Since then, the “Holy Grail” has been to take the flexibility of Over-The-Counter (OTC) markets in terms of contract size and maturity dates, onto a regulated exchange. A number of the world’s major exchanges have been leading the way in finding a solution, including the Shanghai Gold Exchange, and the DGCE (Dubai Gold and Commodity
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MONEY
There are lots of speculators that are sitting long (between $1500 and $1600) because, having been to $1900 it looked cheap... It doesn’t look so cheap anymore”
Exchange). One major benefit of centralised clearing of OTC trades is the netting effect that mitigates settlement risk. For example, if XYZ Bank buys $100million of gold in the OTC market from one group of clients or fellow banks on a bilateral basis for spot value and sells $100million of gold to another group of clients or banks for the same value date, XYZ Bank will have $200mil of settlement risk. If the same trades were to be novated onto and cleared on a regulated exchange the settlement risk would be zero. The second is the heightened levels of market oversight and regulation that is typical of futures exchanges compared to the OTC market place. We are in a bear market at the moment, what is the affect of the festival season on Gold? People in Asia (bearing in mind that Asia starts in Istanbul and goes to Tokyo), have a traditional affinity with gold, that as much as 75% of annual physical gold demand comes
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from Asia. Gold is seasonal with Q4 typically the best period as it contains Diwali, the Indian wedding season, Eid Al Adha, (a major gold buying season in the Middle East), Christmas and the New Year. Here in Dubai, I think you are going to see a pretty decent end to the year with a strong physical market in the local gold souks servicing the Indian sub-Continent and the GCC. What does this mean to the global market? Physical buyers and sellers never drive the gold price but rather tend to slow declines and enhance rallies. Gold today is much more about investment inflows and outflows and speculative activity. The overwhelming feeling at the moment, against the background of a strong US dollar and ever-improving US economy, is that the price of gold won’t be going higher any time soon. The easy money era, that begun in the wake of the GFC in 2008, stops in October as the Fed’s bond-buying program officially ends. Just as soon as economic data justifies it, the Fed will act to raise interest rates. The whole essence of the bull market in gold was based on global negative real interest
rates. Contrary to popular opinion, gold does have an interest rate which typically does not exceed about 1%p.a. Whereas you can easily see dollar interest rates move back up towards 3% and higher when the rate increases return. The outlook, therefore, is pretty negative for gold, although I don’t believe the market will crash given the strength of physical buying from Asia. We are likely to see gold grind slowly lower over the coming months with occasional short covering spikes as speculative selling becomes overextended. So what should people do who are invested in gold? Unfortunately you should strategically plan for lower gold prices, not higher. Going back just a few weeks, we had the most dangerous situation Europe has seen since the Second World War in Ukraine, and increasing tensions in the Middle East. Against this backdrop gold’s safe haven status should have driven prices towards $1,400, but it didn’t happen as willing sellers more than matched safe haven bids. Now we are below $1,200 and I am
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money
The concept of taking the flexibility of OTC and putting it on a regulated exchange became attractive because you would be mitigating exposure” afraid that it is a case of managing the downside, and adopting a wait and hold approach, using the expected short covering spikes to “lighten the load”, replace at lower levels. What does this all mean? Is gold still a safe haven asset? What this means is that for some time gold had been between a rock and a hard place. Something had to give and geopolitical tensions (unless the escalate into something much bigger) do tend to go away, whereas the the most important longer term influence on the gold price is the direction of the US dollar, The greenback, has surged to a four-year high and with the Dow Jones has posting record highs, I can’t really see what can come along to drive gold higher – other than short covering spikes in a bear market. That said, you might well find for the next 12 months, gold trades in a relatively narrow range bounded by long-term technical support in place between $1100 and $1050 and overhead resistance located between $1400 and $1500. I don’t see any dramatic moves,
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but do feel that the price will trend gently lower. Is this a price correction in a bull market? No. If you look at the long term MACD (Moving Average Convergence Divergence), there was a clear sell signal posted when gold penetrated $1800 in January 2012. There are a lot of players that are sitting long (between $1500 and $1600) because, having been to $1900 it looked cheap... It doesn’t look so cheap anymore. I don’t think in my lifetime, I will ever see that high again. How can the average person buy gold? Living in this part of the world my view has always been that the best way to buy gold is physically. Dubai is the easiest and cheapest place to buy physical gold. Very simple, low markup Indian type jewellery is a great way to buy gold. If you want to cash in your gold, in Dubai you will always get close to 100% of the pure gold value. The reason I think jewellery – despite it being slightly more
Look at gold as an insurance policy for your wealth. Put in 5-10% of your wealth in gold”
expensive than bars, is that you can wear it. Not just keep it in your safe. Yes, there are ETFs (Exchange Traded Funds) and a lot of people do like using this investment vehicle in the precious metal industry. There are also gold mining shares, but exposure to the gold price is diluted by geographic and management risk, so it is not on my top 5 ways of buying gold. Alternatively, if you want to play the markets, you can use futures contracts such as those on the DGCX. How would you approach buying gold? In terms of investment, the right way to look at gold is as your insurance policy. You insure your health, car, house etc. Look at gold as an insurance policy for your wealth. Put in 5-10% of your wealth in gold, it will inoculate you and protect you against problems with the rest of your portfolio. It takes away the speculative element of wealth. You could buy gold on a regular basis, or on birthdays, anniversaries etc. Try to keep that kind of percentage of your portfolio below 10%. The safer the market, go closer to 5%. If things look risky to you, go higher. Don’t worry about trying to pick highs and lows of gold prices. If you go in at a regular basis, you will get a good average anyway. Dubai is the cheapest place to buy gold and gold jewellery, and it is the best to redeem it. What is the one thing you would advise people who want to purchase gold? Know your supplier. Stick to the high street and not the back street. n
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people
The Most Common Office Injuries
by Kha Marham
Workplace health and safety hazards can be costly – In both your staff life and also your company bottom line when you take into account lost productivity that occurs during your employee absence. The good news is that most injuries are largely preventable if you take the right precautions. Here are our (not so fabulous) top four office injuries and tips for prevention that we recommend you build into a training programme to ensure you staff safety HAZARD: 1. Falling over Falling over is the most common office accident, which also causes the highest number of disabling injuries. Be wary of; objects left out to trip on, furniture that is not well maintained, loose carpeting or flooring and unsecured electrical cords, using a chair as opposed to a ladder, wet floors and open draws. The only way to really prevent these injuries is to train your staff to act on the following; ll Stop running in the office ll Always close drawers completely after each use ll Always use a ladder and not a chair for reaching ll Avoid excessive bending, twisting or leaning backwards while seated
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Wear stable, sensible shoes at work Always tie together loose cables and bring the employee’s attention to these areas (and wet floors) through hazard notices
HAZARD: 2. Lifting Any kind of lifting can lead to debilitating injuries in the back, neck and shoulders. There are ways in which to lift properly and these should be taught to all staff. Train your staff on how to lift objects properly and record that they have been trained ll Look at the object to lift; if you have any doubt that it is too heavy or cumbersome, ask for help
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people
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Position your hips and feet toward the object you are lifting or moving Maintain the natural curves of the neck, upper and lower back while lifting Store materials at knee level, not on the floor Avoid carrying heavy objects for long distances; Use a trolley to move heavy objects Squat and stand to pick up from the floor - Don’t ‘twist’ your body when lifting Push, don’t pull. Pulling forces the back into a forward, bending position. The correct way to lift is by keeping your back straight and pushing on your legs until you are in a standing position
HAZARD: 3. Clumsiness Offices can often be very full with cluttered desks that will spill onto the floors, causing people to slip up or catch their legs by walking into desks, filing cabinets etc. Also, it is not unknown for long hair and jewellery to get caught in office machines. Reiterate to your staff that they need to pay attention to their surroundings. As the employer, you should walk around looking to see if there is anything that you will step on, or walk into. If there is, have the culprit move them. Also, make it a company policy that staff should not wear excessive or inappropriate jewellery to the office and any ties should be tucked into their belt. This includes: ll Dangling or hoop earrings ll Long chains or necklaces ll Loose fitting bracelets ll Large / chunky rings
wrists permanently positioned at a bad angle for typing, etc. These factors can result in musculoskeletal problems of the neck, shoulders and back, poor posture, eyestrain, Computer Vision Syndrome (CVS) and carpal tunnel. Ensure that staff workstations are correctly set up and they are trained to; ll Take breaks and move around frequently ll Look away from your computer screen for 30 seconds every 10 minutes ll Get up to stretch every half hour. This will help to take some of the strain away and reduce your risk of being injured from making repetitive movements (such as typing) without a rest First Aid Every company will, at some time or another, have to deal with first aid emergencies. Even in workplaces that seem safe many types of emergencies can happen. Not only is it mandatory in the UAE to have a qualified first aider for every one hundred employees but it is critical to be prepared at all times to quickly and effectively deal with these situations. There are many benefits of first aid. First aid can: ll Save lives (in the case of seriously injured or ill persons) ll Reduce the chance of permanent damage (for example, prompt flushing of the eyes with water after a chemical splash can prevent
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blindness) help prevent an injury from becoming more serious (for example, cleaning and bandaging a cut can help prevent infection and further problems) Minimise the length and extent of medical treatment Reduce lost time from work Minimise risk of potential legal action if a first aider is not present to assist
Training employees in first aid also has its benefits. For example, research shows that people trained in first aid have fewer and less severe accidents, both on and off the job, than untrained people. Ultimately, this means that there is less time and productivity lost due to employee absence, which positively impacts your bottom line. n
HAZARD: 4. Bad ergonomics ‘Ergonomics’ is the term used to describe the study of equipment design, office furniture or transportation seating, for the purpose of improving efficiency, comfort, or safety. Examples of bad ergonomics in the workplace include chairs that do not support your back, a computer screen that is positioned too high or low,
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people operations
DEREK SIVERS, CEO, WOOD EGG
Starting Movements f you think about the global politicians, the world’s true leaders, they are all charismatic. They have a vision that they can draw you into and make you believe in. They walk straight and tall and are always impeccably dressed. They ooze confidence and let’s be honest, if they are confident with their idea, especially when they offer such good arguments as to why they took that course of action, who are we to doubt?! So how many leaders have we really met? I bet the answer is only a couple. Remember that teacher, who suddenly made you understand like no other teacher had managed to previously. Well, they were probably your first example, and I would bet, you have had maybe one or two since then. Let’s be honest though, wouldn’t it be great if you were able inspire your staff that way? Think of what your business would achieve if you could!
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Why are good business leaders so hard to find? What is it that elevates a boss from a business leader? Can you really call yourself a leader? Realistically the answer is no. Real leaders are hard to find, but you can easily learn how to lead…
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How to Start a Movement TedTalks have perfectly captured this in Derek Sivers talk on YouTube, ‘How to start a movement’. Now, don’t let the title put you off. A movement is a group of people getting together to advance an idea – the same principal as a business. Sivers would know. He created CD Baby and sold it in 2008 for $22million. He has also written published a number 1 book and now runs Wood Egg, a publishing house that writes and publishes books on how to start businesses in 16 countries globally. In this video, Sivers describes how you should showcase your followers as it is the first follower who makes a leader. And where one person follows, the sheep effect kicks in and others follow suit. Jack Welch, ex-CEO of General Electric agreed with this principal, “Before you are a leader, success is about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others”.
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people
For leadership to be effective, the followers have to feel valued, confident in the direction in which they are being taken, whilst also feeling enabled and empowered to speak publically, whether it be to staff, shareholders or potential clients. Regardless of when and to whom, you want to make sure you look your best. We shall look in more detail at this in issue 10. Provide Inspiration To be inspiring you have to have had a story. What is your story? How have you overcome X,Y,Z in order to have reached the level that you have? You may not have risen from extreme poverty to get where you are today, but you may have had to overcome illness or political conditions that otherwise could have stopped you in your tracks. When you have a frustrating day, remember how far you have come, and don’t be afraid to share your experience when you talk to your staff. They will admire you for it. Be Confident So you have given up your day job to chase a dream. A dream you know
you can do but are daunted by it all the same. Every great business leader, sport star, public speaker has questioned their judgment at some point, but they would never let their staff see this. Venus Williams, the Tennis Player knew that to win, you have to outwardly look as though you believe it regardless of how you feel, “Just believe in yourself. Even if you don’t, pretend that you so and, at some point, you will.” This process can take a bit of time to build something more meaningful. A good alternative is to talk to acquaintances. Friends and family you know well, you probably won’t trust their opinion too much or else they may give you constructive criticism. This won’t help. An acquaintance won’t know well enough to give anything apart from good feedback. They will remind you and point out the things that you have done well – This is a great ego boost and will help your confidence. Genuinely Appreciate your Staff Ok, so we know this is tough, especially if ‘Harry’ in accounts has forgotten to invoice a huge account for four months, but rather than fly into a rage shouting, “Give me one good reason I shouldn’t pack your bags now?!” remember that he chose to work for you and would have only done that if he had appreciated you. Try to keep as calm as possibly when faced with problems. Never cast aspersions, we all make mistakes and at some point in the future, you may have to own your own, just try and think of
For leadership to be effective, the followers have to feel valued, confident in the direction in which they are being taken, whilst also feeling enabled and empowered… This sounds like a tall order when put like this, so how can you go about doing this? Communication All leaders have a clear vision that they are able to effectively communicate. Every time they say things, it is natural for people to stop and listen. You only have think of Barak Obama and Nelson Mandela to see how important communication is. If you are starting a business and have a fear of public speaking, seek professional help for this. There are many people that can help and whilst you may feel uncomfortable getting help with this, you will be very glad you did. Every business owner will at some point have
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To alleviate this pressure, ensure you surround yourself with people you trust. Keep on top of things like cash flow, sales and any legal issue that is coming up. Knowledge is power. You only worry about things you don’t understand, so ensure you are on top of everything and if not, find out more about it. Whilst this sounds obvious, once you start to worry, it can be difficult to find your way out of that dark tunnel that can consume you. If you reach this stage, your staff will see this and every thing you have worked hard to achieve could be lost. So in the words of Sivers, “If you really care about starting a movement, have the courage to follow and show others how to follow.” n
Try to keep as calm as possibly when faced with problems. Never cast aspersions, we all make mistakes and at some point in the future, you may have to own your own, just try and think of a solution a solution and teach them that solution. If they do it again in the future, then take the relevant course of action (if necessary starting the implementation of a grievance policy). Just remember, the first error is actually a great opportunity for you to teach your staff something new, therefore providing them with opportunities to grow. Be Ethical and Illustrate your Values As we heard previously, your brand is vitally important and for this to work well, it has to be implemented from the top down. You have to illustrate what is important. If you want your staff to project an outward image that they can be relied upon and wouldn’t try and fleece your customers, then you need to prove to your staff that you wouldn’t hang them out to dry either.
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Establish the Right Environment If you establish a format for staff to grown and prosper, your business will flourish too. If you take the staff in your confidence, manage their expectations realistically and tell them the truth when needed, you will be fostering their loyalty. So all of this sounds pretty simple right? There are however a whole ream of things that business leaders do which undermine all the hard work they undertake in order to become a great leader. ll
Be a boss not a leader - By this we mean that they lead in good times, but in bad they become snarley and start bossing their staff around. Who wants to bossed around and bullied? You are right, not you and neither will your staff. Always remember that you are a leader and not a boss.
Gives into pressure - We are all under pressure. Some people cope with this and others don’t. Sadly, if you are a boss and are aware that you are desperate for that cash injection, the last thing you want to do is cause alarm to your staff and have them worry. Their decreased output and possible absence could exacerbate the situation and do even more damage to the business. What would be worse is if your star employee was so worried about not being paid and not being able to pay the rent check coming in a couple of months, that he went off and found another job…
Sivers’ Top Tips
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A leader has to standout The followers will show Nurture your first few followers as equals so it is about the movement and not you Leadership is over glorified – It was really the first follower who transformed the first person into a leader A movement must be public – new followers emanate the followers, not the leaders as a movement is less risky. They won’t stand out and be ridiculed
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Going for Gold
Shortly before the summer of 2014, local media reported that the UAE is considering the introduction of a residence visa for foreign businessmen. Maybe it was due to the fact that everyone had their holiday heads on, but many people appear not to know about this visa, so Business Insight felt it important to share the details on the Golden Visa so you are informed. We speak with Ludmilla Yamalova, Managing Partner and Founder of HPL Yamalova & Plewka, JLT
So what is the Golden Visa all about? It is a new visa and would be implemented at the federal level, a senior government official at the Dubai immigration department was quoted saying. No other details were revealed, either as to its scope, requirements, costs or anticipated timeline, nor have there been any further announcements or clarifications since, but generally speaking, we know what to expect from the visa. What is that? Ultimately, the UAE’s notion of the Golden Visa is based on that of some of the European countries, whereby a visa will provide foreign investors with the multi-year residence status for the UAE. Most commonly, such a visa is granted to investors who invest in real estate assets and those assets are of a certain minimum value. Some countries also offer a residence status to those investors who deposit cash into the country’s banks and commit a certain minimum amount for a fixed term. Under the Golden Visa, the investor receives all of the rights and benefits granted to a resident. The issuance of a visa on residence status isn’t a new thing in the UAE though… You’re right. It is not a novel concept. In the past, certain emirates (Dubai, Ras Al Khaimah and Ajman) granted three-year residence visas to investors who purchased real estate. That practice, however was not a law, but rather a special arrangement established
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between master developers and immigration authorities of those emirates. Therefore, when in 2008, the UAE decided in favour of a uniform federal immigration policy, the repeal of the property visa was quick to follow. The abolition of the property visa left many investors, who had relied on it in buying their real estate, in a confusing state. This concerned especially those investors who did not reside in Dubai and, therefore, did not qualify for any other type of visa. So who did this affect the most? It became very inconvenient for the investors from those countries who require a visa to enter into the UAE to visit their properties in the UAE. They could now visit the UAE only on a much more restrictive single-entry 30-day tourist visa, the issuance of which requires advance planning and additional costs. The abolition of the property visa denied investors rights associated with the residence status. This is especially important in the UAE where one’s rights and benefits are fundamentally tied to their residence visa. For example, a residence visa is required to have a bank account, set up utility accounts, own a car, enroll children in schools, employ domestic help, sponsor family and friends for visits and otherwise benefit from the property in the long run. Unsurprisingly, the unavailability of the residence visa for property investors negatively
affected the inflow of foreign investment into the country. Some of the existing investors sold off their properties, whilst new investors lost incentive to invest. What was the Government’s answer to this? The first option was introduced at the federal level in 2012, by the UAE Ministerial Decree No. 418 of 2012. It became known as the six-month property visa. Under this decree, owners of properties of certain specifications could apply for multiple-entry visa for the duration of 6 months. This would include their immediate family members. To qualify, the property would have to be completed and be valued over AED 1 million. There is also a requirement of a monthly income of at least AED 10,000 and medical insurance. Documentation will be required in order to back this up; six months of bank statements, sales and purchase agreement, title deed, no-
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Legal
The abolition of the property visa left many investors, who had relied on it in buying their real estate, in a confusing state. This concerned especially those investors who did not reside in Dubai and, therefore, did not qualify for any other type of visa”
Ultimately, the UAE’s notion of the Golden Visa is based on that of some of the European countries, whereby a visa will provide foreign investors with the multi-year residence status for the U.A.E” objection certificate from the developer and passport. There are fees too; AED 2,000 application fee, per person. Renewing the visa requires exiting the country and paying the same application fees. Importantly, the six-month visa is not a residence visa and does not offer the same rights and benefits. Instead it is a multiple entry permit, limited to one’s right to remain in the country. In 2013, Dubai introduced its own framework to attracting real estate investors into the emirate. Under this alternative, investors receive fullfledged residence status for 2 years, with corresponding rights and benefits of a resident. The process is administered by the Dubai Land Department in collaboration with the Dubai Department of Economic Development and
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immigration authorities and is governed by company’s law, a domain reserved for the individual emirates, instead of immigration law, which is subject to the UAE law. So what can people do now? The option of the 2-year residence visa is available for investors whose properties are located in Dubai, worth at least AED 1 million and fully paid for. The property could be either residential or commercial in nature. The visa is issued to the owner of the property, spouse and children. The application process takes place at the Dubai Land Department, including visa processing. Some of the required documents include title deed, passport, passport photos, medical report, criminal check, marriage and birth certificates,
if applicable. Upon approval, the Land Department issues a trade license. The trade license serves as a basis for the immigration authorities, located at the Dubai Land Department, to issue a 2-year visa. The overall cost is around AED 30,000, with additional fees for every family member. The process can take anywhere between two weeks to two months. What is the outcome? It is likely that, if ultimately the UAE decides to introduce the Golden Visa, it will be, at least in part, based on the Dubai model of the investor visa for the purpose of residency status. Granting real estate investors a full residency status is necessary to attract them to invest in the country long term. A step further would be if the UAE would also consider issuing residence visas to those investors who wish to deposit certain amounts of cash for a fixed period in the country’s banks, as is the case in some European countries. Be it as it may, one thing is clear, a uniform countrywide policy affording investors benefits and rights granted to residents would serve as a significant incentive for inflow of new foreign investment across the UAE n
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Legal
Legal Basics Every Employer Should Know
by Ludmilla Yamalova
As is the case in most countries, employment issues in the UAE have certain unique characteristics, reflective of the country’s social fabric, cultural values and economic considerations. It is, therefore, imperative that foreign companies and individuals setting up businesses and hiring employees in the UAE understand the relevant laws and their impact on business. If the employment framework is not structured properly from the outset and if the laws are not followed, the repercussions on businesses can be severe
By law, companies in Abu Dhabi are required, and in Dubai will soon be required, to provide employees with health insurance”
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et, many foreign companies setting up in the UAE seem to either underestimate the importance of employment issues or take for granted that the employment laws are similar to those of their own countries. This especially happens with branches of foreign companies who transfer employees from other jurisdictions. Little due diligence is conducted and little importance is given to understanding the local aspects of the employment relationship. Most companies do not realise the repercussions until it is too late. In general terms, in the UAE, the employer-employee relationship is subject to a series of laws. The main law is UAE Federal Law No. 8 of 1980 re: Regulation of Labour Relations (as amended) (Labour Law). This is the overarching
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law, establishing the minimum protection for employee rights. Some economic zones also have their own employment rules and regulations. These rules, however, must not contradict the Labour Law and can only add benefits to employees and not take away from those provided for by the Labour Law. Companies located in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) are subject to the DIFC’s own employment laws and DIFC Court’s jurisdiction. Additionally, Abu Dhabi and more recently Dubai have introduced health insurance law, making it mandatory for companies to provide employees with health insurance. The UAE immigration law, with its many orders and decrees, also closely plays into the employment sphere. Among other things, it sets up employment visa regulations and penalties for violating them. Finally, the UAE Penal Code, Law No. 3
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Legal
Companies who engage individuals who either do not have an employment visa or hold a wrong visa can be subject to heavy penalties, as set by the Immigration Law”
repeated offenses, the company’s trade license can be suspended and ultimately cancelled. For employees, on the other hand, the penalties can and often do result in monetary penalties, jail sentence and ultimately deportation. of 1987 (as amended), governs a significant part of the employer-employee relationship as it pertains to employee’s misconduct that can be considered criminal. This includes, for example, theft of company’s information, breach of trust and disclosure of confidential information. With regards to the specific employment issues that all companies must bear in mind, there are a few core principles. Requirement of Employment Visa One of the essential principles of the UAE employment law is that anyone who works in the UAE must have an employment visa. Furthermore, as a general rule, employees must only work for the company who sponsors their visa. There are a few exceptions to this rule, such as part-time employees, students and female spouses. Companies who engage individuals who either do not have an employment visa or hold a wrong visa can be subject to heavy penalties, as set by the Immigration Law. For example, a company employing someone on a tourist visa or on someone else’s visa will be subject to AED 50,000.00 for each employee. For
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Sponsorship Concept of Employment Relationship Another characteristic of the employment relationship in the UAE is the concept of sponsorship. The company becomes a sponsor for the employee. This means that the company is ultimately responsible for that employee as long as he/she remains in the country and on the company’s visa. This sponsorship relationship is not to be underestimated, as it deeply permeates the relationship between the parties. The company may be held responsible for employee’s actions and liabilities even if they were committed out of scope of the employee’s responsibilities. The company is required to ensure that, at the end of the relationship, the employee has a ticket to exit the country and that he/she ultimately leaves the country or transfers to someone else’s sponsorship. Also, in the unfortunate event of employee’s death, the company is responsible for the expatriation of remains.
Validity and Enforceability of Employment Contracts Employment relationships are primarily based on the government issued contract, irrespective of the particular economic zone. Nevertheless, most companies also have their own employment contracts, varying in form and substance. Sometimes these contracts are all together separate employment agreements. Other times, they outline additional benefits for employees. Commission, bonus, confidentiality and non-competition agreements are some such examples. As a general rule, the government documents will always prevail and serve as governing instruments in the event of dispute. The validity and enforceability of the private agreements heavily depends on how those agreements are structured and presented. In general, any agreements that take away rights or benefits to which employees would be entitled under the Labour Law will be held invalid. Similarly, any private agreements that are either too broad or unreasonable will also be held invalid. Termination of Employment Relationship One of the most contested issues in the employment relationship in the UAE is one of termination and, in particular,
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as it relates to compensation. Compensation, in turn, is determined by whether termination is premature and/or for cause. Establishing the nature of termination falls heavily on the requirement and form of notice. There are two types of notices. One notice refers to the notice of termination. The minimum termination notice under the Labour Law is one month. The other form of notice is termination for cause. To be valid, the termination for cause notice must be served pursuant to Article 120 of the Labour Law. Article 120 refers to the employee’s misconduct and sets out requirements for the company to document and notify employees accordingly. Under the Article 120 notice, the company can terminate the employee without any further notice and, potentially, without having to pay any other dues. In the event, however, a company terminates an employee prematurely and does not serve proper Article 120 notice, it may be held liable for arbitrary dismissal. Compensation for arbitrary dismissal, in turn, can be based on up to 3 months of gross salary. In practice, judges, almost as a matter of course, award the maximum three months of gross salary. End of Service Benefits One of the other specific traits of the UAE Labour law is the concept of the end of services benefits. Its objective is to compensate employees for their services to the company, commeasurable with their length of service, and provide employees with interim income until either their next employ or exit out of the UAE
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of continous service employees become entitled to end of service benefits
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after of service, the employee is entitled to the full end of service benefits
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the employer/employee relationship is subject to a series of laws� Employees become entitled to end of service benefits after 1 year of continuous service. For the first 5 years of service, an employee is entitled to 21 days of basic salary for each year of service. After the fifth year of service, the end of service benefits are 30 days for each additional year of service. In an unlimited contract, when an employee resigns, he is entitled to 1/3 of the end of service benefits for the first 3 years of service. Between 3 and 5 years of service, the entitlement goes up to 2/3. After 5 years of service, the employee is entitled to the full end of service benefits. In a limited contract, if an employee resigns before the expiration of the agreement, he is not entitled to the end of service benefits. Depending on how the employment contract is structured and how the payments to the employees are made, courts may include commissions, bonuses and raises into the basic salary, for the purpose of calculating end of service benefits. Other Forms of Compensation Companies may also be required to pay other benefits to employees, some established by law and others by contract. By law, companies in Abu Dhabi are required, and in Dubai will soon be required, to provide employees with health insurance. Companies are also required to pay for employees’ visa
costs and Emirates ID. There is also a requirement of a ticket home, at the end of term and in the event the employee leaves the country. Contractually, some companies pay their employees bonuses and commissions. Others pay for transportation, accommodation and school fees. If any such additional benefits are offered it is imperative that they are properly addressed in the employment documents and with certain procedures in mind, so as to avoid unnecessary and excessive liabilities. Resolution of Employment Disputes The resolution of employment disputes is subject to exclusive jurisdiction of the Labour Court. This excludes DIFC companies, who are subject to the DIFC Small Courts Tribunal. Companies who are located in free zones must first go through mediation before their cases can be referred to the Labour Court. The Labour Court is an efficient and competent judicial forum, with the objective of swift and effective dispute resolution. As such, parties should not shy away from filing a dispute with the Labour Court when they reach an impasse. Conclusion In summary, all companies in the UAE who hire employees would benefit greatly from understanding the relevant employment and related laws. Structuring their employment relationship properly will minimise unnecessary damages and liabilities and ensure a successful and longlasting relationship. n Yamalova is Managing Partner and founder of HPL Yamalova & Plewka JLT.
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marketing & Advertising
Saudi has the fastest growing number of twitter users with 3,000% growth in 2011-2012 whilst producing 30% of all global tweets in Arabic
Tweeting your way to better business
Twitter is one of, if not the, most active social networks. In December 2012, there were 500 million registered users with 400-500 million tweets per day. It has however evolved to be a business tool that people use to market themselves.
usinesses on Twitter can market to thousands of potential and existing customers with short messages and links. For example, those in the UAE who wish to break into Saudi Arabia; Twitter is one option. Saudi has the fastest growing number of twitter users with 3,000% growth in 2011-2012 whilst producing 30% of all global tweets in Arabic. There are right ways of tweeting and wrong ways of tweeting. Ultimately though, you need to find a way that is the most effective, so we thought that Business Insight, should give you a full breakdown on how to tweet your way to better business. We had a look at the most successful businesses that tweet effectively, and it became apparent that there are certain techniques that mark these out when compared to others. These are all techniques that you should consider when you set about tweeting.
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Brand: Think of your brand, your persona and proposition. It has been proven that people want to work with brands so your brand should be at the forefront of your mind when tweeting about your business. Think very long and hard about how you want to be portrayed, as this will give you integrity. Create emotion: Successful businesses on twitter all remember their consumers and respond when tweeted. You need to ensure that you read your tweets if you are referenced in them and respond accordingly. This engagement creates an emotional bond, which in turn creates loyalty. Empowered: Do you take action on the feedback that you receive from Twitter? If people take the time out to correspond with you on twitter, they expect you to take action; especially when giving feedback. If you are uncomfortable with what is being said, ask them to direct message (DM) you
with their contact details so you can discuss this with them in greater detail in person. Then, tweet to everyone the action that you have taken to remedy that situation. Surprise your followers: Everyone likes a surprise; and that includes the twitter world. Think about what you can do to differentiate yourself and surprise your followers. You could for example, offer competitions and have people tweet the response. Alternatively, if you have found one person is engaging with you more than others, tweet that you would like to reward them for their loyalty as they engage with you the most on twitter. Be creative and be exciting. Keep Going: The world doesn’t sleep and neither does Twitter. Your marketing strategies surrounding Twitter should take this into account so ensure you post regularly (at least once a day) all week. Make sure you check your twitter responses at the same time and respond to these accordingly. Try not to stick to the same time when you tweet, and think about how is best to catch your followers (if you have more in the UK than Austrailia, post later in the day) for example. Now you have the guidelines to successful tweeting, you have to be aware of unwritten rules of Twitter; professionalism and responsiveness are among the most important characteristics. Good business tweeting “netiquette” is crucial.
It has been proven that people want to work with brands so your brand should be at the forefront of your mind when tweeting about your business
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Do’s:
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Proofread tweets before posting and determine how to delete a tweet. Fat fingers can be deadly for your brand and you never know when you may need to delete that tweet Look out for DMs and Mentions and respond quickly. Rather amazingly, 42% of Twitter users expect a response within one hour! Offer a mix of content: images, videos and links to outside sources as well as your own website Use one or two hashtags to mark content as relevant to a topic as this is ultimately what will be able to boost the tweet listing for the tag in a Twitter Search. Before you tweet, research all the possible hashtags that would be relevant for you and stick to these. You will then come up in the searches that people will conduct on these hashtags. What this ultimately means is, that you will therefore hit your relevant market much more quickly. Balance promotional or advertising tweets with information and conversations Complete the company’s account profile, with a picture, a link to your website and a description of your company Respond to negative interactions… don’t ignore
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them. Be polite and professional (even if all you want to do is to hurl abuse back at them), and interact using DMs Interact with others on the site. Employing a strictly “broadcast” account management style only works for publications and larger brands Train employees who will use the Twitter account to interact in a uniformed manner, wording styles and phraseology for example Integrate your Twitter account with other marketing efforts; Facebook, website etc.
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Use too many hashtags; it can make you look foolish and your readers will find it very frustrating to see them everywhere Don’t obsess about Twitter. Set aside time each day to check in and respond Don’t “Sale!” or “Buy Now!” in the majority of your tweets. Susan Gunelius at Bloomberg Businessweek recommends an 80/20 mix of content, with only 20% of tweets for self-promotion
If you follow these simple rules, you can create a simple marketing empire at little cost to yourself. n
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demographic of your target audience, you are able to determine what do they want from your brand. Does the brand need to communicate to an international audience whilst remaining focused on individual cultures and local market insights, etc.? “It is extremely important before any considerations take place to realise that a ‘brand’ is not a logo. It’s not uncommon for companies to mistake their logos for their ‘brands’. Your logo is only a piece of your branding strategy. Indeed, it a powerful one as it is the symbol of your company and provides consumers with instant recognition of your business and what it stands for, but a brand runs through the veins of an organisation and brings it to life,” Brand explains.
John Brash CEO, Brash Brands
ALL ABOUT BRANDS
Everyone knows your company brand is very important, yet it is often the last thing entrepreneurs think of when starting a business and very often it isn’t considered when budget changes are being made. So why is a brand so important and why should you consider it for each and every decision that is made…?
brand is essentially the DNA of any organisation. It is used to illustrate your company story, your vision and your mission. Your brand should be used to communicate to the market, who you are and what you are about. As soon as client picks up something from you, they should know that this has been be sent to them, from you, without their having read it. John Brash, CEO of Brash Brands, a global branding consultancy, with offices in Dubai, London and China explains, “You have to remember your company brand at all times, regardless of size of your business. Ignoring this has done huge amounts of damage to floated businesses that should be able to weather a great deal of damage – just imagine what it could do to you! Your brand can be leveraged
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to change perceptions of a company in the market. It is for this reason that it’s reputation can be tarnished at any given movement if any ‘off-brand’ behavior is perceived.” The Time is Now “Brand is the DNA and is part of everything the business does. It should be constantly considered from start up right through the business cycle and through the whole organisation right down to employees,” says Brash when we asked about when a business should think of how it is perceived. He suggests first trying to understand your company meaning. Ask yourself questions like, “What is it that you want to achieve?” and, “Why do you want to achieve this?” Also be very clear as to whom you want to target. Once you know the
What Puts your Brand Ahead of Competitors? “Confident branding and a strong branding strategy uses design to communicate a message to attract your target audience – a message that instills confidence in your brand while distinguishing you from your competitors,” he further explains. It has to encompass your point of differentiation and brand messaging e.g. Vision, Mission, Values, the brand’s big idea, brand identity and visual elements. When speaking with your designers remember the two questions that should run through the process: Whom are you targeting? What do they want from your brand? Also consider, does the brand need to communicate to an international audience whilst remaining focused on individual cultures and local market insights? Your brand must appear flexible to understand and adapt to any new customers to build their reputation in new and existing markets. Success In Brash’s eyes, the only way to implement a successful brand is to, “Adopt a model of ‘total branding’; whereby brand is considered in everything they do across every decision,
To create a powerful brand you must go beyond the typical discourse of rational benefits and strike an emotional connection with the customer”
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business department, business practice and employee behaviour.” To do this takes considerable education for your employees in the form of workshops on your brand, company mission statement and company expectations. Ultimately, it must be implemented from the top down. Everyone must remember the brand and there should be no exceptions to this. The Chairman to the cleaner should all be included in the training on who the company is, what the values and mission of the company is and also what is expected from the employees. Remember, your employees are your brand ambassadors that live and breathe your brand on a daily basis. If you want to be known as an employer of choice, then who else but your employees can spread that word? Make them feel valued. Offer them bonuses, days off on their birthday, with a cake ready for their return to the office. These things will be remembered and discussed outside of the work place. Likewise, if you want to be known to offer impartial advice, don’t offer incentives for your staff to sell certain items over others, i.e. retain a standard commission structure across all products and services. Your employees will talk outside of the office and word will spread that do this. How can you have a brand that is based on integrity if you are incentivising advice that may not be in the client’s best interests? Always remember, in a digital world where word of mouth
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travels as fast as the speed of sound, bad customer service from just one employee can greatly affect your brand reputation. This is extremely prevalent in the UAE, where there are forums on social networking sites that consist of thousands of people and just one status update can substantially damage a company. You Have a Brand… Now What? Some businesses build their brand and then sit back and allow it to work. This may work, but with an ever-evolving market place, can you really be seen to sit there and do nothing? Realistically, would you want to work with someone who appears not to want/consider change? Whilst you may very well be changing and keeping up to date with all new things business wise, your brand my be saying something completely different. So how do you give your brand longevity? “Measure and adjust. Commit to consistently measuring and understanding the image of your brand and stewarding it as the market evolves. Be the owner, guardian and nurturer of your brand. This is the only way to know whether it is sustainable or needs further development, thus maintaining a positive growth level for your business. “We live in a digital world where information is readily available on any market. Be proactive to the information out there about changes in the market
In a digital world where word of mouth travels as fast as the speed of sound, bad customer service from just one employee can greatly affect your brand reputation”
and always be one step ahead of them – don’t wait for the information to come to you,” says Brash. n Brash Brands Top Tips ll Tell a story with your brand ll Find a space in your competitive market ll Be different. Find a customer benefit that you can deliver with a competitive advantage ll Tap into emotion. To create a powerful brand you must go beyond the typical discourse of rational benefits and strike an emotional connection with the customer. Think Coca Cola and their Christmas adverts; they are all very nostalgic ll Build all your assets and messaging around your brand; every touch point, from the people you hire, the experiences you create through your brand and the products you sell, feed brand through everything
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DMCC | SMEs
Spotlight on SMEs Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are paramount to the growth and sustainability of the economy in the UAE and the region. At DMCC we are passionate about creating an optimal business environment for SMEs to further enhance this growth and will continue to support this as it evolves. Owned by the Government of Dubai (established in 2002), DMCC enables businesses to trade with confidence, attracting organisations from a variety of industries ranging from shipping to recruitment, IT to advertising and energy, oil and gas. Since its inception DMCC has experienced exponential growth and is now home to over 9,400 companies. Over the course of the last 12 years, DMCC has worked to set itself apart from competitors - through the specialised customer support products and services on offer. One of the key initiatives of the DMCC Free Zone is to nurture and develop competitive SMEs by providing solutions to suit the evolving business needs. These include the DMCC Client Service Centre – a onestop shop for all services needed to establish the business, access to networking events, and free regular workshops and seminars across a range of topics. Earlier this year, the DMCC Free Zone Member Portal was launched to improve efficiencies enabling members to manage all their Free Zone affairs online and support the Government’s declared strategy of making Dubai a Smart City. These initiatives have not gone unnoticed, and the DMCC was recently named by the Financial Times’ global fDi Magazine as the ‘Best Free Zone of the Year for SMEs in their global rankings and awards for 2014 / 2015. This follows being awarded the ‘Best Free Zone of the Year for SMEs – Middle East & Africa’ and ‘Best Free Zone of the Year for SMEs – UAE’ in their Middle East Free Zones of the Year rankings and awards in June.
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DMCC | SMEs
This is a fantastic achievement which is down to its leading regulation, physical and financial infrastructure, as well as relevant and bespoke products and services. These awards are also testament to DMCC’s commitment to His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai’s vision to position Dubai as the global destination for SMEs. As one DMCC Free Zone member company’s CEO aptly put it, “Dubai is a city that’s built by an entrepreneur for entrepreneurs and when you look at the structure and the way that it’s put together, the opportunity for entrepreneurs is
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unbelievable. It’s often referred to as the ‘City of Dreams’ and to be honest, I know many people who have moved to Dubai for a job and now work for themselves.” [Simon Hudson, CEO of Brndstr] Today, about two thirds of the 9,400 member companies based in the DMCC Free Zone are SMEs. The broad spectrum of dynamic and fast growing businesses based in our Free Zone is phenomenal. Shereen Aldisi, Managing Director of Acquaint, a human resources solutions and consultancy firm chose to set up in the DMCC Free Zone because of the customer service. “Interacting with the team of the DMCC and recognising the quality of service they provide, and [helped me] make my decision to open my company in DMCC and now I’ve referred my brother to also open his company in the DMCC.” Another example is AstroLabs,
a Middle East entrepreneurship platform that opened its doors in 2012. Founding Partner Louis Lebbos said “We established our company [here] because it was actually recommended by another [DMCC Free Zone -based] SME. Our first interaction with the team at DMCC was really positive [and the level of] service [offered] was very important to us.” AstroLabs has since evolved from a DMCC Free Zone member company to a DMCC Free Zone partner. The company recently announced the launch of the Middle East’s first Google for Entrepreneurs Tech Hub, AstroLabs Dubai, which will be based in a purpose-built facility in the Free Zone. The AstroLabs Dubai Google for Entrepreneurs Tech Hub will welcome tech entrepreneurs from across the globe seeking to access high-growth emerging markets. The DMCC Free Zone it is the perfect home for
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DMCC | SMEs
DMCC will continue to ensure businesses have access to everything they require to grow, innovate and succeed, access new markets and trade with confidencev
AstroLabs Dubai. It affords startups the benefits of zero taxation and 100 per cent ownership of their businesses. Startups based at AstroLabs Dubai will also benefit from subsidised and fast-track company licensing through a single point of contact at the DMCC. Of course, DMCC also understands that the needs of companies change as they grow from being a startup to a successful and innovative company. As any organisation evolves, so should the kind of support and services on offer, and according to Ravi Bhusari, Co-founder and Managing Director of Free Zone member company Duplays, DMCC has managed to address this: “Choose carefully where you think you should set up based on what your aspirations or objectives are of running a business in Dubai. Try to find a place that helps you focus on what you want to do rather than worry about the details of that particular entity. The DMCC Free Zone is that place for us.� DMCC will continue to ensure businesses have access to everything they require to grow, innovate and succeed, access new markets and trade with confidence. Everything we do at DMCC has a longer term strategic view in order for us to stay relevant now and in the future. Our Free Zone member companies are a priority and we remain focused on creating viable economic opportunities for SMEs in the UAE. We look forward to many more success stories in the coming years, and invite all up and coming entrepreneurs to consider making the DMCC Free Zone the start of their journey. n
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October 2014 | 47
technology
Let’s go digital
We all want to be able to work on the move, and with the invention of the digital paperless office, this is now a reality. However, the loss ratio (risk v reward) of implementing this practice should never be ignored and steps should be taken to address this. e have all heard of putting our important documents, photos and music in the cloud, that place which computer people describe as being ‘somewhere, out there in safe storage’, (whilst that person is waving their hands in the air), which we can tap into whenever we so require. The business advantages of this are clear, we can work on the go, accessing all of our information at any time, and make changes to documents which others can access when necessary. But with last months break in at Apple, whereby photos of celebrities were stolen and ransoms for their demand requested, what should you consider to ensure that you have full safety in the clouds? Firstly, we have to remember that so much of our personal and work data is now stored remotely. Whether we use our own company cloud technology platform or one of the ones available for the general public, we have to recall that this isn’t just ‘a computer problem’…
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Ultimately, if something is digitally protected, then there is information in it that is important to the person(s)/ company that is securing it. Some hackers want access to the information for personal gain (usually to sell it on, bribery, corporate/personal espionage). Others want access to the personal computers that would access this information, for here they can gleam personal information for the same result. Very occasionally, computers are hacked just for the fun of it; or at least this is what Gary McKinnon, the UK national who hacked the American Military and NASA said, after he was found by his leaving messages throughout their systems letting them know (al-be-it rather mockingly) that he had hacked them. Websites Attacks MacAfee announced that 20% of web searches for the actress Jessica Biel were linked to malicious software, this increased to 50% when you were reviewing the screen savers of her and this is only a drop in the ocean. Daily, we catch up on the latest information, scan the news for celebrities and world events, do internet
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technology
banking and access company systems. Everytime we open a website or click on a linking URL, to check flight information or even to download a ringtone, we are at risk of downloading malicious software that will report every website accessed, password and username and every key hit when typing letters, contracts etc. This is a huge problem and one that should not be taken lightly. Websites are often declared ‘bad’ on various levels. Sometimes, the malicious code is embedded in the full domain address. Other times it can be in a subdomain, a single IP address and even a specific URL. Google report that, “Of the 5,370,564 pages they tested on the site over the past 90 days, 693 page(s) resulted in malicious software being downloaded and installed without user knowledge.” However, other laboratories that research this phenomena report that this this is just the tip of the iceberg and state that there are around 2.7 million new bad URLs per month, as a water supply system corporation in Pennsylvania US found out to it’s cost. An employee used his company laptop whilst at home to surf the internet whilst on the company VPN (Virtual Private Network). A hacker via the internet infected his computer with a virus which then spreads via the VPN into the control system and from there, to other windows PCs, right in the heart of the control system. Mobile Threats For years, Android phone users have been targeted with malware resulting in the users mobile phone doing everything from sending premium rate SMS’ and making premium rate phone calls, to installing Spyware and Trojans.
one of the most high profile botnet infections was the 2004 infection of over 200,000 computers of the MyDoom virus
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Business advantages of this are clear, we can work on the go, accessing all of our information at any time, and make changes to documents which others can access when necessary Not only is this an issue for the mobile phone, but as soon as your phone connects to the network, so could the spyware or Trojan, normally via a botnet (which is a type of malware that an attacker can use to control an infected device and computer, to execute malicious software). Whilst you are thinking the threat could be small, one of the most high profile botnet infections was the 2004 infection of over 200,000 computers of the MyDoom virus, which attempted to deny users access to financial websites across the USA. Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) Globally, more and more businesses are opting for BYOD and this has readily been embraced in the UAE; but there is a great deal that should also be considered by companies first. Whilst this represents cost savings in the first instance, it can also mean that staff are saving work related materials in cloud applications that are not company managed and therefore at risk of malware attacks, which the company can’t control. For example, the risks of unmanaged cloud computing in business are clear.
However, even if companies deliberately choose consumerisation, there are still security challenges, making it harder to firewall the business and control exactly what is on employees’ PCs, how data is stored, managed and transferred, especially when tracking how and where corporate data and information is being used. The Answer There is Anti-malware software detects botnets by the flood of communications running in and out of a PC/phone. You can purchase these for greater coverage, but if money is tight, Microsoft offer a free malicious Software Removal Tool, which can be downloaded from their website. For those of us who have turned Mac, BotHunter is another option. This free programme from SRI International works with Unix, Linux, Max OS, Windows XP and Vista and can be run on both networks and standalone desktops/laptops. BotHunter works by listening passively to traffic flow and keeps a log of data. It should be noted though that home based/free answers are not generally enough for your work systems. Yes, they are the first line of defence, but often this software can’t cope with the amount of information that they have to process, therefore seek professional advice on how to beat the threats as soon as possible, as this will save you huge costs rectifying a situation once you have found you have been attacked, not to mention the business downtime, the damage to your reputation and brand, and the humiliation in telling your clients that you think you may have infected them… n
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technology
The Rise of the Machine By Ritwika Chaudhuri
Back in 1936 the comedian actor Charlie Chaplin wrote and directed the movie ‘Modern Times’ where his iconic character Little Tramp struggled to survive in the modern, industrialised world. Classified as a comedy film it was a depiction of the desperate employment and fiscal conditions many people faced during Great Depression, conditions created, in Chaplin’s view, by the efficiencies of modern industrialisation
he apprehension of the early nineties about machines replacing human labour is still looming. If you’ve seen The Matrix or The Terminator, the message is clear: the machines are coming, and someday our existence will be under threat!
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The Threat of Machines Kevin Kelly of Wired Magazine has predicted that within a century 70% of jobs currently carried out using human effort will be replaced by automation. His assumption is based on the fact that due to automation only 1% of Americans today live and work on farms when compared to 70% 200 years ago. Numerous studies illustrate the fact that the manufacturing sector embraces automation and large-scale use of technologies, and subsequently has the high levels of unemployment. Take the car manufacturing industry and the significant decrease in employment numbers when compared to the 1960’s and 70’s. A Bloomberg
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story summarised; “Some 22 million manufacturing jobs were lost globally between 1995 and 2002 as industrial output soared 30%. It seems that devilish productivity is wreaking havoc with jobs both at home and abroad.” Globally various countries (Japan, Germany, China and the US) record a steady downward trend since the 1980s in manufacturing employment levels. In other industries machines continue to replace humans. Think of an ATM machine dispensing cash, cargos getting loaded without human labour, and cars and trucks being driven remotely – Machines all over now routinely carry out many tasks that used to be carried out by human effort. Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee, professors from MIT and author of ‘Race against the machine’, talk about how the digital revolution is accelerating innovation, driving productivity, and irreversibly transforming employment and the economy. This study shows that whilst technological advances and innovation in artificial intelligence have undoubtedly provided us with significant benefit (certainly in developed countries), many workers are being left behind in terms of their skills and potential to earn.
In medicine, law, finance, retailing, manufacturing and even scientific discovery the key to winning the race is not to compete against machines but to compete with machines” Brynjolfsson and McAfee
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technology
They argue that the pace of automation has picked up in recent years because of a combination of technologies including robotics, numerically controlled machines, clever software, computerised inventory control, voice recognition and online commerce. Automation is rapidly moving beyond factories to jobs in call centres, marketing and sales; parts of the services sector that provides most of the jobs in the economy. W. Brian Arthur, an external professor at the Santa Fe Institute, warns in McKinsey Quarterly that following the waves of automation of farm and factory work that technology is quickly taking over service jobs. Kelly contends that the potential for increasing automation will probably consist of using robots in far more innovative ways than they currently tend to be used, with a likelihood of robots dispensing prescriptions in pharmacies, cleaning after hours and driving vehicles. Eminent economist Robert Skidelsky also acknowledges that intelligent machines, including robots and the use of technology increasingly based on software that can take ‘intuitive’ decisions, will reduce the demand for human effort. The threat of use of technology has become so imminent that Cambridge University is setting up a centre devoted entirely to the study of technology and “existential risk”. Existential risk measures the threat that advances in artificial intelligence, biotechnology and other fields could pose to mankind’s very existence, and the possibility of “extinction-level risks to our species as a whole”. Machine Led War Think of an ultimate situation when only robots and machines will fight in battle instead of human soldiers. Militaries around the world are excited about replacing soldiers with robots and machines that can act independently and be deployed alone in battle. The US lead the way with automated weapon systems and their development, including ‘killer robots’, most notably unmanned drones. Raytheon’s Phalanx gun system, deployed on U.S. Navy ships, can search for enemy fire and destroy incoming projectiles by itself. The Northrop Grumman X47B is a plane-sized drone able to take off and land on aircraft carriers, carry out air combat without a pilot, and even refuel in the air! While such machines would spare human soldiers from dangerous situations the downside is that robots would then be left to make decisions on their own, but can they distinguish between civilians and combatants in a war zone...? In a recent report Human Rights Watch raise an alarm over the ethics of looming technology and
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Rather than try to repel the advance of the machine, we should prepare for a future of more leisure, which automation makes possible. But, to do that, we first need a revolution in social thinking” Skidelsky
insists on a ban before governments start deploying them. Automations A-hoy! Supporters favouring mechanisation are of the opinion that many tasks are now routinely carried out by machines that can achieve continuous output that are impossible for a human being and therefore add more value to business. Rob Atkinson, President of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation in the US, argues that if manufacturing employment goes down because of automation, other industries will employ more people. This is because the savings from automation in the form of lower prices will, in turn, be spent on buying other products and hence stimulates economic activities in those companies. Fair enough, but what if those other companies are also automating? Automation Industry Association argues that automation has brought back new jobs to US because of new cost structures and as such, automation has increased profit margins. This increased profit will
ultimately fuel additional growth and more employment. Dr. William S. Howard, President of Stability Technology who specialises in industrial machinery and equipment, acknowledges that the manufacturing sector has seen an overall decline in employment but echoes that robotics drive productivity and enhances competition. He points out the other jobs in manufacturing; sales and marketing, management etc. But what if, as report by the Times, the programmable Baxter Robot by Rethink Robotics that can handle menial tasks releases workers from their current duties? Are they a threat to industry jobs or a solution in today’s global competition? More worrying, is the fact that increasing automation will, result in fewer jobs, and whilst we may relish a sense of freedom of not doing chores, the long-term effects on employment and society is far from the glorious utopia that we may envision. As Brynjolfsson and McAfee have suggested, we have to think about the skills we need to develop to compete with the machines of the future. n
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telecoms
The BYOD Phenomenon Employees are increasingly merging their business calendar and contacts on their own phones, so why shouldn’t businesses capitalise on this and save themselves the cost and hassle of buying their staff devices that they don’t really want and won’t use?
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he Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) phenomenon began when we all started carrying smartphones. With their touch screen faces and availability to the masses, it has enabled the average business employees to be more productive whilst out and about, meaning that there is no real excuse for your staff not to be working when traveling to and from meetings on the metro for example. The BYOD trend is in full swing. According to Americanbased Juniper Research, the number of employee-owned smartphones and tablets used
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in the workplace will more than double by the end of 2014, reaching 350 million compared with almost 150 million in 2012. In the UAE, this is already a widely adopted practice. The Benefits A BYOD programme lets them consolidate their previously standard work-issued laptop and their favorite personal device to be able to carry just one device for work and life, with organisations realising that enabling personally owned devices to have system access, makes employees happier and more productive. The effect of this is more than 75% of
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telecoms
According to American-based Juniper Research, the number of employee-owned smartphones and tablets used in the workplace will more than double by the end of 2014
organisations allow employee-owned devices at work, according to the Centre for Telecom Environment Management Standards in the US, where BYOD first became established. Security Challenges Despite the obvious upside, BYOD introduces risk by letting consumer devices onto the corporate network. Giving access to employee’s own devices is tantamount to you letting your employees slip your business into their pockets every time they leave the office; they have open access to the company network, business applications and potentially your most sensitive enterprise data whenever and wherever, so you have you have to also consider the need to secure the data available: ll What if they don’t have a passcode enabled and leave their device at Starbucks? ll What if they’re synching non-public financial data using Dropbox? ll What if they’re logging into your sales force automation tool over an insecure wireless network at the airport? These are just a few of the activities that can jeopardise sensitive data and expose your company to mobile threats which you need to control through the use of your staff ’s smartphones and tablets with a secure mobile device management solution.
More than 75% of organisations allow employeeowned devices at work in the US
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Security Strategies Beyond security and compliance, managing BYOD is a big process that companies large and small struggle with. Even before you implement a BYOD programme, you’ll need to determine which devices you’ll support, for whom and how you’ll enforce that policy. Think about which apps you’ll make available (now and in the future) to whom, how you’ll provision those apps, how you’ll ensure users have the correct versions and applicable patches, and how you’ll ensure service levels. When you actually rollout the BYOD programme, you’ll need to work out how to onboard, off-board, and make changes to mobile users and devices. Given how dynamic the mobile market is, it makes sense to map your mobile users to your user directory so you don’t have to manually update your mobile system every time an employee joins, leaves or is promoted. You’ll need to find a way to set policies, map them to users and devices, and easily change them when your business needs change. You’ll need to monitor and
support the devices, proactively (e.g., keeping an eye on device statistics and application performance) and reactively (e.g., locking or wiping a device upon its loss or theft). You’ll need visibility into your mobile network and compliance status, and the ability to see your mobile devices alongside the rest of your IT assets by integrating with corporate security information and event management solutions. Implementing a Strong Security Policy A recent study by research firm ITIC found that 71% of businesses that allow BYOD, worryingly have no specific policies or procedures in place to ensure security. If this is you, you need to very carefully consider some policybased level of control, documentation or contract with rules. A BYOD policy should be like any of the any documents that employees must sign outlining their rights, responsibilities and rules they must comply with. A signed policy also gives your company the right to protect itself in the event of device theft,
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telecoms
ITIC found that 71% of businesses that allow BYOD have no specific policies or procedures in place to ensure security”
loss or misuse. Companies can’t simply wipe information off lost devices, there has to be some sort of agreement in place between the individual employee and the company. Paul DeBeasi, Research Vice President at Gartner says, “Are you going to let people connect to enterprise applications via their personally-owned device or store sensitive information? If so, how are you going to control that? What if someone gives their older model iPhone to their daughter, son or spouse, or sells it on eBay - how do you control that, and do you want to?” All of these questions are why you need something in writing that defines what people can and cannot do and upon which employees must sign off. “That’s the first step in making BYOD work, but few have done an adequate job of that,” says Jack Gold, founder and Principal Analyst at J. Gold Associates. n
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Top Tips for a BYOD Policy 1. Decide on your policy and then invest in your mobile device management (MDM) tool – The back office system of BlackBerry operates far differently to that for IPhone. If you are going to invest in an MDM, you need to understand what you want it for and how you will get it to do the same for each of the devices you will be covering. You need to determine what devices you will allow. Seek advice on the costs of covering all the devices you choose. 2. What is your responsibility and what is the responsibility of your employees? At the end of the day, you don’t want them accessing a link that they were sent via someone on Facebook, which will upload a virus to your system. Do you want them to have some sort of firewall on their device? If so, will it interfere with your own system protections? Is this something that you should sort out or something that your employee is responsible for? These are the sorts of questions that you should be asking – and answering, yourself. 3. Allowable activities – Are you happy with people being on Facebook? What we mean by this is, do you want people accessing apps from their devices that you wouldn’t allow from a device owned by the company? Do you want every employee to have full access to all your systems or just parts of each system in line with their grade? When reviewing access be sure to ask yourself these questions and work down from these accordingly. 4. Who pays what? What if an IPhone is dropped and the screen smashes? Alternatively, what if one of your apps starts to malfunction? Ordinarily, policies tend to be that the phone itself is the employee’s responsibility, but any access that a company grants, or any apps that are available from the company, would be the
company’s responsibility to repair. Another consideration is the bill. Do you need your staff to have access whilst abroad or are you of the opinion that if they are on holiday, they shouldn’t be working. If they are constantly downloading information for you whether they are in the office or away, there is a cost to this. What will you happily pay for in this regard? The cost of downloading data can be very expensive so considerable thought should be given to this. The common options are; no reimbursement, expensing of a portion of the monthly usage costs on either a one-off or through ongoing expenses. You consider levels of reimbursement depending as to how much you want/ expect your staff to be working in their own time and out of the office. 5. Security – The exposure of your business’ sensitive data, should the device be lost or stolen is by far the biggest risk. The way to police this is to have remote password protection, with the ability to device lock remotely. You may also want to consider being able to remotely wipe data from any device. The reason for this is a person with a grudge could do immeasurable damage to your business if they can get data from you. Some management technologies out there can compartmentalise business data and apps, which will enable you to only delete the work data on their device leaving those several hundred videos of their kids running around the garden securely on their phone. At the end of the day, BYOD is coming to an office near you and the important thing is to ensure that you have a policy in place, one that will cover yourself and your business. Whatever you decide, your policy should spell out exactly what is covered, and by whom, so that there is no room for misinterpretation.
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Insurance
What to Expect From Your Insurance Consultant How many of us receive non stop phone calls from financial advisors promising us the earth, seeming too good to be true and not asking us a question about ourselves? So many sales people from financial advisors here say they work to the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) guidelines, but what does this mean? There are so many questions surrounding the process in the UAE, that we at Business Insight thought it would be best to break it all down for you.
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Insurance
worked for nearly 20 years in the UK as a Corporate Benefits Consultant and was/am registered with the FSA, and now FCA to be able to give advice. I was shocked when I arrived here and was promised by a consultant that they adhered to FCA guidelines and could recommend products etc. Especially when I was sent a form that I had to complete and all they did was send me back a list of quotes. The crash illustrated that Financial Advisors globally had been able to sell policies that were not in the best interest of the client. In the states, you had people with no money able to take out mortgages for several times their salaries whilst the financial advisors reaped the rewards. Globally, as the stock markets came crashing down, people were finding that they were next to retirement and still in high risk shares which were worthless, just as they were due to retire. I knew of someone who was advised (albeit very stupidly), to remortgage his main residence when the mortgage would have been cleared within 8 months and buy several properties to fall back on as he was approaching retirement. He lost everything. He was buying at the height of the property price spike, in a market that was already unsustainable. He also brought badly, not paying attention to location so he struggled to rent the properties. It all sounds like a good idea, and to the mortgage broker it was. I calculated a few years later when I was told what happened, that the broker would have made about USD40,000 whilst he lost nearly USD1 million. It is these practices that global regulation is stopping and these practices that you should expect – Especially if people say they follow the FCA guidelines.
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Know Your Customer (KYC) Globally, across all financial markets, KYC is at the forefront of all advice. In the UK, the FCA guideline KYC is there so advisors can accurately lead their clients to the investments that are suitable for them and after a very thorough consultation, to ensure that they can meet your ‘investment needs and objectives’. They should be able to depict you as being high, medium or low risk and plan your portfolio accordingly, taking into account your age and what you want from life. Did you know that the closer to retirement you are, your risk level in your investments should decrease steadily therefore securing your investments and your future? These are the sorts of things that you should expect your financial planners and insurance advisors to be considering. So this takes me back to my experience here. How can an advisor say they follow
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Anyone seeking advice should expect their advisers to undertake sufficient due diligence on a service before recommending it to their clients to meet their obligation to treat customers fairly
FCA practices, and therefore can say that they Know Your Customer if they haven’t even met me? For companies, this is even more important, as there are so many variables that the advisors have to consider so they need to work closely with the company throughout the terms of all of the policies to ensure that they are still up-to-date on the company changes and can illustrate that they know their customer. The recommendations should reference your wants and needs to illustrate how they have kept you in mind at all times when giving the recommendation. The Work that Should be Standard All intermediaries vary, and on top of gathering all of your personal information and accurately assessing your insurance needs and risk profile, it may not be unreasonable to expect; ll Ongoing meetings ll Their making contact with you prior to your renewals ll Obtaining the authority to negotiate on your behalf ll Arranging any specialist cover; or providing you with details that you can contact to arrange this with a third party
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To give advice on anything that could assist with the risk management profile of your company. For example, advising you on additional security measures (cameras, fencing etc), or staff safety training sessions etc. Renewing and/or amending existing policies Having full and up to date knowledge of the market Processing and checking the invoices
Personally, I would expect a full report – especially if they the consultant has been saying they work to FCA standards. It is not just About Quotes and Claims Yes, your Advisor will be giving you quotes and may assist you with claims, but the service should go beyond that. As an SME Director, you should expect at least one visit a year, with at least one other phone call to discuss insurances; Once for a pre renewal meeting so that they can understand if there has been any changes in your circumstances that they are not aware
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insurance
Your advisor should visit you armed with a full report that details whom they have requested quotations from, why they chose them, a breakdown of the costs as well as full comparison of the benefits, together with their final recommendation
of (KYC again), and secondly in the renewal meeting when they should visit you armed with a full report that details whom they have requested quotations from, why they chose them (assuming they have not gone to the market as a whole), a breakdown of the costs as well as full comparison of the benefits, together with their final recommendation. Any questions and answers that have been given should be backed up in an email after – Especially if there is a change of recommendation. As an insurance advisor of a large corporate insurance policy
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of any description, it would not be unusual to expect quarterly meetings or more – especially if you have a bad claims history. They will be able to give you recommendations as to how you can reduce it, by changes in the company policy, benefits structure as well as changes in the policy itself. Some intermediaries will be able to offer holistic advice across your employee benefits policies, whilst others may only focus on one policy at the time. Some consultant’s will process your claims for you, whilst others will ask you to go straight to the
insurer. You need to know your advisor in the same way they know their client so your expectations are met. What you should expect Under UK Guidelines, to be classed as an independent financial adviser, they have offer you a broad range of products, whilst giving unrestricted and unbiased advice and advise you if they don’t offer products in a certain area – for example, an adviser who only provides employee benefits advice, or an adviser who only deals with commercial insurance. You should be told why the adviser didn’t include the policies they did. This would ordinarily be down to what investment needs and objectives that were identified in the meeting. Or it may be that they don’t have an agency agreement with that insurer. If this is the case, and you want for them to be included, you need to find someone who is able to offer you what is required. Insurance Company Consultants They operate under restricted advice in that they are only able to offer advice on their own products, however the same rules apply. Ultimately, regardless of what regulations your consultant adheres to, anyone seeking advice should expect their advisers to undertake sufficient due diligence on a service before recommending it to their clients to meet their obligation to treat customers fairly. n
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property
Buy in Dubai With the housing market taking off again, rental prices increasing and more liquidity entering the market, is now the right time to be buying in Dubai? ental yields in Dubai have always indicated how well the property market is and with an average apartment selling for around USD3,700 to USD4,300 per square meter (sq/m) and yields reportedly up to 7.2% in some parts of the city (according to the Global Property Guide), shows it gives far greater returns than other global hotspots; New York, where an apartment rents for on average USD12,000 to USD24,000 per square meter with a yield of between 3-5per cent or London, where rates range from USD58 to USD105, with a yield of 2.54 per cent to 4.36 per cent. Which begs the question, where would you rather buy if you want an investment property? We speak to Ryan Mahoney CEO from Better Homes to find out more.
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Do you think the UAE (Dubai in particular) is a good place to invest in real estate at the moment? If so, why? Yes. When you invest in property, you need to look at the potential rental yield from that property, because even if you are not planning to rent it out, that will tell you if the price you are paying is value for money. Yields from property in Dubai were at their height in March 2011 when sales prices were at their lowest and rental prices were increasing steadily. Yields are now holding steady at five per cent and when you contrast that with prime UK and US cities, where yields tend to be between two and three per cent, you will see that investing here is still an attractive prospect.
Who are you seeing is now buying in Dubai and are there any changes in the future that will open this up wider? We still see people investing off plan, but a greater proportion of the market is focused on end users - people buying properties to live in with their families. We are hearing a lot about people selling being speculators who are holding out for the top price. How is this affecting things and do you think that this will last? It is just good business sense to sell at the best possible time to gain maximum sales revenue, it does not make sense to sell earlier or later than that, any investor will tell you that. Prices have reduced a little recently, but it is difficult to say exactly which of a number of factors has caused that and why. It is too early to say exactly what will happen to the market next.
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property
A lot was learned from the last property bubble and things are very different now. The UAE population is growing, and will continue to grow up to and beyond 2020 because of the Expo, which means there will be continued demand for property, which is currently outstripping supply�
Please explain the changes that have occurred in the mortgage market and how this has affected the housing market. As of October 2013, the maximum loan to value ratio permitted to non-UAE nationals taking out mortgages is 75 per cent for properties worth less than AED 5 million, and 65 per cent for properties above that. For UAE and GCC nationals, the figures are 80 per cent and 70 per cent effectively. Some people believe the recent falls in house sales prices can be attributed to the cooling effect of people having to find large down payments if they want to own a property. However, at Better Homes, we believe that is one of a number of factors. Is it likely that there will be another property bubble, or have the changes the central bank have made been enough to stop this from happening? A lot was learned from the last property bubble and things are very different now. The UAE population is growing, and will continue to grow up to and beyond 2020 because of the Expo, which means there will be continued demand for property, which is currently outstripping supply. New regulations, not just of the mortgage market but of developers through the ESCROW account system, have made it so that the industry is more stable in general and less prone to exploitation by fly by night investors and developers.
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Top Tips When Viewing Office Space 1. Understand what licence you are obtaining and from which authority as you will need a different licence depending on where your business is based. For example, a licence issued by a free zone means that any commercial space you lease must be in that specific area. 2. Know your required size and visa requirements as the number of visas you can be issued with depends on the size of office you have. 3. Consider the public transport networks locally. Car parking is a big issue in most areas and this is making proximity to Metro stations more desirable 4. Know your fit-out requirements – Give considerable thought as to whether you require just the shell office or a fully fitted office. 5. Look at the surrounding facilities, i.e. supermarkets and other shops, coffee shops and restaurants. Are these what you require? Do you need any more/less?
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Most buildings in Dubai come with high speed internet and telecommunications. Check whether they are in place or what the time frames are on them being up and working. Do these time frames work with your business aspirations? Look at common area maintenance and make sure it is of a good standard. Does the reception area and corridor to your office match the image that you would like your business to portray? If the common areas are not a concern of yours as you know you will not be using the office as a base to meet clients, then you need to ask questions on the reliability of the elevators and fire systems would be like. You could ask when the last check of the fire system was and how often these are scheduled. Also consider asking other tenants about the reliability of the elevators and if they know when they were last serviced. n
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Travel & hospitality
Detox to Success
You are what you eat is a saying that everyone knows, but a stressed business owner often will eat on the run something that was ordered over the phone, because they don’t have time to cook for themselves. What this means is that often the food that they consume doesn’t have the nutritional value it should otherwise have. So what can we do to increase our daily nutrients and is it worth considering? The answer is a resounding yes! We speak with Claudia Odermatt, Managing Partner of Detox Delight, who explains how eating properly has been proven to increase productivity and ultimately your bottom line.
How did you come up with your business concept? After a ten-year long career as a marketing expert in the IT and software business and attempting in vain, despite practicing yoga and eating healthy, to find the right balance between a demanding everyday working life, a fulfilling private life and a good body
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feeling, I decided to take a timeout in the summer of 2008 and do an Ayurveda treatment in India. Together with my husband, I underwent a strict Panchakarma treatment, the traditional Ayurveda detox treatment, for three weeks. After returning home deeply impressed and inspired by the positive effects the treatment
had on my body and spirit, I made a fundamental decision; I quit my prestigious job, changed my eating and living habits and intensely informed myself about Ayurveda medicine and detox approaches in the western world. I took classes and read lots and lots of specialist literature, until at the end of 2008 the idea for “Detox Delight” was born. In the following months, I contacted international detox and raw food experts, obtained know-how about detox programs, special techniques for preparation and recipes and enthusiastically experimented on family members, close friends and myself. In the summer of 2009, many other test persons followed, among them physicians, alternative practitioners, practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine, Ayurveda practitioners, therapists, yoga teachers, personal trainers, nutritionists, consultants, chefs, journalists and many
We have a team of international scientists, nutritionists, and raw food culinary experts that work together to prepare our carefully considered recipes”
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more. The more than satisfying result; Quality, flavour, service and effect of the Detox Delight menus and juices were convincing, the first clients and partners had been won and press reports been printed. With the feedback of my test persons, I polished the concept and website and in September 2009, Detox Delight started with a small kitchen in the centre of Munich from where we at first only delivered in Munich and its closer surroundings. However, word spread fast about the new healthy delivery service in the rest of Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Due to the growing demand, I decided to deliver the pure juice treatment “Juice Delight” - well cooled and insulated - to other German cities and to Austria and Switzerland by overnight express courier service with the beginning of 2010. From there on, Germany’s first Home Detox Delivery Service was available nationwide and further. What is your business concept? We deliver perfectly packed chilled produce to the doors of our clients across the United Arab Emirates fresh each day. Stored and delivered-todoor at a constant 2 to 8 degrees centigrade (in dark conditions), our juices, soups and raw food retain their optimal vitamin content perfectly over a three-day period. We have a team of international scientists, nutritionists, and raw food culinary experts that work together to prepare our carefully considered recipes. We use international detox innovation and nutritional science to craft delicious detox treatments that have documented medical proof of their effectiveness – a truly unique service among detox companies operating here in the UAE or, indeed, across the region. Each and every programme is fully customised to the individual customer’s requirement. All intolerances are considered, we take the time to understand customer’s physical challenges, and only then do we create bespoke treatments that are guaranteed to make a real difference to people’s health and well-being. What are the main benefits that Detox Delight can bring to the business community? Super-food ingredients such as spirulina, fresh wheat grass, barley grass, herbs and aloe vera are included in our drinks, and using these adds a special touch to an already excellent juice experience. These ingredients come at a premium, however, we feel that their inclusion makes our produce exceptional and, ultimately, using super foods is extremely good for your body and takes the detox process to the next level.
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The Detox gives an energy boost and will help to stay focused and healthy in a stressed work life”
What are the personal benefits of detoxing for high powered, highly stressed, business personnel? Being high powered and highly stressed are just two of the reasons for getting sick, burnouts and feeling unwell. The detox will help to remove the free radicals out of your body and help bringing the body back to balance. The Detox gives an energy boost and will help to stay focused and healthy in a stressed work life. What are the business benefits for detoxing? Detoxing in a team gives a special feeling of bonding. The Team will get stronger. Detoxing either as part of a team or individually, has the same overall effect though; It has been found on day 3 you/the team get a power and energy kick. This increases productivity, as employees will be able to work better, faster and stay focused. What would you propose are the business benefits to the employers
buying the package for them and/ or their staff? A Person who detoxes regularly, will stay healthy, balanced and happier, creating a much happier and coordinated team in general. The detoxer create a more sensitive awareness of themselves. It’s not only that they eat healthier, they also get stronger in their minds and wills. Detoxing is for body mind and soul. Ultimately though, the business benefits of detoxing are clear; You are healthier, brighter, friendlier, lighter, happier motivated and more sporty employees. How can someone go about purchasing a package and having it delivered to the office? The easiest way is ordering online www.detox-delight.ae. If you not sure what is the right program, they can call our office. The Detox Delight team is happy to assist and help them to find the right program. We deliver to the office or to their home; whichever is more convenient for them. n
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Travel & hospitality
The Artful Dollar Here at Business Insight, we like new innovative businesses, and you can’t get much more innovative than an artist, selling/leasing his work to offices, hotels and sport complexes. We contacted Jim Wheat, the Dubai based artist, taking both the business world and the art world by storm with Dollarsandart.
The business came during a difficult time in my life right at the crunch time during the 2008 crash. I made the move to Dubai in 2002 and enjoyed corporate life, but the loss of a person dear to me and a relationship breakdown pretty much tipped me over, or rather, stripped all the layers away,” explains Wheat when asked how the business came about. This tragedy, although horrific at the time, proved to be the tipping point that literally turned his life around, “Once the layers had gone, creativity was the result
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in the form of a $ sign where my TV used to be on the wall of my apartment. I’d collected sand from a trip to RAK that had been sat on my balcony and formed a $ sign with that, on canvas that looked like Elvis Presley in profile. I called it ‘ELVI$’ and then worked on 27 other works that then became The Money Collection (2013) all based around the $ symbol, most using sand in some way and all therapy for much needed self expression.” You have been selling a lot to businesses and hotels. Tell us some more about this Excitedly he says, “Some of it is selling and some of it is showcasing and exhibiting which started with the 2013 Dubai Dollar Project at Media One hotel. I was looking for a venue that accepted me and Dollarsandart as was, rather than trying to cram the 28 strong ‘Money Collection’ into an Art gallery.” Wheat goes on to say, “Company and private commission requests are escalating. It helps to understand the brand of each company, to make it truly unique that resonates with the subject.” Why do you think businesses and hotels have been so quick on the uptake of your art? “Hotels are looking to enhance their guests and visitors experiences and art is one of the way in doing that,” Wheat explains. “I’d say 25% of my guests on both opening nights at Media One hotel hadn’t been to the Hotel before but have been back since so there’s
great value in that for the hotels who are bold enough to give a new artist a chance. One of my residencies is at The Track, Meydan where golf related Dollarsandart originals are for sale for the golf fraternity.” Where is the most exciting place that you have your artwork showing? With no hesitation, Wheat says, “Right now I’d say installing a couple of The Intergalactic$ collection at Cavalli club took some beating.” What advice would you give to a business/hotel on choosing artwork? “Sharing a clear vision with the Artist is key and also finding common ground. This would at least enable a ‘best fit’ or a commission that is unique to that hotel,” Wheat says with a big grin. n
Wheat is an artist based in Dubai, exhibiting work all around the world. Anyone wishing to se Dollarsandart can find works at Story Rooftop lounge (including Elvis) Meydan Hotel - the Track, Cavalli Club & Jumeirah Creekside Hotel.
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Feeling the burn..? Executives are usually acutely aware that any sign of weakness could be seized upon by employees or shareholders, causing a possible destabilising affect, which could send shockwaves across the business” Dragging yourself out of bed every morning? Feeling like you have to plaster your work face on to mask the fact that you can’t think of anything worse than sitting behind that desk again? You are not alone. How can you tell if you have a problem though?
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etting to the top of your career may have been what you’ve been striving towards for many years, but sometimes the reality of the long hours, the relentless pressure and the expectation to deliver can really take the shine off the prize. In an uncertain financial world, where shareholder discontent is rife and competition intense, the role of a senior manager is looking increasingly unenviable. Being at the top can be the loneliest place in the world. In fact, the job specification can seem to require superhuman qualities so it’s no wonder that recent research compiled by Harvard Medical School found that 96% of top flight managers feel ‘somewhat burned out’, with a third describing their situation as ‘extreme’. We know that this is a big issue for any high achiever so who better to speak with than Russell Hemmings, the internationally renowned Cognitive Behavioural Hypnotherapist who recently hit the headlines when he worked with a schoolboy
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whose fear of flying reached an epic proportion and that Hemmings had to work with and travel with him, back to the UK from Abu Dhabi. Hemmings has his own unique brand of self improvement, and goal achievement which has left global business leaders, famous actors, top sporting personalities and royalty seeking to work with him. “There is a certain irony attached to the fact that senior managers are often ably equipped to spot fatigue in their own workforce and deal with it effectively. However, when it comes to themselves, they are often the last ones to spot the telltale signs. Executives are usually acutely aware that any sign of weakness could be seized upon by employees or shareholders, causing a possible destabilising affect, that could send shockwaves across the business. This is a responsibility that can weigh heavily and that is why many senior business figures press on, trying to ignore those physical and psychological cues, until one day it hits or rather they hit it - ‘The wall’,” explains
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business incubator
Hemmings. “Much whispered about, but until you actually experience that utter feeling of helplessness; literally that inability to get out of bed, because you are so physically and mentally exhausted, it is very difficult to imagine yourself in that position. So often it’s the very traits that propel these people to the top of their profession – that unerring focus, the endless stamina and the drive to succeed – that can actually come in very handy when you want to mask those underlying feelings of anxiety and panic.” So how do you take your own ‘stress temperature’? How to See the Dead End Well, obviously the first (and the most important) step is to recognise you have a problem. Often executives who are edging closer towards ‘the wall’ go through a number of stages. The first being physical, mental and emotional exhaustion. It may be that you are still functioning at work – after all that’s what you do best, but take a look at your behavior outside of the workplace. If all you do is go home at night, grab any kind of food and slump on the sofa in a comatose state, then you are among millions of others and are probably just suffering from stress. Burnout steps it up a level. “If you don’t feel any sense of joy or happiness, even in the most simple things like a good meal, if you sometimes feel on the edge of tears and overwhelmed by the smallest of issues it is probably a sure fire indicator that something is wrong. Things may then begin to slip at work. Normally, you probably pride yourself on the great job you do, but you may start to cut corners. This can begin to undermine your confidence and gnaw away at your self-esteem, making you question why you were even given the job in the first place accompanied by that constant feeling that you are out of control and going to be ‘found out’ at any moment.” It is the donning of the mental ‘heavy armour’ as a protection against a prolonged feeling of insecurity making which will ultimate drag you down and you find yourself becoming abrasive, defensive, dismissive and quick to become angry. Hemmings says that this is when you should pay attention, “It’s at this point that crisis
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You actually experience that utter feeling of helplessness; literally that inability to get out of bed, because you are so physically and mentally exhausted”
is looming, all of your coping mechanisms begin to fall apart and any slight emotional hiccup can cause a dramatic fallout. The final stage, ‘the wall’, involves total meltdown and many people report simply not being able to get out of bed they feel so totally helpless.” When to Seek Intervention At this point, there is no other option but to seek professional help. It may be that you will be prescribed anti-depressants, but there are also other supportive methods that are highly effective in helping you to rebuild your life and develop a greater equilibrium between your career and your personal time. Firstly, you are not alone. Hemmings takes pains to point out that it is the high achievers that are susceptible to this, “Top flight managers globally have felt
this way. I explore these feelings of helplessness and disillusionment. Using a variety of motivational coaching methods, I help my clients to acquire a 360 degree appreciation of their lives before they crashed and burned. I often find that because of the extreme stress they have been under their perspective has narrowed dramatically and they can’t see the wood for the trees. Doing this helps them to take a step back and become objective. I couple this with strategies for achieving intense relaxation to realign their physical and mental wellbeing, helping them to see clearly enough to reprioritize and make those necessary changes. In fact, often you become a better and more objective manager following treatment for burnout. You simply ‘understand yourself ’ in a new way.” n
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business incubator
Business directory 68 |
October 2014
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business incubator
Better Homes AstroLabs
Floor 42, Vision Tower Business Bay Dubai UAE www.bhomes.com
Bonnington Jumeirah Lakes Tower
Brash Brands
BTC (A division of) New Egypt Gold
Club Fit For Business
Almas Tower, Dubai www.astrolabs.me
PO Box 502679 Arjaan Office Tower Office 402-403 Dubai Media City United Arab Emirates T: +971 (0)4 427 0547 dubai@brashbrands.com
Al Obour City Industrial Zone (A) Block 3/13013 Qalyubia, Cairo Egypt T: +202 41 100652 W: www.egyptgold-eg.com
Dollarsandart PO Box 212 871 www.dollarsandart.com
Petrochem
Head Office Level 34 Jumeirah Bay X2 Tower Jumeirah Lakes Towers P.O.Box 23910 Dubai T: +971 4 4179300 sales@petrocheme.com
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QC 30 Buildings Queen Charlotte Street Bristol, UK BS1 4HJ. www.fit4businessclub.com
DMCC
DACH ADVISORY
41st Floor, Platinum Tower Cluster I JLT 643993 Dubai, UAE http://www.dachadvisory.com/ T: +971 4 4324422 info@dachadvisory.com
Cluster J PO Box 37246 Dubai, UAE T: + 971 4 356 0000 reservations@bonningtontower.com www.bonningtontower.com
Detox Delight ME LLC Gold and Diamond Park info@detox-delight.ae www.detox-delight.ae
Almas Tower, Floor 1 Jumeirah Lakes Tower PO Box 48800 Dubai, UAE T. Local: 800 3622 T. Int: +971 4 424 9600 Opening Times Sunday – Thursday - 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM
HPL Yamalova & Plewka DMCC Legal Consultants Office 1806, Reef Tower Cluster O P.O. Box 487111 Jumeirah Lakes Towers, UAE www.lyhplaw.com
Russell Hemmings Jumeirah Lake Towers Dubai UAE www.russellhemmings.co.uk info@russellhemmings.co.uk
InfoPod
Office 302 Fortune Tower JLT Dubai www.myinfopod.com
Your Absolute Life Business Centre, Block 9 Knowledge village PO Box 502221, Dubai www.yourabsolutelife.com
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operations COMPETITION
ALL OF US HERE IN THE BUSINESS INSIGHT OFFICE WANTED TO PROVIDE A LITTLE SOMETHING FOR OUR READERS, SO WE TEAMED UP WITH DETOX DELIGHT, FIT FOR BUSINESS AND EMIRATES GOLF CLUB TO OFFER YOU THE CHANCE TO WIN SOME AMAZING PRIZES.
WIN!
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Business Insight and Detox Delight have come together to give two very lucky readers a chance to win a full customised Detox Treatment. As Detox Delight have different Treatments and Programs for everyone’s needs and will talk to the winners to determine what is best for him/her.
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While the Person is on a Detox you will eat and drink nothing else except what we deliver to them. So it’s a full day Program for 14 days, which would ordinarily cost 3,500aeds!
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To be in with a chance of winning, log onto our website www.businessinsight.ae and answer the question below;
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Question What are the business benefits of detoxing? • Healthier • Lighter • Increased alertness/Increased productivity • Happier
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DETOX DELIGHT EMIRATES GOLF CLUB
FIT FOR BUSINESS
Business Insight and Emirates Golf Club have come together to give two very lucky readers (plus a guest of each), the opportunity to win a midweek four ball at the Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club. A round of golf at the sporting oasis in the heart of the city has a distinct aura of a delightful journey across the fabled landscape of Dubai. Well-groomed fairways lined with date palms and coconut trees, attractive water hazards and shrubbery lends a tropical air to the Club's 18-hole, par-71 championship course that rolls into thousands of undulating yards. To be in with a chance of winning, log onto our website www.businessinsight.ae and answer the question below; Question Who won the 2014 Ryder Cup? • Europe • America
Business Insight and Fit for Business have teamed up to provide you with a coveted membership that two of our readers can use. Fit For Business is a global private and dynamic online business club built on sporting values, with a strong entrepreneurial foundation. Designed with the old school style of sports business clubs in mind, but with a very modern twist. You will be able to enjoy entrepreneurial workshops and business breakfast with industry leaders as well as being able to advertise at membership rates and automatically receive the regular newsletter, The Club Times. Finally, you will be able to upgrade your membership at any point during the 12 months, either with points or money. To be in with a chance of winning, log onto our website www.businessinsight.ae and answer the question below; Question What are the benefits of attending networking events? • Receive advice on how you can take your business to the next level • Meet people you may not have done ordinarily and form partnerships • You could speak with someone who wants to employ you or your services
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WIN!
Team Building
at Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club
Team building packages are available from only AED 100 per person. No golf experience required.
The Number One Team Building Venue in Dubai If your company is planning a team building exercise, or simply a fun staff get together, the Dubai Creek Golf Academy has a wide range of activities to help make the experience a truly memorable one. You don’t need any prior golf experience to have a great time, we will provide all the equipment required for your visit and all your team require is a pair of training shoes to enjoy a fun introduction to the game of golf! For further information please contact teambuilding@dubaigolf.com or call +971 50 9950 834 www.dubaigolf.com