Qatar Today July - August 2017

inside this issue July - August 2017 / Vol. 43 / Issue 7

COVER STORY

24 RETHINKING RESILIENCE

Today, “resilience” is a frequently cited objective by the region’s government leaders, but is often confused with emergency preparedness. National resilience is more than the capacity to respond to and recover from specific shocks. How prepared is the GCC, and specifically Qatar, to preserve its way of life under rapidly unfolding circumstances?

16 SOMETHING SWEET

Business auteur Anne Weyns demonstrates that being a luxury chocolatier in these times means putting in some hard labour in a Colombian cocoa farm one day and taking phone orders from Sir Elton John the next.

22 SEASONAL SALES HIGHLIGHT E-COMMERCE POTENTIAL

With online consumer activity set to spike across the MENA region during the religious festivals of Ramadan and Eid, Qatar is looking to encourage e-commerce as part of a broader push to catalyse private sector development.

56 THE SKATE GIRLS OF KABUL

Jessica Fulford-Dobson’s photography exhibition at the Qatar Museum Gallery in Katara is a testament to how just having fun and smiling can unite people.

inside this issue July - August 2017 / Vol. 43 / Issue 7

30 FIVE WAYS TO GET HIRED IN QATAR

Qatar is a place that provides many kinds of employment opportunities. Its thriving economy and significant natural resources make it an attractive job destination.

32 WHAT REALLY MAKES A GOOD LEADER?

According to the latest HEC Paris Executive Horizons survey, the three essential qualities all effective leaders need are a clear vision, the ability to influence and motivate people, and strong communication and listening skills. But how do bosses demonstrate these qualities and what distinguishes a good leader from a good manager?

34 GULF COMPANIES NOT READY TO IMPLEMENT VAT

VAT implementation could be as soon as early 2018 in a region with little history of taxation of any sort. The new tax represents a major shift in tax policy that will impact all segments of the economy and lead to a fundamental change in the way businesses operate. And it is already clear that many businesses will not be ready in time.

38 MORE THAN JUST CRISIS MANAGEMENT

Al Able Trading and Contracting’s Division Manager, Mohammad Mansoor, talks about how the embargo imposed on Qatar by its GCC neighbours has opened up new avenues for local companies.

44 WHAT QATARI CIOs WANT

Technology consultancy Gartner’s new CIO Agenda sheds light on where the priorities of Qatari Chief Information and Technology Officers lie and why.

47 ENVIRONMENT AT THE FOREFRONT

The new General Manager for Carrier Qatar, Nermeen Hammouda, has taken over the reins of the company at a crucial time – when the country is pushing for a major overhaul towards environment-friendly cooling.

50 PREPARING NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK

Eman Baker Abu El Hawa, General Manager, KidzMondo Doha, talks about the major concepts of the indoor edutainment park, which started its Qatar chapter in January.

and regulars 10

NEWS BITES

13

REALTY CHECK

14

BANK NOTES

15

OIL & GAS REVIEW

42

TECH TALK

47

MARKET WATCH

54

AUTO NEWS

58

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from the desk It’s nearly impossible now to turn a corner in Doha without stumbling on the now-iconic minimalist sketch of HH Skeikh Tamim by Qatari artist Ahmed bin Majed Almaadheed. “Tamim Al Majd” is proclaimed loud and proud from buildings, cars, billboards, bags and T-shirts and it follows us into our online world as well. It has become a symbol for citizens and residents to rally behind and show their support for Qatar during what could have been very difficult times.

But it’s clear to see – for everyone inside AND outside the country – that this campaign against Qatar has been futile at best. Qatar perseveres, forging new and stronger bonds stemming not just from geographic proximity but from alignment of fundamental philosophies. The other camp, meanwhile, finds itself isolated, its intentions laid bare, underhanded tactics exposed and the inner workings of their tenuous partnership with each other unraveling.

Addressing the nation for the first time since the crisis erupted, HH Sheikh Tamim said, “People are amazed to see Qatari people maintaining a high level of morale despite the unprecedented smear campaign. It was a true ethical trial. Our people have passed the test with flying colours, and we have held steadfast to our principles and traditions even in the time of trials, simply for the reason that we respect ourselves. I call on all of you to continue to hold onto that.”

And the people and businesses in Qatar have done just that. This issue we shed light on how we are determined to go about our business as usual. In our cover story, we talk about building resilience and how Qatar can put in place strategies to withstand external shocks to the system like the one that was inflicted on it a few weeks ago. We also speak to a contracting company who is learning new lessons in crisis management and is the better for it. We also profile the founder of a successful British chocolate company which has recently expanded into Qatar.

Happy Reading!

affairs > local

UAE ORCHESTRATED QATAR’S MEDIA HACKING

In a major revelation by Washington Post, the UAE arranged for Qatari government social media and news sites to be hacked in late May in order to post false quotes linked to the Emir HH Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.

The newspaper further said that senior UAE government officials discussed the planned hacks on May 23, the day before they occurred. Earlier, in June, Qatar’s attorney general Ali bin Fetais Al Marri had said, “Qatar has evidence that certain iPhones originating from countries laying siege to Qatar were used in the hack.”

OZAN KOSE / AFP

“QATARI PILGRIMS FOR HAJJ BEING TARGETED”

QATAR BLOCKADE SHOULD BE LIFTED: TILLERSON

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riticising Saudi Arabia for politicising the Hajj, Qatar claims that restrictions have been imposed on its nationals who are planning to travel to Makkah for the annual Muslim pilgrimage.

According to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Qatari citizens have been told they can only enter Saudi Arabia through two airports, and that they must travel via Doha to be allowed in.

NHRC further said that that it had filed a complaint with the United Nations because the steps were in “stark violation of international laws and agreements that guarantee the right to worship.”

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he US Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, has called for an end to the economic blockade imposed on Qatar by Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt.

Tillerson said the boycott, led by Saudi Arabia, was having a negative effect on the Qatari people. He added, “I hope as a sign of good faith they will lift that blockade. That would be a positive development.”

In the latest news, the foreign ministers of the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Egypt held a joint meeting in Bahrain's capital Manama following which they went back to their set of 13 demands to lift the blockade against Qatar.

AN AVENUE FOR COMPENSATION NATIONALISTIC FERVOUR A man writes comments on a wall bearing the portrait of Qatar’s Emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani. Sheikh Tamim delivered a televised speech to the nation on July 21, 2017, the first since Saudi Arabia and its allies severed ties with Qatar on June 5, 2017.

Qatar’s Attorney General Ali bin Fetais Al Marri speaks after the launch of the Compensation Claims Committee during a press conference in Doha. Qatar announced it was establishing a committee to pursue compensation claims potentially worth billions of dollars over the Saudi-led blockade.

STRINGER / AFP

Handout / TURKISH PRESIDENTIAL PRESS SERVICE / AFP

KARIM JAAFAR / AFP

SAUDI’S AIR CORRIDOR CLAIM FALSE: QATAR

HH SHEIKH TAMIM, ERDOGAN DISCUSS GULF CRISIS

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he Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met in Doha to talk about the Gulf crisis brought about by the Saudi-led boycott of Qatar. Erdogan was accompanied

by Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu.

“The most appropriate way is to sit

together around the table and [have] direct talks. This is the main obstacle in front of us and I hope there will be an opportunity for such a format soon,” said Cavusoglu.

Both Qatar and Turkey praised Kuwait’s role as the mediator in the conflict. Erdogan also travelled to Kuwait to meet with the country’s Emir, Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah.

Accusing Saudi Arabia of spreading false information, Qatar denied the claim that the Arab countries involved in the blockade would allow Qatari planes to use air corridors for emergencies.

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ccording to QNA, Qatar’s transport and communications ministry and its aviation authority denied claims that Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt and Bahrain had taken such a decision.

Saudi state news agency SPA had earlier said, “Nine corridors have been identified including one in international airspace over the Mediterranean sea that will be monitored by the Egyptian authorities.”

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KARIM JAAFAR / AFP

affairs > local The ban on laptops and large electronics imposed by the US on flights coming from the Middle East will no longer apply to Qatar Airways.

QA EXONERATED FROM LAPTOP BAN

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atar Airways said that “all personal electronic devices can be carried onboard all departures from Hamad International Airport to destinations in the United States”.

“Qatar Airways and Hamad International Airport have met all requirements of the US Department of Homeland Security’s new security guidelines and we would like to express our thanks to the US and local authorities for their support during this process,” the airline said in a statement.

QATAR SAYS WC 2022 ON TRACK DESPITE BLOCKADE

MUTE VICTIMS A Qatari boy photographs camels in a desert area on the Qatari side of the Abu Samrah border crossing between Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

According to a newspaper report, around 12,000 camels and sheep have become the latest victims of the Gulf diplomatic crisis, being forced to trek back to Qatar from Saudi Arabia.

KARIM JAAFAR / AFP 14 > QATAR TODAY > JULY - AUGUST 2017

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ith the Saudi-led embargo on Qatar almost two months old, countries like Oman, Malaysia and China are coming to the fore to fill the void left by Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Malaysian steel is replacing Saudi steel, and Oman will provide materials originally ordered from the UAE to make sure that the 2022 World Cup goes according to plan, claims Qatar.

“For every challenge that we face, there are solutions that keep popping up,” said Hassan Al Thawadi, Secretary General, Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy. “We are working with our contractors to make sure we actually deliver long-term supply chain solutions and alternatives.”

business > realty check BANKING ON REPUTATION

“We will continue to exploit The Pearl-Qatar’s position as Qatar’s real estate development of choice and use our resources and experience to create a sustainable commercial and social environment.”

IBRAHIM AL OTHMAN President and CEO, United Development Company

QIMC, DOHA BANK JOIN HANDS FOR HIGH-RISE PROJECT Qatar Industrial Manufacturing Company (QIMC) and Doha Bank signed a term loan agreement in July to finance QIMC’s new mixed-use development venture Abraj Al Tahwiliya.

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he project, currently in its foundation stage, is spread over an area of 11,000 sqm and consists of three towers at West Bay. The first tower is a 29-storey residential tower which includes a spa, gym and swimming pool, and apartments offering residents a seaview of the Corniche. The second is a 24-storey tower consisting of office spaces, while the third is a 38-storey tower containing 360 luxurious

hotel apartments.

“QIMC was blessed with land on Doha’s Corniche which we are making best use of by developing Abraj Al Tahwiliya in partnership with leading international and local consultants,” said Abdul Rahman Al Ansari, CEO, QIMC. “We are thrilled to be working alongside Doha Bank as they are helping us to finance this project. It is allowing us to work rapidly and aids in having the towers completed in due time.”

DFC HOLDING TALKS FOR LOAN AMENDMENT

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ollowing claims from bankers that refinancing of Doha Festival City has been put on hold because of Qatar’s diplomatic crisis, the Qatari shopping mall operator said it remained in discussions with banks to amend a $1 billion loan.

According to Reuters, several bankers involved in the proposed deal said that the refinancing had been indefinitely postponed as the crisis had discouraged the banks in the region from engaging in new business activities with Qatar and

tightened liquidity in the domestic Qatari money market.

However, the project’s owner, Bawabat Al Shamal Real Estate Co., issued a brief statement saying that the project “continues to enjoy a healthy relationship with all the banks it has been dealing with since the start of the development.”

A spokesman for DFC told Reuters that the company was still discussing with banks amendments to its loan, which it raised in 2012. He declined to give any details of the talks or say when a deal might be reached.

BARWA SIGNS LEASING CONTRACT FOR MUSTAWDAAT PROJECT

Barwa Real Estate Group signed the leasing contract, worth QR755 million, with Mohammed Hayil Group Trading and Contracting WLL for its Mustawdaat project in Umm Shahrain.

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he signing took place between Salman bin Mohammed Al Mohannadi, Barwa Group’s CEO, and Mohammed Hayil Al Omar, the CEO of the tenant company, at the Barwa headquarters.

“The objective of the Mustawdaat project is to meet the demands of the Qatari market for the logistics areas and modern storages at reasonable prices that help reduce the overall cost of providing goods and products to consumers,” said Al Mohannadi.

The contract term, starting October 1, 2017, is for ten and a half years. During this time, the tenant will operate, maintain and lease the project.

The development of the Mustawdaat project was awarded to Barwa Real Estate Company as one of four warehousing parks allocated to a number of developers in 2015.

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business > bank notes RESERVES TO THE RESCUE

Qatar Central Bank has $40 billion in reserves plus gold, while the Qatar Investment Authority sovereign wealth fund has $300 billion in reserves that it could liquidate. “This is the credibility of our system; we have enough cash to preserve any kind of shock.”

HE SHEIKH ABDULLAH BIN SAOUD AL THANI Governor, Qatar Central Bank

QNB’S STRATEGIC ASIA EXPANSION Qatar National Bank’s expansion into Asia is helping the lender offset the impact of the ongoing Saudi-led isolation of Qatar.

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NB’s Chief Executive Officer, Ali Al Kuwari, said the bank aims at cutting the income generated from its domestic market to 50% by 2020 from about 63% currently. The bank will apply to open a branch in Hong Kong this year and convert its China representative office to a branch, he said. The impact from the standoff with its neighbours “is very little,” said Al Kuwari, talking to a financial news channel. Gulf countries “represent less than 5% of the balance sheet. Even if the situation continues forever, to diversify 5% is so easy and doesn’t really take so much,” he said.

KUWAITI DEPOSITS TO STAY

Kuwaiti banks have no intention of withdrawing their deposits and investments from Qatar, a Kuwaiti official source told Reuters.

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he source, speaking on condition of anonymity because of political sensitivities, noted that Kuwaiti banks had not announced plans to withdraw deposits or take other exceptional measures when detailing their exposure to Qatar in bourse statements over the last few days. “This reflects the confidence of Kuwaiti banks and Kuwaiti companies in the financial solvency of the state of Qatar, the Qatari banks and financial institutions and their ability to meet their obligations,” the source said.

“This confidence is confirmed by the international rating institutions. These investments are generating good returns for Kuwaiti banks. There is no reason to worry about them at the moment.” Among the statements by Kuwaiti banks, Burgan Bank, for example, said its total exposure to Qatar was 66.7 million dinars ($220 million), or 0.9% of the bank’s total assets.

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MOODY’S AFFIRMS DOHA BANK’S RATINGS Moody’s has affirmed Doha Bank’s A2/Prime-1 deposit ratings and baa3 baseline credit assessment (BCA).

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oha Bank’s A2 deposits rating incorporates the bank’s importance to the local financial system with a market share of around 8% in deposits. It demonstrated willingness and ability of the Qatari government to provide support to local banks, through capital injections and the purchase of real estate and equity investment portfolios from banks; and the government’s 16.7% shareholding in Doha Bank.

The bank’s capitalisation levels are expected to strengthen, as the lender recently completed a rights issue of QR1.3 billion.

As a result, Tangible Common Equity-to-risk weighted assets is expected to increase to 12.4% from 10.8% as of March 2017.

business > oil&gas LNG PRODUCTION TO INCREASE

Qatar Petroleum’s Chief Executive Officer Saad Sherida Al Kaabi has said that the country’s output of LNG will rise by 30% over the next five to seven years. The increase will be the equivalent of adding about 8% to the world’s current supplies of the gas.

CAUGHT IN THE CROSSFIRE

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he current diplomatic crisis between Qatar and its GCC neighbours has led to some of the Asian oil refiners adjusting their shipping arrangements. In an effort to please both sides involved in the dispute, buyers are chartering extra ships, loading oil from

Saudi Arabia and the UAE before Qatar, or lifting a combination of Qatari and Iranian cargoes so they follow the port and cargo restrictions imposed by the UAE and Saudi Arabia, according to industry sources.

However, the corrective measures are coming at a cost, in terms of time as well as money. According to a source at a South Korean refiner, “Shipping costs have increased because vessels can’t stop at Saudi ports after lifting Qatari crude and I believe many other Northeast Asian buyers are worried about high logistics costs.”

Three Asian refinery sources said that Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) has assured them they can call at Qatari ports after loading in the UAE.

“BLOCKADE WILL NOT AFFECT QATAR ADVERSELY”

QATAR, UAE IN OIL IMPORT ROW Qatar Petroleum’s (QP) Chief Executive Officer Saad Sherida Al Kaabi has said that the company will be taking “legal actions” after Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. halted shipments from Qatar of condensate, a light oil liquid. An ADNOC official said currently there is no force majeure imposed on Qatari cargoes.

“We are the ones who should be calling force majeure because we have the restrictions, not them,” Al Kaabi said. “They have enforced force majeure on that contract illegally in our view and we are taking legal actions on that.”

Qatar will continue to supply natural gas via a pipeline to the United Arab Emirates and Oman, Al Kaabi told reporters at a news conference in Doha.

According to Qatar’s energy and industry minister Mohammed Al Sada, the current economic and diplomatic blockade by Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt and Bahrain will not have a drastic effect on the country’s oil and gas trade.

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peaking at the World Petroleum Congress in Istanbul, Al Sada said, “Despite the illegal siege currently enforced on Qatar, [it] has never failed a single shipment and has not compromised on its long-standing image of being a reliable supplier of energy to all corners of the world.”

He added that the blockade would not have a wide impact as “total exports in trade to Saudi Arabia, UAE and Bahrain account for less than 8%” of its total global trade. “So any short-term efforts will not have a wide impact... This unjust blockade is demonstrating our economic strength, diversity and resilience,” said Al Sada.

He also pointed out that the total trade flows of energy to Japan, India, South Korea and China - the main centres of oil demand and growth – account for three quarters of Qatar’s exports and trade to these nations “remains unchanged”.

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affairs > listening post

SOMETHING

SWEET

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BUSINESS AUTEUR ANNE WEYNS DEMONSTRATES THAT BEING A LUXURY CHOCOLATIER IN THESE TIMES MEANS PUTTING IN SOME HARD LABOUR AT A COLOMBIAN COCOA FARM ONE DAY AND TAKING PHONE ORDERS FROM SIR ELTON JOHN THE NEXT.

espite having worked as a business analyst for a decade, or maybe because of this, Anne Weyns doesn’t go down the traditional market research/competitor study/data analysis route when it comes to creating new chocolate recipes for Artisan du Chocolat. She sits gazing out of her office window and daydreams as exotic flavour combinations coalesce inside her head. It’s a skill some chefs have to train for years

18 > QATAR TODAY > JULY - AUGUST 2017

to perfect; for others like Weyns and her friend Jo Malone (yes, that Jo Malone who incidentally created the chocolate perfumes that are used in all Artisan du Chocolat stores) it’s innate and so natural that it’s impossible to explain the process. A stroll through Souq Waqif, she says, inspired her to try out a white chocolate and black pepper cashew combination.

Before the days of Artisan du Chocolat, engineer-turned-business consultant Weyns would come home after 12-14 hours

at McKinsey and help her then-life partner/ chef in the kitchen in piecing together the beginnings of their business. Even then, before she knew that she was going to have to commit full-time to chocolate, she took her “training” very seriously. “We all have reasonable choices in life, in principle,” she says. “So my philosophy is that if I was going to spend my time learning to make chocolates, I’d rather do it to my absolute best level. I am quite obsessive like that.”

When they decided to open their first store

in 2002, she thought (somewhat naively, she adds) that she’d take a year or so off to get the ball rolling and then get back to work. “When you are a consultant, you advise businesses at high strategic level and don’t often see the nitty-gritty.” So armed with her to-do list for her new business, which could fit one side of a sheet of paper, she jumped in head first and never went back to her work at McKinsey.

And now, 15 years later, Artisan du Chocolat has opened its first international outlet in Qatar at Doha Festival City (with another to open in Saudi Arabia soon). Even though the region was a natural next step for expansion beyond the UK, according to Weyns, she put off the decision for long.

Not being in the same time zone meant she couldn’t obsessively keep track of the business minutiae, as she is prone to do.

“It was like giving away my baby,” she says.

But she eventually caved in. “We know we have a strong client base in the Middle East because a lot of our London clients are from this region and so we know the products resonate well with the customers here,” she says. Also, in line with her philosophy that the products should speak for themselves, she spends much less energy and resources on marketing; which means, much like her customers, her partners too are those who come to her because they know the brand from word of mouth. “Our Saudi partner is someone who has been a customer for many years at our Chelsea store. Neebal Ali bin Ali visited our store in London, loved it and asked his team to get in touch with us.

Apart from that, the region also made a lot of sense for us. Our factory in Kent is a Halalcertified site and our range of products that is also suitable for the consumers here. We are a good fit. These moves are a lot about the right time, right place and the right partner,” she says. Artisan du Chocolat has brought to Doha most of their core range of products.

Pearls, which are popular favourites back home, are also best-sellers here not least because of their visual appeal. Weyns wants to create more Middle East-inspired recipes that incorporate local favourites like pine nuts, pomegranates, smoked almonds, pecan and caramel.

There are still a couple of exciting products that are yet to make their way across to Doha. “Functional Chocolates” is one of them. “It’s one of my side projects,” says Weyns, lamenting that she has so many of these ideas but no time to execute them.

This range has two lines for beauty and wellbeing that incorporate essential vitamins and nutrients into the mix. “I wanted to do this because I am one of those people who

every new year resolves to be healthier and stock up on vitamin supplements which end up behind the drawer within a few weeks.

No one comes home and says, ‘I am really looking forward to that pill.’” So she worked for 18 months with supplement developers to come up with a new delivery mechanism that will be more palatable than a pill. “If you like dark chocolate, these are a nice way to have your essential supplements. A lot of people love chocolates. These are chocolates that love you back.”

The chocolate factory Essentially, her organisation is very flat.

It’s Weyns, a few heads of function like production manager, accountant, etc., and the people who man the 20,000-square feet factory at Kent which hugely varies from 30-60 depending on the season. During peak seasons like before Christmas, Easter and Valentine’s Day, they often have people working in two shifts. Packaging, she says, is the most time-consuming operation and the only thing she would let temporary staff be involved in. “We are lucky to be situated near the Gurkha barracks because we can recruit

WEYNS’ TEAM HELPS HER BRING HER CREATIONS TO LIFE, IRONING OUT THE TECHNICAL ASPECTS OF HOW TO INCORPORATE CERTAIN FLAVOURS INTO CHOCOLATE OR STREAMLINE MASS PRODUCTION.

among the wives and daughters of the soldiers who are staying there. Most of our temp staff are Nepali who have been with us for many years. They are wonderful people,” she says. “Dexterous and precise and they enjoy the work.”

Getting the right staff takes a while, she says, because most of them have seen the movie Chocolat and have a romantic notion of chocolate-making. But it’s not like that at all; at the end of the day it’s food production and is very controlled. “So if we decide to make Pistashio Pearls today, they will have to do it for eight hours. But they can’t lose focus because in this environment things can go wrong really fast either with the food or the machines. So we need people with a

specific kind of mentality – someone who is happy with a job that has an element of repetition, but can focus all their attention on what they are doing,” she says.

Also production on this scale requires a degree of automation. Making domeshaped truffles was all alright when they were making them in a tiny kitchen with a single fridge and a marble table; “When you make them by hand, you make the soft mousse-like mix, whip it, put it in a vacuum bag and pipe it by hand. The first few won’t look good because it takes a while to get the feel for it, then you have good results for two hours and then back to misshapen truffles because after that your wrists start to hurt. Machines are more consistent and there is no added value for the customer in someone making it by hand. “What matters to them is the quality of the ingredients and technical competence that goes into 19 > QATAR TODAY > JULY - AUGUST 2017

affairs > listening post

the recipes. We don’t automate for cost savings, but for consistency and quality improvement. We still make the ganache by hand but have replaced hand-dipping with the chocolate curtain.” She quotes one of her first clients, Gordan Ramsey, who is known to have said that almost anyone can create a Michelin-star meal once with enough practice. The trick is to do it every single time. “It’s the same here. We are not a biotech company, there is no secret to our product. The challenge is to be consistently good while producing large volumes. It’s all in the management.”

The behind-the-scenes chocolotier Weyns can’t, off the top of her head, tell how much chocolate is being produced in her factory, because Artisan du Chocolat produces a lot of chocolates for other brands like Harrods and restaurants run by celebrity chefs like Gordon Ramsay and Heston Blumenthal. This is not necessarily public knowledge; in fact, Artisan du Chocolat supplies a version of their famous salted caramel chocolates to Parisian hot chocolate haunt Angelina. Weyns enjoys sharing this titbit; it’s surreal that the 200-year-old business with a strong Parisian heritage gets their chocolates from a 15-year-old British company.

This part of the operations is almost as old as the business itself. When they started supplying chocolates for Gordon Ramsay, he wasn’t yet quite the celebrity he is today. “He had just left Aubergine and his new restaurant in Chelsea was barely a couple of months old. It hadn’t yet received its Michelin rating. “When we approached him, we didn’t think we’d end up supplying him,” remembers Weyns. “We knew of him because we knew his fiery personality and we wanted an honest view of the quality of our chocolates. At that time in the UK, 20 > QATAR TODAY > JULY - AUGUST 2017

WEYNS DESIGNS THE PACKAGING WHICH INCORPORATES BOTH HER CREATIVE AND OBSESSIVECOMPULSIVE SIDES. SHE HATED TO SEE WONKY RIBBONS ON THE CHOCOLATE BOXES AND SOLVED IT AT THE DESIGN STAGE BY PRINTING RIBBON PATTERNS ON THE BOX. “THAT MADE ME VERY HAPPY,” SHE LAUGHS.

there were a couple of chocolate shops who were importing but not manufacturing.

They products were either very sweet milk chocolates or old English desserts. We were making different flavours and using dark chocolates and a lot of people had told us that this wouldn’t work in the UK like it would in Europe. So we were looking for someone who would tell us yay or nay. But we started supplying him two weeks after our first meeting.”

It was for Ramsay that Artisan du Chocolat invented their now famous salted caramel chocolates. “Our brief for Claridge’s from Gordon was this – I have a round silver bowl of this size so I want something round that can endure the ravages of a busy restaurant,” she laughs. “So we started working with caramel dark shell with liquid caramel inside but it was too sweet. In Brittany they used salted butter with caramel so we tried that. It was still too sweet so we ended up adding salt directly. I reckon it’s the first time real salted caramel was made. And then it went everywhere from there. Now it’s very popular,” she says.

Slowly, through word of mouth, this side of the business grew. “Chefs move around. So some of his younger chefs went on to work at other restaurants and bit by bit, we had new owners and chefs calling us. Kitchens at restaurants are tiny because they want to maximize the real estate available for the front end. And making chocolates is a very specialist job – you need a large place with no humidity or other smells.” Soon Heston Blumenthal was on the client roster.

“Heston’s style is completely different from Gordon’s. He is much more experimental, so we did chocolates with unusual flavours like fresh-cut grass, leather and wood. We work closely with the chefs, because the chocolates have to complement their menu and should also be costefficient – it’s a discussion.” Their client list continued to evolve organically to include British Airways. “We supplied chocolates for the last Concorde,” she remembers. “It was a very British range with flavours like Earl Grey, rose and fresh mint.”

Ensuring quality at the source Most cocoa production happens in the narrow belt five degrees to either side of the equator, and usually by small farmers.

They sell these to a cooperative who sell to a national account, who sell them on to the stock market and the international market.

They are bought by traders and sold to big chocolate manufacturing companies, who make the basic chocolate ingredients and

sell them on to chocolatiers. “Everyone along this way-too-long chain makes money except the farmers,” explains Weyns. “With the final price being finite, they are the ones who end up suffering the most. And the people who make chocolate know nothing about cocoa-growing and those who grow the cocoa often don’t know where their product ends up. I was in Trinidad which is known for their very old cocoa trees and I couldn’t find chocolate anywhere apart from imported Kitkats. There is such a big divide and it has always been strange to me. Because if I get bad beans or cocoa liquor, there is nothing I can do with it. It’s my most important ingredient and I need to understand where it comes from and want kind of agricultural practices go into it. When a farmer is paid the bare minimum for his product, there is no incentive to grow it better. They take shortcuts or completely stop if it isn’t viable enough. A lot of farms in Trinidad are abandoned because there is not enough money in it. So the knowledge of how to manage plantations is also dying. And for the young people, this is not a very enticing career choice,” she says.

That’s why she decided they were

ARTISAN DU CHOCOLAT RELIES PURELY ON WORDOF-MOUTH ADVERTISING. IN FACT, SOME OF THEIR MORE PROLIFIC CUSTOMERS WERE INVITED TO MODEL FOR THE PACKAGING ON THEIR NEW RANGE OF CHOCOLATE BARS. better off buying from people closer to the source. These are not necessarily fair trade-registered but cooperatives that have good social policies. “We were lucky to come across such a company in Colombia.”

Colombia is strange animal in the middle of South America, she says. Colombian families drink hot chocolate every morning.

They make it differently across the region (“Which sometimes can lead to divorce,” she laughs) but it’s a staple. So they have always used the beans they produce and so have developed an amazing knowledge. While they started exporting recently, they make

cocoa liquor locally. Weyns visited one of these farms and worked on their lands for a few weeks. She came to realise that fair trade farmers aren’t that much better off; but if the farmers are taught to farm better, they can increase their output by 4-5 factors in three years.

“Cocoa is a very low-yield tree. The tiny white flowers are pollinated by mosquitoes.

Only 1 in 1,500 flowers yield a pod and 50% of pods are lost to bacteria or monkeys and birds who love to snack on them. So effectively it’s only 1 in 3,000 flowers that will give you a pod, each of which contains 50-60 beans. So the yield is very poor. That’s why in Africa they use trees that are more robust but produce low-quality, commodity cocoa. But if you tell farmers about the different types of trees, give them seedlings, teach them to prune them to the right size that makes it easy to spot and eliminate rot, teach them to intercrop, etc., you can make it more sustainable for them. Cocoa farming is hard work,” she says, remembering her time pollinating flowers by hand in the sweltering heat among the creepy-crawlies. “But they are very proud of their job and they deserve to have a better life.”

21 > QATAR TODAY > JULY - AUGUST 2017

affairs > world view

T ECTO N I C S H I F TS

A screengrab made on July 14 from a video released by the British Antarctic Survey shows the rift in the Larsen C Ice Shelf, on the Antartic Peninsula, in February 2017 that showed a growing crack in the ice shelf predicting that an iceberg with an area of more than 5,000 km2 is likely to calve soon.

STRINGER / BRITISH ANTARCTIC SURVEY / AFP

22 > QATAR TODAY > JULY - AUGUST 2017

23 > QATAR TODAY > JULY - AUGUST 2017

development > viewpoint

SEASONAL SALES HIGHLIGHT E-COMMERCE POTENTIAL

WITH ONLINE CONSUMER ACTIVITY SET TO SPIKE ACROSS THE MENA REGION DURING THE RELIGIOUS FESTIVALS OF RAMADAN AND EID, QATAR IS LOOKING TO ENCOURAGE E-COMMERCE AS PART OF A BROADER PUSH TO CATALYSE PRIVATE SECTOR DEVELOPMENT.

24 > QATAR TODAY > JULY - AUGUST 2017

A

t the end of May, Qatar Postal Services Company (Q-Post) slashed shipping charges by as much as 35% for customers using its “Connected” e-commerce service throughout Ramadan, in a bid to spur online retail during the annual giftgiving that marks these holidays. Launched in April of last year, Connected provides users with an “international shipping

address” allowing them to shop at select global retailers that ordinarily restrict shipping to Qatar, thus easing postal wait times.

Last Ramadan, online sales across the MENA region rose by 18% during the fortnight ahead of the festival and peaked at 66% in the month’s third week, averaging out to a 51% rise over the entire period, according to an analysis by technology marketing firm Criteo. Q-Post’s move is

part of broader efforts to modernise the country’s mail system and spur e-commerce in response to market changes and shifting consumer habits.

In March it inked an agreement with Qatar Mobility Innovations Center to develop a pilot for Tasleem, a new e-commerce platform, to support ondemand delivery services both locally and regionally. The partners are now working to finalise an initial platform, with the aim of a large-scale launch at a later stage. The following month, Q-Post signed a deal with Turkish Post to develop a joint e-commerce platform to facilitate online shopping and shipping between Qatar and Turkey.

The Communications Regulatory Authority has meanwhile been working to create a business environment more conducive to e-commerce. “We are already working on assessing the sector’s dynamics and how to balance policies and regulations, taking into consideration their impacts on service providers, over-the-top services, platforms and applications,” Mohammed Ali Al Mannai, its president, told OBG.

regulatory challenges, poor payment and logistics infrastructure, security, and consumer trust, AT Kearney noted.

Nonetheless, the report added, given high personal income levels the GCC could become one of the world’s fastest-growing regions for e-commerce, with the potential to nearly quadruple online sales to $20 billion by 2020.

This scope for growth has caught the attention of international giants like Amazon, which in March announced a deal to acquire Dubai-based online retailer Souq.com for at least $650 million.

Moves to open the market to smallerscale enterprises have also been made, and in early March the Qatari government launched the Qatar National E-commerce information portal. The platform provides the latest information on the e-commerce scene in Qatar, as well as tips, guidelines and best practices for enabling businesses to grow through e-commerce and for helping consumers to stay safe online. The stated aim is to help small businesses access global value chains through e-commerce.

Growth potential E-commerce in the Gulf has lagged behind much of the rest of the world, as the region’s retail space continues to be dominated by malls. With estimated revenues of $5.3 billion in 2015, e-commerce contributes just 0.4% of the GCC’s GDP, far below the 3% figure in comparable markets, according to a 2016 study by consultancy AT Kearney.

One reason for the slow uptake is that many consumers prefer to physically inspect and compare items before purchasing, according to Shamsuddin Olakara, chairman of Quality Group International. “E-commerce offerings are also lacking from the retailers’ side,” he told OBG. “More diverse payment options should be introduced to enhance both customer satisfaction and security.”

Further obstacles to growth include

ICT investment Another positive sign for e-commerce growth is greater commercial use of technology. As Qatar-based firms become more aware of how technology can help grow their sales, total business spending on ICT is forecast to rise from $1.9 billion in 2015 to nearly $2.8 billion by 2019, according to a 2016 report by the Ministry of Transport and Communications.

Almost half of businesses surveyed for the report said ICT helped them access customers in new geographies and expand their potential markets. “ICT underpins the growth of every industry in the 21st century,” Zong Yan, CEO of Huawei Qatar, a global telecoms & ICT company, told OBG. “We have observed in other countries such as China that there is a direct correlation between GDP growth and investment in ICT.”

BY OLIVER CORNOCK Managing Editor, Middle East Oxford Business Group

This Qatar economic update was produced by Oxford Business Group.

25 > QATAR TODAY > JULY - AUGUST 2017

RETHINKING RESILIENCE C OV E R STO RY

RETHINKING RESILIENCE

26 > QATAR TODAY > JULY - AUGUST 2017

TODAY, “RESILIENCE” IS A FREQUENTLY CITED OBJECTIVE BY THE REGION’S GOVERNMENT LEADERS, BUT IS OFTEN CONFUSED WITH EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS. NATIONAL RESILIENCE IS MORE THAN THE CAPACITY TO RESPOND TO AND RECOVER FROM SPECIFIC SHOCKS. HOW PREPARED IS THE GCC, AND SPECIFICALLY QATAR, TO PRESERVE ITS WAY OF LIFE UNDER RAPIDLY UNFOLDING CIRCUMSTANCES?

27 > QATAR TODAY > JULY - AUGUST 2017

RETHINKING RESILIENCE C OV E R STO RY

"

F

rom economic meltdown to natural disaster, and cyberattack to terrorist act, with catastrophes occurring on a daily basis, the harsh reality is that no country can afford to take a lax approach to national resilience. When disaster strikes, where resilience is lacking, no nation – rich or poor – can be immune to the devastating impact that all too often ensues. In today’s world, where the counterbalance to unprecedented advancement is unprecedented threat and near unfathomable complexity, it is time, now more than ever, for GCC governments and their global counterparts to make national resilience a strategic imperative. Only then can the region pursue the exciting task of advancing their nations into the future, safe in the knowledge that they are ready – as much as anyone can be – for any eventuality."

(Excerpt from Booz Allen Hamilton’s report entitled, “Building National Resilience”)

NABIH MAROUN Executive Vice President Booz Allen Hamilton MENA

State of resilience planning in the GCC The era of low oil prices that began in mid-2014 and the ensuing uncertain economic outlook have compelled GCC countries to reconsider their development plans and introduce the notion of risk management in their government planning capabilities, says Nabih Maroun, Executive Vice President at Booz Allen Hamilton MENA. Today, “resilience” is a frequently cited objective by GCC government leaders, but is often confused with emergency preparedness. National Resilience is more than the capacity to respond to and recover from specific shocks; it includes the ability to predict, prevent and manage a myriad of 28 > QATAR TODAY > JULY - AUGUST 2017

risks that could affect different critical infrastructure components and ultimately threaten economic stability.

The risks faced by GCC countries are particularly diverse. Natural catastrophes such as flooding, sand storms and pandemics pose a serious threat, as do human-related accidents such as food or water contamination, oil and chemical spills, and radiation leaks. Then there is the threat of terrorism along with a growing number of cyberattacks.

“While the past three years have provided the possibility to test how GCC countries are able to respond to economic shocks, they have also highlighted the low overall level of preparedness of governments to handle other types of risks on vital sectors such as water, food, banking and telecommunications,” says Maroun.

Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, and Qatar have all unveiled long-term development visions and elaborated national development strategies on their basis. While these plans called for accelerated economic diversification away from oil, they still came during a period of high oil prices and did not sufficiently underscore the urgency for greater resilience across vital sectors of the economy, Maroun feels. “The next wave of national visions and government agendas will undoubtedly incorporate a more systematic approach to embedding resilience targets and capabilities, protecting critical infrastructure and proactively managing threats of national significance,” he says.

Role of ICT in resilience planning and response Embedding resilience targets and capabilities in national development agendas sets out the proper planning measures that should always be in place to protect critical infrastructure and proactively manage potential threats, according to Dr Raymond Khoury, Executive Vice President at Booz Allen Hamilton MENA. “ICT has a critical role to plan for and effect these measures, to conduct simulations to determine their effectiveness, and then revise them to ensure that they are up to the potential threats’ challenge,” he says.

ICT plays a facilitating – and at times an enabling – role in support of deploying proactive and reactive resilience measures. Systems and communications solutions can be used to project or even predict man-made or natural threats that can damage, if not destroy, critical infrastructure or essential supplies such as water and food.

“With advancements in machine-to-machine communication brought forward by the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, data analytics and other predictive intelligence sensor-based tools, proactive and reactive resilience measures can be effected in a timely manner, either preventing threats from occurring or reducing their impact to the minimum level possible. Furthermore, in the event of threats being realised, ICT tools are essential in supporting responses on the national level be it through emergency systems, logistics systems, or general stocktaking and inventory management measures,” says Dr Khoury.

This begs the question how smart city systems can be a great tool in building resilient cities. “The advancement of the Internet of Things, a core enabler of smart city systems and smart public safety systems, allows for proactive and reactive resilience measures to be effected in a timely

FOOD SECURITY CHOKE POINTS

C

hatham House released a timely report on how global choke points threaten food security and how any country that wants to build resilience has to insure against disruptions to their respective bottlenecks. This was amply demonstrated by how Qatar circumvented the blockades instituted by a Saudi-led bloc, specifically the closure of Qatar’s only land border.

In general, choke points are exposed to three broad categories of disruptive hazards, according to Laura Wellesley, Research Associate at Chatham House and one of the authors of the report.

First there are weather and climate hazards, including storms or floods that may temporarily close choke points, LAURA WELLESLEY and weather-related wear and tear of Research Analyst infrastructure that reduces its efficiency Chatham House and makes it more vulnerable to extreme events. Second, security and conflict hazards may arise from war, political instability, piracy, organized crime and/or terrorism. The third category of hazards are institutional, such as a decision by authorities to close a choke point or restrict the passage of food (for example, by imposing export controls).

“Minor disruptions are common. All but one of the choke points covered in this report have seen a closure or interruption of transit at least once in the past 15 years, and the risk of a crisis arising from such events should not be discounted. While this report was being prepared, coalition forces in Yemen – one of the world’s most food-

insecure countries – intensified their attacks on agricultural infrastructure.

In June 2017, overland routes that carry 40% of Qatar’s food imports – including just under a fifth of its wheat imports – were closed as part of the blockade. Such developments should be the catalyst for policymakers to prepare for worst-case scenarios, especially given the growing risks from extreme weather events,” she notes.

Moreover, these risks are increasing, driven by three distinct trends. First, dependency on choke points is growing.

For example, in the past decade and a half the share of internationally traded grain and fertilizers passing through at least one of the maritime choke points has increased from 43 - 54%. A smaller but nonetheless significant share – 10% – now depends on transit through one or more of the maritime choke points as the only viable shipping route, up from 6% in 2000.

“Consider wheat,” says Wellesley. “Kuwait receives virtually all of its wheat imports via the Strait of Hormuz (as does Bahrain). For Qatar 80% of imports must transit the strait. The UAE depends on the strait for 88% of its wheat imports. This reliance has lessened since a new grain import and re-export hub at Fujairah, on the Gulf of Oman coast, started operations. Nonetheless, the fact that there is no alternative maritime route into the Persian Gulf heightens the risk for Kuwait, Bahrain, the UAE and Qatar.”

Share of wheat imports into GCC countries transiting selected maritime chokepoints, 2015 100

Dover Strait Strait of Gibraltar

90

% share of imports

80

Suez Canal

70

Turkish Straits

60

Bab Al Mandab Strait

50

Strait of Hormuz

40 30 20 10 0 Bahrain

Kuwait

Oman

Qatar

Saudi Arabia

UAE

Source: Chatham House 29 > QATAR TODAY > JULY - AUGUST 2017

RETHINKING RESILIENCE C OV E R STO RY manner. Such smart systems, through their enablers, can offer early warning or instantaneous communications of man-made or natural threats to critical infrastructure of a city,” he says.

“Through the deployment of IP-enabled sensors or measuring instruments throughout a smart city infrastructure, the potential or actual occurrence of threats can be communicated to public safety command and controls centres to mobilize the needed technical and human resources to respond to these threats, inform city sections and their inhabitants about the pending dangers and communicate the evacuation measures to be taken, to name a few operational aspects. Smart city systems can also predict pending infrastructure malfunctions or blockages before they occur and, hence, trigger the proper corrective measures from the concerned authorities before they become destructive in nature. In essence, such systems can either prevent critical infrastructure or supply chain devastations from occurring or minimize the physical and human impact and losses. Smart city systems in and of themselves are designed to be resilient and always operational regardless of circumstance. As such, smart cities would constitute a solid protective backbone for any type of threat to critical infrastructure,” concludes Dr Khoury.

But is there an inherent risk in smart city infrastructure?

To be considered a smart city, redundant and protected solutions need to be in place across all socio-economic sectors or industries served, allowing for an always on and secure operation of the city. Such solutions cut across communication infrastructure, data, systems, and digital delivery channels. It is vital to have a robust cybersecurity design for all these dimensions that is agile, scalable and resilient, says Dr Khoury. “This cybersecurity design will eliminate the risk associated with online or always

30 > QATAR TODAY > JULY - AUGUST 2017

connected city operations and will also complement the redundancy designs for a smart city, enabling dimensions which allow for an always operating smart city. Hence, a smart city technology architecture design from the outset will encompass redundancies and cybersecurity robustness across its different dimensions.”

Challenges in resilience planning in GCC The main challenge for improved resilience planning in GCC governments is the coordination and integration of risk identification and management capabilities across sectors.

“Take national food security as an example; safeguarding the sufficient and healthy nutrition of an entire population depends on sound policies that promote sustainability and complementarity in planning and operations across water, energy, transport, trade, finance, health, and labour sectors.

Today, ministries stewarding each sector tend to look at potential risks that could jeopardize their infrastructure and continuity of operations with little consideration for implications on other sectors. For instance, how do extended port closures affect the country’s ability to import basic food commodities? Or, how does a utilities blackout impact the food cold storage chain and subsequent health hazards?” asks Maroun.

But better coordination among government entities is not the only issue, notes Maroun. “Businesses, and sometimes citizens, have a critical role to play in enhancing national resilience – provided incentives are aligned. Private businesses can effectively partner with the government in ensuring continuity of supply across many critical sectors if proper financial guarantees are facilitated by the latter.

Consumers can better manage consumption if sufficient levels of awareness on particular risks are attained and if regulations are effective.”

To address such barriers, national resilience planning

should start from the top, with the central government playing a key role in identifying sector interdependencies, setting guidelines for embedding resilience considerations within Ministries’ strategies and plans, and establishing the proper governance to coordinate cross-sector risk identification and evaluation, continuity of operations, policy definition and planning, and emergency management, according to Booz Allen Hamilton.

Standards for resilience According to Booz Allen Hamilton, there are a number of standards against which resilience of organizations or sectors can be measured. For instance, Basel III is the global regulatory framework that defines resilience in the banking industry. A more recent standard, “ISO 22316 Organizational Resilience - Principles and Attributes” was just published a month ago (March 2017) and is intended to address any size or type of organization, public or private, and is not specific to any industry or sector. ISO 22316 builds on the previous specifications set by the British Standard Institute (BSI) under the “British Standard 65000 Guidance for Organizational Resilience”. Although, these standards provide solid principles, processes and tools for enhancing resilience of organizations or industries, they fall short of helping governments enhance resilience at the national level.

“These international standards are not designed to assess interdependencies among sectors and critical infrastructure at city, regional or national level. Furthermore, they represent a minimum bar to be attained, leaving the adoption of more stringent practices at the discretion of policymakers. Lastly, they are not specific to sectors but rather principle- or process-based, and require calibration to sector or infrastructure-specific characteristics when applied,” notes Maroun.

Currently, the best way to tailor resilience strategy is to adopt and implement a comprehensive framework. In fact, the popularity of resilience, borne out of necessity, has given rise to a great number of frameworks or guidelines that focus on specific resilience features or on resilience as a system, notes a report by Booz Allen Hamilton on the subject.

Among the most popular is the City Resilience Framework developed by US-based independent professional services firm, Arup, in collaboration with the Rockefeller Foundation.

The framework provides a tool for assessing and measuring resilience at the city scale. It assesses indicators across four categories: health and well-being; economy and society; infrastructure and ecosystems; and leadership and strategy, as well as 12 goals that specify the elements that cities should strive to embrace in order to become more resilient.

This framework is comprehensive and technically robust, although the focus remains at an urban/city level, and the approach is focused more on monitoring and evaluation of performance, not necessarily on building capacity.

In addition to the Resilience Framework, Arup has also developed the City Resilience Index. The index draws upon both qualitative and quantitative data and comprises 52 resilience indicators that are assessed through 156 questions.

Responses to the questions posed are then aggregated and presented according to the 12 goals of the Framework. To

date the index has been tested in Shimla, India; Concepcion, Chile; Arusha, Tanzania; Hong Kong, China; and Liverpool, UK. In addition to Arup, the World Bank and the OECD have also published resilience guidelines that are widely recognized. Some of the frameworks offer resilience performance monitoring and evaluation, while others give more attention to the implementation process of resilience plans and programmes. To be comprehensive, the path towards national resilience should certainly include both.

“While not yet featured in the index, several MiddleEastern cities have already joined the Arup '100 Resilient Cities' Network and are starting to implement the specified resilience framework. These cities are Amman (Jordan), Byblos (Lebanon), Luxor (Egypt), and Ramallah (Palestine).

Each has appointed a Chief Resilience Officer (CRO) who

DR RAYMOND KHOURY Executive Vice President Booz Allen Hamilton MENA

is tasked with gathering stakeholders from across silos of government, private industries and civil society to develop and then implement the city’s resilience strategy. GCC cities have yet to embark on this,” notes Maroun. However, his resilience team has conducted several simulations and exercises to test risks impacting critical national infrastructure and enhance coordination among different government and corporate stakeholders on behalf of their government clients in the GCC. “We have supported many regional policymakers in developing water security and food security strategies; transport, energy, communication and health resilience plans; continuity of government structures; and national emergency management plans and authorities,” he says 31 > QATAR TODAY > JULY - AUGUST 2017

affairs > bottom line

FIVE WAYS TO GET

HIRED IN QATAR

QATAR IS A PLACE THAT PROVIDES MANY KINDS OF EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES. ITS THRIVING ECONOMY AND ITS SIGNIFICANT NATURAL RESOURCES MAKE IT AN ATTRACTIVE JOB DESTINATION.

32 > QATAR TODAY > JULY - AUGUST 2017

W

ith its versatile i n d u s t r i e s , cosmopolitan city, and high standards of professionalism, Qatar has put itself on the global map and is now among the highest-ranking places to work and live internationally. In addition, Qatar and Qataris hold family values to a higher standard, making it a great place to start and raise a family, not to mention enrol children in its exceptional schools and universities.

It is no wonder that many aim at working in the peninsula and starting a thriving career. If you’re looking for a job opportunity in Qatar there are some steps that you will need to take. You need to differentiate yourself by every means possible in order to stand out and get noticed by the employer.

Here are some tips from Bayt.com to help you find a job in Qatar:

latest news.

Moreover, you can subscribe to Job Alerts, which is a great tool that notifies you any time a relevant job is posted online, hence keeping you in the loop at all times.

Create a professional CV A professional CV is an integral part of your job application, and and having it online on platforms such as Bayt.com will also increase your chances of being contacted by employers directly. Therefore, make sure your online and physical CVs are always fresh, up-to-date, and contain information and keywords that are relevant to your current career and the career you’re pursuing.

It is also worth noting that if you’re applying for different jobs, it’s important to create multiple CVs. Different job roles require different skill sets and competencies, so your CV must show that you’re capable of getting the job done.

Grow your network Networking is one of the best ways to build up your personal brand and find a job in your destination of choice. Make sure to connect with like-minded professionals in relevant online groups and professional platforms such as Bayt.com Specialties and professional networking events. When you build such a network, you will gain a competitive edge and get noticed by top employers.

Hiring is always a big step for any company.

Therefore, companies look beyond the CV in order to truly understand the candidate and make the most informed hiring decision.

1

2

Apply to thousands of jobs online Every day, thousands of new jobs in Qatar are available online Bayt.com has 10,000+ jobs at any given time. On Bayt.com, jobs are categorized according to job role, sector and company name, which allows you to search for the most relevant jobs. What is great about online job sites such as Bayt. com is that you can also search for top companies and follow their pages in order to learn more about their job vacancies, updates, company culture, and all of their

3

Create an online public profile Bayt.com helps you create a unique Public Profile where you can show potential employers what you’re really good at. 92% of respondents to the Bayt.com ‘Personal Branding in the Middle East and North Africa’ poll said that a public profile can help you get more interviews and grow in your career. Make sure to enrich your profile with relevant details about your work experience and career objectives.

Having a rich public profile will also help employers find you. By using CV Search on Bayt.com, employers can search through millions of CVs posted online, find and directly contact the perfect candidate for the job.

Visit www.bayt.com today and download the white paper to know more about the skills gap crisis in the Middle East.

4 5

Train and develop your skills When making any career move, training and personal development is vital. Constantly learning and seeking out new information and the latest in your industry will not only help you advance at your current job, but it will demonstrate to potential employers your agility when it comes to taking on new information and changes and dealing with them in real life. This is also an indication that you’re nimble and can easily adapt to different situations, which is important when working in new environments and under different conditions

ABOUT BAYT.COM Bayt.com is the #1 job site in the Middle East with more than 40,000 employers and over 28,000,000 registered job seekers from across the Middle East, North Africa and the globe, representing all industries, nationalities and career levels.

Post a job or find jobs on www.bayt.com today and access the leading resource for job seekers and employers in the region.

33 > QATAR TODAY > JULY - AUGUST 2017

business > bottom line

WHAT

REALLY MAKES A GOOD LEADER? ACCORDING TO THE LATEST HEC PARIS EXECUTIVE HORIZONS SURVEY, THE THREE ESSENTIAL QUALITIES ALL EFFECTIVE LEADERS NEED ARE A CLEAR VISION, THE ABILITY TO INFLUENCE AND MOTIVATE PEOPLE, AND STRONG COMMUNICATION AND LISTENING SKILLS. BUT HOW DO BOSSES DEMONSTRATE THESE QUALITIES AND WHAT DISTINGUISHES A GOOD LEADER FROM A GOOD MANAGER?

L

eaders and managers have distinct roles in a business. A leader is both the architect and planner of the organisation’s vision, while a manager disseminates this as a process, system or series of tasks that serves to realise the wider aims of the vision. Forbes author, William Arruda, identifies the following key differences between leaders and managers: Leaders create vision, managers create goals.

Leaders take risks, managers control them.

Leaders take the long-term view, managers think in the short term.

Leaders invest in personal growth, managers rely on existing skills.

34 > QATAR TODAY > JULY - AUGUST 2017

Leaders inspire people to become their fans, managers merely oversee employees.

Communication Communication is another essential skill any leader must possess. Good leaders realize that they must combine articulating their ideas clearly with being adept at listening. Effective listening is also critical to gaining employee buy-in. “Listening is an overlooked tool that creates an environment of safety when done well,” writes Melissa Daimler in the Harvard Business Review.

Daimler goes on to define three types of listening. First, internal listening, which refers to a leader’s awareness of her or his own thoughts and impressions. Second, focused listening, which relates to others’

ideas and concerns, including reading widely to be aware of innovations. Finally, 3600 listening, which combines the first two types of listening, with an awareness of other non-verbal factors like tone, mood, body language and atmosphere. It is this third type of listening “where the magic happens” and ensures the visionary’s ongoing success, says Daimler.

Influence and motivate The ability to influence is an important asset for leaders. Simply creating a clear plan or strategy is not enough for leaders to achieve success. The leader must also influence and motivate others so that this objective is communicated, adopted and implemented. An effective leader not only shares their vision for the future, but also gives confidence to their followers, thereby

Leading by example A strong leader should always lead by example if they want to successfully influence other people. Failure to lead by example often results in followers no longer believing in their leader. When setting out new rules for a team, the leader must play the role of team member and be the first one to abide by the new rules.

equipping them to embrace any challenges faced.

To successfully influence other people, the leader must have the following traits: A strong sense of belief A strong leader is someone who firmly believes in a particular goal or objective and who has a very clear vision of how to achieve it. Good leaders, or people with the natural ability to influence others, have an absolute belief in their vision and their ability to bring it to life. This means that unless you totally believe in the vision or the goal you will struggle to influence others.

Adopting different motivation styles Leaders need to have the ability to influence people by adopting different motivation styles for different types of personality and mentality. Some people are more influenced by rewards while others are more influenced by the desire to avoid sanctions – good leaders therefore adapt their style to take into account the personality of each of their followers and motivate them on an individual basis.

IVAN BARNES Editorial Manager HEC Paris Executive Education

Clarity of vision Finally, a clear vision motivates employees to work together toward a common goal.

It requires the ability to see beyond the immediate business climate and anticipate future challenges or opportunities for success. Leaders must possess a drive for forward development and a personal commitment to remain at the forefront of innovation. Through these three essential skills of leadership, leaders and their organisations are well equipped to achieve their vision and manage challenges in a competitive business environment: Communication True leaders communicate their vision by presenting and asking for opinions and feedback. By listening to other peoples’ opinions, the vision may evolve or the leader might incorporate new ideas and insights to make it stronger.

Collective The leader’s responsibility is to help people appropriate his or her vision and make it their own. This is an important step in bringing people together to work toward a common goal. Members of a group need to have a shared vision and a sense of ownership to be committed to the group.

Commitment Developing and communicating a vision is just the beginning. Once a workable vision has been outlined, it needs to be implemented effectively to take the organisation to where it needs to go.

You need to organise, draw up an action plan and stay committed to achieving the final objective 35 > QATAR TODAY > JULY - AUGUST 2017

business > tag this

GULF COMPANIES NOT READY TO IMPLEMENT VAT

36 > QATAR TODAY > JULY - AUGUST 2017

VAT IMPLEMENTATION COULD BE AS SOON AS EARLY 2018 IN A REGION WITH LITTLE HISTORY OF TAXATION OF ANY SORT. THE NEW TAX REPRESENTS A MAJOR SHIFT IN TAX POLICY THAT WILL IMPACT ALL SEGMENTS OF THE ECONOMY AND LEAD TO A FUNDAMENTAL CHANGE IN THE WAY BUSINESSES OPERATE. AND IT IS ALREADY CLEAR THAT MANY BUSINESSES WILL NOT BE READY IN TIME.

BY STASA SALACANIN

T

he introduction of valueadded tax (VAT) in the GCC could create operational and financial risks for companies, Fitch Ratings warned.

GCC-based companies will have to replace or update IT systems, implement new procedures and train staff.

Additionally, businesses with VAT-exempt goods and highly competitive sectors could find themselves, rather than customers, taking on this additional cost, while companies involved in supplying goods and services between GCC members, or those operating within or between free zones, are likely to face additional complexities.

It added that the main long-term risk from the introduction of VAT is the potential for errors in collecting and accounting for the tax that could leave companies liable for the cost themselves.

Some businesses already behind In order to comply with the new tax requirements, many businesses in the region will have to make a range of changes to the way that they currently go about their day-to-day operations. As Deloitte highlights in its survey, recently conducted among businesses in the GCC, “The implementation of VAT is not a matter which will just affect the finance function of a business – it affects business operations across the board. Processes need to be

redesigned, transaction mappings need to be reassessed, staff need to be trained adequately, consideration needs to be given to pricing strategy, contracts need to be renegotiated, procurement decisions need to be taken, and the list goes on.” Whether or not a business can be ready in time will come down to the scale of change that is required, one prominent tax expert, who prefers to stay anonymous, points out. It is thus vital all affected businesses should investigate what changes are needed now so that they can then plan and implement the changes either themselves or with the assistance of external advisors. In Deloitte’s survey a majority of the respondents estimated that it would take them longer than six months for their businesses to adequately prepare for the introduction of VAT. Our source recommends that any medium-sized business sets aside at least six months for the necessary work. “It usually takes between 9-12 months for a largesized business to be sufficiently prepared.

That means that certain businesses are now behind the curve when it comes to implementation; this has certainly led to significant demand for advisory services across the region,” he told the New Arab.

Although the survey shows that the majority of respondents are aware that VAT is coming to the GCC, only 26% feel well informed on the subject. One of the reasons

could be the surprising fact that despite formal announcements from the GCC, less than half of the respondents believe that VAT will be introduced in the GCC very soon, with 2.4% going as far as to consider that it will never be brought in. More than half (53%) of the respondents have no experience with VAT implementation in other jurisdictions and could not readily source people with that experience.

Additionally, 69% of respondents estimated it would take longer than six months for their business to adequately prepare for the introduction of VAT, and 24.55% say they would need more than a year. Deloitte finds especially concerning that 69% of respondents said they had not undertaken, or were not aware of, any strategic planning around the introduction of VAT. “Given the length of time which businesses will need to become adequately prepared, especially with regards to their IT infrastructure, it is important that VAT is put on the boardroom agenda as a matter of urgency”, the consultancy said.

Setup and compliance costs “notable”, talent scarce There will be “notable” setup and compliance costs in collecting and remitting tax to GCC governments as they introduce VAT, Fitch said. Businesses will need to put new IT systems in place, alongside new procedures and staff training. Our 37 > QATAR TODAY > JULY - AUGUST 2017

business > tag this

"THE BUSINESS SHOULD ACT NOW, AS THERE IS A TREMENDOUS SCARCITY OF THE RELEVANT TALENT IN THE GCC REGION. COMPANIES HAVE TO RECRUIT RELEVANT STAFF INTERNATIONALLY AND OFTEN THEY HAVE TO ACCESS SUCH MARKETS AND JURISDICTIONS WITH VAT IN PLACE."

38 > QATAR TODAY > JULY - AUGUST 2017

source explains that the impacts of VAT on a business depend on the type and the complexity of the transactions undertaken by it. “A very large-scale business which is only engaged in local sale of goods may not be as complex from a VAT perspective as compared to a medium-sized business which is engaged in cross-border trade or transactions in a free-zone.” Therefore, the overall cost involved in a VAT transformation project may depend on several factors like nature of transactions undertaken by it, type of IT system used, level of training required for staff, etc.

According to Deloitte’s survey, 43% believe the annual costs of being VAT-registered could be between $25,00-100,000, and 36.61% believe it could exceed $100,000.

VAT implementation will have a major impact on companies’ workforces as well, and will present them with sudden and large demands in terms of organisational design, training, recruitment and compensation aspects, warns Viacheslav Shakhov, Principal Consultant Tax at Cooper Fitch. One of the main considerations for businesses is who should be performing VAT-related activities within the company; not just creating and implementing VAT

systems and procedures initially, but also performing ongoing VAT compliance activities long-term. “Depending on the scale of operations, companies will have to decide on whether they would need to hire a specialist tax resource, outsource tax functions to consultancies or train existing staff. If the business is substantially large, employing an in-house tax specialist will be beneficial. It will allow businesses to have internal capabilities to tackle ongoing tax compliance issues, keep up to date with tax legislation changes and inform various stakeholders on required changes.

This would also help in saving costs.

Experience from the Western world shows that employing a tax specialist(s) and using consultancies for highly technical matters is the best approach. In turn, companies with relatively low-scale operations and turnover could opt for training existing staff and using consultancies when required”, Shakhov advises.

In any case, the business should act now, as there is a tremendous scarcity of the relevant talent in the GCC region.

According to Shakhov, companies have to recruit relevant staff internationally and often they have to access such markets

as the UK, Ireland or other European countries, Malaysia, Australia and other jurisdictions with VAT in place. Lebanon, Jordan and Egypt are also quite relevant if a company requires Arabic speakers.

And, as KPMG pointed out in their statement, it is not just the finance department that needs training. Legal, IT, sales, marketing, and even HR must understand the impact of VAT on their function and determine whether the introduction of VAT will result in additional costs, which could be actual or cash flow or compliance-related.

Renegotiating previously agreed contracts Another important step for the companies to consider is how to renegotiate the existing contracts so they will not end up shouldering the VAT themselves. The UAE has indicated there will be some transitional provisions which may allow VAT to be charged on pre-existing contracts if the customer can claim the input VAT credit. But this practice may not be shared by all, our source warns, so a closeeye should be kept on developments around the GCC. “It is critical that businesses consider

“IT IS CRITICAL THAT BUSINESSES CONSIDER ALL OF THEIR EXISTING LONGTERM CONTRACTS, FOR BOTH PURCHASES AND SALES, TO UNDERSTAND THEIR LIKELY EXPOSURES ON A BEST-CASE OR WORST-CASE BASIS.” VIACHESLAV SHAKHOV Principal Consultant Tax Cooper Fitch

all of their existing long-term contracts, for both purchases and sales, to understand their likely exposures on a best-case or worst-case basis. Early negotiations with suppliers and customers will, in most cases, be preferable for all involved,” he adds.

Many unknowns remain It is not just businesses; ministries also will have to build the tax system from scratch, and some experts expect it will take years, maybe even a decade, for everything to flow smoothly. The ministers of finance of the six Gulf Cooperation Council states approved an in-principle agreement to provide a common framework, but each GCC country is developing its own VAT regime. There is information available on the general workings of the system, but truth be told, there are many unknowns left in the equation and the lack of detail about how the tax is going to work is hampering the ability of businesses to get ready, some tax experts warn. For example, companies that supply goods and services between GCC members or operate within or between free zones are likely to face additional complexities, or where a ‘third country’ or non-GCC business is involved.

But our source believes there is enough known about VAT implementation for the companies to get started. “We must not forget that some 165 countries have adopted VAT or its equivalent, Goods and Services Tax. In many respects this has led to a standardisation of design across the globe where we see a range of fundamental requirements having been codified and

accepted as common practice. On their own these global standards are often sufficient for businesses to start a programme of change. Also, the Unified VAT Agreement for GCC member states which provides the framework for levying tax in all the GCC states was published last month. It lays down the basic fundamentals of VAT which can be used by the businesses to understand, broadly, how the VAT system will work in the GCC. Moreover, Saudi Arabia recently released its draft VAT law for public consultation and feedback. We are expecting that the KSA will release its VAT regulations for consultation too. The UAE maintains an extensive VAT FAQ page on the website of its Ministry of Finance and has also held a series of in-depth workshops with the public on its VAT plans over the last number of weeks.” He adds that, in time, further clarifications relating to the treatment of specific transactions should be expected. The VAT treatment of transactions taking place within and involving free zones, for example, is still under consideration, while VAT treatment of transactions across borders has been broadly set down in the GCC Agreement.

Many cross-border transactions within the GCC where registered businesses are involved will see the recipient of goods and services accounting for VAT in the destination country under a so-called “reverse charge” mechanism.

Last but not least, the current tensions in the Gulf may well impact the implementation of the new tax. But that is another story 39 > QATAR TODAY > JULY - AUGUST 2017

development > tag this

MORE THAN JUST

CRISIS MANAGEMENT

AL ABLE TRADING AND CONTRACTING’S DIVISION MANAGER, MOHAMMAD MANSOOR, TALKS ABOUT HOW THE EMBARGO IMPOSED ON QATAR BY ITS GCC NEIGHBOURS HAS OPENED UP NEW AVENUES FOR LOCAL COMPANIES.

BY UDAYAN NAG 40 > QATAR TODAY > JULY - AUGUST 2017

Turkish President Erdogan on July 23 embarked on a key visit to the Gulf region aimed at defusing the standoff around Turkey's ally Qatar, saying no one had an interest in prolonging the crisis.

HANDOUT / TURKISH PRESIDENTIAL PRESS SERVICE / AFP

O

n August 5, 2017, the blockade on Qatar, the main perpetrators of which are Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain and Egypt, will be two months old. With the world’s attention focussed on the region, amid desperate efforts from all corners to end the standoff, how are the local businesses coming to terms with the deadlock?

“In every loss, there is an opportunity.

This is a learning experience for Qatar,” says Mohammad Mansoor, Division Manager, Al Able Trading and Contracting, adding that once the embargo was imposed, their company was flooded by orders which were impossible to carry out.

Services offered by the Able Group comprise waste management, construction and engineering. They are also the distributors of rice and other food items to some of the major retailers in the country.

Their clients’ list includes Qatar Airways, Qatalum, Ezdan Holding and Ashghal.

“There has been hoarding, and Islam does not allow you to hoard, especially food items. We knew where the direct consumer interaction was. So we have been going in that direction to ensure that there’s proper stock movement. Things are running haywire as far as fast-moving consumer goods (FMCGs) products are concerned.”

The Able Group had come out with a statement that they will continue to supply foodstuff to retailers in Qatar at the same prices despite the transport embargo imposed on the country. However, Mansoor also says that there is no way to ensure that the retailers pass on the benefit of “same prices” to the customers.

“Our current retailers are Smile Hypermarket, Grand Mart, Ansar Gallery, Quality, and K Mart, to name a few. These are direct consumer-driven companies.

There is no chance of any wholesalers, so we trust them. We supply goods to them at a rate which is less than the market rate. However, they are also interested in margins because it’s retail. Having direct control over them is not possible. It’s not in our hands.”

Mansoor further talks about the steps taken by his company to counter the ill effects of the blockade, which include releasing limited stocks in order to avoid

“WE ARE RELEASING LIMITED STOCKS (OF FOOD ITEMS) TO MAKE SURE THAT PEOPLE DON’T HOARD. THE DEMAND HAS GONE UP BY ABOUT 30-35%."

MOHAMMAD MANSOOR Division Manager Al Able Trading and Contracting

hoarding, and booking a full shipping vessel to get a better rate.

“We are releasing limited stocks to make sure that people don’t hoard. The demand has gone up by about 30-35%. Even though our profit margins have been badly hit, we are supplying goods at the same price, whereas other distributors have increased their prices by 15-20%.

“Other distributors actually called us and expressed their displeasure because we did not increase our rates. After the media reported on our prices being constant, many of the distributors are now reluctant to increase their rates. Shopkeepers are also now aware of the fact that the inflation is artificial and are therefore questioning the distributors.”

Mansoor says that another way to get around the situation was to book an entire shipping vessel rather than a part of it.

“Since we booked a full vessel, it’s costing me $1,200 instead of $2,000, so I am saving $800.”

However, Mansoor feels that supply vessel operators like Maersk should be operating through the government and should have fixed rates, at least as long as the blockade continues. “The rate (for hiring shipping vessels) which was $600800 before has now become $1,800-2,000 because of the blockade. At this juncture all the dealings should be through government channels. This will reduce artificial inflation.”

According to Mansoor, quicker import clearance and increasing warehousing facilities will also help companies like Able to counter the embargo. “Warehouses will help me reduce my costs by about 10%.

41 > QATAR TODAY > JULY - AUGUST 2017

development > tag this That will straightaway help me boost my margins, especially for food items. Before the embargo, it was not very feasible to store items like rice for even a couple of months because it’s expensive. On the other hand, countries like Iran and Saudi Arabia have the capacity to store items for about a year.”

However, companies like Able, which get their products from India, have been confronted with another dilemma – the Goods and Services Tax (GST) introduced recently in that country. “If I get my rice packed in India then it will come under my brand, and the GST for rice is 5%,” says Mansoor. “We are monitoring the situation very carefully and planning accordingly.

We might import our rice from countries like Pakistan, Thailand and Vietnam, or bring the rice from India and get it packed in Qatar.”

As far as the Able Group’s current and future plans are concerned, Mansoor says that apart from rice, the company also distributes frozen items. However, in a major development concerning the company, its water plant project slated to come up in New Industrial Area has been expedited because of the blockade.

“About 60% of the work is over. The preinstallation facilities are already in place.

“OTHER DISTRIBUTORS ACTUALLY CALLED US AND EXPRESSED THEIR DISPLEASURE BECAUSE WE DID NOT INCREASE OUR RATES."

The site of Al Able Trading and Contracting's water plant project in New Industrial Area.

42 > QATAR TODAY > JULY - AUGUST 2017

Customers are seen shopping at the Al Meera market inl Doha.

STRINGER / AFP

We are set for a soft launch in October, and if the government supports us, we can start our operations in October itself. Post the soft launch we need to get approvals from the various ministries. It’s an in-house production. We have got our machinery, technical knowledge, and we have got the market for our product. It’s an area where we can make a profit.”

Mansoor adds that they will be looking at a production of 20,000 half-litre bottles per hour to start things off, and are expecting to capture at least 4-5% of the market share (water) in a year’s time. That in fact matches Able’s current market share which the company is looking to increase to 8-10%

in six months' time.

“My simple strategy right now is: don’t look for profit; ensure that you are breaking even. It does not matter even if we have to sacrifice a year’s profit. This is the best way to tackle my competitors right now.

According to our annual plan, we were supposed to capture 4% of the market share. The blockade is turning out to be an advantage for me because it’s going to help me increase my market share.”

As far as the FMCG market in Qatar is concerned, Mansoor says that the total share held by local companies is 2-5% and how the blockade affects that figure depends on how long the situation continues. According to him, independent strategies of the various companies in the country will also play a role.

And finally, having planned so meticulously to deal with the blockade, what would the effect be on the Able Group if the embargo is lifted sooner than expected?

“We have just modified our plans, not changed them completely,” says Mansoor.

“We have got plan B in case the blockade is lifted. The precautions that we are taking because of the embargo will stand us in good stead in the future, and our profit margins are going to increase. I am looking at this opportunity as a blessing in disguise.

I am better prepared for unforeseen circumstances now.”

development > tech talk

GLOBAL PC SALES CONTINUE TO DROP

QCRI CONDUCTS SUMMER COMPUTING CAMP

C

hildren and teenagers were given a rare chance to develop their computing skills with world-class computing scientists at the first summer computing camps conducted by the Qatar Computing Research Institute (QCRI). QCRI ran two separate programmes – two week-long Young Makers Camps for children aged from 9 to 12, and a two-week Arduino Teen Camp for teenagers aged from 14 to 18.

Both programmes were free of charge and open to all; no prior experience was required for the camps, with fun activities coordinated by the research institute’s scientists.

The camps were conducted at QCRI’s Creative Space Lab at the Hamad Bin Khalifa University Research Complex in Education City.

According to new data from Gartner, PC vendors shipped 61.1 million units worldwide in the second quarter of 2017, a 4.3% decline from a year earlier. That marked the 11th straight quarter of declining shipments. In fact, PC shipments haven’t been this low since 2007.

Shortages of solid state drives, LCD panels, and other components caused vendors to increase PC prices, especially in the consumer market.

The price increase had a pronounced negative impact on PC demand in the second quarter of 2017, according to the firm.

Breaking it down by vendor, HP, which has logged five consecutive quarters of growth, reclaimed the No. 1 position from Lenovo, which came in second for the quarter. Dell came in third followed by Apple, Asus, and Acer.

COST OF TELECOMS SERVICES LOWER IN QATAR THAN GCC

Q

atar’s Communications Regulatory Authority (CRA) participated in the ‘Telecommunications Retail Price Benchmarking for Arab Countries’ study

by AREGNET which compares the prices of a range of telecoms services across the GCC, Arab and OECD markets. Overall, the study revealed that the prices of telecoms services in Qatar are broadly lower than the rest of the GCC and Arab region.

The survey showed that mobile voice prices in Qatar have fallen by 57% since 2008, which is in line with the rest of the region. However, importantly, for mobile voice services that included data bundles, prices in Qatar are below the GCC and Arab average (for Low and Medium usage) and on par with the OECD average. For mobile voice services not including data packages, Qatar’s prices are on a par with the GCC and Arab averages but above the OECD average. In both cases Vodafone Qatar was cheaper than Ooredoo.

44 > QATAR TODAY > JULY - AUGUST 2017

UBER JOINS FORCES WITH RUSSIAN RIVAL Together, Uber and Yandex will form a new company that will operate in six countries and include Uber’s Rides and Eats businesses.

U

ber is joining forces with Yandex, the so-called “Google of Russia”, in six countries: Russia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia and Georgia.

Yandex operates Russia’s largest search engine as well as a ride-hailing service called Yandex.Taxi. Uber said it expects the new company to initially serve more than 35 million trips each month, operating in 127 cities across the region. The deal comes not long after Uber CEO Travis Kalanick, who helped found the app-based car service in 2009, resigned amidst investor pressure.

FACEBOOK PLANNING $200 OCULUS

A PHONE THAT’S FINGER-LICKING GOOD Huawei has produced 5,000 units of a limited edition phone to celebrate KFC’s entry into China 30 years ago.

T

he phone is apparently a reskinned Enjoy 7 Plus that’s been done over in KFC’s trademark scarlet hue, with the iconic Colonel Sanders logo on the back, just beneath the fingerprint scanner. You’ll also be able to browse KFC menus on the go and the phone comes with 10,000 credits for you to spend in any KFC store. Perhaps best of all though is a feature that lets you change the music that’s playing over the speakers in any KFC in China.

A

ccording to Bloomberg, later this year we should expect to see a $200 Oculus Rift headset unveiled. Unlike the current Rift, this headset, named Pacific, will be completely standalone (it doesn’t require a smartphone or an expensive PC) and also less than half the price. A second, more expensive Rift codenamed Santa Cruz is also being planned. Pacific will be more compact than the existing Oculus Rift and lighter than the Gear VR. Facebook still intends to push its use for gaming, watching video entertainment, and of course for social interactions.

QSF DATA CAN BE INVALUABLE Leveraging data during Qatar Summer Festival can significantly enhance customer experience and boost ROI for retailers, according to Booz Allen Hamilton.

W

ith the fourth annual Qatar Summer Festival underway, retailers, looking for ways to attract customers and increase sales, should harness the intelligence and predictive capabilities of data to target customers effectively, reduce operational costs, enhance the customer experience, and boost ROI. “Qatar retailers must leverage the value of both internal data, including customer profiles, social media, footfall and transactions, and external data, including customer profiles, traffic and weather data, to curate their offering to drive sales, while also optimizing their engagement with customers,” Booz Allen Hamilton Vice President Danny Karam said. “It’s about getting customers to

personally engage with a retailer’s brand.

Sending out blanket text messages or even emails is just not going to work anymore.”

Identifying contact points, such as stores, e-commerce sites and interactive displays where brands can learn about their customers, is also critical in building personalized data profiles of individual shoppers, and in turn facilitating predictive intelligence-based marketing that exceeds the personalization norms. Data from platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter can help retailers map their temperament, preferences and interests. Monitoring what’s trending online or hashtag clouds used by target audiences could also help develop targeted, personalized sales campaigns.

45 > QATAR TODAY > JULY - AUGUST 2017

technology > tag this

WHAT DO QATARI CIOs WANT? Technology consultancy Gartner’s CIO Agenda sheds light on where the current priorities of Qatari Chief Information and Technology Officers lie and why.

D

irector Remi Gulzar from the Office of the (Chief Information Officer) CIO at Gartner, when addressing a gathering of CIOs from several Qatari organisations – from retail to banking – explained that the CIO Agenda is useful to many of their peers worldwide in helping define future changes in their agenda and stay in control of what’s happening today.

“The CIO Agenda is an annual survey of Gartner clients across many countries that identifies what they find important, what bets they are making, how they look at the future, and evaluates how your own path differs from theirs; this way, we are constantly learning from each other. It gives an excellent view of current issues they are struggling with in terms of mission-critical priorities,” he says. The latest agenda is the product of one-onone conversations with 2,600 CIOs from 92 countries (including 32 from the Gulf ); these companies collectively rake in $177 billion in revenue and are responsible

46 > QATAR TODAY > JULY - AUGUST 2017

for $3.3 billion in information technology (IT) spend.

The sectors represented in the region in the survey are dominated by oil & gas, manufacturing and financial services – a classic profile. Services are on the uptake and retail is increasingly becoming part of the mix, according to Gulzar. Going forward, he hopes to learn more about how non-traditional companies are directing their IT strategies. “In the US, we are seeing notable presence in industries like digital marketing and media; today they are the most digitally advanced sectors globally.

So we hope to see more presence of such companies from the Gulf in our survey going forward.”

According to him, the Gulf CIOs are very progressive and are keenly aware of the opportunities, but are facing challenges related to talent management, funding, access to certain types of resources due to legislative restrictions and data privacy constraints. “The rules of the game here dictate they take certain measures that might seem not to align with the global trend but make sense within the Gulf framework,” he says.

Gartner says that CIOs in the GCC are ideally positioned to become global leaders in digital transformation and innovation.

Although cost reductions and optimization efforts will remain a priority for many GCC IT organizations, top-performing organizations worldwide have shed light on

an alternative approach whereby budgets and value are treated differently. Adoption of similar practices can help GCC CIOs shift their IT organizations from being perceived as a cost centre to being treated as a strategic value generator.

Global trends Across the world IT budgets are increasing. Not only that, the IT spend is diverging; instead of one big spend on the IT department, most business arms are spending on the role of IT in their operations. However, in the GCC the spend continues to go down. CIOs here are occupied with cost saving. Their directives are to retain value and minimize cost while maintaining promises and commitment of business. “Much of the conversations are about optimization and rationalization as opposed to digitazation and innovation in other regions,” says Gulzar. Additionally, the savings created are seldom given back to the IT department for future investments.

In fact, most IT wings of companies in the region had adopted a governmental approach to IT spend and worry that if they don’t use up their allocated budget, they would get less next year. “These IT departments are eating themselves up.”

And since much of the IT spend happens outside the department in the individual business units, the formal IT budget is going down while the business unit IT budget

is on the rise. This diverts away resources that companies need in investing in futureproofing their business like building a digital ecosystem.

As IT begins to differentiate its portfolio of assets by commoditizing "runthe-business" services and increasing value-generating solutions, those valuegenerating related costs could be shared more broadly. The technologies, and the related benefits of increased digitalization, are no longer an IT-only affair. This requires a multidisciplinary team approach that expands far beyond the borders of IT, into a broader digital ecosystem that includes

“TALENT MANAGEMENT IS ALSO AN AREA WHICH IT DEPARTMENTS IN THE REGION FIND CHALLENGING. THE PROFILE OF THE KIND OF EMPLOYEES THAT ARE NEEDED TO DRIVE INNOVATION IS EVOLVING AND HR RESTRICTIONS ARE HINDERING GROWTH.” REMI GULZAR Director, Office of the CIO Gartner

internal business partners, vendors, and in some cases, even competitors. As digitization evolves, it will become easier to share expenses, and grow the amount of spend. Value will be expressed beyond pure ‘run-the-business’ costs and can be more directly linked to the things executives will appreciate and fund: growth, cost management and risk management.

A lot of the CIOs globally are working on this pillar – establishing connectivity across many systems, companies, partners, products and services. In developing an external mindset and not restricting the technology core to the walls of the enterprise like before, a symbiotic interdependence is created. In terms of what percentage of total budget is spent on digitalization, the Gulf is only slightly behind the curve despite the restrictions posed by legislation, availability of talent and capacity. The great big push forward on this is not going to come from investing in traditional IT, says Gulzar. “When we look at most of the investment in this, it’s not a singular path or a three-year plan. It’s orchestrated around a digital ecosystem business model, forging intelligent connections between customer ecosystem, things and IT. It drives every digital exercise we see in the market today, irrespective of whether you are building a smart city or are in manufacturing or financial services.” Of the top performers surveyed by Gartner, 80% are participating

47 > QATAR TODAY > JULY - AUGUST 2017

technology > tag this TOP PERFORMERS ARE INVESTING IN BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE The top three technology areas where companies/business units government or public entities will be spending the highest amount of new discretionary funding in 2016

Technology areas that were mentioned within top three by more than 10% of overall respondents

Top Performers (n=178)

Typical Performers (n=2,165)

Trailing Performers (n=171)

GCC (n=32)

BI/Analytics

47%

38%

31%

53%

Cloud Services/Solutions

34%

28%

29%

25%

Digitalization/Digital Marketing

20%

17%

8%

22%

Infrastructure and Date Center

20%

22%

27%

25%

Mobility and Mobile Applications

16%

14%

16%

34%

Cyber/Information Security

13%

16%

20%

12%

Enterprise Resource Planning

8%

22%

30%

22%

Networking, Voice and Data Comms.

8%

12%

13%

6%

Source: Gartner CIO Agenda

in digital ecosystem building. They want to make use of the advantage that others have already gained.

Once they are connected to this ecosystem, companies, for a greater part, are using it to run stable business. Some use it to buy and sell better services/products.

They also benefit from the analytics, insights and Internet of Things platform functionalities. Once in this ecosystem, companies learn that their goal is to part run, part transform, part grow their business.

Qatari CIOs also are eager to get in on this and explore the opportunities it provides but are being held back by legislation which is trailing behind what’s happening in the real world, says Gulzar. For example, working with companies based outside Qatar comes with a host of restrictions on what kind of data can be shared and stored outside the borders. By insisting on working only with companies who have a presence in Qatar, companies here might be cutting themselves out of the global market and the opportunities that entails.

Talent management is also an area which IT departments in the region find challenging. The profile of the kind of employees that are needed to drive innovation is evolving. It’s not necessarily about whether you can code in Java or manage firewalls, it’s about how well you understand the business. So companies should be investing in business knowledge 48 > QATAR TODAY > JULY - AUGUST 2017

and acumen. And it’s not only the rightbrained people who are much soughtafter. People with a background in arts and humanities are brought in to solve problems in unique ways and bring disruptive changes. In addition to all this, Qatari CIOs also have to keep in mind that Qatarisation rules and ensure that their departments are in compliance. Here too, legislation is strangling businesses. In a commercial environment, if you are being restricted about who you can hire, it invariably brings in less performance. There is enough talent but you are unable to tap into them.

The intention of legislation sometimes doesn’t deliver the performance we want to see, says Gulzar. He suggests that legislation should be just guardrails that give companies some room to manoeuvre in order to be competitive. In this region, legislation is very helpful in some areas; in others, it needs to be more closely aligned with the market conditions. “That’s the balance that is being sought after.”

Tech priorities While global top performers are redirecting funding to technologies that support digitalization, in the GCC many CIOs still plan new investments in “cold spots” such as enterprise resource planning (ERP), says Gartner. Although ERP remains relevant and an important asset for running the business, it typically does not warrant the same levels of

funding as in recent years. Gartner recommends reviewing these "cold spots," which are ripe for investment reductions and commoditization, and directing resulting savings toward renovating the core and value-generating services and technologies.

“ERP is almost out,” he says. “Those who have that as their No.1 investment must rethink. Look at where everyone globally is placing bets – business intelligence/ analytics, cloud services, digitalization, and infrastructure. ERP, cybersecurity, etc. which Gulf companies are still investing in, are all foundational aspects that are now deemed to be resolved. Most of the global CIOs have reached a point where they feel their affairs are in order when it comes to these things and are not undertaking any heavy investment there; their budgets are being spent elsewhere.”

One look at the table of IT budget allocation shows you how regional priorities measure up against global ones.

The presence of O&G dominates the CIO Agenda here. “But one of the benefits Gulf CIOs have is that they don’t have a legacy to overcome. They don’t have to clean up legacy systems before moving to new tech. They can basically start a greenfield operation and jump quickly into the latest and greatest. However, O&G, which is heavily asset-based, can’t move as quickly and has different strategies on optimizing IT investment,” says Gulzar

business > marketwatch

Environment at the forefront The new General Manager for Carrier Qatar, Nermeen Hammouda, has taken over the reins of the company at a crucial time – when the country is pushing for a major overhaul towards environment-friendly cooling.

I

n the recent months, the government has mandated that all air conditioners sold in the country should hold a minimum 3-star rating equivalent to an Energy Efficiency Ratio (EER) of 9. A decision three years in the making and massive cross-department coordination between the Committee for Standardisation and Measurements and the Ministry for Trade to regulate the import of ACs, the market had been given enough time to prepare. Last year, many retailers were seen disposing of their non-rated ACs for steep discounts. In the coming year, the government is going to improve the energy efficiency even further, increasing up to a minimum rate of 11.

With cooling contributing to a huge chunk of energy needs, they are expecting good conservation results in the next 2-3 years when the whole market has had time to adjust to these changes and benefit from the system.

Speaking about this new direction the country is taking, General Manager Nermeen Hammouda says, “Carrier in Qatar supports the new regulations. Highefficiency products have a significant impact through decreased energy usage and a reduced impact on the environment.”

Calling this a great opportunity for the heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) industry, she continues, “Carrier has always placed efficiency as one of its highest priorities, developing products that are high-performing while also being environmentally responsible. Just recently, we launched a new line of energyefficient residential and light commercial HVAC systems specifically tested to Qatari regulatory standards. The new systems use the environmentally balanced refrigerant Puron, which is non-ozone depleting, nonflammable and non-corrosive. Carrier in 49 > QATAR TODAY > JULY - AUGUST 2017

business > marketwatch

maintenance costs; decreased energy bills; and decreased impact on the environment.

Qatar believes that working closely with regulators can help overcome challenges that may arise from new regulations. Our aim is to develop high-efficiency products that are environmentally responsible.”

This focus is part of Carrier’s corporate DNA. Carrier is part of UTC Climate, Controls & Security, a unit of United Technologies Corporation (UTC). In addition to its HVAC businesses, UTC operates a central research organization that pursues technologies to improve the performance, energy efficiency and cost of UTC products and processes. In 2016, UTC spent $3.7 billion on research and development, an investment that includes both company and customer-funded activities.

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Hammouda says many countries have been steadily enhancing efficiency standards in response to enhanced technology trends and to help reduce the burden from increasing power tariffs.

“Globally, Carrier has seen this trend building since the late 1990s. In the last five years, we have seen a significant increase in part load cooling technology in chillers, rooftops, splits and other HVAC equipment,” she says. The key to driving adoption for efficient products is in communicating to customers and key stakeholders the significant benefits of energy-efficient systems, according to her.

These include the payback on more efficient equipment and enhanced system controls via utility rebates and lower overall system

Geared towards Qatar Carrier has been in Qatar since 1979, initially through distributors, and since 1999, through a joint venture. “Carrier operates in Qatar through United Technologies Building and Industrial Systems, a joint venture company with ENSRV. With our long history in Qatar and a strong future planned for the country, we remain committed to our growth and operation across the country,” Hammouda says.

They have supplied many key projects across the state including major infrastructure developments, retail, hospitality, commercial and government projects.

However, traditional cooling technologies increasingly have to compete with emerging solutions like district cooling which seem to have high environmental friendly credentials. District cooling plants are popular in Qatar and cater to large-scale projects. Offering higher efficiency, district cooling plants can use a variety of chillers to cool small or large districts, which is emblematic of a push toward higher efficiency regulations and demand. “Even though there is increased demand for district cooling, Carrier is also pioneering energyefficient solutions across different product categories,” Hammouda says, elaborating the case of Carrier variable refrigerant flow, Carrier inverter units and smart homes.

Carrier VRF systems deliver highefficiency solutions (EER as high as 14). VRF systems are designed and manufactured

to operate efficiently in the high ambient conditions of the Middle East and are tested for operation at 52°C. There are various types of indoor units that can be used depending on customer requirements which are in keeping with the interiors of the space.

Both the hi-wall inverter and VRF products contribute to energy and environment by using a non-hydrochlorofluorocarbon refrigerant, which does not deplete the ozone, and surpass leading industry standards of minimum energy efficiency requirements. They also meet and surpass current mandatory regulations of GCC countries.

“Carrier in Qatar has already supplied VRF systems to luxury villa developments in Qatar, which now function at high levels of performance and efficiency,” Hammouda says.

Carrier inverter units can easily increase or decrease power to the compressor, ensuring they operate more efficiently and economically. “Conventional fixedspeed units operate at 100%, delivering a fixed volume of cooling which means the compressor has to stop and start to maintain the desired room temperature. An inverter air conditioning system varies the speed of the compressors, delivering precise cooling or heating, using a fraction of the power as required, making it more efficient.”

Additionally, inverter hi-walls are up to 30% more efficient compared to similar capacity fixed speed system. And also payback is fast – the additional investment done on

an inverter hi-wall unit (vs. a fixed speed) is recovered within a year from energy savings. (Payback calculation is based on a comparison of 1.5T Carrier hi-wall-Fixed speed vs Inverter) Another interesting line up that Carrier offers in Qatar is intelligent Wi-Fi controls on many domestic Carrier products. “This is in line with multiple regional smart city initiatives and is part of a global push toward Internet of Things (IoT) appliances,” she says. The thermostat’s advanced software makes everything easy, from initial setup, customizing and comfort schedules to connecting to one’s home network.

Moreover, it gives power to control features and functions remotely from a computer, tablet or smart phone. “At the office or on the road, you can alter your home’s heating and cooling settings for comfort upon arrival using your connected device. It also helps to save money on utility costs through programming design, smart recovery and energy use reporting.

You can see when you’re spending the most on utility costs and tailor your settings to reduce your energy use. When you’re not home, this thermostat monitors your home’s energy use, your comfort preferences and the weather forecast to make intelligent decisions on efficiency and comfort for your return. In short, this smart thermostat is all about comfort,” she elaborates.

Women on top Hammouda is a relatively rare entity in

Qatar – a non-Qatari female executive.

We are curious about how this affects her navigation of the region’s corporate landscape and what it took her to reach here. She credits Carrier for helping her grow professional and it’s encouraging to note that her presence here will give Carrier in Qatar more incentives to help women advance up the corporate ladder. “I love my job and have enjoyed working in this industry for most of my career. Carrier, I believe, is the perfect place for an ambitious woman to grow professionally. The company is pioneering many initiatives to increase participation of women in the workforce while also supporting them in their career growth. ‘Women for Growth’ is one such initiative that will launch in Qatar soon. The programme aims at improving engagement and diversity within the company and helping personal and professional development through workshops, personal development plans and social events organized throughout the year. Additionally, United Technologies recently joined the ‘Paradigm for Parity’ – a coalition of leading companies committed to closing the gender gap across all levels of corporate leadership.”

We ask her what advice she has for midcareer women professionals and she says, “The advice I would give is to work hard, insist on success and most importantly, never give up. I don’t think to be successful in your career means it must negatively affect your family life. The key is to find balance in your life and remain determined.”

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affairs > marketwatch

PREPARING NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK

Eman Baker Abu El Hawa, General Manager, KidzMondo Doha, talks about the major concepts of the indoor edutainment park, which started its Qatar chapter in January.

BY UDAYAN NAG

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he concept of edutainment parks is fast catching up in the Middle East. In January this year, Mexican entertainment chain KidZania announced that it was on track for its Qatar launch in Q1 2018. And around the same time, KidzMondo, an indoor theme park concept, started its Doha operations at Mall of Qatar. Ken Research, a global aggregator and publisher of market intelligence research reports, suggested a “Compound Annual

Growth Rate of 9.1% for Qatar by 2021, with major theme parks in the country continuing to dominate this space”. What’s making edutainment parks increasingly popular?

“Confidence. Children knowing about their role in life,” says El Hawa. “When you enter KidzMondo, you notice the airport. When you go to any country, the airport is the first thing that you come across. The second is changing of currency. All establishments here have been designed very scientifically.”

“In Qatar, our edutainment programme is

"THE HIGH NUMBERS AT KIDZMONDO DURING THE SUMMER MONTHS IS NOT RELATED TO POLITICS, IT'S RELATED TO THE CURRICULUM. WE HAVE A DIFFERENT PLAN FOR EACH QUARTER."

in line with Qatar National Vision 2030. We are helping the Qataris to know more about the community they are living in. This is our major target.”

El Hawa adds that kids are enlightened about the career that best suits them at a much earlier age than otherwise because of KidzMondo. She points out that combining learning with entertainment is important in order to avoid drudgery. The target group of KidzMondo is 4-14.

“We replicate real life scenarios over here. It’s a great learning curve for children.

We motivate them; teach them about life, how to be good citizens, about the community they are living in, the tasks that they are happy to perform, and what they want to see themselves as when they grow up. But most importantly, we have combined learning with entertainment.”

The establishments in KidzMondo include bank, fire station, aircraft and driving institute. And its list of partners comprises Qatar Airways, Ooredoo, Woqod,

and Novo Cinemas.

Interestingly, contrary to expectations, there has been a spike in KidzMondo’s activities during summer months.

According to El Hawa, the number of visitors was 32% more than they would have settled for. However, Qatari nationals not travelling to neighbouring GCC countries because of the blockade was not the only reason for the surplus.

“A Big thank you goes to the Qatari people who decided not to travel and stay back to support their country. Having said that, the high numbers at KidzMondo during the summer months is not related to politics, it’s related to the curriculum. We have a different plan for each quarter. Our summer camp, which will end on August 7, is going really well.”

As far as collaborating with the various schools in the country is concerned, El Hawa says that KidzMondo has a dedicated team for that very purpose. “We visit 2-5 schools daily. We need the support of

Ministry of Education for the government sector schools. We are dealing with private, international as well as special needs schools.”

She adds, “We need to meet up with the Qatari government officials to offer them special rates/packages for the government schools. We need to show them how we can help Qatar and the Qatari children.”

El Hawa further says that the KidzMondo in Qatar currently has about 60 establishments, which it plans to increase to around 80 by the first quarter of 2018.

The brand is also planning to expand in other parts of the world. “Other than Qatar, we have got outlets in Lebanon and Turkey.

We are also planning to open our branches in Abu Dhabi, Saudi Arabia and Australia.”

On whether the company plans to expand further in Qatar, El Hawa says, “As of now, we are not expanding in Qatar. We have chalked out our plans for a year. But if you ask me this question a year from now, I might have a different answer.”

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business > marketwatch

RAFA AND RICHARD MILLE As the first-ever player to claim a tenth title in the same Grand Slam tournament, Rafael Nadal made history not only for the game of tennis but also for Roland Garros.

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he victory at the French Open by one of Richard Mille’s earliest partners is the fruit of boundless determination and a clear sign of renewed confidence. Now ranked second worldwide behind Andy Murray, Nadal has yielded only 22 games. With an average game time hovering at 1 hour 34 minutes, the Majorcan was not compelled to exhaust his reserves of strength and confronted the Swiss player Stan Wawrinka in the final match under optimal conditions. "The King of Clay", as he is known, first crowned in Paris in 2005 at 19 years old, dashed the hopes of his rival in just three sets and less than two hours

of play. He dominated the match with two formidable weapons: his powerful forehand and his great two-handed backhand.

Since 2010, Richard Mille and Rafael Nadal have developed remarkable watches, via a collaboration unique in the history of watchmaking, and the latest of these is no disappointment. In terms of shock resistance, the tourbillon movement expands the horizons of technical performance. Aesthetically, the timepiece alludes to the Spanish tennis champion’s masterful character. And Roland Garros was an obvious choice of venue to present this new timepiece – RM 27-03.

MANDELA DAY IN DOHA To mark the international observance of Mandela Day, South African chemicals and energy company Sasol and HE Prof. Shirish Soni, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of South Africa to Qatar, visited the Dreama Orphans Care Center, gifting board games to the children and sharing the spirit of Nelson Mandela by giving back to society through simple and meaningful actions. During the visit, the Ambassador and Phinda Vilakazi, President of GTL Ventures at Sasol, talked about Nelson Mandela and his legacy and vision.

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MANAGING ENERGY The current batch of HEC Paris Executive MBA participants majoring in Energy recently completed an extensive week-long programme in Qatar to help them develop a comprehensive and strategic view of energy issues, including climate impact on the global economy.

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he participants were hosted by HEC Paris in Qatar where they received lectures on topics such as the global energy sector, the fundamentals of the oil industry, gas and LNG and the renewable energy revolution. In addition, the weeklong session included a visit to the headquarters of RasGas Company Limited, during which the 24 participants from HEC Paris tapped into the excellence of RasGas to gain first-hand knowledge of the operations of the organization, a thorough understanding of strategic objectives, and how to sustain competitive advantage in the highly challenging upstream sector. The rigorous session in Doha focused on all aspects of the upstream sector, including energy reserves, productions, technologies, financials and risk management. The participants will undergo a second session in Berlin, in October.

A HEALTH AND SAFETY COUP Msheireb Properties has been recognised at the international RoSPA Health and Safety Awards 2017, held at the ExCeL, London. The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) has awarded Msheireb Properties their Gold Award in recognition of their fruitful efforts and successfully managing occupational health and safety standards.

A HOME IN ONE BLACKFRIARS Property developer Just Real Estate (JRE) has unlocked the doors to its growing portfolio in the United Kingdom, giving investors in Qatar an opportunity to purchase a home in One Blackfriars, a landmark development in London.

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he JRE team provided a luxury showcase of the iconic tower at their recently launched Just Real Estate offices in Doha. The partnership with Just Real Estate complements One Blackfriars’ exclusive offering and builds on the luxurious tower’s already well-established presence in the MENA region. Due to be completed in 2018, One Blackfriars will bring to fruition 274 luxurious homes, a boutique hotel, a landscaped piazza and 14,000 square feet of commercial space for new shops, cafes and restaurants. The project is a unique 170m-high residential development in London, offering residents a wide array of on-site amenities including 24-hour concierge service through Harrods Estates. The project is being delivered by developer St George, which is part of the Berkeley Group, London’s leading mixed-use developer and a FTSE 250 company.

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affairs > auto news

ERIC PIERMONT / AFP

TALEB APPOINTED QATAR DISTRIBUTOR FOR BORGWARD German automobile manufacturer Borgward Group has appointed Qatar’s Taleb Group as its exclusive distributor for the country.

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ccording to a statement released by Borgward, the signing of agreements for Qatar and other distributorships in the GCC region “is the first indication” that the rebirth of the Borgward automotive brand recognises the Middle East as a core market for the international car company.

The statement further said that Mohamed Taleb Al Khauri, managing director of Taleb Group, has been made the distributor for Qatar.

Held in Bremen, Germany, attendees at the contract signing ceremony from the Borgward Group team included the company’s CEO Ulrich Walker, its vicepresident (Sales and Marketing) Tom Anliker, and Tomas Caetano, the company’s executive director of Global Brand and Marketing.

SETTING THE BENCHMARK FOR AUTO DEALERS Skyline Automotive, the official distributor for Genesis in Qatar, is trying to lead the way for auto dealers in Qatar with its personalised approach to customer care and aftersales service.

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peaking about the process of designing Genesis cars, Global Head of Genesis, Manfred Fitzgerald, said, “With Genesis, we start by understanding those things that create enjoyment in owning a luxury car, and then we bring design, technology and careful engineering together to create something that will excite the senses and that people will desire.”

Meanwhile, Paiman El Malla, Skyline Automotive General Manager, said that the company was honoured to represent the Genesis brand in Qatar, which according to him amassed behind it a passionate and experienced group of renowned car designers and visionaries. “The team behind Genesis has created superior cars, offering a new alternative in the luxury car segment and exciting car enthusiasts in Qatar.”

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JAIDAH AUTO’S BATTERY BONANZA

In celebration of the sale of one million ACDelco Maintenance Free batteries in Qatar, the Jaidah Automotive Aftermarket Division held its annual customer appreciation event, which was attended by 180 customers and representatives from Jaidah Automotive Aftermarket Division, General Motors and Mebco.

“We are proud of achieving the sale of one million batteries in Qatar,” said Jaidah Automotive’s KT Rao, manager of Automotive Wholesale. “This wouldn’t have been possible without the support of our loyal customers, our experienced professional sales team and our supplier. I would like to thank everyone who contributed to this great success.”

And during the course of the event, Jaidah Automotive Independent Aftermarket General Manager, Zeki Bagran, said, “Our goal is to reach the 2 million-unit milestone in the near future with the support of our customers and supplier.”

ALL-NEW BMW X3 SET FOR NEXT SUCCESS STORY

Since BMW launched the mid-size SAV (Sports Activity Vehicle) segment in 2003, the company has recorded more than 1.5 million new registrations of the X3 across the two model generations so far. And now the new BMW X3 is set to write the next chapter in this success story.

The third generation of the BMW X3 follows in its predecessor’s tyre tracks by combining rugged off-road looks with a sporting presence. Its familiar proportions, including very short front and rear overhangs, shine the spotlight on the perfect 50:50 distribution of weight between the front and rear axles.

Another new equipment item is the optional BMW Display Key, which not only locks and unlocks the BMW X3 by radio remote control, but also shows a variety of status information on the car and serves as the control unit for the optional auxiliary heating.

NBK AUTOMOBILES PRESENTS NEW MERCEDES-AMG GT R

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eaturing a sporty interior and a lightweight exterior design, the new Mercedes-AMG GT R has been presented on the roads of Qatar by Nasser Bin Khaled Automobiles, the authorised general distributor of Mercedes-Benz in Qatar.

“We are proud to bring this exciting and long-awaited sporty car to our clientele,” said Khaled Sha’aban, General Manager, Nasser Bin Khaled Automobiles. “Qatari motorists are well known for their great admiration of speed and unique cars, and we are confident that the new Mercedes-AMG GT R will be their favourite choice, thanks to its new features and design.”

The other features of the car include a twin-turbo V-8 engine rated at 430 kW/585 hp, a modified suspension, and new aerodynamics.

The suspension of the new AMG high-performance sports model is also designed for racetrack use. Wishbones, steering knuckles and hub carriers on the front and rear axles are manufactured entirely out of forged aluminium.

PORSCHE CLUB QATAR WRAPS UP GERMANY TOUR

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orsche Club Qatar (PCQ) wrapped up the last week of its Tour of Germany, an initiative organised on the sidelines of the Qatar Germany 2017 Year of Culture. The one-week tour was organised in collaboration with Qatar Museums and the Qatari Embassy in Berlin, with the support of the German Embassy in Doha.

PCQ Tour of Germany invited club members and social media influencers on a custom-made trip to Germany to explore the country’s most famous cultural landmarks and attractions, helping to promote cultural awareness and exchange between the two countries.

The participants’ first stop was Berlin, where the embassy arranged for an exciting tour. The full-day tour ended with a visit to the Embassy of Qatar in Germany. Club members were received warmly

by HE Sheikh Saud bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, the Ambassador of Qatar to Germany, who noted that such initiatives by Qatar’s youth are a welcome indication of the generation’s commitment to cultural engagement and growth.

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affairs > qt take

THE SKATE GIRLS OF KABUL Jessica Fulford-Dobson’s photography exhibition at the Qatar Museum Gallery at Katara is a testament to how just having fun and smiling can unite people.

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BY KARIM EMAM owerful, stunning, and touching – these words came across one’s mind when looking upon the young faces of the Afghani girls at the exhibition by awardwinning photographer Jessica FulfordDobson. Her series of striking portraits, entitled “Skate Girls of Kabul”, tells the extraordinary story of the girls who took up skateboarding, thanks to Skateistan, an Afghan charity that provides skate parks as a hook to get children from disadvantaged families back into the educational system and empower them.

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The project first attracted FulfordDobson’s attention when she read about them in a small newspaper column. In June 2013 she visited the education charity.

Inspired by their charismatic femininity, she returned to Afghanistan the following May to complete this series of portraits and sequences. The series was viewed by more than 74,000 visitors during its twoweek run at London’s Saatchi Gallery.

“I always felt that after the London launch, you can clearly see that there was a real global hunger for a good news story, a story of hope. This is the reason why the short article I read in late 2012 captured my attention; even I, like the rest of the world, was fed up with the doom and gloom that we always hear from Afghanistan and the surrounding region. I knew that people would be interested in this but I didn’t realise what a global phenomenon it would become. And for any photographer in this age it’s quite hard to have photographs hit headlines, unless they are to do with celebrity, sex, or violence. I had been in

touch with Qatar Museums before, and after London I wanted to approach Her Excellency Sheikha Mayassa because I felt it was important also to have a combination of cultures from the East and West, coming together to support these girls and give them a voice on the global stage.”

The exhibition has been shown in three different continents now when you count its presence at the Venice Biennale and the Aga Khan Museum in Canada, but will

from Afghanistan it is expanding out to Cambodia and to South Africa now. So it’s wonderful to know that girls from all over the world are now benefiting from this. It will be very interesting for me to see where they are in ten years’ time. Already we are seeing the benefits. One girl who joined the project in 2007 is today a youth leader that speaks in the parliament on behalf of the youth. It is still such a young charity, but in just ten years they have a girl from selling

it ever be shown in Kabul some day? “The project has been sponsored by an Afghani telecom company (Roshan Telecom) and we did have a talk before the London launch about when would be the right time to be in Kabul. We do hope it’s soon. At the moment we are trying to let the world know about it so the skate girls continue to get support.”

Skateistan also monitors these kids for a few years to ensure that they don’t slip.

Does she keep in touch with the girls? “Yes, my partnership with the school and the project is long-term. They were founded in 2007 and officially started operations in 2009. When I approached them in 2012, a lot of journalists had collaborated with them to make films and other projects.

But I think I was the first to approach the photography from a non-journalistic angle, to talk about in a way that will take them to a different arena in the art world.”

“We must make sure that all the good work that is being carried on with the project continues. Because

trinkets becoming a national youth leader; that’s quite something.”

Fulford-Dobson, speaking about the process, says, “I like natural light and also I worked on my own. I don’t like coming in with an army of assistants and umbrellas, because as soon as they see that, it’s not very natural and everybody feels selfconscious. When I was taking the skate shots I wanted to be a fly on the wall, because I didn’t want to stop their fun; they only have one hour a day to do this and this is their time. But I actually wanted to engage with them and this is why this is very powerful, because of all the time I spent with them, despite a lot of them not speaking any English. But with the help of some of their younger teachers who helped to translate, it’s amazing how just having fun and smiling can unite people,” she says.

Qatar Museums (QM) opened the show on July 19 in the presence of Chairperson HE Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, and it will continue in QM Gallery at Katara until October 21 59 > QATAR TODAY > JULY - AUGUST 2017

city life > doha diary

QNL DONATES BOOKS TO REFUGEE CAMP

TAMIM AL MAJD

Community College of Qatar brought together hundreds of students who stood side by side and rearranged themselves to create the iconic image of HH Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani on a giant 45-metre square canvas, to show their love and appreciation for the Emir.

Qatar National Library (QNL), in collaboration with Qatar Charity, recently donated a collection of books to the ‘We Are Here – Community Centre’. The project, organized by the InterEuropean Human Aid Association, is based at the Nea Kavala refugee camp in Greece. The collection includes 328 children’s books and 110 adults’ books in both Arabic and English. The donation aims at supporting the centre in its goal to provide a platform of support, solidarity, and normality for the 800 Syrian refugees in the camp, 50% of whom are children. The books will also be used as an educational tool to aid the centre in their weekly language classes.

LEND A HELPING PAW Popular animal rescue and shelter PAWS is holding their annual black tie ball to raise funds to support the homeless and rescued animals of Doha for the second year running, following a successful event last year that saw more than 150 guests come together for the strays of Doha. To be held in the Grand Ballroom at the Grand Hyatt Doha, the fabulous night will feature a delicious 3-course meal, live music and a DJ, and a silent auction and raffle prizes. The theme this year is ‘Glitz ‘n Glam’, and guests are encouraged to show up in sparkles, glitter and feathers, and get dressed up to raise money for a good cause.

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QATARI SCI-FI COMES OF AGE A sci-fi/fantasy television series created by Qatari filmmaker Ahmed Al Baker and shot in Qatar premiered at Comic-Con 2017.

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edinah, the first international scifi/fantasy television series to be made in Middle East, is also the first show from the region to be premiered at Comic Con. The first look of Medinah, in English and Arabic (with subtitles), was released recently and it created a lot of buzz among sci-fi fans in Doha as the drama unfolds with Qatar as backdrop. This mind-bending series is partly set in a near-future Qatar, and begins after a rocket, designed to disperse thousands of metric tons of sulfur dioxide into Earth’s stratosphere to offset the greenhouse effect that has caused the global warming crisis, inexplicably fails

and crashes. In the subsequent aftermath, we are introduced to an international cast of survivors – both human, and “human-like”. As they face monsters, nightmares, parallel realities and their own personal demons, these heroes must decide what is most important to them. Medinah’s cast includes Academy Award nominee Eric Roberts (The Dark Knight, The Expendables), sci-fi icon Natasha Henstridge (Species, Beauty and the Beast), Rick Ravanello (Criminal Minds, NCIS), Tamoh Penikett (Battlestar Galactica, Dollhouse), Eyad Hourani (Omar, Rattle the Cage), Hemwant Tiwari and Mohammed Al Hamadi.

FORGING A CAREER PATH

Qatar Career Development Center (QCDC) concluded the fourth edition of its Summer Career Camp, with 55 secondary school students taking part.

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he two-week camp featured a variety of activities and educational programmes, as well as stimulating workshops that offered practical skills and knowledge to help inspire students as they plan their future academic and career paths. A large number of Qatari students participated in the camp, which included site visits to leading organizations in Qatar such as Hamad Medical Corporation, Qatar Tourism Authority, Msheireb Museums, Qatar Development Bank, and Qatar Business Incubation Center. These visits offered a glimpse into different professions, and taught students about the career opportunities available at each organization.

Students also participated in a number of workshops delivered by the organizations to help them match their abilities and skills with a variety of career choices.

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How does Petar manage to squeeze in a few jumps between managing the venue team, communication and coordination with central team and other venues, business development, reporting to owners, and whatever else that crops up during the day? We find out...

A day in the life of...

Petar Popovic Venue Manager Bounce Qatar

Qatar Today follows the daily routines of professionals around the country from all walks of life.

By Ayswarya Murthy

1:00pm Despite a lot of desk work that still needs my attention, I squeeze in another 15 minutes of jumping; today I choose the 2 metre wall. A few customers get excited and ask me to teach them wall running. Some kids too young for the wall try to join in and the referring has to try and catch them. Before I head back, I run into a hosted group finishing their session who ask for a show.

2:00 pm I head back to the office.

On the way, trying to “lead by example” by picking up 7 empty drinking bottles from the floor and throwing them into the trash can. 67 new emails and 45 old ones await me. But it is lunch time already, and everyone knows emails get cleared better after two chicken shawarmas, orange juice and donut.

3:00 pm Back to the office again to prepare for a Team Leaders meeting in 10 minutes. TL meetings are cool! Even when they are long.

9:30 am Walk through the door in the morning and straight into a morning huddle where everyone is waiting for you to throw some freestyle wisdom! A walk around the venue to see what the damage is after previous night, especially if that was Thursday or Friday evening, is punctuated by a few jumps or Slackline walk.

4:00 pm After the meeting, about to pull yourself away in the deepest corner of the office and to smash the emails within next two hours. Sometimes, I find myself on the floor, covering the area for someone who is one their break.

8:00 pm I grab my backpack and to go home, so I can have a dinner and to clear my inbox (hopefully) before sleeping. On the way out I hear new voice uttering a very familiar sentence: “Are you the manager?”

9:00 pm Complaint resolved, venue is getting quiet. Team is getting ready to play “All Venue Dodge Ball”. I am in. After an amazing game, I am in such a good mood and full of energy that I find myself helping the staff to carry the boxes of water to refill the stock.

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10:30 am I try to get caught up in office work but keep getting distracted by the need to jump. But eventually I have to get back to being venue manager and provide “general team support”. Everyone needs me for either approving an urgent leave for wife’s pregnancy, or to nurse a break up with the girlfriend, or to entertain a cousin from the USA at an important family lunch.

11:00 pm Look at the time, it’s almost time for an evening huddle, so there is no point of leaving now. I am staying for a huddle.

Nobody wants to miss the summary of the day and another chance for another freestyle wisdom, team motivation and interaction.