Private Sector Qatar - English | January 2013 by Private Sector Qatar

JANUARY 2013 www.privatesectorqatar.com/en

SMEs

Read about the local SMEs and their journey so far

DOING BUSINESS An overview of the various parameters of doing business in Qatar

EUROMONEY CONFERENCE - QATAR We bring you the snapshots of the interesting discussions on the global ﬁnancial situation

THE VANGUARD OF QATAR’S ECONOMY H.E. ABDULLAH SAUD AL-THANI, GOVERNOR, QATAR CENTRAL BANK, SHARES HIS VIEWS ON QATAR'S FINANCIAL SYSTEM PUBLICATION LICENSED BY IMPZ

qatar.smetoolkit.org/qatar/en

CONTeNTS January 2013

30 SMEs 22 TOWARDS GREENER PASTURES Doha Plastic manufactures drip irrigation pipes with all the equipment necessary to landscape. Jenny Kassis caught up with Shaker Alansari, General Manager, Doha Plastic, to know more about this niche product.

24 MAINTAIN THE QUALITY Tietan Fiberglass Co. W.L.L. Khalid Plastic Industries Complex (W.L.L.), a leading manufacturer of fiberglass, rotomould and acrylic products in Qatar, has great export potential. Tamara Pupic visited them to learn about their plans.

26 FIND YOUR OWN WAY

KEEPING A CLOSE WATCH H.E. Abdullah Saud Al-Thani, Governor, Qatar Central Bank (QCB), talks about QCB’s performance in safeguarding and strengthening Qatar’s ﬁnancial sector.

In order to present the experience of companies within Qatar’s non-oil and gas industry, Tamara Pupic brings to you the story of Qatar International Cables Company (QICC).

Legal

News

About town

10 UPDATES

14 WHAT’S YOUR ADDRESS?

Get to know about the latest events and happenings in Qatar that will have an impact on SMEs and large enterprises.

About town

The Rise of the Arab Information Society was organised by the Internet Society and ISOC Qatar, in partnership with ictQATAR and Carnegie Mellon Qatar. Private Sector Qatar was there and brings to you an overview of the discussions.

12 KEEPING THE MOMENTUM

16 THE ENGINES OF GROWTH

Private Sector Qatar brings to you the highlights from the Euromoney Qatar Conference “Global Finance: Re-designed” held in Doha under the patronage of H.E. Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassim Bin Jabr Al-Thani, Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, State of Qatar.

The Third Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES), which was held in Dubai, offered to the key stakeholders clear insight into the regional business climate. Private Sector Qatar brings to you the main highlights.

Aparna Shivpuri Arya got an exclusive opportunity to talk to H.E. Abdullah Saud Al-Thani, Governor, Qatar Central Bank (QCB), about QCB’s outstanding performance in safeguarding and strengthening Qatar’s financial sector.

Industry

Entrepreneur

18 STEAMROLL YOUR WAY TO SUCCESS

34 A DREAM COME TRUE

In the second article of a two-part series on Alstom’s business growth in the Middle East region, Tamara Pupic checks out how Alstom will contribute to the economic development of Qatar.

One of the six SILA finalists, Ala Suleiman, Co-Founder and CEO, Masmoo3 for Audio Knowledge, tells us about the steps he took to establish the first company that produces digital audio books in the Arab world.

44 4

28 IT’S PERSONAL! David Salt, Managing Partner, and Fouad El Haddad, Senior Associate, Clyde & Co’s Doha office, explain why data protection and privacy are important considerations for all businesses.

Finance 30 KEEPING A CLOSE WATCH

Doing Business

Business Advice

38 HOW EASY IS IT?

42 MIND OVER MATTER

Ahmad Hawi, Statistical Specialist, QDB, examines what needs to be done to improve Qatar’s competitiveness in the world.

Our mind is incredibly powerful and often underutilised. Jeanine Bailey, Co-Founder and Director, Empower People – Specialists in Human Development, advises how we can use our mind to proactively create the results we want in both professional and personal parts of our life.

Sector Study 40 CONSIDER THE OPTIONS! Attracting FDI in the non-hydrocarbon sector is an important challenge for Qatar moving forward. Dr. Tarek Coury, Chief Economist, Tanween, explores how to convince foreign investors that Qatar’s non-hydrocarbon sector has the capacity to produce income.

Management 44 BUILDING A WINNING PROPOSAL In the first article of multi-part series, Sangeetha Thomas, Management Consultant, takes a look at how SMEs can be competitive in the market by creating winning proposals which will leverage on their resources and expertise to deliver results.

TASDEER 49 NO PEAK HIGH ENOUGH With TASDEER’s support Asima Plastic Factory expects to export even more. Ricardo Gonzalez, General Manager, Asima Plastic Factory, tells us how they plan to achieve that.

50 BAG IT! If you are part of the plastic industry in Qatar, pay attention to TASDEER’s analysis of export opportunities for plastic bags.

52 TARGET: EGYPT! TASDEER focuses on Egypt as an important market for the key products of Qatari origin. Check if it can be a good export opportunity for your products or services.

54 PREPARE FOR THE NEXT ONE! TASDEER prepares Qatari exporters for the exhibitions planned in 2013.

JaNuary 2013

edITOrIal A spoonful of hope...

Publisher Dominic De Sousa Group COO Nadeem Hood

It’s that time of the year again – when our world is full of hope and positive tidings. Happy New Year all of you and we hope you had a wonderful festive season and are all charged up and ready for what 2013 has to bring.

Managing Director Richard Judd richard@cpidubai.com +971 4 440 9126 EDITORIAL

We for sure are – we have already lined up a series of interesting features, we are also working on updating our Website and we hope to organise some informative and interesting events in the coming months. We are very excited about this year and want to make this magazine, even bigger and better.

Senior Editor Aparna Shivpuri Arya aparna@cpidubai.com +971 440 9133 Assistant Editor - English Tamara Pupic tamara@cpidubai.com +971 440 9130 Assistant Editor - Arabic Jenny Kassis jenny@cpidubai.com +971 440 9116 Contributing Editors Mike Byrne mikeb@cpidubai.com +971 440 9105 ADVERTISING Commercial Director Chris Stevenson chris@cpidubai.com +971 4 440 9138 CIRCULATION Database and Circulation Manager Rajeesh M rajeesh@cpidubai.com +971 4 440 9147 OPERATIONS AND DESIGN Production Manager James P Tharian james@cpidubai.com +971 4 440 9146 Head of Design Fahed Sabbagh fahed@cpidubai.com +971 4 440 9148 Photographer Jay Colina jay@cpidubai.com +971 4 440 9137

For Qatari entrepreneurs, SMEs and startups, we are sure 2013 will bring a lot of opportunities and encouragement. You can feel the excitement in the air! December was a busy month for us as we managed between Doha and Dubai to cover the Global Entrepreneurship Summit, Euromoney Qatar Conference and The Rise of the Arab Information Society. We bring you some interesting coverage from these events. And to start the year with a bang - we interviewed the person who holds the helm of the financial stability of Qatar – H.E Abdullah Saud Al-Thani, the Governor of Qatar Central Bank. Turn to page 30 to read all about what he has to say about Qatar’s economy. We promise – you won’t be disappointed! As always, we highlight some trade and investment opportunities through our features on TASDEER and an analysis of the non-hydrocarbon sector, besides our regular columns on legal issues, management, SME and much more. We hope you’ll enjoy this issue and that you’ll support us in 2013 like you did in 2012. It has been a wonderful journey so far and we wouldn’t have made it without you all.

We look forward to hearing from you...

Till then,

DIGITAL SERVICES www.smeadvisor.com Digital Services Manager Tristan Troy Maagma Web Developers Erik Briones Jefferson de Joya Louie Alma online@cpidubai.com +971 4 440 9100 Published by

Aparna Shivpuri Arya, Senior Editor, Private Sector Qatar Talk to us: E-mail: aparna@cpidubai.com Twitter: @PrivateSectorQA Facebook: www.facebook.com/PrivateSectorQatar LinkedIn group: Private Sector Qatar

Head Office PO Box 13700 Dubai, UAE Tel: +971 4 440 9100 Fax: +971 4 447 2409

Printed by

Al Wraq Printing Press, Qatar

Distributed by

Dar Al Sharq Distribution © Copyright 2013 CPI All rights reserved While the publishers have made every effort to ensure the accuracy of all information in this magazine, they will not be held responsible for any errors therein.

qatar.smetoolkit.org/qatar/en

QDB BriDgeD the gap to starting my own Business through aL Dhameen.

Do you have a promising business or new business idea? But do you also have trouble finding the funding that you need? Ask us about Al Dhameen Indirect Lending Program from QDB. We will guarantee up to 85% of your business loan *, leaving you free to focus on developing your business. Click on www.qdb.qa or visit one of our partners listed below.

* Guarantees of up to 85% are for new businesses. Exiting businesses can get guarantees of up to 75%. Terms and Conditions apply.

Ms. Amal Al-Mannai

ADVISORY BOARD Gail Gosse Gail Gosse, is the Dean of the School of Business at College of North Atlantic-Qatar.

Hamad Mohammed Al-Kuwari Hamad AL-Kuwari is the Managing Director of Qatar Science & Technology Park.

Professor Nitham M. Hindi

George M. White, Ph.D.

Professor Nitham M. Hindi, is the Dean of College of Business and Economics at the Qatar University.

Dr. White is Associate Teaching Professor of Entrepreneurship at Carnegie Mellon University-Qatar.

Abdulaziz N. Al-Khalifa

Hamad Al Abdan Al-Marri

Mr. Al-Khalifa is the Executive Director, Strategy and Business Development at Qatar Development Bank (QDB).

Eng. Hamad Mohamed Al Abdan is the Chief Business Operation Officer at Enterprise Qatar.

Raed Al-Emadi

Rashid Nasser Sraiya Al Kaabi

Mr. Al-Emadi is the Deputy CEO, Silatech.

Ms. Al-Mannai is the Executive Director of the Social Development Center (SDC).

Mr. Al Kaabi is the Chairman of the Board of Energy City Qatar Holding (ECQH).

For more information, please visit www.privatesectorqatar.com/en

We are the new AIG

Bring on tomorrow www.aig.com AIG is the marketing name for the worldwide property-casualty, life and retirement, and general insurance operations of American International Group, Inc. For additional information, please visit our website at www.aig.com. Products and services are written or provided by subsidiaries or affiliates of American International Group, Inc. Not all products and services are available in every jurisdiction, and insurance coverage is governed by actual policy language. Certain products and services may be provided by independent third parties. Insurance products may be distributed through affiliated or unaffiliated entities. Certain property-casualty coverages may be provided by a surplus lines insurer. Surplus lines insurers do not generally participate in state guaranty funds and insureds are therefore not protected by such funds.

NeWS

DOHA CLIMATE GATEWAY small portion of emissions and its signatories all had their own legislated targets anyway.

The Kyoto Protocol will be extended until 2020, after Qatar pushed through an agreement at the global climate change conference in Doha on 8th December 2012. The President of the 18th Session of the Conference of Parties (COP18), H.E. Abdullah bin Hamad Al-Attiyah, said the new agreement, which is the only internationally binding treaty on cutting emissions of greenhouse gases, would apply from 2013.

$100 BILLION Qatar's climate funding for poorer nations per year, by the year 2020

“The participants’ good intentions and hard work have enabled us to reach the goals of the conference proceedings and finding a way towards the future,” H.E. Al-Attiyah said in a plenary session held on the evening of 8th December 2012. The conference has ratified all decisions presented in available documents, he said, adding that these decisions would form the Doha Climate Gateway. The two-week-long talks, which were due to end on 7th December 2012, were extended by 24 hours after negotiators from 194 countries failed to reach agreement on most key issues. On 8th December 2012, Al-Attiyah gaveled through the measures before they could be discussed and objections raised, a tactic to which Russia

in particular objected. Most of the delegates applauded his determination to make sure the compromise agreement was saved. However, the countries which have agreed to the protocol, including all 27 EU members and Australia, only produce around 15% of emissions. The US never ratified the original 1997 agreement and other important emitters, Canada, Japan and Russia, have withdrawn from it.

Environmental groups strongly criticised the deal since it will not keep the world within the 2-degrees-Celsius rise widely accepted as manageable. Jan Kowalzig, Climate Expert, Charity Oxfam, said the measures would likely lead to a rise in global temperatures of around four degrees and criticised the financial agreements. UN leader Ban Ki-moon welcomed the deal as an important first step but said through his spokesman that “far more needs to be done.” The protocol locks in only developed nations, excluding major developing polluters such as China and India, as well as the US which refuses to ratify it. In practice, experts say the lengthening of the protocol will make little difference to pollution levels as it covers such a

The deal includes wording on scaling up funding to help poor countries deal with global warming and convert to planet-friendlier energy sources, but does not list any figures. Developed nations were under pressure in Doha to show how they intend to keep a promise to raise climate funding for poorer nations to USD 100 billionn (Euros 76 billionn) per year by 2020, up from a total of USD 30 billion in 2010-2012. Developing countries say they need at least another USD 60 billion between now and 2015, starting with USD 20 billion from 2013, to deal with a climate change-induced rise in droughts, floods, rising sea levels and storms. The US and European Union refused to put concrete figures on the table for 2013-2020, citing tough financial times. Another point of dispute was a demand by least developed countries and those most at risk of sea level rise that provision be made for the losses they suffer because of climate change they blame on the West’s polluting ways. The Kyoto Protocol obliged about 35 industrialised nations to cut greenhouse gas emissions by an average of at least 5.2% below 1990 levels during the period from 2008 to 2012. The European Union, for instance, says it will deepen its cut to at least 20% below 1990 levels by 2020. President of COP18, H.E. Abdullah bin Hamad Al-Attiyah expressed his gratitude to the delegations that participated in the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. He praised the efforts exerted by the delegations during the negotiations, which led to the success of the conference, and also hailed the participants for their flexibility in negotiating and transparency in expressing their views. Al-Attiyah added that the agreements signed were the result of the delegations’ ability to reach a common ground. The outcome, the COP18 President said, was the Doha Climate Gateway, which extended the Kyoto Protocol until 2020. He also congratulated Poland for being chosen as the host of COP19 in 2012.

SINGLE WINDOW SYSTEM FOR EFFECTIVE EXPORT

The Single Window System brings to export and government stakeholders a host of benefits. The system allows for electronic integration and connectivity furthering, thus, efficiency and transparency. For instance, the system helps the Ministry of Interior with accurate and instant information on individuals, vehicles and companies, the relevant government bodies with pre-clearance before cargo arrival and quick release of restricted goods, and freight forwarders providing risk systems with information for goods imported.

In another initiative to boost exports, QDB’s Qatar Export Development Agency TASDEER, organised on 11th December 2012 a workshop in joint collaboration with the Qatari Directorate General of Customs to launch the Single Window System. The workshop saw over 170 export stakeholders, in attendance at the Hilton hotel, Doha. Hassan Al Mansoori, Executive Director, QDB’s Qatar Export Development Agency TASDEER, spoke at the event alongside senior representatives of the local customs department. Hassan Al Mansoori said, “QDB launched TASDEER in 2011 with the aim to promote

and develop the non-oil exports from Qatar to international markets. Therefore, we are mandated with the overall growth of the industry and this can only happen when we invest steadfast efforts to craft and build services and platforms that transform our industry fundamentals, processes and systems into internationally-recognised export hubs. Therefore, we firmly believe that the Single Window System will play a significant enhancing role by reducing the documentary procedure to a record five minutes, reducing the proportions of preview from 70% to 5%, applying risk management system, and providing high-quality, value-added services to businesses in partnership with both the private and the public sectors.”

SAVE THE DATE! Date

At the level of other government agencies relating to customs duty, Single Window System helps the Ministry of Trade match CR activity with imported materials and activates the role of commissioner in the commercial register to confirm authorisation for customs clearance.As for the Statistics Authority, the system provides reports and instant and accurate statistics matching with the global system. Single Window System is, also, essential for instant information dissemination across all GCC ports. Furthermore, Single Window System paves way for integration with e-government systems featuring a high-quality government network connection, a 24/7 customer call centre, a personal smart card for state portal and a state-of-the-art payment system through credit cards, other bank cards or direct transfer to customs account.

JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2013

Event

Location

4 - 14 January

2013 IglP Workshop

doha

7 - 9 January

Fourth arab union of electricity general Conference

doha

7 - 9 January

World Congress on engineering education 2013 (WCee 2013)

doha

13 - 15 January

International Forum on Converting gas to liquids 2013

doha

13 - 15 January

World gTl Congress

St. regis hotel doha

14 January

Financial Services Taxes Conference

doha Qatar National Convention Center

21 - 23 January

Offshore Middle east Conference and exhibition 2013

31 January – 2 February

Forum Mobile Phone – ICT Qatar

doha

4 - 6 February

Second high level Forum on global geospatial Information Management

Qatar National Convention Center

4 - 6 February

POWer-geN Middle east 2013

Qatar National Convention Center

4 - 6 February

Water World Middle east 2013

Qatar National Convention Center

7 February

Qatar Conference Qatar to the Security of Financial Information

doha

20 - 21 February

real estate Fair Qatar

doha

To know about the events happening in Qatar in the next six months, please visit our Website.

JaNuary 2013

aBOuT TOWN

KEEPING THE MOMENTUM

In a combined effort to tackle the challenges of the recent global downturn, some of the world’s leading �inanciers and representatives of the largest banks gathered in Qatar to attend the Euromoney Qatar Conference “Global Finance: Re-designed”. Private Sector Qatar brings to you our coverage of the event.

eld under the patronage of H.E. Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassim Bin Jabr Al-Thani, Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, State of Qatar, the Euromoney Conferences, together with Qatar Central Bank, hosted a high-level international financial conference on 11th and 12th December 2012 at the Ritz-Carlton, Doha. As part of the international efforts to understand the evolution of global finance, the Euromoney Qatar Conference saw in attendance Qatari government representatives, international regulators and private institutions. At the opening ceremony, the audience was addressed by the following high-profile figures: ■ H.E. Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassim Bin Jabr Al-Thani, Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, State of Qatar ■ H.E. Yousef Hussain Kamal, Minister of Economy & Finance, State of Qatar ■ H.E. Sheikh Abdullah Saoud Al-Thani, Governor, Central Bank of Qatar ■ H.E. Zeti Akhtar Aziz, Governor, Bank Negara Malaysia ■ Charlie McCreevy, Former European Union Commissioner for Internal Market and Services and Former Minister of Finance, Republic of Ireland In his key note speech, H.E. Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassim Bin Jabr Al-Thani, Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, State of Qatar, said, “Qatar has braved the odds of global financial crises with its inflation-adjusted growth surpassing 14% during 2011, while keeping inflation and unemployment rates low. Qatar is working to build a strong and progressing economy through the establishment of advanced infrastructure to serve the various economic sectors.” His Excellency explained that the country’s well calibrated economic strategy stems from the Qatar National Vision 2030, which aims to achieve sustainable

development in various sectors. “This contributed to realising many achievements during the first year of the 2011-16 strategy, ” His Excellency added, highlighting that the budget surplus was 5% of the GDP and that the current account surplus is 30% of the GDP. Pointing out that Qatar’s economy maintained its steady growth pace, despite unfavourable global circumstances, H.E. Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassim Bin Jabr Al-Thani, Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, State of Qatar, concluded that such momentum provided diversified opportunities for investment by local, regional and international private sectors. In his address, H.E. Yousef Hussain Kamal, Minister of Economy & Finance, State of Qatar, opined on the global financial crisis, “I believe that some solutions for crisis were more political than financial. Although the EU crisis has conceded with the Arab spring, the GCC countries were able to tackle all the influences of these crisis and made policies which protected their economies and managed to achieve growth. The country’s efforts to achieve the optimum utilisation of energy resources and the diversification of economic activity helped Qatar achieve record growth rates over the past years with the average compound annual growth rate (at constant prices) reaching 14.8% in 2011.” In addition, His Excellency expressed his expectation for Qatar’s economy to grow 5.4% this year and around 5% over the next few years. Among the national strategies examined at the conference, Qatar was strongly praised for the recent moves to change legislation in order to position the Qatar Central Bank to oversee all banking, financial and insurance activity. H.E. Sheikh Abdullah Saoud Al-Thani, Governor, Central Bank of Qatar, said the country’s economy grew 18% in the first half of this year. H.E. Zeti Akhtar Aziz, Governor, Bank Negara Malaysia, spoke of the urgent requirements for greater global financial stability, and highlighted the impact of

H.E. Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassim Bin Jabr Al-Thani, Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs

H.E. Yousef Hussain Kamal, Minister of Economy & Finance

the internationalisation of financial systems on emerging economies, which often feel the global shocks most severely. She also highlighted the growing de-stabilising influence of income disparity, both within local economies and between nations, and urged international co-operation to tackle the issue. Unquestionably, the global financial system is subject to greater regulation and political scrutiny than ever before. Banks face a new threat of disintermediation and being displaced from their traditional roles. With the pace of financial innovation, in both products and technology, increasing, the number and type of companies involved in the business of finance is also increasing. New credit players, such as hedge funds, asset managers and specialist non-bank institutions are increasingly involved, and as a result the regulatory complexity is also being magnified. For sovereign wealth funds, governments and banks within the MENA region, the opportunities for playing an enhanced role will be significant, given the ongoing economic development and increased global profile of the region. An interesting discussion developed during the opening panel, titled “The Global Financial Crisis and the New Global Economic Paradigm”, which aimed to discover the real issues of the global financial crisis. John Butler, Founding Partner and Chief Investment Officer, Amphora, initiated the discussion by stating, “Global financial crisis pointed out that the banks need to limit their global involvement, since the crisis has shown that international banks cannot understand particularities of each of the regions in which they operate.” Highlighting that point further, Fahad Badar, Executive General Manager, Government and International Banking, Commercialbank, said, “ Project financing is more and more becoming a local matter since the international banks, which were previously quite involved, withdrew themselves after the crisis. For that reason, local banks had to step in.”

H.E. Sheikh Abdullah Saoud Al-Thani, Governor, Central Bank of Qatar

H.E. Zeti Akhtar Aziz, Governor, Bank Negara Malaysia

Richard Banks, Director, Emerging Markets, Euromoney Conferences

Continuing in this manner, Enrico Grino, Assistant General Manager and Group Credit Adviser, Qatar National Bank, added, “After the crisis international banks exited the market and we faced the lack of financing for projects. Due to many ambitious projects in relation to FIFA World Cup 2022 and Qatar National Vision 2030, banking system in Qatar needs to be supported by international financial system. Even though local banks have the capacity and liquidity, this can become an issue in the long run. Currently, across the GCC region all local banks and financial institutions are internally focused since each of the GCC countries is very ambitious with their plans. For that reason, my concern is how the regional governments and banking systems will logistically manage to finish the planned projects.” In connection to this, Fahad Badar, Executive General Manager, Government and International Banking, Commercialbank, also expressed his concern, “My biggest concern is how we will manage both the growth and the inflation in Qatar and the whole region.” Participants from around the globe aimed to get behind these key issues in a series of addresses, one-on-one interviews, panel discussions and workshops, and with approximately 1000 delegates who attended the event. The Euromoney Qatar Conference is the first part of a three-year programme to chart the role of nations such as Qatar in the emerging global financial system. “We are delighted to be here in Doha for our first project in this series,” said Richard Banks, Director – Emerging Markets, Euromoney Conferences, and added, “We believe that our partnership with Qatar Central Bank is an important milestone in the development of a more balanced financial system which should underpin global growth.” Major Qatari banks and financial institutions provided full support for the event, with sponsors including Qatar National Bank, Qatar Financial Markets Authority, Commercial Bank, IBQ, J.P. Morgan, Masraf Al Rayan, QIB, Qatar Financial Centre Authority, Saxo Bank and Qatar First Investment Bank.

JaNuary 2013

aBOuT TOWN

What’s your address? A one day conference titled, The Rise of the Arab Information Society, was organised by the Internet Society and ISOC Qatar, in partnership with ictQATAR and Carnegie Mellon Qatar. We bring you an overview of the discussions.

he Internet Society holds multiple INETs every year, each with a unique regional focus and a selection of topics most relevant to the communities involved. This was the first INET conference held in the Gulf region, following recent events such as INET Madrid, INET Tallinn, and INET Bangalore. ISOC Qatar was launched at QITCOM earlier this year with a vision to make the Internet in Qatar inclusive and accessible so that everyone could use the Internet to enhance their personal and professional lives.

that local conditions require local solutions focusing on the specific regional needs, assisted and informed by the technical expertise and policy experience of leading Internet community experts. Fadel Al Enazi, Chairman, Internet Society, Qatar, welcomed the participants and the speakers. He stated that the INET, the first of its kind in the Gulf region, was a real step forward for Qatar and that it provides a great platform to demonstrate Qatar’s vision for the Internet and its interest in engaging others in the Arab region to work together to take full advantage of its potential.

A number of these key challenges were addressed at the INET Qatar conference, with participants addressing topics such as Arab businesses on the Internet, the development of online Arabic content, and how the Internet is governed in the Arab World.

Talking about the influence of the Internet, Dr. Hessa Al- Jaber, ictQATAR, raised the question on how do we harness the power of the Internet, “Having the right environment is not only about having the right regulations, infrastructure in place along with the right institutions; it is more about using these regulations and infrastructure in the right way and making it accessible. We must not have anti-competitive practices for consumer and services. We must create an online environment in which people have the right to access information.”

The Arab regional INET, focused on the importance of connecting with regional Internet communities throughout the Arab region. Internet Society believes

She further added that having the right skill is not about only having the skill to create content, but the skill to judge the content on the Internet.

The Qatar Chapter, which has over 300 members, is one of more than 90 Internet Society chapters around the globe working to identify and address the challenges and opportunities that exist online.

Talking about the role of the Internet in the economic growth of a country, Taylor Reynolds, OECD, said that the Internet is a key tool for growth and a number of studies have been done to study the impact of Internet on GDP. These studies have shown that the more broadband, higher the GDP. Taylor further added that most OECD countries are in some sort of crisis and are therefore interested in technology to make process more efficient and cost-effective. Technology is important because when companies are in crisis they look for ways to be more efficient. According to Taylor, up to 13% of US businesses value added could be attributed to Internet-related activities (USD 1.2 trillion). How did this happen? Taylor highlighted the importance of the openness of the Internet to explain that. He propagated the importance of keeping the Internet open by giving the example of a mobile phone with close Internet, which will have the basic 10-12 applications, such as calendar, calculator, notepad and so forth and comparing that with an Android and iOs with 700,000 and 740,000 applications respectively. Going back to the basics of economics, Taylor pointed out the principle of competitive advantage and said that in the future a country will have a comparative advantage if it has better internet penetration. As far as the link between policy and Internet is concerned, the level of Internet development is related positively to local content – higher the local content, higher Internet penetration and vice versa. Naim Yazbeck, Country Manager, Microsoft Qatar, spoke to the audience about e-trust and cyber security. He highlighted the ICT risks as: ■ ■

Critical infrastructure reliance on ICT (water, electricity) Strategic industries (oil, gas, banks)

According to Naim, cyber security is taking new forms and from a policy perspective it is a growth enabler and helps to build an environment of trust. Trust means being able to attract investors, who can invest with confidence. And this is absolutely fundamental for growth. He also highlighted that cyber security is an issue for every player in an economy – private sector, MNCs, government, academia. So, everyone needs to work together in partnerships. Naim pointed out that, Microsoft recommends countries to look into cyber security as a national agenda and to make it a priority. On their part, Naim said, they make sure that they provide a framework for the next 20-40 years for the future innovators, “We are talking about what we need to build and it is our responsibility to keep

Graph 1: Wireless Internet access vs fixed broadband subscribers

750M 500M 250M 0M

Fixed Broadband Access

Wireless Broadband Access

that in mind about how to build Internet which gives more opportunities to the future innovators.” Fahad Al Shirawi, CEO, GCCIX, moderated the session and also spoke about how innovation has lead to a growth of devices and there is dearth of addresses now. Without an address, the data won’t find its way. So, what do you do? How do you grow your consumers and your economy? It’s really important to understand that V6 has become essential. So, those using IPV4 will be at a disadvantage. “It’s really important for governments to look at how they can help grow the Internet instead of trying to control it, so that their national economy does not get impacted by a big business making a decision about using the very latest technology. Governments should consider that the more they try to control the Internet, the more they’ll break it because they can only control the part that falls within their domain - it is a collection of networks and so if one country can do it, so can another and that doesn’t help,” opined Fahad. Sofie Maddens, Senior Director, Global Services, Internet Society, gave the closing remarks along with Fadel Al Enazi, Chairman, Internet Society Qatar. The workshop succeeded in highlighting the importance of Internet for a country, especially for the private sector. Those who attended INET Qatar not only became part of the Internet Society’s multi stakeholder voice, they were also exposed to Internet issues of global and regional importance as well as access to world-class technology and policy experts.

JaNuary 2013

aBOuT TOWN

THE ENGINES OF

GROWTH

The Third Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES) was held in Dubai on 11th and 12th December 2012. This event offered to the key stakeholders a clear insight into the regional business climate. In a constructive and peer-to-peer setting, it was also a chance for entrepreneurs and SMEs to access institutional and private investors. Private Sector Qatar was there and brings to you the main highlights.

is Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, opened the summit by pointing out that entrepreneurship is not an alien phenomenon for the Arabs.

Francisco Sanchez, Undersecretary of the U.S. Department of Commerce for Foreign Affairs, added that the entrepreneurial spirit and the youth are currently the most important capital of not only Dubai and the Arab region, but also of the whole world. He pointed out that the 21st century offers us a great opportunity to maximise the potential in all markets worldwide. Elaborating further he stated that the region needs 50 to 100 million jobs within the next phase, and said, “We recognise that our partners in the region will not be able to achieve their ambitions without creating job opportunities for youth. Also, SMEs are an essential part of the solution, since they reflect the future of the economy.” The exhibition was a business platform for government agencies, public and private entities, and SMEs, their suppliers and funds, to showcase their products, services, initiatives and achievements in regional development of SMEs. In addition, it was useful to a cross section audience including investors, distribution partners and corporate procurement executives. Moreover, the reason behind the summit was to unify the region’s policy makers who include regulators, entrepreneurs, SME stakeholders, investors and procurement decision makers, through successive sessions and useful discussions held during these two days. More than 90 specialised experts participated in the debates and came through critical topics mainly about

the development of financial literacy for SMEs which would enable them to deal with banks more positively. The participants also reviewed the global best practices for SMEs and pointed out some examples from the whole world and the Arab countries in particular. A panel discussion titled “Global Conversation with Policy Makers: Global Best Practices in Entrepreneurship and SME Developments” was used for exchange of different points of view on global best practices and benchmarks for entrepreneurship. Additionally, the discussion explored how the growth can be triggered and accelerated in developing economies in order to enhance performance. The speakers mentioned the gaps and blockages in the current system and suggested devise solutions for high impact issues. Furthermore, the speakers emphasised the challenges faced within the sector in the Arab countries, especially the GCC countries, noting that these challenges differ from the other countries and parts of the world. For that reason, speakers explained that it is important to recognise the international experiences and practices, but to avoid reproducing them since it would not be useful. They also pointed out the importance of working to instill the entrepreneurial spirit among children from the early stages of education. In addition, the discussion focused on important steps to enhance the performance of SMEs, including adoption of the Bankruptcy Law and amendment of the Labour Laws. Referring to the importance of the adoption of the Bankruptcy Code, one of the speakers mentioned that the absence of the bank financing is still due to the banks’ requirement of submission of personal guarantees by the entrepreneurs. Thus, he called for wider participation and greater support from the major companies to encourage small shareholders.

“SME Financing: How are the Financial Lenders Lightening the Pressure for the SMEs?” was the subject of a panel discussion that stated the fact that banks’ portfolio of SME investments stands at less than 5% in comparison with their counterparts in the developing world where it represents almost a quarter of total investments. Banks and financial institutions are looked upon as unsupportive allies of SMEs who place commercial interest before national priority of developing small businesses. There is, however, a recent surge in small businesses that supports these initiatives. During this session, participants discussed ways in which the financial sector can contribute to ease the burden and pressure on the shoulders of SMEs. Suvo Sarkar, Head of Retail Services, Emirates NBD, said that there are several facts which a bank needs to ensure before granting loans to SMEs, such as financial accounts of the company and its future plans. He added that banks are interested to increase lending to this sector, but they need to find sufficient awareness among SMEs and a better financial culture to be able to give them loans with confidence. Satya Jeet Roy, Head of Corporate Services, Citigroup Banking, explained that what matters is the success of the company in putting the action strategy and planning for the next three years at least. He explained, “Banks do not only want to provide loans to the companies, but they are very interested in building long-term partnerships.” Faisal Suhail, Partner, C-. M.. EBay. A. Capital, pointed at the trend of increased use of alternative ways of financing for SMEs in the recent years. It actually is the funding provided by the founder’s family, friends or through a direct call to investors via Internet. An interesting debate emerged during the “Entrepreneurship Through the Ages”, which discussed how entrepreneurship has evolved over the past decade and what the next ten years have in store. The session was moderated by Frederic Sicre, The Abraaj Group, and the panelists included Ron Bruder, Founder, Education for Employment, USA; Christopher M. Schroeder, CEO, Health Central, USA; Naif Al Mutawa, Founder & CEO, Teshkeel, Kuwait; Adel Ali, Group CEO, Air Arabia; and Faisal Al Bannai, CEO, Axiom Telecom. A keynote address was given by Mustafa Abdel Wadood, the Abraj group, UAE, in which he described the state of the world by saying, “We are living in the transformational times. Growth is coming from emerging markets which have grown three times bigger since the late 90s.”

Moreover, he mentioned that the reasons behind the rise of growth markets are the following: ■ Economic reforms ■ Urbanisation ■ Growing middle class ■ Demographics In line with that he pointed out that there is an urgency of job creation for the economic diversification and one of the possible solutions is promoting entrepreneurship by investing in SMEs. He also added, “SMEs are the growth engines of any sustainable economy. They create innovation and business models.” Within the same context, additional discussion was explored during the “The MENA’s Youth Phenomenon: The 100 Million Jobs Challenge” which pointed that the youth unemployment rate for MENA stood at around 24% in 2009. According to the World Bank sources, that is more than twice higher than the unemployment rate for all adults and also the highest amongst world regions. The participants agreed that job creation is a must. Furthermore, it is urgent to find new strategies to create jobs for the youth since dynamics of entrepreneurship among the youth create a potential for making available hundreds of jobs. Thus, the government along with the private sector needs to figure out new ideas like creating secondary markets which would allow young people to become a part of the market. Lastly, within the panel “Establishing a Unified GCC SME Ecosystem”, the leading regional incubators shared their unique successes and efforts in developing SMEs. Furthermore, they assessed the opportunities and uncertainties of establishing a unified GCC/Middle East SME ecosystem. Moreover, they assured that the less the government gets involved in putting policies, the more entrepreneurs can succeed. This event was a great success and formed a communication platform between experts from the government and the private sectors as well as the youth.

JaNuary 2013

INduSTry

Steamroll your way to

SUCCESS In the second article of a two-part series on Alstom’s business growth in the Middle East region, Tamara Pupic shares with you which solutions on equipment supply, partnership and turnkey basis, Alstom, offers in order to contribute to the economic development of Qatar while at the same time preserving its environment.

n the first article of this two-part series on Alstom’s operations in the Middle East region, we learnt about Alstom’s three business sections (power generation, transport infrastructure and electrical grid) and heard from Philippe Cochet, President of Alstom Thermal Power and Executive Vice President of Alstom, how they perceive future business opportunities in the region. He convinced us that Alstom is more than focused on the region and willing to include all their innovations to Alstom’s regional offering. For that reason we now take a closer look on how Alstom assesses and supports development of regional markets.

After visiting Alstom’s headquarters in LevalloisPerret, Paris, and facilities of Alstom Belfort in France, the agenda of the second part of the press trip included visit to the Rheinhafen Dampfkraftwerk 8 (RDK 8) which is one of the first bituminous-fired power plants in the world. It was a great opportunity to talk to Leif Timmermann, Managing Director, Tower Boilers, Alstom Germany, about their experiences in the Middle East region, since he was based here for over a decade. To begin with, we were curious to hear about the challenges Alstom had to face in adapting to

I would mention that the respect for environmental standards among competition is increasing. I wouldn’t say that it is high, but it is now increasing. Regional governments are now taking more actions regarding that, in addition to raising awareness about environmental issues among population. regulatory environment in the Middle East, on which Leif explained, “There are always local rules and requirements put in place to organise the economy in a certain country. It is like that in any country in which we have our business and the Middle East is no exception to that. Unfortunately, investments went down over the last few years. Our two offices in the region report that orders have decreased due to the lack of investments in the region. When assessing conditions for doing business in a region or a country, you need to understand the culture and to adjust to the area where you are. It also depends on the vision and strategic thinking of the country’s government and its economic situation. In the Middle East we didn’t face any problems.”

During the walking tour through Birr rotor factory and Alstom GT Power Plant in Baden, Switzerland, the group of Middle East based journalists got familiar with the details and production stages of steam turbines. Today 20% of the world’s installed steam turbine capacity depends on Alstom’s technology and services. Steam turbines have been playing a very important role in the production of electricity in the past and continue to be the largest contributor to power generation.

Leif Timmermann, Managing Director, Tower Boilers, Alstom Germany.

Due to the great usage of Alstom’s steam turbines in the region, we asked Mark Coxon, Senior Vice President, Gas, Alstom Thermal Power, whether Alstom’s strategy for the Middle East region is

Our speciﬁc strategy for the Middle East is to get close to our customers. For that reason, we have established our regional ofﬁce in the UAE. At the same time we are looking for potential long-term partners in the region.

But, Leif was honest to share with us his concerns when it comes to the state of competition in the market, “Regarding competition in the Middle East we simply need to be better in terms of quality, efficiency and price. However, we also have to protect our intellectual property when we notice that other companies are using it. Once we find out that our competitors are using our technology or a solution we send them a letter. We also inform potential investor about that and he or she makes a final decision. Of course, we have the option to object this decision in the court proceedings, but then it is damaging to everybody. I wish if regional governments would take more action in order to save good ideas. In addition, I would mention that the respect for environmental standards among competition is increasing. I wouldn’t say that it is high, but it is now increasing. Regional governments are now raising awareness about environmental issues among population.”

different from the one planned for other regions in the world. He clarified, “Our specific strategy for the Middle East is to get close to our customers. For that reason, we have established our regional office in the UAE. At the same time we are looking for potential long-term partners in the region. The Middle East is the key market for us in terms of size and customer needs and we offer all our products and services.”

Mark Coxon, Senior Vice President, Gas, Alstom Thermal Power.

In addition, he pointed out what differentiates them within the regional competition environment, “It is quite a competitive environment since there are a lot of companies present in the market. But, regarding gas turbines that is not the case since just a limited number of companies actually have the kind of technology that we have. One important aspect that differentiates us from the competition is the operational flexibility of our gas turbines. We consider ourselves as pioneers in operational flexibility.”

JaNuary 2013

INduSTry Alstom offers power plants which are efﬁcient, ﬂexibile and reliable. We have built several power plants supporting various sectors in Qatar. Alstom Power expects Qatar to continue to grow on the basis of the QNV 2030 and we actively look forward to participate in these projects.

Upon our return to Doha, we thought of learning more about their specific plans for Qatar and the best person to talk to was Massimo Gallizoli, Regional VP MEI, GSMM Management, Alstom’s UAE office. He begun by telling us how much the region had changed since the establishment of Alstom’s HQ for the Gulf region in 1997, “Rapid population growth and increased demand in the Middle East region resulted in a boom regarding energy consumption and usage. In fact, more than 100 GW have been ordered since 1997. A specificity of the region is that major power projects are developed under IWPP model (no direct EPC by the utilities), except for the aluminium industry. While it is difficult to generalise, the evolution of customer needs and drivers in the Middle East region is bringing more and more focus on efficiency, reliability (reliable dispatching of plants) and flexibility (changing of fuel quality, operating mode) of power plants.” When we asked him about Alstom’s future position within the Qatari market, he said, “With the potential of the country’s resources, Alstom believes that Qatar has a strong potential for continuous long term growth. Based on the past references of Alstom in Qatar and Alstom’s capability to offer economical, flexible, efficient and environmentally friendly solutions, we are well set for the requirements of the Qatari market. Alstom Gas Power Regional Center being based in Dubai will offer any needed assistance to achieve that goal.” Since future plans always depend on previously determined strategy, Massimo explained further, “Alstom works in the Gulf and Middle East region on the basis of a regional strategy, with specific derivations for particular countries based on their needs and Alstom’s capability to respond to it. Alstom has recently established a Gas Business Regional Center in Dubai to strengthen its presence in the region. We are looking into partnerships with regional companies which will bring benefits to our offering including for Qatari projects. Finally, Alstom is reinforcing its regional presence through a service center and workshop in Jebel Ali - UAE which is currently servicing the gas turbine fleet of Alstom in Qatar.” Once we heard about their strategy, we were more than interested to know about Alstom’s projects in Qatar, on which Massimo said, “Alstom’s gas turbines fleet in Qatar

20% of the world’s steam turbine capacity depends on Alstom’s technology and services

Massimo Gallizoli, Regional VP MEI, GSMM Management Alstom’s UAE office. is currently based on our GT13E2 technology at the Ras Abu Fontas plant operated by QEWC delivering 1180 MW to the grid. Alstom’s unique fuel flexibility and the ability of our gas turbines to handle both wide fuel composition range and fuel composition fluctuation range is uniquely demonstrated in this facility. It has the ability to burn more than 14 different gases with the same hardware. That is a key differentiator. Alstom’s approach to future projects will be either through projects previously started in Qatar as EPC contractor or by becoming consortium partner to competent companies or as equipment supplier of Alstom’s products to other EPC providers.” Adding to that, he pointed out which technology is most appropriate one for the Qatari market, “GT13E2 gas turbine engine has proven itself to be the ideal for aluminium industry, producing reliable and competitively priced electricity. GT13E2 engine fits Qatari market requirements proposing high performance solutions, operating flexibility advantages and fuel flexibility features. For IWPP projects, GT26 gas turbine is built to reduce cost and boost efficiency for the 50Hz Qatari market. Alstom GT26 product enable low costs of electricity, high efficiency and low inspection intervals. Alstom business target is power generation for domestic and public consumption, integrated power and water projects, and industrial power generation in particular the aluminum industry. Within the aluminum industry, our GT13E2 has proven to be one of the best gas turbines for efficient and reliable power productions.” In conclusion, he highlighted how Alstom is planning to contribute to the development projects initiated in line with the Qatar National Vision 2030, “The QNV 2030 is built on four pillars – human development, social development, economic development and environmental development. Alstom has either direct or indirect possibility to contribute to all of the four pillars. Alstom offers power plants at a very high efficiency, flexibility, and outstanding reliability. We have built several power plants supporting various sectors in Qatar. Alstom Power expects Qatar to continue to grow on the basis of the QNV 2030 and we will actively look forward to participate in these projects.”

http://www.PrivateSectorQatar.com/en

Valuable business advice that will help develop your business. Be part of a community spanning magazine, events, Website and social media.

SMes

Towards greener pastures Doha Plastic is the only facility in Qatar that manufactures drip irrigation pipes. Jenny Kassis caught up with Shaker Alansari, General Manager, Doha Plastic, to know more about this niche product.

Shaker Alansari, General Manager, Doha Plastic

oha Plastic, a business of reprocessing plastic materials, was established in 2003. In 2012, the company changed to a pipe factory working with different types of irrigation pipes. Their facility, located in Doha New Industrial Area, consists of 15,000 square meters of production space. The current production capacity is around 3000 - 3500 tons per year which is achieved by their 70 employees.

manufacturing as well as checking them several times before their final launch. That has helped to cement the relationship between the customers and our company. ”

Giving details about the company, Shaker Alansari, General Manager, Doha Plastic, said, “Doha Plastic is a new company in this business. Nevertheless, our sister company from Jordan has been working with irrigation pipes for 15 years and has now transferred that experience to Qatar. ”

Speaking further about the Qatari market, he explained that in spite of its small size and the fact that Doha Plastic is a newly established company, they hope to gain a larger share of the market within the next three years. This plan is derived from the fact that Doha Plastic is the only facility in Qatar to manufacture drip irrigation pipes with all the equipment necessary to start a farm.

Talking about their products, Shaker continued, “We provide a large range of recycled plastic raw materials which surpass set standards and scrutinise them thoroughly before launching them in the market. We are fully committed to quality and do take pride to provide our customers with products of the highest quality. This goal is achieved by working closely with the customers in order to determine their needs and to establish increasingly beneficial relations. This includes paying attention to every detail of the products during

Elaborating about their experiences in doing business in Qatar, Shaker was quick to point out that they believe that the Qatari market offers competitive advantage due to lower labour costs, good bank facilities and lower administration fees than in any other market.

When we asked them about competition, he pointed out that their main competitors come from Saudi Arabia. However, he stated that their position in that market is secured since 40 - 60% of the production is sold in Saudi Arabia. Since we were interested to know about their export-oriented activities, Shaker explained, “90% of the production is exported. We export to all countries

in the Gulf region, staring from Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Bahrain, UAE, and also to Iraq and Jordan.” Their business network also includes a factory in Moldova which was established ten years ago. On the basis of growth plans for that facility they now intend to, besides the products they already have, to manufacture a new product that will allow them to export more and enter new markets. Sustainability Within Qatar, Doha Plastic is dedicated to programmes and activities aimed at addressing environment issues in Doha. In order to encourage community participation, many of their programmes in Qatar are organised and performed by the “Friends of Environment Organisation”. These programmes help to repair the damage of the past and improve current and future practices to achieve a sustainable environment. Elaborating on their role, Shaker said, “The company is committed to sustainability. For that reason, we highlight the importance of recycling due to its many benefits. That is also a reason why most people buy our Preserve brand. Almost 75% of users of Preserve reported that the environment friendly nature of the product was, for them, the most important reason to buy Doha Plastic products.” Challenges Talking about the challenges they face, he highlighted that the cause of concern is that most of their products are not directly sold to the Qatari government, but through a third party. In order to explain us how that affects their business, he elaborated, “The problem is that we can’t apply to directly sell our product to the government. Instead we have to go to a contractor who will introduce our product to relevant government bodies. This can prove to be an obstacle as we are manufacturers and, thus, want to sell our product directly to government and not through third parties.” Continuing about the challenges they face, Shaker added, “As an SME, the main problem we face in Qatar is related to transportation of the plastic products which require bigger trailers and trucks. Because the maximum weight that the present trucks can take is only seven tonnes we need to use more trucks to meet the market demand. Consequently, that increases

Qatar is turning into a green city which needs a lot of drip irrigation pipes and Doha Plastic is in the process of getting the ISO 9001 certiﬁcate for its products and hopes that they will get it within the next three months which will allow them to be more competitive in the Qatari market.

our production costs and puts us in a disadvantaged position when compared with manufacturers from foreign markets. Unfortunately even the companies contacted through QDB have quoted high prices, so the problem still exists.” Answering to our question about the role of TASDEER, Shaker was very appreciative and said, “TASDEER is supporting Doha Plastic by helping us develop our export capabilities through identifying thrust products and targeting new markets. That is good, since we haven’t tried their facilities yet, but we now have the intention to do so in the near future. We believe that TASDEER has done more than enough for now by approaching and assisting us to become a part of the Big 5 Dubai since finding new customers is not easy. Thus, being the part of this exhibition and meeting new people has given us the opportunity to attract at least some of them.” The road ahead Concluding with their future activities, Shaker stated that Doha Plastic is continuously working to improve the process of classifying and cleaning plastic materials. That is aimed to achieve the most pure recycled plastic that satisfies their clients. Through this they expect to be one of the best recycling factories in Qatar. Another goal is obtaining ISO 9001 certificate for their products within the next three months. This process is initiated due to the fact that Qatar is turning into a green city and will need a lot of drip irrigation pipes. They believe that the certification will allow them to be more competitive in the Qatari market. It will also be their first step to be a part of FIFA World Cup 2022 projects.

Doha Plastic is continuously working to improve the process of classifying and cleaning the plastic materials to achieve the most pure recycled plastic that satisﬁes the clients and put the company on the top of plastic recycling factories in Qatar.

JaNuary 2013

SMes

Maintain the quality One Qatari company with export potential to the world is Tietan Fiberglass Co. W.L.L. Khalid Plastic Industries Complex (W.L.L.), a leading manufacturer of �iberglass, rotomould and acrylic products in Qatar. Tamara Pupic visited them to check how they do it!

ietan Fiberglass Co. W.L.L., a division of M/S Decoration World W.L.L which is a leader in gypsum and GRC products, started its operations in 1997. Since then the company has grown very rapidly due to its long experience with technological processes and equipment. Tietan Fiberglass Co. W.L.L. is one of the companies under the umbrella of Khalid Corporation W.L.L which was founded in 1971 by H.E. Shiekh Khalid Bin Mohammed Bin Ali Al Thani. Over the past three decades the group has extended its activities to diverse fields like healthcare, cement, IT, aluminum, interiors, and similar. H.E. Shiekh Ahmed Bin Khalid Al Thani and H.E. Shiekh Mohammed Bin Khalid Al Thani, the sons of H.E. Shiekh Khalid Al Thani, also entered the business and instilled modern

management practices within the group. Other major companies of the group are the following: ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■

Khalid Scientific Co. W.L.L Decoration World W.L.L Khalid Cement Industries Co. W.L.L Style W.L.L Interiors W.L.L Global Consult W.L.L

Under the leadership of H.E. Shiekh Ahmed Bin Khalid Al Thani, Tietan Fiberglass Co. W.L.L. manufactures fiberglass potable and industrial water tanks. Since the company is ISO 9001 – 2000 certified their products conform to the international quality standards and are fully applicable for modern usages. The products are

strong, durable and can resist any bacterial algae and fungus to provide clean drinking water. A new division within the group, Khalid Plastic Industries Complex (W.L.L.), manufactures all kinds of plastic products. It specialises in polyethylenerotomould water tanks, safety road barriers and similar plastic products. Elaborating further on their products, they share with us the plan to expand the product line to include XPS board extrusion line, which is an isolation used for roof tops to stop transfer of the heat. In addition to the PVC pipes, in few months their offering will include a product which is unique to the whole Middle East region – pet strapping line. This is a sign of their further business expansion within Qatar. Export strategy Since we had the opportunity to meet them at the Big 5 Dubai in November 2012, we asked them about their experiences with participating in trade fairs. They were quick to point out that their participation at the Big 5 Dubai was very important because they aim to export their products to the neighbouring countries. The advantage of participating in this kind of exhibition is that major international companies can contact them directly and, later on, order their products. At present they have around 90% of market share in Qatar for all companies within the group, while some departments have market share of even 100%. For the time being, they export only to the GCC countries, mainly to the UAE, KSA, Oman and Bahrain. However, only 10% of their production is export-oriented because orders

They do not have ofﬁces in foreign markets and their export activities are facilitated by various agencies, especially TASDEER. TASDEER not only does the market research, but also assists by connecting them with the interested companies and relevant people.

them with the interested companies and relevant people. For that reason, they plan to continue cooperation with TASDEER. Talking about future export plans, they reveal that they especially target African countries and Europe. Since their products are mostly petrochemical related products, basic raw materials are cheaper in Qatar than in other regions like Europe or Asia. For that reason, they have potential to export to African countries and Europe at a cheaper price. For the European market they will focus on specific products like GRP sectional tanks. These tanks can be dissembled and exported to Europe by one meter panels. However, some other products like fiberglass (GRP) water tanks and fiberglass (GRP) septic tanks cannot be dissembled and, thus, exported in the same manner. Thus, the basic parts of GRP sectional tanks are manufactured in Qatar and assembled in the country of destination. Although transport is quite challenging, those products can obtain significant market share in Europe since the costs of production and raw materials are higher in Europe. Beat the challenges With an aim to appreciate QDB’s support, they stated that only after engagement of QDB and TASDEER they overcame their biggest challenge – the inability to sell their products outside Qatar. Previously, legal procedures for exporting were difficult, but now they are simplified since the government authorities have taken necessary actions. In addition, the position of Qatari exporters is further facilitated by various initiatives of government authorities. When asked about competition in the Qatari market, they firstly pointed out that domestic competition has been very small and not a threat to them. However, competition in foreign markets existed mainly on the basis of price. Since they had already reached and maintained adequate quality of the products, the next step in for entering foreign markets was to decrease the price. Once that was done, with good quality and competitive price they ensured a good market share in targeted countries.

from abroad are constantly fluctuating. Since Qatar is a small country with a smaller market capacity for their products, they plan to substantially increase exports.

In line with that, Tietan Fiberglass Co. W.L.L. advises other SMEs which are interested in exporting to first ensure quality of the product in order to obtain international recognition and, second, to be competitive with regards to the price. Even though, the government is helping a lot and it is easier now, it is the manufacturers’ responsibility to maintain the quality.

They do not have offices in foreign markets and their export activities are facilitated by various agencies, especially TASDEER. TASDEER not only does the market research, but also assists them by connecting

With many projects lining up in Qatar in the following years, they expect to double the turnover with both local projects and export initiatives. We have all the reasons to believe them!

JaNuary 2013

SMes

Find your own way Government of Qatar is placing special emphasis on developing the non-oil and gas sectors of the economy in an effort to diversify the sources of income. In order to present the experience of companies within that sector of Qatar’s economy, Tamara Pupic brings to you the story of Qatar International Cables Company (QICC).

Q H.E. Shiekh Jassim Bin Hamad Al Thani, Founder, QICC

atar International Cables Company (QICC) is a joint venture between Nexans, a French company which is a leading manufacturer of cables and accessories, and Qatar based Al Mirqab Holding. In 2008, the manufacturing company was built in the industrial city of Mesaieed, 40 km away from Doha. H.E. Sheikh Jassim Bin Hamad Al Thani, Founder of QICC, is honoured to have started a high technology company that will contribute to the development of the non-oil and gas manufacturing sector in Qatar as well as to Qatar’s export opportunities in Africa and the Middle East countries. H.E. Sheikh Jassim Bin Hamad Al Thani added that industrialisation of Qatar is a strategic goal towards achieving Qatar National Vision 2030. In December 2010, the manufacturing operations started on the basis of Nexans’ expertise which is derived from their 115 years long experience in the industry. QICC produces all cables ranging from low voltage to high voltage, data cables, telecommunication cables, FTTH networks, FTTx applications, cables accessories, and similar. Know and serve the market QICC is considered as a technology company in the high-mid range and its production begins with basic raw materials and finishes with ready-to-use cables. Production volumes are devided between the Qatari market and various exports countries. In the domestic market, QICC serves major big companies in infrastructure, oil and gas sector, and various other industries. In the export markets, QICC serves all GCC countries and various African countries.

Talking about competition, they explained that currently, domestic market is served by all GCC manufacturers such as the UAE, KSA, Oman and Qatar, but without any reference to local content or local preference for local cables manufacturers which is the case in almost all other GCC countries. That puts a lot of pressure on domestic prices and forces QICC to engage more in export activities in order to compensate for an overcrowded domestic market. With an aim to provide us with more details, they added that price preference of 5-10%, defined by the GCC law, is enforced only for some products in Qatar. The rationale behind this practice can be found in the past when local cables’ manufacturers were not established and, hence, such law was not needed. For that reason, reinforcement of such law will definitely allow local cables’ manufacturers to compete with other GCC cables’ manufacturers. The plans Providing us with more details about the future plans, they expect that their business will be rapidly growing in the future to cope with the fast-growing infrastructure projects in Qatar. This growth is calling for financial support from banks such as QDB and other funding institutions. For that reason, the support they have received from QDB has played a crucial role in QICC’s day-to-day business activities for matters linked to projects’ financing, export activities, guarantees, and so on. For instance, through TASDEER, Qatar’s export development agency, QDB has offered to QICC customised financial solutions, business advice, market and countries’ data and similar. In addition, QDB advises and supports their promotions at various trade fairs, forums, and seminars. Participation in these events was the key in deciding whether they would proceed with some export projects in various targeted countries. By supporting QICC, QDB is greatly encouraging the export of products made in Qatar. Export strategy Speaking about the regions they initially targeted in their export strategy, they explained that their strategy is to always look first at the neighbouring markets. The business of manufacturing cables is very sensitive to the transportation and logistics costs, degree of high technology embedded in the products, magnitude of commoditisation and similar. Therefore, to service a market they need to be very competitive by optimising the costs structure while never compromising on the service level or on the quality of the products supplied. As a result, their primary target is the GCC region. The challenge is naturally to compete with existing regional players with well established channels, distribution networks, and similar. They concluded by saying that participation in trade fairs, such as the Big 5 Dubai, is an efficient tool to get QICC products known in the GCC markets.

Get your FREE* copy of Private Sector every month! Subscribe to Private Sector for valuable business advice that will help develop your business. Maximise your opportunities and growth through our initiatives spanning magazine, events, Website and social media. Be part of a community of forward-looking businesses. Subscribe to Private Sector today!

Full Name: Company: Job Title: Address: Country: City: P.O.Box number: Phone number: Mobile phone number: Fax Number: E-mail: Website: Subscribe to: English

Arabic

* Business decision makers in Qatar are eligible for the complimentary subscription. International and bulk subscriptions will be charged nominally. Please send the details to rajeesh@cpidubai.com. Our distribution team will be in touch with you.

For more information about advertising and other partnership opportunities, please visit www.privatesectorqatar.com/en For marketing ideas and opportunities, please contact richard@cpidubai.com

legal

It’s personal! Failing to treat personal information in accordance with legislative requirements and best practices can have an adverse effect on a company’s reputation and its relationship with its employees and customers. David Salt, Managing Partner, and Fouad El Haddad, Senior Associate, Clyde & Co’s Doha Of�ice, explain why data protection and privacy are important considerations for all businesses. David Salt is the Managing Partner of the Clyde & Co’s Doha Office. A corporate and commercial lawyer, he has extensive experience advising on projects in Qatar, as well as a broad range of corporate and corporate finance work. David has advised numerous international companies on setting up in Qatar, including the QFC and QSTP. He can be contacted at david.salt@clydeco.com.qa.

pecific data protection regimes are now in place in many jurisdictions. Awareness of the implications of data protection and privacy issues is increasing around the globe, including in the Middle East, where we have witnessed a number of developments in recent months. As Qatar does not have a specific body of legislation addressing matters of data protection and privacy, Qatar’s data protection and privacy regime is comprised of a variety of provisions found in other laws. The following are examples of the various legislative sources relating to data protection and privacy in Qatar: The Qatari Constitution The Qatari Constitution states that an individual’s privacy must be respected. It further provides that it is not allowed for an individual’s privacy, family affairs,

residence, correspondence, honour or reputation to be interfered with unless such interference is permitted under Qatari law. The Qatari Penal Code (Law No 11 of 2004 as amended) (Penal Code) The provisions of the Penal Code make it an offence for an individual to disclose secret or confidential information entrusted to him or her by virtue of their position or job. Although the terms “secret” and “confidential” are not specifically defined in the law, it is reasonable to assume that information acquired by virtue of one’s position in the company, and to which a person would not normally be privy, would constitute such information. The Qatari Trade Secrets Law (Law No 5 of 2005 as amended) (Trade Secrets Law) The Trade Secrets Law gives certain rights to the owner

of a trade secret such as the right to dispose, protect, and prohibit any third party from misusing that trade secret. According to the law, a trade secret will include information which derives its commercial value because it is a secret. The banking regulations issued by the Qatar Central Bank (QCB Regulations) QCB Regulations provide that customer information held by banks, financial institutions and investment companies is to be treated as confidential, and that such information should not be disclosed to third parties without the agreement of the customer to which the information relates. The Qatari Telecommunications Law (Law No 34 of 2006 as amended) (Telecoms Law) The Telecoms Law requires service providers to operate their telecommunications networks, facilities and related systems with due regard for the privacy rights of their customers and holds the service providers responsible for protecting customer data in their custody. The law also prohibits the service providers from collecting, using, retaining or advertising any customer information without the approval of the customer to whom the information relates.

revealing or relating to racial or ethnic origin, political views, religious affiliation, health and sex life Any person in the QFC who determines the purposes and means of processing personal data is considered as data controller. According to the QFC DP Regulations, data controllers must ensure that the personal data that they process is – a. processed fairly, lawfully and securely, b. processed for specified, explicit and legitimate purposes in accordance with the rights of the data subject (i.e. the individual to whom the personal data relates), c. adequate, relevant and not excessive in relation to the purposes for which it is collected or further processed, d. accurate and, where necessary, kept up to date, and e. kept in a form which permits identification of data subjects for no longer than is necessary for the purposes for which the personal data was collected or for which they are further processed.

The Qatari Constitution states that an individual's privacy must be respected. It further provides that it is not allowed for an individual's privacy, family affairs, residence, correspondence, honour or reputation to be interfered with unless such interference is permitted under Qatari law.

The Qatari Labour Law (Law No 14 of 2004 as amended) (Labour Law) The Labour Law provides that an employee has an obligation to keep confidential information and secrets relating to his or her employer. If the employee discloses confidential information or secrets of the employer, the Labour Law allows the employer to dismiss the employee without notice and without payment of end of service gratuity. The Qatari Electronic Commerce and Electronic Transactions Law (Law No 16 of 2010 as amended) (E-Commerce Law) The provisions of the E-Commerce Law require service providers to specify the purpose for collecting customer data, and prohibits those providers from collecting, using, retaining, or disclosing their customers’ personal information unless they have the consent of each of the customers to whom the information relates, or in accordance with Qatari law.

Although it is permissible to transfer data to other jurisdictions, the QFC DP Regulations set out specific guidelines with which QFC companies must comply. The QFC DP Regulations categorise jurisdictions as either: i. ii.

The Qatar Financial Centre (QFC) The QFC has an extensive data protection regime which is comprised of the QFC Data Protection Regulations (QFC Regulation No. 6 of 2005), and the QFC Data Protection Rules (together referred to as the QFC DP Regulations). The QFC DP Regulations classify data as belonging to one of two categories – ■ ■

Personal data which is any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person Sensitive personal data which is personal data

Fouad El Haddad is Senior Associate at the Clyde & Co’s Doha Office. Fouad is a corporate and commercial lawyer with an extensive experience in advising on corporate restructuring and foreign investments, acquisitions, joint ventures, employment law, commercial contracts, as well as broad range of corporate and commercial work. He can be contacted at fouad.haddad@clydeco.com.qa.

a jurisdiction with adequate levels of protection, or a jurisdiction without adequate levels of protection. The QFC Authority (QFCA) does not maintain a list of “adequate” jurisdictions. Rather, the data controller must determine whether a jurisdiction has adequate protection, taking into account, the nature of the data, the purpose and duration of the proposed data processing operations and any relevant laws to which the recipient of the data is subject.

The provisions of the Penal Code are applicable to entities in the QFC, although the QFC is an independent commercial jurisdiction.

JaNuary 2013

FINaNCe

Keeping a close watch Stable �inancial system is a precondition, but also the vehicle of any country’s economic development. In the last few years, Qatar Central Bank (QCB) has been mobilising various measures to ensure �inancial stability of Qatar’s economic growth. At the very beginning of 2013, Aparna Shivpuri Arya shares with you optimistic thoughts and plans of H.E. Abdullah Saud Al-Thani, Governor, Qatar Central Bank (QCB), based on QCB’s outstanding performance in safeguarding and strengthening Qatar’s �inancial sector. Please tell us more about QCB’s mission and core purposes? Qatar Central Bank (QCB) was established as the monetary authority in the State of Qatar by Emiri Decree No. 15 issued on 5th August 1993 which provided the mechanism for ensuring the stability of banking institutions while developing the banking sector in Qatar. The objectives of QCB are – ■ Stability of the QR exchange rate and its free convertibility to other currencies ■ Stability of domestic price levels ■ Financial stability ■ Other macroeconomic objectives not in conflict with the above objectives

Given the objectives, the core functions of QCB are to – ■ Manage and conduct operations related to exchange rate policy ■ Conduct, implement and evaluate monetary policy ■ Exercise the privilege of the issuance, and circulation of domestic currency, and adopt and take necessary security measures to prevent counterfeiting ■ Supervise and control the activities of financial institutions ■ Conduct domestic public debt operations ■ Contribute to policies of financial stability ■ Act as a bank for all banks operating under license from QCB in the State of Qatar ■ Manage QCB’s reserves

■ ■ ■ ■

Organise and manage bank clearing operations and payments system Conduct studies and researches on economic developments Provide advice to the government on financial and economic issues, and Promote the banking sector and foster efficiency and development of financial markets.

Please tell us more about QCB’s policies and instructions pertaining to the financial sector? Taking in consideration the state of the economy and evolving domestic and international developments, QCB has been re-assessing its policies and practices so as to safeguard and strengthen the financial sector. During the heydays of the crisis, for example, it had provided equity support to banks in a phased manner, along with asset purchases. Subsequently, guidelines were issued to phase out the Islamic branches of conventional branches with a view to preventing comingling of assets and limiting potential contagion. As issues of consumer credit and real estate gained traction thereafter, guidelines were issued to banks taking on board the extant best practices. More recently, we have issued guidelines on raising the risk reserve for banks in a phased manner from its present levels. In most cases, these guidelines are issued after consultations with the regulated entities. As a move towards greater transparency, these circulars are presently available on QCB’s Website.

It is not easy to document the challenges in a few lines or a few sentences. Admittedly, in a sense we were lucky that Qatar was one of the few countries that were relatively less affected by the global crisis. However, the contagion emanating from the after-effects of the crisis are often far more severe.

How has QCB maintained financial and banking stability in Qatar during the recent crisis? What were the challenges? There is no gain saying that it is the fact that QCB has been playing a pro-active, as opposed to reactive, role in ensuring monetary and financial stability in the country. The responses undertaken have been structured in a fashion that enabled the authorities to support the banking sector and its main stay of financial intermediation in a sequenced manner. Thus, equity injections were undertaken early in the process to provide

cushion to banks to withstand shocks and continue lending. Subsequently, the authorities purchased the investment portfolios of domestic banks to contain stock market volatilities, since sharp and sudden movements in stock markets were affecting their investment books. Thereafter, the government purchased the real estate portfolios that domestic banks wished to sell. All through this period, the government continued to infuse equity in domestic banks as per its pre-announced intention. The overall support to the banking sector, including equity injections and purchase of real estate and investment portfolios, has been of the order to QR 32 billion. As financial markets globally dried up, the central bank opened an emergency liquidity window during that period to provide confidence to market players. It is not easy to document the challenges in a few lines or a few sentences. Admittedly, in a sense we were lucky that Qatar was one of the few countries that were relatively less affected by the global crisis. However, the contagion emanating from the after-effects of the crisis are often far more severe. In this context, the authorities undertook detailed assessments of the problems confronting the financial sector and the ways of addressing them. After having done that, it embarked on a plan of supporting the financial sector. In fact, the challenges are never-ending, so to speak. The ongoing Eurozone crisis is also posing challenges for the funding and liquidity profile of banks and we are keeping a close watch on the evolving developments to respond appropriately, as and when the need arises. Please elaborate on the banking sector in Qatar and QCB’s supervisory activities in this regard. You would appreciate that there are several aspects of QCB’s regulatory and supervisory functions. There are 17 banks, both conventional and Islamic, in Qatar which operate under the license from QCB. In its supervisory capacity, QCB oversees the activities of these banks and non-bank financial institutions (excluding insurance companies) with a view to minimising banking and financial risk in Qatar’s financial sector. QCB conducts regular inspections of commercial banks and reviews reports and other mandatory data submitted by commercial banks, including monthly capital adequacy compliance reports. In order to ensure better regulation and risk management in the domestic Islamic and conventional banking sector, QCB issued instructions to conventional banks in 2011 to wind up their Islamic banking operations by the end of the year. Furthermore, QCB has implemented regulations regarding non-performing loans, large exposures,

JaNuary 2013

FINaNCe country risk, money market and foreign exchange accounts, credit ratios, fixed assets for banks’ use, reserve requirements and banks’ investments. QCB also imposes certain exposure limits and credit controls on commercial banks. Moreover, QCB has initiated single factor stress testing of the portfolios of commercial banks in Qatar covering the four broad areas of liquidity risk, credit risk, interest rate risk and equity market risk.

infrastructure, and institutional setup to promote this segment. Already, there is talk of listing the SMEs on the exchange with less stringent requirements. Banks are also taking an interest in advancing credit to small business. Concurrently, Qatar Development Bank has also been active in providing capital and other relevant support to startup companies. I am sure that these actions will foster the development of entrepreneurial spirit in the country.

The recently self-imposed moratorium on new hydrocarbon projects has accelerated the need for developing the nonhydrocarbon sector. It is in this context that nurturing the SME segment assumes relevance. Evidence suggests that SMEs can act as a powerful engine of growth and employment.

How is QCB supporting the achievements of QNV 2030 goals? As part of the move towards QNV 2030, QCB is playing a significant role in achieving the stated objectives. Three major areas where it has been particularly pro-active are strengthening regulation and supervision, developing financial markets and macro-prudential surveillance. Consistent with these areas, QCB has created several new departments for closer and continuous monitoring of risks and vulnerabilities, floated new instruments to deepen financial markets and overseeing the implementation of a new law aimed at regulatory unification. Several other initiatives in each of these areas are also in the offing. Taken together, these developments are expected to nurture and support the development of a solid and vibrant financial sector in line with the future economic developments of the country. How can QCB contribute to the development of SMEs and the entrepreneurial spirit in Qatar? As you will realise, although hydrocarbons remain the mainstay of our economy, over time, there has been a gradual shift in the composition of GDP towards the non-hydrocarbon sector. The recently self-imposed moratorium on new hydrocarbon projects has accelerated the need for developing the non-hydrocarbon sector. It is in this context that nurturing the SME segment assumes relevance. Evidence suggests that SMEs can act as a powerful engine of growth and employment. Taking these considerations on board, the policymakers are developing the right set of policies,

How can QCB contribute to enhancement of export opportunities for Qatari companies? The ultimate objective of any export-led growth oriented policy is to maintain and enhance the international competitiveness of the country’s exports. With this view, the Central Bank either tries to directly or indirectly influence the flow of credit available to export oriented sectors at concessional rates and/or manages its exchange rate. In this regard, Qatar’s National Development Strategy (NDS) 2011-2016 has envisaged a participatory role for QCB for sustainable economic prosperity. Under this, QCB will play an enabling role for economic management under the overall supervision of the Ministry of Economy & Finance. In order to strengthen export promotion, Qatar Development Bank has launched the Qatar Export Developmental Agency, TASDEER, in 2011 with the objectives of – ■ Developing and promoting exports from Qatar in international markets ■ Providing export credit guarantees and financial products and solutions to mitigate the risks faced by local exporters Under TASDEER, QDB provides financial solutions, credit insurance and advisory services for exporters. In addition, QDB also provides support for developing their business and export capabilities through export development and promotion services. The export promotion and development services include developing export strategy by identifying products, targeting markets and providing trade information about foreign markets. TASDEER also supports participants in international

and regional trade fairs. All Qatari exporters are eligible for TASDEER support, regardless of the size of their exports, the sector they represent and their turnover. Please elaborate on the importance of exchange rate and absence of currency fluctuations in the success of Qatar’s exports. How it is secured in Qatar? From its inception in 1993, QCB has targeted the exchange rate as a nominal anchor for its monetary policy. The formal framework for the exchange rate policy is a fixed parity between the Qatari riyal (QR) and the United States Dollar (USD) pegged at QR 3.64 per dollar. The decision to keep exchange rate pegged to the US Dollar is based on key considerations which encompass the economic realities of the country, state of development of financial markets and several other factors. As a relatively small, open economy and exporter of a globally-traded commodity, Qatar is a prime example for which a fixed exchange rate regime is most appropriate. The key advantage in maintaining the dollar-peg is that it provides a credible anchor for monetary policy as almost all of Qatar’s export contracts and invoicing are done in the USD. Thus, a stable exchange rate renders stability to our foreign export earnings, the main component of government revenue. Moreover, for most of the period in which the peg has been maintained, the Qatari economy has benefitted from the stable economic environment in the US. Finally, as you would agree, fixed exchange rates are much easier to monitor in the absence of exchange rate

The significantly higher growth in government services is reflective of the salary increase for Qatari government employees, implemented with effect from 1st September 2011. Regarding stability of services prices, we do not have a sector-specific approach towards inflation but closely monitor the overall inflation at the retail level as represented by the CPI. Please tell us more about QCB’s achievements and future strategic plans. You would appreciate that QCB, in consultation with the government, took a series of measures during 2009 and 2010 which helped the Qatari economy in escaping from the pitfalls of the global financial crisis. Moreover, a series of measures taken during 2011 made the financial system more resilient. Proactive liquidity management by QCB, through changes in policy rates and introduction of new instruments viz., Treasury Bills, have resulted in a general softening of interest rates and provided a boost to credit flow towards the productive sectors of the economy. In March 2011, QCB announced the inauguration of “Qatar Credit Bureau” whose role will be to provide the banks, corporate and financial institutions with information that can assist them in providing credit while reducing their risk. The bureau will provide credit rating to gauge the creditworthiness of a client which will help to support the sustainable growth of credit and will cover both the retail and the corporate sector. It will also provide QCB and the banking sector with analytical data

Regarding stability of services prices, we do not have a sector-specific approach towards inflation but closely monitor the overall inflation at the retail level as represented by the CPI.

risk. Therefore, we continue to reiterate our faith in the pegged exchange rate regime after carefully weighing the benefits against the costs. Please tell us more about the services sector in Qatar and how has QCB achieved and maintained stability of services prices? What were the challenges? Based on the latest available information from Qatar StatisticsAuthority (QSA), nominal GDP growth originating from government, social and household services recorded higher growth in 2011 than in the previous year.

to support the implementation of advanced techniques in risk management. The bureau’s future vision is to progressively develop into an economic information center, which draws upon the analytical insights of all the fundamental economic sectors so as to facilitate better management of the economy. In addition, QCB is in the process of setting up a Risk Management Department and a Central Depository as custodian of securities.

JaNuary 2013

eNTrePreNeur

A dream come true Nowadays, reading books has decreased drastically in the Arab world. It does not have the same importance as it once had. For that reason, it was imperative to �igure out a way to respond to the aspirations of the Arabs who are eager to gain knowledge. One of the six SILA entrepreneurs, Ala Suleiman, Co-Founder and CEO, Masmoo3 for Audio Knowledge, tells us about the steps he took to establish the �irst company that produces digital audio books in the Arab world.

asmoo3 for Audio Knowledge was established in Jordan in January 2011. At that time, technology within the telecommunications sector was developing along with the electronic industry and there was proliferation of smart devices related to the Internet. Thus, it was necessary to grab this opportunity to use and exchange desired information among users. At this point we got inspired and came up with the idea of Masmoo3 which is aimed to deliver and spread the knowledge available in the Arabic books. My colleague Alaa and I decided to establish a company specialising in digital audio books production and publishing. Our journey to achieve this dream started and, after conducting research to start the project, it was inevitable for us to look for financial aid in order to start. Fortunately, I got introduced to some people and companies potentially interested to fund and support entrepreneurial ideas and startups. We suggested our idea to different communities such as Queen Rania’s Center for Entrepreneurship, the MIT:Enterprise Forum Arab Business Plan Competition, and Oasis 500, which is the MENA region’s premier seed investment and development company.The idea was finally accepted and we began the necessary preparations to compose a fruitful business plan and seek for more investors. Many things contributed to the registration of the company, but mainly the fact that we joined some programmes such

as the incubator programme and the Oasis500, helped. There we got the initial funding and the necessary space to work along with some important advice. Within the programme and network of investors of Oasis500, Masmoo3 was able to attract investors and gain the necessary funding to start the business. It must be said that this success was also due to what the company achieved in the first few months from its inception. Masmoo3 aims to provide digital audio books on the Internet and mobile phones with the aim to spread knowledge and make the experience of listening to books helpful and pleasant. Although it is still developing, the company has managed to reach more than five hundred thousand Arabic speaking users all over the world within the first 18 months. The average hours spent listening to Masmoo3 digital audio books by users has exceeded 90,000. Masmoo3 also seeks to improve the performance of readers and narrators during training sessions and specialised workshops related to interpretive reading, reincarnation and novelist performance. The team is composed of a number of Arabic language specialists who work on the

Ala Suleiman is the Co-Founder and CEO of Masmoo3. He holds a BA in Electrical Engineering from Jordan University for Science and Technology. Ala has worked in numerous IT positions for 11 years. Before establishing Mamoo3, he worked as a project manager in the field of mobility solutions development, database applications, embedded systems programming, along with the field of digital sound applications for smart toys. Ala can be contacted at ala.suleiman@masmoo3com

Excellence. At Carnegie Mellon.

For more than a century, Carnegie Mellon University has been inspiring innovations that change the world. Consistently top ranked, Carnegie Mellon has more than 11,000 students, 90,000 alumni and 5,000 faculty and staff globally. In 2004, Qatar Foundation invited Carnegie Mellon to join Education City, a groundbreaking center for scholarship and research. Students from 39 different countries enroll at our world-class facilities in Education City. Carnegie Mellon Qatar offers undergraduate programs in biological sciences, business administration, computational biology, computer science and information systems. Carnegie Mellon is firmly committed to Qatarâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s National Vision 2030 by developing people, society, the economy and the environment. Learn more at www.qatar.cmu.edu

eNTrePreNeur

correct way to form the texts. Their role is to detect and remove the mistakes as much as possible and make the text free of errors. In addition, it also includes audio engineers working on a professional audio processing and production to make the experience smoother for the Arab listeners. Therefore, Masmoo3 is under a special administrative supervision of senior executives, administrative, technical and financial cadres. We are always striving to communicate with the team so each member can develop his or hers performing skills in their respective areas of work. Audio books Our audio books are high-quality recordings of the reading of printed or electronic books which are read carefully by our team of narrators with expressive and clear Arabic language. These digital recordings are stored on digital storage devices and can be heard by using digital audio actuators (Audio/Mp3 Players) and mobile devices.

90k Average hours spent listening to Masmoo3 digital audio books

Currently, we are working on producing and publishing audio books related to human development, selfdevelopment and business topics. Some of the books are originally in Arabic while others are translated. We strive to make listening to the audio contents an exciting and useful experience for Arabic speakers. We try to give them a chance to get the knowledge and entertainment available in the books which they do not read or don’t have the chance to read anymore. As for literature and authentic Arab heritage fans, a number of prestigious books of poetry and literature are now available on our Website which is the largest electronic publishing Website. It is also accessible through SmartPhone applications and mobile network operators. For mothers, who are keen on giving their children the best quality of education and teaching them their mother tongue, we have produced more than 120 audio stories for children in 12 educational and entertaining series. We are working to expand our production and our Arab digital audio library so it can be the voice of knowledge accessible to all the Arabic-speaking people wherever they are. Challenges There is no doubt that the support and training that we have received since the beginning is the main factor behind the success of Masmoo3 and its growth. As the founders of the company, we have faced significant challenges since, in addition to our continuous engagement in the company’s operational and technical part, we undertook a greater role that included business management, investment and strategic planning, marketing, human resources management and legal contracts. Without the necessary training that we received to prepare for such an

Without the necessary training that we have received to prepare for such an enormous number of tasks, it would have been impossible for us to manage the company. This, in turn, increased the chances of success and reduced the risks perceived by investors.

enormous number of tasks, it would have been impossible for us to manage the company. This, in turn, increased the chances of success and reduced the risks perceived by investors. I need also to highlight the importance of the support and motivation that I obtained through my subscription to the Mowgli Foundation’s Programme for Mentorship. Although our company was the first to provide digital audio books on audible’s Website and also to the passengers of Emirates Airlines and Qatar Airways, the audio library needs to expand further and grow in content. That is the main challenge – to find proper funding for growth planned for the second phase of the company’s development. It is needed for proving the profitability and investment feasibility of our first action plan, and also for transferring it into real growth expressed through increasing volume of work and income. Future plans Upon finishing the platform of Masmoo3, we have started to expand our services in the digital audio publishing field in order to provide it to universities and educational institutions in the Arab world in 2013. Moreover, we are currently working on providing audio books on preloaded portable audio players that work on battery for the Arabic speakers to listen to our audio books offline. This will be very helpful for a large segment of the population who suffer from eye problems. Furthermore, through building partnerships with many important Arabic book publishers and digital content distributors, Masmoo3 will keep working to achieve its vision in providing the largest audio library of Arabic books. We hope that it will increase the chances of Arabs to get the joy and benefit from books without actually reading them. Recently, we have been searching for investments for the second phase which includes expanding our work in the Arabian Gulf in general. As part of this expansion plan, Qatar represents a distinctive pole in attracting companies to expand their business in Doha, the economic capital of the region. Hence, we participated in the SILA Angel Investment Network Programme and became one of the six startups engaged to be within the project. This is a sign of our effort to make Masmoo3 reach a prestigious position among the fast-growing companies in the Arab region. Although I am an entrepreneur for only two years, I can confess that this modest experience has taught me a lot. Therefore, I would advise all entrepreneurs in the Arab world and particularly in Qatar to grab all the available opportunities that ensure training, support and finance to the entrepreneurial ideas, such as Silatech and Bedaya Center for Entrepreneurship and Career Development.

De Symetria designed by Luca Scacchetti

Executive Desks

Conference Room Tables & Chairs

Modular Desking Systems

Panelling Systems

Toll Free 800 OFFICE, Dubai Pyramid Center 04 358 2272, Doha Salwa Road 04 421 7941, Muscat Muttrah 24 523005, www.officelandme.com

dOINg BuSINeSS

HOW EASY

IS IT?

In recent years, the legal framework for setting up a business in Qatar has been streamlined and simpli�ied to provide a more business-friendly process. However, work remains to be done if we are to improve Qatar’s competitiveness in the world. Ahmad Hawi, Statistical Specialist, QDB, examines the World Bank’s publication which highlights the areas for improvement.

The World Bank publishes an index that measures the ease of doing business in 183 countries around the world. To make the data comparable across countries, the index examines limited liability companies operating in the countries’ largest city. The index measures the easiness, or lack thereof, that a local entrepreneur faces in opening and running a small to medium-size enterprise (SME). Likewise, it measures the impact of business regulations and their enforcement across the countries.

The index is calculated as the simple average of the country’s ranking on ten business areas (see Table 1). The index is based on in-depth interviews and thus reflects prevailing opinions and attitudes amongst business people. However, it does not include measures on the quality of infrastructure, security, transparency, institutional development or macroeconomic conditions.

Ahmad Hawi is a Statistical Specialist at QDB. He worked as statistical analyst at Dubai Chamber of Commerce and as Statistician for World Health Organisation. He graduated from University of Versailles, France, in 2004 with a master’s degree in statistics and has more than ten years of experience in the field of statistics and data analysis. Ahmad can be contacted at a.hawi@qdb.qa

Likewise, the table shows Qatar’s ranking on each of the ten topics that comprise the aggregate ease of doing business indicator. The green arrows indicate an improvement in the raking while the red ones show a decline and the yellow ones reflect no change. As can be seen, the results reveal the changing nature

Qatar’s overall rank on the ease of doing business indicator is 36 out of 183 economies worldwide, an improvement of two positions compared to last year.

Table 1: Qatar ranking on ease of doing business

TOPIC RANKINGS Ease of Doing Business

2012 36

2011 38

Change in Rank 2

Starting a Business Dealing with Construction Permits Getting Electricity

116 24 18

124 24 18

8 0 0

Registering Property Getting Credit Protecting Investors

37 98 97

37 130 93

0 32 -4

Paying Taxes Trading Across Borders

2 57

2 47

0 -10

Enforcing Contracts Resolving Insolvency

95 37

97 36

2 -1

of our economy. Qatar is within the upper echelon when it comes to the ease of paying taxes and getting electricity, but it is only mid-level as far as starting a business is concerned. Qatar MENA OECD

20 35 86.7

INDICATORS Procedure (number) 8 8 5 Furthermore, the index 12 remained unchanged Duration (days) 12 20 regarding the ease of dealing with construction Cost (% of income per capita) 8.3 35 4.7 permit, getting electricity, registering property Paid-in Min. Capital 64 taxes, 86.7 while it 14.1 deteriorated with respect (% of income per capita) and paying

For entrepreneurs, knowing how easy and viable it is to do business in a country is fundamental. Knowing how the economy does when compared to other economies, including within the region (see Table 2), is also very useful. According to the data, starting a business in Qatar requires on average eight procedures which is the same throughout the MENA region. On the other hand, Qatar ranked much better in terms of the duration, cost and minimum paid-up compared to the average MENA region.

to property investor, trading across borders and resolving insolvency. It is worth pointing out that RANK this deterioration does not mean that Qatar has made 80 its business regulation less friendly, but rather that the 70 perception amongst local business people 71 worsened vis-a-vis business perceptions in other67countries.60The case where Qatar’s indexes improved is similar.

When compared RANK to OCED economies, however, there is clearly room for improvement. Indeed, the average 80 number of procedures in the OECD is five (compared 70 to eight in Qatar) while2012 the cost is almost half of that 2011 endured in Qatar. Paid-in minimum capital is significantly 60 less in OECD countries as well.

RANK 80 70 2012

2011

60 50

40 30 20 10 0

TOPIC RANKINGS 2011 Change in Rank 33 33 Qatar’s overall rank on 2012 the ease of doing Ease of Doing Business 36 38 2 business indicator is 36116 out of 183 Starting a Business 124 economies 8 Dealing with Construction Permits 24 24 0 worldwide, an improvement of two positions 12 10 Getting Electricity 18 18 0 compared to last year. 37 Registering Property 37 0 Saudi Arabia Getting CreditUAE

Qatar

Bahrain 98

Table 2: 40 Doing business comparison, 2012

36 38

130Oman

INDICATORS30 Procedure (number)

RANK Trading Across Borders

Duration (days) Cost (% of income per capita) 10 12 10 Paid-in Min. Capital (% of income0per capita)

10 0

57 95

47 97

-10 2

Resolving Insolvency

-1

2012

2011

36 38

Source: QDB, based on data from World Bank 2012

2011

RANK Kuwait

60 50

40 30

36 38

Bahrain

12 10

14.1 Qatar

86.7

UAE

Oman

4.7

The above analysis may be used as a roadmap for improvements in Qatar. There is no doubt that excessive bureaucracy and red-tape in general have hindered Qatari business in the past. Comparisons with other countries, including the indexes from the World Economic Forum, can establish the necessary benchmarks to guide regulatory changes that meet business needs in the future. Benchmarks against highly competitive economies, in particular, would provide a standard of competitiveness that would boost entrepreneurial activities in Qatar. The Ministry of Business and Trade continues to work on improving the RANK 80 business environment of Qatar, while strengthening its position as a safe haven for investments. 70

Bahrain

20 35

OECD 5

Qatar

36 38

Source: QDB, based on data from World Bank

UAE

MENA 8

RANK

RANK Saudi Arabia

8.3

Saudi Arabia

Kuwait 32

Enforcing Contracts

Qatar 33 8

Protecting Investors 97 93 -4 Figure1: 2011-2012 Paying Taxes GCC ranking on ease 2of doing business, 2 0

MENA 8

Source: QDB, based on data from World Bank

Rank

When compared to OCED INDICATORS Qatar economies, however, there is 8 Procedure (number) clearlyDuration room(days) for improvement.12 Indeed,Cost the average of (% of income pernumber capita) 8.3 Paid-in Min. Capital procedures in the OECD is ﬁve64 (% of income per capita) (compared to eight in Qatar) while the cost is almost half of that endured in Qatar. Paid-in minimum capital is signiﬁcantly less in OECD countries as well.

2012

2011

67 53

JaNuary 2013 49 35

36 38

SeCTOr STudy

Consider

the options!

Although the non-hydrocarbon sector has become the dominant force for the economic growth in Qatar, it still remains reliant on government expenditure. In the second article of a series, Dr. Tarek Coury, Chief Economist, Tanween, explores how to convince foreign investors that Qatar’s non-hydrocarbon sector has the capacity to produce income. Dr. Tarek Coury is Chief Economist at Tanween, a Qatari real estate developer and development consultancy providing turn-key solutions to investors, developers, land owners and occupiers. Tanween’s unique approach covers all services within the real estate investment value chain from idea creation to market research, feasibility studies, project delivery and asset management. For further information, Tarek can contacted at tcoury@tanween.com

he non-hydrocarbon sector includes all economic activities that are not tied to upstream hydrocarbon production. The sector has seen growth of 20% and above in the past decade and has been driven by a growing population and government investment worth over USD 50 billion for the period 2004-2011. Following the completion of LNG infrastructure investment, the hydrocarbon sector is set for a period of slow growth. The latest data published by the Qatar Statistics Authority shows that non-hydrocarbon growth accounts for most of overall economic growth, with economic activity increasing by 4% in Q2 2012. Growth in the oil and gas sector, on the other hand, was negative and at -0.1% in the same quarter. The nonhydrocarbon sector will continue to benefit from both a growing population and government spending, expected to be worth USD 225 billion over the period 2011-2016 according to the National Development Strategy. The primary beneficiary of government infrastructure expenditure has been the domestic construction sector.

A healthy and growing private sector will ensure that government debt is backed not only by the hydrocarbon sector, but also by a thriving knowledge-based economy, while the real estate sector will beneﬁt by ensuring that existing and upcoming real estate projects are fully occupied. 40

The wider real estate sector, comprising building, construction and services derived from real estate, accounts for nearly half of the non-hydrocarbon economy. While this sector will continue to be buoyed by government spending in the coming decade, its longer term financial viability depends on the contribution of the wider private sector. In parallel, government infrastructure spending has been financed by retained earnings from hydrocarbons and government debt issuance. In the current benign lending environment, yield hungry investors have poured their money in Qatari sovereign debt. With the strongest credit rating in the GCC (equaled only by the government of Abu Dhabi), Qatar has been able to finance its spending at a relatively low price – borrowing costs on the long-end of the Qatari yield curve have been consistently below the 4 - 5% mark and have been dropping steadily. But, as the ongoing financial crisis has shown, yields can jump as jittery investors withdraw their funds at any sign of uncertainty. More generally, emerging market bond funds have driven down yields to historic lows, pointing potentially to a trend reversal in the coming decade. Moving forward, recovering equity markets across the globe may point to a dangerous period ahead with higher borrowing costs for emerging market governments. While this may not seem to be an issue for Qatar, where government bonds are essentially seen to be backed by oil and gas wealth, Qatar’s debt to GDP ratio has recently topped 80%. With an overall economy worth about USD 170 billion, an additional USD 250 billion infrastructure spend is sure to push Qatar’s debt ratio above the 100% mark. This challenge points to the crucial issue of diversifying the economy further with greater private sector participation. A healthy and growing private sector

will ensure that government debt is backed not only by the hydrocarbon sector, but also by a thriving knowledge-based economy, while the real estate sector will benefit by ensuring that existing and upcoming real estate projects are fully occupied. Foreign direct investment (FDI) Unlike foreign flows in debt and equity, foreign direct investment (FDI) is a lasting investment by a foreign company in an income-producing asset, such as a hotel or a factory in the domestic economy. The IMF essentially defines FDI as any investment of 10% or more by a foreign entity in a domestic business. FDI, particularly in the non-hydrocarbon sectors, is a signal of confidence from foreign investors in the capacity of the domestic economy to produce income. Unlike an investment in sovereign debt, FDI cannot rely on the guarantee of oil and gas wealth acting as an implicit liquidity backstop. Crucially, FDI is a long-term investment with foreign managerial oversight. As the IMF puts it, “an effective voice in the management, as evidenced by an ownership of at least 10%, implies that the direct investor is able to influence or participate in the management of an enterprise.” This direct involvement, in turn, ensures that this foreign investment is targeted at a particular market segment that is seen as having a high growth potential.

2010 with 2011 witnessing a sharp decline in inflows (please see the Figure 1). FDI inflows to the GCC region’s target sectors are crucial for service-based industries. Aggregate data for 2010 for Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia reveals that in 2010, the services sector accounted for 59% of FDI inflows (about half of which comprised of business activities, construction and finance), followed by manufacturing at 27% and the oil and gas upstream sector at 14% (Source: UNCTAD). In the case of Qatar, the oil and gas sector account for a major share of total FDI stock followed by manufacturing, construction, real estate, transport and communication. The United States is the largest foreign investor in Qatar followed by the Netherlands, the UK, the UAE and Japan. Figure 1: Qatar: FDI Inflows and Outflows, 2006-2011 (value in USD Mn.)

Source: UNCTAD World Investment Report 2012

Table1: 1990

2000

2011

Bahrain

552

5,906

15,935

Kuwait

608

10,765

Oman

1,723

2,577

15,005

Qatar

1,912

30,477

KSA

15,193

17,577

186,850

UAE

751

1,069

85,406

Source: UNCTAD World Investment Report 2012

FDI inflows in Qatar have been encouraging, but remain centered on the hydrocarbon and construction sectors. More generally, FDI has been a major catalyst for growth in the GCC region. Between 2003 and 2011, the GCC region accounted for 79.1% of total FDI projects in the Middle East region, capturing 62.3% of total project value and accounting for 65.3% of total jobs created (Source: Ernst & Young). In 2011, Qatar had the third largest FDI stock in the GCC region at USD 30 billion, compared to USD 187 billion in Saudi Arabia and USD 85 billion in the UAE (please see Table 1). FDI stock in Qatar witnessed a near 15-fold increase over the past decade. FDI inflows to Qatar have been generally volatile between 2006 and

Attracting FDI in the non-hydrocarbon sector is an important challenge for Qatar moving forward. FDI, in particular, should target markets that support the real estate sector, a pillar of Qatar’s economy. Easing regulation on foreign business incorporation and activating economic free zones is an important component in attracting further FDI. In addition, a focused industrial policy allowing local production to plug into regional supply chains, especially those catering to Saudi Arabia and utilising the growing domestic transport infrastructure, is crucial for FDI growth. As mentioned in our last article, the domestic raw materials sector remains to be developed. Similarly, opportunities exist for the development of local manufacturing capacity, in particular intermediate goods production that caters to both the local and regional markets. As part of a broader industrial policy aimed at developing the SME sector, easier access to credit for domestic manufacturing businesses is key to achieving sustainable non-hydrocarbon based growth. The benefits of increased and targeted FDI include reduction of government borrowing costs, as international investors gain confidence in the viability of the non-hydrocarbon sector and sustained asset growth in the real estate sector.

JaNuary 2013

BuSINeSS adVICe

Mind over matter!

Our mind is incredibly powerful and often under-utilised because many of us don’t know how it works or how to programme it to create the results we truly want. Advice of Jeanine Bailey, Co-Founder and Director, Empowers People – Specialists in Human Development, empower our capability to proactively create the results we want in both professional and personal parts of our life.

Jeanine Bailey is the Co-Founder and Director of Empower People – Specialists in Human Development. She is a ICF accredited coach, ILM accredited trainer, NLP Practitioner, EDisc accredited, trained in appreciative inquiry process, with over 20 years of professional experience in working with multi-national, blue chip and influential organisations in Qatar, UK and Australia. Jeanine can be contacted at jeanine@empowerppl.com

nce we recognise that we have the power to programme our mindset, then we are in a great place to make conscious decisions which can shape our future. This is also true with respect to managing our responses to the things that “happen” to us or the things that are said to us, which appear to be outside of our immediate control. That is because our mind is a meaning-making machine. In other words, our mind creates meanings about situations we experience or observe, or the things we hear, which then lead to how we feel whether it’s joy, sadness, excitement, depression, or similar. We all make meaning of things or situations based on how we have learnt to think and act, which is based on what we have learnt from our parents, teachers, friends, acquaintances, family, experiences and so on. We all see the world differently based on our own unique set of learning experiences and influences. For example, you probably know children who were brought up in the same house, by the same parents and in the same environment, but yet they potentially became very different in their outlook or the way they dealt with the same situation they encountered. This is because of their own unique experiences and perceptions which create different beliefs, thoughts, actions and emotions. Although many people believe change is not possible, the wonderful thing is that it is, if you choose it. There is evidence of change all around us to demonstrate that we can adapt, like when we change countries, leave school, get married, get divorced, experience births and deaths, change jobs, undergo health scares, and so on. We have the ability to manage our mindset if we so choose to do. But, we also have the choice of ignoring change, often wrapped up in the guise of “excuses” if ignoring change, such as overeating, is not good for us.

So, back to understanding how the mind works. It’s made up of the conscious, unconscious and sub-conscious minds, which can be likened to a computer as follows: The unconscious mind – the mind-body connection is like the power surging between the software and hardware of a computer. This part is responsible for our bodily functions like breathing, eye blinking, and pumping blood, oxygen and nutrients around our body. The sub-conscious mind – is like the hard drive of a computer. It stores all our memories – the things we’ve experienced, seen, heard and felt. It can also be described as our autopilot, which drives what we do unconsciously. For example, washing our teeth, driving without thinking about how to do it or how we get there. It’s a routine. The conscious mind – is like the computer screen which can only process a small amount of information and not for the long-term.It holds about three to seven chunks of information at any point in time, to cope with the bombardment of data we continuously receive every second, such as sounds, colours, objects, shapes, environmental conditions and so on. For example, when we are speaking to someone and focusing on what they are saying, we potentially don’t notice the feeling of clothes on our skin or the noise of an air conditioner or traffic outside. The conscious mind filters out what it considers to be irrelevant information, based on our early conditioning as a child, so we can focus on what we believe is being said to us. How the mind works The conscious mind sorts out what it doesn’t believe is important or what it has been programmed to notice by the “user” via

Although many people believe change is not possible, the wonderful thing is that it is, if you choose it. our brain’s Reticular Activation System (RAS). This is absolutely necessary because, according to experts, the brain processes over 400 billion bits of information every second. The RAS, which is a network of nerve pathways at the base of our brain, acts like a Google search engine, filtering out all the masses of input our brain is exposed to and sorts it into manageable bites of information. This is based on the best matches in relation to our beliefs and behavioural habits. If we want to programme our mind for success, we need to manage our RAS, the “gate keeper” to our brain. Just like Google, the RAS searches for whatever you ask it to seek. Enter a topic or name into Google, or your mind, and you will have many, many options to choose from, based on your search words or the language you speak to yourself and whether you are open to possibilities. With over 100 billion brain cells, we can be programmed to create the things we want or don’t want. Our subconscious mind doesn’t hear negative commands. So, for example, if I said “I don’t want to be a failure,” the subconscious mind would actively seek evidence to support the command “failure”. In other words, I might start to make stories up about myself that I’m not good enough by starting to focus on all the times I had failed to be successful and ignore of my successes. This is when we start to see confusion and notice the self-saboteur within us when our subconscious mind receives mixed instructions. It’s also important to note the subconscious doesn’t question what we command it to find. Just like Google doesn’t. If we put the wrong word in, it finds what was asked. It is also continuously working to find the things we knowingly (consciously) or unknowingly (unconsciously) command it to. It’s really important to create clear conscious awareness of the things you are saying to yourself and ensure you are nourishing your spirit and dreams versus depleting your spirit and sabotaging your vision and goals. The thing is that a lot of our subconscious programming is a result of our experiences from zero to age seven when the logical part of our mind is still developing. Most of our brain’s growth occurs during this time with neural connections forming and un-forming. After about the age of seven, neural pathways and connections have then largely been formed and programmed. That results in many life-long habits and long-held beliefs about ourselves and the world at a time based on the logic of a child, which may not always be appropriate as an adult. It’s like the old saying – show me a boy at age of seven and I will show you a man.

Change is possible However, this doesn’t mean we can’t change habits or beliefs, especially if we know they are holding us back from creating the lives we want. The great thing is that our longterm behavioural habits can be unlearnt and replaced by something better if they are not working for us or as well as they could. All the results we achieve in our life are linked to our beliefs, values and how we choose to experience our world either negatively or positively. So, if we don’t like some of the results we are experiencing and wish to change them, then it’s time to re-programme our mind. Scientists have proven that we can continue to create new pathways (beliefs and habits), no matter at what age we are. When we create a clear, focused picture of what we want, at a conscious and subconscious level, our mind will continually seek to identify opportunities to make it happen. No matter whether we are asleep or awake, thinking about it or not, the RAS will do its job, seeking information it’s been programmed to find, even if we experience setbacks along the way. Life is not always about smooth sailing, but if we tackle the more challenging situations with courage, we learn to master choppy conditions to get to where we want to go. Here are a few key steps to create positive change: ■ Be crystal clear about your purpose and what you want – to filter into your mind what is needed to support the change and achievement of your goals. ■ Be mindful of the way you programme yourself – to ensure your language supports what you want. If you say, “This is hard,” then it’s probably going to be hard because of the command sent to your mind. Instead, you could say, “Maybe this is easier than I thought.” ■ Create conscious awareness of your habits (supported by your mindset) as to whether they support you when creating your goals and dreams. Experts know we can programme our mind effectively by choosing specific messages we send from our conscious mind to the subconscious mind. For example, we can set clear goals by writing down specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time bound objectives, as well as identifying vividly what we would see, hear and feel when we achieve those goals. We can also utilise affirmations, vision boards, visualisations to create alignment between our mindset, what we do and what we ultimately want. This is an introduction as to why we behave as we do – the good and bad behaviour is based on how our mind works. Our results are based on learnt behaviour, and it’s absolutely possible to unlearn what we realise doesn’t support us and re-programme our mind to replace it with what we believe is good for us and others. The great thing is we all have the power to make a choice to change or not to change. The more we become responsible for the creation of our outcomes, the more power will come to us to create the success we desire.

JaNuary 2013

MaNageMeNT

Building a

winning proposal

Most SMEs have people with experience and/or expertise. However, they �ind it often challenging to convey their capability to proposals which could take advantage of the business opportunities. In the �irst article of a multi-part series, Sangeetha Thomas, Management Consultant, takes a look at how SMEs can be competitive in the market by creating winning proposals which will leverage on their resources and expertise to deliver results.

Sangeetha Thomas is a management consultant with extensive experience in working with clients from private and government sector across the GCC region. She uses her expertise in project and process management areas to advise clients and foster expert teams within the clients’ organisations. She can be contacted at sangeetha.thomas@iccke.org

s an SME, identifying and pursuing opportunities is critical to the growth of your business. You may choose to proactively engage a prospective client or customer by proposing a business solution to address their need or respond to their expressed requirement as set forth in a request for proposal (RFP).

evaluate how your proposal fits their business need. A formal RFP is usually supported by qualification forms, criteria or policies that help evaluators process your bid. Don’t risk elimination by not fulfilling the essential requirements. Check your proposal for completeness and use a simple compliance matrix to catch the evaluators’ attention to qualify your bid response.

While the contract is the legal form of a business deal, the proposal is the document that influences the decision to sign the contract. As an SME, you can turn this document to your competitive advantage. When asked to put together a proposal, you may find that your people, who have the required expertise and good analytical skills, suddenly have no idea how to put the solution forth to the customer. You may ask them to write about the solution benefits, or explain why the service you offer should matter to the customer. However, more often than not, it seems as though they understand your words, but struggle how to get it on paper.

■ Direct the point game The second key is to focus on the evaluation criteria. Remember that there are others who want to make good of the business opportunity as much as you do. Your target must be to score well against it. The differentiating key to a winning proposal is to use your response to educate the evaluators subtly about the opportunity itself.

The primary reason for this seems to be that often people tend to focus on the wrong things. Proposal writing is not about format, style, choice of words, or even grammar. What is critical for success is to give the reader the information they need to make their decisions. Before we discuss how you can turn the proposal to your competitive advantage, let us first look at the essentials.

You can influence your customer’s decisions by sharing your understanding of what is important, what might cause problems the way forward, where risks are likely to rise from, how you are prepared to mitigate those risks, and what will result from engaging with a business that does not have this understanding. In essence, you are turning your understanding of the opportunity to your competitive advantage.

If you are responding to an RFP, you already have an outline of the proposal sections, and know what you are supposed to write about in the proposal. If you are responding to a written RFP that includes instructions and criteria for qualification, ensure that you fulfill all instructions and requirements.

A word of caution, however, is that your statements of understanding should not come across as patronising. The person evaluating your proposal may or may not be entirely familiar with the opportunity. Take care not to come across as telling them how to do their job. After reading your proposal, the evaluators should have a better understanding of how the evaluation criteria should be applied and where you as a bidder should be scoring points. Done smartly, this translates into a good point game for you.

Five keys to winning ■ Be complete The first key to writing a winning proposal is not to be disqualified - your potential client or a customer will first

■ Engage and build rapport Now that you have got the customer’s attention, the third key is to engage the customer on his terms and go beyond the point game. If you are responding to a written RFP,

MaNageMeNT

While the contract is the legal form of a business deal, the proposal is the document that inﬂuences the decision to sign the contract. As an SME, you can turn this document to your competitive advantage. a significant part of your work is already done. To make it easy on the evaluators to find the information they are looking for, include all of the RFP keywords in your proposal. Sticking to the RFP’s terminology gives you a greater chance of engaging the customer as they can readily relate to your response. It gives them greater assurance and comfort that you are a good engagement choice. Evaluators usually skim proposals for keywords and you should make it easy for them to find what they are looking for. ■ Speak the customer language Apart from using the right key words, the fourth key is to take the effort to speak in the language of your customer. The customer is looking for only one thing and one thing only – results. Make the proposal all about them, not you. Let your proposal tell the customer what and how you are going to do for them which will give them the results they want. Assure them about this in each paragraph and back up your assertions with supporting details. Do this at the beginning of the paragraph, not at the end, making sure that you always link everything in your proposal to the results they want. Write it from the customer’s perspective. Your proposal should not be a description of yourself and how you see yourself. If every sentence starts with your enterprise’s name, it is more likely that you have written about yourself and not what would matter to the customer. Do a simple check to ensure that every piece of information you have provided is put in terms of the customer and the customer’s context. How can you go about it? Step one – identify what matters to the customer and make that your first priority. Step two – let everything you write be about the customer and what they are going to get by engaging with you. The customer enterprise should come ahead of your own organisation. So, if you are going to use a graphic, a matrix, or a chart, use it to introduce the customer to the benefits and results they can expect from engaging with you and put them in the context. For example, when the customer asks for qualifications, your impulse will be to describe yourself. Rather than going

on about yourself, choose to explain what the customer can expect to get as a result of your qualifications. This will give them a reason to work with you. It is not your qualifications, but what your qualifications will result in, that will matter to your customer. For example, proposal X says, “You should select us because we have done this before or whatever it is you asked for.” Proposal Y says, “As a result of engaging with us you will save on costs because of better order timelines and management of inventory,” and then it continues to map it to the customer’s requirements. Proposal Y will sound like a better choice because proposal Y is written from the customer’s perspective, and proposal X is not. ■ Dress it up The fifth key is to talk to your customer with more than words and go beyond the statement of work. Use graphics to organise information. The more attractive the document, the more effortless it is for the customer to read through it. Use a compliance matrix or table if possible to quickly assure them that you qualify their engagement requirements. When you show that you are compliant with every requirement, your proposal stands out as one that has taken the effort to study the requirement well. While focusing on results in the customer’s language, tell them how you are going to deliver what they asked for in a value added manner. It could be faster, as in earlier than the stated timeline or with better quality. If there are no value adds, then assure them that you will deliver it in a way that will ensure the results they are looking for. If proposal X says, “We will deliver and install according to the statement of work,” and proposal Y says, “Our delivery and installation approach will ensure the improvements in cost savings that you are looking for and also result in improved order timelines,” it will sound like a better choice. Again, proposal Y is written from the customer’s perspective, and proposal X is not. The ability to weave in the customer into your proposal and engage them in their language and talk in terms of their results and success will tip the balance in your favour, giving you an unbeatable competitive advantage and taking you in the winning direction. Putting together a winning proposal is about laying out a business case why you, your resources, your approach and your experience or expertise can be an asset to the customer in their journey to success. It goes beyond the price point, ahead of the evaluation point game and brings home the real reasons to get you on board to define their success story. In the next part of this series, we will look at challenges that occur as the timeline progresses from winning a contract to delivering the promised results.

QATAR’S EXPORT DEVELOPMENT AGENCY

TASDEER TASDEER, Qatar’s export development agency, was launched by Qatar Development Bank (QDB) in 2011 with the objective to develop, support, and globally promote exports from Qatar through export �inancing and export development and promotion support to Qatar-based SME exporters. It provides access to �inance, credit insurance and advisory services for exporters and supports businesses to develop their export capabilities through export development and promotion. As part of its offering, TASDEER offers two different sets of services: ■ Export �inancial services ■ Export development and promotion services.

TASDEER’s export development services focus on products and services offered to the exporters in the area of capability and capacity building, market and business-related intelligence and market advisory services. As part of its export promotion services, TASDEER is focusing on facilitating the participation of exporters in identi�ied exhibitions in the target markets

TaSdeer

EXPORT DEVELOPMENT SERVICES Product Offering

Key Objective

Product Description

Training Workshops

Capacity building through workshops which educate exporters on key policy initiatives

Workshops on aspects like Single Window System, gSP, free trade agreements, and similar

Trade Map and Market access

enabling the exporting community to gain market and business intelligence through public domain sources

Training workshops on the use of Trade Map and Market access Map through ITC

Trade Secrets

Capability building among small and new exporters through a primer on exports and international trade

Preparing a Trade Secrets document through interactions with the exporting community. Publishing and holding oneto-one workshops to educate and train small and new exporters

Country Market Surveys

Helping the exporting community penetrate identiﬁed new markets which offer opportunities

Conduct market studies on the identiﬁed set of products, target new markets and share the insights with the relevant exporters

Newsletter Programme

enabling market and business intelligence and relationship building with the exporting community

Initiating a quarterly newsletter with information on appropriate topics and showcasing a key country and exporters

Importer database

Enabling market and business intelligence in speciﬁc target markets and building relationships with exporting community

Provide information on importers in key target markets to the relevant exporting community through a database

Product Certiﬁcation Programme

Capacity building among domestic focused companies to enable them to compete internationally

Programmes to facilitate SMes to obtain relevant product certifications, like ISO and other industry-specific certificates, which will enable their access to international markets

Market Certiﬁcation Programme

Capacity building among exporting community to enable penetration of speciﬁc targeted markets which require certain local standards to be met and help diversify exports

Programmes to facilitate exporters to gain knowledge about the speciﬁc market certiﬁcations and help in the approval process through training and invitations to the approving authorities

EXPORT PROMOTION SERVICES

Product Offering

Key Objective

Product Description

exhibition Programme

export promotion through facilitating the participation of exporters in identiﬁed international exhibitions in targeted markets

Programmes to facilitate exporters to participate as a group under the TaSdeer umbrella in speciﬁc, targeted exhibitions aligned with the strategy

Matchmaking Programme

export promotion through matchmaking events in targeted countries and in Qatar to showcase capabilities

Programme inviting trade facilitators and importers from speciﬁc countries either in Qatar or in that particular country and exposing them to the capability of Qatari exporters

exporter awards Programme

Raising the public proﬁle of exports by showcasing the exporting community and facilitate data gathering on exports for TaSdeer

Programme to award the best performing exporters in various categories through appropriately designed criteria by an independent organisation

exporters directory and export Brochure

export promotion by showcasing Qatar exporters in appropriate international forums

Publishing the proﬁle and capabilities of the exporters in Qatar as a directory for marketing purposes

exporter Publicity Programme

export promotion by facilitating creation of appropriate publicity material for speciﬁc exporters

Programme to enable the design and production of suitable publicity material for exporters targeting speciﬁc markets

COMPaNy FOCuS

NO PEAK HIGH ENOUGH Asima Plastic Factory, one of the leading and largest plastic factories in Qatar, has been exporting 80% of their production. With TASDEER’s support they expect to export even more. Ricardo Gonzalez, General Manager, Asima Plastic Factory, tells us how they plan to conqure that new peak. Please tell us more about Asima Plastic Factory and its products. Asima Plastic Factory was established in 1993. We are proud to be one of the leading and largest plastic factories in Qatar with over 100 employees. Production is organised in three shifts a day (24/7) in our modern factory of 15.000 m2.

Ricardo Gonzalez, General Manager, Asima Plastic Factory

80% of the production is exported

Asima Plastic Factory is specialised in the production of LDPE and HDPE shopping bags (vest carriers), trash bags, PE construction films and agriculture poly sheets. All items are tailor-made in line with the request of our clients (sizes, plain, printed, oxo biodegradable, packing, and so on). We are constantly improving our products and machineries since new production systems and modifications to the current machineries are always in progress. We believe that high quality of products and services is the key for a higher future growth.

What has been the past and current focus of exports for Asima Plastic Factory? The key target of Asima Plastic is to heavily focus on export sale of plastic bags overseas. We are currently exporting 80% of our production to countries like Spain, UK, Germany, Italy, and the Northern African region. In the future we aim for exploring new attractive markets and further diversifying our exports within Europe and the North Africa. In addition, we are also planning to expand our capacity in the medium term and increase the share of exports from current 80% to 90% of the total sale.

TASDEER has recently launched several initiatives to support the growth of Qatari exporters. Which TASDEER’s services have you utilised? As part of its export promotion services, TASDEER facilitated the participation of 13 plastic related exporters in the National Plastic Exhibition (NPE) 2012 held in April 2012 at Orlando, Florida, US. We were one of them. Given that the NPE is one of the biggest and most prominent events for plastic products for the North American market, we greatly benefited from the participation in the event in terms of forging new customer relationships and getting exposure at a global level.

TASDEER has also provided us with several new importer contacts for plastic bags from various European destinations. It is great to see that having established contact with the given importers, we have been able to convert three inquiries into actual orders. As a result we now have three new customers who are prominent players in plastic products from UK, Germany and Italy. The importer contacts given by TASDEER have contributed to a direct increase in export sales by 15-20%. Also, the country reports sent by TASDEER every month are a very effective tool for us to understand the attractiveness of the market for our product. We feel very proud to receive TASDEER’s support in order to increase our export sales.

How fruitful was the participation in the NPE exhibition in the US? Participation in the NPE was a great learning experience for us. We were able to meet new importers and distributors not only from the US, but also from other the South American markets like Mexico and similar. We received a significant number of inquiries at the exhibition and we are now at various stages of converting them into actual orders. Moreover, the participation provided us with a great opportunity to learn new aspects about how to present and sell our products. Thus, this experience was very useful in preparing us for other future events and exhibitions. A month later we were actually able to use our experience at the International Plastic Exhibition Center in Dubai and to sign a contract with a new client based in UK. Therefore, the experience at the NPE was priceless. The exposure through the exhibition will go a long way in helping us to develop our exports.

What are your export plans and how do you see TASDEER’s role in helping you achieve the targets? In the future we want to focus even more on exports. We are looking to expand our capacity in the medium term and raise the share of exports in the total sales from approximately 80% currently to 90% in the near future. TASDEER has recently started a detailed market study of the Moroccan market. Asima Plastic Factory is very keen on exporting to that country. For that reason, we are looking forward to receive a detailed analysis of the market in the report, which will help us understand all aspects of the opportunity for our product in Morocco and gain some insight into the competition, pricing and the supply chain characteristics. Asima Plastic Factory will also be interested in participating in the matchmaking meetings and exhibitions in the favourable markets with the help of TASDEER. We really appreciate the efforts being made by TASDEER to promote the SMEs in Qatar and we hope to receive their continued support to help us grow our exports.

JaNuary 2013

PrOduCT FOCuS

BAG IT! If you have been wondering what to export or how to plan the export of your products, pay attention to TASDEERâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s analysis of export opportunities for one particular product â&#x20AC;&#x201C; plastic bags.

lastic bags find numerous applications on a day to day basis. Two key uses of plastic bags include usage as carrier bags for various items and for storage and disposal of household waste and garbage. Usage of plastic bags for the first purpose mainly includes use of plastic bags for shopping as carrier bags, grocery shopping, and similar. These are sometimes called single-use bags, referring to carrying items from a store to a home. Other than these there are plastic garbage bags which are fairly lightweight and are particularly useful for messy or wet rubbish as is commonly the case with food waste. In addition, these bags are also useful for wrapping up garbage to minimise odour. Plastic bags are often used for lining litter or waste containers or bins. Reuse of plastic bags for storage of trash is common, and modern plastic shopping bags are increasingly recyclable or biodegradable. Lately, numerous countries have introduced legislation restricting the sale of plastic bags in a bid to reduce littering and pollution. Traditional plastic bags are usually made from polyethylene which consists of long chains of ethylene

monomers. Ethylene is derived from natural gas and petroleum. The polyethylene used in most plastic shopping bags is either low density or high density polyethylene (LDPE or HDPE). Colour concentrates and other additives are often used to add tint to the plastic. Plastic shopping bags are commonly manufactured by blown film extrusion.

Plastic Bag Exports (2007-2011) QR million 34.0

7.5

4.9

2007

1.5

1.6

2008

2009

2010

2011

Breakdown of Qatar exports by country of destination (2011) in QR million Saudi Arabia

Plastic Bag Exports (2007-2011) QR million 34.0

7.5

4.9 1.5

1.6

Plastic Bag Exports (2007-2011) QR million 2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

34.0

The key HS codes applicable for export of woven sacks are 392321 (Sacks and bags (including cones) of polymers of ethylene), 392329 (Sacks and bags (including cones) of other plastics) and 392390 (Articles for the conveyance or other packing of goods of plastics) Having experienced a dip in 2008, Qatari exports of plastic bags have experienced phenomenal growth in the last two years reaching QR 34 million in 2011.

Breakdown of Qatar exports by country of destination (2011) in QR million Saudi Arabia

2% 1%

Venezuela

7.5

4.9

2007

1.5

1.6

2008

2009

Egypt

2010

2011

Breakdown of Qatar exports by country of destination (2011) in QR million Currently, exports are highly focused with Spain Saudi Arabia and accounting for more than 90% share of the Egypt Venezuela 2% overall exports in 2011. This is mainly driven by the 1% 6% fact that Asima Plastic Factory, the biggest Qatari exporter of plastic bags, has key customers based in Spain. Other destinations include Venezuela, Saudi Spain Arabia, and Egypt.

91%

Other Qatari manufacturers of plastic bags include Al Amoudi Plastic Factory, Behzad Plastics, Gulf Plastic Company, Orient Plastic Containers, Al Haya Plastics and Uniplast. Some of these manufacturers are doing exports, but in smaller quantities. Having experienced strong growth till 2008, global imports of plastic bags dipped in 2009 to again bounce back and reach approximately QR 66 billion in 2010. Europe is the largest import market with approximately 40% share of the world imports. Greater Arab Free Trade Area (GAFTA) countries, including the GCC region, account for approximately 2% share of the total imports. Import demand in Europe is quite fragmented with Germany being the largest market accounting for17% of the share. Other key markets include France, UK, Spain, Italy and Netherlands. Although the GAFTA percentage share is small, in absolute terms, it is more than 30 times Qatarâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s current exports. Iraq, UAE and Saudi Arabia are the key importers of plastic bags within the GAFTA region together accounting for approximately 50% of the total imports. Within the the GCC region, UAE and Saudi Arabia account for approximately 75% share of the total imports with a cumulative value of approximately QR 400 million.

Breakdown of Plastic Bags imports

of World (2010) like in QRUAE, million markets and other large GCC markets, provide highly attractive opportunities. The most attractive markets are UAE, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Egypt and Tunisia. By effectively targeting new markets, Qatarâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s exports of plastic bags can grow Spain Others term. robustly in the long

Europe

39%

Breakdown of Plastic Bags imports of World (2010) in QR million

Others

GAFTA except GCC

42%

GAFTA

GCC

Europe

US 39%

17%

GAFTA except GCC

GAFTA

Apart from the existing GCC markets where Qatar is currently trying to export, most of the European

91%

42%

GCC

17%

JaNuary 2013

COuNTry FOCuS

TARGET:

EGYPT! With an aim to address and tap export markets beyond the GCC region which are attractive for Qatari manufacturers, in this issue TASDEER focuses on Egypt as an important market for the key products of Qatari origin.

gypt has a diverse, market-oriented economy, with important agricultural, tourism, and textile sector. Egypt’s newly-elected government is facing immediate challenges to stabilise its economy post overthrowing of the political leadership in 2011. The major industries include textiles, food processing, tourism, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, hydrocarbons, construction, cement, metals, and similar. With the GDP of QR 1876 billion in 2011, Egypt imported products worth QR 209 billion in the same year including key commodities like crude oil and petroleum products, cotton, textiles, metal products, chemicals, processed food, and so on. USA is one of the key trading partners accounting for approximately 8% of exports and approximately 12% of imports in 2010. The total trade between Qatar and Egypt in 2010 was QR 1042 million. The balance of trade is highly skewed in favour of Egypt with Qatar’s exports accounting for approximately QR 227 million of the total trade. The key commodities exported to Egypt from Qatar currently include plastics and articles, inorganic chemicals, glass and glassware, and similar.

Egypt is an attractive market in terms of its size for many of the key non-oil and non-QP product categories which have been identified as part of the Qatar’s export strategy. These include electric wires and cables, medical solutions, parts of air conditioning machines, plastic packaging products, plastic tubes and pipes, polystyrene insulated sheets, syringes, powdered soap, plastic sheets and rolls, valves and woven sacks. Egypt’s total imports across these product categories in 2010 were approximately QR 5800 million with medical solutions being the biggest category and accounting for QR 3000 million. This is followed by valves and electric wires and cables, with them accounting for imports worth QR 1020 million and QR 520 million respectively. Moreover, given that Egypt has the Greater Arab Free Trade Agreement (GAFTA) with Qatar, the import duty rates for all these products are 0% which otherwise are in the range of 5-30%. Thus, taking into account parameters like import market size, presence of trade agreements and proximity of the market to Qatar, Egypt is a highly attractive market for many of the key product categories where Qatari exporters are competitive. Thus, for the future it is important for the exporters to critically evaluate this market from an export perspective.

1876 BILLION

total Egyptian GDP in 2011

209

BILLION

total Egyptian imports in 2011

1042 MILLION

total EgyptianQatari trade

eVeNTS

PREPARE

FOR THE NEXT ONE! TASDEER provides an overview of the upcoming exhibitions which might be of interest for Qatari exporters in 2013.

28th – 31st January 2013

Arab Health

Arab Health is a premier exhibition and congress in the Middle East focusing on the healthcare sector. The participants include healthcare manufacturers, wholesalers, dealers and distributors from around the world. It will be a perfect platform to showcase the new products, innovations and technologies to one of the fastest growing healthcare markets in the world.

17th – 19th February 2013

Middle East Electricity Middle East Electricity 2013 focuses on professionals who are looking to network or source solutions from companies dealing with power, energy, water, nuclear and renewable resources of energy. The event will feature the world’s leading manufacturers and suppliers which will be offering the latest equipment and services related to the energy sector. The exhibitors will be making new business links and they will also be able to gain knowledge about the market trends in energy sector.

25th – 28th February 2013

Gulfood

Gulfood is one of the world’s largest and most influential annual trade shows for the food and beverage industry, with reports of outstanding sales, unprecedented numbers of visitors, exhibitors and business transactions recorded during the four day event. Established over 25 years ago, it has a well-deserved reputation amongst exporters for delivering spectacular return on investment. The event is organised by the Dubai World Trade Centre.

■ ■ ■

Number of exhibitors: 2200+ Expected Visitors: 45000+ Exhibition Center: Dubai International Convention & Exhibition Centre

Qatari Exhibitors: »

Qatar German Medical Devices

Qatar Pharma

■ ■ ■

Number of Exhibitors: 1,000++ Expected Visitors: 49,000+ Exhibition Center: Dubai International Convention & Exhibition Centre

Qatari Exhibitors: »

Al Shams Advanced Lighting Industries

Doha Cables

Qatar International Cables Company

■ ■ ■

Number of exhibitors: 3,800 Visitors : 68,000 Exhibition Centre : Dubai World Trade Centre

Qatari Exhibitors: » » » » » » »

Chocolate Graphics Qatar Colosseum Doha Dandy Dairy Qatar Food Factory Qatar Floor Mills Qatar Tunisian Food Company National Food Company

START YOUR BUSINESS

Introducing the SME Toolkit Qatar: An Online Platform to Support the Private Sector

RUN YOUR BUSINESS

GROW YOUR BUSINESS

The SME Toolkit is a joint project between Qatar Development Bank and International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of World Bank Group. By bringing together the global expertise of IFC and the local knowledge of QDB, the SME Toolkit Qatar provides small businesses in Qatar with the tools and resources that allow them to function to international standards. • Step by step guidelines for business start up and management • Downloadable software tools like Business Plan Maker, Website Builder etc. • Online library with information on topics like Finance Marketing, Technology and International Business • Business Directory Listing and Legal Updates

qatar.smetoolkit.org 56