SME Advisor Middle East July 2012

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The SME Advisor Stars of Business Awards are back and bigger than ever. smeadvisor.com/ awards2012

Dealing with uncertainty Strengthen your foresight through structured analysis.

Summer spending

We look at the retail extravaganza descending on Dubai.

We find out what motivates this group of younger professionals

Issue 80 JULY 2012 WWW.SMEADVISOR.COM

presents

Publisher Dominic De Sousa

The calm before the storm

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Group COO Nadeem Hood

nother Ramadan and another quiet summer period for business. For many of you SMEs it’s a time to stop and catch your air; for the rest of you it can prove rather frustrating as deadlines continue to be enforced, but the flow of business does not follow suit.

Managing Director Richard Judd richard@cpidubai.com +971 4 440 9126 EDITORIAL Senior Editor Mike Byrne mikeb@cpidubai.com +971 4 440 9105

From attending Iftar and Suhoor events throughout Ramadan the same observations are repeated – the mountain of pending work to be completed post Ramadan and into the final quarter just keeps getting bigger.

Sub Editor Joumana Saad joumana@cpidubai.com +971 4 440 9115 Contributing Editor Aparna Shivpuri Arya aparna@cpidubai.com +971 4 440 9133 ADVERTISING Sales Richard Judd richard@cpidubai.com +971 4 440 9126 PRODUCTION AND DESIGN Production Manager James P Tharian james@cpidubai.com +971 4 440 9146 Circulation Manager Rajeesh M rajeesh@cpidubai.com +971 4 440 9147 Design Director Ruth Sheehy ruth@cpidubai.com Head of Design Fahed Sabbagh fahed@cpidubai.com +971 4 440 9107 Designer Froilan A. Cosgafa IV froilan@cpidubai.com +971 4 440 9107 Photographer Jay Colina jay@cpidubai.com +971 4 440 9141 DIGITAL SERVICES www.smeadvisor.com Digital Services Manager Tristan Troy Maagma Web Developer Abey Mascreen online@cpidubai.com +971 4 440 9100 Published by

Indeed for many of you SMEs (and us included) this rings true.

It is in essence the calm before the storm; a time when many elements are quietly put in place before the green light comes back around and the business gold rush accelerates towards the next quiet lull in December.

The SME Advisor team (and other magazines titles within CPI) are at this very moment putting the pieces in place for four months of conferences, award ceremonies, networking evening and much more, and that’s not even including constructing and moulding the most comprehensive and informative magazine issues we can.

Our advice to those of you experiencing similar situations – take a deep breath and relax. For most of you this final stretch will determine your financial year and the success of your year so it’s important you get it right. The business year is marathon and not a sprint and, as with any race, the final stretch is where the best excel.

In this month’s issue we bring you articles ranging from advice on how to exhibit your business, both domestically and abroad, to updates on opportunities for financing and better promoting your brand and business.

One feature of particular note is that concerning the healthcare industry and the options now emerging for businesses to avail of financing solutions. Along with infrastructure, healthcare has been pinned as one of the fastest growing and most important sectors in the region, so we suggest you do give this article some consideration.

And finally, the nominations process has opened for the SME Advisor Stars of Business Awards 2012. We’re encouraging last year’s entries to of course enter again this year – winners and finalists should not only nominate for those categories they excelled with last year, but should also consider entering some new ones this time around. There is no restriction on how many categories you can enter so please do take the time to consider as many as possible.

All the information about the awards and how to nominate your business can be found at www.smeadvisorc.om/awards2012 Until next month...

1013 Centre Road, New Castle County, Wilmington, Delaware, USA Branch Office PO Box 13700, Dubai, UAE

Mike Byrne Senior Editor

Tel: +971 4 440 9100 Fax: +971 4 447 2409 Printed by Printwell Printing Press LLC © Copyright 2012 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.

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Talk to us: E-mail: mike@cpidubai.com

Twitter: @SMEadvisorME

Facebook: www.facebook.com/SMEadvisor

LinkedIn group: www.tinyurl.com/smeadvisorme

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20 | Exhibitions

Issue 80 July 2012

Dr. Ashraf Mahate of Dubai Exports, shares his tips on selecting the right exhibition for your business.

BANKING FOR BUSINESS

24 | Healthcare

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How banks like ADCB are coming up with new solution to finance the sector’s rapid growth.

FINANCE

26 | Bankability

Dubai SME has launched the SME Friendliness Index to provide more clarity for SMEs and banks.

Management

28 | Decision making

John Lincoln outlines ways businesses can guard themselves against uncertainty.

30 | Generation Y

Joumana Saad speaks to management experts about the best ways to motivate and retain younger professionals.

Generation Y

We break down the best approaches for motivating younger professionals.

EDITORIAL BOARD 08 | Introduction

We present the SME Advisor Editorial Board for 2012.

Shoptalk

10 | Trends and Updates A quick look at news and events that will impact SMEs in this region.

SME about town

16 | Events

A round-up of the key events being attended

by SME leaders in the UAE.

CORPORATE LIFESTYLE

18 | Executive trends

We give you a glimpse at some of the latest products on the market.

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34 | Risk management

Hort Simon of Horwath MAK Risk Consulting, explains how a risk management framework can add value to your business.

MaRKETING

38 | Summer spending Consumer-focused marketing campaigns are in full swing in an effort to offset Dubai’s seasonal slowdown.

OPPORTUNITIES

42 | Brand contest

Dalia Alwan of Dubai SME’s Business Incubation Centre, speaks to Joumana Saad about the Brand Creativity Contest for SMEs recently launched on Facebook.

SALES

44 | Referrals Phil Bedford of The Referral Institute, explains how businesses can utilise referrals to maximise profit.

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52 | Travel spots Dubai ranks high in the region on the 2012 Global Destination Cities Index, recently released by MasterCard.

54 | GDP figures The UAE economy is currently in a very profitable position, with oil prices, tourism and trade being major drivers of growth.

TECHNOLOGY FOR BUSINESS

56 | Tech news

We highlight IT trends and tools that are reshaping business in the region.

LEGAL

46 | Dishonoured cheques Hassan Arab of Al Tamimi & Co. explores perceived discrepancies in the law and contradictions among rulings.

Sign off

62 | What’s next?

SME Advisor Sub Editor Joumana Saad takes the pulse on key business trends in the region and gives an update on upcoming events to add to your calendar.

48 | Fraud The World Bank estimates that global financial fraud costs USD 40 billion a year.

Amanda Line examines the best approaches for fostering a culture of prevention.

INDUSTRY WATCH

50| Global wealth

Private financial wealth in Middle East and Africa increased in 2011, according to a new report by The Boston Consulting Group (BCG).

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July 2012

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EDITORIAL BOARD 2012

SME ADVISOR

Amna Sultan Al Owais Deputy Registrar & Small Claims Tribunal Registrar, DIFC Courts

EDITORIAL BOARD The SME Advisor Editorial Board is an honorary advisory panel of experts comprising organisations and individuals who want to help regional business. The idea is to evolve the magazine through such sharing of ideas with key regional influencers. Over the next few months, we will conduct various interactive sessions with our board members, often including our readers, where we can collaborate and share ideas. The aim is to help the business community benefit from our panel’s expertise.

Dr. Ashraf Mahate Head of Export Market Intelligence, Dubai Exports, and Vice Chair of the Economic Policy Committee, Dubai Economic Department

Dr. Ashraf Mahate is the Head of Export Market Intelligence at Dubai Exports (formerly known as the Dubai Export Development Corporation), which is an agency of the Dubai Economic Department. He is also the Vice Chair of the Economic Policy Committee with the Dubai Economic Department. He has written a number of journal articles, chapters in books and edited books in the areas of economics, finance and banking. Dr. Mahate has provided extensive consultancy services to various organisations in the areas of banking, economics and finance. He has been a director of a number of companies including a venture capital company and a private equity fund.

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Amna Sultan Al Owais joined the DIFC Courts in October 2006. In her role as Deputy Registrar, Amna undertakes judicial functions and other duties prescribed in Article 17 of the DIFC Courts Law No. 10 of 2004.

Amna’s role supports the judicial bench and Registrar in the management and day- to-day administration of the DIFC Courts. In addition to her contribution to the Courts operations, planning and communications, she has a critical technical mandate, which includes case management and legal research responsibilities.

Another aspect of Amna’s position at the DIFC Courts is focused on overseeing the Small Claims Tribunal, one of the busiest of the DIFC Courts. In this role, she coordinates all of the claims lodged and often undertakes consultation for some of the cases filed. Previous to her employment at the DIFC Courts, Amna was in practice as a lawyer for Hadef Al Dhahiri & Associates, in Dubai.

David Burns COO, British Business Group, and Director of Marketing and Corporate Communications, UHY

David is the Director of Marketing and Corporate Communications for an independent office of UHY, an international firm of auditors and accountants. His current UHY activities include the PR and marketing of four offices in the UAE and the business development for the firm in general. David is also the COO of the British Business Group in Dubai and the Northern Emirates, and is responsible for the overall administration of the group’s activities and an office based in the grounds of the British Embassy in Dubai. He has been involved with SMEs in the region for 35 years.

Alexander Blass

John Lincoln

President and CEO, Alexander Blass International

Vice President, Enterprise Marketing, du

Alexander Blass is an American entrepreneur and innovator who has travelled to over 40 countries and appeared in hundreds of media outlets, including several cover stories.

He is the grand prize winner of the Daily Record’s Top Innovator of the Year Award.

He presently serves as CEO of Alexander Blass International, an executive training and consulting firm.

Alexander keynotes some of the world’s most prestigious conferences on topics including innovation, creativity, leadership change, business development and entrepreneurship. Examples include the Abu Dhabi Innovation Forum, the SME Advisor Stars of Business Awards in Dubai and the European Conference on Creativity and Innovation.

John Lincoln has over 20 years telecommunications experience in the USA, the UAE, Japan, Europe, India, Malaysia, Latin America and various other countries. He has extensive senior expertise in international telecommunications sales, marketing, business development and customer service delivery.

John also has executive experience with general management, marketing, product development and revenue management responsibilities in both consumer and enterprise segments for both the fixed and mobile sectors. Additionally he has extensive large scale business development, M&A and operational project experience across the USA, Europe, Asia and Latin America. John has an MBA and MS in telecommunications from the Golden Gate University in San Francisco, California, USA.

Ghada Audi

Abdulmuttalib Al Hashimi

Head Of Disputes Resolution, Fichte & Co

Founder and Managing Director, Next Level

Ghada joined Fichte & Co in 2012 as Head of Disputes Resolution, from the DIFC Courts and Special Tribunal Related to Dubai World.

Her practise areas include international commercial arbitration, mediation, as well as DIFC litigation, regulatory, compliance and insolvency.

She has experience on three continents, having practised law in the USA, Germany and the UAE, enabling her to bridge business cultures and tailor legal solutions and strategies to multi-jurisdictional clients’ needs.

She is a registered practitioner with the DIFC Courts in Dubai and is a member of the USA Bar in New York and Virginia.

Abdulmuttalib Al Hashimi is a UAE national entrepreneur, Managing Director and Founder of Dubai-based Emiratisation consultancy, Next Level. He founded the company in 2006 and under his leadership Next Level has helped more than 30 companies in the UAE on their Emiratisation recruitment and human resources needs. The company has so far helped employ at least 100 UAE nationals and around 200 international employees in various positions.

Abdulmuttalib is a regular speaker in conferences, such as the GCC Nationalisation Conference, the UAE Career Fair in 2009 and the Abu Dhabi Business Round Table conference.

SME ADVISOR Middle East

July 2012

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shoptalk

Dubai Exports organises Connecting with Members initiative

L - R: Abdulla Al Awar, CEO, DIFC, and Jonathan Herps, AGC’s Advisory Board

UAE

DIFC and AGC sign strategic partner agreement

T

he strategic partnership aims to bridge a closer network of business-to-business interactions between Australia and the Gulf States.

Linking the DIFC to 32 corporate members of the AGC and a range of interested stakeholders in government and business will be the first step in leveraging the partnership.

Jonathan Herps, who is part of the AGC’s Advisory Board, and His Excellency Pablo Kang, Australian Ambassador to the UAE and Qatar, attended the signing ceremony in Dubai on 29th May along with Abdulla Mohammed Al Awar, CEO, Dubai International Financial Centre Authority.

“This partnership agreement comes in line with our strategy to develop and build relationships with other key market players, further strengthening our position as one of the world’s top financial centres.

This is our second collaborative agreement with an Australian body, which reflects our commitment to contribute towards the UAE’s economic growth by attracting Australian companies and offering them a platform to access regional opportunities,”Al Awar said.

Over the last two years, DIFC has been strengthening its relationships with Australian entities.

Two weeks ago, DIFC signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the New South Wales Trade and Investment, the government body responsible for driving sustainable economic growth in the state of New South Wales, Australia, and last year, the Centre welcomed two leading Australian financial firms, Macquarie Capital Finance (Dubai) Limited and, Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited (ANZ), to its community.

A major feature of the initiative will be workshops, held prior to and during major trade fairs and exhibitions, to highlight international opportunities for member companies in the corresponding industry sector. Companies attending the workshops can also learn about the services and support provided by Dubai Exports in leveraging export opportunities.

“We have spoken to leading event organisers and agreed with many of them to conduct our workshops alongside strategic industry events. Dubai Exports has also drawn up a workshop programme for 2012,” said Mariam Al Afridi, Director of Exporters’ Services, Dubai Exports. “The workshops will help Dubai Exports to strengthen the association with major industry sectors and closely align our services, strategies and programmes to the needs of businesses. Meanwhile, companies can gain critical knowledge on accessing new markets and connecting with potential customers, across industry platforms,” Al Afridi added.

Dubai Exports recently hosted a workshop for education and training providers as part of the GETEX education show held in Dubai earlier this month.

“We are also looking at holding a similar event for IT companies as part of GITEX in October 2012,” said Al Afridi.

Updated My Gov portal to enhance government services With the participation of 40 federal government authorities, an updated version of integrated portal My Gov (www.mygov.ae) has been announced. The My Gov initiative aims to activate communication channels between customers and federal government authorities, enhancing their role in services development and excellence through suggestions and comments.

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My Gov is an effective channel of communication that allows customers and employees to provide ideas and suggestions that can help in developing government services as well as implementing best practices. In addition, it encourages a culture of creativity and excellence in order to achieve customer satisfaction in line with the government’s efforts to improve the

quality of life of UAE citizens and residents according to Vision 2021.

Abdullah Al Basti, Executive Director of Government Affairs Development in the Ministry of Cabinet Affairs, urged customers to take advantage of the unique communication channel by sharing their remarks and suggestion to improve government services.

Abu Dhabi hosts UAEKorean seminar

Dubai Chamber executives during a trade mission visit to Addis Ababa.

UAE

Dubai Chamber builds commercial ties with Ethiopia

D

ubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry will open its first overseas representative office in Ethiopia by the end of 2012.

Plans to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the African Union during the Eastern African Community Forum that will be held in Dubai in October, were also agreed to during the three-day visit. The opening of an office in Ethiopia will be the first in a series that Dubai Chamber intends to open as part of its new strategy to explore opportunities in untapped markets.

The trade mission, organised by Dubai Chamber with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the UAE Embassy in Ethiopia and the Ethiopian Consulate in Dubai, was held from 15th to 17th May in order to build stronger commercial ties with the African nation.

It was successfully concluded with a meeting with Ethiopian Prime Minister HE Meles Zenawi,

who praised Dubai’s vibrant economy and called for building stronger bridges of cooperation between Dubai and Ethiopia. Zenawi said the opening of a representative office by Dubai Chamber was a positive step in advancing trade inflow between the two countries. HE Hamad Buamim, Director General, Dubai Chamber, said the business organisation had chosen to focus on Ethiopia due to the country’s close proximity and the availability of huge investment opportunities.

Buamim said Dubai could also play a strategic role as a gateway for Ethiopian exports to the GCC, Middle East, South East Asian and European regions.

According to recent data, Dubai’s non-oil trade with Ethiopia increased by 35.9% to reach AED 1.1 billion between January and October 2011, compared to AED 829 million during the same period in 2010.

The 2012 UAE-Korean Knowledge Sharing Seminar held recently reaffirmed the strong commitment of the UAE and South Korea to intensify its collaboration in the information and communications technology (ICT) field to accelerate mutual growth.

Organised by the Abu Dhabi Systems & Information Centre (ADSIC), the government entity in charge of the Emirate’s IT agenda in line with Abu Dhabi Vision 2030, the annual seminar follows up on a Memorandum of Understanding signed by the heads of the Korean Development Institute (KDI) and ADSIC. Under the terms of the memorandum enacted during South Korean President Lee Myung-bak’s state visit to the UAE in late 2009, KDI and ADSIC will periodically share expertise and experiences in key ICT areas such as geographic information systems.

This year’s two-day seminar covered Spatial Data Infrastructure and its synergy with governmentwide enterprise applications including the electronic no-objection certificate and land information management. Information security policies, standards and guidelines were extensively discussed as well. Over 90 representatives from local, federal and semi-government organisations shared best practices and technology investment and human capital development strategies for ICT and Geographic Information Systems deployments.

Sharjah award draws wide participation The office of the Sharjah Economic Excellence Award (SEEA) has revealed the successful hosting of an Applicant’s Workshop for the 10th cycle of the awards, drawing in wide participation from companies and organisations in the Emirate. The workshop, which was held recently at the headquarter of the Sharjah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI), focused on advising interested participants on how to fill up the submission file in a more

organised manner, thereby providing them with better chances of winning the award. This year’s cycle of the award is being presented with a new model that adheres to global standards representing the European Excellence Model.

During the event, participants were also given examples and more detailed information on the concept of organisational excellence, and the model standards of European Foundation for Quality Management. They

also examined self-assessment mechanisms, and how organisations can enable radical changes across institutional culture.

The Applicant’s Workshop is part of the SEEA Office’s continuing efforts to increase awareness on the award, which aims to drive more economic activity into the Emirate and further the development of the country’s natural human resources in line with plans for growth and excellence in business performance.

SME ADVISOR Middle East

July 2012

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shoptalk QATAR

Enterprise Qatar pinpoints challenges at SME Think-tank

Noora Al Mannai, CEO of Enterprise Qatar, addresses the audience during the EQ SME Think-tank

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overnment, political and institutional organisations have recently joined Enterprise Qatar’s (EQ) latest SMEdriven initiative, the SME Think-tank. The event also included scores of entrepreneurs and industrial SME owners who joine to discuss challenges, solutions and action plans facilitating SMEs’ access to government and semi-government projects’ procurement.

The EQ think-tank was held under the patronage of HE Sheikh Jassim Bin Abdul Aziz Al Thani, Minister of Business and Trade

in Qatar, and paved the way for the upcoming Government Procurement Conference slated to take place in February 2013.

The SME Think-tank was a fullday workshop which brought together stakeholders from the private and public sectors to propose concrete solutions and formulate action plans to alleviate challenges faced by SMEs. The SME Think-tank was recognised by many as a key platform for productive bilateral dialogue to create and pinpoint vital

business opportunities for entrepreneurs.

Noora Al Mannai, CEO of Enterprise Qatar said: “The challenges that face SMEs, when reaching out to the government and semi-government entities, are multi-faceted. The primary purpose of the think-tank workshop is to engage various stakeholders in order to glean a comprehensive outlook and deliver an action plan with proper solutions. This is strongly in-line with the (QNDS 2011-2016) that boosts small businesses’ procurements processes and alleviate burdens by establishing clear and transparent policies.”

“Taking the initiative to advise and raise awareness concerning the problems SMEs face is very important. SMEs equate to the development of nations as they are the engine of developing a sustainable economy.

It is essential for SMEs to be a major part of the economy, not only for the purpose of development, but because SMEs are the driving force for growth,” said Maja Lornac from the Apriori Group.

The EQ SME Think-tank comprised a series of workshops to discuss the main technical and financial challenges that are considered as barriers to the SMEs’ effective participation at government procurement projects.

KSA

Supply chain management in focus at Saudi CSR Forum The Saudi Corporate Social Responsibility Forum, organised jointly with the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Al Iktissad Wal Aamal Group, recently held two days of sessions on a variety of topics.

Day two of the forum hosted a session on Mechanisms to build responsible supply chains, which was moderated by Al Iktissad Wal Aamal Group Deputy CEO Fayssal Abu Zaki, and included Procter & Gamble Arabian Peninsula Public and Government Relations Manager, Turki Bin Moammar.

The panellists addressed the establishment and management of a supply chain aligned with the corporate social

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responsibility strategy and also tackled the censorship on supply chain in-house practices and the way to ensure its conformity with the corporate social responsibility objectives.

The sixth session was chaired by the board member and Deputy Chairman of Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry SMEs Development Centre, Ziad Al Bassam, and included Director of the Human Resources Development Fund Makkah Branch, Hisham Lanjawi, Deputy CEO of Social Responsibility in Dallah Albaraka Yasser, Mohammed Abdo Al Yamani, a senior media director in Saudi Arabia, Nawaf Al Shaalani,

L - R: Dr. Sharif Thaimer, Dr. Suleiman Faqih Hospital Social Responsibility Committee; Fayssal Abu Zaki, Iktissad Wal Aamal Group; and Turki Bin Moammar, Procter & Gamble.

Director of Shell International Intilaaqah programme Nawaf Al Musraa.

Al Yamani said “the Saudi SME sector attracts many initiatives and support programmes. The size of the available support is however insufficient as opposed to the challenges spectrum including particularly the soaring unemployment rate.”

Al Yamani indicated that “the standards and definitions to

determine the businesses falling under the SMEs category are diverse with some using the business size standard while others relying on the capital or staffing standard.” He added: “Diversity might be useful in case of cooperation among the different entities supervising the sector, nonetheless the main parameter should always relate to the activity and nature of work.”

shoptalk BAHRAIN

Bahrain to boost bilateral ties with India

L - R: Nitin Joshi, Member of the Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, and Khaled Al Amin, Member of the Board, Bahrain India Business Council

I

ndia and Bahrain recently announced the signing of a Tax Information Exchange Agreement (TIEA) to promote economic and joint investment between the two countries.

According to the International Monetary Fund, total trade between the two countries currently amounts to USD 1.7 billion a year, with this agreement aimed at boosting that number.

The agreement was one of a number signed during a two-day state visit by a senior Bahrain delegation led by His Royal Highness

Prince Salman Bin Hamad Al-Khalifa, the Crown Prince of Bahrain and Chairman of the Bahrain Economic Development Board (EDB), including representatives from the EDB, Bahrain Chamber of Commerce & Industry (BCCI) and members of the private sector. The delegation was visiting Mumbai and Delhi to strengthen bilateral relationships between the business communities and to highlight investment opportunities in the Kingdom.

Kamal bin Ahmed, Minster for Transportation and Acting Chief Executive of Bahrain EDB said: “India is renowned worldwide for its expertise in ICT, so we are delighted to be gaining the expertise of one of the world’s best as we look to build on our own ICT sector in Bahrain. High-value industries like ICT or financial services, which require a skilled workforce in order to thrive, are an important part of our economic strategy to create sustainable economic growth and employment.” Esam Abdullah Fakhro, Chairman of the BCCI, said: “We see a great opportunity for us to be strengthening our economic and trade ties with India, and businesses in Bahrain have a lot to offer to India in exchange. The economies of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) are continuing to diversify, with Bahrain at the forefront, offering exciting new opportunities for foreign investors and new products for export to foreign markets.”

Bahrain and India have always maintained a strong and stable relationship, with diplomatic relations being established at Ambassadorial level since 1971. Relations are also characterised by continuous and cordial political and cultural exchanges. There are over 200,000 Indian residents in Bahrain. Indian companies with operations in Bahrain include Tata Consultancy Services, Tech Mahindra, JBF Industries, Canara Bank, ICICI Bank, Bank of Baroda and State Bank of India.

Three Bahrain logistics centres recognised Bahrain is home to three of the world’s top 20 special economic zones and locations for inward investment, economic development and business expansion globally, according to the 2012-13 Global Free Zones Rankings, released by Foreign Direct Investment Magazine.

The report, which considered 150 free zones and special economic zones worldwide, saw Bahrain International Investment Park (15th worldwide), Khalifa Bin Salman Port (16th worldwide) and Bahrain International Airport (19th worldwide) all placed within the leading 20 locations, with Bahrain Logistics Zone also included in the report, ranked 30th.

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The report’s rankings reflect the Kingdom’s established position as a regional logistics and transportation hub. With excellent transport infrastructure, and the causeway linking Bahrain to Saudi Arabia, Bahrain’s logistics industry has been growing fast in response to increasing demand from businesses.

Commenting on the report, Hassan Ali Al Majed, Director General of the General Organisation of Sea Ports, said: “At GOP, our aim is to firmly establish Bahrain as a leading global maritime centre and transhipment hub for the Northern Gulf. We are therefore pleased with Khalifa

Bin Salman Port’s ranking which recognises the stateof-the art infrastructure, high business potential and services offered by the port. Bahrain Logistics Zone’s ranking further

underscores our continuous efforts in establishing partnerships with tenants to support Bahrain’s logistics offering and our position as a regional transhipment hub.”

SME About Town

Dubai SME 100 members get advice on raising capital

L - R: Jed Christiansen, Google; John Fawaz, Waseet; Ari Kesisoglu, Google; and Imad Lahad, Waseet, during the press conference.

Google partners with Waseet

A

l Waseet International (AWI) recently announced the selection of Waseet as the first multi-country Google AdWords Premier SMB Partner (PSP) in the MENA region (Egypt, Kuwait, KSA, Lebanon, UAE).

Through its network of 35 operations in nine countries, Waseet is known for the knowledge it provides to its advertisers. This partnership, will offer Waseet’s SMEs a new set of opportunities enabling them to expand their business in ways they never thought possible.

“As a premier SME partner, Waseet’s sales force is equipped to help local businesses efficiently tap into the power and reach of the Google AdWords online advertising platform. The inclusion of the PSP programme reinforces Waseet’s position as a premier provider of offline and online advertising solutions for SMEs in the region” said John Fawaz, CCMO, AWI. “Our strategic alliance with Waseet will allow us to have a big impact on small businesses.

Google AdWords is a highly effective advertising tool for businesses of all sizes. Waseet will offer a fully managed AdWords service to small businesses that will allow them to reach new customers online,” said Ari Kesisoglou Director of Google Middle East and North Africa.

In a market where Internet penetration and online advertising are experiencing exponential growth, SMEs still have limited or no online presence. In an effort to help SMEs in MENA, Waseet is currently offering innovative online solutions to thousands of Waseet’s SME advertisers to establish their online presence.

“Waseet has been an obvious candidate for us to partner with in the MENA region. They have strong relationships with thousands of SMEs in the region and a long tradition in helping SMEs advertise in traditional and new media,” said Jed Christiansen, Head of Google Channel Sales for Emerging SEEMEA.

DIC Excellence Series focuses on intellectual property Companies today are creating value by shifting from a commodities economy to a knowledge-based sector that focuses on intangible assets and output in business in addition to embracing intellectual property (IP).

The approach helps protect businesses of all sizes, in addition to monitoring and auditing events that impact the organisation, according to Anwar Imam, technology and

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media consultant, as well as former lawyer specialising in intellectual property.

Imam’s comments came during the Dubai Internet City (DIC) Excellence Series event on Intellectual Property: The currency of creativity and innovation. The session hosted business partners of TECOM Investments’ entities and featured industry experts to offer insights on IP, its value to business, practical concepts and tips for local startups, media and technology companies.

Imam explained how “migration to a knowledge-based operation is more relevant for SMEs, which need to protect their brand, increase awareness on contractual rights, and identify ways to monitor business processes.”

Imam also noted different perceptions of intellectual property with the emergence of the Internet: “Policymakers, legislators, rights holders, content creators, businesses, and users are aware of the scenario and taking concrete steps on this front. Speed of innovation is another facet that raises a number of issues related to trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets and patents.”

The aim of the Financing for Growth seminar was to raise awareness and inform the CEOs and senior executives who attended of various financing options, including debt and private equity as well as listing on an exchange. SMEs ready to embrace capital from various sources, including raising funds through the equity markets, can benefit from streamlining their procedures and structures, including institutionalising financial governance, corporate transparency, appointing independent directors and developing investor relations.

Over 50 representatives from over 40 SME100 companies attended the seminar. A case study from one of the SME100 companies was also presented to help fellow SMEs understand the challenges and opportunities of raising risk capital for growth. Drake & Scull, which listed on DFM in 2009, spoke about the company’s experience in preparing for its IPO and life as a company after listing.

Abdul Baset Al Janahi, CEO of Dubai SME said: “I hope Dubai SME100 companies and other ambitious SMEs will take the opportunity to learn more about the IPO route and prepare themselves should they decide to list one day.

Dubai SME believes that a number of SME’s here are capable of exercising the IPO option in the next couple of years.”

Fahima Al Bastaki, Senior Vice President, Head of Business Development, Dubai Financial Market (DFM) said: “As the main driver of any economy, the SME sector on average contributes 75% of the economic activities, and this percentage edges up to 90% in some countries. Therefore, the UAE in general and the Emirate of Dubai in particular, extensively support this sector through many organisations including Dubai SME, the leading example in this regard.”

Maximising ROI from training programmes

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ith a recent ROI Institute study claiming 60% to 90% of all job-related skills and knowledge acquired in workshops are not being implemented on the job, UAE-based human resources professionals are searching for ways to maximise return on investment (ROI) from training programmes.

FranklinCovey Middle East recently held its monthly The Knowledge Café event, which brings together UAE-based HR professionals from SMEs and larger companies. Jane Rennie, Director of Delivery Effectiveness at FranklinCovey Middle East, led the discussion and highlighted the most common problems related to workshops and training programmes. “Clients frequently ask us how they can maximise the return on training programmes and this is hardly surprising, with the ROI study demonstrating as little as 10% of all learned in these sessions might be used in the workplace,” said Rennie.

“Many organisations are looking to improve employee engagement, create a culture change or simply increase productivity. While there are many excellent approaches and solutions on the market to help organisations develop their people, few of them really do deliver sustainable change,” added Rennie.

Jane Rennie, Director of Delivery Effectiveness, FranklinCovey Middle East, led the discussion during the event.

According to research done by FranklinCovey, there are three key reasons why it’s so difficult to achieve extraordinary productivity in today’s day and age: decisions, attention and energy. People are now being paid to use their minds much more. Approximately 70% of today’s workforce is employed in the knowledge worker’s space, working in medium to high complexity jobs, and employees are being asked to do more with less.

A recent Harvard Business Review survey underlines the importance of effectively training these employees working in high

complexity jobs. The research showed where low levels of decision-making or complexity exists in jobs, such as working at a fast food restaurant, the top performer is three times more productive than the bottom performer.

When you consider medium levels of complexity, such as a medical technician, the top one per cent performer is twelve times more productive than the bottom performer.

However, when you compare occupations involving high levels of complexity, such as a lawyer or software developer, the top performer is infinitely more productive than the bottom performer.

Winner named in regional entrepreneurial competition In the presence of HE Sheikha Lubna Al Qasimi, the UAE’s Minister of Foreign Trade, 14 teams of Arab entrepreneurs gathered at the Meydan IMAX Theatre in Dubai, for the final decision-making of the fifth annual Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Enterprise Forum Arab Business Plan Competition, in partnership with Abdul Latif Jameel Community Initiatives (ALJ) and a joint initiative with Global Innovation through Science and Technology (GIST).

A record 4,500 applications were submitted to the MIT Enterprise Forum, whose aim is to develop and nurture a culture of entrepreneurship across the Arab region and provide a platform for networking,

knowledge sharing and the coaching and mentorship of the next generation of entrepreneurs. Of the 14 finalists, Butterfleye from Lebanon was named winner of this year’s MIT Enterprise Forum Arab Business Plan Competition, receiving USD 50,000 in startup funds.

Showcasing equally impressive business plans, Qabila Media Productions from Egypt was awarded with USD 10,000 in startup capital for second place, and SilGenix from Egypt was presented with USD 5,000 for third place. Identifying entrepreneurial women across the region, Perihan Abou-Zeid was also recognised as this

year’s Best Woman Entrepreneur, receiving a special prize of USD 15,000 to help seed her innovative business plan.

This year, half of the final business plans

included technology or telecommunications startups.

Media, social networks and agriculture made up the additional fledgling business schemes.

Hind Hobeika, Founder of Butterfleye (centre) receives the first place prize of the MITEF Arab Business Plan Competition held at the Meydan IMAX Theatre in Dubai.

SME ADVISOR Middle East

July 2012

17

CORPORATE LIFESTYLE

smooth ride

The new Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT brings out the darker side of luxury. With enhanced driving dynamics, the car rides on high performance and fun. With a maximum output of 591 hp the optimised AMG SPEEDSHIFT DCT seven-speed sports transmission and the redeveloped AMG RIDE CONTROL Performance suspension, the SLS AMG GT is available both as a Coupé and a Roadster. Also, the new highquality AMG designo Exclusive STYLE leather is now available as an optional extra for all SLS AMG models.

Executive trends We bring you a sample of the newest products being snapped up by the executive shopper.

Stylish stationary Diver’s watch

The DS Action Diver Automatic Chronograph watch from Certina is produced along the stringent ISO 6425 standard for diver’s watches. It brings together bold design and exceptionally resistant construction, in a 45.2 mm brushed steel case with a polished bezel. Toothed and easy to handle, its Superluminova-treated face and big numerals ensure clear reading even in darkness. Additional Superluminova on its hands, indices and on a dot along the central hand, brings maximum contrast against the dial surface. Its sapphire crystal with anti-reflection coating protects the watch against all underwater perils.

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July 2012

SME ADVISOR Middle East

Executives looking to add a bit of class to their offices should check out Montegrappa’s limited edition Gran Teatro La Fenice fountain pen (GBP 3,375). Crafted from sterling silver and celluloid with an enamel trim, the design is inspired by the chandeliers, pillars and rococo filigrees of the La Fenice interior. This elegant piece of stationary would be a great addition to any executive’s collection.

Wearable HDTV

For USD 800, you can bring a home theatre with you everywhere you go.

The wearable Sony HMZ-T1 can play your favourite movies and games in 2D, 3D and on dual HD OLED displays. It also comes with built-in virtual 5.1 surround sound. A great high-tech travel gadget that will help you kill time on long flights.

Executive ensemble

Gadget bag

This signature web tote from Gucci (USD 1390) is ideal for travel as it is lightweight and comes with a padded laptop compartment. The striped leather bag is stylish and comes loaded with interior pockets for a business traveller’s SmartPhone and tablet as well.

These cufflinks from New & Lingwood are a timeless addition to any executive’s ensemble.

The cufflinks uphold the brand’s traditional and high-end style.

The Happy Penguin cufflinks (GBP 295) are made of Sterling Silver English and are a result of the rare and highly-skilled handwork of vitreous enamelling, also known as hard enamel. This type of application is time consuming and requires great patience and craftsmanship. All the processes are done by hand and eye with no mechanical or automated assistance, using methods unchanged in 200 years.

New & Lingwood also offers a wide range of menswear styles including specially made shirts, shoes, belts and coats.

Platinum mouse

Cool and smooth to the touch, the SPHERE 2 from OreObject is both sleek and luxurious. The mouse is cast of the same material embraced by medical, pharmaceutical, and jewellers everywhere. The platinum mouse is also very durable, coupled with superior stain and dirt resistance. The SPHERE 2 retails for USD 320 and is available in gold and titanium.

Exclusive eyewear

Bentley’s eyewear collection is arguably the most exclusive and expensive in the world.

The brand collection is developed by Estede of Austria and prides itself on offering handbuilt pieces made of the finest quality natural materials. The collection consists of a limited edition range of high-end sunglasses and prescription frames featuring the famous winged B. What makes this collection unique are the materials used which include silver palladium, 18 carat rose and white gold and platinum.

SME ADVISOR Middle East

July 2012

19

TRADE

Exhibiting your strengths For SMEs seeking to extend their reach, exhibitions are of critical importance.

Dr. Ashraf Mahate shares his tips for selecting the best exhibition for your company.

E

Dr. Ashraf Mahate Dubai Economic Department (DED)

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July 2012

xhibitions provide a platform to increase business while at the same time there are peripheral benefits, such as the ability to improve relationships with existing clients, develop relationships with new or potential clients, raise the organisation’s profile or image, launch a new product or service or, simply gain information regarding a potential target market. In a short space of time, an SME can show its products and services to a large pool of buyers eager to make a purchase, while understanding the trends and prices in the global marketplace. However, if these objectives or aims of participating in an exhibition are to be achieved then they should be carried out in a well-planned manner and executed with the highest level of precision.

It is important to note that the visitors at an exhibition not only take away positive impressions of a company but also negative ones. More importantly, well-planned and executed exhibitions will receive favourable media coverage. Therefore, participating in an exhibition can increase business substantially, while at the same time it can also risk the loss of future business. Due to the risks and opportunity attached to each event, not to mention the cost, it is very important that SMEs are careful in selecting the most appropriate events.

In the first instance, SMEs need to find out about the various exhibitions that are currently taking place in the region, as well as globally. In the modern electronic age, the Internet is the first channel to obtain information or listing of the various exhibitions in the selected product or service group. Secondly, the various export promotion agencies, such as Dubai Exports, have a list of exhibitions in various sectors. There are also industry groups which

SME ADVISOR Middle East

promote the various exhibitions in their sector. Finally, there is nothing better than actually talking to customers and finding out which regional and global exhibitions that they attend. This provides insight into the type of exhibitions that existing customers attend and hence forms a basis to attract new buyers.

Once the list of regional and global exhibitions has been compiled, SMEs need to judge each event on its own merits using an objective criteria that seeks to ensure that it adds value to its overseas and to some extent domestic activities through its participation.

First, the company should check to ensure that an event complements its core activities in that it should match the list of products and services that it currently offers.

There is very little logic in attending an exhibition in a totally unrelated area. Having said that, many exhibitions also include associated sectors, for instance, in the case of food exhibitions, these usually include food packaging, food production and equipment and so on.

For a higher probability of a successful outcome, an exhibition needs to have sufficient footfall as well as a large concentration of senior decision makers who are actually intending to make a purchase. SMEs should consider the following factors before selecting an exhibition.

Geographical reach

This refers to the appeal that an exhibition has in terms of visitor countries. Of course, the more broad an appeal of an exhibition, the greater its geographical reach; most exhibitions claim that they tend to have visitors from a large number of countries. However, in reality it appears that only one or two visitors come from these locations.

About Dr. Ashraf Mahate is the Head of Export Market Intelligence at Dubai Exports (formerly known as the Dubai Export Development Corporation), which is an agency of the Dubai Economic Department.

Dr. Mahate is also the Vice Chair of the Economic Policy Committee with the Dubai Economic Department. He has written a number of journal articles, chapters in books and edited books in the areas of economics, finance and banking. He has also presented papers at major

Quality of visitors

For effective importer awareness, an exhibition needs to have a significant number of senior decision makers. The concept of a decision maker is broad enough to encompass the differences in sectors and cultures. For example, in retailing it is common for the product buyer to make the final decision without it going to the CEO. However, in other sectors or cultures the CEO’s involvement is important in the buying decision. Whereas junior staff can bring products and services to the attention of senior management it tends to be a rather long and less effective a process. However, junior staff can be effective in providing leads or buyer information and therefore they should not be totally dismissed.

Diversity of exhibitors

In most cases, visitors tend to prefer exhibitions which are focused on a particular product or service group rather than being too general in nature. The simple reason is that most visitors have certain product purchases in mind and hence are looking to fulfill these requirements.

More importantly, senior decision makers tend not to be window shoppers and need to use their limited time in an effective manner.

Level of repeat exhibitors

A commonly used real measure of the return of participating in an exhibition is whether the exhibitors repeat their involvement. If an exhibition leads to genuine business whether in the short or medium term, then exhibitors are likely to attend. However, if an exhibition is less than effective in generating business, exhibitors are more likely to participate in other events.

Reputation and experience

It is generally recognised that new exhibitions take time to establish and create awareness among the target audience.

Economics at University College London, followed by a Masters in International Economics and Banking at the University of Wales in Cardiff. Dr. Mahate is a professional educator and received his training at the Institute of Education (University of London). He is a member of the Char tered Institute of Managers (UK) and a Member of the Institute of Commercial Management (UK). He is also a member of the Association of Cer tified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists (ACAMS).

From the point of view of exhibitors, new exhibitions tend to have a higher risk factor as their past performance does not provide them with adequate information regarding the likely benefits or strategies to use. Therefore, most exhibitors tend to prefer well-established exhibitions with a firm track record of the type of visitors and the level of business conducted.

Production capacity

Although participation in an exhibition may increase international awareness of domestic products and services, it can only be effective if matched by a corresponding ability to meet the demand requirements. Therefore, it is important for the SME to participate only in exhibitions where there is an ability to supply and meet the needs of foreign buyers.

Import regulations

An important export impediment is trade restriction, whether they are tariff or non- tariff based. In the case of the former the importing country simply adds tax or duty on imports thereby increasing their price. In the case

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For geographical reach to be effective, a significant number of visitors should come from a particular location. A simple metric to assess the geographical reach of an exhibition is that a reasonable number of the visitors should originate from a single country for it to be counted. The usual rule of thumb that is used is to assume that 40% to 60% of the visitors to an exhibition will come from a 200 mile radius. The geographical reach of the exhibition also needs to be similar to the countries that the SME intends on entering or targeting.

international conferences. Dr. Mahate has provided extensive consultancy services to various organisations in the areas of banking, economics and finance. He has been a director of a number of companies including a venture capital company and a private equity fund.

Dr. Mahate received his doctorate from Cass City University Business School in London (UK) which was ranked by the Financial Times newspaper as the 12th best university in the world for finance. He read

There is nothing like actually talking to customers and finding out which regional and global exhibitions they attend. This provides insight into the type of exhibitions that existing customers attend, and hence forms a basis to attract new buyers.

of tariffs, exporters either need to have a price advantage or differentiate their product so that the buyer is prepared to pay a premium. More difficult are non-tariff barriers because they can be in various forms ranging from quotas to simply not allowing certain imports. With this, SME should participate in exhibitions in countries where the tariffs do not impose a considerable market disadvantage or where the impediments can be dealt with by the firm.

National pavilions

Usually SMEs may not get the same level of attention as larger firms and this is more so the case in overseas markets. An effective manner to overcome this problem is to participate in national pavilions. The key advantage of these is the fact that they bring together exporters from

SME ADVISOR Middle East

July 2012

21

TRADE Exhibition Selection Matrix

Supply side factors

Demand side factors

Low

Percentage of decision makers

Low priority

Diversity of exhibitors Level of repeat exhibitors Reputation and experience

National pavilion Risk management

Participating in an exhibition can increase business substantially, while at the same time it can also risk the loss of future business. Due to the risks and opportunity attached to each event, and not to mention the cost, it is very important that SMEs are careful in selecting the most appropriate events.

“

The fixed costs in terms of resources, effort and total costs are almost the same regardless of the type of exhibition that an SME participates in. In order to ease the selection process the matrix below has been developed.

Once the exhibition has been selected, a new set of challenges arise from selecting the right space at the event, to the stand design, to which samples should be taken. If an SME participates in a national pavilion, then the decision

SME ADVISOR Middle East

High priority

Import regulations

Any event that an SME participates in should not pose a risk to any of its stakeholders. Risk in this context includes a whole array of aspects such reputation, employee safety, and so on.

July 2012

Participation to take place if there are additional factors involved, such as prior interest from potential buyers or agents and distributors

Domestic production capacity

Risk management

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High

Geographical reach

the same country under a national umbrella. In doing so, they tend to increase the footfall to the stand through national branding, media activities such as advertising.

More importantly, the national pavilions usually provide a turn-key solution whereby they arrange all the aspects of the exhibition from booking the space and dealing with the stand builder to shipping the samples. This is a convenient manner for first time exhibitors to participate and benefit from exhibitions. More importantly, in very large exhibitions a national pavilion helps the SME keep its focus while learning from co-exhibitors.

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Medium

of selecting the space as well as the stand design is taken care of and the SME simply needs to concentrate on the samples and marketing collateral. If that company needs to select its own space then there are various strategies that it can follow such as to be close to the main attractions such as networking lounges, seminar room, key players in the industry even competitors or entrances, exits and escalators, as well as lifts. SMEs should avoid areas with obstructing columns, low ceilings, dead-end aisles and poor lighting.

In the sample of exhibits, the SME needs to follow the three basic rules namely to target the audience, to differentiate themselves from the crowd and to appropriate represent the firm. First, in the case of targeting the audience the exhibits should be consistent with the profile of the exhibition. There is little point in taking up exhibit space if the company’s products don’t fit the profile of the exhibition. Space at these type of events is limited and it has to be used wisely. Secondly, the exhibits need to be differentiated from those of the competitors so that they appeal to the target audience. Usually, a visitor spends two to three minutes at a particular exhibition stand, so it is very important to capture the attention of the potential buyer quickly. Third, the exhibits should adequately and appropriately reflect the qualities and capabilities of the company.

One key feature that is often overlooked is the staff at the exhibition who should be knowledgeable of the products or services. It is important to note that the staff at the exhibition make the initial impact with the potential buyer and are its ambassadors. It is vital that both existing and temporary staff (those recruited especially for the exhibition) are well-trained regarding the products and services.

Like all things in life, a first experience is always the most difficult one. Once a company has participated in a few exhibitions, their value will then be realised. Therefore, it is important for SMEs to capitalise on these events in order to grow their business.

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© Copyright 2012 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. The information contained herein is subject to change without notice. Intel, the Intel logo, Intel Inside, the Intel Inside logo, Xeon and Xeon Inside are trademarks of Intel Corporation in the U.S. and other countries. Microsoft and Windows are trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies.

1 Refers to diagonal measurement of display.

2 All specifications represent the typical specifications provided by HP’s component manufacturers; actual performance may vary either higher or lower.

BANKING FOR BUSINESS

Filling the healthcare gap With healthcare on the verge of substantial expansion in the UAE, financial companies like ADCB are moving fast to provide solutions to the industry’s key players.

W Joumana Saad CPI Business

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July 2012

ith its rapidly rising population, the UAE has realised the need for adequate health care solutions to serve its residents. The National Bureau of Statistics estimates the UAE’s population to grow by 5.6% by the end of 2012, to 7.6 million from 7.2 million in 2011. This will no doubt lead to more demand for more space and services across the board. The GCC Healthcare 2025 Report by McKinsey & Co. estimates the demand for hospital beds across the country to increase by 160% by 2025.

Governments are pouring invesments into the sector and working with the private sector on a number of initiatives. Officials have also taken steps to receive international accreditation for various healthcare facilities throughout the UAE. This year, Abu Dhabi’s Executive Council announced the approval of 14 new

SME ADVISOR Middle East

health care facilities to be constructed, including six new hospitals in the Emirate. Dubai’s government is also aiming for world-class standards for its healthcare sector by positioning itself as a future hub for medical tourism. A delegation from the Dubai Health Authority recently visited medical facilities in Turkey to observe the best practices and standards being used in the country, which is among the top-ten destinations in the world for medical tourism.

Many in the industry will be dealing with signifcantly higher costs as a result of this fast growth and development.

The McKinsey & Co. report on healthcare spending predicts surging costs in the sector, with total UAE health care costs expected to increase fivefold from USD 12 billion to USD 60 billion by 2025. Although financial support from governments has been substantial, there still exists a gap in

Rising costs n The demand for hospital beds across the GCC is expected to rise, with the UAE registering the highest projected growth in demand for hospital beds at 160% by 2025. n Total UAE healthcare costs expected to increase fivefold from USD 12 billion now to USD 60 billion from by 2025. n With two physicians per 1,000 population, the GCC countries remain above the global average ratio of 1.3, but below the US and Europe, which are at 2.6 and 3.2 respectively.

The Saudi German Hospital-Dubai is one of many new hospitals that have opened in the UAE this year.

Source: McKinsey & Co. GCC Health Care 2025 Report

in purchasing the equipment they need to start up or further develop their business. The partnership will entail combined efforts for promotions and holding various events throughout the year.

“The ADCB BusinessEdge Medical Equipment Loan is yet another step in our efforts to offer customers flexible and customised products and services,” says Ray. Referring to the partnership he noted that: “The alliance with Siemens will result in a focused and tailored financial product proposition, combining the financial expertise of ADCB’s SME division with industry leadership and knowledge from Siemens, greatly benefitting customers.”

“

Nilanjan Ray

The industry will inevitably grow in the years to come and there will be a influx of quality by way of world class facilities, manufacturers and service providers entering the business. Therefore, all our current partnerships will help us address this demand effectively and ensure that we can be ready to meet the demand when it comes.

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the private sector in terms of financing such growth in a sustainable way.

Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (ADCB) is one key player that has realised this substantial opportunity by facilitating asset backed financing for medical equipment. ADCB Business Banking has partnered with manufacturers, dealers and distributors of various equipment within the industry.

“ADCB caters to the healthcare industry through its products, specifically, financing on equipments used in the health care business; these could range from X-Ray machines to a fully fledged MRI lab, and so on,” says Nilanjan Ray, Vice President Head of Business Banking Division at ADCB. “There is a huge interest in this space from a lot of private players. Looking at the financial needs of players in this industry and the fact that there are very few options available which are tailored to the need of customers in the health care business, ADCB has made a foray into this space. “ Ray says the bank has been actively working with the private sector players for some time to support their growth and developments in industry. These type of partnerships are of critical importance as they provide a stronger foundation for future growth. “We believe such alliances are important as it not just addresses the customers need more effectively but a partnership of this kind helps ADCB and the partner reach out to a much wider customer base,” says Ray. The industry will inevitably grow in the years to come and there will be a influx of quality by way of world class facilities, manufacturers and service providers entering the business. Therefore, all our current partnerships will help us address this demand effectively and ensure that we can be ready to meet the demand when it comes.”

Last year, ADCB announced a partnership agreement with Siemens Healthcare UAE to launch ADCB’s BusinessEdge Medical Equipment Loans in the UAE. The product is designed to meet the requirements of the local medical and healthcare industry, including hospitals, clinics, laboratories and pathology labs, by funding the purchase of medical imaging and therapy equipment. The product is expected to focus largely on the small and mid sized clinics and practitioners.

The partnership between ADCB’s SME division and Siemens Healthcare, has been established to ensure that SME customers from the healthcare industry have easy access to flexible and customised finance options

In a statement addressing the partnership, Maurice Faber, Vice President for Healthcare at Siemens said: “The partnership will allow access to the latest imaging, diagnostic and therapeutic technology to a much wider set of providers and in turn, the patients.”

ADCB BusinessEdge Medical Equipment Loan Key features n High loan amounts of up to 80% of equipment cost n Loan amount up to AED 25 million n Refinance option available for existing assets n Flexible loan tenures, up to five years

n Minimal documentation and quick approval time n Attractive interest rates n Loanshield and equipment insurance available n Shari’ah compliant products also available

SME ADVISOR Middle East

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Finance

The SME financing question Dubai SME, with the help of Dun & Bradstreet, has launched the SME Friendliness Index to provide more clarity for SMEs and banks.

T Joumana Saad CPI Business

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July 2012

he issue of financing in the UAE has been brought up time and time again, but the lack of clarity and data available on the topic has been a hindrance to developing any real solutions.

Dubai SME is hoping to get the ball rolling with the release of its new SME Friendliness Index, which has been designed to give constructive feedback from SMEs to banks. The index analyses various banks’ SME strategies and aims to help them realise the opportunity of providing financing options to the UAE’s SMEs (that opportunity is estimated to be between AED 3.6 and AED 6 billion). At the same time, the index will provide insights to SMEs on local banking structures and practices. Overall, the input of 487 SMEs and 21 banks were used in the research that was done jointly with Dun & Bradstreet.

SME ADVISOR Middle East

Dr. Manoj Nakra, Executive Director at Dubai SME, told SME Advisor that one of the reasons of conducting the study was to shed light on industry dynamics and answer some of the questions being addressed on both sides.

“I think the way to incentivise financing for SMEs is to show the size of the opportunity; that was the focus of the Index study. What we’ve done with the research is provide some clarity in that area going forward. I have a very strong belief that the banks have adequate horse power but they needed informational clarity; they want to serve the customer and want to lend. The question is do SMEs want to borrow?”

Interestingly, the study revealed that only 14% of SME respondents used bank finance for growth. A large proportion of them actually use personal money and

SME loans as proportion of bank lending n Out of 250,000 companies in the UAE, an estimated 230,000 (95%) of them are SMEs Average Revenue Opportunity per SME of a banking relationship AED 90,000 per annum n Number of SMEs (existing and potential): AED 3.6- AED 6 billion financing opportunity for banks

Key facts

Source: Dubai SME, Dun & Bradstreet

“

The positive aspect is there will be a website giving SMEs the information they need. The question is the use issue. If I’m an SME and I say I want to submit an application for a loan via the website, in Dubai, I still foresee an SME saying, if I give this information will it be confidential?

“

financial support from family and friends. Nakra explained that many of the SMEs he speaks to do not have enough knowledge on financing options to be encouraged enough to seek funding.

The study shows that loyalty is a major area of challenge for banks in the UAE, as customer retention rates remain low. Nakra says SMEs could provide banks a real opportunity in this area. “For every new SME client that you can covert from a relationship to a primary relationship, that number is estimated at AED 90,000 a year. The other area of dialogue among banks now is, how to go about target setting for their SMEs. Before they had no data, now at least you can say that if I have so many customers and retention is only 30%, you can increase that by going to your existing customers and converting them into banking customers,” he says.

An overwhelming majority of the SMEs who took part in the survey fall under the established category being at least three years of age. The age of the business is a major determining factor for many banks, as it can be measured against the level of risk. Startups and younger SMEs are usually advised to seek funding through venture capital and angel investors. Interestingly, the index also revealed that the smaller the business, the less formalised its accounting practices were.

This is where Dubai SME’s new online platform will provide some guidance. The website bebankable.ae will be launched in September, and will provide information for SMEs on auditing and best practice for corporate governance. It also will provide a tool that will enable SMEs to self-assess their readiness to seek a loan from the bank and the option to submit an application through the website. Qualified auditing companies will be very much involved with the website, giving users pointers on basic auditing practices and how to select an auditor.

The SME Tool Box designed for banks will allow for a better understanding of financing needs of SMEs according to size (micro, small and medium) and compare them with larger enterprises. The goal is to better educate bank relationship managers on the SME community, to be able to develop and tailor their finance products accordingly.

“The positive aspect is there will be a website giving SMEs the information they need. The question is the use issue. If I’m an SME and I say I want to submit an application for a loan via the website, in Dubai, I still foresee an SME saying, if I give this information will it be confidential?” Dubai SME will

plan to launch a marketing campaign along with the website with the goal of changing such perceptions.

Experts point to a lack of understanding as part of the reason why SMEs hesitate to seek funding. The desire to avoid any roads that lead to bankruptcy remains prevalent. The recently proposed bankruptcy law in the UAE is a step towards giving more SME owners some piece of mind. Under the drafted law, those who become unable to repay debt, will be able to restructure those loans with the bank’s relationship manager to work out a solution. Nakra says he is of “ the view that non-existance of a bankruptcy law and post-dated cheque of security is a very good thing because contract law is very difficult to enforce. The positive of a non-existance of a bankrupcty law, is taking conservative business decisions, and limit risk taking,” he concludes.

SME ADVISOR Middle East

July 2012

27

Management

Dealing with uncertainty

With the right levels of analysis in place, executives can strengthen their foresight and business decision-making skills.

M John Lincoln du

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July 2012

ost of us have made major or minor decisions at some point in our business or personal life that we have regretted later. Be it an investment, choice, a major purchase, a hiring choice, a major price cut, a key strategic investment or other business or personal decisions or strategies. We all do wish that we have the gift and wisdom of foresight.

For those that are not familiar with the American idiom hindsight is 20/20, it means that when you look back at something that happened in the past, it is much easier to see how something could have been done differently, or how a wrong decision could have been prevented because we have more of the facts after the outcome of the decision, therefore one has a clearer 20/20 vision of the event.

So, how do we deal with uncertainty in the business world?

Most business schools teach some level of managerial decision making as well as how to use the various tools and frameworks available to managers to aid in their decision making.

However, any discussion of strategy or uncertainties always brings to mind for me, an excellent McKinsey Quarterly article that I read about a decade or so ago on levels and types of uncertainty. The approach and conclusions drawn by the authors of this article has had a profound influence the way I look at uncertainty, in my personal or professional life.

The article stated that most strategically relevant information fell into two categories. Often, it is possible to identify clear trends like demographics and macro economic data. With the right level of due diligence and analysis, most remaining unknown factors like technology risks, market risks, financial risks and other risks associated with supply and demand side factors,

SME ADVISOR Middle East

are among many others that could be determined through structured analysis. The uncertainty that remains after the best possible analysis has been undertaken, is what they called residual uncertainty. Examples of this include the outcome of a legal suit, outcomes of regulatory changes or the performance attributes of a nascent technology that has not been fully deployed or adopted, or one that is still under development. These types of uncertaincies are divided into four levels: One: Outcome is known

In a level one uncertainty, the possible outcome is known, so no multi scenario analysis is required. However, you have to be sure that decision making required on a residual uncertainty is really a level one.

Due to the fast moving pace of the telecommunications industry, I personally feel that that most business decisions or strategies in the fast moving telecommunications industry are facing uncertainties beyond level one. However, most telecommunications managers limit the strategic analysis to level one uncertainty and often draw wrong conclusions.

Two: Alternative outcomes

In a level two uncertainty, the authors described it as “as one of a few discrete scenarios.� In essence, any analysis cannot predict which outcomes will happen but rather would require us to assign probabilities based on the best information, tools and knowledge available.

A classic level two situation is when a telecom operator decides whether to invest in a new technology which usually costs them billions of dollars. These are choices that were

About John Lincoln, is the Vice President, Enterprise Marketing, du. He has over 20 years telecommunications experience in the USA, Japan, Europe, India, Dubai, Malaysia, Latin America and various other countries.

He has extensive senior expertise in international telecommunications sales, marketing, business development and customer service delivery. John also has executive experience with general management, marketing, P&L, product development and revenue management responsibilities in both consumer and enterprise segments for both

Three: Multiple possible outcomes

In level three, there are a range of possible outcomes that can be identified. There are very few variables to range the multitude of options.

Another example is when a telecom operator in a small market have to make a choice as to, if and when to align with Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs). The significant factors that determine this sort of strategy have multiple levels of uncertainty ranging from the decision to align with an MVNO or not to, to the level of pricing, the cannibalisation of revenue and customer issues, whether to limit the sales to a niche segment or to the broader market.

Additional considerations could include the level of costs and customer control to be transferred to the MVNO. As you will have noted, this will require a detailed, structured and multi scenario analysis to address this complex and often an arduous task to predict the outcome of this type of uncertainties.

Any scenario development should facilitate easy decision making. Therefore, it is recommended that the number of scenarios be limited, and the scenarios should have unique implications and should not overlap.

At the very least, developing a set of scenarios should enable managers to assess the wisdom of their existing or planned status quo strategies.

Four: Outcome is unpredictable

A level four uncertainty is truly ambiguous. It is hard to predict the outcomes. These uncertainties are rare in most industries, but exist in the fast moving telecommunications industry.

For example, if you are in the telecommunications industry, it behooves upon the management to have a

and MS in Telecommunications from the Golden Gate University in San Francisco, California, USA. You can find John’s personal blog at www.johnlincoln.biz. He can be contacted via: john.lincoln@gmail.com, and followed on Twitter: @lincolnjc.

At present John is in the final stages of finishing a book which explores how businesses can grow and achieve sustainability and which is scheduled for publication in the near future. Watch this space for updates.

structured and purposeful strategy to address the emergence of the multiple VOIP players like Skype, Rebtel and other new age companies like Google, Facebook and other networks having millions of customers. No amount of analysis could have actually predicted in the early part of 2002 or 2003, the outcome of how and when they will wreck the telecom player’s voice business. Today, the outcomes seem a little too obvious.

Shape or be shaped

Assigning informed and reasonable probabilities will help them to develop investment and pricing and product portfolio rebalancing strategies.

Addressing level four uncertainties requires a player to shape or be shaped, be prepared to adapt and or reserve the right to play. The choice of strategies to address level four

“

Any scenario development should facilitate easy decision making. Therefore, it is recommended that the number of scenarios be limited, and the scenarios should have unique implications and should not overlap.

At the very least, developing a set of scenarios should enable managers to assess the wisdom of their existing or planned status quo strategies.

“

grappled by the telecom players in most developed and developing markets as to whether to invest in upgrading from 2G to 3G or even now whether to invest in 4G. The telecom players are normally forced to make the high stake investments, even if the previous generation technology investments have not generated the desired returns. The value of this type of established (standardised) new technology investments are dependent on their same market competitors’ investment strategies which cannot yet be observed or predicted. If the first mover invests in a higher performance technology, others in the market will be forced to invest to minimise their opportunity costs of high probability of customer churn and rapid per unit revenue degradation. The possible outcomes and moves of the competitor are discrete and clear. Will they invest, yes or no, and if yes, when? The best strategy depends on which one does and when it happens.

the fixed and mobile sectors. In addition, John has an impressive operational and management portfolio of established proven expertise in incremental business value creation and management of large multi-cultural teams in Vodafone Global in the UK, Japan Telecom in Tokyo, AirTouch and Pacific Bell (now AT&T) in San Francisco and Tokyo, Airtel in Delhi and other telecom and technology companies.

Additionally he has extensive large scale business development, M&A and operational project experience across the USA, Europe, Asia and Latin America. John has an MBA

uncertainties are dependent on the competitive leverage, risk averseness of the management, financial strength and a multitude of other factors like investor appetite, organisational capability, innovation orientation and others.

Foresight framework

As you can see, the range of the levels of uncertainty can range from a broad spectrum of one of a two possible outcomes to a wholly unknown and ambiguous set of variables.

Knowing the levels of uncertainty, thinking purposefully and in a structured way the multiple scenarios and probabilities and the strategies to address the uncertainties is essential for any manager.

Understanding and addressing the levels of uncertainty is the only way to avoid Monday morning quarter backing, or critiquing the situation after the fact. The deliberate framework and tool described here can be applied to both your professional and personal life.

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Management

Managing Generation Y Businesses are quickly realising the challenges of keeping younger professionals interested and motivated to bring in results.

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A Joumana Saad CPI Business

shridge Business School recently held a business briefing in Dubai that aimed to provide insights on the Generation Y (Gen Y) workforce. Those young professionals who are under the age of 30 have a lot to offer, but their needs often go ignored, and managers (particularly from the Generation X, or Gen X group) are finding it increasingly hard to motivate them as they have a much different set of priorities than their predecessors.

Presentations by experts at Ashridge Business School highlighted distinct differences between Gen Y and Gen X professionals, the most obvious being the importance of a high salary and the importance of feeling value and respected among younger professionals, while managers put most of their focus in career progression and hard work. Retaining and promoting Gen Y professional is by far the biggest challenge managers face, as attrition rates are climbing among the global business community.

“

They follow the Steve Job’s mantra – live your dream and don’t settle for second best. This creates a lot of pressure for employers as they must show the Generation Y employee not just that they will get a good salary, but that they will get interesting and challenging work and that they will be trained and developed.

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Kai Peters, CEO, Ashridge Business School says this issue poses a series of challenges that managers must find solutions to.

The biggest challenge yet may be retaining these professionals within the organisation, as attrition rates remain a huge issue faced by companies globally. “You see this with not only Generation Y but newly recruited MBAs, where companies are not sure what to do with them after they’re recruited.” Some of the better practices Peters has seen in action included the incorporation of rotation programmes, where companies will move employees to different roles or departments every eight months or so, to keep them interested enough to stay.

A difference set of priorities

Referring to Ashridge’s research on different age groups, Peters points out that the 35-year old MBA and part-time MBA professionals “realise they have to work another 30

Expectations of work Managers Graduates 1 Challenging and Interesting work 1 2 Career advancement 3 3 Good managers and leaders 12 4 Personal development and training 8 5 High salary 2 7 Job security 4 10 Good work life balance 5 Source: Ashridge Business School

years. So, by then, they figure out that interesting work is better than chasing money. The 25 year-olds, however, are chasing money. They want to hold a job to save enough money to retire.” He adds that it is highly possible that Gen Y professionals may “just have to run around for a few years before finding themselves and what they are interested in. Research finds that if people don’t figure out what they are doing by the time they are 35, it doesn’t happen.”

Ashridge has done extensive research on this specific topic. The findings highlight the key difference in perceptions and values between managers and Gen Y employees. When it comes to managers, their top career priorities are challenging and interesting work and advancing their career. Their younger counterparts were mostly concerned with having a high salary and a good work-life balance. The importance of having a good manager or leader is also an area that managers take seriously, that doesn’t necessarily resonate with Gen Y employees.

Another key differentiator of Gen Y is their expectation to instantly get what they want. This is fueled by recent technology trends that have created a fast-changing hightech culture of convenience. This type of mentality sets professionals up for disappointment in the workplace as they see themselves as not moving up or around in the company quick enough.

“I don’t think it’s possible to have everything instantly, unless you live in a very transactional society where there’s lots of demand for you. We see it in China, managers move around a lot, and people are chasing a bit more money and trying to get rich quick,” says Peters. “The best thing to do is try to create an interesting workplace to get people to realise the benefits of doing something they are genuinely interested in.”

In terms of incentives, Peters says that one of the most effective ways to incentivise is to offer praise and recognition, instead of resorting to bonus chasing. He adds that this group of individuals want to feel valued and understood by their managers.

Reverse mentoring

Peters also suggests reverse mentoring as a possible strategy to get more of these young professionals motivated, by actually having them participate and contribute in high-level meetings. “It’s basically about giving them a voice and explaining to senior management what Gen Y is like, where consumers are going and what medium they are using. Are they tweeting? Has Facebook fallen out of favour? In many cases it has with many younger people,” he says.

There’s no question that social and technological trends have transformed the way this younger generation thinks and their overall personal and professional priorities. Not only do they lack motivation, but their level of loyalty to their employers is quite low.

“They follow the Steve Job’s mantra – live your dream and don’t settle for second best. This creates a lot of pressure for employers as they must show the Generation Y employee not just that they will get a good salary, but that they will get interesting and challenging work and that they will be trained and developed,” says Steve Halligan, Founder and Managing Director of The Core Group. He adds that “employers have to be prepared to accept that

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Management they will have to invest in the employee even though that loyalty is not likely to be reciprocated as they may well leave if the promise of a job with more scope to develop and improve presents itself.”

Halligan says a good first step in retaining your high performers is to get to know who exactly they are.

“In our experience many companies’ performance review systems are not effective. Few senior managers are aware of where their true talent actually lies. So many times we hear that someone who was destined for greater things has handed in their notice and then were shocked to be told that they were being considered for a promotion.”

The Core Group specialises in providing training and workshops to boost employee motivation. Irrespective of whether employees are generation X or Y, they have found that there are six key things that drive engagement and retention:

Kai Peters

Tips for managing Gen Y employees n Provide coaching and mentoring n Spend time with them n Provide briefings on corporate life n Provide the right projects and challenges to retain n Provide good knowledge sharing capabilities n Realise the value of internships, to give potential employees real work experience n Provide international experience

1. Vision

Make sure that people don’t just understand the vision, but that it means something to them and they are excited about it.

n Offer flexible hours Source: Ashridge Business School

2. Achievement

Most of us like to feel that the work we do makes a difference and is important. Make sure people understand what they do fits into the bigger picture and that they feel some sense of importance and achievement.

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“

The best thing to do is try to create an interesting workplace to get people to realise the benefits of doing something they are genuinely interested in.

Biggest challenges for managers

3. Learning

People do not intend to stay with an organisation for life but they do expect to leave a better person than when they joined. Look at ways of helping people learn on a daily basis.

4. Understanding

Try to think about how things feel from the employee perspective. Make some attempt to understand what it is like to be a member of the rank and file employee base.

5. Encouragement

Look at your pay, reward and incentive schemes and ask yourself how you are recognising people’s efforts to encourage them to do more of the same.

6. Technology

10% 10%

31%

See if you can harness social media use rather than try to ban it. Generation Y have grown up with these tools and therefore are much more able to multi-task than Gen X ever was.

Out with command and control

14% 15%

Managing expectations 31%

Career progression 10%

Motivation 15%

Support 10%

Adjusting staff behaviour 14%

Source: Ashridge Business School

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Halligan stresses the need for senior managers, who mostly fall into the Gen X category, to get in tune with their younger staff, and to think outside of their comfort zone. “The old style command and control approach will just not work with the Generation Y employee. They tend to have little respect for authority. So, management must involve them in the decision making process rather than issue mandates from on high with no real explanation.”

To get this process started he suggests that managers need to be retrained to think and act in a different way to “win hearts and minds” as opposed to the old management style, which is simply tell them what to do.

He adds: “This change of mindset is often very hard for the current leadership generation to make so the more enlightened organisations are providing support and guidance for them as well.”

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Management

Making the right moves A basic risk management framework and processes will add value to your business, protect you from surprises and support your business in building long-term sustainable competitive advantage.

R Horst Simon Horwath MAK Risk Consulting

isk management is not overly complicated and all organisations have been doing this in one form or another for as long as they have existed. Sadly too many rules and regulations forced the focus of risk management to centralised controls and an overemphasis on quantification as the keys to managing risk.

No information technology system, no amount of data analysis, and certainly no mathematical model, can mitigate risk; only people can.

During the recent economic downturn, a number of problems began to reveal themselves, some of which had been implemented without due consideration: • An over-reliance on the use of financial models, with the mistaken assumption that the “risk quantifications” (used as predictions) based solely on financial modelling were both reliable and sufficient tools to justify decisions to take risk in the pursuit of profit.

• An over-reliance on compliance and controls to protect assets, with the mistaken assumption that historic controls and monitoring a few key metrics are enough to change human behaviour.

• A failure to properly understand, define, articulate, communicate and monitor risk tolerances, with the mistaken assumption that everyone understands how much risk the organisation is willing to take.

• There was a failure to embed enterprise risk management best practices from the top all the way down, with the assumption that there is only one way to view a particular risk.

Transform your approach

To mend economies it is important for the SME sector to change the way they look at risk management and transform their businesses to have better risk management

capabilities. SMEs should have a more formal approach to risk management, but must be careful not to overdo it.

Do not build complicated structures that will just irritate your staff, but instead build a framework and process that will support everyone in the business to take better (riskaware) decisions. Help them to control and optimise risks; and keep them motivated to build long-term sustainability for the business.

SME business leaders need to answer three questions: 1. What are the key risks in your business that will prevent you from achieving business goals?

2. How do you evaluate and control any large changes in the risk profile or any new risks your business might face?

3. How will you communicate these in your business?

Identify key risks

Do you actually know what the business goals are? Very often SME leaders think that this is not required for a business their size and that they are the only ones who should know where they are going. This is only true if your business is a one-man show.

All employees should know what the business objectives are and they will then be able to identify the risks associated with those business goals and focus on those that will prevent them from reaching those goals. If a risk is not going to prevent you from reaching such targets, it is not a risk to worry about.

Once you have identified these risks, the next step is to plot them in a simple risk profile. It is of no use looking at any risk in one dimension only; all risks must be evaluated in two dimensions. First, how often can it happen (the frequency) and secondly, how bad is it if it does happen (the impact).

From this simple risk profile you can then identify the top five or, top ten risks, and proceed to formulate your action plans on how to mitigate, control or optimise these risks to the benefit of your business.

Risk treatment can also include the option of risk transfer and this is normally where you take out insurance for certain risks that you find too large to accept. It is important to discuss your risk profile and your business’ risk management culture with your insurance broker or underwriter so as to obtain the optimum insurance cover at the best price. If you practice good risk management principles within your business, you should be paying less in premiums than a comparable business with no risk management process.

Evaluate changes in risk

The risk profile is a snapshot in time and many internal and external factors will influence your risk

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Management About

profile. You have to adjust your risk management strategies accordingly.

Therefore, you need a process to assess the large changes internal to your business and for the same reason, you also need to be cognizant of external changes and the effect those will have on your business.

If any internal of external change will affect the way you do business or, the way you planned to achieve your business goals, you need to re-assess your risks and re-plot your risk profile. Doing this will help you to effectively implement new action plans to mitigate and control to optimise those risks to your advantage.

Communicate the risks

The quality of your risk management is not measured by the size of your risk register or the thickness of your risk report. In most SMEs, there might not even be a need for any kind of formal risk report. The key to effectiveness is the efficiency and value of your risk nervous system running through your business; this is the accuracy and speed of risk communications flowing up and down in your business.

A risk nervous system is just clear pathways in your business that carry the flow of risk information in your business. Risk information needs to be shared at all levels within your business to enable everybody to take the right decisions to mitigate, control and optimise risks to the benefit of the business. A very important factor in your risk nervous system is that bad news must travel faster than good news – this is pivotal to the survival of any SME. Where to begin

Implementation of risk management in your business can be achieved through five easy steps. The basic principles are to build on processes, systems and data that you already have and just place a risk-focus on them. You may not require all the aspects mentioned under each step as your risk management framework must be relevant to your business requirements and must be aligned to the corporate culture within your business.

on People Risk and Risk Culture Building at International Conferences. He can be contacted at horst.simon@crowehorwath.ae

will ensure full employee involvement and participation and the sustained effective communication and promotion of competence will ensure success.

A positive risk management culture is fostered by the visible and active leadership of the owners and executives.

Therefore, encourage all employees to freely share ideas and best practice.

Implement a plan

Have a formal planned and systematic approach.

Decide priorities and set objectives to mitigate, control or optimise risks, with regular assessments of controls in terms of their design and effectiveness, but guard against costly over-controls.

Effectively arrange for the transfer of risks (insurance) where applicable and establish the overall risk profile. Have a consolidated view of the business, establishing performance indicators and key risk indicators as required.

Measure performance

Set risk performance standards to measure against and introduce pro-active self monitoring of all internal and external risk factors. It is important to investigate why

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The key to effectiveness is the efficiency and value of your risk nervous system running through your business; this is the accuracy and speed of risk communications flowing up and down in your business.

controls failed, which can be achieved through re-active monitoring and causal analysis.

Scrutinise internal and external risk events and their affect on the company’s risk profile and identify the underlying causes and the implications for the design and operation of the risk control system.

A clear strategy and policy

Audit and review

The risk management strategy must set a clear direction to follow for all employees. It must also cover all business areas and a clear commitment to continuous improvement must underpin the risk strategy.

In addition, it must be a cost-effective approach; what is needed and relevant for your business in order to reduce and prevent financial losses?

Use public information to do an external comparison with competitors and best practice – learning from all relevant experiences and events and then applying the lessons is paramount (it is better and more cost-effective to learn from the mistakes of others than from your own mistakes).

Also, revise policies, systems and techniques as your business grows and when external and internal factors force changes. Make a relevant risk disclosure in annual financial statements, whether required by regulation or not.

SMEs do not require complicated risk frameworks, detailed regulations or expensive software systems to drive real value from risk management; just the basics of risk management will go a long way in adding true value and building sustainable competitive advantage. The future of risk management and corporate survival lies in making every employee a risk manager.

Create structure culture

Put in place an effective management structure to deliver the policy. All employees should be motivated and empowered to evaluate the risks associated with their jobs and take riskinformed decisions. All employees should also be committed to protecting the long-term success of the company.

The risk management policy acts as a guideline for operations and a filter for decisions. Effective communication

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management consulting and training. He is also the Owner of the “Risk Culture Builders” – a group on Linked-In and a regular speaker

July 2012

SME ADVISOR Middle East

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Horst Simon is the Director of Operational Risk at Horwath MAK Risk Consulting in DIFC, Dubai. He is responsible for risk

Marketing

Tis the season for shopping With the summer season heating up and Ramadan around the corner, retailers and government agencies are putting their marketing campaigns in full swing.

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S Joumana Saad CPI Business

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ummer in the UAE has become known as a time when business slows down, and residents and expatriates venture off to their home countries or cooler destinations. However, with the Arab Spring bringing a wave of political instability in a number of countries in the region, the UAE has been a big beneficiary, seeing an increase of in-bound travel and tourism. Add Ramadan to the mix and you get a prime marketing opportunity for SME retailers and other brands to reach consumers during one of the busiest spending periods of the year. Within the region, it is the second highest spending month of the year. During this time, families and younger individuals frequently break their fast at restaurants and tend to stay out until the early morning hours. To capitalise on this financial opportunity, many companies spend a very sizable portion of their advertising budgets to reach their target customers in creative ways.

The UAE is of particular interest in this category as it ranks as one of the richest countries in the world. Its population are also the biggest spenders in the MENA region. A recent report by the Arab Money Fund shows the UAE far ahead of other GCC countries and other Arab

Around 70 malls and a total of 6000 shops are expected to participate in DSS this year with discounts reaching up to 75% on many products. Inspection teams from DED will be monitoring the sales activities by doing random visits to participating retailers to ensure that prices are correct and that all the rules are being met.

nations when it comes to domestic consumption with an average individual consumer spending put at USD 21,577.

The Dubai Events & Promotions Establishment (DEPE), under the Department of Economic Development, is seeking to keep this trend going by positioning Dubai as a major shopping and entertainment destination during its summer months. DEPE is revamping its Dubai Summer Surprises (DSS) campaign this year to include many new marketing initiatives and attractions are being rolled out that cater to all types of consumers, from tourists, to families to UAE residents. DEPE estimates that UAE residents alone spend AED 1.2 billion on shopping during DSS last year.

One of the biggest draws for the summer marketing campaign is no doubt shopping, as retail remains one of Dubai’s strengths. The DSS marketing campaign this year aims to make the Emirate the go-to destination for holiday summer shopping and entertainment. The key to marketing this, is to expand such in-door activities that would attract tourists, residents, ex-patriates and locals.

Around 70 malls and a total of 6000 shops are expected to participate in DSS this year with discounts reaching up to 75% on many products. Inspection teams from DED will be monitoring the sales activities by doing random visits to participating retailers to ensure that prices are correct and that all the rules are being met.

“When organising an event with such magnitude and impact, you are always faced with many challenges, whether they be strategical or tactical. One of our constant challenges is how to cater to the sophisticated and diverse public in Dubai, residents and visitors, in terms of events and attractions,” says Laila Mohamad Suhail, CEO of Dubai events and Promotions Establishment. She points to the rapid growth of Dubai’s tourism sector in recent years and says the levels of tourism are sometimes unpredictable.

The Global Retail Development Index (GRDI) recently released by AT Kearny shows Dubai reaching new highs in in-bound travel this year, fueled by an increase of tourists flocking to the Emirate’s many malls. Dubai Mall is the world’s most-visited shopping and leisure destination.

With over 54 million visitors (up 15% from 2010) and a 35% increase in average sales, the one-million square foot expansion plan reflects growing interest by international retailers. The Mall of the Emirates, the country’s second largest mall, had its best performance in 2011 since its opening in 2005.

Dubai also ranks prominently on the 2012 Global Destination Cities Index released by MasterCard in June, which measures the number of inbound international visitors. The Emirate outranked cities such as New York, Amsterdam, Kuala Lumpur, Shanghai and Beijing. With 8.8 million international visitors expected in 2012, Dubai is the eighth most highly ranked destination city in the world, moving one spot higher compared to 2011 and marking a growth of 15.3%. In terms of the volume of international visitor spend, Dubai ranks 18th in the world with a projected USD 8.8 billion visitor spend in 2012, an 18.5% growth over 2011, according to the report.

London is the number one origin city for Dubai, with 803,000 visitors expected in 2012, followed by Paris,

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Marketing

L - R: Sajid Aga and Sunil Jaiswal of Sumansa Exhibitions during the launch of the Ramadan Night Market.

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Laila Mohamad Suhail Dubai Events & Promotions Establishment (DEPE)

Munich and Kuwait. Visitors from London are also the highest spenders in Dubai with USD 1,495 spent per visit, compared to an average of just below USD 900 by visitors from the other four top origin cities. However, the growth rates of visitors from Munich, Frankfurt and Paris are remarkably high at 29.5%, 22.1% and 20.2% respectively.

“In the past few years we have witnessed a lot of changes in trends and moods of the global tourism industry, whether it was as a result of the global economic crisis or the regional unrest. However, Dubai was always a favourable destination due to its state of the art infrastructure and its vibrant events and festivals industry.”

Suhail also noted the increase of tourism from fast emerging markets like India and China, where a growing middle class is increasingly looking to travel – with shopping and entertainment high on their holiday agendas. “The Emirate is now not only a must for global brands, but increasingly the first place for international retailers looking to expand outside of their home markets, whether they come from Europe, the US or the Far East,” says Suhail. “Our focus now is on sustaining this success whilst growing the complementary events, festivals and entertainment sector, which is a natural fit for the Emirate.”

In addition to the countless malls participating in promotions and events, Dubai World Trade Centre will be a popular place this year with one of the region’s largest in-door amusement parks Modhesh World, as well as Dubai Sports World. A new attraction will be the Ramadan Night Market, which will be an event held during the last ten days of Ramadan through the Eid holiday.

For both exhibitors and shoppers it will be the right platform, whereas shoppers will get to shop for all their Eid requirements, retailers can use this to sell, market or launch new products.

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“During the end of Ramadan people would like to shop for Eid and Dubai is known for being a spoilt for choice when it comes to shopping. It’s the shoppers paradise. Hence, Ramadan Night Market – it is a night market simply because during the day you are fasting and it’s a bit difficult to go out especially in summers,” says Sunil Jaiswal, CEO of Sumansa Exhibitions, which is organising the event.

A similar event currently runs every year in Abu Dhabi, but until now there hasn’t been an event of this profile being held in Dubai. Jaiswal says he expects a strong visitor turnout, and is primarily targeting UAE resident and families as people tend to spend more time at home during the day and do their shopping during the evening and later hours during this time. “We felt, an event of this nature at this time of the year would be a fantastic idea. For both exhibitors and shoppers, it will be the right platform, whereas shoppers will get to shop for all their Eid requirements, retailers can use this to sell, market or launch new products.”

The exhibition will also be a competitive platform that will draw around 300 retailers to showcase their products that would appeal to shoppers during this time of year including luxury garments and goods, jewellery and packaged food items. Jaiswal expects there to be a balance of larger brands and SMEs exhibiting. “Entrepreneurship is in the DNA of Dubai. We are seeing a large interest from SME segment (Emiratis & expats), and at the same time we are in discussion with big brands especially from electronics category. We love marketing and we’ll be using whatever tactics we have to entice the crowds, tracking and measuring what works best to see what is the most effective means of communication.“ While a majority of these campaigns plan to target night shoppers, online retailer Namshi is planning to draw in users who are spending more time at home this

DUBAI’S TOURISM OUTLOOK Global Destination Cities Index n Dubai #8 n 8.8 million international visitors expected in 2012 n 15.3% growth from 2011

Volume of international visitor spend n USD 8.8 billion projected for 2012 n 18.5% growth from 2011

Top origin cities for Dubai for 2012 1 2 3 4

London Paris Munich Kuwait

Source: MasterCard: 2012 Global Destination Cities Index

Increasingly, companies are looking to utilise technology to better target and engage with their audiences and customers. Last year, Yahoo! Maktoob launched a Ramadan application catering to its web and mobile readers. The app provides prayer and fasting times, a range of useful tips and facts, and also the latest relevant news. The number of Ramadan-themed

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The exhibition will also be a competitive platform that will draw around 300 retailers to showcase their products that would appeal to shoppers during this time of year. We are seeing a large interest from SME segment (Emiratis & expats) and the same time we are in discussion with big brands especially from electronics category.

summer. “We are expecting two trends to impact our sales. A potential reduction in traffic to our site because of families travelling for the summer, offset by an increase in the number of people who would prefer to stay home and would visit our site and get the items delivered conveniently without any hassle with trips to shopping centres,” says Louis Lebbos, Co-founder, Namshi.com.

The online retailer boasts fashion brands, many of which are not yet available in the region and is an avid user of social media platforms to engage with its customers.

Namshi, a relatively young SME launched just last year in the UAE and has also expanded its reach beyond the other GCC markets and Egypt.

Lebbos says that during the hot summer months, the company’s top-selling points of collection and convenience stand to resonate with a wider range of consumers. The online retailer will continue to offer discounts on a variety of brands and may even be adding gift bundles for the occasion.

spent by regional and international visitors total spent by shoppers

Source: Source: DEPE and YouGov

spent by UAE residents

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Modhesh World in Dubai is one of the region’s largest in-door amusement parks.

apps has been steadily growing each year and there are thousands currently available on the web, and on SmartPhones and tablets.

At the recent launch of Facebook’s regional office in May, Jonathan Labin, the company’s head of global marketing solutions for the MENA region, hinted at plans to up its advertising during Ramadan. Along with high television viewership, social media use is

also expected to be strong during this time. Emirates Airline’s relatively fresh Facebook fan page, has a large following and strong engagement with its audience. The airline keeps users frequently updated on all of its newly launched destinations, in addition to its reduced air fares and other special offerings during Ramadan and the summer season.

With more and more companies looking to strengthen their presence in the region, there is no doubt that technology will be of paramount importance to reach new consumers and the youth in particular. The most recent Arab Media Outlook, published by Dubai Press Club, reveals an informational gap in the region, where younger individuals are tuning out traditional media and are accessing much more personalised content through social media on-the-go. For advertisers, the main challenge will be how exactly to use such platforms and new technology to keep their brand relevant in a much more crowded market space.

SME ADVISOR Middle East

July 2012

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Opportunities

Contest for SME brand awareness Dubai SME has launched a Brand Creativity Contest on Facebook to encourage and reward creativity and innovation among SMEs and entrepreneurs.

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Joumana Saad CPI Business

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July 2012

here’s no question that social media is slowly but surely transforming the way businesses communicate and reach their customers. However, recent research shows that although being adopted by many, it is still not being effectively utilised by companies in the region.

Dubai SME rose to the challenge by introducing its first social media competition with prizes on the line worth AED 125,000. The purpose is to help SME owners and entrepreneurs leverage two of Dubai SME’s initiatives, www.smeconnect.ae and Business Village.

In order to compete, participants posted creative pictures of their brands on the Facebook contest pages. The pictures with the highest number of votes were chosen as the winners. Winners in the smeconnect.ae contest included: SRS International Businessmen Services, and Ashraf Electronics, who will recieve free consultancy to establish and maintain creative social media presence and the opportunity to learn

SME ADVISOR Middle East

with an auditing processes how to build financial health and credibility. Ethics Plus and Helen Kay Gifts were named the winners of the Business Village contest. These companies will get support in brand identity creation and consultancy on developing a robust sales plan.

Dalia Alwan, Executive of Dubai SME’s Business Incubation Centre, said the response to the contest has been strong, as many SMEs are challenged in the area of social media. “It has enabled us to know what sort of prizes the masses were interested in more than the others and it has helped us market the companies giving the prizes as well as the companies entering the competition every week. It’s very good and natural exposure for everyone.”

Alwan added that the competition was closely monitored to improve the offerings and methodology, in preparation for upcoming competitions.

When it comes to creating an online presence, the value of using social media platforms to smaller businesses

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The biggest challenge is the ability to distinguish yourself in the market. A brand is a source of inspiration to not only the audience, but also to the employees of the company. It should relate to people and clearly reflect what a company is about and what it offers.

Dalia Alwan, Executive, Marketing and Strategic Partnerships – Business Village, explains the details of the contests at the launch event.

becomes paramount as conventional advertising remains expensive and online advertising becomes difficult to navigate. Although, very cost-effective, the first thing entrepreneurs realise is the tedious nature of these platforms, and the importance of staying connected to their followers with the intention of growing that base.

“If done properly, social media can give a much better exposure to what a company does in a different way than the usual marketing channels which involves a lot of hard selling,” says Alwan. She points to the personal and human-centric nature of the social networking that gives people choices instead of being told what to do and buy. “It also gives a company a very good indication on the pulse of the masses, what they like most, what they interact with the most, and their spontaneous comments and feedback. It’s more humane, involves alot of pictures and interactions and is quiet fun as well.”

Having wrapped up this project, Dubai SME will aim to expand in this area by potentially planning more contests for SMEs focused on other business aspects.

As far as brand creativity, the winners are expected to reflect a strong identity, that will resonate with consumers and employees alike.

“The biggest challenge is the ability to distinguish yourself in the market. A brand is a source of inspiration to not only the audience, but also to the employees of the company. It should relate to people and clearly reflect what a company is about and what it offers,” says Alwan.

Contest WINNERS smeconnect.ae contest

Business Village contest

SRS International Businessmen Services A professionally managed Group with diversified interests in finance, business development and the hospitality industries. srs-international.com

Ethics Plus A full service public accounting firm licensed in Dubai. Provides accounting, auditing and advisory services to a diverse base of clients who are drawn from a variety of industries.

Ethicsplusuae.com

Ashraf Electronics A vendor of consumer electronics to wholesalers and retailers. The company sells in Dubai and online at ashrafelectronics.com

Helen Kay Gifts An online provider of handcrafted, exclusively designed jewellery sets for women; worry beads for men and women; trendy bookmarks and handcrafted Spectacular Specs spectacle holders for women.

Helenkaygifts.com

SME ADVISOR Middle East

July 2012

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SALES

Making word of mouth count

The power of referrals for generating new sales cannot be denied.

However, not enough SMEs are utilising it to maximise profits.

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Phil Bedford The Referral Institute

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f you ask pretty much any seasoned sales person or business owner where the majority of their highest quality new business come from, 92% will say from referrals, networking and word of mouth (between 50% and 100% of landed new business). These figures are backed up by a recent study by Dr. Ivan Misner, Founder of global networking organisation BNI, which gathered data from over 12,000 business people from all over the world.

If these findings about referrals hold true, then why is so little done to or maximise its potential? Ultimately, there are only four categories of landing new business and most people have a plan and system for most:

SME ADVISOR Middle East

1. Marketing and advertising 2. PR 3. Cold calling 4. Referral marketing (including networking and word of mouth) For anyone wishing to grow their business they will tend to know what to do with the first three approaches mentioned above.

For marketing and advertising, one invests in an “all singing all dancing� website that utilises search engine optimisation.

You can advertise in a newspaper, on TV or radio, and hopefully track which medium is most effective above and below the line.

About Phil Bedford is the franchise owner of The Referral Institute, an international referral training and consulting company

Networking

This is all about being remembered favourably by the people you meet so that they will want to meet you again and get to know you further. I advise people when networking to find individuals with whom you can develop relationships.

Someone with whom you share a common client and could actually refer each other multiple business. It might take a bit more time than hunting down the one deal in the room but ultimately it is more efficient and doesn’t annoy everyone you meet, which is often the case with the “networking pounce.”

Word of mouth

These are the clients that “land” because people “heard about you” but are not sure where from. This is the buzz in the market that can be developed by utilising social media, radio, TV, magazines, or by just doing a good job.

Remember, there is also bad word of mouth and this can be generated in many ways including poor service, poor business ethics, not returning calls, emails turning up late, networking badly, and so on.

business development and consulting to his role as Master Trainer at the Institute.

Referrals

We need to set referrals apart from “leads”. Leads are little better than cold calls. The lead generated client does not necessarily know you exist, nor have they given you permission to call. This is still technically a cold call. Unfortunately many people are making themselves feel better thinking this is a referral. While it can be called such, it will by no means be as efficient as a “prepared” referral; where someone you have developed a relationship with has prepared the client by explaining what you do in depth, assuring there is a need, possibility even helping to develop one through questioning and then providing you with a high level introduction.

What is your system to generate more business by referral marketing? Who are the key individuals you need to work with to refer each other, and what is your strategy to motivate and educate them?

If you needed to double this business tomorrow what would you do differently or more of ?

Most people would not even know where to start because referrals historically come by chance.

People know referrals are the best business, but they really do not know how to get more out of them. Yes, you could ask your clients to give you more referrals, but in the end, they are clients and you might not be able to get this from them everytime. Harvard Business Review recently revealed that 68% of clients will promise to refer you but only 11% ever do and this is not usually reliable; it’s “as and when” they feel like it.

Here it is in a nutshell: there are eight sources of referral and one of these includes six types of networking groups.

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People know referrals are the best business, but they really do not know how to get more out of them. Yes, you could ask your clients to give you more referrals, but in the end, they are clients and you might not be able to get this from them everytime.

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While these are effective methods of business generation, they are often too costly for an SME to take seriously, especially if they want to stay in business. Larger businesses can afford to do so but is it the most effective and efficient?

With PR, setting ones self up as an expert in the market through a third party medium is extremely powerful. Being interviewed on TV, radio or in magazines as an expert certainly improves your brand and encourages people to come to you with more of a “buy” mentality. Of course for most people, you need to pay to get PR because many people do not know how to leverage the system.

Cold calling is strangely popular with many managers because they get to watch their staff work and record their efforts. Historically, 20 calls made will result in one appointment. The disadvantages of course with cold calling are many. At the least, you need a resilient sale person, then you need to pay them AED 10,000-15,000 a month. Other less intangible are the perceptions in the market of your brand, particularly if excessive cold calling is the norm. Finally, and more importantly, cold calling was recently made illegal in Dubai.

So what’s left? Referrals (or leads), word of mouth and networking. But what’s the difference and do we really know how to make the best of these methods and techniques that we hear tossed around the market place with little true understanding.

Because we as humans have a natural ability to communicate, we often think this makes us immediate experts in networking. Networking is not about charging into a room full of people and ramming our business card into as many hands as possible, collecting other cards like a harvester and then following up with a sales e-mail once back in the office. This is actually “cold calling face to face” and again does our brand little good because we are often seen as annoying.

with branches across the world. He holds a Master’s Degree and brings over a decade of experience in sales training,

The ability to leverage all of this and apply the system is not something we are born with, it’s something we need to learn.

You can buy books, download MP3s and use YouTube to get tips. Just be careful when learning that’s its not old style “how to hunt a room” networking, but a rather a more productive “farming method” that is becoming increasingly popular.

Many of the local networking groups are looking to help their members get more business, so encourage your group to provide networking and referral training. I am sure they will happily oblige; many of the groups are always looking to increase value for their members.

SME ADVISOR Middle East

July 2012

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Legal

Broken promises Dishonoured cheques are a reoccurring problem and are on the rise since the onset of the financial crisis. Here we explore the recommendations that aim to eliminate some perceived discrepancies in the law and contradictions among rulings.

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Hasan Arab Al Tamimi & Co.

here has been a sharp increase in criminal cases and complaints filed with the UAE courts and the courts’ caseload has substantially increased. Surveys have been carried out across various strata of society to evaluate the prevalence and spread of this problem.

Many have argued it is time that the laws penalising the issuance of dishonoured cheques were revised on the basis that economic hardship should be considered an exceptional circumstance necessitating a review of the penalty imposed on the issuer of a dishonoured cheque.

Others, however, argue that the penalty for issuing a dishonoured cheque should be completely abolished and the dishonoured cheque offence should be excluded from the realm of criminal prosecution. This argument is on the basis that these transactions should be seen as commercial transactions that are subject to the rules of civil prosecution in view of the fact that the courts consider a cheque as commercial paper and look at the nature and elements of a cheque on this basis.

The criminal courts

From a criminal court’s perspective, the word security on a cheque does not alter its nature as long as it satisfies the formal requirements set out in the law. Article 596 of Law No. 18 of 1993 (Commercial Transactions Law) sets out the mandatory particulars that must be stated on a cheque, for example an unconditional order to pay a specific sum of money.

A security cheque, on the other hand, normally makes payment subject to the fulfillment of a condition. There is a clear difference, then, in the meaning the criminal court attaches to cheques compared to the civil court. It is argued that the law should be amended to abolish the penalty for dishonoured cheques as some believe a criminal penalty for a dishonoured cheque is not the right solution to the problem as it does not enable the beneficiary to recover the value of the cheque.

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SME ADVISOR Middle East

The courts in the UAE have established that a cheque is a commercial paper containing an order by the drawer to their bank to pay the beneficiary a specific sum of money on a specific date. A cheque functions much like cash and is a payment instrument. Issuing a cheque with insufficient funds is an offence when the drawer knowingly issues the cheque to the beneficiary (without having sufficient funds in the account) on the due date.

The drawer’s bad faith is established when he knows that there are insufficient funds to cover the cheque.

The Supreme Court has held in previous rulings that the offence of issuing a bounced cheque occurs when a cheque is written with knowledge that there are insufficient funds to cover it. Liability cannot be avoided by claiming that the cheque is a security instrument and that the beneficiary of the cheque was aware of the fact that there were insufficient funds.

It is worth noting that the issuance of a cheque (without sufficient funds) in bad faith is a punishable offence in other jurisdictions as well as the UAE law. As a result, reasons for and against abolishing the law for a bounced cheque are considered in this article.

Nevertheless, the criminal penalty for issuing a cheque that is returned unpaid is an ideal way of pressurising the issuer of the cheque to immediately settle with the beneficiary. Criminal penalties, such as restricting the cheque issuer’s freedom of movement, either with confinement during investigations or, withholding his passport as a guarantee in connection with the criminal proceedings involving the bounced cheque, create a big incentive for the issuer to settle with the beneficiary.

It is important to note that the UAE legislator has revised Article 401 of the UAE Penal Code dealing with the issuance of cheques in bad faith under Law No. 34 of 2005, by adding a clause that stipulates:

About

“The criminal case shall terminate if payment is made or assignment is established after commission of the offence and before a final ruling is made in respect thereof. If this occurs after the ruling became final, its enforcement will be seized.”

Special committees

From a legislative perspective, the UAE recognises the state of the economy, the impact the law often has on the state of the economy and the position of investors, especially in times of economic downturn. The law strives to adapt to economic needs and benefit the economy. A good example is the set up of a special judicial committee to settle cheque disputes in property transactions by HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Ruler of Dubai, by Decree No. 56 of 2009.

His Highness realised the economic conditions affecting the property sector at the time and instructed that a special judicial committee be formed to settle cheque disputes for the sort of transactions enumerated in the Decree of which Article 5 states that: (a)The Judicial Control Authorities, including Police Stations, shall refer all cheque complaints to the Committee. (b)The Public Prosecution and Courts are not allowed to investigate the bounced cheques included in this Decree, and should suspend the hearing of any complaint or criminal case related to these cheques and refer the same to the Committee.”

As for the implementation and enforcement of the law, it is advisable that courts take account of several key points when determining cases related to bounced cheques.

Food for thought

Investigating the circumstances surrounding the bounced cheque to determine whether there was any bad faith on the part of the cheque issuer (criminal intent) is a must.

Consider the circumstances in which a cheque was issued. For example, when entering Construction Agreements (Muqawala), it is common practice for a contractor to issue a security cheque for 10% of the contract price in favour of the employer (owner).

This is commonly known as a performance bond, (a guarantee for the contractor’s proper and efficient performance of the contract). The cheque (or, alternatively, a bank guarantee) would become payable only upon realisation of that condition.

In practice, however, some owners tend to exploit this right in order to avoid paying the balance owed to the contractor by knowingly cashing a security cheque for payment when payment is not due to them. Due to insufficient funds, they then resort to criminal action in order to further pressurise the contractor into waiving or negotiating their dues.

The criminal court should therefore examine the merits to determine the reason for writing the cheque rather than convict the drawer simply because the cheque bounced.

The criminal court should preferably refer such cases to the competent civil court for further investigation. If bad

Middle East which Legal 500 has recognised as “having a great reputation for local cour t work with a number of really good practitioners”.

Al Tamimi & Co, originally established in 1989, is today one of the leading law firms in the Arabian Gulf region. It is one of the

largest local, non-affiliated law firms in the United Arab Emirates, with offices in the Emirates of Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah, Riyadh (KSA) and associate offices in Doha, Baghdad and Riyadh.

For more information, visit www.tamimi.com

faith is established on the part of the perpetrator, the case will be returned to the criminal court in order to decide the penalty.

In short, the criminal judge should investigate the reason for writing the cheque particularly if the relationship arises from a contract or agreement. Where it is established that the issuer of the cheque had acted in bad faith or defrauded the victim, the court would sentence the perpetrator.

It is essential to note an important legal principle that was articulated in a Federal Supreme Court case on 22nd October 2010 in Appeal No. 54-23, which states that “Dishonoured cheques are classified as an offence against property under Chapter 2 (Fraud), the law considers such offence to be a form of fraud and any intention to exclude bad cheque offences should have been made explicit in the law. So, while the Law does make separate provision for bad cheques, the offence still falls under Chapter 2 (Fraud).”

In view of the fact that dishonoured cheques are considered a form of fraud, it is noted that banks, in their relationships with borrowers, often require borrowers to sign blank cheques as security in the event of breach of the loan contract and failure to repay the loan according to the agreed repayment schedule.

In fact, upon default by the client (borrower) on the loan, the creditor bank would present the cheque, (parts of which would be completed by the creditor bank) to the relevant authorities for the borrower to be prosecuted. They are then sentenced without investigation, taking into account the fact that the bank was aware, at the material time, that the drawer did not have sufficient funds to cover the cheque.

Indeed, how can fraud be established in such cases if a customer issues a cheque knowing there are insufficient funds in his account? The courts must therefore take this practice into account.

Recommendation

To summarise, it is not recommended that criminal legislation, with respect to the penalty for dishonoured cheques, is repealed. Introducing amendments to the current law is favoured. Further, it is also recommended that the UAE courts, especially the criminal courts, investigate disputes relating to dishonoured cheques first in order to establish an offence before issuing a ruling.

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Criminal penalties, such as restricting the cheque issuer’s freedom of movement, either with confinement during investigations or, withholding their passport as a guarantee in connection with the criminal proceedings involving the bounced cheque, create a big incentive for the issuer to settle with the beneficiary.

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Hassan Arab, Partner and Regional Head of Litigation, Al Tamimi & Co., is an expert in aspects of litigation and dispute resolution, with particular expertise in cases relating to banking and intellectual property rights.

He has spent his career building one of the strongest litigation teams in the

SME ADVISOR Middle East

July 2012

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Legal

Fostering a culture of prevention The World Bank estimates that global financial fraud costs USD 40 billion a year.

Amanda Line examines the best approaches for preventing it from hurting your business.

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Amanda Line ICAEW

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n the UAE alone, the State Audit Institution (SAI) report that authorities are currently seeking to recover over AED one billion (USD 272.4 million) lost, due to fraud. More than two thirds of Interpol warrants issued by the UAE are for fraud cases, suggesting that is a significant problem.

However, the scale of the problem by international standards is unclear; it is likely that this is in some part due to the treatment of bounced cheques. It is impossible to eliminate fraud entirely, but that doesn’t mean nothing can be done. On the contrary, fraud

SME ADVISOR Middle East

prevention is a vital part of modern business. But whose job is it to identify and stop fraud, and how are they supposed to go about it?

Auditor: Watchdog or bloodhound?

It has been suggested that discovering fraud is the job of the auditor, and it is true that auditors often spot cases of fraud. Also, fear of the audit can act as a disincentive to potential fraudsters. However, auditors’ primary role is to ensure companies’ financial reports represent a “true and fair” view of their position.

About Amanda Line was appointed as the ICAEW’s Middle East Regional Director in September 2009. She is responsible for building the ICAEW’s presence and profile in the region.

Better than cure

Prevention is always better than cure. Catching fraudsters happens when the damage is done; it will seldom reimburse money lost and can rarely bring back a destroyed company. The best prevention is a robust culture of ethics and professionalism. Fraud comes in such a variety of types, methods and sizes, that attempting to prepare adequate defences for each and every one would not only be incredibly timeconsuming and expensive, but also still likely to fail in one overlooked area.

Organisations that have strong ethical and corporate governance frameworks are off to a better start. The tone will come from the top, so it is crucial that the directors and corporate governors show their commitment to ethics and good governance. However, there are also concrete practical measures that will help embed the right culture.

Practical measures for fraud prevention

The first is good hiring policy. It is estimated that up to 15% of corporate CVs are falsified, meaning companies employing people who could be potential, or even convicted, criminals. This is potentially a particular problem for any country where a significant section

Working together with UK and US-based training companies, she expanded the business across Asia.

Since moving to the UAE, Amanda has provided consultancy for educational businesses in addition to setting up and running several companies.

of the workforce is sourced from overseas; companies hiring from abroad often rely on the UAE security system’s background check to keep out criminals.

However, the background check is geared towards assessing political threats rather than criminal ones.

Companies need to have proper background and reference checks.

But keeping criminals out is just the start; the right culture must be nurtured. If individuals feel defrauding the company is a form of personal betrayal they are less likely to engage in fraudulent activity and far more likely to report suspicious activity from others. Fraud prevention, a commitment to taking the risk of fraud seriously, and proper controls can also be built into staff appraisals and into bonus incentives. Unit heads could be asked to take responsibility for ensuring measures are put in place to minimise the risk of fraud in their department, adding an extra layer of incentive.

Finally, schemes can be put in place to reward employees who report fraud or, better still, who identify areas of weakness where company controls

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Schemes can be put in place to reward employees who report fraud or, better still, who identify areas of weakness where company controls and practices are vulnerable. And in the last resort, there needs to be clear and recognised channels for reporting fraud, and potential whistleblowers also need to know that they will be supported.

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They are highly trained to spot anomalies and to make a judgement on whether management assumptions are reasonable. Ferreting out complex, carefullylaid schemes of fraud (when there is no reason to be suspicious) is not supposed to be a part of their remit.

There are other reasons why it would be unwise to rely on the audit being the main bulwark against corporate fraud. The fraudster works for the company, and will know company procedures inside-out and therefore have the opportunities to cover their tracks.

The auditor, by contrast, is there relatively briefly, during a well-advertised window, giving fraudsters plenty of warning.

Finally, bringing the perpetrator to justice means the case going to court. Auditors are not lawyers, and are not expected to have detailed knowledge of the rules surrounding investigations under criminal law. But to avoid a case being thrown out of court any investigation must comply, to the letter, with every last minor aspect of legal procedure in that jurisdiction. This means that the case must be prepared by someone with comprehensive knowledge of relevant criminal law.

There is a branch of accounting that examines financial reports from a criminal perspective, called forensic accounting. It is a career path in itself and plays a large part in fighting fraud. However, forensic accounting can only occur after the crime has been committed.

She has spent the last 15 years living and working in Asia and the Middle East and has extensive experience in financial training.

Amanda founded the largest provider of professional financial training in Singapore.

and practices are vulnerable. And in the last resort, there needs to be clear and recognised channels for reporting fraud, and potential whistleblowers also need to know that they will be supported.

The best protection

Fraud evolves as fast as businesses do. Technology is a good example; many businesses rely on IT now and it can be used both to detect and to hide fraud. Some businesses which rely heavily on technology might invest in permanently staying on top of developments that allow them to fight fraud, but this is too time consuming and costly for the majority of companies.

The best solution is to have a culture that makes fraud both unwelcome and difficult in the first place.

The same attitude applies equally across the business.

Hoping to prevent every kind of fraud or to be able to stop it after the fact, will never be as good as putting in place measures to prevent it happening in the first place.

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Industry Watch

REGIONAL WEALTH ON THE RISE Private financial wealth in Middle East and Africa grew by 4.7% in 2011, according to a new report by The Boston Consulting Group (BCG).

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Proportion of millionaire household n Qatar 14% n Kuwait 11.8% n UAE 5% n Bahrain 3.2%

4.7%

increase in private financial wealth in Middle East and Africa (2011)

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he report, entitled The Battle to Regain Strength: Global Wealth 2012, shows a number of Gulf countries ranked in the top ten in terms of proportion of millionaire households.

The report is BCG’s twelfth annual look at the global wealth-management industry and addresses the current size of the market, the state of offshore wealth, the performance levels of leading institutions, the emergence of alternative business models and key trends that all players must adapt to.

According to the report, private financial wealth in Middle East and Africa grew to USD 4.5 trillion in 2011, up from USD 4.3 trillion in 2010, marking a 4.7% increase. Furthermore, it is expected to grow by a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.6% by 2016, to reach USD 6.1 trillion, largely as a result of continued strong GDP expansion in oil-rich countries.

In 2011, Qatar, Kuwait, UAE and Bahrain were among the top ten countries in the world by proportion of millionaire households. Qatar stood at second place with 14.3% millionaire households; Kuwait came in third (11.8%); the UAE came in sixth (5%); and Bahrain stood at tenth place (3.2%).

Dr. Sven-Olaf Vathje, Partner and Managing Director at BCG Middle East said: “We see this growth despite the fact that Middle Eastern and African stock markets suffered from the political instability caused by the uprisings across the Arab world in 2011. Despite this, the region’s private wealth grew in 2011 driven by high savings rates and strong economic growth in commodity-rich countries such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar.”

The BCG study also estimates that between 2011 and 2016, private financial wealth in the region will grow by a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8% for households worth more than USD 100 million, 8% for households worth between USD one million to USD 100 million and 5% for households worth less than USD one million.

In terms of proportion of USD 100 million-plus, ultra-high-net-worth (UHNW) households, Kuwait and Qatar each had six UHNW households per 100,000 households, while the UAE had four UHNW households per 100,000 households.

In fact, with over a third of all assets booked abroad in 2011, Middle East and Africa had the highest proportion of offshore wealth in the world. In terms of percentage of private wealth booked offshore, Kuwait (53%) took the lead in the region, followed by UAE (52%), Tunisia (45%), Bahrain (37%), Lebanon (34%) and Morocco (30%).

As a regional offshore financial centre, Dubai held assets worth USD 0.2 trillion with Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, India, Iran and Turkey as the top five sources of offshore wealth.

Global findings

• Market sizing: Global private financial wealth grew by just 1.9% in 2011 to a total of USD 122.8 trillion. In the BRIC countries, total private wealth increased by 18.5%, compared with negative growth in North America (–0.9%), Western Europe (–0.4%), and Japan (–2.0%).

In terms of household segments, the highest growth rate was in the UHNW segment, which saw its wealth rise by 3.6 % – compared with average growth of 1.7% across all other segments.

• Millionaires: Although the number of millionaire households decreased by a combined 182,000 in the United States and Japan, globally the number grew by 175,000 as many households crossed the millionaire threshold in developing economies, particularly China and India. The United States still had the largest number of millionaire households (5.1 million), followed by Japan (1.6 million) and China (1.4 million).

The report says that the highest density of millionaire households in 2011 was in Singapore, where more than 17% of all households have private wealth of USD one million or higher.

Industry Watch

Global travel trends The number of people travelling abroad continues to increase around the world despite a challenging economic environment, according to the 2012 Global Destination Cities Index.

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verall, the total visitor numbers for the world’s top 20 destination cities in 2012 is estimated to be 184.9 million, representing an increase of 5.7%; cross border spend by these visitors is expected to be USD 241 billion, up by 10.6% from last year.

Regional highlights

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Dubai features prominently on the index, coming in eighth in terms of number of inbound international visitors and outranking cities such as New York, Amsterdam, Kuala Lumpur, Shanghai and Beijing. Abu Dhabi emerges as the world’s fourth fastest growing destination city by visitor numbers, outstripping cities such as Istanbul, Singapore and Toronto and is set to grow three and a half times faster than New York.

With 8.8 million international visitors expected in 2012, Dubai is the eighth most highly ranked

The ease of doing business in the UAE, as well as the country’s exciting offering of hotels, entertainment, shopping and sightseeing are some of the factors that are driving this influx of visitors.

This is especially positive news for local businesses as it highlights strong opportunities for growth.

July 2012

SME ADVISOR Middle East

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destination city in the world, moving one spot higher compared to 2011 and marking a growth of 15.3%. In terms of the volume of international visitor spend, Dubai ranks 18th in the world, with a projected USD 8.8 billion visitor spend in 2012, an 18.5% growth over 2011.

London, Paris, Munich, Frankfurt and Kuwait are set to be the top origin cities for Dubai in terms of number of inbound passenger arrivals. London is the number one origin city for Dubai, with 803,000 visitors expected in 2012. Visitors from London are also the highest spenders in Dubai with USD 1,495 spent per visit, compared to an average of just below USD 900 by visitors from the other four top origin cities. However, the growth rates of visitors from Munich, Frankfurt and Paris are remarkably high at 29.5%, 22.1% and 20.2% respectively.

Abu Dhabi shines through as the world’s fourth fastest growing destination city by visitor numbers with a 17.9% spike expected in 2012, outstripping New York by more than three and a half times, and outperforming cities such as Istanbul, Singapore and Toronto. The UAE capital is also expected to draw an international visitor spend of USD 2.6 billion in 2012, representing an increase of 20.7% compared to 2011.

Raghu Malhotra, Division President, Middle East and North Africa, MasterCard Worldwide said: “We are delighted to see that Dubai and Abu Dhabi have once again emerged as vital destination centres, regionally and globally. The ease of doing business in the UAE, as well as the country’s exciting offering of hotels, entertainment, shopping and sightseeing, are some of the factors that are driving this influx of visitors. This is especially positive news for local businesses as it highlights strong opportunities for growth.”

London was crowned as the world’s top destination city for the second year in a row, with 16.9 million inbound passengers expected in 2012.

Paris came in second (16.0 million), followed by Bangkok (12.2 million), Singapore (11.8 million) and Istanbul (11.6 million) in the top five ranking.

London also stood first in terms of cross-border expenditure with a whopping USD 21.1 billion anticipated in 2012. New York came in second (USD 19.4 billion), followed by Bangkok (USD 19.3 billion), Paris (USD 17.8 billion) and Singapore (USD 12.7 billion) in the top five ranking.

Industry Watch

ROBUST GROWTH FOR UAE ECONOMY A Ministry of Economy and National Statistics Centre report shows the UAE in a very profitable position, with oil prices, tourism and trade being major drivers of growth. value of AED 953.9 billion, with a growth of 9.3%. This growth was accompanied by higher oil prices in world markets in the same period, which reached a height of 26.8% compared to the previous year.

Inflation rates for 2011

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comprehensive review of data on economic indicators of the UAE was done for the report covering the period 20062011, in cooperation with local statistical centres, and the annual mission of the International Monetary Fund. In addition to GDP estimations for 2011, UAE Minister of Economy HE Sultan Bin Saeed Al Mansouri forecast economic growth at 3% for the first half of 2012, and expected this to continue with current oil prices hovering around USD 100 per barrel. This is slightly lower than the 4% growth he predicted in March 2012.

The rates of inflation of consumer prices for the year 2011 reached 0.88 compared to the end of 2010. The average index of consumer prices for 2011 was 116.01, compared to 115.00 in 2010.

Overall, there was a stable level of inflation in the UAE during 2011, compared to 2010.

Factors of growth

Many factors contributed to the improved levels of GDP in driving economic growth, and these factors are: n Improved oil prices in general, and the overall improvement achieved by the rest of the economic activities and non-oil sectors of the UAE economy during the same year n Continuous interest of the UAE to promote economic diversification policies, where the contribution of non-oil sectors to the GDP in real terms reached 61.6% in 2011, compared with 69.1% in 2010

GDP estimations for 2011

19.3% 2011 GDP growth rate from previous year

116.01 average index of consumer prices in 2011

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n Total GDP estimates for the year 2011 (at current prices) amounted to AED 1.2438 trillion, a growth rate reached 19.3% from its level at the end of 2010. n The value of GDP of the country for the year 2011 (in real terms) reached to AED 981.7 billion, compared to a value of AED 942.4 billion in 2010. n The UAE’s economy has achieved a real growth up to 4.2% in 2011, compared to 1.3% in 2010.

Ratings of economic activities

n Contribution of non-oil sectors and activities in the GDP at fixed prices reached 69% for the three years 2009 to 2011. n Fluctuation of ratings in the current prices for the same period, due to higher oil revenues as a result of higher oil prices during the years 2010 to 2011.

Updated estimates for GDP in 2010

The value of GDP for 2010 (at current prices) reached AED 1.0427 trillion, compared to a

PERFORMANCE INDICATORS 2011**

2010**

Economic variables

1,243,839

1,042,682

766,535

720,313

981,659

942,397

734,595

665,791

340,225

296,408

1,081,323

827,322

Total exports of goods and services

924,505

758,962

Total imports of goods and services

19.3

9.3

Growth rate of GDP (current %)

4.2

1.3

Growth rate of GDP (fixed) %

GDP (current prices) GDP excluding oil GDP according to 2007 prices (fixed) Final consumption expenditure Gross fixed capital formation

Source: UAE Ministry of Economy, National Statistics Centre - Values in dirhams

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Technology for business

Bringing the cloud home Cisco Connect Cloud and an array of new mobile apps aim to simplify the way consumer control and interact with their devices.

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or tablet, while home or on-the-go. One breakthrough feature with Cisco Connect Cloud is SimpleTap. SimpleTap lets consumers connect devices to their Linksys Smart Wi-Fi Router with as little as one tap of a button or with a quick swipe or scan of a device or tag, making it easier than ever to add devices to the network.

Additionally, Cisco unveiled the first set of mobile apps from third party developers that provide extended experiences to Linksys Smart Wi-Fi Routers. There are six new developer apps including an app that lets people search and “beam” online videos to a Smart TV or AirPlay compatible device; an app that helps install home monitoring cameras and enables monitoring at home and on-the-go, and apps that give parents easy ways to keep their children safe online, even when mom and dad are not at home.

isco has announced the availability of Cisco Connect Cloud, a software platform for Linksys Smart Wi-Fi Routers that simplifies how consumers connect, control and interact with their connected devices, including personal entertainment and home appliances. Cisco Connect Cloud is designed to handle all the tiresome and complicated technical aspects of home network set-up and connecting devices to the network. This enables the average person to get on with using and enjoying their Internet service, as well as a wide range of new uses enabled by the home network.

Also available is the Cisco Connect Cloud mobile app which provides easy access to Cisco Connect Cloud on a SmartPhone

SimpleTap – Connecting devices with as little as one tap With SimpleTap, connecting devices to the home network is magically simple. When installing new devices such as Smart TVs, printers or tablets, anyone can now use the Cisco Connect Cloud mobile app on their SmartPhone to get their compatible device connected in a matter of seconds. Connecting is as easy as pressing the virtual Wi-Fi protected setup button in the mobile app and, in the near future, as easy as scanning a Near Field Communications (NFC) tag that may be bundled with or integrated in various consumer electronic (CE) products.

Enhanced analytics from SAS Business analytics software provider SAS will soon add high-performance text mining to its powerful in-memory analytics software.

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AS High-Performance Analytics will be enhanced in August with new text-mining support to provide companies with insight gained from unstructured data in e-mails, social media, call centre logs, documents and other information. The addition of the new text mining feature will give SMEs in the region the strategic advantage of uncovering and seizing more opportunities.

Unstructured data, accounting for more than 80% of today’s data, can be difficult to analyse, often swamping traditional computer architectures. SAS High-Performance Analytics will provide new capabilities to address even the largest text repositories, known as big data, revealing hidden relationships within unstructured data. This helps businesses uncover potential opportunities, which includes new lines of business, untapped customer

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segments, quality and client satisfaction issues, and profits.

SAS High-Performance Analytics slashes analysis time from days to hours, from minutes to seconds, without sampling or using lessthan-ideal analytic techniques, even on billions of rows of data. This technology will proliferate across SAS’ broad product line for faster, better answers within enterprises facing tight competition and increased regulation.

SAS High-Performance Analytics could be highly beneficial in many other scenarios, such as manufacturing. A manufacturer using SAS could build predictive models from product and parts catalogues, which contain millions of items with full text descriptions. The models could then be used to match new customer service requests with appropriate information, and prioritise ordering needs in near-real time.

The SAS High-Performance Analytics product family includes other solutions, such as SAS High-Performance Risk, SAS Visual Analytics and its patent-pending SAS LASR Analytic Server. With these solutions organisations can explore all data, analyse billions of rows of data in just minutes or seconds, and visually present results. Business professionals can use a graphic interface in SAS Visual Analytics to explore data without IT support.

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Register for the Office 365 trial at: www.office365.ae (UAE) www.office365.com.qa (Qatar) www.office365.com.kw (Kuwait)

Technology for business

Google unveils Nexus 7 tablet Google recently announced a USD 199, seven-inch tablet called Nexus 7 that will run on Android 4.1, dubbed Jelly Bean.

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uilt with Asus, the tablet can be ordered on Google Play, and will ship in the US and three other countries in mid-July.

Google described the tablet as principally a conduit for Google Play, its cloud-based repository for Google apps and movies, books and other content. Nexus 7 “is built for Google Play,” said Hugo Barra, Product Management Director for Android at Google.

At Google I/O, its annual developer conference, Google also introduced a spherical Android-based device called Nexus Q that will work in homes to distribute music and other content over stereos and displays with controls from Android SmartPhones and tablets. Google Play will launch on the home screen of the new tablet and buyers will get a USD 25 credit toward Google Play content, such a music, e-Books and movies. The Nexus 7 screen has a 1280 x 800 resolution, useful in watching movies, games and other content, Barra said.

Google also listed a series of improvements in Android 4.1, including paid app encryption to help developers protect their intellectual property and an on-device speech recognition engine that eliminates the need for speech input to work over a wireless connection. Jelly Bean will also ship in the Galaxy Nexus and Motorola Xoom SmartPhones and as open source in mid-July.

One new feature of Android 4.1 is a smoother and more responsive user interface, with a side-by-side demonstration

with a device running Android 4.0, also called Ice Cream Sandwich, which launched last October. Given the price and focus on content streaming from Google Play, analysts said the Nexus 7 tablet will principally serve the same audience as the Amazon Kindle Fire, a USD 199, seven-inch device Amazon is expected to update in July.

Virtualisation made easy Citrix Systems launches VDI-in-a-Box, an all-in-one virtual desktop solution for SMEs. Citrix VDI-in-a-Box can be deployed in under two hours on existing PC hardware, to simplify and mobilise the IT and networking set up in any SMEs. The solution has built-in features for easy installation, policy control, load balancing, security and data protection to avoid the need for specialised datacentre equipment and administration expertise. These cost and efficiency benefits mean that VDI-in-a-Box can reduce 80% of desktop management and IT support costs and deliver an immediate return on investment in virtualisation for SMEs.

Product features

VDI-in-a-Box, powered by Citrix HDX™ technology, enables SMEs access to the high quality Citrix virtual desktop experience anytime, anywhere and on any device, without investment in datacentre infrastructure. Citrix VDI-in-a-Box will be available for purchase pre-installed on lowcost server hardware, providing a bundled solution for virtualisation at less than the cost of new PCs.

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n Easy setup: To get started with virtual desktops, you need only two things: an off-the-shelf server with a hypervisor and VDI in a Box software. Just load the software, power it on, and you’re ready to go. High availability is built-in, so you can go to production by simply adding a second server. n Low-cost alternative: VDI in a Box removes the need for the shared storage, high-speed

interconnects, multiple management servers and clustered SQL servers that VDI typically requires. The all-in-one design simplifies VDI and delivers high availability without additional infrastructure. n On-demand scalability: You can start small with one or two servers and grow as your needs evolve by simply adding more servers to the grid. No re-design is required. n Simple and intuitive: Desktop administrators manage a grid of VDI in a Box servers centrally with an intuitive wizard-driven interface that abstracts virtualisation details.

Automated policy-based management cuts desktop support costs. n Flexibility: Users have the freedom to work from anywhere and access their desktop from any device, including tablets such as Apple iPads, SmartPhones, or their home Mac or PC.

Technology for business

Managing a mobile workforce HP has announced new offerings to help SMEs prepare their technology infrastructures for a growing mobile workforce.

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ith more than 1.1 billion mobile appliances in use worldwide, organisations of all sizes are challenged by the need to access, manage and secure mobile devices and the data generated by them. HP Converged Infrastructure provides the ideal platform for secure continuous access to data and applications. With partner solutions from Citrix, Microsoft and VMware, HP also delivers improved employee accessibility and productivity as the requirements for mobility continue to grow.

Predefined solutions secure, simplify mobile access The trend to use devices to access e-mail and other business data requires SMEs to prepare their infrastructures to support increased mobility.

New HP solutions and services enable organisations to: n Improve security with HP Client Virtualization SMB virtual desktop solution. The solution

includes reference architectures—such as HP ProLiant Generation 8 (Gen8) servers and client virtualisation software from Citrix, Microsoft or VMware—that protects company data by storing user profiles and data on a centralised server. This enables SMEs to provide secure access to applications from thin clients, laptops, tablets and smartphones.

Information remains protected on the server even if the device is lost.

Collaboration tools improve productivity for mobile workforce n Improves collaboration with HP Unified Communications & Collaboration (UC&C) Solutions with Microsoft Lync, an integrated hardware and software solution that enables SMEs to securely video conference, share information on desktops and collaborate to improve productivity. The comprehensive UC&C solution includes Microsoft Lync software, HP Voice over Internet Protocol

(VoIP) phones, HP networking and HP ProLiant Gen8 servers, storage and services.

Simplified infrastructure for SMEs embracing mobility New solutions based on HP Converged Infrastructure help companies to: n Simplify network management with the expanded HP Multi-Service Router (MSR) Series, an all-in-one, customisable platform that allows clients to streamline deployment of networks by integrating security and wired and wireless networking features into one device. n Reduce power costs with the HP 1910 8G Switch Series, which features energy-saving Power over Internet (PoE) technology to deliver simple, reliable and cost-effective network access for rich-media applications, such as voice and video.

Additional information about HP’s new SME offerings is available at: http://www.hp.com/go/whatsnewforsmb.

Microsoft launches Office 365 Microsoft Corp. has launched its cloud productivity service for businesses of all sizes, in the Middle East and Africa region.

Previously available on a trial basis in markets across the Middle East and Africa, Office 365 is now commercially available in 16 countries across the region. The cloud solution will also be available with local pricing in Turkey, Saudi Arabia and South Africa. Regional service providers, will bring the service to their customers. These providers will each integrate Office 365 with its other offerings and market the service to millions of SME customers worldwide.

Office 365 brings together Microsoft Office, Microsoft SharePoint Online, Microsoft Exchange Online and Microsoft Lync Online in an always-up-to-date service, at a predictable monthly cost. The service was introduced in limited beta last year with enthusiastic response, particularly among SMEs. Over a few months, more than 10,000 organisations, many of which were SMEs, signed up and began testing Office 365, creating one of Microsoft’s largest global beta programs for businesses.

“Today, we are evolving from the information age to the collaboration age, where the ability to take action on

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information will set successful businesses apart from the rest,” said Yasir Khokhar, Microsoft Office Business Group Lead at Microsoft. “The launch of Office 365 will accelerate that evolution by delivering enterprise-grade collaboration for everyone.”

Moving to the cloud with Office 365 doesn’t require a business to change the way it works, because the service is based on familiar productivity tools people know and trust, including Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Access and more. Employees get new ways to work together with ease, on virtually any device or mobile phone, and businesses get the reliability, security and IT controls they need in the cloud, even without a dedicated IT staff.

With Office 365, small businesses can be up and running with Office Web Apps, Microsoft Exchange Online, Microsoft SharePoint Online, Microsoft Lync Online and an external website in just 15 minutes, for a monthly fee. These tools put e-mail, voicemail, enterprise social networking, instant messaging, Web portals, extranets, video conferencing, web conferencing and more at everyone’s fingertips.

Office 365 for enterprises has an array of choices for midsize and large businesses, as well as government organisations, and includes Microsoft Office Professional Plus desktop software on a pay-as-you-go basis, for the first time ever.

SIGN OFF

Paving the way forward SME Advisor Sub Editor Joumana Saad takes the pulse on key business trends in the region and gives an update on upcoming events to add to your calendar.

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Joumana Saad CPI Business

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he start of the summer season has been more eventful than usual.

Even with the outflow of expatriates and residents who are going on holiday, there has been a lot of momentum, particularly in the retail and tourism side to keep traffic flowing into the UAE. On the business side, organisations are quickly finishing up their major events and activities before the start of Ramadan.

I recently attended a conference on the rebuilding Libya sponsored by Dubai Chamber. I spoke to Atiq Juma Nasib, Senior Director of Commercial Services at Dubai Chamber, who told me that senior Dubai government officials have made Libya a priority, and have put an action plan in place with regards to ways it can help Libya develop its infrastructure and economy. If all goes well with the transition of a new authority, Nasib hinted at the possibility of Dubai Ports running the country’s ports, as well as Dnata taking over some of its airport services. Dubai Chamber plans to send and receive trade delegations to promote better understanding and cooperation between the two countries.

The big question on everyone’s mind is who will be running Libya

SME ADVISOR Middle East

after it holds its elections on 7th July.

With soaring unemployment in the region, the spotlight is on SMEs as a way forward in driving job growth and innovation. As countries like Libya, Egypt and Tunisia begin to set their new priorities and economic goals, Nasib suggested that new governments look at Dubai’s achievements as an example. To create institutions similar to Dubai SME and the Khalifa Fund would be a wise way to tackle the issue head on.

I also attended the awards ceremony for the MIT Arab Business Plan competition which was held in Dubai this year. I met with many of the finalists, who turned out to have some really innovative and well-thought out business ideas, many of them web-related, that also integrate social media and cloud technology. The winner of the competition, a young Lebanese female entrepreneur had developed a pair of goggles with sensory technology that can read a swimmer’s heart rate and determined the amount of calories burned. The product has already finished its prototype stage and with the prize money, she plans to start marketing the product to vendors in the US.

I also met a team from Egypt that was inspired by the uprising in that country last year and started a media productions company that uses crowd sourcing to create and develop its multimedia projects.

These projects can be marketed to governments and corporations looking for this type of unique, usergenerated content. Overall, the vibe I got from this group of dynamic and motivated individuals was one of excitement as they all have big plans ahead of them for taking their business ideas to the next level.

Looking ahead, the events scene will be rather slow as Ramadan begin, however, it has been the tradition of many technology companies here in the UAE to host Iftars in which they engage and invite businesses, media and the general public.

We at SME Advisor will be very busy planning our upcoming events for the last quarter of 2012. A series of our Success Series workshop and networking events will be held, and we will soon be opening the applications process for the SME Stars of Business Awards that will be held in late November. We will also be hosting our third and final CPI Business Golf Day in October. Be sure to check out www.smeadvisor.com/smeevents/ for the latest information on all of our events.

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