entrepreneur qatar november 2014 | an enterprising population

NOVEMBER 2014 ENtREpRENEuR 1

Online learning pushing ‘treps One

step further

Dr. Kieran MervynBorn or made?

Things you need To know

when sTarTing a business

Jumana Twal

The founder’s

four

HRH PRince Faisal bin salman bin abdulaziz al saud

Namaa al muNawara

Fueling

in Madinahthe SMe Space

Sheikha hanadi bint naSSer al thaniSupplying Qatar with an enterpriSing population INJAZ QAtAr stocks the NAtIoN wIth future eNtrepreNeurs

NOVEMBER 2014 | ENTREPRENEURMIDDLEEAST.COM | QAR15

Is BahraIn the next sIngapore? suhaIl algosaIBI on developIng a new natIonal model

EntrEprEnEur nOVEMBEr 20142


Sheikha Hanadi bint Nasser Al Thani

speaking on behalf of INJAZ Qatar

CONTENTSNOVEMBER 2014

18

18 Sheikha hanadi bint naSSer al thani Supplying Qatar with an enterprising population INJAZ Qatar stocks the nation with future entrepreneurs, and brings multinationals into the mix to make certain that all of their resource bases are well-covered.

30namaa al munawara Fueling the SME space in MadinahHRH Prince Faisal bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud backing entrepreneurship in KSA.

26why bahrain Should not follow the Singapore modelSuhail AlgosaibiDeveloping nations can cull the best strategies of the world, and adapt them accordingly.

36 ‘treponomiCS:SkillSetStarting a business? Entrepreneur Jumana Twal’s founder four, and what she wishes someone told her during her execution and launch phase.

48ESQUIRE guyThe proper way to energize a meeting Ross McCammon on why you have to show some enthusiasm, but not too much enthusiasm.

52 marketingNative AdvertisingKnowing what is, and is not, a native ad, one of the fastest growing and most effective formats in digital advertising, is step one to using them effectively.

Left: HRH Prince Faisal bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Governor of Madinah, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia


CONTENTS noVember 2014

Big players in UAE’s small business market study evolving customer lifecycles

62

72‘treponomiCS: SkillSetAre entrepreneurs born or made?Dr. Kieran Mervyn, a professor of leader-ship at the University of Roehampton talks about how online learn-ing can foster determi-nation and success.

78Start it up:waCky ideaYou ought to be in pictures! BlackBox uses social media to bring online engagement offline, and they’re already operat-ing at a profit!

88Q + a Capturing Qatar up close and personal Co-founders Razan Suliman and Mohamed Abdulla launched Bylens to satisfy the need for localized Qatari visual content, and they’re three years into their opera-tions.

56Culture: lifeBusiness book rundown Amal Chaaban reviews a few business books for you before you hit the bestseller aisle. It’s true that not all executive ma-terial is created equally.

66 trappingS‘Trep gear The executive selection for the entrepreneur on your list that has everything. Okay, maybe for a little self-reward as well.

90life Cultural coup for Abu Dhabi Masterpieces to be presented at the Louvre Abu Dhabi, like Leonardo da Vinci’s La Belle Ferronnière.

Why Bahrain should not follow the Singapore model

BlackBox uses social media to bring online engagement offline

26

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CONTENTS noVember 2014

Parrot brings you MiniDrones- playful,

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Parrot Jumping Sumo

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75 The reverse sides of the

Norwegian currency in pixel motifs. These designs

were submitted by Snøhetta

Design, Beauty of Boundaries.

50teCh:webSite to watChCrowdsourced online info The weird (and some-times wonderful) world of wikiHow is what happens when people run amok on the Inter-net led by founder Jack Herrick, who previously built and sold eHow.

34Shiny#TamTalksTechGadgets and doodads that you might’ve missed out on, sourced by a tech aficionado. Yes, it’s okay to want them all… and no, it’s not our fault.

40online ‘trepMohanad Al-HattabThis digital influencer has character (more than a few), comedic crowd control, and a whole lotta marketing mojo.

74money:aSk the money guy Series A score Telr gets growth funding boost from some big players, and founder Elias Ghanem says it isn’t about connections.


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In addition to our print edition, we’re bringing you all sorts of industry news on our web mediums. Joining us online means getting relevant business and startup content in real-time, so you’re hearing about the latest developments as soon as we do. We’re looking forward to interacting with our readers on all of our social media and web platforms- like any thriving business, we’re looking to give and take. #TrepTalkME is already happening on all of our digi platforms, and all good conversations go both ways. See you on the web!


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EDITOR’S NOTE

Striving for irrelevance Being “the best” at everything… and achieving nothing

Fida Z. Chaaban Editor in Chief @[email protected]

In my time with Entrepreneur MENA, I’ve been quite fortunate. On a daily basis, I interact with

some of the region’s hallmark en-trepreneurs, and also with a slew of our future business luminaries that make up the Middle East startup circuit. Some of those same ‘treps are being distinguished as Enterprise Agility Achievers this month- you’ll be able to see them in print next issue or by visiting us on our social media platforms.

Most of these tremendous busi-nesspeople have one thing in com-mon: they will point out their area (or areas) of expertise, and readily admit that in other areas they know only the basics. These particular en-trepreneurs and industry-achievers will readily share insights about industry agility and innovative strategy in a field that they know well. When these same individuals are asked about something outside of their scope, they have no issues with saying that they’re not well-versed enough with a subject to opine on it. This is a strength, not a weakness. It’s an indication that she or he is both confident enough to talk about what they’re good at, and what they are not good at. Presenting yourself in an accurate light, and allowing people to gage what you excel at is

necessary. Why am I talking about this? Because overreaching is silly and unattractive in a business con-text. You know what you are good at, I know what you are good at, so presenting yourself as a Jack or Jill of All Trades just makes me question your credibility. Be excellent in your field, and certainly share that with associates, but do not be the person who approaches every industry –from retail to logistics- with a I-Know-It-All-And-I-Can-Do-It-Better mentality. It’s detrimental, and it forces people to question how you got as far as you did- this is what I meant by striving for irrelevance.

On the flipside of this, there are the very relevant individuals and organizations out there- like those operating in the social business space. There are a few startups and SMEs who need recognition, and we’ve partnered with The Venture to help GCC’s social entrepreneurs potentially qualify for mentorship (and the much-needed capital injec-tions) needed to push their social businesses even further. If you are a social entrepreneur in the GCC, you could potentially qualify for a portion of the global prize pool of USD$1 million. I’m pleased to share that I’m a judge for the region’s leg of the competition, along with

accomplished entrepreneur Mr. Yogesh Mehta. The successful social businesses from the GCC will be sent to Silicon Valley, and be allotted a share of the prize pool based on relevant business projec-tions.

Visit www.TheVenture.com to see the full set of rules and regulations, and if you qualify, I look forward to learning about your social enter-prise. You have until December 15th, 2014 to submit your entry. Good luck!

i


Dubai World Islands moves forward

England planning to sEll off Eurostar stakEs

Russian Tennis Federation President fined for remarks

Eurostar

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in the loop

The World Islands are slowly coming to life, even though they aren’t garnering the huge amount of attention they had pre-global financial crisis. Since then, private contractors bought off 60% of the islands, and we’ve seen some development, though it’s been a little slow. While Lebanon Island has

turned into a nightlife hub for private corporate parties and social events (queue col-lective groans), all eyes have been on The Heart of Europe (THOE) by the Kleindienst Group, a European real estate group based in the UAE. On the project’s website, it ap-pears that THOE will consist of six islands: Monaco Island

(its logistics center), Germany Island, Sweden Island, St Petersburg Island, Switzer-land Island, and Europe Main Island. The whole concept is basically what you’re probably thinking; each island has its own “identity” based on the country or city it represents, and features luxury resorts including floating villas. The developers have really gone out of their way to make sure each island makes you feel like you’re in that country, and they go well beyond architecture and F&B. They’re bringing in animals native to those countries, street artists native to those countries… they even are setting up an outdoor climate control system. Sweden Is-land has been completed, ac-cording to developer updates through their website and social media platforms.

Britain’s government is hop-ing to sell off its 40% stake of the high-speed railway, the Eurostar. With its debt crisis worsening, many in the government are getting behind the agenda to sell off public assets. How bad is their situation? While the official debt figure is sitting at £1.3 trillion, if you include all liabilities into the equation, we’re looking at about £4.8 trillion. Con-servative Party politicians, including Chancellor of the Exchequer and Second Lord of the Treasury and Member of Parliament, George Osborne, have been sup-porting a policy of selling government assets, hoping to make £20 billion in asset sales by 2020. They are expecting infrastructure and investment funds, as well as pension companies, to be

the likeliest bidders for the Eurostar. That said, Britain won’t sell off the Eurostar if no appropriate offers are tabled. Who owns the rest of the Eurostar? France has 55% and Belgium owns the remaining 5%. Both nations think Britain’s gone a bit awry, and the Labour Party and RMT (National Union of Rail, Maritime, and Transport Workers) are in agreement with their

European neighbors. France hasn’t considered buying that 40%, but do have a “last look” privilege that al-lows them to snatch up the assets at a 15% premium if they aren’t pleased. The Eurostar has been making high profits as of late; in 2013 it made £18.6 million in profit of which a sizeable £7.4 million went to the U.K., an increase from the previous year.

Internationally acclaimed American tennis player Serena Williams is-sued a response following President of the Russian Tennis Federation Shamil Tarpischev’s comments about her and her sister and tennis compatriot, Venus Williams. Serena Williams, an Olympic gold medalist and winner of 63 World Tennis Association (WTA) titles, called the remarks Tarpischev made on a Russian talk show “extremely sexist as well as racist.” Tarpischev inter-jected the show’s host after asking about the Williams sisters calling them the “Williams brothers.” Despite Tarpischev calling it a “little joke”, the Williams sisters found evident sexist and racist undertones in his comment, and they weren’t alone. Famed Russian tennis player Maria Sharapova condemned his comments as well, saying that they were insulting and unnecessary. The Williams sisters, Sharapova, and many other were pleased to hear that the WTA fined Tarpischev US$25,000, and was banned for a year. That’s not all though; he also holds a position with the International Olympic Committee, who may take further action on these remarks. This hasn’t been the first upsetting occurrence for either of the Williams sisters. Just last March, their family was exposed to racist slurs after Serena withdrew from a match against her sister Venus due to her injury moments before the game. The Williams sisters’ father claimed that he and his family were booed as he walked off, and were exposed to racist slurs and threats resembling the language used during the Jim Crow era in the United States.


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INNOVATOR

Sheikha hanadi

bint naSSer al thaniSupplying Qatar with

an enterpriSing population INJAZ Qatar stocks the nation with future entrepreneurs


By Erika Widén


Supplying Qatar with an enterpriSing population





Sheikha Hanadi mentions, as in any new initiatives, how INJAZ Qatar had its past challenges and is still at present facing some, beginning with the set of challenges of establishing and registering a non-governmental organiza-

tion. “Then comes the part where you seek partners with the same social calling and commitment. I must admit that this was the easiest part, as we found partners and sponsors eager to participate in funding, and to help in es-

tablishing INJAZ. Through the commitment and deter-mination of our founding partners such as Qatar Financial Center (QFC), ExxonMobil, Amwal, Blue Saloon, HSBC bank, and Deloitte and Touche, INJAZ Qatar came into existence.

Since then, more institu-tions joined our board such as Ooredoo, Qatar First Bank, Qatar Petroleum, and Citibank, and we’re still looking to increase our partners.” How does INJAZ Qatar work together with the business community,

INNOVATOR

INJAZ was, and still is, a unique proposi-tion. It’s a true private public partnership to provide a needed service to the youth

of Qatar,” says H.E. Sheikha Hanadi bint Nasser Al Thani, Board Chair of INJAZ Qatar. There was a year of preparation and gaining momentum prior to the establish-ment of INJAZ Qatar in 2007. An affiliate of JA Worldwide, they provides hands-on,

experimental learning in financial literacy, entrepreneurship, and work-readiness to around 8.3 million students annually. INJAZ Qatar’s mission is to equip the youth of Qatar with the skills required to become successful contributors to Qatar’s economy, and to prepare tomorrow’s business leaders and entrepreneurs for the dynamic indus-tries that they choose to enter.




corporate volunteers and educators in order to inspire and prepare the youth to succeed in a global economy? “Simply, INJAZ Qatar acts as a bridge. The model is that we attract corporate volunteers and we train them on how to deliver our programs, after which they are allocated to schools to implement them. We have a focal point in each school– which is usually the coordinator. The sessions range between five to 12 weeks and the age group is between 12 to 24 years-old.”

The Sheikha adds that all INJAZ programs focus on Junior Achievements’ main three pillars revolving around financial literacy, work readiness, and entre-preneurship. “A good ex-ample of this would be our Company Program, which incorporates the three pillars.” The Company Pro-gram offers the students the knowledge and tools needed on how to start a company, manage it, and liquidate it. “Our programs are tailored for all age groups; we have programs for middle school, high school, and university

students.” As a result of diversified students, all programs offered by INJAZ Qatar are either English or Arabic, depending on the school’s preference. In addition, INJAZ Qatar prides itself in educating and guiding individuals from all ethnicities and nationalities, as well as having a strong focus on the development of the local Qatari talent. “Our programs have expanded to international schools as well, and the students have perceived the program very positively. Our programs have a great impact on their future and progress, and we conduct annual evaluations that measure this growth, success, and the learning impact that the programs have on their career choices.” A graduate herself of Qatar University, the Sheikha highlights how relevant it is for students to be equipped with business skills and traits, which are not readily available in many present-day teaching materials. “They have to be

curious and determined to understand how the world evolves and functions. This is essential for all the youth anywhere in the world. What we provide through INJAZ, is a glimpse into the world of business and success, as well as guid-ance on issues like time management, personal finance, and leadership.” INJAZ Qatar programs are being taught in partner-ship with 34 independent schools, six private schools and six universities within the country. Additionally,

in some high schools, the programs replace the busi-ness class prerequisite and also serve as an extracur-ricular class and or an activity. At present, INJAZ Qatar has started working with six private schools, and intends to expand in the near future. The duration of the pro-gram varies between five to 12 weeks, and operates on a semester basis. Stu-dents can register in one program during the first semester, and participate in another program for the

“They have To be curIous and deTermIned To undersTand how The world evolves and funcTIons. ThIs Is essenTIal for all The youTh anywhere In The world.”

“whaT we provIde Through InJaZ, Is a glImpse InTo The world of busIness and success, as well as guIdance on Issues lIke TIme managemenT, personal fInance, and leadershIp.”

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INNOVATOR

second semester, with the exception of the Company Program, which runs once a year for a period of five months. Sheikha Hanadi, also a founding chairper-son of Q-Auto, says that there is no doubt that the culture of entrepreneurship in Doha is still new and therefore is bound to be confronted with obstacles. She strongly believes that the lack of a well-developed ecosystem -funding, men-toring, risk culture, legal and human resources- does put a mammoth burden on entrepreneurs in emerg-ing economies. Adding to the load would be also the registration process of companies in Qatar, and both the high operating costs and fixed costs. “This is where the likes of INJAZ Qatar, Enterprise Qatar, and Qatar Business Incuba-tion Center (QBIC) come in: to provide entrepreneurs with the skillset, appropri-ate finances, and incuba-tion space to execute their ideas. We have of course collaborated with the aforementioned entities on several accounts to foster and nurture this entrepre-neurial spirit.” Companies

like Boeing have sponsored their startup program, and have also offered generous amounts of money to entre-preneurs to further develop their ideas. “Establishing a culture of risk-taking that treats failure as a learning experience is incred-ibly important. What has proven very beneficial so far for these entrepreneurs are the advisory services that are offered through our programs at INJAZ Qatar,” adds Her Excellency. “Our programs are designed to fit within the fast-growing GCC region. When it comes to Qatar, our pro-grams are tailored to foster the growth of its youth. We get several volunteers from the Qatari corporate business environment, and via these examples of Qatari leaders there are several success stories that can be told,” continues the Sheikha. “We take high pre-

cision when designing our programs to a point where even our terminology is Qa-tari specific. We are always up to date with the latest research, and we always re-ceive reports and research updates from professional service companies such as Mckinzey & Co.. They have conducted research in the region for INJAZ Al Arab on youth unemploy-ment and challenges, and at INJAZ Qatar we carefully study these challenges and work towards finding solutions for them.” Since the teachers are corporate volunteers, INJAZ Qatar uses experimental learn-ing methods, and trains their corporate volunteers on how to deal with dif-

ferent types of learning environments and methods with tools like interactive and educational games, icebreakers, teamwork, and competitions based on their courses. Afterwards, corporate volunteers, whom are viewed by the students as role models, share their experience stories of the corporate working environ-ment essentially inspiring students to follow the same successful road. “We view this as a practice of great importance because a regu-lar teacher is not able to do the same as most of them have not worked in the corporate world, and don’t know the challenges. Dur-ing our job shadow day for example, the corporate vol-unteers take the students to their offices for hands on experience. This has proven to be an insightful practice that has led many students to decide on which career they would like to pursue.” One example is the More than Money financial liter-ary program- it teaches stu-dents the basics of personal finances and banking. Stu-dents play a certain game in

“InJaZ QaTar acTs as a brIdge. The model Is ThaT we aTTracT corporaTe volunTeers and we TraIn Them on how To delIver our programs, afTer whIch They are allocaTed To schools To ImplemenT Them.”

“our programs are desIgned To fIT wIThIn The fasT-growIng gcc regIon. when IT comes To QaTar, our programs are TaIlored To fosTer The growTh of ITs youTh.”

INJAZ Qatar Corporate Videoon YouTube

Some current INJAZ Qatar Board members


teams where often they will be presented with challeng-es, and will have to make on-the-spot decisions. These specially tailored pressuring exercises help to prepare the students for crucial decisions in difficult real-life scenarios. All of the INJAZ programs are tailored to target different age groups.

“Besides providing the educational backbone, we have financially reward-ing programs thanks to our

generous board of directors and partners. An example of these rewarding pro-grams would be our Com-pany Program, which has a competition and a hefty prize. At INJAZ Qatar, we provide entrepreneurs with educational tools and help them feel the taste of en-trepreneurship by running

a small business through the student companies that they form, and the annual Mubadara competition that we conduct every year to choose the best young com-pany or entrepreneur. Our partners such as Boeing, Enterprise Qatar and QBIC provide them with financial support, advisory services

and an incubation space accordingly.” It’s important to mention that INJAZ Qatar doesn’t differentiate between male and female entrepreneurs. Notably, during this year and the previous one, the winners of the Company Program were women. “This year, we initiated the Start-Up

“aT InJaZ QaTar, we provIde enTrepreneurs wITh educaTIonal Tools and help Them feel The TasTe of enTrepreneurshIp by runnIng a small busIness Through The sTudenT companIes ThaT They form, and The annual mubadara compeTITIon ThaT we conducT every year To choose The besT young company or enTrepreneur.”

INJAZ Qatar Corporate Videoon YouTube

2012 Injaz Al Arab regional competition in Dohawith Qatari team

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Program and the female winners are proving to be entrepreneurs in the mak-ing- undoubtedly, they’re on their way to become successful examples of Qatari businesswomen.” INJAZ Qatar has had tremendous success stories throughout the years. One in particular, Fahad Al Mu-raikhi, attended the Lead-ership Program in 2008 when he was still in his Grade 11 year at the Omar Bin Khattab Independent Secondary School for Boys. During the program, Al Muraikhi was taught about different types of leaders, coached on leadership skills and also took part in 10 hours of community service. “Fahad believes his participation in this program was vital in giving him the motivation and

tools which inspired him to work hard and achieve this prestigious award. Fahad was one of the selected few students who was awarded in the Gold category, and was proudly honoured by the Crown Prince for his achievements,” says Sheikha Hanadi.

Her advice to all of the Gulf nation’s youth, not just those aspiring to start a business, is to equip themselves with knowledge in order to broaden their horizons with global expo-sure, and to build-up their traits of seeking-success, endurance, perseverance and discipline in pursuing their goals. “Our purpose is to inspire and prepare young people to succeed in the global economy, and our mission is to channel the mentorship of Qatar’s

business leaders to help inspire a culture of entre-preneurialism and business innovation among Qatar’s youth.” Inspiration goes

hand-in-hand with practi-cal knowledge, and INJAZ Qatar addresses both the dream, and the stepping stones needed to get there.

in brief the goal State of inJaZ Qatar

>> Linking youth with successful role models from the business sector

>> Enhance youth skillsets and prepare them for their participation in nation’s economy

>> Introduce students to innovation, critical thinking, and new enterprise concepts

>> Give corporations the opportunity to shape the workforce of the future

INNOVATOR

“ThIs year, we InITIaTed The sTarT-up program and The female wInners are provIng To be enTrepreneurs In The makIng- undoubTedly, They’re on TheIr way To become successful examples of QaTarI busInesswomen.”

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INNOVATOR

Developing nations can cull the best strategies of the worlD, anD aDapt them accorDingly

By Suhail Algosaibi

“If I have to choose one word to explain why Singapore succeeded, it is confidence.” Lee Kuan Yew

let’s make something clear from the very start: Singapore is a success-ful country and a shining example of

how determination, hard work and tenacity can literally transform a country from third world to first in just one generation. I am a huge fan of Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore’s founding Prime Minister. He, and the Peo-ple’s Action Party (PAP), ruled the country for over 30 years. He stepped down back in 1990 but has remained active in Singapor-ean politics ever since. The PAP is still very much in charge, led by his son and current Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

bahraIn has more In common wITh sIngapore Than The european naTIons. The Ideal would be To develop a hybrId of The dIfferenT models, whIle keepIng happIness as The ulTImaTe goal.

l

Why Bahrain should noT folloW The singapore model I read Mr. Yew’s From

Third World to First, The Singapore Story during summer vaca-tion in Germany back in 2012. I could not put the book down. I think I read the 700-page book in less than two weeks. I underlined several parts of it, and made notes in the margins. What I par-ticularly admire about the Singapore model is that even though the odds were very much against them, they managed to build a nation. It was a small country surrounded by some hostile countries and ideologies, with no natural resources to speak of, and a racially fragmented and divided population speak-ing multiple languages. Yet they built a nation that is the envy of the world.

I really admire that. Mr. Yew and the PAP are not perfect by any means, but their track record speaks for itself. They delivered. What I particularly liked about Mr. Yew’s approach in building the nation was that it was based on pragmatism, not ideology- a notion I share 100%. For anyone interested in politics and development, reading Mr. Lee Kuan Yew’s book is a must. I would make it compulsory for all senior officials.


Level and decomposition of Happiness by regions, World Happiness Report 2013

Former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew during National Day Parade, Singapore

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Sub-Saharan Africa (4.626)

South Asia (4.782)

Middle East & North Africa (4.841)

East Asia (5.017)

Commonwealth of Independent States (5.403)

Central and Eastern Europe (5.425)

Southeast Asia (5.430)

Latin America & Caribbean (6.652)

Western Europe (6.703)

North America & ANZ (7.133)

World (5.158)

Base country (1.977) + residual Explained by: GDP per capita Explained by: social support

Explained by: healthy life expectancy Explained by: freedom to make life choices

Explained by: generosity

Explained by: perceptions of corruption

>>>

The Singapore model is so successful that many countries have tried to emulate it, or at least parts of it. One of those coun-tries is Bahrain. If fact our very own Economic Devel-opment Board (EDB) idea was taken from Singapore. A Singaporean was even considered to run it.

So of course this begs the question, “Why shouldn’t Bahrain follow the Singa-pore model?” The answer is plain and simple. Sin-gaporeans aren’t happy. In the book, the former Prime Minister acknowledges that “it will take another generation before our arts, culture, and social stan-dards can match the First World Infrastructure we have installed.” One might argue that the price paid by everyday Singaporeans was too high. One might ask what’s the point of all this development if it does not lead to happiness?

I last visited Singapore this summer. I went with my wife and children on family vacation. This was my third visit, and each time I’m impressed with

how advanced, clean and beautiful the country is. But whenever I visit a country, I make sure to speak to the locals; from taxi drivers to business people. During the trip I heard over and over again how hard, expensive and competitive life in

Singapore is. I asked a friend about her thoughts on whether the PAP could continue winning elections in the future. She told me that “Lee Kuan Yew ruled with an iron fist, but he earned the people’s respect. His son has not earned it as much as his

father had.” One of course should not discount the current Prime Minister’s vast experience, but it’s unfortunate that his father has such a large shadow. It covers swaths of Asia. The reason I asked my friend this question is because the PAP, though still very much in control, has been losing some seats in every round of general elections. So there may come a day when they actually find themselves out of office.

the numberSAccording to the World Happiness Report 2013, Singapore is the 30th hap-piest nation in the world. That’s not bad by any means, but hardly stellar considering how much the Singapore model is lauded around the world. (Inci-dentally, Bahrain ranks at number 79, right after Libya and before Monte-negro). My contention is that a country should not pursue development and growth for their own sake. Every human being’s ulti-mate goal is to be happy.


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52. El Salvador (5.809) 51. Poland (5.822) 50. Bolivia (5.857) 49. Ecuador (5.865) 48. Malta (5.964) 47. Guatemala (5.965) 46. Slovakia (5.969) 45. Italy (6.021) 44. Slovenia (6.060) 43. Japan (6.064) 42. Taiwan (6.221) 41. South Korea (6.267) 40. Suriname (6.269) 39. Czech Republic (6.290) 38. Spain (6.322) 37. Uruguay (6.355) 36. Thailand (6.371) 35. Colombia (6.416) 34. Cyprus (6.466) 33. Saudi Arabia (6.480) 32. Kuwait (6.515) 31. Trinidad and Tobago (6.519) 30. Singapore (6.546) 29. Argentina (6.562) 28. Chile (6.587) 27. Qatar (6.666) 26. Germany (6.672) 25. France (6.764) 24. Brazil (6.849) 23. Oman (6.853) 22. United Kingdom (6.883) 21. Belgium (6.967) 20. Venezuela (7.039) 19. Luxembourg (7.054) 18. Ireland (7.076) 17. United States (7.082) 16. Mexico (7.088) 15. Panama (7.143) 14. United Arab Emirates (7.144) 13. New Zealand (7.221) 12. Costa Rica (7.257) 11. Israel (7.301) 10. Australia (7.350) 9. Iceland (7.355) 8. Austria (7.369) 7. Finland (7.389) 6. Canada (7.477 )5. Sweden (7.480 )4. Netherlands (7.512)3. Switzerland (7.650)2. Norway (7.655) 1. Denmark (7.693)

Base country (1.977) + residual Explained by: GDP per capita Explained by: social support Explained by: healthy life expectancy Explained by: freedom to make life choices Explained by: generosity

Explained by: perceptions of corruption

INNOVATOR

Ranking of Happiness, World Happiness Report 2013

The Top 10 lIsT have capITalIsT economIes wITh a sTrong socIalIsT benT- aT leasT The european naTIons and canada do- and They aren’T drIven by IdeologIes, InsTead They are drIven by pragmaTIsm.

So a country’s ultimate goal should be to make its citizens happy, and then develop its long-term plans based on what would make that happen.

So which countries got it right? Let’s look at the top 10 happiest nations:1. denmark

2. norway

3. SwitZerland

4. netherlandS

5. Sweden

6. Canada

7. finland

8. auStria

9. iCeland

10. auStralia

A developing country would do well to analyze these 10 countries, and adapt certain elements and cre-ate its own unique model. I want to emphasize this point, we cannot copy a

model completely; we have to develop our own model based on our own circum-stances and culture. But the ultimate goal should be kept in mind, and we should constantly ask what will make the Bahraini people happy? A cursory look at the nations in the list above reveals that they are all mature democracies with a strong regard for hu-man rights. The top 10 list have capitalist economies with a strong socialist bent -at least the European nations and Canada do- and they aren’t driven by ideologies, instead they are driven by pragmatism. These countries have good education systems, but they do not overeducate their school children (unlike say the South Koreans, where school children routinely study 12 hours or more a day).

how other deVeloped CountrieS of note SCoredJust for fun, let’s look at how some relevant coun-tries scored: > South korea (41)

> Japan (43)

> germany (26)

> China (93)

> united StateS (17)

Interesting, no? It’s also worth noting that South Korea has the third highest suicide rate per 100,000 people in the world. Japan is number 8. This leads me to ask if we can consider their models successful?


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Life satistaction in the Netherlands (Eurobarometer)

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Suhail Ghazi Algosaibi is a serial entrepreneur, author, consultant and speaker based in the Kingdom of Bahrain. He is the founder of the DreamBody Centre, the world’s first and only 23-minute weight loss and body transformation franchise. He is also the Founder of Ghazi Algosaibi Holding BSC (c), and its two divisions, Safeen Books and Safeen Properties, and is Co-Founder and Cof Falak Consulting WLL. Algosaibi is passionate about helping Bahrain and is the Founder and Chairman of the Bahrain Foundation for Reconciliation and Civil Discourse (BFRCD), a non-profit foundation born out of the painful 2011 Bahrain crisis, that aims to promote societal unity and reconciliation. He is also a proud member of Entrepreneur Organization (EO) and Young Arab Leaders (YAL). Algosaibi publishes the Transformation Times newsletter and is the author of Bahrain’s very first self-defence book, The Ultimate Self-Defence Handbook, How to Defend Yourself in Bahrain and Abroad. He is also co-author of the international self-improvement book, 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. Visit SuhailAlgosaibi.com to learn more.

happineSS Should be the goalThe good thing about being a developing nation is that you can emulate the good in other nations. We’re the adolescents of the world, and we can decide how we want to grow up, and who we want to immolate. And I say we should emulate Denmark, Norway and Switzerland, while still keeping the Singaporean model in mind. The Singaporean experience is too valuable to ignore. What makes it particularly interesting and appealing is the speed in which development was achieved. The other coun-tries are mature democra-cies which developed over centuries. Bahrain has

more in common with Sin-gapore than the European nations. The ideal would be to develop a hybrid of the different models, while keeping happiness as the ultimate goal.

Can bahrain aChieVe happineSS?Yes, of course it can. Cer-tainly the odds are against us when we consider the MENA region’s instability, and Bahrain is weather-ing the worst political and sectarian crisis in genera-tions, and our citizens are unhappy. Despite these significant hurdles, I think we can make it. We have some of the best human capital around, and despite the pervasive unhappiness, Bahrainis of all walks of

life love their country. It’s just a matter of time until we overcome the crisis, and start rebuilding our nation.

One day we might even make it to the top 10. I bet on it!


INNOVATOR

Below: HRH Prince Faisal bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Governor of Madinah, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Namaa Al Munawara hopes to fuel

SMEs in MadinahHRH PRince Faisal bin salman bin abdulaziz al saud

backing entRePReneuRsHiP in ksa

Many industry leaders across the Middle East have been pointing

fingers at Saudi Arabia, tipping it as the future entrepreneur-ial hub of the MENA region. While reasons vary, one of them is Saudi Arabia’s effort in creating a more nurtur-ing environment for SMEs. One example? Namaa Al Munawara, a SR1billion (US$226.5 million) non-profit organization recently launched by His Royal Highness Prince

Faisal Bin Salman, Governor of Madinah. Namaa Al Munawara is the implementation arm of the Kingdom’s Al Munawara Endowment. While the first thing that comes to mind when thinking of the Madinah province is its capital, the holy city of Medina, Saudi Arabia is doing its best to rev up business gears with this latest initiative. With Namaa Al Mu-nawara receiving support from Saudi government agencies and the private sector, we can

only expect it to make a huge impact and do exceptionally well alongside the rest of the region’s startup accelerators.

How did namaa al munawaRa come togetHeR, and wHat aRe tHe goals oF tHis PRoject? Namaa Al Munawara was established as a non-profit organization for providing the required support to small and medium enterprises. SMEs, as a sector, is considered one of the most vibrant and

important sectors in the Kingdom. It plays a key role through its goals of provid-ing work opportunities and driving the economy forward, increasing national commercial activities, and reinforcing the spirit of business entrepre-neurship Kingdom-wide, given that 90% of the local companies registered at the Ministry of Commerce and Industry are SMEs. Namaa’s project will provide various job opportunities for Madinah residents, stemming from the fact that encouraging business entrepreneurship through supporting SMEs is one of the key development strategies in all developing and highly developed countries.

How Has entRePReneuRsHiP cHanged in al madinaH in Recent yeaRs? it aPPeaRs tHat saudi aRabia as a wHole is taking immediate action to nuRtuRe staRtuPs, smes, and entRePReneuRial ventuRes. Entrepreneurship requires individuals who have the capability to seize opportuni-ties, evaluate them, analyze their feasibility, and possible returns. In Madinah, lots of various opportunities are available for everyone. These require people who have a sense of initiative and are proactive, knowing how to se-riously interact with and delve into the process of entering new economic sectors through an innovative vision and by providing creative products or services.

wHat aRe some oF namaa al munawaRa’s PRojects? Namaa Al Munawara is the implementation arm for Waqf Al Munawara (Al Munawara Endowment), and it provides several initiatives for sup-porting small and medium enterprises for the men and women of Madinah. Initiatives include the Industrial City initiative for supporting retail sales, another for support-ing Madinah-made products, in addition to manufacturing


“Al Madinah aims at strengthening socio-economic sustainability, given that it falls in line with Saudi Arabia’s developmental renaissance, under the leadership of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz and HRH Crown Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz. Waqf Al Munawara was established to reinforce this vision of development, with Namaa Al Munawara being its implementation arm. Namaa will support and empower the SME sector in Madinah as SMEs are the life blood of all economies and a vital component and a key vehicle for improving economic conditions and expanding job creation. They account for approximately 90% of the total local companies registered with the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. Given that implementation is usually considered one of the most challenging stages, we will ensure that the citizens of Madinah will feel Namaa Al Munawara’s positive impact in the first quarter of next year, through our continuous follow-up, and dedication to the organization’s activities.”

in brief namaa al munawara

20,750 m2 The size of Namaa Al Munawara’s HQ. There will be “designated work areas, sale points, workshops, lecture halls, interactive showrooms for Madinah-made products, offices for Namaa’s success partners and the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA), and an art gallery to exhibit Madinah’s heritage and modern history.” Sr700 million The amount provided by Saudi Credits and Savings Bank for the project.100 The number of sites for “retail channels” to be delivered by Al Madinah Municipality within the next 12 months. The goal is to increase the number of these sites to 500 by the year 2020.

hrh prince faisal bin Salman bin abdulaziz al Saudgovernor of madinah, the kingdom of saudi arabia

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and creativity labs comprising fully integrated workplaces dedicated to the women of Madinah for nurturing wom-en’s employment and creative capabilities, and the One-Stop Shop, which aims at providing all the various governmental and consultancy services that entrepreneurs may need under one roof, helping to save time and effort, among other initia-tives.

wHicH goveRnment agencies and PRivate sectoR comPanies Have been involved in suPPoRting namaa al munawaRa? This is one of the leading projects provided by the Government of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques to the people, presented through non-project organizations to offer logistic and financial support, comprehensive consultancy services through one platform, and in close collaboration with several governmental parties and the private sector.

wHat do you tHink will make namaa al munawaRa moRe eFFective tHan otHeR staRtuP acceleRatoRs in tHe middle east?There are many factors that contribute to the emergence of effective business accelera-tors in Madinah, including the current economic develop-ment and progress, population growth, the higher Saudi income per capita, the pres-ence of a solid technology infrastructure, in addition to financial and logistic support for entrepreneurs in the re-gion, given that Namaa Al Mu-nawara is building the largest entrepreneurship investment platform in the Middle East. This will increase the success rate and success opportunities for the region’s entrepreneurs, in addition to the collabora-tions between the public and private sector in the region for enabling small and medium enterprises to strongly com-pete in the business arena.


Samsung and Oculus col-laborated to create Gear VR, a new dimension of mobile devices and its first virtual reality headset optimized for use with Galaxy Note 4. This futur-istic headgear is built with soft, lightweight materials, doesn’t require a battery and it’s completely wire-less. Equipped for use in

film, gaming, 360 degree videos and educational con-tent, the device allows you to play and learn in many different simulated environ-ments of your choice. Gear VR has a Super AMOLED display and advanced sen-sor technology that makes the experience inside your virtual world feel like a reality.

Get real SamSunG and OculuS create Galaxy Vr

#TAMTALKSTECHWe’ve got a pretty interesting lineup for you this month, tech toy fans. from your oWn personal drones to some serious headgear, here are all of the things you Want to get. (okay, here are all of the things We Want to get.)

Ashton Kutcher is still hanging out with Lenovo product engineers and now, the products do too- hang, that is. Yoga Tablet 2 Pro features a smart kickstand that allows you to enjoy content in four ways: Hold, Stand, Tilt and Hang modes. Named for its flexibility, the Yoga tablet modes allow you to use it anywhere, and it’s packed with top-of-the-line entertainment features like an 8W JBL sound system with bass subwoofer, and a built-in projector that creates a 50-inch home theatre experience on any

wall. With 32GB of storage, expandable up to 64GB via a Micro SD card, you can conveniently store all of your multimedia. How’s that for a new way to enter-tain at home!

Get acrobatic Lenovo introduces YoGa tabLet 2 Pro

Levnovo Yoga Tablet 2 Pro

Galaxy VR

TECH SHINY | WEBSITE TO WATCH | GEEK | MOBILE TECH | ONLINE ‘TREP | THE FIX


Samsung’s new wearable Galaxy S truly does allow you to rely on your wrist, instead of your smartphone. It features a 2-inch curved AMOLED display, custom-izable screen options and changeable straps not the least of which are blinged out wristbands by Swarovski. Gear S connects via 3G, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi al-lowing you to instantly reply to incoming messages, notifications and phone calls forwarded from your smartphone. With over 1000 apps, Galaxy S is improving on the wave of wearables that are hitting the market.

Watcha Wearing? Samsung launches Galaxy S standalone smartwatch

Google announced Android 5.0, alongside their release of the Nexus 6 smartphone, the Nexus 9 tablet,

and the Nexus Player. The upgraded operating system (also known as “Lol-lipop”) has been long anticipated, but just how sweet is it? Lollipop improves upon the basics with bold, colorful UI design, automatic encryption and improved audio, video and camera capabilities. The most impressive features? Enabling device shar-ing, speaking commands, and casting your favorite entertainment apps to your big screen with Google Cast support for An-droid TV devices. If you forget your phone, you can still call any of your contacts (or access any of your messages, photos etc.) by simply logging into another Android phone running Lollipop. Even if your screen is off, you can say, “OK Google” on devices with digital signal processing support such as Nexus 6 and Nexus 9 to get quick answers on the go; send a text, get directions or look up a recipe from Google- just like that. With innovative and convenient features, Lollipop could prove to be quite a treat for tech fans.

Tamara Clarke, a former software development professional, is the tech and lifestyle enthusiast behind The Global Gazette, one of the most active blogs in the Middle East. The Global Gazette has been welcomed and lauded by some of the most influential tech brands in the region. Clarke’s goal is to inform about technology and how it supports our lifestyles. See her work both in print regional publications and online on her blog where she discusses everything from how a new gadget improves day-to-day life to how to coordinate your smartphone accessories. Visit www.theglobalgazette.com and talk to her on Twitter @GlobalGazette.

#TaMTaLksTeCh

Lollipop is pretty tasty

Android 5.0 has some tantalizing features

get high parrot minidroneS

Parrot Jumping Sumo

Galaxy S smartwatch

Parrot Rolling Spider Freeflight Screen Smartphone

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Drones have disrupted serious industries like security and photography, but how about owning your own? Parrot brings you MiniDrones- playful, connected robots that are piloted with a smart-phone or tablet using the FreeFlight 3 application. With two models, the Rolling Spider and the Jumping Sumo, you can choose the one that best suits your personality and environment.

An ultra-compact drone, the Rolling Spider flies both indoor and outdoor with terrific agility. It rips through the air, flips, and thanks to removable wheels, rolls from floor to ceiling. Jumping Sumo is a more rugged version that rolls, zigzags, circles and jumps up to 80 cm in height and length. With its embedded camera, the Jumping Sumo is your ticket to capturing the world from above.


entrepreneur Jumana twal’S

FOuNDER FOuR

sTarTing a Business?


SPONSORED BY CADILLAC IN THE SPIRIT OF LINKING SUCCESS WITH POTENTIAL

INDUSTRYKNOW-HOW

TREPONOMICS ethiCS | ESQUIRE guy | SkillSet | marketing | pro

when I founded Bidaya Corporate Communications in 2004, I’d already had a decade’s worth of experience

as Manager and later Director of Corporate Communications at Fastlink (now Zain), Jordan’s telecom leader at the time. After running the nationwide PR operations of one the Kingdom’s

largest private sector companies for over 10 years, starting a PR agency sounded like a simple transition. What I hadn’t realized was that there was far more to running a startup than I’d anticipated. Here are four things that I wish someone would have told me when I was launching my business.


1. deVelop finanCial SkillS You might be the greatest marketer, technology guru or innovator of your time, and that will be instru-mental when creating market-worthy products and services, but unless you also develop financial skills specific to managing your business, you’ll have a hard time staying afloat. Raising capital, managing revenue and profit, getting clients to pay on time– these are essentials that you won’t learn as an employee.

Whatever you do, whether it’s taking a course, finding a mentor or self-educating by reading up on the topic, make sure that you have the basics down as early as you can to save yourself from making costly mistakes. I was fortunate to have seasoned CFOs and CEOs among my friends and fam-ily. Their advice and guid-ance during those first few years of Bidaya’s formation were central to teaching me how to set up and manage my agency’s finances.

2. manage like a leader Entrepreneurs are often forced to serve multiple roles when they start out, acting as employee, manag-er, and CEO all at once. As your startup grows, you’ll have the luxury to delegate the day-to-day work to your team, and later on your team’s management to your managers. Before you hand over the reins, however, ensure that your executive staff understands your vi-sion for your management culture.

I’ve had the pleasure of working with great manag-ers in my time, each hailing from a different school of thought. By the time I’d de-cided to go solo, I’d already had a good idea of the man-agement style I wanted ap-plied at Bidaya. PR is a very demanding industry, often

involving long hours at the office and tight deadlines. Using a combination of the management principles that I’d enjoyed most as an employee, I created a flex-ible and supportive work environment where my staff would have the freedom to grow and feel at home. As a result, the majority of my team have been with me for over five years and to this day continue to be an inte-gral part of Bidaya’s future.

3. hire SmartNever underestimate the value of good talent or the difficulty of finding them. You can only grow as an entrepreneur if you have a strong team back-ing you and pushing you forward, which is why it is paramount that when you hire, you choose people who have what it takes to level up your business. The catch is, most of these talents are already taken. If you can’t afford to headhunt the best in your industry, learn to spot po-tential in junior candidates. Characteristics that I look for include self-initiative, passion for the work, intel-

as youR staRtuP gRows, you’ll Have tHe luxuRy to delegate tHe day-to-day woRk to youR team, and lateR on youR team’s management to youR manageRs. beFoRe you Hand oveR tHe Reins, HoweveR, ensuRe tHat youR executive staFF undeRstands youR vision FoR youR management cultuRe.

Jumana Twal is the Founder and CEO of Bidaya Corporate Communications (BCC), a regional PR, social media and event management agency headquartered in Jordan. BCC is the exclusive Levant PR partner of Edelman. Since its establishment in 2004, BCC has been helping public and private sector organizations from more than 15 different sectors to address critical communication

challenges, manage brand visibility and perception, strengthen internal and external stakeholder relations, and cultivate a healthy corporate reputation. Twal is a mentor at Endeavor Jordan; a Fellow of Aspen Institute’s Middle East Leadership Initiative (MELI) and the Vital Voices GROW Fellowship Program (VV GROW); as well as a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network among others.

ligence, and loyalty. That last quality is paramount, as I trust my team with ev-ery aspect of my business and they are the engine that drives its growth. I’m proud to say that, today, Bidaya boasts some of the most talented PR profes-sionals in the Kingdom and the region.

4. defy ConVentional wiSdomOur culture has tradition-ally rewarded play-it-safers who stick to the well-worn path. Despite increased regulatory and industry support for entrepreneur-ship -a high risk venture by definition- would-be en-trepreneurs still face social criticism when first making the shift from financially-

secure 9-to-5 employee to startup owner. Some of my friends and colleagues thought I was insane when I told them that I was leaving my high-paying senior position to start a PR agency at a time when PR was barely understood or valued.

No matter how intimidat-ing it gets, use the uncer-tainty to fuel your determi-nation to succeed. At one point, one of my strongest drivers was the need to prove the doubters wrong. I’m glad that I didn’t let myself be talked out of becoming an entrepreneur. It may not have been the easiest road to take, but it was by far one of the most rewarding.


it was 2007 and John Maloof was working on a book about Chicago’s

northwest neighborhoods. On this particular day, he was hoping to find a few pictures from the 1960s that he could use in the book. What he ended up finding was far more interesting. After purchas-ing boxes full of negatives from a local auction house, Maloof began developing some of the images. When they finished processing, he was stunned. They were

incredible, and there were tons of them. More than 30,000 in these boxes alone. Whoever had taken these pictures was surely one of the most prolific and talented American photog-raphers of the last hundred years. And yet, when Maloof looked up the photogra-pher’s name, he couldn’t find her work anywhere else. In fact, after further searching, Maloof was fairly certain that nobody had ever heard of this woman. Her obituary never even

mentioned that she was a photographer. She was a mystery, an unknown artist with world-class talent.

“ThE gREaTEST phoTogRaphIC dISCovERy”The images discovered by Maloof were taken by a woman named Vivian Maier. For nearly 40 years, Maier worked as a nanny for wealthy families in Chi-cago and New York. During her many daily errands, excursions with the family children, and trips to other cities around the United

the photographer nobody knew

lessons on sharing your gifts with the worldBy James Clear

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TREPONOMICSethiCS | ESQUIRE guy | SkillSet | marketing | pro

James Clear writes at JamesClear.com, where he uses behavior science to share ideas for mastering your habits, improving your health, and increasing your creativity. To get useful ideas on improving your mental and physical performance, join his free newsletter JamesClear.com/newsletter, to have James speak at your entrepreneurial event contact him jamesclear.com/contact

See this article in its entirety at Entrepreneur.com

AmAzON TO OPEN fIRST-EVER PHYSICAL STORE

Amazon new headquarters in London

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States, Maier took nearly 150,000 photos of the people and architecture that surrounded her. Maier’s work and backstory fasci-nated Maloof. Eventually, after processing thousands of images, he collected 100 of the best photos and posted them online. People loved them. Major newspapers called to run stories about Maier’s work and wanted to know how Maloof discovered the im-ages. Filmmakers called and decided to make two docu-mentaries about the story including Finding Vivian Maier. Galleries began to exhibit her work throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia. The uncovering of Vivian Maier’s images has been referred to as the greatest photographic dis-covery of the 21st century. The story raises plenty of questions, not just about Maier’s past, but also about our willingness to share our gifts with the world.

ShaRE yoUR woRkWe’ll never know the reasons why Vivian Maier decided to hide her work away in boxes. Maybe she didn’t feel that it was good enough. Maybe she wanted to share it, but didn’t know who to contact. Maybe she simply loved to create and wanted to keep her work private. (The last option seems unlikely as she did make a few attempts to pub-lish her photos.) Regardless of her reasons, two things are certain. First, the world is a better place because she chose to create something. And second, you shouldn’t wait for someone like John Maloof to share your work with the world. The story of Vivian Maier is a wonderful reminder that we all carry some brilliance inside of us. But perhaps it is an even better reminder that nobody owes it to you to put your work out into the world.

How easily could Maier’s work have been forgotten? How many other brilliant artists, creatives, scientists, and thinkers have their work hidden in boxes or tucked away in attics?

whaT yoU CREaTE vS. whaT yoU ShaREThe world can only benefit from what it can see. Which talents are you keeping tucked away in boxes? Which ideas are you hesi-

tating to share? We have a responsibility to share our work with the world, to contribute our talents to this little sliver of the

universe. Choose to share your brilliance with the world. Don’t wait for your John Maloof. Start before you feel ready.

Online-only no more, Amazon is ready to join the physical world of brick-and-mortar businesses

that it helped radically disrupt. Amazon.com plans to open its first-ever physical store later this year, according to The Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the plans. The store would open in New York City, just in time for this year’s holiday shopping season. The store would reportedly function as a “mini-warehouse,” and is to be located in midtown Manhattan near the Empire State building. An Amazon spokesperson told Entrepreneur.com, “We have made no announcements about a location in Manhattan.” While Amazon has tried to push speedy shipping to its limits, a brick-and-mortar store would allow for same-day delivery within New York. Additionally, the store would serve as a location for returns, exchanges and online order pickups. The store may also function as a place to showcase inventory, such as the Kindle e-reader, the Fire smartphone or the Fire TV set-top box. It isn’t the first time that

the company has considered physical locations. In 2012, the e-commerce giant reportedly looked into opening a location in Seattle, but never followed through on plans. The move comes as other e-commerce leaders are making similar transitions. Online clothing company Bonobos opened its first brick-and-mortar store in Manhattan in 2012, eye glasses company Warby Parker followed suit in 2013, and online beauty subscription service Birchbox did the same earlier this year. The move to go from online-only to even a small number of brick-and-mortar stores isn’t necessarily easy. The cost of real estate, labor and inventory adds up, and can fundamentally change a company’s business model. However, Amazon has decided that it’s worth a try- even if it goes against the online-only system that has guided the company over the last two decades.



sacha Baron Cohen is famous first and foremost for his character development and

outrageous tactics. Contro-versial material peppered his Ali G, Borat, and Brüno Gehard personas often under the guise of jest, and Cohen later transitioned his comedic success to more challenging (and serious) roles. Had Cohen began his career in the age of social media, he may very well have opted for Instagram and Vine as his first me-diums. The MENA region now has our own hilarious version of Cohen’s Borat, and he goes by the name of “Hassan El Coach”- one of the many fictitious char-acters developed by digital influencer and performing artist, Mohanad Al-Hattab. Al-Hattab uses social media channels to share his work, and yes, make people laugh. “I was watching standup comedy with my father, and we started talking about the

art of comedy and he men-tioned Lord Byron’s quote, ‘Always laugh when you can. It is cheap medicine.’ When I sat down to place a cover photo for my Face-book page, I felt that this quote would be just right.”

A Syrian National, Al-Hattab was born and raised in the UAE, and started his now Insta-famous account approximately a year ago, following up with a Vine account a few months later. The 24 year-old digital influencer has impressive reach. He’s a heavy social media user, and at the time this interview took place in late October, he was at just under 165,000 Instagram followers from across the MENA region. His characters span dialects and genders, and they each have their own cult-like fan-bases with some crossover between charac-ters. After completing an undergraduate degree at the American University of Sharjah in Marketing and

Management, Al-Hattab followed up with a Masters in Marketing at Brunel Uni-versity London in England. Abu Dhabi-based, most of his videos are filmed at home, often with the help of his family who are in on the jokes. He develops identities and back stories for each character, and periodically releases highly-anticipated new install-ments in their individual sagas. The tech-savvy artist explains that while there are people who recognize the work that goes into each character and storyline, he is aware that many people assume it’s all quite easy. “I do also believe, that there is a number of people who do not comprehend the thought that goes into my work. For example, the fact that I try to diversify my characters could be per-ceived as a way of me trying to gain more followers from different regions, when in fact it is simply to chal-lenge myself as an aspiring actor. I’ll try a new dialect, and attempt to create new storylines and to be that new person. When I’m try-ing to explain to people all the thought that goes into my work, I try to show it to them through my commit-ment to my characters, and by trying to be as original

as possible in my sketches. Every single word that has been said in my Vines are not derived from any other source but my head, and I believe people hopefully no-tice my hard work through this process of striving for originality.” He remains op-timistic that there are more people out there who see the creative process at work in his videos than there are casual dismissers, adding that he thinks that there “are aspiring actors and people in the creative fields who understand that this is not just a stupid character that makes them laugh. They can tell that there is a whole creative process behind each character ranging from their names, to their mannerisms, to the way they pronounce certain words.”

Al-Hattab’s character “Khaleh Ghusoon” is a sort of Syrian-hen mother, while character “Hassan El Coach” is a comical Egyp-tian TV-pseudo trainer. A popular female character of his named “Rash Rash El Mozee3a” is Rasha, a catty, pop culture commenta-tor opining on the likes of Chris Brown, Bruno Mars, and Lady Gaga. Al-Hattab’s grand dame, Hessa, is an Emirati middle-aged mom desperately clinging to her fleeting youth. Planning to relocate to Dubai shortly, Al-Hattab spends con-siderable time rehearsing each skit before the final video airs via his channels, garnering almost immedi-ate virality after each new post. “My personal favorite character would have to be ‘Ka2eban’, a dramatic girl who always gets broken


digital influencer mohanad al-hattabCharacter, comedy, and a whole lotta marketing mojo

inFluenceRs witH bRoad vieweR aPPeal like al-Hattab can PRetty mucH be veHicles to maRket anytHing, due to His Range oF audience and HigH PenetRation Rate.


up with. In reality, I hate drama; I almost always find dramatic situations and people to be absolutely hilarious. It’s the ultimate challenge -and fun- to play a character that people laugh at while that char-acter hurts. It does sound cruel when you put it this way, but I like to think that Ka2eban will grow up and later look back at herself and laugh about her imma-turity along with everybody else,” he says.

Digital companies in the know quickly wised up to Al-Hattab’s reach and influ-ence, and he has teamed up with megabrands like Lay’s potato chips (a division of PepsiCo) and Chiclets gum (a Cadbury Adams division) after resourceful marketing people happened upon his videos. He was recently negotiating to act as an influencer for a major auto-motive company’s regional launch, but as the campaign goes live late November, Al-Hattab isn’t able to disclose more details. What is a digi-tal influencer? In brief, a digital influencer can be de-fined as a social media user like Al-Hattab who is able to generate traffic, user dis-course, and sometimes viral activity for their content and the content of others that they share or re-share through their chosen me-diums. Reach, a term often used to describe both how far an influencer’s material travels and its longevity (except on the ephemeral mediums like SnapChat), is key to measuring influencer capabilities. A good analogy often used to describe reach to those outside of digital arenas is water waves. Those waves, and the sub-sequent smaller waves and ripples, explain the initial release and the eventual diffusion of user content on the Internet. How far that content goes, and how likely people are to both engage

with and re-share the influ-encer’s content makes for tricky metrics, but it can be measured using viewer ana-lytics and the influencer’s overall audience demo-graphics. Influencers with broad viewer appeal like Al-Hattab can pretty much be vehicles to market anything, due to his range of audience and high penetration rate. A fashion-oriented digital influencer might be invited to be the first to preview a fall collection, and then share exclusive images pre-mass release. A tech-influ-encer might be given a new smartphone, and asked to discuss device features and maybe perform an online “unboxing”, a popular tactic in reviews and promotions. Who is Al-Hattab open to working with commercial-ly? “Any product or service that is light, fun, and that has a positive energy would a perfect collaborative ef-fort. I want my channels to be an escape from the real, harsh world that we live in, and my characters are developed to draw a smile from people. Basically, any commercials that I am al-lowed to incorporate into my videos in a comical form would be a good match.” Al-Hattab has yet to really apply his marketing degrees to his profile as a digital influencer, but that hasn’t stopped clever agencies from reaching out to him. He doesn’t have his num-bers and metrics on-hand, and instead talks about how much he loves entertaining his fan-base. Ultimately, he says he’d love to pursue a full-time broadcast and performing arts career, but he knows that there is still some stigma attached to that particular business in MENA. “Unfortunately, I believe that a majority of the Arab culture look down on the performing arts. We are always taught to take the safe road by becom-

ing doctors or engineers, because that will certainly secure good fortune which will supposedly result in a happy life. We aren’t open-ing our minds to finding new ways of making money, and new ways of being happy. That being said, when I say Arab culture, I absolutely do not mean to include all Arabs. >>>

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Vine, a video-sharing app that lets us-ers share mini-videos, is getting some attention for their recently introduced “Loop Counts”. Vine’s user-generated six-second videos, also allow for users to stop and record making different scene inclusion before releasing their posts possible. Their “Loop Counts” feature is reportedly to indicate how many times people have watched a video in real-time on Vine, and as embedded content. With video being essential in digital and mobile marketing, having a metric sys-tem is useful to determine advertising value, and user reach including virality. Vine user Lele Pons has claimed to be the first Viner to reach one billion loops, quite a feat considering how young the platform itself is- up and running since January of last year (and acquired by Twitter in 2012). But how legit is it? Criticism has surfaced regarding the reliability of the Loop Counts measure, since a six-second loop can be watched

many times in one sitting. One possibil-ity was suggested by AdWeek’s Lauren Johnson: Bots could potentially be responsible for the traffic on the posts. To be fair, Vine has updated their FAQ page to state that they have “systems in place” to guarantee Loop Counts authenticity, and that the Loop Counts don’t measure popularity and will not impact the listings on their “Popular Now” page. Admittedly, it can provide marketers with useful data since they can now see how their brands are faring, yet still lacks details that data analysts go crazy for- unique viewer metrics such as interests, devices-used, gender and

location stats, and the like. Loop Counts is far from perfect, but it’s a good baby step towards social media analytics.

In other digi news, guess who’s also all grown up with their monetization plans? Snapchat, valued near US$10 billion as of latest funding round, has rolled out their first advertisement for U.S. users. The first ever Snapchat ad is a 20-sec-ond trailer for upcoming horror flick Ouija. Assuring users that it’s just their way of “making money”, ads appear as “Stories” in the “Recent Updates” section, with users being able to choose whether or not they want to view the new additions.

My parents are fully sup-portive of my love for the performing arts. I’m sure that there are many more Arab parents that have a similar perspective on life- just not enough of them.” A lack of obvious advertis-ing and product promotion on Al-Hattab’s part only increases his credibility with his audience, since he so rarely promotes products and executes campaigns. Influencers as a general rule are walking a fine line, and must strategize care-fully in terms of contractual promotions, lest they turn off and deter their existing audiences by appearing too commercial. “I try to be as subtle as possible about that aspect. It can be extremely annoying pushing

an advertisement into an audience who are visiting your channel to simply laugh. So I try to make sure that I hit two birds with one stone by making my audience laugh, and at the same time incorporating the brand. For example, in one of the videos I posted, I did a Christina Aguilera imper-sonation to encourage my followers to go and vote for me in the Lay’s chips com-petition.” Like most digital influencers, Al-Hattab has his fair share of trolls, and like most many trolls, they attack everything from his appearance to his mascu-linity- the latter for his portrayal of female char-acters. This “generic hate”, as Al-Hattab refers to it, actually serves to increase

influencer virality; trolls in general are acting as de facto promo vehicles by visiting mediums and rev-ving up the discussion on digital platforms, increasing the particular channel’s relevance level. “In terms of how I deal with them, I completely do not acknowl-edge their existence. I never reply to any hate messages or comments, and I never delete them as well.”

His comedic mini-epi-sodes have the potential to become full-blown TV and even movie material, and perhaps the region will soon have our own Sacha Baron Cohen… once the non-digital content produc-ers catch on to his onscreen charisma, and his hyper-loyal following.


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from less than 1% of the world connected to the Internet back in 1995,

today the number of Inter-net users around the world are about to cross the 3 billion user milestone. In the Arab world, there are more than 135 million individu-als using the Internet. This is coupled with a mobile penetration rate of around 110% on a regional level, and more than 71 million active users of social media platforms. While Arab In-ternet users today make up less than 0.5% of the global

Internet population at best, they have been growing at a faster than average rate in the range of 20% annually. As such, many aspects of Ar-

abs’ lives have been greatly impacted. Indeed, with around 400 million mobile devices and millions of other Internet-connected things,

the proliferation of ubiqui-tous digital connectivity is creating new opportunities and challenges for govern-ments, businesses, and societies alike. In the Arab region, Internet connectivity has transformed the ways in which millions of people do business, learn, socialize, and advance their careers. To better understand the

Your company must be digi-friendly

[it’S no longer an option]

Internet, mobile trends and connectivity in the Arab world By Suhail Al-Masri


In 2020, IT Is esTImaTed ThaT around 20% of The labor markeT In The mena regIon wIll be relaTed To InTerneT and Technology IndusTrIes. CH

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whIle arab InTerneT users Today make up less Than 0.5% of The global InTerneT populaTIon aT besT, They have been growIng aT a fasTer Than average raTe In The range of 20% annually.

critical changes that the Internet is spawning and their impact on businesses and people at a regional level, Bayt.com, in coopera-tion with the Governance and Innovation Program at the Mohammed Bin Rashid School of Government

(MBRSG), conducted their second edition of a regional white paper series on the latest Internet and mobile usage trends in the Arab region, released in May 2014. The white paper titled The Arab World Online 2014: Trends in Internet and

Mobile Usage in the Arab Region is based on a survey of nearly 3,000 people from the 22 Arab countries. It examines current digital trends in the Arab world and focuses on online behaviors, e-government attitudes, online news and service

consumption, e-learning as well as the use of mobile and social media in the region.

The survey reveals that the economic impact of Internet growth in the Arab region will only increase going forward. For example, in 2020, it is estimated that around 20% of the labor market in the MENA region will be related to Internet and technology industries. Unlike other mature sectors in Arab economies, these fast-growing industries will provide the majority of the badly needed new jobs. >>>


“Mark my word: A combination of airplane and motorcar is coming. You may smile, but it will come.” Henry Ford, 1940

fASTEN YOUR SEATBELTS fOR TAkEOff Aeromobile’s Flying Roadster

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TECH SHINY | WEBSITE TO WATCH | GEEK | MOBILE TECH | ONLINE ‘TREP | THE FIXTECH SHINY | WEBSITE TO WATCH | GEEK | MOBILE TECH | ONLINE ‘TREP | THE FIX

bayt.com Has moRe tHan a decade oF exPeRiencein collating vital statistics FRom aRound tHe middle east and noRtH aFRica (mena) Region. tHRougH conducting RegulaR mena-wide suRveys, bayt.com seeks to PoRtRay an accuRate, cuRRent RePResentation oF tHe oPinions, Habits, and attitudes oF tHe Region’s PoPulations.

ever been hopelessly sandwiched in bumper-to-bumper traffic and fantasized about flying far, far away? As in actually pressing a button that magically releases a glorious pair of

wings from your vehicle, escaping the infuriating gridlock below? Then hang in there, weary road warriors. The car-plane of your wildest dreams could finally be here and taking flight soon. The “first genuine flying car” is now a reality, even if only as a prototype (The Guardian), and it’s a fully functioning prototype, one that will eventually even offer autopilot. Beating Tesla’s Elon Musk, Terrafugia, and even DARPA to the punch, AeroMobil’s “Flying Roadster,” the AeroMobil 3.0, is slated to make its debut very soon. The 19-foot-long, steel-framed blue and silver flying sports car (sorry, kid-toting moms and dads, it’s only a two-seater, no carpool for you) weighs just 992 pounds, one-quarter of the weight of a Hummer H3. With a somewhat disappointing top flight speed of only 124 miles per hour, the single Rotax 912 engine equipped Flying Roadster isn’t exactly a speed demon. Its top speed on the asphalt is 99 miles per hour. Not bad, we suppose, for a car that flies. All passengers have to do to extend the 27-foot wide (in total wingspan) collapsible wings and start the rear-mounted propeller is press the “transform” button,

according to an article in Wired. Pretty cool, right? For down-to-Earth road travel, the four-wheeled Transformer-like Flying Roadster’s long, lightweight carbon-fiber patented wings neatly tuck away behind its angular, pod-like cabin. Once back to its car state, the sleek airplane-automobile hybrid is compact enough to parallel park on a crowded city street. A single steering wheel, also patented, is used to fly and drive the craft.

once a day. The findings of the survey reiterate the Internet’s role as an indis-pensable part of our lives, with 53% spending between three and seven hours daily online, and 25% spending over eight hours online per day. This should serve as a clue for entities across the region, from governments to businesses, to adopt an on-line presence as an essential part of their development strategies.

However, in a region facing mounting social, political, economic, and public service related challenges in terms of access and quality, the barriers ahead are immense. Within most countries in the region, the digital divide is still impacting millions of Arabs who are deprived of opportunities to access information, jobs, educa-tion, and services enabled by Internet connectivity.

Limited availability of rel-evant Arabic content online is another key barrier facing Arab Internet users.

However, and despite these challenges, a staggering 94% of respondents agreed that the Internet has opened doors to new learning re-sources, and 79% said it had increased their involvement with their communities. Nearly 61% said they could not live without the Internet, with 63% of respondents using the Internet as a source for research at least

Suhail Al-Masri is the VP of Sales at Bayt.com. Al-Masri has more than 20 years of experience in sales leadership, consultative sales, account manage-ment, marketing management, and operations management. His mission at Bayt.com goes in line with the company’s mission to empower people with the tools and knowledge to build their lifestyles of choice.


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kEy TEChNICaL MaTTERS

The Esquire Guy on the proper way to energize a meeting

By Ross McCammon

WHAT HAPPENS IN A MEETING IS A MICRO THING; THE SUCCESS OF THE MEETING AND THE “ENERGY” OF IT ARE A MACRO THING. THE CONTExT OF THE MEETING IS AT LEAST AS IMPORTANT AS HOW IT’S LED.

> The first rule of energy when it comes to meetings is: not too much.> Also: not too little.> There’s energy, and then there’s ENERGY!!!> Energy involves eye contact, nodding, smiling, emoting, reacting and moving on when things get bogged down.> ENERGY!!! involves fist pumping and the clapping of hands. > Occasionally it involves jumping up and down on the conference-room table.> What you want to go with is the first kind. Lowercase. One exclamation point, max.> If you find a helpful energy tip in a management

book, let that tip merely inform your behavior. Don’t let it dictate your behavior.> If you find a helpful energy tip in a YouTube video, let that tip merely inform your behavioras well.> If you find a helpful energy tip in a YouTube clip of Glengarry Glen Ross, do not let that tip inform your behavior in any way. Especially if the clip involves Alec Baldwin.> The leader of a meeting is not a motivational speaker or a moderator. The leader of a meeting is a facilitator of discussion ... solutions ... pastries.> Tip to meeting facilitators: The cake doughnut is deeply underrated.


the three most important virtues of meetings are as follows: punctuality (obviously), order

(represented by the “agenda,” as it’s sometimes dispiritingly called) and energy. This is about energy. But not ENERGY! Energy has come to be syn-onymous with UP! and HELLO! and HOW ‘BOUT SOME COFFEE, DAVE?! ... NO?! ... WELL, THEN HOW ABOUT A CRULLER?! ... NO?! ... WELL, THEN HOW ABOUT A HIGH-FIVE?!

Now let’s get started. Projecting posi-tive energy during a meeting is a tricky thing. Too much, and you come off as a SpongeBob-like freak. Not enough, and you come off as a Squidward-like bore. (Note: If you are over the age of 11, do not use SpongeBob references in your meeting communications.)

Positive energy often belies the seriousness of the task at hand. Se-riousness can be energizing, too. But the point is to be neither keyed up nor grave. The point is to be authentic. To put it more authentically: “Anytime you’re trying to do something because you read it in a management book- those are the times you look like an idiot,” says Greg Tseng, co-founder and CEO of Tagged, a social-discovery network.

Maybe don’t follow general guidelines too closely (this column notwithstanding). Plenty of manage-ment books address how to motivate your staff, but as with any instruction presented in a management book, you should deviate where necessary. Otherwise, even if you don’t come off as an idiot, you’ll probably come off as slightly out of step. If you’re all smiles and high-fives, then you’re not going to seem present in the meeting. You’ll be in the room, but your attitude will seem to be somewhere else- perhaps in a happier, more fun room, but the wrong room nonetheless.

Super-positive energy ignores another principle of meetings, and that is that people don’t like them. Alexandra Luong, associate professor and director of graduate studies in psychology at the University of Min-nesota Duluth, focuses on emotions in the workplace. “The research sug-gests,” Luong indicates, “that people don’t like meetings.” (Note: Your tendency to hate meetings is validated by science.)

This is a little more helpful: “Make sure the people who are giving you input know they’re there with you in the meeting,” Luong says. This is


TaLkINg poINTS

not enough JuSt enough too muCh

Hey.

What are we gonna talk about...

Brilliant.

Let me start by reviewing why we’re here.

No.

What are you talking about?

I was, but now I’m not.

Hi!

Here’s what we have to figure out...

Brilliant!

Here’s why we’re here.

Can we feel what?

I have no idea what’s going on.

I can get ready.

HOWDY!

Our main topics today are listed vertically in bold! Subtopics are indented beneath each topic! Yay!

Brrrrrrrrrrilliant!

Can you feel it?

Tell me: Can you feel it?!

Are you ready for this meeting?!

Let’s do this!

sometimes referred to as “presence.” It involves giving cues that tell people you’re listening. And there’s nothing more energizing than having someone’s eyes focused on you as you’re speaking.

It might be a little intimidating, but meetings should always be a little intimidating. Because there’s something at stake. If someone is speaking in a meeting, they should be simultaneously encouraged and challenged. And all you have to do is lock in to what they’re say-ing. That creates a momentary friction. And that kind of friction -more than some lame attempt at cheerleading- creates energy.

It involves eye contact. And the acknowledgment that someone is speaking. If someone can’t get a word in (an assistant, say), the others in the room should be tamped down so that the person can be heard. When you’re helping someone out like that, you’re building trust and establishing parity. You’re being authoritative and generous at the same time.

But these are small things. What hap-pens in a meeting is a micro thing; the success of the meeting and the “energy” of it are a macro thing. The context of the meeting is at least as important as how it’s led. As we were talking about meetings to Mark Johnson, CEO of personalized news-aggregation app Zite, he said: “Monday meetings go much better if they’re done after lunch rather than in the morning, when everyone is getting through the fact that they’re at work on a Monday morning instead of having a lovely weekend. This is a rather obvious point, but it’s an important

one. Because Johnson is addressing the context of the meeting, which is a more important determiner of the kind of energy a meeting will have than any sort of approach you’ll employ or pastries you’ll serve.

A few other contextual approaches that contribute to good energy:> Have a tendency to start and end your meetings on time.> Have a tendency to be generally positive. And occasionally extremely positive. And occasionally not positive at all.> Have a tendency to be extremely clear about what you want people to think about before the meeting.> Have a tendency to not hold your weekly meeting at 8a.m. on Monday morning or at 5p.m. on Friday after-noon. (Why do startups always sched-ule their staff meetings this way?)

Speaking of Friday meetings, which often are characterized by the drinking of spirits- the problem with drinking during an important meeting is twofold. Alcohol has a tendency to create a sense of optimism, even when the situation doesn’t warrant it- a false positive, in other words. Also, drunk people don’t make good decisions. Which subverts the point of the meeting in the first place. Meetings involving drinking are for camaraderie only. A worthy goal, but not a productive approach.

Sure, that sounds lame ... BUT THERE’S WORK TO BE DONE, PEOPLE!



The weirdworld of wikiHow

CROWDSOURCED ONLINE INFO ON JUST ABOUT EVERYTHING By Pamella de Leon

(ANd SoMETiMES woNdErful)

wikiHow founder Jack Herrick


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like wikiHow come to exist, and they see serious traffic numbers. Don’t get me wrong; the concept of wikiHow is altruistic, and I acknowledge that “helping everyone on the planet learn how to do any-thing” is a very grand mission statement. They aren’t kidding about the “learning to do any-thing” part. After brainstorm-ing the most random online searches that I could think of, I saw tips on everything from building a computer to beginner’s yoga to creating your own origami dinosaur (pictures and illustrations included). But what’s the point of wikiHow, and who has time to curate and write this stuff? Describing themselves as “a community of knowledge philanthropists”, they rely on collaborative effort to create “the world’s most helpful how-to guides”. As manifestos go, that’s not so bad.

It makes you wonder who comes up with these tips? Since 2005, the founder, Jack Herrick, who previously built

and sold eHow, is joined by a “small paid staff of full time employees” and volunteer community of writers and edi-tors around the world. Wiki-How really do value feedback and their community– it’s littered with thumbs up/down on their mobile site asking whether it’s been helpful or not, and the site regularly features a community mem-ber’s profile on the sidebar. Along the way of exploring the rabbit hole-like website, I noticed that there’s three kinds of guides. First the use-ful instructions, the kind that you would Google like How To Prepare For Interview Ques-tions Thoroughly and How To Reduce Your Carbon Footprint. Then there are those that linger between common sense and philosophical topics like How To Maintain A Positive Attitude, How To Enjoy Dating and How To Stop Thinking That Accepting Help Is A Sign Of Weakness. And finally, the bat crazy, can’t-believe-some-one-actually-wrote-this cat-egory: How To Be Antisocial, How To Create A Love Altar, and How To Use A Computer Mouse– yes, these guides actually exist. In some ways, this category can actually be useful. Miley Cyrus even Ins-tagrammed a photo when she went to wikiHow to find out how to care for her pet pig. I suppose there’s something for everyone. There’s also a bunch of handy ones for ‘treps: How To Buy Business Attire, How To Name Your Business, How To Start A Small Business, How To Finance Your Business, and How To Build Your Personal Brand, among others.

How is it running? WikiHow founder has taken a different approach to their business model. Just like Wikipedia, wikiHow is a wiki, which means that anyone can write or edit a page on the site. It uses a Creative Commons License to give its community the “right to fork”, meaning users have the freedom to

move its content and software without the wikiHow staff. With so much faith in its community and mission, the company is running as a hy-brid organization, “a for-profit company focused on achieving a social good”, supported fi-nancially by “showing optional advertising” (WikiNews). And it works, as of June 2014, it’s the 142nd most popular website in the world, with 10 language versions and over 40 million people reading wikiHow per month according to Google Analytics. You can love it, hate it, mock it, but this sharing culture-loving website is here to stay and has a special place in our hearts… and our browsers.


Besides being a treasure trove of how-to guides, it’s also a home base for ridiculous instructions that are pretty great conversation material.

How To MakE PEoPLE THINk YoU aRE aLIEN Step 6: Refuse to do something that will reveal your ‘alien’ self.

How To BE okaY wITH HavINg a CoMMUNIST FRIENd Step 7: Focus on the better things

in your friendship. Don’t just argue about communism vs. capitalism all the time. Life is too short for that.

How To BE a CREEPY PERSoN Step 3: Get a stuffed animal like a cat or a doll and carry it everywhere you go, and refer to it as your “best friend”. Pet it and say things like, “Good Bessie, Good Girl,” as well as telling people not to stare at him/her because it is shy.

Cringe-worthy wikihow adventuresI TRIED IT! #TrueStory

thiS iS the internetCray cray wikiHow instructions for you to try at home

Following our Editor’s instructions, I let my curiosity take over and tried out a couple of their how-to manuals and even documented a bit on my Twitter feed with #wikihowadventures.

1. How To QUIT waTCHINg TvThis 15-step guide gave tips on using free time to do something else, prompting me to read books, listen to podcasts and watch documentaries. For the most part, it worked on letting me wait out Game of Thrones episodes to enjoy a documentary called Food, Inc. instead. They gave practical pointers until I had to stop at a few that included, “use the TV timer”, “keep a TV diary” and “get rid of and hide TVs.” But most of all, it was this tip that struck out the most: “Remember that television is not a requirement for living.”

2. How To LIvE wITHoUT a CoMPUTERAt one point of this experimental week, my laptop gave up on me and I took this opportunity to wikiHow the way to live without a laptop. It turns out I can’t because one of the first step is just not possible: “Change your job.” The page for it was adorned with Shutterstock-like photos throughout the 13-step

guide. Guess what? It had been read 25,153 times at the time of my experiment- that is some serious net action.

3. How To aCT LIkE a vaMPIREI’m not sure what was more surprising: that such a page exists, that it takes 29 steps (with pictures!), that it had 124 editors or that it had 383,522 views. The guide makes no judgment call- whether you want to act like Dracula for a costume party or a “committed lifestyle choice”, the editors who have contributed are fine with both. From giving advice on finding “vampiric inspiration”, to tips like “Decide what kind of vampire you want to be”, “Be narcissistic” and “Work on your soul-piercing gaze”, my night was made.

4. How To BE PoPULaRI expected this 16-step guide with matching illustrations to reek of tips fueled by teenage angst but for the most part, it echoes celebrating one’s individuality. It gave tips such as “Be yourself– for real” and “Realize that popularity doesn’t define who you are” and came with warnings of “You might not have much time of freedom after you become popular.”


Creative agency funds inspiration getaways for staff

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Anyone with a bit of wanderlust can tell you that new experiences and locales, plus the prospect of breaching your

comfort zone, is a great way to ignite creative juices. It’s always awesome (and let’s admit it, makes us jealous) when companies support innovation in unorthodox ways. Southern California creative agency ThinkPARALLAX is the latest company to give their 11 employees a US$1500 travel budget, as well as extra paid days off, to travel in search for inspiration. The terms of the “PARALLAXploration” project? Employees have to choose a destination that they’ve never been to, and maintain a blog on their company website chronicling their adven-tures. They’re not the first to offer vacation-friendly perks: Netflix, Eventbrite, HubSpot and Virgin Group lets employees take as much time off as they want to increase productivity, TED provides workers with mandatory two-week summer vacations, Airbnb gives staff a $2000 travel credit, and SoundCloud has a global exchange program for employees to have the opportunity to live and work in other office branches worldwide for a quarter. Other companies that have wellness benefits are BTC Revolutions providing staff with UP Bands to motivate each other on the platform while tracking their health, and Buffer which gives out unlimited free Kindle books to encourage learning. Talk about perks! By Pamella de Leon

Every ad is a native ad these days, or so it seems. But of course, very few advertisements actually meet the criteria of native

advertising. The term has become so popular that it’s bandied about to refer to a wide range of digital ads that aren’t actually native ads.

native advertisingKNOWING WHAT IS, AND IS NOT,

A NATIVE AD IS STEP One tO USING THEM EFFECTIVELY By Joe Hyrkin

the trouble with natiVeNative ads are one of the fastest growing and most effective formats in digital advertising. Many marketers are aiming to take advantage of all kinds of native ads, but the industry will have the greatest success when practitioners understand the real definition of native ads versus the common misperceptions. Many advertisers now use “native advertising” as a catch-all term for anything beyond a pre-roll or banner ad. The problem in this approach

is that building an industry around a buzzword creates confusion for media buyers, media creators and adver-tisers.

Let’s start by clarify-ing what’s not a native ad. Native ads are not a new incarnation of integrated ads, where a brand message is woven into the content- that’s branded content. Native ads are not content marketing, such as an article or how-to video about a product or service. Nor are native ads just any generic form of content run on a mobile screen. >>>



reSearChing SoCial phenomStwitter and mit researchers partner up

Below:IAB Native Advertising Playbook cover

what’S in a definition?So what’s a native ad then? The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) has made a valiant effort to define it, but the six different types it lists in a “playbook on native ads” -from recommendation widgets to promoted list-ings- may be feeding the confusion surrounding the term. Native ads aren’t a big bucket of everything except banners. Rather, a native ad enhances the experience of the reader or viewer. It is also congru-ent with the experience. Native ads should engage viewers and be related to the consumer’s time on a web portal or digital page.

Consider fashion magazines; the full-color advertisements in them are beautiful and part of the reader-experience. Consumers buy fashion magazines as much for the compelling images in the ads as they do for the edi-torial content. Consumers don’t feel they are held hostage by the ad. Instead, they expect their favorite, or yet to be discovered brands to be fully included within the pages of the publication.

Likewise, if a consumer has spent 15 minutes read-ing an article about a surf-

board in an online surfing magazine, there’s a natural opportunity to deliver an ad about a surfing-related product. Ideally, that ad will have some interactiv-ity in the form of a means to buy the product, gain more information or share it with friends, family or interested community members. That combina-tion of congruence and ac-tion makes the ad native. It encourages consumers to act on the ad in a way that’s useful to them, cre-ates an engagement with the brand or product and feels like a thoughtful part of the reading experience.

how to do natiVe adS wellMarketers should begin creating native ads by de-fining the demographics of the audience, then building in the relevance, the con-tent and the interaction around that. Remember: if readers are passionate about a topic, they often want more information or an access point into the brand or product.

E-commerce is an ef-fective means of engaging users in a native ad. Ads can also include newsletter sign-ups or requests for more information about a product. Ideally, a brand

offers an interaction to the user that is relevant to how the user is spending his or her time with the content.

When advertisers get their products in front of interested people who have demonstrated a willing-ness to take action, the marketer and publisher both benefit because the content and the ad deliver more interaction together. Think about where the ad is placed, then what type of action a brand might want to drive to best leverage the environment. A Vogue ad might have an opportunity to buy a Louis Vuitton product, while a home magazine might offer the chance to clip some information about a sofa to look up later or share with a spouse or friend.

While native ads are targeted in some ways, they can be thought of as “targeted ads plus engagement.” But they also should connect into the pages on which they reside. Indeed, a good rule of thumb is to remember that native ads must be relevant to be, ahem, native.


If you’re still not conscious of what you tweet, maybe this will make you think twice: Twitter is releasing every

published tweet since 2006 to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the next five years. Yes, we too feel a twinge of privacy betrayal, but Twitter assures us that it’s all for the sake of social good. With a US$10 million investment from Twitter, the Laboratory of Social Machines, headed by Deb Rob associate professor at MIT and Twitter’s chief media scientist, will develop technologies to study social patterns of the discourse on Twitter, create tools for new forms of public communication and social organiza-tion, and develop new platforms to “identify, discuss and act on pressing societal problems.” This isn’t the first time that analysts have indicated inter-est in Twitter’s data, there’s also the Twitter #DataGrants program launched in February- over 1,300 research institutions applied to have access to Twitter’s public and historical data, and six institutions were selected. In other tweep news, Twitter is showing that they’ve got spunk. The micro-blogging company is suing the U.S. federal government for restrictions on how much data the company can disclose. Twitter states that it is a violation of the First Amendment when they are prevented from telling users how often they receive national security requests for user data (Wired). This is part of Twitter’s aim to publish transparency reports, and eradicate speculation that the social media platform is dispens-ing a lot of data that the government requests.


Making it possible for SMEs- everyday!

Rohit Garg is Head of Business Banking at Mashreq

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are the engines of economic growth in any emerging economy. For UAE,

with its focus on trade, tourism and construction, SMEs play a very vital role in contributing to the nation’s growth contributing c. 60% to the GDP and 90% to the employment. As the GDP growth in UAE continues to chug at a very healthy rate, the SMEs are growing fast and so are their needs. Being the largest private Bank with its focus on innovation and customer centricity, Mashreq has been redesigning its offering around the customer needs. We have focused on adding value to the customer’s business and develop products and services which are catering to the specific needs of the SMEs. The key difference between this

approach and the conventional approach is that we are not trying to push corporate or retail products and platforms on to SMEs, but developing new offering to cater to their specific needs.

Getting new customers or buyers and also new sources of product/ services or suppliers is one of the key requirements of all SMEs. They also face challenges of adequacy of marketing budgets as resources are scarce. In order to help them overcome this challenge, Mashreq has launched a new online community for the SMEs to develop their business called SME Exchange. Open to all SMEs, this platform has a wealth of resources, information and tools that the SMEs can benefit from. In addition, the key feature of the

portal is the Marketplace where SMEs can advertise their product and services to all the users and gain new buyers and suppliers. Since this is an open and free platform, it helps them overcome a key business constraint without any commitment and at no cost.

“At Mashreq, we believe that customer centricity and innovation means helping solve issues that customer face in their daily business. We listen to the customer voice and design services and products around it thus making it possible for our clients”.

Another important issue that the SMEs face is lack of structured information or expert advice. Mashreq has sponsored a series of monthly Academies with topics of special relevance to the SMEs where they can get to participate in these seminars free. They get access to industry expert advice, case studies and information. In addition they also get a networking opportunity with both other SMEs and the industry experts.

Mashreq offers market leading products and services to benefit the SMEs like Small Business Loans, SME credit card, self-employed personal loans, trade and working capital products, merchant overdrafts and business accounts to name a few. Also, Mashreq is the only bank in the region which offers a state of the art Treasury service which is 365 days and 24/7 for clients with foreign exchange needs. This service is again highly valued and sought after by SMEs as it benefits them immensely. All the products are available in both conventional as well as Shariah compliant Islamic variants to give a choice to the customers.

With a rich DNA of innovation, Mashreq business Banking has focused on being a trusted partner of the SMEs that it supports. This effort is backed by our team of well-trained relationship mangers and specialists who are distributed across our branches. This team is supported by a dedicated call center and our state of the art Internet banking platform called SME Direct. Our endeavor is to offer innovative banking solutions that will serve customer’s business objectives while building a solid and long-term partnership.


read BeTWeen The linesBUSINESS BOOK RUNDOWNBy Amal Chaaban

Just because an author demonstrates great sales doesn’t mean their business advice is applicable in the boardroom or even good for practical application otherwise. our reviewer

takes a look at some of the titles getting hype recently and gives you the executive summary. before you hit the business bestseller aisle, read these reviews to see which of these known books are actually worth your while.

thiS ChangeS eVerything, CapitaliSm VS. the Climate NAOMI KLEIN

eVerything ConneCtS: how to tranSform and lead in the age of CreatiVity, innoVation, and SuStainabilityFAISAL HOqUE WITH DRAKE BAER

CuLTuRE buSineSS unuSual | life | traVel | deSign | trappingS

If there is a single line in this book that sums up what the author thinks of leadership, it is this: “Leadership is a way of owning the impact that you or your organization is going to have on the world.” It is from this sentence, found buried in a chapter on structures of innovation, that one can surmise how Everything Connects actually reads. This book leads to understanding the impact a leader has not just on their own

business, but on everything connected to that business. As leadership books go, this one is unusual in that it doesn’t just trot out the usual tropes about setting examples, defining goals, and other lofty advice. It actually provides true framework to achieve exactly what the authors are proposing. Pick this one up when you want to challenge the champions of the old way of doing things, and perhaps encourage them to think in new ways.

Journalist, author and activist, Naomi Klein wears many hats but with this latest project, she has taken on perhaps her most daunting task as yet. A surface read of this book will have one thinking that it is yet another book on climate change and the ills that capitalism has wrought, but to get the true meaning and depth of what Klein is actually saying, some contemplation is needed. Klein isn’t just propos-ing a paradigm shift in the way

business is done, she’s propos-ing a shift in the way life itself is lived and considered, and a shift in what we, as the human race, value. Instead of pie-in-the-sky thoughts about an egalitarian and utopic society, Klein puts forward real solutions backed by meticulous research and an obvious passion. Long-time readers of Klein know that her ideas can sometimes be radical, but even that doesn’t detract from this read.


CuLTuRE

dataClySm: who we are when we think no one iS looking CHRISTIAN RUDDER

rookie SmartS: why learning beatS knowing in the new game of workLIz WISEMAN

buSineSS unuSual | life | traVel | deSign | trappingS

kNOWLEDgE IS POWER Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation Launches Flashes

If you’re interested in social entrepreneurship, non-profits and CSR initiatives, you might want to

give Flashes a read. Launched by the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation (MBRF) and published in collaboration with Motivate Publishing, Flashes focuses on social issues. The inaugural issue’s cover story Creating a Thirst-Free World features the UAE Suqia campaign for clean water worldwide. In his foreword, MD and Editor-In-Chief H.E. Jamal Bin Huwaireb discusses that UAE’s Vision 2021, and the Foundation’s goals of being a “knowledge-based highly productive economy,” and a relentless goal of supporting entrepreneurial

ventures motivated the magazine’s conception. The book Flashes of Thought by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, also inspired the initiative. Other notable features are Education First, an interview with Chairman of the Board of Directors and Director General of the Knowledge and Human Development Authority Dr. Abdulla Karam, elaborating on UAE’s Vision 2021 for an education-centric nation to put UAE among the top countries, and AUD Dean and Associate Professor Catherine Hill’s thoughts on how Dubai has become a “global classroom”. www.mbrf.ae

Oracle alum and author Liz Wiseman has written a terrific book on why some-times being completely inexperienced in a position is actually a tremendous asset (instead of a liability). She starts by telling her own story at Oracle, and intersperses later chapters with pertinent examples of where rookies had what seasoned veterans in the particular industry didn’t. Further, she even goes so far as to break down the types of rookies, and the best assets of

each of these types. A great read, quick and to the point, Wiseman doesn’t bela-bour each item, rather she frames it in a very concise explanation further elabo-rated upon by charts where necessary. If all of that wasn’t enough, each chapter has a useful chapter summary at the end which readers of this column will know I love to see in books. Read Rookie Smarts if you want a new way of looking at hiring practices to invigorate your company.

Countless tomes have been written on the false anonymity of the Internet but Chris-tian Rudder (Founder of the online dating site OKCupid.com) has taken it to a whole other level. Bringing the conversation down to layman’s terms, Rudder discusses how our every click, our every like and retweet give companies an idea of who we are, and where we fit into a marketing de-mographic. Rudder also exposes the most well-known secret on the net, people will behave an entirely different way behind

the perceived anonymity of a keyboard than they would face-to-face. Some of the biases he exposes have to do with race, other with beauty and sexuality, and even morality biases are addressed- it should be said that a few of these are downright disheartening. While these points can make one look at the human race with a jaundiced eye, in a world where knowledge is truly power, one can only assume that Mr. Rudder has our best interests at heart with Dataclysm’s exposé.


the executive selectionCuLTuREbuSineSS unuSual | life | traVel | deSign | trappingS

‘TREP TRIMMINgS

From better goods to boardroom wardrobe bests, each issue we choose a few items that make the approved executive selection list. This month? An adventure-ready timepiece and a tech-lover’s (discreet) carrying case. Get shopping, ‘treps!

EDITOR’S PICK EISENBERg hoMME SkINCaRE

Breitling Avenger Blackbird

Hermès Tablet Case

For men on the move, we suggest a skincare regime that’s going to refresh and renew. Newly launched at Paris Gallery, the EISENBERG Homme range includes a vibrant foaming cleanser, the Essential Two-in-One, and a brightening Eye Contour Gel. If your skin is looking dried out and dull, ap-ply a thin, even layer of the Essential

Moisturizing Balm with hyaluronic acid every morning post-cleanse. An added bonus? Putting a regular cleanser and moisturizer routine into place makes shaving that much easier- hydrated, cleansed skin is sup-ple meaning your shaving area is less likely to get nicked and cut during your morning pre-office prep.

fOR HIm BREITLING AVENGER BLACKBIRD

Which watch and when? We like the Breitling Avenger Blackbird, the newest edition to the Avenger collection. With a 48 mm black titanium case, this timepiece is both sturdy and ergonomic, with a lightweight military-influenced fabric strap. Water-resistant up to 300 meters (1,000 feet), the Blackbird’s self-winding movement chronometer is certified by the Contrôle Officiel Suisse des Chronomètres (COSC), the Official Swiss Chronometer Testing Institute. Desert dunes? Yes indeed, since the Avenger Blackbird’s sapphire crystal is glare-proofed on both sides.

fOR BOTH HERMèS TABLET CASE

For the entrepreneur on your list that has a discerning eye, the Hermès tablet case makes a great gift. Belted in fine leather, the protective case is available in subtle black and brown combo. Another cool detail? Email your buddies the Hermès magazine… in an origami format. The Monde d’Hermès app lets you virtually fold it into shapes, then share it via social media or email.


catering to the corporate client

RITz-CARLTON DUBAI’S RAUL SALCIDO IS ALL ABOUT BUSINESS BESTS


The Ritz-Carlton Riyadh lobby

The Ritz Carlton Dubai Majlis

La Baie Lounge Pool Deck

Deluxe Room

over two decades of service with The Ritz-Carlton is what Raul

Salcido brings to the table. Af-ter three years with the com-pany’s San Francisco property, Salcido relocated to Dubai to oversee The Ritz-Carlton Dubai as General Manager in 2012. It’s worth mentioning that The Ritz-Carlton San Francisco is a historic prop-erty at over a century old, and a frequent part of the city’s landmark mentions in both local and international travel guides.

A graduate of Mexico’s University of Puebla, with a Master Certificate in Hospital-ity Management from Cornell University, Salcido joined the Ritz-Carlton team in 1993.

Working his way up through the company, the GM has since participated in the launch of an impressive nine hallmark properties: “Having been in the company for 21 years and opened hotels in different parts of the world from Chile, Spain to Turkey, in 2012 I was offered this challenging role to handle The Ritz-Carlton, Dubai. With its multiple projects from renovation, hotel expansion to the full repositioning of the resort within the very competitive market of Dubai, it is indeed a unique oppor-tunity to combine all these projects in one single setting.” When discussing business travel, Salcido says that luxury properties first and foremost

need to consider “simplicity, seamless and efficient and personalized service,” as key priorities when catering to the corporate guest. “In my personal opinion, business travelers chose to stay here because of the legendary ser-vice which The Ritz-Carlton is known for worldwide. Apart from that, our hotel offers an intimate oasis environment with advance meetings and conference facilities combined with its strategic location in close proximity to Jebel Ali Free Zone Authority (JAFZA), Media City, Internet City and the emerging Jumeirah Lakes Towers business hub.”

For those of you think-ing of arranging a dining

experience for your corporate evenings, Salcido recom-mends authentic conceptual palate-pleasers developed by their Chef de Cuisine. “One of my personal favorite dining experiences in the hotel is Blue Jade, especially with its Ginger Lotus Sea Bass dish. What makes this a standout dish, aside from the wonderful ingredients, is that Chef Ta Van, brings the heritage of this dish all the way from his grandmother’s original recipe. I also cannot miss talking about the apple crosttata, a dessert from our newest restaurant, Caravan, this is just irresistible.” Catering to the corporate crowd with an appetite, indeed.


GM Raul Salcido

The Ritz-Carlton Spa Outdoor Lap Pool

Ballroom Foyer Area

Blue Jade

recommended By The gm eXeC Stay “For all our business travel-ers, our dedicated team from Executive Reservation Service (ERS) will assist with not only for their room booking, but also in arrang-ing flights, airport and city transfers, and restaurant bookings. We recommend them to experience a stay at our Club rooms and suites with special benefits that include an exclusive access to The Ritz-Carlton Club Lounge which offers the highest personalized service through an exclu-sive Club Concierge team complemented by numerous culinary presentations, and unlimited premium beverages served throughout the day. In addition to the seamless service provided in the Club Lounge, all of our

rooms starting from a Club Deluxe Room of 50 sqm, Club Junior Suite of 90 sqm to Club Executive Suite of 100 sqm are complete with latest technology including a high-speed wireless connec-tion, working station, and a dedicated tech-savvy team to assist on any IT related requirements.”

optionS “Our Conference Concierge is a standout business value-add. Every hotel offers the latest conference facilities and technologies but for us, we do have that dedicated person to support and assist with every business traveler’s needs. The Ritz-Carlton Dubai has 10 meeting rooms which can ideally hold high-powered business meetings starting with a well-designed

executive boardroom, and it’s equipped with a TV Screen and conference call facilities. The hotel also offers daylight meeting rooms, ideal as breakout rooms, as well as an expansive foyer area that serves as a networking and reception space. For more intimate discussions with business partners, the hotel features a well-designed Majlis. Our grand ballroom is the perfect venue for massive awards and conferences.”

ConneCtiVity “All the meetings facilities are fitted out with built-in speakers, LCD projectors and screens, high-speed Internet connection, adjustable light-ing and temperature control as well as sound-proof walls. The indoor conference areas are accessed by a separate

entrance, helping conference attendees’ convenient and quick access to meetings.”

downtime “I recommend our business travelers to just be on the beach watching the picture perfect sunset by the Ara-bian Gulf. Business travelers bring an important contribu-tion to the resort’s segment mix. Thanks to the overall layout of the resort, these guests can also enjoy their time as leisure travelers, making it possible to balance both business and leisure purposes. The Ritz-Carlton Dubai is an urban oasis where you can start your morning enjoying the fantas-tic views of the Arabian Gulf and within minutes, you are ready for your business day in the city.”


TREPONOMICS ETHICS | ESQUIRE GUY | SKILLSET | MARKETING | PRO

Roll with the punches

Big players in UAE’s small business market study evolving customer lifecycles By Vikram Chadha


As a significant contributor to the nation’s economy –40% in Dubai, and 60% of the overall UAE economy– the small and medium

business (SMB) market is a highly dynamic one with unique connectivity needs that must be sup-ported. While the UAE already presents numerous opportunities for SMBs to seize, the arrival of Expo 2020 in Dubai is going to further enhance pros-pects for the nation’s fledgling businesses. This is,

of course, a great outlook for the economies of both the UAE as a whole and Dubai as an individual emirate, but it also presents a unique opportunity for companies to provide services tailored to needs of SMBs. In order to develop products that will not only successfully serve them better, but that will provide you with the competitive edge needed to succeed, it is essential to understand them and identify what sets them apart.


understanding the marketAn important starting point in build-ing unique value propositions is to begin by segmenting the potential customer base by identifying their unique requirements. Each segment will have different value proposi-tion needs, as well as individual financial potential and go-to-market approaches. It’s important to combine attitudes and needs with firmograph-ics and behaviours; this is an area in which clarity and focus will enable service-providing companies to be proactive and responsive, thereby giving them an edge over their com-petition.

With segmentation, effective mar-keting –which is all about recogni-tion and complete understanding of not only the target market, but the environment of potential customers– is possible. To ensure a successful marketing strategy that will identify new clients and customers, you must look at four points to gain customer insight: 1. Who are the best customers to target? 2. What are the target customers’ buying motivations? 3. What are their purchasing or buying criteria? 4. What are their purchasing or buying cycles?

Customer first The focus in today’s rapidly changing world should be on providing the best value to SMBs, by designing targeted propositions. At du, we use a concept called ‘Customer First’ in order to address the specific needs of the SMB market; this puts the customer at the heart of everything we design, drawing on insight and inputs directly from the customer.

Alongside this, we provide our cus-tomers with as much peace of mind as possible, by offering them price transparency and price predictability.

This gives them complete control of their spending, eliminating bill shock, allowing for an expected amount to be allocated into budgets for telecom and ICT needs. For an SMB, keeping a tight budget is important, making this an essential plus point for any service provider to offer.

Beyond this, we place a strong em-phasis on the importance of building and maintaining ongoing relation-ships. We do this through the creation of an ecosystem of events, forums, networking and mentoring sessions. Not only do these add value and build a strong rapport, but they provide a superior level of customer experience that we can continuously improve on-our customers are important to us, and we are constantly innovating in order to deliver the best to them.

key Challenges for SmbsThe SMB sector plays an important role in the UAE’s well-diversified economy, comprising 95% of small business and employing 42% of the nation’s workforce. As a sector, SMBs contribute 40% to the value of Dubai’s economy, and 60% to the UAE’s economy. In simple terms, the economy grows if SMBs grow. With the winning of Expo 2020, the UAE government is now even more focused on providing more momentum to this sector by promoting entrepreneurship and SMB development. >>>

an imPoRtant staRting Point in building unique value PRoPositions is to begin by segmenting tHe Potential customeR base by identiFying tHeiR unique RequiRements. eacH segment will Have diFFeRent value PRoPosition needs, as well as individual Financial Potential and go-to-maRket aPPRoacHes

tHe Focus in today’s RaPidly cHanging woRld sHould be on PRoviding tHe best value to smbs, by designing taRgeted PRoPositions. at du, we use a concePt called ‘customeR FiRst’ in oRdeR to addRess tHe sPeciFic needs oF tHe smb maRket; tHis Puts tHe customeR at tHe HeaRt oF eveRytHing we design, dRawing on insigHt and inPuts diRectly FRom tHe customeR.


There are, however, a unique set of SMB-specific challenges, such as lim-ited budgets, a fragmented market, a wide range of service preferences, and decision-making processes that vary from one company to the other. These are all hurdles that must be overcome, if the sector is to truly benefit from outsider support. A good starting point for success in this instance is to address the uniqueness of the SMB market. It’s imperative to give it the importance it deserves, rather than treating it as a larger version of the consumer market, or a smaller version of the large enterprise market.

Amongst other key factors to con-sider is the fact that SMB owners are very busy– they’re raising a new enterprise baby, so to speak, and are committed to seeing their venture grow and succeed. For a third of UAE SMB owners, travel is a necessity for their business to succeed, which is something to definitely consider, as they will likely lean towards products that offer them travel-specific ben-efits. Time is a premium for them, too; they want convenience, they want quick services, and they want as little hassle as possible in getting them. What SMB owners want, in short, is real engagement, from partners who will support and manage their growth, and who will become part of their success story. Understanding this and catering to it has been a key driver of our successful partnership with SMBs over the years.

du’s growth mantraFor SMB customers, it’s important to fully emphasize the benefits of your proposition, so that they can clearly see the reasons why they should adopt your solution, but also so that they can make quick, informed deci-sions. This is crucial for us, at du, and we ensure that pricing is transparent, and that both products and services are specifically designed to meet the individual needs of customers. We have identified several aspects that are especially important for success. These are:

a. familiarity and ConSiStenCy Consistently delivering on the service parameter that the customer expects is an easy way to attract more business. As SMBs become more familiar and more satisfied with our offerings and services, they often come back to ask for more. It is important for us to be part of this customer journey, from initial purchase to cross-selling, and then to intelligently bundling more services along the growth path of the customer.

b. word of mouth The other key aspect we strive to achieve is powerful customer references from our clients. Word of mouth is a powerful medium for growth, and we encourage our client base to provide us with feedback as well as promote our business by voicing their support.

C. CuStomer lifeCyCle management (Clm) To attract business continuously, we strive to understand our SMB cus-tomers and provide them long-term benefits through a customer lifecycle management mindset. For example, we provide the customer with a uni-fied bill, identity management, and consistently ensure a good experience. This enables the growth of their business, and of ours. A dedicated qualified retention team is our great-est asset and that is at the core of our success.

d. adopt digital eXperienCeS We clearly see that more and more SMBs understand the importance of going digital, and want business ben-efits from this sphere. In the coming years, the digital channel will have a significant role to play in the buying experience of customers, adding more services, taking care of their account digitally, providing after sales service and also making their payment online.

Our digital initiatives play a big role in fulfilling these ambitions.

Being a big player in the small busi-ness market means that you must consider evolving customer lifecycle needs. Businesses today need to be more agile and innovative, both in the design and delivery of services, and finding a reliable partner that sup-ports their vision and business growth is critical. The future looks promising, and we are ringing in change at a rapid pace to empower SMBs with the abil-ity to make the most of tomorrow’s opportunities.

tHe smb sectoR Plays an imPoRtant Role in tHe uae’s well-diveRsiFied economy, comPRising 95% oF small business and emPloying 42% oF tHe nation’s woRkFoRce. as a sectoR, smbs contRibute 40% to tHe value oF dubai’s economy, and 60% to tHe uae’s economy.


FoR a tHiRd oF uae smb owneRs, tRavel is a necessity FoR tHeiR business to succeed, wHicH is sometHing to deFinitely consideR, as tHey will likely lean towaRds PRoducts tHat oFFeR tHem tRavel-sPeciFic beneFits.

Vikram Chadha, du Vice President of SME Marketing, has international executive level experience in general management, marketing P&L, product management, sales strategy and management

responsibility, with over 15 years of telecommunication sector involvement in Asia, Africa, America and the Middle East. Given his extensive senior expertise in international telecommunications marketing, sales, business development, product management and customer experience, Chadha brings with him a wealth of marketing experience in the consumer, enterprise and SME segments. He is the go-to market specialist, with strong channel expertise and a portfolio that includes the development of many world first propositions. He has significant experience in handling sales operations for direct, indirect and retail channels across both consumer and enterprise segments, for both the fixed and mobile sectors. Chadha’s impressive people management skills are coupled with the ability to lead from the front. Throughout his career, Vikram has been responsible for the management of large multi-cultural teams in MTN, Globacom, Reliance, and with du in the UAE. With areas of expertise including turning around businesses and the development of markets/businesses from scratch, Vikram has a proven track record of incremental value creation. As a frequent participant and speaker at telecom events, he is seen as a thought leader in the mobile industry.


Follow us on:

THE PREMIER REAL ESTATE EVENT IN KUWAIT

7-9 December 2014, Kuwait International FairgroundsKUWAIT

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Cityscape Kuwait 2014 is the premier real estate investment and development event in the State of Kuwait. Featuring a large scale exhibition, a content driven conference and other networking events, Cityscape Kuwait brings together key decision-makers from the public and private sectors, supporting development, bringing transparency and encouraging collaboration. Whether you are a large scale real estate developer, a local architect or a private investor, Cityscape Kuwait is your opportunity to access the Kuwaiti real estate and investment community like no other event or platform ever has.

Register now for FREE entry!

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fortify your defenses!

menu muStS for f&b ‘trepS UAE Specialty Food Festival

gCC gETS READY TO TEE Off Doha Golf Club to host Commercial Bank qatar Masters

Five immunity boosters for ‘treps By Shoug Al Nafisi

The 2015 Commercial Bank Qatar Masters will be held at Doha Golf Club, 21 - 24 January

GCC golf fanatics will be pleased to hear that the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters will be back for its 18th edition at the Doha Golf Club. The event, to be held from January 21-24, 2015, will welcome some of golf’s best and brightest to the Gulf nation. Last year’s edition marked a record level of attendance -approximately 20,000 people- and was screened on international television stations. We can only expect something greater in 2015. So who’s going to win the Mother of Pearl Trophy this year? We’ve seen some of the biggest names compete in past editions, notably Sergio Garcia, Justin Rose, Henrik Stenson, and Team Europe’s Ryder Cup Captain Paul McGinley. qatar-masters.com

The F&B market in UAE is evidently growing as the Specialty Food Festival returns for its fifth edition at the Dubai World Centre from November 9-11. Food imports in the GCC are expected to double in the next ten years, and the UAE in particular is predicting US$8.4 billion in food imports by 2020. This tradeshow is bringing in some of the finest producers of organic and luxury food as its niche audience grows by the year, including producers from Italy, Belgium, South Korea, Taiwan, Argentina, and Spain. Open only to trade and business professionals, the Specialty Food Festival is being staged alongside Gulfood Manufacturing, Sweets & Snacks Middle East (the only MENA exhibition specifically for sweets and confectionary goods), and SEAFEX, a dedicated seafood tradeshow for F&B services and hospitality industries. For those of you interested in heading out to the industry’s megaevents, to register for the event you must have proof of relevant business and trade status. www.speciality.ae

superhuman strength is out of the question, but what is possible is preventing the slip that could leave you under the sheets for days. This means incorporating healthy living strategies into your lifestyle.

No one can afford to stay in for days at a time with a zero productivity output, so here are five ways to make sure you’re staying on your feet.

s1. beat StreSS Daily stress, whether from work, lack of sleep, or anything else, does result in having a lowered level of immunity. There are several items to check off of your list if you want to put the proper defenses in place. Eat well, sleep well, move often, and take a moment to breathe every now and then.

2. nutrition Making a habit out of a well-rounded and balanced diet is the ideal way to keep bad eating habits in check. Antioxidants help your body from experiencing wear out by putting metabolic oxidants on an even keel. Fruits and vegetables that are rich in color are usually also rich in different antioxidants. Want to bring out the big guns? Ginger and garlic have long been considered as a holistic remedy for many illnesses due to their antimicrobial capacities. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to have them as your central defense.

3. SaVor the SunShine A low level of vitamin D has been found to be associated with recurring seasonal cold and flu. That, and vitamin D is a topic of interest to many more researchers who are finding links to serious illnesses.

Schedule some time outdoors or at the beach once a week for good sun exposure. This of course doesn’t mean that you should forgo covering up, and using a high SPF for good sun safety.

4. maintenanCe The best way to monitor the status on the inside is by having regular blood work done up, and the necessary checkups done once every six months. This way, you’re ruling out any micronutrient related weakness, and you’ll be making sure that your systems are running just fine. It also puts your mind at ease, knowing that things are running smoothly, not to mention alerting you of possible imbalances in your system before they can escalate to becoming a serious issue.

5. mind the mood It appears that your mood actually does play a role! Studies have shown that feeling down deals your immunity a blow, so give yourselves reasons to be positive and upbeat on a daily basis. It was found that both laughter and social ties have the ability to support your immune system. Treat yourselves to some time out every now and then. No one’s complained about that before!


Happiness, available at Lulu.

We at Lulu have always been trying to widen our network, expand our range, innovate our promotions and improve our service so that more than 570,000 shoppers who come to our 106 stores across the region daily, get exactly what they want,

Happiness!

Ranked as No.1 Hypermarket Chain in the region by PlanetRetail UK.


FRANCHISE

Delice Confectionary Founder Jalel Ghayaza goes global By Kareem Chehayeb

Jalel Ghayaza

Delice Confectionery outlet

Savoring the SME sweet tooth

It took two things to get Jalel Ghayaza to launch the now-successful

Delice Confectionery. “To me it was like a treasure,” says Ghayaza explaining that his love of Tunisian

sweets was one factor. The second reason, according to the brand’s founder, was opportunity: “I noticed a big gap in the market in UAE, where chocolatier and sweet shops lacked decent packaging and quality of service.” Delice Confection-ary is now a successful Dubai-based franchise op-erating in several countries. Ghayaza, who has a degree in Mechanical Engineer-ing, had worked in the F&B and Horeca spaces (Iranian caviar, anyone?) for a while before starting developing his own concept back in 2004.

While the founder didn’t talk much about the

business side of setting up Delice, he does point out that it wasn’t an easy experience. Ghayaza says that for the first six years, producing all of Delice’s products were just four em-ployees clocking 16 hours a day, seven days a week. We assume that his staff has grown in significant numbers, now that Delice has numerous franchises. Two of Delice’s earliest franchises are located in Bahrain and Armenia. Ac-cording to Ghayaza, both countries are gateways to bigger markets, claiming that Armenia is a “gateway to Moscow” where he be-lieves Delice could gain real

brand traction. His choice of Bahrain reflects wider-GCC ambitions, calling the small Gulf state “the gate-way to KSA.” Saudi Arabia is on Ghayaza’s priority list when it comes to regional expansion, and it’s just a matter of finding the right franchisee that will do the brand justice. “We received a lot of enquiries, but tak-ing into consideration the very upmarket positioning of our concept, selecting the right franchisees will be an important element in the success of the brand.”

Outside of the Middle East and Armenia, Delice has managed to open a branch at London’s Harrods last July- impressive to say the least. Harrods first approved Delice in Octo-ber 2013, and have now positioned the Middle East brand up in their chocolate room next to some of the world’s foremost confec-tioners. Ghayaza boldly claims that “the six biggest


chocolatiers in the world are complaining from their lack of sales” ever since De-lice set up shop there. The founder also told us that as of this month, Delice will be part of the Har-rods “Personal Shopping Lounge”, only accessible to the high-end department store’s shoppers who spend significant (and some-what obscene) amounts of money. The entrepreneur’s plans for growth don’t end there. We should expect a Delice Confectionary branch opening up in CIS-goldmine Baku, Azerbaijan this Christmas. Ghayaza has also hinted that there are “great opportunities” in New York, Miami, and Seoul in the offing, and that we can expect to hear more about those branches in early 2015. Despite hav-ing numerous franchises operational, Delice only has one center of production: the Dubai Deira City Center branch. Considering Ghay-aza’s claims that they’ve centralized production in UAE for quality assurance and control purposes, I couldn’t help but wonder if this has been the cause

of many burdens that the company faces in terms of logistics. Apparently I’m wrong; Ghayaza quickly in-terjects that quality assur-ance via micromanagement is part of the brand. “That is about Delice culture, to make things happen, to do things in 24 hours which others cannot do in two weeks.” While it seems like an easy task for neighboring Bahrain, it seems tedious and inefficient for their farther-flung outlets. Then again I’m contradicted, as Ghayaza also claims that orders from Harrods are delivered a mere 18 hours after they’ve been placed from the United Kingdom. And he’s not worried about the extra costs either add-ing that “the freight is not a burden, as the cost of the freight is minor to compare the cost of our luxury product.”

Delice Confectionary is one of the few but grow-ing number of cases of franchises that are based in the UAE demonstrat-ing outward growth. While Ghayaza says that there aren’t many brands in the UAE that franchise glob-

ally as yet, he believes that “the UAE government and rulers offered an excellent atmosphere to the inves-tors to grow and to expand in excellent conditions.” Despite franchising globally being a highly challenging experience, Ghayaza says that it has been a positive learning journey for him. He talks about how opening in Armenia was nothing like opening at Harrods in London; while they dealt with very supportive man-agement, they also had to deal with the huge luxury organization’s internal rules that he describes as “usu-ally not flexible.” On the other hand, Armenia’s small population meant that Delice’s target demo-graphic was a very small percentage considering the number of luxury clients and purchasing power. He does point out that doing business with different cultures dictates different methodologies and brand adaptation. Setting cultural barriers and differences aside, Ghayaza said that it was also a challenge to train the franchisee teams.

Delice’s agenda for now, according to Ghayaza, is that he and his team are directing their energies on global progression in the aforementioned Saudi Arabia, Azerbaijan, Russia, in addition to the U.S. and South Korea. That said, they’re not just sticking to franchise expansions, as they do have plans for further brand develop-ment; Ghayaza admits that once Delice Confectionary reaches “maturity globally”, there will be further explo-ration of the brand includ-ing a “Delice café concept.” The taste of success is sweet, and perhaps sooner than later we’ll be witness-ing a Middle East launch of Ghayaza’s homegrown hospitality outlets.

Delice Confectionary

selection on the occasion of

the 42nd UAE National Day

Above: Delice Confectionary featured in The Times

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two oF delice’s eaRliest FRancHises aRe located in baHRain and aRmenia. accoRding to gHayaza, botH countRies aRe gateways to biggeR maRkets, claiming tHat aRmenia is a “gateway to moscow” wHeRe He believes delice could gain Real bRand tRaction.


Asteco outlines the key criteriA to its bespoke sAles & leAsing frAnchise modelAn increAsingly populAr globAl business model, Asteco is breAking new ground in the region with the lAunch of its first-of-A-kind licensing division

Asteco’s newly unveiled franchise model was created to offer small to mid-sized real estate brokerage companies, independent realtors and regional entrepreneurs looking to break in to diversify into the real estate sector access to the expertise of a 30-year old industry leader.Speaking about the Franchise opportunity, John Stevens, Managing Director of Asteco said: “Franchising is a successful business strategy that is used on many industry sectors such as retail and has a proven track record. This is a first-of-its-kind opportunity in the region and successful franchisees will benefit from association with the Asteco brand and have the opportunity to create a bespoke alliance that will raise professionalism within the industry.” So what makes a good Asteco Franchisee and what are the costs involved when getting started?

What exactly is Franchising?Technically a Franchise is granted to an individual or firm to run a business in as assigned territory using another firm’s proven brand and systems. It is also a partnership between the Franchisor and the Franchisee which, although underpinned

with a legal agreement, is dependent for its success on the delivery of the products and services by the Franchisor and the continuing commitment and motivation of the Franchisee.

What costs are involved in purchasing a Franchise from Asteco?Costs of acquiring a Franchise are dependent on a large number of factors including area size, property sales activity, existing goodwill associated with the brand and office set-up requirements. It also depends on whether one is buying an existing operation with agents or setting up a new operation in a previously unoccupied territory. There is a once-off premium payable for the Franchise (informed by the aforementioned factors) – in some cases, we provide partial financing for the purchase of the Franchise if we feel is it justified. In addition, one would require working capital to invest in one’s business.

Are there are any other Franchising costs? There are additional charges for start-up costs (such as shop fittings and signs), permits, government licences and approvals from the necessary governing entities and there may also be charges for ongoing technology. There may also be charges from a third party supplier. Additional operating charges are agreed and highlighted in the Franchise agreement.

There are many examples of Franchising working in other types of business, does it really work in the service sector?The world of real estate brokerage is becoming ever more complex as the industry has to embrace new concepts in marketing and applied technology in a competitive environment. There is also the increasing burden of regulation, both specific to the property sector and generally in recruitment and compliance. In light of these developments, the concept of operating a service sector business under an established brand becomes even more compelling.


For more information call us on +971 600 54 7773 or email [email protected] | www.asteco.com

What are the critical success factors for a Franchisee?In the case of real estate brokerage, it boils down to the right people and the right office location. Once Asteco delivers their side of the bargain, the success of the business thereafter will be down to your motivation, your commitment and your skill applied consistently to achieve first class results. The relationship between the Franchisor and Franchisee is also important. Both side must feel good about this from the outset and it must genuinely continue to be an ‘I win, you win’ proposition throughout.

What do I get apart from the brand?Asteco facilitates backup support and expertise to Franchisees in addition to the brand. The benefits are numerous and are classified under the following headings; plug-in access to additional business activities and resources, unique access to a sales and leasing portfolio, training facilitation, technology, marketing, business advice and the ability to be able to refer business within a large regional network. Full details of these will be made available to serious prospective members.

Do I need to be a real estate broker? The UAE residential property market is very competitive, fast changing environment. An Asteco Franchise may suit an existing real estate brokerage operator or ambitious employee wishing to set up their own. Suitably motivated entrepreneurs from outside the sector will make successful real estate brokers, but in the early months will be required to commit to recruiting experienced personnel.

How will you be able to guarantee the Asteco quality and ethics? Will you periodically carry out physical checks/supervision off the franchise agencies to make sure they operate along the lines the brand demands? Quality and Ethics. This was probably one of the most important and key considerations we had when initially considering franchising. Our Franchise agreement, operations manual, systems, procedures and guidelines are based on over 16 years of first-hand experience and know-how, designed to promote quality and reinforce ethical practice at every opportunity. Every Franchise will enjoy ongoing support through our online portal, known as “The Grid’ providing access to support guidelines and policies as well as centralised support. Our franchises will also benefit from visits from dedicated relationship managers which help us support the franchisee by providing direction and ensure all is as it should be on all elements of the franchise, including branding and of course ethics, of which we fully support RERA’s ethics code.

What to do next?The launch of the new licensing services division will allow us to further propagate the strength of the Asteco brand, image and reputation through an aligned franchisee network, delivering a successful tried and tested sales and leasing brokerage model by trusted and capable partners.Franchising is becoming an increasingly popular model around the world, as the only locally established, full service real estate business offering such a unique and bespoke proposition we fully expect interest to be high; and we have already received numerous requests.Those serious about our Franchising offering should contact our Director of Franchising on +971 600 54 7773.



ARE ENTREPRENEURS BORN OR mADE?Online learning can foster determination and success

By Dr. Kieran Mervyn

aCtiVe and leading aS an entrepreneur in the laSt three yearS

employment in addition to Starting up new buSineSS by nationality

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Promoting an entre-preneurial culture and supporting small

to medium enterprise (SME) development is embedded in government policies across the Middle East, with policymakers recognizing that sustain-able economic growth and stability correlates to the number and diversity of SMEs. There is no question there has been success, with talented business leaders paving the way such as Mohamad Bitar, Just Falafel Founder. In the UAE alone, Dubizzle.com and Cobone.com have capital-ized on the technology-savvy mindsets of the young population to create thriv-ing online businesses. In addition, Bahrain’s chapter of the Entrepreneurs’ Orga-nization (EO) has 37 mem-bers whose companies gen-erate more than USD$200 million annually through their business ventures.

Although compared with other parts of the world, lower levels of early-stage entrepreneurial activity were reported in the MENA region in the “Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) 2013 Global Report”. The Middle East remains a region ripe with innovation and emerging markets and is therefore poised to produce the next crop of business leaders. However, without a long history of entrepreneurship, there are few role models and mentors to help new ventures. In contrast to areas such as Silicon Valley, where risk is applauded and failure is celebrated as learning, the Middle

East approaches business development with much more caution. That said, entrepreneurship has been boosted by popular culture, and people are increasingly excited by the notion of owning and running their own business, helped by TV shows like Dragons’ Den. Culture aside, there is also a question as to whether entrepreneurs –no matter their country of origin and contextual situations– are simply born with a natural gift or whether they have a skill that is nurtured and learned through education and work experience.

While not everyone is born with the entrepre-neurial spirit of Mohamad Bitar, or even of Richard Branson, when we are con-sidering what makes a great entrepreneur, it’s best to look at the roles innovation and leadership play. Certain personality characteristics are commonly associated with the entrepreneur: perseverance, resilience, patience, curiosity and a craving for knowledge.

There’s a host of literature around this subject matter

and, in the context of a successful entrepreneur, creativity and being an innate risk-taker are often core traits. With the oil-based step-change transformations of the Middle East’s economies and associated changes in lifestyles, individuals’ once-natural appetite for risk-taking (such as seafar-ing and desert caravans) and spotting of opportuni-ties appear to have faded in line with expanding oil production. It is the very spotting of opportunities (and the ability to structure their exploitation effectively and efficiently) that sets

entrepreneurs apart. The notion of entrepreneurial cognition considers how we develop the skills of these leaders and whether we can actually teach the skill of spotting opportunities and understanding the in-novation pipeline from end to end.

Entrepreneurs are ex-tremely valuable to society. Those who are starting their own businesses are often driven by a quest for a real sense of purpose that goes beyond the day-to-day operations of a business. While some businesses magically become suc-cessful overnight, most entrepreneurs need to have developed a range of techni-cal, managerial, financial, decision-making and interpersonal skills in order to grow their company and develop. For example, according to the 2013 GEM UAE Entrepreneurship– An Emirati Perspective, 10 out of every 100 Emiratis can be considered early-stage entrepreneurs. Emiratis have positive attitudes toward entrepreneurship, with nearly 80% perceiving it as a good career choice


Abu Dhabi

Dubai Ajman AlFujairah

California-based Facebook Inc. has taken the lead in devising a plan to empower women as part of the

workforce, and Apple soon followed suit. Both companies have decided to provide insurance coverage to women who would like to freeze their eggs. Whether it includes surrogacy or court fees, Facebook offers full coverage or US$20,000 in expenses. The company’s decision sparked a flurry of debate over whether the initial thought of recruiting and retaining women profes-sionals may actually be enticing women into having to choose between motherhood and a career. Facebook’s Genevieve Grdina responded to naysayers by pointing out

other perks for female employees like day-care, nursing rooms, and “baby cash”. The alternative of insurance for freezing eggs is intended to allow families to have some time until they are ready to have a child. The American Society of Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) counsels against count-ing on freezing eggs as a means of prolong-ing fertility, but some doctors suggest that the sooner a woman freezes her eggs, the greater the chance of reproductive success. Although maxing out on productivity by in-vesting in women via such an option seems effective, there is still a choice to be made: delaying the possiblility of motherhood for a potential promotion.

Corporate perk? Tech companies provide fertility alternatives for women By Shoug Al Nafisi

employment in addition to Starting up new Venture by emirate

Dr. Kieran Mervyn currently teaches courses in leadership in the online MBA program at the University of Roehampton, London. He is the leader of the Learning and Leading in a Dynamic Era module, where Roehampton Online students examine skills and best practices relating to leadership in contem-porary organizations. He is also co-director of AM2 Partners Ltd, a focused team of management and research consultants.

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and 60% seeing good op-portunities to start a new venture in the short term. However, only 50% of Emi-ratis believe they have the necessary skills and knowl-edge to start a business.

Like leaders, entrepre-neurs require the skills and knowledge to be able to

command complex, evolv-ing and diverse business environments, and online learning can be extremely beneficial in helping them achieve this goal. Not only does it allow access to a range of expertise in the learning environment; the online learning experience

also has built-in flexibility so time-constrained entre-preneurs can conveniently shape their learning of essential new skills around the daily needs of develop-ing their companies. While the acquired skills not only improve their effectiveness as business leaders, the earned degree also enhances their professional credibility with customers and inves-tors alike.

Online programs with strong international com-munities allow students to benefit from the best practices, perspectives and unique learning techniques shared among other pro-fessionals from various backgrounds in geographi-cally diverse regions of the world. Online Masters of Business Administration (MBA) courses can help build highly competent

entrepreneurs, essentially closing the gap between those who are born with more expressed entrepre-neurial characteristics and those who aspire to develop themselves as successful business owners.

We’re living in a global community where e-com-merce and social media have opened new, beneficial channels for the learning experience. The notions of perseverance and being able to deal with obstacles are critical for entrepreneurs, and online education allows students to deconstruct complex theories, concepts and frameworks within carefully managed discus-sion forums to gather expert feedback prior to implemen-tation. This valuable peer feedback also provides an important opportunity for reflection on one’s business model and tends to spark innovative approaches to nurturing ideas for future development.

Entrepreneurs ultimately are born with certain core traits, but it is also true that those who aspire to own their own business can do so by gaining the necessary knowledge and skills to allow their entrepreneurial talents to flourish. Online learning provides an excel-lent opportunity for bud-ding business owners to do this, and they can learn as they immediately transform their ideas into reality.


MONEY aSk the money guy | VC Viewpoint | your money

By Kareem Chehayeb

Series a score Telr gets growth funding boost

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Telr’s effort to provide what it considers the ultimate online payment

solution in the e-commerce wars has received the financial support it needs. The company recently announced Series A funding from iMena and Hatcher, investing from the Middle East and Singapore. Telr’s vision goes beyond the Middle East and North Africa. Founder Elias Ghanem, who has work experience with PayPal MENA, PayPal South East Asia and India, and Visa Inc., has established a Telr hub in Singapore, in addition to one in Dubai. The end goal? An efficient payment gateway that is not only multilingual but also multi-currency, all while sustaining good cash flow. Ghanem’s ideal alternative to COD transcends borders, hence including South East Asia and certain emerging

markets in Africa are in Telr’s scope. Telr has a lot on their plate, but Ghanem and co. are confident that they’ll make a positive impact. While one may suspect that their pres-ence in the Middle East won’t be as prominent as some of their competitors, it’s impor-tant to take note of them; after all, their vision looks like a sound one in the long run.

do you belieVe aS payment SolutionS Startup founder who had SignifiCant regional and international ConneCtionS that you had more aCCeSS to Strong Capital inJeCtionS than otherS in the Same SpaCe? iS that a reality for moSt mena StartupS? Fundraising is a complex art and science. It takes more than regional and international

It was bound to happen sooner or later. The Inter-national Monetary Fund (IMF) has finally decided to eyeball Islamic banking. The IMF had their first consultation session with an international advisory group comprised of in-dustry leaders in Islamic finance to discuss any and all structural issues that this growing financial sec-tor might face. Among the topics on the table? Deal-ing with the shortage of high-quality liquid assets in Islamic banks. The advi-sory group that met with the IMF in Washington included the Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Insti-

tutions (AAOIFI), a GCC-based entity out of the island nation Bahrain. The IMF hopes to encourage cooperation with Islamic financial institutions, as their market share increases in the Middle East and Southeast Asia (most notably Indonesia for the latter). With a recent study by Thomson Reuters revealing that Islamic banks held US$1.2 trillion in assets at the end of 2013 (accounting for about 25% of deposits in the GCC), it’s safe to say that Islamic finance and banking will be vying for the finance dialogue forefront in the coming years.


connections to attract serious investors. What has worked well for Telr is the combination of a strong and highly-skilled team; a very solid and versatile payment solution adapted to SMEs and the geographical scope we want to play in: all emerging markets across Middle East, Africa and Southeast Asia. Any company looking to raise funds must be truly solving a need in the mar-ket, have a vision and a strong execution roadmap driven by a well-prepared team.

what do you SuggeSt iS needed to generate more mena awareneSS in the e-CommerCe SpaCe? what StepS Can be taken from goVernment perSpeCtiVe? Many things are required to raise the e-commerce awareness, but let me start by saying that I am very optimistic as you see more and more ads on billboards and newspapers promoting online merchants. The single most important factor for e-commerce growth is the supply: the more

merchants sell their goods and services online, the more consumers will get used to comparing the online offers to the ones in stores. Which brings me to the second important factor for awareness which is demand: currently few people can shop online using their credit card. The population shopping online must increase beyond the people with a card, to include the banking population -through direct debit from bank account- and the cash population. We, at Telr, are working on all these streams. The third element to in-crease awareness is to eradicate

Cash On Delivery (COD). At Telr, we strongly believe that online goes hand in hand with modern payment options. COD kills the growth of e-commerce and has disappeared from all mature markets, why not here?

in your opinion, when do you think we Can eXpeCt maSS adoption of e-CommerCe in mena?

It is happening every day, slowly but surely. Mobile adop-tion, social media ongoing engagement and connectivity are enablers to e-commerce. At Telr, our payments options con-sider online, mobile and social media payment solutions so our merchants can cater to each type of buyer. The e-commerce revo-lution has started… it only needs to be enabled and supported, and Telr is here for that!

MONEY aSk the money guy | VC Viewpoint | your money

Show me the moneyNorway’s new currency takes an artistic turn

tHe comPany Recently announced seRies a Funding FRom imena and HatcHeR, investing FRom tHe middle east and singaPoRe.

Below: The obverse sides of the Norwegian currency will be developed on the basis of the proposal from The Metric System, Norwegian Living Space.

Above::The reverse sides of the Norwegian currency in pixel motifs. These designs were submitted by Snøhetta Design, Beauty of Boundaries.

no, your eyes are fine and these banknotes aren’t something out of Minecraft. Actually, it’s the

new Norway currency design, set to roll out into circulation in 2017. Norg-es Bank, the central bank of Norway, released artistic currency motifs by two Oslo-based design firms, chosen among proposals from a competition. The designers were tasked with trying to depict the ocean in works of art as homage to the Norwegian national identity. The front takes a more tradi-tional approach by presenting depic-tions of life at sea, designed by The Metric System and Terje Tønnessen titled Norwegian Living Space. It’s a cool contrast to the pixelated colored seascapes on the back, a series called Ripple Effects by Enzo Finger. A bit of trivia? Besides the fact that the banknotes are a fusion of modern and traditional art, it has a surprise element that you’ll notice only if you look closely- the higher the values of the banknotes are, the more abstract the pixelated artworks become.

n


START IT uP waCky idea | who’S got VC | Q&a | Startup finanCe

TENACIOUS TRIPzzLEFounder Ghaith Akkad wants to plan

your next vacay By Kareem Chehayeb

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Tripzzle co-founder Gaith Akkad

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i personally never believed in the job life,” says Tripzzle co-founder

Ghaith Akkad. “I believe that God created us all as entrepreneurs but due to some various situations we just tend to settle down for a job.” The Syrian ‘trep was inspired to start Tripzzle af-ter struggling to find a nice vacation spot with friends. “We tried some known travel booking engines which typically assume that travelers know where they wish to go, that was not really practical.” Akkad moved to the UAE just five years ago, eventually start-ing Picasso Interactive Lim-ited, the web design firm that is behind Tripzzle. He studied Computer Science

and Software Engineering back in his native Syria.

At first Tripzzle sounds like just another booking website, but turns out it’s more than just that: It “pro-vides travelers with highly accurate travel destination and hotel recommendations based on their passions and interests when they seek ideas about where to go and where to stay.” In a saturated market, providing recommendations based on consumer tastes is a huge bonus, which could foster them long-term success. How does it work? Akkad and his team designed and structured a ranking algorithm that he claims “is both intuitive and scientific to pinpoint various tourism

destinations around the world that match travelers predefined criteria.”

Sounds like a very technical project, but I also wanted to explore the business side of things. What was setting up Tripzzle like? Akkad said it was “challenging but fun”, admitting that they nearly abandoned the whole thing halfway through. Akkad and his team “combined various databases like hotels, cities, passions and interests, weather information, average room prices, and so on. Then we needed to come up with a smart algorithm to rank more than 160,000 hotels based on a complex criteria, and return no more than a 100% almost handpicked hotels- all that should be super easy to use, and super instant.” That said, it looks like that they’ve created a visually simplistic (yet rich) online database. Here’s your daily dose of motivation, young ‘treps!

Tripzzle seems like a capital-intensive setup (and it is). Akkad says that they haven’t been involved with any angel investors as yet, so how’d they do it? Bootsrapping. Tripzzle’s team is comprised of five people active in marketing and tech spaces, and they did everything themselves. “We have all the knowl-edge and experience to build such a product from scratch.” That said, the folks at Tripzzle aren’t ruling out getting sup-port from an investor if it “gains enough traction.” Understandable given the costs needed to maintain Tripzzle, including “data-bases, advertising, servers, and maintenance.” Accord-ing to Akkad, they’re on track for ROI. “We’re still evaluating the idea actu-ally; the numbers so far are great in terms of interested people and conversion rates at 12% to 15%, where looking up hotel details for booking is considered a successful conversion.” Launched earlier this year in August, digital marketing and promo was appar-ently significant in luring in visitors and user base. “Visitors originally came from YCombinator News (HackerNews), Reddit, and social media- mostly Twitter,” adds Akkad, later elaborating how other web-sites, including the popular LifeHack.org as well as


co-founder ghaITh akkad says ThaT They haven’T been Involved wITh any angel InvesTors as yeT, so how’d They do IT? booTsrappIng.

startup portals spread the word as well. Makes sense. After all, in the digital age, why not fortify your social media and overall web pres-ence?

Marketing strategy is critical when trying to pen-etrate a saturated market, so how is this startup ap-proaching the game? Tripz-zle is using social media to generate interest and user base by “mainly targeting travelers looking for inspi-ration, which is consider-ably an easy target, but very expensive to attract hence the competition. Social media -especially Twitter- was a great help in directly reaching out to people seek-ing travel ideas and hotel recommendations,” said Akkad, crediting Twitter for providing 20% of Tripzzle’s overall traffic. They’re not stopping at Twitter though; they’re working on a Facebook strategy and taking advantage of some of the tools it provides that can help generate users, like benefitting “from the power of their Graph API and friend connections which in turn means more personal recommendations.” The team is hard at work and recently “introduced a map to visualize hotel destina-tions. We’re also silently updating the logic behind our ranking mechanism. More exciting features are in the plan,” says Akkad confirming that they’re currently working on both mobile and tablet apps that should be available soon.

What advice he would give to aspiring ‘treps ? “Learn, execute, fail, repeat.” Maybe all this effort will earn him a holiday in Barcelona next summer, his favorite vaca-tion spot.


By Pamella de Leon

you ought to be in pictures!

BlackBox uses social media to bring online engagement offline

by Having guests tag a PHoto on twitteR oR instagRam witH a PRedeteRmined HasHtag sPeciFically develoPed FoR youR event, you can get a PolaRoid-like PRinted PHoto FRom tHe bootH.


i’ve always been drawn to Polaroids. The texture of print images, seeing the

nostalgia-inducing borders, and hey, almost feeling like Ansel Adams. It’s making a comeback; retro is in along with the (over) sharing of pictures and of course, selfies. Finding an open-ing in the event market, BlackBox transforms the

usual offline photo booth experience at events into a social online experience. By having guests tag a photo on Twitter or Instagram with a predetermined hashtag specifically developed for your event, you can get a Polaroid-like printed photo from the booth. In turn, BlackBox generates advertising value around

a brand’s event as visitors promote it on their behalf, and later on provide an ana-lytics report, allowing them to further develop their social media strategy.

Founders George Eid and Christine Dwairi, also busi-ness partners at PurpleGlo, the marketing company behind BlackBox, had the idea after seeing Polaroid photographers in Beirut streets and thought of com-bining people’s love for the Polaroid and the ever-per-vasive instant gratification of social media. Coupled with the duo’s penchant

for all things retro, Mad Men and its era’s “sense of design”, the co-founders try to preserve that “feel and keep it alive.” Involving different prototypes and experimenting with materi-als, designs and platforms for software operation, the idea to inception stage took approximately four months. Initially, they built the first prototype themselves, and then went to a produc-tion factory for the final product. When they started, they had a specific goal to enter the market- working with Red Bull. During their pitch to Red Bull Lebanon’s Digital Specialist, they did a live demo and “a few minutes into the meeting, the whole Red Bull office was posting photos on Instagram and taking their


BlackBox co-founders George Eid and Christine Dwaire both graduated from Lebanon’s Notre Dame University Louaize in Marketing. The duo have also founded PurpleGlo, a marketing company they launched straight out of college nearly three years ago.

take my piCture prinCe point Want to have BlackBox present at your event? The cost ranges from US$1000 to $2500 in Lebanon, and $1500 to $3000 in Dubai. The cost for the booking depends on the size and duration of the event.what you get Unlimited prints for event-goers, a post-event analytics user report, an onsite BlackBox representative, and an Internet connection.

photos and putting them at their desks,” says Eid. It seemed that Red Bull liked the idea since BlackBox had their first event with them in September of last year. After launching in Lebanon, they began expanding re-gionally to Dubai and Doha, and then in North America beginning in Austin and New York. The co-founders share management roles with Eid overseeing the Lebanese market, and Dwaire running their opera-tions in Doha and handling the Dubai market.

The BlackBox business model is fairly simple: the product can be rented to clients holding events and brand activations, while also building a “network of PR agencies, event companies as well as digital and social media ones that promote our product to their clients”. This startup is already in profit mode,

their ROI happened almost immediately- a major anomaly in the startup tech space. “We have been able to cover all our initial investment three months into our operation, and have been operating in profit ever since,” adds Eid. “We’re looking to double our revenues in the coming year as part of an expansion plan that increases our penetration of the market.” In terms of finances, the self-funded startup hasn’t considered funding rounds yet, with Eid remarking that “it might be an option in the near future as part of one of our global expansion plans.”

Of course, every company has their struggles. For BlackBox, it’s letting event-goers know that “The Social Media Photo Booth” Black-Box is onsite and ready for action. So it’s crucial for event planners to have an

effective marketing strat-egy that ensures BlackBox visitors. Other problems are also weak Internet connection or non-existent ones in crowded areas, and the regular Lebanese power outages. Photos are only printed once they have been posted on Twitter or Insta-gram with a predetermined hashtag, so Internet avail-ability and signal strength is key to user engagement.

Eid says that their future plans include a more interactive experience, “surrounding BlackBox with new real-time event based [on] social media products”, and releasing an “unannounced product” in the market. Besides plans of becoming more pervasive regionally, they are also “flirting with the idea of franchising” out their product.



KEEPING UP WITH KUWAITI CONNECTION

The startup circuit in Kuwait is up and at ‘em By Jason Saltzman

Below: Still images from the first ONFIRE Experts Meetup with Jason Saltzman YouTube video. ONFIRE Experts Meetup organized by Launch On FIRE Business Podcast Initiative in Kuwait.

KHALID ALzANKI WILL STOP AT NOTHING WHEN IT COMES TO TRACKING DOWN TALENT AND GETTING THEM ON HIS SHOW. THIS IS WHY HE GETS THE BEST AND BRIGHTEST ENTREPRENEURS IN THE GCC ONBOARD.

Tonight, I met with ten founders, ten inves-tors, and attended

four events in one day. No, I am not in San Francisco and, no, I am not in NYC. I am in Kuwait.

Hello, Middle East! You may not know me, but I write for Entrepreneur back in the U.S. As a matter of fact, Entrepreneur Media invested in my co-working space, AlleyNYC, in NYC. Aside from running a col-laborative space for start-ups, I mentor for Techstars NYC, I invest in startups, and I love to write about startups.

A few months ago, the U.S. State Department

reached out to me about representing the United States Speaker Program, an initiative to send “experts” to different parts of the world in order to inspire growth in different sectors.

More than 90% of work-ing Kuwaiti citizens are employed in the govern-ment sector. Thousands of Kuwaiti students study for business and technology degrees in the U.S., but re-turn to find current Kuwaiti business and economic regulations a barrier to the creation of new businesses. The Government of Kuwait has announced it will be working with programs like this to support young en-

trepreneurs in an effort to expand the private sector. I was chosen to go to Kuwait to essentially help foster the growth of entrepreneur-ial communities.

I must admit that, two months ago, I didn’t even know startups in Kuwait existed. One of my goals is to start a global commu-nity of startups, so I have traveled the world -from Moscow to Iceland- learn-ing about different startup ecosystems. What I learned about Kuwait was shocking. Not only is there a startup ecosystem on the rise, but it was very reminiscent of the early stage New York startup ecosystem. What

was most reminiscent was the powerful traits that the Kuwaiti startup enthusiasts and founders shared. It is these qualities that I believe are going to propel the Kuwait startup scene into the spotlight. Here are some of the facets of the Kuwait startup space that you need to know about:

paSSion I was once told that if you love what you do, you never have to “work” a day in your life. I started companies that I hated, but now I love what I do. I saw this a lot in Kuwait, but especially in Hind Al-Nahedh, the founder of the awesome social media agency, Social Lobby. Hind has so much passion that I


KW Tech Meetup

Below:Letter from the U.S. Department of State for Kuwait mission

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almost wanted to join her company. Before you know it, I was Instagramming and taking selfies like it was going out of style. For those of you who do not know, Instagram and selfies are the biggest thing that happened in Kuwait since they found oil. Without passion, she wouldn’t be successful, and neither will you.

good-hearted There are certain people who I hate dealing with. They are selfish and do things only for themselves. There are other people who I love dealing with. They treat everybody with respect and dignity. Mohammed Jaffar was one of those people. Mohammed founded Kuwait’s most successful startup, the food-ordering service, Talabat. When Mohammed spoke at the

KW Tech Meetup, he wasn’t pitching Talabat, and he wasn’t bragging about how fast Talabat grew and how much money they’re making on a daily basis. Instead, he talked about why he felt the company was successful, and it was because of having a good heart and only working with people who had what he called a “clean soul.” If there’s one lesson to be learned, it’s that if you do good things for others, good things will happen for you.

aCCepting Wherever we went, I was the one guy who didn’t speak Arabic. I was an outsider. At the same time, nowhere did I ever feel like one. The community accepted me. When I met Neda Aldihany, founder of the Brilliant Lab accelerator, it felt like >>>



THE NEWS COVERAGE THAT MOST STARTUPS SCENES BENEFIT FROM IS NOT A FACTOR IN KUWAIT. I’VE NEVER SEEN A TEcHcRuNcH ARTICLE ABOUT ANY STARTUPS OUT OF KUWAIT.

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Jason Saltzman, after a career in real estate, became involved in the tech startup space. A seasoned entrepreneur with a background in sales and marketing, Saltzman founded AlleyNYC, a co-working space in New York. Through his role as CEO of AlleyNYC and as a Tech-Stars mentor, he advises hundreds of startups, offering real-life practi-cal application and creative market-ing advice. Considered a “must know” in the NYC entrepreneurial scene, Saltzman is also a member of the United States Department Speaker and Specialist Program, receiving a 2014 grant from the program to participate in an entrepreneurship seminar in Kuwait. He has contributed articles to mass mediums including Entrepreneur with whom AlleyNYC has partnered, and the Wall Street Journal.

I had known him for years. He even went so far as to invite me to join his dewaniya. I had no idea what to expect and I was a bit concerned that the others would not accept an American into the culture. Was I ever wrong- I was treated like family. After only a few minutes, I felt the most comfortable I have ever felt. When you

accept people, they are more likely to accept you. Opportunities come after bonds have been built, and accepting others is the way to make that happen.

open to new eXperienCeS Many of the Kuwaitis I encountered have studied abroad at amazing colleges, in addition to having travelled the world. In my experience, you cannot meet anyone smarter than a world traveler. World travelers that have an advanced institutional education are book-smart, street-smart, and most

importantly, open to new experiences. In the startup world, this is a recipe for success because you are always going into uncharted territory. If you’re not open to new experiences, you will not get very far as each new day presents its new set of experiences. As an entrepreneur, you need to be comfortable with being uncomfortable in order to succeed.

perSiStenCe I have started well over 40 businesses, and most of these businesses have failed. But failure in entrepreneurship is inevitable. The key to success is what you learn from failure, and that you keep trying. In Kuwait, I saw this loud and clear in Khalid Alzanki, who hosts a podcast called Launch on Fire. Khalid will stop at nothing when it comes to tracking down talent and getting them on his show. This is why he gets the best and brightest entrepreneurs in the GCC onboard.

Kuwait is very secluded. The news coverage that most startups scenes benefit from is not a factor in Kuwait. I’ve never seen a TechCrunch article about any startups out of Kuwait. During my visit, it felt as if I got more press than Steve Jobs and it was all Kuwaiti press, with next to no out-side coverage. Even though

there is lack of global cover-age, events are taking place, communities are being built and, relationships are be-ing made. There’s so many awesome people to look up to, and even more people willing to work together towards something greater than themselves.

Kuwait startups are on the rise. I have seen it with my own eyes. Watch out, Middle East, because here they come!


designing your sTarTup digs oFFice inteRioRs say a lot about youR comPanyBy Simon Hudson

Simon Hudson is the CEO and Founder of Brndstr.com. Having recently closed a large funding round, Hudson is well versed with the challenges ahead

of any startup. Prior to becoming an entrepreneur, Hudson worked as Marketing Director for Trump Towers in Miami and more recently as a senior figure at Groupon Middle East. Over the past two years he has been busy helping to grow, build and develop the Dubai startup circuit. As the Founder of ThinkTank.ae, ex-Chapter Director for Startupgrind.com, moderator of the previous Young Arab Leader event, and a coach at this year’s Dubai Startup Weekend, in addition to contributing the monthly entrepreneur column for newspaper 7days UAE, Hudson is well positioned to offer help and advice to any budding entrepreneur.

Brndstr office interior



CuLTuREbuSineSS unuSual | life | traVel | deSign | trappingS

A working environment is as important as the idea itself. As the

spearhead for tech startup Brndstr based here in Dubai, I wanted to talk office space this issue. Over the past nine months I have been giving my opinions on everything start-up, from raising the seed to signing the first deal. Having just recently moved into our first “proper” offices, I wanted to talk about the importance a workspace has to the success of your company.

Brndstr has been in operation just over a year now, and it wasn’t until last week we col-lected the keys to our brand new, super cool, startup-styled office space. Why wait so long before getting the of-fice ready to move in? As an entrepreneur, it’s common to follow and in some ways copy what your inspiration does. From the look and feel of the brand to how the product or service is sold- this too can be the case for your office space. When turning that idea into reality and if you go down the funding route, getting inves-tors to believe in the ideayou need to bring it to life. You’ll spend time shaping and mold-ing the look and feel of the

brand, and it’s important to remember that the working space your new HQ has needs to have the same vibe in order for everyone to truly be immersed in the experience. As a tech company, and with my hometown being London, I knew I wanted to make Brndstr feel like you were in a tech stereotypical office that would be common to see in say, New York, London or San Francisco. We went for the loft office converted warehouse approach to give both our clients and staff the feeling that they were living the real tech startup dream by working for Brndstr.

I personally have had a big interest in startup cribs for quite some time, and during a trip to Silicon Valley early this year, I was lucky enough to see the offices of Facebook, Google, and Twitter. In my opinion, the reason these guys are so attractive to work for is that when you think of them you hear of the cool perks and features that come with the office. The truth is that when you are getting started, splashing out on big screens, nice furnishings and creating the super cool space cost coin. It is also not going to make or break the startup in the early days- it is merely a bonus and statement. This is the main reason it took Brndstr over 15 months to move in and create the dream space. Our focus was to prove the idea worked,

and to get clients on board. Brndstr now has a solid

base of clients including CNN, MBC, UBER, Sheraton Hotels, and Infiniti to add to its portfolio. We have 10 staff, three iOS apps in the store, a polished brand, an attractive website, and we have raised enough seed funding to build the office without scraping the barrel for pennies. For anyone looking to venture into the startup world or to founders of recently launched companies my advice is plan, imagine, and take inspiration for your dream work space. We all love the idea of a nice desk, a shiny MacBook and a comfortable setup- just at first this is not the main focus. During the in-cubation period, print massive logos and quirky branding, stick them around the office and make sure that when you walk the office you know who you are and what you do. This will give confidence to both you and the staff. The ‘real’ HQ will soon come.

Remember: Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither was Google, Facebook or Twitter. Good luck fellow ‘treps, and see you next month!


IN PICTuRES

Afkar.me thinks it through Three regional startups

chosen for incubation and funding

Judging panel Juan Jose del La Torre, Vice President of Digital at Intigral, Christopher Ellison, General Manager of Strategy, and Andy Oldknow, General Manager of Sports.

During the workshop

Below:Afkar.me winners with Juan Jose del La Torre,

Vice President of Digital at Intigral

after six weeks of ana-lyzing 150 worldwide applications, and sub-

sequently shortlisting nine teams, an intensive two-day boot camp took place in Dubai staged by Afkar.me. Three startups, MedsCon-nect, mrUsta and Kanari, were chosen for incubation and funding after graduation by the digital idea startup incubator run by Intigral. Selected for their distinctive proposition to challenges among “healthcare, customer loyalty and trusted listings”, the three concepts took part in the boot camp late last month. MedsConnect, cur-rently still in the idea stage, plans to develop an app with patients’ personalized prescribed care plans con-nected to family and their medical caregiver. Both of the other two winners are already established, and they

are currently at the phase where growth is needed to further their businesses. The second startup, mrUsta, is a social listings platform that lets customers find peer-rated and trust services at the push of a button, and the third, Kanari, have developed a cloud-based platform for businesses to collect, track and analyze customer experience data. The winners will receive US$20,000 seed fund after graduating incubation, a business lead for guidance, office space and mentorship both from the incubator and their external partners. The judging panel included Juan Jose del La Torre, Vice President of Digi-tal at Intigral, Christopher Ellison, General Manager of Strategy, and Andy Oldknow, General Manager of Sports. Congrats to the winning concepts!


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So much to do, so little time. Sound familiar? Consumed

with life’s daily hustle, we’ve now become reliant on the luxury of being able to get anything from food to movies (and even a car ride) at the push of a button. Instead of hiring concierge services or letting your interns pick up your dry cleaning, Mashaweer wants to get to your door first. Paying your bills or picking up lunch orders from restaurants? Done. Dropping off a visa at the airport? Sure. Surprise gift delivery to someone spe-cial? Check. It began with an idea- while on a trip to the U.S., Hani El Sherbini,

co-founder of Mashaweer, and his brother-in-law and later co-founder, Ahmed Shabbara, tried a similar service and thought it was a great idea. Time passed and when it still haven’t caught on in the UAE, El Sherbini and Shabbara, decided an errand service company was the “perfect business” for the busy lifestyle of UAE residents, offering personal and business errands.

With their idea ignited, they focused on the nitty-gritty of the concept. Their devel-opment and testing stage involved three main areas: software and systems, time, and people. “It was critical for us to perfect our soft-ware and systems to create a platform that is right for the company and this type of service,” explains El Sherbini. It involved research and testing “till we get it right” on the best software and GPS platforms and tracking systems, as knowing the real-time loca-tion of their drivers’ ETA to the destination was an essential part of fulfilling their 90-minute promise, and to schedule ahead of time. Time was a major element they also worked on to “ensure that every task, activity and job is done at the utmost level of

efficiency and consistency.” Involving a “bit of home-work on routes and roads in Dubai, including distances travelled and time involved” was also important. How-ever, the duo found the pro-cess of finding and training the right people -especially drivers- the “most time-consuming and challenging” aspect. Their service calls for licensed drivers who are extremely familiar with both Dubai and Sharjah. This was difficult because most experienced drivers are knowledgeable with one or two areas of the city, but unfamiliar with the rest. Their solution? “Over a pe-riod of three to five months, we had to undergo an intensive program to train all our drivers on every part of the city!”

Another challenge they’ve encountered was aware-ness. Since the concept of doing errands as a service was still fairly new to UAE and the region, “getting the word out and making sure people understand what it is that we do was chal-lenging”, especially with a limited marketing budget that startups have and the diverse nature of the market in Dubai. Relying on friends and family and word of mouth, they decided it was the way to go, as well as utilizing social media tools to “cost-effectively get the word out.” With posts on quotes, funny comic strips and customer feedback, it seems that they’re quite savvy on Instagram, too. Explaining that they provide customer service through their social media channels, El Sherbini elaborates, “We aim to connect with potential customers as well as build relationships with our cur-rent customers. Mashaweer wants to be perceived as friendly, approachable, and trustworthy.”


mashaweer masters your errands By Pamella de Leon

There’s always a beTTer way

relyIng on frIends and famIly and word of mouTh, They decIded IT was The way To go as well as uTIlIZIng socIal medIa Tools To “cosT-effecTIvely geT The word ouT.”

The Mashaweer team


But with concierge services already present in the re-gion, how is Mashaweer distinguishing themselves? “We also have a handful of concierge companies as our regular customers. We differentiate ourselves by offering a very flexible, non-rigid approach to customer service. We listen to our clients and do our very best to accommodate any re-quest. Our goal is to become perceived as their very own personal driver whom they can trust with all their day-to-day to-do [lists].” One of the most important differences as well is that Mashaweer charge by trip and not by time, and they “entertain individual orders and not through monthly packages.” Speaking of indi-vidual orders, in U.S. errand startups like TaskRabbit, users can run errands for others. Has Mashweer considered this feature? Although the duo would “never say never” to the

idea, El Sherbini brings up the difficulty of “the legality and formality factor as well as for safety and security.” Mashaweer is fully insured but these factors can “get quite complicated.” El Sherbini brings up the se-lective hiring process that’s essential for the “consis-tently efficient and quality service” they provide. Their long-term customers know and trust their drivers and El Sherbini asserts that just “like any great business, our people are our most important asset, and have been the driving force to our success so far.”

who’S who Co-founder Hani El Sherbini is a 46-year-old civil engineering graduate with a diverse background varying from project management to business development, as well as having an import and export business dealing with construction materials and foodstuffs in the GCC and African market. Co-founder 44-year-old Ahmed Shabbara brings on board extensive experience in logistics and operations from his background as an owner of a leading cargo and transport company in Egypt.

booking “Placing an order with Mashaweer is very simple and our customers can basically reach us anyway they like. They can either give us a call, place their order online through our website, email us, send us a post on Facebook, Twitter- whatever way is most convenient to them. Once an order is registered, customers are sent a confirmation email with an order number followed by another email once a pick up has been made. Later, they will receive an email once the order/errand has been completed.”

when, what, why “We are busiest during the week, but on weekends we get quite a lot of deliveries involving special occasions and birthday party-related orders. Cheque collection and bank deposits are one of the very popular errands requested by corporate customers.”

random reQueStS “We have gotten quite a few random orders that none seem so strange anymore! From mums calling because one of the kids left their PE kit at home, to a wife wanting to surprise her husband who was visiting to Dubai on a business trip during his birthday and asked us to fetch

some golf clubs from Al Quoz, and deliver them to the hotel where he was staying. We’ve also had requests to pick up impounded cars, send them to the impoundment station and pick them up again once the impound time has been completed!”

how it workS “Our business model is simple; we provide a service with the sole aim of saving valuable time and resources of our target market, which includes people with busy lifestyles and corporate executives. We offer a solution to help individuals and companies save time, effort and resources by being their very own trusted partner who can take some of the burden off their busy schedules at very competitive rates.”

roi “We use a simple NPV [Net Present Value] to calculate our ROI. Based on our growth pattern we estimate that we will break even beginning of 2015, and we expect to sustain a double-digit growth every quarter thereafter. We have been operational almost three years and our growth is amazing on all levels, number of errands, customer base and sales figures. “

ClientS “Our user base is split into individual customers and corporate clients. Almost 65% of our business comes from corporate clients and the remaining comes from individual customers. 70% of our total user base is female while 30% is male.”

TheIr developmenT and TesTIng sTage Involved Three maIn areas: sofTware and sysTems, TIme, and people. “IT was crITIcal for us To perfecT our sofTware and sysTems To creaTe a plaTform ThaT Is rIghT for The company and ThIs Type of servIce”


Capturing Qatar

up Close and personal

bylens, a fully Qatari-themed photo library, focuses on businesses

that create content for the Gulf nation’s audience. Two Qataris, Razan Suli-man, a fashion and graphic designer, and Mohamed Abdulla, a professional photographer, launched the stock image company in 2011. “As a graphic designer I always felt I need genuine, locally-sourced images that reflect the Qatari feel and the real image of a Qatari, but this was always hard to find. Looking around in newspapers and magazines, I found that people are using images that looked Qatari but are not 100% correct, so I felt there is a need for a stock imagery to stock authentic Qatari pictures,” says CEO and founder Razan Suliman.

She decided to set up her own digital business providing genuinely Qatari

images to organizations and individuals with the assis-tance of Mohamed Abdulla, her co-founder. “I thought that not being able to find good pictures was not due to the lack of neither creativity nor talent but rather because of the lack of the business knowledge. So, we decided to create our own stock photography, which would include a more Qatari feeling to better represent the character and personality of any organiza-tion. In our case, we were unsatisfied working for someone else. We had a desire to be our own bosses


byLens LoCaLizes visuaL ConTenT

By Erika Widén

By Erika Widén

“as a gRaPHic designeR i always Felt i need genuine, locally-souRced images tHat ReFlect tHe qataRi Feel and tHe Real image oF a qataRi, but tHis was always HaRd to Find.”

Bylens stand to promote B2B relationships

b


and lead our own company; we followed our dream and today we’re the owners of the first online Qatari stock images,” says Suliman. She also works as the Creative Director of Bylens and ar-ranges the models, having first sourced them in Qatar, and manages the busi-ness side of things, while Abdulla focuses solely on the photography. When the company was launched three years ago, they initially promoted their service via word of mouth by contacting all their friends to expand their network. “We were looking for professional networks everywhere, and we sent out a huge email campaign to inform people about us. We always strive to keep this database updated. Of course thanks to social media, Facebook and Twit-ter, things started to move fast,” says Suliman.

Suliman recalls prior to setting up Bylens how the greatest worry was the in-stability of it all. She adds that “the lack of revenue, and the uncertainty of how we will be able to provide the market needs as well as build a strong brand name,” as early concerns. “With hard work, brainstorming and persistence, it paid off and we overcame the fear we had while starting up. Thanks to all the surround-ing people who supported us, and believed in the potential our business had. These supporters were a key in building our busi-ness into what it is today.” The biggest operational challenge according to

Suliman was finding the right people to model, and getting approvals from different locations for their shoots, and obtaining sig-natures for property release forms. “It was important to use models who can pass as Qataris, because even when a Qatari woman might be interested in posing for a stock photo, she would still need to get permission from her father and pos-sibly from her brother and uncles as well, though the law does not require her to do so,” explains Suliman. “Even if everyone agrees initially, problems may still occur down the road, like if the model decides to wed and her husband is resent-ful of her past career, so we use non-Qataris, [who] look like nationals.” They focus on the distribution and production of stock images and serves Qatar’s business network of both editorial and commercial clients. “These photos can be used in brochures, reports, books, flyers, and advertisements... It’s used to fulfil the needs of cre-ative assignments. They are produced in studios using a wide variety of models pos-ing as professionals- ste-reotypes, expressing stereo-typical emotions. Our aim is to give the correct image of Qatar and the Qatari people, which can be the point of difference between you and your competitors,” adds Suliman. The duo did everything themselves– from setting up the website to sourcing the talent. “It’s this attention to detail that makes Bylens stand out from the crowd. When we

first started, there were some people supporting us, and others saying we won’t be able to make it. Thankfully, things moved in the right direction. ictQatar also was a great support since the very beginning.”

If you’re considering starting up a business, the founder encourages young Qatari entrepreneurs to take action even if it’s a small step, as things will continue to develop and gain pace. Suliman notes the importance of clearing your debt prior to starting a business, and develop-ing an idea that meets an unanswered market gap. “Check the market, look at the players and their

services, and after you’ll identify a problem and solve it. Network- talk to anyone and everyone, tell them about your business when they ask what you do. Soon you’ll master your business pitch, and be connected to lots of people- word of mouth is key now to any business success.” Regarding the business expansion plans, Suliman intends to host images from all the major photographers in Qatar, letting them sell and promote their pictures on her site in exchange for a small commission fee.

“We are going to be Qatar’s answer to Shutterstock. We are going to be huge.”

piCture perfeCt bylenS StoCk SeleCtion www.bylens.qa

> family life and health> Qatari men, women, Children> buSineSS > Qatar national day> ramadan

> finanCialS> Qatar SiteS> nature in Qatar > anCient CraftS and Cultural imagery

“ouR aim is to give tHe coRRect image oF qataR and tHe qataRi PeoPle, wHicH can be tHe Point oF diFFeRence between you and youR comPetitoRs,”

suliman intends to Host images FRom all tHe majoR PHotogRaPHeRs in qataR, letting tHem sell and PRomote tHeiR PictuRes on HeR site in excHange FoR a small commission Fee.


I La Belle FerronnièreLeonardo da VinciMilan, Italy, 1495-1499Wood (noyer)

Fourth Louvre Abu Dhabi Talking Art Series Launched with Discussion on Leonardo Da Vinci’s La Belle Ferronniere at Manarat Al Saadiyat

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Cultural coup Masterpieces to be presented

at the Louvre Abu Dhabi

CULTURE business unusual | liFe | TRaVel | DesiGn | TRaPPinGs

If you fancy seeing a da Vinci or Monet up close, residents of the UAE won’t have to go very far. Along with its

own collection, the Louvre Abu Dhabi has announced that it will also display approximately 300 artworks on loan from French institutions by the Masters. Gathered from establishments such as Musée du Louvre, Musée d’Orsay et de l’Orangerie, Centre Pompidou, and Musée du quai Branly, get your OMG-I-can’t-believe-it feelings all fired up with this stellar art-history line up. Some of the works scheduled to be on show? Leonardo da Vinci’s La Belle Ferronnière, famous for influencing Renaissance artists to adopt naturalism as an oil painting technique and the mystery of the woman’s true identity; Claude Monet’s The Saint-Lazare Station, an abstract take on then-modern life focusing on colors and light rather than

machines and passers-by; a Vincent Van Gogh’s Self Portrait, and Andy Warhol’s Big Electric Chair, part of his Death and Disaster interpreted as a commentary on society’s lack of empathy with regular death and tragedy. Here’s a bit of trivia: it will be the first time that Da Vinci’s La Belle Ferronnière will be exhibited outside of Europe. Keeping in mind the incalculable value of the artwork, and relevance to Louvre Abu Dhabi’s narrative, the selection was made by Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority, Agence France-Muséums and 13 French museums and public institutions that will loan the works. Getting the itch for a bit of art discourse? Beginning this month and running until the 27th of May next year, the Louvre Abu Dhabi: Talking Art Series will host four panel discussions examining themes on the Louvre Abu Dhabi’s collection.

Organized at various UAE university campuses, it’s specifically catered to students (and art buffs). www.louvreabudhabi.ae

entrepreneur qatar november 2014 | an enterprising population

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