DHOFAR GLOBAL

UNION NATIONAL BANK

GULF PETROCHEM BANQUE INTERNATIONALESTRIDE CONSTRUCTION

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Editor-in-chief: Kalle Salmi CEO, Content Group International: Johan Ehrström Project Managers: Lauri Stevens, Maryam Shoaei, Jacob Schmidt, Rida Jillani, Danielle Francisco Content Executive: Emilia Paulig Art Director: Petra Pirinen Art Editor: Rasmus Jaakonmäki

Contributors: Heba Hashem, Criselda Diala-McBride, Hiten Nainaney, Zylan Armani, Noora Seif Mounir Quraish

Concept owner: Content Group International, HDS Business Center, Cluster M, Jumeirah Lakes Towers, Dubai, United Arab Emirateswww.contentgroupinternational.com

A Gulf News Sponsored Supplement, published by Al Nisr Publishing.

KSA mortgage law to favorably impact lending in region

UNB: The bank that cares

BIL brings bespoke banking to GCC

CooperVision sets sights on Middle East

Agthia: Nourishing every home

Reinventing Riyadh’s skyline: Driven by context and function; Omrania & Associates builds a timeless architecture in the Kingdom

Inspiring business throughout the Middle East & Africa

Gulf Petrochem’s growth shows no let-up

Next-Generation smoking takes a scientific approach

Cognizant empowers GCC firms’ digital transformation

Arzan Wealth builds financial safety nets

PepsiCo takes innovation to the next level

For RedTag, value is in fashion

A smarter way of living

Kele: A 360-degree approach to construction

Striding to the forefront

Accelerating industrial manufacturing

Redefining the tissue industry

Linde makes its mark on MENA petrochemical sector

Transparency spurs Farazad Investments’ growth

Robbert Murray & Associates finds niche in MENA

Safeguarding human health

Fulfilling medical expectations

An epitome of cosmetic choices

Enabling knowledge to empower women

Al Hilal Bank’s growth underscores success

Bee’ah delivers positive environmental change

Excellence in Healthcare planning

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CONTENTFOREWORD

Big visions of the governments and companies are made reality in the Middle East. The banks and other financial institutions operating in the area are making many of the recent developments possible. In this edition of the CEO Report: Gulf 2020 we are honored to cover some of the leading banks in the region. We have stories from Saudi Investment Bank, Al Hilal Bank, Union National Bank and one of the oldest Euro-pean private banks, BIL. They share perspectives on how to serve cus-tomers and keep up with changing needs in the region.

As the year is coming to an end we already turn our focus to the fu-ture and the upcoming business year. In this edition, we write about insightful future outlooks of the companies such as Agthia, PepsiCo, Panasonic and Redtag whose consumer products and innovations are actively present in peoples’ lives throughout the Middle East.

At Content Group, we wish you an inspiring reading experience and success for the year 2015.

Kalle SalmiPublisher, Head of Middle EastContent Group International

From the Publisher

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EDITORIAL

An epitome of cosmetic choices

Excellence in healthcare planning

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Cosmotrade CEO Dr. Mohamed Hussein plans to represent more of the world’s top cosmetic brands into the GCC by 2017, as a step of being one of the leading cosme-ceutical companies in the Middle East.

Excellence in healthcare is about having the right mix of services, perfectly executed so that they work together seamlessly, says Aladin Niazmund, Managing Director at TAHPI.

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What is the outlook for the banking sector in Saudi Arabia?Growth in Saudi banks’ lending to the private sector was 12.3% for the year ending June 2014. The Saudi Investment Bank (SAIB) has outpaced this performance with loan growth of 35.0% from June 2013 to June 2014. We ex-pect continued growth for the remainder of this year due to continued government infra-structure initiatives. Sector loan growth in the first half of 2014 was 8.1%, while THE SAUDI INVESTMENT BANK grew at 15.2% during the same period.

The sector’s strong loan growth has been driven by both corporate and consumer lend-ing. We anticipate continued growth both this year and next in both sectors, as we see a continuation of the strong performance by the Saudi economy to support ongoing loan growth.

What will be the future driver of growth for the banks in the Kingdom?Growth will continue to be driven by Saudi government infrastructure initiatives and by a growing youth population.

Over the next few years, we also expect the new Mortgage Law to favourably impact lend-ing activities in the market.

Brokerage activity continues to be strong after the sharp decline experienced during the 2008 global financial crisis. The Saudi shares market is the largest in the region and further sophistication in the range of products and services offered is anticipated. There is also the possibility that the market will open up to foreign investors, allowing the Saudi market to gain entry into the MSCI Emerging Markets Index.

Shariah-compliant banking is a major growth area in Saudi Arabia, particularly in the corporate sector, which is now looking for structured products and solutions that are Shariah-compliant.

How are recent trends affecting the profitability of the banks?The two major trends affecting the profitabil-ity of Saudi banks in recent years are the rap-idly growing loan portfolios driven by Saudi government infrastructure initiatives, and a growing retail sector. This growth has been favorable to banking profits.

Offsetting this loan growth are the shrink-ing loan margins as competition among the banks has become increasingly strong. Mar-gins have been compressing for the past three years; we do not yet see any let-up in this trend.

What makes THE SAUDI INVESTMENT BANK more competitive than oth-er local and international banks and what are the biggest challenges in the market? Competition is the nature of the private sector. The Saudi banks are very competitive and have some of the strongest capital and financial ra-tios in the global financial services sector.

Saudi banks know the local market better and are better able to meet the needs of Sau-di customers. However, Saudi banks welcome foreign competition because it allows us to improve our range of services. Competition among strong banks makes all banks stronger.

THE SAUDI INVESTMENT BANK is a do-mestically-focused bank and this gives us a major advantage over foreign entrants as THE SAUDI INVESTMENT BANK has the local

market knowledge to produce products geared to local needs and requirements.

How do you approach Saudization?One of the main pillars of HR strategy in THE SAUDI INVESTMENT BANK is Saudization. The focus is on quality Saudization through participation in career fairs and THE SAUDI INVESTMENT BANK also conducts training programs attracting fresh Saudi graduates through enrolling them in a seven-week Young Hire Program at our bank. We have recruit-ed more than 200 young Saudis to this pro-gramme since 2013.

THE SAUDI INVESTMENT BANK attracts Saudi graduates from reputable higher in-stitutions to enroll them into our 12-month Graduate program and six-month Corporate Banking training.

Each year, we enroll a few Saudi candidates in an Accelerated Development Scheme where they go through classroom training in Saudi Arabia and overseas development programs in reputable higher institutions such as IN-SEAD, Harvard, etc., ensuring that candidates acquire all leadership and technical compe-tencies that are necessary for them to assume leading and more challenging roles in SAIB.

SAIB’s focus is to attract Saudis by provid-ing a healthy working environment coupled with very attractive and competitive com-pensation and benefit schemes. This is done through comprehensive analysis of the market data ensuring that THE SAUDI INVESTMENT BANK has the right mixture of both fixed and variable compensations.

The other important pillar of SAIB’s HR strategy is to become an Employer of Choice where more young Saudis start approaching

KSA mortgage law to favorably impact

lending in region

THE SAUDI INVESTMENT BANK

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the bank instead of vice versa. We were de-lighted to have been awarded the KSA finan-cial organisation “Great Place to work” award in 2014, which recognizes our position as an employee-centric organisation.

What are the latest developments in the mortgage law area in Saudi? On 23/7/1435H (22/5/2014), the Governor of the central Bank (SAMA), Dr. Fahd Almubarak, announced that SAMA had issued licenses for real estate finance activity in the Kingdom to SAIB.

THE SAUDI INVESTMENT BANK will fully comply with the finance laws and their imple-menting regulations before the expiry of the period granted under the Finance Companies Control Law ending on 15/1/1436H (8/11/2014).

What has been done to stimulate lend-ing to SMEs and housing?

THE SAUDI INVESTMENT BANK has a ded-icated unit to handle all SME business which has been restructured and staffed to cope with the anticipated growth. THE SAUDI INVEST-MENT BANK is planning to have SME centers in all major regions (piloting in Central Re-gion).

THE SAUDI INVESTMENT BANK is work-ing with government programs to support and promote SME financing such as SIDF Kafalah Program. We have also started a new project to segment Commercial & SME clients and pro-vide stimulating packages.

Recently, THE SAUDI INVESTMENT BANK signed an agreement with the Real Estate Development Fund for an additional finance program to facilitate house ownership for Sau-di citizens. In Q1 2014, THE SAUDI INVEST-MENT BANK signed with the Saudi Electricity Company to secure mortgage finance for their employees.

How does Saudi regulatory framework compare to other countries? What is needed to further improve the sector?The Saudi regulatory framework is excep-tionally strong and SAMA has been actively involved in implementation of the latest Basel regulatory standards and controls. Some of the major initiatives introduced include:

• Stress Testing• Internal Capital Adequacy Assessment

Plan (ICAAP)• Liquidity Ratio Standards (Basel III)• Minimum Capital Standards (Basel III)• Corporate Governance Guidelines• Risk Appetite Framework• Internal Control Framework •

Musaed Bin Mohammad Al-Mineefi

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Amid the world’s challenging eco-nomic cycles, Union National Bank’s selective approach has led to strategically positioned in-

vestments and expansions. From around 22 branches at the start to more than 110 branches today across five countries, the UAE-headquartered bank has been growing year after year.

UNB’s subsidiaries are now among the best performing in their fields. Al Wifaq Finance Company, for example, was established in re-sponse to an increasing demand for Islamic banking, while Union Brokerage Company with its well-diversified network was one of the first companies to deal in the brokerage field in the UAE.

“Our brokerage business was established before many others and is one of the best to-day. We also got the approval from Central Bank and other UAE authorities to double our capital in Al Wifaq, which will be complet-ed next January,” reveals Abdeen, who was named CEO of the Year, Banking category award at the 2013 CEO Middle East Awards and more recently, in 2014 won a Silver Stevie award for Executive of the Year – Banking at the 11th International Business Awards also known as the Stevie Awards.

LEVERAGING ECONOMIC COOPERATION

In line with its mission to leverage trade re-lations between countries, UNB’s extensive coverage spans the UAE, Kuwait, and Qatar, as well as China and Egypt, two of the world’s most populous nations.

“We acquired ACMB in Egypt in 2006, and grew our presence from eight to 32 branches over the last five years, despite the revolution in Egypt and economic crisis. We doubled the capital of this bank this year, and there’s an aggressive plan to grow because of the huge po-tential for business in Egypt,” explains Abdeen.

Indeed, UNB Egypt achieved impressive results ever since launching in the North Af-rican country, prompting the group to double its capital there last October. In China, UNB has a representative office, the first from a UAE bank, which is now moving toward be-coming a branch. “China is a huge market and its relations with the UAE are growing fast; that was one of the main reasons we decided to go there, to facilitate business between the two countries”.

The core market for UNB, however, remains the UAE, as Abdeen points out. “The UAE is a vibrant hub of international commerce, trade and tourism and one of the most connected in

the world. Expo 2020 is a big story and Dubai is taking it very seriously with a clear vision. We expect the construction of required ho-tels, ancillary infrastructure and every store to leave its impact on the banking business.

MULTI-AWARD WINNER

When it comes to financial growth, proactive asset quality management has ensured high-er than expected results for the group. As of 30 September 2014, UNB’s total assets had reached AED 88.6 billion, an increase of three percent from last year, and loans and advanc-es had risen to AED 64 billion, up by six per-cent. UNB also recorded a profit of AED1,584 million for the nine month period, 2014 an in-crease of 10% compared to the corresponding period of previous year

“This is a result of proper planning and is supported by the economic progress and sta-bility of the country. We have a very sound balance sheet and strong support from our board and chairman, H.H. Sheikh. Nahayan Mabarak Al Nahayan. The biggest reason for our success, however, is the commitment and quality of our people, who we train, guide and care about. People at UNB are a prized asset”.

UNB consistently receives high ratings by re-puted credit rating agencies and its long list of international and local accolades speaks for it-self. The bank is notably a winner of the Sheikh Khalifa Excellence Award – Diamond catego-ry as well as the Dubai Quality Gold Award, which makes it the first organisation to win these two quality awards simultaneously.

Yet Abdeen is quick to emphasize that there’s more to success than past achieve-ments. “We’re not only focusing on the exist-ing results, but we also look forward to the future and see the potential to achieve much better results”. •

UNB: The bank that caresMohammad Nasr Abdeen, CEO of Union National Bank,

revolutionized the group’s operations since taking lead 15 years ago.

UNION NATIONAL BANK

Mohammad Nasr Abdeen

Mohammad Nasr Abdeen

Our robust financial performance throughout the years is a testament to our adherence to the tenets of ambition, transparency and integrity in providing outstanding products and superior services. To find out how we can care for your needs, visit www.unb.ae or call 600-566-665.

I care about stabilityand UNB takes care of meWith total equity exceeding AED 16 billion*and an impressive financial track record

Total Equity in AED Millions

UNBForeign CurrencyLong-term Ratings

Moody’s FitchRatings

CapitalIntelligence

A1 A+ A+

6,7057,696

10,66811,931

13,06814,121

0

5,000

10,000

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

15,338

2013

15,000

16,521

Sept. 2014

*As at 30th September, 2014

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Building relationships is crucial in the private banking business. This often takes years – even generations – to perfect, something that Banque

Internationale à Luxembourg (BIL) has man-aged to achieve during the past one-and-a-half century.

Established in 1856, BIL is the oldest private bank in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and certainly one of the oldest in Europe. It holds a unique place in Luxembourg’s economic history and it had the privilege to issue bank-notes in Luxembourgish francs, the country’s currency, until the introduction of the euro.

BIL has stood the test of time, surviving two world wars and countless global econo-mic crises that have knocked down interna-tional financial houses once thought to be formidable. And with age comes experience, said Eddy Abramo, Regional CEO, Middle East and Africa at BIL.

“The recent financial crisis was not the first for BIL and it may not be the last. What’s important is, BIL has seen the evolution of the financial markets and has adapted to its changing dynamics,” he said. “As a universal bank, we have a very strong retail and cor-porate banking business in Europe, but our core expertise lies in private banking, which accounts for 40% of our overall business in terms of income.”

Over the years, BIL has built a strong partner-ship with high net worth individuals (HNWI), families, entrepreneurs and corporate clients across geographies. Aside from Luxembourg,

it has offices in Switzerland, Belgium, Den-mark, Singapore and Dubai. It prides itself as a bank with a human face, providing a personalised approach to meet their client’s varying banking needs, while also helping families ensure that the wealth inherited by one generation is preserved and passed down to the next.

As of June 2014, the BIL Group’s assets under management stood at EUR 31 billion (USD39 billion). It enjoys an A- rating from Fitch Ratings and Standard & Poor’s, reflec-ting the market’s confidence in its strength as a private bank.

Having the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg as one of BIL’s key shareholders also creates a compelling value proposition. It is one of very few countries in the world with the rare AAA sovereign credit rating and it is opening its doors to opportunities outside of Europe.

In October this year, Luxembourg launched its first Islamic bonds (sukuk) worth EUR200 million (USD254 million), which was more than twice oversubscribed, as it seeks to attract Islamic investors from regions such as the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) and Southeast Asia. BIL was one of the banks hi-red to arrange this maiden sukuk issue.

LEVERAGING STRENGTHS

Abramo said having a presence in the Middle East is essential for BIL as it widens its foot-print in line with the long-term view of its shareholders, which include a Qatari investor.

And the region proves ripe for the picking with its robust economy and a population of HNWI (individuals with net assets of over USD30 mil-lion), which is expected to grow by 58% in 2022, according to industry forecasts.

Despite the tough private banking market in the Middle East, particularly in the GCC, Abramo is confident that BIL will rise above the competition as they have the right busi-ness plan for the region.

“What we have observed is that majority of GCC’s HNWI and family businesses have a buy-and-hold approach to investing. They are long-term investors with a diversified port-folio such as real estate, bonds and equity that are mostly invested within the Gulf. But we can help them diversify their assets and explore opportunities in other markets,” he said.

Understanding the requirements of their cli-ents is integral in their business. “We have to have a clear understanding of what our clients need so we can advise them properly. We are not product pushers. We don’t have anything to sell and we’re not here merely to manage our clients’ money,” Abramo said. “What we have to offer is our expertise, our know-how in advising clients on what is the best strategy to take in terms of asset allo-cation, wealth optimisation and generally growing their business further.”

In addition, customers in the GCC can have access to private or off-market business transactions that BIL can arrange through its wide network of client base.

BIL brings bespoke banking to GCC

BIL

Banque Internationale à Luxembourg, one of Europe’s oldest private banks, is expanding its footprint to serve

the region’s discerning clients, says Eddy Abramo, Regional CEO, Middle East and Africa.

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“AS A UNIVERSAL BANK, WE HAVE A VERY STRONG RETAIL AND CORPORATE BANKING BUSINESS IN EUROPE, BUT OUR CORE EXPERTISE LIES IN PRIVATE BANKING, WHICH ACCOUNTS FOR AROUND 70% OF OUR OVERALL BUSINESS.”

PRIVATE BANKER THROUGH AND THROUGH

Abramo is a veteran in the private banking industry, with extensive experience in the Middle East market. In 1996 he joined Socie-te Generale Private Banking in Paris, France and in 2009 he was appointed Chief Executive Officer of the bank’s private banking unit in the Middle East, based out of Dubai.

“Private banking is the story of my life. It’s in my DNA,” he jokingly said.

In March 2014, he joined BIL as CEO of its Middle East and Africa office, overseeing the bank’s operations, which was formally inau-

Eddy Abramo

gurated in October of the same year. As the world’s wealth shifts from west to east, Ab-ramo’s private banking background in emer-ging economies proves essential in taking BIL’s business to new growth markets.

“The pace of economic recovery in the Midd-le East has been very rapid. It has already put the financial crisis behind it while other markets such as Europe continue to feel the [downturn’s] effects” he said. “The global en-vironment is obviously changing and as CEO, I have to make sure I have the right people in place, who can adapt to this changing envi-ronment so we can anticipate risks and iden-tify new opportunities for our clients.”

HERE FOR THE LONG HAUL

Abramo said BIL is keen to take a long-term approach on the Middle East as they provide their discerning clients with international fi-nancial and wealth structuring services.

“Investment [services] is of course import-ant, but that is only a small portion of the private banking business and is often part of a short-term approach. What BIL focuses on is wealth planning and succession planning, which is what any investor in the world would want. And that involves trust and a long-term view,” he said.

BIL’s vision, according to Abramo, is to re-main in the Middle East for the next century. •

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Contact lenses are driving growth in the global eyewear market and US-based CooperVision, the world’s third largest manufacturer of soft contact

lenses, is ready to get a slice of this pie, espe-cially in emerging growth markets like the Middle East.

“As a company, we are growing at appro-ximately 1.6 times the global market. In the ACE Region (Africa & Central Eurasia), we are expecting even faster growth as we currently have relatively low market shares.”

In 2012, the company set up the ACE Regional office in Dubai in recognition of not only the growing potential of the Middle East, but also the wider ACE region and they have opened offices in Russia, Turkey & India in the past 12 months.

As part of the regional focus, CooperVi-sion has a developed network of distributors in the Middle East and to support customers and wearers a local website will be launched in December. Initially in English it will be available in Arabic in a few months, increa-sing awareness, accessibility and communi-cation about CooperVision products.

EYEING GROWTH

CooperVision produces a wide array of monthly, two-week and daily disposable con-tact lenses, all featuring advanced materials and optics. “CooperVision has a strong heri-tage of solving the toughest vision challenges such as astigmatism and presbyopia; and of-fers the most complete collection of spherical, toric and multifocal products available,” said Wilkinson.

To achieve this, the company, which employs over 7,000 staff, has invested heavily in re-search and development (R&D) with their R&D sites located across the world in the US, UK and Japan.

The Middle East market’s feedback on their products has so far been positive. For exam-ple, their Biofinity lenses, which is a premium monthly third generation silicone hydrogel lens for people who demand more from their contact lenses, have recently been voted product of the year in the Arabian Gulf.

GROWING THE COOPERVISION BRAND

Wilkinson said CooperVision is here to stay. “It is very important that both our business partners and our wearers know that we can be trusted and the products will always be available, our investment in local offices and people is testament to our long term plans across ACE.”

“We want as many people as possible to enjoy the convenience of contact lenses, they can change lives and empower people to feel more able to participate in many new ways including sports or physical activity that they had not previously considered. If this leads to greater and more regular physical activ-ity, especially for children, then this could be a great benefit to a healthier life style,” Wilkinson said.

“Contact lenses can seem very compli-cated, choosing the lens type, getting the right power, handling the product and supply. We aim to make all of this as sim-ple and convenient as we can,” he said.

Supporting this ‘simplicity’ objective means that excellent service is essential when deal-ing with thousands of prescriptions and the General Manager believes that they have some of the best service and business partner programmes in the world. •

CooperVision sets sights on Middle East

COOPERVISION

Michael Wilkinson, General Manager of CooperVision, said the world’s third largest contact lenses manufacturer

is waking up to the region’s potential.

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Few places in the UAE can claim to be untouched by Agthia’s brands, be it Al Ain drinking bottled water, Capri Sun juice drink, Yoplait yogurt or frozen

vegetables. From only two brands in 2006, to 13 brands in 2014, the Abu Dhabi-based leading food and beverage company has been growing at a remarkable pace and provides high-qual-ity, trusted, and essential food and beverage products for customers and consumers across the UAE, GCC, Turkey and wider Middle East. It employs over 2100 people.

“The years 2007 and 2008 represented a fi-nancial and strategic turnaround for Agthia. Today, we’re witnessing sustainable growth in all our key categories. We’re now a leading player in the bottled water, flour, tomato pas-te, frozen vegetables, premium yogurts and animal feed segments. We are a brand driven Company,” says Hamzah, who joined Agthia in mid-2006 as the group’s first CFO & Company Secretary, and is now the CEO of the Company.

AHEAD OF INDUSTRY PERFORMANCE

“Everything we do at Agthia is wholehearted. Catering for people from all nationalities and walks of life, we produce food and drink that help families grow strong and lead lives full of vitality. We’re determined to meet the high-est quality standards, in a sustainable way,” commented Hamzah.

Over the last seven years, Agthia achieved sales and profit CAGR of 19.5% and 27.4% re-spectively, and all core categories are grow-ing ahead of the industry. Agthia released its nine-month results ending September 30, 2014 reflecting a sales and profit growth of 9% and 26% respectively. The Company’s balance sheet remains very healthy, with all key financial indicators reflecting a robust performance. The performance is the reflec-tion of strong progress Agthia has made on its strategic aim of expanding its core cate-

gories, product diversification and promoting operational efficiencies. Agthia has invested over AED 1 billion over the last 8 years in ex-panding its production capacity across cate-gories to meet the increasing demand.

“Agthia’s share price has done extremely well. It has gained more than 60 percent in the twelve months through October 2014, more than double the Abu Dhabi index increase, re-flecting high investor confidence. Our market cap has now crossed the USD 1 billion mark, and we will continue creating value for our shareholders,” says Hamzah.

Agthia is also spearheading a variety of cor-porate social responsibility initiatives, in health and wellness, food safety and food security, people and Emiratization, and the environment.

“We constantly think of ways to cut down on pollution. For example, the new Al Ain

water bottle is 15% lighter in weight than the previous one. There are also initiatives to re-duce land fill and utilities consumption, and to recycle waste.”

The Agthia Academy was established in 2010, to train and develop staff using in-house as well as external experts. There is also a lead-ership program for senior management. “Our commitment to nurturing Emirati talent has resulted in increasing our Emirati staff to more than 110, with further recruitment planned for 2015. Our national talent induc-tion program is a pioneering initiative that helps develop skills and supports employee retention,” elaborates Hamzah.

EXPANDING FURTHER

Agthia continues advancing its strategy of driving profitable growth across its core busi-nesses, implementing cost saving initiatives, diversifying and launching new products, ex-panding distribution reach, enhancing in store presence and at the same time addressing the underperforming businesses. In parallel, it also continues to enhance its manufacturing capabilities and remains focused on impro- ving operating and cost efficiencies. “The Com-pany’s business and financial fundamentals are strong, with a solid balance sheet to sup-port our expansion plans. We are also pursu-ing our key strategic growth driver, M&A,” says Hamzah.

“We value everyone we serve, and everyone who works with us. We aim to be the UAE’s most valued food and beverage Company.” says Hamzah. •

Agthia: Nourishing every home

AGTHIA GROUP

Agthia CEO Iqbal Hamzah is leading a strategic expansion to meet increasing demand

in the food & beverage industry

“WE VALUE EVERYONE WE SERVE, AND EVERYONE WHO WORKS WITH US. WE AIM TO BE THE UAE’S MOST VALUED FOOD AND BEVERAGE COMPANY.”

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Iqbal Hamzah

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Reinventing Riyadh’s skyline: Driven by context and function;

Omrania & Associates builds a timeless architecture in the Kingdom

Approaching architectural design with a clear mind-set to ‘create timeless architecture’ Omrania & As-sociates has solidified its status as a leading Archi-tecture & Engineering Consultancy in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Managing Director and Chairman of the Board, Basem Al Shihabi, shares his insight behind the organizations sustainable and continu-ing success, as well as the rationale behind the con-sultancy’s unique design philosophy.

OMRANIA & ASSOCIATES

What are your views on how has architecture evolved over the recent past in the Kingdom? What changes have you seen in the industry? Saudi Arabia has witnessed a major trans-formation from traditional to modern archi-tecture that took place over a period of 80-90 years. Throughout its journey, modern local architecture was faced with criticism as be-ing an imported implant that is antithetic to local culture and heritage and unsuitable for the local hot arid environment. Consequent-ly, there has always been a trend to mimic the past to mitigate the perceived negative aspects of modernism. At Omrania, we believe that

Capital Market Authority (CMA) Tower King Abdalla Financial District (KAFD)

Riyadh, KSA

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the evolution of modern architecture in the Kingdom is an essential part of the irreversible transformation to a developed urban society. There has been a witnessed increased aware-ness of differentiating between alien ideas that are simply imported and those that do blend with context. We are just one of many archi-tectural practices that experiment with the adoption of new forms that work with culture, functionality, and environment.

In a more recent timeframe, there have been a number of positive changes driven by government intervention in the local market place. The last few years have seen many ex-cellent mega projects for the public sector, which raised the bar for architecture coun-try-wide and reinforced the need and value of good design. New awards programs have been launched to acknowledge outstanding contributions to architecture in the Kingdom, such as the Prince Sultan bin Salman Award for Urban Heritage. Moreover, the government has taken many steps to better regulate the in-dustry, such as empowering the Saudi Council of Engineers, introducing the Saudi Building Code, the civic defense regulations, and the green building requirements. Also, special at-tention is being paid to the construction and development of the private sector - where lim-ited experience in working with consultants and contractors resulted in unsatisfactory outcomes. Regulations are being developed, and we hope will be implemented quickly.

Trends in architecture seem to come and go quickly and consistently. How does Omrania design buildings that withstand the test of time?It is fairly simple; we don’t follow the trends nor do we limit ourselves to a certain design style. However, we adhere to a set of design “values” that help us create timeless architecture that is a source of pride and joy for its users.

We understand client needs and work with them to meet and exceed their expectations of the final product while applying the rules of thumb that our profession calls for. We respect the requirements of location, local culture, and local environment. We aim to design pro- jects that fit and complement their contexts, that are inspiring, humane, flexible, energy ef-ficient, and functionally exemplary. Moreover, we take a participatory team-work approach to design. Our project teams always have a mix of new and old bloods. We investigate new ideas and we develop them to become work-able solutions, with durable and constructible details and reliable building systems.

What separates Omrania & Associates from its competitors and peers?It would be a number of factors that differen-tiate us from other firms in our industry. First, it’s our great team. We are an interdisciplinary and multicultural family of pragmatic design-ers and engineers. We always attract new tal-ents while we try to retain most of our experi-enced employees. Some of them have been with us for the last 30-40 years, and as such we have a collective and accumulative knowledge that helps us to compete. Second, it’s our attitude; we are known for our “sleeves rolled up” ap-proach to work. We have a strong team work spirit, along with a strong sense of responsibil-ity. Another advantage we have is our industri-ousness; we meet our deadlines, we stay with-in budget, and we deliver exceptional designs. Moreover, we are never shy of joining forces with our competitors on selected projects. We welcome those opportunities to learn and de-velop with our partners to achieve the best re-sults. Finally, we keep our team “slender”. We currently have 480 employees, which will like-ly grow to 770 within one year. This number is much smaller than that of our competitors, but we have intentionally controlled our numbers to ensure product quality and the sustainabili-ty of the company.

What are the current projects that Omrania is working on? How are these projects helping shape the skyline of the Kingdom?To take your question literally; one of our most recent projects is affecting the skyline in the truest sense. Currently, we are working on Ri-yadh’s highest skyscraper; the Capital Market Authority (CMA) tower in the heart of King Abdullah Financial District. The project was designed in partnership with HOK.

However, we are avoiding creating a skyline that is overcrowded by skyscrapers. We are in-volved with Arriyadh Development Authority (ADA) on issues related to Building Heights Regulations, where careful measures are taken to avoid such overcrowding. Via master-plan-ning, selected clusters of tall buildings are sparsely located throughout the capital, such as the King Abdullah Financial District. This mixed-use concept of a ‘city within a city’ is being slowly introduced and controlled in the Kingdom to merge new developments with the existing urban fabric, in a cohesive manner.

On another urban front not related to sky-scrapers, we have been awarded the design of one of the four main metro stations in Riyadh. We are the only Saudi architectural firm work-ing on the design of the stations amongst three

Kingdom Center Riyadh, KSA

18

other top international firms. We are also proud of our work on the Grana-

da Business Park and the Hilton Hotel and Apartments complex in Riyadh.

Finally, we are working on a major contract with the Ministry of Housing, where we are providing master planning for over 25 new res-idential communities in the western region of the Kingdom, with a total land area of 45 mil-lion square meters.

Given the constant evolution of the industry, what steps does Omrania take to enrich its team?Loyalty is what empowers our team, and we build loyalty by ensuring that each individual has a vested interest in the company’s success. We try to retain - and attract - talent by careful-ly selecting the type of projects that engage our staff creatively. We also try our best to award credit where due for all team members involved.

We have a diverse team in terms of expertise, and we always try to maintain a healthy balance of old and new blood in our human resources.

Internally, we adopt whatever is needed to raise our performance to the best standards, for example we constantly invest in training pro-grams, BIM systems, in addition to HR, project management, and financial systems and poli-cies that raise the efficiency of the company.

What are the organization’s plans for the near future?We have a number of points that we would like to tackle in the foreseeable future. Our goal is to secure more projects and to diversify. Since we are a multi-disciplinary firm; we want to expand our technical expertise into areas that are not currently part of our offered services. We are working on joint ventures to enter new market niches. We are also planning for the in-evitable transition period within our compa-ny, as one generation evolves into the next. We are actively preparing the new generation at Omrania to be able to take on leadership roles within the company.

Finally, what will be the main challenges for the future generation of Saudi architects?The main challenge is how to develop the core skills and the mindset that freshly minted graduates need in order to survive in their fu-ture career. The essence of architecture is com-monly branded in their minds as an individual artistic fast pursuit, instead of a complex and grinding team work where many individu-als from various disciplines and of distinct strengths and interests complement each other and each adds value to the profession. Universities are doing their best to emphasize the importance of design and rendering skills. However, there is a glaring need for more pro-fessional practice skills. Students are not taught enough about construction details, building systems, project management, budgeting, work ethics, marketing, client relations, or business development, which are the core skills that can make them invaluable employees, and prepare them to run their own practices in the future. Graduates are later hard pressed to learn such skills on the job. Depending on the culture, size and structure of the firms who employ them in their early careers, they may never get access to such knowledge.Architecture in Saudi Arabia is thriving, while the entire world is suffering from recessions. This is an invitation for Saudi architecture schools to consider how to better prepare the next generation of architects with the skills and experiences needed to turn their future careers into successes. •Basem Al Shihabi

Western Metro Station, Riyadh, KSA

19

PROJECT GULF GROUP

Originally established to house commercially viable products and designs and bring them to the Middle East and Africa market,

Project Gulf Group (PGG) has rapidly evolved into a multi-disciplined and diverse company. Sensing a requirement for those products to be part of the group, PGG is now a majority holder in all companies under its portfolio, enhancing their offering and enabling them to benefit from its strategic network and long experience in the market.

Among the latest products to join PGG’s ever-growing portfolio is Leehan Techno-logies, a breakthrough in LED lighting that uses transparent Carbon Nanotube (CNT) li-quid inside the lighting fixtures.

“Around 55% of malfunctions of LED light-ing comes from temperature rising, which damages the LED chips. “This problem is sol-ved with the new technology that Leehan int-roduces to the LED lighting market,” explains Mr Fraser, whose academic background is in information technology.

By submerging the LED chips in this liquid, the heat is radiated away faster than any other materials, making the lightings safe from malfunctions coming from the rising temperature of LED. In addition, CNT liquid also provides total protection from dust and

humidity, and because each bulb uses only eight watts of energy, they are longer lasting and more energy efficient compared conven-tional LEDs.”

“The best thing about our LED technology is that it’s multifunctional and not industry specific; it can even be fitted in street lights. While normal bulbs in streetlights takes 5-10 minutes to warm up and use 1200-3600 watts per hour; ours instantly brighten up and use 96 watts per hour, when used in a residential capacity in a single bulb format consuming only 8 Watts per hour whilst giving the same output as a 100 Watt bulb, and with the uni-que patent protected design, it is a one bulb

complete LED unit, no additional plugs, wi-res, convertors, this unit can be easily ins-talled as replacements to normal household screw in bulbs.”

“We’re currently working on some large projects in Asia to roll out a 10’s of millions of Dollars in Government street lighting replacements.” Leehan’s lightbulbs will soon be available in the UAE, where a state-of-the-art factory is on the verge of opening in Jebel Ali Free Zone (JAFZ).

AUGMENTED REALITY AT ITS BEST

Alongside the LED solution, PGG is gearing up to introduce a game-changing augmented re-ality technology in the Middle East and Africa.

“We’re bringing in this technology through a joint venture with Leehan. They showed us a building site in Seoul, handed us a blank sheet of paper and loaded the application onto a smart phone. We were then able to see inside the apartments in the towers and they were fully furnished.

The possibilities, however, are endless. LG have already used the technology with their fridges, where one could hold a small product card, turn the the app on, and see all aspects of a fridge. The technology is particularly tempting for interior designers, who would be able to turn

Inspiring business throughout the

Middle East & AfricaIt’s exciting times for Project Gulf Group, which will soon introduce

a first of its kind LED technology, launch a hotel operating brand, and establish a financial services company. Founder and chairman

Richard Fraser shares the group’s extraordinary vision.

Richard Fraser

20

objects around on the spot and see how they would look like when placed in different ways.

Clothing manufacturers, too, can make use of this software by enabling shoppers to play trailers or adverts of their products by using their smart phone apps over the price tag. Similarly, cinema fans would be able to watch movie trailers by placing their smartphones on the wall posters, instead of standing and read-ing them. The smart phone is of course, just a method of delivery and takes the mobility of the technology a step further.

“Dubai Expo 2020 and Gitex would love this type of technology, because visitors would be able to walk up to a stand, place the app and watch the company profile or video, instead of carrying hundreds of business cards,” explains Mr Fraser. He adds that the interactive map-ping system would work very well in the UAE given the amount of showcasing events in the country that often have large areas to cover.In a more imaginative approach, a nature re-serve in Korea used the technology to enable visitors to zoom in on the birds without dis-turbing them, while other companies have been employing it in their production and marketing to maximize space.

“A National Korean Marketing company was able to take a block of Styrofoam and cut it out to make it look like a car, with the use of the Technology this then made it look like it was being driven by a woman in the countryside. It was so real that you would never know the difference. Leehan has strong good products and as a technology driver, we’re pushing them forward.”

HOTELS WITH A DIFFERENCE

As a multifaceted group with increasingly di-verse interests, PGG quickly recognized the underlying potential of high-end real estate development in Africa, which the group will be pursuing through their company Skyfall Developments.

“Africa is a very lucrative market for com-panies with our connection to Enter. We are mainly looking at luxury villa and real estate development in South Africa and Zambia and the Indian Ocean to start with over the next 2 -3 years then expanding the focus to other ar-eas of Africa. In Dubai, PGG recently employed the international hospitality consultants company INHOCO Group to create a hotel operating brand focusing on the Middle East, Africa, and Indian Ocean. The group is now looking at operating three to four hotels in the Maldives and building a hotel in South Africa. The hotel operation division, according to Mr. Fraser, will be “very luxurious but also competitively

priced”. Most importantly, it will address the slow customer service that tends to plague many five-star hotels in the Middle East.

“An aspect that will differentiate us from the luxuriousness and commercial saleability of Middle East hotels will be impeccable ser-vice. We want to take that luxuriousness and increase the level of attention to detail”.

While there’s no shortage of executive-focused hotels in the world, hardly any establishments encourage visitors to be accompanied by their partners. “Many business travellers would like to take their partners along, but very few ho-tel brands make both segments feel welcome,” elaborates Mr. Fraser. Therefore, the same service standards will be applied to PGG’s new hotel concept that will cater to both business and family travellers.

CASE BY CASE FINANCING

In their quest to identify market gaps, PGG dis-covered a need for a more personal financial service provider – one that can address require-ments case by case, understand how a company works and what led it to seek financing.

Currently preparing for the ESCA (Emirates Securities & Commodities Authority) approv-al process, the new company will be based in Dubai and will focus on expatriates, pensions, family wealth management, and commercial finance, including of small and medium enter-prises.

“Many small companies struggle on a day-to-day basis, whether to find venture capital-ists or to raise finance on asset security. Ven-ture capital providers are very clinical and lose their passion for companies,” says Mr. Fraser.

In many cases, he adds, companies looking at raising finance do so not because they need the money but because they need to reorganize

Richard Fraser

21

their businesses or are owed payments from clients.

“We will help companies find solutions and will have access to corporate financing through partners. We have specialists coming from Europe for the wealth management divi-sion. There’s no other company in the market that will be able to tick all the boxes.”

THE NEXT BIG ENERGY DRINK

Meanwhile, PGG in in the process of setting up warehousing facilities in JAFZ to facilitate the regional trade activities of its food and bever-age manufacturing and distribution arm. The warehouse will enable Crystal Distribution to increase stockholding and shorten the delivery time of products they distribute as well as new products, such as a soon to be launched energy drink.

The drink, which will be characterized by its fruitiness and come in a variety of flavours, will be as naturally produced as possible, using ingredients like hibiscus and rooibos, a South African plant used in many applications such as weight loss and medical products.

“We’ve been working on our energy brand-ed drink for three years. It will be image-con-scious and the launch will feature a wide range of branded accessories, including beach tow-els, gym bags, sunglasses, and iPhone covers.

It will become the next big energy drink.”

A LONG-TERM APPROACH

With a corporate presence in Dubai, Johannes-burg, Hong Kong and Seoul, Mr. Fraser under-lines the importance of giving back to econo-mies by generating a benefit, be it through a local factory or providing jobs.

PGG’s approach to investment is also con-sidered with a long-term view. While a large number of investors, especially in the Middle East and Africa, are eager to see returns in 12 and 24-month periods, the group looks at longer term, strategic partnerships with its subsidiaries, with the goal of producing a sus-tainable business.

“I look at sustainable income and businesses that will still be here in 10-15 years’ time, even if it may take five years to get the business to that level, I’m willing to spend the time and cost. I don’t want companies to come and dis-appear in 12 months.”

With Dubai Expo 2020 on the horizon and the focus of international attention, Fraser high-lights the pressure that will be placed on ex-isting companies by newcomers. “Dubai Expo 2020 is a fantastic thing to be happening in the Middle East. I just hope they can protect the

companies in Dubai from the amount of com-petitors moving purely to profit from the Expo.”

“We’re coming to Dubai firstly, because it has one of the best ports in the Middle East. We can set up our factories, import our com-ponents and export our finished goods easily. The factory spacing for our logistics require-ments in JAFZ is also ideal.

“Ultimately, we are moving to Dubai to de-liver a better service to our companies, and we deliver what we claim to deliver, which is inspiring business throughout the Middle East and Africa”. •

22

Oil has been the lifeblood of Sudhir Goyel’s family. He and his brother Ashok started Gulf Petrochem (GP) Group, a chemicals and petroleum

products trading business, in the 1980s in In-dia. Over the years, as petroleum’s influence in the global energy sector increased, so too did Gulf Petrochem’s geographical footprint.

As Managing Director, Goyel saw the company grow by leaps and bounds. In 1993 they were the sole suppliers of feedstock for used oil re-fining plants in India. They ventured into the Middle East just as the region’s oil-backed economy was starting to pick up, giving them the ‘first-mover advantage’. Eventually they set up their first used-oil refining unit at the Ham-riyah Free Zone in Sharjah, UAE.

Today, the company has presence in India, Middle East, Southeast Asia, Africa, Europe and South America. Goyel attributes their growth to sheer business acumen, coupled with luck and impeccable timing.

As a businessman, Goyel embraces change and as part of efforts to professionalize operations and future-proof their business, members of the family’s younger generation, Manan and Prerit, now have roles to play in helping to steer the company forward. Goyel talks to CEO Re-port-Gulf 2020 about GP’s competitive advan-tage and future growth strategy.

How many staff do you employ and how do you retain them in the midst of a highly competitive industry such as oil and gas? GP’s employee headcount stands at over 1,000

across six divisions working in five continents. We realize that people will be our differentiat-ing strength so we focus on providing a conge-nial atmosphere to work in, where everybody is given equal growth opportunities.

We want to build a talent pipeline that we can groom and develop from within the com-pany. That’s why we hire young talented man-agers and also provide them platforms to learn and excel. We also have a detailed induction programme that trains new joiners not only on their line of business, but also on the com-pany’s vision. In addition, we regularly bench-mark our HR practices and compensation with our competitors to ensure that we remain competitive.

GP’s business model adopts a multi-faceted approach that covers practi-cally the entire downstream and mid-stream supply chain of the oil sector. How has your company benefited from this diverse strategy? We have done forward and backward inte-gration in a way that we can extract value from the oil value chain. With this intent, we strengthened our portfolio and acquired Sah Petroleums, IPOL brand of lubricants to help us diversify. This is our differentiating proposi-tion because it presents ourselves as a one-stop shop to meet the requirements of our custom-ers, enabling us to provide them with better services in a timely manner. We are also able to derive economies of scale by being a fully in-tegrated company. This way, we are able to ex-tract value at different points of the oil supply chain. As a result, we had an excellent growth in the past three years and have grown by 40% CAGR and doubled our business.

Quite recently, you purchased Shell’s bitumen plant in India. How important is this acquisition to your growth strategy?The bitumen market throughout the world will grow, albeit at varying pace. The major growth will be driven by developing economies whose focus is on improving infrastructure that needs bitumen as a core supply. So strategi-cally the acquisition is very important, not only because there is the demand in India, but internationally, it adds value to GP as a fully integrated company in the oil space.

We also want to stay ahead of the curve, because it is our belief that bitumen, as an in-dustry, has not yet peaked and we want to es-tablish ourselves in a position that will allow GP to grow proportionately with the industry. And since supply is tight with big refineries not focusing on bitumen, we expect that growth to be significant.

GP has three storage terminals in Hamriyah (Sharjah), Fujairah and in India. How much of this space do you use for your own oil trading and how much do you lease out? In Hamriyah and Fujairah, on an average we use approximately 40% of our total capacity and lease out the remaining 60%. The India terminal will be commissioned by end of the year, but we intend to use a bigger proportion to support our trading activities and anything remaining will be leased out.

Is your plan to expand the Fujairah ter-minal still on track? Fujairah is a strategic location and in order to strengthen and expand our global footprint,

Gulf Petrochem’s growth shows no let-up

GULF PETROCHEM

Managing Director and co-Founder Sudhir Goyel says diversification strategy has allowed the company

to surpass a $2 billion valuation.

23

we are investing in increasing terminal capac-ities and also setting up a bitumen-focused re-finery in the emirate.

How are you weathering the oil price slump and a reported glut in crude oil supply?We are largely not affected by the volatility of oil prices and fall in crude oil as we believe in hedging our inventories. Also we have been driving efficiency in our trading organisation over the past couple of years, which enabled us to handle volatile situations.

What are your company’s greatest

assets that make you stand out from the competition?I think two things. First the people; they are the backbone of our organisation and we be-lieve in recruiting the best talent from the in-dustry and providing an amiable environment and open opportunities for all to learn and succeed. Second is our global footprint; being a global organization gives us leverage and li-cense to operate in different geographies and be relevant to a more global clientele.

What are the challenges of going global and as a result of the expansion, what were the key results achieved?

There are many challenges to going global, especially in an industry influenced by mac-roeconomics. Which means it is sometimes hard to raise funds in a regional market or find a local partner that can share your vision, de-spite presenting a market assessment with an obvious gap for our products or services. But my believe is that if you are passionate about growing your business, you will do the right things in the right way, and you will overcome all challenges as destiny favours the brave. No risk, no gain. This philosophy has worked for us so far and as a result of our global growth in past couple of years, we hope to close 2014 on a high. •

“WE HAVE DONE FORWARD AND BACKWARD INTEGRATION IN A WAY THAT WE CAN EX-TRACT VALUE FROM THE OIL VALUE CHAIN. THIS IS OUR DIFFERENTIATING PROPOSITION BECAUSE IT PRESENTS OURSELVES AS A ONE-STOP SHOP TO MEET THE REQUIREMENTS OF OUR CUSTOMERS, ENABLING US TO PROVIDE THEM WITH BETTER SERVICES IN A TIMELY MANNER.”

Sudhir Goyel

24

There’s no arguing over the risks as-sociated with smoking – the case has been long closed. But the debate remains open to substitutes that can

provide the same fix without the harmful ef-fects. Hundreds of companies have come up with such alternatives over the last two de-cades, and while nicotine gum and patches sit on pharmacy shelves, smokers are still seeking a replacement that can offer a closer experi-ence to the one they are used to.

Manufacturers again attempted new solu-tions, predominantly e-cigarettes, and despite being successful with smokers, none of them have provided evidence proving the absence of side effects, leaving regulators baffled and potential consumers frustrated.

NON-COMBUSTIBLE

Philip Morris International (PMI) is now using a variety of technological and scientific approach-es to develop potential reduced risk products that could forever transform the market.

“We have been working on what we call re-duced risk product portfolio. Under this um-brella, two are non-combustible products that heat tobacco instead of burning it, and two are nicotine-containing products without tobac-co, one of which is the e-cigarette,” explains Shabana.

The overarching objectives, he highlights, is to develop products that significantly reduce the risk of smoking-related disease compared to continued smoking of combustible cigarettes, and are accepted by legal-age smokers as subs- titutes.

A number of differences can already be ob-served between PMI’s next-generation prod-ucts and conventional cigarettes. “When you eliminate the combustion of tobacco, you re-duce the formation of harmful constituents significantly, because they’re not released. This is the main difference between heating tobac-co and burning it,” explains Moussa.

iQOS, PMI’s heated tobacco device that uses Marlboro Heatsticks, was welcomed by con-sumers in Italy and in Japan, where it was re-cently launched. “In Japan, we have received good reviews, and people have been queuing to buy iQOS. We’re selling them at retailers as well as independent stores” notes Shabanna.

Although upcoming markets have yet to been identified, the Middle East is among the top priorities. “Before we can do that”, remarks Moussa, “there needs to be a regulatory frame-work to allow import and sale and to provide us with the ability to communicate with le-gal-age smokers about these products.”

E-VAPOUR MARKET

Similarly, e-cigarettes, which gained tre-mendous popularity in recent years, require significant research. Due to this absence of safety data, regulators are addressing them differently, with some markets such as China, the UK and the US legalizing the product, and others, such as the UAE and Egypt, banning them altogether.

“The UAE has taken a progressive approach. About four years ago, when e-cigarettes start-ing appearing in the market, there was very little known about them. And in the absence of any form of regulatory framework to control the sale, usage and distribution of these new, novel products, some regulators around the world preferred to ban them until further in-formation became available,” explains Moussa.

However, given the ongoing global debate on e-cigarettes versus conventional cigarettes, many regulators and health experts are be-coming more aware of the potential benefits and calling for lifting the bans.

PMI’s foray into the burgeoning e-vapour market was made by acquiring UK-based manufacturer Nicocigs and by entering an agreement with Altria, the company’s parent group in the US, to use their e-cigarette in the international market.

Next-Generation smoking takes a

scientific approach

PHILIP MORRIS

Philip Morris International recently broke ground in Japan with their next-generation products. Here, Kareem Moussa, Director of Marketing &

Sales Development ME, and Tamer Shabana, Corporate Affairs Director ME, separate the truth from fiction as they reveal why this new range could be

a better alternative to conventional cigarettes.

25

“We believe e-vapour is a product category that is here to stay and will continue to develop,” says Shabana. “We’re not making any reduced risk claims, but we would like to communicate the functional differences between next-gen-eration products and conventional cigarettes, such as less smell and no ash.”

“As for reduced risk claims, this is the next phase, once we complete all our research and scientific evidence, which will not only be pro-duced by PMI but also validated by external parties.”

THE R&D REVOLUTION

PMI’s long-term research into the effects of their next generation products is a first of its kind initiative in the industry, undertaken with the goal of determining whether these

products will reduce risks to individual smok-ers and the harm on the population as a whole.

The evidence is being derived from well-es-tablished assessment processes, similar to those used by the pharmaceutical industry and supplemented by scientific analyses.

“Over the last four years, we’ve invested more than US$5 billion in R&D of these new products. This included building a new R&D facility in Switzerland that is manned by more than 150 scientists – many of them from the pharmaceutical industry”, highlights Moussa.

According to him, the results will eventu-ally be presented to the Food and Drug Ad-ministration (FDA), one of the most advanced regulators worldwide when it comes to to-bacco products, with a dedicated unit and an extremely rigorous process for new tobacco products.

“We expect to begin the formal process with the FDA soon. The document could be in excess of 3,000 to 4,000 pages of scientific evidence and research; therefore, the FDA will require a long time to validate that all data has been provided and substantiated.”

“As a matter of fact, we have a team dedicat-ed to communicating with the FDA, because they’re also very interested in what we’re do-ing, since PMI is the most advanced in terms of research on reduced risk products among companies in this field.”

As Shabana concludes: “If there’s a product that can be a substitute to conventional cig-arettes, then it should be allowed space, and consumers should be given the choice and edu- cated about it as well.” •

Kareem Moussa & Tamer Shabana

26

COGNIZANT

A s businesses become increasingly technology intensive, the once-in-a-decade technology shift pro-pelled by social, mobile, analytics

and cloud (SMAC) and sensor technologies of-fers unprecedented opportunities for organi-sations in the GCC to effect meaningful busi-ness model change, said Stephen Fernandes, Assistant Vice President and Head of Middle East, Cognizant.

According to Fernandes, the confluence of SMAC technologies is transforming opera-

ting processes, creating new sources of da-ta-driven insight, and radically altering cus-tomer behaviour. “Across industries, we are seeing business re-invention driven by the rapid consumerisation of technology. This is also extending to the enterprise IT world,” he said. “To stay relevant, businesses in the Middle East must continuously adapt to new operating models and new technology plat-forms. This will help them not only improve efficiency, but also drive business innovation through new technologies.”

US-based Cognizant has been providing con-sulting, technology, and business process services to leading enterprises in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman and Bahrain to help them re-examine how they operate, build new digital business capabilities, and transform the ways in which they connect with their customers, markets, employees, partners and value chains in both the physi-cal and digital worlds.

Since the launch of its operations in the Midd-le East in 2008, the company has steadily gro-wn in the region to over 80 customers across a wide range of industries such as banking, insurance, healthcare, retail, travel, hospita-lity, energy & utilities, and communications.

CODE HALO CONCEPT

According to Cognizant, the one key charac-teristic that differentiates today’s high-flying outperformers is a precision focus on the infor-mation that surrounds people, organizations, products, devices and processes – what Cogni-zant calls “Code Halos”™– which they’re using to build new business and commercial models. “Companies have realized that the data – or

Code Halo – that surrounds people, “things”, and organizations contains a richness of busi-ness value that far outstrips the value of phys-ical assets that have historically underpinned market leadership,” said Fernandes.

The Code Halo story isn’t limited to the con-sumer world. Many enterprises are now mak-ing significant commercial bets on how to use Code Halos to impact every meaningful aspect of their business operations, from de-sign, to production, to selling, to talent mana- gement.

“Cognizant has researched the Code Ha-los phenomena to understand the impact they’ve had so far and the impact they’re go-ing to have on businesses in the near future,” said Fernandes. “We’ve created a diagnostic tool—the Crossroads Model—that helps or-ganizations unlock the incredible new oppor-tunities created by Code Halos.”

SUPPORTING GCC’S DIGITAL BUSINESS ECOSYSTEM

Cognizant continues to guide clients through transformations that leverage the potential of new technologies by integrating them into a new IT foundation ready to address the needs of the digital era. Cognizant is helping clients to extract business meaning from Code Halo and build new platforms that allow them to migrate key processes, services and infra-structure to the cloud for greater operational flexibility and cost-effectiveness.

Cognizant is applying its strengths – depth in key industries, significant scale in program delivery, business consulting prowess and technology leadership – to assist clients with their digital transformation mandate. •

Cognizant empowers GCC firms’ digital transformation

Stephen Fernandes of the Fortune 500 IT and consulting firm, Cognizant, believes their ‘Code Halo’ concept could help companies

unlock unprecedented levels of business value.

Stephen Fernandes

27

ARZAN WEALTH

The global financial crisis has left many private investors wary of risk – and it comes as no surprise as an im-mense volume of wealth was written

off during the period after 2008. In a post-cri-sis era, investors have become more cautious, according to Muhannad Abulhasan, CEO of Dubai-based financial advisory firm Arzan Wealth.

“Investors became more attracted to safer investment profiles, with greater transparen-cy and more controlled risk. They also prefer dealing with advisors they know and trust,” he said.

Arzan Wealth’s investment philosophy is grounded in this psychology, advising their clients on investment opportunities that pro-vide high security of principal invested, and a

steady and predictable income flow through a monthly pay-out feature.

LOW-RISK APPROACH

Abulhasan said his firm is able to offer this proposition by pursuing a set of criteria, which includes choosing markets with mature and diverse economies, a clear and transparent le-gal structure and a relatively simple tax regime that maximises returns and minimises tax leakage. For now, these markets can be found in Europe, particularly the United Kingdom, and the United States, although Arzan Wealth is not discounting the possibility of consider-ing mature markets in the Far East.

They also conduct very thorough due dili-gence on any investment. For example, on real estate assets, Arzan Wealth carefully consid-ers the location, the business of the tenant, the credit quality of the tenant and the length of lease, with the aim of ensuring a defensive eco-nomic exposure that underpins the stability of monthly cash pay-outs to clients.

In addition, Abulhasan said they create a deliberately conservative leverage structure on any investment by limiting their loan to value (LTV) to around 60%. Despite the avail-ability of more aggressive lending opportuni-ties that could boost returns, the CEO said they have shied away from accepting the associated higher financial risk in order to assure clients that their principal is highly protected.

“Our reputation is built on the delivery of re-sults and by preserving and protecting the leg-acy of our clients for their future generations. We do this by ensuring that the investments are well managed in a low-risk manner, while delivering attractive monthly cash returns” Abulhasan added.

GROWTH PROSPECTS

Since being incorporated in March 2013, Ar-zan Wealth, which is a 100%-owned subsidiary of Kuwait-based Arzan Financial Group, has posted impressive growth, with an actual as-set advisory base of over USD900 million.

“The assets we have advised on have per-formed as expected, with some even outper-forming expectations. One asset’s actual per-formance, for example, has allowed our clients to receive a special dividend at the end of 2013 on top of their regular monthly dividend,” said Abulhasan.

Aside from high-net-worth individuals, family businesses and corporate entities, Ar-zan Wealth’s client base also includes insur-ance companies, which Abulhasan said is very telling as it validates their business model.

“Insurance companies are definitely at-tuned to the safety and security of principal, as well as to the predictable monthly income stream. I’m particularly satisfied that they have put their trust in our services,” he said. •

Arzan Wealth builds financial safety nets

Protecting and preserving clients’ wealth amid a volatile economy has been their raison d’être, says CEO Muhannad Abulhasan.

Muhannad Abulhasan

28

PEPSICO

Despite the increased competition in the food and beverage industry, PepsiCo products remain staple items in shopping trolleys around

the world. Omar Farid, President of PepsiCo Middle East and Africa, attributes their com-pany’s international success story to innova-tion.

“Innovation has always fueled PepsiCo’s growth engine and enabled us to build a por-tfolio of great-tasting, convenient food and beverage brands that are loved by consumers around the globe,” he said.

As a further testament to their commitment to product development, the company recent-ly unveiled their first food and beverage inno-vation centre in the region, located in Dubai’s DuBiotech. The centre will serve as a hub of new product and flavour innovations for Pep-siCo’s businesses across the region.

Farid describes the new facility, which is equipped with an advanced culinary centre and test laboratories, as a game-changer for PepsiCo. It will also work closely with other PepsiCo R&D centres worldwide to share in-sights and best practices.

“Through the innovation centre, we hope to continue unlocking new opportunities for breakthrough innovation across PepsiCo’s diverse portfolio of complementary brands,” he added.

Aside from Pepsi-Cola, PepsiCo’s globally recognised brands include drinks such as Gatorade and Tropicana juice, as well as snack foods like Lay’s crisps, Quaker oatmeal, Grainwaves and Sunbites.

BRINGING LOCALIZED TASTE TO THE MARKET

The Dubai-based innovation centre’s launch comes as PepsiCo strengthens its foothold in emerging and developing markets. In recent years, PepsiCo has developed and launched in Middle Eastern markets innovations such as Lay’s Forno potato chips, which contain 60 percent less fat than regular potato chips and Sunbites, which contain more than a third of the suggested daily intake of whole grains and have 30 percent less fat than reg-ular crisps. In Saudi Arabia, the company recently launched Tropicana Frutz, a blend of pure, natural fruit juices combined with

a refreshing/vibrant fizz, which is now be-ing introduced in other parts of the world as well, both within and outside the Middle East.

In addition, the Middle East boasts strong macroeconomic fundamentals and abun-dant growth opportunities in the food and beverage segment. With PepsiCo’s success-ful portfolio of 22 brands – each generating more than USD1 billion in annual retail sales worldwide – combined with a talented and experienced team, Farid said that they are confident about the positive prospects for the business on both the short and long term.

The opening of its new R&D cen-tre in Dubai is the latest investment taken by PepsiCo to further strength-en its business across the Middle East.

Farid said their company will remain dedi-cated to developing and tailoring PepsiCo food and beverage brands for distinct, locally rele-vant taste preferences throughout the region. •

PepsiCo takes innovation to the next level

Innovation is at the core of efforts to whet the regional consumers’ palate, says Omar Farid, President of PepsiCo Middle East and Africa.

Omar Farid

29

30

The rise of the value-orientated con-sumer segment, following the global financial downturn, has catapulted value fashion retailer RedTag to its

position today. But while an element of luck and timing bode well for the company’s initial success, CEO Ernest J. Hosking said having the right strategy and people in place allowed Red-Tag to sustain its growth momentum.

The Dubai-headquartered company, which was born out of a major rebranding effort in 2006, has grown from strength to strength. Currently, it has 155 stores, 11 of which operate as franchise outlets located outside the GCC in Jordan, Yemen, Iraq, Egypt and Uzbekistan.

So far, its upbeat performance shows no signs of letting up. By June 2015, RedTag is expected to open an additional 12 standalone and 10 franchise stores. Majority of its expan-sion is happening in Saudi Arabia, the largest economy and most populated country in the Gulf region.

“During the downturn, people started look-ing more for value propositions. This worked in our favour to a large degree,” Hosking said. However, not one to rest on its laurels, RedTag consistently improved its product assortment and staff training programmes to provide cus-tomers with a great shopping experience, the South African CEO added.

As a result, people continued to patronise the RedTag brand even as the financial dust set-tled. RedTag’s recently launched loyalty pro-gramme, the rtrewards Club, boasts around 1.5 million active customers to date.

“We have a set vision that keeps us within our roadmap parameters but we adapt to the market dynamics as we go along. We also have

an aggressive team, who are commercially as-tute. When you’re growing this fast, you have to have that in place otherwise the wheels can come off and you can get side-tracked,” said Hosking.

TWENTY4

Riding on the back of its flagship brand’s suc-cess, RedTag in 2013 launched Twenty4 as a complementary brand. The RedTag offshoot also operates within the value fashion seg-ment, but targets a younger fashion taste level and offers lower price points.

There are currently 21 Twenty4 stores across the GCC, with 12 to be launched before June next year. Like RedTag, Twenty4 adopts the private label branding approach, where the company’s creative team designs clothing lines, which then gets manufactured exclu-sively for them by international suppliers.

“One of the rationales behind launching Twenty4 was that we felt we have a fairly strong knowledge of the value to mid-market consumer segment,” said Hosking. “We saw the opportunity to look at a niche gap in the market and develop a complementary brand that doesn’t compete with our existing brand, but allows us to leverage the infrastructure and some of the learning’s and capacity that we have in the business.”

KEEPING COSTS DOWN

RedTag has developed long-term partnerships with over 80 suppliers, which are managed by eight key agents in China and Hong Kong. “They’ve grown as we’ve grown. With the rapid increase in our quantities we have been able to

maintain pressure on pricing and keep push-ing for better quality and improved delivery turnaround,” said the chief executive when asked how they manage to keep prices static.

Price, however, is not all that counts. Hosking said their suppliers understand that both Red-Tag and Twenty4 keep a strict set of criteria in terms of quality and size specifications. “We look at ways where we can take cost out of the business so that we can pass on better value to our customers without any compromise on the product. We have managed to hold our pricing almost since inception of the brand.”

This, added Hosking, comes through growth and the negotiating power that they have de-veloped and through better processes and checks and balances in their business.

CHANGING CONSUMER MIND-SET

Hosking admitted that in the early years of their operations, one of their major challeng-es was changing consumers’ mind-set about their brand.

“We don’t want to be perceived as cheap and nasty. We want consumers to see us as a fashion business in a particular segment, but that our pricing, for the quality that we offer, is particularly strong,” he said.

In a metropolis like Dubai – home to high-end retail shops, exclusive boutiques and global luxury brands – this had been more challeng-ing. “Because of the fashion taste level and the diversity of the population, it’s a more difficult market to crack,” he said, but RedTag is mak-ing significant strides as seven of their 22 UAE branches are located in the emirate.

For RedTag, value is in fashion

REDTAG

Ernest J. Hosking, Chief Executive Officer explains why the Middle East is buying into their business model.

31

In markets such as Saudi Arabia, which has a bigger consumer base, the dynamics are different. “There are a lot of cities and small-er towns where it was easier for us to gain a foothold and become known. But we have to maintain that, there is never a time to sit back and relax especially as new entrants come into this segment of the market,” he said.

INVESTING IN THE FUTURE

RedTag and Twenty4 put a premium on its people as they tread the path to success. The company employs a total of 4,525 staff in its RedTag and Twenty4 stores across the GCC. Out of this figure, 1,453 are nationals based mostly in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, with ma-jority of them being women.

“Women coming into the workforce is a trend we’ve embraced, particularly in Saudi Arabia as female customers would prefer be-ing served by a lady rather than an expatriate man,” Hosking mentioned.

He also believes that the more a company invests and engages with its people, the bet-ter its chances of retaining good talent. As a result, the company has invested heavily in improving its training department so as to develop in-house talent to support RedTag and Twenty4’s expansion drive.

Since launching in 2006, RedTag has grown an average of 23% per annum and in the past five years its recorded average performance was up 35%. In the next five years, Hosking plans to double their sales revenue and introduce additional complementary brands as they continue to grow the existing business.

As CEO of a fast-growing company, Hosking said he stays ahead of the curve by making sure that the key positions in the company are occupied by efficient, commercially savvy, trustworthy and driven professionals.

“It’s impossible to keep checking every-thing yourself. I guess one of the chal-lenges when it’s a small company is that you feel you’re on top of everything, but as it gets bigger, you have to let go,” he said. “When a business is small, you kind of work on gut feel, but you can’t anymore when it gets to the size we are. You have to rely on systems and processes and talent-ed leaders and make sure that you build a trusting relationship with your team.” •

“WE LOOK AT WAYS WHERE WE CAN TAKE COST OUT OF THE BUSINESS SO THAT WE CAN PASS ON BETTER VALUE TO OUR CUSTOMERS WITHOUT ANY COMPROMISE ON THE PRODUCT. WE HAVE MANAGED TO HOLD OUR PRICING ALMOST SINCE INCEPTION OF THE BRAND.”

Ernest J. Hosking

32

The economic growth in the UAE and the neighbouring Gulf states is on track to remain strong with a pro-jected growth of 4.5% in 2014 and

2015 according to a recent report by the In-ternational Monetary Fund.

The governments are already embarking on massive infrastructure developments, fuelled by signature global events like Expo 2020 and FIFA world cup in 2022, all of which adds to the global hysteria to channel investments into this swiftly developing global hot spot.

These growth prospects are resulting to a

high degree of sophistication among consum-ers. Today’s consumers are motivated more by individualism than in the past, and they’re looking for products that are new, exciting, and offer convenience for their busy lives. With higher levels of disposable income, they are also indulging more in premium and spe-cialty products.

These developments have impacted the elec-tronics industry in becoming one of the fast-est growing industries today.

In this this scenario, it is but imperative

that we mention about the Japanese elec-tronics industry, which has been the largest consumer electronics industry who over the course of time have been pioneers for a num-ber of important innovations.

Celebrating our 100th anniversary in 2018 and while being part of this evolving Japanese electronics industry, we as Panasonic are looking forward to bringing the confidence of our customers through our innovative prod-ucts. Our range of products and solutions not only deploy cutting-edge technology but also maximize the ease and comfort level of the user while taking care of the environment.

Apart from our B2C (Business to Consumer) product line-up that we are popularly known for, our B2B (Business to Business) products with path breaking solutions have been an integral part of our DNA. Integrating our ex-pertise in B2C (Business to Consumer) and B2B (Business to Business), we wish to give our consumers in all walks of life, be it, home, office, education, hospital, aviation, automo-bile, security etc, or whether it is a complete town or a city – a smarter way of living.

We have always carried out our activities, following our basic management philosophy of contributing through our business opera-tions towards improving the lives of the peo-ple and the society around the world. We aim to contribute towards the development of a sustainable future. To be in harmony with the global environment and society; we will always pursue our brand ethos of providing “A Better Life, A Better World”!

2014/15 – We strongly believe is a year of re-surgence for Panasonic in the region.

As we stand at historical turning points in many areas today – society, economy, glob-al environment, Panasonic will continue to promote sustainability and contribute to the future of the society by proposing lifestyles of tomorrow. •

A smarter way of living

PANASONIC

Shinichi Wakita

33

34

It was about 10 years ago when Andrew Elias arrived in Dubai to see what the world was talking about. Leading Kele Australia at the time, a construction and

contracting company established more than three decades ago, Elias quickly realized the UAE’s enormous potential.

“I was taken by a skyline full of cranes and that was all the convincing I needed to set up a business here. I established Kele’s head of-fice in Dubai with a modest five-year business plan and within one year, we had already sur-passed this plan.”

Kele has been fortunate to enjoy a market boom, live through a global financial crisis, and is now experiencing another boom, ha-ving secured projects over the value of AED 2.5 billion. “Over the years we have construct-ed many projects; however; the only way I can single out our greatest achievement is by how unique a project is and its social impact on society.”

The jewel in the crown, highlights Elias, was the Sheikha Al Jalila Cultural Centre, a purpose-built facility completed this year. Being a non-profit foundation, the Centre provides an environment for young genera-tions to explore their untapped talents and develop their skills through cultural, social, educational and recreational programs.

“The Centre was named after Shaikha Al Jalila, the daughter of the UAE Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai HH Sheikh Mohammed Al Maktoum, on the occasion of her fifth birthday, which coincided with the 41st UAE National Day on December 2nd, 2014”.

Kele continues to deliver construction pro-jects in almost every sector, from infrastruc-ture and civil works, to hotels, hospitals, and sporting venues. Indeed, the company is cur-rently working on a hospital for Mediclinic in Dubai Healthcare City, a large-scale residen-tial property in Dubai Land for Mazaya Hol-dings, as well as several residential towers in Business Bay, Tecom and Dubai Marina.

In addition, Kele is involved with the exten-sion of Dragon Mart Mall, a massive 177,000 square-metre expansion that includes a three-star hotel and multi-storey car park.

“Unlike the GCC, the Australian construc-tion market is significantly smaller. There-fore, in order to grow your business you are required to take on projects in all sectors. Over the years, our staff, supported by our en-gineering office, have worked in most sectors, including mining, submersed structures, bridges, roads and general buildings.”

As a company originating in Australia, Kele prides itself in combining the latest Austra-lian construction techniques with leading industry practices and ISO-certified manage-ment system, taking a 360-degree approach to the design and execution of every project.

“We are a company that offers a design and build approach, which means working side by side with our clients and together delivering a project to their requirement and budget,” notes Elias.

And while Dubai’s winning of the 2020 Expo has underpinned Kele’s coming fi-ve-year business plan, most of the circulated projects in the market today are not related to

2020, according to Elias, as some of this work is expected to come online next year.

“Contractors, therefore, need to get them-selves ready for projects worth in excess of AED 30 billion to be executed in the coming five years, and I can assure you that Kele has already positioned itself along with its joint venture partners to ensure that we take our fair share.”

Kele: A 360-degreeapproach to constructionGrowing your construction business means diversifying into all sectors, says

Andrew Elias, Group Chief Executive Officer of Kele Contracting

KELE

Andrew Elias

35

Specialising in civil and mechanical construction, Stride has been operating in Dubai since 2004, building schools, hospitals, and factories, as well as res-

idential and commercial properties. Their growing project portfolio today in-

cludes several schools and laundry facilities for Emirates Airlines and Al Habtoor Group, as well as workshops and offices for Voith Middle East, one of the world’s leading engineering companies, with a turnover of 5.7 billion euro and more than 42,000 employees in about 50 countries.

TIME BOUND

“We believe in and practice three golden rules: superior quality, on-time delivery, and com-petitive costs. Every project is full of challeng-es and our projects are always time bound, but I personally enjoy it, because we know how to solve the problems,” says Ali.

Building a school in 10 months was one of those challenges, and delivering a laundry fa-cility in 60 days was another. Both were com-pleted on time.

“It happens frequently,” explains Ali. “In order to meet our deadlines, we speed up and work three shifts a day. For example, in Nad Al-Hamar community, we had to build a school in 130 days as they had to start in September, so we had no choice”.

Indeed, excellence in performance has earned Stride several prestigious recognitions; from the UAE Ministry of Interior’s Police Sports Association Department for supporting their projects, and from Dubai Municipality for the

environmental responsibility demonstrated in supporting the Clean up the World campaign.

Most recently, Stride Construction received the World Confederation of Businesses ‘Best in Biz Award 2013’ under the Entrepreneurial Company category.

EMERGING STRONGER

Over the last 10 years, Stride successful-ly sustained the global financial down-turn and emerged even stronger, with some invaluable observations and lessons. “We all know that construction was go-ing well pre-2008. About 25% of the world’s cranes were here in Dubai,” recalls Ali.

“The situation clearly changed after 2008, but not for long, as things started picking up again soon after. Compared to the rest of the world – and I have visited more than 50 countries – the UAE is doing much better. It has recovered and very fast”.

Ali attributes the progress to the leader-ship of the country, and the way in which everything is organized, whether in pol-icies or investor protection. “The govern-ment is always involved and keeps an eye on every project – especially in construction”.

FOCUSING ON DUBAI

Four years ago, Stride made a move into Tan-zania, the first and only expansion for the com-pany outside of the UAE, where it is currently constructing a mix-used building.

“Tanzania is a country which I believe is growing. They have minerals and resources and the government has become supportive of investors lately. We’re constructing a building there and also running an oil mill”.

Dubai, however, remains Stride’s core focus and for good reasons – the absence of taxes, the high living standards, and the relative-ly low living costs.” As far as the UAE is con-cerned, I’m certain that the market will con-tinue to grow and that demand for real estate will increase, which is positive for us.”

“We’re also preparing ourselves for Dubai Expo 2020, by gradually increasing our re-sources as demand comes. Therefore, for the time being, we are concentrating on Dubai. I don’t see a reason to go elsewhere; the demand here is sufficient”. •

“WE BELIEVE IN AND PRACTICE THREE GOLDEN RULES: QUALITY, ON-TIME DELIVERY, AND COST. EACH AND EVERY PROJECT IS FULL OF CHALLENGES AND OUR PROJECTS ARE TIME BOUND, BUT PERSONALLY, I ENJOY IT, BECAUSE WE KNOW HOW TO SOLVE THE PROBLEMS.”

Striding to the forefrontS. Zakir Ali, Managing Director at Stride Construction, believes that

the ability to meet the tightest deadlines and maintain a rigid approach toward quality is what makes all the difference in the world of construction.

STRIDE CONSTRUCTION

S. Zakir Ali

36

It’s hard to imagine that two decades ago, Qatar Industrial Manufacturing Company (QIMC), comprised a hand-ful of business units, as today, with a

2,000-strong workforce and interests in 17 companies, the group is a vital contributor to the region’s infrastructure.

From metals coating, and paving stones, to plastic products and aluminium extrusion, the manufacturing capabilities of QIMC’s subsidiaries and associates have made them the partners of choice on game-changing pro-jects.

GROUND-BREAKING FACILITIES

“We’re proud to have been the catalyst in the commissioning of the first aluminium extru-sion company in the Qatar, Qalex, with 40% shareholding. We’ve also joined hands with a leading chemicals company in India (KLJ Organic Ltd.) to establish a state-of-the-art Chlorinated Paraffin Wax manufacturing plant in Mesaieed.”

Currently under commissioning, the Chlori-nated Paraffin Wax plant is expected to start commercial production 2016 and will again be the first of its kind in Qatar and among the largest in the region. Moreover, QIMC’s group company, Qatar Acids, has expanded its capa-city by more than three-folds with its new 100 tonnes/day Sulphuric Acid plant, while Qatar Paving Stones (QPS) has emerged as the mar-ket leader in high quality interlocks, paving stones and kerb stones.

“QPS keeps winning several large contracts and is running to full capacity to fulfil the or-der commitments. At the same time, it’s inc-reasing its capacity and adding to its product range.”

Even QIMC’s own head-office premises are being transformed into a multi-use structure. “We’re giving finishing touches to the design of our QIMC Tower project and are confident that once built, it will become an iconic land-mark on Doha Corniche,” highlights Sheikh Al-Thani.

Although the group has yet to invest in the UAE, some of its companies source their raw materials from the country and potential op-portunities are being investigated. “I can see that the award of Expo 2020 has infused new life in UAE’s business sphere. We will have a presence there soon.”

“We’re also looking to spread our wings outside Qatar and have already signed an MOU with a Omani company involved in oil and gas to explore prospective industrial projects. Furthermore, we are in discussions with Saudi companies and investors for set-ting up manufacturing units there”.

PHENOMENAL GROWTH

While many group companies in the re-gion have preferred organic growth, QIMC has always believed in building a bal-anced portfolio, which would help it re-main largely insulated from business cy-cles and fluctuations in specific industries.

As a result, the group’s shareholders eq-uity soared by more than ten-folds over the past two decades, rising from QAR 127.3 million at the end of 1992, to QAR 1,409.3 million at the end of 2013. “Our net prof-its were just QAR 7.0 million in 1992. Now we’re consistently exceeding QAR 200 mil-lion in net profits for the past few years.”

QIMC’s sustained success, according to Sheikh Al-Thani, is a result of taking calcu-lated risks, investing ahead of business cy-cles and successful project execution. “Our continued success is on account of our clear strategic vision to identify and seize oppor-tunities at the right time and the missionary zeal to execute our strategies successfully.

“More importantly, we didn’t get smug and sit back after tasting success in the first few projects we ventured into. Instead, we kept our eyes and ears wide open. And we still do.” •

Accelerating industrial manufacturing

With Dubai Expo 2020 and Qatar 2022 World Cup on the horizon, QIMC is gearing up to seize opportunities with

new manufacturing plants and regional partnerships, as Chairman H.E. Sheikh Abdulrahman Al-Thani explains.

QIMC

H.E. Sheikh Abdulrahman Al- Thani

37

Innovation is a way of life for Dhofar Glob-al, and its strive for continuous innova-tion has made the company transform the local hygiene industry by introduc-

ing state-of-the-art funnel-based dispensers. Not only did these devices result in significant savings for businesses, but they also reduced wasteful consumption by replacing the tradi-tional, free-flowing method of tissue usage.

“Our pro-active approach of launching the ‘Cut-Back Campaign’ helped reduce tissue consumption by 22%,” highlights Kambli. “The campaign won the Arab Investment Award for three consecutive years, from 2011 until 2013.”

FOOD-CERTIFIED TISSUE

One of the new age technology that Dhofar brought about was the launch of the E-Tissue, a first of its kind recycled tissue that holds a food certification, making it safe to use in food preparation. “A lot of recycled tissue contains chemicals and therefore, is not safe for use in the food industry. Our product is safe and cost-effective; this is a paradigm shift in the tissue industry.”

Another arrow in the Dhofar quiver of in-novation was Colour Magnet. This is a game changing initiative wherein tissues are differ-entiated with color codes thus determining usage segments. White for use in guest areas, blue for food preparation areas, and green for general purposes.

Post introduction of this product, the estab-lishments using the same, have seen a clear indication of the benefits and appreciated the efficacy.

CATERING TO THE MARKET

Zero to 100mph in a matter of seconds was the aim for Dhofar Global. The phenomenon

growth from its inception in 2007 to present is unprecedented. The client list includes ma-jority of the Emirates’ hotels, shopping malls, restaurant chains, airports and utility compa-nies. “Our products are evident in all spheres and across different industry segments; from semi-government companies to Sharjah Air-port, BMW and Mercedes and to almost all hotels, from Armani to Shangri-La.”

Service is prime and thus speed and delivery to the markets is key. Dhofar boasts a fleet of 30 trucks and warehouses in Sharjah and Dubai to cater to the need of the business. “We’ve honed ourselves in the business of service and can de-liver an order that has been placed before 5pm of the previous day within the next day.”

“When we first entered the market, we fig-ured out how to position our products at the right time and place. We began by importing our dispensers and tissue from Italy, a market that has developed the art of tissue making.”

Moreover, as a consultant, Dhofar propos-es what’s best for a particular location and how costs can be reduced. “Restaurants, for example, often have limited spaces, so they need smaller dispensers, while malls need heavy-duty dispensers. We have around 500 categories in the tissue segment alone.”

A JOURNEY TO THE TOP

All successful journeys are fraught with obsta-cles but overcoming them shows the true met-tle of the company. At the height of the reces-sion of 2008, when corporations were cutting down on expenses, the company defied the wave and hired when others were firing – an effort that resulted in remarkable staff loyalty.

“Our team is very strong and in our seven years of operation, no one has left this organi-zation,” notes Kambli. Also he stated that for

the last 4 years Dhofar is maintaining its aver-age growth rate at 40 – 50% year on year and continues to grow at the same pace every year.

Having expanded to Qatar last year, the com-pany is gearing up to capture opportunities beyond the UAE. “Some of our clients are inter-national hotel chains and seeing our portfolio and service they ‘forced’ us to expand to cater to their regional branches. We just started in Oman this year, and our plan is to expand to the entire GCC. We also aspire to move to the retail business by selling our products in hy-permarkets.”

Dhofar was recently honoured with the Star of Business Award in the Excellence in Trade cat-egory, which was presented to company during the SME Award Event in November’ 2014 which added one more feather to our success cap!!!

“People generally follow the trend, but at Dho-far, we believe in setting the trend. We always want to offer something better.” •

Redefining the tissue industry

CEO of Dhofar Global Hemant Kambli reveals how their products have forever changed the way tissue paper is used in the UAE.

DHOFAR GLOBAL

Hemant Kambli

38

LINDE ENGINEERING

Linde AG Engineering, a technology partner for plant engineering and construction worldwide, is basking in the success of GCC’s petrochemical

industry, which posted revenues over USD89 billion in 2013.

With its regional headquarters in Abu Dhabi and offices in Saudi Arabia and Qatar, the Ger-man firm has a solid track record in delivering technology-based large scale engineering, pro-curement and construction (EPC) projects.

It has also been involved in some of the most impressive petrochemicals projects in the re-gion, said Ali Vezvaei, President of Linde AG Engineering-MENA. Among these include the Abu Dhabi Polymers Company’s (Borouge) fa-cility – the Borouge 3 – touted as the world’s largest ethylene cracker and a lighthouse pro-ject for Linde Engineering in Abu Dhabi, which has been working closely with Borouge and the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) to help them achieve their world-class targets in

availability, reliability and efficiency.

“The strategic joint ven-ture with ADNOC (dubbed Elixier), which produces industrial gases for app-lications in oil & gas and petrochemicals, is another demonstration of Linde Group’s commitment to the MENA region,” the president said.

In Saudi Arabia, Linde is nearing the startup of its fla-gship project, the Sadara Hy-CO-Ammonia plant that will feed the Sadara Petrochemi-cal Complex, the world’s lar-gest chemical complex ever built in a single phase.

Linde is also progressing with the construction of the world’s largest carbon dio-xide (CO2) purification and liquefaction plant in Jubail Industrial City in Saudi for the United Petrochemical Company, a manufacturing

affiliate of Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC). This is the manifestation of commit-ment by Linde and SABIC to sustainability, in the heart of the hydrocarbon industry.

RISING TO THE CHALLENGE

Linde’s technological expertise has become in-creasingly significant in the region, which fac-es growing competition from global rivals such as North America. “The expectation is that petrochemical industry across the Middle East will further focus on optimizing mixed and liquid cracking, innovation on oil-to-chemi-cals and heavy oil conversion technologies,” said Vezvaei.

The ‘Value Cracking’1) technique developed by Linde Engineering could make the mixed/liquid feed cracking more competitive in the region, which is going to be tight on gas. Built around optimisation of the feed streams and the derivatives, it is intended to improve the economy of the cracking process.

In the coming years, outlook for the MENA sector will be determined by the rate of growth in global demand for petrochemical products, the availability of competitive feedstock, and the speed at which major projects come on stream, he explained. “When these plants be-gin operations, an influx of downstream prod-ucts will be felt by the market. This is where optimisation of the derivatives and enhanced products will be front and centre.”

In addition to contributing to enhancing the daily operation of its clients, Linde Engi-neering is determined to remain an innovative technology partner of choice for its customers.

“This is where ideas become solutions for the challenges of tomorrow,” Vezvaei said. •

Linde Engineering extends its footprint in MENA

Ali Vezvaei, President of Linde AG Engineering-MENA, says their company continues to explore opportunities in the region’s hydrocarbon industry.

40

In today’s cautious lending environment, being able to obtain project financing from some of the world’s leading insti-tutional lenders is a prized feather in a

financial advisor’s cap. Farazad Investments Inc. (FII) is basking in this confidence.

With offices in the United States, Europe, Middle East, Asia Pacific and Australia, FII

is strategically placed to take advantage of the various global investment opportunities popping up following the worldwide econo-mic slump. To date, the company has a vast portfolio of projects under processing with a combined value of over USD3 billion. Korosh Farazad, Chairman and CEO of FII, said their key differentiator is transparency.

“Refinancing of already revenue-genera-ting assets is very easy and straightforward, but financing of new developments can be a bit challenging because of the fact that insti-tutional lenders are more cautious,” said Fa-razad. “As an advisory, we structure the deal by first putting in place all the components that we know the lenders would want to see such as a financial stress test.”

SUCCESS THROUGH DUE DILIGENCE

An over-all risk assessment report will then be conducted by an independent party to as-sess the asset’s viability. “Our success comes from our ability to mitigate risks through due diligence. We come in as a boutique in-vestment bank and support both sides of the table – the borrower and the lender – to make sure that the deal does not have any challen-ges in the future such as the borrower defaul-ting on the loan,” Farazad said.

FII’s confidence in dealing with banks that have strong Tier 1 capital comes through years of experience. Established in the US in 1996, FII initially operated as a one-man ven-ture, which gradually and steadily grew over time. Its business took a major leap in 2003 in

terms of buying and selling of bank guaran-tees and medium-term notes through institu-tional lenders and investors.

Farazad’s prior experience in seeking debt financing opportunities further contributed to the company’s core expertise, allowing it to widen its network and develop a solid rela-tionship with international institutional len-ders and private equity firms. Today, FII has a team of 18 highly skilled financial advisors across five continents worldwide.

STRONG OUTLOOK

The company is exploring opportunities in the GCC region, but due to the challenging nature of the market and the difficulty in getting a proper valuation of real estate assets in mar-kets such as Dubai, Farazad said it is hard to stimulate foreign investors’ appetite.

Nevertheless, FII’s global growth remains unabated. Farazad said they currently have around four trophy assets in their portfolio. Among them are a USD300-450-million deal in New York, a EUR150-250-million mixed-use development in Europe and a USD400-600-million transaction in Turkey.

FII continues to focus on financing and refi-nancing of real estate projects, an asset class that has strong international investment ap-peal. Next year, Farazad hopes to expand FII’s presence in the UK, through their London of-fice, while also strengthening their foothold in the US.

“We’re looking at being more aggressive in the US, due to signs of recovery that the market is showing,” he said. •

Transparency spurs Farazad Investments’

growthFarazad Investments Inc. is building a positive brand reputation in the

international financial advisory sector, says Chairman and CEO Korosh Farazad.

FARAZAD INVESTMENTS

Korosh Farazad

41

42

Professional headhunting agency R M & Associates Management Consul-tancy, which has vast experience ful-filling specialised projects in North

America and Europe, is now riding a wave of progress across Middle East and North Africa (MENA).

With its expertise and proven track record in management consulting and HR, R M & Associates is all set to respond to the region’s human resources needs. Payal K. Bhatia,

Businesspartner Middle East and Africa, said demand for corporate talents has seen an upswing as regional economies experience rapid economic growth.

“MENA is growing at a very fast pace, es-pecially after the Dubai Expo 2020 announce-ment. We have seen many new companies setting up their offices in Dubai and in other parts of the region,” she said.

The R M & Associates team uses various methodologies to search talents across va-rious sectors. This allows them to respond promptly to their clients and close several positions regardless of the project’s location and complexity.

R M & Associates’ key sectors include en-gineering (Energy, Oil and Gas, Automation, Aerospace, Shipping & Construction), retail, FMCG and IT. It specialises on B- and C-level roles; providing strong payroll services with large multinational firms in the region; hel-ping companies reduce HR costs; offering contract staffing; and facilitating visas on short- and long-term assignments. R M & Associates has also worked with governme-nt agencies as well as on various projects throughout the Middle East.

MAKING THE PERFECT MATCH

R M & Associates has been true to its motto of providing clients with quality candidates and ensuring that it’s a perfect match for both the parties. This philosophy makes good finan-cial sense as talent mismatch, according to a PricewaterhouseCoopers report, can cost the global economy over USD150 billion in lost opportunities.

“Companies often don’t realise that talent

mismatch hurts them more than they think as there are no formal evaluation on this mat-ter. Loss of revenue due to talent mismatch has never been calculated,” Bhatia said.

But R M & Associates’ consulting expertise has enabled it to bring a unique approach to recruitment method in the MENA region.

“Whenever we work with a client, we like to understand what the exact reason for a vacant position is. Is it because of expansion, business diversification or employee turn-over,” Bhatia explained. “Once we understand that, we not only find the candidate, but also try to work with our client’s HR to help them manage their short- and long-term require-ments.”

EXPANSION IN THE OFFING

With multinational firms’ focus shifting to emerging markets, Bhatia said R M & Associ-ates is keen to strengthen its presence in the region. “We have identified growth opportu-nities in the Middle East and Asia. Our first plan is to expand our team and operations in the Middle East then we will look for partners in India,” she said.

By 2016, the company hopes to set up two Indian offices – Bengaluru and in Mumbai – as they believe the next wave of growth will happen in the country. R M & Associates ap-pears ready to face boom time. •

Robbert Murray & Associates finds niche in MENA

Payal K. Bhatia of Robbert Murray & Associates says they are in pole position to meet the regional job market’s ever-evolving demand.

ROBBERT MURRAY & ASSOCIATES

Payal K. Bhatia

To know more about R M & Associates, visit

www.robbertmurray.com or email info@robbertmurray.com

43

The idea of collecting blood with the vacuum originated back in the 1940s; however, it was Greiner Bio-One (GBO) that had the technological

competence to manufacture the first evacu-ated blood collection system made from PET plastic in the eighties, which gave birth to the VACUETTE® range for specimen collection.

Today, with an impressive number of in-novations and patents under their belts, the Austria-headquartered group is one of the worldwide leading manufacturers in the field of pre-analytics, bioscience, diagnostics, as well as OEM.

“Greiner Bio-One is a privately-owned com-pany and best known in our industry for ma-nufacturing sampling collection systems, par-ticularly blood-collection. What differentiates us is the quality of our products and the fact that we are “globally at your doorstep”. Our philosophy is to get closer to our customers,” says Manfred Buchberger.

Indeed, GBO is present in 120 markets around the world and operates seven state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities in Europe, United Sta-tes, Brazil, and Thailand for the Asian market.

The UAE in particular represents a fun-damental market to GBO, according to Mr. Buchberger, given that the country’s healthca-re standards are comparable to those found in leading European and US markets. As a result, GBO’s UAE customers are demanding high-sa-fety products in blood collection.

“We started supplying the UAE market about 15 years ago and since then, our re-venues have significantly increased year by year. We have an exclusive distributon partner supplying our users, who are mainly hospitals, blood banks and laboratories.”

GBO’s customers in the UAE also include the Ministry of Health, which the company has supplied multiple times based on tenders. “There is a strong tendency in the UAE to use the safest blood collection systems, and for this reason, we see a good opportunity to ex-pand our business in the country, even though we already have successful operations”.

As quality continues to improve in pre-ana-lytics, the validity of analysis results is more and more significant and technology is advan-cing; therefore, demand is constantly increa-sing for better materials. “The better the quali-ty of the collections, the better the results,” notes Buchberger.

Looking ahead, GBO’s Vision 2020 sees the business expanding to double the current volume of turnover, a strategy that involves increased presence in Far Eastern markets eit-her through subsidiaries or through new joint ventures.

The mid-term vision also involves a greater penetration into the diagnostics market, a fundamental segment for GBO. “We’ve started already with a dedicated company called GBO Diagnostics. This is one of the most continually growing industries and we are specialized in the field of infectious diseases and hospital-ac-quired infections”.

In addition, GBO’s recent investments in In-dia and China are expected to give the group a push forward in terms of revenue over the for-thcoming years. “We created a joint venture in China with our distributon partner three years ago and now have GBO Suns China. We also es-tablished GBO India in the same manner about two years ago. These markets are very impor-tant because half of the world population is located in the Far East.”

Despite the increasing prices of raw materials and negative currency effects, GBO’s sales in 2013 rose by three percent, from EUR 364 mil-lion to EUR 373 million. Overall, GBO antici-pates continued growth, spurred by the deve-lopment of new markets, the higher technical safety requirements in laboratories and hospi-tals, and the demand for rapid and cost-saving analyses. •

Safeguarding human health

Manfred Buchberger, CEO at medical technology pioneers Greiner Bio-One, discusses the significance of the UAE market and their expansion into diagnostics.

GREINER BIO-ONE

Manfred Buchberger

44

Despite the security situation in Iraq, Ashur Scientific Bureau has been acting as a vital link between its vendors and customers over the

last 10 years, who comprise the majority of the country’s government and private hospitals, clinics and pharmacies, as well as the Ministry of Health’s (MoH) medical facilities.

“We started as a small company in 2004 without any agencies. Today, we distribute all over Iraq and are proud to be providing the highest level of maintenance to our equip-ment,” says Dr. Ibraheem, a graduate from Baghdad Medical College and a master’s de-gree holder in haematology from the Universi-ty of Nahrain, one of the universities his com-pany now supplies.

INCREASING MARKET SHARES

Indeed, Ashur Scientific Bureau has been servic-ing around 20,000 machines in Iraq, and their growing portfolio includes global pioneers such as 3M, Terumo, Omron, Biosensors, Fuji Film, Medtronic Diabetes Division, Fluke, Timesco, Atramat, Sony Professional Solutions, and GE Healthcare for their life Care Systems and ultra-sound systems in Iraq except Kurdistan.

Around 800 anaesthesia machines, 220 ECG systems, 200 holters, 200 infant resuscitators and 280 ventilators have been provided to the MoH alone. On the other hand, the company managed to obtain a huge market share for some of its smaller vendors.

“Eschmann, a medium-sized UK-based man-ufacturer of operating room tables, now have 75-80% market share in Iraq. Similarly, Sunrise, which specializes in handicapped wheelchairs

have captured around 70% market share.However, Ashur Scientific Bureau is much more than a supplier of medical equipment, carrying out turnkey-projects, installations, and maintenance services through its 24-hour call centre.

“We’re often flexible and continue to main-tain our equipment for some time beyond the warranty. Because we frequently deal with surgeons, we know that their main concern is that the machines are always working,” explains Dr. Ibraheem, who was a practicing medical doctor for eight years before moving to the commercial side.

Notably, the company provided mainte-nance services to Iraq’s Ministry of Defence and Ministry of Interior’s hospitals and clin-ics. “Under an exclusive, 18-month contract, we trained engineers and technicians at both ministries on how to maintain the equipment, and when the period ended, no other contract was awarded simply because the know-how had been passed on to their employees.”

UAE CHAPTER

With four offices in Iraq, Ashur Scientific Bu-reau expanded to the UAE in 2007, setting up in Dubai and acquiring a pharmacy in Sharjah. “Dubai is a hub for the region. It’s where most medical conferences and exhibitions take place and where manufacturing companies have their regional offices.

“We already signed deals with two compa-nies and in 2015, we will open our first show-room in Dubai and acquire at least two phar-macies,” says Dr. Ibraheem. The showroom will house the medical equipment represented by

the company and will cater to local hospitals and pharmacies as well as regional demand.

Alongside these plans, Ashur Scientific Bu-reau aspires to expand further in Iraq. “Most companies are withdrawing, but we want to invest there and plan to stay. We’re also plan-ning to establish our own hospital in Iraq and two laboratories, in Baghdad and Basra”.

At the end of the day, Dr. Ibraheem stresses that it’s all about the people. “Our staff are our milestone. We have 75 employees, including 32 sales engineers, and we’re proud to have high employee retention rates.” •

Fulfilling medical expectations

As one of the largest and longest established medical equipment suppliers in Iraq, Ashur Scientific Bureau for Pharmaceutical Marketing (FIA Group) represents

over 65 international manufacturers in the country. Director General, Dr. Mustafa B. Ibraheem shares his vision for their UAE operation.

ASHUR SCIENTIFIC

Dr. Mustafa B. Ibraheem

www.iraqimedco.com+971 502948759

45

As the exclusive agent for a range of international cosmeceutical and cosmetic brands in Egypt and Qatar, Cosmotrade aspires to become one

of the leading cosmetic suppliers in the GCC by 2020.

Already a market pioneer in Egypt through its subsidiary Misr Pharmacies – one of the leading pharmacy chains in the North African country – Cosmotrade also supplies medical centres, drugstores and beauty salons in Qatar.

“Multi-Trade Egypt is one of the biggest distribution companies in Egypt, established in 2006, and the sole agent of leading brands in the market,” says Dr. Hussein, a pharma-cist holding an MBA in marketing and the founder of Cosmotrade.

A STELLAR PORTFOLIO

Today, Cosmotrade’s expanding portfolio includes dermo-cosmetics brand PHAR-MACERIS; luxury Polish cosmetics brand Dr. Irena Eris; and Elite, a French company kno-wn for their innovative spa products, make-up and styling products.

In addition, Cosmotrade sources products from DS Laboratories, an American manufactu-rer of cutting-edge skin and hair care treatments that address common problems people expe-rience with ageing, such as hair thinning and loss, thinning eyelashes, wrinkles and cellulite.

One of the leading brands to be introduced by MultiTrade in the Egyptian market is Ja-pan’s Kaminomoto, known worldwide for

their hair restoration remedies that use natu-ral medicinal herbs, roots and plants.

“Our first milestone was positioning Misr Pharmacies as one of the top five pharmacy chains in Egypt,” says Dr. Hussein. “Our se-cond was becoming the market leader for hair loss products in Egypt with Kaminomoto, and the most recent milestone was enabling our skincare brand Pharmaceris to become one of the top five skincare brands in Qatar within just one year of launching.”

Cosmotrade continues to communicate with multinational brands, making selections ba-sed on their product quality and strength of organization behind them.

“We have a rigorous filtration system un-til we select and agree to distribute each brand. Then through our highly educated and well-experienced team, we translate all the benefits and scientific data to our customers”. Once selected, the brands benefit from inten-sive marketing activities, including medical conferences attended by international spea-kers, and media coverage.

GCC EXPANSION

Having established MultiTrade in Egypt and Cosmotrade in Qatar, Dr. Hussein is now eyeing opportunities in neighbouring GCC countries.

According to analysis by Euromonitor In-ternational, per capita spend on premium cos-metics in GCC countries has been increasing at a remarkable rate.

For instance, consumers in Saudi Arabia are expected to spend US$68.20 per capita in 2017, compared to US$49.20 in 2012, while UAE con-sumers are estimated to spend $48.70 per capi-ta in 2017 compared to $40.70 in 2012.

“Currently we cover the Egyptian and Qatari market and our plan is to pene-trate Kuwait, Bahrain and UAE between 2015 and 2017. I believe our entry to the UAE will be before the end of 2016.”

By 2020, Dr. Hussein expects to have launched their chain of pharmacies in Qatar, and to have their products available throughout the GCC. “Our goal is to be recognized as one of the leading cosmeceutical companies in the Middle East.” •

An epitome of cosmetic choices

Cosmotrade CEO Dr. Mohamed Hussein plans to represent more of the world’s top cosmetic brands into the GCC by 2017, as a step of being

one of the leading cosmeceutical companies in the Middle East.

COSMOTRADE

Mohamed Husseinm.hussein@cosmotrade.co

“OUR CURRENT KEY FOCUS IS TO GET THE BIG BRAND’S EXCLUSIVE AGENCY AND MAKING BEST EFFORTS CAN DEFINITELY LEAD TO SUCCESS.”

46

Since establishing MKF, which indus-tries have witnessed the greatest im-pact from your work? One of our primary objectives is to encoura-ge the employment of women in the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields and ensure more women start STEM-based entrepreneurial ventures. STEM jobs are higher paying and the growth poten-tial in this sector is increasing. In this regard, the technology and science sectors have been the most affected by our work.

What have been the greatest challenges faced by the foundation to date? The main challenge is the quality of candi-dates – there aren’t enough qualified women taking jobs requiring skill-sets. Another obs-tacle tends to be women themselves not be-lieving in their abilities. Our “100 Women in STEM” initiative was launched to encourage women to create their role models within their communities and has so far had a posi-tive domino effect.

A third challenge is societal – an uncons-cious bias still exists towards male emplo-yment. We are in the process of releasing a gender bias app on iTunes that enables wo-men to rate companies on factors related to their ‘women friendliness’. The intention is to move the power into the hands of women and enable companies to improve their policies.

MKF is known for running “hacka-thons” to raise awareness for gender equality in the workforce. What are these “hackathons”?Our hackathons usually take place in Silicon Valley and invite several women who vote in

their entrepreneurial ideas into a room. The final ideas are presented to a Hack Jury, who award a team with seed money to start up their business. We are soon hosting a Hackat-hon in Dubai focused on Game Development. Around 53% of gamers are women, yet only a handful are female game developers. Wo-men developing games for women can be a billion-dollar business, and we hope to assist with the progress of such an industry.

Finally, as a proponent of equal op-portunity employment, what is the policy on the hiring of male employ-ees at the foundation? At Meera Kaul Foundation, we embody the policies we look to imbue in other organizations and hire according to capability. We are fortunate to have great employees, both male and fe-male who support our cause. We can most certainly be considered an equal opportunity employer. •

Enabling knowledge to empower womenMeera Kaul Foundation (MKF) has launched a strategy to enhance

women’s skill-set in STEM industries. Founder and CEO, Meera Kaul, shares the foundation’s new approach.

MEERA KAUL

47

W ith assets set to reach USD2.1 trillion by end-2014, Islamic finance is one of the fastest growing segments of the

global financial sector. Demand for Islamic fi-nancial products remains unabated and Sha-riah-compliant Al Hilal Bank is well-placed to take advantage of this opportunity.

Abu Dhabi government-owned Al Hilal Bank first tempted the market’s appetite in Octo-ber 2013 with a USD500 million Islamic bond (sukuk) offering, which was 12 times over-subscribed at USD6.3 billion. In July 2014, the bank issued another USD500 million sukuk – this time, it was nine times oversubscribed at USD4.5 billion.

Mohamed Jamil Berro, CEO of Al Hilal Bank, said the excellent response to their sukuk of-ferings reflects the international investors’ strong confidence in the UAE, particularly its thriving Islamic banking sector.

“It also shows how easily accessible fund-ing from the Islamic capital markets is for our financial institutions and companies. In terms of what this means for Al Hilal Bank, it validates our credibility and good standing among investors which bodes well for our fu-ture,” he said.

Berro, who took the helm at Al Hilal Bank in 2008, has overseen the bank’s success story, with its net profits soaring by a hefty 42% to AED441.4 million (USD120.2 million) in 2013 on the bank of strong asset growth.

“The good figures we posted in 2013 have helped us determine our future-value pre-mium,” he said. “We have a firmer grasp of market needs and expectations and the level

of investor/consumer confidence we enjoy, all of which point to a positive long-term outlook for our bank.”

He said they expect to maintain the growth momentum as 2014 draws to a close, and will remain keen on strengthening their capital base further in order to accommodate future growth opportunities.

CAPITAL MARKET UPTREND

Berro said the equity capital market in the Middle East is waking up from slumber fol-lowing the global financial crisis. “The past few years have seen the number of initial pub-lic offerings picking up, with a commensurate rise in hires and revenues. This generally up-ward trend continues.”

Meanwhile, the debt capital market (DCM), which absorbed most of the crisis shock in 2009 and 2010, is also becoming upbeat. “Market activity continued to climb in 2011 and 2012, with hires and revenues improving accordingly. Since last year the DCM has ex-perienced a good level of activity and will ex-pectedly remain on the upswing through the end of this year,” the CEO said.

VISION FOR THE FUTURE

While they have no immediate plan to launch another issue, Berro said they continue to stay up-to-date on market developments so they can benefit from new prospects.

“We intend to continue being a driving force for our industry, while contributing to the economic development of our region. We also aim to complement the World Econom-ic Forum’s efforts to facilitate further global progress,” he said.

Al Hilal Bank, which currently operates 22 branches across the UAE, also has three branches in major cities of Kazakhstan and is consistently looking for new markets to tap for growth.

“We continue to keep an eye out for expan-sion possibilities in the Gulf and around the world that fit our long-term growth agenda,” Berro confirmed. •

Al Hilal Bank’s growth underscores success

Al Hilal Bank is basking in success of its recent sukuk offerings and CEO Mohamed Jamil Berro says outlook for the future remains bright.

AL HILAL BANK

Mohamed Jamil Berro

48

Bee’ah is revolutionising solid waste collection and treatment, as well as recycling practices in the Middle East. With sustainability at its core,

the Sharjah-based environmental and waste management company is adopting innovation on all fronts to turn waste into reusable mate-rials and a source of renewable energy.

Khaled Al Huraimel, Group CEO at Bee’ah, said their focus for the past five years has been on waste recovery and recycling, prompting them to achieve more than 67% of waste diver-sion from the landfill.

“We are committed to our goal of zero was-te to landfill for Sharjah and our journey has been a progressive one. We started setting up our waste-to-clean energy project, which will be the final destination for all non-recyclable waste residues,” he said.

Bee’ah’s strategic plan focuses on averting waste from landfill and increasing the diver-sion rates to 100%. This will be done in three phases: 1) Enhance the operations and techni-cal capabilities of current facilities; 2) Set up additional recycling facilities to increase reco-very from early levels to 70%; and 3) Launch the Waste-to-Energy (WTE) facility.

“Bee’ah’s WTE facility will handle over 400,000 tonnes of non-recyclables, hazardous and medical waste annually. This plant will be the largest of its kind in the world and will be in operation by 2015, generating electrici-ty that will be fed into the national grid with zero-emissions into the atmosphere,” Al Hu-raimel confirmed.

The WTE project will be completed in two phases: Phase 1 with a total handling capacity of 240,000 tonnes will be completed by the end

of 2016, while Phase 2 will have a capacity of processing another 160,000 tonnes.

Bee’ah has been operating and maintaining Sharjah’s Al Saj’ah Landfill since May 2009, transforming it to meet international stan-dards. It has become part of Bee’ah’s overall in-tegrated waste management solutions, which include waste minimization, community out-reach and awareness.

Bee’ah’s portfolio of services include state-of-the-art facilities such as a material recove-ry facility – the largest in the region and third largest in the world; a tyre recycling facility, which uses eco-friendly cryogenic processes; a construction and demolition waste recycling facility; a compost plant; Wekaya, a medical waste storage and treatment facility; industrial and wastewater lagoons; and a landfill that is reengineered using enhanced safety practices.

Al Huraimel said Bee’ah will continue inves-ting in updating its current strategy to focus on diverting and recycling waste, while explo-ring solutions to treat unrecyclable materials.

RAISING AWARENESS

By transforming the attitude and behaviour of individuals, communities and businesses, Bee’ah was able to record positive growth since launching in 2007.

“Bee’ah has implemented a holistic eco-nomic, industrial and social framework that promotes the 4 R’s: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Redeem. Through this approach, we endeav-our to turn material and physical waste into resources that can be re-used by the commu-nity and create positive environmental change in the Middle East,” said Al Huraimel.

The company launched its residential recy-cling programme in Sharjah – the first in the UAE – in 2012. The Bee’ah School of Environ-ment (BSOE) was also inaugurated with the support of the Sharjah Education Zone and other corporate partners as part of the emir-ate-wide waste management initiative. The visual online school educates students and changes their outlook towards the future, en-vironmental issues, natural resource manage-ment and pollution prevention.

“Ultimately, the goal behind the BSOE is to foster a culture – among the youth – that en-courages the adoption of lifelong environmen-tal practices and a greener lifestyle,” the CEO said.

WASTE NOT, WANT NOT

Bee’ah’s tyre recycling facility can recycle over 3 million tyres annually and produce crumb rubber, which is sold solely by Bee’ah to commercial and construction contrac-tors in the UAE. Crumb rubber is used by the Bee’ah facility to produce recycled rubber running track and recycled rubber tiles ideal for flooring applications such as grass-sur-faced playing areas, miniature golf courses and artificial turf infill in local schools, parks and athletics facilities. Bee’ah also produces recycled rubber mulch from tyres, which is ideal for use as horse arena footing and land-scaping applications.

“Demand for our recycled tyre products has been growing rapidly across the GCC,” said Al Huraimel. “While about one-third more expensive than concrete flooring tiles, the crumb rubber tiles offer many advantag-es including fall prevention as it minimises

Bee’ah delivers positive environmental change

Khaled Al Huraimel, Group CEO at Bee’ah, says their strategy and innovative technology is putting waste into good use.

BEE’AH

49

playground injuries; and swallowing and choking hazard prevention as it eliminates the possibility of sand, stones, mulch or any dangerous objects such as broken glass being hidden underneath.”

Meanwhile, hundreds of companies have also utilised Bee’ah’s construction and demolition waste (CDW) recycling facility, one of the busi-est facilities in the world given the rate of con-struction and demolition activities in the UAE.

“So far our biggest client is Sharjah Mu-nicipality, in addition to a number of private construction companies in the UAE. Using mammoth machinery, concrete and debris are broken down under great pressure and processed into curbstone, interlock tiles and aggregate for reuse in sub and basecourse construction of new roads, pavements and walkways, or even for landscaping.” Al Hu-raimel said.

The facility is undoubtedly relevant since over 65% of total waste by weight in Sharjah comes from construction. Currently, more than 6,000 tonnes of construction waste is processed daily at Bee’ah’s CDW.

“BEE’AH HAS IMPLEMENTED A HOLISTIC ECONOMIC, INDUSTRIAL AND SOCIAL FRAME- WORK WHICH PROMOTES THE 4 R’S: REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE, REDEEM. THROUGH THIS APPROACH, WE ENDEAVOUR TO TURN MATERIAL AND PHYSICAL WASTE INTO RESOURCES THAT CAN BE RE-USED BY THE COMMUNITY AND CREATE POSITIVE ENVI- RONMENTAL CHANGE IN THE MIDDLE EAST.”

WIDENING ITS REACH

As an ambitious company, Bee’ah’s growth plans are equally aggressive. “Our expansion strategy is twofold. The first is the geographi-cal expansion into new markets, focusing on the GCC. Our waste management expertise has reached a level where we can export our integrated business model across the region, helping cities and countries tackle their waste challenges,” Al Huraimel said.

The second involves growing Bee’ah’s ser-vices and products to address all environ-mental challenges beyond waste. Focus will be on air quality monitoring, water treat-ment, solar and renewable energy and envi-ronmental research.

The company will also continue to strengthen its myBee’ah Loyalty Programme, which rewards community members for their environmental action and giving them the opportunity to make a positive change.

“The end goal is to broaden Bee’ah from a best-in-class waste management company to becoming the leading integrated environ-mental management company in the Middle East,” the CEO said. •

Khaled Al Huraimel

What is the myBee’ah initiative?myBee’ah is a Bee’ah initiative that aims to raise awareness and engage the community through interactive engagements, events, activities and dialogue, so the practicality of being environmentally conscious will reso-nate far wider throughout the com-munity with more success.

Why are we doing it?At Bee’ah we believe that change will only be achieved through the sup-port from the community, myBee’ah makes that difference by working with environmental advocates in new and innovative ways.

What is the myBee’ah Loyalty Program?The myBee’ah Loyalty Programme rewards community members for their environmental action, extend-ing the environmental principle of the four R’s even further to become

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Redeem.

This initiative gives loyal members the opportunity to proudly identi-fy themselves as environmentalists, joining others in a subculture that is taking radical steps to make a posi-tive change. It also allows companies to promote and support environmen-tal advocates who are actively taking affirmative action towards a cleaner and better community. By channeling Corporate Social Responsible agen-das towards this programme, loyal members will associate brands with a common cause: the environment and in turn, prefer them over others.

What is the myBee’ah online portal?www.mybeeah.ae is an online social media hub for environmentalists. We want to keep champions, like you, up-to-date with news, and be able to communicate with each other. This is the first environmental website in the region that gives control to make a difference.

50

Few are capable of delivering what TAHPI can. Established in Australia more than 20 years ago, the multi-award winning group is recognized

by the global medical industry for their excep-tional healthcare planning and design as well as standards, guidelines and software.

Today, TAHPI’s international branch network spans major cities of the world, from Delhi, Kuala Lumpur, and Hong Kong, to Shanghai, Singapore, and London. In the Middle East, the group maintains presence in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon and Algeria.

“The first project that brought us to the UAE was winning the master-planning and needs analysis tender for Al Wasl Hospital, now known as Latifa Hospital. That was in 2008,” recalls Niazmand.

Since then, TAHPI has worked on the design of several projects in the country, including the 13-storey Bright Point Hospital in Abu Dhabi, a private hospital for GMC, Majid Al Futtaim’s first medical centre in Deira City Centre, and Etihad Airways Medical Centre.

HEALTHCARE STRATEGIES

In healthcare service planning, TAHPI was notably responsible for creating the Dubai Ca-pacity Planning in partnership with the Dubai Health Authority. The strategy determined ex-pected supply and demand for healthcare facil-ities and services in the emirate between 2013 and 2025.

“It’s a big time period and in every five-year interval, the strategy defines what clinical ser-vices are needed and provided sector by sector. We’re currently completing the Abu Dhabi Ca-pacity Plan, together with the Health Authori-ty of Abu Dhabi, extending until 2035.”

Hundreds of facilities are considered in these long-term projections. In Dubai alone, there are 1,200 healthcare facilities including 26 hospitals, while Abu Dhabi has more than 900 facilities, including 51 hospitals.

MEDICAL CITIES

“Our work within the UAE is actually small compared to the work we do from the UAE for the region,” says Niazmand. “For example, we’re working on the Security Forces Medical City in Riyadh which will cover 1.2 million square metres as well as the King Abdullah Medical City in Bahrain. These are examples of the largest medical cities in the region”.

TAHPI initially faced challenges in get-ting their regional clients to understand the difference between healthcare services and real estate. “We cannot confuse the size of a seven-storey lobby with polished granite and equate that to excellence in healthcare – this is excellence in hotel construction. Many clients are now very wise and alert to the difference between both.”

“In healthcare, excellence is about having the right mix of services, perfectly executed so that they work together seamlessly to deliver good outcomes; ensuring the patients’ journey through the system is smooth and predictable, and that they leave, feeling they’ve been well cared for.”

KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER

As a hands-on professional currently respon-sible for the design of seven hospitals in four countries, Niazmand discovered that profes-sionals in his field were lacking, not only in the UAE but worldwide.

“One of the foundations we’re laying is the

knowledge transfer for healthcare planning and design. The UAE has so far relied on fly-in fly-out consultants, which led to a lack of in-digenous scientific knowledge that we want to pass on.”

After years of planning and preparation, Niazmand reveals that TAHPI will be start-ing certificate courses in healthcare planning and design from February 2015. These courses are designed for healthcare professionals and middle managements in collaboration with the University of Wollongong Dubai, and will be held four times a year at the Mohammed Bin Rashid Academic Medical Centre in Dubai Healthcare City.

Looking ahead, Niazmand expresses his opti-mism for Dubai Expo 2020. “It’s going to be a magnificent showcase of Dubai’s healthcare, and we have to prepare it for this. When mil-lions visit, they’re going to discover Dubai as a destination for medical tourism.” •

Excellence in healthcare planning

Excellence in healthcare is about having the right mix of services, perfectly executed so that they work together seamlessly,

says Aladin Niazmand, Managing Director at TAHPI.

TAHPI

Aladin Niazmand

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