Bringing South Dakota Businesses to the World…
Dr. Michael Saba & Nebula Group USA A Joint Venture
Market Focus
Bringing South Dakota to the World
Copenhagen
Amman
Riyadh
Sioux Falls
Belize
Karachi
Delhi
Kuala Lumpur
The Joint Venture • Dr. Michael Saba has unparalleled access to Saudi Arabia and other
Middle East and overseas markets with 40 years experience bringing Arab and U.S. businesses and people together.
• Bajun Mavalwalla lives in Amman, Jordan, and spent 2 years service in Iraq, including a year as the U.S. military liaison officer to the PoliJcal SecJon of the U.S. Embassy.
Dr. Saba and Mr. Mavalwalla have teamed up to provide South Dakota businesses with an opportunity to extend their reach into highly profitable markets, and make it possible for you to be first in emerging economies that hold tremendous potenOal. Saudi Arabia and the Middle East are not the only major markets where Bajun and Michael can help you. They also have experience in Scandinavia, Central America, Africa, South Asia and Oceania. Their cultural and poliOcal experOse is backed up with solid security know-‐how and the ability to integrate your business plan with a comprehensive strategy.
Dr. Michael Saba Dr. Michael Saba currently directs internaOonal development for Avera Health, one of the largest rural health organizaOons in the United States. He formerly served as ExecuOve Director of Development for Sanford Children’s Clinics where he was responsible for overseeing the placement of comprehensive children’s health faciliOes and children’s clinics throughout the United States, other parts of North America and the rest of the world. In early 2007 Sanford Health received a $400 million gi\ which enabled the organizaOon to develop these children’s faciliOes and services and was responsible for uncovering opportuniOes for such faciliOes. Dr. Saba is the founder of Sioux Falls in the World and serves on the Board of Directors of the Dakotah Territory InternaOonal Visitors AssociaOon , an affiliate of the U.S. State Department. He also serves on the Board of Translators of Culture, an immigrant support Sioux Falls area organizaOon. He is the Vice-‐Chairman and serves on the Board of the South Dakota State Commission for NaOonal and Community Service as appointed by the Governor of South Dakota. He also serves on the NaOonal Board of OperaOon Lifeline. Saba was the ExecuOve Director of Friends of Saudi Arabia, an organizaOon facilitaOng “People to People” relaOonships between the United States and Saudi Arabia. Friends of Saudi Arabia is a 501c3 organizaOon registered in Washington, DC He previously served as President of Saba and Associates. His company facilitated joint ventures with health care insOtuOons around the world, developed fund raising strategies to apply to foreign countries, and conducted cross cultural training in the U.S. and abroad. Prior to that, he served as Vice President for InternaOonal Development for ALSAC/St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. He was also President of GULFAMERICA, an internaOonal business services company which facilitated trade between the U.S. and the Arab Gulf, Southeast Asia, and North and East Africa.
Formerly manager of Middle East Public Affairs for Mobil Oil CorporaOon, Saba has been working internaOonally since the 1960’s. He is past president of the Central Illinois Exporters’ AssociaOon, an organizaOon which promoted Illinois exports, and president of the Ahyeh FoundaOon, a not-‐for-‐profit FoundaOon promoOng U.S.-‐Arab RelaOons. Saba was also the first execuOve director of the NaOonal AssociaOon of Arab Americans based in Washington, D.C. Saba is a frequent writer and lecturer on internaOonal relaOons and business majers. He has been interviewed by ABC, NBC, and CBS Evening News; CNN; the MacNeil-‐Lehrer News Hour; Nightline; FNN; and other television and radio broadcasts. He has been quoted by the New York Times; the Washington Post; the Chicago Tribune; the Wall Street Journal; -‐numerous regional newspapers and internaOonal publicaOons. Saba has also been called to tesOfy before Congress on majers of internaOonal policy. Saba also has wrijen and has had three books published. Saba worked in Malaysia and Thailand in the 1960’s and served as a training coordinator for Peace Corps programs in Africa in the early 1970’s. He joined Mobil Oil in the mid 1970’s and has been an internaOonal business advisor since 1980. Saba founded GULFAMERICA in 1986. Michael Saba holds undergraduate degrees in EducaOon, Biology from Minot State University in North Dakota. He received a Master’s degree from the University of Illinois in Cross-‐Cultural and ComparaOve EducaOon and a Ph.D. in InternaOonal RelaOons.
Bajun Mavalwalla
Bajun Mavalwalla opened Nebula Group USA as a business and poliOcal consulOng firm a\er a 26 year career in the California Army NaOonal Guard and U.S. Army. He is currently Director of OperaOons for LaQua InternaOonal and has wrijen strategies and The Way Ahead for both their Belize and Sioux Falls – based companies. He has also managed congressional campaigns and worked as a poliOcal strategist on mulOple campaigns. His 2020 Plan has evolved into South Dakota Progress, an acOve and growing grassroots poliOcal organizaOon. He also has small projects to support development projects in the developing world to help people in emerging markets make the transiOon into the full market economy. Bajun’s military career began in 1987 when he joined the U.S. Army. A\er Basic Training he graduated from the Defense Language InsOtute in Monterey, CA as a Russian linguist, and then subsequently he went to Goodfellow Air Force Base, TX where he qualified as an electronic warfare / voice intercept operator. He was assigned to Fort Polk, LA , where he was selected to field the EH-‐60 plaqorm: A system for triangulaOng, intercepOng and jamming enemy radio transmissions from a Blackhawk helicopter. Upon discharge from the Army, he served in the California Army NaOonal Guard and completed an apprenOceship for the Pile Drivers, Divers, Carpenters, Bridge, Pier, Wharf and Dock Builders Union. Then returned to AcOve Duty in the Guard as a recruiter, where he earned a Master RecruiOng Badge and served unOl 2002 when he volunteered to deploy to Afghanistan with 5/19th Special Forces Group. He commanded a Special OperaOons Team – Alpha, providing force protecOon for the Group. A\er redeploying he returned to the 223d Intelligence Bajalion in San Francisco as the OperaOons NCO. Then Sergeant First Class Mavalwalla received a Direct Commission to 2nd Lieutenant and began his officer career a\er 17 years enlisted Ome. He was chosen to start the new Cultural Awareness Teams to idenOfy low-‐density language speakers to serve as interpreters, and then went on to work for the
Defense Intelligence Agency as a military forces analyst specializing in South Asia. He returned to OperaOons at the San Jose, CA Military Entrance Processing StaOon where aside from swearing in new soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines – he was the acOng EducaOon Service Specialist expanding the ASVAB test program in 18 Northern California counOes. His final mission in the USA was for STRATCOM’s predecessor to CYBERCOM leading a team of analysts working the Cyber Warfare problem set.
Then in 2009 he deployed to Iraq as the Assistant Intelligence Officer for the 49th Military Police Brigade. He was then selected to be the United States Forces – Iraq Liaison Officer to the PoliOcal SecOon of the US Embassy in Baghdad. His final year in uniform was as the ExecuOve Officer for a team advising the 6th Brigade of the Afghan NaOonal Civil Order Police in Herat, Afghanistan 2012-‐2013.
Bajun owns Nebula Group USA and specializes in business and poliOcal consulOng with an emphasis on development and emerging economies. In Baghdad he met his wife, Nanna Zerlang, who was the Senior Advisor from the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs to United NaOons Development
Project in Iraq, and is currently serving in Amman, Jordan as the Police and Gendarmerie Delegate for the Middle East and Gulf States with the InternaOonal Commijee of the Red Cross. He has a son and daughter ajending college in California and divides his Ome between Amman, and Sioux Falls, SD.
YOUR BUSINESS
What Dr. Saba & Nebula Bring to You
Roadmaps
Access
Assessments Business Plans
Synergy & Sales
Strategy
More Than Sales
!
LAQUA INTERNATIONAL INC.!A Parent Company Building And Growing Assets !
Bajun&Mavalwalla&
! DO NOT DISTRIBUTE - LaQua International Staff Eyes Only – DO NOT DISTRIBUTE
BUSINESS PLAN Real Estate–Construction–Teak Plantations
Strategies
Business Plans Roadmaps
Assessments
Access
SYNERGY Business is more than just good ideas and cuhng deals. It’s about building trust and relaOonships between people with common goals. There are unique challenges to build these relaOonships across cultural divides, but the rewards for you and your business are limitless.
Things You Can:
control and influence
Effort, dedica:on, discipline
Things You Can:
Control, but NOT influence
Those beholden to us for
personal or financial reasons
Things You Can:
influence, but NOT control
Clients, family, friends, media
Things You Can Neither:
control nor influence
Most People (Can you penetrate a new market? How much effort will it take for you to move people into
another quadrant of this chart?)
In reading the lives of great men, I found that the first victory they won was over themselves... self-‐discipline with all of them came first. Harry S. Truman
Leadership is the process of influencing others to accomplish the mission by providing PURPOSE, DIRECTION, and MOTIVATION US ARMY FIELD MANUAL ON LEADERSHIP
BUT THEY ARE PREDICTABLE
At a conscious, and more likely, at a subconscious level, most people don't like or want to be controlled The Tao of Sales
Start With a Plan…
FAILING TO PLAN IS PLANNING TO FAIL… We’ve all heard that before, but no large operaOon is successful without a plan and discipline. Dr. Saba and Nebula coordinate your plans and develop a strategy to implement enduring successful mechanisms. The keys to success lie in replicable sales approaches.
WE PROVIDE YOU THAT STRONG START! We begin at the top of some of the strongest world economies in the Middle East, but also have exper:se in emerging economies that hold tremendous poten:al.
And Finish With a Plan…
SYNERGY = SALES!
There is no such thing as “professional relaOonships”. All relaOonships are personal. This is parOcularly true in the Middle East where friendship and personal trust are cornerstones of their culture. We will build your relaOonship through our relaOonships together with solid plans to build the enduring and profitable market you seek.
WE FOLLOW UP! The worst thing you can do with a comprehensive plan is not to have a plan for what to do with it. We’ll be there with you every step of the way.
The Three R’s • Cultural and Language ExperJse • Personal Access and Proximity • Assessments of the Environment
Dr. Saba and Mr. Mavalwalla have extensive experience overseas and building bridges across cultural divides. They understand the greater dynamics of complicated cultural, poliOcal, and business climates and learn about you and your South Dakota business and communicate those values to potenOal clients and business partners for you. There are many parts of the world where businesses are missing opportuniOes because they don’t fully understand The Three R’s: risks vs. reward ra:o. Simply wriOng you a business plan or telling people “how to do it” isn’t enough. You need assessments and a comprehensive strategy that works with your current operaOons so you can grow your business.
We Help You Grow