Istabsir: Reflect and Contemplate

Following is an interesting videographic and photographic view point on the various aspects of life in the UAE in a weekly series started by the Abu Dhabi newspaper The National here.  It also highlights where the nation has come from and where it may be headed.

New Currency on the Horizon for the Gulf

The Dubai concerns and continued global economic fluctuations are resulting in pushing forward the single Gulf Cooperative Council's (GCC) plans for a single currency among the 6 Gulf nations of Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman.  Read details here.

Interesting to note from the manufacturer and buyers of consumer goods perspective is the fact that the single currency has not been pegged yet.  Dollar? Euro? Gold? Basket?

Growing Entrepreneurism - "Start-up Visa" to Dubai?

Interesting piece on offering visas to individuals who plan to start new businesses in a location that is not their native country.  The concept is discussed in the Abu Dhabi newspaper, The National, in an article "Making Dubai the global hub of start-up success", here.

The article provides comparisons to major start-up centers of the world such as San Francisco with an evaluation of infrastructure, tax consideration, etc.

Yahoo and Maktoob - Social Web Growing Up in the Gulf

Yahoo will be acquiring Maktoob.com.  Click here for details.

About four years back, while working with Mr. Khurram Hamid who was leading digital mobile marketing for P&G out of Dubai, I met with Mr. Ahmed Nassef, GM of Maktoob (website here) to review their web and social network analytics capabilities.  Ahmed stated his goal of becoming the Yahoo of the MENA region.

Maktoob impressed me with what they were trying to build.  More importantly Maktoob Research (website here) was starting to develop deeper understanding and garner insights on the Arab consumer.  I had worked on the definition and concpet of the Muslim consumer for P&G and felt that Maktoob was leading the way in social networks and social media for the Arab populace of MENA.

Congratulations to Ahmed and Maktoob employees!

Consumer Insight: Middle East - Beauty and Health

New technological entrees into emerging markets always provide an insight into what the consumer is asking or aspiring for.  Beauty (health, skin, etc.) is a consumer product goods category that grows as the consumers become more affluent in a region.

A related example here "Middle East Launch of Revolutionary Cold Laser Technique For Body Shaping" is a solution that was either very exclusive in the region or one had to travel to receive.  The article states:

"Dr. Douglas Dedo of the Palm Beach Institute of Cosmetic Surgery and past President of the American Academy of Cosmetic Surgery added: “This revolutionary treatment can work without any kind of surgery or the need for excessive dieting or exercise; though as a doctor I always recommend a healthy lifestyle for my patients. What is also exciting is that clinical studies have revealed that ZERONA™ can help in the treatment of acute and chronic pain relief as well as in controlling cholesterol and triglycerides.” "

Consumer Insights - Retaliation to Facebook

An article in Gulf News here states:

"Facebook, which received some negative publicity locally yesterday with reports of a gang in Sharjah (an Emirate in UAE) threatening to post compromising videos on the social networking site unless ransom money was paid, is just one of many social networking sites losing its gloss."

Facebook is a democratization play, where consumer is "truly" the boss. One has to wonder as to the reason behind Facebook's policy change. Internet based businesses may focus marketing to a specific consumer (demographic, geographic, socio-graphic, etc.) - Yet it may be inappropriate to the sensibilities of a distant culture garnering responses that are detrimental to the brand.

I believe this creates an exceptional business development opportunity for marketers of the world.

Consumer Insights - iPhone Not a Hit in UAE

Interesting review of how consumers think about the iPhone in the Gulf region. See video of various interviews regarding the iPhone here.

Highlights from the conversations in the video are that pricing always plays an important role. Bridging the perception gap is an essential part of marketing, for example - In the video, a perspective consumer states how it is difficult to text using the iPhone. In reality, that is not the case. The mobile service provider Etisalat perhaps missed an opportunity here to touch the consumer on the specific need a mobile device fulfills for them - communication over text messaging.

Update on American university campuses in the Gulf

George Mason University has a campus in the Emirate of Ras Al Khaimah in UAE that will be closing. See details here. Please note the comments to this article that provide good insights.

In comparison, the campus of Texas A&M setup in Qatar under the requirements of Qatar Foundation (see details here) continues to thrive. The Qatar Foundation loosely requires that the educational institutions setup should show direct value to Qatar and to its future growth.

Please see details on the other university campuses in Qatar here that include Virginia Commonwealth University, Carnegie Mellon University, Georgetown Uniersity and Northwestern University.

If this interests you, then you may want to look at the Qatar Science and Technology Park here.

UAE Business Insights

The Kipp Report here is a good source for business information related to the UAE in specific and the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) in general.

Couple of interesting articles of note, (1) The projects on hold in Dubai here, these include mostly real estate projects while some power and industrial infrastrucutre projects, (2) "Capital Boom" - Abu Dhabi continuing to make major investments in UAE here.