Five Minutes with Designer and Entrepreneur Ethan Koh

“My great grandfather was a fisherman in Singapore, [when] it was [still] a British colony. He learnt the art of exotic tanning from British traders and passed on this knowledge to his son,” says Ethan Koh, the designer and entrepreneur behind the Ethan K, the Singaporean accessories brand known for its use of exotic skins in bespoke bags and clutches. After his grandfather and father opened the family tannery, Heng Long Leather in Singapore, Koh describes growing up surrounded by the tanning process and being inducted into the ways of “the secret family techniques.”

Though his father wanted him to go to business school, Koh spent his teenage years in Italy at bag and shoe ateliers and learning from his father’s tannery- he even crafted his first bag for his mother while studying. Koh later chose to travel to London and study at Central Saint Martins, “because I could see the opportunity to create a couture house that could represent my creativity.”

Koh strives to apply the skills he’s learned from his family‘s heritage of craftsmanship. In January 2011, the Ethan K Debut Collection, consisting of 18 bags for men and women, was unveiled at the Claridge’s in London- marking the moment that Koh transitioned from being a designer to being a design and an entrepreneur. Koh counts learning to trust his own instincts as one of his biggest lessons, as well as improving his overall managerial style and skill level.

The designer has also made an effort to cultivate patience and build “a team that compliments my strengths that supports the company’s growth.” Relying on word of mouth for brand awareness, Koh believes that genuine feedback balances out their ideas and vision. How does he describe an entrepreneur? “Visionary, dynamic and unique.”

What motivated you to start your accessories line?

One of the reasons that I started Ethan K was because I felt that luxury had become too mass market. At Ethan K, luxury is about exclusivity and luxury with a soul, we are close to our customers and feel that it is most important in today’s world. Our clasps are hand crafted in Tuscany, Italy, and I work personally with the artisans. At the same time, I wanted to go back to the era where clients could meet the designer and have bespoke creations made-tailored to their personality and a symbol of the connection between the artisan and the client.

What influences your collections?

People and places have inspired many of my creations. The Wildlife Odyssey Collection is inspired by the fairytales by Hans Christian Andersen, which my mother would read to me as a child. Each clasp is delicately hand-carved by my ateliers in Tuscany and have a different meaning. The people I meet are also one of the biggest sources of inspiration for me. My Icons Collection combines a collection of special creations that are inspired by the unique encounters I have had with extraordinary people around the world.

What is your creative process like in designing an item?

Inspiration can strike from many things. Also, the color of each skin is inspired by the fruits and spices that I grew up with in my native country Singapore. My maternal grandparents were fruit and spice traders, so I would be surrounded by these at home. Every time I visit Singapore, I go to the fruit and spice markets and take my buys to the tannery, where my brother and I use a special technique to match the natural ingredients to the colors of the skin. I want my clients to carry a piece of my heritage with them.

What moment in your career was most discouraging?

At the beginning stages of launching Ethan K, when I met customers who were very brand-conscious and had a different approach in the luxury industry, they would often say that my brand would have an opportunity in the marketplace. Even many of my university lecturers tried to discourage me at the start. Fortunately, I felt [my] calling was greater than their advice. With my family‘s support -which was important to me- I created Ethan K.

In your opinion, how much “risk-taking” personality characteristic is involved in being an entrepreneur?

As an entrepreneur, I don’t take total risks, but instead, take calculated risks. When I have a gut feeling about an opportunity or possible venture or opportunity, I embrace it. When there is no risk, there is no success.My background in Singapore bears a lot of similarity to Dubai and the rest of the Middle East. Singapore used to be a fishing colony, whilst Dubai was a desert many years ago. So the spirit of entrepreneurship is alive in both cities.

What are your personal hobbies?

I am an avid reader and collect books on history, art and culture. I believe the past makes us who we are today and while not being stuck in the past I feel that life evolves in cycles.

Five Minutes With Dr. Vijay Eswaran, Executive Chairman, QI Group of Companies

As the founder and Executive Chairman of the QI Group of Companies, Dr. Vijay Eswaran is the head of a multi-business conglomerate that has a presence in a variety of sectors, which includes direct selling, retail, financial services, education and hospitality. Its flagship subsidiary, QNET, which was established by the Malaysian businessman in 1998, is today a global company (with offices in the UAE as well) that has managed to merge traditional methods of sales with the e-commerce model. “What I envisioned was a new kind of company that would merge the people power of a direct sales force with the global reach of the Internet,” Dr. Eswaran says, as he remembers the origins of his company. “So we merged the tried and tested direct selling business model with the emerging e-commerce platform.”

“My partners and I debated endlessly about what we could sell that would set us apart,” he adds. “We came up with a numismatics and precious metals model based upon thriving European market strategies. We procured the rights to sell the commemorative coins in 1998 for the Sydney 2000 Olympics for the Asian Pacific Rim, although we were coming late into a market that was already two years into sales, leaving us less time to sell and compete effectively. Our erstwhile competitors were amused by us initially. But not for long, for by the year 2000, out of the 42 distributors worldwide, we came in the top three in sales volume. What they had not factored in was the impact and penetration of web based sales with the human touch of direct selling.”

What were some of the difficulties you faced when you first started, and how did you go about getting past them?

When I first started my entrepreneurial journey, nothing was in my favour. I had no connections, family or otherwise, no funding from anyone, Asia was going through a terrible economic crisis and no one believed I would succeed. What I did have was the conviction that my life was not meant be wasted making money for someone else. I was lucky to have found like-minded partners and the unwavering support of my wife. Together we faced many failures and setbacks; I continue to face them today and I am sure I will continue facing them to the end. I believe that the day I don’t face them, it means that I am no longer progressing.

I started my entrepreneurial journey with the direct selling business, an industry that faces many perception challenges. Despite being one of the top 40 companies globally in this industry, the business is constantly called into question due to a lack of understanding and awareness. My name is often dragged into the media as the founder of a controversial business.

Six, seven years into our journey, a shareholder dispute with some of my former partners took an ugly turn and resulted in my partner and I being incarcerated unfairly and our reputation took a hit with a slew of media articles alluding to us as criminals. Those were perhaps the darkest days we have experienced together. Together we decided to fight back and do whatever it takes to get our names cleared, which we eventually did. Despite the fact that many years have passed since that incident, the shadow of controversy continues to follow me. But I have never let that get in the way.

To me success is as much interwoven with challenges, just as light is to shadow. How do I deal with them… by embracing them! There is no other way. To me success and failure are both elements of the same path for growth, both in my personal life as well as professional life.

Given the success you have seen with your enterprise already, what’s next in your plans for the same?

I am very excited about our University [in Malaysia]. The first batch of students graduate this year and that’s an important milestone for us. Right now the University operates out of a temporary campus in Ipoh city, which is around 2 hours north of Kuala Lumpur. Our plan is to establish a QI City that will include our new permanent campus, residential block, a teaching hospital to support our medical program, a park, shopping complex and hostel blocks for students. This is a huge undertaking and will keep us busy for the next few years. My dream is to have a green campus that’s pollution free with only electric buggies for transport, eco-friendly living utilizing solar power and an international student community that will be proud to be part of the Harvard of the East.

How would you describe your leadership style, and what are some of the traits you look for in a potential employee?

My father instilled in me an important lesson when I was growing up- “Service above Self.” That’s the lesson I try impart to my team. We run a global business, but we maintain the soul of a small company that hasn’t forgotten its humble beginnings. I constantly remind myself of it and make it a point to remind our employees of it.

One of the fundamental lessons that I have acquired in my journey as an entrepreneur is that it is not companies that succeed, but the people in them, that do. Thus, the emphasis for me changed dramatically from the universally academic approach of business plan, capital, skills sets, etc. to identifying, recognizing and attracting people of a like mind. The more fundamental traits I look for in people are unquantifiable attributes such as daring, determination, loyalty, trust, sincerity and the ability to work hard.

I believe business can be shaped effectively if we remember that we are no different than a professional sports team. To win, we assemble the best players, train very hard, formulate specific strategies, outdo our opponents and continuously improve our skills and knowledge of the game. You can have everything a company needs to function but without the right people; you will end up with nothing. For all subsidiaries in the QI Group, the key was to find people with the right attitude and mindset, then train and grow them to take ownership of the job.

What are the three words you would use to describe an entrepreneur?

Inquisitive, intense, intuitive.

What is the source of your personal motivation?

The people whose lives our businesses have touched. I make it a point to regularly interact with our customers and listen to their stories. It’s their stories; very real human stories of how a business is helping make a difference in someone’s life that keeps me going. It motivates me to do more, to try harder, to push my people to innovate so that we can continue changing lives.

Clockwatcher: Montblanc Combines Wearable Tech And Fine Timepieces

Montblanc has combined wearable tech and fine watchmaking to create the TimeWalker Urban Speed e-Strap. The new accessory is a pairing of the traditional TimeWalker mechanical watch and a new, functional wristband made from Extreme Montblanc leather. The e-Strap is packed with remote controls for camera and music, smart notifications and acts as an activity tracker to monitor your physical activity over time. This brilliant mashup of old and new is compatible with select Android and iOS smartphones. You can keep track of time with a classic Montblanc timepiece and stay digitally connected with just a flip of the wrist.

Penetrating Your Online Target Market

Many young entrepreneurs are at the forefront when it comes to digital marketing and can be very creative in using unconventional or new ways to market their business. There are a multitude of free tools online that cater to the innovative mind, but there are still roadblocks in the way to building a solid digital presence. Why should you spend money instead of trying to free-ride yourself to digital success?

Cost Conundrums

There are tons of free online tools that you can use to get market insights, find business opportunities and spread the word about your company. For example, you can find influential people in your social network or people that share a common interest. You can conduct market research on what users are searching for online and what they are reading. So, while there are many free tools available, is there really something called “free marketing’ to begin with?

At the first glance everything seems be a one-way road that leads to more and more toll gates while driving along the digital marketing highway. Let’s explain this further. Companies that first spent millions to build large communities with thousands of fans on social networks like Facebook are now being forced to advertise on their own brand pages to get reach with their content. What was considered free advertising before has become a bidding game across many of these platforms.

There is a good reason for this. Marketers more or less took over users’ newsfeeds meaning that sites like Facebook had to do something about it– and, for Mark Zuckerberg, it’s a good opportunity to make some money at the same time. Today, in most cases, if you have a company fan page on Facebook the only way for anyone to see your post is to either pay for it or spend hours of time optimizing your posts to get lucky. Facebook is not the only case, and there is a clear pattern across other online channels. For example, take search engines, email or guest blogging and you will find yourself in a world of paid media.

Pay Your Way?

When referring to paid media in digital marketing, we mean paying to promote your content online. This could be a banner advertisement, content placement, promoted content or anywhere else you have to pay to place your material. Paid media makes a lot of sense since it helps you to push marketing information out there quickly, target your users effectively and measure your results. The only downside? It is not free. The good news, however, is there are other forms of media such as owned and earned media:

Owned media All the digital assets and content we own as a brand such as blogs, websites and social channels usually represents the part where a lot of digital investment goes. This is where many companies go wrong. Typically, they spend a lot of their budget on the creation of complex assets and leave little to none left for the maintenance and promotion of the same.

Earned media These are your retweets, reposts on Instagram, social shares on platforms like Facebook and Google+, links, product reviews, interviews and so on. This is the one that businesses like the most, as it’s free of additional charges for the most part.

While earned media is technically free, the reality is you have to do something to earn it. That is where you going to spend your money- in the creation of great content that people will like and that they share of their own accord. The good news is that the investment made here can pay back exponentially compared to other forms of media. By comparison, paid media is pretty linear. The more you spend on your reach, the more reach you get. However, if you land a killer piece of content it can take you far beyond your initial spend. That being said, there is always a risk it will take you nowhere at all. Experimenting with different content ideas to see what works best is one way to build your digital presence. However, larger companies are usually not the best risk takers and this is where smaller business can leverage their agility as an advantage. So is it safe to say that there is no free marketing at all? Well, there is free, but it still costs you and your company time.

Crafting Your Company’s Digital Footprint

A young company can garner some decent coverage by implementing a solid social presence around a business that is driven by its employees or founders. It all usually starts with your own circles and friends. Creating a narrative about your company, your products or your people will build an online brand for your business and gain exposure. Your friends and associates may recommend your pages or share your content to gain more visibility. Once this is maximized, one can start seeking new “friends” by engaging with likeminded online users or online individuals from the same industry. People still like to buy from other people and that’s why it’s sometimes great to tie it all together into a personal story and create something engaging for your audience using social media. (But, as previously stated, this takes time- and time is money.)

An important point to note: doing it right it can actually have some great impact on other aspects of your online marketing including SEO, PR and general content marketing. But there is a reason why every seasoned digital marketer will advise entrepreneurs to create a full digital marketing plan across multiple channels. It’s not just to increase the actual scope, but to create a round digital offering and avoid putting all of your eggs in one basket. The result of this is that the effort that will go into your digital presence will be far from free and therefore every business should be prepared to set aside a decent digital marketing budget to get things going and, by the end of it, there needs to be a return on the investment either way.

Flying First Class In The GCC: Turkish Airlines in Qatar’s General Manager Sees No Borders

Turkey’s geographic proximity and cultural similarities with Qatar and the Gulf Cooperation Council region is an advantage not just for Turkish Airlines, but also for Qatari and Turkish businesspeople alike. The Middle East is one of Turkish Airlines’ fastest growing markets, underpinned by the buoyant economies in thriving cities such as the capital of the Gulf state. “In fact, from Doha, in 2014 we witnessed a 16% increase in passenger traffic from January to September, compared to the same nine month period in 2013,” says Mehmed Kursad Caymaz, General Manager of Turkish Airlines in Qatar. “With an advantageous geographical hub between East and West, Turkish Airlines is well poised to continue its fast growth momentum, particularly combined with the efforts to increase Turkey’s tourism sector.”

Turkish Airlines currently has a total of 236 aircraft including cargo jets, and last year, signed a deal to receive an additional 256 aircraft in the coming years. Turkish Airlines flies 12 times per week from Doha to Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport, where connections are available to 260 destinations, serving as the fourth largest flight network in the world. Passengers can also connect to do- mestic airports operated by Turkish Airlines and there are two more hubs at Sabiha Gokcen Airport –the second airport in Istanbul– and Ankara’s Esenboga International Airport. Sabiha serves domestic, European and Middle Eastern markets, while Ankara serves only domestic markets. According to Caymaz, the airline has connections from the Gulf region to more countries than any other airline in the market. “We have a number of peak seasons to Istanbul, Europe and the Americas; our most popular routes from the region,” he says. “We add frequencies over the summer season to accommodate increased demand, particularly for family holidays to Turkey and European cities. The demand recently has been higher than ever with the Holy Month of Ramadan coinciding with the summer season. Holidaymakers from the Gulf escape the heat of summer for cooler climes in Europe and America where we offer competitive rates.”

As a result, in 2015, the airline plans to add an additional 20 new global destinations to its network in order to meet the demand and reinforce their position as one of the world’s fastest-growing airlines. “In the Middle East we have increased our frequencies from existing destinations, and we will continue to work with this strategy to meet the seat demands from the Gulf,” Caymaz says. “As part of Turkish Airlines’ planned expansion, we have also increased frequencies to Sabiha Airport in Istanbul, the increasingly popular international travel hub on the Asian side of the City.” Turkey continues to attract an increasing number of both business and leisure travellers from Qatar, which is reflected in Turkish Airlines’ increasing passenger numbers on this route. “In fact, to meet the rapidly increasing demand, we not only continue to upgrade our award winning services, fleet and facilities, but we are [also] planning to add increased frequencies from Doha in the not too distant future.” Caymaz adds that in order to further support their partners in Qatar, who have been an integral part to their growth in the last eight years, they have also launched recently a new sales office in Doha. “In recognition of the increasing popularity of Turkey as a holiday destination, Turkish Airlines offers a number of campaigns for Qataris to take advantage of key seasons,” he explains. “For example, the upcoming “Winter in Turkey’ and “Istanbul’ campaigns allow travellers to take advantage of promotional fares and to enjoy what the country has to offer, particularly the city of Istanbul, famed for its cultural blend of Eastern and Western influences.”

Several 2013 media reports quote H.E. Ahmet Demirok, Turkish Ambassador to Doha, as stating that there are almost 100 Turkish companies registered at Qatar Chamber of Commerce and Industry. “The leading Turkish companies which are operating in Qatar are mainly construction organizations, such as TAV Construction, which helped construct the new Doha International Airport, Yuksel Insaat [Yuksel Construction], Makyou, and STFA Group of Companies. Also there are many Turkish academics at the universities, as well as administrative staff working as general managers, financial managers, and chefs at five-star hotels.” While trading ties between the Gulf and Turkey have generally remained low in the last decade or so, the latter’s extraordinary economic growth coupled with the former’s thirst for new markets means that much closer ties can be expected in the near future. Turkish Airlines, being on the up and up, is more aware of this fact than most, and they’ll be on hand to field the growing client base coming and going to Qatar in the coming boom.

Conceptual Development: Sony Makes User Experience A Priority

Sony launched its UAE flagship boutique to feature its newest high definition audio products and give customers an unparalleled shopping experience. The new concept store features a wide-open storefront rendering unobstructed views of five distinct product zones for gaming, mobility, digital imaging, home entertainment and high definition audio.

Intended to engage shoppers who prefer to “try it, before you buy it,’ the new Sony outlet is located in The Dubai Mall. Installations include areas set up to get your game on with PlayStation or photograph scaled-down models of the Burj Khalifa; choosey fans, you can now pick your products and make purchases with confidence.

Dumyé Is A Means To An End

“I believe through design, we have the power to shape our world for the better.” That was Dumyé founder Sahar Wahbeh’s pitch at the Gulf finals of The Venture, a global competition seeking the most promising social entrepreneurs around the world for a chance to win a share of a US $1 million fund. It’s a compassionate statement, and after beating out numerous applications, rising along with the top five finalists, what made Dumyé stand out in the sea of social ventures? To begin with, the inspiration for the startup is one of the most heartwarming aspects of Dumyé: her daughter. After searching for a doll to give as a gift to her daughter, Wahbeh, disappointed by the ones she found in the market, decided to create her own.This wasn’t enough for Wahbeh to “shift careers” though, until she realized that this could be her way to not only share her life values with her daughter, but also “actually live it.”

Wahbeh wanted her daughter to respect the environment, so the dolls are “made with a mixture of organic, sustainable and mostly natural materials,” says Wahbeh. “I need her to have compassion [for others], which is why we commission an NGO [called Pardada Pardadi Educational Society founded by Virender Singh] in one of the poorest states of India to handle elements of our production.” This approach empowers women in their community to be self-sufficient, and the NGO uses their proceeds to educate the next generation of girls. Wahbeh also wanted to inspire generosity in her daughter, and so, every doll that Dumyé sells results in another doll gifted to an orphan through an art workshop, allowing the children to create a meaningful doll of their own.

Now, while it may have started out as a lesson for her daughter, Dumyé is now an enterprise that has a presence in more than 15 countries, worked with hundreds of orphans in the Middle East and is now looking to expand its “giving program’ into Africa and India. Wahbeh, who comes from a branding consultancy background, finds her past experience “indispensible,” explaining how “Dumyé began as a brand that is growing into a business.” She admits this approach is unorthodox but believes it has been a valuable asset because “from day one, Dumyé knew exactly what its purpose was, and everything we have done since has been to both communicate and actualize just that.”

After launching their online boutique in June 2013, along with pop-up shops in Middle East and through select retailers around the world, Dumyé is now designing its fourth collection, with each doll inspired by “ideals, fashion and things our customers continually ask for.” They’ve come a long way from their first collection that had a quickly sold out doll named She-roe: “I think she captured people’s hearts because she was both feminine and powerful. This is the kind of role model our girls need, which is why we’re re-launching her in a new edition.” In terms of progress, Dumyé had also been asked about dolls geared towards boys and Wahbeh happily states that the new collection includes two male dolls.

For their marketing strategy, word of mouth, social media and pop-up stores has been their go-to methods of choice. Wahbeh notes how social media has been one of their best tools to engage with customers and receive feedback, adding that Instagram and Facebook are their most powerful channels among their social media accounts, and they encourage customers to share their dolls with the #MyDumye hashtag.

In a research by Endeavor Insight studying 20 social entrepreneurs (Harvard Business Review), they found that those who prioritized financial growth above social goals were “more likely” to grow their social business and have greater impact. What differentiates social ventures from social causes and non-profit organizations is their ability to have sustainable working business models and maintain self-sufficiency- a trait that the judges were looking for among the finalists. With Dumyé’s strong value for social impact, when asked about their business model, Wahbeh says, “In a nutshell, we sell eco-friendly cloth dolls and for each one purchased, we gift a doll to an orphan, allowing them to make it their own through an art workshop.” Wahbeh explains how Dumyé sells dolls in two sizes: a full-size limited edition personalized doll and a smaller Petite Dumyé. Regarding their model for return on investment, Wahbeh admits that they’re a startup that’s not in the profit generation stage– yet. Dumyé is currently in the process of “exploring various avenues for funding.”

With an “overwhelmingly positive” experience from The Venture, after hearing the judges critiques, Wahbeh feels “excited and humbled [with] the opportunity” and confident during the pitch, but thinks she could have “further highlighted the economic empowerment aspect of Dumyé.” But it’s only just the beginning: joining 16 other social enterprises from different parts of the world, Dumyé will be in a week-long training at Silicon Valley and later pitch to a panel in San Francisco for a chance at winning a portion of the US $1 million funding. “The judges have kindly offered to mentor me between now and then,” says Wahbeh. “We’re working together to strengthen Dumyé’s pitch so that when I hit the stage in San Francisco, I represent the region with an oomph.” Wahbeh is dedicating 2015 to expansion- with their production capabilities, product line and market penetration in the U.S., and the Middle East specifically, as well as the core Dumyé team.

STARTING CAPITAL US $8000 from a small design project.

MARKET PENETRATION Dumyé dolls have sold in more than 15 countries, with the most concentrated customers in the Middle East, U.S., U.K. and Australia. Customers are social and environment-conscious women, ranging from CEOs to fashion editors to stay-at-home moms.

PROCESS “The first thing up was designing a doll with features that would become signature of a Dumyé doll, such as the embroidered rose bud mouth and almond shaped eyes.” The next step was creating concepts for each doll. “Once the designs for a collection have been sketched with paper and pencil, we begin shopping textiles, cutting patterns and creating samples that can be handed over to local craftswomen to recreate in numbers.”

DUMYÉ AT THE VENTURE
PREPARATION “Much of my time was spent in developing the presentation itself. It was a great exercise in organizing everything that Dumyé stands for and has achieved from its inception.”

FEEDBACK “Well, Yogi [Petrochem Middle East Managing Director, Yogesh Mehta] said he would invest a US$1 million dollars into Dumyé today – I certainly wasn’t expecting that!”

PITCHING “Everyone here is looking at your business through their lens of expertise. What I really appreciate is not only [am I] benefitting from their knowledge, but receiving their visceral reaction to my business, I found that incredibly valuable.

THE VERDICT: WHY DID THE VENTURE JUDGES CHOOSE DUMYÉ?
SOUSHIANT ZANGANEHPOUR
Consultant, Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship
“The candidates in the Gulf finals were all quite strong in their own right, but what made Dumyé stand out was its growth trajectory and potential social impact, and the opportunity for The Venture to really add value to accelerate its journey, relative to the other candidates. In Dumyé, we saw the prospects of both a strong commercially successful and scalable business, alongside a sustainable engine for ensuring upward mobility for disadvantaged orphans globally. Not only does the business ethos and narrative strongly reflect the values of Sahar, we felt she was sufficiently open to adjusting her assumptions and changing aspects of her model to further optimize and strengthen the potential social impact of the business. This was critical because the structure of support surrounding The Venture are meant to do just this and intervene to add value, to hopefully accelerate Dumye’s chances of going from a budding small business into a regional or global champion for “Winning the right Way.’ The future looks bright for her.”

YOGESH MEHTA
Managing Director, Petrochem Middle East
“To me, Sahar’s project Dumyé met all the criteria for a business and an innovative idea that has a social enterprise fabric. She did a great presentation and also was honest to accept that she needed a strong finance person in her team to make her case more robust for the finals in San Francisco. She is a winner in all respects!

DAVID FREEBORN
Managing Director, Pernrod Ricard Gulf
“Dumyé stood out as a strong, robust business enterprise with a social purpose at its core which therefore recorded high scores across all the judging criteria. However, the additional attraction was sahar’s enthusiasm, commitment, honesty and energy that shone through during her pitch. Whilst there is work to be done on the package, Sahar will be a great representative from the Gulf for The Venture in San Francisco this summer.”

FIDA CHAABAN
Editor in Chief, Entrepreneur Middle East
“I felt that Sahar was the best-positioned GCC candidate for The Venture global finals because she really knows how to package her message, and her business model is an easily understood social enterprise with a lot of marketing potential. Marketing potential translates into widespread press coverage, and that means easy onboarding of new clients and tons of business development opportunities which can lead to bigger and better things for Dumyé.”

SMEs Are Getting More And More Connected

“Customers have told us that they want simplicity, innovation, flexibility, and service. These key pillars underpin both our short and long-term plan, plus more importantly, everything we do,” says Hany Fahmy Aly, Executive Vice President of Enterprise Business at du. SMEs take their connectivity needs seriously, and for 2015, small and medium enterprises are a huge area of concentration for the UAE-based telco.

“Our focus is on SME customers; they are key to our business and our role is to deliver their communications and connectivity requirements. We are committed to exceed customer expectations by providing them with simpler solutions which enable businesses in the UAE to focus on their business while we deliver their telecommunications as their trusted partner of choice.” One notable endeavor is du’s Business Help Roadshow an undertaking that allows their enterprise client base to sit one-on-one with a representative to get personalized service and ask for tailored recommendations suited to the scale and needs of the SME. “Business Help Roadshow gives SME customers the opportunity to meet face to face with du’s experts, for advice and rapid query resolutions. It allows the attendees to share their issues, challenges and questions in the areas of billing, technical, and sales for both mobile and fixed services towards faster resolutions on the spot. From each roadshow we were able to resolve 75% of customer issues.”

The Business Roadshow toured different Emirates throughout 2014, and according to Aly, will continue to do so in the year ahead. Currently, the SME client makes up 40% of du’s enterprise customer base, and is showing good increases. Another connectivity enterprise trend is that more SMBs are adopting cloud computing, and Aly points out that the benefits revolve around flexibility. If you haven’t already looked at it as an option for your enterprise, you might want to consider the business without borders perspective of cloud computing.

“There are three key benefits to cloud computing: a global workforce, improved accessibility and disaster recovery.” Basically, going with cloud computing for your business means that you aren’t restricted by geography when onboarding talent simply because everyone has access simultaneously “to critical data anytime, anywhere and having the data secured addresses the business demands. Sharing, storing and reproduction of data can’t be easier, and finally, [there’s] no need for complex disaster recovery plans. Cloud computing providers take care of most issues, and they do it faster than physical server engineers.

THE EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
CONNECTIVITY TRENDS

What value-adds should entrepreneurs be looking for in enterprise plans with their providers?
“We believe that entrepreneurs and smes should focus on improving their communication channels with their clients, enhance ability to operate their office anywhere anytime, ensure security of their transactions and last but not the least – look for added value on their roaming and data needs. At du, we have many different value added services which we can customize plans to suit each customer’s needs, like more data, national or international minutes. We also have a number of leading edge managed services that provide additional services for any sized SME. This starts from security solutions, hardware and bespoke offerings with a dedicated team- this is a huge growth area.”

What connectivity trends do you expect this year?
“Globally there is a shift towards digital, online and cloud applications, and we expect customers within the UAE will also be focused on new ways of working, new channels to their customers. some key trends are SOHO and SME- customers can now access corporate grade solutions at affordable prices with the move towards cloud based solutions which is a great benefit to this ever growing segment. Also, there is a clear move away from CAPEX and heavy IT investment to a more OPEX-driven per seat approach and solutions are now device-agnostic. you can access all of your important documents, email and shared files from your mobile, laptop or desk computer and they all link together for an easy to use customer experience– all with corporate grade security for peace of mind. for example, through our partnership with Microsoft on Office 365, SMEs can get all of their email, calendar, excel and other solutions on any device for the price of a cup of coffee per month.”

What is the most popular current business plan for du’s SME clients?
“The Business Advantage Plan is a popular plan among smes as it comes with a built in loyalty and value for money offering. It was designed specifically to address the needs of the UAE’s SME-heavy community. The Business Advantage Plan rewards customers with more benefits as their subscription matures. So, the longer they use the plan, the more added value they enjoy with monthly fees reduced on a yearly basis, plus additional bundled national and international minutes, over five years of incremental benefits.”

Master Plan: Seero Engineering On The Road To Success

Haytham Sadeq remembers when he got the idea for establishing Seero Engineering- it was the same year he got accepted to the Master’s degree program at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. “I decided to specialize in transportation engineering because I was expecting a huge demand from all countries for this discipline, especially with the continuous increase of population and the demand for efficient and safe transportation modes,” he says.

Sadeq’s gut feeling soon proved to be right on the mark. Qatar winning the bid to host FIFA World Cup 2022 paired with the National Vision 2030 meant that huge investments will be spent on infrastructure and transportation projects. “It’s expected that Qatar will have more than three million visitors and inhabitants by 2022, so my specialization in the field was the main reason behind my passion of starting up a specialized consulting company in transportation engineering,” says Sadeq. “We chose the name “Seero’ because it means “going forward’ in Arabic, and it reveals for smoothing and facilitating roads and paths for humans, and this reflects the main objective of the company, which is to, with design, improve transportation systems in order to enable mobility by innovative engineering solutions,” says Sadeq. “We found that there is an excellent opportunity in the area of transportation engineering, especially after the huge plans for Qatar infrastructure, metro projects, public transport and freeways.”

The Race To Annihilate COD: MENA E-Commerce Overview

As e-commerce grows in the MENA, so does the urgency to retire the inefficient cash on delivery (COD) payment method. We highlight the leaders of the region’s e-commerce industry, and how they’ve been trying to make it to the top.

PayPal MENA

PayPal and its popular digital wallet is making headway across the Middle East, and the folks at PayPal MENA have been keeping an eye out on growing e-commerce markets, particulary in the UAE, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia. With PayPal being popular internationally, and PayPal MENA palling up with Qatar National Bank and Aramex, we can safely assume that consumers in the GCC will be setting up their digital wallets very soon. Watch for the continued rise of m-commerce in the Middle East- PayPal MENA is on the ball there as well. PayPal put out their own one-touch payment system in August 2013.

PayFort

PayFort is optimistic that their payment solution will sweep the Middle East, given the fact they take into consideration the lack of credit card ownership in various markets, notably high-populace Egypt. Options like PAYatHOME and PAYatSTORE hope to allow merchants to expand its consumer-base by selling online without a credit card. PayFort hopes to make this happen using alternatives, notably vouchers that are sent via e-mail or SMS. The online payment platform’s focus on the region means that their payment solutions will benefit different markets of the region, whether we’re talking about Cairo or Dubai. Credit card ownership regionally isn’t high as yet, so we predict that PayFort’s services will also be successful outside the GCC.

Telr

Telr‘s vision goes beyond MENA. Co-founder Elias Ghanem, who has work experience with PayPal MENA, PayPal South East Asia and India, and Visa Inc, has established a Telr hub in Singapore, in addition to one in Dubai. The end goal? An efficient payment gateway that is not only multi-lingual but also multi-currency, all while sustaining good cash flow. Ghanem’s ideal alternative to COD transcends borders, hence including South East Asia and certain emerging markets in Africa are in Telr’s scope. Telr has a lot on their plate, but Ghanem and co. are confident that they’ll make a positive impact. The company recently announced Series A funding from iMENA and Hatcher, investing from the Middle East and Singapore.

PayTabs

Funded by Saudi Aramco’s Wa’ed program, PayTabs has also entered the race for the region’s ultimate online payments solution. While founder Abdulaziz Aljouf boasts about their eCommerce API, a plugin that can easily be integrated on any website, there’s more to PayTabs than that. A second feature: PayPage caters to merchants who set up shop on their social media pages; Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and Flickr included.

White Payments

Co-founder Yazin Al-Irhayim was driven to develop White Payments through the flaws of other online payment solutions in the region, particularly the inefficiency and delays. Rather than wait for weeks to be fully integrated into a certain online payment system, it only takes five minutes with White. Perhaps it’s best to go back to the basics, and focus on building an even sturdier foundation. That said, we’ll have to wait and see, given that White Payments is still in its BETA stage, but you might bump into them on Twitter and other social media platforms grilling their competitors.