Corporate Governance in MENA 2013
Fascinated by the wave of international fraud cases I’ve been reading about in the international papers lately, I penned this article on Corporate Governance in the Middle East 2013…I would love to get your feedback.
I am delighted to announce that Magnolia Bakery has arrived in Doha! This is part of a spate of hip, American food brands opening up in the Middle East. More on this shortly.
I’ve had the good fortune to visit Qatar several times over the last couple of years. Qatar, a small peninsula located in the Persian Gulf is a place where no dream is too big or too small. This is a place with a whole new approach to living and business development, with the fastest growing human development in the world. Over a period of about 6 years the population has climbed to approximately 1.6 million people of which one million plus are expatriates.
Doha is the capital of Qatar and was, until about 7 years ago or so, a barren desert. With its terrific weather, shiny new commercial and residential buildings, hi-end shops and 5-star restaurants, the lifestyle doesn’t lack for anything. But, several years go, few people, if any, had ever heard of Qatar. These days, however, the story is different; Qatar is on the tip of everyone’s tongue. From banking and satellites, to education and environment, Qatar is gaining speed to insight. The mindset is about developing its people, getting them up to speed academically and commercially, as well as preparing the country to be ready to host its first FIFA World Cup in 2022, a first for the Middle East.
Devising a winning strategy is always a challenge. It takes planning, innovation, massive action and execution, and the country’s future depends on it. In 2013, Doha is a modern and rapidly evolving city and, considering the huge amount of money poured into construction, Doha looks set to become one of the premier cities in the Gulf. From Al Jazeera TV to the finance and banking centers, and the American Universities, soon to include Harvard Law School, one cannot resist asking the following questions:
Today a leadership shortage is impacting not just the world’s largest corporations but also many of the world’s nations. When driving around Doha, I noticed huge placards saying “Support Qatar’s 2030 Vision” which, in my opinion, tells the story — one that says that they are all about identifying future leaders, educating them, offering them unique opportunities, as well as providing think-tank opportunities. His Excellency, Sheikh Hamad, in walking his talk, is showing the young people that Qatar is not taking a back seat, but rather leading by example, by showing them the importance of a “Just Do It” approach as they strive to set themselves up to rank among future global leaders.
Today, everything is possible in Qatar. Equal opportunity for education and achievement of goals abound. It’s a dynamic market where partnerships between business, government and academia are resulting in unprecedented breakthroughs and discoveries, and where “A” players gather around the boardroom table. This focus on co-creation – the bringing together of great minds, great thought, creativity, connection, and communication to move this small country into the mindset of global community – is why the possibilities in Qatar are exciting beyond measure.
Mary Shakun is a Leadership and Mindset Coach. Mary lives in New York and is the founder of MillionDollarBoardroom, and Journey to Absolute Freedom. Mary is also a Catalyst with TheCoCreationCommunity.com and conversation radio host at www.co-creationstation.com.
Qatar, a small peninsula off the East Coast of Felix Arabia, the rising star of the Persian Gulf, hosted its biggest conference ever, COP18 (“COP” stands for Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)) and Gulf Sustainability Expo from November 26th to December 7th, 2012. COP18 gathered around 20,000 visitors, including 17,000 delegates from 194 countries and 1,500 journalists, on the small peninsula. While COP18 and the simultaneous Sustainability Expo highlighted climate change and other environmental issues throughout its 10-day duration, the world witnessed the impact of climate change in action as a typhoon raged through the Philippines and a 7.3 earthquake hit Japan. Though it is the first time Doha hosted COP, environmentalism and environmental issues are not new topics in the GCC and the greater Middle East.
Progress arrived late and moved quickly in the GCC. Old pictures on the Internet dating from the 1980s and 1990s of Dubai, Doha and Manama show just how underdeveloped these cities were not so long a ago. It is a tribute to the GCC leaders’ respective visions and ability to implement such visions that the GCC (the six Gulf Cooperation States – Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Yemen – in and around the Persian Gulf, aka the “Arabian Gulf” depending on who is speaking, or simply the “Gulf” or “Khalij” in Arabic) has grown so quickly and impressively. Buildings, neighborhoods and whole cities have sprung up like mushrooms everywhere. As recently as 8 years ago, entire neighborhoods in various parts of the GCC were either desert or sea.
Speed-of-light progress and growth have impacted the environment (e.g., high consumption of energy to both air condition buildings and to desalinate water, and air and water pollution). Quoting The Living Planet Report 2010 in their 2011 article on “The Role of NGOs in Tackling Environmental Issues”, Razan Al Mubarak and Tanzeed Alam concluded that, because UAE, Qatar and Kuwait were “three of the top ten ranked countries in the world in terms of their Ecological Footprint per capita”, if the rest of the world consumed at that rate, “you would need six planet earths to sustain that level of consumption, which is four times the world average.” Thankfully, awareness on all levels of society of the need to conserve resources and protect the environment is growing. A recent advertisement campaign in Doha asked residents to turn the air conditioning off before leaving the house. Qatar established the Qatar National Food Security Program, which set itself the goal in 2012 to reclaim salty land so that 40% of its food supply comes from within Qatar. In April 2012, Qatar Foundation International launched the Youth Ambassadors for Science & the Environment (YASE) to help train future environmentalists.
Land reclamation projects in the Middle East, which is common in the Gulf and started in Egypt in the early 1950s, pose a threat to the aquatic environment. Much of Bahrain’s “center” is reclaimed: Bab Al Bahrain, (Arabic for “Gateway to Bahrain”), the entrance to the Manama Souq, used to be on the Persian Gulf (which is now a 10-minute walk away); the Gulf Hotel, which used to have a beach, is now landlocked; and, Bahrain Financial Harbour, a huge commercial center in Manama, and Amwaj Island, a large residential area near the airport, emerged from the sea like Atlantis resurfacing. Abu Dhabi built Saadiyat, or “Happiness”, Island, a 27 square km multi-faceted project on reclaimed land, 500 meters off the coast of Abu Dhabi. In Dubai, the Palm Islands, the World Islands, the Dubai Marina Burg Al Arab are among the most famous land reclamation projects in the UAE. Kuwait, Oman and Qatar (The Pearl, West Bay) and Saudi Arabia have all reclaimed land for construction projects. In Bahrain, a debate raged about whether the reclamation destroyed the coral reefs or if it they were already dead pre-reclamation. Similar concerns arose in Saudi Arabia about the impact of reclamation projects on aquatic life and mangrove trees on both in Jeddah on the Red Sea and in the Eastern Provinces of Saudi Arabia. The concern reached to the point where, a few years ago, an fisherman’s association protested and successfully halted a reclamation project on the beach in Tarut in Eastern Saudi Arabia.
Bahrain, which means “Two Seas” – the reasons for which are debated, was once known as the “land of one million palm trees” but trees are dwindling by comparison apparently because of the oil drilling techniques that sacrificed the underground sweet water sea that nourished the trees. Bahraini fishermen also suffered from the effects of land reclamation and seabed dredging that reduced fish numbers and negatively impacting the industry. To bring green to the desert, the Bahraini government launched a “Plant a Palm Tree” drive in 2010 to plant a palm tree in every home.
Being one of the hottest regions in the world, it is logical that the GCC has been the home to some of the world’s most exciting renewable energy projects on macro and micro levels. Masdar, established in 2006 in Abu Dhabi, UAE, is a renewable energy project par excellence, whose aim is to “transform the way we think about power generation, distribution and consumption” by developing the renewable energy and sustainable technology industries. In 2012, Masdar sponsored solar energy programs in Tonga, Afghanistan and Mauritania. In September 2012, Masdar’s temporary one-year project “Sustainable Energy for All” became a permanent organization.
Reuters recently published an article online entitled “Gas rich Qatar to invest up to US$20 billion in solar energy plant.” The plant is due to be completed in 2018. Furthering Sultan Qaboos’s 2020 Vision to Oman’s Ministry of Environment and Climate Affairs, Oman is hosting the Gulf Eco Conference and Expo 2013. The Omani conference will focus on clean energy future, specifically regulations and policy on renewable energy, finance and investment on renewal energy projects, solutions to energy challenges and climate change, and waste management and recycling. Abu Dhabi will host Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week 2013 drawing 30,000 participants from 150 countries from 13 to 17 January 2013.
The environment is not just a governmental concern in the Middle East; it is also a private concern with small businesses and consultancies established with the environment and sustainability in mind against the backdrop of environmental challenges, ranging from pollution, lost arable land, desertification and increased salt in the soil damaging crop yields and marine pollution. Access to fresh water is problematic throughout the Middle East. Lack of farmland in the GCC has the GCC investing heavily in farms in more fecund countries overseas. Commercial initiatives have also been on the rise. In many Middle Eastern countries, including Egypt, sustainability projects on both the grassroots and commercial levels are becoming more prevalent. In Egypt, the Mokattam Recycling School, run by a local non-profit organization in partnership with Proctor & Gamble, is a project that engaged poor youth to recycle shampoo bottles thereby averting counterfeiting. Each day, Cairo produces 14,000 tons of waste, 8,000 tons of which is collected by a self-funded group of Cairenes, known as the “Zabaleen.” The impoverished Zabaleen (now the subject of a documentary with the same name: http://zabaleen.wordpress.com/collect), sort, recycle or dispose of the waste and have thus become accidental environmentalists.
Recycling is on the rise in the Middle East. In Bahrain, Recycling for Charity is a company that does what its name implies and, although its recycling bins dot Bahrain, there is still a question mark over where the recyclables go once they are picked up. Doha’s cultural village, Katara, also promotes recycling by providing separate bins for glass, paper and plastic.
Sustainability is the overarching theme of “Rafea: Solar Mama”, directed by Mona Eldaief, a riveting and dramatic documentary that was shown both at Doha Tribeca Film Festival in November 2012 and which opened COP18. It is a true story of Rafea, one of two Jordanian Bedouin women who are chosen to participate in an initiative sponsored by the Jordanian Ministry of the Environment to attend a 6-month program at the Barefoot College in India to study to become solar engineers. Despite oppressive traditionalism, an obstructive husband and demanding children, Rafea perseveres, determined to work and improve her life. Upon returning, the two women installed solar power in about 80 homes in their village. The Sahara Forest Project (http://saharaforestproject.com/), in Qatar and Jordan, uses what the Middle East has a lot of (desert, sun, seawater and carbon) to make energy and food.
3BL (“Triple Bottom Line”) Associates in Bahrain is a social impact and sustainability consultancy and “think-do-tank” that focuses on sustainable and regenerative development in the Middle East. Reem Al Khalifa’s GreenBar Inc. (http://www.greenbarinc.com/), which sells all natural botanical oils, is another example of environmentally friendly businesses coming out of the GCC. Environmental consultancies are growing in number in the Middle East as governmental and popular concern rises. Companies, like Starbucks, run “beach cleaning” days on a regular basis.
Though most (not all) GCC countries are oil rich, alternative energies are being explored in the region. Dr. Hanan Mubarak Buflasa recently published her book on “The Effect of Wind Power in the Production and Distribution of Electricity in Bahrain.” During the Qatar Sustainability Expo last week, Mohamed bin Abdullah Al-Attiyah, chairman of the National Campaign for Ideal Behaviour launched The Million Trees Campaign. First Solar, a company that builds thin-solar panels, plans to open a Middle East Office in Dubai to help tap regional market and won an order to build the first 13MW of Dubai’s 1GW solar array.
Unfortunately, as many parts of the Middle East still dealing with the impact of the Arab Spring and its aftermath, the environment is the last priority, although most countries have environmental laws and policies in place and some have signed international environmental treaties. Corruption, poverty and political unrest in Egypt, for example, renders the environment a low priority. In the more peaceful and comparatively politically stable GCC, there is a fine balance between rapid progress and protecting the environment. Although COP18 has now concluded, the extension of the Kyoto protocol to 2020 is encouraging, as is the increasing awareness and continual shift in consciousness on the popular level in the GCC towards a healthier environment and sustainable future.
Once a year, practising Muslims all around the world embark on possibly one of the hardest but equally rewarding missions required by Islam: Ramadan. Ramadan, which has its root in the word meaning “scorching heat” or “dryness”, is also known as the Holy Month of Ramadan, and is a full month (about 29 or 30 days) of all out fasting during the daylight hours. Fasting constitutes one of the five pillars of Islam. The other four pillars are: (i) proclaiming the faith; (ii) prayer; (iii) almsgiving; and, finally, (iv) pilgrimage to the Holy City of Mecca in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, or “Hajj”. Ramadan, which takes place in the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, commences a day or so after the astronomical new moon and is called “Hilal” (crescent moon). It is an intensely spiritual month requiring Muslims to abstain from food, drink (including water), cigarettes and sexual relations while focusing on prayer, self-reflection and moving closer to God. Only the young, the old and the infirm are exempt from fasting. Menstruating women are exempt but have to make up the days after Ramadan.
What does Ramadan mean in practise? Unlike in the largely secular Western World where religious holiday are predominantly optional, the observation of Ramadan is adhered to and strictly enforced throughout the Middle East and North Africa, including the GCC. During the day, all restaurants and coffee shops shut down, except in five-star hotels that cater to expats. Nonetheless, operational restaurants and coffee shops, normally in five-star hotels, are then hidden behind makeshift curtains or room dividers to hide the non-fasting from the rest of the fasting world. Eating, drinking and smoking in public becomes a punishable crime warranting a fine and/or jail time.
Muslims’ daily life turns upside down. Since eating and drinking is forbidden during the day, nightlife intensifies. The day starts before dawn with a small meal and morning prayers. Typically, working hours during Ramadan are shortened to six hours per day. Work can come to a near standstill, becoming sluggish, in many industries. With working hours shortened, availability of employees and potential clients is reduced. Setting up meetings should be done earlier in the day as fasting takes its toll on employees and long drawn-out meetings later in the afternoon at the end of a long fasting stint are likely to be unproductive if they happen at all. In the public sector this can mean the work day is 7am to 1pm, 8am to 2 pm, etc. Public services, like banks, are open for fewer hours and consequently their services can be adversely affected with transactions that normally take three days taking more than three weeks or longer.
Fasting ends at sundown. Driving on the roads for the hour before “Iftar” or “Breakfast” can be more nerve-wracking than usual with fasting drivers speeding home to eat for the first time since before dawn or even the night before. Many hotels and restaurants offer “Iftars”, typically a buffet including sweet drinks to boost the blood sugar and a variety of food, depending on the restaurant. Smokers also find their relief. While Iftars are geared towards Muslims breaking their fasts, many expats participate in the ritual and attend Iftars at restaurants. Anyone looking for a glass of wine or beer with their Iftar will be sorely disappointed and most countries go 100% “dry” during Ramadan – a glass of karakade (rosehip tea) or Tamer Hindy (a sweet and sour tamarind drink) will be on offer. Typically, many employers, businesses and service providers (i.e., law firms), will host Iftars to provide a social setting in which they get to know their employees or clients in a more relaxed environment. “Suhoor” (meaning “of the dawn” in Arabic) is the pre-dawn meal. Many restaurants and hotels host Suhoor buffets and Suhoor is another meal that business people exploit for business purposes as it runs from 8pm till late. Expat businesses that are trying to break into the Middle Eastern/GCC market will often host an Iftar and/or Suhoor to both access their clients or potential clients and to do business in a more social setting, which is the Middle Eastern approach to doing business in large part. Relationship building is key and takes time and effort and, usually, the avoidance of “shop talk” until the relationship is on solid ground and mutual trust is earned.
When, after the lunar cycle of the Islamic calendar month is complete, Ramadan ends and Eid Al Fitr begins, which heralds the end of fasting upon the sighting of the next crescent moon. Businesses, both national and expat, send out Eid greetings – “Eid Mubarak” (or, Happy Eid) being the most common salutation. The Eid Al Fitr holiday can last anywhere from 3 to 10 days depending on the country and is akin to the Western Christmas holidays with people getting new clothes and shoes and generally celebrating. In Doha, depending on the nature of the business, Eid will last until August 22nd or August 27th, with many people taking the 23rd and the 24th of August off to complete the week and take a short break.
Normal life recommences after Eid Al Fitr until the next Eid, Eid Al Adha, that commemorates Abrahim/Ibrahim’s willingness to slaughter his son Ishmael/Ismail as an act of obedience to God and is absolved of this requirement when he shows his willingness to do it so that God told him to slaughter a sheep instead. Eid Al Adha, which is known as the “Eid of Sacrifice”, takes place on the 10th, 11th and 12th days of the 12th Islamic month.
Living, working and/or doing business in the Middle East requires a basic understanding of Ramadan and sensitivity towards practising Muslims who are fasting during the daylight hours. That is not to say that all Arabs who are Muslims fast and it is not unlikely to see Arabs eating, drinking and smoking in the restaurants in five-star hotels along with expats. This is a minority, however, and it is better to err on the side of caution in terms of respecting Ramadan by obeying the rules. With a little open-mindedness, curiosity and respect, Ramadan can be an interesting cultural experience for expats, who, even if not fasting, will be sure to learn more patience and self-restraint, alongside their Muslim counterparts.
Eid Mubarak!
It has been a while since I posted anything on this blog. The main reason for this is because I was – like the rest of the world – arrested by the dramatic revolutions erupting throughout the Middle East. We have been witnessing a significant part of the Middle East demand change on an unprecedented scale. Countless lives have been lost all in the name of the right to live in accordance to universally understood principles of human rights, personal freedom and dignity. This article is not going to be an analysis of Middle Eastern politics since January 2011. Rather, I wish to address an alarming attitude among some expats whom I continue to encounter throughout the Middle East that, despite the violent revolutions that persist to this day in the name of humanity and the desire for basic human rights.
The other day, on a social outing, someone, who happens to be from the UK, told me a “joke” which was in fact racist and distasteful. The joke harks back to outmoded “supremacist colonialist” attitudes of disdain and intolerance that are no longer relevant since the British Empire dissolved in the last century.
The Arab world is renowned for its hospitality and welcoming attitudes towards foreigners. As I’ve written before, it’s different in the Middle East, not better or worse, but different. Working in the Middle East is full of its challenges, but so is working anywhere in the world. Working life is difficult, that’s the reality. However, when living as an expat in a country that is as different as the Middle East is from other countries, it behooves us, as expats, to be respectful of the host country, its society, culture and values. Otherwise, go home because you are not only making yourself look bad you are making other expats who are respectful, tolerant and interested in the local culture and society a bad name. And the whole purpose of having an enlightening adventure abroad (i.e., to broaden your mind and make you more respectful and tolerant of others) is lost on you and will never be found.
The irony is that most of the Middle Eastern countries make expat living possible in a variety of ways so that expats can have the best of both worlds – the amenities and freedoms of the West coupled with a tax-free salary and a extraordinary working experience that in most instances make the expat even more employable when they return home. Is it too much to ask that you respect the country that is hosting you?
Another irony is that most people in the West expect immigrants to adapt to the Western way of life and learn the language. Some countries even go so far as to refuse to allow certain immigrants to dress as they like (viz. France’s intolerance of the “hijab” and “niqab” to the extent that they have criminalized it.) There are people who have been living in the Middle East for nearly thirty years who refuse to make an effort to learn the language – if I met someone who had been living in New York City, where I am from, who had lived there for thirty years but didn’t speak English, I would find this downright odd. I can only imagine what the response would be in the UK or in Continental Europe if immigrants didn’t learn the language.
Adaption is necessary and a means of survival. More importantly than that, adapting to one’s new surroundings guarantees a more interesting and enjoyable experience.
In a business context, doing business in the Middle East requires taking the time to build relationships and relationships cannot be built on a basis of intolerance, disrespect, disdain and a belief in your own cultural superiority.
As someone who has lived in the Middle East for more than seven years and who is also half Arab, I always caution people to leave the judgements and prejudices at home. I also caution people to think about who they are talking to before they speak. There is never anything funny about a racist joke.
For the record, the joke was “What’s the difference between an expat and a racist?” The punchline was: “Six months”.
I was aghast. I refrained from asking him why he stays in the GCC living an expat life when he has a choice to leave and go back home to the UK. I decided to blog about it instead.
It has been a while since I posted anything on this blog. The main reason for this is because I was – like the rest of the world – arrested by the dramatic revolutions erupting throughout the Middle East. We have been witnessing a significant part of the Middle East demand change on an unprecedented scale. Countless lives have been lost all in the name of the right to live in accordance to universally understood principles of human rights, personal freedom and dignity. This article is not going to be an analysis of Middle Eastern politics since January 2011. Rather, I wish to address an alarming attitude among some expats whom I continue to encounter throughout the Middle East that, despite the violent revolutions that persist to this day in the name of humanity and the desire for basic human rights.
The other day, on a social outing, someone, who happens to be from the UK, told me a “joke” which was in fact racist and distasteful. The joke harks back to outmoded “supremacist colonialist” attitudes of disdain and intolerance that are no longer relevant since the British Empire dissolved in the last century.
The Arab world is renowned for its hospitality and welcoming attitudes towards foreigners. As I’ve written before, it’s different in the Middle East, not better or worse, but different. Working in the Middle East is full of its challenges, but so is working anywhere in the world. Working life is difficult, that’s the reality. However, when living as an expat in a country that is as different as the Middle East is from other countries, it behooves us, as expats, to be respectful of the host country, its society, culture and values. Otherwise, go home because you are not only making yourself look bad, but you are giving other expats who are respectful, tolerant and interested in the local culture and society a bad name. And the whole purpose of having an enlightening adventure abroad (i.e., to broaden your mind and make you more respectful and tolerant of others) is lost on you and will never be found.
The irony is that most of the Middle Eastern countries make expat living possible in a variety of ways so that expats can have the best of both worlds – the amenities and freedoms of the West coupled with a tax-free salary and a extraordinary working experience that in most instances make the expat even more employable when they return home. Is it too much to respect the country that is hosting you?
Another irony is that most people in the West expect immigrants to adapt to the Western way of life and learn the language. Some countries even go so far as to refuse to allow certain immigrants to dress as they like (viz. France’s intolerance of the “hijab” and “niqab” to the extent that they have criminalized it.) There are people who have been living in the Middle East for nearly thirty years who refuse to make an effort to learn the language – if I met someone who had been living in New York City, where I am from, for thirty years but didn’t speak English, I would find this downright odd. I can only imagine what the response would be in the UK or in Continental Europe if immigrants didn’t learn the language.
Adaption is necessary and a means of survival. More importantly than that, adapting to one’s new surroundings guarantees a more interesting and enjoyable experience.
In a business context, doing business in the Middle East requires taking the time to build relationships and relationships cannot be built on a basis of intolerance, disrespect, disdain and a belief in your own cultural superiority.
As someone who has lived in the Middle East for more than seven years and who is also half Arab, I always caution people to leave the judgements and prejudices at home. I also caution people to think about who they are talking to before they speak. There is never anything funny about a racist joke.
For the record, the joke was “What’s the difference between an expat and a racist?” The punchline was: “Six months”.
I was aghast. I refrained from asking him why he stays in the GCC living an expat life when he has a choice to leave and go back home to the UK. I decided to blog about it instead. I would say this to anyone no matter where they come from: go abroad with an open mind, patience and flexible attitudes and leave your prejudices behind. As Dorothy said to Toto in the Wizard of Oz, “We’re not in Kansas anymore”.
Doing Business in the Middle East & Doing Business in the Middle East Boot Camp™ 