Banks are no longer giving out loans, in sharp contrast to the ridiculous handouts that went on until a few months ago. The UAE government itself may be flush with cash and able to get through the credit crunch, but it is made up of multinationals and SME’s. Multi-nationals are shrinking their budgets and shutting down anything that is not absolutely necessary. SME’s in turn rely on the multinationals thriving. So, unless your business is strictly with the government, you are screwed.

The next 6 months or so will see a lot of companies shut down. Cashflow management becomes paramount for survival. If you have cash, don’t spend it until you absolutely have to. Rest assured, your clients are doing the same. It all trickles down of course. The first to feel it will be the employees whose salaries will be late. Some will no longer have a job to get a salary from.

The future looks gloomy. Let’s hope we get through it with a few scars, no more.

I have tried incentives, but they were only abused. So, it is time to do it the way all my former employers have done. Ruling by fear. This is what we did:

Every employee has been given a specific set of tasks to complete within the day. We then attempted to perform those tasks within the allotted time (and done so with ease). Continued to do so for a few days to see if it’s fair to demand they are completed by the end of the working day.

Then the rules came! Tasks must be completed by a pre-defined time period. Failure to complete tasks as designed will result in a combination of warnings and a pay dock. Repeated offenders will be terminated. End of story.

What happens next is the rebellion. You will have the group of people who will challenge you and refuse to perform. Most of the employees will do so until they get their first warning in writing. You may have a minority who completely refuse to comply. Well, let them go! They are obviously not doing what you hired them to do.

While docking an employee’s pay’s ethics could be debated in Western societies, it is a completely legitimate form of punishment here. The Labor Law of the UAE even has a systematic way of docking pay for ‘talking during work’ if it affects performance. I always thought it was a counter-productive way of doing things, but employees seem to respond better to punishment than they were to reward.

Please note that this works for mundane type of work (e.g. call centers, survey takers, etc.). In other words, if your company does creative work, you probably don’t want to do this. However, if you have an army of employees whose tasks are mundane and routine (think: factory), then this is a recipe I would recommend.

When in the Middle East, manage like a dictator.

In this HOWTO, I will try to provide you with some options and solutions.

Domain names

Should be easy to type

You will need an Internet domain name (company.com, etc.). You will need it for your website and your email addresses. No, using user23902@emirates.net.ae is not going to reflect well on your company. You need your own independent domain.

Domain names are a good way to filter already taken names. It is extremely difficult to find easy to type and remember names that are still available. Don’t limit yourself to .com’s. Look into .ae (or your respective country’s TLD).

Also, you will need to consider how easy/difficult it is to find through a search. In other words, refrain from the use of generic names (’The Restaurant’ for a restaurant is an extreme but good example). If people search for your company’s name and get things that are most likely to be ranked higher by the search engine than your company, avoid it like the plague.

Arabic vs. English names

There is a tendency to use English names because they sound more professional. Here’s a hint: they’re not. They were perceived as such in the past, but there is a trend now where people are actually appreciating names and companies that are true to their roots (e.g. Bayt.com, Maktoob, Emaar, etc. are examples of Arabic names that stuck well with the public).

There is always the risk of having dual meanings, as transliterating could end up with an unintentional effect. Recently, twffaha.com (a women only recruiting site) was criticized for their name sounding like ‘tafaha’ (a word meaning silliness or similar). The ‘w’ in the name is meant to act as a ‘u’ or ‘o’. dwwen.com is also another potentially confusing use of letters.

If you build a strong brand, these confusing elements could be overcome and should not be a reason to not use a name. However, you should be aware that they will make things more difficult.

Company name acronyms and initials

Acronyms can be confusing

Avoid using initials as much as possible. The problem with such names is that it doesn’t say much about the company. It has no personality. If the acronym or initial actually carried a meaning, it would be far more acceptable. You can also see companies not using their real license names and opting for a brand (e.g. Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company is known as ‘du’).

There are very few instances where such a name is acceptable — and that is when your own customers start abbreviating your company name. That is, it becomes better known under an unofficial name. You may then consider a ‘rename’.

Talk to friends and family

Ask people how they feel about the name. You would be surprised how people feel about things like names. A name that brings strong feelings (either dislike or like) is one that you would want to keep on your shortlist. Getting emotional responses for a name is always good. It makes it memorable.

Your friends and family are your cheapest and (hopefully) most honest market research.

Register your name

Registering your trademark is more important than you think. A dispute could very possibly occur and without such registration and you are going to be left in the dark. Do the same for your logo and device (most logos have a drawing next to the actual written name, that’s the device). You may want to read the Trademark registration FAQ.

Dr. Maitha Al Shamsi

The National ran a story about the UAE’s claim of donating 3.6% of GNP to charity. Sir John Holmes rejected these claims and labeled them ‘dubious’. Arabianbusiness.com did their own calculations and came up with $5.87 billion as a possible figure to represent the 3.6% claimed by Dr Maitha al Shamsi, UAE’s minister of state.

In the 70’s, rich nations promised to contribute 0.7% of their GNP to foreign aid (which would cover humanitarian causes and some more). This agreement has never come to life. You can see read more about this here.

The UAE’s minister is either misinformed or counting things that others would not normally count as humanitarian aid. You either don’t make wild claims and continue to contribute to humanitarian causes because you genuinely care.. or make your contributions transparent and accountable. Making wild claims like this only discredits all the actual good work being done.

More businesses are outsourcing

If there is a recurrent theme in the UAE (and the Gulf in general), it is the spiraling rise in the cost of living. Inflation is getting to highly dangerous levels, despite the economy doing considerably better than its Western counterparts. While one can blame the US dollar peg, construction boom, outright greed and an endless list of grievances, the bottom line is this: it is more challenging to compete in the current environment. Outsourcing is a very real option.

The Regional Consumer Confidence Index report for February 2008 shows a slight improvement in the UAE, but employees still feel that their salaries are not keeping up with the inflation and cost of living. So, as a business, you will have very few options: match the perceived increase in cost (satisfaction levels will still remain low), increase your salaries substantially (in turn, you will have to increase the prices of your own goods and services) or outsource.

50% of respondents in the UAE felt salaries had not kept pace with the cost of living though the tone was largely positive. - Regional Consumer Confidence Index // Feb 2008

Outsourcing is not for big corporations only. You don’t have to need call centers to start outsourcing. You will have to identify the aspects of your business that don’t require face-to-face interactions and setup systems to oversee and coordinate with telecommuters. Once you have done that, you will need to find the right places to go to for talent.

There are several aspects you will want to look into:

• Education level
• Available infrastructure
• Economic situation
• Political stability

Dubai Outsource Zone

A good starting point could be something like the Best Arab City report. Start from the bottom and work your way up to find your perfect city to outsource to. For example, Lebanon offers some great multi-lingual talent, but their poor infrastructure and political instability could be problematic for time critical missions. However, due to their current economic situation, you could be getting the best value for your money. Jordan on the other hand has a good infrastructure and a computer-competent workforce.

I wouldn’t give in to the hype put around the Dubai Outsource Zone. Dubai would have to do a lot more to curtail the cost of living and doing business if it were to attract companies serious about remaining competitive. You can’t be a glamorous brand name and a cost-cutting destination at the same time.

Of course, you could give up on all of them and head to a place like eLance for your outsourcing needs. This is obviously the poor man’s alternative to setting up an offshore office. It can be very cost-effective and rewarding as long as proper systems are put in place to manage a geographically distributed team of employees.

RTA provides little incentive

Today’s The National frontpage has an upbeat headline reading, Carpools win approval in war on congestion. This is a rather odd headline, seeing that carpooling will happen whether it gets a governmental approval or not. If people can afford to drive their own cars, they will. If they can’t, they will find alternatives such as carpooling.

Perhaps what is odd about this in particular, is that the government is not providing any incentive to register. Motorists are fined AED 5,000 for allegedly running illegal taxis.
Khalid Mohammed Hashim, a director at the RTA says that this only happens when it is glaringly obvious there is an illegal taxi operation going on. Someone apparently waits for money to change hands before issuing a fine.

So, if that is the case, why would I bother to register then? If I were carpooling with a colleague from work, why would I want to register? I am not going to be fined, since there is no financial transaction (at least, not one we would have to conclude in public). I also don’t get anything from the government for doing it. Government incentives such as the State of New Jersey’s Ridesharing program makes sense. I register, I get my petrol subsidized. There is an incentive.

As long as the incentive in the UAE continues to be, “avoid getting wrongfully fined”, this is not a program that is going to work. I wouldn’t be too quick to hail this as a groundbreaking achievement.

Deyaar has been in the media recently with a news item that raised many eyebrows. Deyaar’s CEO, Zack Shahin resigned over alleged embezzlement. The tone has for the most part been that Zack Shahin is guilty, before a case has even made it to court. The police has apparently extended Zack’s detention for another 30 days. Several arrests are made and now Deyaar’s Nasser Bin Hassan Al-Shaikh says, “From the looks of it, it will go to court, we have enough evidence to take it to court.” in an interview with Bloomberg at the World Economic Forum in Egypt.

For those who have not had the privilege of being introduced to Dubai’s legal system, almost anything and everything is enough to go to court. The more complicated a case is, the more likely it will go to court. The Public Prosecution is simply a bureaucratic step before the inevitable court date. Nothing to be particularly excited about.

I know very little about the details of the case, but I thought it would be worth pointing out that we should always assume the accused is innocent until proven guilty — opposite of the legal system (and the media).

It is also interesting to see that Deyaar’s website has nothing to say about this case.

Bayt.com - engineering racism

I have always been a fan of Internet-based companies in the region. I also understand the general frustration that stems from the seeming unfair compensation packages offered to people of different nationalities. While I maintain that this is strictly an exercise of providing incentives to leave one’s home country, I was rather disappointed to find Bayt.com add an option for employers to specify nationalities accepted for positions.

Why would you encourage such practice? That is indeed a sad thing.