Building a Business in the Arab World

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The Wall Street Journal talks with Aramex co-founder Fadi Ghandou about expanding into the Arab world.  Here's one of the questions addressed.

WSJ: How important is it for new companies starting out to think regionally—or even globally?
 
Mr. Ghandour: You need to think of the neighborhood. How do I sell my product or services? The Levant (Lebanon, Syria and Jordan) and the GCC (the Gulf Cooperation Council, which comprises Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates) are a must [for companies in the region]. You can't scale up unless these markets open. Eventually, going global is another story altogether. It takes more time and capital

Read the entire interview here.

Here's another good article on doing business in the Middle East and this one involves the Cheesecake Factory.

English the Language of Choice in Dubai?

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Erin Burnett shares experience in visiting the American University in Dubai:  Mohammed Bin Rashid School of Communication.

According to Burnett, English is fast becoming the only language of a new generation of educated Arabs.

Literacy in the Gulf States is 98%, according to Unesco. But that literacy is increasingly in English, not Arabic.

Read the entire article here.

International Footprints Matter

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Have you considered forming a strategic alliance to take your business global?

Maybe you should consider what the Arab World is doing: 30 to 40 per cent of family businesses have an international footprint or are in the process of going global. There is a trend of acquiring or entering into strategic alliances to accomplish the "go global" goal. There's also reference to a term called "open innovation concept."

Read it for yourself here.