Sher Value: Arab Media Assets

I have long been attracted to the media, perhaps the fact that having written for newspapers and magazines for over two decades one develops a certain perspective about media. Yet any discussion on business and politics will inevitably talk about the role, and more importantly, the power of the media. In the same stretch there is growing recognition amongst the business circles of the Arab world that being a media player is an important element of business presence. Walk through the aisles of any magazine section and you will be hit by the plethora of magazines, many in Arabic, that are being published from the region. Admittedly there is a huge invasion of fashion and glitter on the magazine stands, and of late business magazines are also making their presence felt.

However, as we all know, or some don't know, its not about just publishing a magazine, its all about distribution, voice, content management and consistency. Why is one magazine better read then the other? What drives content? Who is reading? Who should be reading and the questions can run into a ream of A4 size paper. When we consider the broadsheet papers and then the visual media the media picture and the role of Arab Media in this gets, pardon the pun, fuzzy.

My friends, particularly my American friends, are puzzled that I would recommend Al Jazeera International as a fantastic, and yes independent minded, television channel. A well known journalist friend of mine has been trying to subscribe to it in New York without any luck, given that he is told it's a 'terrorist' channel its impossible for the major content distributors to 'carry' it in their bouquet. Whatever happened to the land of free speech? Anyways, the point being that even a good channel like Al Jazeera, who boast the likes of David Frost and Riz Khan in their stable of anchors, cannot get the distribution into the market where its needed most, USA, then folks we have a problem.

It is interesting that aside from these more profiled issues there is a bigger issue within both the Arab media mind and the world at large. I keep bumping into business folks who want to start a newspaper, yes indeed. Its like they all congregate at some obscure café, drink the same coffee and come out wanting to own the next broadsheet newspaper from the Middle East "which will change the world of media as we know it." But I keep telling them we need to get content right, its not like print and presto you have circulation! I know this may be offensive but can aggregated content be all that good? Where is the journalistic voice from the region? Do I want to read what an editorial view from Baltimore is when I have not established my own editorial view on what is happening in my backyard?

I am all for media expansion, and ofcourse an indigenous media. However, any choreography of such a strategy has to expand to distribution into the US and Europe, and this is always going to be a function of getting some top class content into the paper. The other alternate is to buy the media companies in the West, a strategy that is painfully slow and exorbitantly expensive. For the moment: Improve our media content.

Sher Value: Consumption and Consumerism

I am amazed at the consumerism that surrounds us, in a sense its pervading and encroaching, sometimes resulting in consumption to excess and at others shaping our unique and personal definitions of luxury. Buying a car is as much a necessity as it can end up being a luxury, the difference being the price tag. In contrast buying a number plate for Dh 1.5 million (US$360,000) to put on a car that cost one third of that sort of stretches consumerism to absurd luxury; no different than the fellow who paid US$ 40 million for a 8,000 sq foot apartment in New York. This is where you do not take your cost accountants because they will either jump from the apartment terrace or let the car with the expensive number plate run them over before they can figure out what the whole deal was about.

Expanded onto the global matrix consumption and consumerism are becoming perhaps the crucial linchpins in defining our relationship with our environment over the next century. How are the products we consume produced and how is their production effecting the environment? Who influences our choices of consumerism? What is the role of free choice as opposed to engineered choice (advertising)? Who influences what is produced and how is it produced? Where does necessity stop and luxury begin? How do our material values influence our relationships with other people? How do poorer and wealthier nations adjust their needs and demands in the context of consumerism? Is there going to be a point at which the world will stop and realize that the resource footprint needed to sustain our growth consumerism is just not sufficient?

In that rather benign paragraph are questions that perhaps we need to pin next to our computer screen. These are the questions that will compel us and haunt us over the next few decades because in those moments we will be making decisions that will shape the way the world will be. While there is a tendency to blame over population as the cause of pressure on the resources this is not entirely true as the impact of wanton consumerism is also taking a heavy toll of the resource base.

The impact of this consumerism on the way our children are being brought up is frightening. There is a specific marketing slant that is added in today's marketing that targets the children early enough to convert them into the consumerist mentality. The kids market is huge and products and foods geared only for kids is evidence of this. Consumerism has reached a level where on the one hand obesity is as urgent and issue as tackling global poverty is an issue. Isn't that strange that in this day and age we can take one excess and one deprivation and at both ends of the spectrum have a major problem.

It is time that our global priorities are looked at in a refreshing way. We need to reassess what is essential and what is wasteful, and while some may harness the aid band wagon as a means of redressing necessary and urgent care in continents like Africa, the more important change has to come in structural building blocks being created and inefficiencies removed. However, underlying any attempt to fix what is wrong has to be our approach to consumption and consumerism, without changing that we are caught in a trap where only we are tightening the noose around our own necks.

Sher View: Labor conditions

(the following was posted by me in the G2K forum which is a closed end forum but thought i owuld share it)

I can see the world concern about how workers are being treated in UAE (and Dubai) and its becoming an issue of debate. While at the outset I would say there are a large number of issues concerning this and indeed in a number of labor camps the conditions are deplorable. However, the conclusion that nothing is being done about it by the government is also wrong. I am surprised people who have lived here and been in the region can make sweeping judgments.

I have in my weekly piece for the papers argued that a number of provisions of the labor law need to be changed the most important that would allow workers free movement from job to job without the statutory 6 months ban. ( a provision of the law that is misused alot) and I have also been vocal about bringing in minimum wage regulations. But after 27 years in the region I cannot draw the conclusion that it is a policy of the government to exploit the workers.

The law is very clear on a number of issues and last years inspection of a number of labor camps resulted in fines and even orders to close the camps and make new camps where living conditions are better. There is a government effort I believe to build a massive labor housing colony with all facilities, and the aim will be to close all privately owned labor camps (then the liberals will complain free enterprise is being trodden upon). My guess is that in the next few months companies violating the regulations will be hit hard.

However, I am sure the former Ambassador to the region (this was in response to a comment from a former British ambassador to Kuwait) is aware that a large part of the problem is in the home countries of these workers, where agents, (their kinsmen) charge then exorbitant amounts of money to get them 'selected' for a job in the Gulf. The exploitation is also from the companies who seeking more profits will bring in people at the lowest rate and put them in the worst conditions. I think that the entire chain has to be dealt with and this is what is important.

On a humorous note I am always amused when my Western friends start championing such cases, excellent, considering it took them 150 years to abolish slavery in the US, and for my British friends it was only 61 years back when tea estates owned by British companies in Assam, Ceylon (Sri Lanka) and India employed child labor. (by the India has the largest child labor force in the world and NO LAW enacted against it. As of now there are pending actions against a major confectionery company and a tire company for knowingly allowing child labor in the cocoa and rubber plantations respectively (only on April 15, 2007 a one year extension has been given to remedy the situation).

For the record I am from Pakistan and am all for the campaigns against child labor, and also want exploitation of labor to stop, but lets support those who are bringing change and lets be FAIR. (go after the companies who exploit, not against societies who are trying to change it).

Sher Value: Teach your children well.

Investing in education is investing in our own future, and indeed bringing up our children with the right values is extremely important. This is all the more important when it comes to teaching them business values and become and integral part of the economic scene. A great deal has been done for the education of these young people to learn the practices of business through education however there are some important values that need to be learned in the broader experience of life.

There has been a timely announcement of the Makthoum Foundation for Human Development, which carries to the aim to improve the most important raw material to any business model: PEOPLE. This is where the importance of what I would call "Life Values' become important and how this will integrate into a wider model for the next generation to understand what their responsibility is; the most important of which has to be nurturing of good values.

One matter of concern to me remains the life values that some of the rich and middle class children are being taught or picking up in the country. This is the consumer value as opposed to the productive value that these young men and women are picking up. Let me give you an example.

In many societies the value taught to young adults is that if you want something then earn it. This could mean a part time job or running errands etc. However, when I see 18 year old kids wearing US$ 400 caps that they have bought off their father's credit card it does cause me a problem. These kids are learning to consume before they have learned to produce and I confess that I had the same mentality that if one can afford it then why not give it to the kids. I have changed in that respect by realizing that this is not the way to make business leaders out of the young people.

The position that the country has attained on the world scene is phenomenal considering the short time span in which all this has been achieved. This implies that in the years ahead the attention that the business arena here will receive will be unprecedented, some of this attention may well be unwanted and ofcourse the manner in which the values of the business community will be projected will be crucial. There has to be a concerted effort to bring an awareness into society that the right values are handed down to the next generation of business leaders. I know there is the best of education coming into the system but the values that need to be considered are broader and need awareness from all quarters.

It is important that Dubai is also know for the excellent business values that it brings to the business world and these need to be understood and appreciated by all parties. Perhaps there should be a best practices award for fairness, ethical business behavior and most of all an adherence to business and humanistic values.

Sher Value: The World Under Debate.

Call me a cynic but in my long career of finance and speaking and attending conventions I learned some pretty easy lessons. The more flamboyant the proceedings the chances are little will be done post conference; the longer the speech the less the action, and the list goes on. The World Economic Forum in Jordan, perhaps faces the challenge of not becoming another Davos summit, long on rhetoric and short on delivery. As someone once said that what people carried back from Davos was always a good story.

However, the challenge for the WEF at Jordan is remarkably different; it happens at time when, as clichéd as this may sound, the Middle East, along with the extension to Afghanistan and Pakistan, are perhaps at their fragile worst. While the Gulf States have a great story to tell, and one they must shout out, the proverbial apple cart of good tidings can be upset in one harsh political (or military) tug. While the view from Washington may well be that the issue is primarily of terrorism and democracy, many insiders realize its all about developing the opportunities for the human capital to improve their lot.

If Davos has failed to move beyond being a debating platform where promises were made, and perhaps broken, the WEF at Jordan is taking on the task of making some bold announcements, especially for the region. The test will be to keep these promises as the undernourished and starving are watching the developments, perhaps clearly aware that time is running out. There has to be a political settlement to all, and I mean all, outstanding political issues in the Middle East to allow for any sensible economic model to be rolled out. One cannot have disjointed solutions which can be derailed by political events and the carnage we have seen for the past few years repeated.

While the summit is known as an economic summit, the reality is that the convergence of the different pressures and trends within society, political or social, cannot be cast aside. If there is a message that needs to be put forward is that leaders of the region have to act, enough of sitting back and seeing the dividends of hard work being shoved into a net of inequalities and indifferences. Its time to overhaul the system and as Sh Mohammed bin Rashid stressed, become competitive to survive and grow. There has to be a comprehensive long term strategy that delivers, and delivers effectively. It cannot be any more that a minority of the people share the dividends of growth, and it seems that there is an emerging leadership that is seeing what strategies have to be adopted not tomorrow but for the next 25 years to employ over 70 million odd people. Its time to get real and that is what the summit must stress, and to do that ACT! The soap opera of human development has to end and the hard truth has to be molded for a better future for humankind, failure to do so will mean a catastrophe that will not be easy to comprehend.

Construction Week Article: Completion Schedules

One of the most frequent questions I am asked is what is happening in Dubai and the UAE in terms of all the construction. Yes indeed, I once described Dubai as Las Vegas on steroids (without the gambling). Walk through a construction site, or a project managers office and you will see the sheer magnitude of what is happening. Indeed it would seem that not only it is like its all on construction steroids but indeed a large dose of it.

Then when will all this construction be finished and is it all happening within the time frame that we anticipated?

Here there are a few issues that need to be clearly understood. If you believe the media hype then good for you, in the real world there is a great deal of engineering needed from planning infrastructure all the way up to the build and completion of these projects. You cannot cut and paste a building from the drawing board on the site, (wish it was that easy). The challenge for these projects is the following:

1. Infrastructure: Indeed there is a lot that has been said about this, but from where I sit there is no doubt that the infrastructure capacity exists for the development underway. The issue is getting that infrastructure out to the different and diverse range of projects that are out there. In one sense a large format framework plan has to be agreed with the utility companies covering the next 10 odd years and then projects should be announced.
2. Phasing: When projects are announced the PR machine makes it sound like everything will be built in two to three years, when in reality the project plan is phased over 10 odd years. The result is a set of expectations in the marketplace which are out of sync from the reality from day one.
3. Capacity: If I was to take all the projects announced as of today and plot them against the resource capacity currently available there is no way these projects can be completed within even 5 years. Only those projects who have contracted the resources and locked in the prices have a decent chance to be completed on time.

What this does imply is that over the next few years a number of projects will have to be realistic about their completion schedules and by the sheer weight of market force adjust to this reality. A prominent contractor told me just last week that with all that is planned and under construction the resources do not exist to put it all together in this time frame. When I asked how many more resources are needed, his crisp response was that it would mean tripling the labor force, doubling the plant and equipment and most important have a robust supply chain for building materials that can sustain the build process for a 4 to 5 years building spree.

This is not an easy process especially considering that planners keep announcing new projects which are adding to the pile of ‘to do’ list. There is a way to do all this faster but it will mean compromising on the quality and the delivered product and perhaps in some cases this might already be happening. What is essential to consider is the construction management and the people putting the whole process together. I have seen people with no experience of construction trying to develop very complex and difficult projects with project management budgets that just do not make sense. The end result will be delays as mistakes will be made during the build process.

Looking ahead I do believe that developers will be more realistic about the completion schedules of their projects. I also suspect that developers will announce a wider phasing plan for the projects and confirm completion dates once the project has gone into post contract phase.

Sher Value: The Challenge for RTA

The Road and Trans[port Authority, or RTA as it is fondly called, has managed to be in the news from the word go; not a surprise in a city where perhaps the challenge to private and public transport will remain the number one issue for the next decade and more. Indeed the forward thinking of Dubai has meant the establishment of a separate authority for handling the critical aspects of transport within the city. At the heart of any strategy has to be the positioning of a comprehensive transport system that can carry the massive growth within the Emirate into the next many decades.

The announcement of the Light Railway project, or Metro as it is now known as, is an important aspect of any strategy into the future. However, the strategy has an essential element missing in the transport conundrum; the link to Sharjah and the Northern Emirates. Any analysis of Dubai peak traffic pattern will show that a major portion of the traffic comes through from Sharjah and Ajman into Dubai and onto Jebel Ali. As plans stand now there is no link towards Sharjah this defeating the purpose of a Metro system where it is needed most.

Some may argue that the strategy is that Sharjah residents will drive to the Rashidyia station and then connect to the Dubai Metro system. Nice idea in theory but try and think of someone living at al Khan area in Sharjah; why should this person drive to Al Mulla Plaza then South to Rashidyia to get on to the system? In country where commuters have become lazy expecting a two stop solution for a single route journey will simply not happen. Test it, ask your neighbor to walk 100 meters at four in the afternoon! I rest my case.

The second important element of the RTA strategy is to impose a toll, SALIK, on Sh Zayed Road with the intention that the more commonly frequented entry points onto Sh Zayed Road would be tolled thus moving traffic on to the secondary and tertiary road network. This is a good idea if the alternate exists, but this does not completely make sense if the alternate system is not up and running. I would imagine that once Dubai Metro was functioning on Sh Zayed road then it makes perfect sense to have a toll to reduce the number of cars on the road, but in the present circumstances its just a license to print money.

There is no denying that the job before the RTA is a gigantic one but it must consider some assistance from the private sector and allow some secondary mass transport solutions to be made from the private sector. This could be in the form of connecting load lines of APM systems and other light mass transport connections that assist the RTA. Once the entire system is in place then by all means we can consider the introduction of a toll on any particular road. Till then, my advice for whatever it is worth, hold back.