BUSINESS GROWTH <<< Howard Gaunt, Executive Vice President and Head Business Banking Group, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank Howard is responsible for the strategic development and end-to-end management of the Commercial (SME) and Corporate (TTLC) businesses for ADBC. He has very successfully created and managed a bank-wide problem WELCOME NOTES SME SUCCESS SERIES SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES HAVE HAD IT TOUGH, BALANCING BETWEEN LIMITED RESOURCES AND MAKING INVESTMENTS TO HELP GROW THEIR BUSINESS. WITH THIS IN MIND WE HAVE DECIDED TO LAUNCH A SERIES OF ROAD SHOWS ACROSS VARIOUS EMIRATES FOCUSING ON PROVIDING BUSINESSES WITH INFORMATION ON WHAT CAN BE DONE AND THE BEST ROUTE FORWARD. MIKE BYRNE BRINGS YOU THE HIGHLIGHTS OF THE FIRST SHOW, PRESENTED BY ADCB AND SUPPORTED BY THE DIC. loan committee and achieved lowest non-performing loans to total loan book ratio in the bank’s history. Howard has extensive experience in catering for and meeting the needs of SMEs with past employment at Citibank in North America and Europe and with Samba Financial Group, KSA. During his address Howard stressed the importance of An Agency of the Department of Economic Development Government of Dubai ADCB AND SME ADVISOR PRESENT Howard Gaunt, Executive Vice President and Head Business Banking Group, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank Business growth road show, Dubai Location: Thuraya Hall, Building 3, Dubai Internet City Date: 27 th October 2010 • Workshops: Financing growth, Management and HR - recovering and planning for the next stage of growth Labour Laws in the time of the economic ups and downs Protecting trademarks and intellectual property • Panel discussion Challenges and opportunities • One-on-one consultations Majed Al Suwaidi, Director, Business Development, Head of Sales and Partner Relations, Dubai Internet City and Dubai Outsource Zone 44 SME ADVISOR MIDDLE EAST NOVEMBER 2010
Transcript
business GroWth <<<
Howard Gaunt, Executive Vice President and Head Business Banking Group, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank Howard is responsible for the strategic development and end-to-end management of the Commercial (SME) and Corporate (TTLC) businesses for ADBC. He has very successfully created and managed a bank-wide problem
WeLcome notes
sme success series
SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES HAVE HAD IT TOUGH, BALANCING BETWEEN LIMITED RESOURCES AND MAKING INVESTMENTS TO HELP GROW THEIR BUSINESS. WITH THIS IN MIND WE HAVE DECIDED
TO LAUNCH A SERIES OF ROAD SHOWS ACROSS VARIOUS EMIRATES FOCUSING ON PROVIDING BUSINESSES WITH INFORMATION ON WHAT CAN BE DONE AND THE BEST ROUTE FORWARD. MIKE BYRNE BRINGS YOU THE HIGHLIGHTS OF THE FIRST SHOW, PRESENTED BY ADCB AND SUPPORTED BY THE DIC.
loan committee and achieved lowest non-performing loans to total loan book ratio in the bank’s history. Howard has extensive experience in catering for and meeting the needs of SMEs with past employment at Citibank in North America and Europe and with Samba Financial Group, KSA.
During his address Howard stressed the importance of
An Agency of the Department of Economic Development Government of Dubai
Adcb And sme Advisor present
Howard Gaunt, Executive Vice President and Head Business Banking Group, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank
Business growth road show, Dubai
Location: Thuraya Hall, Building 3, Dubai Internet CityDate: 27th October 2010
• Workshops: Financing growth, Management and HR - recovering and planning for the
next stage of growth Labour Laws in the time of the economic ups and downs Protecting trademarks and intellectual property
• Panel discussion Challenges and opportunities
• One-on-one consultations
Majed Al Suwaidi, Director, Business Development, Head of Sales and Partner Relations, Dubai Internet City and Dubai Outsource Zone
44 SME ADVISOR MIDDLE EAST NOVEMBER 2010
SMEs and their pivotal role in helping economies recuperate, noting that 95% of the expected growth in the region would come from SMEs. “At this juncture the most noticeable trend is that the customer, in many instances, doesn’t want to tell the bank manager that they don’t know what they need. Therefore providing customers with education to make these informed decisions is paramount.”
Majed Al Suwaidi, Director, Business Development, Head of Sales and Partner Relations, Dubai Internet City and Dubai Outsource ZoneMajed Al Suwaidi currently oversees business development within the two clusters, managing sales strategies, functions and activities as well as streamlining operations to ensure peak performance of DIC and DOZ regional sales department. He makes sure sales functions policies and procedures are compliant enough for both organisations.
He spoke to the road show audience about the lack of the governance culture and the tradition of people keeping things close to their heart, and with this a tendency and reluctance to share any more information than is necessary. “In order for SMEs to flourish, there must be more of an understanding and sharing of information” he said.
With regard to business growth, Majed explained that because of this rapidly evolving market the definition of an SME is still not set in concrete. “The nature of the SME is still being defined and
crystallised in this region. Until the definition has been set then growth will always be difficult” he said.
Keynote speAKer
Ronaldo Mouchawar, Founder and CEO, Souq.comRonaldo has over 15 years of experience in technology and business management. Prior to joining Souq.com, he was a technical and systems consultant for EDS. He then moved on to spearhead a consulting company that managed numerous web and e-commerce projects in the Arab world. In 2005, he launched Souq.com, the first auction site for the region.
With a deep understanding of technology and the local market, Ronaldo has become a leading voice on issues related to eCommerce, the Internet and social media. Souq.com has grown to be the largest eCommerce site in the region, enabling both B2C and C2C transactions in the Arab world. The company is part of the Jabbar Group, the leading player in e-commerce, payment and gaming in the region. As CEO, he oversees the company’s strategic planning;
key growth initiatives as well as overall technical strategy.
Ronaldo had one resounding message to all the businesses that gathered for his keynote speech, when he noted: “The secret for successfully driving a business forward is passion. It’s an innovator and their creativity that drives a business – it’s not the uniqueness of the business model. A risk taker is not really a risk taker because they have this characteristic of being socially introvert and operationally extrovert.”He noted that under the recession it was his opinion that the SME space was flourishing. “The numbers of SMEs appearing in the region has doubled since last year- I think the real driver in a recession are the SMEs, because people have become price conscience and SMEs are very very flexible with this” he said.
The secret for successfully driving a business forward is passion. It’s an innovator and their creativity that drives a business – it’s not the uniqueness of the business model. A risk taker is not really a risk taker because they have this characteristic of being socially introvert and operationally extrovert.
- Ronaldo Mouchawar, Founder and CEO, Souq.com
BusIness GrOWtH
An Agency of the Department of Economic Development Government of Dubai
Ronaldo Mouchawar, Founder and CEO, Souq.com during his keynote address
NOVEMBER 2010 SME ADVISOR MIDDLE EAST 45
KnoWLedGe is poWer
WorKshops <<<
OUR FOCUS IS TO EDUCATE. AT THIS ROADSHOW WE ORGANISED FOUR WORKSHOPS, EACH DESIGNED TO ARM BUSINESSES WITH THE KNOWLEDGE TO MAKE FUTURE INFORMED
DECISIONS. REPRESENTATIVES FROM NOT ONLY THE BANKING AND LEGAL SECTORS, BUT ALSO
MANAGEMENT AND HR, GATHERED TO DISPENSE THEIR PEARLS OF WISDOM.
Workshop 1: Financing growth
You’ve got the ambition, you want to take your business to the next level, but how do you finance and plan this growth – especially these days when money is tight? Nilanjan Ray, Sr. Vice President Head, SME Banking, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, directed us through all the products and services on offer with his bank.
As outlined by Nilanjan, there is a wide-array of financial products which ADCB SME Banking division offers under the brand of Business Edge. The products cover the entire spectrum of solutions across transaction accounts, trade finance and financing products. They also offer a range of lending options for SMEs, including unsecured loans, working capital as well as loans to finance purchase of commercial vehicles and construction equipments.
All the SME products are also available under ADCB Meethaq – Shari’ah Compliant Banking Solution. ADCB have six dedicated SME Centres and a team of Relationship Managers to service their customers.
For more information on the products and services available at ADCB for SMEs visit: www.adcb.com/businessbanking/smebanking/overview.asp
Workshop 4: Protecting trademarks and intellectual property
This workshop sought the advamice of leading expert Omar Obediat, Partner & Head of IP/IT of Al Tamimi & Company.
His areas of specialisation are in intellectual property laws and enforcement of intellectual property rights namely trademarks, patents
and copyright in the UAE and also in the Arab region.
During his workshop, Omar laid out the laws concerning protection of trademarks. “Confusing similarity is a trademark violation and the court can view it as bad faith when taking into consideration all factors, for example very similar colour and design of logo on the packaging. Cases tend to be dealt with on a subjective case-by-case basis” he said.
Also discussed were the copyright and domain name protections in cases of infringement. “Undoubtedly, some domain names are more valuable than others. Clearly, domain names that point to high traffic sites, corporate websites and eCommerce sites are more valuable than those registered in an effort to protect against cyber squatting” he said.
For more information visit: www.tamimi.com
Workshop 2: Management and HR – recovering and planning for the next stage of growth
Dave Crane, Managing Director, The Life Designers, provided practical and workable advice for workshop number two. As a special gift to all those who attended the event, Dave gave his Automatic Lifecoach system for free. According to Dave, there are eight main areas of life and in order to
harness success in life and in business, a balance must be struck across the eight areas.
During this workshop Dave also offered practical advice on how to get your business wired into the world of social media. Stressing the importance of this new medium of communication, it was recommended that business individuals create and maintain accounts on social platforms such as Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter, and My Space, not only for their personal use, but for the benefit of their respective enterprises. “Statistics demonstrate that this is something crucial to business growth” he said.
For more information on Dave’s lifestyle coaching visit: www.automaticlifecoach.com or http://bit.ly/95dxzo
An Agency of the Department of Economic Development Government of Dubai
Workshop 3: Labour Laws in the time of the economic ups and downs
The reality of the current market is that most companies have come out of the crisis with leaner teams. In most instances conditions dictate that fewer employees now have to work harder just to meet targets.
Rebecca Ford, Senior Associate at Al Tamimi & Co., who specialises in employment law, discussed throughout this workshop the ways to protect your business while also being fair to your employees.
More specifically, Rebecca talked about contractual obligations of employees and concerning confidential. Also explained were the restrictive covenants contained within contracts that can aid an employer and the options available for breach of the standard TECOM contracts.
“The TECOM contract contains a one-year non-compete restriction. Consider whether the period should be reduced for less senior/key employees” said Rebecca. In her conclusion Rebecca noted that: “Consider offering additional benefits, for example extening annual leave entitlement or long term incentive plans.”
>>> pAneL discussion: chALLenGes And opportunities
EXPERTS GATHERED FROM EVERY CORNER OF THE BUSINESS SECTOR. EACH OFFERED THEIR OWN UNIQUE EXPERTISE BUT ALL AGREED THAT PASSION AND AN UNWAVERING DETERMINATION WAS PARAMOUNT TO GETTING A BUSINESS OFF THE GROUND AND MAINTAINING A HEALTHY
TRAJECTORY. WE BRING YOU THE HIGHLIGHTS FROM THIS ANIMATED DISCUSSION.
Meet the panelists
Howard Gaunt, Executive Vice President and Head Business Banking Group, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank
Dr. Manoj Nakra, Chief Operating Officer, Mohammed Bin Rashid Establishment for SME DevelopmentDr. Manoj Nakra has been the Chief Operating Officer of Mohammed Bin Rashid Establishment for SME development since 2005, an initiative of the Government of Dubai focused upon developing entrepreneurship, incubating and funding innovative business start-ups.
He has 31 years of experience, of which over 15
years at helm of organisations as CEO and COO respectively. His managerial expertise encompasses conceptualising and starting innovative businesses, organisational-capability development, building global inter-organisational alliances, raising capital, and strategy execution with bottom-line orientation.
Majed Al Suwaidi, Director, Business Development, Head of Sales and Partner Relations, Dubai Internet City and Dubai Outsource Zone
Dave Crane, Managing Director, The Life DesignersDave is one of most highly requested
trainers and motivational speakers in the market. In the last few years he has worked in Spain, South Africa, Germany, Austria, France, Greece, Egypt, the Caribbean, Italy and Monaco. One motivational session in Greece led to one global company recording a 49% growth in sales within their next 12 months period and they attributed much of it to his work. A certified NFNLP hypnotherapist and NLP Master Practitioner and life coach, Dave is also one of the best known names in regional radio having worked on 99.3 Radio 2FM, formerly the station manager of 104.8 Channel 4FM and Dubai 92 FM.
Ronaldo Mouchawar, CEO, Souq.com
Dan Stuart, CEO and co-founder, GoNabit.com Dan is the Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of GoNabit.com, the first group buying website in the Middle East. Previously Dan worked as the Chief Possibility Officer at Bayt.com. He oversaw strategy, product development, user experience design and new initiatives, as well as strategic and emerging business development both within and outside the scope of Bayt as a job site. In addition, Dan was also Director of Intilaq - Bayt’s corporate venture
l to r: Moderator, Ketaki Banga, Senior Editor, SME Advisor Middle East, Howard Gaunt, Executive Vice President and Head Business Banking Group, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, Dr. Manoj Nakra, Chief Operating Officer, Mohammed Bin Rashid Est. for SME Development, Majed Al Suwaidi, Director, Business Development, Head of Sales and Partner Relations, Dubai Internet City and Dubai Outsource Zone
An Agency of the Department of Economic Development Government of Dubai
“We have to explain that in most instances security or leverage is needed to access capital from the bank, or some guarantees may suffice. In short, more education is needed in the form of some platform to create awareness.”
– Howard Gaunt, Executive Vice President and Head Business Banking Group, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank
NOVEMBER 2010 SME ADVISOR MIDDLE EAST 47
capital arm, as well as Head of Strategic Initiatives and Business Manager for the Enterprise Sales Division at Bayt.
Samir Kantaria, Partner, Head of Employment and Corporate Advisory Group, Corporate Commercial, Al Tamimi and CompanySamir joined Al Tamimi & Company in February 2003. He currently heads the firm’s employment practice as well as the corporate advisory practice. His work includes advising multinational, local companies and organisations, other law firms and government held entities on all their day to day employment requirements as well as litigious employment issues. He is also involved in a wide variety of projects where employment issues are to be taken into consideration, such as mergers and acquisitions, corporate structuring and public listings.
Samir is also a member of the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) Legislative Committee which is comprised of senior legal practitioners based in the DIFC who advise the DIFC on amendments to existing and introduction of new legislation.
excerpts from the pAneL discussion
Ketaki Banga, Senior Editor SME Advisor Middle East and Moderator: We’ll start with something that’s been on everyone’s lips and balance sheets these last 18 months or so – the slowdown, recession, crisis. Have SMEs survived this better than larger businesses?
Dr. Manoj Nakra: 95%-97% of SMEs have gone through the downturn. A lot of SME owners who had invested in deals and over-leveraged themselves had to sell their businesses or shut their businesses or run away because of their personal overload. The SMEs involved with the sector of real estate suffered, that cannot be denied. However,
the businesses involved within the sectors such as export have survived and grown. So it’s very difficult to have a general comment across the broad spectrum. It has to be separate based analysis, according to the industry they are doing business in.
Ketaki: Sometimes the line is blurred between entrepreneurs and the SME themselves. What are the advantages and disadvantages to having this distinction? How do you progress from a small business to a growing team in terms of management with a passionate entrepreneur holding the reins of control?
Dan Stuart: Yes SMEs have survived well in general but things are still not easy- it’s still as difficult now as it was when starting up a business. You add people when you can, not when you want to. I’m still the lawyer, the financer, the strategy, the marketing and chief product officer. It’s not a control thing or possessiveness, or that you feel someone may not be as passionate about the idea as you. Its simply economics – you can’t afford the time to bring someone up to speed. You figure it’s going to take you more time to bring someone in and train them and so you push it off and retain the control and direction yourself.
Dave Crane: I think that if you are passionate about what you do then
you will love doing every aspect of the business anyway. From a business point of view, when you start a business you should look to an exit strategy within five years. As an entrepreneur you should try and have a helicopter view of your business so you can find a way to get someone in to try and run the business for you. The idea is to create a system as your business that you can run, be part of it maybe, but also step out and bring someone else to run it for you. Even when you have an entrepreneurial attitude, you still have to have people working for you and you have to be realistic about your strengths and weaknesses and acquire the relevant professionals to assist you in order for your businesses to grow.
Ketaki: Our first road show is in the DIC and we have in our audience several technology and content based businesses. What particular issues have they faced that are unique to their industries and what advantages, if any, do they have over more capital-intensive industries such as manufacturing?
Majed Al Suwaidi: Over the past ten years there has been a change in that expectations have changed where entrepreneurs are involved. The numbers of SMEs registering with us are growing but the market here is still not mature enough and in reality there is more scope for the bigger
“The Minister for Economy has drafted laws which will more concretely define SMEs and the criteria for establishing them. At the moment the draft copy has been distributed to various experts for feedback and suggestive amendments. Once this stage has been complete the law should come into force some time next year.”
– Samir Kantaria, Partner, Head of Employment and Corporate Advisory Group, Corporate Commercial, Al Tamimi and Company
l to r: Dave Crane, Managing Director, The Life Designers, Ronaldo Mouchawar, CEO, Souq.com, Dan Stuart, CEO and co-founder, GoNabit.com, Samir Kantaria, Partner, Head of Employment and Corporate Advisory Group, Corporate Commercial,
An Agency of the Department of Economic Development Government of Dubai
48 SME ADVISOR MIDDLE EAST NOVEMBER 2010
An Agency of the Department of Economic Development Government of Dubai
companies to take over because of costs that SMEs sometimes find hard to meet.
Dr. Manoj Nakra: If the cost is at a certain level then it only allows certain businesses to set up here. But with this said, we find that the
passion of an entrepreneur can often outweigh the financial restraints and SMEs are established and grow despite the weight of financial restraints.
Howard Gaunt: Going back to the point of expense for SMEs and the difficulty in them receiving funding, we find that SME business owners or customers don’t understand what they need to do or they don’t know how to access capital and don’t know to present a business financing plan. We know that many of them aren’t CFOs but this can often prove to be a hurdle when funding is being sought. We have to explain that in most instances security or leverage is needed to access capital from the bank, or some guarantees may suffice. In short, more education is needed in the form of some platform to create more awareness.
Majed Al Suwaidi: In respect of creating this awareness, it is a young market and this will, as with other dimensions, take time. As it stands the definition of the SME is still being adjusted and I think until this
is complete then the awareness will not be open as we would like.
Samir Kantaria: The Minister for Economy has drafted laws which will more concretely define SMEs and the criteria for establishing them. At the moment the draft
copy has been distributed to various experts for feedback and suggestive amendments. Once this stage has been complete the law should come into force some time next year.
Ketaki: What other steps can businesses take to convert challenges into opportunities? Maybe explore online, or negotiate for better deals with suppliers?
Dr. Manoj Nakra: In Dubai there is a tendency that many business owners just want to keep their businesses small. In essence it is a lifestyle business – a business created and run to fund a lifestyle. These entrepreneurs are happy to stay small as long as their incomings are profitable enough to maintain the lifestyle they have – there is no urgency or drive to expand. We have to realise that it’s not all about major growth. There has to be as much focus on supporting existing SMEs who just want to maintain the current size of operations they have. So, we have to look after what we have before we go chasing new business.
Dave Crane: As much as we all think that advice should be free and forthcoming we have to be realistic. If you want to break into a market then you need not only an aggressive advisory strategy but also accredited advisors to help you – to open doors and operate in circles you cannot access. For example employing a middle man to negotiate with the bank with regard to accessing finance – someone the bank has dealt with before and know is creditable in their judgement calls. We all know that when you pay for something you normally get better results. There is a responsibility on the person you are paying to perform a service to a top grade- this is not always the case where something comes free.
Ronaldo Mouchawar: New business owners have to have the ability to sell differently to their competitors. Your idea doesn’t have to be different, but your approach to how you sell has to be unique if you want to get ahead. You have to be able to provide something your competition can’t – that’s the niche. Also, don’t wait for the businesses to come to the region – take an existing idea, tailor it for the region and go with it. You have to work to the environment you are. The idea is that you find a market interested in your idea – fit your idea to work in the market.
Howard Gaunt, Executive Vice President and Head Business Banking Group, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank and Deepak Saluja, Vice President , Head Marketing and Product Management Wholesale Banking Group, ADCB, in an animated discussion during the roadshow
Nadeem Hood, Chief Operating Officer, CPI,talking to the panelWe have to
realise that it’s not all about major growth. There has to be as much focus on supporting existing SMEs who just want to maintain the current size of operations they have. So, we have to look after what we have before we go chasing new business.
– Dr. Manoj Nakra, Chief Operating Officer, Mohammed Bin Rashid Est. for SME Development
50 SME ADVISOR MIDDLE EAST NOVEMBER 2010
APPLY NOW!!
15% Discount
APPLY NOW!!Early Bird Offer of15% Discounton the first twosemester fees.
