رحيل خالي الإعلامي المعروف رياض الشعيبي (أبو محمود) إثر نوبة قلبية Mourning My Uncle Riyad Shuaibi

With great sadness I mourn my dear Uncle, Riyad Shuaibi. He has been a role model and inspiration for me even since I could remember. I grew up hearing about his legacy and accomplishment in the Arab medial arena: the first voice announcing the launch of the radio service of Dubai in the 60’s, launching the first colored TV broadcast in the 70’s, publishing the leading newspaper "Al Bayan" in UAE, the first Arab satellite channel in the 90’s, and producing many of the household names of popular TV shows that people still remember to our days.

I vividly recall the times I spent with him in the presence of influential people discussing media trends, major projects, or regional issues of the Middle East. These left an ever lasting impression inside of me to be involved and to care about the world around me.

I used to go up to him proudly when I score well in school, when I got accepted into university, when I went to do my Masters in McGill and whenever I make a big step in my life. His few encouraging words and his looks were sufficient to keep me going and ignite the passion inside me to do more and make him proud of me. I needed very little from him and I got so much out of him.

When I got that telephone call in the dawn of Saturday, February 20th from my mother, I clearly sensed the urgency in her voice calling me to go up to his house. I knew something was critically terrible. The short road to his house felt like a slow motion ride to the unknown. There, I got the news. I can find little description of the feelings and events that took place then. The rest is history. I was involved in every step of the way to be a support to my family at such time of grief. The warm and solid feelings I felt from everyone who knew him made us know that we are not alone in this and that he meant a lot to so many other people.
We lost a great man and a legacy. But, we all have a bit of him inside of us and know what would he say or do in important events of our lives.

God bless you my uncle, keep your memories alive inside of us, and guide us to always make you proud of us even when you are away …

خالي رحمت الله عليه كان و ما زال أعز الناس وأغلاهم إلي و لكن علمت أنه قدر الله ، و حسبنا الله و نعم الوكيل. و أدعو الله أن يسكنه فسيح جناته و يبارك في ذريته ليكملوا مسيرته.
دعواتكم الصالحة..

Thank you Your Majesty! Cancelling two public holidays in Jordan

I’ve been contemplating writing about the amount of public holidays in Jordan for sometime after the last “Eid Adha” which coincided with the New Year and Christmas occasions resulting in a over a week of public holidays. But that was not the only occasion. Jordan is “blessed” with a good number of public holidays. In brief, economists in Jordan estimate near to 4.5 months of holidays, or 139 days! These include public holidays, weekends, paid leaves, and sickness leaves. They also estimate around $30M of lost productivity per day. For a country like Jordan with ambitious targets for economical development, each day really counts.

So, His Majesty King Abdullah the II declared the cancelation of two public holidays in this news piece by Petra:

“King Abdullah on Wednesday directed the government to scrap two public holidays to help “boost productivity and dedication” starting this year. “I hope that Jordanians can celebrate the two occasions [the Monarch’s birthday on January 30 and King Hussein’s birthday on November 14] by enhancing national economy,” the King told Prime Minister Marouf Bakhit in a letter. The King asked the government to set a clear calendar, pointing out public holidays and daylight saving time for the coming five years to “help public and private institutions set well-defined and long-term plans” — Petra

I know some people, mostly employees, may not like this, but think about the large number of daily workers, merchants, and small (and large) business owners and how too many days-off impact their living and their financial performance, which in turn reflect on the overall economy.

I am really glad that a country like Jordan has looked into that and make an action about it. I highly value that His Majesty has chosen the most personal days to him to let go of, which are the birthdays of His late Father King Hussein, and His.

Related Links

King Abdullah II Official Website

Late King Hussein Official Website
Arabic - الملك يوجه الحكومة لالغاء عطلة عيد ميلاده

A modern bed-time story for the aspiring venture capitalists, entrepreneurs, and consultants!

Long time ago in a far-away land, there was this King who had three daughters. One day, he summoned all his daughters to his royal office and asked them what they wanted out of life.

The eldest daughter said “Oh father, I want to marry a charming prince of a large kingdom, who would become king one day”. The king was pleased with her answer.

The middle daughter said “Oh father, I want to marry a charming CEO with a huge bonus package and stock options”. The king was pleased with her answer as well.
The youngest daughter said “Oh father, I want to start my own business”.

The king and the other two daughters were all shocked and dismayed by her answer. “You are a princess. You live in royal palaces surrounded by servants who would fulfill your wishes, not in an office or a board room surrounded by employees and “clients” and stuff!” the King replied.
“But, father, this is what I want to do with my life and not just get married”

The King was unhappy with her insistence, but respected her wishes. “Ok then. You are on your own. You shall receive nothing from me but your monthly allowance”.
The princess coyly left her father’s royal office under the mocking looks of her two other sisters.

As the days went by, the two daughters married the men of their dreams in great celebrations and festivities, while our young princess worked hard to earn her MBA from a good school living on her “little” allowance. To support herself, she also took a part-time job in a department store. While working there, she developed a good understanding of clients’ buying trends. She noticed that younger generation wanted more variety of casual/outing clothes that have a strong sense of style and a vibrant brand.

She thought and thought until an idea blinked! Why not launch her own “Princess Line” brand of younger fashion and accessories! She did a market study, evaluated the market size and growth rate, evaluated competition, performed her SWOT analysis, considered Porter’s five forces, identified suppliers, designed the supply chain and operations requirements, and created financial statements (balanced sheet, income statement and cash flow) for the next five years. All she needed was the capital to start her venture.

She went from one bank to another and from one VC to another, but no one would finance her thinking she is just a “spoiled” princess and would not be serious about her own business.
One day when she was leaving the offices of a VC, she got into the elevator with a young gentleman. He casually asked her if she worked there. She briefly gave him her 30-second short talk about her business idea. He was genuinely intrigued and gave her his business card; it read “Prince Charming” – **** Holding! What luck! And he was handsome too!

The next day she called him and arranged for a meeting. From that point on, things started taking a momentum. After, meetings, presentations and discussion, Prince Charming eventually provided the Princess with the seed capital.

She started her business by launching a limited line in one of the prestigious department stores (another investment of the Prince) and it was a hit! She expanded her operations by adding more line items, improving on the brand by linking it to her royal image, participating in public events, fashion shows and sponsoring events. The brand did position well with target audience. The business grew nicely to a level where it received further equity investments from private equity funds, some of those who had rejected the plan at first but now getting in at a premium!

Working together very closely, spending so much time together, and seeing how they complement each other, the Princess and Prince kindled and nurtured a loving relationship.
As in any happy ending, the Princess and the Prince got married and now they are running a portfolio of successful ventures and helping other entrepreneurs realize their dreams and potential.

“Dad/Mom what happened to the other two daughters?”

Well, the eldest daughter’s Kingdom turned into constitutional monarchy, in a democratic move by the parliament and people. Members of the royal family are living on set allowances and little political influence.

As for the middle daughter’s husband (the CEO), a year after their marriage he was caught in a financial scandal amidst allegations of insider trading and over the board “creative accounting” practices. He is going through legal investigations and persecutions.Through that process that is both long and tedious the princess and her infamous CEO are living on stipends that have to be approved on a month by month basis.

“Sweet dreams and goodnight”

Moral of the story? I leave that to your comments : )

Up in Smoke! Or, the new venues of doing busines in the Middle East!

From Up in Smoke!

*Caution* This posting is no way an invitation to get into the harmful habit of smoking, so be warned!

Tables and chairs are all well organized and spread over the elegant place. Waiters take orders of favorite flavors (apple, strawberry, lemon, or what have you). Active “servants” move between tables skillfully placing hot burning coal atop the “head”. Mouths slowly inhale drags through elegant pipes and gently release it. Clouds of smoke start filling the place, with a mix of fruity aromas. The mood starts getting mellow and discussions are now more facilitated. “Let’s talk business”. You are in a typical café in the Middle East.

Welcome to the new arena of doing business and exchanging market information in the Middle East. No more are elegant hotel lobbies the exclusive place for conducting business deals. ““Argileh” (called "Shisha" in Egypt and the Gulf) places (simple called cafes) are offering an increasingly popular place to meet business partners and clients who share the same affection for smoking the shihsa, to relax and discuss business deals.

Go to any elegant café in Amman, Beirut, Cairo, Dubai, Jeddah or any other vibrant city at day time and chances are you will find it occupied by business people with their notebooks getting together blowing away smoke while they work out details of a business transaction, perfect a presentation or simply exchange business intelligence.

In our company, we have a saying, “If you haven’t had coffee (outside the office) with a business partner, you are not close enough!”. I personally take it further and add Argileh to that cup of coffee! Some of us are guilty of the sin of introducing countless business men from all over the world to this atmosphere! If there is any consolation in that, it is that they have enjoyed it, some to the extreme of carrying the whole works (Argileh, tobacco, coal, etc.) with them back home!

I must emphasize that l never attempt to persuade anyone who does not already smoke Argileh to try it, or even go to an Argileh café with someone who is anti-smoking. I simply make the offer, and the rest is their call.

If you are new to this and If you have already made up your mind to joining the scene, then perhaps the following pointers can be of use.

Argileh Etiquette and Tips

1. Use the provided tip (plastic piece that fits over the metal tip of the pipe). If they don’t provide one, politely ask for it. If they do not have one, then you in the wrong place!
2. When smoking, place the tip at the corner of the mouth not the center. Oh! And not the whole tip.
3. Blow the smoke away from your adjacent person.
4. First coals are usually larger to start burning the fresh tobacco, then renewed ones are smaller to sustain the hot tobacco. Unless you are an expert Argileh smoker, do not tamper with the strategically located pieces of coal.
5. If you notice the smoke to be decreasing in volume and intensity, take note of the coal, it may need to be refreshed with a fresh supply. Simply ask for servant with a simple word “Coal” with a hand gesture towards the shisha. Respectful place will not require you to do that as they are “proactive”.
6. Do not share the Argileh of someone else! (Newcomers and tourists sometimes get excluded from that)
7. Every now and then blow0-IN the pipe to release congested smoke inside the glass bottle to refresh the intake.
8. Do no light a cigarette from the coal on the “head”. (In my experience, very few people do both).
9. If you need to excuse yourself but want to get back to the Argileh, simply keep the pipe placed on the table. (See the following point).
10. When you finish your Argileh consumption wrap the pipe around the shisha.

The final most important recommendation in my mind is to “qualify” a place and frequent it as much as you need. This will allow the people of the place to know your habits, your preferred flavors and drinks, and greet you by the name - Important to show a status when you come in with someone for the first time. It will also make you used to the place so you are more comfortable and more focused on your work or your guest.

Enjoy sensibly!
Visit my Argileh gallery

Special thanks to Adel Awad who contributed nicely to this post while we were smoking Argileh together! :)

At Last! My photos are online!

I was still trying to make-up my mind about the best way to share photos online. After some brief research, I decided to remain within the Google playground and use Picasa2. The application by itself is pretty capable and use to use. One of the coolest feature is the "timeline" where it provides a futuristic 3D spherical navigation of your albums.
There are some good tools for editing and touching photos. But, still the more important feature I am using it for is the ability to manage the online albums. This is critical when you have 100's of pictures in 10's of folders or more.
I will be giving it a test over the next period and see how it goes.

Here is my first album! This is a follow-up to an earlier post of my trip to Warsaw.

Warsaw June 2006

Warsaw, here I come!

So, this is my first posting. There is a lot that I want to share with all of you, but I have just started and I believe there will be other times to sort of structure my thoughts. I mean after all I’m a strategy consultant, right? : )I’m preparing for an interesting trip tomorrow by midnight. I’m leaving Amman to Warsaw. Interesting, eh? I’m part of a working meeting attended by a number of people around the world to plan the launch of an “Executive Program”.
The Program is aimed at supporting executives at various regions better understand how to benefit from global trends in Information Technologies (IT) and not be driven by the hype or pressures from large vendors (you know who!). Coincidently, the Program is organized by one of “them” global IT vendor, however, I have full confidence that they are organizing that out of genuine desire to show leaders the way. There are no hidden agendas. The whole material is about strategic planning, IT Governance, global trends, opportunities identification, and business case preparation. There are no discussions of deep technological issues or promotion of any specific technology. I am proud to be an active part of the team who prepared the material that will be given to many executives around the world!
This is my first time to Warsaw, and I truly do not know what to expect. I’m having visions of European style city, older buildings, red roof tops, museums, musicians in the streets, and techno night clubs! Some of my concerns are language, food and missing my gym training (lame!)
I have done some basic research on the city and this is some of the finds:
“Many people still have an image of Warsaw as a dull concrete jungle, a wasteland of Soviet-era housing with little appeal. The city does undoubtedly have its fair share of problems and whole swathes of its suburbs are indeed dominated by the less-than-imaginative creations of communist-era architects. But there is far more to one of Europe’s most underrated cities, with a string of things to see, an impressive cultural scene and an increasingly lively nightlife. Warsaw is a real survivor – the city’s current day existence is impressive in itself.”
Taken from http://www.explore-warsaw.com/ They have a good list of key attractions as well that I plan on visiting some as long as my time permits *sigh* http://www.explore-warsaw.com/352/Key_Attractions.htmlI actually prefer not to do extensive research on places I’m traveling to in order to keep some space for surprises. Life is better enjoyed spontaneously with a taste of adventure!
I’ll share more with you once I’m back and hopefully with lots of pictures. I consider myself an acceptable photographer and will illustrate more about my photography in the near future. Wish me luck!