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uPDATES Millionaire rascal With American contacts, plenty of money and street smarts, entrepreneur Bashar al-Masri is playing politics for Palestine. His latest project is the Siraj investment fund Sooner rather than later, anyone looking for economic growth in Palestine will come across the name Masri. The family patriarch and philanthropist Munib al-Masri is head of the PADICO investment company and Paltel telecommunications group, amongst other things, and his nephew Bashar al-Masri appears to be no less of a go-getter. In early February the owner and CEO of the Massar construction group announced the establishment of the first investment fund in West Jordan. The »Siraj Fund Management Company«, according to its own figures, hit the ground running on 3 February 2011 with over USD 60 million. Siraj is a private equity fund. Investors are primarily being driven by a certain political agenda. George Soros, with his »Soros Development Fund« and »Overseas Private Investment Corporation« (OPIC), a US development agency, put up the majority of the capital. Masri hopes that private investors are to stump up another USD 20 million for the Sirjai fund, which was his brainchild. The aim is to support small companies in Palestine with the funds. »Siraj« means »oil lamp«, which in Masri’s words »will light our way into the future«. It is intended to create a broader basis for the Palestinian economy, where the boom in cities like Ramallah has so far been based on mega-projects and foreign help. At 15 percent, Siraj offers a comparatively low, but certainly not bad, return on capital – given the inherent security risks of the Palestinian economy. 08 BusinessReport 1/2011 Bashar al-Masri, 50 is making waves in the Israeli property market by giving Palestinian start-ups a helping hand. George Soros, the Qataris and a friend of Sharon »We are no charity organisation,« stressed Masri in the financial journal Globes, »but we do seek a balance between social responsibility and the prospective returns for our investors.« A few days before the launch of Siraj, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed that he wanted to support the Palestinian economy, which was described by a spokesman of the autonomous government as a diversionary tactic to draw attention away from the settlement debate. Irrespective of that, the intention is for Siraj to create growth markets in Palestine. In the first year, 30 percent of investments will be devoted to hi-tech companies. A location for this is currently being developed by Masri’s construction company Massar near Ramallah, where a purpose-built city known as »Rawabi« is being financed with money from Qatar. Arab media criticised Masri for accepting a rather symbolic donation of 3,000 tree seedlings from the Jewish National Fund. Others see Masri as a fox who is playing politics for Palestine with his millions. A few weeks ago, Masri tried to take over the properties and debts of bankrupt Israeli property developer Digal via his Cyprusregistered Techsal company – the projects also included a Jewish settlement in the Arab quarter of East Jerusalem. The prospective creditors declined when they discovered a Palestinian was behind the deal. The lawyer submitting the take-over offer on behalf of Techsal was Dov Weisglass, a former friend and advisor of Israel’s ex- Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Whether Weisglass knew who was behind his client is uncertain, and it is equally unclear whether Masri put the offer forward purely as a ruse, before allowing details of it to leak out to put the heat on the Israeli government and the settlement lobby. chat picture: Siraj
picture: UNEP South Sudan Safari The world‘s youngest nation is looking for alternative tourism expertise With almost no fully-formed roads, and just a few hotels, tourism infrastructure is as good as non-existent in South Sudan. Yet tourism is meant to be an economic pillar of the country that, to all intents and purposes, seems likely to declare its independence this July. The most important source of income for the region now and in the future is oil extraction – although there are ongoing disputes with the North about fair distribution of the proceeds. It is another good reason for wanting to expand tourism. In the first instance, this means promoting the National Parks. According to the government in Juba, around USD 140 million will be required over the next five years to achieve this – with South Sudan looking for support from abroad, and from private investors in particular. According to experts from the US Wildlife Conservation Society that is active in South Sudan, the country’s wildlife can certainly compete with that of the National Parks of Tanzania and Kenya. However, land mines, militia and poachers have severely decimated the animal population. While there were over 100,000 elephants in South Sudan in the 1960s, only about 5,000 to 15,000 remain there today. Due to the lack of infrastructure, mass tourism in South Sudan is unlikely to happen anytime soon. But that is precisely what might make it appeal to individual travellers. Hold those jets, we’re hungry Full bellies more important to Iraqis than protecting their airspace Since the 2003 war, Iraq no longer has any fighter planes to speak of and cannot safeguard its airspace without outside help. For this reason, the Iraqi air force chief Anwar Ahmed is hoping to acquire 96 of the American Lockheed F-16 jets known as »Fighting Falcons« by 2020. If he has his way, in just under two years, the first Iraqi pilots will be patrolling their own airspace with 18 such aircraft – which is also the prerequisite for all US troops actually pulling out of the country. In September 2010, the Pentagon approved the delivery of the first batch of 18 jets, Battle over underwear The Tunisian revolution reaches all the way to the lingerie sector Morocco and Tunisia, both well-known for their high-quality textiles, are competing for the contracts of European underwear manufacturers. The Moroccan textile association wants to create around 20,000 new jobs. Production sites in the Mediterranean have it over their competition in China, with shorter delivery routes and freight times to Europe, and also more flexibility over the number of items supplied. Tunisian manufacturers, meanwhile, fear European companies will punish them for the political courage of their compatriots and increasingly turn to Morocco as a result of the unrest. »Clients won’t be pulling out of Tunisia but they are diversifying their sources of uPDATES including maintenance and training facilities, at an estimated cost of up to USD 4.2 billion. After months of delays in the protracted process of forming a government in Baghdad in the wake of the last elections, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, in his second role as Minister of Defence, received the approval of his cabinet on 26 January to negotiate with the Americans over an initial instalment for the purchase. But on 14 February, the Iraqi government suddenly announced it would be postponing its purchase of the F-16s. Instead it planned to use the budgeted purchase price of USD 900 million to increase the subsidies on food rations for the population. Al-Maliki’s cabinet was forced to bow to street pressure. Ever since late January, mounting discontent with the lack of government action and lack of basic food supplies was voiced in demonstrations inspired by the recent protests in Tunisia and Egypt. supply«, was the Moroccan textile association’s attempt at reassurance. After all, Tunisia had now earned itself a certain »sympathy capital«. The Tunisian export agency CEPEX plans to leverage this capital. It has announced a special programme in Milan and Bologna at the end of March to showcase the strengths of Tunisian lingerie and swimwear fashion. Around 30 percent of Tunisia’s textile exports go to Italy. European underwear brands have been having their garments produced in Tunisia for years now, by such manufacturers as Mahdco in the harbour city of Mahdia. The company is particularly proud of its measures to counter youth unemployment. The average age of its 250 employees is just 26. The luxury brand Aubade, part of the Calida label, also outsources its production to Tunisia. In 2010, according to the latest Swiss sharemarket reports, Calida posted its best year since it went public in 2007, thanks to the success of the Aubade brand. BusinessReport 1/2011 09
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