BizBahrain August 2016

August 2016 

1

2 August 2016


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CONTENTS August 

2016 

10 | Laying a Sound Foundation for Growth 

Supported by economic reforms that demonstrate a clear focus on growth 

and development and the boosting of foreign investment, Bahrain has seen a 

steady economic revolution in the last couple of years. 

FEATURES 

14 | Taking Outsourcing and Services to the Next Level 

Interview with Ricardo Langwieder-Goerner 

Chief Executive, Silah Gulf 

20 | All roads leading to Vision 2030 

Interview with Shaikha Mariam Mohammed Al Khalifa 

Chief Municipal Services Permit, Southern Governorate Municipality 

24 | CBRE | Real Estate Analysis 

Waterfront Living in Bahrain - A Property Viewpoint 

26 | ASAR | Finance Law Analysis 

The case for a comprehensive legislation on PPP 

28 | OBG | Business Report 

Tourism and job growth drive Bahrain’s retail sector expansion 



CONTENTS 

30 | Career Guidance | Bayt.com 

Talent Sourcing Mistakes 

32 | Focus | Company Formation 

The #BREXIT and your offshore Company 

34 | Opinion | Business Strategy 

Is your Business Making Difference? 

36 | Spotlight | Executive Coaching 

Professional Profiling 

38 | Specialist | Public Speaking 

Ships, Anchors and your Points! 

40 | Marketing at its Best 

Is your Action Plan not Working? Try Simplifying 

Special Supplement 

Effects of the 

Brexit poll 


5

SECTORS 

46 | Government: 

EDB Whitepaper shows Tourism contribution to GDP 

Anti Human Trafficking rating maintained 

BTEA Promotes ‘Wedding Destination’ 

Citizens’ Right to decent Housing ensured 

Pearl Trail Project Progress 

MOU between Ministry of Industry, Commerce & Tourism and 

Bahrain Consumer Protection Society 

160 Road Maintenance Projects Implemented 

50 | Banking & Finance: 

Khaleeji Commercial Bank signs MOU with RMK Projects 

Five new branches for Al Ebdaa Bank 

Seed Investors of Bahrain Liquidity fund Announced 

Al Salam Bank’s Summer Credit Card Promotion 

New Brand identity for Bahrain Association of Banks 

Bank ABC expands International Network 

KFH first Bank to Implement CRM System 

54 | Telecom: 

Batelco Introduces faster speeds up to 40Mbps 

Bahrain Wi-Fi with Aptilo Networks 

Zain Bahrain inks strategic partnership with Ritz-Carlton 

Telecom consumers in Bahrain are better off 

Bahrain moves to strengthen ICT services 

Zain partners with AIESEC youth group 

TRA warns on Dangers of online Games 

58 | Real Estate: 

Rental rates remained stable in Q1 

Foreign Investors 100% Ownership impacts Real Estate sector 

Diyar Al Muharraq dedicates land to MOH 

MEM is Exclusive Media Management Partner for Dragon City 

“Deerat Al Oyoun” Exhibition Presented 

CBRE to manage Seef Corner 

62 | Technology: 

Silah Gulf and Kleptika Partner to Revolutionize CX 

The Winning Strategy for Companies in Bahrain to Survive the 

Age of Data Growth 

How Organizations in Bahrain get Public Cloud Security Wrong 

Samsung Galaxy S7’s Always On Display 

Samsung SUHD TVs with Quantum dot display 

IPTV services are offered in 10 Arab countries 

66 | Others: 

Gulf Air Awards $900M Contract to Rolls-Royce 

B/E aerospace to supply business class seating for boeing 787 Aircraft 

Al Haddad Motors celebrates Mercedes Models 

Dr. Jassim Haji receives top IT award 

Arabtec JV to fund Bahrain airport revamp 

Papa John’s Bahrain steps up for the Community 

Euro Motors Introduces Amazing New Offers On Range Rover Vehicles 

MORE IN THIS ISSUE 

42 | Biz Auto 

68 | Nutrition Packages 

70 | Health & Wellbeing 

72 | Biz Dashboard 

74 | Tender Board Bahrain 

76 | Twitter 


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7

PUBLISHER'S NOTE 

by AHMED KHALIFA KHALFAN 

Bahrain’s economic story in the last years has been one of diversification, a longterm 

focus that was established well before it became a necessity for oil-dependent 

Gulf nations. The need of the hour for the government today is to seek ways to boost 

revenue and curtail spending, which it is achieving by embarking on a number of 

economic reforms that demonstrate a clear focus on infrastructural development 

and on encouraging foreign investment. Credit to the far sighted policies, our 

economy has effectively withstood challenges like the oil price fluctuations, the 

recent Brexit jitters, and ongoing regional tensions. The mega projects we have on 

hand are aimed at improving the quality of life for all Bahrainis, in line with the 

commitment of the leadership to achieve sustainable development. 

Our cover story in this issue brings to focus the Business Process Outsourcing 

(BPO) industry, which has emerged in recent years as an important growth area that 

capitalizes on Bahrain’s human capital strength. We talk to the dynamic Ricardo 

Langwieder-Goerner, Chief Executive of Silah Gulf who has been making waves in 

the industry as one of the most established BPO players. 

We were also privileged to interview Shaikha Mariam bin Mohammed Al Khalifa, 

the youngest department chief in the Ministry of Municipalities. She talked to 

us about the efforts of the government to improve infrastructure and bring in 

regulations that take a long-term view of growth and sustainability. 

We are excited this month to have something additional and special for our readers. 

A few days ago, we were very honoured to be given an opportunity to meet and 

interview H.E Simon Martin, the British Ambassador to Bahrain soon after his 

return to Bahrain after the conclusion of the Brexit polls. The outcome of the polls 

has been of immense significance not only to the United Kingdom, but also to all 

the countries linked to it by trade, politics and historical and social ties. We have 

therefore decided to bring out a Brexit special supplement that you will see along 

with your regular issue of bizbahrain. It will throw light on many of the questions 

that have been on our minds. His Excellency talks with our Group Editor, Reena 

Abraham in aan exclusive, one to one interview that was marked by refreshing 

candour and humour, while he explained the UK’s stand at this important moment 

in our collective history. 

Enjoy your bizbahrain reading, look out for our daily newsfeeds online, and do get 

back to us with your comments and suggestions. 

Happy reading! 

Ahmed Khalifa Khalfan 

Managing Partner & Publisher 

8 August 2016 

Write to the Publisher: ahmed@bizbahrain.com


9

THE TEAM 

Adel Al Safar 

Chairman 

Publishing House 

General Manager 

Group Editor 

Business Development 

Manager 

Production & 

Circulation Manager 

Senior Designer 

Sales Manager 

Digital Media Manager 

Editorial Contributors 

Video Augmentation 

Printed at 

In Association With 

Ahmed Khalifa Khalfan 

Managing Partner & Publisher 

Naser Shahrour 

naser@bizbahrain.com 

Reena Abraham 

reena@bizbahrain.com 

Christelle Yaacoub 

christelle@bizbahrain.com 

Sameer Asif Butt 

sameer@bizbahrain.com 

Ashjad Azeez 

ashjad@bizbahrain.com 

Fahad Malik 

fahad@bizbahrain.com 

Jeba Sherin Shyju 

+973 6666 0064 bizbahrain 

Ahmed Al Akber, Ammar Al Raees, John Taylor, 

Bassam Kamashki, Anna Romanska, Steve Mayes, 

Heather Longden, Dr. Alex R. Suchy von Weissenfeld, 

J.Tate, Simone Del Nevo, Dr. Rehab kotb, 

Mahmood AbdulSamad, Ali Al Aradi, Mohamed Isa, 

Sultan Sharabati, Nour El Assad, 

Dar Akhbar Al Khaleej, Kingdom of Bahrain 

Farouk Almoayyed 

Honorary Chairman 

Ahmed Sabah Al-Saloom 

Chairman of the Society 

info@bizbahrain.com 

www.bizbahrain.com 

bizbahrain is also digital www.bizbahrain.com 

The opinions and views contained in this publication by the journalists, writers and the interviewee are not necessarily those of the publishers. All efforts have been 

made to ensure accuracy of the information contained in this publication. However bizbahrain cannot accept legal responsibility for any error or omission. 



11

Feature | Government Initiative 

Laying a Sound 

Foundation for Growth 

by Reena Abraham 

Supported by economic reforms that 

demonstrate a clear focus on growth 

and development and the boosting of 

foreign investment, Bahrain has seen a 

steady economic revolution in the last 

couple of years. The implementation of 

a positive financial and fiscal policy has 

further stimulated the economy, that has 

withstood challenges like the drop in oil 

prices and the even more recent Brexit 

panic, both of which have set apart 

much of 2016. 

Despite any negative trends, on 

the whole the second quarter of 2016 

has been peaceful, characterized by 

mostly calm global financial markets, 

according to the latest Bahrain 

Economic Quarterly (BEQ) issued by the 

Economic Development Board (EDB), 

underpinned by a growing conviction 

that loose monetary conditions in the 

leading economies are not about to be 

modified significantly in the near term. 

This appears to have somewhat eased 

concerns of dollar appreciation and 

supported the ongoing recovery in oil 

prices. 

During the first quarter of the year, 

growth reached 4.5%, its highest since 

2014, led by the 12.1% year-on-year 

growth in the oil sector. The report 

also took note of the resilience of the 

non-oil economy, where it continued to 

grow and benefit from a large pipeline 

of infrastructure investment. Nearly 

USD4bn of projects have now been 

tendered under the GCC Development 

Fund, with nearly USD3bn of projects 

already commenced, almost three 

times the figures from a year earlier. 

On the private sector front, projects 

are progressing with much dynamism, 

fronted by flagship ventures such as 

Alba Line 6. 

While growth continued to be broadbased 

across the non-oil economy, 

The mega projects are 

aimed at improving the 

quality of life for all 

Bahrainis. 

performance was particularly strong in 

social and personal services reflecting 

the strong demographics drivers 

underpinning the demand for private 

education and healthcare. Construction 

which rose by 5.4% year-on-year, reflects 

the strong infrastructure investment, 

while financial services expanded by 

3.1% year-on-year. 

As early as July 2014, His Royal 

Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad 

Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince, Deputy 

Supreme Commander and First 

Deputy Prime Minister, announced 

the implementation of a series of 

development projects in the public and 

private sectors to be staggered over the 

next few years. The projects, with an 

investment value exceeding US $ 24.5 

billion, included the Gulf Development 

Programme and other substantial 

development projects implemented by 

public and private holding companies 

targeting various sectors including 

industrial, investment, tourism and 

entrepreneurship fields. The mega 

projects are aimed at improving the 


goal and core of all development efforts 

across the Kingdom. 

Spending on a large pipeline of 

infrastructure projects remains an 

important driver of non-oil growth 

in Bahrain. The country is at this 

time in the process of implementing 

over USD32bn worth of strategically 

significant priority projects, ventures 

with significant value or employment 

potential. MEED Projects in mid-June 

estimated the total project pipeline 

in the Kingdom at USD72.7bn, some 

4.7% higher than a year earlier. The 

government also presented a blueprint 

to boost public investment in 2015. 

One of the largest non energy 

projects in the news is the Airport 

Modernisation Project, aUSD1.1bn 

expansion contract that was awarded to 

a consortium of Arabtech Construction 

and TAV earlier in the year. The first 

phase of the project is to be completed 

by mid-2019, and is due to be finished by 

the end of the 2020. 

quality of life for all Bahrainis, in line 

with the commitment of the leadership, 

led by His Majesty King Hamad bin 

Isa Al Khalifa, to achieve sustainable 

development through creating job 

opportunities and attracting more 

investments that support the Kingdom’s 

diversified economy. 

The projects are designed to help 

integrate the government’s efforts 

aimed at enhancing development 

Real GDP growth 

with the private sector's wide ranging 

contributions. 

Bahrain continues to be among 

the leading countries in the GCC in 

economic diversity. The launch of 

mega development projects, has further 

diversified sources of income to further 

support development programmes of 

sustainable economy, in turn designed to 

further improve the quality of life for all 

Bahrainis, a key priority and an ultimate 

Not to be forgotten are the private 

sector projects making good progress 

with numerous significant new 

developments. Landmark projects 

are underway in downstream 

hydrocarbons and aluminium. The 

Bapco Modernisation program is 

gathering momentum which seeks 

to increase capacity from 267,000 to 

360,000 b/d while modifying the output 

mix. The project is expected to be fully 

complete by the end of 2020. Bapco also 

announced the creation of the Bahrain 

Gasoline Blending joint venture with 

UK-based Greenergy. The objective is to 

establish a regional gasoline-blending 

hub 

7% 

6% 

5% 

4% 

3% 

2% 

1% 

0% 

-1% 

-2% 

Q1 

Q2 

Q3 

Source: EDB - BEQ June 2016 

Q4 

Q1 

Q2 

Q3 

Q4 

2013 2014 2015 2016 

QoQ 

YoY 

Q1 

Q2 

Q3 

Q4 

Q1 

The project finance package for the 

Bahrain LNG import terminal project is 

expected to be syndicated this summer 

in the form of a USD600mn 20-year loan. 

The majority is due to be financed by 

export credit agencies. The project will 

have a capacity of 800mn cu ft/d and 

an expected funding requirement of 

USD900mn. The project has a 20-year 

build-own-operate-transfer structure, 

which is a pioneering PPP model in the 

regional context 


13

Feature | Public Sector 

Bahrain National Gas Company 

(Banagas) has a USD400mn gas 

processing facilities expansion planned. 

Aluminium Bahrain is currently 

syndicating a USD750mn sixth pot 

line project, with an overall project 

value expected to be USD3bn. The 

project, once complete, will boost Alba’s 

capacity by 540,000 tn/year to 1.5mn tn/ 

year. 

Spending on a large 

pipeline of infrastructure 

projects remains an 

important driver of nonoil 

growth in Bahrain. 

Another major focus of activity is 

housing. The Government of Bahrain 

is pursuing an ambitious program 

of developing 40,000 housing units 

within a decade. Close to 15,000 units 

are currently under construction and 

a further 6,000 in the pipeline. The 

Ministry is seeking to develop new PPPs 

and has launched a Social Housing 

Financing Scheme to support home 

purchases by nationals. 

The Business Process Outsourcing 

(BPO) industry has emerged as an 

important growth area that capitalizes 

on Bahrain’s human capital strength. In 

recent years it has established itself as 

an increasingly important and dynamic 

subsector of the broader ICT sector in 

Bahrain. The industry is expected to 

grow at an annual pace of 12.8% between 

2013 and 2020. It offers exceptional 

opportunities for the creation of quality 

employment and seeks to capitalise 

on Bahrain’s qualified labour force and 

use it as a springboard for the broader 

region. Bahrainis currently constitute 

an estimated 47% of total employment 

in the ICT sector. One of the most 

established BPO players is Bahrainbased 

Silah Gulf, a customer experience 

solutions provider launched in 2009 

as a joint venture between Bahrain’s 

e-Government Authority and UK-based 

Merchants. The company provides 

services across multiple sections 

including telecoms, financial services, 

tourism, retail, and government. Invita, a 

subsidiary of BBK (Bank of Bahrain and 

Kuwait), was originally established as a 

unit within the bank and then became 

an independent company in 2005. In 

2010, it signed an MOU with Tamkeen to 

train Bahraini high-school graduates as 

call-centre operators. 

The strength of Bahrain’s local 

workforce was highlighted in the World 

Economic Forum’s (WEF) Human Capital 

Index 2016, with the country ranking 

first in the Middle East. The Kingdom 

ranked 46th worldwide with a score of 

73% ahead of Qatar, which ranked 66th 

(69%), the UAE which ranked 69th (68%), 

Saudi Arabia, which ranked 87th (64%) 

and Kuwait, which ranked 97th (50%). 

In particular, the report highlighted 

Bahrain’s progress in increasing 

percentages of educational attainment 

(especially secondary and tertiary 

education) and ranked the country 

particularly highly in terms of the 

quality of its education system (ranked 

25th worldwide), the level of staff 

training (ranked 22nd worldwide) and 

the ease of finding skilled employees 

(ranked 38th worldwide). 

Bahrain has long been a pioneer 

in education and training in the region. 

It was the first country to introduce 

a public education system among 

GCC members in 1919. The Kingdom 

lead youth literacy rates in the MENA 

region, ranking 1st (99.76%). compared 

to the rest of the region, according 

to WEF Human Capital Index 2016. 

The Kingdom’s national university, 

University of Bahrain, is also ranked 

among the top 50 Arab Universities in 

33rd place in 2016. 

Such efforts, along with the wide 

range of training and specialised 

institutions dedicated to support youth 

entrance into the workforce, have led 

to Bahrain having one of the most 

diversified national workforces in the 

GCC. Bahrainis are active in all sectors 

of the economy and only approximately 

a third of the economically active 

nationals are employed in the public 

sector. 

The World Economic Forum’s Human 

Capital Report ranks 130 countries 

on how well they are developing and 

deploying their talent. The index 

evaluates the levels of education, skills 

and employment available to people in 

five distinct age groups, starting from 

under 15 years to over 65. 

The Government of 

Bahrain is pursuing 

an ambitious program 

of developing 40,000 

housing units within a 

decade. 

Forecasts: Non-oil resilience to underpin growth 

2015 2016f 2017f 2018f 

Real GDP growth, % 2.9% 2.9% 2.5% 2.2% 

Non-hydrocarbons sector 3.9% 3.4% 3.0% 2.a6% 

Hydrocarbons sector -0.9% 1.0% 0.5% 0.5% 

Nominal GDP growth, % -4.8% 4.8% 7.6% 5.6% 

Inflation (CPI %) 1.8% 3.8% 2.0% 2.0% 

Current account (% of GDP) -0.2% -2.7% 0.0% 1.2% 

Fiscal balance (% of GDP) -12.5% -13.0% -10.5% -8.9% 

Crude Oil Arabian Medium (USD) 50 45 55 60 

Source: EDB - BEQ June 2016 

While all ministries and 

government bodies are charged with 

the implementation of the economic 

strategy and Bahrain’s Vision 2030, a 

number of key players are central to the 

country’s development. Chief among 

them is the EDB, mandated to attract 

investment to the country, Tamkeen, the 

national labour fund, and BDB today the 

nation’s foremost development finance 

institution. 

Inputs from EDB & BNA reports. 



15

Interview | Ricardo Langwieder-Goerner 

Feature 

Taking 

Outsourcing 

and Services 

to the Next 

Level 

When Ricardo Langwieder- 

Goerner, Chief Executive 

of Silah Gulf received the award 

as the “Most Talented Leader in 

Outsourcing Industry” at the Asia 

BPO Summit this year no one from 

the industry was surprised. The 

prestigious annual event celebrates 

outstanding organizations and 

leaders in the outsourcing sector 

using a rigorous judging process 

with panels of independent judges, 

making it one of the most coveted 

trophies in the industry. The judges 

at the event spoke about Ricardo’s 

“evident commitment and strong 

value- driven ethos, combined with 

leadership skills”. 

Ricardo Langwieder-Goerner 

Chief Executive, Silah Gulf 



He is well-known in Bahrain and 

the region for his commitment, for 

driving customer service excellence 

and as the man responsible for 

powering Silah’s vision to become the 

leading Customer Service provider 

in the Gulf. With Ricardo at the 

helm, Silah is today creating new 

benchmarks in customer service. 

Strategizing and using his high 

energy and unrelenting passion, 

he has spearheaded Silah’s longterm 

strategies, and managed its 

performance, while setting a strong 

backbone of values and ethics. 

The venue was the Capital Club, 

the ambience was tranquil and 

inspiring, the conversation dynamic 

and animated. Ricardo Langwieder- 

Goerner speaks to bizbahrain Founder 

and Managing Director, Ahmed Khalfan 

about the unrelenting efforts of the 

company to provide customers an 

outstanding experience. 

“For my industry it’s all about the 

people and the business environment. 

There’s so much I can do myself to 

ensure we’re going to grow, and that 

we will be profitable, but at the same 

time we need the right skills and 

business environment to operate from. 

Business environment means various 

things. It rules how IP is protected, 

consumer laws, business regulations, 

connectivity, the cost of living, how 

easy is it to attract people, how easy 

is it to grow and operate a successful 

operation and do business. For me, 

Capital Club represents exactly that. 

In Bahrain, we have a great business 

environment, we have platforms 

where we can meet and create, 

drive and innovate industries and 

markets. Capital Club is a landmark 

I feel! It’s a place where you can 

network professionally and socially, 

a significant element of the business 

eco-system and the overall Bahrain 

business proposition. The Capital Club, 

part of a global Club network, is known 

for its best practices throughout the 

region. I use various Capital Club 

locations in the region and Signature 

Clubs internationally as well and 

having one here in Bahrain is a clear 

advantage for doing business.” 

Could you summarize for our 

readers your company profile, your 

target customer and reference market? 

First of all, thank you very much 

for this interview, for having me, 

and for having Silah Gulf here at 

this great location. We come from a 

relatively new and niche industry. 

We are an organization which 

specializes in premium customer 

experience solutions for A brands 

in the GCC. We have grown to over 

800 people over the last 6 years, 

since inauguration. When Silah was 

created, the objective was to create 

an incubator for premium citizen 

services for Bahrain. It all started with 

the vision of e-Government Authority 

Chief Executive Mohammad Al Qaid in 

that he recognized an actual need to 

provide best in class citizen services 

in line with the 2030 vision, we could 

not do that on our own, so the iGA 

joined forces with UK based Merchants 

(Dimension Data) to produce this joint 

venture and Silah was created. 

Being an outsourcing 

provider, our assets are 

our people. 

The initial mandate was to create 

best in class citizen services via 

the National Contact Centre and see 

where it takes us. And this is where 

we are now in 2016, after 6 years. We 

have been able to grow from being 

a local government contact centre 

to a profitable, regional customer 

experience solution provider. Today we 

not only have operations in Bahrain 

but also in Kuwait, and in Saudi, and 

operate throughout the GCC to provide 

end-to-end solutions for key brands in 

the travel, retail, banking, telecom and 

government sectors. 

What makes Bahrain the ideal location 

for establishing business in the 

GCC region, and how has Silah Gulf 

benefited from being here? 

Our objective is not to become 

a global BPO provider, that’s not 

what we are, or what we aim for. Our 

ambition is to be a regional leader and 

profile Bahrain as a regional hub, as 

a preferred outsourcing destination 

for GCC services. Silah was not only 

head quartered here but the key USP 

was that we have an ideal business 

eco-system in Bahrain - the right type 

of skill sets, and abundant options to 

tap into the local talent at competitive 

costs. Not only the scalability of the 

local talent and the skill sets, but also 

the culture behind how Bahrainis 

perceive business, how they approach 

certain projects and activities. There 

is a difference if you walk out of the 

Bahrain airport and engage with a 

local cab driver or if you do that in 

any other GCC state, there is a notable 

difference in how you are welcomed 

with authenticity. 

The work ethic is very strong here. 

Being an outsourcing provider, our 

assets are our people. We are very 

much dependent on the skills of our 

people. So having the right skill sets 

and the right business environment 

allows us to grow as a regional player. 

We see ourselves now competing with 

Middle East or multinational BPO 

organizations. Our competitors are not 

the local players, but more regional 

organizations with structures in Egypt, 

Dubai or Jordan, or in some cases 

even India. While we handle numerous 

local projects we also handle projects 

for organizations which operate 

throughout the GCC. In some cases we 

support them onshore or we support 

them out of Bahrain. 

For example one of our clients is 

one of the largest regional airlines and 

we support their GCC customers out of 

Bahrain. So if you contact the airline 

24/7 for any type of customer service 

or booking from Kuwait, Oman, Saudi 

or UAE, you actually end up here in 

Bahrain. That is a very strong case 

study and business model because 

it demonstrates that what we can do 

for that A brand airline, we can do so 

for many other organizations in other 

verticals. So it’s actually creating a 

business opportunity, which will allow 

not only Silah to grow but the Bahrain 

outsourcing and service industry 

to grow and positions Bahrain as a 


17


preferred near-shore service location 

for the region. 

Please update our readers on some 

of the new technologies and digital 

enhancements that you have 

introduced. 

Our business model is different 

than for other Contact Centre provider. 

We are not purely a call centre provider 

but we are what we call an integrated 

customer experience solution provider. 

This means that besides running 

outsourcing solutions or driving 

customer service operations end to 

end from back office, collections, sales, 

complaint management to social media 

services, we provide complementary 

solutions from technology to training 

and consulting. 

We are what we call an 

integrated customer 

experience solution 

provider. 

Our technology business line 

allows us to provide adequate 

technology tools and platforms to run 

a successful service operation both in 

an outsourced or a captive, in-house, 

environment. The Silah Training 

Centre, allows us not only to train our 

people on best global practices but 

also train other organizations and 

provide certifications for various skill 

segments. This is a very powerful thing 

because it makes us more agile and 

independent from other organizations 

and creates credibility within the 

market. 

Silah also has a consultancy 

practice. Many organizations know 

how to drive and set up technology, 

many of them know how to run certain 

call centre processes and there are 

many training centers in the GCC, 

but if you can combine all that with 

a consultancy practice which allows 

you to not only engage in tailored 

customer service or outsourcing 

solutions but actually consult and 

advise organizations on how to build, 

improve and transform their service 

operations then you become a leader in 

this industry. 

As an integrated solutions provider, 

you need to innovate constantly. 

You cannot depend on yesterday’s 

technology to be ready for the future. 

In my role I travel quite a lot, and 

we engage in industry specific 

conferences and events in Europe and 

Asia to not only promote Silah and the 

Bahrain business hub, but also to stay 

up to date on new technologies and 

solutions. 

I have been in this industry now 

over 20 years, so I have learned, in 

some cases the hard way, that you need 

to constantly innovate. Innovation is 

key because technology is advancing 

very fast in our industry. We are very 

much dependent on technology, on 

people and process efficiency. What 

we have seen is that when it comes 

to process efficiency there are a lot of 

dynamics in the market which takes us 

to tools such as analytics and robotics 

and process automations. 

A new dynamic in the market is 

that customers want to engage less 

in calls or emails. So voice and email 

traffic is decreasing while alternative 

channels, like online, social media, live 

chat, IVR, SMS are increasing; not only 

because of the costs but also because 

of the evolving consumer behaviour. 

So the customer and the market 

demands are constantly evolving. A 

small example, people can order food 

via phone but they can also go online 

or order food via the app. If they have 

a problem with the transaction which 

channel would they chose to have the 

problem resolved? 

Technology is changing constantly, 

and there are companies who are 

changing the market with interruptive 

technologies which forces us to be 

vigilant and curious. We are already 

engaging in partnerships with such 

organizations in regards to technology 

solutions, such as process automation 

and robotics, or skill enhancements 

and knowledge partners for our 

training centre. This is something that 

is going to keep Silah at the forefront. 

With this in mind, is there any 

analysis that could be the result of 

the experience that Silah Gulf has 

in the market with it’s clientele and 

understanding what the end user needs 

to know and getting that information 

out to them in a more efficient manner? 

You mentioned a really crucial 

point. In customer service, it’s all 

about differentiation and usage of the 

market intelligence gained. Over the 

last two decades customer service and 

the enabling technologies have come 

a long way. When I started working in 

this industry, the customer experience 

industry as such didn’t really exist. 

Service was a pure cost element 

and was called after or post sales 

service and predominantly handled 

in-house with unskilled resources. 

Things became more sophisticated as 

competition and markets become more 

challenging, service differentiation 

now became a key strategic enabler 

and post sales became customer 

service, then CRM (Customer 

Relationship Management) and 

slowly evolved into the new buzz word 

- customer experience with its key 

industry practices such as outsourcing 

, off-shoring and enabling technologies 

like cloud, Apps, Analytics (Big Data), 

Robotics etc etc. 

Things have changed 

and customer service 

became customer 

relations management 

and now the buzz word is 

customer experience. 

While the industry has become 

more complex the basic requirements 

remain the same, understanding 

how best to cope with the customer 

interactions, creating loyal customers, 

driving revenues and enhancing the 

brand. But many organizations don’t 

want or are not structured to handle 

interactions efficiently, they want to 

sell a product and ideally this product 

is sold well, and it works well, and 

there is no issue behind it. But rather 



than seeing customer experience as 

a cost factor it is now being used as 

a differentiator in the market. Like 

in banking or consumer business, 

products are usually very much the 

same, so you can play with the price 

and tune the products, but true 

differentiation is only achieved when 

you provide the complete package 

including the experience at the store, 

or on the website or through any 

interaction with the brand and its 

employees. It is only a pyrrhic victory 

if you sell a product once, but fail to 

provide a great experience a long the 

customer journey and the customer is 

not loyal to you. 

Successful companies use their 

contact centres to gain knowledge 

of the customer behaviors, their 

preferences, their feedback and 

reaction to the products, so they can 

actually improve and evolve their 

product and market strategies. 

So yes, in fact, knowledge, data, 

analytics, these are all key components 

and crucial for success. However, you 

need to be able to manage it efficiently 

from the technology platform to the 

people and operations structure. It 

is quite a complex environment and 

you need somebody focused and 

specialized on that - which is what 

we do. We are experts in customer 

experience. We know how to handle 

those interactions and help our clients 

differentiate in their markets 

This is why outsourcing has gained 

far more momentum the last few years, 

especially in this region. It’s because 

organizations are realizing the need 

to focus on their core activities and 

partner with industry experts. Our 

clients face challenging decisions with 

regards to driving customer experience 

and increasing quality vs. managing 

operational spend and budgets. In 

partnership with us they are uniquely 

positioned to drive sustainable, 

superior customer service solutions 

based on global best practices, while 

focusing on what they do best. If you 

find the right partner and not just a 

supplier, then I think you’re on the 

right path. 

Organizations are 

realizing they need 

to focus on their core 

activities. 

Can you tell us a little bit about 

how Silah helps in maximizing the 

customer experience while supporting 

the companies who use you? 

If you are in the airline industry 

then you know exactly how the airline 

business works. If you find the right 

outsourcing partner who can take 

certain core activities from you and do 

it better because it is their specialty 

then one plus one is not just two, it 

becomes three or four in some cases 

because you are adding skill sets and 

skill layers to an organization which 

usually wouldn’t have those skills. 

That is something which allows you 

to drive productivity , drive process 

efficiency, reduce operational costs, 

or even capital expenses because we, 

as an outsourcing company, need to 

invest continuously in certain tools 

and technology. 

Why would an airline or retail 

company continuously invest in 

customer service, or call center 

technology if it’s not their core 

business? So we handle the process, 

the people management, we 

handle most of these operational 

infrastructures for our client which 

allows to drive their efficiencies better. 

It allows them to have their experts 

focus on what they are supposed to do 

and to operate flexible in a dynamic 

business environment. 

Focus is a key imperative 

nowadays, because of quickly 

evolving market, customer and 

competitor dynamics. It drives 

efficiency, it drives differentiation 

and competitiveness. So I believe 

that this is one of the dynamics you 

can change by partnering with a 

specialized outsourcing company, it 

also changes the speed of innovation, 

as we continuously have to focus on 

innovation on behalf of our client. 

Clients should not have to worry 

about what is the newest service 

or sales tool, what is the newest 

customer service process, etc when 

it comes to my market because I am 

already by default focusing on that. 

One of the downsides of an in-house 

customer service structure is the 

lack of access to innovation, you 

work within a bubble, and rarely look 

beyond your vertical. Whereas we 

work across verticals for a number of 

industries and programmes, and we 

can easily take those best practices 

and share them so clients can actually 

benefit from the business we do with 

other clients, and constantly drive 

innovation and add new skills. 


19


To prove that, Silah has won several 

significant awards recently. Can you 

tell us a bit about what this means to 

Silah Gulf and what it means to Ricardo 

as the CEO? 

Awards are about recognition, and 

recognition is something you need to 

earn in a hard and honest way. We have 

won over 30 awards since we have 

been in operations. We recently came 

back from one of the largest contact 

centre awards in Dubai, we received 

4 awards and one of them was for the 

best large outsourcing service provider 

in the Middle East. I think this is great 

recognition for us and for Bahrain - it 

shows we have done things right, it 

shows that the path we have chosen 

to invest in our people and in quality, 

to bet on the Bahrain business hub 

and constantly evolve as a business 

was the right one. It demonstrates not 

only to myself and my Management, 

but more importantly, to our 800 

employees, that they are working for 

the right organization. 

Our vision since I have 

come on board has 

always been to grow, 

to become a regional 

solution provider, to 

become a regional player, 

to grow beyond what we 

have targeted. 

I am also proud that two of our 

clients have been awarded as well. The 

National Contact Centre was awarded 

“Best Small Helpdesk” and our Airline 

client has been awarded “Best New 

Helpdesk.” So really, lots of things to be 

proud of. 

The purpose of Silah is to create 

an organization which will drive the 

service industry in Bahrain and creates 

opportunities for the local workforce. 

800 people are not just 800 people, it is 

800 families. Supporting 800 families 

in a region like ours is a huge thing 

and something to be proud of. When 

I’m walking somewhere in Bahrain, 

someone will raise their hand to say 

hello - it’s a very small environment 

and Silah has become a big family 

itself. So we touch a lot of people and 

with that comes a lot of responsibility. 

The service industry and the 

workload that some of our agents 

and staff members have is quite 

challenging. We operate 24/7, 

sometimes we work over weekends, 

we always strive to exceed our goals. 

For me, each one of these awards 

just demonstrates that we have made 

the right choices, we are on the right 

path and we act with responsibility 

and integrity, which makes me sleep 

well at night. It is a very challenging 

environment and job but it serves 

my passion, which is also one of our 

key company values - passion for our 

clients and our people. 

How is Silah demonstrating the 

strategy behind Bahrainization and the 

utilization of talent in the Kingdom? 

We are a profitable organization, 

which requires strict compliance 

on how we are governed, handle 

processes, costs, people, accounts and 

our commercials. We are a business 

at the end of the day, but we are a 

business with a purpose. Besides the 

standard commercial KPIs around 

EBITDA, SG&A revenues etc we have 

implemented people KPIs such 

a Bahrainization, gender ratio and 

employee satisfaction. We don’t only 

act as an organization that wants to 

be profitable but one that acts with 

responsibility to our employees or 

clients, our shareholders and the 

Bahrain business hub. Our percentage 

of women is 40% as an organization. 

In my executive team it’s 50%. I think 

this is a great story in this region. 

It demonstrates that if you’re tough, 

ambitious and talented you can grow 

and develop yourself, whatever gender 

or background. 

We are at 70% Bahrainization, and 

this demonstrates that our business 

model works. My business model is 

not only to provide onshore solutions 

in Bahrain for local clients, it is about 

attracting large A-brands from the GCC 

to be serviced out of Bahrain. Bahrain’s 

main USP is its talented people, with 

their work ethics and language skills 

. I have a lot of multilingual customer 

service agents and Bahrain provides 

very competitive operating costs. 

For me, having 70% Bahrainization is 

not just a target or a burden, on the 

contrary it is a part of our business 

model, our differentiator in the GCC. 

And finally, how do you maintain such 

a momentum of success? 

I believe you need vision, 

perseverance and you need to be 

bold as management, and as an 

organization which clearly wants to 

grow and make a difference. Of course 

you need the right tools and skills, 

but at the end of the day it’s about 

leadership, people and culture. I believe 

what makes Silah so competitive is our 

capability to evolve, to challenge the 

status quo and our commitment to our 

people and clients. There were quite a 

few bold decisions we had to make in 

terms of business model, the business 

clients or regions we want to focus on, 

what are the key markets or verticals 

we have to prioritize, but also what are 

the opportunities and services we don’t 

want to focus on, because sometimes 

it also takes leadership and guts to say 

no to promising, but short-term gain 

and really focus on what you believe is 

core and sustainable. 

Awards are about 

recognition, and 

recognition is something 

you need to earn the hard 

and honest way. 

Our vision and path is clear - to 

grow beyond what we have targeted, to 

become a regional leader, invest in our 

people, drive the service industry in 

Bahrain and develop the future leaders 

for this key industry. 

by Reena Abraham 



21

Interview | Shaikha Mariam Mohammed Al Khalifa 

Shaikha Mariam Mohammed Al Khalifa 

22 August 2016 

Chief Municipal Services Permit, Southern Governorate Municipality

Striking a balance between economic 

growth and sustainability, the goal of 

the government has been to establish an 

economy that is viable, environmentally 

sound and socially responsible. 

Achieving this goal requires participation 

from all sectors of the community, and 

all departments of the government 

and private sector - a balance between 

Bahrain’s ability to create employment 

opportunities today and achieve healthy 

sustainable economic growth while 

preserving the integrity of its living 

spaces and natural resources - a trade 

off that will depend to a large extent 

on all sectors pulling together. By and 

large, the role of the government and the 

role of service ministries, the Ministry 

of Municipalities Affairs and Urban 

Planning in particular, lie in supporting 

the national economy and enhancing the 

efficiency of the public sector, thereby 

consolidating these capabilities. The 

Ministry of Municipalities Affairs and 

Urban Planning has been engaged in 

total and comprehensive review of this 

role, and reorganizing it to serve the 

best interests of the community and the 

realization of the 2030 Economic Vision. 

As the youngest department chief in 

the Ministry of Municipalities, Engineer 

Mariam Mohammed Al Khalifa has 

been working in the Municipal Services 

Permit department for a good 9 years. 

She talks to Reena Abraham, Group Editor 

of bizbahrain about the efforts of the 

Ministry to create a well regulated, well 

planned organization that keeps all key 

elements in play. 

“ I joined the Southern Municipality 

in 2009 and after working there for a 

while, I was transferred to the Technical 

Interface Office in Al Areen for three 

months to better learn and understand 

how special projects in Bahrain are run. 

I started working in the Building Permits 

department and whenever I had any 

All roads 

leading to 

Vision 

2030 

free time I would go to the Inspection 

and Follow up department to learn their 

rules and regulations, to understand 

building violations and how to manage 

all that. In 2013 I was promoted as Chief 

of Municipal Services Permit. I was and 

still am the youngest department chief 

in the ministry of Municipalities. 

I choose the civil services as my 

career path because I knew that if I 

wanted to serve my country and help 

improve it, the Municipality was the 

best choice. It was my goal too work in 

improving sustainability and improving 

living conditions in Bahrain.” 

What are the steps being undertaken to 

improve infrastructure in the Southern 

governorate? 

In regards to infrastructure there 

are several ongoing projects in the 

Southern governorate. First of all, we are 

replacing both the Alba roundabout and 

the Nuwaidrat roundabout with flyovers. 

These two points have been the main 

hurdles for traffic up to now. Next is the 

construction of a huge substation next to 

the Um Al Nassan Avenue. 

Then we have the addition of a 

photovoltaic (solar energy) and wind 

turbines substation in the Al Dur 

Reverse Osmosis Desalinization plant. 

This is another form of sustainable 

energy development leading towards the 

2030 plan. 

We are also developing and 

implementing a design for the Wali Al 

Ahad avenue by adding another lane. 

They have made plans to expand it 

into three lanes and as soon as they 

finish that they will begin work on Riffa 

Avenue increasing its capacity by adding 

another lane. 

There is a lot of infrastructural work 

going on. You know, you are better able 

to judge a country’s growth by seeing its 

infrastructure development. By growing 

the infrastructure you are able to attract 

more investments and business into the 

country and by improving infrastructure 

more people choose a particular area to 

live in. 

What are some of the biggest challenges 

for Municipal services? 

The changes in some rules are a 

challenge. For example, anyone that 

applies for a building permit now has to 

pay 50 percent of the fees in advance, and 

sometimes due to future improvements 

or plans for a particular area we have 

to freeze some block for further study. 

These changes are always for the better, 

but communicating them to applicants 

isn't easy. We know these changes are 

all for the greater good but the difficulty 

is in sometimes communicating this 

to the people who are planning to build 

and have been waiting for the necessary 

permits. Dealing with clients and telling 

them about delays which are most often 

managerial decisions, is not easy at 

times. 

What would you say is the main reason 

behind the popularity of Bahrain as a 

living destination? 

Simply put, Bahrain is a melting 

pot of different cultures and religions. It 

supports freedom of speech and religion 

and allows you to live freely without too 

many restrictions. In the GCC especially, 

Bahrain is known for its acceptance of 

different people, different beliefs and 


23

Interview | Shaikha Mariam Mohammed Al Khalifa 

cultures. It is a very friendly place and 

you feel that the moment you step into 

Bahrain. 

You are better able 

to judge a country’s 

growth by seeing 

its infrastructure 

development. 

What steps are being taken to maintain 

Bahrain’s attraction as an investment 

destination and a business hub? 

All activities go through the Ministry 

of Municipalities and they are working 

to making processes simpler and easier 

for everyone. Simplifying the Municipal 

One Stop Shop process for investors is an 

important step that has led to improved 

investment in Bahrain. The Municipality 

is always looking for ways to improve 

the services we provide to investors. This 

effort comes under the patronage of HRH 

Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa 

who takes a direct interest in seeing how 

things works. 

The newly developed Sijilat 

Commercial Registration program under 

the patronage of HRH Prince Salman bin 

Hamad Al Khalifa also expedites the CR 

application process. It allows investors 

to apply online and communicate 

with all relevant government parties 

in a unified system. The time saved is 

tremendous and it makes the whole 

process extremely simple. Both Prince 

Khalifa bin Salman and Prince Salman 

bin Hamad receive monthly statistics 

and reports and if they see that there are 

any delays in a project or in some action 

being taken they question why and they 

look into it. It is a very well managed 

process and the results are there for all to 

see and appreciate. 

What needs to be done to ensure 

that Bahrain’s growth potential is 

communicated to investors and that 

perceived reservations or risks are 

adequately addressed? 

The municipality is doing a pretty 

good job in addressing this issue via 

the media and through municipal 

conventions where the present the new 

initiatives that the government has set up 

and the results. We participate in regional 

conventions too so the whole GCC can see 

what we are doing. 

In terms of infrastructure and housing 

how would you characterize progress to 

date? 

Regarding infrastructure, as I 

mentioned earlier, a lot of work is being 

done. All efforts are leading to one thing - 

the goal of 2030. We are trying to improve 

traffic conditions, simplify processes and 

so many more initiatives. 

In regards to housing projects, 

building permits have been issued for 

Alhunayniyah, Zallaq, Madinat Zayed, and 

Jaw housing in the Southern governorate. 

The first three housing projects have 

been completed, while the Jaw project 

consisting of over 2,000 housing units 

have just applied for a building permit. 

Infrastructure around the projects I 

have mentioned will also improve 

transportation and decrease traffic. 

What are the criterion that are looked at 

when issuing a building permit? 

There are certain rules and 

regulations that guide us when we issue 

permits. We look at many factors like 

parking, fire hazards and so on. Most of 

the things have to do with safety and 

security and maintaining some standards 

in use of office space and in residential 

conditions, for example, there have to be 

the prescribed windows so that there is 

adequate ventilation. 

There is a ceiling also on the height 

of the building which depends partly 

on the area the building is in. We also 

have specifications about minimum 

size of rooms especially in key utility 

areas. Every aspect of a building is 

considered from ventilation to placement 

of windows. 

There are very strict regulations and 

controls that have been implemented to 

keep a check on buildings. Reports and 

statistics are regularly submitted to HRH 

Prince Khalifa bin Salman’s office and 

they keep track of the number of permits 

being issued. Besides that the Minister 

himself is very hands-on when it comes 

to the work being done. He wants an 

excellent standard to be maintained. 

What are the reforms and policies being 

implemented to improve efficiency across 

the public sector? 

Of course there are many efforts. 

One such, the Municipality has hired 

a consulting firm Protiviti to study the 

performance of different departments 

in order to find ways to improve the 

processes currently being used to 

optimize performance. Besides this we 

have a business development advisor 

within the municipality who studies the 

departments and presents statistics to 

the Minister himself every quarter. It 

shows how we have been dealing with 

issues, how we can improve and areas 

that need pulling up. At the end of the 

year the reports on the four quarters are 

studied to see what improvements have 

been made and if anything further needs 

to be done. 

I think we are well on 

the path to achieving our 

goals for Vision 2030. 

What do you foresee for the future of 

Bahrain’s Vision 2030? 

In terms of urban planning there are 

comprehensive studies being made in 

regards to zoning, under the patronage 

of HRH Prince Salman bin Hamad Al 

Khalifa, who is the Head of the High 

Committee of Urban Planning. There 

have also been comprehensive studies in 

regards to sustainable living. The studies 

have looked at where high rise buildings 

should be built, which areas are most 

suitable to be commercial areas, and 

where residential and so on. This is the 

reason some areas have been frozen as 

far as building permits are concerned. I 

foresee the implementation of rules and 

regulations in the future that will ensure 

the use of sustainable techniques and 

materials. I think we are well on the path 

to achieving our goals for Vision 2030. 

We have 14 years more and we will reach 

there according to our plans. 



25

CBRE | Real Estate Analysis 

Coryn Hellewell 

Residential Property Consultant 

CBRE | Advisory & Transaction Services 

Waterfront Living in Bahrain- 

A Property Viewpoint 

Until the early 2000’s, waterfront 

property in Bahrain was in very 

low supply, which for a small island is 

surprising. In 2003 the first phase of 

Amwaj Islands was completed, and since 

then has grown significantly and offers 

a variety of developments, with private 

beaches, water access, coffee shops, 

supermarkets and 5 star hotels. However, 

with its location off the northeast of 

Bahrain, it is not the most convenient 

location for those working in the city or 

commuting to Saudi Arabia. 

Due to the popularity of Amwaj 

Islands, we have seen a steady increase in 

waterfront property developments, with 

Reef Island in the Northern Governorate, 

offering luxury apartment buildings 

and Durrat Al Bahrain in the Southern 

Governorate, with deluxe waterfront 

villas, in a peaceful setting. This project 

has become more popular for weekend 

visitors, due to the distance from the city. 

Encouraged by the success of 

Amwaj Islands and Reef Island, more 

designs are in the planning and 

construction stages with two new 

projects from Bin Faqeeh: Water Bay 

West, in Bahrain Bay and Layan in 

the Durrat Marina, and the projects at 

Dilmunia: The Essence of Dilmunia 

and Hanging Gardens both by Al Qaed 

Group. 

Reef Island is a manmade 

reclaimed island on the North 

coast of Bahrain and today the 

development is one of the most popular 

residential addresses in Bahrain. 

Reef Island seems to have found 

the perfect balance - offering water 

front apartments with stunning sea 

views, close to the financial district 

of Manama, with waterfront dining 

and easy access to all major roads. 

Situated close to local amenities, 

such as City Centre and Seef Mall, and 

with easy access to offices in Bahrain 

Financial Harbour, Seef District and 

World Trade Centre, as well as being 

convenient for the Saudi Causeway, 

this area is perfect for those looking for 

luxury living in the centre of town. 

Over the past two years, as the 

traffic in Bahrain has become more 

and more hectic, we have witnessed 

many people moving away from 

Amwaj Islands due to the length of 

the commute to work. Reef Island is 

ideal, as it offers similar waterfront 

developments, in the heart of the city. 

It is perfect for single and professional 

couples working at Bahrain Financial 

Harbour and World Trade Centre. 

The island offers three fine 

dining restaurants on the water front; 

Italian, Lebanese and French, ideal for 

sundowners and al fresco dining. There 

are also three coffee shops and a small 


CBRE | Real Estate Analysis 

supermarket. For those who enjoy 

getting fit, there is a jogging track on 

the sea front, and the new health club 

on the water front is a great addition 

to the island, offering an indoor 

swimming pool, Ladies only and Men’s 

only gyms, aerobics studio, hair salon 

and nail spa. Access for yachts up to 

110 meters in length, is provided and 

enhance the relaxed lifestyle people 

have come to expect in Reef Island. 

Reef Resort is due to open in late 

2016, offering beautifully designed 

villas, leased on a daily/weekly basis. 

The resort will also boast a superb 

beach club with swimming pool, bar 

and restaurant, which will also be 

available for residents of Reef Island 

on a membership basis. In 2011 we saw 

rental prices drop on Reef Island due to 

the economic climate in Bahrain, and 

the proximity to the pearl roundabout 

site, however, since 2014 we have seen 

a slow but steady rise in rental prices, 

with people paying premium rates for 

the status of the address, and buyers 

are now seeing a good return on their 

investments. 

With a range of properties, there 

is a wide variety of style and sizes of 

apartments, from one bedroom to sky 

mansions and prices ranging from 

BD500 - BD4000 per month. Some 

examples of these developments are: 

Lapis Building 

This is a wholly owned building 

and it offers 113 apartments of one, two 

and three bedrooms of many different 

designs. As well as a range of fully 

furnished apartments, the building 

offers a sea fronted swimming pool, well 

equipped gym, games room, children’s 

play room and basement parking. 

Quoted rental rates at this property 

range from BD500 to BD1300 per month. 

Rental rates include municipality tax, 

electric, water, internet, satellite and 

housekeeping. Lapis Building currently 

has a 90% occupancy rate. 

Porta Reef 

A Freehold development of three 

buildings, with 60 apartments in each, 

offering two and three bedroom fully 

furnished apartments; open plan 

kitchens, balconies and high quality 

fittings. The development also offers a 

sea fronted swimming pool, gym and 

24 hour security. Rental rates vary 

depending on the owners, but typically 

range between BD700 - BD900 per 

month for a fully furnished 2 bedroom, 

and BD1200 - BD1500 per month for a 

three bedroom, inclusive of tax and 

electricity. Some landlords will include 

services, such as internet and satellite 

TV. Currently the occupancy rate is 

approximately 70%-80%. 

Le Reef 

Owned and managed by Ahad 

Holdings, this is one of the premier 

buildings on the island. This freehold 

property features two residential 

towers; offering one, two, and three 

bedroom apartments and four bedroom 

sky mansions. The building is finished 

to a very high standard, and due to 

location on the far side of the island, it 

offers beautiful panoramic sea views. 

The towers has a large, well equipped, 

basement gym, sea fronted swimming 

pool with unobstructed views, ample 

basement parking and 24 hour security. 

Rental rates are currently, for one 

bedroom BD700 - BD800 per month, two 

bedrooms BD1400 - 1600 per month, 

three bedrooms BD1800 - BD2500 per 

month and sky villas BD3000 - BD4000 

per month. Rates are inclusive of tax, 

electricity, internet, satellite TV and 

housekeeping. The property currently 

holds an occupancy rate of 97%. 

Offering a range of luxury apartment 

buildings, with excellent facilities and 

stunning city and sea views, Reef Island 

has become a premier location for 

expats looking for high end apartment 

living in a waterfront setting. 


27

ASAR | Finance Law Analysis 

The case for a comprehensive 

legislation on PPP 

by Simone Del Nevo 

There is no standard, 

internationally-accepted 

definition of a PPP (public-private 

partnership). The World Bank defines 

it as a mechanism for governments 

to procure and implement public 

infrastructure and/or services using 

the resources and expertise of 

the private sector in exchange for 

concessions or outright payments. 

Where governments are facing an 

aging or lack of infrastructure and 

require more efficient services, a 

partnership with the private sector 

can help foster new efficient solutions 

and facilitate necessary financing. 

This definition captures the goal of 

the public-private partnership but 

says nothing in respect to the legal 

and contractual forms through which 

such goal is to be achieved. In reality, 

a plurality of legal and contractual 

forms have been devised to achieve the 

goals of a public-private partnership. 

Certain jurisdictions have developed 

a specific legal framework for PPPs, 

and under such framework they have 

introduced a model for public-private 

partnership, i.e. a typified legal and 

contractual structure to be used for the 

purpose of pursuing the public goals 

connected with PPP. The use of such 

model, under specific legislation, is 

normally associated with legal rights 

and benefits which would not be 

otherwise available. Such benefits may 

include streamlined procurement and 

authorization procedures, enhanced 

creditor protection and certainty of 

rights to allure private entrepreneurs 

to engage in the public projects. 

A noteworthy example of this 

approach is the State of Kuwait 

which recently issued Law No. 116 

of 2014 pertaining to public private 

partnerships projects. Under that 

law, a “PPP Model” is defined as “a 

model whereby a private Investor 

invests in State-owned real estate 

property - if required - in one of the 

projects procured by the Authority in 

collaboration with one of the Public 

Entities after signing an agreement 

with the Investor to implement or build 

or develop or operate or rehabilitate 

a service or an infrastructure project, 

and to provide financing thereto and 

operate or manage and develop the 

project, for a specified term, after 

which the project shall be transferred 

to the State; the foregoing shall be 

carried out in one of two forms: 1) 

the implementation of the project in 

consideration for fees - for services 

or works performed - to be paid to 

the Investor by the beneficiaries 

or by the Public Entities who have 

entered into an agreement with the 

Investor, and whose objectives are 

in compliance with the project or by 

both the beneficiaries and the Public 


Entities; and 2) the purpose of the 

project is for the Investor to implement 

a project with strategic importance to 

the national economy and to exploit 

it for a specified term. In both cases, 

the Investor shall pay a fee for the 

use of any State - owned real property 

allocated for the project.” 

In Bahrain, there is no 

comprehensive legislation on 

PPP. Accordingly, public private 

partnerships are carried out within 

the framework of generally applicable 

administrative, civil and commercial 

laws, and the models used are normally 

imported from international market 

practices and adapted (with varying 

degrees of success) to fit the local legal 

system. We believe, however, that the 

adoption of a comprehensive legal 

and regulatory framework governing 

PPPs would immensely benefit Bahrain 

by developing and implementing a 

streamlined process while removing 

several legal uncertainties which 

persist in generally applicable laws 

resulting in higher project costs to 

compensate for the connected legal 

risk. The Kuwaiti law could be used 

as a model in light of the profound 

similarities between the two legal 

systems; though, there are several 

areas in which it be progressively 

modified. 

A comprehensive legislative 

framework would also be the 

appropriate vehicle to address certain 

key legal issues that arise specifically 

in the context of PPPs. One of the 

foremost concerns of any private 

investor in a PPP is the possibility 

that the contracting authority may 

override contractual provisions on the 

ground of pursuing a public interest. 

Investors would rightly fear that the 

terms of their investment could be redetermined 

ex post to their detriment, 

which might be done, for example, 

by referring to such agreements as 

administrative contracts (thereby 

subject to administrative court 

systems) or by unilaterally modifying 

the terms of the contract, cancelling 

the contract altogether or suspending 

its execution on the grounds of an 

alleged public interest. While the 

existence and extent of any such 

right under the existing Bahraini 

legal system is debatable, certainly 

the introduction of clear provisions 

as to the existence and consequences 

of any such right (and ensuing 

indemnification for the investors) 

would enhance legal certainty in 

perhaps the single most important 

item of concerns for private investors, 

whether providing equity or debt. 

A similar concern which is 

regularly raised in PPP projects is the 

matter of sovereign immunity. The 

unique manner in which sovereign 

immunity persists in Bahrain - by 

a statutory prohibition on court 

enforcement against public property 

or property owned by the Kingdom 

- leaves questions as to the capacity 

of any public officer to validly waive 

immunity as well as the breadth of the 

term “property” in that context. Due 

to the statutory nature of sovereign 

immunity, PPP legislation could set 

out the extent of immunity waiver 

allocated to a designated authority or 

the type of property which is eligible 

for enforcement in connection with 

PPP projects. 

Another key element to the 

success of PPP projects is the interface 

between the government and investors. 

Major projects may involve a multitude 

of public entities each possessing 

public interests sometimes in conflict 

among each other and vis-à-vis the 

investor; absent a unitary interface, 

the investor may have to mediate 

between different public entities with 

the antecedent waste of resources 

and time. Under the above-mentioned 

Kuwaiti law, this concern has been 

navigated by creating the Kuwait 

Authority for Partnership Projects, 

which is tasked with collaborating and 

coordinating with the public entities 

involved. This intelligent solution 

moves in the direction of a unitary 

interface and places the onus on a 

central authority to coordinate and 

mediate between the various public 

entities involved in a PPP project. 

A comprehensive legislation 

on PPPs could also be the place for 

regulating project companies and 

security packages accompanying 

project finance by the introduction of 

simplified procedure for creation and 

enforcement of security interests over 

project assets. These might include 

recognition of specialized floating 

charges over assets - other than the 

existing business premises mortgage 

system) and organizing the process 

for encumbering project cash flows, 

noting that the majority of PPP is 

financed on the basis of cash flows 

rather than on the basis of the asset 

base. Such a system could help in 

overcoming many of the shortcomings 

the practitioners currently face when 

it comes, for example, to pledging 

the future cash flows generated by a 

contract. These are all areas where 

the above mentioned Kuwaiti law 

on PPPs has innovated a lot, as well 

as recognizing, for the first time, 

enforceable step-in rights which are 

another crucial feature of most PPPs. 

By comparison, step-in and takeover 

rights (e.g. through call options) face 

serious limitations on enforcement 

under existing Bahrain legislation. 

All in all, we believe that the 

enactment of a comprehensive 

legislation on PPPs should be at the 

top of the agenda for the leaders of 

Bahrain. Increasing pressure on the 

fiscal budget makes the involvement 

of private expertise and resources a 

sustainable platform for the purpose of 

providing public services of economic 

or social importance in the near 

term. Process efficiency and legal 

certainty derived from a suitable PPP 

framework would deliver tangible 

benefits in achieving those goals. 

Helpfully, Bahrain has at its disposal a 

functional model in Kuwait law with a 

track record of success to work from, 

and to improve upon, in light of the 

similarities between the two legal 

systems. 

Simone Del Nevo 

Senior Associate at 

ASAR-Al Ruwayeh & 

Partners 


29

OBG | Business Report 

Tourism 

and job 

growth drive 

Bahrain’s 

retail sector 

expansion 

Oxford Business Group (OBG) 

rising number of tourists combined 

A with steady job growth is driving 

demand in Bahrain’s retail sector and 

spurring the development of a number of 

new retail centres. 

Some of the best performers in 

Bahrain’s current retail market are 

operators in the food and beverage 

segment, according to a recent report by 

real estate consultancy firm Cluttons, 

with demand in the retail sector 

supported by the tourism industry, 

particularly with visitors from Saudi 

Arabia. 

Tourism potential 

Bahrain’s tourism sector saw strong 

growth last year, with arrivals at 11.6m, 

up 11% from 2014, according to data 

released by the Economic Development 

Board (EDB). 

The board has predicted the industry, 

which accounts for approximately 6% of 

GDP, will expand at a compound annual 

growth rate of 4.8%, generating revenue 

of $1bn by 2020, while arrivals will climb 

to more than 15m by 2018. 

According to Jerad Bachar, 

executive director of tourism and 

leisure at the EDB, this increase is 

driving private and public investments 

across the economy, including the retail 

sector. 

“There is investment throughout 

the tourism ecosystem including 

accommodation, technology, ground 

transportation, airport infrastructure 

and retail centres,” he said at an 

investment roundtable in April. 

A key market for Bahrain’s tourism 

industry, and by extension its retail 

sector, is Saudi Arabia, which accounts 

for 70% of all inbound traffic. Serving 

this source market continues to offer 

strong opportunities for Bahrain-based 

retailers, according to Harry Goodson- 

Wickes, head of Cluttons Bahrain. 

“The kingdom’s retail sector is still 

perceived as being a key retail and 

hospitality hub for Saudi Arabia, with 

the weekend tourist traffic being a 

particularly big draw for domestic and 

international retailers,” he told local 

media in April. 

Ahmed Yusuf, CEO of Seef Properties, 

a property management company 

owning and operating three of the 

largest malls in Bahrain, also points to 

the pull of cinema. 

“At the end of the day, families want 

to travel,” Yusuf told OBG. “Currently, 

cinema is one of the main attractions 

that bring Saudi families to the kingdom, 

giving us an edge over Dubai.” 

Job growth 

The retail sector could receive 

another boost through solid growth in 

Bahrain’s job market. Bucking a regional 

trend of tighter job markets, Bahrain 

saw a 9% increase in employment 

opportunities year-on-year (y-o-y) in 

May, according to the results of a survey 

conducted by online jobs portal Monster. 

com. 

This uptick in employment, despite 

the slow pace of global economic 

recovery, is expected to positively 

impact consumer confidence and 

spending patterns in the second half of 

this year. 


OBG | Business Report 

Project pipeline 

The anticipated rise in consumer 

demand is being met through a steady 

flow of new retail space. 

Initial tenders have recently 

been issued for piling works in the 

development of Marassi Galleria, part 

of a large-scale waterfront mixed retail, 

residential and entertainment project. 

The complex will add 250,000 sq metres 

of retail space to Bahrain’s stocks by 

2022, with most of the shopping space 

to be completed by 2019, according 

to Maher Al Shaer, CEO of Diyar Al 

Muharraq and managing director of 

Marassi Al Bahrain. 

Bahrain has also seen an increase 

in the rollout of smaller communitybased 

retail outlets, with neighbourhood 

shopping centres merging with food 

and beverage services, according to a 

report issued by property consultancy 

firm CBRE in early June. These centres, 

ranging in size from 5000 square 

metres of gross leasable area (GLA) in 

smaller developments to around 40,000 

sq metres GLA, offer opportunities 

in community retailing and family 

entertainment. 

In the destination mall segment, 

The Avenues on the Manama Corniche 

at Bahrain Bay set to open early next 

year will offer 38,000 sq metres GLA 

and provide a range of facilities, such 

as waterfront dining, a running track 

and gym, and a traditional souk, the 

report said. Another destination mall 

is the newly opened Bahrain Dragon 

City, which includes a market area 

with 50,000 sq metres GLA in addition 

to a warehouse facility and a leisure 

complex on Diyar Al Muharraq, a 

reclaimed island northeast of Manama. 

The mall has brought in 500 Chinese 

companies and is largely targeted 

towards business owners from Bahrain 

and Saudi Arabia. 

While the flow of new retail space 

remains strong, Cluttons reports that 

the retail market may be approaching 

a supply-demand equilibrium, as either 

the entry of new developments slows or 

rental rates dip. 

Possible growth constraints 

In June ratings agency Moody’s 

warned that low oil prices would likely 

constrain government spending, which 

could result in lower levels of consumer 

confidence and economic growth. Recent 

projections put Bahrain’s economic 

expansion at between 2.2% and 2.9%, the 

latter estimate being in line with last 

year’s rate of growth. 

Consumer sentiment in Bahrain is 

somewhat muted, according to the latest 

survey of confidence levels by online 

job recruitment company Bayt, which 

has prompted the expansion of many 

Bahraini retailers into the much larger 

market next door, Saudi Arabia. 

For example, Bahrain-based Asghar 

Ali, a perfume manufacturer with over 100 

outlets throughout the Gulf, has recently 

ramped up expansion in Bahrain's 

neighbour. 

“The cost of doing business in Saudi 

Arabia has increased, so margins aren't 

as high. However, it's important to be 

present to continue building the brand 

name throughout the region,” Saad 

Asghar Ali, told OBG. 

Although consumer confidence in 

Bahrain was also down marginally from 

the second half of 2015 to the same time 

period last year, Bahrain retailers are 

expecting to see similar results to last 

year, according to Hamad Fuad, director 

at Bahrain-based Junaid Perfumes. 

"Coming out of the lucrative Ramadan 

season, we are up around 4% from last 

year's sales, but we are not expecting this 

growth to be reflected across the whole 

year's figures. We are happy to see higherincome 

consumers buying more middlemarket 

goods, which has meant we won't 

likely see any decrease," he told OBG. 

A key factor that might curb 

consumer spending is rising inflation, 

which reached 3.8% y-o-y in April, its 

highest level since December 2013, which 

may well be set to rise as a planned 

value-added tax is rolled out across the 

region. 

“In retail, the added cost will go 

straight to the price of the product,” 

Ahmed A. Bin Hindi, vice chairman and 

CEO of A.A. Bin Hindi, the local Kia and 

Samsung distributor, told OBG. “We are 

still seeing positive reactions to new 

products launched this year. Bahraini 

customers are always looking for the 

latest products and are more educated 

and knowledgeable about what they want 

than ever before.” 

This Bahrain economic update was 

produced by Oxford Business Group. 

Oxford Business Group (OBG) is 

a global publishing, research and 

consultancy firm which publishes 

economic intelligence on the 

markets of the Middle East, Africa, 

Asia and Latin America. In print 

and online, the critically acclaimed 

economic and business reports 

have become the leading source of 

business intelligence on developing 

countries in the regions they 

cover. OBG's monthly economic 

updates provide up-to-date, indepth 

analysis on the issues that 

matter for tens of thousands of 

subscribers worldwide. OBG has 

been in Bahrain for 12 years and is 

currently working on The Report: 

Bahrain 2017 which is scheduled 

to be released in the first quarter 

of 2017. For more information, visit 

www.oxfordbusinessgroup.com or 

call us in Bahrain at 1715 1582. 


31

Career Guidance | Bayt.com 

Talent Sourcing Mistakes 

by Sultan Sharabati 

Nowadays, sourcing talent is no easy 

feat for any employer. This is not due 

to the lack of candidates in the job market, 

but conversely, because of an excess. 

With so many applications for each 

vacancy, it becomes important to use the 

right recruitment techniques, especially 

for sourcing top-class talent. To grow a 

successful organization you need talented 

employees, and to get talented employees 

there should be no room for error. In this 

article, Bayt.com experts explain the 

seven talent sourcing mistakes that every 

employer needs to avoid. 

1. Over-analyzing a CV 

A CV, though important, doesn’t give 

you much insight into the personality 

of a candidate. Instead of spending a 

lot of time on the CV, it’s advisable to 

scan for relevant qualifications and 

work experience, but also layout and 

grammatical errors. If there’s a match 

between the candidate and the job 

opening, give the candidate a call. This 

saves a lot of time and effort. 

2. Hiring too quickly 

Often, hiring managers choose 

amongst the first 2-3 candidates who 

are ‘good’ according to them, and don’t 

interview anymore. This happens because 

employers want to fill in positions quickly, 

to resume a normal routine at the office. 

However, by hiring too quickly, you may 

be compromising on more qualified 

candidates. It’s always better to have at 

least 5-10 good candidates to choose from, 

and then pick the best one. 

3. Ignoring employee referrals 

Employees in your company are, 

presumably, a good cultural fit with the 

organization. Employee referrals are 

candidate recommendations made by 

current employees, and should never be 

ignored. In fact, seven in 10 professionals 

say they don’t mind recommending their 

current company to friends/family for 

a job, as revealed in the Bayt.com ‘What 

Makes a Company an Attractive Place to 

Work?’ poll (February 2014). Employees 

know these candidates personally, and 

are able to judge if they will fit in with 

the company. Often, these suggested 

candidates turn out to become strong 

assets for the company. 

4. Focusing on previous title/company 

instead of experience 

If a candidate has worked in a wellknown 

company, or has held prestigious 

titles, it may not be sufficient if their 

relevant work experience is missing. 

You must look at what a candidate 

has achieved instead of whether their 

experience will add value to your 

company. 

5. Discounting fresh graduates 

Instead of discounting fresh graduates 

from the start, it’s advisable to give them 

a shot. From time to time you might 

come across the CV of an incredible 

fresh graduate candidate with numerous 

accolades and relevant educational 

qualifications. Try calling them for an 

interview, and see how it works out. 

Remember, fresh graduates don’t expect 

a high salary, are very innovative and 

have the willingness to prove themselves. 

67% of employers in the Middle East and 

North Africa (MENA) region are willing 

to hire candidates that have relevant 

skills needed but no experience in a given 

field, according to the Bayt.com ‘Hiring 

Practices in the MENA’ poll (February 

2012). Fresh graduates can also be molded 

easily into any organization. 

6. Ignoring social recruiting techniques 

Social recruiting is the new trend. 

It goes beyond the CV and allows you to 

get a glimpse of a potential candidate’s 

personality. Using social media for your 

hiring processes involves two major 

advantages. Firstly, you can increase 

your brand value while simultaneously 

increasing your pool of candidates. 

Secondly, you can find out about a 

candidate in-depth through their social 

media accounts before making a hiring 

decision. In fact, 61% of MENA employers 

check the online profiles of new recruits 

before hiring them according to the Bayt. 

com ‘Personal Branding in the Middle 

East and North Africa’ poll (September 

2013). Social platforms such as Bayt.com 

Specialtiesare perfect for social recruiting. 

7. Running generic searches 

When searching for candidates 

try using relevant rather than generic 

keywords. Generic keywords such as 

“manager” or “specialist” will just increase 

your pool of candidates, without adding 

any quality. A way to tackle this is by 

using sophisticated CV Search software, 

such as the state-of-the-art Bayt.com 

CV Search, which filters your search by 

multiple criteria, helping you find the 

ideal candidates for your positions. 

Sultan Sharabati 

Country Manager-Bahrain, 

Bayt.com 



33

Focus | Company Formation 

properties, opens up to a great number 

of investors from INSIDE the United 

Kingdom who had no longer been able to 

afford property in their own country. A 

weaker British Pound makes the currency 

cheaper for others and subsequently the 

goods sold in that currency - if you ever 

dreamed of owning a Bentley or an Aston 

Martin: Now is the time to buy! 

The #BREXIT and your 

offshore Company 

by Dr. Alex R. Suchy von Weissenfeld 

June 23, 2016! A date, most people 

in the United Kingdom, Wales and 

Northern Ireland won’t forget that easilyand 

neither will a large group of people 

all around the world and in Brussels in 

particular. 

The people of the United Kingdom 

have voted in a public referendum on 

remaining part of the European Union 

or leaving the 28 (until then) member 

bloc- the result: a majority, albeit a small 

one, of the people decided to let “Europe 

be Europe” and leave the European Union! 

The amount of “Emergency Meetings” in 

Brussels and Berlin is a clear indication 

that nobody actually believed that - 

what the social media would refer to as 

#BREXIT - would actually happen! 

And really.. it hasn’t happened, yet! 

If you have followed the media in recent 

weeks you will have noticed that all 

politicians seem to point fingers and 

refuse to accept responsibility for the 

outcome of the referendum-even those 

campaigning in favor of leaving-and try 

to have someone else ‘lead Britain’ out 

of the EU. Legally speaking, you must 

know, this referendum is NOT binding, 

it was a mere opinion poll if you will. 

However, any British Government would 

be ill-advised to overthrow this clearly 

democratic expression of the people’s will 

and simply go about their business as 

usual by ignoring the referendum’s result. 

Everyone knows it and therefore is very 

uneasy to go into the history books as the 

very Prime Minister who lead the United 

Kingdom into, what most people deem, an 

uncertain future. This future, if you hear 

the 27 other bloc members talk, has to 

include invoking article 50 of the “Lisbon 

Treaty” as soon as possible, which means, 

officially starting ‘divorce proceedings’ 

between the European Union and the 

United Kingdom. 

Economists such as myself, have 

predicted early on that in case of #BREXIT, 

the trust in the Kingdom’s economy 

would probably waiver and as a result, 

the purchasing power of the British 

Pound would lessen. At date of writing 

this article, the Bahraini Dinar was equal 

to 2.06 British Pounds!! Newspapers 

speak of a 30 year low and people, in 

and outside Great Britain, are obviously 

nervous. What does this all mean? It is a 

reflection of the uncertainty, the unknown 

that lies ahead. The United Kingdom is, 

legally speaking, still a full member of the 

European Union but the sheer expression 

of the people’s desire to change that has 

financial analysts and foreign investors 

get ‘cold feet’. The property sector in the 

UK is taking a turn downwards as ‘on 

paper’ these properties have lost in value 

and foreign investors are moving into 

jurisdictions seen to be more ‘stable’ and 

‘reliable’ like the continental EU. 

However, in every crisis lies 

opportunity and especially the property 

market in the UK, which for years has 

no longer reflected the ‘real’ value of the 

With Britain not being a nation ‘on 

its own’ but the center of a much larger 

framework, the British Commonwealth, 

for instance and still in charge of overseas 

territories, the question arises if the 

current situation in the UK has any effect 

on companies registered in such overseas 

territories like the British Virgin Islands or 

Bermuda. The initial and very superficial 

answer is: NO. However, this might not be 

true for all such entities. 

Generally speaking, taxation is a 

matter of jurisdiction. Despite the fact that 

the British Virgin Islands or the Cayman 

Islands are “British Overseas Territories”, 

they are autonomous when it comes to 

their finances and their legislation. This 

means, just because Britain may need 

to find a source of extra income (taxes), 

your company’s profits won’t be taxed all 

of a sudden. It may, however, affect taxes 

you have to pay in the UK for property 

you may now decide to purchase there. 

There are rumors that a new government 

could increase property tax on real estate 

owned by ‘foreign and overseas entities’, 

which would then affect your cash flow. 

Needless to say, that any account in any 

of the offshore banks operated in British 

Pound still won’t be taxed as such, but 

is currently losing value in itself and 

analysists are not shying away from 

saying, the British Pound could reach 

parity with the United States Dollar (at 

time of writing this article 1 British Pound 

= 1.29 United States Dollar). 

So, overall, we’ll have to wait and see 

because the only sure thing is that “it will 

be dark at night” - for all else, only time 

can tell. 

Dr. Alex R. Suchy von 

Weissenfeld is currently 

focused on company 

formation in Bahrain and 

internationally 



35

Opinion | Business Strategy 

Is your 

Business 

Making 

Difference? 

by Ali Al-Aradi 

It was commonly understood that 

business owner starts-up businesses 

with perfect rationality and is interested 

in maximizing his/her self-interest. 

In other words, rational people make 

perfectly informed and logical decisions 

and are concerned only about their 

own needs, however there are other 

perspective been stresses beside the 

self-interest, the importance of making 

meaning of your business in the new 

economy and identified vital resources 

that include such concepts as “a sense 

of purpose, a sense of opportunity, a 

sense of community, a strong family, 

ethics, a strong work ethics, and high 

self-esteem.” The implication of this 

view is that business can but those 

values into account in order to survive 

in the current economical situation. 

When talking about business 

adopting those values we mean an 

elevated workplace that respects the 

abilities of its employees and therefore 

creativity is important. Such a firm 

does not exploit workers in order to 

maximize profits and pay exorbitant 

salaries to executives and provides 

resources to help people uncover their 

creative potential and to practice 

creativity within the organization, 

people want their lives and jobs to 

have purpose and meaning. They are 

concerned with making a difference and 

desire to make the world a better place. 

A key step in starting the difference; 

is in wanting to improve the world and 

championing better work and working 

lives. If life has a higher purpose, then 

one can expect the corporate world to 

strive to improve the world. Of course a 

firm has a responsibility to make profits, 

but this obligation does not mean that 

the firm should ignore the needs of 

society. 

Meaningful work and respecting the 

ability of workers: The business as an 

organization built on trust and respect 

for the worker and not just a profitmaking 

machine. Seeing employees 

as factors of production that should 

be discarded like outdated equipment 

is not good idea. As noted above, it 

involves providing meaningful work 

and respect for the ability of workers. 

Moreover, a firm that wants to be 

spiritual should do everything possible 

to utilize the creativity of its employees. 

This can lead to discussions involving 

the benefits of creating a learning 

organization. In the corporate world, 

many firms are recognizing the value 

and importance of transforming a firm 

into a learning organization. 

Organizational learning: 

Organizational learning has been 

defined in many ways. It asserts 

that: “organizational learning occurs 

through shared insights, knowledge, 

and mental models and builds on past 

knowledge and expertise, also learning 

organizations are not only adaptive, 

which is to cope, but generative, 

which is to create learning company 

is an organization that facilitates 

the learning of all its members and 

continually transforms itself its skilled 

at creating, acquiring, and transferring 

knowledge, and at modifying its 

behaviour to reflect new knowledge and 

insights. Another concept that can be 

discussed in the context of leadership. 

There are a number of strong arguments 

that can be made for the view that 

executives should see themselves as 

servant leaders. 

In the end there are numerous 

ways that cannot be covered in single 

article in which how your business can 

make difference, improve the world, 

make it better place for living and 

championing better work and working 

lives. This includes hiring a person with 

special needs and the elderly. Firms 

should also encourage diversity in the 

workforce. Being concerned about the 

environment, using renewable energy, 

and reducing waste and carbon dioxide 

emissions is another way of making 

the world a better place. Firms can 

partner with local public institutes and 

colleges and provide extra funds for 

them to improve education. In addition, 

they can provide internships for high 

school and college students. Corporate 

Social Responsibility (CSR) can be 

used strategically to both enhance the 

image of a company at the same time 

it improves the world. Firms should 

purchase from local firms as much as 

possible since this strengthens the 

communities in which they conduct 

business because business and 

society are interdependent. Therefore 

“corporate social responsibility can be 

much more than a cost, a constraint, 

or a charitable deed-it can be a 

source of opportunity, innovation, and 

competitive advantage. 

Ali Al-Aradi 

HRD Lecturer & Writer 



37

Spotlight | Executive Coaching 

Professional 

P r o fi l i n g 

by Dr Clare Beckett-McInroy 

Positive ways to Powerfully Enable 

Potential. 

Although we have been conducting 

psychometrics in the region for over 15 

years, these diagnostics for recruitment, 

promotion and development are becoming 

a ‘go to’ tool to support organisational 

talent management through ability and 

personality assessments. 

Ensure effectiveness 

What is important when choosing 

psychometrics tools and qualified 

Psychometrists to provide effective 

feedback? You need to ensure that you 

are being provided with the right tests 

and the right norm groups to meet your 

needs. You also need the feed-forward 

provided in the right way to fit your needs, 

ideally by Certified Coaches assisting 

in closing gaps in skills, knowledge and 

behaviours moving forward. If you don’t, 

the results can be inaccurate and even 

counterproductive! 

1. Choose profiling tools that are reliable 

and valid, that use normative and 

ipsative assessment. 

2. Ensure tests fit the specific needs of 

your. 

3. Check that the correct norm groups 

are used (e.g. international norm 

groups may be more appropriate than 

Eurocentric ones). 

If you do not then the results can be 

inaccurate and even counterproductive. 

Team talent 

Individual and team assessments are 

used to identify common group behaviors, 

demonstrate gaps in perception and 

provide opportunities to think more 

deeply and openly about ways for synergy 

within your organisation. 

Our favourite and most rewarding tool 

is Savile Consulting’s Team Profile.Benefits 

include Higher performing teams. Conflict 

resolution and Behavioral awareness and 

change. 

Full transparency is the way 

forward, however, when we conduct 

360 or 720 degree feed-forward through 

psychometrics, we ask for data to be 

provided confidentially-this works best 

in the region and provides more accurate 

facts, especially when people are feeding 

up to their leaders. Clients in banking, 

retail and health sectors have commented 

that workshops following team profiling 

has helped create team alignment and 

increased efficiency as well as ignition of 

brand values. 

Hazardous hiring 

Most frequently, we use psychometrics 

with organisations working through 

human capital decisions, such as selection 

for hiring, promotions and succession 

planning. We all know that poor selection 

decisions mean negative consequences 

such as high recruitment costs. work 

disruption, lost business, hindrance of 

investor confidence and toxic behaviours. 

The Center for Creative Leadership 

(US) found that 40% of new hires 

fail within the first 18 months. Why? 

Interviews alone do not provide an 

objective view of how an individual 

compares to others. What helps? 

Psychometrics. Psychometrics are 

being used increasingly in the GCC, with 

steady growth over the past five years. 

Competency based interviews also ensure 

that potential hires can actually provide 

evidence of their strengths. 

Professor of Human Resources, 

Murray Barrick at Texas A&M University 

says candidates are more likely to be 

honest and admit their faults when they 

are not dealing with a person face-to-face. 

“It leads to more honesty when you’re 

sitting down with a piece of paper…” he 

says. “If you’re looking someone right in 

eye you’re not going to say, ‘I give my best 

90% of the time.’“ 

Psychometric assessments evaluate 

an individual’s competencies based on 

certain criteria depending on the purpose 

for which the assessment is used. They 

provide a rigorous method to increase the 

likelihood of selecting the best fit for a 

position. 

Knowing your needs 

it is important to exercise caution 

when choosing and implementing 

psychometric assessments tools. First 

and foremost, know your business needs. 

Once the objectives of the assessment are 

identified, choose the test that is designed 

for that particular purpose, which will 

accurately evaluate those variables. It is 

important to pick a psychometric test 

that has been empirically tested to ensure 

reliability and validity of its use, ideally 

utilising both normative and ipsitive 

measures. A poorly-constructed test 

or inaccurate norm group will provide 

insufficient results. To avoid this, we only 

work with tests that have approval from 

the British Psychological Society. 

Propelling through psychometrics 

When properly executed with 

professional feed-forward, psychometric 

testing can provide valuable information 

that can inform decisions and increase 

performance on an individual, team and 

organisational level. 

“…in today’s frenetic environment, 

developmental assessments and hiring 

decisions require screening methods 

to ensure that all competencies are 

adequately evaluated systematically. The 

use of psychometric assessments can be 

instrumental in helping us make the ‘right’ 

decisions.” Dr Clare Beckett-McInroy. 

Dr Clare Beckett McInroy, 

EdD CPCC MAEd PCC MAC 

Managing Director/Coach/ 

Trainer 

BECKETT MCINROY 

CONSULTANCY 



39

Specialist | Public Speaking 

Ships, Anchors 

and your Points! 

by Mohamed Isa 

When I was 14 I had my only overnight 

fishing trip with my father and his 

cousins Mohamed and Hassan; and few 

imaginary great white sharks. It was 

windy, cold and it rained most of the 

time. I did not want to go with them but 

my father insisted and issued a decree 

in line with his Constitutional Powers. I 

had no option but to obey. The trip was 

frustrating to me because I never caught 

a single fish. However, I am proud to say I 

was responsible for anchoring the boat by 

throwing three anchors on to the seabed to 

make sure we are not cast away! Likewise, 

in speaking, if you do not anchor your 

points, they will fade away! So here are 

four techniques for anchoring your speech 

points. 

Anecdotes. Anecdotes are simply 

stories that you share with the audience 

to attach your points to them. So if the 

audience remembers the story, they will 

remember the point. If you recall from 

a previous article, there are few crucial 

elements for a story to be effective like 

the Circumstance, Characters, Conflict, 

Conversation and the Carry out Message. 

In the above paragraph, I used few of these 

elements. Your story does not have to be 

profound but rather help you in achieving 

your purpose which is to anchor your 

points in the minds of the audience. Build 

your story file now and thank me later! 

Activity. When you engage the 

audience in an activity, they are immersed 

in it and chances are that they will 

append your points to the activity. In 

2002, I moved to Jeddah to join the Lipton 

Team. In my first management meeting 

we needed to decide the fate of a project. 

The Brand Manager, distributed Yellow 

Post-it notes to everyone and asked us to 

write either a “Yes” or a “No” to indicate 

whether we thought the project will 

succeed. The majority said: Yes. The 

Manager was smart to involve us in the 

activity so that we do not wander away 

with other preoccupations and to check 

on the sentiments of the team members. I 

am not surprised that I still remember this 

meeting until now. It was a simple but yet 

a great anchor. What activities could you 

use to anchor your points? 

Analogy. Analogies are great in 

illustrating your points and making them 

unforgettable. For example, one time we 

had a management meeting and I used 

a boat to illustrate my viewpoint on a 

critical decision. The company received 

many plaques and trophies for sponsoring 

various events and one of them was a 

miniature boat. I placed the boat on the 

table and asked: If this boat were sinking, 

what should you do? Accept more load or 

off-load goods to survive? They all said: Of 

course, off-load. Here, I retorted: Exactly. 

But what the company is doing now is the 

opposite. So, ask yourself, what analogies 

you could use to anchor your points? I am 

fascinated by the pearl diving journey and 

I use it to illustrate my points across a 

spectrum of management topics. 

Acronyms. Acronyms are great tools 

for anchoring your points. Be creative. 

Come up with your own sets of acronyms. 

Few years ago, I created an acronym that 

can help you become more energized 

to achieve more in your life. I dubbed 

it: CLAP. Celebrate Little Achievements 

Promptly. Most people do not celebrate 

frequently. Are you one of them? When you 

celebrate more, you achieve more because 

you build momentum. Join the movement, 

whenever you make an achievement, 

celebrate it promptly. Your passion will be 

fired up. 

Look at your main points, identify 

the keywords, and try to come up with 

a thread or a theme to create you next 

acronym. The audience will appreciate it 

and you will get a bonus. Your acronym 

will help you in managing the transitions 

between your points. This will make you 

appear as a proficient speaker who moves 

smoothly through his points. Sounds 

great, right? You bet. That is what I am 

looking for. To make you a more effective 

speaker in fact and appearance. 

Experiment with these four 

techniques to anchor your points 

permanently in the minds of the audience. 

You could use one or all four of them in 

one speech to make your messages stick. 

And remember if you do not have anchors, 

your messages will fade away in the 

ocean, never to be found again! 

Mohamed Isa is an Executive 

Speech Coach and Writer. 

Co-Author of Amazon’s Best 

Seller: World Class Speaking 

in Action, and a regular 

speaker at conferences in 

the Middle East. 

mohamed@3dspeaking.com 


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41 

Friday 7:30 p.m. to 11:30 p.m.

Marketing at its Best 

Is your Action 

Plan not 

Working ? 

Try 

Simplifying 

by Ahmed Al Akber 

Managing Director, ACK Solutions 

Some marketing and sales plans work 

extremely well. They are understood 

by everyone involved, implemented, and 

generate results quickly. Others don’t 

generate such results, and end up falling 

flat on their face. Without execution, 

plans are only as good as the paper they 

are written on. 

The next time you are faced with this 

issue of poor execution, try simplifying 

your plans to the point where they are 

simple, not just for you to understand, 

but for everyone involved. Here are some 

ideas: 

Have clarity. As always, have 

absolute clarity on what you want to 

achieve. Do not just do things because 

they are simply ‘on your list’. Do them 

because they generate significant results 

for the business. What main goals must 

you achieve? Why do you want to achieve 

them? Having clarity on this will remind 

others of why they are doing things. 

Make a list. Write out everything 

that will further those objectives. By not 

holding back and writing every idea you 

can think of, you are getting everything 

down that could be relevant to the 

objectives you’ve identified. You also 

free up your mind from ‘idea overload’ - 

which can happen when you have lots of 

ideas floating around in your head to the 

point where you feel overwhelmed. Don’t 

let that happen! Which ones will actually 

make an impact? Which ones, if you 

started taking action on immediately, 

would result in significant improvement 

for the business? Which ones will make 

an impact in the longer term but need to 

be started right away? Either delete or 

delegate everything else outside these 

two categories. 

Allocate accountability. Make sure 

its 100% clear who is doing what. Use 

specific names of people for each action 

and not team names. Ensure each person 

understands why he or she is doing it 

and agrees to do it. With this kind of 

accountability assigned, people feel 

like they are given an individual goal to 

achieve, and may feel more compelled to 

achieve it. No one wants to let the rest of 

the team down. 

Assign deadlines. Deadlines are 

important to get people to think about 

what it will take to accomplish their 

goals. They push you to action and help 

you to avoid procrastinating. 

Communicate! Once it’s ready, 

communicate the plan in every way 

possible. Sending the plan out on email 

is fine, but it’s not enough. Plans need 

to be visible and viewed daily, so make 

sure the plans are up on a board where 

everyone can see them. The more places 

they can be seen, the better. 

Follow up. Assign a follow-up 

meeting to ensure that everyone reports 

back their progress. If you lead the team, 

check in with them every so often in 

the run-up to the meeting (for example 

every day or week) to see how things are 

progressing, removing obstacles along 

the way. 

Ahmed Al Akber is the Managing Director 

of ACK Solutions, a firm that helps 

companies to dramatically improve their 

marketing and sales results by offering 

more effective ways attracting customers 

and significantly better products and 

services. 

Ahmed has worked internationally in 

marketing, sales, and strategic planning 

at companies such as The Coca-Cola 

Company, Philip Morris International and 

Dell. Questions or comments can be sent to 

Ahmed on ahmed@acksolutions.com 


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photography & videography services 

khalifashaheen.com +973 17 593993 


43

Biz Auto 

Porsche 

Panamera 

Turbo 

The new Porsche Panamera now reconciles two contrasting 

characteristics more than ever before: the performance of 

a genuine sports car and the comfort of a luxury saloon. In 

its second generation, Porsche’s Gran Turismo has been redefined 

and realigned, advancing to become a performance icon of the 

luxury class. 

With the latest transformation, the Stuttgart-based manufacturer 

has systematically improved the Panamera concept and is 

therefore introducing a four-door car that has been redeveloped 

and redesigned down to every last detail. This includes wholesale 

changes to the engines and transmission, a perfected chassis, 

and an interior concept reinterpreted for the future. 

The new Panamera also bridges the world of ambitious sports 

cars and that of comfortable cruising cars, thanks to a range of 

newly implemented features such as rear axle steering, active roll 

compensation and three-chamber air suspension. 

Dealers in Bahrain: Behbehani Brothers 

Call: +973 17 45 99 11, or Visit www.behbehani.com.bh 


Lexus GS F 

The Lexus GS F combines stylish looks with superior performance 

for the ultimate drive on the road or on the track. The 

most powerful Lexus sedan ever built is now available at a 

special price of BD 29,999 for a limited time. 

Equipped with Direct Injection 4-stroke Gasoline Engine Superior 

Version (D-4S), the 5.0-litre V8 engine delivers 471 HP for 

a rush of pure adrenaline. It also features an optimised Variable 

Valve Timing-intelligent Electric motor (VVT-iE) to produce exceptional 

power which is mated to an equally efficient gearbox-the 

8-speed Sport Direct Shift (SPDS) automatic transmission. 

Complementing what’s under the hood is a race-ready cockpit 

which has been perfected by experienced Lexus test drivers over 

countless track outings. The ergonomic design and high-functionality 

materials mould to the driver’s body. 

While its technical abilities make the GS F essentially a race 

car, it also has an elegantly designed body and interior that evoke 

desire. The overall aesthetic is aggressively masculine and incorporates 

the ‘F’ series DNA. 

Dealers in Bahrain: Ebrahim K. Kanoo 

Call: +973 17737773, or Visit www.lexus.com.bh 


45

Asgharali 

Asgharali 

Brings you a Waft 

of Heaven 

SAHAR AL FAIROOZ 

SPRAY, comes on 

a fragrant bouquet 

of Floral Fruity Rose 

notes with undertones 

of a Fruity Cocktail with 

Lychee and the aroma of 

Fresh Grass. The Heart 

notes include luscious 

Apricot combined with 

the perfect mixture of 

Tea Rose and Rose and 

with final notes that are 

Amber and Transparent 

Woods, balancing and 

complimenting all the 

elements. SAHAR AL 

FAIROOZ spray is a 

magical and enchanting 

fragrance that blends 

temptation, femininity 

and modernity. 

DEHN AL OUDH AL AKHIAR, 

a unisex spray carries with 

it the exotic Oriental breath 

of the rarest kind of of Oudh, 

traditionally extracted to produce 

Dehn Al Oudh with its mysterious, 

classic and purified scent, leaving 

our senses longing for more and 

creating an impact on everyone 

around. Presented in a regal, 

attractively designed 3 ml bottle. 

AL SHUYUKH was 

created to tantalize, 

and comes in an 

elegantly crafted crystal 

bottle with woody and 

oriental scents. Conjured up 

to leave the senses reeling, 

the top notes of spiced 

saffron, and the citrusy 

scents of bergamot and 

aromatic roses, while heart 

notes include pepper scented 

cloves, flowering blossoms 

of ylang-ylang and geranium 

with the finale, composed of 

an earthy and deep musky 

note, amber, sandalwood 

and patchouli. The majestic 

and bold bottle speaks for 

itself with its beautifully 

engraved decorative art on cut 

glass, presented as a 24 ml 

concentrated fragrant oil. 

Asgharali once again introduces three unique scents to their collection that display a special understanding of world class 

perfumery, after months of careful developing and strategic planning. 

Asgharali has been winning the heart of its consumers worldwide for its novelty and luxury products and has laid its footprint in 

the beauty market and today has over 100 retail and franchise outlets and over 40 distributors worldwide in regions from Eastern 

Europe to South America. 

Call: +973 17 179 584 (City Centre Bahrain) or +973 17 002 790 (Seef Mall Muharraq) 


AL SHUYUKH 


47

Highlights | Government 

EDB Whitepaper shows 

Tourism contribution to GDP 

The Bahrain Economic Development 

Board launched a new whitepaper, 

revealing that tourism directly contributes 

5% of Bahrain’s GDP, underscoring the 

growth and employment potential of the 

sector in Bahrain and its importance of 

the sector to the country’s economy. 

Titled ‘Evaluating the role of tourism 

in the Bahraini economy’, the paper 

highlights the ‘transformative’ growth 

of an industry, which has leapt from 

4mn visitors per year in 2000 to 11.6mn 

in 2015. The report estimates that the 

Anti Human Trafficking 

rating maintained 

Ausamah Al Absi 

Chief Executive Officer, LMRA & Chairman, 

National Anti-human Trafficking Committee 

The Kingdom of Bahrain has 

maintained its anti-human trafficking 

rating among Tier 2 countries for the 

second year in a row. A report released by 

the US State Department acknowledged 

Bahrain’s tangible progress in combating 

the scourge of human trafficking. 

Last year’s report removed Bahrain 

from the Tier 2 Watch List and upgraded 

its standing to rank among the Tier 2 

states for the second consecutive year.The 

report commended the LMRA-led efforts 

sector supports as many as 42,000 jobs 

in Bahrain, showcasing the sector’s 

exceptional employment opportunities. 

The report also notes that the sector offers 

unique opportunities for entrepreneurship 

as a consequence of above average growth 

and the absence of significant barriers to 

entry or economies of scale. 

The growth in visitor numbers is 

expected to be supported by significant 

build-up in both accommodation and 

infrastructure, due to ongoing investment 

in the country’s tourism sector. This 

is exemplified by the expansion and 

modernization of Bahrain International 

Airport, which will increase annual 

capacity from 9 million to 14 million 

passengers after an 18.6% rise in airport 

arrivals between 2013 and 2015. 

The findings were discussed at a 

roundtable hosted by the Economic 

Development Board on July 13th with Dr. 

Jarmo Kotilaine, Chief Economist, and 

Mr. Jerad Bachar, Executive Director of 

Tourism and Leisure Investment. 

to combat trafficking in persons and 

protect expatriates’ rights, particularly the 

vulnerable category of domestic workers. 

The periodic survey LMRA-referral 

of labour issues involving suspected 

human trafficking violations to the Public 

Prosecution and the Interior Ministry for 

investigation and legal action. 

The National Anti-human Trafficking 

Committee established a centre last year 

to shelter human trafficking victims in 

compliance with international standards. 

Designed to shelter 120 people, the 

facility has the potential to accommodate 

200 persons, although the cases which 

are reported annually in Bahrain are 

less than half the capacity of the centre, 

which provides health, psychological, 

legal, security and social services and 

counseling under one roof. 

LMRA officials endorsed a work 

plan with international organizations to 

enhance technical cooperation, focusing 

particularly on training to develop 

national competences in charge of 

combating human trafficking. 

It was also agreed to exchange 

expertise in labour legal issues and 

establish a National Referral System 

to coordinate efforts to combat human 

trafficking. 

BTEA Promotes ‘Wedding 

Destination’ 

Shaikh Khaled Bin Humood Al Khalifa 

CEO, Bahrain Tourism & Exhibitions Authority 

The Bahrain Tourism and Exhibitions 

Authority launched its 2016-2017 

action plan focusing on positioning the 

Kingdom as a ‘prime wedding destination’. 

The plan is a part of the long-term tourism 

strategy highlighting Bahrain’s overall 

tourism offering. The plan focuses on 

promoting the Kingdom as an attractive 

wedding destination by developing the 

sector and promoting the local talent 

.“The tourism sector in the Kingdom 

boasts a wide range of offerings and 

benefits and our plans to focus on the 

wedding sector is a part of the diverse 

portfolio that Bahrain can offer its visitors. 

We will be promoting the plan through 

various channels including social media, 

the tourism website and across the 

MBC channels.” said Shaikh Khalid bin 

Humood Al Khalifa, Chief Executive of the 

BTEA. 

The Advisor to the Bahrain Tourism 

and Exhibitions Authority, Dr Ali Hassan 

Follad, stressed that the wedding sector 

in the Bahrain impacts a number of 

businesses. “We will also be inviting 

wedding management companies from 

India and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to 

Bahrain in order to further understand the 

capabilities of the Kingdom.” 

BETA will also be taking part in the 

annual Jewelry Arabia exhibition through 

a large stand in order to promote Bahrain 

as a wedding destination. The authority 

will also take part in the Wedding Fair, the 

largest event of its kind, held next year 

in Thailand in order to further promote 

Bahrain as a wedding destination. The 

plan will focus on promoting wedding 

venues such as the dessert, on an island, 

beach and at the Bahrain International 

Circuit (BIC) 


Government 

Citizens’ Right to decent 

Housing ensured 

Pearl Trail Project Progress 

The Kingdom of Bahrain has given 

top priority to ensuring the citizens’ 

right to decent housing, in line with 

the principles embedded in the 

comprehensive development project 

launched by His Majesty King Hamad 

bin Isa Al Khalifa, the directives of His 

Royal Highness Prime Minister Prince 

Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa, and 

support of His Royal Highness Prince 

Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown 

Prince, Deputy Supreme Commander, 

and First Deputy Premier. The housing 

issue has topped the development plans 

and programmes in the kingdom, given 

its importance in boosting Bahrain’s 

efforts to provide the requirements of 

decent living, as well as social security 

and stability for the citizens. 

In this regard, HRH the Crown 

Prince ordered the Housing Ministry, 

on June 28, to distribute 3,000 housing 

units to the citizens from various 

social segments across the kingdom’s 

governorates. HRH the Prime Minister 

highlighted the government’s landmark 

achievements in the housing sector, 

noting that a total of 120,000 housing 

services, costing BD 3.5 billion, have 

been provided by the government since 

the beginning of government-funded 

housing services. 

The official interest in housing 

is also reflected in allocating about 

BD 2 billion, or 35 percent, of the Gulf 

Development Fund to support housing 

project, in addition to the distribution 

of more than 4,000 units last year, and 

the innumerable initiatives to meet 

the increasing demand for housing, 

including affordable social housing, 

easy financing and partnership with the 

private sector. 

The iconic Pearl Trail project is 

expected to be completed by 2018 

to coincide with festivities marking 

Muharraq Capital of Islamic Culture. 

The progress of work on the project 

was on the agenda of a meeting between 

Bahrain Authority for Culture and 

Antiquities (BACA) President Shaikha 

Mai bint Mohammed Al-Khalifa and 

Works, Municipalities and Urban Planning 

Minister Essam bin Abdulla Khalaf. 

The meeting was attended by the Arab 

Regional Centre for World Heritage (ARC- 

WH) director Dr. Mounir Bouchnaki, who 

stressed the need to include vestiges 

on the list of world heritage sites. He 

underlined the importance of the Pearl 

Trail project, being the second in Bahrain 

MOU between Ministry 

of Industry, Commerce 

& Tourism and Bahrain 

Consumer Protection Society 

The Ministry of Industry, Commerce 

& Tourism and Bahrain Consumer 

Protection Society signed a 

Memorandum of Understanding within 

the framework of coordination and 

cooperation between the Ministry and the 

Society. 

The signing agreement was held at 

Ministry’s premises and the agreement 

was signed by Assistant undersecretary 

to feature on the UNESCO World list of 

protected heritage sites. BACA Advisor for 

Heritage Conservation Dr. Ala’a Al-Habashi 

delivered a presentation highlighting 

key details of the iconic project. The 3.5 

kilometre-long trail includes 18 heritage 

houses, 18 open green spaces, 4 multistorey 

parking lots, a 120-metre-long 

bridge linking Bu Maher Fort and Halat Bu 

Maher. BACA experts have so far surveyed 

5700 properties in downtown Muharraq 

and recommended the conservation of 

the old buildings owing to their heritage 

value. The meeting focused on buildings 

which represent components of the pearl 

trail, including Siadi House, Divers’ House, 

Nukhadha House and Fakhro building to 

be revamped. 

of Domestic Trade Mr. Hameed Rahma 

and President of the Bahrain Consumer 

Protection Society Engineer Majed Nasser 

Sharaf. This agreement comes to enhance 

the efforts of both sides to achieve the 

vision of the government and upgrade 

consumer protection services. 

In this regard Assistant 

undersecretary of Domestic Trade Mr. 

Hameed Rahma said that this agreement 

aims to exchange advices, information, 

studies and researches of consumer 

protection, as well as mutual coordination 

in hosting visiting delegations from both 

parties and to enhance cooperation and 

active participation in training programs, 

events, conferences and seminars. In 

addition to cooperation in developing 

awareness programs to enhance 

consumer culture. 

From his part, President of the 

Bahrain Consumer Protection Society 

noted that the MoU constitute a strong 

fundamental in enhancing the efforts of 

civil society and lay solid foundation of 

cooperation with government institutions. 


49

Government 

160 Road Maintenance 

Projects Implemented 

The Ministry of Works, 

Municipalities Affairs & Urban 

Planning has completed 160 projects 

in all constituencies of the Northern 

Governorate during the first quarter of 

this year. 

The projects are part of the 

Ministry’s plan to maintain the roads 

network in the Kingdom, which is 

done in coordination with municipal 

councils. 

According to the Roads Assistant 

Undersecretary Huda Fakhro, the 

projects that have been implemented 

in different constituencies at the 

Northern Governorate included roads 

revamp projects, paving and repaving 

works, constructing parking 

spaces, creating new entrance 

points, installing safety barriers and 

constructing speed humps. 

Fakhro stated that the Ministry 

of Works (MoW) opened Road 1805 in 

Diraz, re-paved Avenue 625 in Janusan, 

constructed Road 3821 in Diraz, opened 

Road 3514 in Jeblat Habshi, maintained 

a number of roads in Buquwa and 

revamped Road 4035 near A’Ali Club. 

Also, the Ministry constructed a 

number of parking spaces in various 

areas and locations at the Northern 

Governorate. 

As for projects related to traffic 

safety, the Ministry installed 

pedestrian barriers along Nakheel 

Avenue and Shaikh Zayed Avenue. Also, 

the Ministry processed 67 requests for 

speed humps; in coordination with the 

Traffic General Directorate. 

The Ministry has also commenced 

Phase 1 of Jasra Interchange Revamp 

Project. 

Bahrain SMEs 

Development Society Calls 

for Bankruptcy Laws 

Bahrain Small and Medium 

Enterprises Development Society 

called for urgent solution to the 

financially troubled companies 

that would protect them from going 

bankrupt. The society warned that 

many businesses might close down 

and lay off their employees if no 

suitable solution was introduced to 

support them. 

Society Chairman Mr. Ahmad 

Subah Al Saloom said "we have 

submitted a suggestion to the Ministry 

of Industry, Commerce and Tourism to 

introduce a new law in Bahrain similar 

to "Chapter 11" in the US law, which is 

used by financially troubled companies 

allowing them to reorganization 

their businesses and pay back their 

creditors over a long period of time." 

"Introducing bankruptcy law in 

Bahrain similar to "Chapter 11" will 

protect many Bahraini companies from 

closing down. We believe that such 

initiative will protect many businesses 

from bankruptcy". 

"This law gives businesses an 

extended grace period to pay back 

Ahmad Alsaloom, Khalaf Hujair, Khulood 

Abdul Qadir, Ammar Awachi and Ahmed 

Khalfan at the meeting 

their debts, reduced interest rates, and 

exempt from government fees and 

taxes until the company is back to 

good shape. It offers various benefits 

that support financially troubled 

companies while guaranteeing 

the rights of all the creditors and 

individuals". 

"If such law comes true, Bahrain 

will be the first in the region to 

introduce an advanced procedures 

that would protect the rights of Banks 

and individuals as well as support 

economic growth". 

Mr. Khalaf Hujair, society's vice 

chairman said, "We are doing our best 

efforts to find appropriate solutions to 

the financially troubled businesses by 

interacting with various governmental 

and private bodies. The society aims to 

support Bahrain's economy and help in 

creating better business environment 

that ensures economic prosperity and 

stability according to Bahrain's vision 

2030". 

"There are around 200 businesses 

who have spoken about their financial 

troubles and we need to find a way to 

support them, but we don't approve of 

giving away financial grants without 

examining their condition and 

looking into the reasons behind their 

bankruptcy". 

"Some companies needs counseling 

to improve their business, others need 

restructuring or even changing their 

type of business. Some companies 

received financial support in the past 

and have returned again asking for 

support. We need a transparent and 

appropriate procedure for giving the 

financial support". He added. 

The society also discussed the 

plans to promote the advantages of the 

Free Trade Agreement with the United 

States of America on the occasion of its 

10th anniversary. It will demonstrate 

the benefits of the FTA to business and 

how can they utilize it properly. 



51

Highlights | Banking & Finance 

Khaleeji Commercial Bank 

signs MOU with RMK Projects 

Khaleeji Commercial Bank (KHCB), 

one of the leading Islamic 

banks in the Kingdom of Bahrain, 

recently announced the signing of a 

Memorandum of Understanding with 

RMK Projects, Developments arm and 

subsidiary of RMK kooheji group, to 

provide potential buyers with customized 

financial solutions for the purchase of 

apartments at the new Nasmah Star 

tower, located in Juffair. 

The new 26-storey tower 

incorporates 137 freehold residential 

units, three parking levels and stateof-the-art 

amenities, thereby creating 

a self-contained luxury lifestyle. The 

apartments are available in two- and 

three-bedroom layouts. The first 

in the Nasmah line, the tower also 

includes spacious two-bedroom duplex 

apartments, which are guaranteed to 

grow to be a standout feature of the 

property. 

Each apartment has been allocated 

its own dedicated parking spot, and 

residents can benefit from a host of 

Five new branches for Al 

Ebdaa Bank 

Al Ebdaa Bank for Microfinance 

announced its intention to open five 

branches in Bahrain before the end of 

next year. Dr. Khaled al-Ghazzawi, chief 

executive of the Bank, said “the opening 

of the Ebdaa Bank’s third branch in 

“Riyadat” complex Alaali area will be so 

modern recreational amenities like 

the fully equipped gym, swimming 

pool, steam room and sauna, and a pool 

table. Located in the heart of Juffair, the 

property is at a walking distance of major 

supermarkets and the vibrant Juffair 

‘food street’, with also easy access to 

major highways. 

Commenting on the signing of the 

MOU, Mr. Khali Al Meer, KHCB CEO, said, 

“KHCB is delighted to provide innovative 

financial solutions to all our valued 

customers, so as to be able to buy and 

own their dream home, one of which is 

Nasmah Star tower. We fully believe in 

the importance of playing a vital role in 

facilitating citizens to own their homes 

as part of our social responsibility. In 

recognition of the same, the bank has 

recently signed a number of agreements 

& MOUs with a number of local 

developers to achieve the same goal.” 

On behalf of Nasmah Star Tower, 

Mr. Ishaq Koheeji, CEO of RMK Projects 

commented, “We are proud with our 

partnership with KHCB, and we look 

forward to have this partnership 

contributing greatly in helping 

customers own a housing unit. We are 

keen on providing units with affordable 

prices without compromising on the 

quality of materials being used, where 

the price of units start from BD 49,000.” 

For more information on how to 

apply for KHCB’s Financing Solutions, 

contact the call center on 17540054 

or visit any of the KHCB branches in 

Bahrain. 

soon, to be added to the current main 

branch in Sanabis, and the second 

branch in Hamad Town”. 

In the same context, Dr. Ghazzawi 

revealed the Ebdaa Bank will establish 

two more branches in Muharraq and 

Sitra, as part of an ambitious plan aimed 

to raise the number of branches of the 

bank in the Kingdom of Bahrain to the 

five branches of integrated services 

before the end of next year 2017. 

He explained that the branches of 

the Ebdaa Bank are aimed to expand the 

bank’s customers and stay slice their 

closeness, and take the opportunity to 

study the requirements of the largest 

number of those who need microloans in 

different areas. 

Seed Investors of Bahrain 

Liquidity fund Announced 

Shaikh Abdulla bin Khalifa Al Khalifa 

Chief Executive Officer, Osool 

Securities & Investment Company 

(SICO), the Investment Manager for 

the Bahrain Liquidity Fund, announced 

four seed investors, who are prominent 

Bahrain-based financial institutions, 

namely-Osool, BBK, Bahrain Mumtalakat 

Holding Company (Mumtalakat) and 

NBB-that all have aligned interests in 

enhancing the vibrancy and depth of the 

Bahrain Bourse. They have supported 

the initiatives from its initial stages, 

and invested equally in the Fund by a 

combination of cash and shares in kind. 

The Bahrain Liquidity fund received 

subscription in cash and shares in kind 

from these four institutional investors, 

In addition to a seed investment by 

SICO as the fund manager. With assets 

in excess of USD 100 million, it has the 

scale to make a significant impact on 

market liquidity, improve valuations over 

the long term and enable it to increase 

gradually the free float for stocks traded 

on the Bourse. 

The fund forms part of a series of 

initiatives and reforms by the Central 

Bank of Bahrain and the Bahrain Bourse, 

which are designed to deepen Bahrain’s 

capital markets and make them more 

attractive to investors. They include the 

introduction of a Bahrain Islamic Index 

(the first in the GCC), the active trading 

of government bonds and Sukuks, 

a minimum free float requirement 

for issuers, and a planned growth 

companies market which is expected 

later this year. At a time of tightening 

global liquidity, such measures will help 

diversify local funding sources. 


Banking & Finance 

Al Salam Bank’s Summer 

Credit Card Promotion 

Pioneering Shari’a-compliant Al Salam 

Bank-Bahrain launched a special 

summer promotion on its range of Visa 

credit cards, which runs until 17th of 

September 2016. Customers now can take 

advantage of extra rewards this summer, 

with every transaction irrespective of 

the amount spent outside Bahrain will 

be entitled to enter the draw for a chance 

to win cash prizes up to 20 times of 

their transaction value. In addition, all 

our customers will continue to enjoy 

the credit card’s core feature of up to 1% 

cash back reward on all their spends 

when using their Visa credit cards. This 

promotion is open to both Al Salam Bank- 

Bahrain and BMI Bank existing Visa 

credit cards holders only. 

Commenting on the announcement, 

Mr. Mohammed Buhijji Acting Head 

of Retail Banking at Al Salam Bank- 

Bahrain said, “This is yet another special 

promotion that the bank brings to its 

valued customers with a more rewarding 

benefits and the opportunity to win 

valuable cash prizes up to 20 times of 

their transaction value when using the 

Bank’s Visa credit cards outside Bahrain.” 

To be eligible for the prize draw, 

customers need to use any of Al Salam 

Bank-Bahrain or BMI Bank Visa credit 

cards. The draw will be conducted on 

13th October and it will be supervised 

by representatives from the Ministry of 

Industry and Commerce and Tourism 

along with the internal and external 

auditors and in accordance with Central 

Bank of Bahrain and Ministry of Industry 

and Commerce and Tourism laws. 

New Brand identity for 

Bahrain Association of Banks 

Bahrain Association of Banks (BAB) has 

unveiled a new brand positioning and 

identity, created by Bahrain-based global 

brand consultancy Industry. 

The identity review was 

commissioned to define a clear position 

for the BAB under a fresh, aspirational 

new brand identity, in order to meet 

member expectations effectively and 

attract new members from across the 

Bahraini financial services sector. 

BAB’s role is to promote awareness 

of Bahrain as a major banking centre 

and hub of financial services, with an 

investment-friendly jurisdiction, a 

cost-effective and innovative business 

environment and a strong and stable 

regulatory system. It acts as a voice 

for the industry, lobbying Government, 

conducting research and promoting the 

financial services sector as a pillar of 

Bahrain’s economy. 

Industry carried out extensive 

briefings over a three month period 

with BAB stakeholders and interviewed 

existing members and non-members 

about their views of the organisation. 

Extensive research into the branding of 

similar associations, both regionally and 

Bank ABC expands 

International Network 

Bahrain-based Bank ABC has recently 

hired a number of senior bankers with 

extensive regional and international 

expertise in support of its growth plans 

and its strategic objective to become 

MENA’s leading international bank. 

The Bank has announced plans to 

expand its international network of 

offices by seeking regulatory approval for 

opening branches in Dubai’s DIFC and 

in Singapore as part of its international 

wholesale banking client strategy and 

Dr. Waheed Al-Qassim 

Chief Executive, Bahrain Association of Banks 

globally, helped develop a new proposition 

for the Association that clearly defines its 

role and purpose. 

The resulting new visual identity, 

which retains the existing name, sits 

comfortably alongside peer group banking 

associations around the world, using a 

distinctive blue reflecting the vivid colour 

of the waters around the Kingdom of 

Bahrain.. 

The chief executive of Bahrain 

Association of Banks (BAB), Dr. Waheed 

Al-Qassim, said that changing the 

society’s name and visual identity aimed 

to keep pace with the launch of its new 

strategy which intends partly to expand so 

that it includes various Bahraini banks in 

the first phase. 

linking MENA to Asian markets. To propel 

its expansion initiative, Bank ABC has 

recently attracted new specialised talent 

to further strengthen its top team and 

deliver on the development plans. 

Christopher Wilmot has joined Bank 

ABC as Group Head of Treasury and 

Financial Markets. Bank ABC’s overall 

Capital Market’s business will be headed 

by Rajat Sapra, who joins Bank ABC 

from Standard Chartered Bank. It has 

strengthened its Risk infrastructure to 

support business growth by appointing 

Paul Howard as Group Chief Credit 

and Risk Officer. Paul will be assisted 

by Stephen Thomson, who joins Bank 

ABC as Group Chief Credit Officer. Bank 

ABC’ Group CEO, Dr. Khaled Kawan, 

said the new appointments reflect the 

Bank’s commitment to accelerate the 

implementation of its transformational 

programme that aims to boost Bank ABC’s 

position as a leading international bank in 

the MENA region. 


53


KFH first Bank to 

Implement CRM System 

MasterCard to Connect 

40 Million Micro and Small 

Merchants 

The Hidden Cost at 

Retail Banks in Bahrain 

Fadi Al-Chalouhi 

Group General Manager, KFH 

Kuwait Finance House (KFH) 

announced the full implementation 

of the most high-end and comprehensive 

system in the field of Customer Relation 

Management CRM as the first bank 

in Kuwait and the Middle East. KFH 

is committed to operate this system 

for better customer service and strong 

customer relationship. The Microsoft 

CRM Dynamics relies on linking and 

activating the customer service, sales and 

marketing operations, whilst offering an 

advanced environment for the customers’ 

interactions in efforts to prioritize 

customer service and channeling all 

human and technical resources for the 

best interest of customers. 

Fadi Al-Chalouhi, Group General 

Manager Retail Banking at KFH said that 

the Customer Relation Management CRM 

system is an unprecedented quantum leap 

in the efforts of boosting relationships 

between KFH and its clients. This 

system supports the exerted efforts to 

elevate customer service while making 

customers a top priority of KFH. The 

system is multifunctional and featured 

by standardization of communication 

through a unified processing language. 

The tools and mechanisms of providing 

services through the human resources 

or the technical platforms are compliant 

with the interests of each and every client 

since the service provider is aware of all 

the information of the customers. 

Al-Chalouhi reiterated that customer 

relation management is a work strategy 

linked with the management philosophy 

and aims at strengthening ties with them. 

Ajay Banga 

CEO, MasterCard 

MasterCard set a goal to connect 40 

million micro and small merchants 

to its electronic payments network 

within five years. This expands on the 

company’s Universal Financial Access 

2020 commitment made last year. 

To date, financial inclusion has been 

predominantly centered on providing the 

underserved and the unbanked with tools 

and transaction accounts. This remains 

a critical need with two billion unbanked 

people, the majority of whom are women, 

forced to operate in a cash economy. 

Since 2013, MasterCard has delivered 

programs and services to more than 

200 million people previously excluded 

from the financial mainstream. Through 

broad-based collaboration with public 

and private sector entities, MasterCard 

is bringing the benefits and security of 

electronic payments to the unbanked 

around the world. 

However, a number of large scale 

programs have seen limited success 

during the initial phase, as a majority of 

micro and small merchants-where most 

of the underserved shop each day-do not 

accept electronic payments. Where this 

occurs, accounts go unused or, in the case 

of social disbursement programs, funds 

are immediately withdrawn at ATMs. 

“Real financial inclusion happens 

when people can use their new financial 

accounts to do what many of us take for 

granted,” said Ajay Banga, president and 

CEO of MasterCard. 

Retail banks in Bahrain have done 

a commendable job of automating 

their customer-facing systems in recent 

years. Foremost examples are large ATM 

networks or a newly launched smart 

device app. However, there are hidden 

lingering problems that automation hasn’t 

fully addressed: a handful of manual, 

paper-based systems in the back office. 

The downsides of manual labour 

include the fact that it is more expensive 

than automated processes, prone to error, 

not scalable, difficult to adapt and slow to 

optimize. 

Banks need to automate as many 

routine tasks as possible to reduce costs 

and human error, and to increase agility, 

responsiveness and importantly today, 

compliance. The software solution 

needs to be embedded within business 

applications and/or be presented on any 

desktop PC with a browser so that users 

can scan, index and send data to existing 

workflows. 

Web-based information capture 

technology using a graphical user 

interface, also known as GUI, can be 

made available to many more employees, 

enabling easy scanning and indexing 

for everyone-remotely or locally-while 

being centrally managed. And as a chain 

of custody for documents-documents 

should be deposited directly in a business 

repository, assuring an accurate audit trail 

and data management compliance. 

Speed and accuracy result in higher 

customer satisfaction and lower support 

and staffing costs. With manual tasks in 

the back office a thing of the past, valuable 

staff hours can instead be spent pursuing 

additional revenue opportunities or 

developing new products. This shift can 

not only improve employee morale, but 

can also help boost the bottom line. 



Promoting Entrepreneurship 

in Bahrain 

Since its inception in 1991, 

Bahrain Development Bank (BDB) 

has become the leading financial 

institution for the country’s economic 

development. The government has 

entrusted the bank with the crucial 

task of promoting entrepreneurship in 

Bahrain, with the aim of diversifying 

the economic base, creating 

new employment opportunities 

for Bahrainis and contributing 

significantly to the overall socioeconomic 

development of the Kingdom. 

Bahrain Development Bank 

offers a wide range of distinctive 

financial and advisory services 

specifically designed to meet the 

needs of Small & Medium Enterprises 

(SMEs). Financial assistance is also 

provided to entrepreneurial ventures, 

agriculture, fisheries, education, 

specific employment-oriented 

enterprises promoted by Bahraini 

youth and women, and other segments 

as considered necessary, with the 

main objective of adding value to the 

economy of the Kingdom. 

The bank provides Sharia 

compliant products and conventional 

financing. It also provides funding, 

where 50 per cent of the profit is 

subsidised by Tamkeen. This is usually 

used to finance a specific asset, such 

as plant or machinery, or working 

capital loans. Customers are ensured 

comfortable repayment and grace 

period. 

BDB aids enterprises with Letters of 

Credit agreeing to pay the beneficiary, 

as well as Letters of Guarantee for 

various purposes like bid bond, 

performance bond and an advance 

payment guarantee. 

Agricultural and fisheries loans 

are offered by BDB with zero per cent 

interest rate to promote agricultural 

production in Bahrain and assist 

fisheries in purchasing boats, engines, 

spare parts, fishing items or for 

maintenance. The maximum facility 

amount for both is BD15,000. 

Supporting entrepreneurship will 

remain a key element in the bank’s 

development plans, as it will continue 

to provide a variety of programmes and 

activities that contribute in attracting 

existing entrepreneurs as well as 

encouraging students of secondary 

schools and universities to consider 

entrepreneurship as a viable option. 

For more information Call 17 511-111 

Or visit www.bdb-bh.com 


55

Highlights | Telecom 

Batelco Introduces faster 

speeds up to 40Mbps 

Muna Al Hashemi 

CEO, Batelco 

Batelco introduced new enhanced 

Business Internet packages. Which 

will deliver higher speeds at the same 

price. Two new internet speeds for 

business customers, of up to 20Mbps and 

up to 40Mbps are also being launched to 

meet rising needs. 

Batelco encourages organisations 

to attain services with high availability, 

reliability, and high speed connectivity. 

To attain more value from their Business 

Bahrain Wi-Fi with Aptilo 

Networks 

Batelco has selected Aptilo Networks 

to enable carrier Wi-Fi for Bahrain 

Wi-Fi, a nationwide Wi-Fi network 

which will change the landscape for 

communication services throughout the 

Kingdom of Bahrain. 

Batelco is using the Aptilo Service 

Management Platform (SMP), a stateof-the-art 

system to deliver and manage 

carrier-class Wi-Fi services. Aptilo SMP 

enables carrier Wi-Fi in a highly scalable 

platform, supporting Batelco’s rapid 

growth in rolling out Wi-Fi hotspots. 

The nationwide Wi-Fi rollout has 

begun with a number of hotspots 

Internet, businesses can subscribe to 

a wide range of value added services 

such as Mobile 4G LTE Backup, cloud 

services,traffic shaping solutions, Multiple 

Fixed IPs and more. Overall, Batelco’s 

business customers have dedicated teams 

of specialized technical experts and 

Account Managers to support customer 

requirements at all times. 

Batelco Bahrain CEO Muna Al 

Hashemi said that Batelco is focused on 

providing a complete portfolio of solutions 

for the Enterprise sector. 

“This is part of Batelco’s strategic 

plan to connect business customers to 

very high speed access to the Internet to 

transform their user experience. Being 

able to provide businesses with faster 

internet gives them a competitive edge 

over others and boosts their efficiency.” 

The new line up of enhanced Business 

Internet packages are available for 

existing and new customers. Detailed 

information about Batelco’s Business 

Solutions can be found on www.batelco. 

com or Business customers may contact 

their Account Manager directly. New 

customers are invited to call 17 88 11 77. 

including The Bahrain International 

Circuit, Seef Mall Muharraq and the 

Juffair Restaurant area. Additional 

locations will be launched rapidly during 

2016. 

In the first major step for the project, 

Batelco provided Wi-Fi for the Bahrain 

International Circuit during the 2016 

Formula One weekend, making it the 

first international circuit to provide 

free public Wi-Fi. Approximately 70,000 

visitors connected to the Bahrain Wi-Fi 

network generating over one terabyte of 

Wi-Fi traffic. 

Bahrain Wi-Fi will be available to 

all, providing a convenient service to 

Bahrain’s population and visitors. Any 

Wi-Fi-enabled device will be able to 

connect to the Bahrain Wi-Fi through a 

landing page and benefit from a limited 

daily complimentary data allocation. 

Users will then be directed to the 

Bahrain Wi-Fi portal, enabled by Aptilo 

SMP, with easy payment options to 

continue using the service. Batelco’s 

mobile customers will be automatically 

connected to the service whenever they 

enter one of the Wi-Fi hotspots. 

Zain Bahrain inks strategic 

partnership with Ritz-Carlton 

Zain Bahrain, a leading telecom 

operator focused on providing bestin-class 

customer experience in the 

Kingdom of Bahrain, has entered into 

a strategic corporate partnership with 

Ritz-Carlton, Bahrain. The agreement 

includes Zain supporting the hotel’s 

prestigious events throughout the 

year through various sponsorships, 

as well as exclusive benefits provided 

to customers of Zain Signature while 

visiting the Ritz-Carlton, Bahrain. 

Zain Signature customers will now 

be eligible for exclusive discounts 

while dining at Ritz-Carlton, Bahrain, 

visiting the spa or sports club, as well 

as invitations to special events at the 

hotel. 

“We are pleased to collaborate with 

The Ritz-Carlton, Bahrain this year on 

several areas of opportunity,” said Zain 

Bahrain General Manager, Mohammed 

Zainalebedin. “As both organizations 

share an excellent track record of 

excellence in providing best-in-class 

customer experience, I am confident 

that this partnership will add much 

value to a common customer base”, he 

further added. 

The Ritz-Carlton, Bahrain General 

Manager, Christian Zandonella added: 

“We welcome Zain Bahrain as a 

valuable partner to The Ritz-Carlton, 

Bahrain. As we are both customer 

experience oriented organizations, 

there are a range of areas in which 

Zain 

Bahrain and Ritz-Carlton, Bahrain 

can complement each other in bringing 

to market exclusive lifestyle offerings.” 


Telecom 

Telecom consumers in 

Bahrain are better off 

Mohammed Bubashait 

General Director, TRA 

The Telecommunications Regulatory 

Authority (“TRA”) released an 

independent report titled “Consumer 

Surplus and the Impact of Competition 

for Telecommunications Services in 

Bahrain” that was prepared by the expert 

economic consultancy Berkley Research 

Group (“BRG”). According to the study, 

consumer saving was achieved as a 

result of the competitive environment 

shaped by regulatory and legislative 

developments in the Kingdom of Bahrain’s 

telecommunications sector between 2008 

and 2014, which led to a significant prices 

reduction of telecommunications services 

as well as providing variety and quality 

services. Change in consumers’ valuation 

of mobile and fixed broadband services is 

calculated based on “consumer surplus”, 

which is a standard measure used by 

economists to quantify the difference 

between a consumer’s valuation of 

services and its current price. 

The analysis study shows 

that the total estimated consumer 

surplus for mobile services and fixed 

broadband services was BD133 Mn in 

2008 and BD207 Mn in 2014, which 

is an increase in consumer surplus 

of BD74 Mn; demonstrating that the 

regulatory framework governing the 

telecommunications sector at that time 

was on the right track. The approach 

to estimating the consumer surplus for 

mobile services and the fixed broadband 

market in 2008 and 2014 based on a 

methodology that resulted in conservative 

estimates. Their estimated consumer 

surplus for mobile services was BD197 Mn 

in 2014, which is an increase of BD64 Mn. 

Bahrain moves to 

strengthen ICT services 

The fourth National 

Telecommunications Plan (NTP), set 

to run over the next three years, targets 

improving connectivity and data transfer 

speeds across the kingdom, while also 

providing universal fibre optic coverage 

through stronger infrastructure. 

The foremost aim of Bahrain’s latest 

master plan for the kingdom’s ICT 

industry is to provide countrywide highspeed 

internet service. 

The newest master plan builds 

on the achievements of the previous 

three programmes, which facilitated 

the liberalisation of Bahrain’s ICT 

sector by laying the groundwork for 

the development of a digital economy 

and addressing shortfalls in hard 

infrastructure and the regulatory 

framework.In a policy shift welcomed 

by key industry stakeholders, Bahrain’s 

Ministry of Transportation and 

Telecommunications will oversee the 

implementation of NTP, rather than 

the Telecommunications Regulatory 

Authority (TRA). 

Zain partners with AIESEC 

youth group 

Zain Bahrain signed a one-year 

partnership with AIESEC, the world's 

largest youth-run organization. This 

partnership comes as part of the telecom 

operator’s sustainable development 

strategy which aims to foster youth 

empowerment and development. 

As part of the partnership, Zain 

Bahrain and AIESEC members 

participated in Zain's Ramadan 

campaign, “Iftaar Saem” where they 

distributed meals to lower-income 

workers and families as a way of giving 

The NTP also seeks to enhance 

Bahrain’s status as a regional ICT 

centre, as it strengthens electronic 

communications security and boosts 

the international connectivity of the 

country’s telecoms networks. 

Under the new plan, Bahrain 

will expand its fibre optic network to 

offer full coverage nationwide within 

three years, with the aim of providing 

affordable, high-speed access to fixedline 

broadband services. 

The investment and development 

programme will also ready Bahrain for 

the deployment of 5G technology, which 

marks the next step in the evolution of 

mobile telecoms. 

Operators in Bahrain are eyeing 

a rollout of 5G services by 2018 at the 

latest. The NTP foresees allocating new 

spectrum to service providers, which 

will be required for a future 5G launch. 

back to the community during the holy 

month of Ramadan. The operator also 

invited AIESEC members to deliver an 

assessment to 60 university students 

which involved different team building 

activities and leadership challenges to 

evaluate students’ employability skills. 

“Zain Bahrain supports the 

development of the youth segment as 

part of its strategy,” said Zain Bahrain’s 

Corporate Communications Manager, 

Samya Hussain. “Both organizations 

contribute towards entrepreneurship 

and leadership development, so we are 

pleased to collaborate with AIESEC and 

are confident that this partnership will 

add much value to our country’s youth.” 

Zain Corporate Sustainability 

Manager, Pakiza AbdulRahman added: 

“We are launching up to four projects in 

collaboration with AISEC, UNIDO and 

the UNDP to serve the UN’s sustainable 

development goals. This comes as a 

continuation to the strategic alignment 

that Zain Group had established with the 

UN back in 2015.” 


57

Telecom 

TRA warns on Dangers of 

online Games 

The UAE TRA issues warning 

against mobile online games that 

requests geographical location of users. 

According to the TRA, these games 

utilize virtual reality technologies to 

give users the capability to add virtual 

images on their smart phones. TRA 

explained that using these virtualreality 

games with geo-positioning 

technology, such as the new Pokemon 

Go game does, can result in the invasion 

of user privacy, as well as being 

victim to criminal software, phishing 

software and malware that clones 

games. The TRA called on all game fans 

to wait until the game applications 

are officially available across official 

application stores. 

Adel Al Muhairi, Manager, National 

Computer Emergency Response Team, 

TRA, stated, “The engrossment of game 

users into these games could possibly 

lead them to unknown places where 

unlawful criminals could be waiting for 

them. These games could also cause 

injury if used while driving or walking. 

The TRA has also cautioned that some 

of these virtual-reality games have still 

not reached official application stores 

in the UAE. 

Alcatel’s IDOL 4 Series 

Alcatel announces the launch of its 

premium IDOL 4 smartphone series 

in the Middle East. Building on the 

success of its trend-setting IDOL 3, the 

uniquely designed IDOL 4 and IDOL 4S 

smartphones, which won 14 awards at 

the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona 

this February including Best Affordable 

Smartphone, take everything up a notch 

with a new Boom Key and an augmented 

multimedia experience. 

The IDOL 4 series features the 

‘Boom Key’,which amplifies your whole 

multimedia experience.The IDOL 4S 

comes packed with a VR Box that 

offers users a new type of augmented 

reality experience, a screen that offers a 

stunning display from any angle, an allin-one 

powerhouse audio ecosystem and 

a professional-calibre camera.” 

IDOL 4 and IDOL 4S will be offered 

with four different metal frames: Gold, 

Dark Gray, Rose Gold and Metal Silver. 

The front glass touch panel and glass 

back cover give the phones a premium 

look and feel. The IDOL 4 series’ 

slimness (6.9 mm), metal frame and inmold 

spin-effect texture add to its finely 

crafted, luxurious design. 

Key features of the IDOL 4 series include: 

“BOOM ME UP! The Boom Key 

Delivers Augmented Experience. 

Alcatel teamed up with two wellknown 

audio brands, JBL and Waves. 

With these top leaders supporting the 

hardware and software, the end-user can 

be assured about the audio quality of the 

IDOL 4 series. Other IDOL 4 series audio 

features include two powerful 3.6-watt 

speakers, Hi-Fi surround-sound for the 

headset, and optimization of audio presets. 

Telecom to witness new 

Revolutionary move 

Deloitte predicts a move from 

physical to virtual in the next 

decade through two disruptive 

technologies: network functioning 

virtualization (NFV) and softwaredefined 

networking (SDN). 

Deloitte in the Middle East in 

collaboration with Deloitte’s Europe, 

Middle East and Africa Center of 

Excellence for Telecom Engineering, 

headquartered in Portugal, launched 

new services which provide support 

to clients in managing revolutionary 

disruptive technologies. These 

technologies and Deloitte’s new 

offerings to Middle East clients were 

presented at the 5G and Long Term 

Evolution (LTE) World Middle East and 

North Africa (MENA) 2016 conference 

held in Dubai. 

“Every 20 years or so, telecom 

networks experience huge advances in 

the way they are planned, implemented 

and operated. Key industry revolutions 

include moving from analog to digital 

(1960), from copper to fiber (1980), and 

fixed to mobile (2000),” said Pedro 

Marques Tavares, Associate Partner 

and Leader for Telecom Engineering 

Center of Excellence at Deloitte. “We 

are currently witnessing the move 

from physical to virtual, which Deloitte 

predicts will be the new revolutionary 

move by 2020, through two disruptive 

technologies: network functioning 

virtualization (NFV) and softwaredefined 

networking (SDN).” 

SDN is an emerging architecture 

of computer networking that 

allows administrators to manage 

network services with a higher-level 

functionality. Tavares shared how SDN 

will boost network efficiency and how 

the implementation of SDN will offer 

new products and services such as: 

Bandwidth Calendaring, Bandwidth on 

demand, Real-time network self-service 

control, and Context-dependent Quality 

of Service (QoS). 



59

Highlights | Real Estate 

Rental rates remained 

stable in Q1 

The residential market in Bahrain 

remained stagnant for the second 

consecutive quarter in Q1 showing a rather 

flat performance in the rental sector, 

and a declining trend in the sales sector, 

according to consulting house PKF. 

The average rental rates remained 

stable in Q1 compared to the previous 

quarter, and declined by 4.4 per cent. 

Traditionally, the most popular areas 

include Juffair, Amwaj Islands and Seef 

District, stated the report. Reef Island 

obtains a high demand among expatriates 

and achieves 90 per cent occupancy 

across its apartment towers. 

These destinations feature an 

advantageous location in terms of 

proximity to offices, shopping malls and 

leisure and social facilities. According 

to PKF, various factors such as, subdued 

economic conditions, a declining 

Foreign Investors 100% 

Ownership impacts Real 

Estate sector 

The decision by the Bahraini 

government to allow foreign investors 

100% ownership in various sectors of 

the market is likely to have a positive 

long term impact on the Kingdom’s 

property markets, according to leading 

international real estate consultants, 

Cluttons. 

“The government’s decision to allow 

100% foreign ownership is an important 

development for Bahrain. Economic 

household income and the pipeline of 

upcoming properties are expected to 

put pressure on rental rates in Bahrain’s 

residential market until the end of 2016. 

This is already evident as the number 

of inquiries for the villa product have 

declined as a result of cost reductions and 

downsizing practices adopted by large 

companies, it stated. 

On the retail sector, the first quarter 

saw the opening of the Galleria Mall in 

Zinj, developed by the Dadabai Group. 

The mall which is anchored by Lulu 

Hypermarket, Lulu Groups’s 6th outlet 

in Bahrain, accounts for a total GLA of 

42,000 sq m. Key malls set to open in 

Bahrain include the Avenues Mall owned 

by the Kuwait-based Mabanee Group, 

and the Marassi Galleria, a joint venture 

between Diyar Al Muharraq and Eagle 

Hills. Bahrain perceived as being a key 

market for travellers from Saudi Arabia, 

draws a lot of attention from regional and 

international retailers. Weekend travellers 

from Saudi Arabia use the King Fahd 

Causeway, totaling close to 10 million 

vehicles every year. According to King 

Fahd Causeway General Organization 

(KFCGO), plans are underway to increase 

the current capacity of 17 lanes to 45 

lanes which is set to reduce the current 

congestion into Bahrain in the medium to 

long term. 

growth in the country had been subdued 

ever since oil prices fell from record highs 

two years ago and the announcement 

will likely have positive implications for 

business. The move will also improve 

investor confidence and make Bahrain 

an attractive place to work and live in,” 

Harry Goodson-Wickes, Head of Cluttons 

Bahrain and Saudi Arabia said. 

According to the government, 

the new law will allow 100 percent 

ownership in residency, real estate, 

administrative services, health and social 

work, information and communications, 

manufacturing and technical activities 

amongst others. 

“For the property market, the decision 

is likely to attract companies to set up 

a Middle East foothold in the Kingdom 

and for the first time puts Bahrain on 

a competitive footing with some of the 

region’s mega free zones and business 

hubs,” Faisal Durrani, Head of research at 

Cluttons, added. 

Diyar Al Muharraq 

dedicates land to MOH 

Diyar Al Muharraq signed an 

agreement with Ministry of Health 

(MoH) under which Diyar Al Muharraq 

has pledged to dedicate a plot of land 

to the Ministry for the latter’s future 

use and development. 

The contract was signed at the 

Diyar al Muharraq’s headquarters at 

the World Trade Center between Dr. 

Aisha Buanq, Undersecretary for the 

Ministry of Health and Dr. Maher Al 

Shaer, Chief Executive Officer of Diyar 

Al Muharraq. The signing ceremony 

was held in the presence of Mr. Yousif 

Al Thawadi, Chief Operating Officer at 

Diyar Al Muharraq and Mr.Maher Al 

Onais, Undersecretary of Finance for 

the Ministry of Health. 

On this occasion, Dr. Maher Al 

Shaer, Chief Executive Officer of Diyar 

Al Muharraq, said: “Diyar remains 

committed to furthering Bahrain’s 

socio-economic development and the 

donation of this land to the Ministry of 

Health further reiterates our mission. 

This is one of a series of donations the 

company has made in line with its CSR 

programme”. 

Dr. Aisha Buanq, Undersecretary 

for the Ministry of Health said, “An 

agreement of this nature between the 

private and public sectors supports 

the efforts of the Government for 

sustainable development in the 

local health industry in line with 

the national economic vision. Such 

collaboration fuels the creation of 

additional health facilities for the 

benefit of the community”. 


Real Estate 

MEM is Exclusive Media 

Management Partner for 

Dragon City 

Dragon City has appointed Middle 

East Media (MEM), a reputed media 

management company in the Middle 

East region, as its exclusive partner 

to supervise all indoor and outdoor 

advertising requests at Dragon City and 

create additional media opportunities 

across the project. The agreement 

was signed at the Diyar Al Muharraq 

headquarters at the World Trade Center 

between Dr. Maher al Shaer, Managing 

Director of Dragon City and Mr. Fathi 

Faraj of MEM, in the presence of Diyar Al 

Muharraq Management and Chinamex. 

Under this contract, Diyar Al Muharraq 

has handed over complete management of 

all indoor and outdoor advertising spaces 

at Dragon City, to MEM whereby the latter 

will supervise all third party advertising 

enquiries and bookings, determine the 

most suitable advertising locations across 

the project as well as set up digital media 

platforms for additional advertising 

opportunities. 

Upon signing of the agreement, Dr. 

Maher Al Shaer, Managing Director of 

Dragon City, stated: “A project of such scale 

like Dragon City, spanning 115,000 square 

meters and offering a range of commercial 

and residential developments, opens up 

plenty of business prospects for the local 

advertising sector and offers innovative 

advertising opportunities. We look forward 

to working in partnership with MEM to 

market Dragon City as a prime advertising 

location.” 

Mr. Fathi Faraj of MEM said, “The 

sheer size and popularity of Dragon City 

place it as a very attractive location for 

companies wishing to maximize their 

customer reach; the project offers plenty 

of suitable areas for creative advertising 

placement both inside Dragon City Mall 

as well as in the surrounding areas of the 

Dining Village and Dragon Apartments.” 

“Deerat Al Oyoun” 

Exhibition Presented 

Diyar Al Muharraq had an exclusive 

preview of the latest addition to 

their master plan Deerat Al Oyoun. The 

project will benefit from the Ministry 

of Housing Mazaya program deal that 

was signed between Diyar Al Muharraq 

and the Ministry of Housing. The 

exclusive viewing took place in Diyar Al 

Muharraq’s sales office and interested 

community members were welcomed by 

Dr. Maher Al Shaer. 

Deerat Al Oyoun will be located 

on the North West side of Diyar Al 

Muharraq on a land size of 1.2 million 

square meters. Deerat Al Oyoun is 

considered an ideal residential area with 

CBRE to manage Seef Corner 

CBRE, the global real estate advisory 

firm, has been appointed as the 

exclusive manager for Seef Corner by 

the property owners, the Humaidan 

family. 

Seef Corner is a 1,827-sq-m retail 

development situated in a prominent 

position in Seef District. Each unit 

is double height with a pre-built 

mezzanine providing a total of 200 sq m 

each, with shop fronts visible from the 

main road. 

The appointment marks the 19 

property for CBRE in Bahrain, who 

manage eight commercial office 

properties, five retail developments, five 

residential buildings and compounds as 

well as a large industrial facility, stated 

Richard Botham, the senior director 

and general manager, CBRE Bahrain, 

after signing the deal with the property 

integrated community service centers 

and green park spaces, and enjoys a 

strategic position due to its proximity to 

schools, shopping malls, public beaches, 

walkways, cycle paths, recreational 

facilities, mosques, medical facilities, 

and a modern transportation network. 

However, the project will only be 

available to Bahraini National through 

the Ministry of Housing Mazaya scheme. 

owner Mohammed Humaidan. 

“Seef Corner taps into the trend 

of the development of alternative 

retail development in the kingdom. 

Traditionally larger destination malls in 

the capital were the main providers of 

shopping and leisure options, however, 

now smaller complexes providing 

unique dining options and community 

centres with essential services are 

growing in number,” stated Botham. 

Humaidan said: “We are delighted to 

announce the appointment of CBRE as 

our strategic partners for Seef Corner. 

The property is already a highly soughtafter 

location, providing great facilities 

for retailers and customers alike, which 

includes an air conditioned passage 

way to shops and restaurants as well 

as ample off street parking and 24 hour 

security.” 


61

Real Estate 

Real Estate developments 

using Patented technology to 

create lagoons 

Crystal Lagoons, the multinational 

innovation company and developer 

of patented technology that makes giant 

crystalline lagoons a reality, has tallied 

up its current activity in the Middle East, 

North Africa and South Asia (MENASA) 

Reem Al Bawadi 

opens its first Bahrain branch 

Marka PJSC (DFM: MARKA), the first 

public stock retail operator in the 

UAE, has announced the opening of 

Bahrain’s first Reem Al Bawadi Restaurant 

and Café, representing the latest in a series 

of expansions for the restaurant across the 

GCC. 

The new franchise in Bahrain 

represents the 11th branch of Reem Al 

Bawadi throughout the GCC and is the 

fifth new addition since Marka acquired 

the chain in the second quarter of 2015. 

Having gained a well-deserved reputation 

as a family-friendly restaurant, it is 

renowned for its authentic Middle Eastern 

projects, revealing a presence in real 

estate developments worth a staggering 

US$20 billion. 

The patented technology to create 

crystal-clear man-made lagoons proves 

to be a sustained driver for successful real 

estate developments in the challenging 

economic climate. The innovative 

technology uses up to 30 times less water 

than a golf course and just half of the 

water required to irrigate a park of the 

same size. 

Three high profile GCC projects 

are currently under development. 

Additionally, Crystal Lagoons’ has 

developed a new technology to deal with 

humanity’s biggest problem, potable fresh 

water shortage that affects over a billion 

cuisine and superb hospitality. 

Marka Group CEO, Nick Peel said: “We 

are delighted to announce the opening 

of our first restaurant in Bahrain, as 

Marka continues to deliver Reem Al 

Bawadi’s expansion across the GCC. We 

are confident that this latest edition will 

continue to deliver the high standards of 

award-winning cuisine that has become 

people worldwide, with desalination that 

uses no energy. With this purpose, the 

multinational company plans to set up 

pilot plants in several locations around 

the world. The project’s experimental 

design ratified the viability and enormous 

potential for this innovation that uses 

warm water that industrial facilities and 

power plants throw to the sea. 

The company holds two Guinness 

World Records with successful locations 

at San Alfonso del Mar, Chile and Sharm 

El Sheik, Egypt, which is currently the 

world’s largest lagoon at 12.2 hectares. 

The company is also in the process of 

developing new desalinisation technology 

which will further add to Crystal Lagoons’ 

sustainable credentials. 

synonymous with the brand.” 

The restaurant is ideally located at 

Ramada Manama City Centre Hotel, Al 

Seef District in the heart of Manama, and 

a few minutes’ walk away from the City 

Centre Mall, the nation’s most popular 

retail and leisure destination. Reem Al 

Bawadi’s brand-new Bahrain edition will 

serve its well-known traditional Middle 

Eastern cuisine and signature cocktails. 

Its environment features both indoor and 

outdoor seating areas with total capacity 

of 450, and a terrace area with an exclusive 

shisha area facing the sea. 

Reem Al Bawadi’s popularity has 

enabled it to grow from a single outlet in 

2001 to become one of the largest, best 

known and most highly-regarded local 

food and beverage institutions in the UAE. 

A Summer of fun and 

discovery at The Ritz-Carlton 

Families and young explorers can 

enjoy the exclusive “Better Together” 

package at the Ritz Carlton Bahrain this 

summer. 

Designed to elevate the beach life 

by creating memorable experiences 

for parents and children, the package 

allows families to lounge by the infinity 

pool enjoying fresh beverages, indulge 

in culinary masterpieces in the resort’s 

reputed restaurants or soak up the sun in 

a beach cabana or a private island whilst 

children can discover new worlds in the 

company of other young guests. 

The summer package is composed 

of a complimentary night’s stay for every 

two nights booked. In addition, families 

enjoy complimentary accommodation and 

dining for children under 12 years, as well 

as significant savings on spa treatments 

and select dining experiences, along with 

complimentary Wi-Fi. 

The summer promotion offers a 

specially curated package that blends 

immersive Ritz Kids activities, unique 

to the destination, with inspiring 

experiences, created with the family 

traveler at the core. 

‘Better Together’ is available for 

stays at The Ritz-Carlton Hotels, Middle 

East & Africa, between May 15, 2016 and 

September 17, 2016. On the spa front, 

The Ritz-Carlton, Bahrain Spa offers 

extraordinary spa experiences from 

Saturday to Thursday starting from 1st 

August onwards. 


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63

Highlights | Technology 

Silah Gulf and Kleptika 

Partner to Revolutionize CX 

Silah Gulf and Kleptika, both leading 

specialists in innovative and premium 

Customer Experience (CX) solutions, 

join forces to revolutionize CX in the 

MiddleEast by delivering next generation 

Robotics and Process Automation 

solutions. As companies in the Middle 

East are experiencing mounting pressure 

The Winning Strategy 

for Companies in Bahrain 

to Survive the Age of Data 

Growth 

Dramatic business digital 

transformation, the Internet of Things 

(IoT), and everyday digital activities are 

driving immense data growth worldwide. 

Research shows that by 2020, the world 

will generate 44,000 Exabytes (EB) of data 

in one year alone-37 times more the 1,200 

EB generated in 2010. 

At an individual company level, by 

2020, industry experts expect to see at 

least 10 times more data in the average 

data centre. A company that had to 

manage and orchestrate 10 TB in 2010 

needs to prepare to keep 100 Terabytes 

(TB) available in 2020. Keeping up can 

be overwhelming, and the need for 

continuous access to that data at any time 

to drive efficiencies in today’s highly 

competitive business climate, the design 

and management of both captive and 

outsourced operations, powered by 

RPA(Robotic Process Automation) and 

RDA (Robotic Desktop Automation), 

brings opportunities to drive substantial 

process efficiencies, reduce costs, increase 

flexibility and accuracy and ultimately 

enhance customer experience. With a 

proven track record in various industries, 

such as banking, insurance, energy, retail, 

and telecommunications, the RPA and 

RDA suite provided by Silah and Kleptika 

enables businesses to execute critical 

operations more efficiently, more securely 

and with greater agility. 

Silah Gulf’s CEO, Ricardo 

LangwiederGoerner added: “We are 

excited to launch innovative Robotics 

and Automation solutions together with 

Kleptika. With the Contextor Product 

line, we will revolutionize the way 

Businesses operate in the Business 

has made us completely dependent on IT. 

IT leaders in Bahrain are responding 

to this progressive data growth by shifting 

toward converged and hyper-converged IT 

infrastructures. Three years ago, IT started 

renewing data centers with more efficient 

flash and software-defined storage, taking 

data away from the traditional arrays and 

shifting the focus back to applications. 

To keep up with data growth, IT 

needs to keep application performance, 

availability and scalability high, while 

minimizing storage costs per gigabyte. 

Software, along with cloud computing, 

will become crucial in meeting today`s 

business demands of both enterprises and 

end users. 

The Winning Strategy 

To survive in the age of data growth, 

you need to support your business with 

valuable insights. You need a strategic 

approach to data management. Scalability 

and availability are the two key pillars to 

developing this strategy. 

Planning the future capacity demands 

of your infrastructure and workloads 

will help you get ready for future growth. 

Choose platforms, solutions and hardware 

that allow you to easily scale. Capacity 

planning solutions featuring resource 

reservation and built-in simulation 

scenarios can be very helpful when 

Process Management space in the region. 

Our Robotics and Process Automation 

suite will change the way Middle East 

businesses expedite core operational 

processes, ultimately improving their 

efficiency and their end user experience, 

while strengthening businesses’ bottom 

lines” 

“Our Contextor RPA and RDA solutions 

have a proven track record with bluechip 

companies around the world. Our Unique 

Selling Proposition is their ability to adapt 

to any environment, without accessing 

applications via APIs, and to simply 

and quickly create 360 views of the 

customer, without impacting security and 

confidentiality,” stated Thierry Petrens, 

Founder of Kleptika. There is no question 

businesses growth and efficiency are 

restricted by traditional manual processes. 

They need to get the robot out of the 

human to drive operational benefit and 

compete and win in today’s dynamic 

business environment.” 

estimating your future resource needs. 

Try to simplify your data centre 

management and add an orchestration 

layer into your existing environment. 

Hyper-converged solution stacks 

combined with a proven availability 

solution can dramatically minimize 

your total cost of ownership in terms of 

management overhead. 

It’s important to understand your IT 

environment, know which workloads 

are mission-critical and break down 

applications into availability tiers. 

Each application has its own level of 

importance for business operations, and 

therefore should have a specific SLA tier. 

While some workloads demand absolute, 

uninterrupted business continuity, you 

can tier others at more moderate RTOs 

and RPOs and easily put them into public 

cloud storage, for example. 

Data center modernization requires a 

combination of integrated solutions that 

allow you to meet all compliance and SLA 

requirements and respond to business and 

end-user demands. 

Only a strategy embracing 

virtualization, cloud technologies, modern 

storage and a reliable availability solution 

will help you fully address the challenges 

of a massive increase in data. If you’re not 

thinking of your strategy right now, in a 

couple of years you may simply be lost. 


Technology 

How Organizations in Bahrain get Public Cloud Security Wrong 

Samsung Galaxy S7’s 

Always On Display 

If, just a few years ago, you were to ask 

CIOs in Bahrain about their advice 

for securing a public cloud, the odds 

aren’t bad that their response would 

have been “Just don’t use one.” Today, 

you’re far more likely to get a nuanced 

response, the result of increased practical 

experience with both security and 

broader governance issues in public 

clouds. 

However, as Oscar Wilde wrote, 

“Experience is the name that we give to 

our mistakes.” What follows are some 

of the security and governance-related 

mistakes that architects, IT managers, 

and consultants in the country have 

made that have led to them gaining much 

valuable experience. 

Failure to take a business-based 

approach to risk 

A lot of the pushback against the 

use of public clouds (and, for that matter, 

other trends such as employee-owned 

smartphones and laptops) has focused 

on the risks. However, risks also need to 

be considered in a business context. The 

risk has to be viewed in a broader context 

than a narrow IT-focused one. 

Adopting a hardline stance that led to 

“Shadow IT” 

A widespread focus on risk, rather 

than cost/benefit, led directly in many 

cases to what came to be known as 

“Shadow IT.” This was (and is) not a 

problem in some cases; with technology 

so pervasive within model businesses, 

it’s neither practical nor beneficial for 

IT to be involved in every technology 

decision. However, at the same time, IT 

can play a valuable role in establishing 

best practices for security and evaluating 

third-party solutions. Those benefits 

go away when decisions are effectively 

being hidden from the IT organization. 

Unrealistic expectations for on-premise 

information security 

Much of the resistance to public 

clouds seems to have come from its 

comparison to what was largely a 

strawman--namely the on-premise 

IT infrastructure that never had a 

misconfigured firewall, was never 

accessed by a rogue employee, and 

that was always promptly updated and 

patched with the latest security updates. 

Due diligence needs to take into account 

that perfection isn’t a reality just about 

anywhere. 

Failing to apply existing best practices 

Once organizations adopt public 

clouds for at least some of their 

workloads, some then go on to make 

what is effectively the opposite mistake. 

The user needs to apply the same 

best practices around obtaining the 

software from trusted sources, keeping 

it updated and patched, monitoring it 

for vulnerabilities, and operating it in a 

secure manner that they’d use in their 

own datacentre. 

Lack of a comprehensive management 

strategy 

Historically, IT built infrastructure 

and wrote applications to run on that 

infrastructure. With public clouds and 

other third-party services, IT has been 

forced to transform into a broader 

business enablement role. From a 

security and governance perspective, 

this has often led to a lack of consistent 

policy over sharing data with thirdparty 

services and over where data can 

be stored. It’s led to a fragmentation of 

identity services and access controls. It’s 

led to the inconsistent application of best 

practices such as described above. 

Adapting to hybrid and public clouds 

will often require some specific practices, 

processes, and technologies. But it also 

requires an understanding of how IT and 

the relationship of IT to the rest of the 

business is changing. 

With 2560×1440 Super AMOLED 

displays, the 5.1 inch Galaxy S7 

and 5.5 inch Galaxy S7 edge sports the 

Always On Display (AOD) that allows 

you to just glance at your phone at any 

time and see your latest notifications 

and other key information immediately 

without waking your screen, then for you 

to go back to your important tasks for the 

day. It lets users see the time, calendar, 

status messages and notifications even 

when the phone is in standby mode, 

with the screen off. This is possible 

because the phones take advantage of the 

independently powered sub-pixels in the 

sAMOLED screen, therefore not using any 

power at all when black. 

Using very little of the battery-less 

than one percent per hour, the AOD 

constantly shows just your favorite 

information. The setting also comes 

handy in places like the cinema when 

you don’t want to shine the full glow of 

your phone.Compared to the phone’s 

normal mode, the AOD uses fewer frames 

per second-the number of times the 

image on the screen is refreshed per 

second. It’s because the AOD displays a 

relatively small amount of information 

compared with the phone’s normal mode. 

Nevertheless, Samsung determined an 

optimal number of frames to ensure that 

there was no compromise in display 

quality. 

The AOD feature ensures that 

users can check information at any 

time, but special proximity, RGB light 

and accelerometer sensors work to 

automatically disable the AOD in 

situations when users are unable to see 

the screen. Specifically for the Galaxy S7 

edge, just as People Edge puts your most 

important contacts right into the curved 

edge screen for easy access, and Apps 

edge does the same for your favorite apps, 

Tasks edge lets you assign a shortcut for 

your most common tasks. 


65

Technology 

Samsung SUHD TVs with 

Quantum dot display 

Samsung’s 2016 range of SUHD TVs 

offer unparalleled picture quality, 

featuring Quantum dot display, the 

world’s first bezel-less curved design 

and the smartest user interface to 

deliver a state-of-the-art hub for home 

entertainment content. 

Quantum dots are nano-sized 

crystals made of semiconductor 

materials. With over 150 patents on 

the technology, Samsung is currently 

the only company that produces 

cadmium-free quantum dot displays. 

Giving off pure colors, the technology 

ensures that primary colors can be more 

clearly distinguished in comparison to 

conventional TVs. Each quantum dot 

shows precise colors while the light 

from conventional displays mixes with 

adjacent colors. Compared to phosphors 

in conventional TVs, not only are they 

able to produce more colors, but their 

photo-active property allows for better 

light efficiency. By leveraging this 

advantage, Samsung engineers were able 

to increase the maximum brightness of 

the latest range to 1,000 nits and higher, 

opposed to the standard of 400 nits 

found in conventional TVs. Regardless of 

the lighting environment, the SUHD TVs 

deliver the optimum viewing experience, 

with the 1,000 nit high dynamic range 

(HDR) offering an extraordinary level 

of contrast between light and dark 

images. The Ultra Black technology also 

significantly reduces light reflection, 

further enhancing picture quality with 

minimal glare. Inspired by nature, Ultra 

Black absorbs natural light the same 

way that a moth’s eye enables it to see 

better at night. 

The range is headlined by the 

world’s first bezel-less Curved TV, the 

KS9500 SUHD TV. With no bezel that 

normally functions as the border, the 

viewer’s attention is focused purely 

on what matters most – captivating 

content on the screen. In keeping with 

this design ethos, Samsung has sought 

to eliminate all unnecessary elements, 

even removing screws from the rear of 

the TV, to create an elegant product that 

is beautiful from every angle. 

Built on the Tizen operating system 

(OS), the SUHD TVs make it easier for 

consumers to discover and access all 

their favorite content and services, from 

broadcast TV and movies to games and 

program information, all in one place. 

IPTV services are offered in 

10 Arab countries 

By May 2016, fourteen service 

providers in ten countries in the 

Arab World offered IPTV services. Arab 

Advisors Group’s analysis revealed that 

GCC countries had the largest number of 

IPTV providers in the region. 

A new report from Arab Advisors 

Group overviews the IPTV services in 

the Arab world by May 2016. IPTV is in 

its initial stage of penetration in the 

Arab World, and is still developing. 

Fourteen service providers in ten 

countries in the MENA region offer IPTV 

services. These countries are: Bahrain, 

Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, 

Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the 

UAE. Reportedly, there are ongoing or 

planned projects by service providers 

and/or governments in seven other 

countries, with the aim to upgrade 

the countries’ legacy networks and 

install fiber optics to facilitate offering 

services including IPTV in the near 

future. These countries are: Algeria, 

Egypt, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Mauritania 

and Tunisia. Moreover, there is a number 

of international and local broadcasting 

networks which offer Subscriptionbased 

VOD services for viewers in the 

Middle East and North Africa. These 

providers include: Starz Play, icflix, 

Istikana and Netflix. 

Adaptive Trust - Secure 

Enterprise Mobility 

When you count the attacks 

initiated from those unsecured 

user devices, the loss of sensitive data 

on mobile devices and risky end user 

behavior, they add up to more than 90 

percent of enterprise security breaches. 

Lost devices alone pose a serious 

insider threat. Between the mobile 

devices already on the network and 

the IoT devices that are coming, the 

inside of the network has become a soft 

underbelly. If the mobile device is stolen, 

a thief has no access to the company’s 

systems or private employee data. 

The health care center had hundreds 

of company-issued mobile devices 

and thousands of guest devices that 

connected to the network daily, but 

security wasn’t air tight. 

Consulate wanted to assign policies 

to the connecting devices based on user 

role and device that would serve both 

visitors and employees and protect 

patient information and other private 

healthcare data. When enterprises in 

Bahrain take an adaptive trust approach, 

IT can make smarter decisions about 

how users and devices connect and how 

their access privileges are enforced. 


August 2016 67

Highlights | Other Business 

Gulf Air Awards $900M 

Contract to Rolls-Royce 

National carrier, Gulf Air has awarded 

Rolls-Royce a $900m contract for 

Trent 1000 engines to power 10 Boeing 787- 

9 Dreamliners. The contract also includes 

long-term TotalCare® service support. 

In addition, Gulf Air also has the 

option to purchase the same engine to 

power 6 further Boeing 787-9s. 

The aircraft all form part of Gulf Air's 

recently announced wide-body aircraft 

orders, geared towards facilitating long 

term expansion capabilities for the 

airline's future network requirement. 

Mr. Maher Salman Al Musallam, Gulf 

Air Chief Executive Officer, said: “Gulf Air's 

current wide body fleet are also powered 

by Trent 700 engines. We have experience 

of the Trent engine and its durability 

and resilience in a variety of operating 

B/E aerospace to supply 

business class seating for 

boeing 787 Aircraft 

Gulf Air, the national carrier of the 

Kingdom of Bahrain, announced, at 

the Farnborough International Airshow 

2016, the selection of B/E Aerospace to 

supply the business class seating for its 

Boeing 787 aircraft. B/E Aerospace, the 

world's leading manufacturer of aircraft 

cabin interior products, will supply their 

next generation business class seats for 

Gulf Air’s 10 new Boeing 787-9 aircraft. 

The first B787-9 deliveries are scheduled 

for 2018. 

conditions and we are confident the Trent 

1000 will deliver the same outstanding 

performance.” 

Eric Schulz, Rolls-Royce, President - 

Civil Aerospace, said: “We are proud to be 

selected by a valued customer such as Gulf 

Air and this marks a significant success 

for the Trent 1000. It has developed a 

real momentum in the marketplace, 

winning more than 60 per cent of engine 

competitions in the last six years.” 

The signing was witnessed by 

Bahrain’s Minister of Transportation 

and Telecommunications H.E. Engineer 

Kamal bin Ahmed Mohammed, H.E. 

Shaikh Fawaz bin Mohammed Al Khalifa 

Ambassador of the Kingdom of Bahrain to 

United Kingdom and British Ambassador 

to Bahrain, H.E. Simon Martin. 

Gulf Air’s restructured aircraft orders 

were announced in January this year at 

the Bahrain International Airshow 2016 

and comprise 45 aircraft in total with 

deliveries commencing from Q2 2018. This 

announcement follows the recent release 

of Gulf Air's 2015 financial and operational 

results, which showed the airline's 

ongoing positive development as it 

realises full commercial sustainability and 

increasingly focuses on managing and 

further investing in its ongoing growth 

and development. 

Commenting on the announcement 

Mr. Maher Salman Al Musallam, Gulf 

Air Chief Executive Officer, said: “We are 

enhancing the entire spectrum of Gulf 

Air's onboard product offering and, with 

this key partnership we are confident that 

the passenger experience will be elevated 

- meeting the needs and requirements 

of travellers moving across the Gulf Air 

network.” 

At the contract signing ceremony, 

Werner Lieberherr, CEO and President of 

B/E Aerospace stated, “We are pleased to 

be here today with Gulf Air in Farnborough 

and to have been awarded the business 

class seating program for Gulf Air’s Boeing 

787 aircraft. Our seats will provide the Gulf 

Air passenger with enhanced comfort and 

functionality within the business class 

cabin. We look forward to continuing our 

partnership with Gulf Air." 

The B/E Aerospace business class 

seat will be jointly developed with Gulf 

Air to provide Gulf Air’s passengers with 

enhanced comfort. 

Al Haddad Motors 

celebrates Mercedes Models 

Al Haddad Motors, the distributor of 

Mercedes-Benz celebrated the brand 

for its meticulously detailed and elegant 

design and astonishing performance 

epitomized through the S-Class Cabriolet, 

the G-Class 4x4² and the SLC-Class 

models. 

The all-new 2017 S-Class Cabriolet 

raises the pinnacle of desire with 

unmatched style, craftsmanship, 

innovation and luxury. The dream 

convertible offers a symphony of 

performance, providing up to 577 hp in the 

AMG S63 model. Due to this convertible 

car’s astounding technology, drivers 

will find that it is always in season. The 

S-Class Cabriolet offers the AIRCAP 

system for quelling top-down turbulence, 

and the AIRSCARF technology wraps 

the neck in shoulders in warm air. The 

Mercedes-Benz S-Class Cabriolet is 

designed to be the utmost source of luxury 

and the new standard in performance 

vehicles, simultaneously. 

The G 500 4x42 makes G-Class 

history with its perfect combination of 

superior all-wheel-drive powertrain and 

a revamped G-Class body. The 4.0-liter V8 

biturbo engine presents high efficiency, 

top-notch power and a lightweight 

construction. Although the G 500 4x42 is 

built for off-road excursions, the powerful 

SUV delivers an exceptionally smooth ride 

on pavement. It has been called a sports 

car on the road, and the superior 4x4 

anywhere else. 

The new-generation SLC-Class sets 

the pace for all the years to come. The car’s 

silhouette is muscular and sensationally 

dynamic when open and closed. The new 

sports exhaust systems can be credited for 

the roaring engine sounds that perfectly 

compliment the design. This roadster 

surpasses competition in its highfrequency 

intelligence, sportiness and 

sleek exterior. 


Other Business 

Dr. Jassim Haji 

receives top IT award 

The Kingdom of Bahrain was 

recognized yet again as a leader 

and pioneer in technology throughout 

Arabtec JV to fund 

Bahrain airport revamp 

Contractors working on Bahrain 

International Airport have raised 

BD107 million ($283.6 million) in 

Papa John’s Bahrain 

steps up for the Community 

Papa John’s shows its commitment 

to the community once again! 

Papa John’s Bahrain gave away free 

the entire Middle East with Dr. Jassim 

Haji, the Bahraini researcher and 

Director Information Technology in 

Gulf Air, receiving an award in the 7th 

Network World Middle East Awards 

ceremony held earlier in Dubai. 

This prestigious event honours and 

celebrates IT and business pros who 

demonstrated innovative leadership 

on all sides of the industry. This is 

the second year for Dr. Haji to win an 

award in this event, and this comes 

as a testimony for the cutting edge 

and pioneer projects that Dr. Haji 

delivers successfully in the industry 

of Information and Communication 

Technology in the Kingdom of Bahrain 

and the Middle East. 

financing to support their work on 

the modernisation of the airport, a 

statement from the lenders said last 

week. 

The facility covers the bonding 

and working capital requirements of 

the joint venture completing the work, 

according to a statement from Mashreq 

which arranged the facility. Jordan’s 

Arab Bank also joined the financing. 

The joint venture includes Dubailisted 

Arabtec Holding and Turkey’s 

TAV Construction (TAV), which was 

appointed to complete the main work 

for the $1.1 billion modernisation and 

expansion project in January. 

meals to more than 500 participants 

of the Run for Cancer charity run held 

in Bahrain recently. The 5.3km run 

aimed to raise funds for the Bahrain 

Cancer Society. Papa John’s kept 

spirits up as they supplied tired and 

hungry participants with fresh pizzas. 

All participants were handed a T-shirt, 

a raffle ticket and a value meal from 

Papa John’s 

Papa John’s has worked closely 

with Bahrain Cancer Society (BCS) 

and The Ministry of Health (MOH) to 

support initiatives in public health. In 

this instance it is working to enhance 

medical services and care for cancer 

patients. 

Euro Motors Introduces 

Amazing New Offers On 

Range Rover Vehicles 

Euro Motors, the exclusive retailer 

and distributor for Jaguar Land 

Rover in the Kingdom of Bahrain, 

introduced amazing offers on both the 

performance oriented Range Rover and 

the highly capable Range Rover Sport, 

which makes now the best time for Land 

Rover aficionados and general motoring 

enthusiasts to purchase either of the two 

stunning vehicles. 

In line with its constant innovative 

practises for the utmost benefit of its 

customers, Euro Motors Jaguar Land 

Rover now presents them with the 

opportunity to avail the Range Rover 

for an initial deposit of BHD 6,999 and 

BHD 699 in 36 monthly instalments. 

The features of the offer also extend to 

covering the Range Rover Sport at an 

initial BHD 5,999 deposit and additional 

payments of BHD 599 for 36 months, 

with both vehicles being presented at 

guaranteed future values with options 

to own. The offers involve guaranteed 

buyback options and for customers who 

wish to trade-in their existing vehicle, 

they can do so and select a new vehicle, 

opting for the best finance deal suitable 

for them at the later stage. 

To complement the offers and 

make them altogether irresistible, Euro 

Motors Jaguar Land Rover also includes 

with the purchase of the vehicles free 

service, maintenance, tyre replacement, 

insurance and registration as well, 

along with the provision of replacement 

vehicles during routine service, if 

required. 

To know more, call the Euro Motors 

Jaguar Land Rover showroom on 

17460460 or follow the latest posts about 

Land Rover on Facebook at Euro Motors- 

Land Rover Bahrain or on Instagram at @ 

emlandroverbahrain. 


69

Tech Nutrition Expert Packages 

Is it time to 

flush out 

the Toxins? 

by Diana Nakhle 

Clinical Dietitian, Carlton Nutrition Center 

Now that Ramadan has come 

to an end, you are back from 

the vacation after all the seasonal 

celebration, but your body is left with 

the fat and sugar overload. 

You step on the scale or you put 

on your favorite jeans and they are too 

tight after all the eating and drinking, 

the reason is excess water weight. 

Most of us never lose those 2-3 kilos 

we gain between the holidays and it’s 

even worse when the weight and bad 

eating patterns take hold and last into 

winter. 

So comes your first day back on 

the right track, you want a quick fix to 

give your body what it’s craving to help 

restore its healthy equilibrium. 

You’ve heard all about detoxing 

diets and juicing since they’ve taken 

off in popularity recently through 

media and celebrities endorsement. 

Whether the diet is in the form of 

juice cleanse, restrictive diets, or a tea 

regimen, they typically last 3 days to 3 

weeks. 

Some people say a detox may help 

you slim down and get rid of toxins, 

while others aren’t fans of taking this 

approach. So what’s the truth? 

Our livers and kidneys, if healthy, 

are incredibly good at processing 

toxins, coming from food, stress, 

environment, chemicals… In terms 

of weight loss, the initial drop is 

primarily water weight and might be 

regained when detox has stopped. 

In terms of nutrients, if followed 

restrictively, juices could be missing 

out on macronutrients that our cells 

need to function. That’s why a juice 

cleanse is not recommended for more 

than 3 days and should be balanced in 

nutrients and vitamins. 

As a conclusion, following these 

regimens may be the start of a healthy 

plan but it won’t eliminate the toxins in 

your body. One shouldn’t rely only on 

a cleanse fix for few days and all year 

round endorse a sedentary unhealthy 

lifestyle because it won’t delete all 

what’s done. If you are eating poorly, 

drinking juices gets you interested in 

trying new fruits and vegetables. To 

follow a more cleansing diet, make sure 

to increase the amount of fruits and 

vegetables, fiber rich foods and water 

in your diet. 

Cleansing and detox approaches 

are more about habit forming and 

eliminating many foods from our diets 

that are harmful in the short term. 

What’s more important is to maintain 

a healthy lifestyle in the long term 

by adapting good eating patterns 

and activity to ensure the complete 

nourishment of our bodies. 

Diana Nakhle 

Clinical Dietitian 

Carlton Nutrition Center 



71

Marketing Tech Health Expert & Wellbeing at its Best | NO LABEL 

comments from followers there are, have 

set a new scale of measuring beauty. 

Media shows us an idealized notion of 

beauty. In fact, consumption of media 

in its mainstream sense is linked to an 

increased rate of social comparison and 

body dissatisfaction (Agliata & Dunn, 

2004; Mulgrew, 2013). 

Yes, self-love 

by Ghiya El Assaad, No Label NGO 

What is beauty? An often-asked 

question. Beauty, the source of 

pleasure for our senses. Beauty has 

developed throughout the years. It has 

been progressing as humanity progresses. 

From the love of the nudity of musclebuilt 

fit males in the Ancient times, wide 

hips and thick figures of women during 

the Renaissance era, small waists (with 

corsets that probably hindered proper 

breathing) during the 1800s, to the grungy- 

I-listen-to -Nirvana look of the 1990’s, 

standards of beauty grew more diverse 

from one era to the other. 

Throughout all this time, standards 

of beauty have proved to be major factors 

affecting one of the most vital social 

and psychological constructs we come 

across today-- self-esteem. Self-esteem, or 

self-worth, is defined as the judgment of 

an individual towards themselves, or the 

faith in themselves and their abilities. It is 

also how one evaluates themselves. 

How are standards of beauty affecting 

your self-esteem? 

We tend to keep working up to 

the point of satisfactions. We tend to 

continuously work on making sure we are 

conforming to these standards of beauty. 

Going back to that 1800s era, you know, 

where corsets were means to improper 

breathing, women worked hard to make 

sure they have the perfect waist line. They 

worked hard to “slay that gown” and “be 

the prettiest”. 

Let’s come all the way from the 

1800s to this very day; has the way we 

perceive ourselves changed as much? 

Well, yes okay, the standards of beauty 

have changed, but have we really stopped 

constantly working on conforming to 

these standards? 

We haven’t. It is more often a constant 

struggle of dissatisfaction. We still try 

hard to be like other people, ones that we 

think are beautiful. This constant struggle 

is a facilitator to low levels of self-esteem. 

It’s like a free ticket to the land of negative 

self-evaluation and decreasing selfconfidence. 

I know, this is not a fun land. 

It is definitely not LaLa land, or Charlie’s 

chocolate factory. The phenomenon has 

gone wider with the development of 

media platforms, especially social media. 

Anyone might ask the question: how is 

Facebook or Instagram going to make me 

take a trip to the rollercoaster of constant 

struggles and a shaken self-confidence? 

Individuals tend to compare their 

lifestyles, bodies, faces, and even 

accomplishments with others. Now that 

social media platforms like Facebook, 

Instagram and Twitter, have broadened 

the spectrum of human interaction, the 

act of comparison has increased with a 

booming intensity. 

Things like how many likes a certain 

picture is obtaining, how many retweets a 

selfie is getting, or how many reassuring 

Research conducted by The 

University of Gothenburg concluded that 

a negative relationship between Facebook 

and self-esteem exists. This means, as the 

use of Facebook increases, self-esteem 

decreases! As shocking as the results may 

be, they are just a portrait of reality. Yes, 

people are struggling to fit into certain 

standards. People are struggling to accept 

themselves for what they are. As vast as 

the factors of that phenomenon might 

be, social media platforms are playing a 

key role in its widespread. Wanting those 

Kylie Jenner lips, that Ian Somerhalder 

jawline, and that Gigi Hadid figure is 

not wrong. It becomes dangerous when 

that want becomes a promoter of a selfloathing 

attitude that is getting you one 

step closer to lower self-esteem and no 

self-acceptance. There is nothing more 

graceful than acceptance. 

Accept that there are other sides 

of beauty that we are neglecting every 

day because we are busy focusing on 

the endorsed ones. Accept that we are 

neglecting our own beauty, beit from the 

outside or the inside. 

There is another question that comes 

to mind, other than all the previously 

asked ones, what are the standards of 

beauty of our time? It is so hard to pin 

them. Are they big lips and big hips? 

Little waist and big hips? A six-pack and 

a slaying jawline? Blondes or brunettes? 

Our era is so diverse. Standards of 

beauty have become so complex, which 

brings me to an even bigger question; is 

there a simple one that rules out all the 

complexity? 

Yes, self-love. 

Learn to accept yourself, and to love 

yourself. Self-love, the greatest standard 

of beauty of all time. You don’t have to 

struggle your way to reach it. It’s closer 

than you think. 



73

Biz Dashboard 

Bahrain Balance of Trade 

3407 

3388 3441 

3500 

3000 

2454.8 

2500 

2000 

1863 

1763 

1799 

1636 

1543 

1513 

1500 

2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 

BHD Million 

Source: www.tradingeconomics.com | Ministry of Finance - Kingdom of Bahrain 

Market Share for PR Coverage 

16% 

27% 

27% 

Banking 

12% 

Telecom 

56% 

6% 

4% 

6% 

13% 

13% 

20% 

CBB 

BBK 

ASB 

Batelco 

Viva 

TRA 

NBB 

KHCB 

Others 

Zain 

Menatelecom 


Bahrain Inflation Rate 

3.8 

3.7 

4 

3.3 

3.3 

3.5 

2.9 

3 

2.3 

2.3 

2.5 

1.1 

1.6 1.6 

1.5 

0.7 

2 

1.5 

1 

Jul 2015 Oct 2015 Jan 2016 Apr 2016 

0.5 

Source: www.tradingeconomics.com | Central Informatics Organisation - Kingdom of Bahrain 

11% 

4% 

13% 

12% 

64% 

Real 

Estate 

7% 

7% 

7% 

13% 

9% 

Other 

Business 

31% 

22% 

Diyar 

Bin Faqeeh 

Naseej 

Gulf Air 

ALBA 

E.K.Kanoo 

Masassi Al Mahrain 

Ritz Carlton 

Others 

GPIC 

YKA 

Euro Motors 

bizbahrain.com - Web Portal Overview as on 31st July 2016 Total Articles (8,470) Total Views (2,33,412) August Total 2016 

Visitors (73,567) 75

Listing | Tender Board Bahrain 

Company Name 

Tender Subject Tender No. Tender Type Closing Date 

Ministry of Youth & 

Sports Affairs 

Construction of Multipurpose 

Sports Hall and Services for 

AlShabab Club 

RFPMYS/14/2016 Public 24/08/2016 

The Bahrain Petroleum 

Company 

Removal and Sale of Various 

Scrap Materials 

T160097 (52) Public 24/08/2016 

Ministry of 

Information Affairs 

Technical Infrastructure Upgrade 

for Bahrain News Agency (BNA) - 

Phase 1 

MIA/5/2016 Public 31/8/2016 

Ministry of 


Supply and Integration of CCTV 

Surveillance System 


Ministry of 


Maintenance of Roland 704 

Printing Press Printer 


Ministry of Works, 

Municipalities Affairs 

& Urban Planning 

Operations and Maintenance 

of Minor stps 

Project no. Ses-15-26-501 

SES-15/0031 Public 17/08/2016 

Bahrain Petroleum 

Company 

Pre-Qualification of Contractors for 

Provision of Shutdown and Routine 

Maintenance Services 

PQ-2016-0002 Public 10/08/2016 

Ministry of 


Supply and Integration of VizRT 

Touch Screen System for the News 

Center Studio 

MIAPA/2/2016 Public 17/08/2016 

Ministry of 


7BSupply, Installation, Testing & 

Commissioning of 2 x 800 KVA 

Diesel Generator for Production 

Studio 1 

8BMIA/3/2016 Public 17/8/2016 

Ministry of 


Supply, Installation and 

Commissioning of Air Cooled 

Chillers Systems at Radio Building 

15BMIA/4/2016 Public 17/8/2016 

Source: www.tenderboard.gov.bh 

www.arabianindustry.com/tenders 


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Let us offer you a traditional island welcome. 

Let us wrap you in our world of exquisite luxury. 

Let us delight your children daily with the unexpected. 

Let us bid you a fond farewell and a welcome return. 

BD157* 

Intrigue You – The ideal package to create fond 

memories for the entire family.. Includes breakfast for 

two and third night complimentary. For reservations, 

call The Ritz-Carlton, Bahrain at (+973) 1758 8000 or 

visit ritzcarlton.com/bahrain. 

Rate is per room/per night, based on single or double occupancy,; cannot be combined with any other offer and is not applicable for Rewards redemption. Breakfast is in La Med restaurant only. Advanced 

reservations are required. Void where prohibited. Offer is subject to availability. 


77

Tweets on Biz 

196 

Total Tweets 

47.3K 

Tweet Impressions 

1296 

Profile Visits 

3953 

Followers Stats for the month of July 2016 



79

A residential wonder and a family retreat 

First residential project with its private waterpark in the world 

Durrat Marina 

Contact us for more information: +973 38 00 00 02 | www.binfaqeeh.com 

@binfaqeeh_co

BizBahrain August 2016

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