Business West and UKTI showcase Business Developments in the Middle East
Something that strikes anyone visiting the Middle East is the enormous warmth for British people – the respect that we gain from building relationships and respecting their cultural concerns means that we should have a head start in doing business in this incredible and vibrant region.
23 June 2014
The UAE almost always features at the top of the UK’s Middle East export markets, and for good reason – there are about 120,000 Brits based there, even after the crisis and it’s clear that the UAE is still a vital hub for companies that wish to have representation in a location that offers such great transport and links across the region – the ease of doing business continues to attract those that not only wish to trade with the UAE, but also into Iraq, and Iran, where in time the opportunities are going to be immense for UK companies.
As part of Business West’s year of internationalisation, we hosted an event on 12th June at Leigh Court, Successfully Doing Business in the Middle East - which brought together experts on Saudi Arabia; Qatar, the UAE and Bahrain. We learned about the new British Centre for Business - established in Dubai, as part of the Global network of support delivered by the British Chambers of Commerce in high growth markets. We heard excellent, and hugely practical, presentations from Imam Qazi, Foot Anstey’s in-house Sharia Finance and Law expert; from Neil Payne of Kwintessentials , who captured the complexities and often surprising cultural considerations in the Middle East, and from Robert Edge on the tricks of the trade in terms of winning business in the right way. Lynn Palmer, Business West’s innovative and hugely successful lead on Arabic documents advised us on getting the process right. Lynn’s services are market-leading – easing the pain through that daunting aspect of trading overseas. One of the most helpful elements of the day was the case study from James Whittick, MD of Greenbest Ltd, a British fertiliser SME that has seen incredible success in Qatar – but not without some frustrating, and occasionally hilarious, surprises along the way. UKTI is taking a Trade Mission to the region later this year and their experts were on hand to offer key advice to attending companies – anyone interested can contact Nick Field.
Chris Innes-Hopkins, who heads the Saudi-British Joint Business Council spoke about how Saudi Arabia is diversifying away from Oil & Gas, into Autoparts production; Healthcare, 4 Metro schemes and various Public Private Partnership initiatives. Education, including Vocational Training, offers incredible opportunities as the Saudi Government has committed over $1b to support its young population. Reform is well underway in that country and given that they adore UK products, it’s a market that we cannot afford to ignore.
We heard from Phil Taylor, UKTI Qatar, who mentioned the incredible GDP figures in that tiny but important State, which stand at US$109,000 per capita. Shell is the biggest foreign investor in Qatar and links with UK businesses are growing year-on-year. Hospital building and education feature strongly, along with the building of 35 new schools, and huge opportunities exist for the South West’s educational and business services companies.
Having spent 5 years in Jordan, it would be remiss of me not to highlight that this is also a great market to consider if you are new to the Middle East – with extremely high educational levels, keenness on UK education and a thriving ICT sector, it can often be overlooked against the more overt promotion that you see from the UAE.
Oman is another important hub, often overlooked, but with strong opportunities, for example in the security and defence sectors, in education, in technology and – perhaps surprisingly – in agriculture and food, as they look to become less dependant upon imports to feed their population. Business West has developed a platform to deliver B2B support for companies interested in that market.
Something that strikes anyone visiting the Middle East is the enormous warmth for British people – the respect that we gain from building relationships and respecting their cultural concerns means that we should have a head start in doing business in this incredible and vibrant region.
Sarah Hildersley is the Regional Coordinator - South West, Overseas Business Networks Programme, Business West - for the latest updated from Sarah, follow @SHildersley.
