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The ratings agency expects Sharjah's economy to expand steadily by about 2 percent from 2019 to 2022, with moderate debt and interest burdens
S&P Global Ratings affirmed its ‘BBB+/A-2’ long- and short-term foreign and local currency sovereign credit ratings for the Emirate of Sharjah, with a stable outlook.
Sharjah’s economy is expected to expand steadily by about 2 percent from 2019 to 2022, with moderate debt and interest burdens, S&P said in its research report.
S&P could raise the emirate’s rating in the next two years if net general government debt or debt-service costs decreased materially, however views this as unlikely over the next two years.
“We could lower our ratings in the next two years if wider budget deficits than anticipated accelerated the increase in the government's debt or interest costs. The ratings could also come under pressure if economic growth were significantly weaker than our base-case projections,” the ratings agency said.
According to S&P, Sharjah’s ratings are supported by its relatively strong fiscal position, despite a low revenue base, and the advantages that Sharjah derives from being part of the UAE, including low external financing risks and the potential for extraordinary financial support from the UAE.
“In our view, the emirate's economy is relatively diverse compared with those of other sovereigns in the region,” S&P noted.
source: zawya
Every business requires an investment and business owners expect a return on their investments. There sure is an internal reward from the excitement of building something out of nothing, however, at the end of the day, wise entrepreneurs will always factor in the expected outcome of their investment and the potential of the product or service they’re investing to create.
In the technology space, the two biggest expenses required as an initial investment are in product (app) development and marketing.
However, unlike small businesses, even the most successful technology startups will rarely quickly generate revenue to cover operating expenses meaning that entrepreneurs must also have funds to run the venture for at least one year.
In today’s competitive funding environment, it’s no longer enough to attract investors with just an idea and even a few customers. Founders must be prepared to last.
Whether your startup idea is worth the investment depends on many variables.
The idea itself plays a big role. Here are what I found to be the three most important factors that will help you better predict the future of your idea based on your available investment resources.
1.The Business Model
Your startup business model is how you deliver your value proposition and make money.
The resources required to launch and operate a startup depend significantly on the validated business model.
For example, nowadays, it is a lot cheaper to start an e-commerce business than build a financial technology (FinTech) startup.
The cost of starting a content site like an online magazine is lower than the investment needed to build a social network.
On demand, virtual goods, auction, software as a service, peer to peer, membership and HealthTech startups vary in many ways, especially the human and financial capital required to start and operate the business.
As discussed in the third point below, the decision of the entrepreneur to invest in a startup idea should first consider their personal expected outcome from the business.
No matter the business model and investments required, everyone will suddenly want to contribute to a promising venture if there are tangible signs of success.
In other words, even if entrepreneurs don’t have the needed personal funds to start and operate a startup with a business model that needs a lot of cash, they should still execute as long as they have enough funds to reach certain levels of validation.
However, if the goal is to run a self-funded business that can quickly generate revenue and become self-sustainable, the business model should be on top of the startup idea evaluation list.
2. The Industry
The three things founders must consider in their decision to invest in their startup ideas with regards to the industry are competition, laws and their industry knowledge.
In a highly competitive industry, while founders may not have control over competitors’ actions, the end user will expect a significantly better solution to justify the switching cost to use their product instead.
Business models like FinTech and HealthTech tend to have more regulatory requirements as compared to other models.
This adds another layer of expenses that should be accounted for in the initial investment.
For entrepreneurs who have never worked or operated a business in a highly competitive and regulated space, the road to meeting their expected outcome is going to be extra challenging and will require significantly more resources.
3. The Resources
The four things founders must consider in their decision to invest in launching their ideas with regards to resources are cash, time, background (expertise) and team.
An incomplete product even if it cost half a million dollars doesn’t add any value to the user unless completed and adjusted to reflect their feedback.
Nowadays, there are many ways founders can release smaller versions of the app in order to quickly validate key hypotheses and build the next versions with higher predictability. While those smaller versions will vary based on the business model, founders who don’t follow this lean approach add another layer of startup risk. Additionally, the lean approach makes it feasible to start with a smaller budget since founders can divide the total investment to build progressively instead of spending it all in a product with many features that may or may not address user needs.
Data collected and analyzed by First Round capital shows that entrepreneurs with a technical background perform 230% better than non-technical founders building enterprise products.
However, the difference between the two backgrounds is not significant when it comes to consumer products. This goes back to the importance of considering the business model and target user in the evaluation of the investment in a startup idea.
Furthermore, the same company showed that teams with more than one founder outperform solo founders by 163%.
Is your startup idea worth your investment? Now you have three evaluation criteria that will help you make a wise investment decision.
The market is filled with business opportunities. Be honest with yourself about the expected return from your startup and keep in mind that no matter the business, success is for those who last.
At the end of the days, overnight success can take up to 10 years.
source: forbes
Technology is driving digital transformation across industry verticals, according to a new KPMG 2019 Customer Experience Excellence Report, which ranks US companies on their customer experience delivery.
Among the companies that saw the biggest jump in ranking from last year are those investing in digitally-enabled technology to support personalization.
The report asks and answers: how can companies invest in technology to improve customer experience through personalization? KPMG said the answer is the ability to architect and engineer intelligent digital services, technologies, and platforms to deliver on the customer promise in an agile, cost effective and scalable manner.
It may surprise you to hear which US business clucked its way to the top by addressing the very issues noted in the KPMG survey.
Despite the negative publicity surrounding the company's LGBTQ policies, Chick-fil-A ranked third overall in the Customer Experience Excellence 2019 list and first in the Restaurants and Fast Food Category. Does this prove that boycotts are ineffective? It may be in this case: Chick-fil-A, which opened its first restaurant in 1967 in Atlanta, launched a customer-services driven app which now drives 20% of its sales from digital orders.
And, this summer, the Texas state legislature passed what's dubbed "Save Chick-fil-A," which forbids government entities from taking "adverse actions" against businesses because of those businesses' "religious beliefs and moral convictions, including beliefs and convictions regarding marriage."
The report cites five companies which they describe as "fastest risers" and 10 companies as overall winners in customer experience.
Among the faster risers, UnitedHealthcare tops the list, and it is investing heavily in new technology. "There is a lot more focus on consumer digital, a lot more focus on personalization, and a lot more focus on giving control back to the people that we serve," Phil McKoy, CIO at UnitedHealthcare, said in the report.
Kate-Lin Dennis, a UnitedHealthcare senior customer care representative, added, also in the report, "With the new technology, if somebody calls in and needs diabetic education, we're able to look up local pharmacies for them that service diabetic supplies, and set them up with home health agencies.
We can set them up with programs that help guide them through those processes."
Coming in second is PNC, a financial services company.
Among other innovations, the company has a digital team for the report asserted, "greater project flexibility and responsiveness."
State Farm insurance company ranked third, and the company, the report concluded, is focused on making its next-gen customer experience across digital and offline channels available throughout the company. "Automated data capture and synchronization into new CRM platforms has enabled State Farm to provide actionable insights to its agents, improving the customer experience and presenting agents with opportunities to grow their book of business," noted the KPMG report.
The movie theater chain AMC Loews was fourth, thanks to theaters featuring the upgrade of premium sight and sound formats and the continuation of its successful Stubs program (a credit-card styled membership for accumulating points and rewards with 15.8 million members), and introducing the subscription program, A-List, for customers who frequent the movies.
Lastly, the membership retail store Sam's Club was ranked fifth among faster risers. Sam's Club "has been investing in new technology to deliver multi-channel customer experiences," the report said. "For example, shoppers at a Sam's Club can open up their Sam's Club app and scan each item's barcode as they fill their shopping carts. The app keeps a running total of everything in the cart, and then, when the shopper is ready to checkout and pay, they can do so inside the app.
As they walk out of the Club, they show their digital receipt to a "greeter" at the exit. The receipt is scanned, and the customer goes on their way."
Online products can be browsed via in-store kiosks, added to the member's online cart, and then shipped to the shopper's home. Store associates are trained to become "problem solvers" for customers, it has boosted Sam's Club e-commerce sales.
If it's not available in the store, the associate will try to find it on samsclub.com. Sam's Club is trying out a new concept store, Sam's Club Now; instead of traditional store associates, the location will feature member hosts, who are digital concierges.
It will also begin the use of electronic shelf labels, which automatically update inventory prices and eliminate traditional signs. The stores will have more than 700 digital cameras to help manage inventory and make it easier to get around each location.
Sam's Club Now will be about one quarter the size of a traditional Sam's Club.
The 10 companies ranked as best in customer experience are, in order, Navy Federal Credit Union, H-E-B, Chick-fil-A, USAA, Edward Jones, Amazon, L.L. Bean, Costco Wholesale, Polo Ralph Lauren, and AAA.
High-performing organizations make connections through significant investments across varied connected enterprise capabilities.
A significant connected enterprise capability is called "digitally-enabled technology architecture," The ability to architect and engineer intelligent digital services, technologies, and platforms to deliver on the customer promise in an agile, cost effective, and scalable manner while maintaining security.
In conclusion, the report cited the importance of a customer-centric approach, and an integrated strategy to connect the layers of a company, to align its brand, products and services, interactions and people to capture business value. The report reiterated the top elements for excellence in customer service:
- Customer experience
- Sales transformation and CRM
- Customer data and analytics
- Marketing transformation and technology
- Customer service transformation and technology
- Connected enterprise
source: techrepublic
To look cool, everyone talks about digital transformation without actually knowing what it really is. Some businesses are already reaping the benefits of digital transformation while others are still hesitant about investing in digital transformation.
If your organization belongs to the latter category then, this article will change your mind and convince you to say ‘yes’ to digital transformation.
Enterprise digital transformation is not just about automating processes. There is much more to digital transformation than what most people might think. It also includes changing mindsets, goals and approaches.
Companies undergoing digital transformation knows that it takes time. If you are expecting to change everything overnight then, that is not going to happen.
When done correctly, digital transformation can:
- Streamline processes
- Boost efficiency
- Improve customer satisfaction
- Increase revenue
How can I digital transform my business the right way? To answer this question, here are some examples of successful brands who have not only completed transformation business process and are also reaping rich rewards. Follow in their footsteps to digitally transform your business.
In this article, you will learn about six inspirational examples of digital transformation companies that you can learn from.
6 Digital Transformation Examples
1. Nike
Famous for its sports shoes and clothing, Nike started to lose its luster. To turn things around, Nike decided to transform its brand and supply with the help of digital transformation and become a digital transformation company. Instead of selling their products through vendors, they decided to reach out to customers and sell to them directly. This shorten their development cycle and allowed them to launch new products quickly.
They created a new digital transformation strategy with Amazon. Soon, Nike started opening experience stores and focus on enhancing their app experience.
By harnessing the power of data analytics and connecting with their customers at a personal level, Nike succeeded in knowing their customers preferences and started recommending the right products. Nike’s revenue grew from $33.5 billion to $39.1 billion and its stock price jumped from $53 to $90 in less than two years.
2. Disney
Disney was falling behind the times, but they managed to turn the tables by acquiring few companies. Instead of developing their new streaming services, they purchased BAMTech to acquire streaming technology. Later, Disney invested heavily on marvel comics from 21st Century Fox, $52.4 billion to be exact. Next, Disney decided to connect directly with their customers. Due to this, they did not have to rely on distributors and advertisers.
They responded brilliantly by adapting to the changing industry dynamics and the positive customer feedback they received is a testament to that.
3. Microsoft
Microsoft enjoys a dominant position in desktop operating system market with 80% market share. Its software division is also doing well but it is dying a slow death in mobile operating system market. As competition from the likes of Apple and Amazon increase, Microsoft changed their strategy.
It all began when Satya Nadella took over the CEO role in 2014. Microsoft shifted its focus from traditional software to the cloud-based solutions. The company took a U-turn and started forming partnerships with software and technology vendors, a move you did not expect from a company like Microsoft, especially, when you take their history into account.
Their stock prices went from $38 per share in 2014 to $139 in 2019 and their revenue soared from $93.5 billion to $122 billion. In fact, Microsoft became only the third company to join the prestigious $1 trillion market valuation club.
4.General Electric
By far the most interesting example of digital transformation comes from none other than General Electric. With a rich history spanning over 125 years and some of the big names such as Thomas Edison as its founding fathers, General Electric is one of the pioneers and one of the most iconic brands in electrical industry.
Unfortunately, they failed to live up to its name as the time passes and start to lose its touch. Thankfully, they decided to embrace 3D printing technology, which turn their fortunes around. It helped them to drastically cut down on transportation and storage costs General Electric has already produced 19 different airplane turbine parts by using 3D printing. After getting positive results from the 3D printing, they decided to pursue it for long term and planning to invest $3.5 billion.
5. DHL
DHL is well known for its excellent stock management and supply chain but that did not stop them from improving. Their stock management and supply chain systems are easy to use and automated, but they want to take things to the next level. For this they decided to team up with Ricoh and Ubimax to develop application for smart glasses. By pairing smart glasses with these applications, it can be used for reading bar codes, streamline pickup and drop off and reduce the chances of errors. Their stock price doubled from 20 euros in 2016 to 40 euros in 2018.
6. Best Buy
Best Buy was in the midst of a crisis in 2012 and some thought it will die soon. The situation was so bad the Best Buy employees did not believe that they could get out of this crisis and survive against Amazon. A new CEO combined with a new digital perspective proved to be a lifesaver for Best Buy. In fact, they turned the company’s fortunes by improving the delivery times and enriching the lives of people with technology.
Soon, they launched a price matching program, which advised customers on which products they should buy instead of just selling it to them.
Best Buy also started offering in-home consultation for buyers who are not digitally literate and taught them how to use technology.
By using customer data at their disposal, they started offering customized recommendation and assistance.
All these moves helped them to triple their stock price from $23.70 in 2012 to $77 in 2018.
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source: taskque
The non-oil sector will continue to grow, rising from 1.3% last year to 1.6% in 2019 and 3.0% the year after.
The UAE's real GDP growth is projected to grow faster next year at 2.5 per cent on the back of stronger growth of the non-oil sector, according to International Monetary Fund's (IMF) latest report.
The IMF had earlier revised down growth forecast for 2019 to 1.6 per cent from its previous forecast of 2.8 per cent.
Jihad Azour, director for Middle East and Central Asia Department at IMF, said the UAE's nominal GDP is expected to slip from $414.2 billion in 2018 to $405.8 billion this year.
But it will recover again next year to $414 billion in 2020 on the back of non-oil sector growth.
Importantly, the non-oil sector will continue to grow, rising from 1.3 per cent last year to 1.6 per cent in 2019 and 3.0 per cent the year after.
But the oil GDP growth is forecast to slow down from 2.8 per cent in 2018 to 1.5 per cent this year. And it will further decline to 1.4 per cent next year when Expo-led non-oil sector will give fillip to the non-oil sectors such as tourism, aviation, hospitality among other sectors.
IMF predicts that the UAE's oil output will continue to increase from 3.02 million barrels per day last year to 3.10m bpd in 2019 and 3.17m bpd the year after.
He called on the regional governments to diversify their revenues through tax and non-tax sources.
For GCC, the GDP grew 2.0 per cent in 2018 but it slowed down to 0.7 per cent in 2019. It is a cut 1.4 per cent from its April 2019 forecast. For 2020, GCC is projected to grow 2.5 per cent, a cut of 0.3 per cent from its April 2019 forecast.
source: khaleejtime
Bahrain is ranked among the top-10 most improved economies in the world according to a World Bank report that assessed 190 countries.
The Doing Business 2020 report showed that Bahrain advanced 19 places to the 43rd place since last year.
The Arab kingdom has implemented a comprehensive economic reform programme as part of its Economic Vision 2030, increasing its foreign direct investment (FDI) to $1515 million in 2018, from $65 million in 2015, data from the UNCTAD World Investment Report 2019 showed.
The country’s annual real GDP growth rate stood at 2.2 percent in 2018 and growth in non-oil sectors reached 3 percent.
Four Arab countries were among the top 10 most improved economies: Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Bahrain and Kuwait.
Saudi Arabia was the top improver climbing to the 62nd place from 92nd last year. The UAE ranked 16th globally in the ease of doing business, topping the MENA region again.
World Bank identified Bahrain as having made the following reforms:
Enforcing contracts
The creation of a new specialised commercial court enforces contracts easier and establishes time standards for key court events, and allows electronic service of the summons.
Getting credit
Access to credit was strengthened by giving secured creditors absolute priority during insolvency proceedings.
Protecting minority investors
Protection of minority investors was strengthened by clarifying ownership and control structures.
Resolving insolvency
Introducing a reorganisation procedure made resolving insolvency easier and allowed debtors to initiate the reorganisation procedure.
Trading across borders
Bahrain made exporting across borders faster by deploying new scanners powered by artificial intelligence. The new scanners have the capacity to seamlessly screen 120 export trucks per hour.
Dealing with construction permits
The country has made obtaining construction permits easier by further streamlining the application process through the new building permit portal ‘Benayat’, which delegates the application review processes to licensed engineering firms. This has reduced the time to obtain a construction permit drastically from 174 days to 71 days.
Getting electricity
Bahrain made the process of getting electricity easier by investing in digitization and transparency of information and by improving its inspection and installation process.
These reforms have reduced the number of days it takes to connect to the national electricity grid from 85 to 69 days.
Registering property
The Arab Kingdom has made property registration easier by streamlining administrative procedures and improving the quality of the land administrative system, reducing the number of days required to register a property from 31 to two days.
Paying taxes
Bahrain has made paying taxes easier by implementing electronic payment of social insurance contributions.
source: zawya
Egypt’s economy grew 5.6% YTD
The unemployment rate in Egypt recording its lowest level in 30 years during the second quarter of 2019, recording 7.5%, according to data released by the Egyptian Cabinet’s media centre.
The decline in the unemployment rate resulted by the launch of 9,039 projects between July 2014 and December 2018 with a total cost of EGP 2.1 trillion, the cabinet’s data revealed.
Egypt’s economy grew 5.6% year-to-date, compared to 5.3% in 2018. Inflation reached 4.8% in September, against 14.4% in 2018.
source: zawya
the bank is considering financing the purchase of an airliner and a cargo ship in consideration of $43.35mln
The Egyptian Arab Land Bank is planning to arrange EGP 1.7 billion finance in the healthcare and aviation sectors, the bank’s deputy chairman Amr Gadallah told Mubasher.
The bank is currently arranging EGP 1 billion syndicated loan for the healthcare sector which will be used to fund a private company, Gadallah added, noting that the loan will be granted by four banks.
The top official revealed that the bank is considering financing the purchase of an airliner and a cargo ship in consideration of EGP 700 million.
source: zawya
Egypt has jumped six places to 114th out of 190 countries in the World Bank’s 2020 business rankings, from 120th in the 2019 report.
“The Arab Republic of Egypt made starting a business easier by abolishing the requirement to obtain a certificate of nonconfusion and improving its one-stop shop.” the World Bank said in its “Doing Business 2020” report released on Thursday.
The report said Egypt’s reforms had adopted improved the investment climate and facilitated procedures in four core areas, including enterprise establishment. This made Egypt improve 19 spots globally.
Egypt has also advanced six spots in acquiring electricity index due to notable reforms it implemented, including electricity infrastructure improvement and declining electricity delivery for beneficiaries.
“Egypt improved the reliability of electricity supply by implementing automated systems to monitor and report power outages.” the report added.
The North African country has climbed 15 spots in small investors’ protection given the legislation and decrees that protect them.
“Egypt strengthened minority investor protections by requiring shareholder approval when listed companies issue new shares.”
The report also showed that Egypt has improved three spots, compared to last year, in taxes payment.
The country had adopted a new electronic system for the application of value-added and income tax acknowledgements, electronic payment of disbursements.
The new electronic system, according to the report, has eased the way investors deal with the taxation system.
“Egypt made paying taxes easier by implementing an online system for filing and payment of corporate income tax and value-added tax.”
The report also placed Egypt among the top 25 countries in the world regarding the number of reforms.
The economies that showed the most notable improvement were Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Togo, Bahrain, Tajikistan, Pakistan, Kuwait, China, India, and Nigeria, according to the report.
source: amwalalghad
New FDI law and economic incentives help increase foreign capital inflows by 135%
Dubai attracted foreign direct investment (FDI) of Dh46.6 billion in the first half of 2019, up 135 per cent on the same period last year, according to the Dubai Media Office.
In a statement published at the start of Dubai Investment Week, the Dubai government said it ranked third in the world for attracting FDI, both in terms of the capital value flows and number of greenfield projects.
“A new FDI Law, numerous economic incentives and concerted efforts to deepen cooperation and partnerships with the private sector have all contributed to Dubai’s record FDI achievements,” said Sami Al Qamzi, director-general of Dubai Economy.
“The FDI results of the first half of 2019 is a testament to the Dubai economy’s competitiveness and resilience in the face of global shifts and challenges that have adversely affected the flows of FDI globally in recent years,” he added.
In the first half of 2019, Dubai attracted 257 FDI projects with 61 per cent of total projects being greenfield, 27 per cent new forms of investment, 6 per cent reinvestments, 5 per cent made via mergers and acquisitions, and the remaining 1 per cent through new joint ventures.
In terms of investment sources, 34 per cent of the capital invested came from the US, 28 per cent from China, 11 per cent from the UK, and 5 per cent from both France and Singapore, according to the Dubai FDI Monitor.
These five countries together accounted 83 per cent of total FDI capital flows into Dubai in the first half of 2019.
Notable FDI deals recorded in Dubai during the first half of 2019 include Uber's acquisition of Careem and Mastercard's investment in payment processor Network International.
Around Dh13bn of capital flowed in through such investments.
Major FDI projects announced during the first six months included Zhejiang China Commodities Group's investment in the new ‘Merchant Market’ joint venture and China Co-Op Group's investment in a new food processing plant in Dubai.
Both projects amount to Dh12.5bn in greenfield FDI.
There were also increased corporate reinvestments in Dubai, such as HSBC's new Middle East headquarters worth an estimated Dh918 million, Siemens’ new Solar Hydrogen Facility worth Dh248m and the BMW Training Centre project worth Dh29m, among others.
The FDI flows and rankings results were revealed by Dubai Investment Development Agency (Dubai FDI), which is part of Dubai Economy, the emirate's economic development arm.
source: thenational
