| Diversified business WJ Towell & Co, is looking to the Gulf and other traditional centres like East Africa for new markets |
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man’s
long and proud history as a trading nation has helped to prepare the
merchants and entrepreneurs of today for the rigours of globalisation
and competition.
Modern trading companies face a number of key tests in the coming
months and years through the combined effects of regional and international
integration. The unified customs union of the GCC will boost commercial
ties significantly throughout the whole area and could lead to full
monetary union further down the line.
Oman is actively participating in the realisation of a greater
Arab free trade area by the end of 2007. Membership of the WTO is also
expected to stimulate the country’s trade sector. At the same time,
there are natural concerns that it will bring a new wave of competition
from overseas, threatening local businesses.
HE Maqbool Ali Sultan, Minister of Commerce and Industry, is
upbeat. He believes that the prospects for Oman as a trading nation
are bright over the crucial next two decades. After all, where there
are threats, there are opportunities.
“Our
laws, regulations and procedures are now in compliance with the international
obligations undertaken by us while acceding to the WTO,” he says.
Oman’s Vision 2020 envisages that the combined contribution to
gross domestic product (GDP) from trade and tourism should reach 18
per cent. This leaves plenty of scope for the private sector and a new
breed of local entrepreneurs.
The government is ready to assist with the provision of finance,
technical support and guidance to micro-enterprises, to nurture entrepreneurial
talent and to open avenues of self-employment for Omani youth.
Established family groups like the Zubair
Corporation, a leading diversified trading entity since 1967, are
already firmly focused on the new commercial environment, tuning in
to other Gulf markets and expanding certain product areas back at home
where there is a competitive edge.
The company has a strong reputation in areas such as automobiles,
furniture, IT and oil field services, successfully exporting its products
throughout the world. It is now branching out into tourism-related projects
and is the lead investor behind the luxury Barr Al Jissah beachfront
complex, now under construction.
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Mohammad
Al-Zubair, Chairman, says the company has refined its
scope of activity in recent years to concentrate on areas of relative
strength. It also has its eyes on other markets. “For 2003 and
beyond, we believe that, for our group, the marketplace will not only
be Oman, it will be the region.
With the entry to the WTO and the liberalisation of the Omani
economy, more companies will enter our market and the cake to share
will obviously be smaller until a time when we will become uncompetitive.
So our plan is to expand to other geographical areas in the Gulf and
beyond the Gulf.”
A great deal of work has already been done. In the furniture
business, for example, the company started out selling its products
exclusively in the domestic market. Today, only 8 per cent of its furniture
is sold in Oman, the rest is exported.
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| Local perfumer Amouage manufactures a fragrance that is a big hit in foreign stores |
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Khalid Al-Zubair,
a director at the Zubair Corporation, with a portfolio that includes
business development, IT and telecoms, says the company has thrived
in this difficult period, largely as a result of it being able to anticipate
and manage change.
Indeed, the Zubair family is now part of the history of Oman,
through the establishment of the House of Zubair museum. He believes
that the family tradition is one of the firm’s core strengths.
“We handle business in a professional way,” he says.
“Our biggest advantage is that we have combined our professional
attitude with our family-run company, but these don’t overlap.
We take the positive aspects of both and combine them. For example,
as a family business we can always make decisions quickly.”
Another leading diversified trading business is WJ
Towell & Co, an authorised distributor of international products
such as Mars in the retail sector, Microsoft (IT), Mazda and Suzuki
(automobiles) and Axa (insurance).
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Hussain
Jawad, Chairman, says the company is also looking to
consolidate its activities to cope with the new economic realities.
Beyond Oman, it is looking to the Gulf and other traditional trading
centres like East Africa for new markets. He is keen to forge more joint
ventures with the UK and other European partners so as to harness opportunities.
For those companies already selling in the region, it is better
to re-export from Oman rather than to sell it from the UK, he says.
“I think there’s great potential for such joint ventures where
British companies can find it easier to operate in Oman and to re-export
from the region.”
Oman has already proved itself when it comes to quality. The
local fragrance, Amouage,
known as the essence of Arabia, has won international recognition and
represents something of a symbol of Omani quality.
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It is a big hit in
foreign department stores, especially in places like the UK, where the
company has formed close partnerships with the likes of Harrods and
Aspreys.
The perfumer recently launched a new fragrance for men and women called
Dia, which is looking to attract a new generation of customers.
Chandra Lahiri, Amouage’s Managing Director, says
its is important to feel passionately about one’s product to achieve
success in international markets.
“What we are doing is growing our markets, especially looking
at the US, and pushing our operations in the UK, Germany and Switzerland.
In the GCC area we are fairly strong and continue to grow.”
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