An ITP Media Gr oup P ublic ation Dubai Mumbai London New York UAE: AED 15 BAHRAIN: BHD 1.500 OMAN: OMR 1.500 KUWAIT: KWD 1.200 #21/13 July 26 - August 29, 2020 RED DAWN John Pagano of The Red Sea Development Company on Saudi Arabia’s bold tourism ambitionsCFA Institute dedicates itself to building trust in the investment management profession. We strive for a more efficient and transparent industry because we believe stronger capital markets and healthy economies begin with putting investors’ interests above our own. Demand the best. Demand a CFA® charterholder. Get started at letsmeasureup.org LET’S BUILD FAIR AND TRANSPARENT FINANCIAL MARKETS. LET’S MEASURE UP. © 2020 CFA Institute. All rights reserved.arabianbusiness.com 3 www.arabianbusiness.comSUBSCRIBE NOW +971 4444 3000 www.itp.com/subscriptionarabianbusiness #arabianbusiness arabianbusiness 5 THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT UK real estate: The places that Gulf investors should eye as the British government removes stamp duty. C OMMENT 08 DIGITAL TR ANSF ORMATION How the global pandemic has driven home the importance of talented, motivated IT professionals. C OMMENT 1 0 AGILITY Why big companies need to be nimble and flexible as we emerge from COVID. THE BIG S T O RY 12 OMAN VAT Imposition of value-added tax, already postponed twice, might be the remedy the economy badly needs. C OVER S T O RY SAUDI ARABIA’S RED DAWN John Pagano on the kingdom’s bold tourism ambitions 16 #21/13 July 26 – August 29, 2020 Arabian Business /Contents 06 FIR S T WORD q The more we discussed the paywall in the current media landscape, the more it made sense” Eddie Taylor eddie.taylor@itp.com MAR S MIS SION The Hope Probe is beginning a journey that, in terms of research and education, might last forever. 22 3032 34 STARTUP: KAMRAN R KARDAN The founder of Knowledge E on his mission to improve access to education around the world. REVIEW: BOMBAY BOROUGH An innovative Indian eatery that is adding a welcome punch to the dining options in DIFC.INDEP TH NEWS S U B S CRIBE NOW www.itp.com/subscriptions +971 4 4443000 AD VER TISEMENT EXPER T VIEWS EXCLU SIVE INTERVIEWS PUBLISHED BY AND © 2020 ITP MEDIA GROUP FZ-LLC. MEDIA WHEN YOU HAVE FINISHED WITH THIS MAGAZINE, PLEASE RECYCLE IT NOTICE The publishers regret that they cannot accept liability for error or omissions contained in this publication, however caused. The opinions and views contained in this publication are not necessarily those of the publishers. Readers are advised to seek specialist advice before acting on information contained in this publication, which is provided for general use and may not be appropriate for the readers’ particular circumstances. The ownership of trademarks is acknowledged. No part of this publication or any part of the contents thereof may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form without the permission of the publishers in writing. An exemption is hereby granted for extracts used for the purpose of fair review. PO Box 500024, Dubai, UAE Tel: +971 4 444 3000 Offices in KSA, UAE, UK, US, and INDIA ITP MEDIA GROUP CEO Ali Akawi MANAGING DIRECTOR Sue Holt EDITORIAL EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Rob Corder, rob.corder@itp.com EDITORIAL DIRECTIOR Eddie Taylor, +971 4 444 3320, eddie.taylor@itp.com DEPUTY EDITOR Bernd Debusmann Jr, +971 4 444 3145, bernd.debusmann@itp.com CHIEF REPORTER Gavin Gibbon, +971 4 444 3845, gavin.gibbon@itp.com HEAD OF VIDEO CONTENT Shruthi Nair, +971 4 444 3264, shruthi.nair@itp.com SUB EDITOR Edward Liamzon, +971 4 444 3474, edward.liamzon@itp.com ARABIANBUSINESS.COM EDITOR Neil Halligan, +971 4 444 3605, neil.halligan@itp.com UK EDITOR Alicia Buller INDIA EDITOR James Mathew STUDIO STUDIO MANAGER Abuzar Samo SENIOR IMAGE EDITOR Emmalyn Robles SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHERS Efraim Evidor, Adel Rashid STAFF PHOTOGRAPHERS Aasiya Jagadeesh, Ajith Narendra, Fritz John Asuro, Yuliya Petrovich, Jessica Samson PRODUCTION & DISTRIBUTION GROUP PRODUCTION & DISTRIBUTION DIRECTOR Kyle Smith PRODUCTION MANAGER Basel Al Kassem PRODUCTION COORDINATOR Manoj Mahadevan EVENTS & MARKETING DIRECTOR OF AWARDS & MARKETING Daniel Fewtrell +971 4 444 3684, Daniel Fewtrell@itp.com CIRCULATION DISTRIBUTION & WAREHOUSE MANAGER Praveen Nair ADVERTISING GROUP COMMERCIAL DIRECTOR Joe Chidiac, +971 4 444 3121, joe.chidiac@itp.com GROUP SALES MANAGER Dima Mousseli, +971 4 444 3589, dima.mousseli@itp.com DIGITAL GROUP COMMERCIAL DIRECTOR Joe Chidiac, +971 4 444 3121, joe.chidiac@itp.com ITP GROUP CEO Ali Akawi CFO Toby Jay Spencer-Davies CORPORATE WEBSITE itp.com CIRCULATION CUSTOMER SERVICE +971 4 444 3000 WEB arabianbusiness.comJOIN US ONLINE FOR THE FIRST EVER CONSTRUCTION WEEK OMAN VIRTUAL AWARDS ConstructionWeekOnline.com/CWAwardsOman R SILVER SPONSORSTRAINING PARTNERASSOCIATION PARTNER FOR SPONSORSHIP ENQUIRIES SARASWATI AGARWAL Group Commercial Manager T: +971 4 444 3352 M: +971 52 895 2214 E: saraswati.agarwal@itp.com MOUTAZ GADELHAK Senior Sales Manager T: +971 4 444 3177 M: +971 58 287 6309 E: moutaz.gadelhak@itp.com FOR EVENT ENQUIRIES DANIEL FEWTRELL Director of Awards & Marketing T: +971 4 444 3684 M: +971 50 276 5706 E: daniel.fewtrell@itp.comFIR S T WORD / Eddie Taylor, Editorial Director 6 Vol. 21/13, July-August 2020 FIR S TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT WOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWRD Q WE ARE PIVOTING TOWARDS A SUSTAINABLE REVENUE MODEL THAT IS DRIVEN BY THE READER RATHER THAN THE ADVERTISER” Why Arabian Business went behind a paywall Quality, independent content has value and we believe publishers and media houses should be at the forefront of protecting it Moving with the times As we refine the product and expand its reach and relevance beyond the immediate region, it is not unreasonable to think that subscriptions will overtake advertising revenue in a relatively short space of time. This optimism has precedent: after all, consumers in the Middle East already pay for almost every other type of media they consume, whether that’s the magazines they buy in supermarkets, the music they stream on Spotify or the TV shows they watch via Netflix and Amazon Prime. The paywall will have other, non-financial benefits, too. Firstly, it will help ensure our editorial independence and afford our journalists the scope to continue pursuing stories across the region with even greater tenacity. Secondly, it will increase the quality of the readership. From here on, the only people reading ArabianBusiness. com will be those who have registered to do so, which means we can start to hone our product around the needs and desires of a real, engaged and informed community. So, despite the questions and doubts that naturally accompany a step such as this, we are greeting the introduction of the paywall not as a moment of anxiety or trepidation but one of excitement and no little pride. Arabian Business will be the first publication in the Middle East to ask readers to charge for its content and, in doing so, we believe we will help revolutionise the way media here is accessed, consumed and ultimately paid for. Whatever else the paywall achieves in the coming years, that legacy alone will be ample reward. ON JUNE 26, 2020, ARABIAN Business went behind a paywall. Anyone who wishes to read our market- leading mix of news, interviews, features and columns online, as well as watch our original debate shows and news bulletins, has to pay the modest sum of $5.99 per month to do so. It’s a decision that was long in the making, and the subsequent journey to launch was punctuated by the usual considerations of timing, market conditions, audience reaction and the potential impact on traffic and, as a result, advertising revenues. Ultimately, though, we are confident that charging readers to access the content on ITP Media Group’s flagship title is not only the right one for us as a business but, in terms of the entire media industry here in the Middle East, the responsible one, too. Put simply, placing a dollar value on the high-quality content our team produces every hour of every day protects the integrity of their work. The articles, columns, interviews, features, videos and podcasts on Arabian Business require a significant investment to create and, as a result, have an intrinsic value in their own right – and one that shouldn’t be measured purely in terms of the advertising that may or may not surround them. In fact, the more we discussed the imposition of the paywall in the current media landscape, the more it made sense to us. On the one hand, we’ve seen the decline of print circulations and revenues – ITP’s bread and butter for most of the last 30 years – and the fracturing of traditional advertising methods. On the other, we’ve witnessed the emergence of new platforms, new brands and new content creators, all disrupting the way companies such as ours operate. Taken together, these factors have forced us to evolve and in the last two or three years, we have worked hard to incorporate this new thinking into our own offering. Today, influencer management, original video content and virtual conferencing and events are important elements in our portfolio; ITP is now a genuine digital- first media house. The paywall is merely another manifestation of this philosophy. We are pivoting towards a sustainable revenue model that is driven by the consumer – the reader – rather than the advertiser, and on Arabian Business that will be underpinned by quality editorial produced in a variety of engaging, innovative formats that we’re confident readers will be prepared to pay for. The traffic our site attracts will be a testament to our team’s efforts not what drives it. FIRST EVER VIRTUAL SUMMIT TUESDAY 29TH - WEDNESDAY 30TH SEPTEMBER 2020 1:00 PM KSA 2:00 PM UAE The Construction Week Leaders in Construction KSA Summit will be held vir tually for the first time this year, allowing delegates to join from across the globe. The summit will bring together senior executives from the construction sector to discuss and debate the key subjects facing industr y professionals today. Find out the oppor tunities and challenges within the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and how they will impact the construction landscape in line with the countr y’s Vision 2030. FOR SPONSORSHIP ENQUIRIES, CONTACT: Moutaz Gadelhak Senior Sales Manager T: +971 4 444 3177 E: moutaz.gadelhak@itp.com To register to watch the summit live, please visit www.constructionweekonline.com/leaders-ksa ASSOCIATION PARTNERSILVER SPONSORSGOLD SPONSORS FOR SPONSORSHIP ENQUIRIES, CONTACT: Saraswati Argawal Group Commercial Manager T: +971 4 444 3352 E: saraswati.agarwal@itp.com FOR SPEAKING ENQUIRIES, CONTACT: Ashley Williams Editor T: +971 4 444 3302 E: ashley.williams@itp.com FOR ANY OTHER ENQUIRIES, CONTACT: Daniel Fewtrell Director of Marketing & Awards T: +971 4 444 3684 E: daniel.fewtrell@itp.com8 Vol. 21/13, July-August 2020 C OMMENT / By David Noël, Vice President Middle East, Africa & Russia/CIS at AppDynamics customers. According to a recent McKinsey study, more than 90 percent of executives expect the fallout from COVID19 to fundamentally change the way they do business over the next five years, with almost as many asserting that the crisis will have a lasting impact on their customers’ needs. COVID19 HAS FOREVER CHANGED the way we work. Remote working, aided by the adoption of collaboration tools and video conferencing technology, will now surely be a regular part of our working lives rather than an exception. In fact, according to a recent survey from Robert Half, 80 percent of UAE employees Organisations have transitioned vast sections of their business online, redefining their operations and strategies to meet new customer demands. Maintaining this dramatic transformation will be critical and “agents of transformation” – technologists who possess the skills, ambition and Agents of transformation: harnessing the digital revolution in the age of COVID How the global pandemic and the resulting shift in working practices has driven home the importance of talented, motivated IT professionals. u Technologists are seizing the opportunity to accelerate their career journey said they would prefer to work from home from now on, citing the savings in time and money alongside gains in productivity. Beyond its lasting impact on how we work, however, the pandemic has challenged businesses to redefine how they deliver services and products – and ultimately value – to their By DavC OMMENT arabianbusiness.com 9 Against this backdrop, technologists must find ways to ensure they have access to the data they need to make informed, strategic decisions in real-time, and connect application and digital performance to key business outcomes – as such, application performance monitoring (APM) has become absolutely critical. Without it, organisations should be concerned about the future success of transformation projects. Some 86 percent of technologists are nervous about future-proofing and the longer-term impact of digital transformation initiatives they have had to implement during COVID. Overall, 91 percent of technologists state that the pandemic is a wake-up call to their organisations to focus on digital business and longer term resilience. Agents of Transformation rising to the challenge It’s clear that technologists are having to deal with myriad demands from the business. They are having to accelerate digital transformation projects and mobilise huge sections of the workforce to operate from home, while at the same time needing to manage the network and maintain security throughout the technology stack. Not surprisingly, technologists are feeling the pressure with 72 percent of UAE IT professionals surveyed in the Agents of Transformation 2020 Report claiming they feel under more pressure at work more than ever before, and 66 percent saying they are now Q AROUND 92 PERCENT OF UAE TECHNOLOGISTS STATED THAT DIGITAL CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE IS NOW THE PRIORITY FOR THEIR ORGANISATION” matter of weeks. And 78 percent pointed to digital transformation projects that have been implemented within weeks rather than the months or years it would have taken before the pandemic. At the heart of these digital transformation initiatives is a focus on driving improved digital experiences for customers. Around 92 percent of UAE technologists stated that digital customer experience is now the priority for their organisation. But 88 percent feel held back from delivering the optimal customer experience because of a lack of visibility and insight into the performance of their technology stack. Managing spikes in website traffic (88 percent) and managing mean time to resolution (MTTR) with a remote IT department (83 percent) were also cited as challenges in delivering seamless customer experiences during the pandemic. being asked to perform tasks and activities they have never done before. On the other hand, IT professionals also see this as an opportunity to step-up and raise their profile within their organisation. Perhaps the major differentiator for success at this time is the quality, attitude and outlook of the technologists themselves: 88 percent of respondents from UAE saw an opportunity for technology professionals to show their value to the business. A further 81 percent believe the pandemic will separate the strong from the weak in tech teams across the world. Technologists, then, are seizing the opportunity to accelerate their career journey and assume the role of agents of transformation immediately, with 89 percent say that agents of transformation are critical in order for businesses to recover quickly from the COVID19 pandemic – and that there is an urgent need for technologists to operate at the highest level of their profession. Leaving a lasting legacy of innovation Armed with the data and insight they need to make smarter decisions, the right internal structures and culture, and close support from strategic technology partners, technologists can guide their organisations through the current COVID19 crisis. Furthermore, there is no doubt that the changes they implement in their organisations will have a positive lasting impact. vision required to drive innovation – will be the difference between success and failure for their organisations in the post- COVID world. Pandemic shines spotlight on digital customer experiences Amid the pivot to digital channels, businesses in the UAE have had to rethink their technology investments. This is in line with findings from a recent AppDynamics study, The Agents of Transformation Report 2020: COVID19 Special Edition, in which 99 percent of UAE technologists reported that their organisation’s technology priorities had changed as a result of the pandemic. Furthermore, change has happened at speed and without warning: 86 percent of technologists reported that digital transformation projects which would typically take more than a year to be approved have been signed off in a Next >