One of the important things to me to run a business is to understand a customer. But remember that that customer is me and you and masses of people with different backgrounds ranging from religion to spending habits to education. I will discuss a smaller portion of the customer; which i think about everyday. Do customers want complex or simple product and services? i came to think about the subject when i got introduced to the Ipod. Remember that when i talk about my self i am only a small portion of the customer and do not reflect the major trend, but i’m trying to figure them out from a Kuwaiti perspective for you ” the reader” to understand your business better. Back to the Ipod, from a customers product awareness perspective i would fall in the middle of the statical bell curve. Which means the worst kind of customer for apple, because apple need customers who cant wait to buy the newest product from them (hence you see the people sleeping before the opening of certain products). I tend to wait and hear how the product performs from friends then maybe make a decision to buy it. Again remember that my personality and upbringing is the the major factor here making me be safe and wait longer than other consumers. After the wait i have bought the Ipod and liked it to some extent but faced problems down the road. The problems for others would be simple means but for me and the likes of me (the customers) i faced problems by fully utilisng the product. I had problems in downloading music and transferring them to my Ipod, every time i sync i lose the old songs and add the new ones in. Remember this post is not about the Ipod functionality rather about how i (or we) deal with complex products. So as you can see that i tend to find simpler products that do the job well and easily so the blackberry is out of the question for me to buy. To give you another example of my simplicity is that i own a phone that is 2.5 years old, and simply only use text and voice calls only. No extra services or chat or saving plans. I say this because as a business owner you need to understand that you have many kinds of customers and some are like myself looking for the simpler option. But to prove my self wrong, Zain is making so much profits from these services and IPods and blackberrys are selling like crazy. So there is another large market that does not mind complexity in the product or serivce. So the question is who is the larger share and who you should target. I personally judge sites by how easy it is to buy from them, registration should be easy and takes a few steps, the buying should be instantaneous like Amazon. So i personally believe in simplicity but this is not the case, it may be a different approach for your business. I will provide a real life example about simplicity and how it attracts me.

I always wondered about the wine industry and how big it is, and how many compete because they got the oldest barrels or a better taste. But the whole thing was intimidating to me, why? because it was hard for me to comprehend. Many brands, many tastes from different countries, why are the older ones more expensive, why wines grown in Italy or France seem more genuine? questions that cant be answered only if i ‘am a wine taster or work in such an industry, and closed only for a certain elite (because it  is expensive compared to other drinks). If you traveled abroad and passed by the wine section you would go crazy just from the different choices available to you. So reading one day i came up with a smart company that created a wine brand called Yellow Tail. Yellow tail answers the question that many people fear, “shall i ask about wine or would i look stupid not knowing what to order?”. It has a simple branding look and comes with easy labeling, does not claim being proud about what vines they own or how old it is. This company to me found out that people are intimidated by the wine industry and that it gives you a feeling that you got to have a certificate to order a good bottle of wine:p but Yellow Tial simply made wine choices easy for the general public and in such a case most wineries thought that Yellow tail demise was foreseen, not knowing that the company took a huge market share and cant stop growing since.  After all its a new commer to the wine market and all the way from down under:P (Australia) not a wine destination from a history sense. But yet again simplicty prevailed, remeber that this may not be the answer for your business needs just an insight to my part of the consumer market.

The last time I posted it was the last parliamentary elections, and i was so happy that at-last 4 ladies made it and it seemed like new blood have circulated Kuwait. What a great feeling it was, it makes me proud that we gave respect to the other sex and gave a blow to the religious zealots in this country that want to run it with their own assumption of how the world should be ruled. But soon after things became worse and i felt depressed again, and had nothing to write for a while so I apologize.

Back to business, to me a slogan of a company is important and reflects the direction and assumption of the customers. Before i continue, a small tip: never come up with your start-up company slogan at the beginning try to start operations and work it from there. See who are your customers and if that you have reached your target audience. But with well established companies its a must to have a correct reflection of your business. Ya3ne a stupid example would be the Oula Fuel Marketing Company slogan, its says “We are changing”. simple thinking will make you say ok! yes you have taken over the government fuel station and have been changing them, but you will change them till when? Is this an eternal change? So you can figure out that this is a stupid slogan done by idiots. But now lets go to the World Olympics( the one held every four years): and their slogans goes like “Celebrate Humanity”. In a sporting event all countries of the world come and compete, you are talking about Muslim, Christien, Jewish, Non Believers, Communist, Socialites countries that all come together. So in the Olympic games all of the world comes to play their best, hence the slogan makes perfect sense.

Another slogan i personally love, its not a company its a TV Channel but their slogans still reflects their purpose, it goes like this “Question Everything” again when watching Discovery Channel you do get the feeling that they provide shows that many of us would like to know the answers too. Such slogans make you think and their meanings reflect the institutions purpose. I always question myself when will we stop adding “increasing shareholders equity” in our missions statmemts and why cant we come up with sensible slogans that really reflect our internal processes. I will broadly answer the question: Wasta, i know its not only wasta, but because we do have many wrong people in the wrong places. The only good thing that may come out of this recession is that related idiots to certain board members will not run most Kuwaiti companies anymore because of their inabilities and the right people should be put in their places because in bad times you need visionaries to run companies not spoon fed kids.

What made me come up with the idea of this post is the affect of staffing Kuwaitis in top management of a non Kuwaitis company, (Vivs, STC). When they entered the Kuwaiti market they made sure that the company was run by a Kuwaiti and not by a Saudi, yes its a simple and known fact in business that to run an effective company in country that the company does not originate from the management should be staffed by locals. HSBC promotes it in their ads, and still we see Kuwaiti companies run by expats. Nothing against expats but to under stand the inner working of the Kuwaiti culture you have to live it. ViVa made a smart move (in my own sense) lately when you require opening a new phone line at Viva, you are requested to sign the Ci-net agreement that allows the company to see you credit history. Before i explain further, the Ci-net is an independent company created by the Kuwaiti banks to keep track of individuals credit history in Kuwait; that includes loans, credit cards and other services from financing companies. User banks use the information to set the internal credit policies to provide financing to customers and such information shows how often customer pay their bills and if the have late payments and any legal actions against them. So Viva uses such a service (which he is not a bank) to have a window into the customers credit history and can build a preconceived decision to provide a service for a customer or not, Smart! Because not doing so creates another problem of collections and legal fees that the company does not want to incur. So if you were not a Kuwaiti and do not know anything about our banking system, how can you come up with such an idea or policy to be implemented within the company. Another thing is that now Viva become a third mobile provider in Kuwait and wants to make sure that it does not start taking in the worst paying customers from Zain and Wataniya already kicked out because of their bad credit history.

Just another point, Ci-net is nothing amazing just a system that is linked between the Kuwaiti banks and financial institutions, and due to its old ad hoc systems, it has many loop holes and problems. It is not anything close to credit scoring systems in Europe or the states but its a start. I personally hope that they themselves can add value to the Kuwaiti financial system, by providing more online services and being more transparent.

I apologize for not writing for a while but i have been between jobs and could not find the time (ya3ne depressed:P) anyways i have noticed something and its either smart or stupid from the companys part that is doing so and i thought i may share it and see what you folks think about it. Some products when trying to enter a new market or trying to create his own market use a method where they make you think you need the product, yes what i’m saying sounds naive or nothing new but think about what i’m saying closely. As an example why do we need to use mouth wash when we already brush our teeth, is it the extra care? a certain brand of mouth wash in the states used a scare tactic, by introducing disease name like gingivitis. “If you do not wash your mouth before you sleep with such n such brand you would get gingivitis” we have always lived without mouth wash and most would not get gingivitis and would be happy just washing your teeth but what happens in our brains and subconscious minds is that we start thinking what am i losing here nothing, buy the mouth wash and hope to prevent gingivitis. I’m recently getting the same feeling and approach from Abraj Bottled water, i heard that other kinds of Kuwaiti brands cause kidney stones (from friends), and that Abraj doesnt. Now many people only carry this kind of brand because of such rumors. First if this is true that this rumor has been started by the company then this is a smart way to sell their product. Secondly if yes, why is Abraj not creating kidney stones like the others and the rumors should be tested by taking the water to a lab and confirm the rumor. This may be not be a rumor and it has been said somewhere which i didn’t get directly but its out their and for sure its increasing Abraj uniqueness between consumers. A smart and scary way to sell, hooray! or unethical is a question to be answered by the consumer himself.

We listen to the music being played on 99.7 & 103.7, all feeling patriotic and proud lifting the Kuwaiti flag but for what? how is our patriotic feelings measured by buying the largest flag, or hanging the most Kuwaiti flags on the car? playing the music at its loudest? Yesterday another kid died in the stupid maseera! again each year we celebrate with ignorance and not knowing by world standards we go going down collectively each year. Education is down again, our health concerns are at epidemic level with obesity in its highest world wide, divorcee rates and car fatalities are in concerning levels and we still celebrate! i measure my patriotic feelings by being more productive, trying to make my country a better place to live, being tolerant and understanding other people religions, providing others with the freedom of worship, increasing education levels in Kuwait, making new discoveries in alternative energy (anything) . Lifting the standard of living in Kuwait, implementing laws and embracing and protecting our civil liberties.

Enjoy our two days with celebrations safely for once.

Imagine how would it feel if i went for coffee and had no cigarettes, how would it feel if i woke up the next day and took a deep breath with out feeling like an old man, how would i feel if some one pissed me off in the street with Kuwait’s maniac driving and not grab a cigarette after swearing 70 times to my self? all of these question kept going back and forth in my head. I had to quit smoking! i really wanted to quit and tried and failed before, and tried some more. Then i thought why not try to understand the feeling associated with the cigarettes, i knew nicotine was the culprit so how can i intake nicotine and not smoke. Its a habit and i had to get rid of it; when i get in my car every morning i tend to open my window slightly even though i did not lite up a cigarette. So yes its a habit and i want to quit, Khallas! So a friend at work told me about the nicotine gum (nicorette). I went to the pharmacy and got me a pack, waited until i finished my last cigarettes and i had no more cigarettes at home.

I started popping the gum like crazy, early morning next day. When sitting with my manager (because he pisses me off). When leaving work, in the bathroom, as soon as i leave the gym, when discussing anything with anyone! it worked, 3 days passed and i had a slight urge to smoke but not the crazy one that makes you want to bash G.W. Bush in the face:P But beware of the stupidness phase you are going to encounter; its like dumb and dumber all over again. You become dizzy, light headed and sleep deprived due to insomnia.

I thought about sharing my experience with the smokers out their and to invite them into a healthy smoke free life:) Just remember one thing…………….Who the $%&@ wants to die in Mubarek Hospital:P

We are all going through some tough times, maybe even more at the private sector but none the less we should all try to pitch in to find better ways to save the business or lower cost so the people managing companies around Kuwait can contribute to society and the economy and not to fire and lower salaries more increasing the fear within the country of an all out recession after many Kuwaitis and non Kuwaiti will default on their loans. Sorry to say we live in a capitalist structure where our lives are based on debt but we still can make the passage to the other side.

I only wish that one company or any for that matter in Kuwait take a decision and sit with its employee’s and explain the situation, then try to come up with solutions to save and increase business. How hard is it to take such a decision, meet with the employees and brain storm ways to lower daily expenses, ie like employees watering the plants in the branches (banks) instead of outsourcing the hard back breaking duty to others:P, cutting down on printing material or is the real truth behind the firing and lower wages is nothing but an opportunity to be seized!?

Check out many inspiring stories.

(Warning this post is a bunch of gibberish, and only to be read to waste time:P)

Driving around Kuwait city and looking at some beautiful buildings that reflects the owner tastes  (the new raya building) compared to other commercial business men that live based on the bottom line, then i thought how bad it feels to know that you may have stop construction on your building, then the domino affects start to take shape, more job losses. Now imagine many of the Kuwaiti economy sectors are following the same path, i personally got effected too. Then i think; is their a bright side to all this; i can at least tell my mom to stop nagging me from getting married:P i guess its a plus to not have responsibilities like kids or school tuition at such bad times. Back when i visited the UK in September, i watched the news and said “naaaaaaah” this would never reach Kuwait, , how naive.  All of my friends in the private sector are threatened with salary cuts, some are even threatened with losing their jobs, some got the salary cut by up to 30%. The weird thing is places like McDonald’s and Hardees are making a come back. One of the top recruiters in the world is McDonald’s. When you think about it, yes it does make sense. Slow food is more expensive now and everybody is trying to save up. Fast food is cheap and readily available and factor in depression! olaa laaah (singing) for fast food executives. I have said a while ago about Zain’s theme;” a wonderful world”. Man!! can they stick their heads in the sand any more deeper. Picture this, Al Arabiya channel two weeks ago airing pictures of young Gazan’s kids in the news then for a commercial break “Zain 3alam jameel”. The thing is i have not seen any article or report that blames the culprits of such a financialtsunami, in the US off course.

Then i hear in the news that the new york times is facing bankruptcy if it does not secure a loan, one of the major reasons is that audiences are switching to the Internet to read not only one news site but many online news sites. Yes what i have said above has nothing to do with us but it does, hold on sec; when you start thinking of opening any business, you have to factor in the Internet and if it plays a threatening role directly. So how many newspapers have opened up in the past year in Kuwait, how will the Internet effect them when we start getting the same caliber of news but on the net. Kuwait has two internet based newspapers now. Down the road maybe 8 years from now, whats going to happen with the new print based newspapers? they are trying to gain new market share in the wrong place! yes they got websites but they are not web based, they are print based. 

In such times, the best business plan would be a one that provides daily needed service but with convenience and lower price, and when i say lower prices i mean ridiculously lower prices. Think like Jazeera airlines, 20kd tickets to Dubai or Bahrain, i guess even the owners of the cross country old green & white striped suburbans got scared:P that kind of cheap prices urges people to change!

I will end the post with a funny pic just to take the negative vibe that i introduced away:P

And we still do not want to give gays their rights!!

The last time i visited Mais el Ghanim was before they made their new store next to the Saudi embassy, so i was looking forward to eat their when a friend proposed it for a dinner outing. I was always amazed with the capacity of tables it presented from the windows facing the gulf road, i have passed Mais el Ghanim several times and thought it surly needs a large kitchen/operations to handle such volume. In Lebanon i have visited similar restaurants that had a huge capacity and that the emolyees use tobrag about the restaurants by meters squared saying ” ee ma63am 800m2 ow bekafi 150 shakhis” :p. So i got the same attitude in Kuwait, and yes it was huge compared to Kuwaiti restaurants anyways that’s not what my post is about; its about the hand held devices that the waiters where using to take the orders. A smart decision maker who made such an idea take effect. Speed to him was a main concern, which many business owners in Kuwait do not understand. You got to service your customers Fast!! you have to think of every way to cut down on redundant or iterative time. I guess the decision maker of the hand held devices calculated how many minutes the waiter wastes by going to the kitchen and giving the chef the paper, then the chef needs to read the paper and pass it on to the sue chef the the paper falls in the soup:P laa qawiya masakht’ha. Yes i may sound ridiculous to non business lean people but that’s the way you calculate cost of certain services, you go in detail of the detail. Again remember now the waiter is using an electronic devise, where human error is minimised by taking the order in an electrical form, then submitting the order in less than a second to the kitchen, now the extra time the waiter has on his hands can be utilized to waiter other tables and service other tables. The whole idea behind a dinne-in restaurant is to utilize their tables at peak times; lunch and dinner. Meaning the more you lounge at the restaurant the more they loose othercustomers waiting for a table. Again a smart move by an unpredictable place: Mais el Ghanim.

PS Wagamama intoduced such a technology in the food sector.

A friend of mine came up with an idea for a new conventional Dry Cleaners, he wanted to use the net with the store. Creating a laundry store on the net basically. So i researched the idea and it sounds good but i faced resistance when people started telling me “who would log on a site instead of just getting to the store instead dropping of your laundry?”. Personally i think registering online and getting serviced without leaving your home is great, and if the price would be cheaper that’s another plus. The dry cleaners next to my house washes a shirt for 500 fils, which i think is fine but if the price would go even lower that would be better. So my idea is to try to cut cost down to provide a cheaper per garment price and introduce something else: A “green” dry cleaner! i got the idea when i read what was the basic liquid used in dry cleaners; its called Perc or perchloroethylene. This shit is harmful in many ways, skin disorders, considered a carcinogens in Canada, and it should be handled in certain methods with restirction on usage. The employees handling such chemicals should have health insurance coverage and protective wear. After reading such shit, i started thinking is their any laws/restrictions/khara:P in Kuwait that protects consumers or the employees from such harmful substances, is this harmful substance disposed in a safe method? 

So i continued reading and found out something called Wet cleaning which is considered a cleaner approach to dry cleaning. It uses sophisticated machines that use computers to clean clothes and use water instead of the Perc. So many dry cleaners in the US and Canada are adopting such methods and are satisfying their green earth friendly consumers. So again i thought would an idea like such work in Kuwait, becomingthe first green laundry store in Kuwait?  You see when smart, knowlegble government employees have a sense of respect to the environment and introduce such laws or restrictions, business then start coming up with new ways to counter such constructive laws such as a green laundry. But i guess in Kuwait its all about Allah Kareem.