io81

I’ve always enjoyed the Juice market, healthy, cool in the summer, sells well so i had an eye for it for a while. When visiting the UK once i fell in love with innocent smoothies. I said to my self why not open a smoothie shop in Kuwait, it must work well. But after researching and comparing financial of many juice companies abroad i started thinking whats in a smoothie, and after reading and seeing the ingredients i was shocked to know thats what we have all around Kuwait. 3aseer khala6 its all that it is!! ok the ones sold abroad are bottled because of the nature of the market their.

 See the ingredients in th pic, i can see my self telling the dude “abee manga, ow frawla bas fresh haa!! ow ebser3a”  but still there is a possibility of a market or to sell such products. Remember when entering most co-ops you see this disgusting bin filled with ice that sells fresh bottled juice? ahhhhhhh. Their is a market, will talk about it in later posts.

Brief

After aramex started to charge really high fees on any packages that comes to Kuwait i started to hesitate to buy online, i’v bought a book for 7 dollars on amazon and got it to be sent via free delivery. But when Aramex delivers the book to me, i get charged 9KD. So you can see the difference how business runs in the states and compared us here in Kuwait from a price perspective. There are reasons why but i will not get into them because i need a different post by itself. Anyways so i got hit by an ad about audie books and said lets check out the site. Then i started thinking would listening to a book be any different than from reading it. From a usability perspective its much better, i cant run on the treadmill and  read a book simlataneously, but surly can listen to one.

The Book

Its about behaviorural economics and one interesting subject i never knew about, when i started listing i got hooked fast. The book is called Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely, and its about how economies behave based on our hardwired thinking process. Give the book a try, you wont regret it.

Non Kuwaiti companies ownership rules

Back to the post,  after reading the book and after remembering my economic classes at KU which i failed strongly, i noticed how important it is today to understand Kuwaits economy. One major part i have many questions for is job creation. I’ll post one day about the cupcake and khalajeen economy we are building now. So like many developed economies they run more efficiently by utilizing the private sector, and we all know from a broader understanding why, due to profit making and searching for better markets to make more profits using efficent means. Then i started thinking about the Kuwaiti labor force and how we are not up to the job due to lack of skills. To create a better job market and increase levels of skill acquiring, we need to open the market to foreign companies. Some will argue that this will demolish our local companies, but remember how competitiveness makes us learn more and become creative. Because our local companies our working within a semi closed economy, our companies are not even close to international standards from a efficiency perspective. Why? because they only compete locally. So now imagine the law opens to non Kuwaiti companies and staffing should be done by 50% Kuwaitis,  the international skills will filter down to Kuwaitis resulting in creating more jobs for Kuwaitis and higher learning curves.  But the question here, why is Kuwait not opening up?? doing so would employ many Kuwaitis and create a better and more efficient work force. A small example would be the telecoms sector, now you can see how Viva blow the prices out of proportion and the influx of employees moving between these companies. The newly established telecommunication commission to regulate these companies is a result of Viva entering the market. Because of Viva now you have the option to switch your provider without changing your phone number. I really would like to ask such questions in the parliament instead of giving a holiday for the last 10 days in ramadan or if the Persian gulf should be recalled to the Arabian gulf!

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.

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

(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!!

Walking down the avenues (the mall), my self and a friend started to chat about the avenue mall and how its huge etc etc… but then he told me that its being labeled as a land mark in Kuwait! So we discussed what defines a land mark and this is what i have found out on the web:

(source http://www.thefreedictionary.com)

So you can see after reading the above it may work with 1 and 2, but do we as Kuwaities would like to have a mall as a land mark, before you start the Harrods (UK) land mark thing let me explain; we as Kuwaities naming a mall as a land mark just proves our ignorance that we are consumer based citizens, we live to buy. The provoking issue that pisses me off is that how unethical, uneducated we are in purchasing whatever we desire before giving it a second thought. Nike and sonia rykiel for instance had sweat shops that paid 13 year old kids 60 cents to create a 45 kd garment! we as Kuwaities are promoting such action or maybe not for Nike or sonia rykiel anymore but others brands that are capitalizing on our ignorance. The other thing is when some claim that a mall such as the avenues is an economical benefit is quite wrong, the franchiser are getting a monthly 6 to 8% out of sales going to the original owners and when we spend money on such non Kuwaiti business our Kuwaiti dinar is leaving the economic cycle and creating a leak that is growing each year that leads to a weaker KD. Again i’m not against international businesses but to define the avenue shopping mall as a land mark that has no history or benefit to the Kuwaiti society then i guess that is ridiculous. Let me know what you think and if you  do consider it as a land mark, why?

I haven’t been posting lately due to depression after coming back from a wonderful trip, damn! it took me two weeks to adjust that i’m back and working again, sorry. Visited the UK again, but this time i went to Scotland, Edinburgh. I never imagined it would be that beautiful, green, quite, and medieval. The city is built around a castle on a hill top, and the view at night when the lights are on the castle is breath taking, walking around Edinburgh was quite an experience, and there was a strange scent all over the city; H’agis (in scottish), its deep friend lamb meat that tasted nice and they are famous for deep fried everything, even a mars bar. We had a nice tour around the city and discovered that the scotts are good for 3 things: Whisky, Sheep and tourism. There economy is based on these three things. Walking around there medieval alleyways I swear I can hear the king of scotts horses going up the street to the castle, and offcourse ending the Scottland trip with a stupid question to the cabi was? Is William Wallace from the movie brave heart real? and the cabi answers: Yes, (you dump Kuwaitis:P) he was a giant of a man.

Allways wanted to get on easyjet just to try out the service, and it was similar to jazzera airways but with more pale skinned flight attendanst:P but the airports where fast in loading and unloading and even faster in the immigration because there was non when traveling inside the UK, i swear it felt like riding a bus, one hour flight from Gatwick to Edinburgh.

After Edinburgh i went back to london to go and do my religious duties by passing by oxford street for seven times:P and then came the exciting part, visited Cambridge city to go and see the Ruxford air show. 80 year old planes still flying, a part of history i had to see with my eyes before these planes go to museum. I saw the famous WW2 Spitfire and the American mustang, the hurricane. I just honestly seethem alot in museum but i had to hear the sound of the engines roaring again. But as always the British weather came to the rescue and made the airshow from a 5 hour show to a 3 hour show. 

I highly recommend Richmond park if your a person who like’s to go for a walk in small forest located in central, and the town it self is quite and homie. Hope you enjoyed your eid holiday and will keep posting shortly. Cheers:P 

Sorry for not posting lately, i’m out of the county country:P, will be back this week.