News: Qatar National Convention Centre set to host one of the largest conferences in the world

Doha, 8 November: With less than three weeks to go, the Qatar National Convention Centre (QNCC) has intensified its preparations to take centre stage and host Qatar’s largest conference to date – the United Nations’ Framework Convention on Climate Change 2012 (COP18/CMP8). The event which will take place from 26 November to 7 December is expected [...]

News: Entrepreneurs Organisation Qatar, appoints new president

Doha, 7 November: The Entrepreneurs Organisation (EO) Qatar chapter has announced the appointment of Mohamed Jaidah as President to EO Qatar for the 2012-2013 year, under the international Entrepreneurs Organisation. The organisation brings together some of the most influential and socially aware entrepreneurs in Qatar, in an attempt to help their members learn and grow [...]

Interview: Khalid Al Jaber, A serial entrepreneur

As CEO of Innovation Group, Khalid Al Jaber is a 35-year-old Qatari who is involved in all four of his company’s divisions, in the information technology sector and filmmaking, as well model building for the construction, real estate and oil and gas industries, through the German-based Innovation GmbH. Al Jaber is also executive director of [...]

Virtualising Qatar’s Businesses

The virtualisation of business organisations and the challenges in the networking and data management industry TheEDGE spoke exclusively with Nimer Ghazal, country manager for Brocade Qatar about the virtualisation of business functions, the move to cloud based applications and the challenges for companies in managing their data in a time of information explosion. What is [...]

Qatar’s atomic future

Nuclear energy analyst provides evidence of Qatar’s atomic power ambitions by Jamie Stewart Evidence has emerged that the Qatar Ministry of Energy and Industry is moving forwards with its programme to develop nuclear power in the country. State-owned energy giant Qatar Petroleum is seeking to employ a senior nuclear energy analyst, with responsibilities including playing [...]

Is Management Ideology the last bastion of American hegemony?

Here is a tricky question: How many living management gurus did not learn their trade in North America? The London Business Schoolís Julian Birkinshaw, who has presented this condundrum to many of his esteemed international colleagues, writes that it is not easy to come up with a list of top experts who are not American, [...]

News: New NGO launched to enhance research and sustainability in Qatar

Doha, 25 October: As part of Qatar’s investment and long-term commitment to the environment, the Qatar Sustainability Network (QSN) was officially launched in Doha yesterday. At the launch, Nadia Aboul Hosn interim board member at QSN outlined the mandate as a network to cultivate a culture of research, science, and sustainability through active engagement of civil [...]

Vol 4 Issue 10 Oct 2012

This month’s cover story in about one of Qatar’s more contentious investments, The Shard, a skyscraper that sits on the bank of the river Thames in central London. We take a look at the differing sentiments it has generated from Londoners and Qatar’s role in the project. In this issue we also look at the [...]


RecentArticles: Balance sheet

Feature: Are MENA family businesses ready for listing?

A stock market launch, or initial public offering (IPO), is the first sale of stocks by a company to the public, the famous recent example of course Facebook, the highest IPO in history. Krishnaswany Venkatesh looks at how the GCC’s individual or family businesses can perform a successful listing and become a publicly traded enterprise.The majority [...]

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Legal Insight: New Tax Laws to be aware of in Qatar

With the introduction from 1 January 2010 of Qatar Tax Law No. 21 of the year 2009 (Tax Law), there have been a number of changes to the country’s tax regime that foreign investors considering investment into Qatar will need to consider carefully. Mark Rebello sheds some light on the key issues to be aware [...]

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The impact of talent planning and acquisition

The majority of Qatar’s workforce depends mostly on expatriates. Kanchan Ghoshal explains how talent planning and acquisition impacts an organisationís performance and explains how to nominate the right candidate for a certain position. Case Study: A fast growing organisation in the financial services sector in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) has been assigned a target [...]

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Business leaders reveal their top priorities

The findings of a major European and Middle East business survey provide some interesting insights into what our top executives are focusing on in 2012. Richard Kohinga analyses the study’s key findings and compares the priorities of Qatar’s business leaders with those of their regional and European counterparts. The KPMG survey Succeeding in a Changing [...]

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The Great Global Infrastructure Opportunity

Qatar is not alone when it comes to investing billions of dollars in infrastructure. Richard Kohinga explains a recent survey by industry experts and some of the local implications. The global need to redevelop roads, bridges, energy and residential infrastructure is at an all-time high, as major urban areas around the world strain to adequately [...]

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Headquarters and Subsidiary Relationships

Janak Patwaril simplifies the complexities and the relationship between the entity at the top of corporation and the subsidiary, also known as the daughter company, by identifying various business models. Organisations grow over a period of time either organically or inorganically with a resultant change in the structure of the organisation. A common model prevalent [...]

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Headquarters and Subsidiary Relationships

Janak Patwaril simplifies the complexities and the relationship between the entity at the top of corporation and the subsidiary, also known as the daughter company, by identifying various business models. Organisations grow over a period of time either organically or inorganically with a resultant change in the structure of the organisation. A common model prevalent [...]

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Why Mega Developments Fail

Qatar is evidently becoming a platform for the auto industry in the Gulf region with the hosting of Motor Show and the announcement of Baraha Motor City. Manjeet Chhabra, takes a closer look at the Qatari auto industry and highlights the challenges facing this sector in Doha. Qatar has outlined a budget of over US$100 [...]

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Business Planning: Knowing The Way

Recent events are driving many organisations to revisit their business continuity plans, so that they are not caught off guard by disasters and upheavals. Subash Shanmugam advises We have been in operation for many years and have never had a major natural or man-made disaster, impact our business, so do we really need to invest [...]

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Being Proactive in the Fight Against Fraud

Although the perception is that the occurance of fraud in Qatar is somewhat limited compared to the rest of the world, Wayne Fergusson recommends that a proactive approach to fraud risk management should be adopted, thereby protecting your organisation should it occur. The general attitude towards fraud in the Gulf is either, ‘It doesn’t happen [...]

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