Capturing Fair Share: Tips for Small Businesses on Accessing the Gulf

Since the publication of Dubai & Co.: Global Strategies for Doing Business in the Gulf States, a number of US companies have contacted me with a similar and compelling question. While the book provides a strategic guide for international firms seeking to integrate the region into their global strategies, is the Gulf opportunity available only to large multinationals? How, if at all, can smaller businesses enter the region?

For small firms, business development is typically a key challenge. When development plans include Gulf aspirations, the challenge takes on unique — and exciting — dynamics.

Educational Expansion: Opportunities, not “Outposts”

Earlier this month, the New York Times ran a front-page story on the international expansion of US educational institutions. While the scope of the story was global, most of the examples were of US universities entering the Gulf.

Higher education is, without a doubt, one of the sectors in which global institutions can find significant opportunities in the Gulf. The most successful institutions, however, will be those that view Gulf expansion as a genuine strategic opportunity and not simply an “outpost.”

Endowment Investments: Opportunity for Authentic Business Model Transfers

Last week, I was in Dubai to present at a conference on strategies for the investment of endowments (called awqaf in Arabic) in the Muslim world and beyond. The event, entitled the Dubai International Conference for Endowments Investment, was hosted by the emirate’s government.

Endowment investment is a prime example of an area with opportunity for transferring global business models and best practices into the Gulf – and the Islamic world more broadly. At the same time, it is an area in which authenticity and consistency with indigenous values are critically important.