When I first came to the UAE I was strictly speaking, a salaried employee but my status and security were such that I might just as well have been a contractor. Gone on a whim and at a moment's notice with no comeback. Our labour laws here make employed expats little more than indentured servants and most would in fact be better off on freelance contracts - except the local laws make that hard and the business culture doesn't understand paying for time.
I've been back freelancing for two and a half years now. It's much tougher than in Europe and I'm barely making a long term living. I had one serious contract from a British client but the work for locals has been unsatisfying to say the least.
We have no insolvency laws here but we do have very strict laws about getting into debt and passing bad cheques. You will go to prison. And since the recession many have. So how is it clients continually get away with incredibly slow payments and invariably never paying you in full? Government and official organisations are the worst of all delaying for a year or more and then short paying. You have no practical comeback. So you build it into the price and take a lot of your money upfront. Of course that makes it harder to get work. And puts prices up since you need to allow for the costs of collections in your price.
But then what's the point of doing work and not getting paid? And no one seems ashamed. It's near universal.
It wasn't always thus. It seems wealth has made the current generation of local business people not just more stand offish but more arrogant and self centred. Perhaps that's the penalty for being in a tiny minority in your own country.
If so it is even more important to look to a future not so dependent on cheap imported labour. Time to embrace technology; a hard work ethic; a willingness to build and not expect to start at the top; and adopt a culture of learning not using.
28 April 2010
25 April 2010
Communications
I have always thought of myself as a professional communicator. I'm good at it and I'm good at people.
And yet I keep getting it wrong.
Today I've been working with one of my business partners on a document we're preparing for a potential big new client. I was totally sure we had agreed on the process after some back and forth commentary by mail and by phone.
But when it came to doing the work we were off down different tracks like scared bunnies.
Now we're friends as well as business partners so it doesn't cause real friction - more self mocking on my part and knuckling down to it on his and the end result is better for it.
The thing is ...we're professionals, trained and experienced. Yet we make communication errors like this everyday. How much harder is it for non-professionals who have to make communications work just as much? Without our toolbag.
It really brought home to me today how much skill is involved in good management and how rarely I give people credit for that.
Sorry.
And yet I keep getting it wrong.
Today I've been working with one of my business partners on a document we're preparing for a potential big new client. I was totally sure we had agreed on the process after some back and forth commentary by mail and by phone.
But when it came to doing the work we were off down different tracks like scared bunnies.
Now we're friends as well as business partners so it doesn't cause real friction - more self mocking on my part and knuckling down to it on his and the end result is better for it.
The thing is ...we're professionals, trained and experienced. Yet we make communication errors like this everyday. How much harder is it for non-professionals who have to make communications work just as much? Without our toolbag.
It really brought home to me today how much skill is involved in good management and how rarely I give people credit for that.
Sorry.
24 April 2010
The miseries or despair?
It's pretty miserable here at the moment. I'm 58 years old and I used to be quite well off. But as so many entrepreneurs have found out I didn't have a big enough bankroll to take the hits.
And after 7 years of struggling and juggling we hit the bottom. Broke and currently about to be homeless again, debts to family and friends and the next job several months away still. And today I'm really down - though possibly a little more buoyant than my wife who has had to deal with a lot of the rubbish and who didn't cause most of it.
I have a case of the "Miseries"
But as yet I'm not in despair. I'm not hungry or thirsty - though I have lost weight cuz I've been in no position to splurge of late. I will have a roof again in a day or two courtesy of friends, again, and there is a project in the pipeline. There is no reason to despair. And like so many entrepreneurs before me we will begin to climb out of the hole soon. My wife hasn't abandoned me nor even suggested the possibility - she seems to believe in my ability to dig us out. She is managing to cope with the slings and arrows with equanimity though she's patently very worried.
But to my point. There are many who don't get the difference between being broke, as we are, and being poor as are so many in the world and we are not. There are possibilities for us and with a little patience and some luck we'll be OK. We're NOT going to die from dehydration or from something nasty in the only available water supply. We are not going to starve anytime soon. We won't die from some horrible disease or from the want of a few coppers worth of medicine. Hell, we probably won't even lose access to the Internet!
So... a brief bout of feeling sorry for myself is OK on a bad day. But despair is so far from the table I can't even get a focus on the MIGHT be's. Thank goodness for the future.
And after 7 years of struggling and juggling we hit the bottom. Broke and currently about to be homeless again, debts to family and friends and the next job several months away still. And today I'm really down - though possibly a little more buoyant than my wife who has had to deal with a lot of the rubbish and who didn't cause most of it.
I have a case of the "Miseries"
But as yet I'm not in despair. I'm not hungry or thirsty - though I have lost weight cuz I've been in no position to splurge of late. I will have a roof again in a day or two courtesy of friends, again, and there is a project in the pipeline. There is no reason to despair. And like so many entrepreneurs before me we will begin to climb out of the hole soon. My wife hasn't abandoned me nor even suggested the possibility - she seems to believe in my ability to dig us out. She is managing to cope with the slings and arrows with equanimity though she's patently very worried.
But to my point. There are many who don't get the difference between being broke, as we are, and being poor as are so many in the world and we are not. There are possibilities for us and with a little patience and some luck we'll be OK. We're NOT going to die from dehydration or from something nasty in the only available water supply. We are not going to starve anytime soon. We won't die from some horrible disease or from the want of a few coppers worth of medicine. Hell, we probably won't even lose access to the Internet!
So... a brief bout of feeling sorry for myself is OK on a bad day. But despair is so far from the table I can't even get a focus on the MIGHT be's. Thank goodness for the future.
23 April 2010
So I use LinkedIn the business oriented social network a lot. It's proven useful for making interesting contacts especially as when I first became a freelance over here I had only a minuscule network of my own.
And I also play extensively on the Q&A section. It's often fun, frequently annoying and occasionally downright silly.
I have noticed as have many other regular contributors that about the commonest question posed is from people who have accidentally made themselves 2 or more accounts which aside from being against the rules is a PitA to manage. But it happens because of LinkedIn's design of the process to accept invitations from other members to link up - the core point of the service.
However because you can invite anyone to join using any of their myriad email addresses it is common that an existing member is invited to link by someone using an email address different from the one you used to join. And if you are NOT incredibly careful and don't read every line of every screen carefully (yeah like that's going to happen!) you will end up making a new account when you've already got a perfectly good one. And LinkedIn doesn't provide a way for a member to merge 2 accounts because it assumes you followed the rules and haven't got 2 accounts!
This is such a wonderful example in miniature of a problem so many businesses face. They swear they are customer focused (because, genuinely, they care about the customer being satisfied) but all their processes and procedures start from an inward facing company point of view and are then imposed on customers as the 'rules' so if it goes wrong it is now the customer's own fault!
LinkedIn is just one I happen to know as I use it a lot but you can see it everywhere. Government bureaucracies are a classic. Designed to satisfy internal needs and imposed on customers. But then spend millions on peripheral systems and processes to make the customer feel loved and wanted anyway.
It's madness.
The starting point should be something like "How do we design our processes and procedures so they are easy for the customer, have minimal risk of human error AND work for us?".
Whereas what actually happens too often is "We'll make the customer to do things our way and shower him/her with love and affection and try to convince them it's for their own good".
It's madness.
And I also play extensively on the Q&A section. It's often fun, frequently annoying and occasionally downright silly.
I have noticed as have many other regular contributors that about the commonest question posed is from people who have accidentally made themselves 2 or more accounts which aside from being against the rules is a PitA to manage. But it happens because of LinkedIn's design of the process to accept invitations from other members to link up - the core point of the service.
However because you can invite anyone to join using any of their myriad email addresses it is common that an existing member is invited to link by someone using an email address different from the one you used to join. And if you are NOT incredibly careful and don't read every line of every screen carefully (yeah like that's going to happen!) you will end up making a new account when you've already got a perfectly good one. And LinkedIn doesn't provide a way for a member to merge 2 accounts because it assumes you followed the rules and haven't got 2 accounts!
This is such a wonderful example in miniature of a problem so many businesses face. They swear they are customer focused (because, genuinely, they care about the customer being satisfied) but all their processes and procedures start from an inward facing company point of view and are then imposed on customers as the 'rules' so if it goes wrong it is now the customer's own fault!
LinkedIn is just one I happen to know as I use it a lot but you can see it everywhere. Government bureaucracies are a classic. Designed to satisfy internal needs and imposed on customers. But then spend millions on peripheral systems and processes to make the customer feel loved and wanted anyway.
It's madness.
The starting point should be something like "How do we design our processes and procedures so they are easy for the customer, have minimal risk of human error AND work for us?".
Whereas what actually happens too often is "We'll make the customer to do things our way and shower him/her with love and affection and try to convince them it's for their own good".
It's madness.
22 April 2010
The Niqab, the Lungi and the Prophet
I have read a number of disturbing clothing and tolerance related stories of late.
In Sharjah they have banned men from wearing a lungi in public. It was deemed 'women's' clothing and un-Islamic. There's an awful lot of people in Yemen, Oman and all over the Indian sub-continent who would most certainly beg to differ.
Men are now being rounded up for wearing jewellery and specifically neck chains. That means I too am under threat because I wear my wedding ring on a thong round my neck since it became worn and sharp on my finger.
I read that Belgium like France is considering banning the Burqa and Niqab, indeed all coverings that hide the face. Muslim groups are up in arms about religious tolerance.
How is this different from Sharjah's actions?
South Park is taking flak for portraying Prophet Mohammed in a bear suit. Threats have been made.
I saw an awful cartoon of caricature Jews conspiring with the Pope and President Obama in a newspaper recently over here in the Gulf. No howls of hurt outrage from anyone...
There's something wrong in the world. Reality has been twisted to remove common sense.
For the record I am sitting at home wearing my lungi and a Patriots T-shirt from the last time they won the Superbowl. My wife is in jeans and T-shirt. Is she a cross dresser?
The muezzin is calling outside. There's a lively Bollywood movie on the box right now. My pizza is on its way from the shop. This is more like it!
In Sharjah they have banned men from wearing a lungi in public. It was deemed 'women's' clothing and un-Islamic. There's an awful lot of people in Yemen, Oman and all over the Indian sub-continent who would most certainly beg to differ.
Men are now being rounded up for wearing jewellery and specifically neck chains. That means I too am under threat because I wear my wedding ring on a thong round my neck since it became worn and sharp on my finger.
I read that Belgium like France is considering banning the Burqa and Niqab, indeed all coverings that hide the face. Muslim groups are up in arms about religious tolerance.
How is this different from Sharjah's actions?
South Park is taking flak for portraying Prophet Mohammed in a bear suit. Threats have been made.
I saw an awful cartoon of caricature Jews conspiring with the Pope and President Obama in a newspaper recently over here in the Gulf. No howls of hurt outrage from anyone...
There's something wrong in the world. Reality has been twisted to remove common sense.
For the record I am sitting at home wearing my lungi and a Patriots T-shirt from the last time they won the Superbowl. My wife is in jeans and T-shirt. Is she a cross dresser?
The muezzin is calling outside. There's a lively Bollywood movie on the box right now. My pizza is on its way from the shop. This is more like it!
Bleeagh...people can be disgusting
Litter
UAE is a rich country. That’s not to deny there are poor people but on the whole it’s a rich place. We have nice cities, nice spaces both publicly and privately, Our new buildings are positively smart with marble floors and fancy decoration, lots of glass and chrome and shiny bright jingly bits that add a glitzy opulence to even a pretty run of the mill apartment block.
In public areas we have lots of block pathways that are kept up by an army of low paid but willing municipal workers.
It’s nice.
So why do people throw litter everywhere? It’s not as if there are no bins. There are litter bins all over in public areas and the back streets and alleys teem with dumpsters. Even the motorways have dumpsters and bins by the illegal truck stops!
Yet I watch people throw litter all the time.
There’s a house next to the apartments where I live. I one story local place inhabited by young Sri Lankan men; eight or nine of them perhaps more. Until a week ago there was a huge sandpile next to their building from the construction site opposite. Then it was cleared by the builders. Where the pile was is now an unofficial parking lot.
In one week by the outside of the wall of the house a pile of litter has appeared. Rubbish sacks, plastic cups, packaging, peelings. I wondered. But yesterday as I was leaving to fetch my car and walking across the parking lot I was nearly hit by a rubbish sack sailing over the wall from the house. Closely followed by a Styrofoam cup. Words were exchange but mostly all I got was the annoying passive shoulder shrug of someone who doesn’t understand and doesn’t give a toss. When I got home I found some garbage sacks and cleared the pile. Put the sacks in the dumpster on the other side of the house.
This morning there are more bags and cans and cups.
There’s a cafeteria opposite our building. This is a local phenomenon that you used to get all over UAE but is not allowed anymore in Dubai and Sharjah. Te cafeteria has no tables or eating space yet neither is it a takeaway. You pull up in your car and honk your horn (don’t get me started on that one!). Eventually a waiter staggers out and brings you a tea and takes any other order you may have. Water and cigarettes are common. Then you sit in your car and drink your tea and perhaps eat a shawarma sandwich and leave. But before you leave you drop your cup and sandwich wrappings and the cellophane from your cigarettes on the ground. Occasionally the waiter comes and picks up some of the litter. Never all of it and often none. The leavings pile up for a few weeks and sometimes the council will send a team in to do a sweep through. There’s a dumpster for the cafeteria. I often watch the staff throw things at it and miss. They never pick it up. The council empties the dumpster every couple of days. They are not responsible for the rotting pile on the ground. The cafeteria only clears it when it gets too smelly.
I watch kids and their parents eat a burger from one of the fast food joints around here. I watch them all throw the case and paper wraps on the ground and walk away. I watch people buy cigarettes and throw the wrappers on the ground before getting in their car. I watch people throw tea bags out of car window while they’re parked followed later by the cup. I watch kids throw empty cans away without a thought and I watch their parent do the same.
There is a total lack of pride in the environment. A ‘don’t care’ attitude that you might, just, forgive in an expat labourer who’s just passing through but seems bizarre in a well off Emirati family whose home this is.
I used to live in Sharjah near the Buhairah Corniche. This is an upmarket area on the creek full of smart tower blocks and shops and cafes. It also has a wide green running the length of the cornice where at weekends families come and picnic by the water.
If you visit just at dusk on a Friday you will be greeted by a sea of litter – paper, cans, plastic cups, bags, all sorts. People have their picnic and just leave the mess. Including uneaten foodstuffs. It is certainly not possible for others to follow where someone was before without a major clean up exercise, which never happens either. The council clears up overnight here. Very effectively in fact. But by mid morning the next day it’s all reappearing. More slowly than the weekend but just as inexorably.
There are plenty of litter bins by the way including recycling bins for glass, paper and cans. They are empty most of the time.
I am embarrassed for these people. This is not a third world hellhole with no money. These are well off people in nice surrounding. They have no dignity.
UAE is a rich country. That’s not to deny there are poor people but on the whole it’s a rich place. We have nice cities, nice spaces both publicly and privately, Our new buildings are positively smart with marble floors and fancy decoration, lots of glass and chrome and shiny bright jingly bits that add a glitzy opulence to even a pretty run of the mill apartment block.
In public areas we have lots of block pathways that are kept up by an army of low paid but willing municipal workers.
It’s nice.
So why do people throw litter everywhere? It’s not as if there are no bins. There are litter bins all over in public areas and the back streets and alleys teem with dumpsters. Even the motorways have dumpsters and bins by the illegal truck stops!
Yet I watch people throw litter all the time.
There’s a house next to the apartments where I live. I one story local place inhabited by young Sri Lankan men; eight or nine of them perhaps more. Until a week ago there was a huge sandpile next to their building from the construction site opposite. Then it was cleared by the builders. Where the pile was is now an unofficial parking lot.
In one week by the outside of the wall of the house a pile of litter has appeared. Rubbish sacks, plastic cups, packaging, peelings. I wondered. But yesterday as I was leaving to fetch my car and walking across the parking lot I was nearly hit by a rubbish sack sailing over the wall from the house. Closely followed by a Styrofoam cup. Words were exchange but mostly all I got was the annoying passive shoulder shrug of someone who doesn’t understand and doesn’t give a toss. When I got home I found some garbage sacks and cleared the pile. Put the sacks in the dumpster on the other side of the house.
This morning there are more bags and cans and cups.
There’s a cafeteria opposite our building. This is a local phenomenon that you used to get all over UAE but is not allowed anymore in Dubai and Sharjah. Te cafeteria has no tables or eating space yet neither is it a takeaway. You pull up in your car and honk your horn (don’t get me started on that one!). Eventually a waiter staggers out and brings you a tea and takes any other order you may have. Water and cigarettes are common. Then you sit in your car and drink your tea and perhaps eat a shawarma sandwich and leave. But before you leave you drop your cup and sandwich wrappings and the cellophane from your cigarettes on the ground. Occasionally the waiter comes and picks up some of the litter. Never all of it and often none. The leavings pile up for a few weeks and sometimes the council will send a team in to do a sweep through. There’s a dumpster for the cafeteria. I often watch the staff throw things at it and miss. They never pick it up. The council empties the dumpster every couple of days. They are not responsible for the rotting pile on the ground. The cafeteria only clears it when it gets too smelly.
I watch kids and their parents eat a burger from one of the fast food joints around here. I watch them all throw the case and paper wraps on the ground and walk away. I watch people buy cigarettes and throw the wrappers on the ground before getting in their car. I watch people throw tea bags out of car window while they’re parked followed later by the cup. I watch kids throw empty cans away without a thought and I watch their parent do the same.
There is a total lack of pride in the environment. A ‘don’t care’ attitude that you might, just, forgive in an expat labourer who’s just passing through but seems bizarre in a well off Emirati family whose home this is.
I used to live in Sharjah near the Buhairah Corniche. This is an upmarket area on the creek full of smart tower blocks and shops and cafes. It also has a wide green running the length of the cornice where at weekends families come and picnic by the water.
If you visit just at dusk on a Friday you will be greeted by a sea of litter – paper, cans, plastic cups, bags, all sorts. People have their picnic and just leave the mess. Including uneaten foodstuffs. It is certainly not possible for others to follow where someone was before without a major clean up exercise, which never happens either. The council clears up overnight here. Very effectively in fact. But by mid morning the next day it’s all reappearing. More slowly than the weekend but just as inexorably.
There are plenty of litter bins by the way including recycling bins for glass, paper and cans. They are empty most of the time.
I am embarrassed for these people. This is not a third world hellhole with no money. These are well off people in nice surrounding. They have no dignity.
Cheapest is bestest?
Quality
What follows might stand as an example of how the UAE looks at quality generally and how people treat their public amenities.
About a year ago the local authorities in Ajman refurbished the beach area along the corniche. They put in a new pedestrian path, created a lot of free parking, installed benches to sit out on and fenced off a couple of dangerous areas with attractive new railings.
For a few weeks it looked very smart and very nice.
The first thing that happened was a couple of the benches began to break up and the problem was threefold – cheap, low grade, no maintenance.
The major problem was these benches are of the normal domestic kind that in the UK or US you might buy in a Garden Centre or DIY store. They are made of aluminium and wood.
Critically for this story they are designed to be in a private garden space with occasional gentle use by a proud family. They are not designed for constant use by tourists, kids, chaps hanging around watching the football, jumping on, eating picnics on for a family of six, having coffee poured over them, having fast food dropped on and ground in and never being maintained.
So now the paint has worn off, many slats are broken, some decorative swirls are snapped off and many benches have come loose from their moorings.
In short they are decorative but relatively fragile. Most importantly though they are cheap compared to the industrial version. And never given even the most basic of cleaning or maintenance.
So within months the promenade had broken down benches.
Then the railings started to go. These too are of a quality more suited to a private garden rather than a robust urban seaside environment. They are aluminium and covered in a single coat of domestic grade paint. They have unsafe and fragile protuberances many of which are now breaking off. And they are attached to the concrete or brick with small shallow fixings and non-stainless steel bolts. Right next to the ocean.
Many sections have not stayed fixed. Nor have they been re-fixed. This means that neighbouring sections are also now coming loose and the whole process is speeding up.
Entropy increases.
Because there is no maintenance the debris of broken benches and railings are left on the beach or the walkways. They are used to build paths from the promenade to the beach so people can avoid a 20-metre walk to the steps…
They attract litter – people are sloppy about littering here – which also doesn’t get cleaned up. Lately I’ve seen rats in the debris.
The odd thing to me is the city has the beach cleaned daily. I’ve mentioned littering above.
But troops of men come daily and fill sacks with rubbish so the beach remains as clean as any public beach can though they will leave behind the bigger debris. If – as happens surprisingly often – someone dumps an old car part or piece of furniture then that may stay for a month or more as will a sack of rubbish not filled by the council’s own workers. Residents would not dream of clearing something themselves.
I kinda understand why the low paid expat workers can’t be bothered. I’m totally bemused as to why the local Emiratis won’t do anything for themselves. They seem content to wallow in mess if it isn’t cleared for them.
So there you have it. If it looks ok on day one that’s good enough. If it falls apart quickly that’s good enough. If it’s dangerous but looks ok that’s good enough. If it’s barely functional but cheap it’s a good deal. If everything has to be replaced after 18 months that’s ok. They were cheap. That’s good enough.
Very depressing.
What follows might stand as an example of how the UAE looks at quality generally and how people treat their public amenities.
About a year ago the local authorities in Ajman refurbished the beach area along the corniche. They put in a new pedestrian path, created a lot of free parking, installed benches to sit out on and fenced off a couple of dangerous areas with attractive new railings.
For a few weeks it looked very smart and very nice.
The first thing that happened was a couple of the benches began to break up and the problem was threefold – cheap, low grade, no maintenance.
The major problem was these benches are of the normal domestic kind that in the UK or US you might buy in a Garden Centre or DIY store. They are made of aluminium and wood.
Critically for this story they are designed to be in a private garden space with occasional gentle use by a proud family. They are not designed for constant use by tourists, kids, chaps hanging around watching the football, jumping on, eating picnics on for a family of six, having coffee poured over them, having fast food dropped on and ground in and never being maintained.
So now the paint has worn off, many slats are broken, some decorative swirls are snapped off and many benches have come loose from their moorings.
In short they are decorative but relatively fragile. Most importantly though they are cheap compared to the industrial version. And never given even the most basic of cleaning or maintenance.
So within months the promenade had broken down benches.
Then the railings started to go. These too are of a quality more suited to a private garden rather than a robust urban seaside environment. They are aluminium and covered in a single coat of domestic grade paint. They have unsafe and fragile protuberances many of which are now breaking off. And they are attached to the concrete or brick with small shallow fixings and non-stainless steel bolts. Right next to the ocean.
Many sections have not stayed fixed. Nor have they been re-fixed. This means that neighbouring sections are also now coming loose and the whole process is speeding up.
Entropy increases.
Because there is no maintenance the debris of broken benches and railings are left on the beach or the walkways. They are used to build paths from the promenade to the beach so people can avoid a 20-metre walk to the steps…
They attract litter – people are sloppy about littering here – which also doesn’t get cleaned up. Lately I’ve seen rats in the debris.
The odd thing to me is the city has the beach cleaned daily. I’ve mentioned littering above.
But troops of men come daily and fill sacks with rubbish so the beach remains as clean as any public beach can though they will leave behind the bigger debris. If – as happens surprisingly often – someone dumps an old car part or piece of furniture then that may stay for a month or more as will a sack of rubbish not filled by the council’s own workers. Residents would not dream of clearing something themselves.
I kinda understand why the low paid expat workers can’t be bothered. I’m totally bemused as to why the local Emiratis won’t do anything for themselves. They seem content to wallow in mess if it isn’t cleared for them.
So there you have it. If it looks ok on day one that’s good enough. If it falls apart quickly that’s good enough. If it’s dangerous but looks ok that’s good enough. If it’s barely functional but cheap it’s a good deal. If everything has to be replaced after 18 months that’s ok. They were cheap. That’s good enough.
Very depressing.
21 April 2010
Ajman
Today I live in Ajman. This is a small Emirate, North & East of Dubai and Sharjah and one of seven that makes up the UAE.
It’s a liberal place. Of course it’s a Muslim country and that’s more visibly true here than in Dubai but nonetheless alcohol is available legally to non-Muslims and there’s no conservative dress code. You see expats and tourists sunbathing on the beach in mixed sex groups without either embarrassment or harassment.
Mosques are visible, abundant and well used. The only problem is an escalation war with PA systems used when calling the faithful to prayer. Not every muezzin has the voice he thinks he has.
But how refreshing to see them full to overflowing on a Friday – despite the inconvenience caused by the rather selfish parking of those arriving by car.
Ajman doesn’t drip conspicuous wealth like Dubai but neither is it visibly poor. It has more than it’s share of flashy new high-rise developments and its own set of vanity development projects that have failed or gone on indefinite hold since the meltdown in 2009.
We have a pleasant corniche where development is still most certainly under way and this looks onto a nice if slightly run own public beach. White sands, clean and clean waters and no crowds make it a pleasant place to while away a few hours.
If I have a day of phoning or thinking I will spend it at the beach where I can catch a few rays and be productive without the need for an office.
I am still hoping that one the major developments along the corniche and beachside are finished there will be an improvement scheme for the beach itself, which is what the tourists will want. It’s short on facilities – changing rooms, showers, loos, concessions for refreshments, entertainment – and the physical environs do not match the quality of the new buildings nearby.
Away from the corniche and the main drag through the city the high-rises peter out very quickly. But you still find many homes in the city areas proper.
These are single storey flat roofed buildings built around a courtyard and with few windows. Dark and cool but often surprisingly spacious and much more comfortable on the inside than the drear and dilapidated outsides generally suggest, these are not typical traditional houses but a more modern reworking of the style. Most noticeable is the absence of the traditional wind tower and the presence of air conditioning units cheaply added and myriad satellite dishes targeted on programmes from home.
Many, perhaps most these days, are inhabited by groups of expat workers from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka and in Ajman, more so than I’ve seen elsewhere, young Africans. Of course, it’s mostly single men though you do find occasional groups of Filipinas banding together to share expenses and find some company. Few are paid enough to bring their families over and much of their income is sent home every month. It’s a hard life though given the numbers here it is obviously worth the sacrifice.
These cheap low rise buildings have gone from most of Dubai now. Replaced by more lucrative tower blocks or high rent villas, Dubai looks and feels totally different. In Ajman you know you are firmly in the Middle East but in Dubai you could be anywhere.
It is Dubai’s loss. I hope fervently that Ajman makes some different choices going forward. Now the economic bubble in Dubai has burst that may be an easier decision.
I would not want Ajman to become some kind of quaint theme park of the past. It deserves a full share of the benefits of the present and future the same as anyone else. But it could do that and hold on to its culture and charm in the process.
The Emirates are not democracies. Nor do they masquerade as such. Neither, though, are they authoritarian dictatorships as we have seen in Iraq or theocracies as we see in KSA or Iran. What we have in general are enlightened benevolent despots. As was Singapore under Lee Kwan Yu.
Dubai used that approach to make a different kind of city-state. In the process it made mistakes. But there’s no denying the fact that for a country that is mostly sand dune with little natural resource it has become a civilised and comfortable modern state with an incredibly high standard of living for some and a decent one for the rest. It has earned its place in the modern world in a stunningly short time.
Ajman can learn from Dubai. It can learn that it is ok to dream and create from nothing. It can learn that you don’t actually need vast oil reserves to become rich. It can learn that it doesn’t actually take very long to develop a small country with few people.
But it can also learn that you can go too far. It can learn that debts need to be serviced and that bubbles always burst. It can learn that to be totally dependent on cheap imported labour disenfranchises your own people and holds back full participation in the future. It can learn that holding on to your own culture has not just social but also economic value. It can learn that oftentimes it is better to pay more and have quality than just to buy the cheapest. It can learn that some resources are better used and developed than simply consumed. It can learn that people work harder and give more commitment if they have some emotional investment in the future.
Ajman in 10 years could be as comfortable as Dubai without the soullessness and culture loss and without the dependence on cheap foreign labour and without the unsupportable debt. It takes vision will and salesmanship. Sheikh Rashid had it in spades for Dubai and passed it on to his successors. I hope the younger generation of al Nuaimis in Ajman have it too. This could be special. I hope I can stay long enough to see it happen.
It’s a liberal place. Of course it’s a Muslim country and that’s more visibly true here than in Dubai but nonetheless alcohol is available legally to non-Muslims and there’s no conservative dress code. You see expats and tourists sunbathing on the beach in mixed sex groups without either embarrassment or harassment.
Mosques are visible, abundant and well used. The only problem is an escalation war with PA systems used when calling the faithful to prayer. Not every muezzin has the voice he thinks he has.
But how refreshing to see them full to overflowing on a Friday – despite the inconvenience caused by the rather selfish parking of those arriving by car.
Ajman doesn’t drip conspicuous wealth like Dubai but neither is it visibly poor. It has more than it’s share of flashy new high-rise developments and its own set of vanity development projects that have failed or gone on indefinite hold since the meltdown in 2009.
We have a pleasant corniche where development is still most certainly under way and this looks onto a nice if slightly run own public beach. White sands, clean and clean waters and no crowds make it a pleasant place to while away a few hours.
If I have a day of phoning or thinking I will spend it at the beach where I can catch a few rays and be productive without the need for an office.
I am still hoping that one the major developments along the corniche and beachside are finished there will be an improvement scheme for the beach itself, which is what the tourists will want. It’s short on facilities – changing rooms, showers, loos, concessions for refreshments, entertainment – and the physical environs do not match the quality of the new buildings nearby.
Away from the corniche and the main drag through the city the high-rises peter out very quickly. But you still find many homes in the city areas proper.
These are single storey flat roofed buildings built around a courtyard and with few windows. Dark and cool but often surprisingly spacious and much more comfortable on the inside than the drear and dilapidated outsides generally suggest, these are not typical traditional houses but a more modern reworking of the style. Most noticeable is the absence of the traditional wind tower and the presence of air conditioning units cheaply added and myriad satellite dishes targeted on programmes from home.
Many, perhaps most these days, are inhabited by groups of expat workers from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka and in Ajman, more so than I’ve seen elsewhere, young Africans. Of course, it’s mostly single men though you do find occasional groups of Filipinas banding together to share expenses and find some company. Few are paid enough to bring their families over and much of their income is sent home every month. It’s a hard life though given the numbers here it is obviously worth the sacrifice.
These cheap low rise buildings have gone from most of Dubai now. Replaced by more lucrative tower blocks or high rent villas, Dubai looks and feels totally different. In Ajman you know you are firmly in the Middle East but in Dubai you could be anywhere.
It is Dubai’s loss. I hope fervently that Ajman makes some different choices going forward. Now the economic bubble in Dubai has burst that may be an easier decision.
I would not want Ajman to become some kind of quaint theme park of the past. It deserves a full share of the benefits of the present and future the same as anyone else. But it could do that and hold on to its culture and charm in the process.
The Emirates are not democracies. Nor do they masquerade as such. Neither, though, are they authoritarian dictatorships as we have seen in Iraq or theocracies as we see in KSA or Iran. What we have in general are enlightened benevolent despots. As was Singapore under Lee Kwan Yu.
Dubai used that approach to make a different kind of city-state. In the process it made mistakes. But there’s no denying the fact that for a country that is mostly sand dune with little natural resource it has become a civilised and comfortable modern state with an incredibly high standard of living for some and a decent one for the rest. It has earned its place in the modern world in a stunningly short time.
Ajman can learn from Dubai. It can learn that it is ok to dream and create from nothing. It can learn that you don’t actually need vast oil reserves to become rich. It can learn that it doesn’t actually take very long to develop a small country with few people.
But it can also learn that you can go too far. It can learn that debts need to be serviced and that bubbles always burst. It can learn that to be totally dependent on cheap imported labour disenfranchises your own people and holds back full participation in the future. It can learn that holding on to your own culture has not just social but also economic value. It can learn that oftentimes it is better to pay more and have quality than just to buy the cheapest. It can learn that some resources are better used and developed than simply consumed. It can learn that people work harder and give more commitment if they have some emotional investment in the future.
Ajman in 10 years could be as comfortable as Dubai without the soullessness and culture loss and without the dependence on cheap foreign labour and without the unsupportable debt. It takes vision will and salesmanship. Sheikh Rashid had it in spades for Dubai and passed it on to his successors. I hope the younger generation of al Nuaimis in Ajman have it too. This could be special. I hope I can stay long enough to see it happen.
Ramblings on Dubai life
It is easy to stay only among your own kind – especially in Dubai. You don’t have to worry about language or funny food or strange music or exotic customs. Living in Dubai can be like living in London or LA if you want it to. Almost as expensive too. But if you do that you miss so much.
I’ve never lived in such a diverse society. For example in short order last year we celebrated Dewali, Eid and Xmas, 2 New Years and an Orthodox Xmas. You can be a beach bum one day and a desert explorer the next or ride a camel or trek the mountains. You can wallow in Islamic culture and live like an Indian Prince. You can talk to Iraqi and Palestinian refugees or chat to a LA Jewish film executive here to raise money.
You can work in a Western style International company like Cisco or Microsoft or a local like al Habtoor or al Futtaim or you can work for the semi government organisations like Nakheel or Dubai World. And they are all different experiences.
This is a harsh climate. Many of the wealthy locals and lots of Expats disappear for July & August. Business pretty much operates on minimum input.
Ditto during the holy month of Ramadan where because of the fasting people work 6 hour days and much more slowly.
In western terms you need to build for a nine month business plan.
Also our weekends do no co-incide. Across the region we are tending towards Friday and Saturday but it’s not universal. Thursday & Friday is still common. Remember this if you work in an international business. It can be frustrating.
People wonder about personal safety. Well…I rarely lock my car, often leave my computer on the back seat. I’ve never been mugged or burgled or accosted by faux beggars. Sometimes I don’t bother to lock my apartment before going out if it’s only for a short while. I daily entrust my car to valet parking whose drivers often hadn’t seen the inside of a car before they got here. We walk city central streets at night feeling unthreatened.
Iran is 100km away. Iraq is just up the coast. We border KSA. India and Pakistan are no distance. It’s a political hotbed. Since I’ve been here we’ve had no bombs or terrorist scares – well a couple of well publicized assassinations. When George Bush came to visit a while back we had an extra public holiday – because his security people wanted roads closed so the motorcade could go through easily.
So…changes. When I first came here 30 years ago the main road from Dubai to Abu Dhabi was 2 lanes and not paved all the way. Now it’s 14 lanes in many places and 10 in the rest!
Dubai ended pretty much at the Trade Centre and then it was desert all the way to Abu Dhabi. Now we have two and a bit Palms, the World, Dubai Waterfront, Jebel Ali FreeZone & Port and all the desert developments. We now have an outer and inner ring road/bypass as well as SZR.
Our metro is well on its way to completion and last year we bought 2000 busses – the biggest ever single order for busses anywhere.
Our population is currently around 1.3m and heading for 4m. Lord knows what they are all going to do though there’s be no shortage of places to live.
My early visits were to a charming but remote undeveloped country with huge potential. New Dubai is a World City – in the same league on the surface as NYC, London or Tokyo. But not far under the surface is still the third world desert country that I still love but is fading into memory rapidly.
My four years here have been like 10 in Europe – some good some bad but all un-missable.
I’ve never lived in such a diverse society. For example in short order last year we celebrated Dewali, Eid and Xmas, 2 New Years and an Orthodox Xmas. You can be a beach bum one day and a desert explorer the next or ride a camel or trek the mountains. You can wallow in Islamic culture and live like an Indian Prince. You can talk to Iraqi and Palestinian refugees or chat to a LA Jewish film executive here to raise money.
You can work in a Western style International company like Cisco or Microsoft or a local like al Habtoor or al Futtaim or you can work for the semi government organisations like Nakheel or Dubai World. And they are all different experiences.
This is a harsh climate. Many of the wealthy locals and lots of Expats disappear for July & August. Business pretty much operates on minimum input.
Ditto during the holy month of Ramadan where because of the fasting people work 6 hour days and much more slowly.
In western terms you need to build for a nine month business plan.
Also our weekends do no co-incide. Across the region we are tending towards Friday and Saturday but it’s not universal. Thursday & Friday is still common. Remember this if you work in an international business. It can be frustrating.
People wonder about personal safety. Well…I rarely lock my car, often leave my computer on the back seat. I’ve never been mugged or burgled or accosted by faux beggars. Sometimes I don’t bother to lock my apartment before going out if it’s only for a short while. I daily entrust my car to valet parking whose drivers often hadn’t seen the inside of a car before they got here. We walk city central streets at night feeling unthreatened.
Iran is 100km away. Iraq is just up the coast. We border KSA. India and Pakistan are no distance. It’s a political hotbed. Since I’ve been here we’ve had no bombs or terrorist scares – well a couple of well publicized assassinations. When George Bush came to visit a while back we had an extra public holiday – because his security people wanted roads closed so the motorcade could go through easily.
So…changes. When I first came here 30 years ago the main road from Dubai to Abu Dhabi was 2 lanes and not paved all the way. Now it’s 14 lanes in many places and 10 in the rest!
Dubai ended pretty much at the Trade Centre and then it was desert all the way to Abu Dhabi. Now we have two and a bit Palms, the World, Dubai Waterfront, Jebel Ali FreeZone & Port and all the desert developments. We now have an outer and inner ring road/bypass as well as SZR.
Our metro is well on its way to completion and last year we bought 2000 busses – the biggest ever single order for busses anywhere.
Our population is currently around 1.3m and heading for 4m. Lord knows what they are all going to do though there’s be no shortage of places to live.
My early visits were to a charming but remote undeveloped country with huge potential. New Dubai is a World City – in the same league on the surface as NYC, London or Tokyo. But not far under the surface is still the third world desert country that I still love but is fading into memory rapidly.
My four years here have been like 10 in Europe – some good some bad but all un-missable.
20 April 2010
Dealing with change
Been looking at a discussion group of change and project managers and the bit that has taken my interest has been on the management of a Turnaround compared to a Planned Change scenario.
There was some unpleasantness for a while especially as the Turnaround specialists got heavy and the Change Management professionals got protective of the people but it settled down in the end.
What got through to me though was how when it comes down to it the 'people' really are the core whatever the situation. A company is just an agglomeration of people working a bunch of processes as best they can. Ideally it will be a self-organising agglomeration but often it isn't. And in a turnaround less so than ever.
Let's face it - it will often be the self-organising that got us in the mess in the first place. Eye off the ball, no shared view of the outcome, too much focus on the current processes etc.
The thing is, with a company is there's entropy to deal with. And entropy increases. Without the addition of energy often from the change management experts or turnaround manager if more fierceness is needed the system's entropy continues to increase. Till it grinds to a halt.
People are in many ways just intelligent machines. And they will continued doing what they do till the 'control' makes them do something else. Now we're dealing with inertia.
And while people may hate the idea of being like a machine - well... examine your soul and tell me about the last time you changed the way you do something without some kind of stimulus from outside...
There was some unpleasantness for a while especially as the Turnaround specialists got heavy and the Change Management professionals got protective of the people but it settled down in the end.
What got through to me though was how when it comes down to it the 'people' really are the core whatever the situation. A company is just an agglomeration of people working a bunch of processes as best they can. Ideally it will be a self-organising agglomeration but often it isn't. And in a turnaround less so than ever.
Let's face it - it will often be the self-organising that got us in the mess in the first place. Eye off the ball, no shared view of the outcome, too much focus on the current processes etc.
The thing is, with a company is there's entropy to deal with. And entropy increases. Without the addition of energy often from the change management experts or turnaround manager if more fierceness is needed the system's entropy continues to increase. Till it grinds to a halt.
People are in many ways just intelligent machines. And they will continued doing what they do till the 'control' makes them do something else. Now we're dealing with inertia.
And while people may hate the idea of being like a machine - well... examine your soul and tell me about the last time you changed the way you do something without some kind of stimulus from outside...
I wish I'd thought more about...
Advice for people following us? Ok the big thing is despite the surface glamour and glitz never forget that this is still a third world country and stuff does not work quite like it does in the UK. Workmanship is shoddy and everything – and I mean everything - is done to the lowest price. Quality is not valued. Businesses will rather save AED100 cost than spend 1,000 to make 1,000,000.
Most of the people you are in contact with every day are paid peanuts and managed harshly. Do not be surprised if you don’t get a lot of co-operation.
Everyone speaks English but very few as their native language. This means you have to learn to speak slowly and clearly and be prepared to repeat yourself often and to live with daily mis-communication. What also hurts us English is the fact that our accents are hard to understand. English is mostly heard and taught as Indian English. Even Emiratis often speak an English that is heavily Indian tinged. Get used to it and don’t be rude about what to us are quaint foreign mannerisms. You try communicating in Arabic! Not many foreigners can. Indeed some local children are so used to speaking English that they continue to do so among themselves and occasionally need remedial Arabic lessons to take up government jobs.
Contracts and paperwork are valued. You can never have enough copies of you passport, visa and photograph.
Emiratis don’t do trivial jobs. Even the lowliest Emirati fresh graduate is a Manager of some kind. Expect work to be passed over to someone else. Expect to have to chase everything.
Our approach to time here is different. Things take as long as they take. This doesn’t mean people don’t hustle – it’s just that no one rushes to respond.
Learn the 40 different meanings of the word “Yes” – ½ of which mean some form of ‘No”. Neither Arabs nor Indians like to give bad news or say no to you. So they will find a thousand ways to avoid negative response or bad news. Learn to read the clues.
Arabs in particular value politeness and hospitality, which is very pleasant socially. But it drives Western business people crazy. Countless sales people from Europe have been stunned at how easy it is to get to see the Chairman of very big companies and then wondered for months why business never went anywhere. It’s because they didn’t separate social hospitality from real business need.
Most of the people you are in contact with every day are paid peanuts and managed harshly. Do not be surprised if you don’t get a lot of co-operation.
Everyone speaks English but very few as their native language. This means you have to learn to speak slowly and clearly and be prepared to repeat yourself often and to live with daily mis-communication. What also hurts us English is the fact that our accents are hard to understand. English is mostly heard and taught as Indian English. Even Emiratis often speak an English that is heavily Indian tinged. Get used to it and don’t be rude about what to us are quaint foreign mannerisms. You try communicating in Arabic! Not many foreigners can. Indeed some local children are so used to speaking English that they continue to do so among themselves and occasionally need remedial Arabic lessons to take up government jobs.
Contracts and paperwork are valued. You can never have enough copies of you passport, visa and photograph.
Emiratis don’t do trivial jobs. Even the lowliest Emirati fresh graduate is a Manager of some kind. Expect work to be passed over to someone else. Expect to have to chase everything.
Our approach to time here is different. Things take as long as they take. This doesn’t mean people don’t hustle – it’s just that no one rushes to respond.
Learn the 40 different meanings of the word “Yes” – ½ of which mean some form of ‘No”. Neither Arabs nor Indians like to give bad news or say no to you. So they will find a thousand ways to avoid negative response or bad news. Learn to read the clues.
Arabs in particular value politeness and hospitality, which is very pleasant socially. But it drives Western business people crazy. Countless sales people from Europe have been stunned at how easy it is to get to see the Chairman of very big companies and then wondered for months why business never went anywhere. It’s because they didn’t separate social hospitality from real business need.
Volcanic ash = free vacation
I have several friends and at least one relative stuck in exotic places and currently unable to return by plane to the UK.
I have to say that after a 10 day business trip to Shanghai, Taipei and Hong Kong I would NOT find it hard to chill for a few days on the company's dime in a 5* hotel in HK. A short unexpected extra vacation albeit without the family does not strike me as a major hardship. I could be a tourist.
I have more sympathy with my self-employed friends stuck in alRiyadh and Jeddah in KSA though. Not only are they losing fees but they're not even able to go down to the bar and get thoroughly sloshed. Bugger! But at least I assume the insurance will cover any additional costs though it won't replace the fees. But again, if the clients back home are reasonable they'll understand and reschedule. After all they've probably got people of their own in the same boat.
Some years ago I went to a company conference in Silicon Valley. It finished on Thursday and the following Tuesday I was, with a coupe of my staff, scheduled to attend a meeting in SF. We were offered a choice of going home and flying out again on Monday or staying over. My colleagues all went home. I stayed over. Company was paying for a hotel and a rental car. And I got me a free 4 day vacation in Death Valley and a side trip to Vegas. Made me realise there are SOME benefits to being an employee, sometimes.
And no I am not insensitive to the needs of the less fortunate travellers. I know some tour groups are stuck in airports and that some individuals can't really afford to chill out in a 5* hotel at company expense.
But surely all the more reason for those who can to enjoy their good fortune.
I have to say that after a 10 day business trip to Shanghai, Taipei and Hong Kong I would NOT find it hard to chill for a few days on the company's dime in a 5* hotel in HK. A short unexpected extra vacation albeit without the family does not strike me as a major hardship. I could be a tourist.
I have more sympathy with my self-employed friends stuck in alRiyadh and Jeddah in KSA though. Not only are they losing fees but they're not even able to go down to the bar and get thoroughly sloshed. Bugger! But at least I assume the insurance will cover any additional costs though it won't replace the fees. But again, if the clients back home are reasonable they'll understand and reschedule. After all they've probably got people of their own in the same boat.
Some years ago I went to a company conference in Silicon Valley. It finished on Thursday and the following Tuesday I was, with a coupe of my staff, scheduled to attend a meeting in SF. We were offered a choice of going home and flying out again on Monday or staying over. My colleagues all went home. I stayed over. Company was paying for a hotel and a rental car. And I got me a free 4 day vacation in Death Valley and a side trip to Vegas. Made me realise there are SOME benefits to being an employee, sometimes.
And no I am not insensitive to the needs of the less fortunate travellers. I know some tour groups are stuck in airports and that some individuals can't really afford to chill out in a 5* hotel at company expense.
But surely all the more reason for those who can to enjoy their good fortune.
I am...
...a professional consultant; and a damned good one at that. I've also had a lot of executive experience, mostly as an interim and almost always in difficult situations where existing Executives could not or, often, would not cut it.
And yet sometimes I hesitate to tell people what I do. I know many have a mind view of a consultant that is sleazy, grasping and of someone who won't take responsibility or do anything useful. So I bluster and discuss my 'other' career as an interim manager.
But they do go together.
As a consultant I am clear on my role. I give advice based on experience and research; general research and client specific research. This research will be based on desk- and book- work, examination of financials, interviews with stakeholders of all stripes and possibly things like polls, surveys and focus groups depending on the situation. There will be analysis of the financial results as well as scenarios run. There will be competitors and other consultants consulted. And so on.
What pops out the other end of all this is advice. Not implementation, though part of the advice may be on how to do the implementation.
That advice may include options or it may be a definitive statement. “Do X, Y & Z because…”
And I’ll write one of those widely derided reports. It will be thick; it will contain an Executive Summary; it will contain appendices. Why do I do this when we all know no one ever reads them?
Well to start with it’s not true that they are never read. In general they are read widely among the target audience and digested. I almost always give a live presentation to a group and often several groups, of my findings in which the audience can grill me to their hearts’ content over my findings and recommendations. My sponsors spend time mulling it all over among themselves and away from me.
Also it is often the only visible record of my presence and a necessary part of the process of getting paid because I’m doing this for money. Frequently lots of money and I’m keen to get paid. Nothing to be ashamed of.
And why then is there no implementation? Simply, because that’s not where I add value as a consultant. Very capable managers exist in my client companies perfectly capable as a rule of implementing a plan and recommendations. My skill is in looking at things both dispassionately and creatively, in analysis and synthesis. It is in seeing through the crap to what makes a difference and then persuading others to make it happen. It is a rare and valuable skill and I’m pleased to have it.
I am not ashamed to be a consultant. I am not going to make excuses for not implementing stuff. I don’t need to!
And yet sometimes I hesitate to tell people what I do. I know many have a mind view of a consultant that is sleazy, grasping and of someone who won't take responsibility or do anything useful. So I bluster and discuss my 'other' career as an interim manager.
But they do go together.
As a consultant I am clear on my role. I give advice based on experience and research; general research and client specific research. This research will be based on desk- and book- work, examination of financials, interviews with stakeholders of all stripes and possibly things like polls, surveys and focus groups depending on the situation. There will be analysis of the financial results as well as scenarios run. There will be competitors and other consultants consulted. And so on.
What pops out the other end of all this is advice. Not implementation, though part of the advice may be on how to do the implementation.
That advice may include options or it may be a definitive statement. “Do X, Y & Z because…”
And I’ll write one of those widely derided reports. It will be thick; it will contain an Executive Summary; it will contain appendices. Why do I do this when we all know no one ever reads them?
Well to start with it’s not true that they are never read. In general they are read widely among the target audience and digested. I almost always give a live presentation to a group and often several groups, of my findings in which the audience can grill me to their hearts’ content over my findings and recommendations. My sponsors spend time mulling it all over among themselves and away from me.
Also it is often the only visible record of my presence and a necessary part of the process of getting paid because I’m doing this for money. Frequently lots of money and I’m keen to get paid. Nothing to be ashamed of.
And why then is there no implementation? Simply, because that’s not where I add value as a consultant. Very capable managers exist in my client companies perfectly capable as a rule of implementing a plan and recommendations. My skill is in looking at things both dispassionately and creatively, in analysis and synthesis. It is in seeing through the crap to what makes a difference and then persuading others to make it happen. It is a rare and valuable skill and I’m pleased to have it.
I am not ashamed to be a consultant. I am not going to make excuses for not implementing stuff. I don’t need to!
19 April 2010
Sharjah Again
I met a friend and colleague today at the Qanat al Qasbah in Sharjah. That in itself was only the second time I've had that happen in over 4 years living here. Every other time I've had to go to Dubai. People are just scared of it or bemused by it. Many Euro-Expats have never even been there as tourists. And it's only 20km centre to centre.
And ohhh it was nice to go back. It feels like home. And it's been a while since I felt that. Staff in the cafe and in the ice cream shop came out and asked after us - asked after Yvonne really since they rarely ask after me ;-)
It's a bad rap really. Sharjah is a civilised place. Modern city, malls, beaches, motorways, traffic jams, tower blocks and all the rest. But it's also got history. More museums than Dubai for everything from Islamic Art to vintage cars. There's an aquarium every bit as good as the one in Dubai Mall but cheaper and quieter.
The corniche is broad and lets out onto the very white sands - coral I imagine - of a clean and large and uncrowded beach. Tropical fish to nibble on your toes abound.
The dhow wharf is very active with new and old boats. Trade goods coming in and out all the time. Not a pallet in sight though there are no donkeys or camels as there were when I first came here over 30 years ago. And so different from the big modern port up the road with its gas and oil rigs under repair.
The mountains are dramatic, awe inspiring and peaceful and they drop you out over by the Indian Ocean. Stunning coastline and a level of peace you don't get on the Gulf Coast. Only Sharjah hits both sides of the peninsula.
So back to the Qanat. An artificial canal joining an artificial lagoon to the natural creek and the Buhairah Corniche. Last year we spent a great day on that Corniche watching the Power Boat racing - for free. The buildings along the canal include terrific restaurants including my favourite Lebanese in the whole of the UAE - Shababeek. And cafes - where else would I work? No need for an office. The big wheel (smaller than London Eye but you get the principle) has a dancing fountain at its foot. But unlike it's bigger brother in Dubai this fountain is full of kids playing among the jets and dancing to the music. And at night it's buzzing like the walk in JBR in Dubai but with NO TRAFFIC!
I live in Ajman now - for financial reasons. I may have to consider a move to Ras al Khaimah for work reasons. But if not I think a move back to the Qanat is in sight soon. Home...you can't beat it.
And ohhh it was nice to go back. It feels like home. And it's been a while since I felt that. Staff in the cafe and in the ice cream shop came out and asked after us - asked after Yvonne really since they rarely ask after me ;-)
It's a bad rap really. Sharjah is a civilised place. Modern city, malls, beaches, motorways, traffic jams, tower blocks and all the rest. But it's also got history. More museums than Dubai for everything from Islamic Art to vintage cars. There's an aquarium every bit as good as the one in Dubai Mall but cheaper and quieter.
The corniche is broad and lets out onto the very white sands - coral I imagine - of a clean and large and uncrowded beach. Tropical fish to nibble on your toes abound.
The dhow wharf is very active with new and old boats. Trade goods coming in and out all the time. Not a pallet in sight though there are no donkeys or camels as there were when I first came here over 30 years ago. And so different from the big modern port up the road with its gas and oil rigs under repair.
The mountains are dramatic, awe inspiring and peaceful and they drop you out over by the Indian Ocean. Stunning coastline and a level of peace you don't get on the Gulf Coast. Only Sharjah hits both sides of the peninsula.
So back to the Qanat. An artificial canal joining an artificial lagoon to the natural creek and the Buhairah Corniche. Last year we spent a great day on that Corniche watching the Power Boat racing - for free. The buildings along the canal include terrific restaurants including my favourite Lebanese in the whole of the UAE - Shababeek. And cafes - where else would I work? No need for an office. The big wheel (smaller than London Eye but you get the principle) has a dancing fountain at its foot. But unlike it's bigger brother in Dubai this fountain is full of kids playing among the jets and dancing to the music. And at night it's buzzing like the walk in JBR in Dubai but with NO TRAFFIC!
I live in Ajman now - for financial reasons. I may have to consider a move to Ras al Khaimah for work reasons. But if not I think a move back to the Qanat is in sight soon. Home...you can't beat it.
Moving on; going to Sharjah
Although Dubai in particular is only Muslim in the same rather secular way UK is Christian, Islam has shaped the culture over the centuries. Fatalism is ever present and a vague background reverence to God is always there. There are fervent Muslims here of course, just as there are fervent Christian in UK. But it does not dominate every aspect of daily life as in say KSA or Sharjah where I lived for some time.
After a couple of years I left Habtoor – you can only sit on your arse doing nothing for so long. And I have attempted to become self employed again. I moved out of the company apartment to the neighbouring Emirate of Sharjah.
This is less well known in Europe and has a terrible reputation here. Dubai traffic is horrible but it’s a walk in the park compared to Sharjah where the roads are smaller and the drivers even more badly behaved. But that aside it is in reality a modern developing city and economy more similar to Dubai than most locals will admit.
It’s a fairly strict Muslim country though. This is most obvious in the conservative dress code, no alcohol and the many more mosques, which are well attended. But it doesn’t hurt the quality of life in any way whatever people in Dubai believe.
None of my friends have visited here – we always go to them. It’s like a barrier. Yet we live in an equally multi-cultural friendly society. I have a 22nd floor modern two bed apartment – fully serviced – on the Buhairah Corniche and the Qanat al Qasba which costs me less than an unfurnished, unserviced one bed apartment in a very ordinary location in Dubai – and if it were in the Marina or Business Bay…well I’d have to get a mortage to pay the rent! I have a pool and a gym and unlike Dubai I am a two minute drive (well maybe an hour in the busy periods) from a vast public beach and the bath warm of the Arabian Gulf. For free – which you can’t really do in Dubai any more. On the Qanat are cafés and restaurants galore with free or cheap internet connections. I can spend ½ a day there working with coffee and baklava to hand and then go back in the evening for dinner.
There is no self employed culture here in UAE because labour is so cheap and the laws protecting it are lax. It’s generally cheaper and easier to hire someone for a job and simply get rid of them when it’s over. But this is changing as are the laws governing how a foreigner like me can work. Now I can very cheaply incorporate a Free Zone Company which will give me both a residents visa and a work permit. Having left my employer I had no visa so for the last 2 years I’ve been working round the region for British companies who pay me from UK. And as a British passport holder I can have an endlessly renewable 30- day visit visa.
This has produced some restrictions – I lost my local credit cards for example and I’ve not been able to rent a long term apartment. On the plus side I’ve been paid in sterling and the rates have been very favourable of late (the local currency is pegged to the dollar and that of course has been in the toilet).
We plan to stay for the long haul. Under UAE rules you have to leave the country on retirement. You can’t have a residence visa unless you are working or own a property. So we’ll be buying a property which will allow us to stay indefinitely – albeit renewing our visa every so often.
That’s why earlier I said that 80% of the population is expats. There are no real immigrants because you can’t stay and you can’t get citizenship. I don’t think this is sustainable permanently. There is no commitment to the country from 80% of the populace and it is damaging both society and the economy.
So in the end we are a different kind of expat than most. We would be immigrants if we could. And we’ll stay as long as we can. But one day they may force us to decamp and that will be sad. But it will be to somewhere like Lebanon or Syria or Iraq which by then insha’allah will be more peaceful
After a couple of years I left Habtoor – you can only sit on your arse doing nothing for so long. And I have attempted to become self employed again. I moved out of the company apartment to the neighbouring Emirate of Sharjah.
This is less well known in Europe and has a terrible reputation here. Dubai traffic is horrible but it’s a walk in the park compared to Sharjah where the roads are smaller and the drivers even more badly behaved. But that aside it is in reality a modern developing city and economy more similar to Dubai than most locals will admit.
It’s a fairly strict Muslim country though. This is most obvious in the conservative dress code, no alcohol and the many more mosques, which are well attended. But it doesn’t hurt the quality of life in any way whatever people in Dubai believe.
None of my friends have visited here – we always go to them. It’s like a barrier. Yet we live in an equally multi-cultural friendly society. I have a 22nd floor modern two bed apartment – fully serviced – on the Buhairah Corniche and the Qanat al Qasba which costs me less than an unfurnished, unserviced one bed apartment in a very ordinary location in Dubai – and if it were in the Marina or Business Bay…well I’d have to get a mortage to pay the rent! I have a pool and a gym and unlike Dubai I am a two minute drive (well maybe an hour in the busy periods) from a vast public beach and the bath warm of the Arabian Gulf. For free – which you can’t really do in Dubai any more. On the Qanat are cafés and restaurants galore with free or cheap internet connections. I can spend ½ a day there working with coffee and baklava to hand and then go back in the evening for dinner.
There is no self employed culture here in UAE because labour is so cheap and the laws protecting it are lax. It’s generally cheaper and easier to hire someone for a job and simply get rid of them when it’s over. But this is changing as are the laws governing how a foreigner like me can work. Now I can very cheaply incorporate a Free Zone Company which will give me both a residents visa and a work permit. Having left my employer I had no visa so for the last 2 years I’ve been working round the region for British companies who pay me from UK. And as a British passport holder I can have an endlessly renewable 30- day visit visa.
This has produced some restrictions – I lost my local credit cards for example and I’ve not been able to rent a long term apartment. On the plus side I’ve been paid in sterling and the rates have been very favourable of late (the local currency is pegged to the dollar and that of course has been in the toilet).
We plan to stay for the long haul. Under UAE rules you have to leave the country on retirement. You can’t have a residence visa unless you are working or own a property. So we’ll be buying a property which will allow us to stay indefinitely – albeit renewing our visa every so often.
That’s why earlier I said that 80% of the population is expats. There are no real immigrants because you can’t stay and you can’t get citizenship. I don’t think this is sustainable permanently. There is no commitment to the country from 80% of the populace and it is damaging both society and the economy.
So in the end we are a different kind of expat than most. We would be immigrants if we could. And we’ll stay as long as we can. But one day they may force us to decamp and that will be sad. But it will be to somewhere like Lebanon or Syria or Iraq which by then insha’allah will be more peaceful
Post Crash
The posts up till now are extracted from an article I wrote for a magazine but too long to put here in one piece. But they've set me thinking about how things have changed here in the last 18 months and especially since the more visible crash towards the end of 2009.
Traffic for one. The roadbuilding programme has continued apace. Perhaps somewhat slowed from the mad dash of the bubble years but nonetheless...
Yet at the same time the number of vehicles has noticeably decreased. This is very visible in Dubai where even the rush hour is bearable. Compared to Sharjah for instance it is a positive pleasure to drive in Dubai - free flowing traffic and wide roads. Most of the worst bottlenecks have gone.
The dangerously stupid, selfish, arrogant, unskilled driving hasn't gone though so it remains a frustrating and dangerous experience albeit a much quicker one.
There's a partially open Metro now in Dubai too. It's a boon if you live and work close enough to be able to use it and once the rest is open sometime this year it's usefulness will go up exponentially. Pity about the busses though.
There's plenty of them and they run frequently. But they have typical UAE drivers. Too focussed on speed and no thought for their passengers or other road users. The experience fills you with terror AND makes you feel sick from the weaving and too fast cornering. No fun at all and I know many who've chosen not to use them again - me included. That's a great waste and I'm a big fan of bus travel in cities elsewhere.
Dubai housing is still ridiculously expensive though it has plunged dramatically. It's merely excessive now rather that outrageous. But it is still USD1300/month for a small one bed flat in an outlying area!
There's life in the business world too. At the end of '09 my pipeline was empty. Even of prospects. Now there are prospects, including a really sweet deal that I want to talk about at length if it comes off. But economic activity has returned and you feel it in the atmosphere. One of my Anglo friends is even having to hand off work as he's overloaded. I remember those days. They'll be back more widely soon - though the bubble has burst and Abu Dhabi will see we don't try to recreate it any time soon.
Traffic for one. The roadbuilding programme has continued apace. Perhaps somewhat slowed from the mad dash of the bubble years but nonetheless...
Yet at the same time the number of vehicles has noticeably decreased. This is very visible in Dubai where even the rush hour is bearable. Compared to Sharjah for instance it is a positive pleasure to drive in Dubai - free flowing traffic and wide roads. Most of the worst bottlenecks have gone.
The dangerously stupid, selfish, arrogant, unskilled driving hasn't gone though so it remains a frustrating and dangerous experience albeit a much quicker one.
There's a partially open Metro now in Dubai too. It's a boon if you live and work close enough to be able to use it and once the rest is open sometime this year it's usefulness will go up exponentially. Pity about the busses though.
There's plenty of them and they run frequently. But they have typical UAE drivers. Too focussed on speed and no thought for their passengers or other road users. The experience fills you with terror AND makes you feel sick from the weaving and too fast cornering. No fun at all and I know many who've chosen not to use them again - me included. That's a great waste and I'm a big fan of bus travel in cities elsewhere.
Dubai housing is still ridiculously expensive though it has plunged dramatically. It's merely excessive now rather that outrageous. But it is still USD1300/month for a small one bed flat in an outlying area!
There's life in the business world too. At the end of '09 my pipeline was empty. Even of prospects. Now there are prospects, including a really sweet deal that I want to talk about at length if it comes off. But economic activity has returned and you feel it in the atmosphere. One of my Anglo friends is even having to hand off work as he's overloaded. I remember those days. They'll be back more widely soon - though the bubble has burst and Abu Dhabi will see we don't try to recreate it any time soon.
18 April 2010
Impressions...Three, Society & Clothes
Yvonne, my wife was a little nervous to begin with. Arab countries do not have a great reputation in the West for their acceptance of women in society. Well that may be true in some places – KSA for example – but not here. Although customs vary she can pretty much be herself. Indian and Arab women spend little time with their husbands in public. But that doesn’t mean that a Western woman who wants to sit in a café alone gets bothered or ignored or treated badly. In fact people love to talk – non threatening and very interested. A smile and an invitation to chat always produce great results. And no hassle. And she’ll often go and sit and talk to a group of Emirati women all in Black and be made very welcome.
Emirati Society has changed in the last 35 years since independence. They are much less approachable and friendly than before. It’s much harder to make acquaintance deeply – get beyond the basic social niceties. Consequently I only have a couple of local friends – though that’s a couple more than many Westerners. Perhaps that’s a consequence of being a minority in your own country. Whatever, it’s a change and a sadness. The old style is till there in some of the other Emirates as well as Oman and Bahrain and to some extent in Qatar but it’s gone from Dubai.
But Arabs from elsewhere remain unbelievably inviting. Endlessly curious to learn more about our world- its good bits and its bad bits and endlessly willing to share the same about their world.
A word about the clothes. Emirati men – and some others – wear the Kandoura (dishdasha as it’s called elsewhere) – that’s the white robe we associate with Gulf Arabs in particular. Women wear the black Abaya. This is actually a light coat and underneath is a variety of clothes from jeans and Tshirt to very glamourous long flowing Arabic dresses. The Gutra – the headdress of generally white or checkered cloth – is part of the men’s costume. The ladies wear a Hijab almost invariably though a minority are totally covered.
And a head covering is vital in this climate and even poor labourers on building sites will use a towel or cloth over the head to keep off the sun.
The traditional men’s clothing (I can’t speak for the ladies’) is generally comfortable and cool because it keeps the air flowing and the sun off your head. But it’s hard to drive in and going to the men’s room can be a little daunting. It also helps explain why squat toilets were the norm here.
Oh…and the puddles on the floors in toilets are not unhygienic messes – on the contrary it where people wash down the whole thing for the next user. Honest.
Emirati Society has changed in the last 35 years since independence. They are much less approachable and friendly than before. It’s much harder to make acquaintance deeply – get beyond the basic social niceties. Consequently I only have a couple of local friends – though that’s a couple more than many Westerners. Perhaps that’s a consequence of being a minority in your own country. Whatever, it’s a change and a sadness. The old style is till there in some of the other Emirates as well as Oman and Bahrain and to some extent in Qatar but it’s gone from Dubai.
But Arabs from elsewhere remain unbelievably inviting. Endlessly curious to learn more about our world- its good bits and its bad bits and endlessly willing to share the same about their world.
A word about the clothes. Emirati men – and some others – wear the Kandoura (dishdasha as it’s called elsewhere) – that’s the white robe we associate with Gulf Arabs in particular. Women wear the black Abaya. This is actually a light coat and underneath is a variety of clothes from jeans and Tshirt to very glamourous long flowing Arabic dresses. The Gutra – the headdress of generally white or checkered cloth – is part of the men’s costume. The ladies wear a Hijab almost invariably though a minority are totally covered.
And a head covering is vital in this climate and even poor labourers on building sites will use a towel or cloth over the head to keep off the sun.
The traditional men’s clothing (I can’t speak for the ladies’) is generally comfortable and cool because it keeps the air flowing and the sun off your head. But it’s hard to drive in and going to the men’s room can be a little daunting. It also helps explain why squat toilets were the norm here.
Oh…and the puddles on the floors in toilets are not unhygienic messes – on the contrary it where people wash down the whole thing for the next user. Honest.
Impressions...Two, Food
Daily life in Dubai involves cafes & restaurants and malls – as well as the attractions of the beach and the sun. Our weekend is generally Friday & Saturday though some of the more old fashioned local companies stick to Thursday afternoon and Friday. Friday is like a European Sunday, mostly. Family & friends, eating, drinking and visiting. Saturdays are for shopping and chores.
A huge amount of social life for those of my age group is around bars and restaurants. Good food is incredibly cheap and the choices are endless. Because in practice only hotels have drinks licences the hotels have many more bars and restaurants than a European one would have. Even the Metropolitan where I lived for a long time (4-5 star and a bit run down these days) had a pub, Tex-Mex, Chinese, Indian, Thai-fish market, Italian, Japanese, nightclub and outdoor bar plus snacks at the pool. And a 24/7 coffee shop type restaurant/cafe. Imagine the choices in one of the very big modern places.
Plus streets and malls full of eateries from local fast food (shawarma) to Japanese, dim sum, Lebanese, Georgian, Persian, Russian, German, Macdonalds, Pizza Hut or any other chain you can think of like Dunkin Donuts or Burger King etc, coffee shops from local tea shops with two tables on the pavement to Starbucks and with apparently a preponderance of Canadian ones (Caribou & Second Cup come to mind), shisha bars, French Patisseries and deli sandwiches. The list goes on. But it can be a wonderful experience. And even the tiny backstreet place that we Europeans get so nervous of are scrupulously clean and incredibly friendly.
Most expats miss out on these little places sticking to the hotels and malls. But you really can’t beat a little café with a cup of Turkish coffee and a bunch of elderly Indians who speak better English than I do, endless gossip and a view on a hustling cityscape. It makes all the aggravation of work just disappear.
A huge amount of social life for those of my age group is around bars and restaurants. Good food is incredibly cheap and the choices are endless. Because in practice only hotels have drinks licences the hotels have many more bars and restaurants than a European one would have. Even the Metropolitan where I lived for a long time (4-5 star and a bit run down these days) had a pub, Tex-Mex, Chinese, Indian, Thai-fish market, Italian, Japanese, nightclub and outdoor bar plus snacks at the pool. And a 24/7 coffee shop type restaurant/cafe. Imagine the choices in one of the very big modern places.
Plus streets and malls full of eateries from local fast food (shawarma) to Japanese, dim sum, Lebanese, Georgian, Persian, Russian, German, Macdonalds, Pizza Hut or any other chain you can think of like Dunkin Donuts or Burger King etc, coffee shops from local tea shops with two tables on the pavement to Starbucks and with apparently a preponderance of Canadian ones (Caribou & Second Cup come to mind), shisha bars, French Patisseries and deli sandwiches. The list goes on. But it can be a wonderful experience. And even the tiny backstreet place that we Europeans get so nervous of are scrupulously clean and incredibly friendly.
Most expats miss out on these little places sticking to the hotels and malls. But you really can’t beat a little café with a cup of Turkish coffee and a bunch of elderly Indians who speak better English than I do, endless gossip and a view on a hustling cityscape. It makes all the aggravation of work just disappear.
Driving: legalised murther & mayhem
Driving in the UAE is an incredible experience. There is NO road rage. Even making rude gestures can get you locked up and deported.
So the amazingly selfish arrogant and stupid driving goes publicly largely uncommented on. We kill a lot of people on the roads. The papers put it down to speed but they are wrong. Speed plays a big part but only because people are so utterly selfish about how they drive.
The Mantra is “I must go first, I must go where I want and when I want and before you”. Consequently even a short line at a traffic light becomes a battleground as people push to the front, ignore lanes, constantly change lanes and tailgate.
And the horn…well if you are at traffic lights the first horn goes off at the lights are changing. Makes a New York minute seem like a lifetime.
It’s hard to convey the selfishness in words – or the self-destructiveness. At the most trivial level, people pushing in to the front of queues or making 4 lanes where only 2 exist slows everyone down – including those pushing in! If they but waited carefully even those who push in to the front would get through more quickly.
At the other end is tailgating at 150kph, lights flashing and overtaking on the inside or on the hard shoulder if you’re a bit slow moving over. Or weaving from lane to lane at full speed to get one car further forward. Or driving the wrong way down a one way street because you don’t want to go round the block. Or never looking in your mirrors. Or not stopping at a junction but pulling straight out into fast moving traffic. Or squeezing between two 70 tonne trucks moving at 100kph so you can exit at the last second rather than pulling in behind. Or ALWAYS pulling in front never behind in case it betrays weakness. And it goes on.
I wonder if this is the only country in the world where people won’t let an Ambulance through!
And lastly … you get extra points for exiting the motorway at the last possible second and making a right angled turn across 7 lanes of fast moving traffic. It’s a macho thing.
I’ve not checked the numbers recently but in 2006 we killed people at about 6 times the rate in the UK. And serious injury much much higher rates.
Many of us make jokes about it. But the truth is the driving culture is murderous. Literally. And the country should be deeply ashamed.
So the amazingly selfish arrogant and stupid driving goes publicly largely uncommented on. We kill a lot of people on the roads. The papers put it down to speed but they are wrong. Speed plays a big part but only because people are so utterly selfish about how they drive.
The Mantra is “I must go first, I must go where I want and when I want and before you”. Consequently even a short line at a traffic light becomes a battleground as people push to the front, ignore lanes, constantly change lanes and tailgate.
And the horn…well if you are at traffic lights the first horn goes off at the lights are changing. Makes a New York minute seem like a lifetime.
It’s hard to convey the selfishness in words – or the self-destructiveness. At the most trivial level, people pushing in to the front of queues or making 4 lanes where only 2 exist slows everyone down – including those pushing in! If they but waited carefully even those who push in to the front would get through more quickly.
At the other end is tailgating at 150kph, lights flashing and overtaking on the inside or on the hard shoulder if you’re a bit slow moving over. Or weaving from lane to lane at full speed to get one car further forward. Or driving the wrong way down a one way street because you don’t want to go round the block. Or never looking in your mirrors. Or not stopping at a junction but pulling straight out into fast moving traffic. Or squeezing between two 70 tonne trucks moving at 100kph so you can exit at the last second rather than pulling in behind. Or ALWAYS pulling in front never behind in case it betrays weakness. And it goes on.
I wonder if this is the only country in the world where people won’t let an Ambulance through!
And lastly … you get extra points for exiting the motorway at the last possible second and making a right angled turn across 7 lanes of fast moving traffic. It’s a macho thing.
I’ve not checked the numbers recently but in 2006 we killed people at about 6 times the rate in the UK. And serious injury much much higher rates.
Many of us make jokes about it. But the truth is the driving culture is murderous. Literally. And the country should be deeply ashamed.
Impressions...One
Impressions…one
Life in the UAE is good. The people are friendly, the environment is safe and you are within easy travelling of some great history and geography. With the exception of housing, life is cheap. Indeed even housing is passably cheap if you don’t insist on living in the expat ghettos.
We have a rather odd multi-racial society. Less than 20% of the population is local. The rest are expats of one hue or another. In fact in Dubai only around 10% of the workforce is local and most of them even now work in Government or Government related business. Not many in the Real World.
About 60% of the population is from the Sub-continent making Indian the dominant culture here – not Emirati. Mostly this is a good thing though it falls apart when it comes to driving (think Mumbai but with bigger and faster cars). Racism is rife but visible tension is non-existent. I think this is because everyone is here voluntarily and however unfair the treatment they are better off than at home.
But as a liberal European it galls to see the treatment that is dished out by race. There is a hierarchy with Emiratis at the top, Europeans (well white skinned as it includes Aussies and South Africans for example) next, other Arabs, Filipinos and then Indians. People doing the same job can have a five or six fold difference in salary depending on race. And as for women…well recently I saw a job advert for “Attractive young European female stewardess to accompany Arab Executive around the world on business trips in his executive jet. Must be unmarried.”
Yet as I said you have no tension on the streets – little fighting and insignificant amounts of protest. And every year till the crash more and more people flocking here. The corporate racism seems not to extend much into daily life though this may well be that different ethnic groups tend to stick together. As true for Brits & Germans as it is for Keralans or Nepalis.
You do occasionally get problems caused by cultural differences. Most Indian cultures are quite passive and hate any kind of conflict or confrontation. Arab culture seems to thrive on a kind of friendly confrontation. Put them together sometimes and it can get out of hand. But rarely seriously so - some yelling and hand waving.
Life in the UAE is good. The people are friendly, the environment is safe and you are within easy travelling of some great history and geography. With the exception of housing, life is cheap. Indeed even housing is passably cheap if you don’t insist on living in the expat ghettos.
We have a rather odd multi-racial society. Less than 20% of the population is local. The rest are expats of one hue or another. In fact in Dubai only around 10% of the workforce is local and most of them even now work in Government or Government related business. Not many in the Real World.
About 60% of the population is from the Sub-continent making Indian the dominant culture here – not Emirati. Mostly this is a good thing though it falls apart when it comes to driving (think Mumbai but with bigger and faster cars). Racism is rife but visible tension is non-existent. I think this is because everyone is here voluntarily and however unfair the treatment they are better off than at home.
But as a liberal European it galls to see the treatment that is dished out by race. There is a hierarchy with Emiratis at the top, Europeans (well white skinned as it includes Aussies and South Africans for example) next, other Arabs, Filipinos and then Indians. People doing the same job can have a five or six fold difference in salary depending on race. And as for women…well recently I saw a job advert for “Attractive young European female stewardess to accompany Arab Executive around the world on business trips in his executive jet. Must be unmarried.”
Yet as I said you have no tension on the streets – little fighting and insignificant amounts of protest. And every year till the crash more and more people flocking here. The corporate racism seems not to extend much into daily life though this may well be that different ethnic groups tend to stick together. As true for Brits & Germans as it is for Keralans or Nepalis.
You do occasionally get problems caused by cultural differences. Most Indian cultures are quite passive and hate any kind of conflict or confrontation. Arab culture seems to thrive on a kind of friendly confrontation. Put them together sometimes and it can get out of hand. But rarely seriously so - some yelling and hand waving.
Coming to Dubai Part the Third
Part the Third
I arrived full of enthusiasm for teaching the best of Anglo-American business practice and combining it with the best of Arabic business practice and helping the country build something special. Four years on I know full well it’s not going to happen any time soon.
The way I got my job over here should explain a lot about how business works – the power the patriarch holds and the lack of planning in business.
I bid via an agency for work as an interim manager on a possible IPO. But I didn’t get it because I was deemed too expensive. But a couple of months later one of the Chairman’s flunkies phoned me and said he’d like to offer me a permanent job working for him directly. Pretty flattering when a gazillionaire phones and asks you to come work for him.
So I did. No proper job description or any real idea of what to do. A salary I would have seen as derisory 15 years earlier. But a Vision of what I wanted to try.
Fine by me as I like exciting. But I hadn’t appreciated (I can be very slow sometimes) that is how the whole company is run – on the Chairman’s whim. When I showed up the other members of the Executive team had no idea of who I was or what I was supposed to be doing and although visibly friendly it is not surprising it took me a while to get close to them!
For the first 2 years here we lived an executive expat lifestyle. I occasionally got to ‘substitute’ for the Chairman at events so was treated like royalty at the Dubai World Cup or the Carreras Concert held by DIFC for example.
But I didn’t do much work of substance. Projects would be cut off unfinished or ideas floated and abandoned or you would be sidetracked for some trivial perceived offence or comeback into favour and work 24/7 for two weeks and then drop the whole thing.
The European Expats used to say it was just Trophy Management and that every local bigwig has a cadre of high level Euro-Managers to parade out in public but Heaven forfend if they try to do anything. Hence the huge number of Europeans here of mediocre ability who have been here for ages and have grand titles but do nothing except drink, shop and play golf. It’s a nice lifestyle if your pride can stand it.
Mine couldn’t.
I arrived full of enthusiasm for teaching the best of Anglo-American business practice and combining it with the best of Arabic business practice and helping the country build something special. Four years on I know full well it’s not going to happen any time soon.
The way I got my job over here should explain a lot about how business works – the power the patriarch holds and the lack of planning in business.
I bid via an agency for work as an interim manager on a possible IPO. But I didn’t get it because I was deemed too expensive. But a couple of months later one of the Chairman’s flunkies phoned me and said he’d like to offer me a permanent job working for him directly. Pretty flattering when a gazillionaire phones and asks you to come work for him.
So I did. No proper job description or any real idea of what to do. A salary I would have seen as derisory 15 years earlier. But a Vision of what I wanted to try.
Fine by me as I like exciting. But I hadn’t appreciated (I can be very slow sometimes) that is how the whole company is run – on the Chairman’s whim. When I showed up the other members of the Executive team had no idea of who I was or what I was supposed to be doing and although visibly friendly it is not surprising it took me a while to get close to them!
For the first 2 years here we lived an executive expat lifestyle. I occasionally got to ‘substitute’ for the Chairman at events so was treated like royalty at the Dubai World Cup or the Carreras Concert held by DIFC for example.
But I didn’t do much work of substance. Projects would be cut off unfinished or ideas floated and abandoned or you would be sidetracked for some trivial perceived offence or comeback into favour and work 24/7 for two weeks and then drop the whole thing.
The European Expats used to say it was just Trophy Management and that every local bigwig has a cadre of high level Euro-Managers to parade out in public but Heaven forfend if they try to do anything. Hence the huge number of Europeans here of mediocre ability who have been here for ages and have grand titles but do nothing except drink, shop and play golf. It’s a nice lifestyle if your pride can stand it.
Mine couldn’t.
Coming to Dubai Part the Second
Part the second
Being terribly senior I had lots of help at work for people sorting stuff out for me. Little actual work you understand but lots of help for personal stuff. My first sign of this – and of the country’s approach to labour generally – was the discovery of our Office Boy. Nawaz was a highly intelligent reasonably well educated Pakistani who was making a better living here in Dubai serving me coffee, tea and running errands than he ever could have made back home. What a waste. In an American Corporation he would have been promoted a long time ago since he was obviously smarter and better than many of the senior management of the company. But it doesn’t work like that here and he remains an Office Boy. His is a micro-example of one of the problems as a whole with this country that we are trying to fix but is very deeply ingrained.
Anyway people took care of the paperwork for me and Yvonne. Blood tests taken, visas applied for and given, bank account set up and credit cards arranged, phone & internet, satellite TV, cleaners for the apartment, driver’s licence application – someone arranged it all and I just went where I was led. The only one I did mostly alone and away from my desk was the driver’s licence. Though I had a driver in case I got lost. You can’t trust an executive out alone.
Otherwise people came to me, presented me with papers and stuff eventually happened.
My personal favourite was the curtains and upholstery for the apartment. Most of the hotel’s furniture and thus also the attached apartments’ is made on site by local carpenters. So we got to choose curtain material and upholstery from a huge catalogue and then someone went away and made it. At this time my wife was visiting her family for a couple of days and tidying up loose ends of affairs in the UK. The upholstery people would NOT let me choose the materials deeming it to be my wife’s job. So they made up a full set of temporary stuff in plain beige for me to use till she got back. Then when she chose what she wanted they ripped the old stuff out (we are talking 3 weeks here!) and replaced it.
Being terribly senior I had lots of help at work for people sorting stuff out for me. Little actual work you understand but lots of help for personal stuff. My first sign of this – and of the country’s approach to labour generally – was the discovery of our Office Boy. Nawaz was a highly intelligent reasonably well educated Pakistani who was making a better living here in Dubai serving me coffee, tea and running errands than he ever could have made back home. What a waste. In an American Corporation he would have been promoted a long time ago since he was obviously smarter and better than many of the senior management of the company. But it doesn’t work like that here and he remains an Office Boy. His is a micro-example of one of the problems as a whole with this country that we are trying to fix but is very deeply ingrained.
Anyway people took care of the paperwork for me and Yvonne. Blood tests taken, visas applied for and given, bank account set up and credit cards arranged, phone & internet, satellite TV, cleaners for the apartment, driver’s licence application – someone arranged it all and I just went where I was led. The only one I did mostly alone and away from my desk was the driver’s licence. Though I had a driver in case I got lost. You can’t trust an executive out alone.
Otherwise people came to me, presented me with papers and stuff eventually happened.
My personal favourite was the curtains and upholstery for the apartment. Most of the hotel’s furniture and thus also the attached apartments’ is made on site by local carpenters. So we got to choose curtain material and upholstery from a huge catalogue and then someone went away and made it. At this time my wife was visiting her family for a couple of days and tidying up loose ends of affairs in the UK. The upholstery people would NOT let me choose the materials deeming it to be my wife’s job. So they made up a full set of temporary stuff in plain beige for me to use till she got back. Then when she chose what she wanted they ripped the old stuff out (we are talking 3 weeks here!) and replaced it.
Coming to Dubai Part the First
Part the First:
I moved to UAE 4 years ago in early 2006. I’m 57, married to Yvonne and no kids and I came to Dubai to work for the Chairman and owner of the A Local Family Group and one of the richest men in the country – the world actually.
I was the Group Director of Strategy and Planning, though in this country titles mean little descriptively and lots socially. So I was one of the most senior directors in one of the biggest local companies with a direct line to the Chairman. This gave me huge amounts of kudos and access but precious little actual power to DO anything – perfectly normal in this country.
I pitched up here with my wife having arrived at 0430 in the morning, met by a car and whisked off to the company’s first hotel, which would be my home for a month or so till my apartment would be ready. This would be in a company residence attached to the hotel and right next door to head office. I would be able to walk to work – the whole commute taking 6 minutes including locking the door and waiting for the lift. We were very centrally located on Sheikh Zayed Road – the main drag through the city – at the Metropolitan Hotel, about equidistant from the new Dubai of the Marina area and the old Dubai of the Creek and Bur Dubai. You could walk (in Winter) to the site of the then new Burj Dubai, soon to be the world’s tallest building and now renamed Burj Khalifah. Emirates Mall (big, posh) was about a 5 min drive or 20 Dirham cab ride (less than GBP3) and outside the rush hour 20 minutes would take you to anywhere in the city. The traffic got worse despite the wonderful roads but it remains a small city even allowing for its phenomenal growth. The traffic is different now the recession has burst the economic bubble.
I must say the apartment was something of a disappointment – as were many aspects of what was promised vs what was delivered. It was a decent one-bed apartment. But it was supposed to be a 2 bed so we could have visitors. It started out as fully serviced with full access to all the hotel’s services but after a few months this all fell away. But the worst thing was it looked over the air-con equipment for the hotel and the noise was highly debilitating. Moreover we were right by the English Pub and the Tex-Mex bar which was one of the two best-known haunts of prostitutes in the country – and the most profitable establishment the company owned. The hypocrisy is stunning. This is a Muslim country after all.
And the roaches…building work nearby and poor pest control meant our ‘Executive Apartments’ were infested with roaches that no amount of spraying seemed to be able to eliminate. We knew the roach guy better than the housemaid!
But this was all fixable over time in various ways and we got on with our life in a new country. Which was great fun.
I moved to UAE 4 years ago in early 2006. I’m 57, married to Yvonne and no kids and I came to Dubai to work for the Chairman and owner of the A Local Family Group and one of the richest men in the country – the world actually.
I was the Group Director of Strategy and Planning, though in this country titles mean little descriptively and lots socially. So I was one of the most senior directors in one of the biggest local companies with a direct line to the Chairman. This gave me huge amounts of kudos and access but precious little actual power to DO anything – perfectly normal in this country.
I pitched up here with my wife having arrived at 0430 in the morning, met by a car and whisked off to the company’s first hotel, which would be my home for a month or so till my apartment would be ready. This would be in a company residence attached to the hotel and right next door to head office. I would be able to walk to work – the whole commute taking 6 minutes including locking the door and waiting for the lift. We were very centrally located on Sheikh Zayed Road – the main drag through the city – at the Metropolitan Hotel, about equidistant from the new Dubai of the Marina area and the old Dubai of the Creek and Bur Dubai. You could walk (in Winter) to the site of the then new Burj Dubai, soon to be the world’s tallest building and now renamed Burj Khalifah. Emirates Mall (big, posh) was about a 5 min drive or 20 Dirham cab ride (less than GBP3) and outside the rush hour 20 minutes would take you to anywhere in the city. The traffic got worse despite the wonderful roads but it remains a small city even allowing for its phenomenal growth. The traffic is different now the recession has burst the economic bubble.
I must say the apartment was something of a disappointment – as were many aspects of what was promised vs what was delivered. It was a decent one-bed apartment. But it was supposed to be a 2 bed so we could have visitors. It started out as fully serviced with full access to all the hotel’s services but after a few months this all fell away. But the worst thing was it looked over the air-con equipment for the hotel and the noise was highly debilitating. Moreover we were right by the English Pub and the Tex-Mex bar which was one of the two best-known haunts of prostitutes in the country – and the most profitable establishment the company owned. The hypocrisy is stunning. This is a Muslim country after all.
And the roaches…building work nearby and poor pest control meant our ‘Executive Apartments’ were infested with roaches that no amount of spraying seemed to be able to eliminate. We knew the roach guy better than the housemaid!
But this was all fixable over time in various ways and we got on with our life in a new country. Which was great fun.
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