IFS off to Dubai for Tetra World Congress 2012

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Tetra World Congress 2012

client network generation

client network generation

Tetra Congress

 


It is a pleasure to report that Geostrut will be exhibiting at the TetraWorld Congress in Dubai. The congress takes place on 15-17 May 2012 and will be represented by Tony Burton and John Davy.

Tony is the Geostrut representative in Dubai and the UAE as a whole. Tony has decades of experience on telco installations in the UK and the Middle East. On the stand Tony will be joined by keri Burton and John Davy MD of Geostrut UK (International Facilities and Sourcing Ltd.)

client network generation

John Davy

The TETRA World Congress, a meeting place of the international crisis communications community. TETRA is a standard solution for groups that use private or professional mobile radio or public access mobile radio technology. It is important in the areas of law enforcement and public safety, where fast and accurate field communications to and from a central office or dispatcher are often critical.

Geostrut is well placed to be of use to users of Tetra systems and we are pleased to be able to launch the Geostrut range at this well subscribed and visited show.

If you are going to the show, please drop us a line. It would be great to talk.

 


Round up – The International Facilities and Sourcing Easter term report

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business network generation

John Davy

Want to know what’s going on? This!

It has been and interesting / busy time of year for the International Facilities and sourcing (IFS) team. By team, I on the whole mean John Davy! I am the main driver of the business, with some great support from co-owner Ian Turner and our friends in Saudi Arabia, Jo Otayek and Khaled Fawaz.

business network generation
John Davy & khaled Fawaz Saudi Security show Al Khobar KSA 2012

Since the beginning of the year a number of important developments have occurred. Firstly, in the beginning of January we relocated from Sussex to Norfolk. It might not sound like a lot, but it meant that we were truly independently for the first time in three years, having had a couple of interesting years in the company of TSG

The early year activity for IFS came in the Middle East. A trip was organised to take in several cities in the region, including Dubai Jeddah Riyadh & Cairo. This trip was fascinating, and involved getting face to face with a number of leading companies in the region. By way of example Arabtec, Saudi Bin Laden Group, Mansour Group and Sky Group in Cairo

As a direct result of this visit, some three weeks later, IFS and sister company MEFAS (Middle East Facilities and Sourcing) were invited by the Mansour Group of companies to attend the SSS conference in Al Khobar. On this occasion we were able to introduce a new supply company into the mix, Hesco Bastion.  This has been a great development that would appear to have an great deal of potential.

The results of these combined regional visits are starting to show through, with enquiries and opportunities to bid on projects in the region. In addition we have two potential sub dealers for Geostrut in Burton Trading and Sky Group

And so onto Geostrut

Active operations with Geostrut started in earnest in January 2012, having made an agreement with Geostrut USA to operate on their behalf in the UK, Middle East and other areas. The interest in this brand new carbon fibre technology has been nothing short of remarkable.

business network generation

Geostrut Mast technology

The Geostrut UK  blog came on line this month. It will be updated with product developments and progress reports. It is not often that I have worked with a product that has been so well received as Geostrut has. If 10% of the interest we are getting converts to orders this year, then we will have a fine start to proceedings.

Meetings with companies including Optilan and E-tricity have bought to our attention sizable projects in both the UK, and Africa. Keith Bryce at Optilan has been particularly helpful in pointing me in the right direction to speak with other interested parties. One of these was Tony Burton who is resident in Dubai. Tony has a world of experience in telecommunications and has been very enthusiastic in his approach.  We look forward to making progress in the region with Tony’s company in the coming months and will be attending the Tetra Telecom world conference in May to further this aim

BizNetworkGuy

The third area of development for IFS, is building our online presence. This works on a number of levels. You are clearly reading this update on the IFS blog. We also have a previously mentioned new site for GeoStrut. I also have the online vehicle that is BizNetworkGuy.

BizNetworkGuy is a content driven blog. In reality, it is the model for how I live my life, and certainly my method of working. I grow my business by operating practices of networking and what can be described as a consultative sales approach. The main aim is to build and maintain relationships. I adhere to the idea that people buy from people, and that relationships are the critical factor to making this work.

business network generation

Meeting Chris Borgan at Social Media world Forum (London)

In previous times I have worked in industries that operate in a different way, such as automotive and financial services. On occasions, they use selling techniques that back people into a corner they can’t get out of. In my view this generally leaves your customer with a bad taste in the mouth.

There is a massive difference between someone buying into an idea rather than being sold the same idea. It is all a matter of satisfaction and then the likelihood to repeat. If they buy, the chances of return and repeat are far greater.

BizNetworkGuy gives help and advice on how to be a better networker. The blog has articles that are hopefully entertaining and that have a point. We are working on Podcasts and other multimedia content. We review “tools and apps” that can help you out in day to day business.

My stated aim is to have 10,000 subscribers to BizNetworkGuy. I will be looking into opportunities for public speaking engagements on networking, and also have enquires to do blog development work for other business.

In the last year I have gained great experience with regard to understanding the connection between human networking and business operating on the digital platforms. The theories of the thank you economy and rise of social media can be ignored at your peril. Our aim is to help people understand and adopt the systems that will help them keep up, and make the best of this fast developing world.

Please come and take a look at the Biznetworkguy blog. If you enjoy it you can sign up to a weekly update mail.

Thanks for reading  JD


MEFAS Middle East visit

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I would like to give you a quick review of the last few weeks; and a hint of what is to come.

Since I last posted I have been to the Middle East and back and as of tomorrow night the 1st March I am once again heading out to the GCC region to take part in SSS Arabia, a security industry trade show being held in Al Khobar.  This show has a number of high profile exhibitors and includes representatives of a number of Government security and defence organisations.

The best part of this new visit is that it is as a direct result of invitation from one of the companies we visited on the last trip to Riyadh.

Also during the trip we were lucky enough to have Jeff Burke from ES Global and Phil Woodman from Modular and Volumetric join us at different points on the journey. All were received well with Jeff meeting up with Arabtec, Saudi Bin Laden and Sela Sport. Feedback has been great and two live jobs are now under consideration.

middle east facilities and sourcing ltd

Saudi Bin Laden Projects include the huge development at Makkah

Phil came to Cairo meeting up with Deyar Construction for two days of site visits and useful discussion. The sheer scale of Cairo is difficult to take in and our visit came at a time of distinct unrest. However we were once again very well received and extremely well looked after for the duration of the visit.

middle east facilities and sourcing ltd

One of the great places to visit in the worlld - Pyramids @ Giza

Egypt has a stated aim to construct 700,000 units of accommodation each year. Currently and in part due to the political and social situation they are falling well short. The ethos and objectives of M & V will fit well and should really be a great part of the solution in days to come

Also in the last few weeks Geostrut has taken some great strides both in the UK and the Middle East. Craig Barker CEO of Geostrut USA joined me in Egypt to meet up with a couple of Local prospective dealers. In the event we found some great people to work with at SkyGoup, Cairo and we look forward to moving ahead shortly.

Back in the UK I have hooked up with an old acquaintance in Simon Gillett. Simon is probably best known for his time as owner of Donnington Park Raceway with a contract to stage the F 1 race for the next 15 years. Ultimately it was not to be and Simon has moved on to other business interests.

We have found some common ground on a number of projects that Simon is working on and International Facilities and sourcing will be working to support some of the upcoming projects. One of these a Street lighting contract in Ghana is of possible benefit to GeoStrut to create the lamp posts. Solar powered arrays will charge on board batteries providing street lighting for all whilst not impacting on the countries National Grid. Great project, hope it takes off.

International business Consultancy

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I read this article on  Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia and decided to share it as it presents some great defintitions and advice

International business is a term used to collectively describe all commercial transactions (private and governmental, sales, investments, logistics,and transportation) that take place between two or more regions, countries and nations beyond their political boundary. Usually, private companies undertake such transactions for profit; governments undertake them for profit and for political reasons. It refers to all those business activities which involves cross border transactions of goods, services, resources between two or more nations. Transaction of economic resources include capital, skills, people etc. for international production of physical goods and services such as finance, banking, insurance, construction etc..

A multinational enterprise (MNE) is a company that has a worldwide approach to markets and production or one with operations in more than a country. An MNE is often called multinational corporation (MNC) or transnational company (TNC). Well known MNCs include fast food companies such as McDonald’s and Yum Brands, vehicle manufacturers such as General Motors, Ford Motor Company and Toyota, consumer electronics companies like Samsung, LG and Sony, and energy companies such as ExxonMobil, Shell and BP. Most of the largest corporations operate in multiple national markets.

Areas of study within this topic include differences in legal systems, political systems, economic policy, language, accounting standards, labor standards, living standards, environmental standards, local culture, corporate culture, foreign exchange market, tariffs, import and export regulations, trade agreements, climate, education and many more topics. Each of these factors requires significant changes in how individual business units operate from one country to the next.

The conduct of international operations depends on companies’ objectives and the means with which they carry them out. The operations affect and are affected by the physical and societal factors and the competitive environment.

Operations

  • Objectives: sales expansion, resource acquisition, risk minimization

Means

  • Modes: importing and exporting, tourism and transportation, licensing and franchising, turnkey operations, management contracts, direct investment and portfolio investments.
  • Functions: marketing, global manufacturing and supply chain management, accounting, finance, human resources
  • Overlaying alternatives: choice of countries, organization and control mechanisms

Physical and societal factors

  • Political policies and legal practices
  • Cultural factors
  • Economic forces
  • Geographical influences

Competitive factors

  • Major advantage in price, marketing, innovation, or other factors.
  • Number and comparative capabilities of competitors
  • Competitive differences by country
  • Local taxes

There has been growth in globalization in recent decades due to the following eight factors:

  • Technology is expanding, especially in transportation and communications.
  • Governments are removing international business restrictions.
  • Institutions provide services to ease the conduct of international business.
  • Consumers know about and want foreign goods and services.
  • Competition has become more global.
  • Political relationships have improved among some major economic powers.
  • Countries cooperate more on transnational issues.
  • Cross-national cooperation and agreements.

Studying international business is important because:

  • Most companies are either international or compete with international companies.
  • Modes of operation may differ from those used domestically.
  • The best way of conducting business may differ by country.
  • An understanding helps you make better career decisions.
  • An understanding helps you decide what governmental policies to support.

Managers in international business must understand social science disciplines and how they affect all functional business fields.

Tom Travis, the managing partner of Sandler, Travis & Rosenberg, PA. and international trade and customs consultant, uses the Six Tenets when giving advice on how to globalize one’s business. The Six Tenets are as follows:

  1. Take advantage of trade agreements: think outside the border
    • Familiarize yourself with preference programs and trade agreements.
    • Read the fine print.
    • Participate in the process.
    • Seize opportunities when they arise.
  2. Protect your brand at all costs
    • You and your brand are inseparable.
    • You must be vigilant in protecting your intellectual property both at home and abroad.
    • You must be vigilant in enforcing your IP rights.
    • Protect your worldwide reputation by strict adherence to labor and human rights standards.
  3. Maintain high ethical standards
    • Strong ethics translate into good business.
    • Forge ethical strategic partnerships.
    • Understand corporate accountability laws.
    • Become involved with the international business self-regulation movement.
    • Develop compliance protocols for import and export operations.
    • Memorialize your company’s code of ethics and compliance practices in writing.
    • Appoint a leader.
  4. Stay secure in an insecure world
    • Security requires transparency throughout the supply chain.
    • Participate in trade-government partnerships.
    • Make the most of new security measures.
    • Secure your data.
    • Keep your personnel secure.
  5. Expect the Unexpected
    • The unexpected will happen.
    • Do your research now.
    • Address your particular circumstances.
  6. All global business is personal
    • Go to the source.
    • Keep communications open.
    • Keep the home office operational.
    • Fly the flag at your overseas locations.
    • Relate to offshore associates on a personal level.
    • Be available to overseas clients and customers 24/7.

According to C.K. Prahalad & S. Hart,2002, The fortune at the bottom of the pyramid, Strategy & Business, 26: 54-67, and (2) S.Hart, 2005, Capitalism at the Crossroads (p. 111), Philadelphia: Wharton School Publishing.

Top Tier: Per capita GDP/GNI > $20,000 Approximately one billion people

Second Tier: Per capita GDP/GNI $2,000-$20,000 Approximately one billion people

Base of the Pyramid Per capita GDP/GNI < $2,000 Approximately four billion people

Notes

  1. ^ Daniels, J., Radebaugh, L., Sullivan, D. (2007). International Business: environment and operations, 11th edition. Prentice Hall. ISBN 0131869426
  2. ^ Joshi, Rakesh Mohan, (2009) International Business, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0195689097
  3. ^ Travis, T. (2007). Doing Business Anywhere: The Essential Guide to Going Global. Hoboken: John Wiley&Sons. ISBN 978-0-471-97317-1

See also

  • International Masters of Business Administration
  • International trade
  • Emerging Markets
  • World economy
  • 3G (countries)

External links

  • US Chamber of Commerce The world’s largest business federation representing more than three million businesses and organizations
  • The International Trade Centre ITC is the joint agency of the World Trade Organization and the United Nations
  • The U.S. Government’s export promotion and finance portal A government resource for U.S. exporters
  • UK Trade & Investment A government resource for UK exporters
  • globalEDGE Knowledge web-portal that connects international business professionals worldwide

The Road to Riyadh..

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IFS & MEFAS vist Dubai, Saudi Arabia and Egypt

 

International Facilities and Sourcing is about to hit the
road on a trip that will take in Dubai (UAE), the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and
Egypt. The purpose of the trip is to develop further the network of companies
that are aware of the service and product deliverables IFS has to offer.
Working in conjunction with our sister company MEFAS we will be visiting
companies such as Arabtec and Saudi Bin Laden Group in the coming days.

The exciting programme has been developed by John Davy,
Khaled Fawaz and Jo Otayek over the last 6 weeks. During the visit we will be
accompanied by UK and US support companies providing specialist services and
solutions to enhance various projects in the MENA Region.

From the UK we will be joined by Jeff Burke of ES Global who
will be demonstrating the versatility of temporary structures in a range of
applications. ESG are supported by TSG decks and modular structure systems The interest
in ES Global’s capacities is born out of the massive expansion of airport
facilities in Saudi Arabia. The need to keep high quality facilities in place
during the new build and development phase gives a real boost to construction
companies in the region also gives them an edge as the airport operations go on
whilst construction progresses.


business network generation


Phil Woodman of Modular and Volumetric brings an exciting
solution to quick build housing. The system can be used for anything form low
cost housing through to high value property for wealthy clients. Offices or tower
apartments can also fit the remit. M & V use offsite build techniques to
supply to site Modular construction units that can be quickly assembled in situ
on site. M & V is a serious option for the massive building programme that
is being put in place in both Saudi and Egypt in the coming years. Amazingly
for a very low investment M & V can off site construct up to 3 houses in a
day. Scale up the investment and you can increase the supply rate massively.

business network generation

Craig Barker is flying in from the USA to represent ACTR
Geostrut in a number of meetings set up to promote and introduce GeoStrut masts
into the MENA Region. This ground breaking technology reduces the mast weight
of against competitors by up to 90%. The carbon fibre lattice element of a 30 m
monopole weighs less than 300kgs

business network generation

With Three foreign representatives on the visit and many
other partner companies in our portfolio. MEFAS and International Facilities
and Sourcing are excited and honoured to be able to stage this supportive visit
in Q1 of 2012. Please come back for updates during the visit which will be
regularly posted.


 

  • International Sourcing Center-Taiwantrade – Business Information. Links: Autoparts & Accessories Industry · Bicycle Industry ·
  • Laura Elrick and Rodrigo Toscano – kenning editions – Dating from the late sixties, Hannah Weiner’s Code Poems are widely recognized as among the earliest attempts to explore poetry as code and code as poetry (an interest she shared with Jackson MacLow, though apparently neither was aware of the other’s experiments at the time). Weiner’s book uses the International Code of Signals for the Use of All Nations (a visual system for communication between ships at sea), which consists of strings of letters that signify longer phrases that would be commonly used in communications between naval vessels at sea. In November 2007, Laura Elrick, Rodrigo Toscano and Kaplan Harris performed a version of Weiner’s Romeo and Juliet (originally published in Code Poems ) at St.

 

 

WORK THIS ONE OUT…..

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10 times the strength of Steel,10% of the weight and 50%
less foundations to build it

International Facilities and Sourcing Ltd are pleased to be
associated with ACTR (the manufacturers of Geostrut) in the UK, Europe and
Middle East. Working closely in conjunction with ACTR and our partner company
Entire Network solutions PTY in Australia we are excited at the prospect of
launching this new and exciting technology in 2012.

international partnershipsinternational partnerships

Geostrut

Geostrut towers present some interesting facts when comparing
with traditionally built steel or concrete monopoles. Taking the steel option as a direct comparison, the fact is they are costly to manufacture and somewhat arduous to construct. Steel installation needs significant transport, plant and heavy lift capacity.This directly increases the labour needed in the construction phase.

Geostrut is manufactured out of carbon fibre in a lattice design.  Immediately this gives Geostrut a 50% reduction in wind load when compared with solid surface mono poles.
Consequently the foundations required to install Geostrut can be as little as
40% of that required for the steel or concrete option. At the same time a
Geostrut pole has greater tensile strength and can carry a heavier antenna
loading.

Environmental impact

Geostrut Carbon fibre raw material is readily available and
does not bring with it any negative impact on the environment around it.

Geostrut eliminates the need for hot dip Galvanising.

In the installation phase the much reduced logistical footprint
and transport requirement adds to the environmental benefit that Geostrut
provides.

Temperature Extremes

Geostrut sits comfortably in just about any extreme of
temperature. Weather conditions and temperature have no impact on the tensile
strength of Geostrut. It should not go unnoticed that the NASA space programme
uses carbon fibre in space craft for this reason as have the development of F1
sports cars and the F35 Stealth Fighter  

international partnerships

Rigidity and Design opportunities

Geostrut is minimally elastic when compared with stainless steel,
mild steel, aluminium, fibre glass or wood. To get the same density in steel it
would require 5 x as much raw material to achieve the same levels.

The light weight attributes of carbon fibre means that new
designs are constantly being considered and developed for new applications. ACTR
are leaders of this drive forward and will continue to release new systems are
we progress forward

Current design applications include wind turbines, utility
poles for telephone or street lighting, frames for buildings, platform
supports, motorway barrier systems, fence posts and flag poles.

With all the above applications Geostrut creates a combination
of lower density with higher tensile strength. Consequently you can apply a higher
loading on a support system that is reduced by 90% in overall weight.

international partnershipsinternational partnerships

Wind Turbine Comparison

30 Metre Wind Turbine – Article by Mike Kipp, Erich Wilson PhD and Leslie Derrig.

Take a 30 metre tower made of steel with a 90cm diameter
that is subjected to a 100mph wind. The lattice design for Geostrut immediately
means you have 50% less drag and therefore a 50% reduction in wind loading on
the tower. Foundations once again will be smaller, albeit driven by the
specific design and local conditions.

The steel version for this application is estimated to be
around the 2500kg mark. The Geostrut components would be weighing in at 500Kg
to meet the same criteria. Once you include the steel baseplates and connection
joiners the entire structure would be less than 1000kg. Add to that the single
truck required compared to about 16 for steel and an estimated 26 trucks for
concrete; then we can see where some economies
are coming through

To get a 30m pole up you need only the lightest weight
crane.  Once again with the steel or concrete option you could be looking at up to 200T crane capacity along with the associated need for access Trakway etc.Ground works are less, labour and  plant requirements are reduced. Geostrut adds up to a great option in just about all areas

So how far can we go?

Designs are in place for guyed towers up to 90m in height
and 3-4 leg towers that can be as high as 120 metres. Geostrut is now available
in the UK, Europe and the Middle East. We would be really pleased to hear from
anyone who might have an interest and will communicate further developments as
they occur. If you wish to get in touch please drop me a line on john.davy@mefas.co.uk or call my mobile number on +44 7798 567041

John Davy

international partnerships  international partnerships

PO Box 126, Monmouth, NP25 9BB

www.mefas.co.uk

www.internationalfacilitiesandsourcing.com

 

The MEFAS Connection

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IFS/ MEFAS – The core business

IFS are a 30% owner of MEFAS a sister company that is incorporated in the UK and operates in both UK & KSA. 70% of MEFAS is owned by Istabraq, the trading arm of a well positioned Saudi Arabian Family. Headed up by Jo Otayek the company concentrates on bi-lateral trade links between the UK and Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

middle east facilities and sourcing ltd (MEFAS KSA CEO Jo Otayek right)

Another key member of the MEFAS Team  Khaled Al Fawaz (Operations/ Sales KSA). John Davy acts as the UK CEO for MEFAS interests in UK and Europe.

MEFAS was born of a small acorn. I first spoke with Jo in early 2007 whilst working with an event supply company. Jo had an interest in the Race of Champions series and was looking into the possibility of staging and event in the Kingdom. We met up in October 2007 and discussed the possibility of working together in areas of linked interest. Over the years we have met up a number of times in the UK and in Saudi Arabia. The support of our Saudi partners for ambitions of MEFAS has been a great assistance in all of our operations.

MEFAS has supported Istabraq with service and product acquisition and has exported a range of products from Motor parts to Race car transporters for Saudi Racing teams.

MEFAS and IFS are a interlinked organisation with the same aspirations and interests. There is a constant flow of information and details to further our aims in the UK and the Middle East.  Research projects are undertaken with a view to introducing companies that can be of use in the MENA region. The Istabraq portfolio includes Farming, Motor dealerships, Petrochemical interests, Farming, Defence, Marine security and intelligence services.

MEFAS and IFS support the requirements by bringing forward companies that can supply into the home land security and defence markets along with event overlay, construction and Motorsport infrastructure

The future for MEFAS looks bright with the introduction of Geostrut mast s looking to make an impact in the region. IFS MD John Davy will be visiting the KSA in early February 20112. The mission will include meetings with Government Departments, Major construction companies and event management companies. The Telecoms companies too. Products and services will be demonstrated MEFAS capacity to deliver including defence, homeland Security, temporary buildings, modular and volumetric construction and Telecoms infrastructure.

  • First Direct Lab: How First Direct are bringing crowdsourcing into UK … – In August, First Direct re-emphasised their position as the UK’s most social bank by launching the first crowdsourcing platform to hit the UK financial sector. First Direct have long been the UK’s most advanced bank when it comes to social media. Initiatives such as Little Black Book’ and its online forum Talking Point’ have established its reputation for embracing everything that the web has to offer in terms of customer engagement.
  • Exchange of Ideas | Department of Management Studies, IIT Delhi – It was a truly international experience having students from Fukushima University come to Department of Management Studies, IIT Delhi on their Industrial tour to India. The students of Economics from the University visited DMS, IIT Delhi to learn about Bottom of Pyramid concept in India and how it can catalyse business collaboration between India and Japan. The students were also keen to know some innovative business models implemented in India at the bottom of the pyramid.

Recession is not in the mind-set of Saudi Arabia

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KSA charges ahead with a massive investment programme

If you think too hard about the numbers I assure you that you will throw a piston at some point..

$100 billion development to create 16 nuclear power stations

£3 billion on Solar panels

$66 billion on home construction (500,000 homes) growing to SR384 billion by 2020!

And then twe can start to think about Airports!

Government Statements

To just give a sense of the variety and number of major construction projects currently in place and future planned you only have to look at recent statements made by the Saudi Government Commerce and Industry Minister Abdullah Zainal Alirez recently announced that the Kingdom will become very active in developing solar and other renewable energy technologies to reduce dependence on oil and gas. A number of $3 billion to produce solar energy panels is currently attached to the project

“The present five-year plan aims to achieve a private sector growth of 6%,” he said, adding the private sector would become a major driving force for the Kingdom’s economy. Saudi imports from the US are expected to cross $95 billion or 23% of the total US exports to Arab countries by 2012. This amount is expected to double by 2015. “We are now focusing on value-added products such as plastics and petrochemicals,” he said. There are about 80 new petrochemical projects in the Kingdom, which would be completed by 2015. He described the Kingdom’s housing sector as one of the largest in the Middle East, adding that $66 billion would be invested to construct 500,000 new homes.

Of interest to foreign investors will be the recently suggested possibility that Saudi Arabia is expected to make a limited expansion of its stock market thereby allowing direct foreign ownership to investors with at least $5 billion under management. The Kingdom, has also been considering opening up its stock market for several years. It is expected that the Government will shortly be taking a step in that direction. The imposed limit on the stakeholders will also allow each to hold a maximum 5 %of a stock’s issued share capital.

middle east facilities and sourcing ltd

Real Estate

The real estate sector is set to become one of the main attractions for investments. According to the Kingdom’s Ninth Development Plan, the real estate sector is expected to grow by an annual rate of 7% until 2014. All indicators showed that investments in the real estate sector will exceed SR82 billion in the next 3 years, with expectations for investments in building new properties to grow to SR484 billion by 2020

Lowering inflation rate

A useful addition to the growth being generated is the downward path of Saudi Arabia’s inflation rate. It is likely to drop next year to around 4.5%from around 6% by end of 2011, Moody’s Investor Service said in a study.

Airports Airports Airports!

middle east facilities and sourcing ltd

The Jeddah and Madinah airports are the subject of a combined $20bn facelift up to 2020. By 2014, the first expansion phases should be complete to handle up to 30 million and eight million passengers per year, respectively. A $7.2bn development expansion of King Abdulaziz International Airport (KAIA) in Jeddah will raise the airport’s annual capacity to 30 million passengers.

Also there are a further 26 domestic airports in Saudi Arabia and four international airports. The General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) plans to expand and build 28 new airports in the next 20 years. Already plans are underway to spend between $10bn to $15bn on building, developing and upgrading airports by 2020, in co-operation with private investors.

Jeddah airport (new image above) is being designed to accommodate the world’s largest aircraft, including A380s and increase the airport’s annual capacity to 80 million passengers a year by 2035. They also plan to revamp the Madinah airport increasing passenger handling capacity to 14 million a year. This project could cost a total of $2.4bn to develop. It will be the first airport project to be developed on a public-private partnership basis. Abha Airport project involves a massive expansion which envisages five million passengers per annum. The construction will start in 2012. Expansion of Qurayyat airport, on the Saudi Jordanian border, will also be completed end of 2012. King Khaled International Airport in Riyadh is due for expansion aimed at increasing the airport’s annual capacity from 14 to 25 million passengers.

GACA is overhauling several domestic airports, at a cost of US$80 million. Saudi’s three main international airports in Jeddah, Riyadh, and Dammam are planned to be turned into ‘airport cities’.

(Sources from AmeInfo/Zawya 2011)

John Davy can be contacted on john.davy@mefas.co.uk

 

The Stars are lining up tonight

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“The Story of Tom Andrews & Salt Lake City”


So let’s introduce the man known as Tom Andrews. International Facilities and Sourcing are closely linked with Tom’s company Entire Network Solutions Pty based in Queensland Australia. I first met Tom a few years ago when working with Eve Trakway, a temporary Road company.    I would like to use Tom as an example of what the IFS ethos all about. The relationship started when Tom came over to take a look at the Eve operation and see if it would convert over to working in Australia. The principle was good and there was no reason that this could not be turned into a success. There was even a potential contract in place with Australian Railways that would kick start the project straight away. A lot of work got done that in the end was to come to no end.The downfall came as a result of internal politics within Australian rail and nothing to do with the enthusiasm of the players concerned to get the project working.

strategic business development                                          strategic business development

John Davy & Tom Andrews

There then followed a period of three years when other items were tried and pushed forward, that once again for various reasons were unable to get going. The relationship though remained strong with a determination on both sides to do something at some time. It was not a matter of living in one another’s pockets, more a case of the odd gentle tap on the shoulder to keep in touch and aware of each other’s surrounding’s. Always in mind was to seek the opportunity that would bond the arrangement. In 2010 Tom came across an interesting new technology that fitted with his core industry of telecoms infrastructure and installations. A new system called Geostrut was emerging from US Company ACTR. Tom made some enquiries and began a testing programme with ACTR dealing with Craig Barker. Tom and Craig worked with a view to launching the system in Australia and Asia.

Geostrut

The Geostrut system is a carbon fibre mast construction that competes head on with current monopoles standardly made from Steel or Concrete. Just one of the advantages Geostrut has against competitive systems is the logistical saving on costs of install. A 6m section of Geostrut can be lifted by a single man, which clearly would be impossible in Concrete or Steel. It does not take too much imagination to realise the reduction in transport and plant required to put the Geostrut masts in place. Tom believes it offers up to a 90% saving against traditional methods.

strategic business development

IFS IanTurner with a piece of Geostrut

Was Geostrut to be the acorn from which the Oak tree might grow? Our conversations began to address Geostrut at the end of 2010, but the timing and circumstances we not right for IFS in the UK. A year later on the situation has changed. Life is like that you will understand! The Acorn is indeed now a sapling. More details will follow soon on this exciting new project that will bring together IFS in the UK, MEFAS in the Middle East, Entire Network Solutions Australia and most importantly ACTR the manufacturer of the GeoStrut Carbon fibre Mast System I think this is a great example of what International Facilities and Sourcing is all about. We make connections and try to understand the full value of the people we work with. We are patient, but active at the same time. We always keep in touch and communicate. The aim is always to make the best of the opportunity as and when it arises. It may not be the first possible option, but we will stay with it until we either find it or agree with our partners to take another course. Keeping in touch…. It’s what it’s all about John.davy@mefas.co.uk

 

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Tablet owners will define the future of spending

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Tablets taking off

I read an article this morning on and Mashable Tech and immediately thought I would share it. The article has a great little info-graphic and gives some startling and positive news about the likely increase in online spending generated by users of Tablets.


Online marketing and affiliate sales systems are certainly going to benefit if these predictions come good. More and more people will be entering the internet marketing environment in coming years to get some part of that expected $31 billion US spend expected by 2016.

See below or visit Mashable Tech


business network generation

IFS and others have been and will continue to focus on this sector. I would gladly respond to any feedback or ideas on this subject