Bichara has tough act to follow Sawiris at Orascom



Khaled Bichara's first 100 days as the chief executive of Orascom Telecom have reminded him of his formative years founding an internet business in the Web's frontier days. The internet entrepreneur set up Linkdotnet, one of Egypt's first internet service providers, in 1996, and sold it to Orascom three years later. Last November the founder of Orascom, Naguib Sawiris, introduced Mr Bichara as his successor as chief executive. His new challenge, to lead Orascom into a new era where mobile operators make money selling music, banking services and digital media, is one that eluded even the efforts of his accomplished predecessor.

"We all know what needs to come, but the progress has been slow," Mr Sawiris says. "It has been so slow that I had to admit a failure, and the response was removing myself as CEO. I brought a young guy, 38 years old, from the internet world and told him this company needs a new challenge, a new start." For Mr Bichara, the situation is reminiscent of his early years. "I've been used to selling stuff that people initially don't want to buy," he says. "When we started selling dial-up internet in 1996, that was not the easiest thing. Convincing companies to buy websites in 1996 was also not easy."

His early days at Orascom have been largely spent pushing a vision of integrating Web development, mobile internet services, digital publishing and online advertising businesses owned by Orascom. "Khaled's mentality is to leverage on all of us, much more than before," says Fadi Antaki, the chief executive of Arpu+, an Orascom company that specialises in providing value-added services to mobile users. "I am feeling this, we are seeing now that he has a very good road map for the future."

Arpu+ recently struck a deal to provide Morocco's Meditel, the country's second-largest operator, with the technology, content and management tools to offer a mobile entertainment portal to their customers. Connect Ads, Orascom's digital advertising business, signed an agreement to become the Middle East's advertising agent for Facebook, similar to the role it already plays for the MSN Web portal.

Deals like these, Mr Bichara says, may be small compared with the total revenues of an international mobile operator. But as chief executive, he is placing a disproportionate focus on such developments, which he sees as signs of the business moving into the future. "We want this to be a visible part of our revenue in the next two to three years," he says. tgara@thenational.ae

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Dos

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  • Wear a white kandura, white ghutra / shemagh (headwear) and black shoes for work 
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Install an air filter in your home.

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Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
 
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Engine: 77.4kW all-wheel-drive dual motor
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

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Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

TCL INFO

Teams:
Punjabi Legends 
Owners: Inzamam-ul-Haq and Intizar-ul-Haq; Key player: Misbah-ul-Haq
Pakhtoons Owners: Habib Khan and Tajuddin Khan; Key player: Shahid Afridi
Maratha Arabians Owners: Sohail Khan, Ali Tumbi, Parvez Khan; Key player: Virender Sehwag
Bangla Tigers Owners: Shirajuddin Alam, Yasin Choudhary, Neelesh Bhatnager, Anis and Rizwan Sajan; Key player: TBC
Colombo Lions Owners: Sri Lanka Cricket; Key player: TBC
Kerala Kings Owners: Hussain Adam Ali and Shafi Ul Mulk; Key player: Eoin Morgan

Venue Sharjah Cricket Stadium
Format 10 overs per side, matches last for 90 minutes
Timeline October 25: Around 120 players to be entered into a draft, to be held in Dubai; December 21: Matches start; December 24: Finals

Business Insights
  • As per the document, there are six filing options, including choosing to report on a realisation basis and transitional rules for pre-tax period gains or losses. 
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