Amor Ben Dhia
Chairman & CEO, Cellempower
Cellempower has been in Dubai for eight years, and it was one of the first companies to launch value-added services and educate clients and consumers that mobile devices are great for content, applications, information, and entertainment. While doing this, we had to partner with many companies of different sizes, either on the content and application, or the technology and platform side, transferring knowledge and know-how. A few set up their regional operations thanks to the positive business environment in Dubai. This is an indirect contribution to IT and the development of the sector. We also try to evangelize and promote IT and telecommunications, while our turnover and sales realized in Dubai and the UAE make a tangible contribution. Being a small company, our average sales for the past two years were around $2.5 million. In short, I hope Dubai recognizes the valuable strategy of embracing ICT, and of becoming the future hub for ICT across the region.
Sharad Agarwal
CEO, Cyber Gear
Cyber Gear started in February of 1996, meaning that having been in business for 17 years; we are as old as the internet itself. Our business is designing websites, intranets, and knowledge portals. We work extensively with the government, as well as with several multinationals and best-of-breed organizations in the region. We conduct internet marketing campaigns that help our clients’ brand building activities online, and essentially all aspects of that medium are within our portfolio. Cyber Gear has worked with Duty Free, British Airways, FedEx, Hyatt Hotels and Resorts, as well as Total, and many other multinationals. We are currently developing a knowledge portal for the healthcare industry and are working with leading hospitals in the region. The unique thing about Cyber Gear as an SME is that we have never canvassed for business, but grown purely through referrals. One happy camper brings another, and that is how we have grown into of the largest internet services companies in the region.
Praveen Thawani
Director, Praveen Thawani
We are referred to as a “gold partner.” For the past five years, we have been nominated for the Partner of the Year Award. Achieving that kind of performance level in itself is a great thing. The way we differentiate ourselves is in the partnerships that we develop with our vendors. It is not a case of the vendor providing opportunities to the partner, but actually the other way around. We are so taken with the market that we have account management and service delivery layers. Partners do not invest much in these account management profiles, which are getting closer to the customer. Therefore, we identify more opportunities for our vendors as opposed to vendors providing opportunities for us. Our alignment with industry trends is also significant. Considering the industry trends today regarding cloud computing, people have concerns about security, mobility, and unified communication. Having identified these areas, if a company does not provide a solution for my customer, then there is a need for me to create an alliance with another company that does provide a more complete alternative. We take these propositions and value-added to Microsoft vendors, which value our service.
Omran Yousef
Managing Partner & CEO, HiPHONE Telecom
The Dubai SME100 sought to identify Dubai’s top SMEs that are role models the Emirate could be proud of. Beginning with only one retail store in 1994, today we are proud to say that we have grown into a multi-million-dirham company. Out of the 75,000 participants, not only were we ranked 51st, but we were also awarded the Best Retailer of the Year 2010 by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum. Subsequently, we were the only telecoms organization to be ranked in the top 100. Within a year, we were also recognized at the SME Arabia 500, which took place in Turkey. The following year, HiPHONE Telecom was ranked 4th in the SME Arabia 500 (UAE). These rankings were based on 2009-2011 turnovers. Today, we are located at every distinguished mall in the country. Through hard work, we have created a brand image and identity that differentiates us from our competition. We eventually decided to create our own brand, iSafe. The iSafe brand launched mobile products such as covers, chargeable handy battery cover devices, and other accessories.
Hazim Al-Hajjaj
Managing Director, Powermatic
We are targeting to promote and establish an electronic products manufacturing industry in the region using the A-Z philosophy. Despite the challenges that this industry faces, we are confident that, with the support of the government, we will be successful in establishing a cluster for this industry capable of exporting the technology developed in Dubai, and providing technical know-how to countries to set up production facilities. We are also targeting to overcome the limited volume of high tech equipment in this region, such as the SMT machines we have in Belgium. There is currently no support for such high tech equipment here in Dubai, which is one of the main difficulties that other talented people face when trying to establish this type of industry in the region. Throughout 2013, we are targeting to receive greater support from financial institutions in support of our plan to increase production and hire more senior staff for the business operation. There is demand, but at the same time limited production space. It is very expensive to operate in Jebel Ali, although being based in Dubai is certainly better and cheaper in terms of being a trading hub. Here we have people, neighbors, and technical staff, and are close to many markets, although we lack a solid infrastructure for this industry. We expect to grow by at least 100% over 2013, as long as everything goes to plan.
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