DESERT BLOOM: Turmoil aside, the Middle East has also become a land of opportunity
Jeffrey Khoriaty, a 35-year-old American, feels he lives in one of the safest cities on Earth. “I'll leave my BMW running in the parking lot,” he says. “Crime is negligible. And security at the airport is very high.”
Not exactly what Westerners expect to hear about the war-torn Middle East. But that's Khoriaty's base: Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates. Another big surprise: There's considerable opportunity for MBAs like Khoriaty, a Microsoft regional program manager.
“I know so many MBA graduates who have landed jobs in the region,” says Khoriaty. “All the multinationals are here: HP, Dell, Compaq, Unilever.” Turns out, despite current conditions, Americans still want to market goods and services in the Middle East, says Gillian Rice, a Thunderbird associate marketing professor. And people there still want to buy them.
Most multinationals have at least a sales and marketing presence in Middle Eastern countries and some industries—fast food, soft drinks, and pharmaceuticals—have full-fledged operations. In Egypt and Dubai, “there has been a growth in consumer sophistication” says Alan Gillespie, chairman non-executive of Ireland's Ulster Bank and an expert in emerging markets. Take soft drinks. Despite a well-documented backlash against Western products, Arabs still crave an American soda.
For some sectors—like asset management—political turmoil can be part blessing. “With the focus on war and terrorism, investments are leaving the region,” says Martin Zonis, former director of the University of Chicago's Center for Middle Eastern Studies. “Helping Middle Easterners get their money out is probably good business for the time being.”
Then there's the import-export sector. “Morocco and Tunisia have fledgling market economies with free access to the European Union,” says Zonis. “Abu Dhabi has a free trade zone with high quality factories manufacturing goods for export.”
And while mortgages have traditionally not been de rigeur for Arabs, enterprises like Saudi American Bank are slowly making them palatable to homeowners. The ripple effect: more banking, capital improvement loans, and durable goods spending.
Of course, the day's heightened conflicts still present roadblocks to international commerce: U.S. law bars Khoriaty from doing business with Iraq and Iran. But he can forsee the future. “I just wait for the opportunity when those countries will free up,” he says. “They hold huge potential business.”
—Jude Stewart for MBA Jungle, March/April 2003
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