Hotel Industry

There is a need for a chain of small motels all over the country. Nice, small – possibly self-service – motels with a clean yet simple look. It is becoming increasingly difficult to find a room in a hotel now in Riyadh. And the prices are going up, so one can imagine the potential in this.

Riyadh Consumers

Families are growing in Riyadh. So is the population and so is the city itself. Almost every single mall is full of people. Buyers. Buyers of what? Family Entertainment. Family Entertainment basically means good entertainment for kids. Companies can benefit a lot by being creative in this area. Develop new services, games and out-door activity for families. It’s a growing market and a good area to work on.

Real Staff Performance

In the past, there used to be too many rules and regulations for employees. Dress codes and working hours were the employees major concerns. Fear of authority and the rush for deadlines. We experimented in one of our setups. We removed everything except the “rush for deadlines”. Employees were given tasks and the time frame to do them – in their own time, own way, dressed in any way they wanted. Lots of freedom. Dress code was applied only when making presentations to clients or in meetings and seminars – which are not so frequent. The result? Excellence and efficiency. Add to this lots of motivation and respect for authority which was an instant reaction in all employees. This gives birth to loyalty in your staff and then you see display of creativity which continuously adds to your business. The human resource of any company is its biggest asset – treat it as that.

Human Resource Crisis

There is a problem with Human Resources in KSA. Two factors are working side by side against all businessmen. The pressure to hire Saudis and the extreme problem with job titles on residence permits of workers. It is great to hire Saudi employees, but what does one do when the business requires target marketing where various communities are targeted. How does a Saudi promote anything to the Kerala community for example? At the same time, the labor office raises an issue at the job title ” Sales Representative”,because that title is for Saudi’s only. This is a valid problem ADDED to the quality of HR. It’s easier to manage Saudi staff since a reference, history and a lot more can be analyzed. But, when it comes to hiring an expatriate, one really cannot know a whole lot. Reason? The way people enter KSA. Visas are purchased and whatever profession is available is taken. Now, a barber could be here as a driver and you own a Rent a Car and you hire this driver, who , in reality, is an expert barber. Result? Trial and error, training costs and a lot of frustration for you and your clients. At the same time, one finds a Director of a Department in a respectable institution holding a residence permit with the profession of Labor.

Though , so far, our parent company ASCS with its STAFF9 ( www.staff9.com) service has been able to manage client operations with minimal problems, the task has been doubly difficult because of these issues. We urge the authorities to do something about this. Saudization has been our focus for a number of years, and we are all for it – but we also need expatriates for specific positions.

CCTV Advertising Still works..

Though the concept is old, the CCTV advertising business is still one of the best. There are many venues that can be used. I brought a company into KSA about 11 years ago. They had the means and were also quite successful in their region, but they made a severe mistake against my advice – they did not invest when it was required and decided to wait and calculate the risk. While they did this, someone took their name and logo and installed Video Walls at various locations and started their business. So, they left KSA.

Now, I still say that a project can be created here. With better technology and more means , one could set up TV monitors at many locations , in trains and buses, hospitals, hotels etc. Advertisers would pay for running their advertisements on these displays.

Money Transfer Business in KSA

Huge amounts of cash transfers happen daily in KSA. With some foreign communities exceeding 1 million in numbers, one would expect that. Western Union took the lead in coming into KSA through its consulting agent , ASCSGLOBAL 5 years ago. And, from just 6 outlets at the time, it has grown to over 80 outlets nationwide. Is there still room for more agents? Yes. The KSA market is so big that even another 200 outlets would not be a bad investment at all. Why does Western Union take the lead? One word will answer that: compliance. Another reason is service and committment, where local money transfer services may lack also. As a company or bank develops its product, they need to also develop their human resources and service provision. Some local banks lose very good vendors and service providers that could enhance their business simply because of bad dealing. Customer service attitudes, non-payments  to vendors and so many more issues related to BAD management. Why would customers not choose a better service like Western Union?

The issue with most Money Transfer companies has been just that. We hardly see any real competition for this company any day soon. But, we do see many companies bringing in related services. We do see local companies seeking western union agency. That is where VRS can help you. To obtain a legal licence. To create the outlet for a worldwide money transfer service.  There IS a strategy for it. Interested?

More Projects , More Jobs

We would not only like to create our own projects but encourage other setups to come with new ideas for the Saudi Market. These new projects will raise more finance and thus grow into other ventures. What this does is create jobs. The more we combat unemployment the more we add to the market and thus to our own interests.

Challenges

The Middle East markets are becoming more and more complex as the number of services grow and the demands of the market increase. In this atmosphere of business, we forsee many challenges for the new entries into this market. Be it an individual or be it a multi-national company, it will get tougher with time. We like challenges at VRS!

The ideal thing would be to give us your sales, business or any other target for a specific market and let us achieve it for you. In doing so, we utilize all resources and create out of the box solutions to reach our objective or even surpass it.

VRS to Launch CPTC

Contact Point Trade Center ( CPTC) will enable a number of suppliers, service providers and manufacturers from around the world to have their representation in KSA. CPTC will act as an agent for these companies and ensure buyer’s security and seller’s presence in the Kingdom. The aim is to enhance and add to the variety of products and services in KSA and create excellent job opportunities for locals.

Simple Logic

For any activity, there are always means. For any goal , there is always motive and for any desired solution there is a strategy. We want to use simple logic to provide you a business solution/strategy that works for you. The more complex we get in dealing with an issue or target, the further away we go from what is desired.