Archive | April, 2010

bleh

early night, felt bleh
woke up at 5, lethargic
did the gym – 2 circuits of the machines two turns of 12 reps each
shattered
went out for a walk, lovely weather
shower in maintenance, queued a bit to get into one
clothes on, hang on, no trousers!
damn.
put gym shorts on again, found trousers on the car’s floor
back in, shorts on – bloody things wet!
can’t have that.
gone commando, full suit on.
new shoes too bloody tight, circulation stopped I think.
eating banana on the way to the car, bloody thing snaps, drops on shirt
bleh
arrive at office
sangeetha’s windows installation infected with virus and trojan
that’s in a parallels desktop on her mac
source is from auditors memory sticks
bastards
cleaned up, we hope, back to scanning
customer refuses to pay on a delivered rush job
now their accounts claims 30 days net, no exception
agreement was prepayment, but was feeling generous, job released
bad decision
hopeful for resolution soon, amount not worth the fight
relationship better
sent nudge email, hopefully will be sorted
coffee going cold
newspapers on desk do not entice flicking
donating shoes to bspa thrift shop opposite
waiting for shop to open to upsize
and it’s only 944
like that porshe, never succeeded
going commando is liberating!
hopefully
it’ll get better
mornin’

The Art of Success

In this, the last episode of the Bahraini Views series for this season, Nawal Al-Sabbagh takes the seat to talk about her experience in business and how, even after she has lost everything when a partnership failed, she picked up the pieces and started again to create another very well known and successful business.

How did she restart? She turned to her passion for art and launched an art exhibit containing her own paintings. Riding on the sales achieved through that exhibition, she relaunched her business career and started Nawal Flowers, now one of the most successful florists and chocolatier in Bahrain.

Nawal doesn’t come from a trading background. Her family – she says – are really more for being employees rather than employers. What made her tick then and what got her to win the top prize in the Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum’s prize, competing against 120 veritable entries from all over the Middle East?

Watch the episode and come to your own conclusions!

I so look forward to the next season and hope that you’ve enjoyed and benefited from the 26 episodes and the initiative I created with the Economic Development Board who have been courageous enough to back such an endeavour.

Nawaf Saeed, another Bahraini electronic innovator

I don’t know why it didn’t really cross my mind that we could have “inventors” in Bahrain. Maybe because we never really hear of them, but they do exist as Nawaf and before him Hessa and Yahya have proven, and I for one am glad to have witnessed these innovative Bahrainis first hand, and have had the opportunity to talk to them one-to-one, albeit for a short time. Still, it fills me with not only hope, but wonder and admiration that they have gone completely against the grain and threw away that shackles of tradition to pursue their dreams and make a success out of their passions.

Nawaf, young though he is, I think is destined to greatness. Just graduating from Bahrain University in IT, he has successfully transformed his study project into a very viable business through which he not only employs 7 full time staff, but also has some 24 other professionals available on his books for ad hoc work as freelancers. The common denominators between them is that they’re all Bahrainis and are all highly skilled in computer programming and various other interconnected tasks.

I’m also glad that there are some initiatives from the private and government sectors which nurtures such talent. Nawaf was one of the winners of Zain Dream initiative. He used the cash received to initiative his company. That cash was augmented by another win, this time from the Bahrain Development Bank which offers Seed Capital grants for new and innovative businesses.

Good luck Nawaf! I’m sure that he will serve as an excellent inspiration for others to pursue their passions.

Pickles! And how they made this guy a lot of money

This is the very last episode I shot and released in the Bahraini Views initiative which is being broadcast on Bahrain TV today and I must say that it was one of my favourites.

Jehad is really down-to-earth, affable, humble and full of passion for food. My kind of guy ;)

You have to watch the episode yourself and rate it (please) but to brief you on what you’ll be watching, here’s the episode’s description:

Imagine starting a business with just BD20 (US$53) and after a few short years the company you started ranks number 1 in the country, and your products are sought after in the whole region and have become the prizes that people take with them wherever they go… even to Maine in the USA!

If you imagined that those products are to do with food, and are none other than various pickles, sauces and very basic ingredients without which a meal might rightly be classified as boring, then you’ll love to hear the story of this successful and humble Bahraini Entrepreneur.

Jehad has built an empire from his mother’s pickles and sauces recipes, and with his own special additions, he has taken the Bahraini culinary experience to the world through his Muharraq Pickles Factory.