ID :
51379
Thu, 03/19/2009 - 14:51
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/51379
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SKALI IN JOINT VENTURE TO ENTER SAUDI MARKET
By Muin Abdul Majid
DUBAI, March 19 (Bernama) -- Malaysia's e-business specialist Skali Group is making its entry into the Middle East market through a newly-formed joint venture company called Skali Saudia, which is expected to undertake the implementation of e-government and e-business solutions in Saudi Arabia.
Skali Group's chief executive officer Tengku Farith Rithauddeen said Skali
Saudia was a 50/50 joint venture company between Skali and Saudi-based Tuwaiq
Commercial Trading Company, whose business revolves around telecommunications
and trading.
Skali will be the exclusive technology partner in the collaboration, thus
providing technical, sales and business development support in efforts to secure
targeted projects in Saudi Arabia, he said on the sidelines of the Malaysia
Services Exhibition (MSE) 2009 here.
Tuwaiq is to support Skali Saudia through account management and business
development as well as taking charge in facilitating and ensuring that targeted
projects are secured, said Tengku Farith.
"The hard work starts now. We've got some RM120 million worth of potential
projects to chase," he said.
Besides Malaysia, Skali is also lending its expertise to countries like
Kuwait, Jordan and Bahrain as well as Brunei and Indonesia.
"We've had three or four customers from the Middle East since 2002 or 2003
but this is virtual, meaning that they come to us from overseas and they use our
services in Malaysia," said Tengku Farith.
"But now we're setting up our operations in this region, we're investing
money, we're investing in manpower and so on," he explained.
According to Tengku Farith, Skali had a confirmed order book position of
around RM310 million.
Elaborating on Skali Saudia, he said both partners would surely benefit
from the endeavour as they worked towards implementing a strong platform and
well-balanced information and communications technology (ICT) environment for
Saudi Arabia.
The joint venture partnership was officially sealed through an exchange of
agreements between Tengku Farith and Tuwaiq Commercial Trading's general manager
Mishaal Al Zaraah that took place recently at MSE 2009.
The event was witnessed by Malaysia's International Trade and Industry
Minister Muhyiddin Yassin and United Arab Emirates' Foreign Trade Minister
Sheikha Lubna Al Qasimi.
Asked on his take about the current economic downturn, Tengku Farith
reckoned that there were still business opportunities despite the doom and gloom
on the economic front.
"People are tightening their belts, they have smaller budgets and that's
where we come in as our products and services are competitively priced and we
offer value for money," he said.
According to Tengku Farith, one must be like the bamboo when starting
operations in a new environment.
"You should sway in the direction where people want your products and
services to be. It's not always about taking a product from Malaysia and putting
it here," he said.
"You must customise, you must develop it further, and possibly invest in
educating people on the benefits of your products and services. And this takes
time," he added.
-- BERNAMA
DUBAI, March 19 (Bernama) -- Malaysia's e-business specialist Skali Group is making its entry into the Middle East market through a newly-formed joint venture company called Skali Saudia, which is expected to undertake the implementation of e-government and e-business solutions in Saudi Arabia.
Skali Group's chief executive officer Tengku Farith Rithauddeen said Skali
Saudia was a 50/50 joint venture company between Skali and Saudi-based Tuwaiq
Commercial Trading Company, whose business revolves around telecommunications
and trading.
Skali will be the exclusive technology partner in the collaboration, thus
providing technical, sales and business development support in efforts to secure
targeted projects in Saudi Arabia, he said on the sidelines of the Malaysia
Services Exhibition (MSE) 2009 here.
Tuwaiq is to support Skali Saudia through account management and business
development as well as taking charge in facilitating and ensuring that targeted
projects are secured, said Tengku Farith.
"The hard work starts now. We've got some RM120 million worth of potential
projects to chase," he said.
Besides Malaysia, Skali is also lending its expertise to countries like
Kuwait, Jordan and Bahrain as well as Brunei and Indonesia.
"We've had three or four customers from the Middle East since 2002 or 2003
but this is virtual, meaning that they come to us from overseas and they use our
services in Malaysia," said Tengku Farith.
"But now we're setting up our operations in this region, we're investing
money, we're investing in manpower and so on," he explained.
According to Tengku Farith, Skali had a confirmed order book position of
around RM310 million.
Elaborating on Skali Saudia, he said both partners would surely benefit
from the endeavour as they worked towards implementing a strong platform and
well-balanced information and communications technology (ICT) environment for
Saudi Arabia.
The joint venture partnership was officially sealed through an exchange of
agreements between Tengku Farith and Tuwaiq Commercial Trading's general manager
Mishaal Al Zaraah that took place recently at MSE 2009.
The event was witnessed by Malaysia's International Trade and Industry
Minister Muhyiddin Yassin and United Arab Emirates' Foreign Trade Minister
Sheikha Lubna Al Qasimi.
Asked on his take about the current economic downturn, Tengku Farith
reckoned that there were still business opportunities despite the doom and gloom
on the economic front.
"People are tightening their belts, they have smaller budgets and that's
where we come in as our products and services are competitively priced and we
offer value for money," he said.
According to Tengku Farith, one must be like the bamboo when starting
operations in a new environment.
"You should sway in the direction where people want your products and
services to be. It's not always about taking a product from Malaysia and putting
it here," he said.
"You must customise, you must develop it further, and possibly invest in
educating people on the benefits of your products and services. And this takes
time," he added.
-- BERNAMA
