How to win Friends, influence people

No one can argue that social networking sites aren’t on marketers’ minds. As it turns out, the Facebook craze has spawned at least two Arabic-language imitators, both of them out for a piece of the nearly $1 billion that advertisers are likely to pour into social networking sites, globally, this year.

D1g.com launched six-months ago out of Amman, financed by a Jordanian entrepreneur with a startup capital of less than $1 million. The site is run by Majid Qasim, formerly of Arabia.com. Another new venture, Faye3.com, is the latest winner of the Queen Rania National Entrepreneurship Competition. The site was developed by Sohaib Thiab and Hussam Hammo, who have since partnered with Maktoob Group, an operator of e-commerce sites that hopes to enter the social networking realm.

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DRC and issue of valuing land grant

I was counting the beans of Dubai Refreshments Co. (DRC), the Pepsi and Aquafina bottler that is listed on Dubai Financial Markets (DFM). The company’s financial statement for 2005 was published on DFM’s web site in January 2007. Auditors’ opinion was from PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Dubai. However, item 5 of the Notes on Accounts is worth a review.

Under the schedule of Property, Plant and Equipment, the Notes disclose "Factory buildings have been erected on land provided free of charge by H.H. The Ruler of Dubai."

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