Not Christian, but love, actually

With St Valentine’s Day banned in Saudi and under scrutiny in Kuwait, the Gulf is a tough place for budding Romeos and Juliets. In Saudi, the religious police spend the preceding week cracking down on red rose salesmen; Kuwait’s National Assembly Committee for Monitoring Negative Alien Practices has it eye on what it sees as excessive commercialization.

And they’re doomed to fail.

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The Arab League’s fear of phone-ins

More evidence, if it was needed, of the gaping chasm between how Arab governments view the media, and how the media actually is. The Arab League is proposing a satellite broadcasting charter which would entrench state control over broadcast media and curtail political expression, reports Arabian Business.
The move is thought to be in response to TV talk shows, and the worry that privately-owned stations are too viewer-focused. The paper says Saudi Arabia appears to have recently banned live talk shows after someone mocked the size (30 per cent!) of a civil servant salary increase - a position seen as a criticism of the royal family. Saudi stations still run phone-in programs but it is not clear if they are still live.

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Private investors take flight

The Arab Business Angels Network launched last week. The network hopes to put entrepreneurs in need of finance in front of private investors with time and money to get involved. ABAN will also use a fund of its own to get into promising start-ups.

The idea is wonderful – this type of private financing is commonplace in Europe and US (where $25bn is invested each year), but doesn't exist in the Middle East. ABAN hopes to find, and nurture, small businesses with the potential to grow. Entrepreneurs create wealth, create jobs, and help diversify the economy. Just as important as the money will be the experience; it is hoped cashed-out entrepreneurs will get involved, passing on their knowledge.

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Dumb Bahrain tastes Dubai's strike strife

Dubai, so often the pioneering driver of economic development in the Gulf, is well used to having neighbors copy its ideas. There must be a sense of satisfaction this morning to see the neighbors also get lumbered with some of the downsides. Workers on Bahrain's Durrat al Bahrain project are striking over pay and conditions, and their bosses appear to have no idea how to sort the problem.

Media reports claim more than 1,000 workers are now locked in their camp, as the bosses on the $6bn project scratch their heads. The workers have been on strike for the past two days demanding better pay, hot water, better medical facilities and other basics such as lights in the toilets. They are being paid $150 a month and have been encouraged in their complaints; the Indian Ambassador says his government is planning to impose a minimum wage of $265 for all Indians in the Gulf.

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The cost of exclusion

Young entrepreneurs in Dubai are to receive a 20% reduction in rents in a move to foster the development of new business talent in the emirate, says Arabian Business. There is small, but significant, qualification to this rent rebate: start-ups must be members of the Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Establishment for Young Business Leaders.

While the discount should be applauded – rents can gobble up one quarter of business costs, rates are up 40 recent in the last year, Dubai rentals are now the world's ninth most expensive – it is a pity this scheme isn't extended to a wider range of entrepreneurs.

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