MANAMA: Bahrain is the perfect testing ground for businesses wanting to enter the region, according to a homegrown family-business entreprenuer.
In an exclusive interview, Khalid Almoayed and Sons (KAS) director Abdulrahman Almoayed told the GDN that it’s easy to set up business here.
“We have been telling people all our lives that Bahrain is a fantastic testing ground because it is a relatively small market, affordable and friendly,” he added.
“We are seeing the stability of Bahrain and it has really held up under many difficult and volatile circumstances throughout the region.
“The size of the market makes local people stronger and more resilient.”
He said the diversified business group remains optimistic about the market and believes in the entrepreneurial spirit.
“It’s proven that Bahrain because of its people, infrastructure and values has a great proposition. We are trying to highlight this to people on the outside as we consider ourselves as ambassadors.”
He said the group that represents brands like Apple, illy, Ducati and Schneider Electric among others is a traditional family business that started about 17 years ago.
“We have since diversified into lifestyle and services – essentially things that add value to your daily life, having started with IT and construction.
Over the years, the group ventured into various fields like travel, food and beverages, transportation and real estate in response to market requirements.
“What we have seen over the years is that Bahrain has been a good market for innovative products and services.
“The adoption rate for new ideas is quite high but we were striving to provide a more in-depth experience from a retail perspective as well as from a customer perspective.”
KAS’ aim is to give people not just a product in a box in the traditional way of doing things but to add an experience and value to that product or service, he said.
“We have developed quite a good capacity to run, manage, maintain and create now experiences which really wasn’t something that was present or prevalent then. So what we’ve done is introduce many new brands, the most recent being a dealership for selling performance bikes,” he said.
“We started with Vespa scooters and we realised we are in a field that really needs a push because of how it helps address traffic congestion, pollution and so on. So we started promoting life on two wheels.”
According to him, a challenge and opportunity was when they realised that “a lot of people were buying these things and abusing them on the streets and breaking laws and using them in ways they weren’t supposed to”.
“We thought we have to try and take people using sports bikes and scooters off the roads – that’s when we realised we could use the Bahrain International Circuit for that and the Bahrain Superbike Championship was born.
“That was a very successful formula because it created racing teams, biking enthusiasts, and even professional racers.”
avinash@gdn.com.bh
&uuid=(email))