E-business set for big boom
DUBAI — Tejari has recently appointed a highly experienced new CEO, Mr. Omar Hijazi to direct the organisation through its next five years of growth. Mr Hijazi has more than five years of experience working with Shaikha Lubna Al Qasimi during the years of her leadership of Tejari.
In an interview with Khaleej Times, Mr. Hijazi explained the importance of the leading B2B platform in the Middle East and the enormous potentials awaiting the electronic trade in the near future.
He explained that Business to Business e-trade, or B2B, witnessed a slower pace of growth worldwide during the past five years, nevertheless it is indeed starting to pick up now, pointing out the many important developments in the field; the latest of which was the tie-up between yahoo and the Chinese biggest Business to Consumer e-trade, or B2C platform.
Further, the importance of B2C, is indeed gaining more ground as well in today’s world where electronic commerce is becoming the trend, and where we find considerable attention focusing on issues like regulating e-commerce, e-transactions, and free trade agreements (FTAs), he explained. As part of its regional expansion, Tejari yesterday announced a partnership with Omania E-Commerce (an associate of OmanTel) to deliver the benefits of electronic procurement to Oman. The new franchise, Tejari Oman, will enable both government departments and private organizations to source goods and services through the on-line trading hub, enhancing transparency and lowering the costs associated with paper-based procurement processes.
Tejari Oman’s immediate objectives, following the opening of its offices, will be to open discussions with key stakeholders in the community such as procurement managers from Oman’s major industries and ministry officials. Some of the early adopters of Tejari Oman’s electronic procurement services are likely to be the aviation, telecoms and energy sectors.
According to Hijazi, FTAs are already gaining momentum in the Middle East region in general and the GCC countries in particular, which provides for a catalyst to the progress of e-commerce due to the fact that concluding regional or international FTAs entails applying many improvements in the world of business that are crucial for the advancement of e-commerce, including transparency, upgrading standards, and many more.
Mr. Hijazi said that he considers himself to be on a mission to enhance and boost the Middle East on-line market place capitalising on the high internet penetration in the region, and the openness towards trading on-line. Tejari today has a base of 4000 members, and the intention is to boost that figure through the advancement of new products to enhance the services provided and to give more options to the on-line trader.
First of the new products is Electronic Showroom, which is expected to revolutionise the manner businesses expose themselves on-line, where it would be possible for them to provide lists and displays of products, company profile, and so forth. Tejari also plans to introduce trade lead mechanisms, and most importantly matchmaking and e-tendering solutions. The importance of e-tendering arises from the complexities of the tendering process, as is the case with a governmental institution requiring several levels of approvals. Tejari plans as well to introduce a Payment Gateway; a mechanism that is expected to attract more small and medium size enterprise (SMEs). Mr. Hijazi added that the consulting service that has been already launched is indeed helping to provide for more and more foreign suppliers on-line.
As regards to the role of Tejari as a watchdog to protect its clients against any fraud or malpractices by any on-line party, Mr. Hijazi explained that there are various levels of protection to ensure that only those who are serious about doing e-business are accepted as members including confirmation of licenses and renewals from the Department of Economic Development (DED). Further, he pointed out that the government is considering the initiation of credit reporting, a service that Jettery is very much willing to provide.
In the longer term, Mr. Hijazi expressed that Jettery is considering to establish market communities, or what he termed “marketplaces within the marketplace” through the grouping of members of particular industries.
Finally he pointed out that Tejari will be focusing as well on promoting the B2C marketplace, and that the coming five years are to witness major steps towards the maturity of the electronic market place in the Middle East with Tejari in the lead.
Source: Khaleej Times