When two global players merge, one regional agency partner has to lose the business. The trouble with change is that the people at the top understand the need for it, the thrusting young bucks at the bottom want change yesterday, but then you have that layer of cement in the middle. But most Gulf business people are knowledgeable people who have been in business for a long time and these people are much more able to adapt. Observers point to differences between agency laws in the six GCC member states. It is easier for a Kuwaiti or Saudi national to set up a business in the UAE or in Bahrain than for a Bahraini or Emirati entrepreneur to set up shop in Kuwait City or Jeddah, says one - yet expansion is crucial to the survival of businesses from the smaller Gulf states.
Land ownership is a thorny question.
Although Kuwaiti and UAE free trade zones offer liberal incentives, even here leases are rarely granted for more than 20 years. Yet what businesses really want, says one European observer, is longer-term agreements. In Western markets, firms are offered 60-100 year concessions. The question of venture capital is being addressed, says a spokeswoman for Standard Chartered Bank. Aimed at least partly for women wanting to get on the business ladder, interlik provides support and guidance on everything from drawing up initial business plans to marketing the finished product.