Qatar Today, one of Qatar’s most widely circulated magazines, asked Bassam and I to do an interview with them and to pick our brains about why we think it’s so difficult for Start Ups and SMEs. Of course we don’t have the exact answers to those questions, but we definitely shared our own experiences.

Click here to read the article on ISSUU

But what about you guys out there? What are the difficulties you’re facing? Things have definitely got to change if Qatar wants to be a business friendly hub.

I thought that some people may find it interesting to know what goes on in Eid with my family.

The children wake up early in the morning. Excited. Playing. Waiting for the day to start. It’s Eid! The adults lay slumbering in their beds and wake up around 8-9 am (after waking up in the early morning for prayers and going to bed). After a hearty breakfast which consists of eggs, olives, honey, cream cheese, bread, and tea, it’s off for a quick shower and everyone puts on their brand new clothes that were specifically bought for Eid.

Eid is about celebration and about looking your best for your family as well.

It’s off to prayer before heading off to Baba Oad’s (Grand Father) house. All of the 50-60 cousins, 6 aunts and 6 uncles (as well as a huge amount of indirect relatives) arrive. The women go off to the sitting room, the men go off to their sitting room, and the children run around the house.

The general banter is usually along the lines of, “When are you getting married?”, “Why haven’t you been visiting more often?”, “Are you working hard?”, and “What have you been doing these days?”.

Children will come around and ask for Eidiya. This could be anything from 1 QR to 10 QR (more if you really like them  ) and then go out to ‘Ayid’ to the neighbours by singing songs and getting a few riyals in return. It’s our form of ‘caroling’.

When the children get back, they sit around and count their new found fortunes and plan what they’re going to buy.

Soon enough, it’s time for the feast. We all sit around the floor and dig into a selected slaughter. It sounds kind of cruel to some, but it’s an animal that is killed the Halal way (the most humane method possible where the animal feels no pain). Rice, drinks, lamb or sheep and chit chat.

After washing our hands, we then return the sitting rooms where we have a nice cup of tea (mint, red, or saffron), and relax.

The adults then slowly each return to their homes or go off to make their rounds to other close friends and relatives and wish them a prosperous future. Kil sina wa inta tayeb or kil am wa int ibkhair (every year and you are fine) is repeated from individual to individual.

What we did was head off to a coffee shop where myself and cousins chatted about memories and teased each other.

Eid. An Arabian ‘Christmas’. (or at least as important to us as Christmas.)

Update: This is just my personal experience. Also read ‘We’re not the Borg!‘

This is a repost of ‘A Qatari’s Eid’ from 2008.

You may also be interested in:

It’s Almost Eid! 

Eid’s almost here.

Here’s a nice example of a positive experience from a company in Qatar. While driving back from a very poor experience at a restaurant (which will soon be reviewed at Dine out Doha), I had passed by a building that was right opposite of Blue Saloon and next to Regency Travel, it stood out because it looked modern, had some colorful lights on it and Rogers Diner grabbed my attention.

I drive up to the car park and parked round back. The good news is that they’ve got underground parking by the way! I know! I was pleasantly surprised myself. Walking into Patchi (a chocolate gift shop), I walked through a marble doorway and the first thing I see in front of me is this huge wall of colorfully wrapped chocolates. First impressions? This feels more like Japan than Qatar. Great to see someone stepping up standards.
A man came up to me and offered me some arabic coffee. To my right was the their silver-ware and glass ornaments, and to my left was special packaging for children and special occasions. Near the center were individual peices of chocolate on glass pedistal.

The general manager came up to me and Read the rest of this entry »

I hope that everyone has a great Ramadan period, and whether you are Muslim or not, there’s a lot to do in Qatar during this time.

www.Ramadan-Kareem.net has launched and it’s even bigger and better than last year’s effort.

Last year, we launched a real first…our site got lots of attention by helping people find out about all the wonderful things happening during Ramadan in Qatar. So we had a challenge: How do we take what we did last year and make it even MORE useful? This year we’ve partnered up with Vodafone again as well as got some support from QF Radio and Katara!

The beauty of www.Ramadan-Kareem.net is that it’s so simple. Not only is it easy to navigate but there are some great features!

We’re Mobile!
It only made sense to create a mobile version of the site. Especially since we partnered up with Vodafone! We took Ramadan-Kareem.net and shrunk the site into a useful mobile tool. It looks and feels like an app as well! So get tap-tap-tapping on your smartphones! Don’t have one? Don’t worry, the mobile version works on most devices!   Oh and if you’re a Vodafone customer, it’s free to visit the site!

We’re on the Radio!
QF Radio will air a special English-language Ramadan show every day during Ramadan at 8pm! Hosted by Laura O’Shea. They’ll be using Ramadan-Kareem.net to share what’s happening in Qatar, some of our own tips, and useful applications with their listeners too!

When you visit our site, you’ll see an ‘On Air’ button. When you see it light up, it means the show is…on the air!

We’ve got an app for that!
Whether you are on the site or on your mobile, we’ve got a list of great Ramadan-related apps to download. We’ve listed apps for iPhone, Android, and Blackberries. Just click your favourite app’s icon to download!

We’re Dynamic!
The website’s background changes depending on the time of day.
☾ In the morning the sky is dim and a sun rises
☾ During the day the sun shines bright, birds fly around and the wind gently sways the hanging lanterns
☾ For sunset—and because it’s so rare for us to enjoy a beautiful one in real life—our site’s sunset begins 15 minutes before night, so if you’re lucky enough to be on our website at exactly the right time you’ll see a brilliant orange sky.
☾ When it’s time to break your fast, the moon pops out, the lanterns light up, and the stars twinkle.
☾ We’ve also got some fun messages that pop up while you’re on the site. “Whoa, it’s hot outside!”

Why is this special?
Because it’s a fun way of letting people know when its time to break their fast! Don’t have a calendar? Have a calendar but don’t know what time it is? Just visit the site and if you see the moon, you can break your fast. It’s also a tool for kids!

We’re social!
☾ Sharing is caring:
You’ll notice Twitter, Facebook, the ‘Like’ button, and the new Google +1 button on the site. So sharing the site is extremely simple! Go ahead! Click on our LIKE and +1 buttons.
☾ Tents and Events:
-During Ramadan many people meet up at night at various tents and events to be together and socialize. If you’re looking for a calendar of events, then our site is here for you. Our calendar will constantly be updated as we get wind of more events!
-Last year people asked for more events besides simply the ones at hotels, and so we’re working hard to get as much as possible on there! Got an event yourself? Let us know so we can add it to the site!

Send an eCard!
We’ve created some very nice and colorful Ramadan cards for you to send out to family and friends. All you need to do is select your image, type in your message, position the message so that it’s in just the right spot, and click send!
Love the card? You can save it in MMS format so that you can transfer it to your mobile and send it to anyone through your mobile!
Don’t see an image you like? You can upload your OWN image and send it out as an ecard!
We love choices!

Ramadan 101
We know that some people might not know what Ramadan is all about, so we’ve included an “About Ramadan” tab on the site. If you want to brush up on your understanding of Ramadan, then visit this section for: when it is, what it’s about, dates and times, tips about eating, drinking and smoking, dress code, and other special considerations.

Convenient Prayer and Iftar times!
We’ve tried to make your life as easy as possible when it comes to knowing when to pray and when to break your fast.
☾ We’ve got a full Ramadan calendar on our site
☾ You can download the calendar to your phone or desktop
☾ You can register to receive FREE SMS notifications
☾ You can pick up a pocket calendar in store
Prayers, Quran Verses, Tips and Recipes Via SMS
As a new addition this year, Vodafone customers can also subscribe to receive daily prayers and verses from the Quran, audio clips, tips and recipes during the holy month of Ramadan.

Suhail package: Receive a prayer and a verse from the Quran daily.
Text SUHAIL to 97796 to receive this package every day for a month for only QR7

Al Hilal: Receive a prayer, a verse from the holy Quran and an audio clip from your favourite scholar.
Text ALHIL to 97781 to receive this package every day for a month for only QR10

Al Badr: Receive a prayer, a God Good name animation, a fasting and health tip and a clip from Al-Afasy.
Text ALBAD to 97797 to receive this package every day for a month for only QR12

Al-Thuraya: Receive a prayer, a recipe and a health tip daily.
Text ALTHU to 97780 to receive this message every day for a month for only QR10.

Send an eCard!
We’ve created some very nice and colorful Ramadan cards for you to send out to family and friends. All you need to do is select your image, type in your message, position the message so that it’s in just the right spot, and click send!
Love the card? You can save it in MMS format so that you can transfer it to your mobile and send it to anyone through your mobile!
Don’t see an image you like? You can upload your OWN image and send it out as an ecard!
We love choices!

Vodafone customers only for the above.

What are you waiting for? Spread the word!
Oh! And to make things even MORE digital, we’ve created cool QR Codes that you’ll see behind the Ramadan booklets on desks. It looks like a sqare barcode with the VF logo on it. Download a QR code scanner from your app store.

Here are a few suggestions:
iPhone: RedLaser
Nokia/Symbian: reader.kaywa.com
Android: QR Droid

And show some love to Vodafone by checking out their site! www.vodafone.com.qa They’ve got some special promos and if it wasn’t for them Ramadan-Kareem.net wouldn’t be as cool as it is!

Ramadan Kareem Qatar! I hope that people will have a great experience of Ramadan this year.

If you’re interested in reading up a bit, then be sure to check out these threads and posts:

Ramadan in a nutshell

Ramadan isn’t just for Muslims

Luxurious Ramadan

Saying Ramadan Kareem

Ramadan Opening Hours Guide 2010

Garangao – A Child’s Dream (The 14th day of Ramadan)

ILQ (partnered with Vodafone, Katara, and QF Radio) will be launching a fantastic new Ramadan site this year. It’ll contain a great events guide, a ramadan 101 guide, prayer times, special apps, and e-cards!

That’s not all! This time we’ve also got a MOBILE version and to make sure you don’t miss QF Radio’s 8pm show, an ‘on air’ button will light up!

I felt compelled to write something about this since there are so many people that make posts on the forums about employers not paying salaries, people not getting a No-Objections-Certificate (NOC) after the end of their contract, transfer of sponsorship, or people just not being a part of a positive work environment.

New to Qatar? Here’s the 101, if you don’t have an NOC, you can’t transfer your employment to another company and have to leave Qatar for two years before being allowed to come back.

Let’s start from the beginning? Why do many people take a job here in Qatar? Answer: Because Qatar is a super awesome country. Just look outside of your window, see the blue skies? Tropical weather? Lush greenery and smiling people walking down the street? That’s why. *serious face*

Alright alright. Let’s put the sarcasm to the side. I love Qatar! Just take a look at the title of the website after all! It’s just that there are a few laws in this country that don’t make sense; there probably was a good intention behind the need for them, but it’s like punishing all your kids when you damn well know that it was little Omar who lit the cat on fire! (Poor kitty).

Let’s get back to reality. People come to Qatar for a number of reasons; They want to explore a new part of the world (Doha is an exotic city for many people), people get better salaries, they can live more comfortable and laid back lives compared to where they come from (yes.. depending where you come from), and they probably want to make a name for themselves and climb the occupational ranks. Sound fair so far?

I’m going to try and appeal to the managers out there with this article.

Scenario 1: Let’s say that you come to Qatar after getting an offer for a managerial position. It’s 30,000 QR a month. Nice! You arrive, work hard, and your boss tells you that he can’t pay you this month because the company isn’t doing so well. You’re nice. You understand that companies go through hard times. You’ve made the journey all the way over here and you’re not about to turn away now that you’ve got so far right? Three months of no salary so you decide you’ve had enough! You quit. Your boss confuses your kind-heartedness (since you lasted so long) for stupidity, and thinks that stupid people don’t deserve an NOC. What do you do? Does that mean that you can’t leave?

Scenario 2: You’re already in Qatar. You’ve got an RP and on a family sponsorship. Let’s say that you get a job and so get the company to give you a work permit and you start living a higher quality of life because you and your husband now bring in more money to the house. Either you or the employer decide that after 16 months it’s not working out. In fact, you’re lucky because you got a better offer! Sadly, your employer turns out to be a bit of a douche. You ask for an NOC to transfer employment and he turns into ShaNayNay and tells you to speak to the hand (translated: you’re not getting an NOC). What do you do? Does it mean that you have to leave now? Is it easy to switch back to your husbands sponsorship? Let’s say that everything’s cool, but your family was used to a dual-income (you got a second car and a bigger house)… how do both of you survive in Qatar now if you can’t get a job?

Scenario 3: You’re working for a company. You get a better offer somewhere. You go back to the company and ask for an NOC. Boss says ‘no’ and in fact, since you wanted to leave, you’re now fired and get shipped back home in a crate.

Scenario 4: You get this really awesome job in Qatar! You get 40,000 QR a month to work 2 hours a day! It’s so awesome that I want it! Ok ok.. I don’t want it. It’s cool, it’s all yours. So you get a place in the pearl, take a loan for a BMW Z4, start wearing Massimo Dutti suits, hair all slicked back and three months later, on your way to work, your boss tells you that you’ve been replaced with a monkey. You’re fired! Oh.. and no NOC for you! So you decide to pack up and leave the country, but wait… you’ve taken a loan for your Z4. You’re not going anywhere! You have to pay back the loan before you can leave the country remember? So you don’t have a job to pay back the loan, and can’t get one because you don’t have an NOC. So what do you do? Work illegally or go to jail.

Note: These scenarios are meant to just get the point across. There are flaws in the system. Inshallah they’ll be fixed..

According to a friend who used to work for the National Human Rights Committee, their #1 complaint is when it comes to sponsorship or not being able to get an NOC. What does that say? Worse yet, since they get so many complaints, they turn away most people! So much for compassion…

I’ve never denied any of my employees from leaving iLoveQatar and grabbing better opportunities. I only ask them to give me a chance to better their offer (it’s not always about the salary), otherwise I wish them the best and hope that they’ll always be there for ILQ.

It’s like one of the most basic rules of life. Something my father taught me when I was younger. “Before doing something, ask yourself whether you’d like it if someone did it to you. If the answer is no, then don’t do it”. I know I wouldn’t like to be trapped under an NOC law.

If someone gets a better offer, why not let them take it? Why force an employee to remain in the company and work unhappily? They’re definitely not going to be efficient workers. They’re not going to have the company’s best interest. In fact, from an economical point of view, if companies were worried of employees leaving them, perhaps more companies would treat them with respect and provide for better work environment.

Just a thought.

You might also be interested in the “Workers Rights Handbook“

As interesting as asking people where they got the ‘Best Customer Service in Qatar‘, people asked me to poll where people consider to be the worst when it comes to customer service.

My question was simple, “If you had to name ONE place that has given you bad customer service, where would it be?” I now present you with the answers. (Not that many people were specific with their problems. In some cases, it’s specific branches that are horrible. It only takes one branch though to ruin a brand. Hopefully businesses will use this list to improve! Remember, these people don’t like you so much that they took the time to let everyone on twitter and facebook know!

Important note: these are just individual people’s opinions. There’s always the chance that one person had a really hard time, it doesn’t mean that each user speaks for everyone.

51 East (payment system) – @lauraosheadj

Karwa – @joeagdeppa

Digitek (Ramada Signal) – @vanish_forever

Pizza Hut (Caravan Complex Ramada) – @nyk990

Q-Tel – @DohaBen

Crono – @bradycreel

H&M – @Toryscott

Standard Chartered – @Quesjad

Mont Blanc – @Realmadrid18

Qtel (retail) – @shivasingh

Toyota (service center) – @SweetyMathewB

LuLu (near airport) – @MamtaSingh

Porsche – @ArendJK

DeJaVu Cafe – @nasnas_here

Jeep – @moha_doha

Cinque Sensi – @badaa2

Qtel (City Center) – @susiefoxton

(From here it’s Facebook comments at http://facebook.com/iloveqtr )

Shop Rite (Airport area) – MAshiq

Qtel – A-Althani

TGI Fridays – J.Oakes

Qtel – Markie

Ahli Hospital – Diana.R

Sephora (Landmark) – Amanda.B

Qtel – Saphal.K

Qtel – Fisher.M

Qtel – Shafiek.F

Qtel – Rida.A

Qatar Airways – Rub.M

Qtel – Jay.T

Oysho (both bra

Qtel – Kaser.M

Qtel – Arnaldo.S

Qtel – Chris.P

Two users gave me multiple answers. Next time one answer only please because I cannot choose from your list.

Hamad Hospital, Vodafone, Karwa, Etihad, and Bvlgari – Cindy Mus

Oysho (both branches), Range Rover, Doha Arrivals terminal, Qtel, Qatar Airways – S.Al.M

After doing a bit of searching on KnowYourMeme I presented with another viral sensation call NyanCat many months ago. I’ve now decided that it was time for NyanQat to make an appearance.

Original:

Qatar Version:

Check this old video out. Everything is so… different! No towers… seems like things were greener… belly dancing in the dessert was cool… ah the good old days

So I asked a simple question on twitter yesterday. I asked people to name ONE place that stands out in their minds where they got great customer services in Qatar. Some interesting results. Some I didn’t expect myself. Without further adue I present all the responses! (In no particular order!)

Nissan – Infiniti division – @iknw101

TableArts – @Shanti_eka

Grandhyatt – @haniarif

The Ritz – @bradycreel

Ritz @expatcookie

FFC @vanish_forever

Sushi Minto @jmugford

Vodafone Landmark – @_maricala

Khan Farooq – @theesal

VLCC @cameliacesin

GlowSalonDoha – @jodygryan

WafiGourmet – @halawala

Café Tasse – @abuarja7

W Doha – @MaryH_K

Jumbo – @rainydoha

BMW – @shivasingh

W Doha – @sweetymathewB

Yoko Sizzlers – @Qatarday

Carluccios – @dohaben

Woqod near the Mall – @jibbersindoha