“The majority of our tourists are from the GCC countries. Our top market is Saudi Arabia, followed by Qatar, UAE, Bahrain, and Oman. Tourists from these countries are mainly families coming to Kuwait to visit friends and family,” says Faisal Al-Duraie, Director of Research & Tourism Information at the Ministry of Information – Tourism Sector.
“We are participating in many sectors, such as construction, roads, oil, bridges, and infrastructure. We participate in any projects announced through the CTC. The value of the projects varies for each sector. The sectors with the greatest value are roads and bridges, followed by the oil sector, construction, building, and lastly, other divisions,” says Dr. Nabeel Abdul Haleem Ali, Consultant to Chairman for Shareholders Affairs at Combined Group.
“We are continuing to invest in the emerging markets. We are doing a lot in emerging markets and a lot in Africa. It is taking up a lot of our time and effort but it is paying dividends,” says Tarek Sultan, Vice Chairman and CEO of Agility.
“The Index is a relative comparison of different countries based on objective matrices and indices. With respect to Kuwait, when comparing the country to much larger markets like China and India, Kuwait is at a disadvantage given that it is a smaller market. Larger economies will have more interest as logistics destinations,” says Tarek Sultan, Vice Chairman and CEO of Agility.
“We have introduced automation and our self-service platform. In our major branch, there are twelve screens where the customer comes in, dips their civil ID, and then can do everything they need to right on the screen,” says Elham Mahfouz, CEO of Commercial Bank of Kuwait (CBK).
“At the beginning of 2016, the management predicted that it would be a tough year. We knew it would be very difficult for us to achieve our targets. Our budget would have to be conservative. We have been watching the figures every month and every quarter, as well as the developments in the sector. 2016 was a very good year for us,” says Elham Mahfouz, CEO of Commercial Bank of Kuwait (CBK).
“We were the pioneer in contracting, specifically in oil and gas. Over time, we have lost our place as one of the leaders in this area. Our vision now is to regain that position,” says Jamal N. Al-Houti, Board Member & CEO of HOT Engineering Co.
“We have talented people in our structure that can lead and manage the business. Plus, we are specialized in certain services which we pioneered. We maintain that advantage. We also have our Parent company supporting us. This is a strength that perhaps other companies do not have. We have experience from being heavily involved in oil and gas and the oil sector,” says Jamal N. Al-Houti, Board Member & CEO of HOT Engineering Co.
“We have a strategy to become different than others by acquiring new specialized services which support our business and strength in oil and gas. In 2015, HOT Engineering Co. set a new strategy to achieve sustainability and continuity in this field,” says Nawaf A. Al Sharhan, GM – Business Development & Tendering of HOT Engineering Co.
“In the construction and contracting field in Kuwait, the oil and gas sector is our biggest area. Currently, in terms of construction, we are working on a new refinery project that is supervised by Kuwait Integrated Petrochemical Industries Co. (a subsidiary of Kuwait Petroleum Corporation) and Gathering Centers Number 30 and 31 by Kuwait Oil Company (KOC). The total cost of these projects is around 10 billion KD,” says Nawaf A. Al Sharhan, GM – Business Development & Tendering of HOT Engineering Co.
