Business & Money | Saturday 19 May, 2018 3:37 am |

MY EVENTS International Founder & President Shahul Hameed Dawood was emphatic that this was the right time to enter the Saudi market bringing events to the changing Saudi Arabia, and his views were echoed by Guest of Honor Mohammed Abudawood, chairman, M. Abudawood Group of Companies for Trade and Investment, and Khaled Almaeena, managing partner of Quartz and the managing director of My Events International Saudi Arabia (MEISA), during the grand launch of MEISA, partnering with Quartz (Leen and Dana Company), at Ramada Continental, Jeddah.

“This is the best time to enter the market, we have been in business for the last 10 years, especially in the industry in which we are — the entertainment industry. After a long study we have found out that 2018 is the best time to enter the Saudi market,” said Dawood when asked, Why Saudi Arabia, why now?

“My Events International is a well-established event creator company in Malaysia with over 10 years of global experience across three continents. The partnership with Quartz will help create a new brand that will make an impact in the Kingdom, in the lines of Vision 2030,” he said.

“This launch signifies the official inauguration of the group’s footprint in Saudi Arabian market. This initiative opens up opportunities for My Events International to strengthen its businesses in this region and further solidify Saudi-Malaysia economic ties,” said Dawood.

On the question of how My Events International brings a different element to events management in Saudi Arabia and what edge it hopes to provide as an events creator and as well as an events aggregator, Dawood was quick to negate the fact that ‘We are not an events management company, but event creator.’

“The specialty of our business for the last 10 years has been that we have been able to create content in this event industry space, which comprises conferences among others. But ours is not the usual conferences as we use the social media to make it an event. And this is one of the key factors that we bring as our strengths to Saudi Arabia.

“The content, which we have created for the last 10 years, will be taken out and rolled out in Saudi Arabia. That’s one of the unique aspects of our contribution. Secondly, we have content for various segments and sectors in variety of disciplines, creating content for all levels of people.”

Almaeena too agreed with Dawood on this issue. “I would agree with what Shahul (Hameed Dawood) has said, they are creators of content, not the usual events management symposium. We have new things in the pipeline. As a measure of what we would be offering was showcased in Madinah. We just did a big conference in Madinah, about humanizing cities. This was a new concept that we were able to do in Madinah speaks volumes.”

Almaeena, while stressing again that it is the right time to enter this sphere, also was circumspect on asked why Malaysia as a partner in this venture. “They are a Muslim country like us and they understand our traditions. Also it brings about a good synergy as the new partnership is all about ‘creators and curators’,” he said.

Dawood, while agreeing with Almaeena, stressed that lot of preparatory works have been going on from the time we have entered into this partnership, and “Insha’Allah within the next three months lots of events would be organized by us.”

But it was Guest of Honor Abudawood, who put the partnership in perspective and also the timing. While speaking to the audience, Abudawood said, “This category is divided into content and the showcasing of the content, which people actually see. Because of technology people can create content from any part of the globe — be it Malaysia, Hong Kong or wherever you are, while the actual show will be on the ground here, and this was what we were missing. And such companies are the future for in reality the money is there in content — for even small events of high quality can make money and lots of such small events could prove beneficial and successful. This is a very challenging category, and because there is a mix of domestic knowhow with international knowhow, My Events International Saudi Arabia could be a successful venture.”

Abudawood also painted a very rosy picture of the changing business landscape in the Kingdom. “How Saudi businesses are adapting to changing times by moving away from the traditional family business structure into joint stock companies itself speaks volumes of the changing times, so this is the right time for business in Saudi Arabia,” he said.

“If you have not seen the halftime celebrations during the recent King’s Cup final between Al Ittihad and Faisali, than you have not seen the new Saudi Arabia. I was amazed. Saudi Arabia today is all about initiatives. The program for developing national industries, and another initiative is the strategic partnerships and alliances, while the other one is PIF, which right now, managed to open and operate a cinema in Riyadh in 21 days. This kind of pace was unheard of in Saudi Arabia before,” Abudawood added.

The My Events International Founder and President Dawood said that he was lucky to have gotten a good partner in Saudi Arabia. “When we engage in international markets we look out for two important components — first one being our home component our embassy in the area of engagement. Second a good partner. And I’m very lucky to have both to put me in comfort zone. I couldn’t ask for any better partner than Khaled Almaeena, and he is not only a partner but has become a mentor to me in the last three months that I’ve known him,” Dawood said.

The event was followed by a soft launch of the inaugural Expo Malaysia, marking the beginning of My Events International – Saudi Arabia’s venture.

Strategically designed to promote trade and investment between both countries, this expo is set to provide an avenue for Malaysian products and services exporters to network and forge strong alliance with their potential clients or partners in Saudi Arabia and surrounding region. Initiatives such as Expo Malaysia promote economic relations, trade investments, SMEs and tourism between the regions as well as create hundreds of jobs opportunities.

To enlighten further, the expo has few components besides the exhibition, such as forums, business matching and networking dinner. The expo targets to attract 3,000 trade visitors from Saudi Arabia.

“We are proud to be associated with My Events and work on Expo Malaysia, designed to promote trade and investment between the two brotherly countries and will also create job opportunities here in the Kingdom,” Almaeena.

Organized by My Events International and supported by Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (MATRADE) & Saudi Exhibition and Convention Bureau (SECB), Expo Malaysia is scheduled to take place on Nov. 14 & 15 at Jeddah Hilton.

Consul General of Malaysia Dato’ Mohammad Ali Bin Selamat, while offering his felicitations, said, “This is an important milestone for My Events International, a leading events management company from Malaysia, and this will enable to boost Malaysia-Saudi bilateral ties.”

My Events International is an event solutions provider headquartered in Malaysia with international offices around the globe. It offers a wide range of services involving not only events management but also consultancy, design, development, IT support, technical support, social media management, marketing management, sponsorship and call centre management, among others.

Quartz is the emerging force in Saudi Arabia communication, creative, media, marketing, entertainment and innovative industry.

It was founded to provide solutions for the most important aspect of any industry or business – The brand.