Am I the only one who just noticed that it’s Wednesday? The holiday week with the free day is completely screwing me up.
Just to make this a relevant post:
Spend less!
Save more!
Invest!
Wee!
Happy Form
If you don’t know why you are hear, please read about the 21 Day Happiness Training Challenge.
Why You Should Invest in Oman? Tapping the Help of International Banks
This is a guest post.
The Sultanate of Oman is located on the southeast coast of the Arabian peninsula, bordered by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, the Republic of Yemen, the Strait of Hormuz and the Arabian sea. Oil is an important source of revenue here. According to an article reported in Arabian Business, Oman’s average daily oil production rose 4% to 918,000 barrels per day (bpd) from an average of 884,900 bpd in 2011. However, as reported in the Al Arabiya News, British oil firm BP estimated that Oman’s oil reserves will run out in 17 years unless the country raises its output from the current levels. To reduce its dependence on oil, the Oman government is diversifying its economy into the non-oil sector and encouraging foreign direct investment in order to enhance the economic growth of the country. Here we will find out why the Oman government is encouraging foreign investment, which non-oil industries present attractive investment opportunities and how international banks can assist and advise foreign investors.
Employment
The unemployment rate of Oman is one of the issues faced by the government. The International Monetary Fund has estimated the unemployment rate at more than 20% of the workforce. According to Muscat Daily, since the last census in 2010, the total population has increased by 38% to 3.83 million at the end of February 2013, of which 56% are Omanis and the remaining 44% are expatriates. The expatriate population has increased by 106.4% while the Omani population has grown by 9.7% per cent since 2010. The number of Omanis employed in the private sector remained fairly unchanged, with only 1.7% increase since 2010.
On the one hand, the Oman government needs to maintain global competitiveness by attracting foreign talents to diversify the economy such as developing large industrial and infrastructure projects. On the other hand, the Oman government is struggling to create enough jobs in the non-oil public and private sectors for Omanis. The ruler of Oman, Sultan Qaboos bin Said, pledged to support citizens in establishing small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) through the creation of a 70 million rials fund that will be increased by 7 million rials each year. In order for new start-up SMEs to gain a more competitive edge, the Sultan also ordered state land to be given free to entrepreneurs. In addition, the Oman government is hoping that foreign investment will create more employment opportunities for Omanis.
Investment opportunities in Oman
Oman’s Vision 2020 and Oman’s eighth Five Year Plan (2011-15) set clear objectives for economic diversification and development of Oman’s business and investment potential. Oman’s Public Authority for Investment Promotion and Export Development (PAIPED) is the government-run authority whose main mission is to facilitate investment in Oman and promote exports of Omani products and services to overseas markets. PAIPED’s 2009 Oman Investment and Promotion Strategy has proposed some industries that would meet Oman’s goal of economic diversification. These include automotive, infrastructure, ports, manufacturing, logistics, ICT, management and professional institutes, venture capital, financial services, international trade, insurance services and tourism.
Due to its strategic location, archaeological and historical remains, varied climate conditions and numerous sightseeing attractions, the tourism sector is an important and growing industry that offers lucrative investment opportunities. According to Albawaba Business, the chairman of Sundus Investments and vice chairman of National Bank of Oman, Mohammed Mahfoodh Al Ardhi, said that the Oman government is committed to boosting the tourism sector by investing in prestigious projects and encouraging foreign investment.
There are many benefits of investing in Oman, including a world-class infrastructure, incentive packages, attractive corporate tax and tax holidays, competitively priced industrial and office space, free zones and ports and a talented multilingual workforce. The Oman government also encourages foreign investors to collaborate with local companies in utilising its untapped resources, facilitating technology, innovation and management skills transfer and opening new markets for Oman products and services.
Roles of International Banks
Companies and entrepreneurs seeking to set up, expand and relocate to Oman should use international banks, which offer a range of products and services for corporate customers such as trade services, treasury services, corporate credit cards, and custody and clearing services.
If you are an exporter and need a loan to fill the gap in trade financing, you can apply for export financing in Oman to transport your products overseas. For example, with HSBC Bank, you can get pre-shipment finance to bridge the cash-flow gaps as well as post-shipment finance. If you are an importer, you can apply for documentary credits to help reduce the risks associated with international trade.
While there are numerous opportunities in the non-oil sector in Oman for foreign investors, the benefits and risks should be weighed before venturing abroad.
Can EverQuest Next Compete with World of Warcraft?
Legions of MMORPGs have graced the internet to do battle against Blizzard’s World of Warcraft, yet no challenger has bested
Blizzard’s massively multiplayer online juggernaut. Huge marketing campaigns and years of development by the makers of games like Star Wars: The Old Republic and Rift have left players less than satisfied, with an initial big burst of player excitement and eventual failure.
Every software developer that creates an MMO that tries to take a slice of Blizzard’s pie invariably ends up as a “free to play” model. The latest MMORPG slated to try and take a shot at fighting Blizzard’s dominance is EverQuest Next. The developers are looking to lure players to EverQuest from a variety of other games such as EVE Online and Warcraft, but the design of the game seems to straddle a few different genres.
As with other game releases, the developers at Sony Online Entertainment have tried to suggest that their game will be “new” and “different.” It’s not difficult to understand why skepticism is high. Every game that has seen release in the past few years has had developers boast the same and has crashed and burned just a month or so after the release.
Players of EverQuest Next will find a game focus that includes some familiar fantasy elements of an MMO game (like elves), but developers have sought to step away from the traditional, linear questing experience and offer some world-building opportunities for players (much like EVE Online). One of the interesting features expected of the game is the ability for players to impact permanent change upon the landscape.
For example, during wartime a player might decide to build a wall somewhere, and he or she can accomplish this and actually have that wall erected as a permanent feature in the game world. Similarly, when players fight one another or monsters, a spell or explosion that creates a hole in the world will remain permanently. One of the developers likened this feature to the idea of putting Minecraft into an MMORPG.
Although absolutely everything in the world can’t be destroyed (certain structures will be permanent), this opportunity to build, create, and destroy represents a jump forward from the same opportunities players have had in games like EVE Online. World of Warcraft has occasionally offered players the opportunity to change the landscape, but not on a regular basis. Such changes have generally been implemented after a reset with all the realms taken offline, after which players would log in and see the changes.
However, the lack of appreciable impact on the environment hasn’t stopped players from flocking to World of Warcraft for nearly a decade, and EverQuest Next will need to bring an amazing player experience to lure away current players as well as retain them. The ebb and flow of Warcraft’s player base often coincides with the new release of another MMORPG, but after a month or so the new game’s servers are ghost towns. It won’t take long to see whether EverQuest Next can compete with World of Warcraft.
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Giving It All Away
Monday, I start a new job, but I wasn’t actively looking for a new job.
In fact, over the last month, while I wasn’t actively looking for a new job, I’ve had 5 job offers. Solid job offers. Some of them came after I announced I was leaving.
How does that happen?
First, I’m good at what I do. At my last job, the company that developed the software system I managed would refer other customers to me if they wanted to do something the software wasn’t designed to do. I had a reputation for doing the impossible.
Second, I give it away. When somebody asks me for help, I do. When I can, I try to share as much of my knowledge as possible. I don’t hoard what I know, scared that somebody will steal it. That has led to a number of people who make it a habit to call me before pitching an idea or moving forward on a new strategy. “Jason, is this possible? What would it take?” If I can, I answer those questions, even if I’m not going to be doing the work.
Third, I’m not afraid of my limits. If I don’t know the answer, I say so. If I don’t know how to find the answer, I say that, too. Admitting you don’t know something automatically makes everything else you say sound more credible.
In the case of the job I’ve accepted, I was available for my new supervisor for more than a year before he started with the company. I helped him plan the websites and social media strategies around his book. When he accepted his job, our next conversation progressed from “Let me ask you something” to “I’d like to hire you” over the course of a lunch because of the long foundation we had together. At every step of the interview process, I continued to share. As we discussed the website, the social media, the marketing plans, I gave my feedback as thoroughly as possible, before I had a job offer.
Giving away my knowledge and experience with no expectations has consistently helped me to improve myself and my situation. It helps that I enjoy being helpful. I kind of dig being treated like an expert, too.
How about you? Do you share selflessly, or do you keep what you know to yourself?
Horseback Riding Lessons
For the past couple of years, my daughters have been riding in horse shows with a local saddle club. We’ve been lucky in that my wife’s cousin has let us borrow her horse for the shows, so costs have been minimal.
Unfortunately, that horse isn’t available this year. We knew that a few months ago, so the plan was to take a year off from the shows and focus on lessons, to get the girls some real skills. We found a great instructor at a stable about 30 miles from our house. Since we live less than two miles from the border of the biggest city in the state, that’s a comparatively short drive.
We pay her $200 per month for 1 lesson per week for both girls. They each get 30-45 minutes on the horse during each lesson.
Now that show season has started, the plan seems to have changed. The girls will be riding a different borrowed pony tomorrow. The shows cost about $50 for registration, lunch, and gas. Our club has 1 show per month, but my wife has assured me they’ll only be hitting three shows this season and limiting the number of events to keep the cost down.
The direct costs aren’t too bad, but there’s a problem with keeping-up-with-the-Joneses accessorizing. Vests and boots and helmets and belts and shirts, oh my.
I’d guess our costs for the summer will be $300 per month.
One thing we’ve been considering is buying a pony. We can get an older pony for around $500-1000. Older is good because they are calmer and slower. Boarding the thing will cost another $200 per month. We’ve been slowly accumulating the stuff to own a horse, so I’m guessing the “OMG, he let me buy a horse, now I need X” shopping bill will come to around $1500, but I’ll figure $2000 to be safe. We already have a trailer, a saddle, blankets, buddy-straps, combs, brushes, buckets, rakes, shovels, and I-bought-this-but-I-will-just-put-it-in-the-pile-of-horse-stuff-so-Jason-will-never-notice stuff. We’re certainly close to being ready to buy.
(FYI: If you’re starting from scratch, don’t think you’re going to get into horse ownership for less than $10,000 the first year, and that’s being a very efficient price-shopper.)
So we’re looking at $5400 for a horse, gear, and boarding the first year. If we cancel the lessons, by spring we’d have $2000 of that saved and most of the rest can be bought over time.
On the other hand, if we go that route, we’ll never save enough to buy the hobby farm we’re looking for.
Decisions, decisions. I should just buy a new motorcycle. Within a year, I win financially.
