Pak-Qatar Ventures to begin Operations Next Month

The Pak-Qatar General Takaful Company and the Pak-Qatar Family Takaful Company are due to start operations in Pakistan this September, Izzat M Al Rashid, General Manager of Qatar Islamic Insurance Company (QIIC) said here yesterday. Both companies are being promoted by the Qatar Islamic Insurance Company (QIIC), Qatar International Islamic Bank (QIIB) and a prominent Qatari businessman.

The sponsors along with other Qatari participants hold 51 per cent of shares in each of the two companies, while the remaining 49 per cent are being offered to Pakistani nationals and strategic investors.

The general insurance business aims to bring specialised products covering accident, fire, marine, engineering, money and banking, property insurance and liability, while the life insurance will roll out investment and protection products, saving product, retirement and education policies. Announcing the company's semi-annual financials yesterday at the QIIC's headquarters, Al Rashid said that the insurer's assets exceeded the QR500m mark for the first time in its history.

QIIC posted 33 per cent rise in its first-half net profits to QR24.6m, while the company's earnings-per-share (EPS) in H1 was QR1.64 compared to QR1.23 in the corresponding period last year. The shareholders' equity reached QR245m or a 6 per cent increase over the figures of the corresponding period in 2006. The gross underwriting premium as of June 30, 2007, was over QR97.4m representing an increase of 20 per cent over the figures of the corresponding period in 2006.

However, the net policyholders' insurance surplus reached a modest QR10m, lower than the QR17.4m achieved in the corresponding period last year. Al Rashid attributed this to the fact that the company then posted remarkable profits resulting from sales of properties and also due to modest increase in investment income in the first half of this year.

Al Rashid said that he was confident that the company will witness further achievements in all aspects of its business in the second half of this year, having formulated a comprehensive plan with a view to diversifying investment opportunities.

However, he deplored the huge pressure on the local insurance market brought about by motor accident and claims leading to increasing loss ratio, calling on the authorities to review the current third party policy premium that has remained unchanged for the last 15 years. This, he said, would complement the recently issued traffic laws aimed at regulating vehicular traffic and reduce the number of accidents and loss of lives on the country's roads. (menafn.com)

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Bahrain - Qatar to have High-Speed Train Link

A state-of-the-art high-speed rail-link could soon connect Bahrain to Qatar, taking passengers from Manama to Doha in only 30 minutes.

German firm Transrapid International confirmed that it had been in "close contact with government agencies" in both countries with a view of developing a link, which will transport passengers across the waters of the Gulf at speeds of up to 300mph on one of its famed Maglev trains.

Maglev technology - which involves the suspension of objects by electromagnetic forces - first hit the headlines in 2002 with the opening of the world's first operational high-speed conventional Maglev Railway in Shanghai, and Transrapid now has details of prospective projects for the Gulf region on its website.

Its proposals show two main projects - a 145km rail-link between Manama and Doha, and a further 185km route joining Dubai to Abu Dhabi via Jebel Ali and Abu Dhabi international airports.

"The Transrapid and the possibilities it has to offer would be a fitting choice to establish a modern and attractive infrastructure in this economically attractive region," according to the introduction to the proposed project on the firm's site.

The idea has first discussed back in 2005, when former German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder led a high-profile German delegation to each of the GCC countries to gauge the local appetite for such hi-tech transportation infrastructure.

There has been little news of the project since, but this week a spokesman for Transrapid confirmed to GDN that the firm was still in negotiations with authorities regarding work on Qatar's internal transportation system and the potential link across the water to Bahrain.

"The Transrapid-Maglev is one potential alternative in the discussion and planning procedure including alternative high-speed rail links inside Qatar as well as across the future bridge to Manama in Bahrain," the spokesman said, adding that the adoption of the Maglev would represent a "futuristic transportation solution" for the region.

He was unable to give more detailed answers regarding the cost or a potential completion date, saying the project's planning stage "has not yet concluded".

Preliminary work has begun on the $3 billion, 40km 'friendship causeway' for motor vehicles to travel between Bahrain and Qatar, and the local authorities have tipped the road-link to bring an influx of investment from a neighbouring Gulf state in the midst of its own economic boom.

The addition of a Maglev link to the causeway - which will make landfall in Bahrain at the small fishing village of Askar and is still officially scheduled to be completed in 2010 - could give Bahrainis the chance to earn higher wages by working in Qatar and yet avoid that country's notoriously expensive real estate by still residing in their homeland.

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QSTP - Carnegir Mellon Qatar Launch Entrepreneurship Program

The Qatar Science & Technology Park and Carnegie Mellon University have launched a training course for entrepreneurs. The Executive Entrepreneurship Certificate Program is a nine-month part-time course designed to teach managers and executives how to build technology-based business. The course is run by Carnegie Mellon's Tepper School of Business.

Being there on the same day that the program was formally launched I had the chance to meet the professors who would be managing and running the program. It was impressive to see that such attention is being paid to the most vital need of the region. Development of entrepreneurial skills are very essential for the regions growth. The Chair of Entrepreneurship program from Carnegie Mellon, a true entrepreneur at heart would bring knowledge to students that is not only academic but time tested and worthy.

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Qatar Science and Technology Park - Proof of Concept Fund

The step from the laboratory to the marketplace can be the biggest one for potential entrepreneurs. History is littered with stories of great ideas that fail to become a commercial success because of a lack of money at this crucial stage. QSTP’s ‘Proof of Concept’ aims to close that gap, boosting technological innovation in Qatar and accelerating the creation of local start-up companies.

Grants provided by the programme enable the validation of promising technology from Qatar’s research labs. Qatar-based research institutes can use the funds to demonstrate the technical and market feasibility of their innovations.

Manning the controls of the fund is Paul Field, QSTP’s Technology Transfer Manager. “When you look at the major research programmes that are being planned by the universities at Education City, and the fact that QSTP is building a world-class business incubator across the road, they obviously fit very neatly together” explains Paul. “The Proof of Concept Fund will boost both university-based innovation and the rate at which start-up tech companies are created at QSTP.”

With grants from $100,000 to $500,000 recipients can develop and test prototypes, undertake market research and planning, protect and manage intellectual property and prepare a business plan. Grants are distributed over the six to 18 month lifetime of the projects as agreed milestones are achieved.

The Proof of Concept Fund is the latest QSTP initiative to create a knowledge economy in Qatar, and ensures that the fruits of the blossoming research community are translated into business success stories.

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