BY DESIGN chaosA Zain Magazine | November 2008 Issue 05 ROCKING ACROSS A CONTINENT: AFRICA REBRANDS ENTERINGENTERING THETHE KINGDOM:KINGDOM: LAUNCHINGLAUNCHING ININ SAUDISAUDI ARABIAARABIA •• ACEACE ININ JORDAN:JORDAN: AIMINGAIMING FORFOR THETHE MOONMOON WITHWITH NEILNEIL ARMSTRONGARMSTRONG •• TECHNOLOGYTECHNOLOGY SAVESSAVES AA LIFELIFE ININ SUDANSUDAN

LETTER FROM THE CEO

Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you will land among the stars

t the end of October, former astronaut borderless mobile network but also the world's Neil Armstrong took Zain’s bi-annual ACE first inter-continental borderless network, Amanagement meeting for a trip to the available to 500 million people stretching from moon nearly 40 years after he stepped on its Freetown in Sierra Leone to Manama in surface in what was, and still is, mankind’s most Bahrain, an area larger than the USA. daring adventure. The inspirational speech he gave will act as a catalyst to motivate all of us to Despite the world’s financial difficulties, Zain be brave and take risks in our personal and successfully raised $4.5 billion through a business dealings. capital increase to which over 99% of all shareholders subscribed. The amount, which This is what has taken Zain to where it is today. It will provide the company with the liquidity allows us to succeed in our daring acquisitions, necessary to achieve our 2011 ACE targets, operate in challenging markets and propel us to be was unprecedented. It is a unanimous vote of among the world’s top 10 global confidence by our shareholders in our telecommunications companies by 2011. management team, our performance to date and our expansion strategy. Back on Earth, the last few months have been the most challenging and rewarding in Zain’s history. I Finally, I must give a special mention to our look back on them with amazement and gratitude. team in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, where Today, after our African brothers and sisters we successfully launched services at the end of successfully undertook the challenge in rebranding August. Within a short period of two months, the beloved Celtel to Zain on August 1, we are and notwithstanding fierce competition, they united as one brand on two continents. We already have already welcomed more than 1.2 million feel the impact, having exceeded all expectations, customers to the Zain family. It is the much to the delight of all our stakeholders. This beginning of an exciting venture in this equally success has been achieved by the dedication and exciting country. determination of all the 10,000 fantastic people that are the beating heart of Zain Africa. Mahatma Gandhi said: “The future depends on what we do in the present.” Our ‘present’ We made history with our simultaneous policy at Zain is taking calculated risks, celebrations across our 14 African markets, choosing unconventional solutions, coming up attended by over 100,000 people and linked by with better ideas, testing them and working as live satellite. Africa had never seen anything like one. All are necessary ingredients for a it. But it was more than just a first for Africa; the company to succeed in today’s world. event celebrated all that is great about Africa and all that is great about Zain. Why walk when you can fly?

This launch also coincided with the expansion of Happy reading! our groundbreaking African ‘One Network’ and the linking of that service to our Middle East Dr Saad Al Barrak markets, making it not only the world’s first CEO-Zain

3 CHAOS NOVEMBER 2008 CONTENTS

26 Zain Sudan saves a life How a young man emerged from a tragic plane crash with Zain’s help

28 A drop of happiness Zain’s creativity captures the public imagination

30 Against all odds The amazing story of how the Zain Basketball Team defied the doubters

34 Backing African talent Zain co-sponsors the preeminent award in African journalism

38 Driving to success Zain has lessons to learn and to teach

3 Letter from the CEO 40 ‘One network’ honored Zain wins prize for network infrastruc- REACHING THE TOP ture innovation 6 Mishal Kanoo Business mastermind 41 Dr Saad Al Barrak wins awards 7 Zaha Hadid Zain CEO wins hatrick of prizes and Architect of genius ranks 29th most influential telecom 8 Chinua Achebe executive African literary noble laureate 9 Pamela Jelimo 42 When the sword is mightier Olympic Champion than the pen The inspiring story of the fencing Al MY CITY Ayoub sisters from Kuwait who went 10 Riyadh: Queen of the desert on to become champions A profile of one of the most vibrant Arab cities of our time 46 Texting against AIDS Zain uses SMS messages to promote 14 REAL LIVES HIV education Myths, kings and magic The Ashanti, Ghana’s largest 48 Investing in the future tribe, has a long, proud tradition Zain Sierra Leone helps mothers and traders with worthy initiatives TALKING TELECOM 18 The chaos principle 50 Going, going, gone! Part 2 of a dialogue with mtc touch raises $2.5 million by Dr. Saad Al-Barrak on his style auctioning prestige phone numbers of management 52 ACE in the hole CORPORATE SPIRIT Zain executives meet at the Dead 24 Living the dream Sea to discuss 2011 goals. First man Zain KSA’s CEO talks about the on the moon, Neil Armstrong gives challenges of setting up a network inspirational speech and we hear in the Kingdom from a girl called Zain

4 CHAOS NOVEMBER 2008 Contributors: Lana Captan, Carl Gibeilly, Mathias Klein, Anne Renahan, Thomas Schellen, Norbert Schiller

Photography: Norbert Schiller private collection, Focus Mideast, Zain Group, Reuters

Editing: SPECIAL SECTION: Vinehouse Media REBRANDING AFRICA Color Separation 60 14 reason to raise the roof and Printing: Zain hosts the biggest party www.raidy.com in Africa Produced by: 62 Burkino Faso Zain Group Communication Talent time and Investor Relations 64 Chad Department in collabora- Zain and the Zo gang tion with Vinehouse Media 65 Congo Brazzavile Funk fusion 66 Democratic of Congo Papa Wemba rocks! 68 Kenya The mother ship 71 Gabon Raising the roof 72 Madagascar Bodo shakes the party MOBILE LIFE 73 Malawi 86 Going nowhere Spreading the word Roaming charges will soon be a 74 Niger thing of the past argues business An explosive evening writer Thomas Schellen 76 Nigeria 90 Mobiles on the move! P.O. Box 22244 Safat, The sultans of sound Phone management and cross bor- 13083 Kuwait 78 Sierra Leone der solutions in an ever changing Tel.: +965 464 4444 P-Square’s urban rock mobile environment www.zain.com 80 Tanzania 94 Kidz are us [email protected] Spirit of togetherness Mobiles can give parents peace 82 Uganda of mind, even when the children African heartbeat are out of sight 84 Zambia Mama Zambia rules 98 Trivia to inspire

5 CHAOS NOVEMBER 2008 REACHING THE TOP

ishal Hamed Kanoo is known for of the Rashid Paediatric Therapy Centre, writing always seeks to bridge the his charm and pit-bull mentality: a corporate member in Emirates ethical and religious dimensions in Mwhen he has an idea between Environmental Group and a partner in business dealings with modernity his teeth, say his friends, he might be the Dubai Quality Group. Given his and progress. pleasant about it, but he will never let extensive knowledge of global capital go. For the boyish-looking entrepreneur and insight into business life in the Gulf Within that context, Mishal Kanoo has with his winning smile, the world of region, he is frequently called upon to always been a strong advocate of business is a natural fit. speak at conferences in the Gulf. education, stressing the need for people to take responsibility and At 39, Mishal Kanoo has established Mishal Kanoo continues to write control of their lives through learning himself as the mastermind behind one columns in local and regional and training. His guiding philosophy, of the largest independent, family- publications – he actually made his which he applies equally to his owned, group of companies in the debut as a columnist in Money Works personal life and to his company, is a Gulf region. magazine upon graduating with an fervent belief in honesty and a will to MBA in finance from the University of look ahead for opportunities while The Kanoo Group, which was formed St. Thomas, Houston, in the US. His keeping a respectful eye on the past. by Haji Yusuf Bin Ahmed Kanoo in Bahrain more than a century ago, has grown from its early roots as a trading and shipping firm to become one of Mishal Kanoo the most diversified business ventures, whose regional profile has earned it a superbrand status.

As the Deputy Chairman of the Kanoo Group, Mishal Kanoo has successfully steered and expanded his organization to encompass a broad range of industries, such as shipping, travel, machinery, oil and gas, power and industrial projects to exhibition services, courier services, insurance, logistics, specialty chemicals and business centres, and art and culture. He was instrumental in ensuring that each of the 11 businesses that make up the Kanoo Group benefited from an individual board with enough authority to make executive decisions internally, including joint ventures with a host of such international partners as Maersk shipping, Norwich Union Insurance and Freightworks, to name a few.

This internal model of autonomous companies has proved particularly successful for the company and for Mishal Kanoo, whose personal fortune has been estimated at $1.7 billion, thereby placing him in the top 10 of the world’s richest Arab personalities.

But Mishal Kanoo’s interests extend beyond the corporate world. He opened an art gallery in Dubai, where he lives aimed at promoting Arabian art and culture. His company is a major sponsor

6 CHAOS NOVEMBER 2008 ondon-based Zaha Hadid, who was born in Iraq in 1950 and Lstudied at the American University of Beirut, is only one of a handful of successful women in the male- dominated world of international architecture. Renowned for her perfectionism and demanding behaviour – she has been called a “diva for the digital age” – she is the only woman to have received architecture’s most coveted award, the Laureate Pritzker Prize, which she won in 2004 for her radical and innovative approach to architecture.

A Fellow of the American Institute of Architecture and a Commander of the British Empire, Zaha Hadid is currently working on more than 50 projects around the world, including several ventures in the Middle East – all at various stages of design, planning or completion. These include the Dubai Opera House and Cultural Centre, the Sheikh Zayed Bridge in Abu Dhabi, office tower blocks in Dubai, as well as a project associated with the Bahrain International Circuit and a Museum of Contemporary Art, also in Bahrain.

Hugely successful now – a retrospective of her work was held in 2006 at the Guggenheim Museum in New York – Zaha Hadid has often had to fight to be recognised and not all of her designs have been realised. Nowhere has this been more the case than in the UK, where her dramatically unconventional architectural style, often described as futuristic and radical, has challenged traditional thinking within the establishment.

An award-winning design for the Cardiff Bay Opera House in Wales, for Zaha Hadid example, was rejected in 1994 when local councillors managed to convince Hadid has also embarked on more Hadid, but much less high-profile than the authorities that her designs were modest projects, such as the design some of her other work. just too high-brow for local people. for a small building in a small Scottish town, a half-hour’s train ride away In fact, her best-known works are usually She is famous for her controversial from Edinburgh. Her designs for on a much grander scale. They include and ground-breaking designs, and Maggie’s Cancer Centre in the car the Vitra Fire Station in Germany and the has been credited with defining an park of the Victoria Hospital in the Rosenthal Centre for Contemporary Art in architectural vernacular that is firmly former mining town of Kirkcaldy were Cincinnati. She is also working on the futuristic and distinguished by done on a pro-bono basis. Small and London Aquatics Centre and the Glasgow flowing, sinuous lines. However, Zaha compact, the work is classic Zaha Museum of Transport, also in the UK.

7 CHAOS NOVEMBER 2008 He illuminates the path for writers across the world by describing his own experience related to African politics, the way Africa and Africans are depicted in the West and the effects of colonization on African societies. In fact, he became a writer because of his indignation of the distorted portrayal of Africans in the works of English writers. He is intimately well-versed in his subject. After a spell with the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation in Lagos in the early 1950s, Chinua Achebe moved to London to study broadcasting at the BBC. During Nigeria’s civil war from 1967 to 1970, Achebe tried to publicize the plight of his kinsmen, the Ibo people of the eastern region, who tried to establish an independent Republic of Biafra.

He continues to protest the state of affairs in his native country, which has been racked by military rule and dictators since gaining Chinua Achebe independence from Britain in 1960; and true to his conscience, he turned down he Nigerian novelist and poet, (1987), his body of work encompasses Nigeria’s second highest honour in 2004, Chinua Achebe, made headlines more than 20 books, including namely, the Commander of the Federal Tin June 2007 when he beat off novels, short stories, essays and Republic. But the Man Booker such celebrated writers as Philip Roth, collections of poetry. His first novel is International Prize for fiction is only the Margaret Atwood and Ian McEwan to regarded as a classic of world most recent feather in his cap; Chinua win the highly coveted Man Booker literature, with sales estimated at 10 Achebe has received more than 20 International Prize for fiction. million copies across the world, and honorary doctorates and several has been translated into more than international literary prizes. Launched in 2004 as a spin-off from 40 languages. This makes him black Britain’s prestigious Booker Prize, the Africa’s most widely read and most Currently living in New York and international prize – with a value of translated writer of all time. paralyzed from the waist down following $120,000 – is awarded every two years a car accident in 1990, Chinua Achebe is to a living author who has published He has been called “the father of a member of the American Academy fiction in English or whose work has modern African literature.” But Chinua and Institute of Arts and Letters, and been translated into English. Achebe’s writing has a global professor of languages and literature at resonance, particularly in developing Bard College. As one of Africa’s finest While Chinua Achebe, 76, is best countries, in that he is forever seeking literary voices, he continues to play an known for his first novel, Things Fall new words and innovative forms for integral part in global literature through Apart (1958), A Man of the People the changing realities and societies of both his writing and lectures in (1966) and Anthills of the Savannah the modern world. universities across the world.

8 CHAOS NOVEMBER 2008 enya’s teenage sensation, victory – and the first Kenyan woman to she had won the African junior 400- Pamela Jelimo, began running at win an Olympic title – she clinched the metre title in 2007, at the age of 17, Kthe tender age of 13 and has coveted IAAF (International Association with a time of 54.93 seconds and had never looked back. At the Bird’s Nest of Athletics Federations) Golden set a Kenyan junior record of 24.68 stadium in Beijing, the 18-year-old set League jackpot prize worth $1 million in seconds in the 200 meters. a devastating pace to win a stunning August of this year. victory in the 800 meter event in one But she became the breakout track star of minute 54.87 seconds, thereby This feat is all the more spectacular the Beijing Games thanks to her coach, achieving a personal best and the given that Pamela Jelimo only began who saw her great potential and believed ninth-fastest performance ever. running the 800 meters months earlier, she could break the tape despite her lack Moreover, fast on the heels of that in April. As an accomplished sprinter, of experience in a longer distance. Born in 1989 in Kapsabet, Kenya, Pamela Jelimo is also quick to acknowledge the pivotal role played by her mother, who gave up her Pamela Jelimo own budding running career when she got married. In turn, Pamela Jelimo is now set to inspire the next wave of young athletes, both in Kenya and beyond.

In Beijing, there seemed to be only one serious challenger: the Russian athlete, Yelena Soboleva, who had clocked the fastest time of the year at one minute and 54.85 seconds. But on the eve of the Beijing Games, Soboleva and six other Russian women were suspended by IAAF and accused of using substitute urine in drug screenings. With Soboleva gone, the Olympic race was Jelimo’s to win.

She ran with a green left shoe and a red right shoe – sporting her country’s colours – her head was straight, never bobbing, and her open hands sliced straight up and down as a sprinter’s hands. Beyond the finish and the first Olympic victory lap for a Kenyan woman, Jelimo held her head high as she ran with a Kenyan flag trailing behind her like a cape.

Given her youth, Jelimo’s career is set to skyrocket further, and many believe she has a shot at breaking one of the oldest and most controversial world records in athletics: the run by Jarmila Kratochvilova of the former Czechoslovakia in 1983 in 1 min 53.28 seconds, which was achieved at the height of the doping era.

“I’m sure she will break the world record,” says Maria Mutola of Mozambique, the 2000 Olympic champion who finished fifth in Beijing. “When she’s 21 or 22, maybe. She runs different. A very, very fast first lap.”

9 CHAOS NOVEMBER 2008 MY CITY Riyadh: Queen of the desert Norbert Schiller profiles one of the most vibrant Arab cities of our time

s the sun’s first rays sweep Located 600 meters above sea level on which means gardens, in particular the across the desert they are met a fertile plateau, in the heart of the green meadows that form in the desert Aby a shining fortress of modern Arabian Peninsula, it remains a place after the spring rains. For ages Riyadh, skyscrapers rising up out of the of beauty and wonderment. appropriately dubbed “the Queen of Arabian sands. Riyadh, the capital of the Desert,” was a small oasis Saudi Arabia, is one of the most To fully appreciate Riyadh’s significant settlement and a welcome refuge for spectacular and modern cities of our place in Arabian history one must first many a weary traveler who journeyed time, cautiously blending its traditional understand the origins of its name. In across this vast and desolate land. past with today’s modern world. Arabic the plural of Riyadh is rawdha, People saw it as beacon for trade and

10 CHAOS NOVEMBER 2008 For ages Riyadh, appropriately dubbed “the Queen of the Desert,” was a small oasis settlement and a welcome refuge for many a weary traveler who journeyed across this vast and desolate land

commerce. Besides having its own water supply, the oasis was covered in date palm trees.

The origins of Riyadh can be traced back to Pre-Islamic times when it was called Hajr and inhabited by the Banu Hanifa tribe. Later Hajr became the capital for the province of Al Yamamah, whose governors were responsible for most of central and eastern Arabia during the Umayyad and Abbasid eras. In 866 Al- Yamamah broke away from the Abbasid Empire, only to fall under the control of the Ukhaydhirites, who in turn moved the capital to the nearby settlement of The earliest reference to the name with other rulers and then set out to Al Kharj. After Hajr lost its position of change from Hajr to Riyadh comes conquer the surrounding areas which being the regional capital, it fell into from a 17th century traveler who made included Riyadh. Ibn Dawwas, who ruled decline and was divided into many reference to an event that happened Riyadh, formed his own alliances with separate settlements. in “Riyadh” in 1590. other clans and for the next 30 years the two sides battled it out until 1774, when In the 14th century the young Arab In 1737, Deham Ibn Dawwas, who Ibn Dawwas finally capitulated and explorer and chronicler Ibn Battuta, set vigorously resisted the expansion of a surrendered. Diriyah remained the out on a journey from his native Wahabbist state by the Saud clan, took capital under Ibn Saud and the period of Tangiers, in what is today Morocco, control of all of Riyadh settlements and time following the war became known and for the next 30 years traversed consolidated them into one town and as the first Saudi state. overland across Africa and Asia to as then build a wall around it to protect far away as Beijing. During his journey the town from attack. In 1818, Mohammed Ali of Egypt, he passed through Hajr on his way to working on behalf of the Ottomans, Mecca, and described the settlement In 1744, Muhammad Ibn Saud from the sent a force to Arabia and destroyed there as having “many water canals nearby town of Diriyah, determined to the capital of Diriyah which effectively and trees.” create an Islamic state, made alliances ended Saud’s rule and the first Saudi

11 CHAOS NOVEMBER 2008 underpasses and flyovers have also been put in place at critical junctions to ease congestion. To give the capital a feeling of still being part of an oasis, many avenues are lined with trees and date palms, and there are numerous parks.

As the region continues to develop its financial sector, Riyadh has put itself into position to be the leader. The King Abdullah Financial District (KAFD) will be the largest and most advanced financial center in the region, surpassing the Dubai Financial Center (DFC) and the Bahrain Financial Center (BFC). The site will be spread over an area of 1.6 million square meters with total floor space of 3.3. million square meters. It will be the headquarters of the Capital Market Authority (CMA), the Stock Exchange and the Commodity Market, as well as other service State. In 1823 Turki Ibn Abdullah revived of Saudi Arabia’s oil industry, providers such as accountants, auditors, the Saudi State and this time made Dammam, Dhahran and Kholbar. lawyers, analysts, rating agencies, Riyadh its capital. The second Saudi Revenues from Saudi Arabia’s vast oil consultants, and IT providers. State lasted until the ladder part of the wealth were quickly turning Riyadh 19th century when it fell to the Saudis from a sleepy capital to one of the One of the most important attributes of main rival, the Al Rashid clan. The Al most powerful cities in the world. To the KAFD will be the Financial Rashids held on to power until Abdul- meet the demands, city planners Academy which can take up to 5,000 Aziz of Ibn Saud finally conquered them worked feverishly to expand the city’s students. The purpose of the academy in 1902. Abdul-Aziz Ibn Saud later went infrastructure. Expatriate skilled and is to train the current and futures on to unite the whole Kingdom of Saudi unskilled workers were brought in from generation in skills needed to get Arabia into one country in 1932 and Africa, the Arab world and Asia to ahead in today’s competitive climate. made Riyadh its capital. meet the demands. Whole Besides state of the art office space the neighborhoods sprang up over night - KAFD will have residential space, Once the secretive walled city of the shopping centers, sporting venues, sporting and leisure facilities, shopping 19th century, Riyadh began to slowly schools, universities and industrial areas, open spaces with parks plus open up after it became the kingdom’s zones. Riyadh was going through a 40,000 available parking spaces. capital city. In 1932, the total area of massive transformation, and unlike Riyadh was 8.5 square kilometers; many other cities in the region, the city A lot has changed since King Abdul today the city is more than 1,600 planners put a lot of thought into the Aziz Ibn Saud came to power over a square kilometers. In the 1960s the “master plan” so as to build a city that hundred years ago. Its main attraction population of Riyadh was 50,000; would not only cater to the here and was that it had its own water source. today the population is nearly 5 million now but well into the future. Even though the wadis (valleys) have and growing. long dried up, the mentality of the city Most of the high-rises in Riyadh today has changed little. Riyadh today Riyadh up until the 1970s lived in the are less than 20 years old. Its skyline in remains a very conservative city which shadow of the kingdom’s Red Sea port the business and banking districts are modernization has failed to change. city of Jeddah. For centuries Jeddah fast becoming a showcase for modern The people of Riyadh still hold on to was the trading center and the architectural design. Riyadh boasts their traditional Islamic values, and for gateway into Arabia, particularly for one of the best transportation this reason the city remains a place of Muslim pilgrims going on Hajj to networks in the world. A series of tranquility and stability in an often Mecca and Medina. However, with the broad highways connects to all the turbulent region. oil boom of the 1960s and 70s, the outlying areas of the city giving balance of power began shifting people easy and quick access to Zain began operating in the Kingdom eastwards to Riyadh and to the centers almost anywhere in Riyad; of Saudi Arabia in August, 2008.

12 CHAOS NOVEMBER 2008 Cities in the sand The creation new financial hubs in KSA

he Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has Each city will be an economic and social The economic dimension is shared as made it its mission to develop six center with specialization in areas ranging acommon priority by all cities, but so are Tnew cities from scratch within a from petrochemical manufacturing to cultural and social axes that define generation. The first new city was the transportation and logistics, and as many existence. The new Saudi cities will King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC), as five million people will find their homes attract and invigorate economic activity announced in December 2005, and the and livelihood in the six cities. during the next 25 years due to their Kingdom and its investment authority, extensive investment needs, building SAGIA, have promoted the city through As the projects, led by KAEC, have moved activities and the generation of wealth public relations efforts and through the from initiation and pure planning to their opportunities for young Saudi citizens – sheer size of the $26.5 billion plan. implementation phases, the time the latter being one of the main reasons Since then, international media have estimates and investment numbers are behind the entire concept of the used KAEC as a peg to report on the being revised and are looking to go up. kingdom’s economic cities. social situation and investment For KAEC, master developer Emaar potential of the Saudi kingdom, whose announced that it is on track for delivering At the same time, and on a level that is vast realm is still relatively unknown to phase one by 2011 – which means that beyond the imagination of everyday life millions of otherwise well informed 10% of the total city will have been today, the new cities will be among the global media consumers. developed. Estimates also say now that first cities designed for the communication the flagship of the new Saudi urbanism will age. If the whole is more than the sum of Besides the KAEC on the central Red be completed by 2030 and cost probably its parts, the largest cities would have to Sea coast not far from Jeddah, the other somewhere near or above the threshold of be the most productive places on earth. In five locations are at Jazan, further south $100 billion. For the four cities in the past, this was not the case, because at the entrance of the Red Sea, Hail, in development, some conservative cost the cities that grew or were planned for the kingdom’s north central region where estimates are now talking of $160 billion. earlier ages had to fall short of the Prince Abdul Aziz Economic City is being requirements for creating an optimum built, and Madinah, site of the In the Europe during the Middle Ages, environment for human spirit, mind, Knowledge Economic City. Two other cities stood for bourgeois freedoms, relationships and industry. cities are to rise, one in the industry- powering individuals in their ability to driven Eastern Province and one in the withstand the dominance of feudal The vision of building new cities for the north-western province of Tabuk. The lords. During later centuries, city 21st century involves the possibility of costs for the new cities, excluding the foundings expressed ideological, developing the first cities where the two locations, have been estimated at an political, and cultural concepts and current best practices and lessons from initial, very conservative SAR 260 billion, ambitions, growing in places as diverse the past are implemented. In their or $70 billion. as Novosibirsk and Brasilia. economic potential, these cities would then represent a laboratory for developing communication and interaction structures that are beyond everything we have seen and that will exceed much that we have been able to envision or imagine, just as the 20th century defied the expectations of thinkers in preceding eras.

The cities that lead the global knowledge economy age and evolution of wiser societies will incorporate communication as their backbone – and here, very realistically, a greater incentive for a telecommunications company with the vision of global leadership cannot be imagined.

13 CHAOS NOVEMBER 2008 REAL LIVES

Myths, kings and magic

The Ashanti, Ghana’s largest tribe, has a long and proud tradition

he history of the Ashanti – or floating down from the heavens to land Asantehenes have taken power in a Asante – is rich with myths, kings on the lap of the priest. Even now, that ceremony described as ascending to Tand the magical properties of stool represents the essence of Ashanti the Golden Stool. gold, which still plays a central role in unity and is a spiritual link to every king the traditions and life of Ghana’s who has passed. The current Ashanti king, Otumfuo largest tribe. Osei Tutu II, was enstooled in such a More than legend, this myth has ceremony in 1999. Heralded by the According to one Ashanti myth dating become enshrined as fact, with the blowing of hollowed out elephant back to the 17th century, a wise priest power of all Ashanti chiefs resting in tusks, mmenson, he arrived dressed in called the tribe together in an effort to the possession of a stool. It is the batakarikese, a talisman-studded war- unite the nation some 300 years ago. equivalent of a throne and the dress, complete with fabulous gold Raising his eyes up to the sky, he ultimate power of the tribal king, the ornamentation as worn by previous commanded a symbol from it that Asantehene, bound up in the generations of battle-bound kings. would somehow unite the Ashanti ownership of the more powerful Carried aloft in a palanquin with a forever; and amid heavy thunder and Golden Stool, which is secreted away bundle of leaves sticking out of his great darkness, it came. A golden stool in the king’s palace, and is said to be mouth to signify humility, he was – low and deep-seated, almost like a so sacred it has never even touched cheered on by handkerchief-waving saddle with sturdy legs – appeared, the ground. Successive generations of crowds and surrounded by courtiers

14 CHAOS NOVEMBER 2008 with blackened faces who struck executioners’ swords and chanted war songs. Drummers beat out ancient rhythms on fontonfrom and barrel- shaped atumpan talking drums, while antique muskets boomed in the background. Such traditions remain important to the Ashanti, who are part of the Akan nation that dominated gold mining and trade in the region in previous centuries, and whose roots date back to the 1200s. The Ashanti now number about 7 million people, some 30% of Ghana’s population, and speak Asante, or Twi, which is very rich in proverbs, the use of which is seen as a sign of wisdom. The president of Ghana, John Kufuor, is Ashanti.

Occupying a large swathe of fertile land in the south-central part of the country about 300 km from the coast, the Ashanti also inhabit adjacent areas of Togo and Cote d’Ivoire. The area is densely forested and mountainous in parts, and the Ashanti capital Kumasi – once the centre of the great Asante kingdom that was established in the 1670s by King Osei Tutu – was the geographic meeting point of two powerful trading systems, the Sudanic empires to the north across the Sahara and the gold-mining Kwaman forest region, which traded south with Europeans.

The Ashanti went from being a tributary state of Denkyira, the foremost Akan power during the 16th century, to a confederation of states and ultimately a centralized and hierarchical kingdom.

Known as powerful warriors, the Ashanti were one of few African peoples capable of resisting European colonizers, and they aligned themselves Ghana’s President John Kufuor is Ashanti with the Dutch in an attempt to limit British influence in their region. Despite four wars with the British, fought The Ashanti went from being a tributary between 1823 and 1896, the Ashanti kingdom was incorporated into Britain’s state of Denkyira, the foremost Akan Gold Coast colony. Relations between power during the 16th century, to a the British and the Ashanti gradually improved, and in 1926 the Asantehene confederation of states and ultimately a was given ceremonial control over Kumasi and full control over his kingdom centralized and hierarchical kingdom in 1935. Even after British rule came to

15 CHAOS NOVEMBER 2008 Kente-clad Ashanti with US President George W. Bush an end in 1957, Ghana’s constitution made provision for traditional rulers like All rituals, mundane or not, however, the Asantehene. require some form of decoration, and The male Asantehene may be the ultimate symbol of power, but for the the Ashanti have built up a reputation Ashanti, the woman also has a special importance. One of only a handful of as expert artisans for their skilled matrilineal societies in western Africa, ironwork, pottery, gold and woodcraft, lines of descent, inheritance, land rights, property and titles are traced which rivals figurines from Europe and through the mother, and women tend to dominate the market place. the Americas, and most well known,

At the same time men really hold for weaving the dazzling bright and ultimate power in most matters, and multi-colored kente cloth while children are deemed to receive the vital qualities of flesh and blood, mogya, from the mother, according to traditionally live in an extended family, As the legend of the golden stool shows, tradition they inherit the father’s soul in homes set around a courtyard, and the Ashanti’s long history is imbued with or spirit, ntoro, and are also thought to it is the oldest brother who is usually the importance of the spiritual and the reflect his personality. Men also rule the head of the household and must sense that all kinds of parallel lives co- the roost at home: the Ashanti be obeyed by everyone. exist with the human one. They believe

16 CHAOS NOVEMBER 2008 that the universe is peopled with all sorts result, funerals are huge, costly events, colored kente cloth – from kenten, of spirits, the greatest of which is Nyame, and can last for several days; everyone meaning basket – once a royal and the supreme one or sky god, who in a particular village is expected to sacred cloth worn only during created and heads a pantheon of gods attend. These days most Ashanti are important ceremonies by members of and spirits. Protestant Christians. the royal family but now so widespread that it has become one of In fact, the Ashanti believe that the In contrast to funerals, marriage is not the best known African textiles. mingling of the male spirit, krah, with seen as a particularly important ritual female blood during intercourse is a for the Ashanti, who are polygynous. While ritual, ceremony and myth remain catalyst for conception. They also And while girls tend to get betrothed important to the Ashanti, the notion of believe that during the first eight days – usually to a cousin – immediately the tribe is less significant now than it of its life, a baby is a ghost child who after a puberty ceremony, this is was 100 years ago, and most Ashanti can be snatched back out of life by its merely because this is considered the tend to think of themselves in a national ghost mother in the spirit world, next step in life rather than a rather than a tribal context. These days desperate to get her child back. If the significant event. being Ashanti is significant for linguistic child lives, the family holds a ceremony and cultural reasons, rather than in to affirm that the child has successfully All rituals, mundane or not, however, terms of identity. bridged the river between ghost and require some form of decoration, and human existence and has finally the Ashanti have built up a reputation At the same time, a sense of awe and become a true human child. as expert artisans for their skilled veneration for the past is still very ironwork, pottery, gold and woodcraft, much a part of Ashanti life, meaning Linked to these beliefs is the which rivals figurines from Europe and that the old myths and their particular importance of ancestors, who are the the Americas, and most well known for poetry survive and are still relevant motivators for many ceremonies. As a weaving the dazzling bright and multi- after all these years.

King Otumfuo Osei Tutu II with Queen Beatrice of the Neatherlands

17 CHAOS NOVEMBER 2008 TALKING TELECOM

The chaos principle There has been great interest in learning more about Zain Group’s management culture. Zain Group CEO Dr Saad Al Barrak recently spoke to consultants of the global management consulting firm, McKinsey & Co, on the challenges and methods in management for a global communications company. In the second of a two-part interview (see CBD #4 for Part I), Chaos by Design quizzed him on the essentials of the managerial style used in leading Zain Group on its path of global success

What is your approach in managing the simultaneous aspirations, culture and be in the forefront to take it forward growth in diversity and in size? and get out of this historical fight between head and tail, We have to operationalize synergies as we go into more between the group and country operations. It has been the countries and more companies, some of which are better downfall of so many multinational corporations. than us. All the time, we have to think of ‘operationalizing’ synergies between these countries and build a learning Was leveraging the group’s diversity the only strategic capability – i.e. when we capture knowledge we want it to challenge? stay, and we want it to spread. We also want the operations No. You have to balance your financial profitability and on the ground to embrace the vision and uphold our plans, growth because we are a very conservative company. Our

18 CHAOS NOVEMBER 2008 The more you engage people in passionate dialogue, the more loyalty you have and the more quality relationships you have - not only with people in general but also with the community that you try to serve

shareholders are used to receiving huge dividends at the end of each year. How to keep up profitability while investing heavily into the future of the company – this was a paradoxical and very challenging combination, but we have to do both at the same time.

What about technological challenges? For us action is a surer way to the future than analysis. The main challenge for us is not managing the hard side, the technology. The real challenge is managing the intangibles; community, and as an organization in every direction. If you managing the tangibles and the hard side is easy. The know how to manage this huge dialogue in and around intangibles are the vision, culture, brand knowledge, your organization, you can go places. As a result of this relationship networks, and values and ethics. As the strategy, we have taken our market capitalization from $2.5 leadership in the group, our eyes and hearts are focused billion in 2002 to hover around $25 billion today. We have on all of these areas and we must make sure that we fulfill close to 56 million customers and operations in 22 them to their best level of effectiveness. It is not about countries, making it the fourth largest company in the worrying whether we have deployed the network or not. world in terms of geographic coverage with over 15 million There are people who can take care of these things. The square kilometers covered. A population mass of over 600 engineers in the field do this. The intangibles are managed million people is in our range in the territories where Zain by what we call the three Cs: commitment, capacity and, Group companies are licensed operators. above all, choice. Managing this sounds like a script for a mission impossible What makes the three Cs so special? Our lever in managing this change and transforming the We need to know how to make choices in a very company is purely a case of managing the passion of the communicative and congenial way. We need to know how most diversified human portfolio. It is a big challenge if you to garner commitments and build capacities. These are not think about it, but it is the only option to appeal to an Arab products of machines. They are the result of people talking like myself, a Bedouin coming from the heart of the desert to each other, of what we call strategic conversations. The of Arabia, or to a very sophisticated French gentleman who role of leadership in Zain is to know how to manage comes from Paris. We are proud to have a customer who is strategic conversations. This means you must make sure a farmer in the Congo and lives 800 kilometers away from that all the conversations in your organization, whether in the capital and someone who lives in Lebanon where all the alleys and corridors or in the meeting rooms, are kinds of intricacies mingle together to produce the best strategic talks that add to your life as a person, as a kind of population.

19 CHAOS NOVEMBER 2008 The only way to appeal to all of these people as human conflict. It becomes much more valuable to our customers beings is through their passion and nothing else. Therefore to be able to call their families and friends or conduct their managing passion in a very strategic, very human and very business by using their telephone. The combatants also aspiring way is the major challenge for leading such a often shy away from harming the networks because they diversified group of people. This applies even if you have a rely on them for their human needs. Even in the 2006 single company; it applies much more if you have this Lebanon conflict, the integrity of our network was diverse group. We have 15,600 people in the group with maintained, and the traffic increased. very diverse backgrounds, and we operate in economies where on one end the GDP per capital is $300 per year and Do conflicts then just mean business as usual from a on the other end it is $20,000 to $25,000. management perspective? Not at all. Peace is definitely the most beneficial state for Besides the wide social and economic differences among our business. When you take a country in a steady state of the people you serve, Zain also runs many of its networks conflict, like Iraq, the cost of our security and of maintaining in countries that companies from developed markets often the equipment and operating the networks is increased consider high-risk. How do you manage this risk of an significantly. But in those countries where there is an internal conflict or regional war? Do you not have to make inherent greater cost of doing business, our customers are contingency planning for a huge loss of business when a willing to offset the higher cost because the service is worth conflict breaks out like the 2006 summer war in Lebanon? more to them. If a country exits a steady state of conflict We are in Sudan, Iraq, Lebanon, Chad, Niger, Mali, and returns to peace, we will immediately reduce the cost Democratic Republic of Congo – areas that are exposed to to our customers. In Lebanon, as another example, we risk of conflict. From the perspective of an outside observer, rebuilt stations after the 2006 conflict that we had no one may wonder how people can operate successfully in obligation to rebuild under our management contract. We this high-risk environment. However, the equity that is are not a company that just talks. We are doing things not assigned by customers to our services increases in times of because we want to get attention but because we really

20 CHAOS NOVEMBER 2008 If a country exits a steady state of conflict and returns to peace, we will immediately reduce the cost to our customers. In Lebanon, as another example, we rebuilt stations after the 2006 conflict that we had no obligation to rebuild under our management contract. We are not a company that just talks

means we take advantage of accelerating the growth in very high-growth areas especially in Africa and the Middle East. Consolidate means we want to capture group-wide synergies and also consolidate financially. Expansion in 2007 critically targeted several areas, two of the largest markets in the Middle East: Saudi Arabia and Iraq which together have almost 50 million inhabitants, as well as Nigeria, which has a population of 180 million.

This is an interesting point. Zain has added new markets and grown to a scope where it is not possible to pinpoint a single home market. Other global companies have started from a large home base and integrated new markets but were always stuck with a certain element of origin that dominated their identity. For Zain as group and as brand, it seems that you have newly defined yourself as a global company and have no believe that they will prove to our customers that we are choice but to be global. partners, and partners in the long term. Furthermore, we Don’t forget that Kuwait is a large country. Together with are living proof that when you operate in a disaster China, we are 1.3 billion people. I always say that we take a environment this also gives you an opportunity to show your lot of pride that our country is in this part of the world and very best and learn how good you can be. our success shows that we have other things to export than oil and some dysfunctionalities. But it is an amazing aspect Will this possibly be an edge in managing future challenges? of our culture at Zain that each time we integrate something To accomplish our vision of becoming one of the top ten new, it only helps strengthen the brand because we have global operators, we will have to have a footprint in the the ability to absorb. developed world and economically advantaged societies where competition is certainly fiercer. But I believe we will So you have an actual advantage where other multinational be able to take some of our learned experiences and companies struggle because of the overpowering influence create an advantage out of those that we can leverage in a of their engrained corporate pedigree? global context. Right. That there is no pedigree which we have to align with or transform something into means we have only the You appeal to people through fundamental shared exercise of absorption and improvement of the whole. The human passions, and this relates to choices lack of pedigree could be both a strength and a weakness, and commitments. How do you fulfill the third C of but we are leveraging all of the strengths from it so our building capacity? culture becomes accessible to everyone. This is our industry Building capacity is where the ACE – Accelerate, and our model. Our brand ignites passion inside and Consolidate and Expand – strategy comes in. ACE is an outside the organization. The more you engage people in execution strategy for building this very sophisticated passionate dialogue, the more loyalty you have and the apparatus for managing a global market, becoming a more quality relationships you have - not only with people in leader and joining the ranks of the top ten. Accelerate general but also with the community that you try to serve.

21 CHAOSNOVEMBER 2008 CORPORATE SPIRIT Living the dream Zain KSA’s CEO talks about the challenges of setting up a network in the Kingdon

he start of commercial services on August 26 marked the third formal milestone in the creation of Zain TGroup’s network in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, after the acquisition of the license in March 2007 for $6.1 billion and the new company’s highly-subscribed public listing on 22 March 2008.

Zain Group, which expects to have over 60 million customers by the end of 2008, has very ambitious plans for its Saudi family member. Growth to three million customers after 12 months of operations is part of the plan, and in the long run, the group is convinced that it can stake a successful claim to one third of the kingdom’s mobile market, offering customers today’s and tomorrow’s standard services.

The Saudi venture is easily one of the more daring expansion moves in the young story of a group whose steps from a Kuwaiti national telecoms provider to an intercontinental communications player have been anything but timid.

Zain has entrusted the role of chief executive officer of its Saudi operation to its former Chief Strategy Officer and Saudi national, Dr. Marwan Alahmadi, who previously taught the group’s entrenched competition in Bahrain how to shake in their boots. As chief operating officer of Zain Bahrain, Dr. Alahmadi coached his team in succeeding as a new entrant in a mature market. These efforts were crowned by climbing above 40% market share, group insiders point out. huge country, and this vastness of the territory makes it so From the very onset of reaching out to Saudi customers, challenging to cover the country with telecommunications Zain Saudi has taken steps that were unprecedented – but services. However, from day one of our operations, we have then imitated quickly by new mobile operators in other been providing our services to an area covering 95% of the countries – such as offering 50% lifetime discounts on all population. their local and international calls, SMS and data transfers. Offered initially to the first 500,000 new customers, the What does that mean in terms of the number of cities introductory package was available until early October and where Zain service was available when you launched on certainly made a splash in the market where it August 26? demonstrated that Zain Saudi’s growth strategies are fresh In another way of expressing the reach of our service, the and customer centric. coverage of our own network includes about 43 cities and 15 highways that crisscross the kingdom at 4,000 kilometers Chaos by Design asked Dr. Alahmadi about his vision for in length. This serves about 55% of the population. For the Zain Saudi Arabia. rest of the coverage area, we use national roaming. The customer who travels from our direct coverage area into a How many miles have you traveled in Saudi Arabia since region where we have no own network will seamlessly the start of 2008? continue receiving service through national roaming. This is That cannot be counted. I traveled everywhere, from the common practice among telecommunications carriers in cities to the desert to the high mountains. Saudi Arabia is a very large countries.

22 CHAOS NOVEMBER 2008 What does a company have to do in order to reach such a territorial coverage scope in a country like Saudi Arabia? Covering 55% of the population is a major achievement. The population in Saudi is around 27 million, but it is not only the size of the population that matters. Saudi Arabia is a vast country and a very difficult terrain. It is very diverse, from mountainous areas where we have erected towers at 2,500 meters above sea level, to the seaside cities and the desert. Fifty five percent means that we have installed around 1,400 cell towers in Saudi Arabia and expect this to double in the next few years. By comparison, Carrying out charitable work during religious occasions we cover all of Kuwait with 1,200 towers, and in Bahrain, 108 towers do the job. But you have sought your technical differentiation marks? Yes, we do our own benchmarking for meeting the Can you describe some of the stepping stones for challenging conditions. As you know, the regulator has set reaching this service level? benchmarks for network quality that all operators have to The readiness of the organization has become higher and meet. But as we have been doing three benchmarking higher since we succeeded in completing the initial public processes of our own in testing our network quality since the offering early this year. A very important step was the start of 2008, we have seen ourselves improve from one such friendly user launch in the summer. In two months of test exercise to the other. We have found ourselves to be either at operations in July and August, we could measure the entire par with the benchmarks achieved by the better of the two customer experience – meaning all functions, not just the existing operators, or even better than the higher of the two. technical network performance. Another stepping stone was the start of sales for vanity numbers on July 28. Was the benchmarking done in-house? It was done with an independent organization that did track If we look for a moment at the technical aspects, how did tests, sometimes even including tests in enclosed areas Zain meet the challenges posed by the climate and where the testers would carry the equipment on their back environmental situation? to do these precise tests indoors. During those tests, the The active components and the electromechanical system makes a call every two minutes, using three SIM elements in the network have to be prepared for the cards. We gather all this information and analyze it, and as I environmental conditions; for example, you have to have said, we have gone from one level of quality to a higher multiple air conditioning units in very hot areas. You need level to the point where our single cells are either equal to uninterruptible power sources, UBSs and generators. In the best in certain areas or better than the best. open areas with a lot of wind you have to adjust the cell tower structures. If a certain building structure doesn’t How many man hours did you invest in testing the give you the result you want, you have to change the network overall? structure to assure that there is no impact on the This is very difficult to estimate. We cannot quantify the number microwave which requires very careful alignments. By the of man hours that have gone into testing the network because way, this is not a differentiator for us. The network was our testing is a continuous and very dynamic process. implemented by the same contractors that have done it Benchmarking is a pure engineering task, and they show us for the other two operators. their results. However, the entire team of Zain Saudi has been involved in testing the network and giving feedback to improve it. From every trainee in the customer call center to Zain AT A GLANCE: ZAIN KSA (as of 30/09/2008) executives on our travels across the country, everyone has been Date: Operations commenced on August 26, 2008 testing the network performance. Even the CEO of Zain Group Customers: 966,000 Dr. Saad Al Barrak, would use his visits to test the network. Coverage: 43 cities, 15 highways, 4,000 km, 95% of the population This sounds as if you made your own job more difficult Network: 1,400 cell towers, plus national roaming than it could have been. Growth: Unlimited! It is very possible that we could have built a network that would

23 CHAOS NOVEMBER 2008 Dr Marwan Alahmadi and senior management at the launch of Zain Saudi Arabia on August 26, 2008. One month later, the operation had welcomed 1m customers have covered only five cities and provided service everywhere penetration levels but also in the complexity of services. We else through national roaming. The amount of required are really in a market where almost every imaginable service resources would have been far lower if we had settled for less is already being offered. It is very tough to compete where coverage and less quality. We could have launched much the bar of service quality and diversity is set high. At the earlier. But even in the bid for the license, we committed same time, the market is extremely rewarding. The ourselves to that high level of coverage and quality. The only estimation is that the mobile communications market in way to control the quality is to have your own network. Saudi Arabia will grow 140% in value in the next four years. And broadband internet is only at 8% now. The window for From Zain’s announcements made earlier in 2007 on the expansion is wide open. expected start of the Saudi operation it is clear that there were delays in the project. Can you address the reasons Would that mean that you also look at offering more than for these delays? mobile services in Saudi Arabia? There were several weighty factors. One was the We would look at mobile and at wireless services; we have interconnection with the other two operators. We achieved no plans to get into terrestrial services, at least in the this [interconnection] with one of the two early in the year; medium term. Combining mobility with access to with the other one it took us until June. information is another synergetic level of improvement of productivity. Mobility and high-speed access to information Was this a technical issue? is one of the magic combinations to increase the It was a negotiated commercial agreement under the productivity of the individual and the economy as a whole. supervision of the regulator and unfortunately, with one operator it did initially not go as smoothly as it should have. What will be your main focal points on value-added The other reason was our insistence on having the high services, and where do you see your comparative edge? quality of the network that we installed. We also made it a I think that the small share of such services in the overall priority to be in full compliance with all requirements for average revenues per user shows that this area is not yet telecommunications operators from day one, including fully developed in the KSA. We are ensuring that we information requirements on the identity of subscribers. We provide our users with the flexibility and the convenience of could have compromised on such points, but we took the customizing their portfolio of value-added services rather time to implement them for all our sales and with all agents. than offering a one-size-fits-all package. That will, in my By being more compliant, we offer more comfort, and we opinion, already be a great differentiation in the market. are today ahead of the curve of compliance with regulations that all operators have to follow. You have gathered information and user experience feedback during the summer after you gave service to Was the Saudi rollout the first time that Zain built a new friendly users. How much feedback did you receive? network in a mature market? We got tremendous feedback with almost 3 million calls No. Out of the 22 countries in Zain’s portfolio, we had one logged in two months by almost 9,000 friendly users. We market in Tanzania where we were the fourth operator when designed the feature so that feedback was rewarded and so we we entered and in Bahrain we entered a mature market got a lot of feedback, improvements and suggestions. The which at the time had 100% mobile coverage. However, the advantages of our friendly user launch were first that we could market’s maturity in Saudi Arabia is high not only in test the processes and services and channels and secondly that

24 CHAOS NOVEMBER 2008 The main influence on those born after 1980 is the IT revolution. In every middle-income household in Saudi Arabia you find computer and internet connectivity

it was a live experience of on-the-job training for our teams. churn, or the loss of customers. If you minimize churn by 10% Thirdly, it was a way of gauging the market. We did a survey in only, you double your profitability within eight years. which we found that almost 90% of the people who were given this service said they would continue with Zain Saudi. That in But you will not focus on price in competing for new my opinion, is a high acceptance rate. customers? That is right. We will focus on quality and customer satisfaction, What are your customer targets? however, initially we will have special promotions. We said we expect our fair market share, and in our own definition this means one third of the market. We are You undertook a massive effort and investment for entering confident that we can reach this market share of 33% over this market. In one sentence, what is the importance of the long term. We have to be realistic, so we aim at five to Saudi Arabia for Zain? seven years. Based on structural elements and the market Imagine a country where international minutes alone reach itself we see this as realistic. almost 1 billion minutes a month. If you compare this to the rest of the GCC or even the rest of Zain operations, nowhere will you How many customers do you expect to have by the end reach that number. The size of the business makes Saudi Arabia of 2008? the focal point of activities in years to come for the whole group. We are expecting at least two million. Given Zain’s overall customer base, the Saudi customers will This means adding well over 500,000 customers each perhaps be 1.5% at the end of this year and 2% of group month until the end of the year. Do you expect the same customers y the end of next year. How does that make you speed of growth for 2009? feel? To be frank, these are preliminary estimates, and I have to The value share of Saudi Arabia is enormous and growing, admit that they are very aggressive. We have set our just taking the examples of mobile internet and the impact of estimates and expectations very high and will adjust as we go. the six economic cities. The company can easily be a company with $4 billion in revenues within ten years, perhaps What are the revenue potentials that you see in the Saudi earlier. If we do not include Kuwait, Saudi Arabia is clearly the market, for instance in terms of monthly average revenue best prospect for value creation among all countries where per user, or ARPU? Zain is active. Risk factors in Saudi Arabia are way lower and The estimates are currently that ARPU for prepaid mobile the potential is way higher. users in Saudi Arabia is around $20 to $25 (per month) and $30 to $35 for postpaid accounts. We are definitely aiming Do you expect young Saudis to use value-added mobile higher than that, for several reasons. The first is the One services at a lower or higher rate in future? Network, our borderless service. We expect that foreigners The main influence on those born after 1980 is the IT living in Saudi Arabia as expatriate employees will use the revolution. In every middle-income household in Saudi Arabia ‘One Network’ in significant numbers, especially as the you find computer and internet connectivity, and you will find network will expand. The ‘One Network’ will be attractive to at least three high-end gaming devices. These kids will not expatriates, and at the same time it will reduce our settle for voice and SMS. Mobile internet is a worldwide customer acquisition costs, increase utilization and reduce trend but I expect it to be stronger in Saudi.

25 CHAOS NOVEMBER 2008 CORPORATE SPIRIT

Zain Sudan saves lives On Friday, June 27, 2008, an Antonov 12 cargo plane crashed in southern Sudan, killing seven of the eight crew members. The only survivor was Mohamed Hamza, a young air operations officer. How the Civil Aviation Authorities managed to save his life shows how Zain’s mobile culture has succeeded in embedding itself in the community. For if it hadn’t been for Zain, Mohamed would have surely perished in the jungle

ohamed Hamza, who When Mohamed came-to, he found himself lying in frequently made the cargo the middle of a reptile-infested jungle with a broken Mflight from Khartoum to the leg. However, next to him there was the pilot’s suitcase. southern Sudanese capital of Juba, He instinctively opened the bag hoping to find a sharp was unusually apprehensive on that instrument to help him in tearing off his jacket to ease fateful Friday when the Ukrainian breathing. As well as a broken leg, he was suffering twin-engined plane took off at 06:50. from asphyxiation due to the fumes and smoke. What Roughly 30 miles south of Khartoum, Mohamed found instead was a mobile phone. He the weather abruptly deteriorated immediately switched it on; the Zain logo appeared due to a thunderstorm, and the pilot on the screen, and Mohamed called his father, a requested a lower flight level. But manager in the company that owned the doomed suddenly the cockpit dimmed, and Mohamed could see the plane. lightning “literally bombarding the dark cabin.” Seconds later he lost consciousness due to a drop in cabin pressure At around 09:00 that Friday, Salih Hamza did not receive and oxygen levels. the landing notification he was waiting for. Nervousness turned to panic as he contacted the airport tower, only to The Antonov had lost hydraulic pressure and power due to receive grim news. He was busy trying to contact the civil a direct lightening hit. The plane rapidly spiraled down aviation and the civil defense authorities when he got a towards a thick jungle in the Upper Nile State in southern call from an unregistered number. Hamza said that he was Sudan. The impact was so severe that Mohamed was reluctant to answer that call as he was preoccupied by the thrown clear from the plane. Sadly the seven crew members fate of his son and the plane. But answer he did, only to perished at once in the burning wreckage. hear Mohamed’s weak voice.

26 CHAOS NOVEMBER 2008 The father contacted Zain- Sudan. He learned that it was the only mobile telecom provider with coverage in that area and with a Location Positioning Service. He was provided with his son’s exact coordinates in Upper Nile State in south Sudan The plane in which Mohamed Hamza was travelling was an Antonov 12, similar to this aircraft that crash-landed in central Africa in 2006

Hamza says that the surprise was too much to comprehend. He Immediately, search helicopters were mobilized from the state was overjoyed that his son was alive but distraught at the news capital of Malkal and an oil field in the adjacent Unity State. that the crew had died and the plane was lost. He contacted Mohamed was found with a broken leg in a swamp-infested the civil aviation authorities to inform them of the news and was area of the huge Al Zarzor jungle (north of Malakal), at around dismayed to learn that means of locating the wreckage and the 16:30 that Friday. only survivor were extremely poor and almost nonexistent. Hamza was then inspired to contact Zain-Sudan. Mohamed’s worst fears were the hyenas that usually roam the jungle after dark, as Mohamed was not in a position He learned that it was the only mobile telecom provider to defend himself or even fend off the wild predators. with coverage in that area and with capabilities of Location Mohamed’s arrival at Khartoum Airport, safe and happy, Positioning Service. Hamza was provided with his son’s was a milestone in the history of rescue and mobile exact coordinates in Upper Nile State in south Sudan. telecommunications. And it was all thanks to Zain.

27 CHAOS NOVEMBER 2008 CORPORATE SPIRIT A drop of happiness Zain’s advertising and branding team explains how creativity captured the public imagination

reativity and big budgets are available in all big channels with no feedback. When Zain ran out of ads, it decided companies, but they are worth nothing without the rare to cut it to a one-minute clip to fill in the media space. To this day, Ccombination of trust and fun. At Zain, our campaigns the company celebrates the decision that took Zain to a whole are executed after a thorough study of both consumers’ new level, one that brought it closer to people’s hearts. insights and our insights of what consumers want. The TV commercial went on air on February 28th and is still A vivid example was the Blind Love ad, which tells the story running on several regional and local TV stations in the of a visually impaired man who sees his partner as the most countries in which Zain operates. Now people who know Zain beautiful woman in the world. Part of loving this concept is sing the Qattoura song. The ad is a vivid example of what Zain how aligned it is with the Zain brand, inviting people to find stands for: the freedom to explore new concepts, to trust beauty in what they see. But our biggest hits to date must intuition, to be different, creative and fun, and most of all to surely be our Qattoura and Ramadan ads. be sincere, responsible and close to our consumers.

RAINDROPS KEEP FALLING ON MY HEAD HOLIDAY SPIRIT Right after the Blind Love, we started living through the “Wow! His voice is wow. God bless him. Zain’s ads are really headlines of every news medium by highlighting the great and creative, all of them. Keep up the good work and shortage of water in the region. As part of its Corporate thanks for posting it!” Social Responsibility (CSR) efforts in contributing to our “It’s my favorite commercial. I was searching for it. I swear promise of creating “A wonderful world,” Zain wanted to sometimes I kept waiting for it on MBC.” raise awareness of this issue through an engaging and “Thanks Zain. I have become a true fan now. It’s a great clip.” entertaining TV commercial that was also a call for action. “Very nice! A company that touches our everyday lives.” Qattoura is a clip that follows the long journey of a water droplet until it fulfills its duty and our needs. These are just a few of the comments people posted on YouTube after watching Zain’s Ramadan ad. It featured a ten-year-old boy, a Everything about Qattoura was unexpected. It was originally a beautiful song, a touching story and a warm feeling, all factors that 4-minute videoclip that was ‘soft’ launched on a couple of contributed to the commercial’s huge success.

Dear Zain, I just finished watching you new ad on MBC 1. I nominate you for “Most Admirable Company in the Middle East” award. Wishing you all the best in your work. PS: keep up the good social and educational work in the community. DR. SAMED AL ABSI - Sana'a, Yemen

In the beginning, they were inspired to change our world. Their strength, their skills, their sweat, all streamlined and distilled into one concept: us. We've become beautiful! Wow! What a wonderful world! WALE ALABI - Ibadan, Nigeria

28 CHAOS NOVEMBER 2008 Dear Zain, I would like to thank Zain’s media office for its educational ads. I really enjoy seeing my child singing and learning good manners from your ad. I wish all success to your company. GHAIDA SALMAN - Bahrain

In fact, in the first week of its launch, the Ramadan Hammoudi, the little boy who decided to help a poor commercial had made it into hundreds of blogs with candy shop owner bring in more customers through a thousands of positive posts. One school even added song about mercy and helping others, won the people’s Hamoudi’s song as part of its curriculum. People got choice award. It was broadcast for two weeks, and, just as our message: we greet viewers instead of selling them it was about to be dropped, public outrage demanded it a product. be returned to the screens. The viewers wanted Hammoudi’s greeting instead of promotions for our How was the success measured? More than 2,000 blog posts latest services. with positive comments could be one answer, but to Zain, it was the goose bumps its viewers experienced and the tears Like Zain’s ‘One Network,’ no matter how different people shed that were the real indicator of acceptance and success. are, they all enjoy one sun, breathe one air, touch one water, communicate through one network and enjoy a Ramadan is the final exam season for every advertiser, the good TV commercial. That is Zain’s commitment: to bring highest benchmark, and therefore, not surprisingly, most good times through its communications. commercials fail. It is the season where TV viewership is at its peak, when people watch TV to pass time until they Zain is grateful for the freedom to explore new concepts break their fast. Later, family gatherings start in front of and for trusting its intuition in the research it has their favorite programs. painstakingly carried out. It is also grateful for the seconds its viewers spare watching its commercials, for This year, Zain dominated the TV arena with thee their approval and support, and most of all, for always, commercials, each with its own distinctive flavor. always expecting more. This is why Zain is different.

29 CHAOS NOVEMBER 2008 CORPORATE SPIRIT Against all odds The amazing story of the Zain Basketball Team and how it defied the doubters

n early 2002, Dr Nasouh Kadri was tasked by the CEO of established and registered at the Jordanian Ministry of Zain Jordan (then Fastlink) to create and head a Social Youth. One month later, in a concerted bid to restore the Iand Community Affairs department. The Corporate prestige of Jordanian basketball, the Zain Basketball Team, Social Responsibility (CSR) culture within the company and part of the Zain Sports Club, was formed and registered the region had not yet properly been established and so with the Jordanian Basketball Federation. the idea of creating a basketball team came up proposed as a means of interacting with the community and, at the At its first press conference, the club management same time, promoting the company name both in Jordan announced that the team would win all local and across the region. It was a bold move In the late 70s championships. It went on to promise that in the club’s and early 80s Jordan basketball had dominated the second year it would aim for either first or second place in region, but by the end of the decade standards had the Arab and Asian club championships. And if that were declined to pitiful levels and Jordanian basketball all but not enough, the club announced that in its third year it vanished from the regional radar. would win the Asian championship.

This did not deter Dr Kadri. In June 2002, that the Zain the Looking back it is easy to see how these predictions were Sport Club (with the focus mainly on basketball) was dismissed as empty boasts. The objectives were seemed

30 CHAOS NOVEMBER 2008 impossible, but the ridicule and the sarcasm merely served team to have 10 local players as well as two or three foreign as an incentive to the management of the club’s various players. The club knew it had to compete against local and teams to work hard and diligently fulfill these promises regional teams that had 30 to 50 years of experience and were ready to vigorously defend their titles. The club needed In 2003, his Royal Highness Prince Hamzah Bin Al- Hussein, a plan and strategy to restore the balance of power. the honorary President of the Jordan Basketball Federation, declared that the game could go professional, a decision The Zain Sports Club’s management searched for professional that was in line with the blueprint for success that had been and semi-professional basketball players around the world drawn up by the club from the outset. It was a plan that who were either of Jordanian origin or who were eligible for a would apply Zain’s own policies, philosophy and Jordanian passport and citizenship. A few high-caliber players, management culture to the running of the club, infusing a such as Sam Daghlas and Enver Shwabzooqah, were found proper system of human resources, PR and marketing. playing college basketball in the USA. Dubbed the “Migrant Birds,” they have been playing for Zain since 2003 and are The Jordanian Basketball Federation along with almost all considered among the top regional basketball players. regional and international basketball federations, allows each Daghlas was born in Zarqa, Jordan, but his family emigrated to the US when he was seven. Sam is the only Arab player from an Arab team to play in the Lakers NBA Summer Camp. Enver Shwabzooqah is a Sharkasian Jordanian who was living in Laguna Beach, California, where his father was a prominent contract lawyer who emigrated from Jordan to the US with Enver’s grandparents when he was just six years old. Enver was living comfortably in Laguna Beach with his parents but chose to live in Jordan and play basketball for Zain. During his first year, Enver was the best position three man and three-point shooter in the Arab World. During the 2nd and 3rd years he was the best position three man and three-point shooter in Asia.

Since the club’s inception, the Zain Sports Club’s management has recognized the importance of developing youth groups. The importance of this was twofold: firstly to have a continuous supply of talent for the firstt team and secondly to teach the kids the concepts of teamwork, integrity, goal setting,

31 CHAOS NOVEMBER 2008 The Zain Sports Club’s management searched for professional and semi- professional players around the world who were either of Jordanian origin or eligible for a Jordanian passport and citizenship

endurance and resolve, all of which are instrumental tools in achieving success in life. There are now over 120 kids registered at Zain’s mini basketball school, many of whom are children of the employees of Zain Jordan.

The team received regional recognition during its first year when it participated and won the Sharjah International tournament. Playing against strong competition from Egypt and Syria, the team showed the region that Jordanian basketball is alive and well. The team is now continuously invited to play in high-level regional and international Good deeds: CSR is fundamental in fostering community relations tournaments and competitions.

32 CHAOS NOVEMBER 2008 Empowering and encouraging: The Zain (formerly Fastlink) Sports Club girls’ basketball team

With hard work, the “impossible” promises made by the management of the Zain Sports Club at that first press conference were kept. During the first year the team won all national and local championships; in the second, it won all the local championships and competed in the Arab Championship and the Asian Clubs Club Championship, achieving second place in both. Also that year, the club competed in the celebrated Singapore Cupand the Dubai International Tournament. In both tournaments, the club came second.

In its third year, the club again won all local championships and, as promised, won the Asian Championship, a first for a Jordanian club. The Zain Sports Club is also the only club ever to win the continent’s cup within three years of being formed.

The other statistics are equally impressive. In its first year, the club had 17% of the total basketball fan base in Jordan. Three years later, it accounted for 70% of all basketball fans in the country and has thousand of fans in other neighboring countries. In 2006, one year after taking part in the Asian championship in the Philippine capital, Manila, the tournament was held in Kuwait city, where the team was staying in the Holiday Inn Downtown. At dinner on the first night, the hotel’s staff from the Philippines came over and asked for signatures and took pictures with the team they had so admired at the previous year’s tournament.

Finally, and in line with Zain’s proactive attitude towards CSR, the club management continuously involves the team in community service programs, especially those that impact children’s lives. They visit hospitals and schools where they distribute gifts and give inspirational talks. Zain basketball’s biggest fan, Jordan’s Princess Aisha Bint Al Hussein

33 CHAOS NOVEMBER 2008 CORPORATE SPIRIT Backing African talent Zain co-sponsors the pre-eminent award in African journalism

ain was one of this year’s sponsors of the CNN MultiChoice African Journalist Awards, the longest Zrunning and most prestigious Pan-African competition for journalism. Zain Africa’s Communication Director Mwambu Wanendeya presented the Arts and Culture Award to Barbara Angopa of NTV Uganda. Zain also co-sponsored the top prize, which went to Hopewell Rugoh-Chin’ono of Zimbabwe, who received his award from Ghanaian President J. A. Kufuor, at the gala ceremony in July in Accra.

Upon receiving the top prize, Rugoh-Chin’ono said, “The recognition this award gives me goes a long way to improving journalistic standards for many colleagues who are working under very difficult conditions.”

Rugoh-Chin’ono, the founder and film director for Television International Zimbabwe, was named African Journalist of the Year for his story Pain in My Heart, which was chosen over 1,912 entries from a record 44 nations across the African continent.

The 26-minute documentary is an attempt to record the “ordinary struggle to survive” of people with HIV/AIDS in Zimbabwe. Rugoh-Chin’ono spent three months following the lives of two HIV positive Zimbabweans, one with access to antiretroviral drugs and one without.

The competition is open to all African professional journalists working on the NTV’s Barabra Angopa with Zain Africa’s Mwambu Wanendeya continent that produce a Azubuike Ishiekwene, who chaired the judging panel, said that Rugoh-Chin’ono was “the overall winner of the printed publication or CNN MultiChoice African Journalist Award 2008 because in a continent where resources are a great problem in broadcast through an telling the story, he overcame this major difficulty with a electronic medium (television nose and a passion to tell the story. He goes on to tell the story in a compelling and sympathetic manner. A broadcaster; radio station or good nose and a passionate heart, that’s what makes him website) primarily targeted the overall winner.” He said the award was “a huge honor and commitment,” at and received by an and he dedicated it to “all those struggling to be African audience recognized…I salute the ongoing challenge to achieve excellence across the African continent.”

34 CHAOS NOVEMBER 2008 Hopewell Rugoh Chin’ono receives his award from Ghanaian President John A. Kufuor

While Pain In My Heart zeros in on the enormous suffering that afflicts Africa, Barbara Angopa’s Teso Peace Music reveals The pre-eminent prize the joy and extraordinary cultural heritage that are present as well. Zain presented her with the Arts and Culture Award for honoring the best of what her short film on the music of the akogo, a thumb piano popular in Uganda’s Teso district. In the film, Angopa captures Africa has to offer, and the not just the happiness of akogo music, but also the power. The film shows how this little instrument, with its deep cultural benchmark by which many history in the district, is helping to bring about reconciliation. African journalists measure “The story is about a particular music, instruments and dance themselves in Uganda,” the Judge’s citation read “This television piece does a great job of bringing to the limelight a beautiful part of African cultural heritage. In this case, music and dance. The In an interview with the Ugandan newspaper The Monitor, journalism here captures and conveys the role and power of Angopa said the award was not expected. “Honestly, I culture in building and nurturing hope in societies shattered by didn’t think any of my stories would go far. The way the conflicts or natural disasters. The journalist tells the story of newsroom is structured is you produce a story in one or two culture preservation, adaptation and passing the heritage onto days which doesn’t allow for any depth in your work. When I the next generation. Culture does bring people together. You submitted, I knew I had written good stories well and didn’t can see that the reporter got into the cultural mood. She gets think they had depth to them. This was my first submission to the point where she has the confidence to join in.” and I was overjoyed to get so far for my first time.”

35 CHAOS NOVEMBER 2008 The winners gather for a group photo

the many journalists who have not been recognized this year, we would like to salute and celebrate the vital role you A good nose and a play in the ongoing development of democracy and diversity on the African continent. Once again the judges passionate heart, that’s what were overwhelmed by the high quality of the entries which makes him the overall winner made the judging a very difficult process. One can see from the entries over the years the dramatic progress African media has made in reporting the African story.” With her selection, Angopa enters a rarefied crowd. Tony Maddox, the managing director of CNN International, said The competition is open to African professional journalists that the awards have become “the pre-eminent prize (including, but not limited to, freelancers) working on the honoring the best of what Africa has to offer and the continent for African-owned media organizations or media benchmark by which many African journalists measure organizations headquartered on the continent of Africa themselves. Once again, this year has unearthed a wealth of that produce a printed publication or broadcast through voices from around Africa, each demonstrating a quality of an electronic medium (television broadcaster; radio station journalism and in some cases a resourcefulness and bravery or website) primarily targeted at and received by an in pursuing the story which has my deepest admiration.” African audience.

Eben Greyling, CEO of MultiChoice Africa, for his part, Rugoh-Chin’ono will also receive a substantial cash prize addressed the winners directly: “We hope that the and a visit to Atlanta to attend the three-week CNN recognition you received in this year’s awards will encourage Journalism Fellowship. Angopa, along with the rest of those further excellence and success in your careers as we have awarded, will receive a laptop computer, modem, printer seen with previous winners of these prestigious awards. To and a cash prize.

36 CHAOS NOVEMBER 2008

CORPORATE SPIRIT Zain’s drive to success Company has lessons to learn and to teach in an ever evolving telecom world Business writer Paul Lambert, is convinced that the recent rebranding of all its subsidiaries in Africa to Zain and, more significantly, the eradication of roaming charges between most Zain operators have done nothing less than redefine what it means to be a truly international player

ithout question, other, more established regional operators, such Was Vodafone, France Telecom and T-Mobile International have a lot to learn from Zain’s abolition of roaming charges. But Zain also has a lot to learn from these operators’ experiences in coping with declining ARPU levels amid intensifying competition in once- sheltered operating conditions.

Let’s look first at the lessons other operators can learn from send messages at local rates when communicating with a Zain’s considerable recent achievements, both financial and Zain customer traveling abroad in either Africa or the operational. Zain has linked its One Network service in the Middle East. Middle East and Africa, meaning that its low-cost international voice and SMS roaming offering is now The ‘One Network’ service is automatically activated when a available on 15 country networks. Zain customer crosses the geographical border into one of the countries in which Zain operates with no registration or One Network is now available between Africa and the sign-up fee required. Prepaid customers can also top up Middle East, abolishing international roaming rates for accounts and recharge cards bought in either their home Zain subscribers in countries where Zain is present. Zain country or at an outlet in one of the 15 ‘One Network’ prepaid and postpaid customers can now make calls and countries. Zain initially launched ‘One Network’ under its

38 CHAOS NOVEMBER 2008 Celtel brand in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda in September 2006 before extending the network to countries in Central Africa in June 2007 and to Burkina Faso, Chad, Malawi, Niger, Nigeria and Sudan in November 2007. The network was extended to Bahrain, Iraq and Jordan in April.

Compared with European operators’ efforts on voice and SMS roaming, this is nothing short of revolutionary. Zain’s European counterparts resisted calls to lower voice roaming rates and are in the process of repeating history with SMS and data roaming, with intervention by the European Commission in September looking increasingly likely.

Zain’s move has already forced other operators to react. Saudi Telecom, for instance, has said it will launch low-price roaming across a network of 30 foreign operators this month. Saudi Telecom’s Unified International Roaming service will cover most of the Middle East, Europe, Indonesia, Turkey and South Africa. What specific lessons can Zain learn from operators in mobile markets that underwent a similar development? Lessons from Discounts on calls in these countries will be up to 69% on Europe and elsewhere show that brand is extremely normal rates - still not quite the achievement of Zain, but it important. In this area, Zain is already doing a good job, does price roaming services closer to cost than has sparing no expanse in its recent rebranding exercise. traditionally been the case among European operators. In addition to ‘One Network,’ Zain rebranded all 14 Celtel Another lesson Zain can learn from European operators is to operations in Africa to Zain in one clean sweep at the outsource as much network maintenance as possible, enabling beginning of August, supported by a major advertising it to become a nimble outfit whose primary areas of focus are campaign. Zain also plans to rebrand about 1 million point- what really matter to end-users: the development, selection of-sale outlets across the continent. The rebranding to Zain is and marketing of services. This will help Zain focus on being a aimed at creating “a single, strong identity,” according to high-quality mobile services provider that can charge a Zain Group CEO Saad Al Barrak. premium for its services, compared with competitors that undercut it. To that end, its ‘One Network’ offering is a great Now let’s turn to what Zain might learn from its European idea: It provides meaningful differentiation from rivals. counterparts. Zain’s recent results are impressive reading. The operator reported strong figures for the first half of 2008, boosted Zain should also learn from European operators and launch by a massive 58% increase in its subscription count, which totaled mobile broadband services, such as dongles and 50.7 million across all its operations at end-June. The operator embedded modules in laptops, as soon as possible to had consolidated revenues of $3.49 billion for the first half of secure the high-value segment of the market before it 2008, up 26% year-on-year, while net income increased 7% to becomes commoditized, as has already happened in $551 million, and EBITDA jumped 20% to $1.3 billion. Europe. Finally, Zain’s economies of scale will also enable it to strike good deals with equipment manufacturers. “We have started to reap the rewards of our recent large Zain is perfectly placed to be a truly modern telecoms investments, particularly in Iraq, Nigeria and Sudan, with operator - light on infrastructure and heavy on the launch of these three countries now serving more than half of Zain’s 50 innovative and compelling services. Rivals should take note. million customers, and we expect similar rewards when our operations in Saudi Arabia and Ghana commence Dear Paul, commercial operations,” Al Barrak said. Your article is excellent and your notes and remarks are to the point and well taken. We are working very hard But a closer look gives an insight into the more challenging to address the issues you raised. conditions that might be awaiting the operator, ones that mirror Thank you so much for your interest in Zain. those already experienced by operators in Europe. Only four With best personal regards, (Kuwait, Iraq, Jordan and Malawi) of the 19 operations Zain Saad Al Barrak provided ARPU information for in its recent results saw a year-on- CEO-Zain year increase in ARPU in 1Q08. These figures indicate that Zain has already moved from a rapid-growth phase of development to Paul Lambert is editor of Informa Telecoms & Media Mobile Operator Intelligence Centre. This story is reproduced with kind permission. The original can be read at a more stable-growth phase, just like its counterparts in Europe http://blog.telecoms.com/2008/08/11/zain-has-lessons-to-learn-and-teach. Quoted and other parts of the world. numbers may not be current

39 CHAOS NOVEMBER 2008 CORPORATE SPIRIT One network honored Zain wins prize for network infrastructure innovation

n September, Zain learned it had won the Global Telecoms Business IWireless network infrastructure innovation award for ‘One Network’, the world’s first borderless mobile telecoms network service. The announcement was made at the Global Telecoms Business Awards in London.

The ground breaking ‘One Network’ service reduces the cost of making telephone calls by allowing customers to communicate freely across geographical borders and continents Zain executives receive recognition for the groundbreaking ‘One network’ that now links Africa and the Middle East without roaming call surcharges and without having to pay to receive incoming calls wherever delivers on our promise to provide unique and innovative they travel in the 16 countries that currently participate in products and services for Zain customers.” ‘One Network.’ In addition the customers are able to top up their prepaid accounts with airtime purchased from more ‘One Network’ helps families and friends stay connected than one million sales outlets in any of the countries in wherever they are in the ‘One Network’ world. It also which ‘One Network’ is operational. helps communities develop and economies expand by making communications easier and more affordable for “The ‘One Network’ offer is not built around pricing but people to keep in touch, supporting cross-continent trade around simplicity and user friendliness, leveraging our cross and enterprise. “This is the essence of the Zain brand country networks,” said George Held, ‘One Network’ promise to create ‘A wonderful world’ ” added Dr Al Program Director and architect of the service who received Barrak. , who also wish to emphasize that, “the continual the award on behalf of Zain. expansion of the ‘One Network’ will play a key role in Zain attaining its year 2011 targets of attaining 110 million Originally launched by Zain in September 2006 to its customers customers and being a top-ten global mobile operator.” in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, the service was extended to a further nine African countries, Burkina Faso, Chad, Democratic The ‘One Network’ service has revolutionized and replaced Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Malawi, traditional methods of international roaming. The service is Niger, Nigeria and Sudan, and more recently to Zain’s Middle automatically activated upon crossing the geographic East operations in Iraq, Bahrain, Jordan and Saudi Arabia border of a country, with no prior registration or sign-up fee meaning that up to 500 million people in Zain’s markets required. Pre-paid customers can also top up their phones stretching from Manama in Bahrain to Freetown in Sierra Leone with recharge cards bought at one of the more than one can be treated as ‘local’ customers should they have a Zain million outlets available across the ‘One Network’ countries. mobile line. ‘One Network’ has transformed the mobile industry Zain plans to roll-out ‘One Network’ in all its operations, worldwide and millions of Zain customers have already used subject to regulatory approval. this service. “We acknowledge the co-operation and support we have “This award is testament to the considerable investment had from the many telecoms regulatory and ministerial and commitment to a project that connects customers bodies within the ‘One Network’ countries who have across the many countries in which Zain operates,” said demonstrated understanding, foresight and a willingness to Zain CEO Dr Saad Al Barrak, acknowledging the award. work with us to bring this remarkable service - and its many “The GTB Innovation Award also honors those whose hard personal and commercial benefits - to the people of the work has gone into the ‘One Network’ initiative, which Africa and Middle East,” concluded Dr Al Barrak.

40 CHAOS NOVEMBER 2008 Three prestigous awards for Dr Saad Al Barrak Leading industry magazine Global Telecoms Business ranks Zain CEO 29th most influential telecom executive CEO MIDDLE EAST AWARDS 2008

economic, social and cultural projects in Africa have a positive impact on the people we serve.”

CEO Middle East magazine recognized Dr Al Barrak for his achievements in taking Zain from a one network operator in Kuwait in 2002 to a global mobile operator and bravely rebranding from MTC to Zain in September 2007. Similarly Bespoke magazine’s 2008 Visionary Award highlighted the fact that Dr Al Barrak has taken Zain from a $2.5 billion Kuwaiti operation to a $25 billion market capitalized company operating in 22 countries.

In its October issue, Global Telecoms Business wrote that Dr Al ain Group CEO, Barrak had “expanded Kuwait’s MTC into the Middle East, then Dr. Saad Al Barrak, bought Celtel in Africa and rebranded the lot as Zain — now Zhas won Africa one of the most powerful brands in a wide part of the world. Investor’s International Business Leader award, CEO Middle His colleagues say he is inspirational: he is certainly dynamic East magazine’s Telecom CEO of the Year award and and very ambitious. And fast-talking. Al Barrak runs what is Bespoke magazine’s 2008 Visionary Award, all in October probably the most diverse telecoms company in the world, 2008. Meanwhile, in the same month, leading industry employing people of around 100 nationalities, and has won magazine Global Telecoms Business ranked Dr Saad Al powerful influence: presidents helped celebrate the rebranding Barrak 29th most influential telecom executive over the and Zain sponsored Nelson Mandela’s 90th birthday concert. century in its top 100 survey. Zain is looking for further acquisitions, almost certainly not just in the developing world, and Al Barrak will become one of the To win Africa Investor’s International Business Leader award, Dr most influential executives in the industry.” Al Barrak beat off stiff challenges from such global luminaries as Kingdom Holding’s Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal; Coca-Cola’s Reacting to the award, Dr Al Barrak said, “I hope my ranking Chairman, Neville Isdell; China EximBank’s President Li Ruogu; inspires other executives from the region to be daring and Shun Tak Shipping’s Founder, Stanley Ho and General Electric’s different in their business dealings and to dedicate their careers Chairman, Jeff Immelt. to the betterment of humanity in the same way Zain has.” Throughout its evolution, and under Al Barrak’s leadership, Zain “I am honored and humbled by this recognition,” Dr Al Barrak has shown the way in embracing and refining the concept of said. “I have grown to love this beautiful continent and its CSR. Education and health have been the cornerstones as Zain people, and I assure them that Zain’s commitment to Africa will has used telecom and wireless communication to help the lives continue infinitely. It is extremely important for Zain that our of those living in remote areas.

41 CHAOS NOVEMBER 2008 CORPORATE SPIRIT

When the sword is mightier than the pen Zain helps two gutsy, Kuwaiti sisters develop women’s fencing in the Arab world

42 CHAOS NOVEMBER 2008 It was so hard for her to explain the deep meaning of sponsorship, the importance of financial support for a young women athlete

sportswomen have faced, let alone successfully surmounted, to build Kuwaiti fencing from the bottom up. As the sisters are quick to point out, however, without support from Zain, a company that recognized the merit of their trailblazing vision, their efforts would likely have foundered.

When Balsam Al Ayoub knocked on the door of Zain’s (then MTC) offices in Kuwait, she had no written proposal and no appointment, just a head overflowing with plans for a sport whose Kuwaiti practitioners, and for that matter fans, consisted of herself and her sister.

CEO Dr Saad Al Barrak must have been impressed. After listening to Balsam make her pitch for the country’s first women’s fencing competition sponsored by the private sector, Sleiman handed her a pen. Twenty minutes later Balsam had finished her proposal. The two chose a date, and before Balsam left the office, she had received final approval for her project.

For Balsam the road to Dr Al Barrak’s office began many years earlier, when her sister was dropped off by their mother at a sporting club in Kuwait. Coming from an athletic family, with their father, a devoted football player and swimmer, and their mother teaching physical education, the sisters were encouraged to pick a sport from an early age. However, at 15, Lulwa was still searching. When she arrived at Alfatat, a women’s sporting club in Kuwait. She was immediately approached by a woman who asked her which team she was on only to reply that she had come to the club to figure out that very question. The woman, who had been charged with putting together a female fencing ational sports often trace their roots to one team for an upcoming competition, saw an opportunity, determined individual. In 19th century Brazil, an asking Lulwa if she’d be interested. Lulwa nodded, and the NEnglish expatriate sent his son to his home country woman said, “Good. I’ll see you tomorrow at 6 am.” That for education. When the son returned some years later, he night Lulwa told her sister about this “sword-fighting” sport was obsessed with a game then popular in Europe, she had just discovered, and the next day both sisters devoting himself single-mindedly to building a sport from showed up and suddenly found themselves to be the first scratch. Little more than a century Brazil is “O país do members of the Alfatat fencing club. futebol,” the greatest football country in the world. The sisters trained for three months with Ahmad Saad, a Whether or not women’s fencing ever becomes a favorite volunteer coach, who taught them everything he knew pastime in the Middle East, the sport in the Arab world about the sport. They fast became proficient, and when might trace its origins to two Kuwaiti sisters, who, with a the first fencing competition was held in Kuwait, they passion bordering on obsession, overcame obstacles few both won easily.

43 CHAOS NOVEMBER 2008 “We are the only fencers who create other fencers. Thanks to Zain we could bring these dreams to reality and make them happen”

“It was so hard for her to explain the deep meaning of sponsorship, the importance of financial support for a young women athlete,” says Lulwa. Balsam’s friends couldn’t understand her vision, nor could the local press, with one newspaper criticizing the daring young athlete who failed to conform to the country’s conservative notions of how a woman should behave.

Lulwa recalls that in the late 90s, “Balsam was calling for going beyond the traditional image of a Kuwaiti woman. It was shocking. They couldn’t accept that there were girls who had swords and went to train at a men’s club.”

The criticism she encountered even cost her friends, whose husbands and families banned them from associating with her. Indeed, the reaction was so intense that Balsam eventually decided to reconsider her strategy, and for a year she kept quiet, occupying herself with training and studying, while thinking of ways to turn her dream into a reality.

Lulwa, for her part, was determined to pursue the sport in a country more open to the notion of female fencers. When she arrived in Spain and met with her colleagues at the Kuwaiti embassy, she had a single question: Where can I find a place to fence? Their reaction was predictable, even if it surprised Lulwa at the time: “You are here to study, not fight,” they argued.

Undeterred and without a word of Spanish, she immediately set about finding out where to fence. Fortunately, the University she was attending happened to have a club, and Unfortunately, after the Arab Games, the Alfatfat closed the within two years she had won a pair of silver medals for it. fencing club, and the sisters took divergent paths. Lulwa Still the challenges were ever present. Fencing in Spain as a moved to Spain to study and Balsam stayed in Kuwait, foreigner, she was always the opponent, the one the crowd searching for ways to pursue her sport in a country where cheered against. no other club was open to the idea of fencing. Back home in Kuwait, Balsam, having received a green light Balsam turned out to be a trailblazer and a fearless one at from Zain, approached her old sporting club, Alfatat, fully that. Despite encountering roadblocks at every turn, she expecting to be turned away in spite of the corporate devoted herself to building a female fencing club in Kuwait. sponsorship she had received. But, as Lulwa says, Without equipment or facilities, and in the face of social “Somehow fortune has been kind to her. In the end 16 disapproval that extended to her own father, she began to women fencers, with all the equipment ordered from see sponsorship as critical, seeking out companies and Germany, fenced at a competitive level. It is one of her corporations willing to back her seemingly quizzical dream. proudest achievements.” When her father found out that she had drawn up her own proposal requesting funding from local companies, he was As a result of that Zain-sponsored competition, the sisters shocked and baned her from fencing for a month. won further sponsorship and were able to mount a national

44 CHAOS NOVEMBER 2008 competition, which was, according to Lulwa, “exciting for both of us…although we were literally exhausted and worn out...Balsam didn’t sleep for three days, organizing and managing the competition from A to Z, even washing the floor.” The work paid off and, with the momentum of the project, the sisters we able to launch their fencing careers, winning medals all over the world.

But the sisters’ special distinction in their minds is that they “are the only fencers who create other fencers. Thanks to Zain we could bring these dreams to reality and make them happen.”

With Zain’s funding they founded the Alayoub Fencing Cup to train young Kuwaitis in the sport, eventually creating a competition where aspiring fencers from across the Arab world could test and develop their talents. The competition continues to grow with each year.

Building a sport “from scratch,” as Lulwa says is no small task, and even with the most generous sponsor in the world, success is never guaranteed. Lulwa says that what makes Zain such an effective sponsor is “creativity.” Zain is a company that believes in creativity and connecting with creative people around the world, she says. “Zain is why we are living our dream and why our dream gets bigger every day.” The sisters have been able to follow their dreams to the highest level

Helping to win over the champions of the future

45 CHAOS NOVEMBER 2008 CORPORATE SPIRIT Texting against AIDS SMS message to promote HIV education

an text messages help stop the spread of HIV/AIDS? Text to Change(TTC), a Ugandan NGO, thinks the Canswer is yes. To prove it they have teamed up with Zain to launch an innovative project that utilizes a technology that has been rapidly expanding to make sure that HIV/AIDS does not do the same.

Uganda has been widely hailed as Africa’s “AIDS success story.” In the 1990s, as HIV/AIDS epidemics were ravaging the continent, Uganda was one of the few countries credited with mounting an effective campaign to counter the disease. From a peak in 1993, when it had the highest infection rate per capita in the world with over 15% of the adult population testing positive, according to the World Health Organization, Uganda managed, by the turn of the millennium, to reduce HIV prevalence to six percent.

However, after such dramatic progress, there are now signs that HIV/AIDS may again be on the rise. While there’s some One of the most important reasons why Uganda managed ambiguity as to whether HIV/AIDS prevalence is increasing to reduce infection rates in the 90s was that the or has reached a plateau, the trend lines of mobile phone government launched a campaign focused on educating use in Uganda are perfectly clear. people about the disease and encouraging them to get tested. Yet for all the campaign’s success, the message did The Uganda Communications Commission reports that the not make it to much of the population. Today in Uganda, number of mobile phone users will hit the six million mark while almost everyone has heard of HIV/AIDS, knowledge by the end of 2008. In urban areas, as many as 50% of levels are often very low; the DHS found only about 30% of people have mobile phones, compared to 10% in rural women and 40% of men had an accurate understanding of areas, according to the 2006 Uganda Demographic and the disease. Health Survey (DHS). The TTC project is an effort to better reach that uninformed TTC and Zain saw in the expanding reach of mobile phones majority by harnessing the powers of a technology that is an intriguing new way to combat the disease. changing the way Ugandans communicate with each other.

TTC and Zain, with help from the AIDS Information Center TTC and Zain, with help from (AIC) in Uganda, devised a six-to-eight-week pilot program, which was advertised with the slogan, “Don’t guess the the AIDS Information Center answers, learn the truth about AIDS.”

in Uganda, devised a six-to- Beginning on Valentine’s Day 2008, some 15,000 Zain subscribers in the Mbarara district in southwestern Uganda eight-week pilot program, received an introductory text message asking if they would which was advertised with like to participate in a free interactive quiz about HIV. In order to entice subscribers to respond, rewards such as the slogan, “Don’t guess the handsets and airtime were offered for correct answers.

answers, learn the truth Once a subscriber agreed to participate he or she received a text once a week with a new multiple choice question, about AIDS” such as “What is the difference between HIV and AIDS?” and “How is HIV transmitted?”

46 CHAOS NOVEMBER 2008 Those who got the question right automatically received a by His Lordship the Mayor of Mbarara Wilson Tumwine. In message offering free HIV counseling and testing and the his speech he praised the ground breaking Text to Change opportunity to enter a draw to win various prizes, while those initiative. He said that all good things start with a good idea who didn’t, received a message explaining the correct answer. and claims to be very proud that Mbarara has been chosen for the pilot. He said that this programme has the potential About 2,500 of the 15,000 subscribers contacted responded to change the lives of the people in Uganda and especially to each question. At the end of the trial period of questions those in rural communities. and answers, all participants were encouraged to go for voluntary counseling and testing (VCT). TTC said that “the Bas Hoefman, the public relations officer at TTC, noting the response level of our pilot Quiz was on average 15% per increased traffic at counseling and testing facilities, said that question.”(http://www.texttochange.com/projects.html) the “launch has been a huge success.” Still, he added, “this program is a pilot and meant as a trial to see if the Winners of the HIV quizzes were invited to an award approach could be successful. The next step is to run the ceremony on the April 18, 2008 at AIC Mbarara branch SMS quizzes in the local languages, so that the people in premises, where they received mobile phones. the rural areas, who don’t speak English, can also be reached with HIVAIDS sensitization messages. In the end, As a means to encourage people to get tested, the program we want the quiz to be accessible for every Ugandan.” seems to have been as effective as its organizer’s had hoped. According to Robert Natlaka, AIC’s representative, requests The project’s goals are not limited to Uganda. Indeed, TTC’s at their central Mbarara facility rose by 100 percent over the ultimate ambitions are global. As Hoefman says, “Besides pilot’s six-week duration.” Natlaka said that “255 the enormous growth of Mobile telephony in Africa, we [participants] turned up to AIC in Mbarara for testing; some think that the anonymity of mobile phones could be the others also went to AIC partners [around] the district.” reason that the program will become an enormous success. We genuinely believe that mobile telephony is the key to The Mbarara branch of the AIC confirmed that people who reach people with health communication messages in third came for VCT, did so because of the SMS messages world countries and especially in Africa. Therefore, it is our received, the radio program and the organized marching firm ambition to become a global platform of telephony through Mbarara Town. The program was officially launched based health services.”

47 CHAOS NOVEMBER 2008 CORPORATE SPIRIT Investing in the future Zain Sierra Leone helps mothers and traders in a worthy initiative

ain Sierra Leone recently completed its ‘Zain Babies in the township of the company’s Own a Business scheme. Promotion,’ throughout the four regions of Sierra Leone. She said that the two customers can now boast of ZThe initiative was launched by Zain to promote all babies ownership of shops worth millions of Leones with items of in the country who were born on August 1st, 2008, the day the their choices and 5 million leones additional capital. company rebranded from Celtel to Zain. Semion Menjor, from the Ministry of Social Welfare, Gender The final presentations were made in the district and Children’s Affairs, expressed appreciation to the headquarter town of Makeni and eastern regional management of Zain Sierra Leone for such a laudable headquarter in Kono respectively. In Makeni, eight mothers, venture in the country’s history of promoting children. “It is Isatu Gborie, Aminata S. Conteh, Salamatu T. Bangura, an indisputable fact that Zain Sierra Leone is the father of Hawa Sesay, Margaret Koroma, Isatu Jalloh, Memunatu communication in the country,” he pointed out, calling on Marco and Hawa Kanu, benefited from the promotion. all to join the Zain network for maximum success in the field Sadly, Hawa Kanu, lost her August 1 baby but was given of communication. 250,000 leones as a gesture of sympathy. The headquarter town of Kono was the setting for a similar Speaking at a ceremony held at the main roundabout in event. Zain Sierra Leone’s Public Relations Coordinator Makeni, Zain’s Brand and Communication Manager Ann- June-Rose Johnson said the donations were part of the Marie Ansumana used the opportunity to call on all women rebranding process of Zain, adding that similar donations to give birth to their children in Sierra Leone’s recognized have been made in the other district headquarter towns. hospitals so as to enable their inclusion into further benefits offered by the company. “The names of the beneficiary children were obtained from recognized government hospitals in Kono,” she explained, She also disclosed that two Zain customers, Ramatu Kanu adding that Zain is very much committed to fulfilling its and Josephine Sallay Conteh, were the proud beneficiaries corporate social responsibility in the country.

Handing over the packages to the respective mothers, a doctor from the government hospital in Kono, Dr Tamba Lebbie, reiterated that such a donation has never occurred in the history of Kono. Lebbie used the opportunity to remind all and sundry that the government hospital is in the district for its residents, especially pregnant women, and called on them to make good use of the hospital’s facilities.

Receiving the gifts, the mothers expressed heartfelt thanks to Zain for such a wonderful promotion for their children. They also promised that the gifts will be wisely used. Meanwhile, Abdul Barrie, the second winner in the township of the Own a Business promotion, expressed profound thanks and gratitude to Zain for transforming him from a bike rider to an entrepreneur.

48 CHAOS NOVEMBER 2008

CORPORATE SPIRIT Going, Going, Gone! mtc touch hosts live mobile auction on platinum numbers; 33 lines sold for $2,516,000

n October 3rd, 2008, at Beirut’s Movenpick Hotel, and under the patronage of Telecom Minister OGebran Bassil, mtc touch* held Lebanon’s first live auction of platinum mobile phone numbers in the history of the local telecom sector. The 110 participants bid on 33 mtc touch Platinum mobile numbers. In total, an incredible $2,516,000 was raised, with $450,000 alone paid for the number 70707070. Other record prices were registered: 70700000 and 70777777 were sold for $400,000 each, 70666666 sold for $225,000, 70888888 sold for $170,000 while the oh-so-naughty 70696969 fetched $80,000.

Minister Bassil paid tribute to his ministry’s collaboration with mtc touch and praised the company’s efficiency in responding to his call for action in reinvigorating the sector. He also seized the opportunity to announce the new mtc touch’s e-auction service, available through the company’s website starting October 2008.

“We hope this auction will be the first reformative step towards As far as Chaos by Design is aware, the world's most a cleaner and healthier mobile telecom environment,” Minister expensive phone number was auctioned for charity in Bassil declared, adding, “all of you are contributing today to 2006 in Qatar, where the number, 666 6666, sold for 10m the development of social justice. Thanks to your high Qatari riyals, then around $2.75 million. The previous purchasing power, you are helping us finance the first stage of record holder was Chinese number 8888 8888, which was our project, which consists of restructuring and further bought by Sichuan Airlines for roughly $500,000. The developing the mobile telephone network in Lebanon.” Cantonese word for eight sounds very similar to the word for rich. This innovative initiative should mark a turning point in the Lebanese telecom history, as it will ensure additional *A Zain-managed company operating one of Lebanon’s two revenues to the treasury and eventually lead to the mobile networks. Zain hopes to acquire the network when the development of Lebanon’s mobile network . Lebanese government privatizes the mobile sector.

50 CHAOS NOVEMBER 2008

CORPORATE SPIRIT

ACE goes into orbit Zain executives meet at Dead Sea to discuss the company’s 2011 goals

ith their eyes set on the prize of becoming a top-ten handsets. The final ACE success story came from Group telecommunications company by 2011, executives Procurement Director Philip Hanna and Jean Tshimpaka who Wfrom Zain’s 22 operating countries gathered at the revealed impressive savings in several purchasing areas just in King Hussein Bin Talal Convention Center on the Dead Sea the previous eight months. from October 24th-25th for the 4th ACE conference. Themed “Zain takes you to the moon,” attendees discussed It was then the turn of Zain implementing Zain’s ACE (Accelerate our growth; Consolidate Group CEO, Dr. Saad our existing operations; and Expand into adjacent geographies Al Barrak, to and offer new services) objectives. welcome Jordanian officials and Jordanian Prime Minister Nader Dahabi was the guest of honor, audience while Jordan’s Minister of Information and Communications members. Zain, Technology, Bassem Rousan, and the Chief Executive Officer of he said, would be the Telecommunication Regulatory Commission, Dr Ahmed the first Hiasat, also attended the conference. telecommunications company from the Arab A LOOK AT ACE SUCCESSES world to be a global player. On Day 1 Zain’s Chief Strategy Officer Haitham Al Khaled and ACE Director Mishal Al Mana began the conference telling Dr Ahmad Al Shatti, Zain Jordan’s general Zainers to “aim for the stars,” while other Zainers talked about manager, explained that, with four mobile ongoing ACE initiatives. They included George Katendeigwa telephone operators, Jordan is the most and Cesear Mloka who gave a presentation on Zain Payphones, competitive market in the region, adding that Zain a project providing affordable communications to those who Jordan is heavily investing in developing its cannot afford them. Then, Robert Ochola and Mork Ochiti network. Dr Al Shatti also announced the spoke about a Zain initiative to introduce ultra low-cost completion of the fiber optic network, the launch

52 CHAOS NOVEMBER 2008 1. 2.

1. Dr Saad Al Barrak inspires his senior executives 2. Zain’s Chief Strategy Officer, Haitham Al Khaled 3. Zain Jordan’s General Manager, Dr Ahmad Al Shatti with Jordanian Prime Minister Nader Dahabi 4. Director of ACE Strategy at Zain Group, 3. 4. Mishal Al Mana of the e-version third generation WIMAX and the success of the which is similar to the iTunes Web site and allows customers to first mobile maintenance center, which opened last year. buy and listen to music, video clips and entertainment news. It also has access to chat and instant messaging. The highlight of the conference was the address given by special guest speaker Neil Armstrong, the iconic American Architect of the Zain brand and Group Chief Commercial astronaut who, in 1969, became the fist man to walk on the Officer, Tito Alai, highlighted the resounding success of the moon (see page 57) swirled shaped logo and its colorful identity across both continents. The Zain brand he noted was now valued in excess Dr Al Barrak again took to the stage. “Don’t ask me about my of $3 billion, just 12 months after launch! past for the past is darkness,” he said. “I always dream of tomorrow for my future is my best dream, adding that, even Speaking after the conference, Haitham Al Khaled said: “We though the world is in economic disarray, Zain would execute worked in taking ACE forward. We interacted better than ever several acquisitions before the end of the year. “I am driven by to gauge the progress of ACE and its initiatives. We also my purpose, and ACE is the shuttle that will drive us toward our planned together the tangible steps that need to be taken in 2011 aspirations.” our OpCos for these ACE initiatives to succeed.

ZAIN’S INNOVATIONS MAKE IT STAND OUT “We gained more knowledge about the different On Day 2, renowned consultant Dan Burrus noted Zain’s applications that will drive tomorrow’s revenues in our innovative ‘One Network,’ is part of a rising trend that will communication lifestyle business. Industry speakers shed continue to soar in the future. light on the new uses of mobile communications to enhance business, entertainment, medicine, and more. Our ‘One Network’ Director George Held then explained Zain’s new Zain experts demonstrated how mobile finance and mobile innovative ‘m-commerce’ technology. He demonstrated how media can enrich lives. We even learned that a space the network facilitates money transfers from mobile to mobile headed into outer space needs to accelerate to break free and the buying of goods and services. from the Earth’s orbit. ACE looks for the brightest talent to contribute to propelling Zain beyond the primitive world of Ziad Masri, the Zain Group’s data services and content common business to a universe where business as usual manager, showed off Zain Create, the Zain Rotana Web site, becomes business unusual!”

53 CHAOS NOVEMBER 2008 “We cultivated our identity. Our brand, our culture and our strategy define who we are”

54 CHAOS NOVEMBER 2008 “In our quest to be a global telecom company by 2011, we will grow larger and extend our global family”

55 CHAOS NOVEMBER 2008 Fun team Zain’s Fun Team provided logistic support in making the ACE event a great success. A warm thanks to them for giving the conference that special HAPPY vibe!

Zain TV The unveiling of Zain TV introduced a brilliant communication medium that was broadcast to delegates’ hotel rooms. It was innovative and set the bar of excellence at a new high. The buzz throughout the two-day conference was electric

56 CHAOS NOVEMBER 2008 First man on the moon inspires ACE delegates “You must be daring and different in life to succeed,” says space legend, Neil Armstrong

he highlight of the ACE meeting was an inspirational managers from across 22 speech given by Neil Armstrong, who in 1969 became countries: “Stepping foot on Tthe first man to walk on the moon. such a low altitude is a characteristic I am not well “The purpose of having such a illustrious figure was to known for.” He went on to add motivate Zain leaders from all operations to be brave and that taking risks, finding take risks in their daily personal and business dealings,” unconventional solutions, declared Dr Al Barrak, whose idea it was to invite the former generating good ideas, being astronaut. “This is what got Zain where it is today, and this testing and team work are all is what will get Zain into the top-ten global the necessary ingredients for a telecommunication companies by 2011.” company to succeed in today’s world. “As managers you bear Like Armstrong and his two crew members, Zain has the responsibility of Zain’s undertaken many daring and pioneering missions, including success. Nothing takes the its first $423 million acquisition of Fastlink, Jordan in 2003, place of persistence and there its record-breaking $3.4 billion acquisition of the African is little satisfaction in reaching Celtel network in 2005 and, most recently, its $6.1 billion easy goals.” license acquisition in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Zain also operates in some of the most challenging markets on US President John F. Kennedy Earth such as Iraq and many sub-Saharan African countries. famously said in 1962, “We choose to go to the Moon.” Seven years later in 1969, Neil Armstrong realized that Landing on the Dead Sea, the lowest point on Earth’s, Mr. dream. Zain, by abiding by the ACE strategy and attracting Armstrong introduced himself to Zain executives and the very best in human talent, can do the same.

57 CHAOS NOVEMBER 2008 Words from a girl called Zain A young voice tells the ACE delegates what it means to live in a Zain world

y name is Zain. I am new to this world. Though I am existing homeland and beyond. I will expand using my still young, I have a big dream. I dream of current means and through acquisitions. Machieving great things. My mission is to enrich the life of my global family. It is a wonderful world that we all Second, I will go DEEPER in my relationships with my family live in, and I want to enable each individual to enjoy it. This members. I will explore new ways to enrich their lives. In is my purpose. addition to communication, I will help open to them new possibilities with mobile financial services. I will bring smiles On my journey, I will be guided by my values: Radiance, Heart and delight to my family through media and entertainment. and Belonging. RADIANCE tells me to lead the way with With time I will do more and more. This is only the beginning. imagination and vision and to bring joy, color, and richness. HEART guides me to live my life with courage and resolve, Third, as I grow, I will become STRONGER everywhere I am engage my spirit and touch emotions. BELONGING reminds present. I will make my size a strength and build on my me that I am part of a fellowship and community that knows experience to do things better. I recognize the diversity in my no territorial boundaries. I will be daring, I will be first, I will be environment, and I will adapt to it to extend my reach even different and I WILL MAKE HISTORY. further. LARGER, DEEPER, STRONGER. This is my strategy. By 2011, I aspire each day to touch and improve the lives of 110 million people around the globe. Through I believe that by unleashing human energy even the greatest communication, I will enrich the lifestyle of my global family. dreams can be achieved. I seek to build a culture that ignites I will help them talk, laugh, connect and carry out their passion and allows each of my people to reach his or her business. This is my aspiration. potential. I will nurture the potential of my people and help them perform through inspiring leadership. To achieve this, I will seek to attain global presence and develop a globally prominent brand. I believe that I must I believe that if I do all this I will provide good returns for the attract the best talent and become the preferred employer people who fund and contribute to my venture. across my homeland. This is my dream, and this is my plan. Will you join me?

My plan for doing all this is simple. First, I will become Love, LARGER and seek to extend my global family within my Zain

LARGER, DEEPER, STRONGER. This is my strategy. Through communication, I will be daring; I will be first; I will be different and I WILL MAKE HISTORY!

58 CHAOS NOVEMBER 2008

CORPORATE SPIRIT

14 reasons to raise the roof Zain hosts the biggest rebranding party in Africa

he recent launch of Zain in Africa was celebrated During his speech, President Kibaki hailed Zain for its with a series of spectacular events, attended by over innovativeness in coming up with the ‘One Network’ service T100,000 people. The events took place that substantially reduces the costs of telephony. President simultaneously across the company’s 14 African markets Kibaki said, “Indeed, we are already observing that growth and were linked by the most ambitious live satellite link- in mobile telephony has provided a reliable form of up the continent has ever seen as millions more watched communication to rural communities, thereby enabling our the events on television. farmers to market their produce.”

The main event in Zain Africa’s regional headquarter The president observed, “This has not only enabled Nairobi, was attended by Zain Group CEO Dr Saad Al businesses to operate at lower costs but has also made Barrak and the President of Kenya, His Excellency the Hon. communication cheaper for families that live across borders.” Mwai Kibaki C.G.H. MP, together with the Kenyan Minister for Information and Communications, Hon. Samuel Many famous African artists performed at the 14 events. These Poghisio, MP and 1,000 dignitaries and guests. included Kenya’s Suzanna Owiyo, Bebe Cool from Uganda and

60 CHAOS NOVEMBER 2008 Nigeria’s 9ice as well Manu Dibango, P Square, Salif Keita, Alif borderless network, linking Africa and the Middle East. The Naaba, Koné, Afrikando and Maureen Lilanda. Other highlights service will be available to 500 million people stretching include a live concert for 40,000 people by Grammy award from the west coast of Africa to the Middle East, covering winner Wyclef Jean in Uganda. The live satellite link across an area larger than the United States of America. Africa and the Kenyan rebrand were hosted by the actor John Sibi-Okumu, famous for his appearance in the 2005, Oscar- winning movie, The Constant Gardener.

The African launch coincided with an announcement by Zain that it has created the world’s first cross-continental

61 CHAOS NOVEMBER 2008 Talent time Musicians from Burkina Faso come to celebrate the birth of a new brand

ore than 350 people celebrated the rebranding of Celtel to Zain at the Sofitel Ouaga Hotel 2000 in MOuagadougou, Burkina Faso’s capital. The Sofitel Ouaga is a five-star hotel located in the heart of the city’s new administrative district.

Several high-ranking officials from the landlocked, West African country attended the party including Minister of Posts and Information Communication Technology John Odey.

The celebration was also popular with diplomats posted in Burkina Faso. The ambassadors of Holland, Nigeria, Niger and Germany joined in the revelry. The first item on the agenda for the evening was the satellite link-up, which brought all 14 African countries celebrating the rebrand together at once.

Speaking live to guests at rebranding celebrations across the continent, Zain Group CEO Dr. Saad Al Barrak said, “We

62 CHAOS NOVEMBER 2008 believe the Zain brand provides an optimal platform upon which we can build a top 100 global brand with the ultimate goal of better serving our customers.”

Following the satellite presentation, guests enjoyed a sumptuous meal. Next it was time for the entertainment. Event organizers brought together an eclectic mix of local talent including dance troupes and musicians.

Audience members rose to their feet to dance as various musical acts took the stage. The evening ended with a fireworks display timed to go off with displays in the 13 other African countries also celebrating.

63 CHAOS NOVEMBER 2008 Zain and the Zo Gang Soubyana Music and Mounira Mitchala show the way with Ivory Coast support

usic and video dominated the celebration for watched a video of the 90th birthday party Zain threw for rebranding to Zain in N’Djamena, the capital of the Nelson Mandela in London over the summer and viewed Mcentral African Republic of Chad. Over 350 guests and participated in a satellite link-up, which brought all 14 came to the Kempinski Hotel to mark the official launch of African countries celebrating the rebrand together at once. the new brand name. Several musical acts performed throughout the night. The Several state officials, including Minister of Communications first band was Chad’s own Soubyana Music, an and Culture Hourmadji Moussa Doumngor, diplomats and instrumental band formed in 2002. Soubyana Music prominent members of the local business community brought guests to their feet to dance with modern attended the event. The evening was peppered with videos compositions and then slowed the show down with a few celebrating the accomplishments of both Zain and Celtel. of their traditional tunes. The next artist to take the stage was Mounira Mitchala, a female vocalist and also a Chad First up was a presentation informing guests about the Zain native. The one foreign act, Frederic Meiway and his band brand. It was followed by a short film highlighting the the Zo Gang, came from Ivory Coast to entertain the successes enjoyed by Celtel during its years as a crowd, and they welcomed him by dancing just as telecommunications service provider in Chad. Finally, guests enthusiastically as they did for the local talent.

64 CHAOS NOVEMBER 2008 Funk fusion in Brazzaville Doudou Copa and Manu Dibango come together in a night of rhumba and jazz

early 400 people descended on the Hotel Olympic Local artist Doudou Copa was a hit with the guests that Palace in Brazzaville, the capital city of the Republic of night. He enjoys a popular following throughout the Nthe Congo, to celebrate the rebranding of Celtel to Zain. country and has released two albums. His rumba music Minister of Telecommunications Theirry Moungalla was the guest had the audience dancing up a storm as they celebrated of honor and was joined by several other government officials. the rebrand. Guests also enjoyed Manu Dibango, an artist from Cameroon. The minister said he had faith that Zain would play an important social and economic role in the country’s future Dibango is a saxophonist and vibraphone player whose during a speech he gave before cutting a cake in the shape music fuses jazz, funk and traditional Cameroonian music. of the Zain logo. Moungalla’s speech came after dinner and He slowed the show down a bit at one point, urging the drinks and was followed by the satellite link-up, which audience to follow his lead. Dibango proceeded to lead the brought all 14 African countries celebrating the rebrand whole crowd in song. together at once. With formailities over, the night shifted gears and the music and dancing began. They were one voice raised up in celebration.

65 CHAOS NOVEMBER 2008 Papa Wemba rocks Veteran African singer makes his mark at the historic event in Kinshasa

o celebrate the rebranding of Celtel to Zain, 500 Guests also watched a video highlighting Celtel’s history guests gathered at a restaurant in the heart of and success stories. After two brief question-and-answer TKinshasa. Nestled on the southern bank of the Congo sessions with Zain officials, the music started and guests left River, Kinshasa is the capital city of the Democratic Republic their seats to dance. Zain invited several popular musicians of Congo and Africa’s third-largest city, a distinction it to help celebrate the rebrand. One of the musicians to take shares with South Africa’s capital, Johannesburg. the stage at the rebrand party was Papa Wemba. He is known throughout Africa and got his start in 1969 in State officials, diplomats, journalists and leaders of the Kinshasa. He has played in several different bands, released business community were among those who came for a over 35 albums and appeared in three films. The way the night of partying. The first half of the evening offered guests audience swayed and cheered as Papa Wemba played, it both a chance to meet the new brand, Zain, and celebrate was clear this influential artist had plenty of fans in the the accomplishments of the old brand, Celtel. crowd that night. Kinshasa’s own Felix Wazekwa, who released his first album in 1995, and the Cameroonian A series of speeches introduced guests to Zain and musician Thierry Olembe also performed at Zain’s party, a explained how the rebrand would impact the country. celebration that lasted well into the night.

66 CHAOS NOVEMBER 2008 67 CHAOS NOVEMBER 2008 The mother ship Nairobi sends out the message of unity across the continent

he past met the future at the rebrand celebration in was the launch of the historic ‘One Network’. “This has not Nairobi, Kenya, the Zain headquarters in Africa. only enabled businesses to operate at lower costs but has TAround 700 people filled the main exhibition hall of also made communication cheaper for families that live across the Nairobi National Museum, surrounded by ancient borders,” he said. artifacts and the new Zain logo. They were greeted with drinks by hostesses as they walked along a red carpet to Kibaki was joined by Minister of Information and enter the venue. The party in Nairobi was the epicenter for Communicaiton Mutahi Kagwe and other state officials. To Zain’s rebrand across the continent. mark the rebranding the hall was divided into Celtel and Zain zones. In the Celtel zone, the museum hall’s floor was a stage From here Zain Group Chief Executive Officer Dr. Saad Al for African drummers, acrobats, magicians, fire eaters and a Barrak addressed all 14 African countries celebrating the local troupe of rhythmic dancers performing for the guests. rebranding from Celtel to Zain via live satellite link-up. Local painters were also on hand to create portraits for any Kenya’s President, Mwai Kibaki, also attended the event. He interested guest. The Zain zone was the venue for the delivered a speech touting the economic benefits that came evening’s headlining singer, Sussana Owiyo, a local artist along with Zain’s acquisition of Celtel, the biggest of which known as the Queen of Benga music.

68 CHAOS NOVEMBER 2008 69 CHAOS NOVEMBER 2008 70 CHAOS NOVEMBER 2008 Raising the roof Specially composed song heralds a new dawn in Gabon

ain created its own building for the 260 guests who of them performing the song was one of the presentations came to the rebrand party in Gabon. The company projected onto the dome’s ceiling. Dabany also gave a live Zbuilt a temporary dome structure in the Camp de performance at the end of the night. Music was a central Gaulle neighborhood of Liberville, Gabon’s capital city, with element of the evening, and renowned pianist Frederic traditional Gabonese dancers, circus performers and singers Gassita performed during the dinner to the sheer delight of outside to welcome guests as they arrived. the guests.

Resting on 1.8 tons of sand, covering 600 square meters and Zain also brought in local comics to entertain the crowd. measuring eight meters in height, the building served several One of them, Cissoko, is a well known television purposes. Dubbed “Zain Plaza,” it shielded event guests commercial actor. He has been in several of Celtel’s from winds that reach up to 90 kilometers per hour and acted commercials and is best known as “Flash man,” a as a screen on which guests watched videos and the satellite character who lauded a particular Celtel product. link-up, which brought the Zain family togerther to celebrate Another familiar face in the crowd was Minister of the rebrand. Foreign Affaris Laure Olga Gondjout.

Gabonese singer Patience Dabany and French singer Jacob The evening ended as Dabany sang for over two hours with Devarieux recorded a duet called “Zain Arrives,” and a video guests dancing all the while.

71 CHAOS NOVEMBER 2008 Bodo shakes the party Rebrand event in Madagascar was packed with local performers

celebration of local culture was the theme of the and Roads Roland Randriamampionona, attended night for the rebrand party in Madagascar. Some the celebration. A450 guests gathered in eager anticipation in the island nation’s capital city of Akorondano. Musicians and “This evening highlighted the international dimension of dancers representing areas all over Madagascar performed Zain, its ability and its mastery of the most modern in several separate shows, displaying the multi-faceted communication technologies,” the minister said. He was culture of the fourth-largest island in the world. particularly impressed, he said, by the “youth and creativity that radiated” throughout the evening. Performers both young and old offered a glimpse into the cultural world of the country’s six provinces and 22 To host the event, Zain brought Malagasy diva Aina Miray, regions. Madagascar has a storied history which contributes known to fans as Bodo. Between performances guests ate to its cultural diversity. Many different nations – including dinner, shared drinks and participated in the satellite link- the Portuguese, French, British and Americans – have had a up, which brought all 14 African countries celebrating the presence on the island throughout its history, creating a rebrand together at once. “This evening marked the tapestry of traditions which were all on display during beginning of a new brand, a new era and a new breath for Zain’s reprand celebration. Both foreign diplomats and the big family of Zain in Madagascar,” said Ihab Al Fouly, government officials, including Minister of Public Works Zain Madagascar’s MD.

72 CHAOS NOVEMBER 2008 Spreading the word Reggae band, the Black Missionaries, lead Malawi artists in rebrand celebrations

he atmosphere at the beginning of the rebrand strategic decision to create a unique identity for the Zain Group celebration in Malawi was suitably relaxed. Guests as it provides one seamless network from Africa to the Middle Tarrived at the College of Medicine sports complex in East.” Representatives from Zain Malawi also addressed the the country’s commercial capital, Blantyre, around 5 p.m. to audience, with CEO Fayaz King, Marketing Director Enwell socialize, sip cocktails and watch local artists perform. Kadango and Sales Director Saulos Chilima delivering speeches.

The Nanzikambe Theatre Group, founded in March 2003, The guests then ate dinner and participated in the satellite link- entertained with a short, spirited performance. The group up, which brought all 14 African countries celebrating the adapts classic plays to an African setting and believes in using rebrand together at once. A fireworks display followed, and the theatre as a tool for education and development. The evening ended as guests hit the dance floor for a live Sambang’oma Dancers also put on a show for event attendees. performance from Malawi’s own reggae band the Black After the shows outside, guests headed inside for dinner, Missionaries, a popular group that has released five albums. speeches and live music. The celebration’s guest of honor, John Kamanga, operations director of the Malawi Stock Malawi’s Minister of Trade and Industry Henry Mussa, delivered Exchange, described the event as “massive” and “impressive.” the keynote address. Mussa called the rebrand process “a “This was truly spectacular,” he said.

73 CHAOS NOVEMBER 2008 An explosive evening Fireworks, rappers and a dazzling display from Aicha Kone make a night to remember

s the sun slowly sank below the horizon, over 500 guests arrived at the AEx Izé Gani on the bank of the Niger River to celebrate rebranding to Zain in Niger. Several state officials joined the party, and Minister of Youth and Sports Abdourahamane Seydou commended Zain Niger for its donations to local newspapers in various cities throughout the country. Seydou’s colleagues Mohamed Ben Omar, Minister of Communication, and Mohamed Akotey, Minister of the Environment, also came for the celebration.

Following several speeches, dinner and the satellite link-up, which brought all 14 African countries celebrating the rebrand together at once, the live music started. Local rap artists Gaidan Gaskia and Ali Atchibili were the first to take the stage, drawing guests to their feet and introducing the Ivory Coast’s Aicha Kone. Kone is a female vocalist known around the world with a career that spans over two decades. She released her first album in 1981, defying her parents’ objections to her pursuing a life dedicated to music. Koné sang until nearly one in the morning.

Just as her performance ended with the crowd cheering and shouting for more, the fireworks display began. A rainbow of colors painted the night sky over Niamey, Niger’s capital city, with thunderous explosions that prompted a local newspaper to comment the next day that the city had never seen a similar display.

74 CHAOS NOVEMBER 2008 75 CHAOS NOVEMBER 2008 The sultans of sound The best of African talent kept guests rocking well into the night

nder the stars on a warm August night, scores of people Ligali also entertained the crowd by performing gathered in Lagos, Nigeria, to celebrate rebranding traditional Nigerian dance when it was Nigeria’s turn to UCeltel to Zain. The event was held in Tafawa Balewa present itself live via satellite to the 13 other African Square, the commercial heart of the country’s smallest state nations also celebrating the rebrand. The evening then and named after Nigeria’s first prime minister. shifted focus as four different musical acts took to the stage. DJ Jimmy Jatt and DJ Shank put on a lively and Zain Nigeria’s CEO Bayo Ligali, addressed the crowd, promising competitive show as they battled on stage. Next, Sound excellent service and continued growth. He touted the benefits Sultan continued to warm the crowd up for the most Zain has brought to Nigeria having invested over $2 billion on anticipated artist of the evening, Nigeria’s own 9ice. improving the telecommunications network. “In terms of foreign The rapper, born Albolore Adegbola Akande, is known direct investment, this is quite significant and goes a long way throughout the country and the African continent for his to support the federal government’s quest for increased foreign latest single, “Gongo Aso.” investment in the Nigerian economy,” he said. The crowd went wild as he sang his chart-topping hit, many The celebrations were attended by Tito Alai, Group Chief staying to party well into the night despite the fact that the Commercial Officer and architect of the Zain brand. event was meant to end at 10 p.m.

76 CHAOS NOVEMBER 2008 77 CHAOS NOVEMBER 2008 P-Square’s urban rock R&R twins set Freetown party alight with their inimitable groove

live brass band played a welcome note for the 600 guests who came to Freetown’s Miatta Conference Hall Ato celebrate the rebranding of Celtel to Zain in Sierra Leone. The country’s Vice President Samuel Sam-Sumana attended the event and President Ernest Bai Koroma addressed the crowd via satellite before the party joined in the celebration with their colleagues across the rest of Africa.

Koroma praised Celtel for establishing operations in Sierra Leone shortly after the country emerged from years of civil conflict, helping it get a leg up in an increasingly digital world where communication is so important. He said he fully expects Zain to continue this legacy and that the new brand name was an added value for Sierra Leone. “We want our customers to choose the network they deserve

78 CHAOS NOVEMBER 2008 and to distinguish ourselves from other companies by providing the best services,” said Zain Sierra Leone’s CEO Ted Sauti-Phiri.

In an effort to add some life to the conference hall’s drab appearance, the event planning committee decided to transform the venue into a forest. There was a “colorful display of a natural habitat in the heart of the city,” according to June Rose Johnson, communications executive for Zain Sierra Leone. The celebration included a performance by Nigeria’s P-Square, an R&B duo of identical twin brothers. They have sold millions of copies of their three albums, the most recent of which, Game Over, was released last year. Their popularity was clear as the crowd went wild when P-Squared took the stage.

79 CHAOS NOVEMBER 2008 Spirit of togetherness South African dance group, Umoja, entertains at the Tanzania rebrand

n Tanzania, Zain celebrated its official rebranding from worldwide. It will present a new lifestyle and experience for Celtel in the capital, Dar es Salaam, on the site of the mobile subscribers.” Between Arafeh’s speeches, the South Iformer parliament building, the Karimjee Grounds, African dance group Umoja entertained the crowd. The welcoming several current and former government officials. group, formed by Todd Twala and Thembi Nyadeni, is Larence Masha, the Minister for Home Affairs, joined the renown throughout Africa. Permanent Secretary from the Ministry of Industry and Commerce Enos Bukuku, retired Prime Minister Joseph They met in the late 1960s in Soweto, a neighborhood on Warioba and others to celebrate the launch. the outskirts of South Africa’s capital city, living under the brutal conditions of the Aparthid era. The group’s name, Zain’s CEO for East Africa, Bashar Arafeh, addressed the Umoja, means “spirit of togetherness,” perhaps just the guests several times throughout the evening. “The new right fit for Zain’s rebranding given the sense of pan-African brand, Zain, is more colorful and is targeted at the mass togetherness that imbued the evening and the partygoers. market,” Arafeh said. “The slogan will change to ‘A Umoja performed twice during Tanzania’s rebrand wonderful world’ for all the 22 operations of the group celebration, both before and after the satellite link-up.

80 CHAOS NOVEMBER 2008 81 CHAOS NOVEMBER 2008 African heartbeat Wyclef Jean and Bebe Cool wow a crowd of 40,000 as Uganda parties with a Zain groove

he crowd that turned out to celebrate Zain’s launch in “It was really exciting to see 14 countries rebrand at once,” Uganda reached nearly 40,000. Reveling in the open said Noela Byuma, who took part in the celebrations. “To Tair on a hot August night at the Lugogo Cricket Oval actually watch this live and connect with other people in Kampala, event attendees danced the night away. Zain across Africa via satellite made me feel like I was part of a billed a mix of local and international musicians to kick off historic moment.” the official rebranding. More dancing was on offer next as Bebe Cool, another local After dinner and drinks, local artist Peter Miles set the mood musician, played reggae hits followed by DJ Benny D, who for a night packed with performances. People left their mixed music for the swaying crowd, the last act before seats to sway to the beats, anticipating the evening’s Wyclef set the night on fire. To a crowd-gone-wild Wyclef headliner, Wyclef Jean, known worldwide for his lyrical style. emerged around midnight and didn’t let up until well into Before Wyclef took the stage, guests participated in the the early morning. satellite link-up, which brought all 14 African countries celebrating the rebrand together at once. Kampala rocked to an African heartbeat.

82 CHAOS NOVEMBER 2008 83 CHAOS NOVEMBER 2008 Mama Zambia rules Maureen Lilanda makes the Zambia rebrand party a night to remember

ver 500 people gathered at the Nkwazi Primary will remain the same under Zain,” said Gabriel, speaking to School in Zambia’s capital city, Lusaka, in early the Times of Zambia of the impending switch before the OAugust to celebrate the rebranding of Celtel to event. “We are simply taking an African success story, Celtel, Zain, after a decade of the former’s presence in this to the whole world and establishing a global brand.” market. Zain’s choice of a primary school as the event’s venue was perhaps a nod to the company’s commitment Following the satellite link-up, which brought all 14 African to local communities. Zain has donated funds to improve countries celebrating the rebrand together at once, the 100 Zambian schools, announcing that it would supply celebration ended with a performance by Zambia’s own female funds to renovate a school in the Chongwe district just singer, song writer and musician Maureen Lilanda. The crowd days after the celebration. went wild for the local star, dancing and singing as she played her well known hits. Lilanda is known locally as “Mama Zambia” Zain’s rebrand party drew both state officials, including and “Aunty Maureen” and has released four albums ranging in Minister of Communications Dora Siliya, and Zain officials, style from cabaret jazz to traditional Zambian beats. Minister including Zain Africa’s Chief Executive Officer Chris Gabriel. Siliya and Chris Gabriel also did their share to entertain by “Our products, services and commitment to our communities taking part in a dance performance.

84 CHAOS NOVEMBER 2008 85 CHAOS NOVEMBER 2008 MOBILE LIFE

Going nowhere Business writer Thomas Schellen rages against roaming charges

ne should not gloat at In the prose of GSM World, “roaming with monopolistic pricing structures another’s misfortune, but yet is the ability for a cellular customer to that exploit our dependency on the Owe must surely gloat when we automatically make and receive voice mobile phone. This is a serious hear that European phone companies calls, send and receive data, or access exploitation of man by man and a will soon be forced to limit their other services when travelling outside violation of the fundamental tenets roaming fees. the geographical coverage area of the of the information and home network, by means of using a communications age. The authoritative source on roaming visited network.” is GSM World, an interest group and To support this claim, here’s a word for mouthpiece of companies that Technically supported by mobility you that you may not yet be familiar manufacture and operate mobile management, authentication and billing with: nomophobia. It’s a new word of phone networks under the GSM procedures, roaming, says GSM World, 2008, and like with all phobias, a technical standard. That, to be clear, “is possible because your home sufferer will experience this one with means this is the lobby of companies operator has a ‘roaming agreement’ symptoms such as sweaty palms, serving half the world through the 3.4 with an operator in the visited country irrepressible irritation, nervous glances billion subscribers who use GSM that enables you to use its network.” and uncontrollable eye movements. (plus CDMA and HSPA) services, Nomophobia is the feeling of fear that according to latest industry figures Innocent as this stuff sounds, grips when one is without a phone or from October 2008. roaming has become synonymous out of reach.

86 CHAOS NOVEMBER 2008 check of news and inbox, and, bang, The cost of roaming service may have the roaming charge zaps you like fallout from Chernobyl. You don’t smell or been excusable as a techno-global sense it, but a few days later, you reel in pain when you get your invoice. This elitist luxury back in the days when type of roaming is amoral, a veiled monster that lets me do what I always roamers were tycoons and celebrities do but at ten times the price. who either had no worries burning cash Secondly, the cost of roaming service may have been excusable as a or for whom the cost of roaming was techno-global elitist luxury back in the days when roamers were tycoons outweighed by the cost of not-roaming. and celebrities who either had no worries burning cash or for whom the th But that was so 20 century cost of roaming was outweighed by the cost of not-roaming. But that was so 20th century. A study in the United Kingdom has my work in Beirut, and this means I pay a found earlier this year that more than half similarly insane surcharge for every call When the EU started examining the cut- of its mobile phone users would panic for the admittedly good cause of helping throat costs of roaming in 2007, analysts when they lose their mobile connection the Lebanese state service the public predicted that the – rather reticent – (but one suspects that the number of debt. Additionally, I use international ceiling on fees on voice call roaming candidates for this strong anxiety has SMS roaming on every trip for sending a charges would suppress operator actually increased during the recent crisis text message home to say that I have revenues in Euroland by 1 to 4% - but of global financial and stock markets). In arrived safely. would slash their earnings before other words, nomophobia threatens interest, depreciation, taxes, and many. Can we bear the thought of losing Why would I ramble against roaming? amortization (EBIDTA) by 7 to 8%! our mobile phone, running out of battery Because roaming charges are like The message is that the good corporate power, or being in a place where we radiation. You do as you have done a citizens of GSM heaven Europe had have no network coverage? thousand times – take a call, do a quick found ways to make their earnings from

Roaming ostensibly offers a solution to being cut off from essential contacts; the problem is the cost. Here is where I start gloating. Very recently, a Saudi mobile company said its subscribers will be able to receive calls and SMS in more than 50 countries without charge, and one European carrier has announced new pricing plans for mobile Internet roaming which appear to be reasonable.

That’s quite a change of positions. Not long ago, bleeding-heart editorials in some operator-aligned European telecoms publications had pushed consumers’ fear buttons by saying that the poor providers would no longer be able to invest in the best technology if the EU forced price caps on roaming fees that will stop operators from milking customers for skimpy surcharges of a few 100%.

But cost alone can’t be the main trouble with roaming. I use my mobile daily in

87 CHAOS NOVEMBER 2008 a result of distortive European practices Good roaming is free roaming, though. such as baiting new customers with heavily subsidized handsets. Ironically, Free in the sense that Zain has proven and here I gloat a bit more, so-called third-world innovativeness has led the EU can be possible – without feeling any to rethink its roaming policies, although so far in insufficient dimensions. difference in service and pricing when I Responsible profits are the lubricant of make a local call in a partner network or economic activity, and I’d hate few telecoms experiences more than losing get a call from home a trusted service because my preferred operator goes bankrupt. What I want is fair and consistent service and a fair and transparent price – no “free gifts” roaming rise surreptitiously over the past roaming, she said “Using your mobile that rob me, no veiled charges, no 15 to 16 years to cash cow status, the phone abroad in the EU should not sneaking surprises. consumer being allowed to play the role cost unjustifiably more than at home.” of the cow. But if regulators are concerned about If my phone company wants a loyal roaming charges, they usually care for customer? Let me roam free. That will The other thing I have against roaming their own constituencies, not for go a long way toward lasting is, well, a mental concept. Already the global quality and fair pricing of emotional attachment. Most recent word roaming smacks of freedom. communications. Good roaming is free technologies are going the way of Communication is our ticket to be part roaming, though. Free in the sense convergence and innovators, and in of the global community – whether that Zain has proven can be possible – the sense of the past roaming cultural, scientific, civil, business, that means without feeling any concepts, roaming deserves to die as student sub-community or just your difference in service and pricing when I the outmoded form of indentured friends and relatives. This freedom make a local call in a partner network communications feudalism that it has should be as universal as possible and or get a call from home. been. I want to roam free – punning as not be limited by unnecessary costs. badly as I like along the way – live free This innovation was the litmus test that where beauty surrounds me, and stay When the EU telecoms commissioner showed how roaming as a cash- free where networks unite in service at not long ago addressed the issue of maximization model is wrong-footed and equitable costs.

88 CHAOS NOVEMBER 2008

MOBILE LIFE Mobiles on the move! Phone management and cross border solutions for our time

ith the rapid development of number for all communication mobile telecom devices, not to devices, regardless whether they are Wmention the ever-increasing landlines or mobiles, or whether the regionalization and globalization, we find customer moved to another location ourselves facing a number of challenges or switched provider. that can be fundamentally summed up in the question: How do we manage all the The service includes CallerID and increasingly complex communication in allows contacts to be imported from our lives? an email account, such as Yahoo! or Gmail, on the customer’s online The 21st century’s thrusting account, making it possible to pre-sort businessperson might – and probably any call to a specific profile and will – have more than one phone device. Thus, family and friends could through which they can be contacted – be directed to the mobile phone and mobile phone (personal), mobile never to the business line. Business phone (business), private landline, calls to the mobile can also be second home, and car phone. In our restricted to, for example, Monday to mobile society, it becomes increasingly Friday from 9 am to 5 pm, going challenging to manage all these. directly to voice mail instead.

In a world where “reach-ability” is key, It also offers instant recording of calls, new services have developed that offer storage of voice mails, and email “one identity, one bill, multiple device” alerts whenever a voice mail was left, solutions, consolidating all the various in addition to downloading messages telecom connections under one to one’s computer to listen to them number. There is no limit to the anywhere. Phones can be switched in Another challenge is to make life number of devices used, each having its mid-call, so one can take a call on the easier for those of us without roaming own connection but all integrated into landline and then switch to the facility but who frequently travel to one system. Customers can, of course, mobile phone when leaving a location areas of the world Zain’s ‘One decide which kind of data - voice, fax, without the caller having to hang up Network’ vision has yet to take root. SMS, email, multimedia, etc. - or even and call again. This kind of mobile life can involve which source - caller, email account or owning several SIM cards – often media service - will go to which device. In a world characterized by mobility, sloshing around in a makeshift plastic where landlines are secondary to container – which are switched at each In 2007, GrandCentral - with its mobile phones and WiFi access is border crossing. Not ideal, is it? slogan “One Number … for Life”- becoming standard, “Many devices - was inaugurated in the US and, after a one number” services are but a logical But first a bit of trivia: SIM is the strong start, was quickly bought by next step for private and business acronym for Subscriber Identity Google. In essence it provided one communication. Module. It is a small plastic card – you

90 CHAOS NOVEMBER 2008 knew that right? – that is 25mm long, 15mm wide, and only 3/4 of a millimeter thick. In it is a microchip on Dual-SIM phones are more expensive which the service-subscriber key is stored and which is used to identify a than single-SIM models but still subscriber and store data. cheaper than two separate single-SIM Now, because SIM cards are very small, they are very easy to lose. In addition, phones, and in the end, customers are when carried in a wallet or pocket, the danger of scratching the surface of the happy to pay for significantly easier chip or even breaking the SIM card is high. And last but not least, changing handling of their two SIM cards the card, which involves opening the

91 CHAOS NOVEMBER 2008 practice fraught with pitfalls. Today’s adapters are more miniaturized so that, from the outside, the phone looks the same, but there is still a drawback in that at any time only one SIM card is usable.

Dual-SIM phones are manufactured to accommodate two SIM cards that can be used simultaneously. The difference to single-SIM phones that have been fitted with a dual-SIM adapter lies in the transceiver. Normal mobile phones contain one transceiver, meaning that it can only receive and transmit information to and from one SIM card, whereas dual- SIM phones have two transceivers and can thus operate both SIM cards at the same time.

This dual operation does affect battery time, typically reducing it by 30%, but most dual-SIM phones come with extra-capacity batteries. Both Philips and Samsung have dual-SIM phones in their product lines - the Xenium 9@9w and the 699 for the former and the D880 DuoS for the latter.

The phones look the same and have the same functions as single-SIM phones - the difference being that everything can be doubled. When switching from one to the other SIM card, profiles are switched as well, be it for phone, email, browsing, multimedia or other services. When a call is received, the card to which it was made is indicated, and of course, the customer can assign different ringtones to the different cards. phone and taking out the battery, is MULTI SIM Dual-SIM phones are more expensive not something one constantly wants to Enter Dual SIM phones, a response to than single-SIM models, but still have to do while crossing a land customer demand for a solution to the cheaper than two separate single-SIM border or during a flight and certainly multi-SIM dilemma. Phone phones, and in the end, customers are not while at the immigration desk. manufacturers originally came up with happy to pay for significantly easier add-ons for regular mobile phones in handling of their two SIM cards. How to get around the problem? The the shape of dual-SIM adapters that obvious solution is to have more than could be integrated into a normal, Another solution to cross-border one phone. Still, it’s hardly perfect. one-SIM card phone. Early models mobility and high international Owning two phones means extra were a bit Heath-Robinson-esque. roaming rates has been brought to baggage, extra batteries and extra They were bulky, having to the world by Zain with its Africa and charging. It’s simply not the way we accommodate additional wires and Middle East ‘One Network,’ allowing would like to tailor our personal circuits, and required the “extra” SIM customers to subscribe to a mobile communications. card to be literally cut to size, a phone service in one country but

92 CHAOS NOVEMBER 2008 In a world where “reach-ability” is key, paid customers may top up their accounts with airtime cards bought new services have developed that from their home networks, whichever country they are in. The service has offer “one identity, one bill, multiple been rolled out in the Middle East to serve Zain’s 14 million customers in device” solutions, consolidating all the Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan and Sudan who are now part of a pan-Middle East various telecom connections under mobile community. one number. There is no limit to the Finally in Lebanon in April 2008, mtc touch, the GSM operator managed number of devices used, each having by the Zain Group, launched, in collaboration with AeroMobile, its its own connection but all integrated new roaming on aircrafts service, putting it among the first mobile into one system companies in the region to provide this service. mtc touch customers can now make and receive calls as well as keep paying local rates even when physically and literally, that the send and receive sms while traveling they travel abroad, as long as they roaming agreement has been on Emirates Airlines. At a later stage, are in a country where their telecom extended to other Zain operations other airlines signing similar provider also offers services. Initially and now covers more than 160 agreements with AeroMobile will be launched in the East African states of million customers able to make calls able to offer this value added service Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda in at local rates, receive incoming calls to their passengers. September 2006, the service has free of charge and top-up their pre- proved so popular in breaking down paid phones with locally bought You can’t say it isn’t a solution driven telecommunications borders, both airtime cards. Alternatively, Zain’s pre- world!

93 CHAOS NOVEMBER 2008 MOBILE LIFE

Kidz are us Parents can find peace of mind making sure children are within easy reach or every parent who ever told their After securing a foothold in the the estimated penetration rate of children that they had eyes in the teenage market, wireless companies 130% – amounting to more cell Fback of their heads, modern are now setting their sights on the so- phones than people – can be largely technology can now do one better. In a called tween (8-12 age group) market, attributed to increases in disposable move that is more reminiscent of to drive consumer growth. With income, improvements in location-tracking devices in such sci-fi competition in the wireless market as infrastructure, bandwidth and cost, films as The Matrix or Total Recall, cut-throat as ever, many industry and convenience of use stemming wireless companies in the West have analysts see this younger segment as from next-generation phones. begun to roll out a service that uses the next big sales opportunity. This GPS tracking into something children comes as the adult market nears In the US, which was the first country carry voluntarily: cell phones. Using a saturation levels with the global to see the lucrative potential of first phone’s inbuilt GPS, parents can now subscription base by the end of 2007 the teen and now the tween tell every time their children skipped estimated at 1.68 billion by Fitch segments, the growth of young school or visited someone they Ratings, a year on year growth of subscribers is set to overtake that of shouldn’t have. 17.6%. In the Gulf region, in particular, the overall American population in the

94 CHAOS NOVEMBER 2008 Indeed, the latest tracking services such as Verizon Wireless’s Chaperone Children want cell and Sprint’s Family Locator are all part of the marketing mix aimed at phones for convincing parents to buy into the tween vision. And from the reasons obvious perspective of the average preteen, demand is being expanded with to them: they look special, tailor-made phones for children. For example, the bright blue cool and make Firefly Mobile, which was introduced in 2005, features only five keys, with them feel grown- child-friendly icons for speed-dialling a parent. up. They convey a In the Arab region, the teen and certain status and tween subscription base is also on the rise. However, the increase owes more allow them to stay to demographics rather than concerns over child safety in schools and on in near-constant the streets. Given that 55% to 65% of the total population is under 30, touch with friends wireless companies in the Gulf region have been quick to roll out plans for (and parents) younger customers, particularly university students. And while there isn’t the same focus on tailor-made phones for children – which makes it adult supervision is at best marginal; difficult to pick out figures for and the cell phones for the tots can younger subscribers from the adult soon be forgotten and lost among the base – here too the incursion of cell tangle of toys. phones into tween society has ratcheted up the electronics race, To be sure, the novelty and razzle- with mobile phones joining laptops, dazzle of cell phones wear off, and next two or three years. According to a digital cameras and iPods on they are often put out of young minds survey by the technology consulting children’s wish lists. in the way of other, once-coveted firm, Jupiter Research, this growth has electronic games and toys. And been fuelled by parental concerns Children want cell phones for reasons besides, young children, who can over safety, particularly in the wake of obvious to them: they look cool and barely be convinced to say a few terrorist attacks and shootings in the make them feel grown-up. They words to granddad over the phone, country’s high schools. convey a certain status and allow them have few peers with phones to call. to stay in near-constant touch with Specifically, the ability for children to friends (and parents). Moreover, while mobile reach their parents in an emergency communications for youngsters is is driving both young teen and tween Of course, there are very different gaining wider acceptance, safety and sales. Jupiter Research estimates that considerations for parents. The security has a different meaning for a some 9.2 million out of the 20 million decision of when or indeed whether to parent, depending on the age of the American children in the 8 to 12-year- buy children cell phones is often child. For older teenagers, the catalyst old bracket had cell phones by the emotionally charged and value-laden, can be leaving home for the first time to end of 2007. By 2010, there could be which raises thorny questions about go to university; for younger children, as many as 12 million preteen cell safety, maturity and materialism. it’s the convenience of a parent being phone users. Moreover, the number able to keep tabs on the child. of eight-year-olds with phones more While for some parents, cell phones than doubled to 600,000 from 2003, can be an electronic security blanket For that reason, the tracking services while the number of mobile-touting for both parent and child, for others that are widely available in the US, nine-year-olds jumped to 1.5 million the practical use of cell phones for Europe and the Far East are proving from 500,000. young children who are rarely without ever more popular with parents. Of

95 CHAOS NOVEMBER 2008 course, not all trackers phone home. mainstream as cell phones Given that 55% to For instance, OurKids, which was themselves. However, it’s important launched by Blue Tree Service in the to raise the moral implications of this 65% of the total UK last year, is a basic GPS locator technological advance. In essence, with an alarm button that slips neatly these companies are selling the population is aged into a child’s backpack. parents a spying tool. And playing Big Brother for a bit of peace of under 30 years, But the purpose is the same whether mind – or rather, Big Mum or Dad – they’re fully-fledged cell phones or could ultimately prove more wireless companies simple black boxes. To pinpoint the damaging than useful. device, you call up a dedicated in the Gulf region website, enter a password, click Keeping too close an eye on kids “locate” and an icon appears on a map undermines the trust and, more often, have been quick to – either a street map or actual satellite backfires. After all, remember what photo. In the US, you can zoom in always happens in the sci-fi films when roll out plans for enough on photo view to see individual the hero discovers the tracking device. buildings. These are existing satellite Whether it’s Arnold Schwarzenegger younger customers, photos – a truant child won’t actually be extracting the tracker from his nose in standing there – but this feature is Total Recall, or the arachnid bot being particularly cutting edge if altogether creepy. sucked out of Keanu Reeves’s navel in The Matrix, it’s the people who are university students Many experts believe such tracking responsible for planting the trackers devices will soon become as who always get their comeuppance.

96 CHAOS NOVEMBER 2008

MOBILE LIFE Trivia to inspire

SMART MOVES affect your ability as much as being stations by Bell Labs engineers at An estimated 90 million phones are over the drink-drive limit. AT&T. This was further developed hiding in drawers and cupboards across • Having a mobile phone during the 1960s by Bell Labs. During the UK (11,250 tons) - these weigh conversation increases drivers’ a call, the channel frequency could almost six times as much as the London mental workload and stress levels. not be changed automatically from Eye. Mobile phones contain numerous • Using a mobile phone while one cell (base station coverage area) substances which need to be disposed driving affects your ability to stay in to another cell (base station coverage of in safe and efficient manner. lane; keep to a steady speed; keep area) as the person traveled from the • The Cadmium in the battery from to the speed limit; stay a safe area of one cell to the area of another a single old phone could seriously distance from the vehicle in front. cell. Amos Joel of Bell Labs invented contaminate 600,000 litres of water, • Using a mobile phone while a breakthrough invention and called it enough to fill a third of an driving also affects your reaction as the ‘call handoff’ by which the Olympic-sized swimming pool. times, judgement of safe gaps and channel frequency could be changed Cadmium is being phased out of general awareness of other traffic. automatically from one cell to another new batteries. • Research shows using a mobile cell, during the same call, as the • Lead - which affects the immune, phone while driving can lead to mobile user traveled from one cell to endocrine and central nervous more aggressive driving behaviour. another cell. Due to their heavy systems, and causes serious • Hands-free mobile calls still construction, these phones were used damage to children’s brains - is affect your driving ability; mainly in automobiles. The first used to solder components to the reducing awareness and practical cell phone in a non-vehicle printed wiring boards. increasing reaction times. setting, which could be handheld, • Brominated flame retardants, Source: www.kent.gov.uk was invented by Martin Cooper, the used in wiring boards and plastic General Manager (Communications cases, have been associated with DID YOU KNOW? Division) of Motorola. He made the cancer, liver damage and problems Cell phones came into existence world’s first handheld cell phone with the neurological, immune and because of the invention of (telefone celular) call on April 3, 1973. endocrine systems. hexagonal cells in 1947 for base Source: www.ezinearticles.com • Beryllium, which can cause serious lung damage, is used in contacts and springs and highly toxic dioxins can be emitted if the phones are incinerated in waste plants. Source: www.recyclingappeal.com

DRIVING THE FACTS HOME If you drive using a mobile phone, you are four times more likely to crash, than someone not using a phone. Using a mobile phone while driving reduces your ability to react and distracts your concentration. This applies equally to conversations on hand-held and hands-free phones. Some studies have shown that using a mobile phone while driving can

98 CHAOS NOVEMBER 2008