So you heard that we signed an agreement with a company in Dubai called Royal Front Investment. Most likely, you read my e-mail before we went there how fragile the opportunity is and how this deal might not happen. But it did. What does that mean to our company?
Firstly, and most importantly, the agreement itself is pretty worthless and does not give us any financial benefit without putting effort
This agreement is quite simple and states that parties have
The responsibilities of
Why now ?
Better now than never. We are discussing we are not ready yet, and this has been going on for more than five years. There will never be a time when we think that now we have everything else corrected, and we can move on. So we have to try the other way – decide to go and then make the working MVP on the market and take it from there.
Why Emirates?
It is a good market. Everyone we have pitched to likes the idea. We found the right partner with the best network on that market who loves the idea. There may be a better idea of where to go, but if we are not moving, we will continue searching forever.
Why Royal Front?
So what is so special about our partner. They are an investment company that is representing and has invested in more than 80 foreign companies operating in the Emirates market. Their main field of activity is sports. Their board is also in the leading positions in the Dubai Sports Council, which is the governing body of whole sports in Dubai. They have the best network of wellness and fitness and sports clubs and also operate in the field of company sports.
What are the threats?
The business model may not work. Our partner may not deliver their promises. Those are the main risks, and we saw that with the agreement. It went just like all my contacts there were saying – everything is at the last minute, and everything is sketchy.
United Arab Emirates
It is a country in which’s population is around 10 million. 1,2 million of those are citizens. The rest are immigrants. The local Arabs have exclusive rights; others are happy that they can live there. GDP per capita is 2x bigger than Estonia (35 000$ vs. 70 000$ annually). The currency, dirham (AED), is approximately four times smaller than 1 euro. The prices are higher than in Europe but not by a considerable margin. No income tax (so no fees on top of our services as well). VAT is 5%. A good launching platform for the rest of the Gulf area countries like Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait.
More information can be read from Wikipedia.
Get fit program in the Emirates
Emirates system is running from top to bottom. So at the moment, the government in Emirates is pushing its officials to be more fit and active and want them to be role models for the rest of the country’s population. Riding that wave at the moment seems an opportunity.
Want to visit Dubai?
If we are starting there, we might need to send our people there several times. The first event is already in one month. Planned launch on the market on the 1st of January. So whoever feels that they are ready to represent SportID in various events, just let me know that you are prepared to go when we need to be present on some occasions. I am quite confident that everyone from our team knows our system well and can explain it well. The prerequisite would be excellent communicating skills and courage to speak loud and clear in English.
Even though it is hot as an oven there, the rooms are well-conditioned, and of course, there are some fun activities to do as well. When we went there this time with Evelin, we agreed that at least one fun or cultural activity per day for ourselves and there is so much to do, and everything is within 30 minutes of a taxi ride. So it will be fun as well.
So let me know if you think you can help in the future, and we might need you. As you know, we do not yet have an outbound team. However, so we all have to manage this as well as we can.
What we need to do to be ready?
Maybe the most critical question. We do not have a list of activities to do. We are just starting to work on these. But after first discussions with Ando in Budapest, I think that this is all doable. We will begin working with the whole team on this on Monday.
We will create two action plans. First: how we can be ready for that market and what we need to do. Second and not less important – how we manage our everyday activities that are our main business at the moment. We need to find a way to progress with these things and plans, as well. So I know it will be a challenge, but challenges are for completing, aren’t they?