Information – Positive Thinking
Advantages of multicultural teams
Advantages of multicultural teams
By Carole Spiers, Special to Gulf News Published: April 21, 2008, 23:40
As Dubai becomes steadily more multicultural, it is worth examining, from the London experience, the two differing reactions that may greet a new workplace colleague who has arrived from another place and another culture.
On the one hand there can be the defensive attitude, viewing the new arrival as a problem, whilst the other can be the welcoming attitude, viewing them as an opportunity to become familiar with another culture.
The defensive attitude believes that unfamiliar customs – including language, dress and food – can be in poor taste or lacking in sensitivity. Many ‘cultural diversity’ programmes are aimed at identifying and examining such scepticism and resentment, reducing insensitivity and instructing all staff how to avoid giving unintentional offence. The welcoming attitude appreciates the stimulating effect of new blood and new ideas that come with different perspectives.
Added value
By way of example: if there is an increasing trade between Dubai and (say) Sri Lanka, your team will clearly be strengthened by the inclusion of some Sri Lankan nationals and their different work philosophies and styles of problem-solving will, no doubt, enrich the managerial mix. The new team members would normally prove to be an asset as they would bring added-value to the organisation as well as contributing knowledge regarding the Sri Lankan culture – essential to increasing contact and trade.
If the UK experience is anything to go by, the defensive attitude gradually gives way to the welcoming, in most companies. But the change in attitudes can occasionally be difficult when emotion and prejudice obstruct logical debate. Cultural diversity can, all too often, bring out irrational statements that can lead to serious problems unless handled with care. Adequate training to understand and value the differences is important.
For this reason, central government may have to issue recommendations and directives, with a department dedicated to the issue of multiculturalism. All experience shows that the way to encourage positive attitude of welcoming and acceptance is to demonstrate it in action.
The primary learning comes through repeated impressions drawn from observing communication and interpersonal contact in a multicultural context, in the handling of business – as compared to that in a mono-cultural setting. Ideally, a majority would slowly observe the corporate and commercial benefits taking shape in improved performance, and come to their own conclusions about the advanta-ges of multicultural teams.
The alternative route, which is diversity legislation, may look like a quicker way of enforcing good habits, but it will strengthen resistance among those who are defensive. However, after seeing for themselves the success of the new-style multicultural teams, in their own organisations, they will often be among the converted!
Key points: Diversity
New work colleagues of different culture are often viewed as a problem
In time, the greater strength of multicultural teams begins to appear
Corporate diversity policies are more effective than government directives
– The writer is a BBC broadcaster and motivational speaker, with20 years’ experience as CEO of Carole Spiers Group, an international stress consultancy based in London.
It’s a trophy life
It’s a trophy life
Enid Parker (Staff Reporter)KHALEEJ TIMES
7 April 2008
Pooja Vinod, who has been awarded the prestigious Shaikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum Award for the Distinguished Student in the Basic Education Category, gets candid with City Times
WHAT FIRST caught my eye as I walked into Pooja’s home was the glass-fronted cabinet with dozens of gleaming trophies.
“She has over 40 trophies and 85 certificates to her credit,” smiled her parents. I gulped, a little overwhelmed already as I sat down with this poised young lady who studies at the Our Own English High School in Dubai, and has been awarded the prestigious Shaikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum Award for the Distinguished Student in the Basic Education Category (Grades 1-5) for the year 2007-2008. The award will be presented on April 8.
“The criterion for the award was academic performance, co-curricular activities and overall excellence,” says Pooja.
At this I ask her if she always comes first in class. ‘Yes,’ she answers with a smile. Her mother Praseena, a Mathematics teacher, adds, “Right from Kindergarten she took an active interest in studies. She does her homework by herself; we never had to remind her to study.” Her father, Vinod Kumar, a Telecommunication Engineer, adds, “She’s always been number one in academics.”
Intrigued by a child who’s actually interested in studying, and recalling my own distracted primary school existence, I was curious to find out what her other interests were. “I like singing, dancing, drawing, coin and stamp collecting, travelling, swimming and making projects from waste materials,” she says in her clear voice brimming with confidence, adding that she likes drawing most. “I like doing sceneries and also cartoons, like the ones in colouring books.”
Music
Pooja’s accomplishments in music are noteworthy; she has won prizes in many music contests and has participated in classical music concerts as well. She receives training in classical music and light music from a tutor and says she likes to sing ‘all kinds of songs.’
“She sings everything from classical and light to popular music – in Hindi, English and Malayalam,” adds her mother.
She is a fan of Celine Dion, particularly the popular ‘My Heart Will Go On’ from the soundtrack of the movie Titanic. At the Heart Song competition held at Ski Dubai for the release of the movie ‘Happy Feet’, she won the best singer in the sub-junior category for her rendition of ‘My Heart Will Go On.’ She also performed the song live on Valentine’s Day at the Indian Pavilion at this year’s Global Village.
On the radio
She’s enthusiastic about her radio performances. “I like being on the air, people get to hear my voice… and its fun doing radio advertisements; I have recorded one for Indomi Fried Noodles in Hindi as well as Malayalam.”
A little princess
Pooja played the role of Princess Ariel in The Little Mermaid as part of a cultural programme conducted by her school last year. “It was a musical drama and I had to both act and sing.” I didn’t have to ask her if she liked it, her expression said it all.
Hobbies
So with all this on her plate – so many extra-curricular pursuits and being number one in academics, does she have any time for normal kids’ stuff like games and dolls and toys?
“I like playing with dolls, but now I love kitchen sets more,” she says, and at this point I can’t help talking about my favourite brown ceramic tea set that I had as a child. She laughs and says she has one like it too. She talks about a game called ‘Stuck in The Mud,’ which she loves to play and according to her is ‘very funny.’
And what about books? “Enid Blyton is my favourite author, especially the story ‘The Little Lost Hen.'” I almost begin to reminisce about my own Enid Blyton favourites, then realise with a twinge of regret that its time to leave; I’ve really enjoyed chatting with her.
So does she ever get camera shy or have stage fright? Her smile tells me the answer to that one. “I’m all set for the big day,” concludes this charming and articulate young lady who no doubt leaves a big impression on whoever she meets.
Pooja has won accolades for singing, dancing, public speaking, elocution, story-telling and art. Some of her accomplishments include:
* Sub-junior ‘Kalathilakam’ (overall champion) in the Open Youth Festival 2006-2007 conducted by ADMS
* First prize in the Karaoke Malayalam Film Song competition held at the Indian Consulate in May 2006
* First prize in film song competition at the ADMS UAE Open Youth Festival conducted in January 2008
* Her song was broadcast by Asianet Radio 94.7 fm during the ‘Voice of the Year’ programme
* At the prestigious inter-school KGS music festival, she secured first prize in the group event during the year 2006-2007
A million dollar company built on a failure
A million dollar company built on a failure
Prasanna D Zore | October 23, 2007 | 16:57 IST
He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming online radio portal, when he was a mere 17-year-old.
His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams. His stand was vindicated when his son’s maiden venture failed to produce any profits.
But Vishal Sampat, now Ceo of Convonix.com, wasn’t about to give up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimisation company.
Today, Convonix is a one million dollar company and by March 2008, Vishal is confident of doubling his company’s turnover.
As somebody who has gone through the trials and tribulations of starting an Internet business and learning from his failures, here’s what the 25 year old CEO of Convonix?has to tell budding entrepreneurs: “The world will never believe in you till you achieve something. But if you believe in yourself and what you are doing is right and has a future, then you should persevere and work honestly towards your goal. If you do this you will surely be successful one day.”
Can you tell us about your early days in school, college and the time you started your first online streaming radio venture, Radio.com?
I was born and brought up in Mumbai. I studied St Xavier’s?School and completed my SSC in 1997. After that I did my engineering.
I started my first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000. Those were the early days of the Internet in India, when it took half an hour for someone to get connected online. The reason we started this venture was we believed that there was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian music and, for that matter, in knowing?what’s happening back in their own country.
A cousin of mine who was into radio got for me some audio capsules which I could play in between the 20-30 minute programme. We used to have songs as well as the RJ capsules in the middle.
Basically, none of us knew what we were doing and I had no money. So what we did was we got free space from various free web hosting companies that operated at teh time, like Geocities. We managed to get the load balanced with these servers and got our online music channel going.
How much money did you put into in this venture?
I invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with my father footing the Internet bills (laughs), which at that time was very expensive compared to what it is now. He wasn’t very happy about that though (laughs).
Did you make any profit out of this venture?
No, we didn’t. We did succeed in getting?around six and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out this business online. Of course, being in college and having no sense of economy helped us make no profits (laughs). Finally, this website transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal for teenagers.
Though the portal is still online, we don’t maintain or update it regularly now. It was this experience that helped me start Convonix.com. The first venture, however, still has sentimental values.???????
What inspired you to start this streaming online music portal then?
It was something that just struck us. It was this huge market that was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then. This venture was something that we thought we might try and make a lot of money out of, which actually didn’t happen.
What did you learn or gain from this failure?
You can’t call it a failure as such.?It was lot of fun. When Radio FM and khopcha were both online, we did not have money to market the product and services we offered online. This was the genesis of my current venture.
I used search engines to market both the services; I used online portals; I learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of online marketing tools. This experience helped me a lot in offering various products under the Convonix name now.?
Can you explain Convonix’s business model? Who are your competitors globally?
Let me first explain the main business of Convonix, that is, search engine optimisation or SEO.
Suppose you are a bank who wants to sell credit cards. When people search for such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail the service. What we do is we consult the banks that want to do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal.
SEO helps such institutions to maximise the use of Internet as an active marketing tool to sell their services and products. What we do is we identify who is searching for their products and services, estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are using for their search and where they are looking out for their requirements.
Convonix helps these businesses to get their portals on top of such a search list. This is SEO and its benefits to the potential customers.
Well, that’s our primary service but we are also into Internet marketing like social media optimisation, which includes crawling the blogs (which are very huge nowadays) to find out who wants what. We are also into paid advertising business.
Our competitors would be ad agencies who are getting into online marketing business. Apart from that there are a couple of big players as our competitors. However, we have the first mover advantage and there is lot of work going around.
Also, SEO is a niche field and it will be very difficult for a traditional ad firm to compete with us and build the core competency needed for this business.
What are the fundamental principles that guide Convonix?
One of our biggest principles is Under Promise and Over Deliver. You will never find one of my guys coming to you promising the world and then failing her/his word.
We’d rather play it conservatively than go over board and fail to deliver. We promise only what we believe can be done, and?then we?do a lot more?than that.
Secondly, we follow a very consultative approach. My team members would first ask you about your business, your goals and then say what we can do about it. Very frankly, we have gone ahead and told many of our customers that a certain thing cannot be done. Of course, we have lost business because of this discipline of ours (laughs).
It really makes no difference if we lose some business because of this, but we don’t want to cheat on our clients.
How would you define your role and responsibilities at Convonix, you being the founder of this company?
My basic responsibility towards my company is to see that it grows as planned and all my employees are happy working with the company. Get talented and skilled people on board, strategising on novel ideas to expand my business. I no more look after the day-to-day operations, which I used to do just a couple of years ago.
How many employees do you have?
We have around 50 employees spread across our two offices in Mumbai. We have just purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in Navi Mumbai that will help us to triple our headcount.?
What kind of turnover and profit margins are you looking out at in 2008?
Our turnover last year was around a million dollars, and we are looking at double that figure in 2008. Our profit margin is very healthy, as we use a lot of consultative approach, but it is difficult for me to give you a number on that. It could be safely assumed to be 30-40 per cent of our annual turnover on a conservative basis.
80 per cent of our revenues are generated from businesses based out of India. We started the partnership model when we started this business, as it was the best way to get some foot holding in the markets abroad then. We tied up with overseas marketing companies and web solution providers. We handle the sales there and manage all the campaigns from here.
A few of our clients in India are Just Dial, Apnaloan; we have also worked with Indian Hotels, Eitihad Airways and currently we are running a campaign for Sun Pharmaceuticals.
Our clients overseas include the best names in the hotels, airlines and travel portal business. We also do business with ClearWire, which is a listed company on the US stock exchange.
Are you the only owner of this company and do you have any plans of taking Convonix public in the near future?
Yes, I am the sole owner of Convonix. About the other question, we have a strong revenue model and cash is coming internally to fund our expansion plans. In the near future we don’t have any plans of going public. Even the money to fund the 10,000 sq ft facility that we bought came out of internal accruals. What’s more, ours is a debt-free company.
Can you tell us about your interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one million dollar company Convonix?
It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I started Radio FM, people didn’t know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn’t making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online, according to my dad, instead of studying (laughs). That was difficult, but from 2002-2003 when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of Convonix started taking roots.
It was me and two of my colleagues from school, Pallav Jain and Sarfraz Khimani — the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass out from IIM-C in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That’s when the revenues started flowing, and that’s when my parents started believing in my business. After that everyone started supporting me.
The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????
What would be your advice to budding entrepreneurs?
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and that what you are doing is right and has a future, then you should persevere and work honestly towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be successful one day. You will get a million people who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing what you are doing, but you have to persevere. The world will never believe in you till you achieve something. That perhaps is the most difficult aspect for the people who are starting on their own.
Woman hunts for Good Samaritan who saved her daughter’s life
Woman hunts for Good Samaritan who saved her daughter’s life
By Marten Youssef, Staff Reporter
Published: March 30, 2008, 17:12
Dubai: He stopped his car when he saw a screaming woman by the side of the road. She needed to get to hospital with her sick child urgently.
After helping them, the unknown stranger vanished. Now the woman is looking for her “angel”, as she calls him, to thank him properly.
Jyoti Rana from the Greens, a 34-year-old Canadian who came to Dubai two years ago, experienced a mother’s worst nightmare last Tuesday. Her two-year-old daughter, Sia, had an abnormally high fever.
“My sister-in-law and I decided to take her to hospital. We waited outside our house for a taxi. Two minutes later, I turned around and Sia had fallen flat on her face,” Jyoti said.
Sia turned pale and her lips turned blue. She was not responding to her mother’s calls.
Jyoti panicked, picked up her unconscious child and did what any mother would do. “I screamed for help. No one stopped. I picked her up and ran into the nearest hotel, but there was no-one. I sprinkled her face with water, but she still did not respond.”
After a security guard came to her aid, she was still feeling helpless. The security guards tried to stop several taxis, without success. One of them ran into the street and stopped the next car.
Without hesitation, Jyoti jumped into the car while trying to revive her child. “I wasn’t thinking straight. All I cared about was my child,” she said.
The anonymous driver asked her which hospital she wanted to go to and without any questions he drove to the Welcare Ambulatory Care Center.
“The drive usually takes 15 minutes from my house, but he did it in less than 6 minutes. All he said was, ‘it’s going to be OK.’ He kept repeating that.”
After admitting her daughter to the hospital, she was asked for Sia’s health card.
“That’s when I realised I left my purse in the man’s car. I looked down at the side of the bed and there was my purse, which meant he must have brought it in,” said Jyoti.
Sia recovered with doctor’s attention from a febrile seizure (fever fit).
“I want to find that man to thank him,” said Jyoti.
With very little memory of what the driver looked like, Jyoti recalls: “He could have been Indian or Arab. People told me he was driving a silver sedan. He must have been in his late 20s or early 30s. I cannot remember what he looked like at all, but I am hoping that he would read this and contact me. If it weren’t for him, Sia would probably not be here now,” she said.
If you know who the good samaritan is or if it was you yourself then fill in the form below, leaving your contact details and we will pass them on.
E-mail : Jyoti Rana can be contacted by email: jyoti@thebigball.org
Remove the fear of failure
Remove the fear of failure
Mr Amitava Roy, President, Symphony Services
One teacher I remember, and why: Prof. Bhola Nath Roy, my grandfather, for the values he instils in me.
One most valuable work lesson thus far: I am humbled by the intelligence of my colleagues and juniors.
My role is to unleash the untapped potential in people around me.
One thing I look for the most in a new recruit: Attitude.
A book that I am currently reading: How to manage in a flat world, by Susan Bloch & Philip Whiteley.
One tip for time management: Prioritisation.
One key thing in my fitness routine: Walk.
One signal that tells me there is a problem: Slowdown in communication.
One technique for handling anger: Deep breath.
One essential ingredient in my investment portfolio: Common sense.
One good thing about a new generation: Passion.
One worrying thing about the young: Affluence affecting their survival instincts.
One thing that clinches a deal: Trust.
One definition of values: Truth.
One way that I use for resolving conflicts: Listening.
One favourite activity when travelling: Photography.
One indicator of performance: Success.
One macroeconomic variable I keenly watch: India’s GDP growth.
One dream I’d like to chase, later in life: Travel — sightseeing.
One good way to foster innovation: Removing the fear of failure.
One clue that tells me I’m the leader: When others listen.
Trust those you depend on
Trust those you depend on
Ms Ranjini Manian, Founder and CEO, Global Adjustments.
One teacher I remember, and why: Robin Sharma’s List of Heroes. I made my wish-list and it has resulted in my actually meeting them!
One most valuable work lesson, thus far: Trust those you depend on.
One thing I look for the most in a new recruit: Multi-tasking ability.
One thought from a book that I am currently reading: “One pointed attention is key to success,” from Eknath Easwaran’s Book on Meditation.
One tip for time management: Cut through the knot of the most pressing thing that seems to weigh in your very stomach!
One key thing in my fitness routine: Pranayama.
One signal that tells me there is a problem: When I can’t think of a new idea.
One technique for handling anger: Postpone speech.
One essential ingredient in my investment portfolio: Land.
One good thing about the new generation: Superbly gadget savvy.
One worrying thing about the young: Do they know their roots?
One thing that clinches a deal: Asking sincerely.
One definition of values: Do what you want others to do to you.
One way that I use for resolving conflicts: Mediate.
One favourite activity when travelling: Listening to talks on the Bhagwad Gita on my iPod.
One indicator of performance: Societal admiration.
One macroeconomic variable I keenly watch: Dollar-rupee exchange.
One dream I’d like to chase, later in life: Teach Indian philosophy.
One good way to foster innovation: Adapt learning to your field.
One clue that tells me I’m the leader: There is actually someone following.
Ant Kingdom
Ant Kingdom
We think our life is the most busiest. Have a look at what’s happening here. There is totally a much more busier world out there.
Flowers, plants and trees in UAE
A casual or pass time look at the flowers, plants and trees in UAE.
Enjoy it. All these are grown and maintained with plenty of human effort. A big thank you to the numerous workers from Abu Dhabi, Dubai and other Emirates’s municipality and landscaping department workers for keeping the surround green and clean.
Photos and video by Ramesh Menon
ClicksandWrites 
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