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Publication: CEO Middle East Headline Summary:

Country: UAE / Pan Arab

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Date: September 2015

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Publication: CEO Middle East


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6 Comment Anil Bhoyrul wonders where you should put all your hard-earned savings.

8-9 Corporate suite Images from around the world, including the Perseid meteor shower and typhoon Soudelor in China.

10 Country focus The latest news from Bahrain.

12-13 Round-up Kuwait's NIG gets $347m loan; Arabtec reports $195m loss; UAE wealth has 'destroyed culture of saving'.

14 Wealth check Algerian billionaire Issad Rebrab.

16-17 Leaderboard The greenest cities in the world; most expensive furniture; largest Forex reserves; and top diamond producers.

20 Spotlight UAE says Apple is not exempt from foreign ownership laws.

FEATURES .

22 Osman Sultan The driving force behind du explains why leading telecoms players will have to develop new ecosystems and define new models of society in order to succeed.

30 Dr Azad Moopen With almost 30 years' experience in the region, healthcare boss Dr Moopen discusses the challenges, opportunities, and future direction of the industry.

38 Sink or Swim Developers in the Gulf have floated a number ofbold underwater projects in recent years, but until now none of them have become reality. Is that about to change?

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SEPTEMBER 2015

46 Ashish Thakkar Recently announced as the chair of the UN's Global Entreprenerurs Council, the founder and CEO of Mara Group says he has big plans for the region's young business minds.

54 Pietro Beccari The head of Italian fashion house Fendi explains how he is raising the company's profile in the Middle East, and how he deals with anti-fur campaigners.

62 Google How and why the tech giant made a surprise overhaul of its operating structure.

64 Elie Khouri The CEO of Omnicom Media Group (MENA) says you should listen to singer Pharrell.

66-74 EXECUT1VE UVING

66 Hotel review: The Four Seasons Doha 68 Motoring: The Ferrari 458 Speciale 70 Gadgets 72 Luxury watches 74 Backbites

September 2015 CEO MIDDLE EAST 3



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D B&W: D FEATURE I DR MOOPEN

.-:., .. - ~ . • .\.-c,·, lfo,?•italill

Abu /)/1<1bi is <'.\'P<'Cted to be

Now the group employs more than 13,500, including 1,500 doctor~, and provide~ 4,000 patient bed:- acro:-s 16 hospitals.

And things just keep growing. In 2013

the company allocated $600 million to a five-year expansion programme- a project that is already bearing fruit with a number of new hospitals expected to open in the new year.

The same figure- $600 million - was recorded by the company in revenues for 2014, up from SSOO million in 2012, with as much as 90 percent of that coming from its operations in the GCC region.

Then there's the small matter of the JPO which has been on the horizon for sometime but yet to be finahsed; a topic which is sadly, but perhaps understandably, off the table when I meet Dr Moopen at his ~pacinu~ Busine~s Bay office.

Having been in the region for almost 30 years, Dr Moopcn ha~ seen it all. The mpid development of the UA E'" healthcare industry is hard to put into a nutshell, but the chairman boils it it dm\ n to one word : "Phenomenal''.

He says: "When I came here in 1987 it was nothing, just a few government ho~pirals and very few private doctors . I was one among them, a doctor who started my own clinic.

''People were depending ver) much on the government ho~pitals, which were ve r~

few, and there were very few government

32 <.EO MIDDLE EAST September 2015

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clinic~ too. Now, the ~ituation ha~

completely transformed, especially in the b st 10 years. There·~ been huge growth in the private sector, from hospitals to clinics, doctors, and pharmacies, there has been a significant increase in the private sector.

"So the private sector, with the help of the Dubai Government, and as a planned procedure, i~ having a significant role being carved out for the m, and the government wants it that way. They don't

$600tn The amount Aster DM Healthcare recorded in revenues druing 2014.

want a monopoly of government hospitals, where personali sed care is a casualty. They want private hn~pital'> which are much more personalised."

It's a landscape that continue" to change, develop and grow, with a number of players vy ing for prominence in a marketplace which has become a magnet of practitioners of all types.

The numerous change~ acro~s

the industry have led to many benefits, but have a lso provided a series of chal lenges, hurdles, and talking points . The primary of which, acmrding to Dr 1\loopen is insurance.

"The problem wa' alway~ the cn~ t."

he explains.

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"When you had government hospitals they were mostly subsidised, people did not have any concerns about the payment. But when more private hospitals came in, naturally it became very expensive.

"Many people found it extremely difficult, and many times found it inaccessible. People found it very hard to pay medical bills, and insurance coverage wasn't too great. There was some coverage in some areas but it was not very good.

"About five or six years back Abu Dhabi started universal coverage of all expats, and the local population. They were all brought under insurance. Dubai started this last year, and some amount of the population is already covered.

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Right decision

"By the end of 2016 they hope that all the people, both locals and expats, will be covered. So that has taken the care of the cost aspect ofhealthcare, and it is coming from the employers."

In 2014 the Dubai Health Authority announced plans to ensure everybody in the emirate has mandatory health insurance by mid-2016, with the responsibility of providing insurance cover for employees falling on the employer.

13,000 The number of people Aster DM Healthcare employs.

DR MOOPEN I FEATURE

"WHEN MORE PRIVATE HOSPITALS CAME IN, NATURALLY IT BECAME VERY EXPENSIVE."

Nearly two million additional people are expected to be covered as a result.

For Dr Moo pen, the compulsory health insurance law is the right move by the Dubai government.

"I think that is the right thing to do," he continues.

"If you can spend AEDlO,OOO for getting a person's visa and getting it stamped, an extra maybe AEDl,SOO or AED2,000 for that person's healthcare is something I think all employers should be taking care of.

"Across the Middle East healthcare is going through a phase where most places will be covered by insurance. This will have a significant impact in the delivery ofhealthcare, and also opportunities for healthcare institutions, both government and private.

"We see significant opportunities in these places where insurance is coming into place."

These opportunities will increase across the industry, according to Dr Moopen, who expects to see many more people coming through the doors of clinics and hospitals.

"It starts from primary care," he explains.

"This is the type of care that will be most stretched, as there is a requirement for people to meet their doctor with either a minor or major ailment. Only rarely will they get admitted to hospital.

"We are quite strong here because we have a large number of clinics. Unlike other players in the sector who are looking at hospitals alone, we have from the very beginning met a continuum of care - starting with primary care, which are the clinics, closer to the people, and providing whatever is possible without admitting a patient.

"So we are well placed to welcome more people to the clinics, which are of different types: Neighbourhood family clinics, larger clinics, and medical centres.



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"Beyond that people can go to the hospitals, and again we are well po~itioned here, and of course we have the pharmacies. So we have a continuum of care covering all part'i of the process, meaning we are in a good position to take advantage of the new opportunities.

"We are present and strong in all areas." Another challenge highlighted by Dr

Moopen is that of technology: Specifically IT and the digitisation of data.

He .say~ : "There are majm challenges here, and there i~ definitely a requirement for people in the industry to be aware of the technologic~ that are coming up.

"We need to look at the way insurance companies, government departments, statutory regulator~. and others, are expecting information to be conveyed to them Many

34 CEO MIDDLE EA!>T Scptcmhcr 21Jl!i

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clinics or hospitals don't have a great capability to give information in a digital format, and l want to stres~ the importance of thb: The importance of everybody looking at digitalisation of their data

"It's easier when it comes to the accounting of a medical bill, and things like that, but it becomes difficult when it comes to the electronic medical reports where you are writing the patient's history, complaints, medical findings, and .so on.

"Nobody ha~ perfected how thi:. can be assimilated and transmitted, so there are many gaps in that area and it is very important that people look at this."

Moving away from technology, Dr Moopen add~ tn his Ji,t of indu:.try hurdle' by highlighting the challenge of hiring employee~ .

"IT'S ONLY A MATTER OF TIME UNTIL HEALTH CARE IS COMMODITISED TO A GREAT EXTENT. THAT'S A FACTWEHAVETO ACCEPT."

"You can build a physical infrastructure if you have the financial resources, but getting the human resources tn fill the buildings is very difficult," he points out.

" Thi~ is a major challenge a' we go forward. We have a significant issue in getting people into employment.

"T find it very difficult getting people from many countries that we used to get doctors, nurses and so on, because the salary scale~ and the earnings of this particular profe,~ion has increased in such countries .

"So they're not willing to come and work for what we are used to paying."

He explain-; that "ource countries such a' India used to provide A~ter DM Hea lthcare with good quality nur'e', lab technicians , pharmacists, and other

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technically qualified people, but that it's now harder to convince them to relocate to the UAE, given the increase of their salaries at home.

"So we're looking elsewhere," he continues.

"There is now a major focus on the Philippines; we get a lot of good quality nurses from there. We're also looking at some of the African countries where you get a good quality of medical professionals. Egypt is very good.

"One are that has opened up which is very unfortunate for that country, but beneficial for the UAE is Syria. A lot of people, due to the issues there, want to come to a safer country, so a lot of people are coming from there."

Challenges aside, Aster DM Healthcare is making significant strides in terms of growth with a number new hospital projects underway in the Gulf, and plans for more clinics and pharmacies.

These include a Aster hospital in Mankhool, Bur Dubai, and a Medcare hospital on Sheikh Zayed Road, Dubai, which will be exclusively for women and children, and is expected to be finished by Q12016.

Another Medcare hospital in Sharjah is also scheduled to open in the early months of 2016, while two further Aster hospitals in Abu Dhabi and the AI Qusais area of Dubai are expected to be completed towards the end of 2016.

Outside the UAE, another Aster hospital project has been launched in Doha, Qatar, due to open in early 2016.

This comes on the back of an extra 52 pharmacies and nine clinics which have been established across the company's footprint this year- part of a drive to boost the number of its units to more than 300 by 2017.

"We have significant plans," says DrMoopen.

"We have been growing very nicely in revenues and profits, and the reason has been the expansion of the network.

"We believe that any organisation has limits to its growth, like a human being. When you are a child you grow very well, but as you become older, the growth comes down, and maybe leads to de-growth. So if you are just focussing on a few hospitals, clinics and pharmacies, there will be no growth after some time.

"So you have to keep expanding if you are to grow. We have had expanded a lot over the past seven to eight years,

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and now have 260 pharmacies, clinics and hospitals. That is the reason for our growth in revenues and profits.

"We believe very strongly that there has to be growth and there has to be a pipeline of growth, and we have to continue this."

Turning his attention to the future of the industry in general, Dr Moo pen highlights three areas in which he foresees great development.

The first of this is the digital arena: "I believe healthcare will follow other industries and become much more digital," he says.

300 The number ofhospitals, clinics and pharmacies expected to be open by 2017.

DR MOOPEN I FEATURE

"We all used to go to the bank to withdraw money. It wasn't long ago, but now nobody goes. It's all done on the internet or mobile. The same with air travel; we used to go to the agent, but now we just sit at home and do it from there.

"Healthcare hasn't caught up yet. It's the same old way of meeting your doctor, going to the clinic, and so on.

"But it's only a matter of time until healthcare is commoditised to a great extent. That's a fact we have to accept."

Outlining possible ways this digital shift will manifest, he says: "Many things can happen over the internet. There are ways to measure people's blood pressure, heart rate, and basic investigations like blood sugar, and cholesterol at home. And there are methods by which you can get





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FEATURE / DR MOOPEN

1:>

Aster Hospital 1j \ ~l.r s ;~.; d ..

the information to a doctor. Then the doctor can send a diagnosis to your phone, send your prescriptions to pharmacy, and have it delivered to your door. It's possible for patient~ to usc monitors on himself, and methods for the caregiver to track everything. A lot can be done without physical contact with the doctor. or vi~ it~ to the ho~pital."

The chairman explain" that Aster DM Healthcare is currently engaged in a pilot project with telecoms operator du whereby Aster provides equipment, and du provides the technology to offer remote consultations.

He says: "Information is uploaded and our doctors will assess the data and provide the advice. So this is something that is actually happening; it's not theory.

"With mobile phone~ and apps you don't ha\·e til be very tech literate to make use of them. You can have simple things such as an app to help you stick to a ~chedule of taking medicine. If you're getting an alert to remind you of it, this will help you a lot in getting cured.

"Technology, e~pccially with mobile~. is going to have a significant impact on healthcare delivery."

A not her big de\·elopment on the horizon could be the role of alternative medicine, ~ay~ Dr Moopen.

"Definitely there i~ a role for many other systems," he says

36 CI::O MIDDLE !:A~ r September 2015

"TECrl NO LOGY, ESPECIALLY WITH MOBILES, IS GOING TO HAVE A SIGNIFICANT IMPACT ON HEALTH CARE DELIVERY."

"It's not that modern medicine, what we call allopathic medicine, is the last word in everything.ln~omeca e.sweraiseourhands and say we can't do anything further, and we find that other systems can work instead.

"By and large, a major portion of either preventath·e or curative medicine i~

modern medicine, and that is what's most prominent, but I do personally believe there i~ a role for other system~ to play."

Citing a number of alternative treatment.~ from around the world, Dr Moopen adds that the future of medicine could involve practitioners with more holistic approaches.

"In India you have Ayurveda , or you have homeopathy which comes from Germany,

or you have the Chinese medicine which is another very important system.

"I think that the important thing is to decide what is appropriate for each person. What is sadly lacking is that if somebody has a serious problem and they need surgery, but that system doesn't believe in surgery, it could be a calamity that after ~ix month~ when he come< back it'~ an inoperable ~ituation. Or vice versa - when it comes to a situation that could have been ~olved with a non ·surgical treatment.

"I believe there is a requirement for some mechanism in which somebody who has a holistic view decides that for this particular person, at this particular point of time it is better to go for this. This is the ideal utopia.

"Unfortunately now the sy~tem in most countries is that you directly go to a specialist. You have a hmall headache that could be treated with paracetamol, but you go to a neurologist and he will do all these tests that aren't required. So the whole system is getting confused, and getting skewed because people want to go to the most senior person in a hospital, or in n specialism or in illness."

In a bid to establish a more holistic approach, the chairman explains that the A"ter Medcity facility in Kochi, India, is looking at ways to align different system< of medicine for the benefit of patients.




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"Aster Medcity is going to be a referral centre for many of the institutions in the region," says Dr Moopen.

"We have everything there, including robotic surgery as well as an alternate medical centre. We have already gone into partnership with a number of players players and work with Ayurveda treatments has started immediately.

"So if they come there and we feel that there are certain illnesses where they could support, we look at how we could work together. Many times these different systems are kept apart as water-tight compartments. People don't come together to test things out, so we thought we should change that."

The final area that Dr Moopen highlights as developing apace is that of health tourism- more accurately labelled 'medical value travel', according to the chairman.

"The reason why people travel for medical treatment are three," he says.

"One, the medical expertise is not available in that particular country. Then they travel. Maybe people go to the UK because the expertise is not available in their country.

"The second important area is the cost. If it is less expensive in a certain country than their own country, then people tend to travel.

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"I FIND IT VERY DIFFICULT GETTING PEOPLE FROM MANY COUNTRIES THAT WE USED TO GET DOCTORS, NURSES, AND SOON."

For example people come to India because of this. The expertise is available and costwise it will be only one fifth of what has to be spent in Middle East or Western countries.

"The third is waiting time. If you are on a waiting list, for example on the NHS for elective surgery, you may have to wait for two years. If it can be done immediately, then people will prefer to travel.

"So these are the three main reasons for medical value travel."

Identifying Bangkok, Singapore and - more recently - India as examples of countries people are willing to travel to for treatment, Dr Moopen says the UAE is now one of the most sought-after countries for medical value travel.

DR MOOPEN I FEATURE

"Dubai has taken up the initiative, with Dubai Healthcare City as the focus, to attract patients from surrounding areas to Dubai," he continues.

"Dubai has been very successful in attracting people for trade, tourist activities, shopping, and so on, so people come for many things. But healthcare so far has not been a focus. Now they are focusing on it, and we are part of that. We're part of that momentum."

It's a development that he is excited by given the scope for new patients that could come through he company's doors.

In 2014 Dubai's Health Authority announced plans to attract more than 500,000 medical tourists every year and boost its economy by up to AED2.6 billion ($710 million) by 2020.

"I think there is great potential," continues DrMoopen.

"If you look at the MENA region it's about a one billion population. For them it's logistically easier to come to Dubai - culturally and linguistically it makes a lot of sense. They can easily understand the language and can communicate with doctors here, so if there is the expertise here, then people will come here.

"It was not available here previously, but that is changing, so now we are getting a significant number of people from the Gulf countries, other Middle East countries, and from the African countries coming to Dubai.

"It's only a matter of time for Dubai to become a hub for this medical value travel."

As our conversation draws to a close, we briefly discuss another aspect of Dr Moopen's business that is rooted in his desire to do good: that of philanthropy.

This July Aster DM Healthcare donated AEDlO million ($2.7 million) to the AI Jalila Foundation, aimed at helping underprivileged children with health conditions.

The donation will help the foundation - a global philanthropic organisation dedicated to transforming live through medical education and treatment- develop cuttingedge medical research in the UAE.

Earlier that month the Aster DM Foundation donated AED1.4 million ($380,000) to Nepal to rebuild SOD houses in villages struck by the recent earthquake, including 23 homes of Aster employees that were destroyed by the tragedy.

Both acts, and numerous others in previous years, show that the welfare of people remain at the heart of what the company and Dr Moopen himself stand for- an encouraging and heartening reminder that health and wealth can work together in many positive ways.


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