Overseas Investment
Business opportunities in bmi destinations
Break for the Border
Could your business benefit from a change of scene? Have you considered business opportunities overseas? From Ukrainian agriculture through to Belgian recruitment consultancy, here’s a look at overseas investment around the bmi network
WORDS | ALEX RAYNER
ILLUSTRATIONS | NILS DAVEY
BRUSSELS
This self-styled capital of Europe is home to a highly skilled, multilingual, multicultural population. With over 30% of its citizens being foreign-born, most can manage two languages. According to the European Growth and Job Monitor, Belgian workers are the second most productive within the EU (after Sweden).
Add high-speed connections to London, Amsterdam, Paris and Frankfurt, tax incentives and local government grants, and Brussels certainly looks pretty welcoming.
“Our decision to move into Belgium was definitely the right one,” says Alan Herrity, a manager at recruitment consultants Huxley Associates, after they built a candidate database of more than 50,000 permanent and contract professionals within their first year in the city.
Is that not enough? Well, the Brussels Enterprise Agency is also offering prospective companies a free three-month trial in fully furnished offices, complete with workstations, reception services and conference facilities.
bmi flies to Brussels from East Midlands, Edinburgh, Leeds and London Heathrow
JEDDAH
As the Red Sea port’s city limits stretch northwards, so it approaches the outskirts of the new King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC), one of four new urban developments being built by the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA). Their stated mission – termed ‘10 X 10’ – is to position Saudi Arabia among the top 10 most competitive nations by 2010.
It’s an ambitious goal, but SAGIA appears to be on track. The Kingdom has risen from 34th to 27th place in a recent World Economic Forum survey, while a recent World Bank’s International Finance Corporation report showed Saudi Arabia rising to 16th from 24th on the ease of doing business. The World Bank described Saudi as ‘systematic reformers’, cutting back on frustrating red tape while introducing crucial pieces of bureaucratic infrastructure, such as an official property registry. It seems the rest of the world has taken notice. Inward investment rose from $18bn to $24bn in the year to June 2008. Bag that waterfront office while you still can.
bmi flies between London Heathrow and Jeddah three times a week via Riyadh
AMMAN
Jordan sets itself apart from its neighbours with its constitutional monarchy and a strong and stable free market. Jordan’s membership of the World Trade Organisation dates back to 2000. Since then it has signed a free trade agreement with the US, ratified the Greater Arab Free Trade Agreement and has joined the Euro-Mediterranean partnership; it’s one of only two countries without a Med coastline to do so.
Add a literacy rate of over 90%, and thriving agriculture, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and textiles industries and Jordan looks pretty attractive.
Construction and real estate development industries are also strong. Taameer Holdings Jordan is one of the largest players on the Jordan stock exchange, constructing huge developments – ranging from seaside resorts through to entirely new cities. The company’s subsidiaries oversee everything from the supply of concrete through to the after-sales and management services. With six successful projects underway, it’s small wonder that Taameer are the major sponsor of the country’s leading economic event, the Jordan Economic Forum (JEF).
What’s more, the Jordan Investment Board offers a full service assistance package for investors. Contact them for everything from licensing and registration services, through to financial exemptions (mainly customs fees and sales), taxes, duty exemptions and income tax reduction.
www.jordaninvestment.com, www.taameer.jo
bmi flies between London Heathrow and Amman daily in less than 6 hours
ABERDEEN
Great schools and universities, a thriving energy industry and a high quality of life makes Scotland’s third largest city the first choice for many companies.
“The only international school in Scotland is located here,” says Mary Smith from Relocation Scotland, an Aberdeen-based corporate transferral service. “Also, the University of Aberdeen is of international renown, and Robert Gordon University is very well geared to the energy industry.”
Add high quality, locally sourced food – including Aberdeen Angus beef, Glendronach whisky and cod from Petershead – breathtaking countryside and steady, affordable house prices, and switching your office to Aberdeen becomes an easy sell for both CEOs and employees.
bmi flies to Aberdeen from Birmingham, Esbjerg, Groningen, London Heathrow, Manchester and Norwich
COPENHAGEN
According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, Demark ranked as the world’s best place to conduct business over the medium term in 2007 and 2008.
The city scores well on foreign language skills; local workers are highly skilled, yet the labour market is also seen to be quite flexible.
Office rental rates are low and transport infrastructure and IT systems are mature and well maintained. International links, in the Nordic and Baltic region, but also with Western European countries are good too: the city’s airport was recently rated as the most efficient airport in Europe.
bmi flies to Copenhagen from Edinburgh and Glasgow
SOUTHERN SUDAN
It might sound risky, but there are plenty of opportunities in the quieter end of Sudan. SAB Miller opened their first brewery in the south of the country in March 2009, and New York-based firm Jarch Capital leased approximately 400,000 hectares of prime agricultural land in Mayom county, southern Sudan at the beginning of the year.
“Southern Sudan is an expansive and nearly pristine environment,” says David Raad of local business facilitators DR&A. “It has an abundance of natural resources, an underserved consumer market, and a rapidly expanding population and development standard.”
bmi flies between London Heathrow and Khartoum 5 times a week via Beirut
KIEV
Ukraine was always a very important economic component within the Soviet Union – second only to Russia – and produced about four times the output of the next-ranking republic. Today it remains a key state, lying as it does at the crossroads of both east-west and north-south trade routes.
According to Invest Ukraine, there are 47 million Ukrainian consumers, making it the greatest market in Eastern Europe. With an extensive railway, road and sea port network, as well as good roads, Ukraine is a good place to export from, either eastwards into Russia, or to Western Europe.
And if high-tech success doesn’t win you over, consider ploughing your cash into Ukraine’s oldest asset: its highly fertile black soil. Earlier this year The Economist reported that agricultural companies, Landkom and Black Earth Farming both have made large investments in Ukrainian farming.
bmi flies between London Heathrow and Kiev 5 times a week in less than 4 hours
