Jafza targets 400 new businesses by year-end

Dubai: Companies operating out of the Jebel Ali Free Zone employ 170,000 people, roughly a tenth of Dubai’s workforce, Gulf News has learnt.

The emirate is home to more than 2.04 million residents, with approximately 1.6 million in the workforce.

Jebel Ali Free Zone , one of the world’s largest free zones, attracted 100 new companies during the first quarter of this year, taking the total number to 6,700 — one of the largest concentrations of businesses operating within a single cluster.

“We are expecting a 5 to 8 per cent increase in 2012, attracting 400 new companies to Jafza by year-end, compared to 385 companies in 2011,” Ebrahim Mohammad Al Janahi, Deputy CEO of Jebel Ali Free Zone Authority ( Jafza ), said yesterday at a conference.

“A combination of an excellent investment atmosphere and a customer-centric business policy have helped raise the number of investors to 6,700 so far,” he added.

Around 120 of the companies operating in the free zone are in the Fortune 500 list.

Investors in the free zone account for 40 per cent of the total foreign direct investment in Dubai as well as 50 per cent of the total exports from the free zones, Al Janahi said.

The contribution of all free zones in Dubai to the emirate’s gross domestic product (GDP) is 25 per cent, with companies in Jebel Ali accounting for 20 per cent.

Despite challenging market conditions, the number of industrial companies in Jebel Ali Free Zoneincreased 4.5 per cent in 2011, with 34 new industries being set up.

Al Janahi said that 95 per cent of the available storage space is occupied, prompting the authority to invest in expansion.

“We have just finalised the first phase of our logistics expansion and very soon we are going to build new buildings in Jebel Ali Free Zone to meet the growth in demand,” he said.

TechnoPark, the technology arm of Economic Zones World, expects infrastructure projects worth over Dh70 million to be completed by year-end. The projects include a comprehensive road network and accommodation projects worth Dh20 million.

Saeed Mohammad Al Tayer, Managing Director and CEO of the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa), said the utility’s total investment in the Jebel Ali Free Zone is Dh4.6 billion. In the free zone alone, Dewa has five main stations with a capacity of 150MV and 1,423 distribution boards, Al Tayer said.

Dubai The UAE’s growing number of free zones need a unified set of investment and registration regulations to help investors, a top official said.

There are more than 50 free zones in the UAE spread across the seven emirates that come under the jurisdiction of the local governments. Dubai has created the Dubai Free Zones Council to coordinate across the various entities.

Talal Al Hashemi, Managing Director of the Economic Zones World, suggested a unified law to regulate all free zones across the UAE. “Despite the significant role of the Dubai Free Zones Council, we need to unify and regulate the work process within Dubai. We also need to include the free zones’ products in all free trade agreements,” he said.

UAE expats enjoy top salaries, drive the best cars...

The UAE ranks as the third best country in the world for expats based on a host of parameters, including finance, lifestyle and raising kids, a recent survey reveals.

HSBC's Expat Explorer Survey shows that the UAE ranks No. 1 in the world when it comes to the nicest cars being driven by expats and almost a third of foreign workers in the country fall into the top earners category, making it a lucrative move for them.

"The UAE continues to be a good location for those who enjoy the finer things in life with expats here much more likely to have access to luxuries than average (43 per cent vs. 32 per cent average)," according to the Expat Explorer report.

HSBC Expat Explorer League Table 2011

Country	Rank	Score
Singapore	1	0.49
Hong Kong	2	0.48
UAE	3	0.46
Mexico	4	0.45
Australia	5	0.45
US	6	0.44
France	7	0.42
China	8	0.41
Netherlands	9	0.38
UK	10	0.35

"This could be a result of the country's rating in the Expat Economics Income league table with expats here being among the highest earners," the report states. According to the survey, the UAE ranks No. 13 in the world in terms of expat salaries, with about a third (29 per cent) of expats earning more than $200,000 (Dh734,600).

The country ranks a high No. 5 worldwide in terms of luxuries enjoyed by expats, including driving nice cars, living in bigger properties, more luxurious holidays, disposable income and healthcare facilities, etc.

New Smart e-Gate ‘will speed passenger flow'

Dubai: The new Smart e-Gate system, installed across all Dubai International's immigration entry and exit points is easy to use, fast and efficient, according to a senior official from Dubai residency department.

Colonel Khalid Nasser Al Razooqi, Director-General of the e-Services sector at the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs (GDRFA) in Dubai, told Gulf News yesterday the Smart e-gate is a new technology that allows a faster and more convenient movement of the growing number of passengers through Dubai airport, the world's fourth busiest.

“ 

The new e-Gate helps to get rid of the need for prior user registration with the GDRFA, which is the case with the existing e-Gate card

 

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Colonel Al Razooqi

"The new e-Gate helps to get rid of the need for prior user registration with the GDRFA, which is the case with the existing e-Gate card," said Colonel Al Razooqi.

He said the new system quickly scans and reads passport information and captures biometric data including facial recognition and retinal scans using a high-accuracy camera. The system then matches the traveller's captured biometrics and passport information against existing lists to detect any potential immigration issues.

All these procedures are expected to be completed in 12-14 seconds while maintaining a high level of accuracy and security standards.

All holders of modern passports with barcodes that can be read by the e-reader can use the e-Gate, including children above the age of seven.

Passengers who hold passports without e-readable barcodes can proceed to the existing e-Gates or the conventional immigration counters to complete their entry or exit process.

Major General Mohammad Ahmad Al Merri, Director-General of GDFRA, said that Dubai airport was one of the fastest growing airports in the world and that it was a great challenge to facilitate the entry and exit of passengers without affecting security standards.

Huge rush at Emirates ID centres as deadline looms

Abu Dhabi: The Emirates Identity Authority (EIDA) received 140 per cent more applications in the first three weeks of May compared to the same period last year. This is apparently due to the huge rush of expatriate applicants to meet the impending deadline in Dubai.

The deadline for Dubai residents ends on May 31 after which a fine of Dh20 will be imposed per day. This can even go up to Dh1,000.

As part of a media and advertising campaign, the EIDA distributed around 1 million copies of two brochures in nine languages. One brochure titled ‘Don't Panic' urged the public not to worry too much about the fines. You can avoid a fine by filling out the application form at any typing centre in Dubai before June 1, it said. Keep the appointment for registration mentioned in the application form or subsequent text message. If your residence visa expires in 2012, you can apply for the ID card while renewing the visa, it reads.

The EIDA received 457,536 applications for issuing ID cards across the country (new and renewal) in the first three weeks of this month, a spokesman of the authority told Gulf News yesterday. It received 191,554 ID card applications in May 2011, he added.

He said the authority had used all means of communication to remind residents to abide by the deadline.

"We had launched an advertising and media campaign one year ago, utilising newspapers, the Dubai Metro, social media channels and text messages," he said.

Part of the communication initiative was to send around 24,000 text messages to public relations officers in Dubai, asking them to inform employees at their organisation to register before June 1 to avoid the fine.

Additionally, the EIDA also forwarded awareness messages to residents through social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube in cooperation with the government and private organisations. 

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Emirates ID

Dubai: Residents are risking loss of passports and identity theft at busy typing centres in the rush to meet the May 31 deadline for Emirates ID registration.

"In all events, don't leave your passport at the typing centre to avoid possible loss," warns Emirates Identity Authority (Eida) on its website. However, many private centres authorised by the UAE government to fill in ID applications, refuse service unless residents hand in their passports, which have to be digitally scanned.

Receiving passports in advance of processing applications allows typing centres to add more clients to their list and work at their own pace later on - besides making more money as they charge Dh30 per application.

However, holding on to passports - for several days in many cases - means longer waiting lines for applicants already pressed for time under the looming deadline. The practice is also against the rules of Eida, which issues the ID card.

Residents complained virtually all typing centres in crowded neighbourhoods of Dubai and Sharjah demand they part with their passports.

During a random sweep this week, XPRESS found dozens of passports lying around haphazardly at typing centres in Safa, Satwa and Karama.

He suggested applicants make a ‘booking' the following day by submitting their passports before noon, which they would not see again for three days - the time it would take for the application to be completed. "Of course I cannot give you a receipt for the passport, that's illegal."A worker at a typist near Mazaya Centre said on Sunday: "We've run out of space to keep passports so we're not taking any more for now. There's no place left to hide them if [Eida] inspectors drop in."

Another typist in Karama who had no applicants present in person at his office, scoffed when asked to process an application on the spot. "Get in line - you want to see the line?" he laughed as he pulled out a drawer crammed with passports.

"I'm getting non-stop calls from applicants asking ‘Is it done yet? Is it done yet?' The best I can do for you is take your passport now and call you tonight to let you know how long it'll take."

In Sharjah, a Russian applicant who ran out of patience while waiting for his application to go through was seen quarrelling with a typist who refused to return his passport in Al Taawun area.

"I cannot give back your passport now, Just wait, I'm busy," the typist said. One applicant said on condition of anonymity: "I had to give my passport to the typing centre, what else can I do? They say, ‘if you don't like it, you can find another place.' I give up, there's no time left."

Dubai expatriates whose visas expire after 2012 will be fined Dh20 per day (up to Dh1,000 maximum) if they fail to register for their Emirates ID card by May 31.

Eida adds on its website that "residents of Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah, with residencies expiring in 2012, will be required to enrol for the ID card along with renewing their residencies".

Earlier deadlines, which were eventually extended, had seen tempers fray at overrun typing centres. No grace period has been announced for current deadlines in place.

Blog websites are most vulnerable to malware

Threat of infection of mobile devices continues to grow, although small when compared to personal computers.

Dubai: Users are more likely to be infected by a computer software virus while viewing a blog than any other website.

This is according to the latest Internet Security Threat Report, compiled by software protection company Symantec, released on Wednesday.

The report also found that websites with religious or ideological (political) content were more infected with a computer virus — malware — than pornographic sites. Only 2.4 per cent of adult sites were found to be infected, compared to 20 per cent of blog websites.

"We hypothesise that this is because pornographic website owners make money from the internet and have a vested interested in keeping their sites malware-free," Justin Doo, security practice director at Symantec Mena, said in a webinar.

Pornographic sites ranked 10th in the list of categories of sites that are most infected, after automotive themed sites (8th) and health and medicine sites (9th). "2011 was the first year that mobile malware presented a tangible threat to businesses and consumers, with threats primarily aimed at data collection, the sending of content and user tracking," Doo said. However, threats to mobiles still significantly trail personal computers in terms of actual attacks.

The growth of the And-roid platform has been phenomenal and this has not gone unnoticed by cyber criminals who have discovered it to be a lucrative target for malware.

Need for vigilance

"Organisations of all sizes need to be vigilant about protecting their information as we are seeing a large increase in attacks on mobile devices, targeting sensitive data," Doo said.

Stolen credit card details may go for as little as 40-80 US cents. Malware that sends "premium SMS text messages can pay the author $9.99 (Dh36.70) for each text and victims not watching their phone bill could pay the cybercriminal countless times," he said. Google had to remove over 100 malicious apps from the official Android market, Google Play, last year.

"Cyber criminals are finding it very convenient to distribute their malware straight to a mobile device and we have detected a big increase in the use of social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter to target Android users," Yuval Ben-Itzhak, chief technology officer at AVG, said.

As workers are bringing their smartphones and tablets into the corporate environment, data breaches are expected to rise as "lost mobile devices present risks to information if not properly protected," he said.

"We're seeing attackers trying out different techniques on smartphones to see what works for them, to see which ones are going to make them money," Ben-Itzhak said.

One bright note in the report is that spam levels dropped considerably in 2011, from 88.5 per cent of all e-mail in 2010 to 75.1 per cent in 2011. Symantec said that on average, 42 million spam messages were in global circulation per day in 2011, compared with 66.1 billion per day in 2010.

Gulf countries improve rankings

Gulf countries have improved their global rankings in the 2011 Internet Security Report due to governments' strict regulations and close watch on the internet.

"UAE is ranked 46th compared to 36th in 2010 and the country is expected to improve further this year," Justin Doo, security practice director at Symantec Mena, told Gulf News.

He said the spam rate in the UAE stood at 73 per cent in 2011, compared to the global spam rate of 75.1 per cent. The spam rate in the UAE in March 2012 stood at 65.6 per cent compared to global spam rate of 64.5 per cent.

The report showed the US is still ranked number one, followed by China, India, Brazil and Germany.

Market oversupply cuts job options

Many employers who are hiring for entry-level jobs may prefer to hire those who begin their careers with the company

Despite signs of economic recovery, the global job market is still very competitive as many experienced professionals who lost their job during the recession remain in the ranks of the unemployed. This oversupply in the market spoils employers with the availability of candidates who may have more experience and knowledge than it is needed for a job — and who are often willing to accept surprisingly low wages for the sake of returning to the workforce.

This scenario also complicates the job-hunting process for fresh graduates who may feel the need to fight the more experienced over scarce entry-level jobs.

In this competitive market, however, fresh graduates can easily position themselves to capitalise on existing opportunities by playing up their capabilities and education that can make them a better fit for the employer's financial and professional requirements.

To do so, they must understand their own points of strength in today's market and be able to communicate them clearly and concisely. They also must be aware that even though an older and more experienced job candidate seems to be a good deal, an employer will still have concerns regarding this person's ability to fit it. Experience does matter, but it is not the only factor at play.

Here are a few points to consider if you're a fresh graduate looking for a job and trying to position yourself as a better fit than a more experience rival:

Fresh perspective

Take a forward looking approach: While you may be lacking in practical experience, having up-to-date education with an aptitude to learn is a huge plus. That is why it is important to highlight your relevant academic qualification to the hiring manager, and affirm your willingness to learn and receive training, if necessary. Many employers who are hiring for entry-level jobs may prefer to hire those who begin their careers on the company system rather than trying to convince older and more experienced professionals to change their ways. Employers appreciate the flexibility of new graduates. So what you need to do is to show how outgoing you are and prove to be able to integrate and adopt the system.

Affordable choice

No one likes to be an inexpensive option. But to get your first job money shouldn't be an obstacle — a fact that both you and the hiring manager will be aware of. Your task here is to convince the hiring manager that you can do the job just fine and there is no need to pay extra for experience. To do so, you will need an excellent resume that explains your education, any experience gained through education, and most importantly a list of references who are willing to vouch for you. You also need to realise that in today's tough market, you must be willing to slightly compromise in money negotiation, if any, for the sake of getting this first job. Once you get your foot in the door and prove your qualification and abilities, you will be in a better position to negotiate a higher pay.

Individual edge

Work out an individual advantage that sets you apart from other graduates in your field and level of experience. This could be academic excellence, volunteer work, an internship, or even your personal passion for technology, social media, etc. The point is to provide the hiring manager with a surprise advantage that makes up for the lack of experience and simply proves you're a good deal.

Commitment

Don't lose out on the stability point. It can be a concern for a hiring manager that you, as a fresh graduate, are likely to use the job as a jumping pad to a better position. And because employers do invest in training and through the learning curve of their employees, providing assurances of your career commitment can go a long way. While no one will stop you from jumping jobs later, racking a couple of solid years of experience before making a move can position you as a reliable and stable worker.

Thriving industry

If your education and qualification give you choice of different industries, try to select a path that has not been badly hit in the recent years of economic turmoil. This can help you begin in a more normal environment where it might be easier to score the first job — even though it won't guarantee professional shocks down the road. After all, no industry is totally immune of the market ups and downs.

Rania Oteify, a former Gulf News Business Features Editor, is currently a journalist based in Seattle.

The first job

• Play up your education and abilities.
• Focus on the job rather than the money.
• Show commitment and a bonus point.
• Don't go down a dead-end job career path

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