Here is what a good business is in our countries: Get a franchise or become an agent of an international brand and you are in business. Look around you, that is what it is. Promote a brand and capitalize on it by getting exclusivity in this region. Everyone wants this.
This is a psychological disorder.
The disorder is ” FEAR”. The fear to create. To take a chance. To experiment. To be original. To develop. To BE. We all like to hide behind something or someone “powerful” so that we do not have to display what is within us. Because we fear rejection and humility. And that is what EGO is. And this is what EGO does. This sort of mental disorder is too common now. And because it is so common, it is now a social disease. And, the disease has spread so fast and so furiously now that a whole new generation finds itself .. lost.
We never developed the culture of creativity and originality. We are not producing producers, we are producing consumers and imitators. That is alarming.
Ask yourself this: What do we produce for mankind? What are we doing currently? Nothing.
A foreign company either digs up our natural resource, processes it and we sell it or it lends its name to us and we sell its product to the market and that’s that. For the past 70 years or so, this is ALL we have been doing.
Stories of people who took huge risks to do what they love to do and became extremely successful are just stories from the West that we often refer to when we are talking about a huge brand. NONE of us has the guts to DO what that guy did. We cannot even consider it. We instead choose to bask in the glory of others. Another psychological problem.
The other day I was talking to a host of a local radio show and we started talking about TV. He had genuine ideas and views and it came to my mind that this guy should have his own english tv show. The best channel to air his show would be MBC4. But then, MBC4 is too busy showing Dr. Phil and Opera. The issues they deal with have nothing to do with social issues here. There is , in fact, no show that is for the people here, by the people here. Even if a show is created, the theme is adopted. Like ” Who wants to be a millionaire”. What the heck? Are we that BRAIN DEAD? I am not talking about shows in arabic, I am talking about shows in English. And even the Arabic ones are just “wanna be” talk shows from the west.
So I told him that it would be cool to see a show hosted by him on TV – he smiled and said ” I don’t think that can happen”..
Every young person I meet wants to get a job in a Multi National Firm. Not to mention that everyone is an “IT” person. I have not met anyone that has an original idea or plan that they want to see through and present to the world. People in their 30’s , lost. Not discovering, nor learning. Just adopting and pretending. Living a life dictated, not a life chosen. Pretty sad if you think about it.
And yes, everyone wants to get a franchise. Everyone that is going to start a business , that is.
The criterion is this:
I represent this Brand, I hold this certification, I specialize in this model…
None of which are from your land.
I do not get impressed by that. At all. It bores me. I can even predict what they will say next. I can speak it as they speak. I have heard the same nonsense so many times, that I have memorized it. It has become so sick to me that I have begun to admire drivers that decorate their cars in a unique way. I see them as more successful and free than many Managers of “MULTI NATIONAL COMPANIES”…
Here , get this. I created the strategy and plan for a company ( MULTINATIONAL) and got it a lot of success in KSA. So, logically, my product would be MY strategies and solutions. But you see, NO ONE sees that. They find it strange. What they DO admire is that I have that brand attached to me. Out of the many businessmen I know here, only one very highly educated Saudi gentleman pointed this out and recently said this: I would invest in your company and you because the product is your brain and you have proved yourself. He did not even mention the brand name of my client. Because he is smart enough to see that if my strategy could work for that brand, it could work for MANY brands and so the BRAND is not important in this case study, it is the strategies created by the owner of the consulting firm for this region. I felt like standing up and dancing because finally met someone with a BRAIN! So far, every person I know seems to think that if I do not work with this brand, I will have no work to do. You tell me, what kind of degenerated mind can live with that theory?
Come on people, BE YOURSELF. Create something. Develop something. Be innovative in business. Be independent.
Days of this life are not just passing by anymore, they are flying by. Time on earth is limited.. don’t waste it.
Real Talk Blog : ali shah 
Maybe the problem is this: People think that an idea, a company, a product, cannot be good if they were originated locally. That’s a lack of self-confidence.