Sunday, February 9, 2014

Dubai - A City of Endless Business Opportunities

Dubai, situated on the Persian Gulf coast of the United Arab Emirates with 4,110 square kilometer of land area is a city of endless experiences. It is not wrong to say that the city has emerged as " A Land of Opportunities" with its vibrant economy making it as a major business center with dynamic and diversified business environment.


Changing itself over the last three decades, Dubai's credential as the place to do business has been supported with its new ranking naming it the third "most dynamic" city after San Francisco and London (Source: City Momentum Index - Jones Lang Lasalle). With the growth that Dubai is currently going through and the highest standard of comfort and luxury being offered by the city, the business activities are certain to grow even more in the years to come.

Ease of Doing Business


Dubai has been gaining momentum in its economy and is being considered as the third most dynamic city for doing business. Lets see how the business regulations and its enforcement in United Arab Emirates supports the ease of doing business in this region. Dubai's economy enjoys a competitive combination of cost, market and environmental advantages that has created an attractive investment climate for the locals as well as the expatriates. 

With new firms entering into Dubai's market, innovative products and creation of job opportunities have contributed Dubai to become a prosperous city in the region. "Doing Business 2014" - A co-publication of The World Bank and the International Finance Corporation, have ranked UAE at 23rd place for Ease of doing business out of 189 economies by taking into consideration various key business indicators.


So what are the economic and the business indicators that are considered by the World Bank for ranking. The procedures, time taken for starting a business, access to electricity, loans, taxes, rights of the investors are some of them which are mainly focused by the World Bank and IFC. The diagram below shows where UAE stands in the individual indicators ranking. 


The comparative analysis of the indicators for year 2013 and 2014 show how much improvements have been done by UAE in one year. What are the reforms made by UAE that helped it climb three places up to 23rd in year 2014?
  • Getting Electricity - Eliminated the need for the site inspection and reduced the time for providing the new connection. 
  • Registering Property - Increased the operation hours of the land registry and reduced the transfer fee. 
  • Protecting Investors - Introduced greater disclosure requirements for related party transaction and made it possible to sue the directors, when any of such transaction harm the company. 
The country is making improvements to invite more foreign investments and make the country prosper. Some of the areas where UAE is improving in order to go up in the ranking for Ease of doing Business as per Doing Business Index are: 
  • UAE is ranked 100th in enforcing contracts (moving one rank up from 2013) taking 524 days to resolve a dispute, counted from the momentum the plaintiff files the lawsuit in the court until payment. Luxembourg is ranked number 1 in enforcing contracts. 
  • UAE is ranked 101st in resolving insolvency (moving one rank up from 2013) taking 3.2 years to finish the settlement for closing a business. 
With continuous improvements in its economic reforms and regulations, Dubai is definitely a hub for the investors to do business. Among the Middle East & North African (MENA) region, UAE is ranked at the top in Doing Business Index.


This makes Dubai the most preferred place to do business in the MENA region. It would not be any surprise that we will be seeing Dubai at first place for Dynamic City in City Momentum Index in some years now. To get more detailed insight on starting a Business in UAE, you can check the report from World Bank " Doing Business in UAE"

As rightly said by many people, "Dubai - A City of Endless Experiences and The Land of Opportunities".
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Sunday, February 2, 2014

3 Unique & Interesting Musical Instruments

Listening to a song, ever wondered which instrument was used for the arrangement. Amazing instruments, great music and innovation, what else do we need then. As a painter expresses his/her feelings through the painting with a feeling of vibrancy and depth of it in the canvas, musicians do the same by expressing their emotions in the form of music they play.

Music is not merely playing an instrument. One should realize that its a feeling that passes through the ear and energizes the mind and heart, before it is expressed in any human form of emotion. There are different varieties of instruments that help us do it, and to the amazement some of them are really unique and interesting. Let's have a look at some of these instruments.


Hang



This unique instrument was developed by Felix Rohner and Sabina Scharer in 2000, it is 52 cm in diameter and has a height of 24 cm. The musical instrument is an outcome of the result of many years of research on the steel pan and other instruments and is still going through continuous development.

It is a hand played instrument with a pleasing and unique sound. The developer PANArt Hang Manufacturing Ltd no longer offers this instrument and has replaced it by a new instrument developed on the basis of Hang called Gubal. Lets have a look at the video of an artist playing Hang. 


Well, I believe you guys liked the sound as well as the playing. Sad to say that the company has replaced it with Gubal from start of 2014. Hope Gubal will be in more demand and popular than the Hang.

Theremin


Theremin originally known as etherphone is an early electronic musical instrument developed by Russian inventor Leon Theremin. It is a very unique instrument, there is no physical contact between the instrument player (Thereminist) and the instrument. It produces sound by generating electromagnetic fields around two antenna, where the straight vertical antenna controls the pitch and the horizontal curved antennae controls the volume.

Thereminist's precise hand movement is a key in controlling the pitch and the volume for the performance. Since the release of the film Theremin: An Electronic Odyssey in 1994, more people know about it resulting in the growth of its use in the contemporary music scene. 


With no complicated chords and fingerings, the instrument might looks easy to play, but many musicians who have tried it felt that it was one of the hardest instrument to play, as it is creating music in air with precise hand movement which is not easy to master.

Stylophone


Technology is advancing day by day and almost all of us are aware of the popular stylus. Its a computer accessory that is used to assist in navigating or providing more precision when using touchscreens. Now, what is unique about stylophone? must be a question in your mind. It is a miniature analog stylus operated keyboard developed by Brian Jarvis in 1967.

It consists of small metal keyboard, which produces sound when the circuit is completed by touching it with the stylus pen. However it can also be operated without the stylus. Lets have a look at one of the interesting video made by Cuckoo playing the Stylophone.


If you like the music, you can listen to more of his work at his youtube channel  Its very interesting how he plays the instrument.

Innovation has led to development of new and progressive musical instruments and we are yet to see more of them. If you have some more instruments in mind, please share it in the comments as I would love to know about them.

Keep exploring, Keep Playing.

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