Investing in a Petrol Station in Oman

Cars are increasing in Sultanate of Oman year after year. The demand of oil products is increasing year after year. Citizens and expatriates driving the car in the country are increasing. Many petrol stations are opening outside Muscat and the petrol stations inside Muscat are doing well. The retail sales had grown 19% in Al Maha in 2008 (Source: Financial Report) and it opened 11 petrol stations. Oman Oil had started 8 petrol Stations in 2008 (Source: Financial Report)

Government Rules

Government in the Sultanate of Oman do consider that all the individuals who are interested in opening a petrol stations do have a land which is commercial or Residential & Commercial lands and the size to be not less then 2600 m2. And the distance between each petrol station to be 5 Kilometers. The Five Kilometers rule does not apply in Sohar and Salalah (Source: Employee from Al Maha). Those rules are appliciable to the three companies in Oman managed by Ministry of Oil & Gas in the country.

Brand

In Oman we do have three brands for petrol stations which are: Oman Oil, Al Maha and Shell. Selecting which brand you want to represent is important. The three companies will support you well. Having good relationship with the company is important and showing that you can manage the petrol station is important while you are with them. Thinking about the way the Marketing strategy that the three companies do follow and the Customer Service Support they will provide you is important. According to a research done by an independent company it shows that customers in the country prefer Shell (Source: Shell Oman Marketing Report). When an investor go for Al Maha they do prepare for him a business case and feasibility study (Source: Employee from Al Maha)

Products to Sell

Selecting selling the three major products which are super, regular or diesel is another factor. Being in a location where many tracks do by pass means it is important that you sell diesel.

Location

Location is very important criteria when you want to start a petrol station. Knowing about the new roads where the country is planning to open. Roads which they are many cars do by pass and there is know petrol station. The Volume of cars is important. Surrounding major projects and houses is important factor. This an important factor the three companies do care about.

Value Added Services

Another very important factor is Value Added Services are services beside the major petrol station is important. Opening a shop with the petrol station is important. This will generate direct sales from the shop. Also, it will increase the revenue of the petrol station as people will stop their car to fillup their car and then stop shopping in the shop. Providing a Car wash. Furthermore, starting a restaurant where people can eat will let more people come to the petrol station.

Investing opening a petrol station is a Long Term Investment where you can make good Return on Investment for the Long Run. The three companies in the country will support you and Ministry of Oil and Gas in the country will provide you a great assistance.

Selecting Location for Petrol Station in Oman

One important criteria when investing in Starting or buying a Petrol Station is the location of the Petrol Station. How do I know the location of the Petrol Station I want to build or buy is good? They are some few questions you need to answer and gather the data to know if the location you are selecting is good. First of all, is the traffic in the location you would like to start building the petrol station. Are they many traffic in the road where you want to build the petrol station? Remember that the traffic in weekdays might be very different from weekends. Type of traffic is another important factor. Do most of the traffic are cars or trucks? And are the traffic willing to fill a lot while stopping in the location? Also, ask if the road is accessible by many cars from different locations. It is very important selecting a location where car drivers can access the petrol station very easily. In addition, accessing the petrol station from different roads to the petrol station. Being able to access the petrol station from more then one road is important factor to consider when selecting a petrol station location. It is very important selecting a location where car drivers can access the petrol station very easily. Furthermore, are they any other petrol stations around you or near by the location you are thinking of? Selecting a location where nearby they are no Petrol Stations will let car drivers come more to your petrol station. The future growth and the future projects in a certain location is important factor to consider when selecting a location. Gathering data that a certain area will be having many future project is important factor for the location.

Wish you all the best selecting location of your Petrol Station in the new year of 2010!

Difference between Super and Regular Fuel in Oman

In Oman when going to Al Maha, Shell, Oman Oil Petrol Station we do find two types of Fuel which are Super and Regular. Many people do not know the difference between super and regular. I had asked my self what is the difference between Super and Regular? The first difference between Super and Regular is the price. During writing the article the price of Super is 120 Baiza Per Litter and the Regular is 114 Baiza Per Litter. The difference between the two is 6 Baizaes.

New cars do use Super and very old cars do use Regular. Super is smoother for the car engine. Regular is harder for the car engine. One of the companies in our country which is Shell do promote their super product by, "Designed for extra kilometers at no extra cost". Usually the usage in Super is higher then Regular.

Technically, Super in Oman is 95 octane and Regular is 90 octane. Briefly octane means ability to resist knocking. The Government of Oman do set this value for the octane. octane requirement in hot countries like Oman, UAE and Qatar is higher then cold countries like France and UK. Sports cars and luxury cars usually do need higher octane.

WiMax from Product Manager from Gulf

Mena Telecom in Bahrain launched WiMax. Mobily launched a new WiFi-enabled WiMax. Algeria was the first Arab country to deploy WiMax. Five other arab countries followed Algeria and among the five three gulf countries which are Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain. As I am a Product Manager in the Gulf I hear a lot about WiMax release, business case, feasibility study and Market Research and many do not know what is WiMax.

What is WiMax? WiMax stands for Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access. It is a technology that provides operators worldwide to provide Broadband Wireless solution. It can cover an area for up to 50 KM providing Internet and the speed is upto 72 Mbps. Comparing to other technologies it can cover a bigger area and provide a faster speed. Comparing to WiFi it can cover a bigger area. Comparing to ADSL it can provide similar speed or a faster speed. WiMax can be a competitive of ADSL. Moreover, WiMax can provide more then ADSL as it can provide Mobile Broadband to operators.

Some operatoars do use WiMax to cover Rural Coverage like in Algeria. Some of them use it as a Fixed Broadband and compete with ADSL. New Entrants to a market find using WiMax easier and more cost-effective then Fiber or cable like in Oman.

Nokia Siemens, Alcatel-Lucent, Nortel Networks, Huawei Technologies and many Telecommunication Global enterprises put many Human Resources, Technology, Market Research and many stuff into WiMax. WiMax is Growing and many opportunities are ahead in the gulf region and world wide.

WiMax face challenges from ADSL Broadband Internet and to win it it should be more faster and easy to use. It also do face a challenge from Mobile Broadband technology as 3G or 3.5G it should provide more mobile solution, higher speed, cheaper equipments and easier to use. Also, HSDPA do challenge WiMax. HSDPA is more mobile. But WiMax is faster then WiMax.

I do believe Operators in Middle East and business and residential customers can benefit from WiMax technology.

An Exciting New Way for Paying

Information Technology Authority had launched Payment Gateway. This had opened new doors for Government Entities, Banking Industry, Private Sector, Entrepreneurs who are thinking of starting business and expatriates and citizens in the country. Payment Gateway will boost businesses, guarantee an open market, promote innovation and contribute to overall economic growth. It is An Exciting new way for paying. We are going Toward Digital World. A new way towards benefiting from Internet World.

Before launching the Payment Gateway Information Technology Authority had made sure that there is a law which they called it E-Transactions Law which organize the online transactions. This is a good thing as it will organize the online transactions and people will be more confident because they know there is a law which protect their transactions. This will help citizens and expatriates pay online with confidentiality. The E-Transactions Law will let people trust, confident and do their transactions and they know there is a law which will protect them. I had like the strategy of issuing E-Transaction Law before the Payment Gateway. This will contribute to the Digital Oman and everyone will feel they are protected.

I had liked the payment gateway solution. Government entities will be able to provide their services in a convenient way. Also, in a new way. In addition, this will let the Ministries go into the E-Government Road more then one step ahead. I want to see Sultanate of Oman ahead in the E-Government. Using the Internet in the Government Sector citizens and expatriates will make happy. This also will introduce the administration work.

Banking Industry will benefit from the Payment Gateway as well. I feel this will promote the credit card usage in the country. The number of Credit Card will increase especially if people feel they can finish their E-Government Transactions and local shopping online. For the telecommunication Industry it will encourage people to use the Internet more and this will let them make more revenue.

Entrepreneurs can benefit a lot from the payment gateway. Payment Gateway can save the cost of starting a business. They can develop a web site which is something like E-Commerce Solution. Customers can view the products online. After viewing the products they can buy online. This will let the entrepreneurs get customers inside the country and outside the country.

People from home can finish their transactions. Oman Mobile & Nawras customers now they can pay their bills online. This will help people to be bills online from home. This will help businesses to gain money in a new way. People will be able to pay their bills online. People will be able to shop in a new way. The solution Will help the government sector to provide their services online. Not only that, citizens in the country will have additional methodology to finish their financial transaction. For the customer side he will be happy as he will have a new way to buy, pay for bills and order online. Busy people with busy schedule will benefit from the payment gateway as they will be able to pay their bills online.

I feel awareness and promoting the payment gateway is important thing to let the growth of usage in the country. It is not about only selling and busying inside the country.

Challenges that different segments will face are different. Start-ups will most consider about the cost of using the service and the commission they should pay to Information Technology Authority. I would suggest that ITA should provide a special offers to Omani Youth Citizens. Government Sector will face a challenge that it should change it process and let it comfortable to pay online and let people finish online. Private sector should promise people that they will deliver their services and products after people buy online. Banking Industry should let the process of obtaining the Credit Card Simpler and easier.

We are founders of Digital Touch. We have experience in E-Commerce & E-Government Solutions and we are happy that Information Technology Authority had opened for us a new door to develop more Advanced E-Commerce and E-Government Solutions. We can help companies benefit from Payment Gateway.

I am happy to see Online Payment available in Oman for the government & private sector. This will let us go ahead in the Digital World. In addition, It will let private companies to enter the E-Commerce World. Payment Gateway will have great impact in our Economy.

Building Business Case in Telecommunication Industry

We here a lot from Presidents in the telecommunication industry in the middle east asking their senior managers, "Prepare for me a business case" or sometimes after hearing about a new Technology employees ask their self, "Why don't we do it in our Company? Does it worth developing a business case?". What is Business Case in the Telecommunication industry? Omantel, Qtel, Etisalat and Du and the other telecommunication operators always ask for a business case for new projects, services or ideas. Telecommunication and Information Technology Industries comparing to other industries changes a lot as every day we listen to new services and technologies around the world. We do listen to a new way to make money or safe money. Top managers and employees working in the Product Development do prepare lot of Business Cases. For me personally, I do prepare business cases a lot as I am a product manager and I do evaluate the new ideas and services. The initial way to evaluate is to stay by my self and think, "Can we make money our of this project". Let's say something like WiMax. I do stay with my self and ask my self, "Can we make money out of WiMax?!" If I said to my self, "Yes, WiMax is a good opportunity for our Telecommunication Company". I go to the next step which is developing a Business Case.

Business Case is a document that includes the following sections: 1) a background of the service. 2) Reasons for thinking of the service 3) Financial & Human Resources Required 4) Readiness of the business providing the service 5) Project plan 6) Project Scope 7) Customer Impact 8) Risk Analysis 9) Service and Project Deliverables 10) Financial Justification 11) Consequences of not executing this project 12) Decision (Go Ahead/Not Go Ahead)

Let's take WiMax as an example of developing it and selling it in Sultanate of Oman. First of all, provide a short description telling the Senior Managers and different employees about WiMax. For instance, "WiMax is a telecommunications technology that provides for the wireless transmission of data using a variety of transmission modes, from point-to-point links to full mobile cellular-type access". Explain to Senior mangers why we should go to WiMax? Telling to the managers the benefits that the Company can benefit from WiMax. Also, the Readiness of our existing Telecommunication System. It is important to tell them that we are ready or not from the Human Resourcs, Network Capability and Finanically. Questions will be something like "Can we use or existing system or do we need a new system? who are our strategic partners and alignment to provide this service? Can we go with Ericsson, Nokia Siemens or Cisco?

Part of it is making Market Research and gathering data, How other Operators around the world made money from WiMax. For instance some operators think this way "Building the mobile Internet with WiMAX"

They are many questions to need to be answered in the Business Case. Business Case help the compay make the decisioin that the proposed servcice or technology we can make money out of it.

The business case is a document help senior managers have a clear picture of a new service or opportunity in the telecommunication industry. Business Case is important as it documents that documents everything and make the decision of "Go Ahead or not Go Ahead" for a service or project. Business cases includes the quantitative and qualitative analysis.

Developing a business case in the telecommunication industry requires basic Financial background, some telecommunication background, industry analysis and marketing analysis.

Let's take WiMax as an example. On one hand, It is important to know the basics of WiMax. Something like, "How to get WiMax" On the other hand, it is important to evalutate from the finical and commercial perspective. The Capital cost required, the Operational cost, evaluting the prices of the equipments. It is important to understand financial terms like Rate of return, cash flow, length of payback period and other financial criteria.

Bottom line, in the telecommunication industry business case should help you communicatate, "What you are doing, How will make money? Can we make money out of it?"

Good Luck in Developing Your Business Case!

Product Development Process

Product Development is an interesting field. I will tell you my own opinion of Product Development Process and method I feel will benefit you a lot.

Product Development is developing a Product or a Service that you want to sell to customers. Building a Product that people really needs and there is demand for the Product or Service you want to develop.

While Developing a product you need to consider that you product is technical and from commercial side you can develop.

Below are the steps you need to follow to develop a successful Product or Service.

Step I: Accept all ideas. Bring all ideas from different sources. Bring from customers, ideas from colleagues, customers, magazines, internet and from every where what you want to implement and develop. Everyone Dreams, bring all your ideas that you think you in your business. If you were in Real Estate Industry think of different options and put all of them in a piece of paper.

Step 2: Evaluate ideas. Ask you self: Will customer buy what you want to sell? Can you finically and technically provide your ideas to customer?

The expected growth is very important. Also the pressure and the expected competition are important factors to consider when evaluating a product.

Select the ideas that you feel mostly will be successful. The idea that will mostly customers buy. Also, the idea that you feel you is capable and ready to implement it it.

Step 3: Develop a business case, financial feasibility study, and Product Description.

Business Case

Business Case is a document that includes information about the Product, the requirements you need to start the product, the Human Resources that you require and many different sections. This will help you gather more information about your product and understand it more.

Usually a Business Case includes the following sections:

1. Executive summary
2. Brief Description about the Product
3. Customer Impact (What will customer benefit from the service)
4. Objectives and deliverables
5. Costs: Which Includes: Capital Cost & Operational Cost
6. Market analysis which you can include which includes: Target Market, Demand Assumptions, Growth, Pricing and Industry situation for the Product
7. Price Proposed
8. Implementation Period
9. Partners if any
10. Risk Management
11. Conclusion
    

Feasibility Study

Includes the Expected Capital and Operational, and Demand Analysis. This is a Sheet which includes numbers and the amount of money required.

Capital Cost is the equipments and services that you need to purchase to start the service. For example, to start a Real Estate Project you need a land. A land is considered as capital cost because it is in the first step of developing the project and only one time payment. Operational cost are the cost you need to pay to run the service. For example, the labor cost you need to pay form employees to finish your Real Estate Project.

It is nice to develop a Feasibility Study as you will now the expected revenue and cost.

Product Description is a short document where you can put a brief description about the product you want to sell.

Step 4: Is to decide to go for the Product or Not to Go. You need to make decision if the Service or Product you want to launch is Feasible. If feasible you go to the next step.

Step 5: Project Management. After deciding to go for the project you need to implement the project. This requires good skills in Project Management. You need to make the Human Resources, the Financial Resources and the other resources ready.

In the last phase you need to think of the message you want to deliver your customers, where will customers be able to buy the service, how you goanna sell the service and many marketing things.

Step 6: Product Launch. This is a nice part where you will celebrate the launching the product or service.

Step 7: Evaluating You Product after launch. From time to time you need to evaluate your product and service. See how much money you generate? Is customer satisfied? Does the growth is same or above expectation?

That are the steps for Product Development Process.

I like product development and I like what his highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Says about Something related to Product Development and Management.

You need to be a leader, As His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, "Everyone dreams, but only the leader can change dreams into reality"