FASTtelco Wins the “Bizz Arab Award of 2012” for displaying

A quarterly newsletter, issued by
Public Relations & Corporate
Communication Department, IFA
Consulting Services CompanyPart of IFA Group
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contributions, email us at:
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IFA Times shares news, views and updates with you
Issue 3
Editorial
By Emad A Al-Essa
Chief Executive Officer
Kuwait Real Estate Co.
Dear Colleagues,
It is with great pleasure that I address you in this of
abundant hope, albeit continuing uncertainty in the
real estate market both at home and abroad.
The market we have experienced over the past several years has been unprecedented during our life
times. I am happy to report that Kuwait Real Estate
Company has weathered the storm that we and many
of our colleagues in the market faced, and have come
through with renewed determination and purpose.
The management of Kuwait Real Estate Company has
been working diligently over the past year to adjust
our strategy to the every changing world that we are
in. Macro and Socioeconomic factors, regionally and
internationally, have forced at strategic shift in our
thinking.
The events of the Arab Spring have provided both
pitfalls and opportunities that must be addressed in
any management‟s strategy moving forward in these
uncertain times. To adjust with the increased risk
being witnessed in the real estate market regionally,
Kuwait Real Estate Company has shifted part of its
focus to more mature markets to go along with its
sizable portfolio locally and regionally. This focus has
manifested itself in the recent acquisition of a portfolio of single-tenant retail properties in the United
States, an investment in the newly opened Yotel New
York and the continuing focus on finding opportunities aboard.
That being said, the company continues to view Kuwait as our primary investment market and sees expanding opportunities over several sectors in the
market. Providing political tensions subside and increased foreign investment is established, the growth
prospects locally provided real estate investors with
countless opportunities for increased growth.
January-March 2012
FASTtelco Wins the “Bizz Arab Award of
2012” for displaying business excellence
FASTtelco Telecommunication
Company,
the
leading
communication service provider
acquiring a leading position in
the telecommunication market
in Kuwait with its state of the
art
infrastructure
and
con ti nuo us
dedi cat io n
to
providing
innovative
communication solutions to both
the consumer and corporate
markets, has recently won The
Abdelwahab A. Al-Nakib
Bizz Arab Award of 2012, an
International Recognition award of Business Excellence.
The World Confederation of Businesses (WORLDCOB),
the leading international organisation that encourages
worldwide business development, awarded this prize for
the first time to a Kuwaiti company. FASTtelco was
nominated
to
this
award
by
third
party
recommendations, statistical information provided by
public and private information firms, as well as surveys
conducted by the WORLDCOB who works by selecting
one nominee per category for each country.
efficient Management Systems, Product and Service
Quality, Managerial Creativity, Managerial Innovation,
Social Support and Beneficial Results obtained after
combining managerial excellence, leadership attributes
and demonstrating market superiority.
“This prestigious award is a confirmation of all the
positive work being done at FASTtelco by the employees
and underscores FASTtelco‟s commitment to continual
excellence at all levels.” The trophy and associated
certificates were presented to FASTtelco COO Sahand
Pouladi during a gala event in honor of all global winners
in Barcelona, Spain.
Speaking on behalf of the company, Abdulwahab Ahmad
Al-Nakib, Chairman of the Board and Managing Director
of Al-Deera Holding, and CEO of FASTtelco said: “We
congratulate our company for winning the Bizz Arab
Award of 2012, in addition to thanking our loyal
customers for putting their trust in FASTtelco , and I
would also like to take this opportunity to praise our
ambitious working team for their best practices and
continuous efforts”. He also added that this honorable
award will encourage the company to continuously
develop its performance and pursue its main goals.
At the end, Fasttelco is always looking forward to gaining
such prestigious awards, by efficiently executing its
strategic plans to drive growth, and taking the necessary
steps to overcome the everlasting challenges.
Fasttelco is
committed to
continuously
introduce cutting
edge
technologies in
the field of
communication
technology and
help improve
knowledge and
FASTtelco COO Sahand Pouladi speaking at the Gala
awareness on the
latest
By gaining this valuable award, FASTtelco has proved technological
being capable of moving forward in achieving its innovations, by
strategic business plans and meeting its pledged maintaining
responsibilities towards the internet and communication constant growth,
industries, the company‟s customers, and Kuwait in customer
general. The company has also met the criteria set by satisfaction and
the WORLDCOB by displaying Managerial Leadership, profitability.
To Open Soon In Alforda
By Ali Osman Engiz
Chief Operating Officer
IFA Food Company
IFA Food-OnCost‟s “cash & Carry” business model is a
wholesale business-to-business (B2B) concept that
focuses on meeting all the needs and requirements of
business customers, and large families. It is a modern
business format of wholesale trading that caters mostly to
business customers like hotels, restaurants, caterers, and
convenience stores. The business will be similar to the
business model of Sam‟s Club and Costco in the USA.
“Cash & Carry” means that the customers pick up the
goods themselves, pay in cash for them and transport
their purchased goods with their own vehicles. The
advantage of this concept as compared with conventional
wholesale lies in the more competitive prices with the
added advantage of having a mixed assortment of food
and non-food assortment under one floor, the immediate
availability of the merchandise and the customer-oriented
working hours. The difference between OnCost and other
Hypermarkets is that OnCost concentrates on goods that
are characterized with high demand and high turnover
while offering these goods in bulks at cheaper prices.
IFA Food-OnCost is planning to open 15 stores across
GCC countries including Kuwait over the period of eight
years. Each store will offer a wide array of 5,000 food
items, including dairy products,
frozen food, a bakery, fresh fish
and sea food, meat, other
grocery like canned food and
pet
food,
confectionary,
beverages, detergents and
cleaning materials, fresh fruits
and vegetables and dried food
in addition to office equipment,
professional
electrical
equipment,
households
requirements, home decoration,
home textiles, working clothes.
The first store will open in
Kuwait at Alforda Central Fruit
and Vegetable Market in
Sulaibiya. It will give the
customers of Alforda Market the convenience to buy what
they need of the other food and non-food items under the
same single roof of Alforda market at very competitive
prices. The first store is expected to open in this June
2012. OnCost Management would like to extend the
invitation to IFA Group employees to visit its first store in
Alforda Market and enjoy this unique shopping experience
along with the competitively priced goods.
Ali Osman Engiz with OnCost team
www.myifaworld.com

News & Highlights
IFACS Team Strikes Again!
Caterpillar Rental Store team in red, IFACS team in black with Mr. Saleh Al-Selmi and Mr. Marzouq Al-Bahar
With the
closing of the exciting football tournament between 12 members of the IFA
group of companies, IFA Consulting Services emerged victorious and lifted the IFA Cup
on Friday, March 30, at the Goal! Football Fields in Shaab. In what was a three-week
long group-wide event, the IFA Consulting Services team proved they were of a winning
caliber, fighting through three group stage rounds to progress into the quarter- and
semi-finals of the tournament, only to come face-to-face with the other tournament
finalist, Caterpillar – Rental Store, an equally impressive team.
At IFA „Open Day‟ event on Friday, International Financial Advisors Vice Chairman &
CEO Mr. Saleh S. Al-Selmi, Mrs. Laila Al-Ibrahim-IFACS‟s CEO, Mr. Khaled Esbaitah-IFA
Real Estate‟s CEO, Mr. Marzouq J Al-Bahar and Eng. Ra‟fat Al-Masri from Al-Bahar
Caterpillar, attended the final match along with colleagues, family and friends. The IFA
group watched as IFA Consulting Services and Caterpillar – Rental Store created
chances, fired on the goal, and defended fiercely, putting forth their best efforts in order
to lift the IFA Cup. Both teams were evenly matched, but IFA Consulting Services
proved to be in perfect form on Friday. IFA Consulting Services won the final with a
convincing score of 7-5, becoming the 2012 IFA Cup Champions for the second year in
a row.
After a celebratory break, Mr. Al-Selmi and Mr. Al-Bahar congratulated both the winners
and runners-up, handing out medals and awards to the teams. Special tournament
awards were handed out to players chosen from across the competing teams by a
special panel of IFA group judges. The
Best Goalkeeper Award was handed to
Ali Hussain, from Fasttelco, for his
excellent work and numerous saves. The
Best Goal Scorer Award was given to
Abdullah Eqab, for the flood of goals he
scored to help Fasttelco reach 3rd Place.
Teams that participated in the 2012 IFA
Football Tournament are from the
following IFA Group of companies:
International
Financial
Advisors;
International Finance Company; Al Wafir
Marketing Services Co.; IFA Consulting
Services; Kuwait Real Estate Company;
Fasttelco; Al-Deera Holding Co.; Drake &
Scull – Kuwait; Al Bahar Industries;
Caterpillar; Caterpillar – Rental Store
2nd Runner, FASTtelco
and First Takaful Insurance.
Best Goal Keeper, Ali Hussain
Best Scorer, Abdullah Eqab
Management enjoying the game
The Winners of IFA 3rd Annual Football Tournament 2012
www.myifaworld.com
Zones
From Human Resources Department
Living the
Change
By Muhannad Al-Said
VP-Human Resources
IFA Consulting Services Co.
Dear All,
As part of the group strategy to transform into
performance driven organization and adapt to the
continuous changes in the market place which demands
ever-higher levels of productivity and innovation to
achieve business success; we have launched many
initiatives this year which tackle our work environment.
In our strive to provide better services, and turn into a

friendly work environment, recently, most of you have
experienced using the HR system to finalize their
performance evaluation for the year 2011, which reflects
phase one of implementing the new HR System in the
Group.
Also, we will implement phase two in the coming few
weeks to launch online self services in which you will be
able to perform many tasks online instead of using
papers. As an example of such services are vacation and
leave requests, identifying training needs, updating
personal data, performing employees‟ appraisal, sending
announcements, job requisition and many other services.
work. Therefore, we encourage every one of you to
participate by completing the questionnaire that you will
receive on your emails, starting from end of April that
will benefit us all.
Finally, I would like to convey the message that our
assets are our talents who can serve as our competitive
differentiator, and last but not least, we thank you all
for your contribution to the success of all initiatives that
took and will take place in the near future to create a
better work environment in our group.
Furthermore, because we care to hear your voice and
know your concerns we have partnered with the leading
multinational consulting firm AonHewitt, to perform an
employee engagement survey in order to provide us with
thoughtful information and identify the challenges that we
are facing when it comes to our employees. The purpose
of this survey is to help the management team and the
HR team in understanding the preferences of our
employees and further help us design and strengthen our
programs focusing on developing people capabilities to
achieve higher levels performance and achievement at
From Public Relations Department
5 people never to friend on
Facebook from work
something too personal, they might lose trust in you, not will jump at any opportunity to find a skeleton online and
take you seriously and potentially replace you.”
bring it out of your closet.”
Your HR rep
Friending your human resources representative comes
with many of the same issues as friending your boss. "If
you friend your HR representative on Facebook, and then
reveal a company secret or criticize your boss, then they
will have more than enough
reason to report you to your
manager.”
How many co-workers are you connected to on Facebook?
A new survey by Millennial Branding found that the
average employee is connected to 16 office-mates on the
popular social networking site. The interesting part is that
only 36% officially listed their place of employment, while
80% noted where they had gone to school. So while this
group appears to be trying to keep their personal and Your office "frenemy"
professional worlds separate, they're still merging them If you have a less-than-friendly
office competitor, don't take
by connecting to colleagues.
the "keep your friends close
There are a slew of ways that Facebook can get you fired, and enemies closer" approach
and connecting to the wrong people in your office is one via Facebook.
A previous boss
If you leave a company on great terms with your boss, by
all means, stay in touch – on Linkedin. If you want to
reconnect for professional reasons (for a reference or new
job, for example) you'll be glad you kept the two zones of
your life -- professional and
personal -- absolutely separated.
Anyone you manage
You maintain a certain image in
the
office,
and
it's
almost
impossible to perfectly maintain
that same image online, even with
strict settings. "Again, you may
disclose information that could be
damaging. For example, if you
show a picture of you enjoying the
sights on a 'business trip' you may
lose credibility with your team.”
of the easiest ones. Here are five people you should never
"Schadenfreude,
envy,
friend:
competitive juices and just
plain score-keeping is a terrific
Your boss
Friending your boss on Facebook might seem like a good reason for keeping frenemies
way to get close to your manager, but in this case it may out of your life and your FB
be too close for comfort. "If you friend your boss on commentary," “Someone who
have
your
best
Facebook, and then complain about them or share doesn't
interests at heart face-to-face
New Addition to IFA Family
Mohamed Al Ghareeb
Fatma Al-Sejari
Jayram Pallichadath
Thirunavakarasu
Hassan Khalil
Position: Asst. Manager-PR
Company: IFA Consulting
Services
Joining Date: Jan 2012
Position: Officer-PR
Company: IFA Consulting
Services
Joining Date: Jan 2012
Position: Financial Controller
Company: Kuwait Real Estate
Joining Date: Jan 2012
Position: Store Manager
Company: IFA Food
Joining Date: Jan 2012
Position: Asst. Store Manager
Company: IFA Food
Joining Date: Jan 2012
Faisal Muwafaq
Jamal Mohamad
Zakaria Al-Assad
Khaled Murad
Adel Ansari
Position: Travel Consultant
Company: IFA International
Travel & Tourism
Joining Date: Feb 2012
Position: Office Supervisor
Company: IFA International
Travel & Tourism
Joining Date: Feb 2012
Position: Manager B. Develop.
Company: IFA International
Travel & Tourism
Joining Date: March 2012
Position: Director-Financing
Company: International
Finance Company
Joining Date: March 2012
Position: Senior Officer
Company: International
Finance Company
Joining Date: March 2012
www.myifaworld.com
Entertainment

Office Cartoons
Jokes
A lady had a height problem - she was
TOO tall, being exactly 2 meters tall.
She hated the way she had to duck to
walk through a doorway, the way she
felt so uncomfortable in a car... So she
visited an expert. The expert said: "Go
visit the Dwarven Town. It's full of
dwarfs. Find any dwarf, and ask him if
he'll marry you. Every time a dwarf says
'no,' you grow 10 cm shorter!"
Wife: The doctor has come to see you.
Husband: Tell him that I am not feeling
well and won't be able to see anyone.
********
Wife: Why do you wear your specs only
when I come in.
Husband: The doctor has ordered me to
wear my specs whenever I get an
headache.
********
Girl: Mom, today the teacher beat me
The lady did as she was told. She went
for something that I didn't do.
to the Dwarven Town, and found a
Mother: That's very bad of your teacher.
dwarf, and asked if he would marry her. What was it that you didn't do?
He refused. She found herself 10 cm
Girl: The homework.
shorter. She quickly repeated this act
********
another time on another dwarf. Now 180 A young executive was leaving the office
cm tall, she decided to ask one more
late one evening when he found the CEO
dwarf then go home. She boldly walked
standing in front of a shredder with a
up to a dwarf and asked if he would
piece of paper in his hand.
marry her. The dwarf replied: "No, no,
no, no, no...! I don't want to marry a tall "Listen," said the CEO, "this is a very
person like you! You're too tall! No, no,
sensitive and important document here,
no, no, no!"
and my secretary has gone for the night.
********
Can you make this thing work?"
Employee: I got to have salary
increment. Three other companies are
"Certainly," said the young executive.
after me.
He turned the machine on, inserted the
Boss: Really? Which are the three
paper, and pressed the start button.
companies?
Employee: The electric company, the
"Excellent, excellent!" said the CEO as
telephone company and the gas
his paper disappeared inside the
company.
machine. "I just need one copy."
********
********
A contribution from
Aseel Al-Khateib—IFACS
Special Offers
For IFA Group of Companies’ Employees
Special discounts on annual membership at Sha‟ab Sea Club and Ras Al Ard
Sea Club
To find out more on the offer, please login to
www.myifaworld.com
GET SGUPE
HN
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For more information on the
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Enjoy the special discounts that
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and get in shape for a better look
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For more information on the offer,
login to:
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