Operations Management field trip to RAK Pearls

On Saturday I went with Dr. Batoul's Operations Management class to Ras Al Khamiah and we visited the first company to manufacture cultured pearls in the Middle East - RAK Pearls. To learn more about the company visit their website here: RAK Pearls website

Our tour starts in the soon to be opened education centre

Our tour was given by Mr. Mohamed Al Suwaidi and it started with an overview of the history of pearling in the region. For over 7,000 years the area in the Arabian Gulf from RAK to Qatar the livelihood of thousands of men and their families depended on the pearling industry. Since the 30s with the rise of cultured pearls in Japan and the discovery of oil there has been little industrial regional production of pearls.

In 2005 RAK Pearls began operations with a vision to restart the industry in the country based on sustainability of the industry, the environment and as a way of preserving (or rediscovering) an important part of Emirati culture and heritage.

We started the tour talking about the past... the traditional dhow boats used and the daily life of the divers on the pearling ships. 

The men would go out on the boats and stay out from early to mid-June to mid September - or around four months and ten days. The pearl beds from RAK to Qatar lay under shallow water - making them accesable to the divers. The men would dive from sunrise to sunset and the dives would last between 2 - 3 minutes (yes, without breathing!)

The men would wake and say the morning prayer and have one or two dates and coffee and dive all day until the evening prayer, after which they would have their single meal of the day - catch of the day and rice. Work continued as they began to open the oysters from previous days that had died in their shells - making them easier to open (and super stinky I can only imagine). Only 1 - 2% had pearls that had market value... so incredible amounts of work for limited reward.

A diver's work was measured in the number of baskets of oysters gathered in the day.

How many baskets today?

How pearls were graded and weighed in the past...

We then learned of the new method used by RAK Pearls - that was a result of an R&D joint venture between themselves and a company in Japan. I took a video (with permission of course) about the "transplant" method and you can watch it here: RAK Pearls video


Essentially a seed (made from the shell of a large oyster from the Mississippi River) is implanted into the gonad of an oyster, along with cells from a "donor" oyster - which will cover the seed with mother of pearl... super interesting actually, even if I got wobbly watching the "transplant".

Donor oysters open and ready, surgical instruments, seeds and oysters ready for seeding covered with a damp towel.

Watching the operation with great interest....

After the seeding the oysters the oysters rest for a month, are sorted for the ones that survived
and then placed in trays in the "beds"

The oysters are then left to grow in the warm, clean waters of the bay... but they are "pressure" washed once a week to keep the shells free from dust from the mountains and parasites - so the oyster has nothing to do but create that beautiful pearl.

Then, almost a year later they are ready for harvesting - and they are left to grow for about twice as long as mass produced cultured pearls as Mr. Mohammed said they are aiming for quality and not quantity. 

Nothing is wasted during harvesting - the mother of pearl is used for decorative gift ware, the ground up shell is sold to cosmetic firms, the edible part of the pearl is sold to restaurants and the rest of the oyster is sold as fertilizer... nothing is wasted! Sustainability implemented and not just in the vision statement....

Then, the very exciting part of the tour. We each choose our oyster and find our pearl :) 

My pearl!

Some of the students showing off their pearls (most will be given to Moms of course!)

Deluxe corporate gift of the Dubai 2020 logo

RAK - stunning as usual

I think we all learned a lot in this tour - not just about Operations Management - but about SME Strategy and sustainability in action. 

Wild wadi rising: another adventure in learning strategy through experience

This past Tuesday I experienced something that only comes around once every few years, and when it does come it is unpredictable and awe inspiring - a wadi flooding with water runoff from the mountains after a flash rainstorm that dumped more rain in a half an hour than the UAE gets in some years!

My Strategy/Capstone (basically the same group of graduating students) classes were on a field trip to the Hatta region of the UAE - it was organised by "The Hatta Group" as part of their eco-tourism development project (another blog post to come after their final report).

We started out at the Azba of one of the students - a true paradise in the valley of the Hatta mountains. We ended the day at the Azba to eat a meal prepared by Emiratis from at least four Emiratis, working together, improvising, dealing with somewhat stressful situations, critical thinking and all the while wondering, why don't more people visit this beautiful region only 90 minutes from Dubai (some real opportunities for eco-tourism SMEs).

As befitting my students from Hatta, who prefer experiential learning and "doing" to books and boring ppt slides (I was told I did not need to eat part of the lamb's tongue as I can talk too easily already!) I will explain the story through photos and a truly awe inspiring video. (I sound dorky, but really it is worth my own embarrassment to post it)

I felt like I was in Africa, not the UAE!

Traditional Hatta breakfast for guests - soooooo delicious (and the date and bread dish needs to be made into energy bars!)

Miss, you need some exercise and there are fig trees and plants to see!

Walking down was not easier... but totally worth it!

A delicious wild plant, sort of tastes lemony...

Huge pomegranate tree!

Dates soaking up all the rain we have had in April. 

After a bit of an off road adventure, arriving at the wadi - the water is cool on the feet

Preparing the fire to cook lunch - totally old school except for that fire torch thing!

Cleaning the meat

These flowering trees grow along the wadi - they smell awesome!

The water just seemed to disappear into the rocks, but the ground was solid - mystery!

After a few culinary disagreements - it smells delicious

S. Al Shehhi "I smell a wadi coming" - Dr. Connie "Whatever!"  From hot sun to clouds and thunder and lighting (Saif, you were right and I was totally wrong!!! I am sorry :))

A few drops turns into more - we race for the vehicles, we will come back for the lunch 

Harder and harder rain - ah, yeah, let's get to high ground!

Water started to run from the mountains into little brown streams

As we get to higher ground, people come to see if the wadi will rise!

Rain... lots of it!

Let's head back (we seem to be missing on truck FULL of students)

We found them getting ready to see the wadi... we stayed and watched

From a dry "road" to a rushing river in less than an hour!

Water everywhere!

Luckily the last 4x4 rescued lunch! It had finished cooking in the back of the truck and we ate like royalty!

Eco-tourism development in Dibba

This blog post uses the results of two graduation research projects about eco-tourism as a tool for economic development in Dibba. The projects were done by many young men from that region:

Abdullah Obaid Al Shehyari, Ahmed Mohammed Al Hafeeti, Mohammed Rashid Al Shehhi, Majed Ali Al Duhohri, Yousef Rashid Al Shehhi, Ali Salem Al-Zeyyodi, Mohammed Abdullah Al-Yammahi,  Abdullah Ahmed Al-Saridi,  Obaied Rashed Al-Saridi and Jumm’a Betti Al – Ka’bi.

The research project began as a collaborative brainstorming effort. Through many iterations between the team and myself as the supervising professor, the teams came up with the following research problem statement:

Research Problem

The local economy in Dibba is underdeveloped and this causes young people to leave the region for Abu Dhabi and Dubai (Farghali, 2012). One of the possible solutions would be the development of the new industries small and medium firms and human capital development of the local population. These issues could be addressed through the support and development of a locally run eco-tourism industry.

Research questions:

•           How can ecotourism contribute to the economy of Dibba?

•           What could be done to train/ prepare the local population to actively participation in the development and the promotion of our culture and the industry?

•           What could be done for Ecotourism development in the Dibba region through economic and cultural tourism?

The groups then divided the work into two separate categories, tangible and intangible heritage (yes, there is a theme in what “projects” I encourage my students to do!)

A lot of this blogpost is almost directly from their report. They know I am doing this and have agreed that I can use the photos as well. If you would like to learn more about their research, please contact me.

The first step was to understand as much as possible about the concept of Eco-tourism. The students liked the concept, the more they found out about it. Here is a short exert from the report:

“There are several characteristics or principles that describe Ecotourism. These principles started by minimizing the negative impacts that can damage or destroy a destination. In addition, the goal of companies is to educate the traveler on the importance of conservation and emphasise the importance of responsible business that works with local authorities and people to meet the local needs and ensure conservation.  Moreover, the concept stresses the need for planning and sustainable growth of the tourism industry and seeks to ensure that tourism development does not exceed the social and environmental capacity and maximize economic benefits to local communities and increase the percentage of revenues by concentrating on the use of locally-owned facilities and services (Wood, 2002).

Therefore, the idea of Ecotourism helps save the environment besides developing economic activities. Furthermore, it creates understanding of cultural and natural history of the area and improve the welfare of local people. In addition, the use of heritage/green buildings and the development of ecotourism guidelines for local people and potential expat entrepreneurial partners and visitors would help to implement the idea of Ecotourism in the area.”

They go on to write that any development would need to be done through consulting the various stakeholders such as the tourism authorities of Fujairah, Sharjah and the UAE, the municipality of Dibba, the hotel operators, current tourism operators and local people. They suggest guidelines to ensure sustainability – in particular cultural and environmental, and they would love to see more people come for the heritage and cultural attractions not just the (marvelous) beach.

Dibba

They researched and wrote about several areas that could be interesting to develop. The local honey industry (which I have written about), heritage dancing and singing (which I also have written about in this blog), food, fishing and pearling, the local date and fruit farms, and the traditional handicrafts of women (and men in the past who worked on basket and net making).

In the mountains of Dibba

Dibba beach: I obviously took this photo considering its awesome quality!

They wrote of the importance of Al Bidiya Mosque, which is now under consideration as a UNESCO World Heritage Site (I reviewed Marco Sosa’s photographic essay on the mosque in December). They also did research on Wam – an abandoned village that very few tourists know about or visit.

Front cover for Marco's book

From their extensive interviews, primary and secondary research they came up with a very well thought out SWOT analysis.

Strengths UAE is a destination for international and domestic tourists  Certified tourism requirements on entertaining part  and high quality of hotels Well-knit communication and transportation system around the seven emirates Rich cultural heritage with castles, archeological sites such old houses particularly at the north part of UAE Wonderful and clean beaches ·         An attractive place for tourists especially in special occasions ·         Suitable place for many tourism activities

Weaknesses Government yet to tap skills of locals to run tourism projects Weak marketing strategy used to market tourism products Lack of training courses and exposure visits New business enterprises related to tourism have to go through different restrictive formalities Absence of clear and well defined polices Tourism projects sanctioned without proper understanding of local conditions Lack of community participation in tourism projects Lack of initiative on tourist agencies by making tourism easy for tourists

Opportunities Availability of experts in several areas of tourism Increasing in tourist arrivals New job and income possibilities from tourism Availability of media support

Threats Competing economic activities Increase of misdirected and uncontrolled visitors Transformation from nature-friendly activities to mass tourism

Of course the next step would be to take the results of this project and see if we (meaning the students of course, I love saying we, knowing they have to do all the hard work!) could develop a project this semester to start on the development of eco-tourism guidelines. We will see!

Bravo gentlemen. You worked very well together on a report that is interesting, timely and provides a good starting point for further research.

The Golden Potential of Honey: Another Excellent Strategic Adventure!

This blogpost is based on the field trip and report written by Ahmed Al Bloushi, Jasem Al Shehhi and Salem Al Yammahi, three of the first men to graduate from Zayed University.

I remember the first class I heard that some of my students actually go into the mountains and collect honey - following the bees trail from the water source to the hive - it sounded so exciting and really like a treasure hunt. I remember that feeling when I used to go "hunting" mushrooms (Pine and Chantrel)with my brother (yes, skipping school might have been involved). Then I heard that one bottle of honey can cost over 1,000 dhs and that it was used for medicine and not for toast - and I knew I had to learn more.

So, given the awesome students I am blessed to teach, I was given the opportunity to learn more about the ancient art/trade/vocation/industry that so many of my boys from Fujairah and RAK know so much about -

All photos in this report taken by Obaid Al Zaabi

They made contact with the well-known honey guru in Dibba - Mr. Ali Salem Al Dhanhani and they made arrangement to visit his home-museum and honey/bee preserve.

Mr. Ali

We arrived at his house and he showed us his museum devoted to honey and life in the mountains of Fujairah - to say I could have spent hours in it doesn't begin to describe how fascinating it was - I tried on palm frond socks (scratchy, but keep your feet warm in winter and protect them from rocks) - we all agreed that his collection deserves a museum of its own - hopefully one day as tourism and eco-tourism develop in Fujairah.

After a tea break with traditional bread - honey and liquified butter (yes, as delicious as it sounds) we went to the reserve. Mr. Ali told the students (in Arabic - they translated the important bits to me and wrote a great report) that he got the idea for creating a preserve in 1986 as urban development began to encroach on the traditional honey grounds - destroying the flowers, trees and grasses that bees need to make their honey. The land was allocated for the reserve in 1988 and is still protected today.

Egyptian bee going into hive

Now, there are hives and imported bees from Egypt (much bigger than Emirati bees) but there are also still the caves with hives on sticks of old times (with Emirati bees).

Egyptian bee

Honey from the boxed hives is still delicious (and not inexpensive as it is still local, and all hand collected in small batches) - I bought some of course and it has helped soothe my throat on many occasions.

The really expensive, rare and most precious honey comes from local bees, often from hives they have formed in caves.

Mr. Ali holding the "hive" in his hands & yes I held it too :)

We were so honoured that Mr. Ali shared his wisdom with us - and it got my students thinking about the local honey industry - and that it is based on trust - you need to know exactly where the honey comes from to spend 400 - 1000 dhs on a bottle! We talked about how this trust is formed and how and if the honey industry - which is at the moment a craft industry - should become something more formal. We also talked about eco-tourism and learning more about their own heritage.

First males to graduate from ZU, Mr. Ali and his friends in the mountains of Dibba, Fujairah

It was an amazing day - I held the hive in my hand (after a trek up the mountain in my long dress & getting caught in the bushes) - and we all learned so much. After, we went to one of the student's farm in Masafi and had a fish Mendi lunch (delicious) and I rode on an Arabian horse (all photos have been destroyed :) ).

Strategy in the UAE in action - it is all around us and we need to learn and study traditions and traditional industries to develop a theory for here - thank you boys - it was a wonderful experience and I will always remember it!

Arabia's Wildlife Centre: R&D, Strategy and Wow all Rolled into One!

Yes, another field trip was organised by another group of long-suffering students. Another trip where I turn into a ten year old girl and where I see my students look at the "old" with new eyes.

Last Sunday my Strategy class organised a trip to the Sharjah Zoo (http://www.breedingcentresharjah.com/Wildlife%20Centre.html):

Not only does the Wildlife Centre house the world's largest collection of Arabian wildlife but it is also the only zoological park in the Middle East to be completely indoors. Making it perfect for a day out, regardless of the weather.

The Wildlife Centre has been divided up into various sections, each dedicated to a group of species including reptiles, invertebrates, birds, nocturnal animals, ungulates and large carnivores.

To say it was AWESOME does not begin to describe what I saw - and honestly, I felt like I was in North America it was set up so well inside (ok - they need a gift shop to sell stuffed TOY animals and puzzles and games and t-shirts, and they had a super affordable canteen,  but other than that it was like something back home).

From the outside the Centre doesn't look spectacular - but inside is a whole world waiting to be discovered. Many of the students are from the Northern Emirates remember going there every year for field trips - and they welcomed our class with open arms - but I had never heard of the place.

Everything inside this huge building is from the region - every bug, reptile, bird, fish, small animals and large animals - roamed or swam or crawled here - there were no polar bears or pandas in sight.  The large animals are outside free to roam and look well cared for and needless to say I was happy the jackals were on the other side of the window!

But what about strategy? Well, the Centre (not the part we saw) is part of the BCEAW which is all about strategy and R&D and sustaining a rich wildlife heritage.

The Breeding Centre for Endangered Arabian Wildlife (BCEAW) was opened in 1998, under the Environment and Protected Areas Authority (EPAA), Government of Sharjah. Situated approximately 25 km east of the city of Sharjah the BCEAW, is the only one of the four facilities which make up the Sharjah Desert Park that is closed to the public and, is responsible for the captive breeding and research of the indigenous Arabian fauna. The BCEAW was purpose built for breeding the regionally endangered wildlife, but it also serves as a base for research into all the mammal, reptile, freshwater fish, amphibians and invertebrates species which inhabit the Arabian Peninsula. The BCEAW is also headquarters of the Captive Breeding Program for the, Critically Endangered, Arabian Leopard. (http://www.breedingcentresharjah.com/Home.html) The only way to preserve the past and to preserve wildlife is to understand it, do research, and breed animals - and teach new generations of Emiratis (and ex-pats and tourists) about this glorious heritage. It is about sustainable tourism and cultural tourism and about the wonders of discovery :) I can't wait until October when my 4 year old nephew will visit - I want to see his eyes when he sees the little animal that sings "I like to move it- move it".  And see the birds and the cheetahs and the ... well, go visit and you will see what I mean!