Dr Abdul Majeed Othman

'We are a joint venture between the giant US corporation Disney and the Jawa family from Saudi Arabia,' explains director Dr Abdul Majeed Othman who has been heading the publications division in Dubai for the past year. 'Our office handles the distribution and production of Disney consumer products which covers everything from Disney apparel to toothpaste, stationary and videos'.

Dr Othman is particularly keen to find publishers interested in Arabising certain Disney magazines from the United States. 'I am looking for a publisher to Arabise the Family Fun magazine which is a very successful publication, and also Discovery, a highly-respected scientific monthly that would be for the Arab scientist without English capability'.

Meantime, Disney is also syndicating its cartoons to newspapers and Dr Othman is in discussions with two English language newspapers in the region about licensing Disney Planet, a supplement that proved very popular in the UK's Sunday Telegraph.

'Our territory covers the whole GCC, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria and Yemen,' he says. 'We licence all Disney products in this region, and can even offer promotions such as Disney stickers to give away with products. This can be a very successful marketing tool and we used it recently with one major Saudi customer'.

'Disney is an international brand but aims to entertain and support family values, it steers away from extremes and its wholesome culture fits in well with the Middle East. Disney has a very good image in the region.'

Dr Othman is also in active discussions with the Gulf's largest publishing house Motivate Publishing to resume publication of Disney books in three languages, and has tied-up with a Lebanese publisher to produce the Mickey Mystery books that have sold well in Italy and France.

He is also working on the Disney-Jawa website that will present the full range of services and products offered by this unusual company. But this will be a trade site and not a competitor for www.disney.com. Dr Othman has one more ambition.

'My dream is to have a Disney Academy in Dubai like the famous one in Italy which will train the best artists to draw the Disney characters,' he says. 'These graduates would have excellent career opportunities and the Academy would be unique to the Middle East. I would love to pursue this idea'.

For the timebeing the future seems bright for Disney-Jawa as it spreads its wings across the Middle East, and the Disney characters continue to entertain both children and the young at heart.