Husam Dajani

'Since the end of the Second Gulf War this region has been growing very rapidly, and the main motivation has come from the Governments that have woken up to the need to reform and IT is a handy tool to speed up reform.

'For example, we have seen the deregulation of the telecom sector which has tripled the number of clients in this sector, and none of them are small companies. Then there has been to opening up of real estate markets to foreign investment that has fuelled growth in this sector and in mortgage finance companies.

'In the travel sector we have a boom in local tourism due to the reluctance to travel abroad because of visa restrictions and the fear of harassment. This has boosted the hospitality industry and retail and restaurants too.

'It is very rare in the Middle East to get a positive economy in every sector. And this is a very different to the boom we saw in the late 1970s. Then the economy was dominated by one product, crude oil, and as a result what we had was the accumulation of wealth by governments overseas.

'I really think that if oil fell to $15 a barrel then nothing would change, the growth would continue. That is because the main driver is economic deregulation which means the removal of restrictive laws that prevented investment in the past.

'In real estate, in particular, this was overdue. Nobody can take land away with them. You can't export land! All you do by restricting investment is to keep prices artificially low. I can't see any argument against allowing all nationalities to own homes.'

Not surprising Oracle is benefiting from this upswing in business as the largest purveyor of business software in the Middle East with a total market share of some 30% but 100% of the top-end of the marketplace.

'I remain very optimistic about the outlook,' says Mr. Dajani. 'The trend is positive despite all the regional problems which dominate the news headlines. This is going to be a prosperous, peaceful and stable region.

Oracle's Vice President cites the new government in Egypt with the youngest Prime Minister in this country's history as proof of a new beginning, and points to the latter's appointment of energetic, younger ministers as a sign of the times.

'If bureaucratic Egypt is undergoing reform then this is highly significant, as Egypt has the largest population in the region and is the biggest player in the political arena..

'We also have Oracle people now in Libya sorting out how to deal with this challenging new market, and how to recruit the best people.'

Mr. Dajani is also cheered by the success of his operation in Lebanon which has grown from two to 35 staff in the past nine months. He says it was remarkably easy to recruit and train highly qualified people with MBAs and relevant experience to inject into new markets.

Not that Oracle is just sticking to its E-Business Suite for the larger corporations and government ministries. The next target is the small and medium sized business with 10 employees and above.

Mr. Dajani has seven channel partners in the SMB segment at present but expects to have more than 200 in a short time.

'For SMBs we have the Oracle E-Business Special Edition tailored to their needs, and it will grow with them into much larger companies. This is definitely the way the IT market is moving in the Middle East and Oracle will be there from the start.'