Tag: Risk Management

The Financial Freedom Handbook: A Practical Guide for the MENA Region – A Teaser

Afif TabshLeave a comment

As some of you might know, I’m co-authoring a book with my dear friend Nadim Issa on Financial Freedom that is due to be published soon.

The book is really focused on the MENA region and has been written in a way to provide insights, techniques, suggestions and ways to reach financial freedom taking into consideration the financial systems, banking system, legal structure, and culture in the MENA region.

I’m just going to share the “Preface” of the book below as a small teaser about the book, stay tuned as I will announce when it is officially launched.

Preface

Financial freedom is an aspiration to many, if not most, individuals around the globe, yet achieving it can be rather tricky, and challenging, and needs a lot of hard work, particularly in the MENA region. This book, written by two co-authors, Afif Tabsh and Nadim Issa, aims to provide readers with practical insights, information, and real-life examples of how to gain financial freedom in the MENA region.

The idea for this book came during the authors’ morning walks in Istanbul as they discussed ways to optimize their financial status after losing most of their savings and investments in Lebanon’s financial crisis. They realized that their experiences and observations of what is happening across the region could benefit many others in the MENA region. Their discussions and brainstorming sessions culminated in a new framework for the book, which will serve as a toolkit for anyone seeking financial freedom in the MENA region.

Throughout the following chapters, readers will learn how to gain financial freedom in the MENA region, focusing on the unique challenges and opportunities specific to the region. However, lessons learned, facts, and knowledge apply to everyone wherever they live, especially in third-world countries or developing countries. This differentiation is because many techniques, resources, options, policies, and regulations in countries like the US, UK, Canada, and most European countries do not apply in the rest of the world. Thus the authors focused on making this financial freedom book MENA-Centric in its approach rather than Western/US-Centric like most of the books and resources available on this topic.

The book covers various stages of life, from university to retirement and beyond, providing practical insights and advice for novice investors, entrepreneurs, and anyone with an ambition to succeed in the region. The word success in this book refers to people’s financial freedom and not their business success, career development, and impact on the community or any other metric.

The importance of this book at this point in time lies in the fact that despite the challenges that the world is witnessing, from hyperinflation to recessions and world health crises like covid19, the MENA region continues to show impressive growth, with many countries enjoying at least a 3% year-on-year GDP growth. This growth is fueled by significant government investments in infrastructure and high demographic development of more than 2% per year. With this in mind, the authors believe that anyone in the MENA region can achieve financial freedom with the proper knowledge, mindset, and resources that this book aims to provide.

With over 35 years of combined experience, Afif and Nadim offer a wealth of knowledge and practical insights that will help readers achieve their financial goals. They have tailored their advice to the unique challenges and opportunities of the MENA region, making this book an essential resource for anyone looking to gain financial freedom in this region.

The authors hope this book inspires, informs, and motivates you to achieve financial freedom in the MENA region. Enjoy and benefit from it!

Advertisement

Project Management for Entrepreneurs

Afif Tabsh5 Comments

I have been doing some enthusiastic research on the topic, and I have come to realize that most of the current corporations and governments are not being able to provide enough jobs for the hundreds of thousands of young Arabs who graduate every year. Besides, those amongst them that were planning on emigrating lost their chance to travel to the US or Europe for dream jobs due to the economic downturn.

With 60% of the Arab nation being under 30 years old, the number of educated individuals is rising, and yet the supply of jobs is inadequate. In this context, numerous institutions, banks, and government agencies are focusing on fostering entrepreneurship among youth.

Consequently, hundreds of startup projects and initiatives are being launched annually by young entrepreneurs who have the education, the idea, the drive, but lack the experience and the systematic approach to enhance their chances to succeed in their ventures.

This gap has certainly led to numerous failed initiatives, shattered dreams, and lost investments. Imagine all those young aspiring youth, full of enthusiasm and creativity, but crushed by their own inability to drive their business enterprises to success.

The fact is, good ideas are a dime a dozen. The true value is in the ability to transform those ideas into reality…and rare are those that have the intrinsic knowledge to go through the process. In this context, I have realized that project management skills, knowledge and tools come in very nicely to fill a gap for the aspiring entrepreneurs and empower them to be able to transform their ideas into a reality.

So after some well-thought of analysis, I have pinpointed 5 project management mantras from which entrepreneurs can surely benefit from:

  1. Ability to clearly define the scope of their startups, products, services and communicate it clearly.
  2. Knowledge of how to break down the scope of work into clear and comprehensive work packages, schedule the work packages, and work on a budget accordingly.
  3. Skills in recruiting the right people, engaging them, and motivating them to work synergically.
  4. Communication skills with main focus on unifying terminology used, choosing the proper communication channels, and disseminating the right information.
  5. Expertise in understanding possible risks that are inherent to new ventures and ways to manage them. This usually becomes better with time…trial and error being the best tutor.

That’s what I have in mind so far, I hope it helps. Knock them out!

 

Other articles that might be of interest: