From Exile to Empire

Not enough success stories are made known from this part of the world. The other day we witnessed an exception. Elia Costandi Nuqul – the chairman of Nuqul Group - launched his book about his life and achievements. “A promise fulfilled” is a good, easy read, written and edited by Prof. Wheatcroft and Dr. Christina Z. Hawatmeh. The mission of the book – according to Elia Nuqul – is to let young people learn from his experiences in business and life.

“A promise fulfilled” takes us from Elia’s boyhood in the Palestine town of Ramleh through the escape in 1948 towards Jordan and to the subsequent building of what has become a business empire with 5.500 employees and operations in 45 countries. We witness the daily struggle of a family that initially was not well off but where drive, fait and motivation created one of the business miracles of the Middle East. The story of Elia Nuqul is also the story of Jordan and Palestine and the many difficult moments their people have had to overcome.

Having finished the book, three observations stands out about Elia’s path to success. They can be summarized into Education, Adaptation and Ingenuity.

Throughout the book, Elia and his family put extreme emphasis on the need for education and schooling in order to succeed. Due to political events Elia didn’t get the full formal education that he wanted, but from reading about how he meticulous prepared his interventions into new business sectors and sought out new investments I think it is safe to say that he never has stopped learning. From early on – and with almost no financial means – he pushed his younger brother into continuing education instead of securing a job to provide for the family. This line of thinking has marked his whole life and to this day he is sponsoring other less fortunate children so that they can receive high quality education. The proceeds from this book will also serve the same purpose through the Elia Nuqul Foundation.

In order to grow a business, a manager has to be flexible and able to adapt to changing circumstances. When other businesses saw political developments in the region as a hindrance Elia Nuqul saw the opportunity. But the most crucial adaptation came when the Nuqul family fled their Palestinian hometown of Ramleh. Eventually, the family ended up in Amman where they had to start all over. Without forgetting his roots and where he came from for one single moment Elia took the decision that the future of his business and his family should be build in Jordan. There was no cause for sitting idle and wait for better times to come.

As for all successful businessmen, there has to be an element of ingenuity and creativity – an ability to see new ways of producing, transporting, selling or marketing. And to understand the needs of the customers and find ways to satisfy their demand. There are a number of examples in the book about how this ability made the Nuqul business prosper. One of them concerns Elia’s first business trip abroad in 1955 where he went to my country Denmark. He was dealing with a Danish chewing gum producer “Dandy”. Chewing gum in the Middle East was sellers market but it took too long to get a shipment from Denmark to Jordan by direct shipping which was problematic for the business model Nuqul was applying at that time. But he looked at this problem with creativity and found new ways of transportation that reduced delivery time from 90 to 20 days at constant costs.

If you look for criticism of the Nuqul way of doing business, of governments, of national or international figures you are reading the wrong book. It is understandable – I guess that Elia Nuqul have had a big saying on the text. That said, there is some remarkable statements about former business partners that Elia had to deal with including some that did not live up to the standards that Elia had set on corruption and customers. The book emphasises Elia’s high morale and his total refusal of participation in anything that resembles corruption. His business motto is “Fair deals last longest” which within diplomacy is an age old maxim – because who wants to do business again with someone who is not fair?

Politics is also almost absent from the book. As Elia Nuqul says “Politics at arm’s length”. None the less, Elia touches some core questions that might be sensible in some circles. One is his statement about Arabs being their own worst enemy: “Unless we grow up politically and economically, we will continue to be targeted and attacked”. The other – more political – statement regards the future independent Palestinian state and Jordan, where Elia believes that “…the future state should be tied with Jordan in some form or shape: perhaps a federation, or a confederation, that entails two governments, two parliaments but definitely one state…”.

The book concludes with looking into the future of the Nuqul Group. As all family businesses the Nuquls will be faced with some though choices to make. As a second generation company they have not yet ran into transition problems, but it seems that Elia and his sons Ghassan and Marwan are very much aware of this issue. In the future, the Nuqul Group might end up going public. It will mark – if not the end then – a substantial change in this Middle Eastern business adventure – but on the other hand it will make it possible for all us to be a part of this fantastic history.

UPDATE: Jordan Times published the review in a slightly edited version on January 5th 2009.

Yacoubians House

Eid is a great time for relaxing and reading – if family obligations allow you to do that. One of the best books that I have read recently (actually yesterday – my birthday present) is “The Yacoubian Building” by the Egyptian author Alaa al-Aswany. His books are selling wildly in my country and last week his new novel “Chicago” was released in Danish translation.

I am not so familiar with Arabic literature, but this book was a revelation to me. Through different intertwined stories related to Yacoubians House Alaa al-Aswany describes the power of the all mighty state and the powerlessness of his main characters. He does that with a humours twist and by confronting his reader with almost all the taboos that you can dream of. Corruption, homosexuality, terrorism, prostitution, police brutality, sex and sex outside marriage and abortion to mention some.

While promoting his new book in Denmark last week he made a number of interviews with Danish journalists. One of the questions he was asked in every interview was how he could get away with writing a novel like this?

 ”When you have success, there will also be greater leeway, but there has always been greater leeway in Egypt than there was in the rest of the Arab world. We have no freedom of expression in the sense that it is a democratic means of change, because it would mean that if a journalist revealed a minister committing a crime or an abuse of power, it would have an effect. You could say that we in Egypt have freedom of speech. We can say and write what we want, but the government is anyway doing, what it pleases” said Alaa al-Aswany during a brief visit to Copenhagen. (Politiken in Danish).

I don’t know if that makes you laugh or cry but “The Yacoubian Building” definitely makes me want to read “Chicago”.

Lion of Jordan

If somebody is interested in a fascinating book on the political life of the late King Hussein – in particular his efforts to advance the Peace process – I would recommend the “Lion of Jordan” by Avi Shlaim. To me, who am not familiar in depth with all the details in the more than half a century long Peace process, this book was a kind of revelation. Of course the predominantly positive view on King Hussein and the personal view of the – in some camps controversial – author has to be taken into account when reading the book. But it offers a lot of detailed insights on the role of some of the central players in the region and in the US. The book draws many of its conclusions from information from primary sources not least the King himself and his close collaborators at the time.

The book concludes with a telling picture – attributed to Israeli intelligence – of the political struggle of King Hussein: “A man trapped on a bridge burning at both ends, with crocodiles in the river beneath him: he cannot go forward, he cannot retreat, he cannot jump. He is a slave of the status quo”. Yet he and his Hashemite dynasty survived against all odds.

There is written a lot of reviews on the book, among others The Sunday Times, The Guardian and on different blogs. I will in particular be looking forward to the review that at some time must be published on The New York Review of Books that usually draws from different books on a related topic and puts it all into perspective. Update September 2008: Another new review has been published by Wall Street Journal. Update November 2008 – The NYRB article is to be found here.

Some of my friends and among them actually some of the primary sources in the book have asked me whether I had bought the book in Jordan. Actually I did. I stumbled upon this book totally by coincidence in a huge bookstore in Mecca Mall where it was displayed prominently. So it is available – unfortunately at a pretty hefty price 37 JD. Update 25. March – the book is now available for 27 JD’s in Citymall – apparently The one good that dosn’t suffer from inflation….

Another book I recently finished reading was the new book written by Randa Habib – Head of the local AFP-bureau in Jordan. It also deals with the late king but in a much more personal and less scientific way than Shlaim. It is called “Hussein – Père et fils” and for the time being it is in French only. I believe that an Arabic translation is on its way. Randa was really close to the king and privy to a lot of privileged information. It complements “Lion of Jordan” on some of its weaker points on political and economical development in Jordan and it gives the reader a better understanding of the personality of King Hussein. Enjoy!

Review in NYT october 08 Lion of Jordan