World’s 9th richest country (Kuwait) and Web Innovation [kwiqq]

Posted on | December 21, 2008 | 3 Comments

Innovation in web technology has been given priority over the last couple of years by the British Government. Recently at NESTA Lord Drayson mentioned how UK shouldn’t stop innovating even during the recession. It is fantastic to compare that with World’s 10th richest nation and its web strategy or rather a non-web strategy.

Kuwait is one of the top ten richest and the fifth largest proven oil reserve in the world. It is also one of the smallest countries in the world in terms of land and only has a population of 3.1 million inhabitants. Based in the coast of the Persian gulf, just south of Iraq it has one of the most vocal and transparent media companies in the region, just after Israel. I’m spending two weeks in Kuwait trying to understand the web media industry better, hence been twittering about the topic.

The natural reserves makes Kuwait a fairly prosperous nation financially. I decided to take a different approach to see how Kuwait is doing with web and information technology. To make this possible I have been visiting some high profile web agencies and marketing companies in the region.

Kuwait and Internet

In Kuwait, 57% of the population is under the age of 25. Young people in Kuwait constitute both the highest concentration of Internet users (estimated to be approximately 63% of all Internet users in Kuwait), and the largest sector of Kuwaiti society. (Source: The Internet and Youth Subculture in Kuwait)

Currently just under a million of its 3.1 million residents use internet regularly. It has grown from 150,000 to 900,000 in 8 years, whilst the population has remained more or less constant. Interesting statistic showcasing the power of internet as a sales and marketing tool, going forward. )Source: Internet Usage and Marketing Report)

Print and Web

Kuwaiti start-ups seem to be undergoing metamorphism, moving from print marketing to the web. They believe the web is an extension of their print marketing campaigns. Hence websites should look exactly the way their print appears. Just that they forgot that each medium has its own way of communicating. i.e. compare a TV advertisement with Radio or print with TV. I think it is unfair to expect the web to look and feel exactly like the print. Although only a very tiny proportion of new businesses accept this!

Web the Kuwaiti way

Typically web agencies in the West are expected to be a combination of a marketing agency along side a development company. Search Engine Friendly URLs, indexable content, tapping into social networks etc are expected outcomes. Although for some reason the awareness hasn’t penetrated into entrepreneurs and start-ups here. A lot of small businesses in Kuwait are focused on visual styling and relying on mind-blowing flash animations and landing pages. Both of which obviously are a serious SEO disaster.

Kuwaiti Clientele

Given the demand from Kuwaiti customers, web companies have to respond to the needs of the clients. Their budgets are miniscule and hence web campaigns often lack a scientific procedures, to come up with a solution. Given the population is just over three million (1/20th of the UK and 1/100th of the US) in a limited geographical area, often communicating a new brand is not as difficult here. As a result web innovation is not high on their list. Most web projects here are very, may I dare say, web 1.0. It gets even more entertaining when you realise they were built just this year.

Kuwaiti Companies Internationally

This becomes really interesting when Kuwaiti firms compete in the international market. Users internationally don’t use Kuwaiti Google or use print marketing to communicate. The firms competing for international markets are: petroleum, shipping, construction and financial services. These sectors compete heads on with many firms in the Middle-East and West. So in reality they have to gear up quickly to take on their competition online.

Light at the end of the horizon

But there is hope and things seem to be improving in Kuwait. One of biggest banks in Kuwait, Commercial Bank of Kuwait (CBK) has a well designed site:

Written in coldfusion it has a clean XHTML/CSS code lying underneath. What’s more encouraging it has gone away from the (complete) flash or heavy graphic site. Although there are some tiny elements of Web 1.0 i.e. Marquee / tickertape (which I think it acceptable).

Another example of change is a Ning social network called Kuwait.me. So users can interact in Arabic and English. The site steadily seems to be getting traffic and could be invaluable for people looking to interact in Kuwait, perhaps a mini Kuwaiti Facebook of the future ?

Conclusion

The Kuwaiti web market clearly has a lag of innovation when compared to the West. Although innovation will only come if start-ups and big businesses in Kuwait understand the value of online marketing for their businesses.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Faulty cable causes web blackout in Middle East
• Iraqi investment
• Journalist, search engine optimise thyself
• Internet Sucks Big Time Lately

Comments