"Kuwait Series" - by Gaylan King
- Last Updated: Thursday, August 10, 2006 04:15:33 PM

Contents:

Iraq 15 - December 11 2003 - I'm trying to avoid a holiday funk; staying really busy with interesting stuff is one way to do that. This life gets more and more like someone else's that I'm just closely observing. I'm getting invited everywhere (I sat with the Ambassador and discussed Iraq at a very schmaltzy party a couple of nights ago; we're the only company from Kuwait that's working in Iraq and every knows it). The party was at a Kuwaiti mansion, outdoors in a very luxurious tent; servants everywhere. I was given about 35 business cards that night from some of the best families in town. They all want to come and talk about partnering or investing in Iraq with us. The Kuwaitis know that they cannot work in Iraq, nor can their companies. The Iraqis remember that Kuwait was a part of Iraq at one time and there is still a lot of bad feelings between the two countries. Therefore, the Kuwaitis are looking for strategic partners in Iraq and we're getting a lot of visitors to the offices.

We were visited, yesterday, by a young man whose family has made a fortune in Africa, in diamonds and general trade. They've gone home to Lebanon because of the deteriorating political conditions in Africa. He came to us knowing that the biggest current opportunities are in Iraq, but knew that they needed an established infrastructure in which to play. He'll fit nicely into some of our plans and we're looking forward to a joint venture with him. These people are very professional and all about business.

My boss is miles ahead of all of them. He did a study for the World Bank last year, evaluating all of the industries in Iraq and what they need to come up to snuff. He then got a no-conflict release to do private business in Iraq We are aiming at the steel, pipe and petrol-chemical industries. We'll stand up Iraqi companies that we manage and in which we hold an equity stake, to dominate these industries. The Iraqis have the infrastructure and educated manpower too run these industries; they need an organizational and management push to get them going. That's our role.

Within the next few months, the U.S. government/CPA will be forced to do business with them. Iraqization is the name of the game. We just took control of 3 of the 15 available ports for the whole country; they're goldmines. We'll do our own shipping and convoys/security to Baghdad, bypassing the Kuwaiti bureaucrats. My boss/partner is a brilliant guy out of the World Bank and I'm getting a tremendous education.

I'm very close to moving to Baghdad full time. We've developed a large business with the Army furnishing many of their needs, from Humvee spare parts and service to just about anything else that you can think of. They pay cash on orders up to $50,000.00.

No one has provided Humvee spare parts since we went in there, and the demand for them, alone, is tremendous. We have warehouses and delivery vans; I visit all of the Army Divisions and Brigades for business; they've taken me around and introduced me to the key people. They're a great bunch of people and we should all be proud of them.

More on the war soon.

Cheers!
Gaylan

 TOP