Our intrepid Business Development Director, Jim Godsal, gives us some insight into his recent trip to the Gulf Region and the opportunities available in the area:
At the end of October Annie Nicholson and I set off from Glasgow airport for 2 weeks visiting clients, old and new, across the Gulf.
22 hours in airports and 23 hours in the sky later we’re back and able to reflect on a full on fortnight.
We started with a couple of days in Doha, meeting both private and government healthcare providers, including Sidra Medical and Research Centre. This was followed by a short flight to Abu Dhabi to take in the Abu Dhabi Medical Congress before we flew to Kuwait for the day, arriving back in the UAE, this time in Dubai, late that night. We then had a day of meetings in Dubai before we could finally pause for the weekend.
While Annie headed over to Abu Dhabi to watch the Grand Prix and dance the night away with Jay Z (!!), I spent my time on the golf course and shopping in the Dubai Mall to keep my wife happy. Annie then headed home, leaving me with 4 more days in Dubai and Al Ain, plus a day trip to Muscat, before I was finally able to reintroduce myself to my family back in Scotland!
As ever the trip has been invaluable. It’s essential for us to meet with our clients in the Gulf as often as possible, to maintain, build and strengthen relationships, as that’s how business is done there. It’s also key for us to visit the hospitals and clinics we’re recruiting to, so that we’re able to understand the way they work and the types of people they would appeal to. Hospitals differ enormously, not just in quality but in culture, so we need to understand which Doctors will succeed in which environments, and we can only do this by visiting the sites ourselves.
We’re already seeing the dividends, with interviews having taken place this week in London for a major new client, as well as other new clients and new opportunities secured. The healthcare industry is booming in the Gulf and we’ll be back out there at the end of January for Arab Health, the region’s largest healthcare exhibition, where we’ll be exhibiting for the first time. So, if you’re interested in moving to the region and escaping the inevitable cold spell, please get in touch and one of our team will be more than happy to discuss the opportunities available with you.