The economic blockade has transformed Qatar into a self-sufficient nation in different sectors, such as in the manufacturing and agriculture sectors, according to Qatar-Indonesia Business Council president Farhan al-Sayed.
“The wise leadership of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani has helped the country overcome the impact of the blockade. This benefited Qataris and expatriate communities, who stood hand-in-hand together as country continues to develop amidst the circumstances of the current time,” al-Sayed said.
According to Philippine Business Council–Qatar (PBC-Q) chairman Greg Loayon, the blockade effectively put Qatar into the limelight, and was a test of strength for the nation.
What was clearly evident, however, was how quickly the country, and its citizens and expatriates worked together towards ensuring the sustained economic continuance of Qatar, Loayon stressed.
“In our small way, we enabled our Philippine Economic Zone Authority to present the Philippines as a viable venue to support the food resiliency for Qatar through a conference that we hosted, which was well attended by Qatari businesses.
“We were also able to collaborate with business ventures from Europe who brought opportunities to support areas in tourism, construction, and healthcare,” Loyaon told Gulf Times.
Speaking about the local property market, Association of Filipino Realtors and Entrepreneur Executives in Qatar (Afreeq) chairman Joseph Rivera said despite the blockade Qatar real estate market remains “in excellent condition.
“We always considered the situation positively, and we used the added time to enhance our craft by embracing new skills and technologies, which significantly improved our property marketing presentations, thus serving all stakeholders well,” Rivera said.
Qatari entrepreneur Abdulla al-Fadhala, who is the co-founder of online real estate rental platform hapondo, said the blockade “and the premise under which it was imposed was absurd to Qataris and people who call Qatar home.” “We were able to quickly come together as a unified community because we all recognised how unjustifiable the actions of the blockading countries were…before officially starting hapondo, my partners and I discovered that the main competitors in this industry were companies from the blockading countries. For me and my partners, the blockade made us realise that there was now an opportunity and imperative to utilise Qatar’s amazing resources, infrastructure, and human potential to create solutions that catered to Qatar’s market specifically.
“The unity we’ve seen has always been at the forefront and to me the best type of unity is a productive one - we’ve come together in our shared love of the country to create business ventures that improve our business landscape, economy and make us more self-sufficient,” al-Fadhala stressed.
Qatar-based entrepreneur Mufeed Ahmed also said that the blockade encouraged him to support Qatari friends in the trading business and help them get connected with suppliers of similar items in India.
“I also spent more time with Qatari friends to help turn their ideas into business ventures by helping them with the tech-related advice, irrespective of where the App is built with my company or not,” he said.