Saad H. Al-Barrak, MTC’s Managing Director and Vice Chairman, was acknowledged earlier this year as the Middle East’s Information and Communication Technology CEO of the year.

How would you assess the progress made by MTC since you took over?

When I assumed my position in 2002, MTC was moving from government control to private control. What our people have achieved in a very short period of time since then is a most impressive transformation process. Since then, MTC has grown from a company based in Kuwait to become a regional player in five Middle-Eastern countries and 13 African countries as Celtel. It has moved from a local, government-run monopoly to a fast-growing, open, flexible, market-oriented, and highly competitive company. It is really a great achievement for the young professionals who work here, and the new generation will take MTC to the frontiers of world-class companies.

What is your personal management style, and how has it impacted on MTC?

I am a very impatient person. Unless the challenge consumes my life I will not go for it. I am a man of slogans. I come up with a slogan and our people here at MTC all go crazy to implement it.

I went to the United States when I was 17 years old and lived there from 1973 to 1982. My experience in America has influenced my life in general. America is the greatest business environment in the world—20 years ahead of Europe in my view.

What is MTC’s strategy for coping with competition?

MTC has been market proactive. We did not wait for the competition to come here, we went to them in their countries and competed with them. We have competitors in all of those countries—some of them alliances with the most renowned names in the world. We opted from day one to be a world-class company, because our objective at the end is to be a global company. So it is a proactive strategy rather than a reactive one.

How much potential do you see in the regional telecommunications sector? Are you looking for help from foreign investors?

The Arab world has 300 million people and less than 52 million mobile lines, so the penetration rate is less than 18%. This market is likely to grow by five times in the next five to seven years. That’s a unique economic opportunity.

The Middle East region’s telecom sector is expected to grow by 85% within the next five years.

We would welcome joint cooperation with American firms in the development of the telecommunications market in this part of the world. My message to the American business community is not to look at Kuwait as a market but as a window to a greater market.

We look forward to learning from the Americans once we set up our company in the United States to compete for the U.S. mobile market.

In 2003, MTC won a contract to operate a GSM network in Iraq. What was the challenge and why did you take it on?

The challenge has been to build a viable business in a very costly market within two years, which is the period of licensing that we have before renegociation later this year. We have done that out of our commitment to the region, our social and national responsibility as a leading company. Our investment is expected to reach $430 million by the end of 2005. Staffed 100% by Iraqis, the MTC-Atheer operation now has 650,000 active subscribers.

Also, it is estimated that as a result to our presence in Iraq, some 7,000 direct and indirect jobs have been created, which will reach 10,000 by the end of the year. We have been encouraged by the government to invest and play our role. We all have to endeavor to channel Iraq into a better future.

Kuwait-based MTC has become a major contributor to regional progress in the last two years.

What is MTC’s philosophy of corporate governance?

We comply with world standards in terms of corporate governance, and this has attracted a good many companies in the world to come and talk to us about cooperation and joint ventures, both inside and outside Kuwait.
People know our books are accurate, and that we are transparent and declare everything we do. MTC is a public company. We try to keep a very tightly controlled, disciplined corporate governance, without losing flexibility and agility.

How do you see relations between Kuwait and the United States?

Kuwait is a country that, in its history, is as young as the United States—250 years. It has always excelled in its business skills, even before the oil. And it is a country that is most indebted to the United States for what it has done for it. I think we stand in a very unique position vis-a-vis the U.S., and there are great opportunities to work together to develop the economic opportunities of the region.