A colleague that had just seen the groupseven site yesterday asked me, “why are you using Arab Emirates Dirham (AED)? Originally, because we were based out of Dubai, in the beginning it was obvious, but over time it made more sense to have the currency reflect and be set to Canadian Dollar (CAD), as that is where majority of the work is done from Anyhow, then the company had took a back seat in terms of biz for a few years until just recently, under surprising circumstances a few “Ghattas” folk( Zosia, Basil and me*dariusz) all happened to be in a town (Ottawa Yay!) all at the same time. So the co was reborn and ppl got roles, plan is quite simple.
So Back to why the UAE Dirham. Well in this rebranding of groupseven it would only make sense to change to the region that will be serviced the currency of settlement. Yet after pondering a while, we have decided that we will continue settling transactions in AED.
Our decision was made easy the moment we heard that India preferred settling transactions in UAE Dirhams With the disruption and de-dollarization of the markets outside the West, the AED is still the US dollar but symbolically it is not. UAE has also shown itself to lead the world where Switzerland last left the title of a true neutral nation. Sure UAE may strive for that title, even so far as changing the work week to reflect its business acumen to Monday to Friday and ditching the Islamic work week Saturday to Thursday with the one and a half day off for the private sector. Did I mention UAE has a satellite around Mars, and being part of every good will mission, help at every quake , typhoon, hurricane. cyclone. Always showing a helping hand like the billion meals in Ramadan, or the tallest building in the world. The most striking new thing the UAE is subtly show without much show fare is its new catapulted role as neutral place, that anybody can do business in a tax free zone like Dubai. With the China brokered peace in the Middle East between Iran and Saudi Arabia, is a much welcomed happening by all citizens of the planet. Peace is always good for business that relies on the lights and power being on. It spells a great future for the region.
So back to the AED, well in these uncertain times, one thing is certain and that’s gold, and Dubai has lots of gold. It outsold Singapore in the last few years, and sold the bulk of it to India. Due to UAE global stance of being a small and friendly nation to all people, with an army it can boast backed by all the super powers of the world(Russia, China, UK,France and USA), yet at same time being able to facilitate such big players as China, India, EU, Japan and serving Africa and Middle East. Location Location Location,Dubai is centrally located, has no imperialistic hegemonic desires, yet being pegged to the USD gives it all the USD privileges of a fixed price all can render themselves against. That it is starting to outgrow the USD due to all the other powers deciding that AED is USD without the luggage and without the dangers that come with USD in western banks that come with using USD to settle deals. Okay D, little bit long winded wouldn ya say?