“India-Israel-UAE-US will be the epicentre of the global business in this decade”
The recent normalisation of relations between UAE and Israel has opened up ‘lots of opportunities’ at a time when ties between India and the UAE too are growing.
Eddna Samuel, Director of Motif India, a leading integrated communications agency headquartered in Mumbai and offices in Israel and UAE, is championing the cause of global peace and harmony with cutting-edge business communications in India, Israel, the US and UAE (and GCC) —- U2I2 as she refers to it. Eddna, an Indian Israeli, has had a decade-old dynamic stint with the world of business, media, entertainment, fashion and events. Her corpus of work represents a perfect blend of corporate excellence and individual brilliance. Leveraging her creativity and business acumen she has done exemplary work for a host of Indian and international clients. With an eye on new vistas of opportunities, she focusses on emerging companies. As a master strategist and consultant, Eddna brings an astute understanding and out of the box solutions and strategies for her clients. Socially responsible, she is also a champion and of causes and social affairs initiatives. Excerpts from an interview…
So what does Motif India bring to the table?
Motif India is a consultancy that provides a host of communications’ services such as public relations, advertising, event management, crisis management, and direct marketing among others. We have worked on a wide spectrum of industries and their various projects. Our conviction is that a client’s needs can be met only with great involvement from their communication agency. Towards this end, we have decided to focus on ‘fewer clients but with a greater degree’ of involvement to give them the maximum mileage.
Our team of professionals have worked in leading consultancies in the country with over a decade of experience in corporate communications, brand-consumer PR, Investor Relations, sports and celebrity-entertainment PR with which we have built a great reputation.
We have helped hundreds of companies, brands, personalities, and celebrities to build a great reputation through a calibrated structured image building exercise. We have worked across sectors and profiles of companies/brands/ personalities from little known ones to emerging to established ones.
Tell us about the U2I2 concept and your focus on it.
U2I2 of course stands for USA, UAE, India, Israel. First, we are focussed on India and Israel’s relations, which are constantly deepening not just in business but also in strategic areas impacting millions of human lives. Companies in both countries are partnering in areas such as agriculture, defence, security systems, medical equipment, technology, AI, Cloud and robotics amongst others. Start-ups and entrepreneurs are exploring new avenues of collaboration and enterprise. India’s major exports to Israel include precious stones and metals, organic chemicals, electronic equipment, plastics, vehicles, machinery, engines, pumps, clothing and textiles, and medical and technical equipment. Several agreements were signed in the field of defense, homeland security, agriculture, water management, education, and even outer space. The current trend is very good as the agricultural sector uses 60% of Israeli technology and yields have increased substantially. Regular meetings are now being planned through bilateral trade delegations with the support of the Trade Development Authorities and Chambers of Commerce in close cooperation with the Indian government.
Israeli companies have a great opportunity to potentially access one of the largest economies in the world – India. By opening the door to India’s market with its development and production capabilities, Israeli technologies can be mass produced at a lower cost and could in future be jointly exported to third countries. I have been helping Israeli-US companies access India in a way never before…to create a win-win situation for both Israeli and Indian companies.
The second major opportunity is the recent normalisation of relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). This has opened up “lots of opportunities” at a time when ties between India and the UAE too are growing. UAE is central to India’s extended neighbourhood – UAE is on the crossroads of international trade. One area of cooperation is that of food security. Governments in the GCC have launched immediate interventions to take comprehensive steps to generate sustainable results. That includes helping increase the productivity of local farmers, facilitating imports, reinforcing supply chains, and, for some countries, potentially creating a transitional public entity to handle food security.
What message do you have for companies operating or targeting India, Israel, UAE and the US?
In today’s complex and often dysfunctional world full of disruptions, we have a simple message for every senior stakeholder: we’re here to deliver the growth, opportunity and performance you want.
We have been at the forefront of the Public Relations (PR), communications, social and digital media industry for 22 years and have an impeccable portfolio to back it up. We have worked with over 100 labels/ logos across sector and for businesses of all sizes.
We, at Motif India, are on a mission to foster better trade/ business ties between companies in Israel, India, UAE (and GCC) and the US. As business matchmaker, we aspire to become the bridge between companies in Israel/US seeking to trade with those in India and the Middle-East and of course global markets. As master communicators, we help companies in their corporate profiling and positioning, corporate communications and corporate brand-building through traditional and social-digital media platforms.
India-Israel-UAE-US will be the epicentre of the global business in this decade.
Why are you bullish about tapping the potential of agriculture and agri-tech in India?
With the global population predicted to rise to 9.6 billion by 2050, food supplies and safety will be of paramount importance. And India, one of the Top 15 agricultural exporters of the world, has a duty and responsibility towards the world.
After seven decades of Independence, India has realized that the only means of doubling its GDP would be to ensure that agriculture is given the status of science & technology/ Industry. Agriculture is very crucial for India to become a $5 trillion economy. By 2030, India has to position itself as an “agri-innovator” and create a “smart agri ecosystem”.
The Indian Government has accepted this fact and has sanctioned a $13.6 bn fund with an agriculture policy adopted for 5 years. The highlights are that the Government of India is committed to ban the use of urea and other chemical fertilizers. In 2019, India exported more than $38 billion of agricultural and processed food products, with one of their largest markets being the Middle East. But $12.5 bn plus of produce was lost to spoilage annually.
India needs highly qualified skilled youngsters who could take up this high potential business. This business is going to become highly lucrative with new technologies such as hydroponics /agrowponics using drip irrigations and genetic research on seeds to increase the per acre yield – which is the lowest in the world due to the low fertility of the soil ruined by excessive chemicals. India needs innovation and precision technologies such as IoT, sensors, weather forecasting, satellite, drones, and cameras. It needs soil experts/ seed experts/ field doctors who can diagnose soil health and the quality of the seeds and recommend the right dose of different organic fertilizers and nutrients for the soil to revive soil health for the first time India would ban chemical fertilizers in the next 3 years.
In the last 5 years, over 500 agri-tech start-ups have raised funds for enabling direct consumer access, building marketplaces, etc., but more efforts are needed in emerging areas such as agri-biotech. The Indian Agricultural Platform (IAP) is needed to deploy AI, reduce duplication by integrating data sources and applications and incubate innovation and transformation.
Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC) — the world’s flagship Free Zone and Government of Dubai Authority on commodities trade and enterprise – has launched Agriota E-Marketplace, a technology-driven agri-commodity trading and sourcing platform that uses blockchain to help bridge the gap between millions of rural farmers in India and the UAE’s food industry. The Agriota platform provides Indian farmers the opportunity to connect directly with the entire food industry in the UAE, including food processing companies, traders and wholesalers. The UAE has a significant history with India, and our agricultural commodities platform takes this symbiotic relationship even further, benefitting the millions of farmers throughout India whilst simultaneously providing greater food security for the UAE.
However, with a revolutionary change coming in politics education and agriculture have been given the highest priority by Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi’s Government. He has built up a very personal rapport with the Israeli Premier Mr. Benjamin Netanyahu, who have formally agreed to make India the largest hub for agriculture produce using Israeli technology and research. They jointly intend to make India the largest exporter of food for the world. Israel has also agreed to set up a very large research and skill development in Lucknow U.P. The Netherlands has twice India’s yield. Israel pioneered technologies to grow produce in harsh, arid conditions. China’s agricultural economic output is now thrice that of India, with lesser farm land and similar small-size farms.
You seem very confident about India-Israel cooperation increasing in trade and business?
Of course I am! Once COVID-19 recedes and the world comes back to normalcy India /Israel/UAE will emerge as the best development and growth partners of the world. India will give the highest preference to Indian Jews settled in Israel – the only community which gave the best education to the teachers and were one of the most peaceful communities living in India.
Now the attitude of Indians have also changed. Israel has become the largest partner in defence and more than 200 companies have come to Uttar Pradesh for the last defence exhibition. And once COVID-19 is over, India expects 2,000 Israeli companies to set up base for
I) one of the best medical research centre in Lucknow with skill development training for paramedics and doctors. India will provide best housing facilities with latest amenities; ii) development of rural villages: for which a blueprint is already made and discussed with the top ranking Government officials from both the sides.
It is very interesting to note that culture and traditions are very similar hence it is very easy to adjust here for the Israelis. This would require a lot of teachers and young students who could train our rural population. The Indian Government is committed to providing excellent incentives to the qualified youth of Israel to develop human computers made in India. Indians and Israelis will join hands to promote love and peace. You don’t have to be born from the same mother to be a blood relative – you could have a stronger bonding and relationship as a friend.
Israel is also slated to develop a software development and innovation technology: India would prove to be the best partner for both the governments to become the best in the world with the most advanced technologies. In fact there are 110 defence spare parts, which have now been put on the banned list of Indian imports. These could be jointly developed as joint ventures in India for which the Indian Government underwrites and guarantees BUYBACK – this will be one of the biggest opportunities for Israeli companies.
The Abraham Accord signing in Washington DC was historic! The recent normalisation of relations between UAE and Israel has opened up ‘lots of opportunities’ at a time when ties between India and the UAE too are growing. UAE is central to India’s extended neighbourhood and at the crossroads of international trade. Bilateral trade between UAE and Israel will get a boost going up to USD 4 bn per annum in the next two years. For example, at Expo 2021 in Dubai, India has taken 15,000 sq. mtrs. of exhibition space next to the American pavilion, which is going to be 45,000 sq mtrs. If businessmen from both sides agree to a cooperation that the world has never seen before, we could recommend to the UAE Government to increase the size to 40,000 sq mtrs to show the world what true partners (India/ Israel/ UAE/US) really are like!
This will become breaking news for world leaders who would then join hands for peace and participate for the development of the world; and usher in PEACE and HARMONY – a message that will move the heart of BILLIONS around the world.
