Doha: Qatar is fast emerging as a breeding ground for English language business publications vying with one another to grab advertising revenues that seem easy to come by in these times of economic boom.
The race to entice companies to advertise has led to a mushroom of yearly publications loosely termed as economic reviews and publishers swear they are a money-spinning enterprise.
Then there are existing periodicals that are focusing increasingly on Qatari business and industry and coming out with issues that they claim are quite successful.
A good example of a publishing enterprise that does not want to be left out of what clearly is a maddening race, is the popular lifestyle magazine 'Abode' which recently came out with a special business supplement.
In a previous issue, it carried a number of write-ups covering oil and gas, local stock trading, investment and even the downstream sector. The sudden inclusion of business articles in what has been a purely leisure periodical surprised many.
But publishers of Abode say the write-ups were popular with the readers and so was the case with the special business supplement that was circulated free with the regular issue. They would like to continue with the effort.
One of the focus areas of Abode is investment and finance, aside from corporate and industry, as that ensures proactive participation of the common reader in a business publication.
Qatar Today is doing "exceedingly" well, say people involved with what is the country's oldest periodical which was re-launched some two years ago with a glossy get-up and an editorial content that is rich and relevant.
Stock trading is a key ingredient of Qatar Today's editorial as well but where they perhaps wish to excel is an all-round and in-depth focus on Qatar's business and industry. The idea is to highlight a major sector in each issue, says a prominent writer involved with the magazine.
"There is a fantastic response to re-incarnated version of Qatar Today," says the writer.
Gulf Business does not exactly fall in the category of local business publications but it created a massive impact in the Qatari business circles when the Dubai-based publishing giant successfully launched a Qatar edition a few years ago.
But Gulf Business remains a pan-GCC publication with a wider reach. Its Qatari edition features a local picture, often of people who matter and collage of events, but the publication has, though, excellent write-ups, it does not have a Doha bureau.
Its journalists visit Doha and do stories, often interview-based, and they are quite readable. The language is impeccable and contents are topical and analytical.
Among the annual reviews, the best so far has been Emerging Qatar 2004 with extensive and analytical write-ups, interviews of key players from the government and industry.
The review covers nearly all aspects of Qatar's trade and industry, banking, insurance and finance and writers deal with issues providing an insight.
One hopes the effort continues on a regular basis.
Qatar Today also came out with an annual issue and the attempt was worthwhile, both editorially and revenue-wise.
Among the other yearly reviews was Business Unbounded and its highlight was attractive photographs used with laudable production effort. The publishers plan to change the name to Business Qatar with the next issue expected to be out in a few months.
© The Peninsula 2004
