The New Generation....

My trip this past weekend was back to Chicago for two events. The first was on Friday and the second was for the entire weekend. The Friday night event was the 15th annual Fundraising dinner for the Muslim Community Center (MCC) Full-Time Islamic School. It was held at a banquet hall and there were approximately 500 (men, women, and children) in attendance. There were three vendor displays and all happened to be financial companies (Guidance, Allied Asset Advisors (DJ Islamic Fund), and us). It was a little odd, but I was expecting this going into it, especially the presence of AAA. The marketing person for AAA is a fresh grad from a prominent Chicago Muslim Family (Quadri) and the basically run the MCC. However, I felt it was important to give people an alternative and thus our presence. Being the first one at the event, helped me get the best spot, right next to where the people would have to stand to get food. As such, I did have a number of people stop by and take material, ask questions, etc.

This was a traditional fundraising dinner, with the program, fundraising (which raised $50k), and then dinner. The crowd was mostly older generation and thus were accustomed to this style. In a typical dinner, one person gets up and using verses from the Qur'an and the sayings of the Prophet, encourages people to donate. This, about 10 years ago (as a novel idea), worked really well. Now, people are used to it, and thus come to the dinner already knowing exactly how much they want to donate. The effect has diminished considerably, however, because of habit, the same functions are organized. Of note in this fundraiser, aside from $50k raised, an unnamed person gave a donation of $125k to the endowment of the school. I find this interesting because after attending many dinners nationwide, this is the largest donation I have seen, specifically for an endowment. I do feel that this will become more and more common as the years go by. On a side note, a friend of mine at Harvard (MBA class of 2004) is just finishing a paper on Muslim Endowments in the US amongst local communities (not including national orgs). He interviewed me and will send me the paper after it is complete. He found that most Board Members at organizations are aware of endowments, see the need to fund one, but are too operationally focused to begin a campaign for one. It might be worth considering (after reading the final paper, of course) for us to come up with a turn key operation where we set up endowments for mosques and schools . Already, many people ask me if I know how do it and how to regulate them (Investment Policy Statement).

Saturday and Sunday were spent at an intensive seminar being hosted by a local organization in Chicago known as the Nawawi Foundation. There were approximately 750 people in attendance and most were young professionals (doctors, lawyers, IT, etc) in their 20s and 30s. The only older people I saw were the parents of some college students that attended. There were people from as far away as Bellingham (me!!!! just kidding). From as far away as Miami. The Nawawi Foundation was started by two people in their late twenties and professor. The professor was a WASP (in his words, not mine) who accepted Islam in the early 70s after being exposed to Malcolm X. He is a brilliant guy and very well read. In fact, before moving back to the US in 2000, he was teaching Arabic at the university level to Arabs in Saudi Arabia. I find that very ironic, that an American from Missouri was teaching Arabic to the Arabs!!! One of the two founders (Anas) is the son of Dr. Bassam Osman (someone we are all very familiar with). Dr. Osman, and his two sons are all on the Board of Nawawi Foundation (a family affair, no doubt).

The Foundation did do a small fundraiser at the retreat, however the style was a stark contrast to the one I attended on Friday night (keep in mind the difference in generations). Anas gave a presentation, on powerpoint, did not ask for operational funds, but rather was only soliciting money for the endowment they are trying to build. Operational funds come from the local and national programs they do (such as this one) and all have net income. This is supplemented by key individuals who donate monthly. I think this is the wave of the younger (2nd and 3rd) generation. We (yes, I consider myself young) are tired of just giving money to causes for their operational income and would much rather see our funds invested, with the returns being used for that purpose. On top of this, organizations can apply for grants as well.

As mentioned, I did have a booth at this event and did get quite a bit of traffic with many people interested. Two interesting conversations I had. One was with a person who is a personal friend of the marketing person at AAA and knows the Osmans really well. However, he wanted to open an account with Amana rather than Dow Jones because of of history and because he did not "trust" NAIT. I am beginning to here more and more of this. Many I speak to have realized that NAIT is showing up in the newspaper more and more and is under scrutiny. This has turned many away from them. The second was the previous Executive Director of the Islamic Medical Association of North America (IMANA). They have an account with us, but the majority of the money is with Morgan Stanley with a broker in LA. He mentioned that the Amana funds have given a better return and the fees are less!!!!! He suggested I speak to the current Exec. Director and talk to him about moving all of it over. He also suggested that I come to their next conference. I did not tell him this, but I do think it is unfeasible. The one last year was in Alaska and this year is in South Africa for 3 weeks. The IMANA alternates its conferences, one year abroad, the other year alongside the ISNA convention. Although I would love to go to South Africa (I have been on a safari in Zimbabwe while attending a friends wedding in Botswana), unless there is something concrete that I can get out of it, it might be more cost effective to wait until next year when they do it alongside ISNA. Did I just shoot myself in the foot? I meant, I really think I should go on this trip and oh, by the way, I think my family should also!!! :)

The whole of Southern Africa is beautiful!!! My friend who lives in Botswana is of Indian (South Asian) decent and his grand father moved to Zimbabwe back in the 1930s. His family now is the "Waltons" of both Zimbabwe and Botswana. Not uncommon in that part of the world. Remember, before moving to India, Mahatma Gandhi was in South Africa!!! Many went there for economic opportunities since that what colonized by the British as well. The set up almost all the major businesses in virtually all of sub-Saharan Africa. There children were born and raised there and consider themselves African, and not Indian and were persecuted alongside the blacks in South Africa (the were called "coloreds") Now however, there is growing unhappiness with them as the Africans are beginning to realize that they control all of the wealth and industry. They fear that the coloreds with take the money and return to India....... an unfounded fear, since now, Indians don't consider them Indians!!! As such, over the past 2 decades, many have left and have migrated to the US. This grew considerably after what happened in Uganda under Idi Ameen (he repossessed all colored lands and gave it to the Africans). People thought that this wave would spread to other parts of Africa, but as of yet, it has not happened. The story of Indians coming to Africa is very similar to Indians coming to America. Lets hope that the US government doesn't do the same thing that happened in Uganda. Personally, I don't think it will get that bad, however, when a government fans the flames of fear, there is no limit to the intolerance and persecution. But for right now, the coloreds are not the major concern, it is HIV/AIDS. My friend tells me it is wiping out the population, quite literally. Let us pray that this dreadful disease does not do what other plagues have done throughout time.

Quality not Quantity

Over this weekend I attended the ISNA Education Forum held at the Westin Hotel in Rosemont, IL (right outside of Chicago). There were approximately 400 people in attendance, all being educators (teachers, administrators, and Board members). This movement of Islamic schools in the US has been an interesting phenomenon of the 1990s. The institutions were built on the fear that Muslim children would lose their identity in public schools and as such, Islamic schools should be created to provide an alternative.

This is a potentially huge market for us in terms of retirement plans and endowment funds but it is still in its early stages. Many schools were created only after the mosque in a community was fully established. Thus, the average school is probably only 7 years old. In the future, this could grow to be even bigger than the market for Mosque endowments because there are always more employees in schools than in Mosques.

There were teachers from all over the country and from Canada (Vancouver) and it was nice to actually find someone from another city recognize where Bellingham was!!! :) I had tried to get a session to talk specifically about retirement plans and endowments, but the person in charge of the Program said he did not receive any of my emails. I don't know how true this is, but I have noticed this problem, specifically from AOL accounts in that my mail ends up in their bulk folder, which is subsequently deleted. I was told, however, that next year they would have a session on this. Maybe it is for the better that I did not have a session, as most of the attendees were worried more about how not to lose the youth!!!! I think this is a similar problem across religions, countries, and ethnicities. The older Islamic schools are having a major problem with the same things that public schools have with discipline, drugs, dating, etc. So the question to ask is, is the project of "Islamic schools" failing? I would still argue not, because the problems these schools are facing with the kids is still far better than the problems faced public schools. Despite this, there were some schools that did come and speak to me regarding retirement planning and endowments, most wanting to start on a small scale.

After the conference was over on Sunday, I gave a seminar at the Muslim Community Center in Chicago. This is one of the oldest and biggest mosques in Chicago which is actually a converted movie theater. At this seminar, I had the lowest attendance I have ever had to a seminar: 10 people. There was initially a confusion as to the time of the session where I thought (about 2 weeks ago) that it was going to be at 11 am. I was told that it was actually going to be at 2pm and as I found out after my talk, it would have been better to do it at the 11am time because it is more convenient for more people. To a certain extent, we are at the mercy of the individuals who are helping us organize these events and although I had in the back of my mind the feeling that 11 am would be better, there is no point arguing because it jeopardizes any future relationship. However, on the positive side, out of the 10 people, I had more people that ever actually fill out the application and hand it to me than I have ever had. Thus I did not feel as bad, since the "close" ratio was still high, and the purpose of my trip to Chicago was not solely this event but the Education Forum.

Till Next time,
Babi

"You Never Know......."

"You Never Know......."

When I last wrote this email, none except for Maruf caught that I had made a mistake in my pen name. I had written Bobbins, instead of Batuta. No matter, hopefully I won't make that mistake again. This was my first trip to the NY/NJ area since being with Saturna. Last year, similar to an event done in Houston, ISNA had sponsored a Financial Planning seminar in Princeton last March. Unlike Houston, I was surprised at the number of people that remembered this day long seminar.... So here is a summary of my travels:

The trip began on an interesting note. For whatever reason, I miscalculated the time it would take me to get to SeaTac Airport and as such got there 35 minutes before departure. As usual, as soon as the agent typed in my name, something popped up asking her to make a phone call. She hung up, and mentioned that today, I was going to get the VIP treatment. As I got my boarding pass I realized that there was no seat assignment and that there were SSSS written all over it. Even though they knew I would be late for my flight, the security put me in a special line for VIP where the priests of security bless you by waving a wand all over your body and then repack your personal belongings. Unbeknownst to me, they also did the same thing with the baggage I checked in. I was the last one on the plane and the agent made me run down the jet way and as soon as I boarded, they shut the door for take off.

Friday April 2, 2004

I gave the sermon at mosque where I later was going to give my presentation with an attendance of approximately 250 people. That evening, to my surprise, there were approx. 100 people in attendance at the seminar I gave. I was surprised as the number because this was only organized after we had sent out the emails to NJ announcing my seminar in Piscataway. When we sent this out, I received an email from a resident of this mosque and he was also an Amana shareholder. He wanted us to do a seminar in his mosque as well: Islamic Society of Old Bridge (near Lawrence Harbor). In fact, these emails serve a good purpose of not only informing people about the seminars but also by giving leaders of communities the idea that they can provide a service to their mosque as well. In fact, I got other invitations from the NJ area, but only accepted this one due to time constraints. I told the others that I would be back again to do others at their respective mosques. There were quite a number of shareholders present at this seminar, higher than normal, and many were supportive of our efforts to promote Amana.

Saturday April 3, 2004

On this day, I gave the seminar at the MCMC (Muslim Community of Middlesex County) in Piscataway, NJ. The shareholder that helped me organize this seminar was disappointed with the turnout of only 40 people. He said that he had distributed close to 400 fliers at the various mosques in the area. Of note in this seminar was a attendee who drove 2 hours from a city a little north of NYC. He is a PhD in Compute Engineering and is working for Philips Electronics. He invited me on my next visit to come and speak to mosques in that area. The reason why I bring him up, other than the fact that he drove quite a distance to hear me speak (he was happy with what he learned), he told me that back in 1993, when he was a graduate student making only $7000 per year, he scrounged up $1000 to invest in the Amana funds for the long term. He was happy with the performance and from that $1000, he now has many accounts with us for his wife and children. He said that if he could save money on his salary at the time, no one had an excuse not to save even a little.


Sunday April 4, 2004

On this day, I gave the seminar at the Islamic Center of Long Island. I could tell this would be a quality crowd because as I drove through the parking lot looking for parking, literally every other car was a Mercedes (most of them were 500 series). There were approximately 35 people in attendance, but, as I said, most were well to-do physicians. Last October, we had made an agreement (by word only) that if were to place an ad in their fundraising booklet, then they would allow us to come speak. This is a very wealth community and I think we should even consistently place ads in their newsletter. This is also the community from which of the the members gave a donation to Sen. Clinton which she turned down do to claims by her opponent that she was accepting money from terrorists. The check she turned down was for $50,000. No proof was ever found of this allegation, but the damage had been done. New York has made a reputation of turning down money from Muslims. Mayor Guliani turned down at donation of $10 million from Waleed ibn Talal after 9/11. In any case, one of the participants of the seminar was encouraging us to begin advertising on Arab and Pakistani Satellite as it reaches many Muslims in the US. She also said that she would get me in touch with someone from the Arabic networks who could potential do a story on us (free marketing). I think this is a good medium and now they even can geographically segment commercials to US, as opposed to our ads airing all over the world. Although for all the ex-patriots that work abroad, it wouldn't be a bad idea to look into the cost of worldwide distribution.

Observations:

With all the emails we send out, and the envelopes we mail advertising the seminars, the amount of people that show is still unpredictable. In places where I thought a few would come, many more show up, and in places where I expect a lot of people, we get a crowd on about 20. I think the mailers are still a great idea because it gives us face time and from talking to shareholders, many do read our mail. On more than a few occasions, I have had people come up to me thinking I know who they are, cause I sent then an invitation letter that was personally signed. I guess they don't know that we send out hundreds, cause when they come up to me, they expect me to know them on a first name basis!!! So far my strategy has been to schedule seminars around times that Muslims show up to the mosque anyway; Sunday school, Friday or Saturday evening programs, etc. Maybe if we make food available, more people would come, but I don't think mere numbers is that important. Is food an incentive that brings those on the edge to a seminar, or does it bring those that come just for the food? I await the day that Amana organizes a seminar and we get a minimum of 50-100 people. As we grow our shareholder base, and as people realize that our seminars are not product pitches but intended to educate them, I think this will happen!!!!

On another note, New York City is a huge city (no surprise), and it also has a large population of Muslims, probably the largest in the country. And if you combine this area with that of NJ, which is relatively not too far away, it just adds to the population. It is a good area to do more advertising, but I am not sure that we should concentrate on it as much as on CA. The only reason being that it is very expensive. It costs more to fly out there from Bellingham, it is a 6 hr. flight, and the hotels, car rentals are much more expensive than say, LA or SF. But going around to various mosques, I did get an idea of some of the newspapers in circulation, some of which we don't advertise in. After Friday prayer, I usually watch for which newspapers and newsletters are being distributed and which are the ones people are reading. I think this is a good way for us to see hands on what the popular ones are and which ones we should advertise in.

As I close, I wanted to add one last thing. With all the flying I have been doing, I finally got an opportunity to sit in First Class. It has been a while, and definitely the first time I am sitting in First on a domestic airline on a domestic flight. Growing up the son of a pilot, I am used to flying first class international, British Airways, Saudia, etc. I can see that it is a much different experience. On these domestic flights, the only difference between Economy and First is the size of the seat and the food that you get (food is the same, just served in better trays). I don't see why someone would pay the extra cost of flying First and now truly understand that it is an extra service that airlines provide to their frequent fliers. In the long term, I see the model of discount airlines, with no First class winning out, because it is expensive to run. Not having it means you can put more seats in (more revenues) and have less flight attendants (less cost). As for perks, I could easily see the major airlines reducing the number of miles it takes to fly free (now 25,000) to maybe 20k. I, along with other travelers, would easily take a free flight over a first class upgrade.

International flights are a different story......... I remember in First Class of Saudia, for dinner, they had an International Chef on Board and he would bring out a tank of lobsters and you could choose which one you wanted. On the 747, the upstairs was a lounge with sofas where First Class passengers could relax (very good for 13 hour flights). If I was an international jet setter, and was going to London say for 2 days for meetings and then coming back, I would pay for First Class where I could recline my seat to 180 degrees and sleep the entire way, then wake up, freshen up, and then start my meetings as soon as got out of the airport. Here also, I think the international airlines have an edge. One cannot compare the First Class of Singapore Airlines, Cathay Pacific, British Airways, or Saudi to an American based carrier. If I used my miles to travel international, hands down, I would pick a partner airline over American. They just seem to have the expertise, whereas the American carriers have not figured out the balance between cost and benefits.