Egypt HR Insights (2) ........ Al-Ahram Index

You must have heard of the famous "Coca Cola Index", which is used as an indicator for life expenses that one would spend in a specific country; it works as you compare the price of a Coca Cola bottle against the earnings you can make in this country, for example:

• In Egypt a 2 liter bottle will cost you 1.1 USD. (7.75 LE)
• While in Germany it will cost you 4.46 USD (the highest rate in the world),
• In London it costs you 2.07 USD
• In South Africa it costs 0.78 USD

And so on, when you have a look on Coca Cola price you can get an idea about the life expenses around this country; this is where it came from: Coca Cola Index.

If you are in business - and you must be as long as you work – you will have to be aware of some known indexes and you will have to follow some of them closely so you can have a better idea about business/economy status around you. actually there are many known indexes that are worth following regularly, some you follow on a daily basis like Stock Markets Indexes (in home country and around the world), Currencies, Gold Prices, Fuel. Others you follow on a monthly basis like Country Credit Rating [WH1] or Investment Grading, Stock Ranking (nationally & globally), Ranking of Universities, even you can have a look on Football Teams Classification "if you are a soccer fan J "…etc.

Also you will find it extremely useful to follow some indexes on an annual basis like Competitiveness Report of the World Economic Forum; it contains a lot of useful information about how countries, states and communities work to develop for the best of their nations.

It is important to determine some indexes that YOU follow regularly so to increase your general knowledge and understanding for the factors those influence your work and consequently your career. Moreover it will help you see how the global- game-of-power goes around from one area to another, from one field to another, it will help you better understand globalization moves and pros & cons.

One of the important indexes I consider a strongly reliable indicator for the economic status in Egypt is the "Al-Ahram Index" and here is why, when economy rises businesses flourish, companies grow and so employment opportunities, similarly when economy is stable people tend to move from company to another looking for better futures, as a result of that companies rush for advertising looking for competent employees….. and as it presents the ultimate hub for employment advertising, Friday Al-Ahram newspaper stands out as a reliable indicator for the economy status in Egypt; for example when Egyptian economic growth rate was around 7%, at then people tended to joke about it saying that Friday Ahram is purchased in kilograms J implying how heavy it was as a result of the flood of ads of all sorts.

As I used to follow it on a weekly basis throughout the last 5 years of my HR career I could consistently see the obvious converse-relationship between country economic / political status and the size of Friday Al-Ahram newspaper; recently I could see how both are getting healthier, and today I invite you to follow it so we try together to discover the special commonalities of our business environment.