C1ME, the Middle East distributor for Commerce One Inc., and five private and public sector Kuwaiti organizations established Tuesday C1KT — a Commerce One affiliate, with a mission to launch Kuwait’s first global Business-to-Business (B2B) trading vehicle. The company intends to spearhead the launch and operation of an e-marketplace — an on-line exchange — for Kuwait.
C1KT investors include Naser Mohammad Naser Al-Sayer; Saud Abdulaziz Abdulmouhsin Al-Rashid and Brothers Company, part of Kuwait’s Al-Rashid Group; the Arabesque Systems Company, the Arab Financial Company For The Registration of Intellectual Property and Electronic Trading (AICRIPET); the Gulf Company for Trading Over The Internet and C1ME Ltd.
David Brown, business development director of the Dubai-based C1ME stated that “All investors will be active users, which is key to ensuring the success of the venture and bringing it immediate liquidity. We anticipate the e-marketplace being operative within two or three months with fully localized content.”
C1KT is to be the first of eight regional e-marketplaces C1ME intends to invest in. Other operators are to be established in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Egypt, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, the Levant and the Maghreb.
“Interest from investors was particularly strong in Kuwait, which led to this new company being established ahead of others,” said Adnan Al-Bahar, chairman and managing director of The International Investor (TII), a regional investment bank headquartered in Kuwait, which led the financing for the establishment of C1ME.
The C1KT e-marketplace will be connected to the Commerce One Global Trading Web, the world’s largest B2B trading community. “Global Trading Web participation will offer all Kuwait companies, irrespective of size, the full advantages of electronic trading on a global scale,” said Brown.
The Kuwait e-marketplace is expected to cover all stages of a business transaction between purchasers and suppliers, such as order to payment, catalogue management and consultation, order approval processing, delivery and invoicing as well as on-line auctions and tender offers. — (Albawaba-MEBG)
