With a history of commodity trading along its shores and Dubai's modern-day embracing of the internet, there are few better places than the Gulf Arab emirate for a good business deal, says Lubna al-Qasimi, managing director of www.Tejari.com, an initiative supported by the Dubai government to encourage businesses to become more internet savvy. "There are many opportunities here. The internet helps to expose businesses to good openings," says Ms al-Qasimi. But persuading traders to go online to conduct their business is more of a challenge than selling the more obvious benefits of the bustling souks, or markets, of the past. The internet wave in its present form is less than a year old in this oil-rich state, spurred mainly by last year's opening of Dubai Internet City. But Ms al-Qasimi - clad in her traditional black robe and with her royal title Sheikha - is determined to take her message to other parts of the Gulf.

Despite her connections, the niece of the Sheikh of Sharjah, the third-largest of the United Arab Emirates, has a difficult job. She talks openly about the problem of sexual discrimination, for example. Persuading men to take advice from a woman is as formidable a challenge as getting them to accept the internet as a business tool, says Ms al-Qasimi. Describing herself as a "techie" - she was the first woman from the United Arab Emirates to graduate with a computer-science degree from the US in the early 1980s - Ms al-Qasimi is convinced that the internet is a source of social and economic change for her region. There is already a growing demand from female high-school graduates to pursue a computer-science career, she says. But she warns that, in spite of some positive signs, there are still a lot of obstacles to overcome.

"There are many people who still don't realise that with the internet you can reduce costs significantly. Once people catch up and realise that there are benefits, they usually go ahead and accept the internet." One way of spreading the message has been to use Tejari as a site where private businesses bidding for government contracts can register and bid for tenders online. Tejari plans to expand the initiative to other parts of the Arab world, with countries such as Oman, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan among the first expected to come online, giving more suppliers and buyers the opportunity to interact online.

Ms al-Qasimi acknowledges that initiatives in the Arab world are largely still "state specific", with governments being the main backers of internet ventures. But she is convinced that there are enough individuals in both government and the private sector who recognise that "if you don't ride the wave, you lose out". Her hope is that the concept of online business as promoted by Tejari will help to change the outlook for the internet across the Arab world. www.tejari.com

E mail Faran Bokahri at 76554.3212@compuserve.com