To start with, who or what inspires you?
I would say my inspiration is my dad. Since a young age I’ve been seeing the way he works, how he works, what he’s been able to achieve, and how hard he has worked to achieve what he has. So, I would say my main inspiration is my dad. In terms of what he’s achieved and how he’s done it as well.
Tell me about your leadership style. How would you define it and how has it evolved over time?
Again, it keeps evolving as. The first business I started was around, I would say, five or six years ago. So, from then to today, it has evolved in a big way. Again, my leadership style today is still very hands on, I am involved in everything myself. From buying the land, to the design, I’m involved. We have a team for design, we have a team for project management.
We have all those teams, but I’m involved with them on a daily basis myself, getting involved in the design, in the material selection and appointing the contractor. All of those stages the team does but I’m involved with them myself. I would say it’s pretty hands on.
Would you consider that an important quality in a leader?
I think it is because when your management sees you involved with them, I think that also motivates them more. If you just give them tasks and you’re not involved with them, I think that’s a bit demotivating to them.
I think that the more you’re involved with them, it’s better for the business, but it’s also better for your employees because they get motivated more now that you’re getting involved with them and working with them to solve issues and figuring out solutions.
How do you balance the demands of your clients with the needs of your employees?
We are focused on luxury so we are launching new projects, but we take our time with the projects. From the time we buy the land, we take time with the design, we don’t rush anything in order to get the right quality. I think that helps employees as well as, of course they’re under pressure, but it’s more that make we have to make sure that the job is done right. Not just rush things to get it done faster.
What strategies do you use to keep employees motivated?
We have different ways. One is, of course, financial incentives, but also, I think what’s very important to motivate employees is when they see their work coming into reality, I think that’s what motivates them the most.
So, for example, if it’s a project manager and he’s working on a project for three years and he sees the project being built to a certain level, I think that that’s what really motivates him, to see his hard work paying off, not just financially but that he’s built something.
Are you a 24/7 kind of manager?
So, all my employees know they can message me anytime of the day and they’ll always have a response. I prefer to do things over WhatsApp, I don’t like emails as much. I prefer to do things on WhatsApp because I think there are just too many emails and it’s too slow. WhatsApp is much easier and I think much more effective, so they can message you and you can answer directly.
Do you try and engage in a culture of creativity and innovative thinking?
Of course, we try our best. For example, with certain projects we design, we have workshops with our employees where they’re all working and we all throw out ideas and they’re given a few days to make a pack of different ideas. We try to push them to be more creative and then we meet as a group to discuss what we like or we don’t like and then we take a decision based on that.
What are you looking forward to over the horizon?
We launched the business less than 18 months ago. We launched with a few villas; we sold four out of five. Then we came up with our Canal and Palm projects. We fully sold out both projects within weeks. Now we’re launching a third project on the Canal as well.
This project is keeping us excited now we’re working on it and it should come to market soon. In terms of risk, I don’t see a big risk in property because it’s more of a tangible asset. Today the market is doing very well and we see it continuing to do very well.
When you compare the prices of Dubai to other international cities, we’re still far behind. I think as long as you have the right location and the right product, you don’t have a risk. Short term it might fluctuate, but in the long-run property will always appreciate.
Has your outlook for the luxury and ultra-luxury real estate market changed?
I think it’s actually improved and the numbers show it. I’m sure you’ve seen the latest Bulgari penthouse selling at AED410m. It shows you the demand for luxury is very strong, and the people buying are all end users. That shows even more confidence in the market that they’re buying to move, to make it as their primary residences or secondary residences, and they’re not speculators buying to sell.
Do you think this is representative of a new stage in the Dubai real estate story?
One hundred percent. You didn’t have these clients five years ago, and when one of them comes then 10 seem to follow with them. I think five years ago if you asked the global super wealthy “where would you like to have a house?” Most of them would say the regular three cities – London, New York, Los Angeles.
Today, the dynamics have changed. It’s more like London, Dubai, Miami, New York. Dubai has become a part of that list of where everyone wants to be. I think many factors have contributed to that. As well as the way the city is today. It’s a mature city so it’s not the same city it was 10 years ago.
I think that Dubai has put itself in that league and now being in that league, there’s only one way it’s going for luxury – up. This is because the demand outweighs the supply today. There’s huge demand and supply still is not enough to match that demand.
We’ve seen that first-hand in our project in the Canal where the apartment started at $5m, and we had a sell out within a few weeks, and the same thing with the Palm, we sold out the Palm in a week’s time. It shows you that demand is very, very strong.
Has luxury real estate in Dubai entered bubble territory?
I don’t think so. Because the supply of luxury today in Dubai is very limited. It means you have a few areas that are considered ultra luxury, and those areas cannot easily be repeated. Today if you go to London, you have Mayfair, Belgravia, Park Lane, Knightsbridge as the ultra-luxury real estate markets and the reason why prices don’t drop much there is because it can’t be replicated.
I think that’s the same thing in Dubai now. Certain areas cannot be replicated, and everyone wants to be there. That’s just simple economics, every time more people want it, less people are selling, and the prices keep on going up.
I think certain products in certain locations, the ultra-luxury, is not in a bubble and I think we still have a lot of price improvement to come. Today, the price per square foot in the ultra- ultra-luxury is between $1,100 to $2,000. I was in London last week and the One Hyde Park penthouse is I think around GBP8000 a square foot, which comes to around AED35,000 plus a 15 percent stamp duty which takes it up to AED40,000 per square foot.
So, Dubai is 10 to 20 percent of the price of a city like London, and some of the products we see in Dubai are unbelievable. Our products, for example, some of them the ceiling heights are nine metres.
You’re not going to find that anywhere in London or New York. In Dubai, you can have your own private pool in your apartment, so the product beats the product we’ve seen in other cities, and the price is still 10 to 20 percent of the price of other global cities such as London, New York, Monaco. You look at all of them, Dubai’s luxury is still cheap compared to them.
What would your advice be to other young aspiring entrepreneurs?
I learned a lot of lessons early on. So, when I first started out, I made a lot of mistakes. I lost money in a few businesses. I then realised afterwards it was a lesson, and I learned a lot out of it, and I wouldn’t make the same mistakes. I think something I’d say to people is everyone makes mistakes, you will make mistakes, but the most important key attribute from it is make sure you learn from that mistake and you won’t do it again.
Admit your mistakes when you’re wrong. Don’t try to say I wasn’t wrong and don’t cover it up. Admit your mistake and just try to learn from it.
How would you describe your management style in one word?
Tough. If you ask employees they will not tell you I’m an easy boss to have, I’m a tough person to deal with, but that gets results.