Hisham Al Gurg is a man of many talents. With almost two decades of experience in setting up and running new businesses across MENA in a variety of sectors, he is also one of the UAE’s leading lights when it comes to investment. So much so that he was recruited by the royal family of Dubai to be an investment advisor, working in the Private Office of HH Sheikh Saeed Bin Ahmed Al Maktoum, as well as being the CEO of Al Fajer Investments and Development – the investment division of Al Fajer Enterprises, a holding group of companies owned by HH Sheikh Hasher Al Maktoum. Having worked at Emirates and Global Management Consultants following graduation from Southwest Texas State University, Al Gurg is also a graduate of the Sheikh Mohammed Leadership Programme, UAE sponsor for Chinese petroleum giant Sinopec Group, board member of private equity company Signature Group, and group CEO of SEED Group. With SEED Group, he has helped start and manage eight growing companies in six different fields across MENA. All in all, he has concluded and managed projects and investments worth more than $1bn. Pretty good going for somebody who graduated in computer science. “I had zero experience in business – nothing at all,” he says, looking back at how he got to where he is now. “I was very lucky that I found a business model that worked. I had others that failed miserably, but that’s the kind of thing you learn from.” The business model he talks about is the one which catapulted him in the region’s big league. The company was Cityline International – the region’s first Audiotext organisation, launched in 2000, which expanded into eight countries in less than 18 months, and generated more than $300m for the Middle Eastern market. Al Gurg nonchalantly explains: “After that I kept starting companies. Once you’ve got a model that works, you can easily and more confidently move forward. “I started working with the royal family of Dubai, working with them on and off while doing my own businesses, and it translated into SEED Group, which launched in 2004.” SEED Group covers a number of sectors including legal services, media production, real estate investment and management, general trading, business services, telecommunications, and interior and architectural design.If anybody can speak with authority and clarity about investment and entrepreneurship, Al Gurg is that man. I sit with him at his plush office in Burjuman Business Tower to get his take on the current start-up environment in the UAE, as well as find out what advice he would give to budding entrepreneurs. Immediately he proves his worth. “My advice would be to find something that’s working in another city or country and tailor it to the market you’re in,” he begins. “Go lean, start on a small scale, and when you find a formula that works, put more and more resources into it. “One of the biggest lessons you learn in business is where you’re strong, and where you’re weak. You have to compensate for your weaknesses by building resources. I compensated for my weaknesses by having people around me who complemented me.” Al Gurg suggests bringing in partners to not only share their expertise, but also share in the investment, arguing that consultants and advisors don’t have enough skin in the game to make the best impact. “If you bring in partners, then the advice they give is more calculated and studies,” he says He also warns against trying to cover every angle of a business by yourself. “One of the biggest mistakes entrepreneurs make is they try to do everything themselves. In areas they don’t know about they try to cut corners and costs. “You need to have the right resources in place – you need to get the right employees. Go and find the people who can do the job properly. You can reach people all around the world if you need to – there’s no part of your business that you can’t outsource to somebody if you need to, no matter where they are in the world. “Don’t try to do everything yourself.” Having been there and done that, Al Gurg is well versed in what it takes to succeed as an entrepreneur, and when pressed to name one skill entrepreneurs need to make ground in the market, it doesn’t take him long to answer. He says: “After being able to create a good business model, the number one area you need to master is sales. If you can’t sell then maybe you shouldn’t be in business. If you can’t sell to investors, customers, employees, people you need support from, or any number of other people, then you may succeed by luck but you won’t go very far.
