FOR KHALAF AL HABTOOR, LOYALTY TO HIS COUNTRY COMES BEFORE ALL
▶ The billionaire businessman tells Shireena Al Nowais that he enjoys speaking up on issues affecting people’s lives … and can still beat anyone on the tennis court
You may be younger than I am but I feel younger. Retirement is out of the question. If you ask me how old I am, I’m 37
With Khalaf Al Habtoor, what you see is what you get. He is toughtalking, sometimes vociferous and often controversial.
From humble beginnings, the multi-billionaire businessman is understandably proud of his achievements.
The son of a camel trader and landowner, Mr Al Habtoor and his family have wealth estimated at $3.4 billion (Dh12.4bn).
Al Habtoor Group, the family conglomerate of which he is founder and chairman, employs about 10,000 people.
“I started from zero with no capital, office or car,” Mr Al Habtoor says in his surprisingly modest one-storey office in Downtown Dubai. “I didn’t have anything. I had no money and when I was growing up electricity was the stuff of dreams.”
In 1970, in his early 20s, he decided to go it alone and establish an engineering company. Slowly but surely, the company expanded, at first taking on only small projects, then bidding for larger ones. He later added a car dealership.
Now Mr Al Habtoor’s business empire stretches far beyond construction. The company has interests in property, hospitality, publishing and the car industry.
Al Habtoor Motors is the exclusive dealer for Bentley, McLaren and Bugatti in the UAE. The group’s hotel division owns The Ritz-Carlton in Budapest, the Hilton in Wembley, London, and the Hotel Imperial in Vienna, Austria.
“To have the energy and appetite to work you also need to have fuel,” Mr Al Habtoor has said. “My fuel is my grandchildren in the house, who are my oxygen. That is the main fuel to me. It’s not just all business.”
It is clear as he discusses his day-to-day routine that the businessman in his 70s – he does not know his exact age – is as energetic outside office hours as he is at work.
At times his no-nonsense attitude gives way to a more mischievous demeanour, especially as he jokingly explains his apparently unrivalled prowess on the tennis court.
“If I play tennis against you, you will see I will win,” he grins broadly. “You’ll be breathing heavily and asking for water while I beat you. I beat everyone.
“You may be younger than I am but I feel younger. Retirement is out of the question. If you ask me how old I am, I’m 37. I’m young.”
Understanding Mr Al Habtoor’s insatiable appetite for work makes it easier to fathom how he has built such an enviable empire so rapidly.
The father of six, who has 26 grandchildren, gets up at dawn each day to prepare for his first meeting, which usually starts at about 7.30am.
He then works straight through to 2pm when, without fail, he picks up a racquet and heads to the tennis court. After that, it is back to work. The near ceaseless hard graft has paid off in spades. His company has been behind some of Dubai’s biggest projects including the Burj Al Arab, built in 1999.
“I don’t believe in holidays,” Mr Al Habtoor says. “Work is my life. Work is a holiday. My employees are just an extension of my family.”
His continued success has arguably allowed him to publicly express his often forthright views on UAE government policy. As a much-respected figure across the country, there is a great degree of tolerance for some of his controversial opinions.
In recent months, the billionaire has been particularly vocal in his criticism of the UAE banning WhatsApp voice calls.
He also urged ministers to reverse their decision to introduce VAT last January, insisting that its implementation was damaging the economy by hindering foreign investment.
“I’m not upsetting them because they know that I’m only arguing for changes that benefit the country and benefit the people,” Mr Al Habtoor says. “I’m not raising these issues solely for personal advantage.
“I’m doing it for their benefit as well so I don’t think they’re upset at all. When I spoke of the need to build more housing it wasn’t to help me. I’m just reminding the government of what the people need.
“We’re all human and we can’t remember everything. I believe that if you’re loyal to your country and your people then you have to speak the truth. They know that I’m only speaking up in the interest of the people.” Mr Al Habtoor also addresses his latest bugbear: the Arab press. With the exception of more experienced outlets, he criticises much of the media operating in the wider Gulf region for a lack of expertise and professionalism.
“When I look at the Arab media in general and compare it with the US and other western media, there are a lot of things I don’t like,” he says.
“In the West, the way they talk, the way they dress – we don’t have that. They do their homework and know how to present. We don’t have qualified people. I want the press to be mature and to represent us as Arabs. Sometimes you even see them wearing a tie with jeans. This is unacceptable.”
Views on dress sense aside there is very little about Mr Al Habtoor that can be called old-fashioned.
Today the entrepreneur and philanthropist doesn’t appear to concern himself with the past but keeps his eyes fixed firmly on the road ahead.
Mr Al Habtoor urges the UAE’s younger generations to take advantage of all that he and others have worked so hard to build.
And he stresses the importance of considered debate and reasoned thinking.
“God gave us the greatest gift – the brain,” he says. “Everyone should use it well”.