Knicked lots of these from Zachary Seward who does a far better version in the WSJ.

My Foursquare Checkins by WeePlaces.com.

Occasional snaps over at Tumblr and Flickr.

Emaar was my first client at my first job out of university (a consulting gig at Andersen). The company had launched with a heavily oversubscribed IPO based on nothing but vague plans to develop Dubai‘s ‘High Growth Corridor’, now better known as New Dubai and the backing of the government and then crown prince Sheikh Mohamed.

Shiekh Mohamed had recently spent a few hundred million dollars building the iconic Burj AlArab and the Emirates Towers and it had become very obvious very quickly that he was in charge of the city and that he was on an ambitious mission to transform it much as his father had in the 70s and 80s.

Emaar was a tiny company at the time, with an executive team of about a dozen people working out of temporary offices in the Dubai World Trade Center complex (that Emaar CEO Mohammed AlAbbar used to run. In a classic Dubai development, AlAbbar was relieved of all duties related to companies – DWTC, Dubal etc – officially overseen by Sheikh Hamdan, Sheikh Mohamed’s older brother. This was one of the first of many falling outs between AlAbbar and eminent political figures in the region).

Our engagement team at Andersen was small and working out of the Emaar offices, we had constant access to the firm’s senior management. Mohamed AlAbbar was still at the helm of the Department of Economic Development, where he first established himself as a force in the local business community. He would come into Emaar in the afternoons after the DED had closed for the day. The firm’s initial strategy was focused on super-luxurious master-planned gated-communities. They had launched Emirates Hills but sales were slow and the company was trying to figure out how to spur growth. The launch of its Dubai Marina development (the world’s largest man-made marina) was an initial step in the direction that lead to Emaar’s astounding success: opening up sales to foreigners and catering to the city’s burgeoning middle-classes. Emaar’s management team were a mixed bag in terms of abilities and experience, one of the company’s major challenges in those days was recruiting and retaining world-class talent, Dubai was still very much off the global radar at the time. But even in those early days AlAbbar was obviously a serious talent. Super-charismatic, strategically brilliant and shrewd as needed. There’s no doubt in my mind that the history books will identify him as one of the most visionary Emiratis of his generation. Most of Dubai’s recent successes can be traced back to him. Most of Dubai’s missteps to his rivals.

Burj AlArab was announced in 1994 and was completed in 2000. Its success as with so many projects completed in the Dubai Decade (the naughty noughties) took even Dubai’s leaders by surprise. Initially planned as a monument to put Dubai on the map, it did more than that becoming a viable business – thanks in no small part to the newly minted Russian super-rich and their love of our ostentatious and sunny little-city-state- and helping to launch one of Dubai’s best companies – Jumeirah. Each success egged on the ruling classes to take bigger and brasher (and it must be said sillier) gambles. Early on in the decade Sheikh Mohamed, advised by McKinsey and former McKinsey-ites, launched important and strategically sound projects that aimed to make Dubai the regional hub for media, technology, healthcare, finance and tourism. Unfortunately the implementation on many of these strategic initiatives left lots to be desired (Dubailand in particular, planned as Dubai’s answer to Disneyland was stupendously mismanaged). Still there were plenty of definite successes including Dubai Media and Internet Cities, the Jumeirah hotels, and decent enough starts for Dubai Healthcare City and the Dubai International Financial Center.
Over time though the small circle of advisers to the rulers grew and combined with more liquidity than anyone knew what to do with (thanks to high oil-prices and low US interest rates – both a byproduct of China’s economic emergence), announced projects got more and more outlandish: The world’s biggest hotel, a Las Vegas strip without the gambling, 3 giant palm-shaped islands, The World islands, rotating ski slopes in the desert etc.

Emaar saw the Dubai bubble bursting earlier than others leading it on to geographic diversification (some – India, Egypt, and most importantly Saudi, more successful than others – its US foray was terribly mistimed leading to a bankruptcy filing). But the secret of the company’s success and profits was tied to the model of receiving free or dirt-cheap land from the Dubai government and developing highly-profitable developments that simultaneously helped Dubai reach its regional hub goal. Hence the Burj Dubai launch. Over the last few years Emaar was a client of the marketing agency I co-founded in Dubai and within the company they would refer to the Downtown Dubai project as Mohamed AlAbbar’s Mona Lisa – his masterpiece. He was so involved in the project that even the Ramadan tent we designed and operated for Emaar had to have his sign-off before we could get the go-ahead. My friends at the company would tell me how he was involved in even the choice of tiles used in the Armani residences that would occupy the first few floors of the world’s tallest building (alongside the world’s first Armani Hotel).
Whatever your opinion on his leadership style, there can be no doubting AlAbbar’s achievements at Emaar. While his domestic rivals piled on enough debt to bankrupt the city-state, Emaar delivered world-class projects, consistently impressive profits and a world-class organization. It just takes a short walk around the Downtown Dubai development to appreciate its corporate excellence.
Still the launch of Burj Dubai marked the frothiness era of the Dubai Decade. We allowed the Anything is Possible outlook to become our strategy.

As any student of recent history will tell you, the world’s tallest building almost always opens after the bubble that produced it has burst (Empire State, Petronas Towers – see The Economist chart below that compares economic growth of the relevant country when a tower was opened, with the respective annual growth rate enjoyed half a decade earlier). And so we have the unfortunately and unsexily rechristened Burj Khalifa that officially opened yesterday marking an era of living in Abu Dhabi‘s shadow and under its wings (Check this BBC video of the opening fireworks).

Dubai had an incredible run and it is mission accomplished in terms of paving a way for a modern Middle Eastern city. Its influence (good and bad) is visible throughout the troubled region and Doha and Abu Dhabi (the two cities that will share this new decade) will become greater cities thanks to the experimentation and mistakes made on our watch.

So congratulations are in order for Dubai, Emaar, SHeikh Mohamed and Mohamed AlAbbar on the spectacular launch of the Burj Khalifa. Lets see what Doha and Abu Dhabi have in store for tens.

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Dubai, at the vanguard of globalization and home to a monumental property bubble (relative to its tiny economy) has not taken the Great Deleveraging well (although at least we are in good company). There’s little doubt that there is more pain to come as we work through the aftermath of the era of excess (in which we partook with typical Dubai extravagance).
However the recent $20billion bond offering ($10billiion of which was subscribed to by the UAE‘s Central Bank i.e. Abu Dhabi) should allow the city-state to move from survival mode to strategizing mode.

There is plenty for Dubai to do in order to clean up the bubble’s fallout including introducing bankruptcy laws, recapitalizing its banks and updating its work permit laws.

Looking strategically beyond the bubble, I want to focus on what I believe is a huge opportunity and potentially an important pillar in building a sustainable recovery for the city: Entrepreneurship.

Entrepreneurship is a part of Dubai’s DNA.
It has been in frantic start-up, high-growth mode almost continuously since Sheikh Rashid’s audacious port investment in the 70s. The city’s business families had to look outside the emirate early on by virtue of the limited size of the local market and are now some of the region’s leading enterprises (MAF, Landmark, AlGhurair / Mashreq, Al Futtaim). The city-state itself has created some truly world-class companies including Emirates, Emaar and Jumeirah. It has also been home to many other smaller entrepreneurial successes over the decades (Flip Media, Byrne, GEMS, ITP).
The early entrepreneurial spirit continued with Sheikh Mohamed’s even more frantic rush to build Dubai into the region’s undisputed commercial and tourism hub. Both rulers acted more as businessmen than statesmen (whether or not you agree with that approach is a topic for another blog post) and worked hard to appeal to traders and businesses from around the world.
The strategy has been a success in terms of producing the region’s best business infrastructure, both hard and soft.

Dubai has succeeded at attracting globally competitive talent that puts the city far ahead of. Dubai’s talent pool is far deeper and wider than any other city in the Middle East. The key now is to capitalize on this talent rather than allowing outdated laws to drive it away (especially as Doha and Abu Dhabi are poised inevitably to draw away the cream regardless).

As a former serial entrepreneur in Dubai and a part of the team that developed the city’s first SME-based initiative I have a few ideas that Dubai could quickly implement:

Employment Visas
Update the employment visa laws such that out of work skilled workers can, at a price, remain in the emirate, perhaps even self-sponsoring themselves. At the minimum the city should extend the period that skilled expatriate workers can spend in between visas as they search for new opportunities.

Licensing
Introduce a new type of license at the Department of Economic Development that allows for start-ups with lower capital requirements than currently required, but with corresponding limitations on the businesses:
Specifically, different bank account types could be introduced that limit the amount or usage of checks (one of the main reasons for the current min. capital requirements I believe). Limitations on how many employees can be sponsored on these licenses. Upper limits on revenues (although how you control this may be difficult).
This would be especially helpful to those in the finance, media and service sectors – the capital-light, knowledge-heavy industries that Dubai needs to fulfill its knowledge-based economy aspirations.

Incubators
The flip-side of the stupendous over-building that just took place in the city should be the falling prices of in many cases world-class offices. This is terrible for developers and bankers but is great for budding entrepreneurs. The city happens to own a lot of the commercial and residential developments that will be flooding the market soon. Segments of these should be bundled and offered to entrepreneurs at attractive rates with basic business services and administrative support. Licensing and other government costs should also be included in the offerings which should be guaranteed for a three period.

PR
Leverage Dubai’s core competency – its PR machine (although the shine has come off this a little recently). Launch a campaign to entice other recently out of work talent from all over the world by highlighting the city’s advantages: Dubai is soon to have one of the best value-offerings in terms of infrastructure (office, roads, airport, residential) in the world (although we lag shamefully in telecoms), lets let the world know. The sooner local developers face the music and reduce their rent and sales rates (and book the associated losses I’m afraid) the sooner the city can start rebuilding, turning a current liability into a future asset).

And more

• Convince the UAE to start acting like one country. This would mean Dubai-based companies, particularly those in the real-estate and finance sectors, could serve the capital where growth should remain relatively resilient throughout the downturn – the capital’s economy is surprisingly unwelcoming to Dubai-based companies.
• Open up the Mohammed Bin Rashid Foundation to non-locals.
• Set up and Angel Investment Fund (pool some of Dubai’s leasing businesses to co-fund it).
• Encourage emerging markets’ companies to set up regional bases in Dubai (China, India et all will continue to grow through this mess).

It’s long been known that entrepreneurship is central to sustainable growth. Dubai has gone some way to creating the required conditions. It’s the opportune time now to go all the way. And best of all, it’s an affordable (part) solution to the city’s crisis.

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What’s with the sudden press love? 7 Days have a quote from me on the seminal Motown label turning 50. Ohm Records / Electric Motel’s Satyen Choksi and Neil DJ Solo are far more eloquent.

BBC 1Xtra are celebrating with a Golden Motown Weekend.

Thank you Detroit: J Dilla, Carl Craig, Electrfying Mojo, Derrick May, Donald Byrd, Ted Nugent, Aaliyah, MC5, Iggy, White Stripes, Recloose, Juan Atkins, Kevin Saunderson, Moodymann, Theo Parrish, Amp Fiddler, Waajeed.

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• A to Z of Motown (news.bbc.co.uk)
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• kings of leon vs. the four tops – mashup! (popbytes.com)
• Motown – Unique Genre of the 1960s and 1970s (psychedelichippiemusic.blogspot.com)
• Posthumous J Dilla album on the way (pastemagazine.com)
• TED NUGENT: Classic Titles To Be Reissued (roadrunnerrecords.com)

I have been working on setting up a Middle East contemporary art fund to take advantage of the macro trends taking place in the market.