The golf enthusiast has nothing but good things to say about the city he now calls home
Tell us a little bit of yourself
I was brought up in England and Portugal. I was an estate agent from the age of 17. And the recession in the UK had been going on for about six months. When I looked elsewhere in the world to find a market that was doing well, Dubai came up as the only real estate market that was bucking the trend at the time, so I moved here.
My favourite way to spend the weekend is to be in the pool with my wife and children. I also like traveling with my family and enjoy playing golf.
How and when did you move here, and what inspired the move?
I relocated to Dubai from London in September 2008 when the world was suffering a recession. The first nine months of living here, things were quite quiet for me and then the phones started ringing and I’ve never looked back.
How has living in Dubai shaped your sense of belonging and community?
When I initially moved to Dubai, I got the impression from most expats that they would be here for a few years to take advantage of the exceptional standard of living and salary rates, then move back to their home country, having feathered their nest.
Having lived here for 16 years, it seems the prospect of people living here for longer and longer is far more apparent. And to those who have stayed, Dubai is becoming home more and more every year. It’s still potentially a city that I would find it hard to retire in. But as of now, the way people treat each other, the security, the safety, the education and the business opportunities mean that I have full commitment to the city and really feel like Dubai is home. Now, my home country, the UK, is perhaps somewhere I might retire to.
Can you tell us about a particular person in Dubai who has had a significant impact on your life and why?
There are many people that have influenced my life in Dubai, not least my wife who will influence my life forever. But there was an individual called Antoine who I met in my first few days here, who I’ve remained friends with for the last 15 years, and he is something of a role model for me, someone I can rely on for good advice. I feel thankful to have met him so early on in my Dubai journey.
There have been clients that have shaped my life, again, in the advice and the mentorship that they offer me, but there has been one client, who I remain friends with now, whose purchase of a property shaped my life going forward – and even the lives of my children -from the business that we’ve done together.
The positive financial changes in my life mean the trajectory of my life and my children’s life has changed dramatically. And it also is quite helpful that he’s a very awesome guy!
What is your favourite thing about the emirate and why?
My favorite thing about the emirate is the standard of living. Many people look at Dubai and think it’s just an insanely expensive place to live. But actually, if you cut your cloth to suit your coat, you can live a very, very comfortable life here without spending a huge amount of money. You know, people see these, these restaurant bills and bar bills of the hundreds of thousands of dirhams, and sometimes even millions of dirhams.
But actually, you can quite comfortably go out for dinner with a family of four and eat world-class food at good prices . So the option is there to live a very luxurious life, but also live a life of comfort without spending a huge amount of money. I love that the global mindset is that you have to be incredibly wealthy to live here, which actually isn’t true. So there’s two sides of the city which I really enjoy.
A myth about Dubai that you would like to bust
The myths about Dubai being a place where you have to be incredibly wealthy to live comfortably just isn’t true. You can live a life of complete luxury where all your whims are catered for. Or you can live a comfortable life with your family without really having to spend a huge amount of money.
Could you share a memorable moment when you felt the genuine warmth and hospitality of the Dubai community in your own life?
You feel it every day. And it sounds like a cliche, but when you’re surrounded by like-minded people, all here to improve their lives, and the lives of their families, everybody helps each other to succeed. There’s a strong camaraderie as the expat population are all away from home, and they all have the same goal, and same drive. Entrepreneurial minds are very much vaunted here and almost everyone is of an entrepreneurial mind. And those kinds of people kind of flock together so the city has a great feeling of camaraderie about it.
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