Gregor Stinner, a German national, is the chief executive of the yachting enterprise Art Marine. He was asked by The Abraaj Group in May this year to become a senior adviser to the company for six weeks as a temporary appointment to come up with a recovery plan or to rethink Art Marine’s direction. On June 1 he was officially appointed chief executive of the company, which sells yachts and sailing vessels. Mr Stinner was brought up in Egypt and has worked for Merrill Lynch and Lehman Brothers in London and Oppenheimer in New York. He also became the power generation company Alstom’s country president of Egypt and regional director for Jordan, Sudan and Libya. Passionate about seafaring craft, he has a wife and two boys, the youngest of whom is 16, at American School of Dubai.
7am
Some people may see that as a late start, but I have a Mena time clock and stay up late and my days are incredibly busy with no real structure nor schedule. I begin the day with a coffee and two yoghurts. I spend the first hour of my day at home answering emails, I see it as my respite before the corporate challenges begin.
8.30am
Our office is on Sheikh Zayed Road, opposite the Al Nabooda VW showroom. My door is always open to our 56 staff here in Dubai. We have a new team that does need more structure and that will come. I begin by catching up on what I couldn’t do the day before.
When I took over there were massive commitments made to partner shipyards being stuck with a lot of stock which had to be sold without regard to the rate. I had to create cash flow, so it was a case of losing a lot of money. My challenge is to revamp into profitability, to make sure we have a coherent, accountable, management style knowing where we want to be and what we want to be. We have to detach ourselves from the past and now look forward. That is why my mornings are rarely the same.
10am
I have put myself in charge of marketing. We used to deal in all sizes of boats, now we do not. We only want to deal with high net worth individuals who want high- end product. The big shipyards today don’t do medium-sized boats, they usually start at 60 metres or 70 metres and we want to capture this market with a very aggressive but also very intelligent way of approaching our customers. We will be using the network of The Abraaj Group and our own prospects, which is why we have created a new logo. The new tag line is “passion at sea” because everybody in the organisation is now connected to the water. We are not just doing a job, we are sea people with salt in our veins. This shows the public, our partners and our customers there is a new momentum.
1pm
I do not eat lunch and rarely have time for it, if I do it will be a Subway sandwich. It’s not the healthiest of eating habits but as it’s rare I don’t see or feel any downside to it. We have a lot of events that take a lot of planning and need organising. The branding, building and staging of our events can be acutely labour-intensive. We recently showed at the first ever Qatar Boat Show and secured the pole position with the best stand there. We will not allow any flaws – and no reflection on the company that is not showing the excellence in our DNA and what we want to achieve.
3pm
We have to report to our shareholders, The Abraaj Group, with demands and processes that we have to abide by, which is normal. However, in this business one has forecast very cleverly in what commitments one makes. It can need some give and take between both parties in making a serious financial commitment but the accountability is important.
7.30pm to 3am
I try and get home to eat dinner with my wife and son. My wife is a very good cook, I am always ready to eat but the job does not always allow this simple pleasure. Over the past week the latest I have crept into the house from work was 3am, the earliest 7.30pm, but I still need to focus on emails and other work. My job needs a certain social interaction and that often is in the evening. If I am able I will try and get to the gym three times a week and maybe play tennis with my son at the weekend. The end of my day is watching the Discovery Channel, ready for my new discoveries the next morning.
ascott@thenational.ae