Turning failure to success

There are many different ways to start a business. Omar Al Busaidi has chosen the scattergun approach.
He has spent the past decade establishing a number of enterprises including an advertising agency and a business introductions firm. He has also dabbled in property. By his own admission, most of these projects have failed spectacularly.
His family jokes about the array of business cards he has acquired and the range of his self-appointed titles: chairman, chief executive, vice president, board member, business development executive.
"Even sheikhs don't have what you have," they tell him.
As an employee, Mr Al Busaidi has, until now, faired rather better than as an entrepreneur.
He got his first job immediately after leaving school at what is now Emirates NBD, and at the same time started a university course in marketing. "Working and studying changed everything for me," he recalls. "I identified opportunities where I worked."
As a bank clerk, one of his initiatives was to draw up a list of corporate service "do's and don'ts", which won him a letter of thanks from the then chairman and a promotion at the age of 18 to business development executive.
Disliking the bureaucracy involved in banking, Mr Al Busaidi then worked for the British Embassy and later the Dubai Chamber of Commerce. Realising he had a flair for making introductions and facilitating business deals, he set up Connections Middle East.
Unfortunately this coincided with the global economic downturn and while the business made enough money to cover costs, it wasn't profitable.
His various setbacks have not disheartened him. This marks him out from others who feel stigmatised by failure or who don't take risks. "Entrepreneurship here is not put into schools properly and not put into families. We always want something that is safe."
Many Emiratis belonging to his parents' generation had a rough upbringing, he explains. "They went from rags to a better situation. They don't want you to take risks. They want you to have this decent, calm life."
And despite her frustration with her son when he burnt through his savings yet again starting up a new business, Mr Al Busaidi's mother has been a staunch supporter of his endeavours.
She has been an "absolute driving force in everything in my career", he says. "She's like, 'Just because you are Emirati, don't think that things are always going to be good for you. It's very competitive out there. Lots of nationalities are going to flock to this region.
"There are not going to be that many opportunities. How many positions are there going to be in government?' She wanted me to have a complete profile."
After almost a decade of trying, at the age of 27, Mr Al Busaidi has now struck success. He and his business partner, Wael Al Haj, opened W Gents, a hair salon in Jumeirah Lake Towers that is doing a roaring trade. It hasn't been plain sailing; they had to fire a number of barbers after they first opened, but now they have a good team and the business is making a profit.
"We have what's different," he says. "When you come [to our salon] it's like going to a nightclub. People love the vibe - it's young and hip. Our clients know us, we build a rapport with them. It's Dh50 for a haircut - not that expensive, not that cheap. But people are coming in every other week."
The two partners plan to open in other locations. Mr Al Busaidi also has plans for a food business.
The young businessman has turned his string of failures into an asset and he is regularly invited to speak at UAE universities on the subject of entrepreneurship, leadership and doing business in the Middle East.
"I define success as coming back from failure," he says.
 
lgutcher@thenational.ae