Zack Shahin: Bridging the gap

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To come in and take over a bank's real estate division that has been running smoothly for over 30 years by announcing a complete revamp of the business model is a remarkable enough endeavour. To then bring the business, on the verge of an IPO launch set for sometime this year, to show net profits of 192% for 2006, your third full year at the helm, is little short of miraculous.

Yet Deyaar's CEO, Zack Shahin, sees little out of the ordinary in this feat, instead boasting that the group will ‘double' their growth figures next year, and by the glint in his eye as he announces this he is only half joking.

Shahin's idea at appointment was to expand the scope of the Dubai Islamic Bank subsidiary by marketing it as a ‘one-stop-shop' for a complete real estate package.

"We restructured in January 2004," he says, "we'd done property management and supervised developments on behalf of others, so my way of thinking was ‘why not do that for ourselves?'"

That is where the group's focus has been for the last three years, all the divisions have grown, but the onus has firmly been on property development. Ambitious expansion plans launched into projects in Lebanon and Turkey are now coming online, and future projects in Khazakstan and India, among other regions, are firmly on the drawing board.

Shahin is very clear on what makes Deyaar stand out in what many outsiders would consider to be a fairly overcrowded market.

"There are many good developers, brokers, rental agents out there, but none of them are consolidated under one group - which is what we've done; we're an end-to-end real estate provider."

The uniqueness of the local market; a larger transient population than indigenous citizens, none of whom were historically allowed to own property, coupled with a boom in high-end property developments, meant that the diversification to cover all facets of real estate management had not been attempted. Yet Shahin is certain that there was a gap to be exploited.

"The landlords are taken for a ride by the maintenance companies, who bill them a fortune to replace everything; they're also at the mercy of the renting agent who promises anything to rent the villa but then disappears leaving the landlord to honour the responsibility; you have the tenant who hears all kinds of stories from the broker who disappears and doesn't deal with service issues - that was where I felt there was a gap in the market."

By taking on the responsibility of managing every aspect of developing and running the property - and using the group's financial clout to push for mutually beneficial deals for bulk work from contractors - Shahin brought a new business model to the UAE.

Despite this he remains unconcerned about other companies jumping on the bandwagon and duplicating his ideas.

"What we're doing is not rocket science, it's not a secret that cannot be discovered," he says, "but I feel they'll have a long way to go.

"It takes time, you have to build the business, build relationships," he adds.

Shahin's whole strategy revolves around relationships; whether it is one-on-one interaction with staff at the company headquarters or professional interactions with contractors.

"Employees are like partners, treat them like that and they become shareholders - they want the business to do well," he says.

While Shahin is convinced that, as in any business, people have to like what they do in order to do it well, he has nothing but contempt for executives who forget the lessons they should have learnt on their way up the corporate ladder, something he avoids by regularly walking the floors of the corporate offices.

"Sometimes people forget the basic ingredients when they start to do well, they lose touch with their employees and with customers - that's the beginning of the end of their success."

He seems to thrive off the pace he sets himself and his colleagues:

"There is noone watching me here, there are no cameras to see how much I'm working - but it's fun, it has to be or you might as well not come into the office.

"The board would have been happy with much less growth over the last three years because our targets were much lower than that, but my team and my staff were all excited because they wanted more," he explains.

The friendly exterior does, however, mask a no-nonsense core. It is clear that Shahin has no patience with time wasters or people who cannot keep to agreed targets.

"Excuses are like noses, everybody has one," he says, "don't give me excuses, I may agree with you but the job remains undone - I want to hear how and when you're going to do it.

"Commitments are also non-negotiable. I will honour my end of the bargain and you better honour yours."

Outside of professional relationships, Shahin is convinced that Deyaar's formula for future success is equally dependent on a highly targeted two-fold marketing strategy.

Firstly concentrate on what you do and do it well, do not take on developments simply to have the numbers on the books.

"We have huge financial resources, there's nothing to stop us launching a zillion towers but you'd be like everybody else; our business model is to do fewer, do them well, turn them out on time in line with the end-users expectations," he says.

The second part of the strategy is to be completely aware of your market.

"The sell will become harder; consumers are becoming more educated, they want to know what they are getting, what the options, the payment plans - it's natural.

"You have to offer products matching certain profiles; certain segments won't take apartments without a TV room; some don't want an open plan kitchen leading to the sitting room. It's a generalisation but you cannot have one product to suit everybody's needs."

While the pressures of breaking the mould in regional real estate businesses seem to have had little effect on Shahin's ‘get-up-and-go' attitude he is quite clear on what the future holds both personally and professionally.

"As long as the chemistry between myself, the chairman and the shareholders continues and I enjoy it, I will be here as we aim to give the company a global presence in one shape or form," he says.

"But in ten years I want to be retired; I'm very clear on that, I want time with my family and friends, I want to enjoy life," he adds.

Whether the prospect of sitting back and looking over his past achievements will be enough to keep this charismatic leader happy or whether he is left seeking fresh challenges is something that only the future will show.

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