The darling of Dubai

"We would like to welcome back our favourite golfing son, or, as we call him ‘the Darling of Dubai'," announces David Spencer, CEO of Jumeirah Golf Estates, to a large media gathering. "Greg's not due back for another week but I'm sure we'll see him very soon," he jokes. Then again, this might just turn out to be true. Next to his Florida base the Middle East, and Dubai in particular, is Greg Norman's second home. The ‘Great White Shark', former world number one and now head of a multi-million dollar global business empire, tells me in his constantly enthusiastic tone that he has visited the emirate "countless times" since he announced he was adding his name and unique design skills to a trio of golf courses.

"Trust me mate," he exclaims in his subtle Aussie twang, and letting go of his girlfriend and former US tennis starlet Chris Evert for a second. "Building a golf course in the sand is hard work."

The Fire, Water, Earth and Wind courses, part of Jumeirah Golf Estates' ambitious plan to have four varying, world-class golf venues, is one of Norman's most significant and personally challenging business operations, but unlike many of his peers and other sportsmen, he spotted the emirate's potential extremely early on in its young history and development.

Visiting Dubai in 1994 for one of the Desert Classic's early years as an international championship venue, the Shark hit some great balls and made some great scores, all under par, but while he completed his final round he also spotted something others didn't - "this place was about to explode," he tells me. Now he is seen as one of Dubai's expatriate pioneers, helping it rise from the desert into the region's most colossal business centre. But was this just a stroke of luck, or a large slice of visionary business genius?

"It was a culmination of both - a culmination of being fortunate in my position where the time I was invited to come and play," he says. "When I came here I saw and heard what the ruler wanted to do, and believed in what he was doing because he could see things moving very quickly.

"All I did then was to identify the position I could help and that was in golf course design. To be successful in business and in golf you need a little bit of luck on your side." Of course it's not that simple, but Norman, as any top sports and businessman does, makes it all look very easy.

"That's the trick but you have to constantly work at it," he adds realistically. The Shark has a multitude of self-branded companies that, through his use of "concentric circles", as he labels them (where other businesses spin out of existing companies), continue to grow and expand year after year.

From everything golf-related sold through Great White Shark Enterprises to his 20 year-old and 60-completed course design business; a turf company; his own extensive range of Shark emblazoned clothing; Greg Norman Grille (a luxurious harbourside restaurant in Sydney); Australian Prime, a Wagyu and premium beef producer; his own production company; and SkyShades, a shading business that produces roof and sun protection covering and that promotes skin cancer prevention, he has done the lot, and more.

The concentric circles, however, have once again worked their magic with Norman recently launching his own luxury interior design business in Dubai entitled Rosewood by Greg Norman alongside Italian designers B&B Italia and local partner Mohi-din bin Hendi. However, he refuses to be drawn on whether he would ever set up a permanent business or even home in the emirate. In many ways, he adds, he has already been a permanent resident.

"I've been here since 1994 and you could almost say I've been here permanently since. I usually come here three times a year, minimum. I see my business, what I call concentric circles; the business where you start out playing golf, then you get into design, then you get into development or housing design with Rosewood," he says.

"These are all concentric circles that all touch themselves coming through and that's the aim and the heart of expanding a business - where you keep a common thread all the way through."

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