Shining star

Executive Director Abid Junaid tells Edward Poultney how the group has come on since its creation at the outset of Dubai's freehold legislation.

The opening of the emirate of Dubai to foreign freehold ownership in 2003 has led to exponential growth in the real estate projects that, in turn, have helped fuel the city's rise to prominence.

One of the first to take advantage of the legislative change was the ETA Ascon Group, who had been active in the region as contractors before launching the development wing of the company - ETA Star Property Developers.

"We were one of the earliest contractors in Dubai," explains Abid Junaid, ETA Star's Executive Director.

"As a company we'd been involved in every aspect of Dubai's development; civil infrastructure; the power sector; aviation, and we had a wealth of knowledge and experience."

"So, when the freehold market opened up in 2003 it was a natural extension for us to move into the real estate business."

Not that the holding group was not active as a property developer before that - ETA already had projects in India and Sri Lanka - but it was the launch of the UAE operations that heralded the need for a dedicated company.

"We wanted to form a company that had its own identity and its own people that were different from the parent company. At the same time it could benefit from the experience and the goodwill that the parent has been able to generate over the 30 years of its existence."

In order to successfully create the new entity, Junaid had to oversee the acquisition and nurture of a whole new set of skills and staff.

"The big challenges were on the marketing and sales side to establish an identity and a brand and to hone those skills - that was something that we'd never had before because we were not in the retail sales arena, we were more into institutional sales."

The early investment into personalised care seems to have paid dividends as the company now works with over 9,000 residential customers in the post-handover stage.

The company has since also spread its wings beyond its Dubai launch pad.

"We don't only have projects in the Gulf," Junaid proudly points out. "We have them in Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia but, going forward, we're looking at Turkey and Egypt."

"We already have a presence in India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka and we're looking at the Far East too, so we are truly global in terms of our company footprint."

Within the company's geographical remit Junaid is not concentrating on one economic tier, a strategy that would be financially unsustainable in the long run: "Although there are a good number of developers, including ourselves, who have projects in the luxury market sector there is only so much you can do there."

"In any country or city you can have 10% to 20% in that tier but then you have to have the balance in the rest - Dubai is no exception; the rest have to be aimed at lower income groups."