Future builder

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AMBITION: Amjad has plans to double his portfolio to US$6bn in 2008.

Mehdi Amjad went from selling computers to building high-tech skyscrapers in less than a decade. The youthful Omniyat CEO tells Tamara Walid why it's important to have a goal in life.

At 30 years of age, Mehdi Amjad oversees a real estate portfolio worth around US$3bn - which he plans to double in 2008. No wonder he's smiling amid the media scrum that swiftly surrounds him after a press conference in Dubai.

Back in 1995, when the young entrepreneur was just starting out, equipped with little more than enthusiasm and an idea to start his own computer business, he could hardly have expected to be building futuristic skyscrapers with world-renowned architects just over a decade later.

As CEO of Omniyat Holdings and Omniyat Properties, he manages over 500 staff and oversees a property portfolio that includes The Pad, a US$159m tower that looks uncannily like an iPod and is similarly technologically advanced.

With plans to launch eight new projects in 2008, the pressure is mounting for Amjad. "This has always been my passion. I am an entrepreneur by nature. I started out as an entrepreneur and then supported that with an organised, structured and institutional approach to lead the business forward," he says.

Looking at the success of Amjad's ventures, this formula appears to be working. Starting his business life at an early age with the family company, Amjad decided to go his own way and found his own venture in 1995. Al Masa Computers was born and within nine years had grown into the largest IT distributor in the region. Today it has a turnover of around US$450m.

Now Amjad is trying his luck in real estate after making several shrewd real estate investments outside Dubai.

After exiting from those investments in 2003, the next decision was already made, and real estate became his main focus.

"With this rationale, the success of our previous investments, and the momentum in the market we decided to enter the real estate business," says Amjad.

Al Masa Holdings was founded as the property arm of the company, and was renamed Omniyat Properties in 2004.

"We have expanded way beyond what we'd imagined as a property developer," he says. Today, Omniyat Properties prides itself on developing futuristic and high-tech buildings, with renowned architects such as Zaha Hadid working on its projects. Innovation at Omniyat is more than just a concept, says Amjad.

"Innovation is our style. It is in the Omniyat DNA," he says, adding: "Every project we enter we try to innovate and create 21st century environments whether it's offices, residential, or hotels. We do that through innovation and coming up with new ideas and concepts."

With hundreds of real estate projects at various stages of development in Dubai, it is a challenge to make a development stand out from the crowd, although Omniyat seems to have achieved that by blending global architectural names such as Hadid with high-tech features.

Projects such as The Opus, The Pad, The Binary, and The Gemini have received significant media attention since their launch because of their futuristic designs.

His US$266.7m ‘floating' towers, to be located in Business Bay in Dubai, will appear to hover above the ground and will feature a ‘void' clad with a curved glass curtain wall.

Describing it as a structure that "challenges traditional concepts of office space", Amjad believes the building also successfully combines art and performance, with form and functionality.

The Pad is another Omniyat project, described as one of the most technologically-advanced residential buildings in the world. The US$159m tower is also the most expensive residential building in Business Bay.

"Two of our projects have been the most iconic to date - The Pad and The Opus - The Pad being the most technologically advanced, and The Opus being a beautiful art piece that has achieved worldwide fame," says Amjad, who promises more ventures with internationally renowned architects.

The focus on technology came about after research on what consumers and businesses want from their working or living environments, explains Amjad.

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