Mr Fix It

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HH Sheikh Maktoum Hasher Maktoum Al Maktoum speaks to Claire Ferris-Lay about the pressures of the family name.

Sheikh Maktoum Hasher Maktoum Al Maktoum is not a happy man. Al Nasr Sports Club has just lost its match to rivals Al Ain 2-0. For the nephew of Dubai’s Ruler, HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the game is more than just a fan’s loss. In April, his uncle, HH Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the UAE’s minister of finance and industry, appointed him the football club’s new chairman.

The team, Dubai’s first and oldest, hasn’t won a league title since 1986 so Sheikh Maktoum has his work cut out. But the club’s poor track record hasn’t stopped him instilling an aggressive new board to rebuild its squad and sign a host of new players. “I’m being known as Mr Fix It,” he grins as he sits back and relaxes. “It’s a high accolade to have but it’s also a very high pressured job because you don’t get to run normal healthy companies.”

Sheikh Maktoum doesn’t look like someone on a losing streak. Dressed in a traditional white dishdasha with an accent that tellingly reveals his education abroad, he represents the growing number of young Arabs educated abroad, who have returned home to run the family firm.

“When I travel and do business I don’t see myself as a Sheikh or an Al Maktoum, I am a businessman trying to do a business deal,” he says when asked about the pressure of the family name.

Sheikh Maktoum, who speaks no less than seven languages, studied business at Suffolk University in Boston before returning to Dubai to enter the world of business. At 24-years-old he became one of the founding investors of Virgin Megastores in the UAE. Today, as well as being the chairman of Al Nasr Sports Club, Sheikh Maktoum — or ‘Maek’ to his friends in America — is also the CEO of the UAE-based conglomerate Al Fajer Group, president of its real estate arm Al Fajer Properties, and director of Shadar Holdings, which in addition to Virgin Megastores also counts brands such as Promod, Pull & Bear and Bershka among its subsidiaries.

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READERS' COMMENTS

yes, very inspiring
Posted by Mick, Dubai, UAE on Tuesday 10 November 2009 at 11:45 UAE time


A great example of ambition and drive.
Very industrious and will be be the blueprint for all Emirati young leaders.

HH Sheikh Maktoum Hasher Maktoum Al Maktoum
Posted by Nilesh Jain, Dubai, UAE on Monday 9 November 2009 at 11:46 UAE time


Very inspiring article about an equally inspiring personality.
We need more leaders like you "Mr. Fix It"

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