The art of success

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ARTOC chairman Shafik Gabr, one of the Middle East’s most respected business leaders, explains why next year could be even tougher than the last.

Dinner at Shafik Gabr’s house can be a little overwhelming. For a start, it’s a ‘house’ in the same way that Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi is a ‘hotel’. Stately in style and palatial in scale, the Cairo residence’s walls are adorned with one of the world’s finest collections of Orientalist art. And my dinner companions are no less colourful.

In quick succession I am introduced to former UN secretary general, Boutros Boutros Ghali; US Ambassador to Cairo, Margaret Scobey; and former Egyptian Ambassador to the US, Nabil Fahmy.

Other guests include renowned poets, jewellers, and business figures. As might be expected, conversation is lively, and ranges from Iran’s nuclear ambitions, to Barack Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize, to my personal part in Dubai’s ‘downfall’.

Our host is on fine form, and after dinner he shows me into his private study, for a glimpse of some of his most treasured artworks. The collection is worth an estimated $40m, and includes more than 90 masterpieces by Western artists depicting nineteenth century Middle Eastern streetlife. Scantily clad women cavort with turbaned men, while snapshots of hookah-addled stoners rest alongside portraits of fierce palace guards.

“I’m fascinated by how Western painters went through the difficulties of coming to the Middle East,” Gabr tells me. “They travelled for weeks and months, learning the culture, some learning the language, some converting their religion, and some marrying into the community.

“I’m not really interested in the [painters] who were sitting in their studios back in Europe or the US, but I fell in love with the ones who came here,” he continues. “I see them as early globalists, who brought the Arab world to the West. They were bridge builders.”

It is no surprise that such a theme would fire Gabr’s imagination. After all, this is a man who has been building bridges all his life — in business, in politics, and beyond.

When Gabr joined ARTOC in 1980, the name stood for ‘Arab Trade & Oil Company’. Today it stands for success, and ARTOC Group for Investment and Development is a multi–disciplined investment holding company with assets under management of $1.1bn.

Meanwhile, the most recent Arabian Business Rich List put the chairman’s personal fortune at $2.2bn.

Gabr counts royalty and political leaders from around the globe as personal friends. Twice during our interview the next day, he is interrupted by personal calls — one from the crown prince of an oil-rich Gulf state, the other from the former prime minister of Pakistan, Shaukat Aziz.

“One thing I’m very proud of is over the years although I’ve had my challenges and difficulties, I have created a network of good friends all around the world,” says Gabr with a smile. “I have always been a bridge-builder, and been able to create an environment where people can have dialogue and form partnerships.”

As an entrepreneurial investment house focused primarily on emerging markets, ARTOC is all about partnerships. And with a reputation for bringing value through financing, resources, networking, engineering or technical assistance, the company isn’t short of potential suitors.

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