Emaar founder Mohamed Alabbar rebuffed calls for remote work, and instead argued that UAE employees need to work hard and “grind.”
“Don’t ask me [about remote work] … I believe we should put our heads down and grind seven days a week,” Alabbar said.
The billionaire noted that, relatively speaking, the UAE is still “far behind compared to the world.” To make up for this gap, all workers and businesses in the UAE need to be “grinding hard” to help achieve growth.
“We are poor people [compared to other countries in the world]. We need to put our heads down and work to become part of the developed world,” he said.
Alabbar’s comments were made during a lunch briefing held by the Future Investment Initiative Institute.
Earlier in his address, the business mogul also said that data analytics are “taking over the world,” before arguing that more collaboration is needed in politics and between businesses.
Alabbar on the kingdom’s development
“Smart people understand that the world is not stable … The world will continue to be unstable,” Alabbar said.
On Saudi Arabia, Alabbar called the country’s development “incredible for the region and the world.”
“The effect of a big powerful country like Saudi Arabia making these moves is good for the world and the region.”
The billionaire was also very bullish on the importance of young people to the world, commenting: “My gut feel is that young people will save the world … the abilities of the next generation are incredible.”
On the future of the global economy, he believes the US will continue to play an important role, noting it is “an integral part of the world order.”
However, global politics will increasingly move towards a multi-polar world, according to Alabbar, with China and the US competing. This situation which will be positive for the Middle East, as the two global powers compete for business, he said.
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