As the founder and president of the dubai-based conglomerate and retail giant BinHendi Enterprises, Mohi-Din BinHendi has been responsible for bringing some of the most exciting British and American brands to the region, and for meeting the consumerist needs of the UAE’s biggest spenders.
So when it came to addressing the audience at the 4th Arabian Business Forum, BinHendi certainly had a lot to say. Amidst praise for Dubai due to its successful diversification away from energy and into tourism, the businessman said that the emirate was missing out on something vital. In short, it was a Gulf version of DisneyWorld. This shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise; the big theme parks that have opened in the region have generally performed well; the Aquaventure water park at the Atlantis resort in Dubai has pulled in locals and tourists alike.
But BinHendi is advocating pushing the envelope by providing a much larger kind of destination.
“We need an entertainment anchor for the family, something like Disney but not Disney,” he said. “If we have a project like this in Dubai, we have an anchor for the whole of the world. There is a big gap between Euro Disney and Tokyo Disney. There is a craving for an entertainment anchor.”
Easier said than done — as BinHendi himself knows. He spent five years working on a similar project in Dubai, only for the deal to be canned near to launch due to financing issues. Not surprisingly, he’s not too fond of the banking profession at the moment.
“Bankers say this is not a viable project,” he said. “But bankers are not business people. We are the business people. The vision doesn’t stand with bankers it is with people taking a calculated risk. I don’t believe in taking a blind risk, but a calculated risk is always needed.”
The theme park he envisioned, was named ‘The Magic World of Dubai’, which would have had a monorail running from the airport to the site itself. As a globally recognised brand, he believes it would have brought a large number of tourists to the region.
“Today we attract a lot of tourists who come here to enjoy the sun, the beaches and the hotels, but we are not an exotic destination. We are not like Fiji or Hawaii. This is what is missing in Dubai. If I had the finance I would do this project as one of the leading projects in this part of the world.”
Never one to mince his words, BinHendi also has his own opinions over the state of the oversupplied retail market in Dubai, and the potential for new mall developments.
“[Dubai has] more than enough malls,” he said. “If anyone wants to add another mall, they need to visit a psychiatrist.”
Much of the sales currently, he says, are driven by Dubai’s tourism trade, and particularly by a rise in visitors from the increasingly wealthy emerging markets.
“The Chinese have started coming here — they come in big groups, and the Russians are still very prominent shoppers, as are the Indians,” he added.
Nevertheless, BinHendi did suggest that there could be scope for some specialist shopping centres or smaller, niche malls, such as those dedicated to furniture or hardware.
In addition, the shopping mogul also sees plenty of scope for more reasonably priced brands, adding that these wouldn’t affect his core luxury retail business.
“My business is different, if you wear Christian Dior, if you wear Armani, I don’t think you’re going to go one step down from that, maybe you’ll buy jeans to go horse riding or something, such as Levi’s, but that’s about it.” And as for spending behaviour?
“I think people have forgotten [about the recession]. Forgetfulness is a virtue sometimes. The rich don’t get affected even in the worst crisis but they get psychologically scared to spend money. I think they’re over this.”
And, unlike the developers and the bankers, his faith in the market is real. In the very near future, BinHendi Enterprises is to open a ‘Billionaire’ fashion outlet in Abu Dhabi — the second of this Italian couture boutique to open in the UAE following the launch of the first ever outlet in Dubai Mall last year.
The luxury men’s fashion line, owned by ex-Formula 1 boss Flavio Briatore, has proven hugely successful in the region due to a high demand for the world’s top designers and a consumer love of lavish labels.
“Yes we are opening that [store],” he said. “In Abu Dhabi, the problem is that it is becoming so popular you can’t get proper real estate for retail. So at the moment we’re looking at different possibilities, but I think one of them is going to work, the Etihad mall.”
The experts certainly agree with BinHendi on the issue of retail space in the UAE capital’s malls. But Abu Dhabi is planning to add enough mall space to match Dubai’s over the course of the next five years.
In addition, as part of the firm’s 2011 expansion, it is planning five new BinHendi-owned food and beverage brands, while simultaneously taking established brands into other Gulf countries.
“Actually in the food and beverage business we create our own brands, and at the moment I have five on the drawing board,” said BinHendi.
“We are also going to open some of our retail businesses, such as Joe’s Café, Japengo and Joseph into Qatar and Kuwait.”
BinHendi declined to name the new food and beverage outlets or say where they would be located, but said the days of staff cuts were over and hinted at new ideas for the troubled City7 TV channel.
“I’ve done that, it’s over, no more [staff cuts] this year. The cutting down of expenses has been done for the channel,” he added.
“I get calls all the time asking if I want to sell it, but my answer is no. I’m going to service all the emirates and provide the news for everybody to hear and understand and to know what’s happening in our part of the world.”
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