If you have an interest in current affairs, you’ve probably come across Emirati commentator Mishaal Al Gergawi’s thought-provoking articles.
Like most writers, Al Gergawi has had a multifaceted career. Rooted strongly in finance with a bachelor’s degree from the American University in Dubai and an MSc in International Finance from the prestigious CERAM Sophia Antipolis business school in France, he started out his career in 2005 as an analyst at HSBC and the Deutsche Bank.
After three years in the banking world, Al Gergawi left to help set up his family’s building materials business; developing the concept, drawing up the business plan and securing the initial round of financing. His efforts were soon recognised in the company, where he was later appointed CEO. However, the lure of the written word was strong, and he began writing a popular and somewhat controversial weekly column about Dubai and the wider GCC region.
With an abiding interest in arts and culture, Al Gergawi was also asked to join the Dubai Culture and Arts Authority in 2008. He spent two years establishing its contemporary cultural projects strategy, before leaving to pursue his writing and analytical career full-time.
Al Gergawi is now busy on a special project on the reality of Emiratis being a minority in their own country.
This subject is particularly close to his heart; Dubai-born Al Gergawi is proud of his Emirati heritage. “For all its values of tolerance, pragmatism, unity and compassion, there’s something aspirational about the UAE, almost heroic”. Within this, he believes, there is a mutually-beneficial framework for the coexistence of many people. “Considering its religious and ethnic diversity, the UAE is very tolerant and hospitable,” he continues, “though I could be biased,” he laughs self-deprecatingly.
It’s this national pride which led to the formation of a business. The idea was conceived after his Mapping Dubai series, a discourse on the past, present and the future of Dubai which began with the statement “I am here because I like Dubai.” A friend tweeted it, and from the level of interest received, Al Gergawi realised that a lot of people genuinely love Dubai, whether Emirati or long-term expats who choose to live here because they like it.
However, the bulk of Al Gergawi’s time is spent writing and analysing, along with maintaining a loyal social media following of Facebook, LinkedIn and Google Plus fans, and over 8,000 Twitter followers. He also manages to provide advice and support to groups interested in setting up in the Gulf, while he has recently joined forces with an international think tank.
Thus it’s not surprising that Al Gergawi has multiple goals. He wants to start a think tank in Dubai, write a significant work of fiction, and open an art cinema, for which he’s already put together a business plan. He also plans to do a PhD so that he can teach and share his knowledge.
“Everybody should be the best they can be, and aim to leave the world in a better state than when they arrived in it,” he says. “We live our lives feeling guilty about the need to give back. The reality is that you’re investing in your own future. Contributing isn’t selfless; it’s self-serving, and that’s a good thing.”
He quotes Jonathan Safran Foer: “Sometimes I can hear my bones straining under the weight of all the lives I’m not living,” leaving me convinced that we haven’t heard the last of Mishaal Al Gergawi, nor would we want to.
