Hunting for business and people

Imprint is a London-based executive search firm. It recently acquired Dubai's Ingram Consultancy for Dh35 million to expand into the growing GCC markets. Brian Hamill, Imprint's CEO, has recently told Gulf News that most of his clients are “talking about Dubai at the moment.''

Gulf News: What attracted you to Dubai?

Hamill: Imprint is a listed business and we are highly acquisitive. This is our fourth acquisition in 12 months. Our business is basically based in Europe, with three Asian offices in Tokyo, Hong Kong and Singapore.

We see Dubai as the centre of our Middle Eastern and Indian business. There is a big attraction for a lot of people to come and work here. As the brand "Dubai" works externally, it is a relatively easy sell to senior candidates.

Dubai has also many advantages, but one huge advantage is its geographic location.

The model we employ is that we tend to work with a limited number of companies, but we work with them at any place they have operations.

Gulf News: How do you look at the potential for business?

Hamill: If you look at post-9/11, there is a big repatriation of money back to the Middle East. I think that coupled with all the economic initiatives of Dubai, and the region as a whole makes the city a very interesting place for international recruitment businesses.

Business here is very strong domestically. We have to be here. We needed to partner with somebody who knew the way around the region.

Gulf News: Which industries are important to you?

Hamill: The finance and banking sectors represent about one-third of our business at the moment. Financial services are an important part of Imprint's business. The nature of the region requires a great versatility, so we are active in fast-moving consumer goods, property development and the construction arena.

Gulf News: How do you view GCC citizens taking up top posts?

Hamill: One of the big issues basically is how to source those people. What we would look to do is access very educated people, typically those educated at US business schools or perhaps the European business schools.

There may be Emiratis who are outside the UAE at the moment and would look to return into an economy that is much more developed than it was when they left. So it is again back to the same thing. It is the international element basically that is crucial, isn't it?

Gulf News: What direction is the executive search market taking?

Hamill: It is becoming significantly more sophisticated. There is a greater emphasis on speed, accuracy, and delivery.

Tools and resources that we apply are becoming equally sophisticated. The technology that exists in the recruitment industry is of a much higher standard.

One of the things that we have learnt is unless you have operations on the ground to execute that work, it will be very difficult to do it properly.

Gulf News: What kind of competition do you face in Dubai?

Hamill: We don't see competition as a major issue. We have got more business than we can handle at the moment.