He believes that life is too short for bad food (a friend told him that), abhors sailing and loves flying. He finds parallels between the discipline of opera and managing people. And he is quite intolerant of chefs who serve bad food because he is something of a fine cook himself. All of these make Dr Marcel Mulley a versatile man. The founder/owner of the Dubai-based MABA Group of Companies, Dr Mulley also has a fiercely independent and ambitious streak, a trait that is a result of his tough boarding school life in Eringerfeld, Westphalia, Germany.
His entry into the world of banking as an early career start was because his earlier ambition of wanting to be a pilot was grounded. He joined Dresdner Bank in Germany in 1987 as an apprentice and while still working with the bank, he moved to Dubai in 1993. In 1995, he joined HSBC.
Most of his banking career was spent in Dubai. But soon, other ambitions came calling. So he quit his banking career to set up his own business catering to international management consultancy and financial services.
"The desire to be independent, creative, flexible and work on my own ideas and generate my own income drove me to establish my own business," he says (The MABA Group of companies was born in late 1999. It has branches in Germany, Bahrain and Malaysia.) Running one's business meant a change in his lifestyle; now he had to clock thousands of air miles traversing Europe and Asia to consolidate his business. "And that's fine with me," he says. His company boasts clients spanning Europe, the Middle East, Far East and more recently, the Indian subcontinent.
But his banking stint was not uneventful. While working in the banking sector, he enrolled for a Bachelor of Science degree in politics and research at the Loughborough University, followed by a master's degree in philosophy at the Oxford University. He was also awarded the degree of International Financial Adviser by the Chartered Insurance Institute in London.
"I did these programmes in a bid to keep learning new things and in keeping with my philosophical outlook on life." He even has an honorary PhD from the University of Cochin, India, for his goodwill in organising exchange programmes for students from Kerala to study in Germany (see box below).
Born of a German mother and a British father, he is aware that people find his love for the Middle East unnerving, especially when he speaks conversant Arabic. He even knows a smattering of Hindi which he has picked up along the way!
Marcel regularly attends theatre and opera performances and takes great pleasure in symphony concerts.
I, ME, MYSELF
I prefer budgeting than working with numbers. It may sound strange for a banker to say that. But there are two groups of bankers; those who are mathematical and those who are more philosophical. I fall in the latter category. I like the bigger story about banking, the interesting part being finance and investments and seeking profits and also being able to generate interesting results.
I appreciate cultures that are different to my own, as a result of my belonging to two different cultures.
Even among the Europeans, cultural differences prevail. I recall, as a child, that even normal questions such as what my favourite soccer team was, would cause unpleasant conflicts, because I was seen to be taking sides.
Also questions such as whether I felt more German or British would irritate me a lot. My personal opinion is that I have inherited the best of both cultures. I am German in most attitudes but I inherited the positive aspects of British heritage such as my musical interests.
I am inspired by new market challenges that have developed in these difficult economic times. I find this time exciting as I can find challenges that give me the kick I need to drive myself forward. This is because I like dealing with people. People are ‘facial cheese'. In France, there are around 250 types of cheese, each one having its own taste, individuality, shape and origin. It is never boring when I deal with different people.
I got interested in learning Arabic and Hindi because I have always been interested in languages in generally.
It may have something to do with my being raised and having lived in different countries since childhood, where cultures are different from place to place. So when I came to the Middle East, the interest in different cultures within the same emirate (of Dubai) peaked and the best way of connecting with people of other nationalities is to speak in their language. So that's what got me interested in learning Arabic and Hindi, for starters.
I also like learning ancient languages such as Greek. In school I was very fond of French and Spanish.
I, ME, MYSELF
Me and boarding school
As a NATO civil servant, my father was posted in various places such as Hong Kong, Spain, Gibraltar, the UK, Germany, Middle East and Tripoli. That meant I kept changing schools every time we moved. The best solution was to go to boarding school in Germany.
I hated boarding school in the beginning as I was parted from my family and it hurt a lot, but I had to become accustomed to it if I wanted to survive. We can either fight against fate or learn to work with it. I adopted the latter principle for the next eight years and that eventually led me to become a head boy. Loaded with ambition and strong will, I never experienced feelings of loneliness. If confronted by boring situations I'd find something interesting to do, such as reading a book.
Me and the German army
I was 19 years old when my first association with the military began. At that time, I chose to serve for 18 months as a conscript with the German army. Later on, while undergoing an apprenticeship with the bank, the army called to see if I was interested in joining. I accepted the offer. After three years, another position came up as an officer working with the security personnel. As of now, I serve as a reservist in the position of commanding officer for the personnel department in the German army in Hanover.
Me, sailing and flying
I abhor sailing ships, thanks to my overexposure to sailing as a child. When my dad was posted in Hong Kong, he was provided with a cabin cruiser. Our weekends were spent sailing to remote islands off the coast of Hong Kong. We often returned home in a terrible storm. It took quite a lot of time for the crew (which was my mother and I) to keep the boat shipshape. As a result sailing ships reminds me of negative surroundings and lots of unnecessary work.
Flying, on the other hand, has always fascinated me and is less complicated than sailing. When the opportunity arose for me to get the Private Pilot Licence (PPL), I went for it. Every time I fly, it's an adventure.
Me and being a hobby chef
Cuisine at boarding school was awful, as can be expected. On the two days we had each week, I looked forward to authentic French fries and hamburgers at small restaurants (fast food outlets were non-existent then). After my first cooking lesson at the age of 16, it grew into a hobby. I studied the basics of cooking at boarding school but frankly speaking that was pretty rudimentary and I don't feel I got much out of it.
I learnt a bit of cooking at home with the family, while in England and Germany (after boarding school), but I picked up most of it on my own due to my keen interest in cooking. As and when I found recipes that appealed to me, I would add them to my list.
I believe that when you are really interested in something, you tend to be proactive and do as much self learning as you can regardless of extrinsic influences.
A good friend of mine once said that life is too short for bad food. I get quite annoyed when chefs serve lousy food at restaurants, as if they have no interest in the result. Cooking gives me a lot of pleasure. You need to concentrate on what you are doing as you do not want to mess up the recipe. Going through different recipes is very exciting for me. However, I don't see myself opening a restaurant or participating in Hell's Kitchen series!
Me and my big (broken) foot
It happened in Germany. I was looking ahead alright but the ground which I thought would be under my feet was not there. I fell flat and snapped the bones in the foot. While this occurred last year, it's certainly taking its own time to heal. My foot feels relief when I do physiotherapy, but the next day I'm suffering again - a prisoner to the ball and chain of a foot. Sometimes, this hurts more than the current economic recession.
We can look too much ahead in life, certain that the next step we take will be on firm ground but we might not be ready when surprises come at us one after another.
Me and Arab hospitality
I didn't suffer from culture shock when I moved to Dubai, because I was made to feel that I belonged in the Arab community. I love sitting in a majlis with the Arab people and share the food from a communal plate.
I recollect an incident on one of my visits to Oman. There was a group of 13 Arabs sitting at a neighbouring table in a restaurant. They had ordered a lamb dish. I remarked to my Omani friend that the lamb looked very appetising. Hardly had I said that when one of the guys got up from his seat, carved a piece of meat and served me on a plate. I was taken aback by this depth of hospitality; something that I would never experience in Europe. Arabs have this very down-to-earth way of making friends.
There is a saying that I've heard a lot in the Middle East, "You are more than family". A friend who is more than family is a special and unique friend for whom you would go beyond the normal frontiers to help. That is how I feel when I'm with my Arab friends. They truly make me feel more than family.
I, ME, MYSELF
How do you help your clients ease into new markets especially in the economic downturn?
International clients have difficulties in finding business as well as legal information they need to do business here. They seek my advice for best market entry. Those who benefit from my services are companies who are seeking continuous improvement or new companies who want to enter new markets in the Middle East or Far East Asia.
My focus today is more on how to help them deal with challenges such as talent development, strategic positioning and improvement of operational performance, as well as integration of the Middle East markets into worldwide networks. Along with the management, I design new strategies in selecting the right localised operating model and partner support required for setting up a local company. The aim is to cut away the fat of the economic downturn so that they can be in top form for the upturn.
As an opera fan, what similarities do you see in your style of functioning with the opera?
I like things to be done a certain way. I hate processes that are not followed methodically (and so lead to an unfinished product). I do have high expectations of the end result.
I prefer to stay away from people who do not have redeemable features, as well as from boring projects. That's where I can draw similarities with opera. Preparing and practising for an opera, or in fact for any musical enterprise, is always demanding and intense. The people involved in such a production have to follow the time scales and put in long hours to perfect themselves in the characters they are about to play.
Being involved in such ambitious projects calls for only serious people who have personalities that can marry that character they are about to play. You will never find a musical production whether it be an opera, concert or a theatrical play where you do not follow the conductor or the director from beginning to end.
The production is complex yet sweet and refreshing to the soul that listens to it. Opera is full of life and depth; you could hardly expect that if there was no synchrony or a certain method that was followed.
You have been on top of the world (flying private jets), deep down under (diving and snorkelling), and you strive to stand firm on the ground.
Fortunately I have been very assertive and certain about what path to take in life, regardless of whether I have been in the doldrums or in the seventh heaven. Going through such cycles is inevitable, but how we react to it can either be a life saver or a death sentence. In my case, I have used every situation to focus on what the solution will be, what the approach to that situation will be... and re-focus on my vision.
Finding stability in ups and downs of life is not easy but it is important. This is the only way that one can search for a higher self. Without hardships, one can never hope to find enlightenment. So my advice is to stand firm through difficulties and turbulence. The sooner we understand this, the less thornier the path becomes.
For more info visit: http://www.mulleyonline.com
A unique moment
I was pleasantly surprised when I received an honorary doctorate from the University of Cochin, India.
It was a unique moment for me as it was a special kind of appreciation for the work that I had done.
It all began when my business partner at the time (in 2004 in the aftermath of the IT crisis in Europe) decided to invite skilled Indian technical personnel from Kochi to Germany and Switzerland to build computer centres where we could implement new technical systems and hire personnel as well.
I did all the necessary arrangements and got Indian IT specialists into the above mentioned countries, and I did it on an honorary basis, not expecting anything in return. They were grateful to this and therefore bestowed me with an honorary doctorate.
While my trip to Cochin to receive the doctorate in 2007 was very short, I was given enough insight into the hospitality of the Indian people and I have returned to India since then to bask in its culture and wonderful sights.
