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Abdul Wahab had hired Abdul Sami, a retired Pakistani banker, to look after his various business interests. All but one of his 31 enterprises was losing money. The Gulf News was losing six million dirhams a year, which amounted to one million pounds — a lot of money in those days. Abdul Wahab asked Abdul Sami if he knew anybody who could fix his newspaper. Abdul Sami said he did. I was sent a ticket and interviewed by the boss and the chief executive. Two days later, I was ensconced in a three-bedroom apartment in Hyatt Hotel which had a swimming pool on the top floor.
Four tried-and-tested tips to land a job in Dubai
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I lived in Dubai from 1982 to 1985 and during the first year, I worked 12 hours a day, spending my time equally between the marketing office in the DNATA building and the head office located in Aboulhoul Press on Abu Dhabi Road. Aziz Siddiqui was the editor and a finer and more erudite gentleman I have yet to come across. Two days after taking charge, I thought it would be nice if I called on the head of the Pakistan mission in Dubai who was a retired air force officer. So I gave the consulate a ring. I was given a royal brush off. The consul general ought to have been included in the Guiness Book of Records for holding the longest meetings since the Pharaohs.
When I looked at the salary register I discovered that 95 per cent of the employees came from India and the rest were from Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Editorial also had a Canadian who asked me if I was a Hungarian. Calling one of the two Indian marketing executives, Sita Srinivasan, I asked her if she could possibly connect me to the Indian Consul General, Pravin Goyal. “Please make sure I am on the line when he picks up the telephone.” Pravin Goyal said he would call on me and I insisted I would be the one who would come over. Over a cup of coffee Goyal said “Anything the consulate can do for you in the way of advertising, circulation, contacts with Indian companies, I am at your service.”
72 hours in Dubai
A year later, I called on Abdul Wahab and said that in 12 months I had turned a six million dirham loss into a 350,000 profit. The boss was flabbergasted. “How did you do it?” I said it was pretty simple. Within a week of my arrival I took four decisions. The glossy paper that was being used was stopped and I asked for quotations of standard newsprint directly from manufactures in Norway, Sweden and Finland. An edition was being separately printed in Abu Dhabi which was stopped and a van took the paper every morning at 4.00 am to the capital. In October, by pushing and prodding the marketing staff, we earned a million dirhams in advertising.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 17th, 2016.
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