Dubai: A Photo Journal
Dubai is a city that puts NYC to shame. Everything is 10x taller, newer and more magnificent. Around each block is a skyscraper under construction that is trying to be bigger and better than the one next to it. From afar, Dubai is the shiny new dime freshly printed from the mint and The Big Apple is a worn-out, discolored penny. The Dubai buildings (and future!) are so bright you need sunglasses just to admire them.
My entrepreneurship class was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to travel here during our spring break to learn more about family businesses in the MENA region. We spent the semester learning about topics like common roadblocks during succession planning and organizational strategies for multinational businesses are through various frameworks. In addition, each topic was supplemented by a case study of an actual family-run company or Islamic business that gave our classes some real-life references. Our trip to Dubai was our chance to apply what we learned during face-to-face meetings with people involved in their family businesses.
Our class was called Global Family Business Leadership (ENTR3217) and taught by Greg Collier, Director of the D’Amore-McKim School of Business. Our group consisted of 18 students from Northeastern University with a wide variety of upbringings, academic backgrounds and personal interests. Many of us came from a family business, whether big or small, with intentions of taking over when the time is right.
What I learned about family businesses was valuable, but experiencing the city the way we did was priceless. Dubai was essentially built on barren land in the past 50 years, luring in ex-patriots from all over the world. In this short amount of time, landmarks like the Dubai Mall and Burj Khalifa (the tallest skyscraper in the world) have popped up effortlessly. Most of us had the chance to explore this area when we had an evening free and it was overwhelming how crowded the place was with tourists from around the world.
On our day off, our class took a jeep safari trip into the deserts outside of Dubai. We all hopped into a fleet of Toyota Highlanders and shredded through the dunes, so hard our tire completely popped off the rim! Our evening continued with various traditional dancers, a delicious dinner spread, camel rides, henna tattoos and shisha.
Of course, it wasn’t all play and no work. One of my favorite companies to visit was Choueiri Group, the leading media representation group in the Middle East. There we learned about the history of the company, the CEO’s plans for his 3 children (one of whom just graduated from Northeastern!) and various achievements they’ve made throughout the years. It was clear, however, that Pierre (current CEO and father of 3) had already made up his mind on who was to be the next successor of the company and gave no consideration towards his daughter. Later in the evening, the business was gracious enough to host a party afterwards at the office’s rooftop deck, complete with appetizers, drink and good discussion. The view wasn’t too shabby either.
Coming home to our hotel (Crown Plaza in Festival City) was always the most relieving part of our day. Oftentimes we were up at 7AM and mingling with people until midnight. It was so easy talking to everyone especially because we all had one common ground — Northeastern University (go huskies, am I right?)! On one earlier evening, we were lucky enough to see an amazing orange sunset settle over the view outside our hotel window.
Throughout the trip, I brought my DSLR with me everywhere we went to document all the cool sights. Below are some of my favorite photos.
