00:00I had no doubt in my mind that the Duty Free would be very successful
00:04and it appealed to me to stay and that's why I came.
00:10We're back with our success series and this time we're talking to a father-son duo,
00:14Mr. Corm Maclaurin of Dubai Duty Free and his son Niall Maclaurin of the Mark Holdings.
00:20I was the manager of the Freeport shop at Shannon Airport
00:25and Dubai wanted to set up a Duty Free business and because of the reputation that Shannon had
00:32they made contact with the Irish airport authorities and out of that the Dubai airport
00:38and the Irish airport authority did a contract to send a team of people here for six months
00:46and to set up a Duty Free and get it running.
00:49We came in September 1983 and we opened the Duty Free on the 20th of December 1983
00:57and I came here on a two-year contract initially
01:01and that two-year contract has extended and it's now in year 38.
01:06I just liked the attitude at the very beginning.
01:09I had a feeling that it was going to be exciting.
01:13I had a feeling it was going to be successful.
01:15I had no doubt in my mind that the Duty Free would be very successful
01:20and it appealed to me to stay and that's why I came.
01:23We're witness to all the growth you know like two years after we opened
01:28Emirates Airlines was born and we all know what's happened with Emirates Airlines
01:32and how successful it's been.
01:33We have been fortunate to witness the growth of everything around us.
01:37My plan would be to in retirement this will be my main home.
01:42The whole time here I've enjoyed it very much.
01:45I don't see it at all as my success only.
01:49I see it as definitely following the government policy.
01:53I see the success of Dubai Duty Free has been
01:57all because of the team of people we have here.
01:59I'm very happy with things we have done.
02:01I'm very happy with the sponsorships we have done around the world
02:06and all of these things have been very very successful.
02:08I'm thinking all the time but I wouldn't for a minute describe it as my brainchild or
02:12my vision it's all a whole team of people together
02:17and going ahead I can see Dubai Duty Free rebounding after the pandemic
02:22maybe about two years from now.
02:23I first visited Dubai in the summer of 1984.
02:28It was one year after my father Colm had come on the biggest adventure of his life
02:33decided to move to Dubai and start his career and start Dubai Duty Free
02:38and I regularly visited in 84, 85, 86 until I finished my own education in 1987
02:45and I decided to come back to Dubai.
02:47It had a place in my heart already.
02:48My first working experience was in Dubai Duty Free.
02:51My first memory was sweeping those store floors and doing stock checking and stock taking
02:57and I was a store man, a storekeeper.
02:59I was learning the ropes.
03:00I was 18 years of age and it was an exciting way to start my adult career.
03:08I stayed in the stores of Dubai Duty Free for about nine months
03:11and then I progressed on to another job in Dubai
03:14and worked at that for about a year and a half
03:17and then decided to just return back to Ireland for a short period to do some education
03:21which I did and then returned back to Dubai in 1991 and I've been here since.
03:27I've seen Dubai grow.
03:29I've grown with it.
03:30I have a nice gray beard now so that shows you my age.
03:34I've been here quite a while and to see Dubai grow, it's an attitude.
03:38Dubai is an exciting country.
03:40So much happening.
03:41It's nice to say that after 35 years I hope to remain here
03:45and see out the rest of my career here.
03:47I think one of the biggest life lessons I had from Colm was around respect.
03:53He's always told us to respect everybody
03:56and it's something that even to this day I'm very conscious of
04:00and I share with my people is no matter what anyone does,
04:02whether they open the door for you from your car
04:05or a super successful businessman,
04:08show people respect or they deserve basic respect, humanity, respect.
04:12My father is very humble in his approach to things.
04:15He's very appreciative of what is around him
04:19and I hope that that's something that I've taken from him.
04:23The final thing I would say, a very strong word from him is empathy.
04:28Always thinking of others.
04:29Always seeing how others might look at a situation
04:32and putting himself in their shoes
04:34and that's a trait that those are the three main things that I've grown up to.
04:39They've become a mantra to me.
04:40Respect people, show humility and show empathy
04:44and if you can do that, you'll be doing okay.
04:47Wasn't their story interesting?
04:49Do you know of other families who have lived here for decades and generations?
04:54Do let us know.
04:55This is Anjana Kumar for Gulf News.
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