00:00In the 60s, the government decided to nationalize all the private sectors.
00:16At the same time, the government sent a delegation to the crucial states, the seven states which
00:24is now the United Arab Emirates, to see what is happening in this part of the world, to
00:32reinforce the relationship with them.
00:36Delegation came, they had a meeting with the head of the chamber, chairman of the chamber
00:40of commerce, and as usual, they asked him how we can help you, what we can offer you.
00:47He said, we need accountants to help us in organizing our business.
00:55When they came back, they offered me to come here.
00:58I decided to look into the subject.
01:02Finally, I received employment agreement from here, and I decided to accept the job.
01:12When I came to Dubai, I was coming, I took the risk to come to a place unknown to me,
01:20but I was pushed by compassion and curiosity to see what is going to happen in this part
01:29of the world.
01:30The company really I joined was dealing in import and export and the construction company.
01:35I was the finance man and the manager for the construction company.
01:40I continued to work with this company for three years.
01:44Having the qualification as a chartered accountant, I decided to, and I was practicing before,
01:49I decided to practice a profession here.
01:52In 1966, I obtained the license.
01:55I started my practice in a small office with limited people, with limited resources, and
02:07that office was located, if you remember Dubai very well, in Nasir Square in Dera.
02:15This was the real start of ourselves.
02:18Gradually, really, we started really to be in the market.
02:22The market was very difficult at that time.
02:25We are talking to people with a language unknown for them.
02:30The market was very difficult to penetrate.
02:35But because when I started, I was associated with one of the international professionals,
02:42one of the big eight, so we managed to be able to give good quality for our clients.
02:50I'm proud really to say that the companies, we started with them to provide professional
02:59service 55 years ago.
03:02Still, they are our clients until today, working with the third generation with them.
03:10When I started, I started with the international professional firm.
03:15I stayed with this professional firm for a couple of years.
03:18After that, we had a partnership with Coopers and Labyrinth.
03:22That partnership was not a member firm, full partnership with London.
03:28And the partnership continued until 1975.
03:34And then after that, I joined Grants Ranton.
03:38And from that time until now, we are a member firm for Grants Ranton and the oldest member
03:45firm in the network.
03:48With the quality we were providing, with our relationship with the, as I said, founder
03:55of the family business, we managed really to carve our space in the market.
04:04Challenge really was too much, but gradually with the quality, with the loyalty, we managed
04:14really to move and grow.
04:17Our growth was parallel to the growth of UAE and the family business also.
04:24The real growth started when Hisham joined me 25 years ago.
04:31Many things, it has been introduced by him.
04:35He has a vision, the leadership, and he took a decision under no circumstances I could
04:44have dared to do it myself.
04:47In my early teens, we left to continue my education overseas, and I finished my university
04:52and master's, and I came back in 1999.
04:55So when I first came back, Grants Ranton here, we were only 20 people.
04:59And that was really synonymous to the size of Dubai.
05:01If you can imagine at that time, Emirates Towers was still under construction.
05:05And there was nothing else beyond that, all the way to Jebel Ali.
05:09So we were very blessed.
05:11I came in 1999, and I witnessed this massive growth that has taken place in the country.
05:15And we continued building our business to be aligned with that growth and the requirements
05:19and expectations.
05:20And we're very proud to say that today we're almost 500 people, providing a full suite
05:24of services that are actually aligned with all the regulations and changes that are happening
05:28in the country, and the need for this professional support, which we are very happy to provide.
05:32If I am comparing really the start with what we are now, standing now, it's amazing and
05:41unbelievable growth.
05:43We started with two people, with four rooms.
05:48Now we are in our offices, really.
05:50The size of this office is almost, with the extension we are going to have, is 30,000
05:56square feet.
05:57We cannot forget our people.
06:00Without them, we could not have reached anything.
06:05Our clients, without the good relationship, the trust, the confidence they put in us,
06:12we could not have reached where we are today.
06:15This combination, staff, people, client, relationship, we managed to be Grand Frontenac of today.
06:25One of my proudest moments in my professional career is in 2016, when I was appointed to
06:31the Global Board of Grand Frontenac International.
06:33This was, of course, a fantastic recognition, not only for my own personal professional
06:39presence, but most importantly, for the success of the business, which was led by its people.
06:44Even more so, it was the first representation of someone from the Middle East.
06:48It was very important for the voice of the Middle East to be heard in a professional
06:52arena across the world.
06:53As our changes and regulations took place, we were able to be aligned and learn from
06:57the best practices of the international arena and be able to bring it back into this part
07:02of the world.
07:03United Arab Emirates is not only in my heart, it is also in my blood.
07:09Being here for that long time, I believe that my feeling as Egyptian and as staying in UAE
07:20melded together to create a new nationality for me.
07:25I can say I am not really UAE, I can say I am UAE, United Arab Emirates Egyptian.
07:36As a reflection, as a confirmation of my love to this part of the world, in where I
07:44spend the majority of my life.
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