"The Stoic Georges"

Welcome to "It's About Time"!

Today I have the pleasure to introduce you to Mr. Georges Calas.

Georges has lived in the UAE for over 24 years and has no intention of moving. He met his lovely wife in Dubai as well as is raising his 2 lovely kids.

I met Georges while I was living in Jumeirah Lakes Towers: we were floor mates as well as, later on, neighbors.

We know each other for over 15 years, but due to one thing or another we never really synced up until after COVID: we decided to have a coffee together.

That Coffee started a friendship which today has grown into a brotherhood. I see Georges as family and my relationship with him has taught me many things about love and friendship.

 Georges is the most stoic person I know: quiet, calm; never speaks for the sake of it, always weight his words and above all he is always respectful when he speaks.

Come and meet the Stoic Georges.

So sit back and relax because "It's About Time" to get started!

If you want to know more about Georges you can follow him on:

@lifesizeplans_dubai

Follow the podcast on Instagram: 

@itsabouttimeiat

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:00

At one point I was using you as a reference of how to better myself.

SPEAKER_01 0:05

Any failure is actually the beginning of a success. Because you have to learn from your failures. Do I want to do it to make money? No, I want to do it just to prove myself that I'm able to do it. When actually you have people that love you, that care about you, that actually give up their time, of their energy to tell you, George, if you continue like this, you're going to lose everything. And that was actually people giving me small slap on my face that actually woke me up one day and said, That was a real adventure.

SPEAKER_03 0:36

That was really something that came out of the blue, and uh and we did it. We did it. We did it. We learned a lot. We learned also not to do it again. Hello everybody, and welcome again to It's About Time. Uh, I'm your host, Chris, and today we are going to be meeting a very interesting person. His name is uh George Kalas, he hails from Syria, although he has traveled and lived almost everywhere in the world. And uh hello George, how are you?

SPEAKER_01 1:11

Hi Chris, thank you for having me. It's always a pleasure to have time with you, actually.

SPEAKER_03 1:17

We get to do fun things like this out of a blue. Especially that's the first time. That's cool, man. Yeah. So, George, um we met, I want to say uh we met nearly 17 years ago.

SPEAKER_01 1:32

We met a long time ago. Yes. Actually, we met because we were neighbors, correct. But for a long period of time, we couldn't talk to each other because I was very busy with my life. You were also very busy with yours. Yes. But thanksfully, or or fortunately or unfortunately, uh, due to the COVID, we then had some kind of click in the in the elevator, actually.

SPEAKER_03 1:57

Yeah, for the longest time, man, we were elevator friends.

SPEAKER_01 2:01

Yeah, just hi, how are you? Okay, have a nice day.

SPEAKER_03 2:04

I think it was Patrick, the security guy, that told me, oh, Mr. George was uh looking for you. For some reason, he said this.

SPEAKER_01 2:14

Yes, because if you remember, before that we were talking, I saw you and I told you I'm I'm traveling, and you say, Oh, I'm also traveling uh with my partner. I said, Why don't we have a coffee after that? Correct. And once I returned back from the COVID because I was stranded abroad, uh, I just asked the security Patrick, uh, by the way, do you know if uh Kristoba is back in the building? And that's maybe how we Yeah, because Elevator Friends has a couple of rules.

SPEAKER_03 2:43

Uh, rule number one, you just say hello, good morning, how are you, and have a good day. Uh, but you never exchange phone numbers. So it's uh it's a very silly thing. Something that I adjusted in my life later on, after George, particularly. And um, and yeah, so that day I remember we crossed paths while you were coming back from the supermarket, and I was going to the office. Yes, and we finally stopped. We're like, okay, let's just do it. Let's have this coffee.

SPEAKER_01 3:09

Oh, we exchanged numbers. And we exchanged them for like 10 years.

SPEAKER_03 3:12

Yes. Um, and then following that, we got together in uh my my family's office, yeah, and we had this magical coffee.

SPEAKER_01 3:22

We had the magical coffee, uh, I think uh we were meant to meet and to do something together.

SPEAKER_03 3:30

Uh for sure, man.

SPEAKER_01 3:31

I I I believe in in destiny, and I think our destiny was to just cross our lives at a certain amount of time. At the right time, I would say.

SPEAKER_03 3:40

For sure. It's when when the moment is, when the moment gives itself, that that's when it happens.

SPEAKER_01 3:45

Yeah, definitely.

SPEAKER_03 3:46

Um it was uh it was really fun. It was really fun to to meet you, it was really fun to meet your whole family. My god, I I love your whole family. Um, and then to get to know you, get to know you was uh incredible experience. As a matter of fact, at one point I was using you as a reference of how to better myself.

SPEAKER_01 4:10

Thank you for that. It's uh it's a nice compliment. Well, take it in the positive way.

SPEAKER_03 4:14

Let's say you are you are uh an accomplished businessman. Uh you are trying to. And this is the other thing. You are extremely humble, and uh I I've never seen any ounce of ego in your in your system. And above that, you are an amazing family man, uh, a loving husband and a great father.

SPEAKER_01 4:38

But yes, and I think this is coming from the fact that it's in my culture, it's in my education. I've always been in a in a loving family, in a loving environment, whether it's my my direct family, my parents, my brothers, or even uh the the the the broader family, which is cousins, uncles, cousins of cousins, and I always uh put uh a point on the fact that I always have to be close to my family.

SPEAKER_03 5:08

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 5:09

So I don't I cannot say that I have a lot of friends, but the ones that for me are friends are actually family.

SPEAKER_03 5:15

I I I have seen it.

SPEAKER_01 5:17

So that's it. And for me, family is the most important thing. I uh after a certain point of time, I don't call them friends, they are my family.

SPEAKER_03 5:24

Yeah, it's uh it's true. It's true. I have seen this with my own eyes. It's uh George is the pater familias. Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 5:34

So make me blush, you make me blushing.

SPEAKER_03 5:37

It's okay. You're so you're so white, you're gonna look very pinkish.

SPEAKER_01 5:40

That's better.

SPEAKER_03 5:41

But look, so I wanna I wanna go over a little bit about your story because obviously I know you, I have many years of experience with you, and we've traveled together, we have done things together, we have failed together, but uh at the end uh we still get together and and and we still try to do things, which is what I like the most. Um but tell us a little bit about you. Like, how did you get to this world? How did you come here in the UAE? Why did you come to the UAE?

SPEAKER_01 6:09

First of all, before to reach that point, yes, as you uh clearly mentioned, I was born in Syria, and I've always been very uh linked to Syria. First of all, because my parents always wanted us to remember from where we come, and that's very important. You cannot move in your life if you don't know from where you come. It's beautiful. So the thing is that yes, I was born in Syria, but due to some political things happening at that time in the late 70s, my parents wanted to give us a better life, so they decided to move from Syria to give us a better opportunity to succeed in life.

SPEAKER_03 6:52

To you and your brother?

SPEAKER_01 6:54

At that time we were just two brothers, and then we moved to Argentina because my father had an extensive family there. Uh, his mother was born in in uh in Argentina, actually, so it was very natural for him to go somewhere where actually he can have some people that can help him. He didn't speak Spanish, he still doesn't speak Spanish. So he said, let's go there. Me and my brother were like two and three years old. We moved to Argentina, but obviously, without speaking the language, at that time, Argentinian uh economy and lifestyle was not that great. And my father decided to go back to Syria. But the thing is that flying two days at that time, there was no direct flight or easiness to move from Middle East to South America. Uh he had an opportunity to move to Paris. So actually, I moved to Paris, I was uh five years old, and I spent almost all my life there, means school, university, I graduated from there, and I started my journey in the banking industry. In 2002, I had the opportunity to come and visit Dubai, and I felt in love with Dubai. At that time, life was a little bit more simple. Simple.

SPEAKER_00 8:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:15

It was still young, but yet I saw a lot of opportunities. And what I liked about Dubai at that time is that actually for me, it was the right mix between my Arabic culture, education, and background, but in the same time, in a very modern and developed country, or at least the idea and the mission and vision to develop that in a more western way. So it was a good mix between my culture, but also the the past that I wanted in terms of work, professional life. So I came here as a as a as a young uh banker, let's assume let's say that. And I felt myself very comfortable here.

SPEAKER_03 9:00

This is this is beautiful, and and because you worked in the in the banking industry, I'm pretty sure you had a very interesting uh outlook on how this the whole city, and not just the city, the country, changed from when you arrived to where it is today. Yes. Do you have any anything that you'd like to share about that?

SPEAKER_01 9:21

But obviously, there is a lot of things that I can share with that, but the thing is that when I moved here, private banking was not yet developed. It was still wealth management. They didn't get yet the idea of private banking. Although I was very young and and and with a very little experience, I felt that I could give a little bit, like an extra stone, to whatever they were already building. And joining Emirates Bank at that time, it was not Emirates MBD, it was still Emirates Bank.

SPEAKER_03 9:53

My first bank, by the way, that's where I opened my first bank account uh when I arrived here.

SPEAKER_01 9:57

And it's still my bank until now. I've been very faithful. I'm I'm faithful for everything, for our friendship and also with my bank. So, yes, I was actually part of this journey where actually they developed a lot of different departments. Then I joined the um the broker, the brokerage uh department of Emirates that became then Emirates MBD. I was part of the merger between Emirates Bank and National Bank of Dubai for the brokerage and asset management. So I actually learned a lot, and that allowed me to grow professionally a lot. The fact that I speak different languages uh was an ad value for me, but also for my employer at that time.

SPEAKER_03 10:41

This is fantastic. George speaks English, Arabic, uh French, and Spanish fluently, which is uh amazing.

SPEAKER_01 10:50

Although I would like to improve my Spanish, but yes, that's okay.

SPEAKER_03 10:53

We can work on that.

SPEAKER_01 10:54

We will work on that, that's not an issue.

SPEAKER_03 10:56

All right, beautiful. And throughout all this all of this journey, and of course, uh after having whatever good times you had in the in the UAE, you met your wife. Yes. Which opened a whole new chapter in your life.

SPEAKER_01 11:10

It took a lot of time to meet the right one, and I was at a certain point of time not really sure that I will get married one day. Oh, okay. Not because I didn't want, but because I was under the impression that I was not finding the right one. I tried a lot for at least maybe six, seven years, to convince myself that I have to get married no matter what. And actually I realized that I was actually lying to myself. Okay. That's not what I wanted. So I gave up with the idea of I really have to get married before 35 or before my 40s. And one day I met this beautiful lady, and in a matter of one month, I convinced myself, and I convinced her that she was the one.

SPEAKER_00 12:01

That's beautiful.

SPEAKER_01 12:02

And then we got married. Not for one month, obviously. Here we spent we spent a lot of time, but yes, we got married very quickly, and it was a bit of a surprise for her, but especially for me, because I I actually was impressed by the fact that I took this kind of decision that fast. Well, actually, for 10 years, I was trying to do something and nothing happened.

SPEAKER_02 12:25

I am sure everybody else was impressed.

SPEAKER_01 12:28

Friends, family, they were like, My parents didn't believe it at the beginning. My brother were like, Are you sure, George? And I'm like, Yeah, you say, but how how why? And and actually, I impressed everyone. And I I surprised myself actually.

SPEAKER_03 12:42

This is amazing.

SPEAKER_01 12:44

But yes, thanks God. Uh, I am a happy uh husband, a happy father of two. Uh, they are now eight and five. Now, if I have to be completely transparent, uh uh maybe the only regret I have is that I should have got married earlier in life. For one reason, is because today my kids are eight and five, and I'm 49. Yes, and I don't have the energy and the patience to play with them. And this is something that honestly speaking, I'm I feel how to say, uh a little guilty, not guilty, but missed opportunity. It's yeah, I don't know. It's like I I would have preferred to be a little bit younger to be able to play more with them. That doesn't mean that I don't give them the time, I don't play with them, but I don't have the same patience.

SPEAKER_03 13:41

No, I understand, but at the same moment, man, you you have to think about the good things. Yeah, because they have an older father, they'll be able to get different insights from you.

SPEAKER_01 13:53

You know, if you would have if you would have had the kids I have wise wise uh advices.

SPEAKER_03 13:57

Yeah, if you would have had the kids when you were in your 30s, then your advices would have been different. True. I know in my short time in life with you that we have gone through a lot of experiences. Yes, and I have acquired personally a lot of knowledge thanks to this, and thanks to the adventures we have gone on. Um, one of the very, very interesting ones, and probably the coolest one we had so far was our adventure in Armenia.

SPEAKER_00 14:22

That was a real adventure.

SPEAKER_03 14:24

That was really something that came out of the blue, and uh and we did it. We did it, we did it, and uh we learned a lot. We learned also not to do it again, and it's for me.

SPEAKER_01 14:38

I still want to do it.

SPEAKER_03 14:39

I know you want to do it, but maybe we do it better prepared.

SPEAKER_01 14:42

I'm gonna tell you why I want I want to do it. Not because you still want to do it for sure? Sorry? You want to do it again?

SPEAKER_03 14:49

Yes, why let's talk about what it is. So just in case we fill up, you know, the audience. So um, we decided, George decided one day that uh he wanted to import cherries from Armenia. George is very much in love with the idea of agriculture, having his plot of land and growing his fruits and selling his fruits. He wants to be a farmer.

SPEAKER_01 15:13

But exactly. I I was about to tell you that. Actually, when we met in the elevator and then we had this finally this coffee in your uh in your office at that time, your story or your family's story is exactly what I wanted to be a long time ago. So I felt at that time that it was a sign. I'm a believer, and for me it was like I always wanted to have my, as you said, my my plot of land. I wanted to harvest it and and and to work on that. Now I never had the opportunity, first of all, because I was very busy in building my experience in the banking industry, and also lack of opportunities.

SPEAKER_00 16:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:04

When when you came and you told me that actually you're coming from this background, I was like, that's great. That means that I can continue growing uh and improving myself in the field that I know, that I have some expertise in, but in parallel, I can also build something that I always wanted to do, something like what about of a dream. And my idea was to do a transition, like slowly, slowly, learning from you, from your uh experience, from your history, and try to build something that could uh how to say secure my future. Because the idea is not I don't want to work in the in the land, I don't want to be the one planting. I want to own a plant, I want to harvest, I want to be in this industry for many reasons. First of all, because uh I like nature, I like trees, I like the idea of planting a seed, and this seed will give you something. Yeah, uh obviously I would like to say that it's not also very interesting from a financial perspective if you succeed. But also I felt at that time that uh working in fruit and vegetables is also giving freshness and and good product to the people. Yes, it is. In a in a in a in a word that everything is about efficiency, about uh aesthetical aspect of the things, we are actually missing a lot in terms of uh health, in terms of all these chemicals and and and things that we put on fruit. I want it to be more uh organic, and that's what I wanted. To go back to something that is healthy for us and for the generation to come. And that's the idea. It's not just to have a land and and be happy to have I don't know how many hectares of of whatever trees, is also to be able to supply, to offer a product that is good for health. And that was very important for me. And the reason I I went to Armenia, uh, first of all, because it was a good opportunity. My wife is Armenian uh originally. Uh I saw actually the fact that these people there were actually harvesting or planting in a somehow organic way.

SPEAKER_03 18:29

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 18:30

And their fruit was very tasteful, their vegetables were amazing. So I say, three hours flight from from Dubai, we can have something that is actually genuine, that is original, that doesn't have all these chemicals. And that was very important for me for many reasons. First of all, because I wanted to try. But again, I I before to try, uh, when we met, I tried before alone to bring some cherries. And the barrier of the the the language was very difficult for me. My wife was not able to come with me all the time. That was number two, uh number number one. Number two, uh I actually liked these people, they were very simple. And I was like, they don't have any idea of international trade, they're just harvesting, selling in the in the local markets. Well, actually, they have gold. And I found the right setup to be able to bring it here. Now, it worked, it didn't work. That's a different story, and obviously it didn't work, otherwise, we wouldn't be talking about failure. But again, a failure for me is also a success. Yes, of course. For me, any failure is actually the beginning of a success because you have to learn from your failures.

SPEAKER_03 19:51

Of course.

SPEAKER_01 19:52

So I don't take it as a failure and I give up. No, it's a failure. Maybe I have to think about how to bring it in a different angle. But do I want to do it? Yes. Do I want to do do I want to do it to make money? No. I want to do it just to prove myself that I I'm able to do it.

SPEAKER_02 20:12

Okay. And uh when are we gonna do this again then?

SPEAKER_01 20:17

Uh one day.

SPEAKER_02 20:18

One day, okay. All right.

SPEAKER_01 20:20

Look, the thing is also uh I have to admit, uh, when I came here, uh my idea was uh self-improvement, experience, making money, gaining reputation in my in my in my industry. But things have changed from the moment I got married and I have kids.

SPEAKER_03 20:40

Now can you can you elaborate a little more how your uh family life has affected your vision of what you wanted to do here?

SPEAKER_01 20:52

Obviously, it affects a lot, especially when someone feels a huge weight of responsibility on his shoulder. And I'm this kind of person that actually take everything, any in insignificant matter and make it very big. I'm a bit of a drama.

SPEAKER_03 21:11

Yes, after this.

SPEAKER_01 21:13

So when I was not married, I just wanted to succeed for myself. I wanted to learn, I wanted to improve, I wanted to meet different cultures, different people. I just wanted to succeed. Once I got married, I still wanted to succeed, but then I also want to transmit something to my kids. And in order to be able to transmit something to my kids, I have to be in peace with myself. Before I was pressurising myself a lot to do a lot of things, to be successful because I wanted to be successful for my ego. Now my ego is uh me being successful in teaching and making my kids nice people. So obviously um I would I would say that I still want to succeed and I want to take some risk, but the risk now have has to uh has to be assessed. Before I was like you don't succeed, you lose your job, you find another one. Now I have responsibilities. Moving from an employee position where actually you have a secured salary at the end of the months to the entrepreneurship mind mindset is a bit different. I got the the how to say the courage to do that when we met because I felt that yes, maybe we we we can do it. And then this happened, we couldn't do it, it was a bit of a failure, and I started to panic for no reason. But I started to panic, and I had to do a lot of introspection on myself to just calm down and to be able to move on.

SPEAKER_03 23:04

What helped you? What what anchored you? What uh how did you manage to get out of the that dark hole?

SPEAKER_01 23:15

My family. What I say family is my parents, uh, my wife, the smile of my kids, because obviously they're they're they're they're young, so they couldn't help me more than that. And my friends. Because obviously, if you're alone or you if you put yourself in a in a lonely in a lonely situation, it's very difficult to get out of it. When actually you have people that love you, that care about you, that actually give off their time, of the energy to tell you, George, if you continue like this, you're going to lose everything. And that was actually people giving me small slap on my face that actually woke me up one day and say, you know what? I didn't do anything wrong. I tried, it didn't work. But again, I cannot live on the past. People living on the past are people that are going to lose a lot of time, energy, motivation, everything. So I just worked on myself and said, halas, move on. You did it once, you will do it twice. It's no problem. You can do it even 100 times, as long as you have the energy and a good mental to move on. Very nice, man.

SPEAKER_03 24:29

So this uh and and throughout all of this, uh we decided to become partners, as we mentioned before. Um, and we opened our own little uh consulting company and uh commercial brokerage company here in the UAE. Um but then something happened. Then you got offered another beautiful opportunity because the universe provides. And today you are uh managing, directing, leading a new type of uh operation, uh which is uh fantastic, and it's called Life Size Plan. Yes, so can you tell us a little bit about this?

SPEAKER_01 25:12

That is actually look, everything comes for a reason.

SPEAKER_03 25:16

Yes, it does.

SPEAKER_01 25:18

Now, I was lucky enough to spend a lot of time with you to know you better, and I again believe in destiny. Now, when we started with this uh cherry business and it didn't work, we didn't give up actually. We tried to do other things, we tried to diversify. I was still trying to diversify in different things. Now, thanks to you, I met other people. Uh, and actually, I met more people through you than you met people through me, I have to admit also. So the thing is that yes, I got the opportunity one day to secure some kind of income, which actually by managing uh life size plan. So I took the challenge, it was something completely new, and I'll tell you more about it now. Uh, and I I I I was I believed in the in the in the concept, and actually I feel now that the concept is mine actually, although I believe it is yours, man, because I do everything for it. So, yes, uh in 2022, end of 2022, beginning of 2023, I had this opportunity to uh work with two gentlemen that uh introduced to me to a new concept, which is life-size plans. Uh, it's a concept coming from Australia, and it has to do with visualizing the future projects that you have uh when it comes to building something. So imagine you want to build your villa, or you have a Shelencore retail shop. You go to your architect and then you ask him about what to do and how to design it. Or you tell him, you give him your ideas, what you want to achieve, whatever. So the architect actually does the design. But after that, all you will get is actually an A4 or A3 or uh a file or a file sent to your computer telling you that's what I want to build for you. That creates a that creates a lot of uncertainty. You're not sure about everything.

SPEAKER_02 27:33

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 27:33

Our concept is actually to project any floor plan, whether it's residential or commercial, whether it is an apartment, a villa.

SPEAKER_03 27:42

I have seen yachts being projected as well.

SPEAKER_01 27:44

Exactly. It could be anything that has a floor plan. We bring it one-to-one scale. So actually, you have the opportunity to walk through your future projects on a one-to-one scale, on real size. So if you want to go and see your future villa, we project it so you can really feel about the space. Now, it's a 2D projection, right? So the idea is that to give you more of a feeling of the space, of the secretary, everything, we have also walls and dummy furniture. So we can create a small mock-up of whatever you want to see. We also have one-to-one. Yes, of course, because at the end you have a parking. So you go back to the city. People gotta check the garage. You have to check the garage and make sure that your and rover is there. Right. So basically, clients are coming and they are actually walking through the future project to make sure that everything is as per their expectation.

SPEAKER_03 28:40

This is beautiful. I I I have witnessed some of your uh showcasing.

SPEAKER_01 28:46

We have 100% positive feedback from the people. I never had anyone coming to my facility and telling me, well, okay, that was nice, it was a news experience, but I it did it it didn't really help me. No, it's the other way around. Everyone that came was like, that's amazing. We actually now finally understand what we're building. I can really fill the space and I can make sure that everything is as per my expectation or what I had in mind. And even if there is some amendments, changes, alteration, whatever, that's good because actually you do it before starting the construction. So that will actually allow you to save some money, some time, some misunderstanding with the architect. And for the architect, it's great because he can really show the capacity of interpreting whatever the client wanted in real.

SPEAKER_02 29:41

This is cool.

SPEAKER_01 29:42

And that also very easy for him to convince them the client that, oh, you remember when you were telling me that your living room was too small? Look, that's the real size. And most of the time, clients are like, oh, yeah, actually, yes, you're right, it's actually the right size.

SPEAKER_03 29:57

And um, your president right now in Dubai, and you're president in Abu Dhabi.

SPEAKER_01 30:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 30:01

And soon to be in Saudi as well.

SPEAKER_01 30:03

Yes, in Riyadh, we're opening. I think Riyadh uh market uh is an amazing uh uh market, there's a lot of opportunities. I know from fact that we have a lot of interest from uh our uh Saudi friends and from the GCC in general, because people see us on on the social media, yeah and they are like very, very keen to try the the the the concept. But basically, here we we yes, we are in in Dubai. Uh we're working with Architects, interior designer, and property developer. And uh yet we see we have a lot of work to do. There's a lot of improvement, but slowly, slowly we're gaining more and more traction, more and more audience and and uh market awareness for for this new concept.

SPEAKER_03 30:51

This is beautiful, man. I have seen you very proud of the results that you are being able to accomplish with this.

SPEAKER_01 30:55

You have to be proud of everything you're doing. Bravo, very well said, regardless if it's professional, personal, uh everything.

SPEAKER_03 31:03

So you arrived into the UAE as a young individual coming from Paris.

SPEAKER_01 31:09

Yes, full of of hope and and motivation.

SPEAKER_03 31:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:12

I wanted to conquer the the entire world, and I felt that Dubai was the right place to be.

SPEAKER_02 31:19

Good.

SPEAKER_01 31:20

I I will I will lie if I said that I didn't miss France at the beginning. Obviously, I left my parents there, uh my friends, uh my my uh how to say my zone of comfort to try something new. But that was also very possible from the fact that my brother also decided to move to to to to Dubai before me.

SPEAKER_03 31:45

Actually, he was the first person I ever seen because your brother I used to meet on the hallway, because at one point we were living on the same floor. Yes, correct, and so I would see your brother and I would confuse him with you because you guys at one point look similar to me. Really? Yeah, okay, you had similar hair, so yeah, a long time ago.

SPEAKER_01 32:08

Now I he still has a hair.

SPEAKER_03 32:09

It's been a long time ago, man.

SPEAKER_01 32:11

He has the hair, I have the blue eyes. Yes, it's like a win-win situation, actually.

SPEAKER_03 32:18

Mommy gave a little bit to everybody.

SPEAKER_01 32:20

So when I moved to Dubai, actually, actually, yes, I was looking for an opportunity, a country, uh uh uh an environment that allows you to grow. Unfortunately, Europe at that time and until now, unfortunately, doesn't give the opportunity or it's actually the other way around. They actually try to always put some limits in in the things that you want to do.

SPEAKER_03 32:50

I understand what you're saying.

SPEAKER_01 32:51

Whether it is because of hierarchy, whether it is because of jealousy, or because of the taxes that they're they're making, they're putting. Now I came here and I saw a lot of opportunities. I love Dubai from the first day I came. Uh now, after all these years, more than two decades, obviously Dubai is home. Yes, I don't see myself anywhere else. And I feel that me and Dubai, we have this very specific relationship, which is you know what, I will help you to grow as long as you help me to grow. Help me to help you. Yeah, I agree with that. And and the thing is that I always, always had the feeling that whatever I do here, whether it is uh the governmental entities, whether it is the people that I met here, they always had uh how to say uh uh a nice uh how to say a nice input on me. They always try to push me to go forward. No jealousy, nobody try to like now I cannot I cannot say if if the people that I I met here are my how to say my family for most of them, but I know that I met five people that became my friends, my brothers, my family. I had a very similar but even the people that were not my friends were trying to help me the same way I was trying to help them, and this agreement that I had between me and and Dubai was actually a success. I went through a lot of stress, but it was a positive stress, it was a constructive stress. Yes, it was something where actually we were building together something. Me and experience, Dubai uh a new a new vision, a new El Dorado for some people at the beginning. But this El Dorado became real, not only based on dream and opportunities and hope that something will happen, it's a it's a real gold mine. Everyone that came here gained something. I'm not saying that we all are on the same level, but anyone that comes here is happy to be here.

SPEAKER_03 35:26

It is, they are. You're you're you're correct.

SPEAKER_01 35:29

Now now again the fact that we are now becoming the center or the link between different continents gave us the opportunity to meet different culture, different religion, different perspective. And that was very important for me. I'm I'm someone that loved to know more about other people, about history, about culture, about habits, because obviously I will never forget from where I come. I'm I'm Syrian, I'm Arabic, uh, I know what my parents gave me as an education, but Dubai allowed me to actually add new things or new philosophy or new spirit or mindset in my life.

SPEAKER_03 36:22

There is one of the hobbies that you have that I really, really like, and I have taken uh dearly towards it. In fact, every time I travel, I try to contribute to it. It's uh that you are a numismatic.

SPEAKER_01 36:34

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 36:35

How did you get into that?

SPEAKER_01 36:38

Uh as far as I as I remember, I always like to have coins in my pocket. Okay. I like the sound of coins in my pocket, not for the value, the facial value of whatever I had, but the sound. So I started just to have a big box of a lot of sounds when I was really, really young. And because we were traveling a lot, and at that time there was no credit card, debit card, checks, whatever. It was all about either notes or coins. Obviously, I was too young to have notes, although I would have loved to have notes, but had coins. So it started this way, and then I realized that on those coins, from one year to another, things were changing. The face, uh maybe uh uh a monument, something. So I like the idea of having a same value coin, let's say at that time it was French franc, but with different pictures on it. So that's how it started because I was curious to see that actually every year we have something new. Once it was the French flag, sometimes it was the status of liberty, then a president, Chardogault. So that's how it started actually. And I was like, okay, and because my parents uh gave us the opportunity, we're lucky enough to travel a lot uh for vacation during summer. I actually realized that every country had the same. So I was like, I want then, whenever I go somewhere, try to see all the coins that they have and the different uh variants of this of this coin. So that's how I started actually.

SPEAKER_03 38:16

That's very beautiful, very, very beautiful. Thanks to you. I started going into the shops whenever I go to Italy and looking for old coins that I can bring to you. Yeah, and uh and I have met amazing people into it, and I have met the the shops themselves, which are these museums of history and monetary history. It's it's very beautiful.

SPEAKER_01 38:37

They're very passionate, actually.

SPEAKER_03 38:38

They are extremely passionate, you're right.

SPEAKER_01 38:40

And it's actually beautiful. I'm very novice in that, but I like to do it at my very small level, to be honest. But yes, I it's something.

SPEAKER_03 38:48

So what's the what's the plan for the future then? Like right now, how many years in Dubai? 24, 25, 23? Uh yes, something I I don't know. I'm losing count for myself, man.

SPEAKER_01 39:02

It's uh it's it's it's way too much.

SPEAKER_03 39:04

So what's the what's your your plan, your vision? What where do we want to go? I know your kids are growing, you have a beautiful boy and a beautiful little girl.

SPEAKER_01 39:15

Again, I'm I'm telling you, Dubai or UAE is a home for me. So I don't see myself anywhere else that in than in the UAE. But again, now I have maybe more time, more opportunity to travel. What I want to see in the future, or what I'm planning in the future, first of all, is to make sure that my kids have the best education. Uh, whether it is our education or at school, I think it's very important. Uh, give them also the opportunity, as I told you, because I love that, traveling and see different culture. Now, what are my plans on a professional uh level? No, no, obviously to develop whatever I have to develop.

SPEAKER_03 39:57

I don't care about professionals. But to grow.

SPEAKER_01 39:59

But when it comes to family, personal, is obviously to give the opportunity to my kids to grow in a healthy environment, give them the tradition and culture that my parents taught me, and show them the world. And also give them the ability or the understanding that life is not all about money or uh comfort zone. I want to under I want them to understand that life is more than that.

SPEAKER_02 40:36

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 40:51

That's for now. Now, in the future, I want to retire and travel with my wife. That's what I want. I want to live my life. Look, at the end, I I don't want to be in this cliche of I want to succeed, I want to to make businesses. Yes, businesses is good, but life is very important, and I want also to have some time for myself, for my family, for my wife. Uh, and my wife is the most important thing in my life. So no, because because again, all this all this difficult moment that I had, uh I passed them thanks to her, because she was here by my side, she never gave up, and I thank her for that. But at the same time, I know that she learned a lot also from me. So the idea is that I think we we are good partners. A good team, yes, a good team, a good partners. We are partners for everything. So, yeah, I also want her to to just like relax, be a little bit more free in her in her head.

SPEAKER_03 42:05

This is nice. So maybe you guys should come to my barbecues more often.

SPEAKER_01 42:09

I will, I will to be to be honest. The weekend is very difficult. We have we have been we have play dates.

SPEAKER_03 42:18

We have been plan with the play dates, we have play dates, but to do we have been planning to get together to do uh pomegranate molasses for already a month and a half, and we will, uh inshallah, and we will, inshallah. Inshallah, keep trying, okay, George. And we did it once, yeah, man. But once it was four years ago, really, yeah, time flies. No, we're just too much blah blah. We need to do more things, yes, yes, so agree.

SPEAKER_01 42:48

From my side, you you have been always very how'd say, present whenever I I I want to see you. I have to admit that uh because I was working on on different things, and especially on myself, it's good. Uh, I was a bit like busy, but now, yes, obviously.

SPEAKER_03 43:08

And I want to see you, I come to you, and that's okay. I've never judged you about anything, man. Uh um I I think my relationship with you is one of the most uh uh straightforward and and uh um easygoing relationships that I ever had with any other human beings, and that's what I like about it. Um, I feel extremely close to you and to your family. I love your kids, I love your wife. For me, your wife is like my sister, yeah, and uh your brother as well. I met you, your cousins, everybody, uh your father, your mother. I love them all. Uh George has this family tradition on the 3rd of March, and no, of December. December. 3rd of December, they celebrate uh Barbara, which is something new to me. I never knew what this was. Yes, and that was the first family gathering you ever invited me to, and I was so blown up. Away by it because it was uh so simple and beautiful.

SPEAKER_01 44:05

It's only for family. Yeah, we in general don't invite people that are not part of our so for me.

SPEAKER_03 44:10

It was uh it was very, very beautiful to be able to partake into something like that. Yeah, and uh and yeah, so okay. Uh George, thank you so much for your time.

SPEAKER_01 44:21

Thank you for having me. It was actually very interesting. First time it's a good chat for for everything. First time, it's very scary, but at the same time, actually, it went very smooth. I didn't talk, man. I talked a lot, actually. Surprisingly, I thought that I would be like trying to find my words, but actually, no, it went very, very good, very nice experience.

SPEAKER_03 44:44

Thank you very much for joining me, and uh it really is a pleasure to know you, and I look forward to see what other adventure we get into because uh we're still young, man. We're very young, yes, sir. We are my my dad is uh 81 and he's still going out and about.

SPEAKER_01 44:59

Look, I always a lot of people are making fun of me because I'm getting older and older as for the passport. But what I'm saying is like I don't know how to say it in in English, but if I have to translate it from French, is something like Just say it in French, man. Je ne suis pas vieux, je suis jeune depuis plus longtemps que vous. That means I am not old, I'm just young from a longer period of time than you.

SPEAKER_03 45:23

Ah, very nice, I like that.

SPEAKER_01 45:25

So I'm not old, I'm just young from three years.

SPEAKER_03 45:29

Very nice. I love it.

SPEAKER_01 45:30

So no, yeah, but thank you for for having me. Uh all I want to say maybe it's a bit like of but just be uh face uh be uh hard worker, uh have a lot of resilience, a lot of patience, and believe in yourself.

SPEAKER_03 45:56

Yes, that's it. Yes, believe in yourself. If you don't believe in yourself, nobody will.

SPEAKER_01 46:00

No, no, you you just have to believe in yourself. All the rest of you have to work on this, you have to improve that. No. As long as you are faithful to yourself, you believe in yourself, and you don't lie to yourself, you cannot fail.

SPEAKER_03 46:14

Indeed. That's it. Indeed. Thank you very much, everybody, for joining us today. It was really a pleasure, and again, it's always a pleasure to speak with my friends and George.

SPEAKER_01 46:24

Thank you, thank you again. That was amazing, honestly. I liked it.

SPEAKER_03 46:27

Yeah, so looking forward to seeing you guys on the next one.

SPEAKER_01 46:30

Yeah, part two for me.