Emirati blazed a trail at Microsoft

Bill Gates made a big impression on Abdullatif Al Mulla. "He's a portable library," says the chief executive of Tecom Investments, a subsidiary of Dubai Holding that develops and manages areas such as Dubai Media City. "But he doesn't shy away from not knowing. If he doesn't know certain things he says 'I don't know about this. What do you think'?" The fact that he knows the American philanthropist and former chief executive of Microsoft is not the only thing that sets the Tecom chief apart from his contemporaries. Abdullatif Al Mulla joined the private sector at a time when most of his fellow Emiratis opted for government jobs and he was the first UAE national to work for Microsoft. But it could all have been so different. "I got a call from a mutual friend, who said 'Microsoft is looking for somebody. Are you interested?' I said no, I'm going in my own direction." That was in the mid-1990s, when Mr Al Mulla worked at Dubai Duty Free and had dreams of starting his own business. However, he went along to the interview, not wanting to offend his friend."I said I will go and I will try just to be as professional as possible, but hoping that they wouldn't accept me."He is a man who is not afraid to speak his mind, so the interview got more heated when he started asking the questions."I said how are you guys doing in the market? I knew they were not doing a good job. They said 'we're doing OK', so I said no, you're not doing OK. "They said 'no, this is our interview'. I said fine." He left assuming he would never hear from Microsoft again, and his plan to launch a business would go ahead. "They called me after four or five days. The head of sales said 'we want to see you'. I said I thought it was over and he said 'no, they wanted you'."He decided to take the job, even though many thought he shouldn't. "Everybody thought that I was crazy by joining the private sector, where the jobs are not as secure and the workload is different." But having got to know the US well, he thought the lifestyle would suit him better and give him more satisfaction. So he took it, but it was tough getting to grips with everything at first. "In the beginning I thought I'm in the middle of nowhere because things were not clear to me, neither from the process nor clients' point of view, nor the revenue. I don't know anything about how this company operated." He was given a target and told to go and figure it out. And he spent long days and late nights in the office in those initial few months building everything from scratch. "Your health goes down and I lost most of my friends, because you need to spend time with them and I didn't have time."You have to pay the price. If you want to work for such a company and go up the ladder then of course there's a sacrifice you have to make." But a few months later, things started to fall into place."There was a moment when I was gaining much more information. I was learning new things and dealing with multiple kinds of people, inside the industry and outside the industry."Being the first Emirati to work for Microsoft did not present any specific challenges, but it was a hefty responsibility. "It was the first time a UAE national was working for such an international company with a high demand. You need to prove yourself and you need to prove to the company that it is worth hiring UAE nationals. It's not like the stereotype that the UAE nationals don't like to work or they lack the proper skills or they are high demanding, no."You need to take a chance and we need to make sure they have the proper skills and the proper tools." From / The National