MIDDLE EAST
12 PROFILE
23 November 2008
HOWES THAT?
Diversification is vital in today’s economic climate, says Ronald Howes, MD of Memac Ogilvy Dubai
By ANDY BUCHAN
hat’s the key to working
W
in Dubai? Is it possessing
an inhuman tolerance to
horn-honking Hummers
tailgating you as they
seek to depart the car park a millisecond
earlier? Is it the asbestos-like ability to sur-
vive in the summer heat when the city is
sweatier than a Geordie in a spelling test?
Or is it the acceptance of the inevitable;
that someone out there has infinitely more
wasta than you and they’re not afraid to
use it?
Ronald Howes, managing director of
Memac Ogilvy Dubai, is better placed to
answer than most. Born in Beirut, raised
in London before departing to work in Cy-
prus, Bahrain, Prague and Moscow, he’s
been in Dubai for a little over three years.
Accordingly, he can speak fluent English,
Arabic, French and Greek, and has a few
key survival phrases from his time in Rus-
sia. And the key to unlocking the vast po-
tential in the emirate?
“The diversity of people that you work
with, both internally and with the clients
that you deal with,” says Howes, as 3pm
sunlight streams into his 24th floor Sheikh
Zayed Road office. “We have over 30 differ-
ent nationalities working with us, and ev-
eryone brings something different. Nearly
every campaign we produce is regional,
A person’s CV only
tells what they have
done, not what they
are going to do. If
there is a spark in
your eye, if there
is belief, then that,
I think, is the most
important thing.
which means we’re a hub. And I think the
cosmopolitan nature of the market means
that whatever you produce is going to be
international—we’re talking to a whole
cross-section of society.”
THE LONG AND WINDING ROAD
It’s no surprise that Howes is a believer in
diversity. Born in Beirut to an English fa-
ther and Lebanese mother, he then moved
to London to study. His first job was in the
finance department at Revlon before he
became interested in gemology and took
a job on Bond Street valuing and selling
precious stones. He then moved to Beirut
with his wife and combined his main job
as an English teacher with his duties as as-
sistant director of the British Council. His
first foray into marketing didn’t come until
he left for Cyprus, where he was employed
as a regional marketing manager for sev-
eral years. The jumps then came quickly as
he left to work in Bahrain, Prague, Moscow
and finally Dubai. Does he think his rela-
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