Gold Finger

Think Dubai, and you think "" shopper's paradise, city of gold and haven for the rich. But these visions of grandeur have been painstakingly created through sheer hard work and enterprise. And Mohamed Alabbar can take a lot of the credit for the business success that is Dubai today.

The 38-year-old Alabbar has been named as one of the world's 50 top economic personalities for 1996, selected by the UK-based Euromoney magazine. Unsurprising, because the list of Alabbar's responsibilities "" and achievements "" is long. He is currently director general of the department of economic development in the government of Dubai, and responsible for the formulation of Dubai's economic plan for the next 15 years.

The business-savvy bureaucrat is also the vice-chairman of two highly profitable organisations"" Dubai Aluminium, which works closely with Indian Aluminium (Indal), and the Dubai World Trade Centre. And to round it all off, he is the person behind the hugely successful annual Dubai Shopping Festival.First launched in February '96, the six-week festival is a city-wide shopping, entertainment, sporting and cultural extravaganza. The gameplan is to woo visitors with both huge discounts on international brands as well as by offering them the opportunity to experience the exotic Arabian desert. Alabbar hopes that this year's festival will attract around 20 lakh international visitors.

In a measure of the importance that the Dubai government attaches to its Indian clientele, Alabbar made a trip to the country accompanied by a team of corporate sponsors including representatives from Nestle, Pepsi Cola, Emirates Airlines and the Al Futtaim group. As Alabbar says, We sold a dream and made it a commercial success. And in recognition of the man's formidable marketing skills, he was recently named by AdAge International as one of the 25 global Marketing Superstars of 1996.

After graduating in finance and business administration from the University of Seattle, Alabbar set up a system for the financial review of all banks operating in the UAE. He then moved to Singapore to manage the real estate properties of Dubai-based Al-Khaleej Investments.

When not busy clinching those lucrative deals, Mohamed Alabbar enjoys playing golf and skiing in the Alps with his wife and four children.