< PreviousCO VER S T O R Y | MONA K ATTAN 20 25/06, June 2024 dressed in a black track suit, fluffy Balenciaga sliders, wearing an Apple watch. She is sitting inside her huge pink and beige office that comes equipped with an exercise bike and free weights. The girl from Oklahoma would proba- bly rather just be the girl next door. Except that is, with a killer instinct. “Maybe when I am in my fifties, I will be more willing to calm down, but right now I have so much fire in me and so much appetite to disrupt, innovate and take risks. I like to hustle,” she says. The hustle has led to ser ious muscle. The fragrance brand Kayali she launched in 2018 is growing at 100 he photo shoot is in two hours’ time, so it’s a rare chance to meet the real Mona Kattan. Forget the ultra-glamorous ever-changing hairstyles and outfits that she showcased on the Netflix series Dubai Bling. Forget the colossal half a billion dollars of wealth she has accumulated before even turning 40, thanks to a str ing of successful ventures the former investment banker is behind. And forget the fame that comes with millions of followers on social media, hanging on her every word (and picture). No, no. This is the real Mona Kattan, Kattan says her mission is to make women feel their best self Jacket POA, Ezzat Dress Dhs410, Skims at Ounass Shoes Dhs5,490, Magda Butrym Sleeve Accessories Dhs2,350, Onori Collar, Tights, Earrings all Stylist’s Ownarabianbusiness.com 21 MONA K ATTAN | CO VER S T O R Y Kayali rolled out 10 new fragrances between 2022 and 2023 and is now into it’s 21st fragrance percent each year and can be found in 1,750 stores across 30 countries in four continents. By the end of the year, Kayali will be in 2,715 stores. It is already one of the top ten fragrance brands in Sephora US, is taking Europe by storm and set to enter China for the first time. “My plan is to create another multi-billion-dollar empire,” she says. As co-founder of Huda Beauty, she already has form. What started as a blog in 2010 led three years later into the creation of false eyelashes that would go on to be sold in Dubai Mall. With her sisters Huda and Alya, Huda Beauty was born. A minority stake sold to TSG Consumer Partners put a $1.25bn valu- ation on the company in 2017. With 54 million followers on Instagram and over 140 products, Huda Beauty is likely to be worth a huge amount more today. Can she do it again? The odds look good, given the global fragrance market is already worth around $40bn and fore- cast to generate nearly $60bn in reve- nues by the end of 2024. For the rest of this decade, even the most pessimistic forecasts suggest an annual compound growth rate of over 6 percent. The biggest chunk of revenues, nearly $9bn, is expected to come from the US – exactly where Kayali is performing best. “We took some time to get here, but post Covid we started disrupting in the industry. When I first presented the idea of layering your fragrances, having a wardrobe of fragrances in your home, all the retailers laughed at me. People buy one fragrance on average per year – in terms of high-volume frequency it was very low before Covid. That’s why the brand was really struggling to take off initially. People didn’t really understand my mission is to make you feel your best self and to create your mood through the power of fragrance,” says Kattan, adding: “They challenged it, they said I was very ambitious to think I could get people to buy more than one fragrance a year. I didn’t think it was a bad idea.” Clearly it wasn’t. Kayali rolled out 10 new fragrances between 2022 and 2023 and is now into it’s 21st fragrance. The perfumes are manufactured in France and shipped out across the globe. It is a highly complex and sophisti- cated operation, one that has already caught the eye of outside investors. Kattan does have an undisclosed amount of private equity players holding a stake in the brand, which usually only leads to one of two endings: Sell out or do an IPO. Could she? Would she? “I am open to it (selling) because we have private equity already, and once you have that, the pressure for growth becomes intense, so I think for that reason I would be open to it. If I ever did sell, it would have to be some- one who can take better care of it than I could,” she says, before suggesting LVMH would be an ideal suitor – but adds she is not planning on selling anytime soon. Or, for that matter, is sprinting to the stock market. “What I like about private equity is they are still giving you some parameters to take risks. I keep getting asked about doing an IPO by all the reg ional markets. But personally, I’ve never been a fan of it. I want the brand to live on beyond my years. I’d rather have less money and see the brand move on than more money and see the brand destroyedCO VER S T O R Y | MONA K ATTAN 22 25/06, June 2024 CO VER S T O R Y | MONA K ATTAN 22 25/06, June 2024 Blazer Dhs7,200, Azzi & Osta at Ounass Skirt Dhs775, The Frankie Shop at Ounass Shoes Dhs3,895, Magda Butrym Top, Tights both Stylist’s Ownarabianbusiness.com 23 MONA K ATTAN | CO VER S T O R YMONA K ATTAN | CO VER S T O R Y arabianbusiness.com 23 The biggest mistake I made in the past was firing slow, trying to make it work, give people too much benefit of the doubt. You can’t have too much empathy, you are only as great as your weakest link; it is my responsibility to keep the standards highCO VER S T O R Y | MONA K ATTAN 24 25/06, June 2024 I don’t think I could handle the pres- sure, and the fluctuation of your stock price could cause a lot of stress that I don’t need,” she says, adding: “I want the brand to live on beyond my years. I’d rather have less money and see the brand move on than more money and see the brand destroyed.” There can be little doubt that Kattan has “made it” again – a Europe and North America tour in May saw thousands of fans line up for a glimpse of her. It helped that she had a starring role on Dubai Bling – which largely featured the launch of Kayali and was effectively a free $10m marketing campaign on Netflix. However, Kattan is also quick to admit that building a frag rance empire hasn’t always been a journey smelling of roses. “We were online in so many markets and didn’t meet expectations. People weren’t ready for the concept. You either put in $5m and say this is the investment on day one, or you have to be patient. We didn’t do either. Did I make mistakes? Yes, so many, and I still do.” But surely the Kattan name opens a lot of doors? “We had no favours. I’ve never met a happy person who likes to bring people down. When I see negative comments about me, I just send them a prayer, wish them luck, block and delete Jacket Dhs5,550 Trousers Dhs2,615, both Giuseppe Di Morabito at Ounass Shoes Dhs4,390, Magda Butrym Shirt, Tie, Gloves, Earrings all Stylist’s Ownarabianbusiness.com 25 MONA K ATTAN | CO VER S T O R Y changed herself as a leader. Her track record of mixing the corporate world with entrepreneurship, and fame with finance, means she is undoubtedly hugely inspiring to work for, but equally, unlikely to suffer fools gladly. “The biggest mistake I made in the past was firing slow, trying to make it work, give people too much benefit of the doubt. You can’t have too much empathy, you are only as great as your weakest link; it is my responsibility to keep the standards high,” she says. As for fame, she says it can cause “more scrutiny and can cause people to try and pick a fight with you for atten- tion, we have seen that. But we wouldn’t be here without social media and the amount of awareness it created.” With fame and fortune comes a bandwagon of critics, especially on social media where there is no shortage of people offering their opinions on all things Kattan related. Does it bother her? “I care very little, I get very negative comments all the time, there was a time when I thought that hurts. I’ve never met a happy person who likes to bring people down. When I see negative comments about me, I just send them a prayer, wish them luck, block and delete.” With Kayali on a roll, there is little chance of anyone blocking and deleting Kattan. Kattan’s track record of mixing the corporate world with entrepreneurship means she is undoubtedly hugely inspiring to work for There were no doors that were opened. No, no doors were ever opened for us. People have a misconception of us maybe they think we have it easy. Initially, the Kattan name added pres- sure because there was such a high expectation to deliver results immedi- ately. Which was not realistic. We learned that the hard way,” she says. Born in the US to Iraqi parents, she moved to the UAE in 2003. After high school at the Sharjah American Inter- national School, she graduated in finance at the American University of Sharjah, before initially working as an investment banker. Along the way, Kattan says she has Jacket POA, Ezzat Dress Dhs410, Skims at Ounass Shoes Dhs5,490, Magda Butrym Sleeve Accessories Dhs2,350, Onori Collar, Tights, Earrings all Stylist’s OwnREAL ES TAT E | 2625/06, June 2024 REAL ESTAT E PAVING THE WAY Samuel Saba, Chairman of Infinity Group, reveals his firm’s expansion plans people around the world. We are head- quartered here in Dubai, where we run most of our operation from, but we also have offices in Zanzibar, and Malawi. How did you start Infinity Group? Our entire family has been involved in international business throughout the years, but we have operated under many different company names. Historically, our group has operated in aviation, real estate, jewellery, retail, and trading over a time period of over 30 years. Infinity Group came to be after rebranding all of our operating entities under one umbrella, and now we focus primarily on real estate, and its support services. It’s been the culmination of our lives work to create Infinity Group. We have also been very fortunate to have an Tell us quickly a little bit about Infinity Group? Infinity Group is a verti- cally integrated real estate group, that also services the outside market across the region through our different operating entities. Our core business is real estate develop- ment, in primarily foreign markets; Our current latest project that we launched is the development of a $200m resort and residences in Zanzibar, Tanzania in partnership with Anantara. We are also in building manage- ment, design and architecture, building contracting, retail, and we also have our own real estate investment arm, that is currently invested primarily in commer- cial space on long leases around the city. Our group directly employs over 500 Words by Arabian Business Staff Photography by Ajith Narendra amazing team that has been working with us relentlessly throughout the years, and if not for them we would surely not be where we are today. The rebranding occurred when we bought over two different building management companies, Place Strata Management, and Al Mudeer Strata Management. The companies, pre-ac- quisition were not performing as well as they should have been, and we felt that a rebrand of both entities was required while we optimised the company, its team, and worked to improve our customer service. This merger brought to life Infinity Strata Management, and today it is one of the largest building management companies in Dubai, but more importantly also one of the highest rated ones in the entire market.arabianbusiness.com 27 | SHAJI UL MULK arabarabarabaraarabarabaraianbianbianbianbianbnn usinusinusinusinus nness.ess.ess.ess.ess.eeecom com com comcomcom ocomcomcomm272722727272727272727272727727272727277277772777222277777 ||||| SHASHASHASHASHASHS ASJJIJIJJI ULULUULULULUUMULMULMULMULMULMUMULMULU KKKKK| REAL ES TAT E arabianbusiness.com 27 Real estate is one of the largest drivers of revenue in Dubai and in the world. As such it’s safe to say that we feel there is a lot of value we can create REAL ES TAT E | 28 25/06, June 2024 Infinity Strata Management is one of the largest building management companies in Dubai (top picture). Anantara Zanzibar Resort will redefine the standard of luxury hospitality in the archipelago (above) Bruce Lee comes to mind in regards to this question, which was “I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has prac- ticed one kick 10,000 times.” In today’s competitive world of business, it’s only those with specialised market knowl- edge and experience that will really be able compete in this global market. In Real estate, you are also competing with some of the largest developers around the world that have been able to poach and employ some of the smartest people. If you want to compete with them, you really do have to be very specialised and good at what you do. course, but it has more to do with different sub classes within the real estate sector; (i.e.) investing in hotels, offices, apar tments, warehousing, developments, etc… It’s also of course possible to diversify our investments within the same field, but in different geographical regions. A phrase from 2027 The year in which the Anantara Zanzibar Resort is set to be completed Do you see Infinity Group venturing outside of Real Estate? Our belief has always been that it’s better to be specialised in one sector, as opposed to spread ourselves every- where. It makes it easier to focus, our teams have common synergies that allow for cost optimisation, and more importantly it makes it much easier to stay more up to date about our knowl- edge in the sector. Real estate is one of the largest driv- ers of revenue in Dubai and in the world. As such it’s safe to say that we feel there is a lot of value we can create. A diversification strategy is there of arabianbusiness.com 29 | REAL ES TAT E Infinity Group’s focus is on building a portfolio of prime real estate assets in the region and in Africa Tell us a little bit more about your latest project in Zanzibar? Our latest project in Zanzibar is defi- nitely the most exciting one that we have recently launched. We are building a resort and residences in Nungwi (The northern part of the island). We picked what we believe was the best of the of the true last large sized beachfront plots on the entire island. Our project contains 111 hotel rooms, and approx- imately 70 apartments; which are all available for sale through our offices in Dubai, and in Zanzibar. In today’s competitive world of business, it’s only those with specialised market knowledge and experience that will really be able compete in this global market Why do you think someone would choose to work with Infinity Group? That’s a great question, and I do not think there is one simple answer; but if I had to summarise it into a few points it would be the following. First of all, as we look to be a development partner across different verticals we always try to go above and beyond for our clients to develop the relationship with them to cross-sell our other services. We have found it more likely often then not that if we are able to do good quality work, in a timely manner for our clients that they will generally be very satisfied. This market is quite competitive, and as such clients do not always get the level of quality of service that they would accept, as a lot of companies have a very different philosophy of busi- ness than we do. Simply put; other companies continue to look to develop business from other clients, we look to develop more business from the same clients. Quality of clients, as opposed to quantity. Secondly, family values are at the core of our organisation. Each business unit is being spearheaded by a member of our family and their respective teams; what generally ends up happening is that most of us will usually end up collaborating and working together with a client. Our clients in tur n become an extension of that ver y family, and in the same way that a family would sit in a dinner table to discuss their day; our family sits in the conference room to see how we can better provide value for our clients and service their needs. I could go on about our quality of work, our accreditations, awards, our track record, the quality of our team, our competitive pricing, etc… but if I had to put it in a few simple words it would be this; that the world of busi- ness is competitive, and that our part- ners and clients look to us to work together with them to provide solutions to the problems they have, or the ones that they don’t even know they have yet. We go above and beyond what a normal company would do for their clients, as we look to work with our clients for the long run. Our project is quite interesting, given the geopolitical climate around the world today investors are looking to place their investments away from the proximity in conflict zones. Today as a global investor, this is something that you would have to consider in terms of evaluating the longevity of your invest- ments performance. We have seen a lot of very strong demand from the Russian clientele very specifically who are look- ing to place investments outside of Russia given the ongoing conflict that is taking place. We also have the only international five-star project available on the island for investment, and have considered ourselves very fortunate to be working together with Minor Hotels, and the Anantara brand. Their level of commitment to quality and excellence is at the top of this world, and held to the same high standard that we at Infin- ity Group hold ourselves too. The Anantara Zanzibar Resort is also the only project on the island that has all of the amenities that we do. There is no other project on the island that has the number of amenities, and Next >