Dunston Pereira, CEO Private Office of His Royal Highness Sheikh Ahmed bin Faisal Al Qassimi
By Jules Lavallee
Mr. Dunston Pereira, CEO of the private office of HH Sheikh Ahmed Bin Faisal Al Qassimi is a well-versed and versatile personality who was in corporate leadership roles with multinationals for almost 30 years.
With vast experience in business excellence, he became an entrepreneur at the age of 46 and has been on a successful journey since then. He received the national award for business excellence in 2018 and the state award in 2019.
With his vast expertise in a global relationship, he has taken up this challenging assignment with the private office to make it one of the most acclaimed and accepted business organization in the world
He is also a good humanitarian who is serving as an ambassador to about 10 NGO organizations across the world.
The Royal Office of Sheikh Ahmed bin Faisal Al Qassimi is working on several mega projects aimed at making Ras Al Khaimah the next biggest destination in the UAE.
You are a Media Expert and well-known in cinema. How have you positioned your expertise on making Ras Al Khaimah the next biggest destination in the UAE?
I always felt the need that UAE should have a state of the art film city as it is geographically well placed and connectivity from across the globe is excellent. Also, as UAE is the home for almost 200 nationalities, availability of manpower from any region is very easy. And as i have seen the struggles that many production houses go through i felt the need for a full fledged shooting facility to be incorporated in the UAE. And Ras Al Khaimah was the best choice as it has the most beautiful landscape like mountains, sea, deserts and many others which made it as the ideal choice for the Film city. we would like to facilitate and end to end solution for the global film fraternity
Tell us about the $5.4 billion man-made Moon. What led to this project?
The Moon Project was conceived by 2 canadian designers named Michael Henderson and Sandra Matthews who approached us with this spectacular manmade structure. As UAE always embraces unique things we felt that we should have this project in UAE as the next landmark. And hence discussions started and we are in an advanced stage of finalizing things based on various discussions. The project went through a lot of additional features and now we have added a real estate component of 17 towers comprising 11000 apartments making it literally a moon city.
Take us through why Ras Al Khaimah is the greatest experience for tourists.
Ras al Khaimah is the only emirate in the UAE which has a wide landscape of mountains, sea and deserts. Also the climate is quite different from other emirates making it one of the most favourable destination for both residents and tourists. It also has the highest point in the UAE where it even snows at times. Ras al Khaimah is equipped with a seaport and an airport and is accessible by road from Dubai in 1 hr time. Ras Al Khaimah has the most number of beach resorts making it a popular tourist spot. And now the first Casino coming up in Ras al Khaimah it is further going to be enhanced as a popular destination in the world.
What was important to you when developing this project?
We always wanted to develop Ras Al Khaimah as a destination, which is why we have been working on some unique projects with a great experience. And with the average time span of 8 hrs. to reach UAE from any place in the world it makes it more viable for any project to succeed as the tourist inflow numbers have been growing phenomenally year on year. We have selected the projects with utmost care to ensure a quality experience for those visiting this emirates.
You have served as an inspiration to inspiring leaders and entrepreneurs everywhere. What is your leadership style?
I am happy to be an inspiration if it motivates them. My leadership style has always been delegating and empowering my team as they have always been my backbone. I trust my team members completely and I can confidently delegate any assignments to them. As a leader, trusting your team is very important as they feel their importance in the system.
I am also a mentor to a lot of startups and early stage entrepreneurs as I feel that by a little push they can reach heights. many startups have brilliant ideas but lack the skills to present it and scale it
Reflecting on your journey, what would advise your younger self?
Be focused on what you want to do and move towards it. Never get distracted by others’ views and go by that. Have your own views and do what your mind and heart say and stick to that. I wanted to be a doctor because of family pressures and then became a teacher but ended up in the corporate world which was my destiny, and I enjoyed every moment of my career.
What has led to your greatest fulfillment?
I am working with a few NGO’s which has been my greatest fulfillment in life because I feel that I am able to give back to society in a small way. I am currently associated with many NGO projects in Africa which caters to a large society and changing their life for betterment which gives me a lot of satisfaction and gives me a feel that my presence in this world is being used.
What do you want your legacy to be?
As I am associated with a family office now, I understand the seriousness of the responsibility that I am holding because I represent a family that has been built over a legacy and it is my responsibility to sustain that name and honor.
My legacy in this industry or the role that I do now would be to understand others and their needs and see what best can be done which is what we see everyday from the great visionary leaders of UAE. I would love to be remembered as a simple person who lived his life spreading positivity around him and one who faced challenges with a smile with a thought that “ this hard time shall also pass.”
