Out of the Middle East: The Emergence of an Arab Global Business

Out of the Middle East, The Emergence of an Arab Global Business by Kamal A Shair is an extremely timely, just published last year, and well worth reading portrait of a Middle Eastern patriot, activist, businessman and Jordan's Senator. It also allows one to familiarize oneself with some of the Middle Eastern history inasmuch as it made Mr. Shair move from Jordan to Lebanon and then again to Jordan. Through pictures of Beirut destroyed in fighting and then rebuild from ground up, one can get an inkling of the intensity and extent of fighting that took place and the effort it had to take to rebuild. Not much is said about either the number of casualties or religion.

Kamal A Shair was born in Salt, Jordan (Transjordan under the British rule) in 1930. His parents had seven other children and even though approximately 1 in 10 boys and 1 in 30 girls went to school in the area in those days, Mr. Shair's father, a textile trader who was both well read and traveled but himself had only a couple of years of formal education, provided for all of his children's tuitions. For an inside picture of an Arab family that continues to elude a lot of journalists, writers and researchers in the West, this is the book to read.

Mr. Shair studied in Jordan and left for Lebanon to study at the American University of Beirut. He then studied in the United States receiving PhD from Yale University. He became a founder of Dar Al-Handasah, dargroup.com , a small start up engineering consultancy he has nurtured into a global company it is today over the last five decades.

Originally the idea of Dar Al-Handasah appeared to have a Middle Eastern company provide engineering and architectural consulting for the construction projects in the Middle East. At the time, 1956, the construction projects in the Middle East were managed and run by Western firms. Slowly but surely Dar Al-Handasah was able to start winning bids and their first major project put them in Kuwait.

“We arrived in Kuwait, and were put up in the government's comfortable guest house. The next day, not without some concern, we called at the palace to be received by Sheik Abdullah. The very word "palace" conjures up the idea of splendid chambers with luxurious furnishings, so I was astonished when we were shown into Abdullah's office. It was a modest room, with a small metal desk. My own office, in fact all partners offices, were smarter and better equipped than this. As an Arab nationalist I felt ashamed that this great man, he not only led Kuwait to independence but introduced reforms that laid the foundations of a successful modern state should do his work from such humble accommodation.”

Many other projects followed and Dar Al-Handasah started to compete for projects outside of the Middle East as well. Today the company has offices around the world and consults on structures ranging from harbors to airports, from hospitals to hotels, from tunnels to bridges. Some of its projects include Dubai International Airport Expansion, Four Seasons Hotel George V in Paris and Los Angeles Federal Courthouse.

Very early on Mr. Shair parted ways with his original partners and single-handedly led Dar Al-Handasah hiring experts based on merit and expertise without preference to country, be it from the West or from the Middle East or from any other country around the globe. In time, through many travails, the issue of legacy started to nag at Mr. Shair more and more and he quite early on thought to prepare his business to survive him. He moved to restructure and give more independence to Dar Al-Handasah than it would make sense from his own financial perspective.

As an engineer it appealed to Mr. Shair to provide modern, safe and beautifully designed structures to his home region. Being able to employ people gave him even more satisfaction. But Mr. Shair's passion, it appeared to me, was mostly in history and philosophy of the region and it was being able to give back to his own community through his own literacy volunteering, building schools and then going on to accept the offer of going into Jordanian politics that truly crowned his efforts.

For anyone interested in either Middle East or business Out of the Middle East is an excellent read. It will provide one with information on the Middle Eastern history and customs that might otherwise take at least 2 other good books to cover. As far as the business development angle. It is a first hand story from Dar Al-Handasah original Founder and Chairman.

Interestingly, this might also be a good read for people who enjoy self-help genre. We are inundated with the “How to” and “Success” titles focusing on quasi-psychological and behavioral characteristics such as positive thinking or positive attitude. It might be worthwhile to compare that type of off the shelf advice with Out of the Middle East story of Mr. Shair's success and how he set out to make it happen.

Out of the Middle East was published in the U.K. by I. B. Tauris, Ibtauris and is available in the States through Palgrave Macmillian, Palgrave USA.