Guests jostle to take a selfie with a radiant ruler flanked by dozens of local officials. The Royal Works The Room with the ease of Instagram celebrities who are accustomed to mixed with superstars such as footballers Cristiano Ronaldo.
A few meters behind him, integrated with the crowd at an event at the Dubai Expo earlier this year, another man who might be less conspicuous in the city’s social scene whose impact was to win praise from foreign investors while maintaining the executive in the government carried out by the company’s government with their toes with their toes .
As their 73-year-old father, the ruler of Dubai, gave them more responsibility, Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed Al Maktoum, 39, and Brother Sheikh Maktoum, 38, each carved a niche. They faced the task of maintaining Dubai’s status as a leading Middle East business center amid competition from regional rivals and international supervision after the Russian War in Ukraine.
“Just think of it as a company,” said Nasser al-Shaikh, former Head of Finance Dubai, who helped direct the Emirates through the 2009 debt crisis. “Hamdan is the chairman and maktoum is the CEO. Hamdan is the face of Dubai and the crown prince, but the decision about all problems was made After the consultation between the two siblings. “
Sheikh Hamdan, a charismatic son and heir to the crown, is a marketer in a city built on their luxury and ability to attract capital and millions of tourists. Sheikh Maktoum proved the key to Dubai as a financial market this year because he said the shot across the company managed by the Emirate government. He is part of the urge to sell bets to investors – recently, the Salik toll operator this month – and occasionally calls the head of the company to discuss through their numbers.
Outside the financial market, Dubai is under pressure to reduce the flow of illegal money, while the energy crisis may have given encouragement for oil income in the United Arab Emirates but in the long run it will accelerate global transfer of fossil fuels.
Brothers – who were born a year apart from the same mother – also need to maintain a subtle balance of power in the UAE. It happened after Dubai’s leadership persuaded Abu Dhabi to refocus on business and economy and less on foreign policy which caused military involvement in conflicts that stretched from Yemen to Libya and Turkey. Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, raises other challenges with their desire to imitate Dubai as a magnet for foreign talents and investments.
The two men rarely talk to the media. The Dubai Media Office said it was impossible to arrange interviews in the given time period and reject further comments.
Sheikh Hamdan nicknamed Fazza, Arabic for people who rushed to help others. He was appointed as the crown prince in 2008, past the older sister Sheikh Rashid, who died in 2015 at the age of 33.
While his social media accounts are seasoned with a more formal government business image, Sheikh Hamdan has also been displayed plunged by umbrellas, climbing mountains, riding horses or standing on the highest tower in the world. He has 14.6 million Instagram followers – equivalent to more than the UAE population – and mingle with people in the Mall and Dubai restaurant, continuing the image of a leader who is easily approached by his father who is cultivated when he is preparing for his role in the future.
Hamdan accompanied his father to most meetings with other rulers in Sheikhdoms and Dubai seats in the Dubai Executive Council, which included his brother. The council’s website says Hamdan is “marked by his young and dynamic personality” which has helped him build connections with the Dubai population. He is also the head of the Emirates sovereign wealth fund, Corporation Investment of Dubai.
Maktoum, meanwhile, is described by the council as “the nature of an ambitious young leader.” He shot in the spotlight when he was appointed as Minister of Finance for UAE in September 2021 after the death of his uncle. The spear on the sale of state -owned companies that had long been valued took him to investors’ attention. Over the years they have called for a list of companies managed by the state to increase the Dubai stock market.
“Sheikh Maktoum currently plays a role set for him, which is defined and technical,” said Sheikha Najla Al Qassimi, a senior researcher at the Dubai Public Policy Research Center, B’Huth, who also served as the UAE ambassador. “The role of Sheikh Hamdan as the crown prince is more political. He is very popular with local residents and temporary tribes can also be connected and attractive to the large expatriate community of Dubai.”
This year’s public list is the beginning of the busy schedule to see a total of 10 state -owned companies offering shares to investors. Sheikh Maktoum has helped encourage the sale of shares in the main utility, Dubai Electricity and Water Authority, along with the Tecom Group Business Park operator, collects more than $ 6 billion in total.
Investors in September took all the shares offered at the Road Salik toll operator, and Dubai increased sales size. Transactions, coordinated by Goldman Sachs Group Inc. And Merrill Lynch, among others, was designed to collect $ 1 billion.
“As a financial center in this region, the Dubai Market does not fully reflect that status,” said Mohamed Abu Basha, Head of Macroeconomic Research at Egyptian Investment Bank EFG Hermes. “If you want to further increase the Dubai story, you need to continue the encouragement of this IPO which in my opinion has long been delayed.”
Sheikh Maktoum also focused attention on corporate governance. As the Head of the Government Audit Department, he maintains Hawkish’s gaze in the financial entity controlled by the Dubai state, some of which are the roots of Dubai’s financial problems more than a decade ago. The focus makes sense – he is one of the main officials assigned to supervise the city’s finances.
Since taking the leadership in the Financial Audit Authority, Royal has ordered financial investigations to several state companies when suspicious of the possibility of corruption, people who are familiar with the problem said, refusing to talk about notes about secret discussions. He made a short, serious and to -the point meeting, they said, in an area where the extended chat on tea often preceded to business.
An executive at Dubai’s company said he was surprised when he received a call from the Sheikh Maktoum office to call him. When he arrived at the office, he was escorted only to Sheikh Maktoum to walk a few moments later with a bottle of water in his hand. He immediately began to make several transactions, asking for details and reasons.
Not calm by the meeting, the executive nervously began to reach the files before feeling comfortable with Sheikh, he said, refused to be identified with the name when talking about personal meetings. When he left, Sheikh Maktoum passed his direct number.
Sheikh Maktoum, who also plays the role of deputy prime minister and deputy ruler of Dubai, is known to ask for updates on certain projects several times late at night or on weekends, a banker said.
“There has been a positive change in the UAE stock exchange since Sheikh Maktoum took over,” said Tarek Fadlallah, Head of Middle Eastern Business Nomura Asset Management. “This must help that he is the son of the ruler of Dubai and that he is from a comfortable generation with fast changes.”
The purpose of Sheikh Maktoum is to ensure the destruction of Dubai in 2009, when he needed a $ 20 billion bailout from Abu Dhabi, was not repeated. When Sheikh Maktoum in his early 20s and Dubai staggered on the default verge, he turned to Al-Shaikh, the head of finance at the time, to take a detailed walk from the financial situation.
“He asked me to sit with him and run it through numbers,” Al-Shaikh said. “He wants to know where exactly the stress point and what caused them.”
Dubai now faces fresh obstacles. Earlier this year, the UAE was added to the ‘Gray List’ Watchdog Task Force based in Paris, which showed the lack of bay countries in handling illegal funds. Since then, UAE said it would increase extradition pact.
Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, international supervision of how Dubai handling illegal finances has increased. Politically, the UAE has maintained relations with Russia. UAE officials have said that the country personally will comply with international sanctions.
The opening of Saudi Arabia under the millennial de facto of crown leader Mohammed bin Salman, also began to captivate foreign talents which usually ended in Dubai.
The UAE has responded with efforts to make the country more attractive to foreign companies and encourage migrants to put deeper roots. This decorates the cohabitation of unmarried couples, allows expatriates to get married, divorce and use the laws of their home heritage, and delete the requirements to have a license to consume alcohol. It also eliminates the needs of local partners to start a business. This has started a long -term visa scheme and selectively opens the door to provide citizenship of the UAE, a rare step in the Bay area.
How Dubai navigating the next chapter will go down to the dynamics between the two siblings when Sheikh Hamdan finally replaces his father as the face of the city, while Sheikh Maktoum strengthens his role as a human number.
When Sheikh Maktoum was first appointed, “There is a fairly low hope,” said Jim Krane, writer of the 2009 City of Gold Book: Dubai and Dream of Capitalism. “He is an unknown type of quantity. But he appears so prominent by the power of his personality and his willingness to be involved.”
