Dubai – Since he took his construction company to the Middle East, Brazilian businessman Omar Hamaoui made a bet that the two leading markets in the region would grow: United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. Early this year, the business expanded as the company arrived in Qatar. Like Saudi Arabia, Qatar is one of the Gulf countries whose construction market grows the most.
"Qatar is going to host a World Cup (in 2022), it’s a country that has money, and it’s preparing its (construction) plans,” said Hamaoui regarding what took him to the Arab country. This new office is not replacing the one in Dubai. From the United Arab Emirates headquarters, the company will manage local works, contracts and budgets. Engeprot is also leaving Riyadh, where its Saudi offices were located, and moving to Jeddah, another Saudi city with a booming real estate market and in which two Engeprot projects are underway.
While diversifying its operations in the Gulf, Engeprot also manages its projects in Dubai. The 2008 crisis harmed all companies in the region, and it was no different with Hamaoui’s construction company.
“There was not a company that did not feel the effects of the crisis. At that time, our challenge was to retain our teams, carry out works with reasonable cost-to-benefit ratios, and collect delayed payments,” said Hamaoui. Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, was not as badly hit by the crisis as Dubai was, but still it didn’t help business, because the government is redesigning the emirate’s urban planning.
Hamaoui has been in Dubai since 2004. He decided to leave Curitiba, where he still maintains a construction company, and invest in the Middle East after attending the Big 5 fair, in 2003, and realizing that there were opportunities in the emirate. Since then, he has taken part in works such as the building of Dubai’s Oasis Mall and the Dubai Metro garage building. Engeprot’s portfolio also includes works Abu Dhabi and the ongoing projects in Saudi Arabia.
Even though business in Dubai is no longer as fast-paced and profitable as it was five years ago, Hamoui said the real estate market is beginning to recover. Still, it will not be like it was in the past.
“There used to be people who would buy 500 square-metre houses for US$ 4 million. Now, the going price is around US$ 2 million. In some cases, one same property would have up to three owners at different times before construction would even start. That will hardly happen again,” he said during a talk to a mission of industry businessmen organized by the Federation of Industries of the State of Santa Catarina (Fiesc) in partnership with the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce .
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
