One of the biggest mistakes people do is that they limit themselves and their potential. The largest wall in the world is the Great Wall of China, but it has many entrances, just look for them, Akram Miknas, chairman of the largest advertising and communications network in the Middle East and North Africa- MCN Group, thoughtfully pointed out while addressing young entrepreneurs at the Emirates NBD Global Business Series last month in Dubai
“My mother always wanted me to earn respect with my work. Throughout her life, she only insisted on the importance of education. Her message was so repetitive that I almost considered it as her last desire, and, thus invested significant energy to fulfil her wish,” he added recollecting his childhood memories.
The media mogul, who was born in Lebanon but is a Bahraini national, has been ranked third in the Middle East’s most powerful people in media, marketing and advertising. The Promoseven Holdings group, which he founded in late 1960s (Lebanon), owns some of the most sought-after brands like Universal Media 7, Seven Below, Weber Shandwick, etc. With a strong interest running into real estate and hospitality sector as well, Miknas has championed diversification through strategic investments in prime building across various countries, owning the franchise of Mc Donald’s in Lebanon and several leisure companies in the kingdom of Bahrain.
Striding attentively in a freewheeling discussion, with his fingers clasped in a firm grip, Mr. Miknas shared the highs and lows of his life, his inspirations and strategies of doing business and how the attitude “I-can” has won him the fortune he enjoys today!
Following is the edited and condensed transcript of the interview:
TQ: Can I take you back to your seventieth birthday, where your son gave a special ode to your success in a complete family gathering, what emotions were running in your heart?
AM: Moments like these cannot be described because they culminate a lot of emotions. However, the wholesome gathering of my family and special friends-who have shared significant life’s experiences with me-gave the celebration a really special meaning.
TQ: Let’s flashback into your childhood- your mother passed away when you were just twelve years old, can you tell us how did that affect you personally and how did you start developing your life thereafter?
AM: My parents were divorced, and I lived with my mother and her second husband. She died of cancer when I was quite young. During her last days, she was preparing me for coming to grips with her death. She even gifted me a tie and a jacket, explaining that nobody would give me one for a few years to come. And she was right! This gift was just symbolic of how she wanted me to be seen. She wanted me to earn respect with my work. Throughout her life, she only insisted on the importance of education. Her message was so repetitive and frequent that I almost considered it as her last desire, and, thus invested significant energy to fulfil her wish.
For my step-father, I was a new boy born at twelve. He tried to help me as well in seeking admission, but couldn’t do much. I had to pursue the dream of good education all by myself.
TQ: The important thing is that education and learning had a special place in your life. It was one of the key factors in shaping your personality.
AM: Yes, good education was a priority for me. I studied at the prestigious International College of Beirut and, also the American University of Beirut majoring in Business Administration. Also, I was fond of American movies that portrayed young boys making an extra dollar by selling a lemonade or other titbits. Inspired by these stories, I sold door-to-door cosmetics and encyclopaedias to make my life a little better. Struggling with an inferiority complex, I somehow wanted to prove all the rich boys in the school that I was equal to them. I always tried to dress neatly and say the right things to people. A lot of people, I believe, actually bought things out of sympathy! Later, I started working for my university, making advertising campaigns and doing exhibitions. Irrespective of whether I was selling cosmetics, encyclopaedias, or, making advertising campaigns, I always managed to strike a deep chord with people through communication.
TQ: Did you like daydreaming?
AM: Yes, I enjoyed it absolutely.
After my mother passed away, I went to a lonely place and started kicking the stones, asking myself questions about who’ll be my saviour in this despair and struggles. I would usually end up dreaming about my mother, where I would often seek her guidance to find an escape from struggles.
TQ: Did you dream of today- greatness and prosperity?
AM: No. I never believed in five or ten year plans. When I had a family, I remember the desire of having 25,000 dollars, which I needed as a guarantee to ensure that I can pay the hospital bills if anyone of them falls sick.
In those days, I had a banker friend, who was also a client, working for the British Bank of the Middle East. One fine day he called for a meeting. As he was a client, I rushed to his service saying that I will come to meet you right away. That didn’t work with him. He negated my suggestion and said, “Listen, I am inviting you to have lunch with me tomorrow.”
I didn’t sleep that night. I thought he’s going to fire me because, usually, when clients want to see you for lunch, it means that’s the last lunch with them (Laughs). He came in with his friendly charm, lacking the seriousness of someone looking to fire. He said, “I have a great news for you and, thus, I would like to ask you a question.”
With slight hesitation, I brought myself to, “What question?” He calculated his words and said, “If you were given a lot of money, would you become a slave of your money, or, make the money your slave?”
Surprised by his question, I stated that my bank balance doesn’t really have a lot of money. To which he reprimanded, “No. You, do.”
He reminded me of the savings account I had made to achieve the goal of 25,000 dollars, which received small amounts of spare money every now and then. This account now possessed a million dollar. Explaining these details to me, he added, “I asked you this question because in most cases we have two people banking with us: (a) People who consider money as their slave and live well and (b) Customers who are a slave of their money, and they fail to live well.”
I really loved the thought and it was quite useful in shaping my outlook towards life. I even felt that a million dollar is enough to retire from work! But the next morning woke up, struck with the realisation that I want to work and execute the ideas my mind processes.
TQ: For the young entrepreneurs trying to realise their Dubai dream, could you give us some insights on what are the driving factors required to achieve success in any venture?
AM: I believe that hunger is at the base of everything. I migrated from Lebanon in 1975, where I had established a company with seven friends who left me all by myself once the business started incurring losses, and reached Jordan by seeking a 500 dollars loan from a bank. However, my plans couldn’t really materialise as the country was more industrial- driven; whereas my business model was more services-led. It was a mismatch, basically. Then, I decided Turkey as my next destination as my wife hailed from the same country. I left my family in Turkey and moved to Dubai. I had a friend of mine here who kept me in his house for a couple of weeks. And that’s how I started making small printing deals to make ends meet.
During this period, I also started an advertising company to sell local products. Now, the region had only one full-fledged weekly magazine, The Gulf Mirror, which had the reputation of expensive rate cards. On the other hand, the Intercontinental hotel had a mimeograph machine that published daily Reuters bulletin. As we were struggling to find a medium to start advertising, we approached Reuters with a proposition of printing their bulletins and circulating them in this part of the region. The advertisements were stapled along with the new sheets. That’s how I began my journey here…
TQ: A lot of people find it extremely difficult to take the first step. Is it imagination or courage, or both? What’s the secret sauce for starting a business and achieving growth?
AM: Hunger can be defined in many ways. I don’t think it would be fair to say that businessmen are more successful than employees. Some of my employees have become millionaires. And I am really proud of this fact. I feel that every individual has a deep desire to excel in whatever he does, or wherever he is! He/she needs to love their work. Love can only do one thing: it can ignite your mind to actually rationalise in doing the right things. It’s never the job that holds importance, but the attitude towards the job that makes it or breaks it. It’s also about observation, and the desire to do things better. One has to look out for gaps and opportunities where things can be done in a much better way.
TQ: How do you scale from a couple of million dollar entity to billion dollar one? That steep growth trajectory is accomplished only by 0.1% of the total world population- Could you share some insights on these lines?
AM: It’s luck, I would say! One of the biggest mistakes people do is that they limit themselves and their potential. The largest wall in the world is the Great Wall of China, but it has many entrances, just look for them.
I have an interesting story on how we won the BMW account. In 1982, we had just two clients: Cathay Pacific and one small firm. I was send to pitch for BMW, but I ended up telling them, “I don’t agree with your platform. You’re communicating with the mind of the people. In the Middle East, individuals are full of themselves and egotists, you got to be speaking to the man.” I proposed them an advertisement that read: Are you a man enough to drive a BMW?
The guy looked at me and said, “Do you really think we are going to accept that idea?”
I replied that this my proposal if you want to take this brand further. The asked me to work and improvise on this concept and come back in thirty days. We went back to them and won the business a month later. At that point of time, I was really hungry to excel. In three years’ time, we took the brand from 200 cars a year to 2500. I almost carried those cars on my back. Let me tell you, I wasn’t really looking at the money, but exploring success. And I found it.
TQ: What pushed you into diversifying your business to such a large scale?
AM: As a matter of fact, I am the MCN chairman, but my group is known as the Promoseven Holding and I am chairman of this entity too. We own businesses across various segments-real estate, hospitality, manufacturing and industries, antiques and collecting and plenty of other interests. However, what made me really enter various disciplines is the fact that every time I gave a service to any client, I felt the need to support this service further.
TQ: You’ve built many brands in your life. What are the most memorable ones that you built from scratch?
AM: One product that will always stand out is poultry. When I just started my business in Lebanon, I met a gentleman named Philip Maslalla, a chemical engineer. During a freewheeling conversation, he mentioned he had the capital and wished to start an entrepreneurial venture. He intended to start a poultry business. Initially, I advised him against building a farm but a brand. He believed that advertising and marketing can churn out the desired outcome, hence, he invested half of the capital to shape the brand. The brand was called Le Poule. The products of Le Poule were expensive as compared to the other brands in the market. The trick to trigger brand engagement was storytelling, so a TV commercial was filmed. The concept was simple: Le Poule delivers hygienic products. The quality control and production process was explained with utter clarity, thus, people did not mind paying extra.
Within 6 months, Le Poule had amassed approximately 50 percent of the market share. Due to faulty distribution process, the brand had saturated. During the war, the idea of retouching the creative and artistic aspects of the TV commercial was pitched. Maslalla was skeptical, however, eventually surrendered to the whim. The TV commercial was a hit. However, it also caused the profits to spiral down. It was then, Mr. Maslalla advised me to re-connect with my roots. He asked me to spend a week surviving in the poorest place in Lebanon to better understand the needs of the customer base. I travelled to Karantina, which was known as the worst part of Beirut (Lebanon). I stayed with an Armenian family, but couldn’t survive for more than three days. On my return, I had learnt my lesson about customer engagement and we hit the market with a bang! By 1975 Le Poule owned 70% of the market share.
The other brand that I’m very proud of is BMW. Middle East was never considered an outright contending market by BMW. Dubai was a developing region, therefore had economic constraints. Likewise, Bahrain wanted to keep the conservative media at bay and Egypt suffered from raging bureaucracy. Morocco was the only country that welcomed the idea of hosting an event for BMW. This event landed up on the front page of Stern magazine.
TQ: When organizations become large they deviate from their roots. How have you managed to keep holdings like FP7 and MCN still in the race?
AM: My ideas were getting outdated, so I quit MCN and handed it over to my successor. The business has grown tremendously. However, even today, my greatest passion is pitching. I like to talk to clients about boundless possibilities, potentiality and capabilities. I did venture into new avenues. We had constructed three new towers in Beirut that have become a landmark now. I enjoyed the entire process because I was keen to learn new things. This project sparked an interest in real estate. I’ve just finished a project for the lower income strata and will start on the next soon.
TQ: What do you feel about digital and new media?
AM: I’m still getting a hang of it.
TQ: How do you handle failures and disappointments?
AM: During my childhood, there was not a single day when I hadn’t encountered problems. You have to become resilient. Success and failure are shades of the same colour.
TQ: Failures and disappointments- what would be your advice to people on handling difficulties?
AM: I am a Lebanese who was born just at the time Israel became a country. I’ve never known a day without problems. You have to understand that failure and success are a part of everyone’s life just like black and white, and one has to love both of them in the same way. If we don’t fail, we won’t ever succeed. I don’t really mind my people failing, but I would be upset if they do the same mistake over and over again.
TQ: We transport ourselves to May 29, 2044, it’s your 100th birthday- What would you like us to celebrate here tonight?
AM: Sympathetically, the crowd would be saying, “Poor old man!” (Laughs). I have museum based on the concept of moving images, which has everything to do with images before electricity and until Charlie Chaplin. It’s one of the world’s largest so far on this concept. I would, perhaps, love to spend time at the museum. That’s probably what I would be doing and people gathering to ask me about moving images.
From http://www.theintelligentsme.com/2014/12/how-to-build-an-empire-the-akram-miknas-way/