There was a time when an expat executive who had offended his Gulf government boss would only have to answer one question after quitting: "Window or aisle?"
Chris O'Donnell's victory in his courtroom battle against Nakheel represents more than a big payday for the former chief executive. It also shows that the legal route can be a viable one for foreigners in dispute with big government-backed companies. So the legal arguments of this particular case are not as interesting as its ultimate conclusion.
Mr O'Donnell has emerged as an unlikely winner from Dubai's property boom and bust, given the scale of the losses accumulated by his former company. Many of his contemporaries caught out by the collapse in prices were not so lucky. Some fled the country, while others were jailed.
It is significant that the former chief executive chose the Dubai World Tribunal within the DIFC Courts to hear his case. Nakheel would have preferred the outside Dubai courts and argued that the tribunal did not have the jurisdiction to deal with the dispute. The DIFC Courts are an important selling point for the DIFC as it seeks to attract foreign investment in an increasingly competitive market.
Yesterday's ruling tells other executives you don't necessarily need to leave when you fall out with a company as big as Nakheel.
That said, Mr O'Donnell was about as far away as he could have been when the decision to award him more than US$3 million (Dh11m) was handed down yesterday. His statement travelled all the way from New South Wales.
scronin@thenational.ae
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The more serious side of specialty coffee
While the taste of beans and freshness of roast is paramount to the specialty coffee scene, so is sustainability and workers’ rights.
The bulk of genuine specialty coffee companies aim to improve on these elements in every stage of production via direct relationships with farmers. For instance, Mokha 1450 on Al Wasl Road strives to work predominantly with women-owned and -operated coffee organisations, including female farmers in the Sabree mountains of Yemen.
Because, as the boutique’s owner, Garfield Kerr, points out: “women represent over 90 per cent of the coffee value chain, but are woefully underrepresented in less than 10 per cent of ownership and management throughout the global coffee industry.”
One of the UAE’s largest suppliers of green (meaning not-yet-roasted) beans, Raw Coffee, is a founding member of the Partnership of Gender Equity, which aims to empower female coffee farmers and harvesters.
Also, globally, many companies have found the perfect way to recycle old coffee grounds: they create the perfect fertile soil in which to grow mushrooms.
TRAP
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