Family ties come first for managing director of ABB in the Emirates

Golf, football, classic cars and spending time with his extended family are the chosen pastimes out of working hours for ABB UAE managing director, Carlos Poñe.

Carlos Poñe, the managing director of ABB UAE, says ABB’s first chief executive Percy Barnevik inspired him on leadership and decision making. Delores Johnson / The National

Carlos Poñe is the managing director of ABB UAE, a Swiss-based power and automation technology company. Mr Poñe, 59, was born in Maputo, Mozambique, which at the time was still a Portuguese colony. He began his career at ABB in 1993 as regional manager for Angola, Mozambique and the Indian Ocean Islands. He became the chief executive of ABB South Africa in 1988 and the regional head of the company’s southern African region five years later. Mr Poñe moved to the UAE office in February 2013 and helps head the Middle East region and Pakistan, excluding Saudi Arabia.

What are your favourite things to do on the weekend?

I play golf when time allows. I also spend time with family and friends, reading and watching football. I’ve been a fan of Sporting Lisbon (the official club name is Sporting Clube de Portugal). It goes back to when I was a young boy – I’d go to an area in Maputo on Saturdays and Sundays to watch the junior teams play. It was a family thing. Even though Sporting Lisbon is not the No 1 or 2 team in Portugal, it’s still a good team to belong to.

What do you consider to be your favourite hobby?

I don’t have much time for hobbies, but I do like classic cars. I would maybe like to rebuild one or two one day. My father liked cars, and this probably came from him. When I finished high school, I chose to follow mechanical engineering. My dad knew that and as a prize for finishing high school, he came to me and said, “Mama and me are giving you a car, and it’s in the garage.” It was a Fiat 600 that I had to strip and build again. Today, if I looked at a car that stands out the most to me, it would be a Porsche 356, which hasn’t been made since 1965.

What can’t you live without?

My family, which includes a wife, two sons ages 32 and 28, and two grandchildren – both boys – ages four and 18 months. To get a girl in our family, we have to bring her in through marriage.

What do you consider the secret to your success?

Hard work, which comes from personality. If you don’t work hard, the chances that you’ll get somewhere are very little. In addition, being fast in taking decisions, because it’s better to be wrong sometimes than doing nothing. That probably comes from ABB’s first chief executive, Percy Barnevik. He is the one who inspired me on leadership and decision making.

How do you achieve a work-life balance?

I never bring work issues into my family life, and I spend quality time with my wife and extended family (sons, daughters-in-law and grandchildren). We usually have a dinner on Friday evenings or a lunch on Saturdays. When I’m in South Africa, all the kids and grandkids come over on Wednesdays and Sundays. At least once a month there’s a barbecue at home. On Christmas, we have a family dinner on December 24 and a lunch on December 25. Then on December 27, we’ll head to Zimbali for the beach. We try to do the same one week at Easter.

How do you relax after the working day?

I read, catch up with the family at home and by telephone and watch TV. When I get home, I can spend an hour on the news and that’s it. Then maybe I watch a little bit of Portuguese TV just to keep up with the language. I put on a movie after that, but I usually fall asleep halfway through.

If you weren’t managing director of this company, what else would you be doing?

I would improve my golf handicap, which has not moved much. I’ve been playing for about nine years and my handicap has decreased from a 36 to a 29, and it’s been 29 for about three or four years now, so there hasn’t been any real improvement. I took lessons before I started and then again five years after I began. It’s time to go for more coaching. I’d also like a shot at being a football coach because it’s more about leadership than playing the game. I just started reading Sir Alex Ferguson’s autobiography, and I consider him one of the best coaches the world has ever had. I played volleyball competitively growing up and I coached it in school, so I’d like to give football a try. I think the understanding has to be reasonably good, but it’s the leadership that takes it to new heights.

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