Summer in the UAE brings blistering temperatures, the annual exodus to Europe, quiet roads and a more relaxed atmosphere in the emirates’ feverish business world. It also, in Dubai at least, brings Modhesh.
The little blue and yellow smiley-face is seen across the emirate, on roadsides, billboards and malls. There is a dedicated Modhesh World in Dubai’s World Trade Centre. Love it or hate it – and there is some debate – Modhesh is the face of the hot season in the emirate. And the person who, more than any other, has made Modhesh the symbol of the summer is Laila Mohammed Suhail.
She is the chief executive of Dubai Festivals and Retail Establishment (DFRE), the organisation that, as part of Dubai’s tourism authority, is charged with keeping the emirate’s malls busy throughout the year, but especially in the summer months, when the mercury climbs and many residents leave.
It is a logistical and commercial challenge, but she has risen to it for the past 19 years, and believes Dubai has set a new standard in the region. “When we began the concept of citywide festivals focused on retailing, it was a new idea in this part of the world. The idea was to attract people from around the Arabian Gulf to Dubai, people who were used to the weather here and would not be put off by it, but who wanted something different from what they might find at home. But we still asked ourselves: will it really work? Will people come?” she says.
Dubai Summer Surprises grew out of the wintertime Dubai Shopping Festival, which in 1996 was one of the emirate’s earliest attempts to turn itself into a retailing tourism hub for the Gulf. “It was part of the visionary strategy of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, before he became Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, and it was a strong and ambitious strategic move,” Ms Suhail says.
In fact, the DSF became a virtual incubator for strategic concepts and leadership in the emirate, and many of the executives charged with the execution of the new retail strategy in 1996 went on to become pillars of Dubai’s economic and commercial infrastructure. “Many leaders have come through DSF. It showed the importance of the strategy to the Ruler himself, and the value he placed on people who had proved their worth,” she says.
Ms Suhail is undoubtedly one of those people, and her contribution over two decades of expansion of festivals in Dubai has been marked on two occasions by Sheikh Mohammed himself, with awards for excellence coming her way in 2000 and last year.
She got the top job at DFRE in 2008, becoming the first woman in the chief executive’s chair. DFRE is a marriage between Dubai’s public and private sectors, with funding from the Dubai Corporation for Tourism and Marketing and from a band of private sector sponsors, mainly from the retail and property sectors, many of whom have been with it since the beginning.
“The aim is commercial of course, to attract tourists to Dubai as part of the strategy of developing the tourism part of the private sector economy along the lines of the 2021 Vision strategy. We have rigorous key performance indicators relating to footfall in the malls and other goals, like duration of the visit to the malls and, thankfully, we have met those. The festivals have always paid their way,” Ms Suhail says.
So Modhesh is also a profit generator as well as a mascot? “Yes, that’s how I see it. Modhesh has gone through different phases, but has always been at the heart of the commercial strategy,” she responds.
We are talking in the heart of the gigantic Modhesh World attraction in the World Trade Centre, which takes up eight halls of the emirate’s premier exhibition and conferencing site. The place is alive with children who probably do not know of Modhesh’s role as a revenue generator, but who are gleefully playing with the mascot in various guises in the halls.
Ms Suhail is an expert on Modhesh history. “The original slogan of the summer festival was ‘big fun for the little one’, and we decided we needed a character to go along with that theme, as a brand ambassador for the event.
“When Modhesh was originally designed the idea was part jack-in-the-box, part clown, and then by 2006 it had become so popular we did some research and refined it a bit. I think children assumed he was a boy, and some of the older ones who had grown up with him were asking when he was going to get married, and awkward questions like that. So we decided Modhesh is not a boy or a girl, but a toy.”
So there you have it officially. Modhesh is not a “he” or a “she”, but an “it”. A home-grown brand with an enduring loyalty base.
It is aimed at children in the four to 13-year target group, and has proved a consistent favourite, even as children’s tastes have moved on. “Children have more access to information and technology these days, and we have to be aware of that in the attractions we put in Modhesh World. We have the latest rides, entertainment and games. But there is no PlayStation zone here. We want to keep children active,” she says, pointing out also that the exhibition has a busy Sports World area.
Inevitably, the conversation drifts towards Pokemon Go. Modhesh World has a Nintendo display, but the new virtual reality smartphone game has not been promoted yet. “Probably next year or maybe even before then. I know all the malls are planning things for Pokemon Go,” Ms Suhail says.
Back to business, she is well aware of the rival attractions opening across Dubai and the UAE in the entertainment sectors, but is convinced Modhesh World and Summer Surprises have an ongoing role in developing the leisure sector.
“We’ve always faced competition, whether it’s from Ski Dubai, Kidzania and now bigger attractions like Dubai Resorts. They are all complementary really, and we see it as our job to promote them too. For example, Dubai Resorts begins some pre-launch marketing in Modhesh World next week,” she says.
Ms Suhail comes from an eminent Emirati family, but has achieved success as a woman in a distinctly male business environment, and when she tells you her role model, it is not surprising she has done so well. “From early on, I was encouraged by our leadership, but I was really inspired by the example of Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak, the mother of the nation,” she says.
fkane@thenational.ae
Follow The National's Business section on Twitter
