Ex-Harrods boss Omar Fayed plans to bring space research business to UAE

The space and eco entrepreneur is looking at Dubai and Abu Dhabi as a base

Omar Fayed, pictured in Dubai's financial district, said he has been inspired by the work the Emirates is doing in space exploration and eco-tech. Ruel Pableo / The National

Omar Fayed, son of Egyptian billionaire and former Harrods owner Mohamed Al-Fayed, is planning on launching a space research and manufacturing facility in the UAE, as he looks to expand his space and eco-business.

The tech and space entrepreneur, 35, told The National that he is looking to get “in touch with his Arab roots” and that he has been inspired by the work the Emirates is doing in space exploration and eco-tech.

He said there is “no limit” to the investment he is willing to make in the country and will be using his personal funds as well as grants received from European governments to launch the project in the UAE.

It’s going to be a research facility and a manufacturing facility to further cleantech, industrial and ecological systems

Omar Fayed

Mr Fayed said he has held meetings with several UAE officials this week on potential partnerships and setting up the facility.

“We've had some really great conversations — they've been in and around the sustainability, industrial, ecology, technology and space area,” he said.

“It’s going to be a research facility and a manufacturing facility to further cleantech, industrial and ecological systems, which have effective immediate applications in the built-up landscape and more advanced human space exploration.”

Omar Fayed's family owned the world-famous Harrods department store in Knightbridge, London from 1985 to 2010, when it was sold to the Qatar Investment Authority. Hollie Adams / Getty Images

Mr Fayed hopes to carry out these plans through his company Earth Space Technical Ecosystem Enterprises (Estee), based in Switzerland.

Several different space habitat ideas are being promoted by the company, including the Scorpius Laboratory Prototype 1, which uses microalgae for air revitalisation.

Another is the Scorpius Extra-Terrestrial habitat, which is designed for sustaining human life on the extreme surfaces of the Moon and Mars.

The company says the habitat would have waste recycling and food production systems that combine physico-chemical, mechanical and bio-regenerative processes.

Mr Fayed formed Estee years after resigning as Harrods’ director in 2009 because he wanted to do something more “fulfilling”.

His father owned the world’s leading luxury shopping department for 25 years but sold it in 2010.

Mr Fayed is also the half-brother of Dodi Fayed, who died alongside Diana, Princess of Wales in a car crash in Paris.

“From a financial standpoint, Harrods was an amazing opportunity. However, I didn't find the real satisfaction in just doing that,” he said.

“I stuck it out for as long as I did with the hope of being able to reinvigorate the business and to reconstitute what Harrods represented, away from just a purely materialistic and commercial enterprise into something that embraced the environmental and ethical necessities that we all have to embrace in the 21st century.

“But we had the opportunity to move on and in retrospect that was a great move.”

He said he has invested about $20 million (Dh73m) in Estee so far and is potentially looking at bringing on other investors.

Oliver Renwick, manager director of Palmes Consulting Group, is working with Estee to establish their regional representation in the UAE.

He said they are looking at areas such as Masdar City in Abu Dhabi to base the research and manufacturing facility.

Oliver Renwick, manager director of Palmes Consulting Group, said they are aligned with what is trying to be achieved by Cop28 and the broader space programme. Ruel Pableo / The National

The company hopes to make an announcement before the Cop28 climate change conference being held in Expo City Dubai next year.

“What we’re trying to do in the UAE is absolute alignment with the Emirates Mars Mission, the idea of a settlement on Mars by 2117, what is trying to be achieved by Cop28 and the broader space programme,” Mr Renwick said.

Estee is one of many companies that is trying to build space habitats, as space agencies look towards sending astronauts to the Moon again and eventually to Mars.

The UAE has plans to build a settlement on the Red Planet by the year 2117 and is also building a Dh500 million Mars Science City in Dubai's International Academic City district.

The Emirates has placed a focus on developing its private space sector and industrial sector, and making the country the regional hub for advanced space systems.

Space agencies in many different countries are increasingly partnering with private companies to achieve space missions.

For example, the US space agency is working with private companies and other space agencies to build the Lunar Gateway — a small station that will be in the Moon's orbit, which astronauts will use as a base before landing on the lunar surface.