Source: Daily_Mail
Portsmouth owner Sulaiman Al Fahim: Is he all that he seems?
Whether he is driving Pamela Anderson around in his Lambourghini, attending film premieres with Demi Moore and Leonardo DiCaprio, or signing up expensive golf course contracts with Greg Norman, the controversial business career of Portsmouth owner Sulaiman Al Fahim has been played out in front of the cameras.
But, behind the glitzy exterior, who is he? Unlike the Sheiks who rule Dubai and Abu Dhabi, the 32-year-old did not inherit great wealth; his father was a pharmacist who, along with Al Fahim's mother and brother, died tragically in a car accident in 1998.
His education was completed in America where he achieved an MBA in finance and real estate, put to use later as the chief executive of Hydra Properties.
'The most important thing you need is a brand. And people have to trust in you. Simple as that,' wrote Al Fahim in his book Brand Builder. He was describing the secret of selling houses and office blocks off plan to investors, who were seduced by Al Fahim's media profile and the company's endorsement by Sheik Tahnoon al-Nahyan, son of the country's former ruler.
This cocktail of fame and royal credibility allowed Al Fahim to pursue a strategy he called his 'infinite rate of return', whereby money is taken from investors and used as the marketing budget for other property developments. He exploited a land rush from foreign speculators who were happy to buy on the basis of computer-generated mock-ups, in the hope of then 'flipping', selling just before they come to market.
'There was a feelgood factor which Al Fahim was very much part of,' said Stephen Rumney, an Englishman who went to Abu Dhabi to compete in Al Fahim's Apprentice-style reality show, Hydra Executives. By selling in this way, he says, Al Fahim 'unleashed a monster'.
Behind the scenes, however, things began unravelling. 'They were not keeping track of the paperwork,' said Jeff Hoskins, who worked for Hydra. 'There were boxes of contracts sitting around which hadn't been processed.
'Meanwhile, they were creating more and more big property projects - they had around 25 or 30 on the go or on the drawing board, most of which did not have construction dates confirmed.'
This inefficiency was compounded by the fall in property prices following the economic crisis in 2008, leaving investors angered at the lack of progress of the developments they had bought into.
'He's not a business genius, he was just here at the right time and had the right backing,' said a journalist working in Abu Dhabi. 'He used investors' money to generate a marketing machine that was as much for himself as the company.'
The pinnacle of this was the reality show that placed Al Fahim in the Sir Alan Sugar role, a persona he used as a calling card when he fronted Sheik Mansour's takeover of Manchester City last year.
Its winners were Richard Best, an American architect, and Hannah Dodkin, a 30-year-old former plumber from Wells in Somerset. Dodkin told Sportsmail the pair have yet to receive a penny of the $1million prize money for triumphing on the show.
'The money doesn't go into our pockets,' she said. 'It is in the form of an investment opportunity. The contract we all signed said we could win "up to" $1m to invest in our own company. That's a pretty loose arrangement.' Dodkin added that she had been told this was typical of business contracts in the UAE, where things, she said, 'tend not to be as legally tight as the UK'.
This non-payment is made more curious by a press release which claimed Best had 'donated $100,000 of his share of the $1m cash prize to the United Nations Intergovernmental Institution for the use of Micro-algae Spirulina Against Malnutrition (IIMSAM)'.
Again, all is not what it seems. IIMSAM is run by Diego Maradona's brother Remigio Martin and algae is a potentially lucrative source of biofuel. However, the United Nations deny endorsing the company and its lawyers are seeking clarification of Al Fahim's tendency to refer to himself as a UN Ambassador.
But despite the image, Al Fahim should not be judged too harshly, said Dodkin. 'There is every risk he will be mis-represented in the UK. It will be a while before his true colours show through.
'He is an Arab man with a good sense of what's going on in the west and with a very good sense of humour. He's a good, fun guy to be around'.
Pompey fans will hope she's right.
