| I've talked to a few business leaders in the last | | | | message from my blackberry and we started a |
| few years, but never have I bagged a CEO into | | | | little discourse across our tables. I glanced over at |
| my phonebook and started up email banter. But | | | | him a few times through dessert. A serial |
| recently I've been exchanging BlackBerry | | | | entrepreneur and a serial BlackBerry addict. He |
| messages with Greek entrepreneur Stelios - the | | | | obviously likes to be connected, to stay in touch. |
| founder of Easyjet, and an alumnus of Cass | | | | And he certainly understands the dramatic impact |
| Business School in London. | | | | of the BlackBerry: he attributes the failure of one |
| It says more about Stelios than me. He's truly | | | | of his businesses - EasyInternetCafe - to the |
| approachable. He hangs out with the masses. He | | | | evolution of hand-held email devices. People didn't |
| travels on public transport. He even flies other | | | | need high street internet shops once they could |
| airlines than Easyjet: he calls it "market research". | | | | get online so cheaply from a mobile phone. |
| So how did Stelios and I become email buddies, | | | | I rolled out of bed at 9am on a Sunday morning |
| and what snippets of information can I pass along | | | | and hailed a cab to the DIFC. The event was |
| for aspiring entrepreneurs and MBA students? It | | | | pretty flashy, attended by the current MBA and |
| was a hot Saturday night in May in Dubai. I'd flown | | | | EMBA class of London's Cass Business School - all |
| in from London that morning on a trip for | | | | on a four-day trip to Dubai. There's a write-up of |
| BusinessBecause.com, donned a party frock and | | | | the talk on the Cass website: but here are five |
| headed to the chichi Buddha Bar with friends. The | | | | insights from a serial, and successful, |
| place was heaving. So much for the financial | | | | entrepreneur: |
| gloom in the region. Expats were moaning that | | | | 1. Why MBA? It's a good investment in modern |
| Dubai's gone broke, that it's bank-rolled by its | | | | times - complicated businesses need trained |
| oil-rich neighbour Abu Dhabi, that construction is | | | | managers. |
| faltering, tourism is dropping away and property | | | | 2. Only take risks you can afford to lose. |
| prices are tumbling. But people were still dropping | | | | 3. Airlines create brands. |
| 200 dollars a head for (excellent) sashimi in the | | | | 4. A well-run business shouldn't have to choose |
| crowded and lofty restaurant by the Marina. | | | | between profits and environmental responsibility. |
| Including Stelios and his entourage who were at | | | | When you're all cramped up on an Easyjet flight, |
| the next door table. | | | | think of it as a favor to the environment. |
| I'm not very good at recognizing famous people, | | | | 5. The financial crisis is more like a super-tanker |
| but fortunately I had my celebrity-spotter friend | | | | than a speed-boat. It will take a while to turn |
| Cameron with me. He made some kind of pincer | | | | around. |
| movement at Stelios and shoved him in my | | | | For someone who toyed with the idea of naming |
| direction: the poor guy didn't have a chance to | | | | his airline StelAir (before he settled on Easyjet), |
| politely escape. I bounced up and babbled about | | | | Stelios was surprisingly self-deprecating and |
| reading an article recently on him and Cass | | | | down-to-earth. I didn't get a chance to say |
| Business School. Coincidentally, Stelios was in Dubai | | | | goodbye as he was whisked off to a site for a |
| to speak at a Cass conference at the Dubai | | | | possible EasyHotel in Dubai. But we've stayed in |
| International Finance Centre (DIFC) the next | | | | touch on our blackberries and maybe I'll see him, |
| morning. I asked if I could go and he said: "Yes, it | | | | if not in Monaco where he lives, then in London, |
| starts at 10am, meet me at 9.45am". | | | | where he's dipping his toe back into property |
| To cement the deal I sent Stelios a quick | | | | investments. |