‘They answer calls even at 1 am’: Emaar founder Mohamed Alabbar explains why he prefers hiring Indian employees

Alabbar said companies that survive repeated shocks depend on teams that stay alert, check their work and move quickly when conditions change. He described his own success as rooted in effort rather than natural intelligence. “I always tell people, from my own perspective, my IQ is average, but my hard work is the best,” he said. “I believe in hard work,” he added. 

What Alabbar said about Indian employees

Alabbar linked his views on discipline directly to his hiring choices. He said he looks for people who stay committed and responsive under pressure, reported Gulf News. “The harder you work, the luckier you will get,” he said. “There’s a saying, hard work beats talent when talent fails to work hard, and this is why I like to hire Indians, because they answer the phone even at one o’clock in the morning,” he added. 

He said hard work means more than long hours. It includes studying every opportunity, knowing when to take risks and closely monitoring execution. “You need to check your work. You need to study every opportunity and know where to take risks, bring people, monitor their work and keep pushing,” he said.

Alabbar also spoke about how businesses must prepare for disruption before it happens. He said recent global uncertainty showed that resilience cannot be built during a crisis and that companies must learn from each shock and turn those lessons into daily discipline, reported Gulf News.

How do companies survive repeated crises?

Alabbar pointed to the 2008 financial crisis and the Covid pandemic as defining moments for businesses. He said these periods forced leaders to rethink decision-making, protect employees and manage cash flow carefully. “There was a hard lesson for everyone. We had some hard lessons during the Covid pandemic as well as other crises,” he said.

He said companies in the United Arab Emirates now feel more prepared to handle uncertainty because they have faced multiple disruptions. “When you learn from 2008 and from Covid, you have to build an agile and resilient business that can handle these circumstances,” he said.

During the latest crisis, Alabbar said Emaar sent emails within the first week promising job security. “We told them, we are not laying off any of the workforce. We are not cutting their salaries,” he said.

He said such decisions protect a company’s reputation, which becomes critical during difficult times. “We care about our reputation among society and in front of our leadership,” he said. “It’s important for us to always live up to these names and the name of our country.”

Alabbar described his management style as “positively paranoid.” He said businesses must balance ambition with caution by tracking costs, managing risks and staying close to market changes. “You want to go fast, take the money from the table, but there is a process,” he said. “You have to manage costs, you have to manage technology, you have to manage risks. You have to follow the market on a daily basis.”

He gave insight into Emaar’s operations, saying the company manages around 40,000 customers who pay monthly installments for homes under construction. At the same time, about 100 construction sites remain active. This steady cash flow helps maintain stability even during uncertainty.

Alabbar spoke about his crisis management mindset, tracing it back to 1997 when he worked in Singapore during a difficult economic period. He said banks demanded repayments while customer demand fell sharply. “The commodities are at the store, there are no customers,” he said.

He said organisations must build teams that learn from each crisis and prepare for the next one. “If the organisation cannot learn from what is happening, do we have staff that can learn from this and prepare the organisation? Yes,” he said.

Disclaimer: The information in this article is based on local media reports and has not been independently verified by Financial Express.