at least 54,000 reasons to move to Dubai …

3 1/2 years ago I opened an office in Dubai. At the time, Dubai was just beginning to explode with business and the office launched very quickly.

Over the past couple of years, Fabien has developed and expanded the office to 50+ of the top sales people in the company – in fact, most of the top sales people and current leaders within naseba were recruited from the Dubai office.

I think it is worth mentioning … I have not found a destination that sells cuban cigars cheaper than Dubai duty free in the airport … its cheaper than even Cuba …so I have always been favorably biased to this destination.

There is no VAT; no social tax; no income tax… nor is the employer forced to give the same warm hug that we are forced to give people in Monaco when they let the company down and/or underperform, thus have to be “uninvited” back to the party.

…. Dubai is paradise.

Personally, I love Dubai and each time I go to visit the office, its like a vacation.

This summer when I read that Halliburton and Bechtel both moved their corporate HQ to Dubai from America… it got me thinking about doing the same.

Last month when I was in Dubai … I was reminded of the brilliant work ethic, the office was constantly buzzing … not to mention, dynamic people making things happen …

Don’t get me wrong — our Monaco team is also brilliant. I am very proud of this office; and the incredible dynamics of the team. Terry, Barbara, Antonio, Gregorgy, Shu Shu, Ilaria have all been with the company since nearly the beginning … and their dynamic, hard work ethic has helped create the best office enviornment for a company in Monaco…last night I left the office around 8pm and there was still at least 6 people working … there are very few places in “France” where you will find this type of passion, enthusiasm and dedication from the team, like we have in Monaco…brilliant team.

However, as stated several times throughout this blog — my focus is to make naseba the most profitable, razor sharp business information company in the world.

One simple way I can instantly improve the bottom line is by moving the most expensive salaries in the company (Monaco) to Dubai …

Although Monaco has no income tax, there is a 36% social tax for employers to pay ontop of each basic salary, thus the Monaco office spends AT LEAST 54,000 euros each month just in social taxes to the French government … I say
“at least” because if a producer or sales person has a big month in commissions, we pay 36% on top of the commission as well.

Yes, I am serious …. naseba spends at least 54,000 euros each month just in social charges ontop of Monaco employees salaries…and it does not go to the employee, but directly to the machine … the government.

The Monaco office will remain our HQ – and there still will be a team of around 18 … finance, branding and operations … and other key people who unfortunately can not transfer to Dubai … however, all sales, production and I.T. will be transfering.

I am building a house 5 minutes from Monaco in La Turbie, France. My wife and kids are French…. my home and holiday base will always be the South of France…. I love Monaco/France the food, the restaurants, the cafe culture, wine …

However, as the CEO of a listed company, my main focus is on building naseba into a multi hundred million euro machine generating lots of profit … and I am certain that I can do this much better by basing myself as well as the key leaders within the company together in Dubai than I can here in Monaco.

Little things will be so much better being based in Dubai … I travel nearly 2 weeks a month– instead of flying to Paris or Amsterdam, changing planes, waiting a couple hours and then flying to Prague, Shanghai, Cape Town or Bangalore …being based in Dubai means direct flights to each destination where we have an office… this will save me not just a lot of time and money, but also loads of hassle. On a personal level, Dubai has direct flights to Nice … so I am always just a 5 hour flight away from my favorite food and wines.

We have taken another office in Dubai – thus we will have two offices … one office will be run by Fabien where Sophie will be based … competiting against the other office which will be run by Nic and Rami… this is where I will be based.

Two years ago I thought about moving to Dubai, however, my daughter was too young… now she is nearly 4 years old….and crazy enough, the French school in Dubai is probably more exclusive and has a higher standard of education than her school in Monaco.

To show my commitment to this next step, my wife and I are buying a house in Dubai … there is no where in the Principality of Monaco that we could afford anything this size and space.

The truth is … having me based in Dubai and moving Monaco sales and production there and focusing on building and building and building the most cost effective sales locations, i.e. Bangalore, Cape Town, Dubai, Prague and China will of course make the company so much more streamed line, focused and profitable….

But to be completely honest, what I am looking forward to the most is being in a great enviornment to compete directly against several of my major competitors and “loyal friends”…