Stripping Off with Matt Haycox
Welcome to 'Stripping Off with Matt Haycox,' where we bare it all on business, money, and life. Get ready to peel back the layers of success with entrepreneur, investor, funding expert, and mentor with over 20 years of experience building and growing businesses, Matt Haycox.
Tune into steamy conversations with industry titans, celebrities, and successful entrepreneurs as they strip down their stories of triumphs, setbacks, and the raw realities of their journey to the top. Matt is going down on business, money, and life, and will take DMCs to new heights!
Stripping Off with Matt Haycox
Mohammed Mostafa: The Triple Threat Who Conquered Football, Film & Business (And Battled Depression)
Tell us what you like or dislike about this episode!! Be honest, we don't bite!
In this episode of the Stripping Off podcast, Matt Haycox sits down with Mohammed Mostafa, a self-described "triple threat" excelling in football, acting, and entrepreneurship, who is also half English and half Emirati. Mostafa shares his incredible journey, from battling injuries in professional football in Ireland to navigating the complexities of a fifth-generation family business.
He discusses the decision to "find his own feet" outside the family business, leading him to open a unique gym at 20, and later, to pursue an acting career, culminating in a role in the Apple TV+ series "Hijack". Mostafa delves into the world of product placement in film, and how his agency, Versatile Synergy, is fostering local talent and attracting international productions to the UAE.
He also opens up about his personal struggles with depression and how yoga became a transformative practice, ultimately shaping his philosophy of continuous learning and positive impact.
Timestamps:
0:00 – Intro: Who Is Mohammed Mostafa?
0:29 – Identity, Purpose & The Bigger Picture
6:40 – From Football Dreams to Life Lessons
12:12 – Born to Be an Entrepreneur
17:56 – Real World vs Uni Life
19:57 – How Acting Became His Calling
27:54 – Product Placement Power Moves
32:36 – Building Versatile Synergy
34:22 – Juggling Multiple Businesses
36:40 – Why Bali Changed Everything
44:55 – Finding Focus & Family Business Truths
49:42 – Yoga, Depression & Mental Health Struggles
54:34 – His Legacy & Final Words
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Welcome to Stripping Off with Matt Haycox
This isn’t your average business podcast. It’s where real entrepreneurs, celebs, and industry leaders strip back the polished PR, and get brutally honest about the journeys that made them.
Hosted by entrepreneur and investor Matt Haycox, Stripping Off dives into the raw, unfiltered realities behind success: the wins, the fuck-ups, the breakthroughs, and everything in between. No scripts. No sugar-coating. Just real talk from people who’ve lived it.
Whether you’re hustling to scale your business or just love a behind-the-scenes look at how people really make it, this podcast is your front-row seat to the truth behind the triumphs.
Who Is Matt Haycox? - Click for BADASS Trailer
How many lives do you have at the end of the day? You might as well do something that makes you happy.
Speaker 2:Hey guys, welcome back to Stripping Off with me, Matt Haycox. Now this podcast is all about going deeper than surface level success, and today's guest he lives that truth better than most. Mohamed Mostafa is a footballer, an actor, an entrepreneur, fifth generation family business leader, yoga teacher and the founder of a growth agency that's shaking up the Dubai tech and media space. He's half English, half Emirati, and he's built a life that's anything but linear. We talk about everything pursuing passion over pressure, breaking stereotypes around generational wealth, what it really means to find your feet and how to pivot through industries without losing your identity. From professional football in Europe to working in private equity in Mayfair, to starring in Hijack along Idris Elba this guy's CV is mad, but the mindset behind it is even more impressive. We also get into the future of filmmaking in the UAE, product placement as a business model, investing in barley and why your inner work ethic will always outshine your outer resume. If you've ever felt boxed in by expectations, then this episode is your permission to blow that box up.
Speaker 2:Guys, matt Haycox here and welcome to another episode of Stripping Off with me, matt Haycox. And today I've got Mohamed Mustafa with us and he is a triple threat football player, actor, entrepreneur, half English, half Emirati. I got that right and we've just been having a great chat before we came on camera. Super interesting, so many different angles that we can go down so much to talk about. So thanks a lot for being here, thank you for having me. I mean, where do we begin? I mean, like I say, you know you, you, you established in football, you're established in acting, you're established in business. Um, how do you describe yourself?
Speaker 1:I mean, uh, it's a very good question actually, but I think you know I've I've pivoted in the different things that I've done in my life, obviously, but I've, I'd say I, I'd say I'm a very motivated, driven individual that always strives to do what I love and love what I do and, at the same time, try and create impact with the right narrative and approach, with the things that I do deliver, whether that be in entrepreneurship, whether that be in football, acting, the family business, or even yoga teaching, which is something we didn't touch.
Speaker 2:I mean, you said to me your fifth generation family business. You know you can probably answer this better than most because you are English and Emirati. I guess you've spent time on both sides of the world. When I think of stereotypes, admittedly so, I'm going to be unfair to some people. But when I think of stereotypes, admittedly so, I'm going to be unfair to some people.
Speaker 2:But when I think of generational businesses from a stereotype perspective, the UK is, you kind of think, as it goes down in the generations, the kids get less and less interested, more and more, whether it's complacent or greedy or just spending the money. And the fifth generation guy was that legendary great, great great grandfather who worked his ass off. Could have been an immigrant or a refugee and as it's gone down the generations, you've now got some fifth generation trust fund baby who's probably partying away. My view of the stereotype, of that from an Emirati perspective is much more respectful, much more hardworking, if not improving generation by generation, certainly as good as it was the generation before. Obviously there's massive cultural differences between the two countries in general, never mind business. But do you think I'm being unfair in how I would describe us spoiled brits?
Speaker 1:I mean not necessarily, because if you look at it in a in a global sense, as a family business, when it's set up, usually the statistics is is that like it sets up, one generation, other one sustains it, then the third one kind of like mess it up? Yeah, um, thankfully that haven't, that hasn't happened on our end, um, and on my front, why I always wanted to be a part of the family business. Number one, it's family um, and and number two, and I wouldn't call it complacent or anything like that, I just call it. You know, we in the oae we have our own families, but then the other families, imalati families are also like families to us. And then on a governmental level, if we can provide value and purpose and impact working for a government entity, that's also a massive value. So you know I've got a lot of family members in government. I've got a lot of family members in the private sector, and rightly so. You know you do what you feel like you want to do within your life and what your purpose is. You know you do what you feel like you want to do within your life and what your purpose is, and I always felt deep down that I always wanted to be involved in the family business and you know, it very organically happened, to be honest, when I got out of high school and I was getting into uni and my plan was you know, should I get? Because I got back into football, I'll get back into that story but I was planning always to be part of the family business and my dad always said no, why the door was shut. I know why now. I didn't know why then, but like, basically, to go and find your own feet.
Speaker 1:And I was actually at the family office summit. I was on the panel discussing, uh, discussing the uh, next generation family businesses and the values and what it entails to be involved as a family member in the next generation, to continue that next generation, or the next hundred years in our case, and I was talking about the importance of finding your own feet. And one thing that I learned about my dad's decision saying no was I had to go and find my own feet. So I tried. You know I tried football. Things didn't work out.
Speaker 1:I opened my own. First I was an entrepreneur at 20 opened the gym with my partner, amiran Musab was called the burn room. I had that for about four years. I went. I worked for a Scandinavian family office in mayfair doing private equity, bc and tech and marketing media. So I think had I joined the family business post high school or uni directly, I would no way would have been been in any position to have provided the value that I'm providing now or the experience, had I not gone and, kind of like, experienced my own trials and errors and experienced myself and my own journey.
Speaker 2:And whilst you've been told to go and find your own feet, how, how financially supportive were the family of that? As you know, it wasn't like you were just cast out with no money.
Speaker 1:No, of course not. Of course not. Actually I was having a conversation yesterday. I had a dinner in a friend's house it's a big group and we touched on this because they were like, okay, you know, you still come from a family that you know can support you and all that.
Speaker 1:And I think, and you told me what you define yourself as initially and I said I'm a very driven person person and I feel like that drive probably would not have been the same had my family not like they taught me the value of money because I wasn't just given to me blindlessly although they could have and if I had, you know, said I wanted x or y or z, and if it was in their intention to give they would. But they always wanted me to appreciate the value of money. And actually I remember, even in university days I used to, you know, experience life very differently to the way it would be on my peers end, for example, and then I didn't understand it. But now I do because I think it's molded me to be the person that I am today. So I'm grateful for it. If I'm grateful for it, if I have kids one day I'd probably do the same.
Speaker 2:You've got brothers and sisters. I do, yeah, and you're all treated the same yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean plus, minus, I mean we're all you know, but roughly the same basically, yeah.
Speaker 2:Hey, matt here. Thanks for listening to Stripping Off with Matt Haycox, but did you also know I've got another podcast, no Bollocks, with Matt Haycox. Both of these are very different. If you're enjoying the deep dives with the guests that I have every week on Stripping Off, then you're going to love the quick, short business tips, strategies and tactics I give you on no Bollocks. This comes out nearly every day. Make sure you go and check it out on iTunes, spotify, youtube wherever Spotify YouTube, wherever you listen to your content, and I'll see you in a future episode. So let's go back, then, to finding your feet, and I guess you know when did that first start? Was that with the football?
Speaker 1:The finding the feet. Yeah, I mean yeah, definitely, If you think about it that was your first.
Speaker 2:You know you didn childhood dreams to be a, to be an entrepreneur or to be a footballer yeah, I mean it wasn't.
Speaker 1:It wasn't that conversation where it's like you know, you have a family business, you have to be a part of the family business, or um, I was just at the dubai chambers and they had a very old family company come visit from Germany and he was saying that on his father's generation when he was born. It's different now, but he said I had no choice, I had to be part of the family business. But on my end I was very fortunate to be able to really express and explore the world the way I wanted it and I had a lot of support from my family. If I wanted to play football, give it a go, you know, if I wanted to. And yes, sometimes for some people it's harder than others and I highly respect the drive and some people, you know they don't have that kind of backing that they can go and try something and it doesn't work. They're still technically okay. So you know, hats off and respect to those guys. But I think, from a family perspective, I think it taught me a lot in the sense of allowing the importance of allowing somebody to do what they love and love what they do. I think this is so important because I mean, how many lives do you have? At the end of the day, you might as well do something that makes you happy.
Speaker 1:And what happened with the football Football? There's lots of ups and downs. I mean, I was a goalkeeper number one. Genetically I wasn't very tall, so that, for starters, didn't help. Um, I had a little political stuff with the clubs, but I did well. I mean, I played professionally in el ain. I had I was in the first team for a while. Unfortunately, I fractured my head three times. Your head, oh, yeah, my head, yeah, as a short goalkeeper I can't stand big right, so I was very quick to come out and and close the angle and I was always at high risk towards my face being closer to the feet. So I'm always coming up close and that's where I was always at high risk.
Speaker 2:And uh, I mean is that common in football? But not that I know anything about football. I mean for goalkeepers. I mean is that common in football? I mean not that I know anything about football, but I've never heard of it.
Speaker 1:I mean, you can see what I mean. Cech is huge and he's still, you know, but for me I'm constantly. My style of goalkeeping was reading coming out like closing the angle as fast as possible and if they pass me, I was very quick to come back.
Speaker 2:And what's breaking your head, the foot or the ball? No, the foot, the knee, the shin. You're there trying to kick it, you're trying to pick it up.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah. The ball many times like the ball. So many times it would smack you in the face. It's like that's normal. But yeah, it was an amazing experience and I'm really glad that I got the opportunity to do that.
Speaker 2:And I'm still doing it, I'm still trying with the acting to do that and I'm still doing it, like I'm still you know, trying with the acting, what, what, what ended the?
Speaker 1:football. Was it the injuries that ended it or you just had enough personal decisions, really? Because I I played, uh, from a very young age in like camps in england chelsea, manchester. I was winning all these trophies as a goalkeeper, with all the players, player of the week, for example, and I'm coming home with trophies. And I had trials in England also with Crystal Palace, fulham.
Speaker 1:Twice I was invited to Baltimore but I didn't end up going. So another reason but why I didn't pursue it was, honestly, I got to 20 and I decided to. Funnily enough, I felt like I needed to go study and I thought the best thing that I could do is go to the NCAA in the states and get a scholarship etc. But because I was playing sports at a young age, in school my focus was all into football. I used to get letters from the club to the school to allow me to leave school at like 10 am because I have a football match. So you know my grades weren't that high. I wasn't focused on my academics, right. So I then realized that maybe the approach of going to NCA would help me with the schooling side and if it didn't work out, at least I have that backing. America didn't work out Visa reasons, not sure why, but it didn't work out. Reasons not sure why, but didn't work out. And everything happens for a reason.
Speaker 1:Stayed in London, studied in London, decided to completely pivot away, stayed in London, studied in London and just lived the university life in London and then, you know, tried different things and and then your football was done. And then, five years, I wanted to get back into it. I missed it. So I moved back to Dubai. I trained with a couple of clubs in Dubai. I just felt like there was a door shut, no matter how well I was playing. So I said you know what? Let me. A door opened in Al Ain.
Speaker 1:So I went to Al Ain's second team, trained there for about three months, an hour and a half, going an hour and a half back every day, and then, thankfully, I signed professional contract with them, played with the first team, traveled to Croatia. I had the Dinamo Zagreb first team bus picking us up and dropping us to Dinamo Zagreb's training pitch. And yeah, it was. It made me realize that, like, if you believe you can achieve and it's something that so many people tell me, mohammed, you haven't played football in five years You're not going to play professionally anymore. I did it. Did it last, maybe not, but it was still something that made me realize you can't do anything if you put your mind to it, and I'm glad I got to experience that, even though it was a short spell.
Speaker 2:Had your entrepreneurial tendency started at this point started.
Speaker 1:At this point, honestly, I feel like I feel like it was kind of like always within me. You know I've, you know I've very dedicated, you know high work ethic people around me since I was very young, as in the family in the family, including my mother. God bless her. She's, till today, a workaholic. She started one of the first flower companies in Dubaiai. She does all the majid, al-fateh malls, the flowers wedding stages, and when I say all, not just in the oae and egypt, and she's yeah she's, she's the store or she's the wholesaler or so she, no, she's the store and then they do and do the like, the landscaping and and all the decorations for the malls.
Speaker 1:She does all the all the um, all the work in trade center, so all the exhibitions in trade center. And agnek adnek, all the flowers and artificial flowers. You see, that's like there for design purposes. That's, that's her blooms, it's called.
Speaker 2:So I was surrounded by these high work ethic people. Did you think business would be part of the family business or that you'd go and do your own business?
Speaker 1:I didn't think really, I didn't plan that far ahead. I was doing what I wanted to do. It was focused on football at the time and then, obviously, as time went by, then you start to calculate and that's when I started my first business at 20. It was a gym, but I knew I was going to somehow always fall into business, whether it's an entrepreneur, on an entrepreneurial route or joining the family or the government. But it was something that you know, I knew would come at some point.
Speaker 1:I mean, it has to, even if you're a football player, until you're like 30 something. You have to then get into investments, get into businesses. It's inevitable, um, so yeah, no, I'm, I'm. I feel like your question of my, my driver or entrepreneurial drive, I feel like it didn't stem. It kind of like grew. It was like a muscle that grew bigger and bigger over the experiences of my life. But I kind of felt like I was born with it from a very young age because even in football I was very, very, very motivated and dedicated, like even outside of the club I was working with my own PT, focusing on my strength and conditioning, doing anything I can think of to succeed.
Speaker 2:Why did you choose a gym as the first business?
Speaker 1:Well, funnily enough, I so, when I was playing football and, just like I said, I was going to a lot of PTs outside of the club which I was playing in, al-wasl at the time, and I noticed that, you know, this functional training for sports was so valuable and a lot of the players you know weren't necessarily getting treated to that level of training, uh, outside of the football pitch. Um, so I, you know, I grew a, you know concern, not a concern like a, like a, like an interest. Yeah, I grew an interest on, you know, that space and I was thinking what can I do that could be very innovative around that space, and I decided to start a gym called the Burn Room, where we had no machines and the idea was to build people to become machines through functional training. And then we had no mirrors. So the idea was and even it was a sign at the door that says check your ego at the door. So everybody is on their own path. And it's funny because now I teach yoga and I still teach the same thing, but on a own path. And it's funny because now I teach yoga and I still teach the same thing, but on a different conversation. So we had no mirrors to remove vanity from fitness. So you have to be strong, fit and healthy. Then worry about your bicep, your abs or whatever else that you're focusing on. So even in the bathroom, when you wash your hands, it was a square. You could only see your head, you couldn't see the body. And it was a square. You can only see your head, you couldn't see the body. It was a cool. It was a cool experience.
Speaker 1:I had that for about four years. How did it end? So I had my business partner who was in Dubai. I at the time was working with him on it, with him on the project, and then he he decided he wanted to stay and I wanted to study abroad. It was something that I had to do, like I needed to leave. So I left and then when, uh, when I came back, there was some, we were on a mezzanine floor and we started to do CrossFit.
Speaker 1:Crossfit became the next thing, right, so we and CrossFit is also functional training so we invited it, and then it got big from CrossFit as well. Well, and uh, and we're on a mezzanine floor. So every time those barbells would drop, you can imagine the, the shake of the floor. So then it started to get into a court situation and the landlord wanted us out. We tried everything we could and then it just became much more big of a headache and then other things. Just it became a little bit of a snowball effect.
Speaker 1:But it was a wonderful learning experience and you know, you learn by physically and actively doing something. You're by actively trying. So if it doesn't work out, then that's fine. But if you sit back and keep saying something, that you want to try something, and then you don't end up doing it because you're worried of the risk or the failure, unfortunately there's a large amount of people that don't try and and I'm glad I tried.
Speaker 1:So what came next? Um, what came next? By the way, in between all this period I started to get doing movies, and that's okay. Yeah, I got into film from a very young age. But what came next was uh. So when that was done, I went back back to london to finish uh, university. University degree was a long because it was a coming back, stopping going and doing a. So when that was done, I went back back to London to finish university. University degree was a long because it was coming back, stopping going and doing a movie, stopping coming back to play football. Anyway, I got the degree at the end of the day. What was the degree? In Business Administration from Regents.
Speaker 2:But yeah, as you'd already been in business at that point, how did it feel going back to university to study? I mean, did you feel like you knew everything? Did it feel like a step backwards? Because obviously, particularly in today's world, so many entrepreneurs want to get into business without going to uni and so many entrepreneurs talk about the fact that you know, going to university is a waste of three years, is a you know, running up 50 grand worth of debt, etc. How did you feel, given that you'd already been doing business?
Speaker 1:I didn't want. The first of all, I didn't want the money to be wasted. There's already investment into that degree, so I wanted to make sure that that was done. Uh, secondly, I don't want to say that I knew everything. Nobody really does. So obviously there was areas that I was getting value from, but more so, I think, living abroad in, you know, outside of my comfort zone, you know, meeting other, building your own kind of community of people outside of your own country, was where most value was added for me outside of university. But yeah, I'm glad I got to at least experience that as well and thank God that that's done.
Speaker 1:But yeah, there were areas where I felt like I know this, but I always have this open mind to be able to see that there's definitely something more for me to learn, because you can't know everything. I'm never in a position that even sometimes when I teach yoga, they say oh, you're a yoga master. I don't believe in that term master, because I don't think that anybody can really fully be a master, because you're always going to learn more and more, whether you're a master about the subject, but then you're learning more about yourself, about the way you understand the subject, and maybe not just about how you understand the subject, but how you approach it in so many different ways with so many different characters. You know what I mean it's. It's so deep, to a level of the learning is forever, and that's how I see it. I don't see there's like a pinnacle moment where you're a master, and that's it when did the acting come in?
Speaker 1:pinnacle moment where you're a master and that's it. When did the acting come in? So acting came in from when maybe I was about I could barely walk. I was like I don't know, maybe very young. Let's just say I was very young. We're in jumeirah one, which is where we grew up, where mercato is, and my brother, ali must.
Speaker 1:He's the director of City of Life I mentioned to you before we started, and he one thing what is that? Just for the guys listening His movie, yeah, city of Life. It's called City of Life and he, basically, you know, what I respect about him is that he I mean, among other things, he chose one thing and he stuck by it and he wanted to be a director from a very young age. And the minute he got his hands on a camera, he started making toys with his action figures, stop motion animation, he's making sound effects with his toys, and then he got bored with the toys, so then he used his brothers, me and my other brother, amar so we did baby bond, baby Batman and like all these, like home movies, and uh, and that's how I basically learned how to act from the get go. Yeah, I still have some of those clips.
Speaker 2:You're going to have to send me some, so we so that. So that we can put them on the background. Yeah, it was. So what was the first professional gig? Or how did you get that? Because I mean again, I guess the rest of the world, or certainly in the UK, you know, we don't imagine Dubai and the Emirates as a hotbed of acting talent. Or you know movies coming from here. How did that happen? Or you know movies coming from here, how?
Speaker 1:did that happen? I mean it was. It's a collective thing. At the end of the day. There's everybody that's part of this community that you know, share the same belief system, that want to go and add value to the ecosystem of the film industry. And it's happening now and it's happening quite well.
Speaker 1:My brother, you know, played a huge role. He was a pivotal role in making the first Emirati feature film. But before that he went to the London Film School. So in order to enter he had to do a short film and in order to exit he had to do a short film. I was in both, oh really, and the first one was a bit of a short film, no dialogue. I was the younger version of the main character. Short film, no dialogue. I was the younger version of the main character. And then the second film, which was called Under the Sun I was about 14, I think, or 13. It was the first Emirati film, I believe, in the Dubai Film Festival and won an award in the Dubai Film Festival. And then after that he got on to City of Life. I wasn't in City of Life, I was in it as an extra, accidentally, I just came to support and he's like get in.
Speaker 2:So City of Life was made here in the UAE. Yeah, and you were just saying to me, before we started recording, that Dubai is trying to bring film investment here or is giving tax breaks and trying to. I mean, I know nothing about it, not heard about it, et cetera. Is this to be very local films, emirati films, or are they doing it to incentivize rest of world to come here as?
Speaker 1:well, rest of world, yeah, I mean, and you can already see it, like Dune and all these other films coming here. So I mean it's from the acting journey. I was blessed that my brother, because later on I realized that I preferred the film industry more than football. So again, everything happens for a reason. Right, that didn't work out and, and now I'm here, a pivotal move or change for me was.
Speaker 1:So I did a couple of films with ali and then I did one on netflix with him. We shot in romania called the worthy arabic film, but the producers were peter saffron from the conjuring, so big level, collaborating internationally and locally. Um, and then I I got the opportunity to, but not got the opportunity, I told myself after I, after I stopped playing football, I said what did I do in my life that really made me feel like I was in my element, like I did when I was on the football pitch? So I decided to get back into acting. I signed up with my agency Camilla's Story in London and the first audition I got was Hijack. And that's where, kind of like, after I shot Hijack, I got a lot of PR work, got on the cover of Esquire magazine, adam and Eve, a lot of other magazine covers, I mean like interviews, podcasts, it kind of like there was a lot of support around it.
Speaker 1:And then I realized I thought it's a beautiful feeling to again think of something, wanting to achieve it and then achieving it. Representing UAE talent on a global scale, like that. It was number one in the world on Apple TV and you're with Idris Elba, et cetera. So I thought with my company which I've set up about four years ago, versacynergy, I added a layer to manage talent and to be able to give them a foundation and a voice. Talent and to be able to give them a foundation and a voice to be able to not just do local work or collaborate with local brands or international brands, but also communicate with international brands the incentives that we have here and advise them and maybe consult and how we can bring them in, make it happen and then push the local uh talent into those productions, because a lot of the time they do come here, they shoot, they don't leverage local talent and then they leave. Is there a lot of local talent here and there's?
Speaker 2:a lot of officers.
Speaker 1:Yeah, there is on and off, behind the camera, in front of the camera and in all different and even as when I was playing football, there was super talented players that even when I played at fulham and on trial there were some players I used to think, wait a minute, this guy in al wasWasl could have easily have played here, but again, he didn't get that foundation or voice or maybe a message. So it's about creating that space, right. So that's what I want to hopefully achieve for the local talent.
Speaker 2:What was it like filming Hijack? Where did it film?
Speaker 1:We shot in London. I did the audition in my house in Jumeirah.
Speaker 2:With a real person.
Speaker 1:Yeah literally just my iPhone, a tripod, and did the scenes, sent it over and got the job and was very happy about that. And then, yeah, so we, you, you know, obviously got a range of tickets and everything. So I went to london, stayed in london for a while, did my scenes there how long does it take to to record? I mean, it's dependent. So I was there, I I didn't have. So I had about, I had a few good scenes. So I was in the first two episodes I had, you know, good dialogue, good scenes. But in london I was there for a month. I think I did about six or seven shooting days, okay, but they wanted me to stay there for a month in case. They went back to dubai for a little while and then they called me up and said okay, now it's your turn to come to Madrid, because the whole story of hijack was a flight leaving from Dubai to London, and so London was shot, but Dubai was shot in Madrid.
Speaker 1:Why Just to be? I don't think you know the whole narrative that they wanted to get the permission of, you know, with the whole, basically, I mean, but the thing is, these things have to ease off and it is happening and you will see it very soon in the upcoming projects. For example, my brother just finished the city of life 2 it's called city of life continuum where my agency, versatile synergies, worked on the product placement on that and which is something super exciting doing behind the camera outside of being an actor, and it's pushing boundaries. It's pushing boundaries in a healthy way for the industry because it needs that. Film is all about storytelling, so you need to be able to tell these stories and push a boundary a little bit. You can't be so and the times are changing and it's looking very positive for the industry.
Speaker 2:When you see product placement in movies, I mean, is literally everything you see placed, not everything, but no, or do you try? Do you try and do that to commercialize it like if this scene of us on this podcast here, if this was a movie would, would you be looking at it? Going right, we need to get a sponsor for the computer. We need to get a sponsor for the, for the telephone let's.
Speaker 1:I mean, for example, you'll see, you'll see a lot of films cover the logo. Yes, and when they do that, it's normally because they didn't get the sponsor. They didn't, they didn't invest in a product placement, otherwise why would you give them free advertising? You?
Speaker 2:know what I found interesting? I read about it recently. There's about I don't know there must be lots, but let's say, 10 or 20 fake brands aren't there of um, and they do that too. Yeah, yeah, so like, if it's a cigarette and you know they can't get the permission or don't want the permission, that I forget. I forget what every one of these brands is called, but there's a, there's a copy of coke, there's a, there's a copy of cigarette, there's a copy of all all of these, uh, all of these different things to have and the interesting thing about product placement is that it's immortal.
Speaker 1:It immortalizes your brand. If you go and pay a lot of money, which people do, to be on Sheikh Zayed Road, these billboards, a lot of them even barely paying attention it's just a quick, you know. Maybe they've even read what is written on the campaign. So in the sense that if you see all these people paying so much money to be on Sheikh Zayed Road and a lot of them barely pay attention to what's on that campaign and that's there for a month, maybe two, depending on the contract, three, but a movie, you're probably paying less or more, but whatever it is, it's depending on the project, of course, but you're there forever and obviously the answer depends on what the project is.
Speaker 2:but can you give some context of what a sponsor might pay to play something? Pick a movie that we know or a TV show we know to give us some context.
Speaker 1:It could be. I don't know the exact. I don't wanna reference something and not know the exact number and give the exact figure, but there's it's. It's very random. Sometimes it could be based on like um. It's dependent. Sometimes it could be a barter deal, sometimes it could be a um based on the project, uh, a strategic move, so they offer it at a discounted rate for something else. It's very tailored, so it be also. But it could be in the millions, it could be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, yeah, but it's worth every penny, I would say.
Speaker 2:That's something that's a big part of movie making. Now, if you're a producer, you're a production house, then you've got whether it's a partnership with an agency or whether it's someone in-house. You know whether it's a partnership with an agency or whether it's someone in-house. You know there's someone working all the time on getting either barter or getting income.
Speaker 1:Exactly so for us to pivot into product placement. As an agency, versatile Synergy, we saw this opportunity because my brother was shooting City of Life Continuum and we're surrounded by all these brands. I was like, hey, why don't we? You know it was non-exclusive. So whatever we worked on, we, we, we did together and closed and thankfully we raised a substantial amount uh for the firm, with local brands from banks and different industries to international brands, global brands and uh.
Speaker 1:And it was a really interesting process because it's so new to this market.
Speaker 1:It's something that's not really looked at here and it's nice to be in the position to be able to educate that and the value of it. But the interesting thing is also when I'm trying to pull these international productions in, they're super interested also simultaneously on the product placement side, because it's funding the movie as well and we also try and get the funding done while the film is being shot, so it helps the production manage their finances in the most efficient way possible. So it's fun, it's really fun. And we're actually now pivoting even further into looking at producing because our family company own a production company called Boomtown Productions which my agency's just partnered with and we're talking to a lot of sorry to interrupt a lot of international production companies directors like Neil Marshall, who's the director of Game of Thrones season two, and Hellboy, and he's super keen to do some work here. Companies directors like Neil Marshall, who's the director of Game of Thrones season two, and Hellboy, and he's super keen to do some work here.
Speaker 2:So we're now working together on doing something and what's the premise? If you like, with the production company to do stuff here in Dubai or in the Emirates, you know, to bring here or just to fund movies in general.
Speaker 1:but maybe, you know, have some kind of emirati connection I mean the idea is to have the emirati collect, let's say the regional connection, um, but I'm not going to limit myself, of course.
Speaker 2:If there's an international opportunity, I'll explore it as if it was just, if it was a great movie in england that had nothing to do with the emirates in any way at all, but it was a good sure, yeah, have you done it? Have you done anything? Yet you produced anything.
Speaker 1:Yet we're. We're in the process of, we've just finished our last film and it was solely product placement, and now we're in discussions with a few for produce co-producing and helping with the product placement.
Speaker 2:And then, of course, the talent side as well, and are you still actively looking for acting work yourself?
Speaker 1:Yes, yes, and it works.
Speaker 2:It complements each other, because, as I do that, I also have Well, I was going to say, when you're doing a production on something, are you looking to place yourself wherever you can If there's an?
Speaker 1:opportunity. I won't do it blindly. If it makes sense to the story, if it makes sense to the team, you know, sometimes even you won you know, I co-produce this.
Speaker 2:I got to be in it.
Speaker 1:It's nothing like that, but like it's got to make sense to the project. And yeah, I mean we've had those conversations. In some movies we go like, okay, there's no fit for me here, but we'll still assist in the other fronts. And then in some movies we go, okay, there might be a role in here for you. Some say, you know what? I think we don't need to look more. I've seen your showreel, I know your work, we're good. And some would be like, can we do an audition? And I'm happy doing it either way. I don't want to be in this cocky position or seat that I should be getting the job regardless. It's part of the process of auditioning.
Speaker 2:It's what makes it more enjoyable to getting that job.
Speaker 1:What other businesses are you on at the moment? I know you mentioned that you you have a growth agency. Yeah, so versatile synergy. I had started about four and a half years ago. I set it up because, post living in london, I worked for a scandinavian family office doing private equity, v tech et cetera, and Mayfair. Amazing experience Came back to Dubai and I built a passion for tech and marketing and I thought, okay, high street businesses Satwa, dera, karama they don't, they're not digitally transformed in any way.
Speaker 1:So I thought how can I, you know, provide that value for them, transform them, then scale them through marketing?
Speaker 1:As soon as I set up the business, I started to get support in other areas, like larger family groups, like Al-Habtoor group startups.
Speaker 1:The first month we were vendors for a very big government entity, but we were too young at the end that we didn't get the the deal, but it was still interesting to see that there was a high demand and that transformation is needed at any level digital transformation, of course.
Speaker 1:So I I provided value and services for different companies at different levels, until I went to my own family business, which I've always wanted to be a part of, and decided to ask you know, what is it that you guys need? I do a bit of due diligence on what we currently have and they wanted an internal investment platform where we can share with our shareholders the IPOs, property investments, tech investments, whatever is in our ecosystem. We can plug it into that communication platform that we created and push it out to not just the shareholders but also extended family members also communication platform, so everybody as a family are in and are up to date on everything, events, et cetera. And then from there they saw the value of technology and marketing and it being something that could complement all the other portfolio companies. So we partnered on the VC side of the family business and now I organically still wear the entrepreneurship hat, but I'm also, thankfully, adding value and working with the family business. Talk to me about Bali, bali.
Speaker 2:We were sharing our mutual love for Bali before we started to record.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Bali is outside of Dubai. It's obviously my home, my favorite place on Earth.
Speaker 2:When did?
Speaker 1:you first go. I went about two or three years ago. I've been about four times, I think four or five times. The more I go there, I stay longer, and the last time I went actually the time before, I decided that I needed to look into the some business in Bali. Number one to keep me coming back. But number two is that, like it's, it's one of the fastest growing touristic destinations in the world and one of the best touristic destinations in the world and I just saw the potential in it. And then real estate wise it's appreciating very well and it's a good ticket size.
Speaker 1:Our family business are in real estate development. So I thought it was a no-brainer to look at that industry and have a lot of friends developing there too. So I thought and I love Bali like through and through so I thought, okay, I set up. Before setting up the business. Actually I went to the family business and I thought why don't we develop in Bali? And we explored that and then over time it kind of like it's funny because our family business is Embal Investments, which is Mustafa bin Abdel Latif Investments that's the name of my great grandfather. So I said why don't we call it Embali? And then everything. That was just the name, but we dove deep and probably still potential in looking and doing it with the family.
Speaker 1:But they pivoted into focusing into a different territory. But I was adamant on Bali. So I went and set it up myself and I called it M-Bali still, but I called it more Bali. So instead of M-Bali for Mustafa, I called it more Bali investments. And, yeah, so I set up the business. I came back to Dubai and got super busy with Versatile. That has been parked for a little while, but I'm looking to go basically and get because it's a lot of Middle Eastern investors. Majority of their portfolio is real estate in territories that are very common to real estate, but for them, bali is number one, for me and for everyone, and if you look into it, it's a very big opportunity investment wise, but it's a very gray area also for a lot of people. So they're looking at it but they're not really looking at it. So I kind of want to convert that and invite them into number one investing and potentially developing there.
Speaker 2:Where do you like in terms of areas? What do you think Oluwatu?
Speaker 1:Oluwatu, but it's opening up even further now. Obviously there's a lot more land and area. Obviously there's a conversation about it building too much in Bali and it's ruining, you know, a lot of the nature side of it and I feel like you know, I feel like there's, there's until, I think, when the government makes certain incentives on that and at least we can still come in and do what we want to do, but then do it with it, like with conscious conscious.
Speaker 2:You know, I, I wasn't there before, when I first went to bali last year and, uh, you know so, my baby's mom, she, um, she'd lived there before she moved to bali, so she was there up until, let's say, four years ago. And I know a lot of people who were there pre-covid and they, you know, to me it feels super cheap there, certainly compared to being in Dubai. But for the people who were there before, they talk about how much more expensive it is now than it was, you know, four, five, six plus years ago. And one of the things I don't you know, and it's just, let's say, a loose thought is how appealing barley will still be if the prices start to go materially up. Because you know, I think a lot of the people who are there you know the people who are there because they want a great quality of life at an affordable price, exactly, and as it starts to become less and less affordable, you know, will it still have that appeal?
Speaker 1:That's a very interesting question and I think you know it's a lot of them. They're digital nomads. As technology improves and evolves, there's going to be more and more of them and a lot of people. I was having a conversation the other day about where AI is going and people are talking about there's going to be the first one-man unicorn because of leveraging AI, and I think it's just one of those things really that like it's kind of out of your control. You know it's the time is right now and hopefully it does stay like that. I would hope for it to stay like that, but whether I jump in and bring investors or not, it's most probably going to happen regardless.
Speaker 2:What's the first project going to look like in terms of, in terms of ticket size, in terms of, you know, is it a house, is it a block of apartments? You know, what do you think you'll do?
Speaker 1:So ticket size? I again wouldn't necessarily, because again, it's dependent on each project, and I think it's something that I initially wanted to do and I'm glad, again, everything happens. For a reason I'm glad that we didn't dive in and develop straight away. Dive in and develop straight away. So my, my ethos right now is to first at least broker, understand the market deeper, build more relationships with government, with the people on ground, and then from there explore development. So and again, ticket sizes you can get like a condo for eighty thousand dollars. You can get like you can get beautiful houses for like 250 000. I mean, I mean like beautiful houses.
Speaker 2:It's, it's, it's a mix, it's crazy I've been there well, I've been there earlier this year, but I remember going there last year and I was there for, uh, two weeks. I did a week in uluwatu and a week in changu and I was there with five or six of us, you know, my kids and nannies and different people. I mean we couldn't spend 150 a day on everybody. And then, um, you know, we'd done all this amazing stuff and I came back to dubai, I went for dinner with someone. I spent more on dinner, more on dinner in shanghai me my favorite place, little shout out to Shanghai me. More on dinner for the two of us that one night than I spent for a previous week for like six or seven people.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean I have a couple of, you know, but that's what people forget, like that. I mean it's beautiful here in Dubai and it costs. Obviously, real estate is at a certain price and the level of life is a certain price. We have our security. You know on on, in top form that everything is safe here. But when you go and you're mentioning it yourself and to a place like that and you're getting almost the same value restaurant wise maybe the restaurant tastes, the food tastes the same, the ambience and the music and the vibe is the same and and you're paying less than half the price, like 20%. Yeah, it's a bit of a wake-up call, but at the end of the day, there's pros and cons to everywhere and I think for me it's hard to even say that there's cons in Bali or Dubai and that's where it's good to have a balance of both.
Speaker 2:Well, it depends on framing, doesn't it? You can either say I want to be in bali because, uh, I get more value for my money, or you can say I need to work harder, so I get.
Speaker 1:So I can stay, exactly, exactly. It's a very good point, but also, I think, the beauty of being here that's why I talk about the balance but the body, you can still go and be entrepreneurship and work and all, but it's. It's not the same speed and and that's the thing that you need.
Speaker 2:I'd love to be in bali. I want to spend more time there. I can see myself doing four or five months, and that'll be the time where I I don't mean not work, but let's say more relaxed work. I can work on Zoom, I can do all the things that I normally do, but it's not got that hustle and bustle. It's not got the hustle and bustle it's not got the.
Speaker 2:You know the. How do they say it's digital nomads and they're getting some more and more. I mean I met some pretty wealthy and successful people. I did a few podcasts back in January. I'm meeting guys that are doing one and two-man businesses, doing $3 million a year net, $4 million a year net. They're very successful people, but it doesn't have that financial infrastructure of Dubai or Singapore or New York or wherever it may be. So I think I want my three, four, five months there, my three or four months here, exactly A bit of floating around.
Speaker 2:Where do you sit on focus? And I guess let's ask it from a personal context as well, because I mean, you know you're doing many different things. I mean not just many different businesses, but many different fields as well and I've done the same. I'm a bit older than you, I'm 44. I've been in business 25 years and I have done so many different businesses over the years, many of them simultaneously.
Speaker 2:And if I ask myself now what is one of my biggest mistakes, it's doing so many different businesses over the last 25 years and not and not and not focusing. And you know I've I've always sold it to myself and justified it to myself that, well, I've got the right team and this is similar to that business and that's similar to that and it's a bit of diversification, it's a bit of this, but over the last year or so I've closed some businesses, sold some businesses, lost some businesses and started to have more and more, accidentally, have more and more focus on two or three businesses and I'm looking and thinking this accident is the best blessing for me because I've been a busy fool in so many things and if I could concentrate the efforts I've done on the and I'm not even saying some of the businesses I don't have anymore are shit. Some of them were modestly successful, maybe even, in some people's terms, quite successful, but nowhere near as successful as the things that, if I'd have put my focus onto, that could have been, you know, sky high.
Speaker 1:It's funny because last week I literally had a meeting about this, because we also do as the family. Business is a conglomerate. We have different verticals across different industries. With Versatile as a growth agency, it's a very good point because we are at that place where we can offer a lot and we don't want to limit ourselves. But at some point I feel like limitations also healthy and I think focus is also important, because you find your niche and I think once you make that niche super successful, then open up to different arms.
Speaker 1:But dabbing into different areas too much can cause what you just said, and we have been having conversations of certain areas to fully focus on or maybe at least prioritize more than others or maybe limit certain things. To be really honest with you and Frank, on the digital transformation side, I think with the way AI is going, the need for developers and building mobile apps, et cetera may be not needed anymore. So that might be one line that we might slowly pivot away from. But it's definitely a good point and it's something actually we're discussing right now at the company.
Speaker 2:Are you in the family business? I mean, I know obviously your agency is working on the family's investments etc. But when you I guess at the beginning of this conversation you'd gone out to find your feet, are you now you've found your feet and you're working on that? Are you actually involved in the family group and the family office in investments now as well?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean. So we as an agency provide services with our portfolio companies and then I opportunistically because I've got a good network and I attend a lot of events and travel and know a lot of people find opportunities on a BD side across the group and see where things could fit potentially. Then on the family office side, of course, I source them investment opportunities because I know what their mandate is and what they're looking for. I'm also the director of investor relations for a company called GreenSounds Equity, coming out of Silicon Valley. They're now a fund. They invest in future tech healthcare things like brain chip interfaces called Paradromics, to find solutions to unmet medical needs is a company we've invested in. So what we do is we invest in their well, it was deal by deal. Now they're a fund but we invest in their portfolio companies and then they've done quite well for us and what we do is we share it with our family and extended network and whoever wants a unique deal flow or deal access, we give them that.
Speaker 1:So again, it's your focus conversation. For me it's like I need to work on my focus on versatile, but then, very organically and naturally, if I can provide value through conversation, I might be having a conversation with you right now and you might tell me you're into, you know, future tech. It might not do too much work on my side because we have a whole team that's dedicated for that. So I'll just connect you to that team and then they can do the whole due diligence with you. I might attend a couple of meetings, but my day-to-day is more versatile have you got?
Speaker 2:you got a family yourself. What wife, children? No, no, not yet. Do you think when that happens you'll want them in the family business?
Speaker 1:we're going to hit generation six I'll allow them to do what they love and love what they do. So if it ends up being organically to fall in that, in that space, then yeah, I'll be, I'll be happy. I just want to make sure that the family business and it is alhamdulillah and uh in, uh, in the right place. And our ceo, alhamdulillah, mustafa was my cousin, he, uh, he's got a great vision for the next 10 years and we're working. We have a proper plan and a board and we've just, you know, recently finished our agm and we have a structure in place to focus on the next 10 years. So whether the next generation join, that's great. If not, we still have a plan for that to stay.
Speaker 2:And you do yoga as well? Yes, I do. Where did that kind of come in? Is it part of the fitness or something to relax you from the stresses of business?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean it's a good point To be honest with you. I got into yoga because I basically wanted to change the conversation around yoga for men and and the whole stigma around men not being able to speak up and the whole aspect of mental health. I went through depression about five years ago and I'm open to talking about like I can say that I've been. I don't get into the detail because that's my own personal life. I don't need to share that with the world, but I can say that I've been in a low place. I'm not going to sit there and tell you that, like my life is perfect. We're human. It's up, it's down and that's natural.
Speaker 2:So I fell into a what caused your depression at the time.
Speaker 1:I mean, if I think about it on a deeper level now, um, it's just maybe an accumulation of my own unconscious behaviors that maybe led me to to where I was at in that specific time and I constantly kept doing that rather than doing this, and then then just dug a deeper hole for me until I realized that the, the flip, the switch needed to be flipped and towards myself rather than others, and and it was a it was an amazing transformation for me and how did it manifest?
Speaker 2:how did you identify it? Like, I don't you you pissed off, are you angry? You, you mean the whole, uh, as in like, how did you identify what the depression looked like for you? You were locking yourself in the house, you didn't? It was a mix.
Speaker 1:It was a mix. I was in copenhagen at the time and, uh, there was, there was times where I was like just locked in and there was times where I just ran I mean, the weather was perfect for it, but my mood wasn't at the time but I ran for hours, just ran and sat on a bench and ran and ran and ran. I was just literally there for a month just on the sofa, going for runs on the sofa, and just not in a good headspace. Really, I just it's. I think everything in life is about your internal dialogue, no matter what happens in life, so long as you try and like you cannot control what happens, but you can kind of like sustain the volatility within your head and feeling.
Speaker 1:And I think I didn't know that practice, think I didn't know that practice, I didn't know that ability. And it's an ability and a practice that I do now often, and I do it through yoga, but I do it also outside of yoga. I mean I do it on a day-to-day now because I understand it, I'm aware of it. Some people are completely unaware and it's not just about an age. I mean some people I know know them.
Speaker 2:They're in their 50s, 60s, even older, and they don't have that ability to see that, catch that imperfection, change it, or at least be aware of it and work on it, accept it. So were you doing yoga pre-depression or you learned about it in depression and it got you?
Speaker 1:I've done it.
Speaker 1:I've done it before, um, and I knew it was always beneficial.
Speaker 1:But until I went back to Dubai after Copenhagen and I tried, I went to yoga every morning at 7am and that's where it was like a reset button.
Speaker 1:The whole aspect of you and your own mat is like you and your own journey right and uh, and what I had was constant either pointing outwards and blaming, or maybe looking over the shoulders and comparing, or maybe, in today's world, checking other people's instagrams account and comparing your lives to others. So it's it's you and your own mat and understanding that, like how, how capable and and and able you are to achieve great things, and and looking back at the things that I have done and looking at who I am and what I have, and appreciating those little things. I mean little from the point of having a roof on our head, food on our table. We are. We are like the top one percent of people, like, if you think about it, so many people in the world don't have the richness we have and and we take that for granted. So if you, just you know, change that conversation internally and new doors open for you.
Speaker 2:Listen, it's been a fantastic conversation been uh I guess I think you said you were 34 before we started. It's been it's been a a very active, uh exciting and inspiring 34 years. I can only imagine what the next 34 have got to come. You know we started the conversation with you, know who are you. Let's end it with you know how would you like to be remembered?
Speaker 1:I would like to be remembered as somebody that was, that didn't sit around, somebody that worked hard, that provided value to others, that helped others and that always made sure that I was honest. You know, first and foremost to myself. Basically, I'd like to be remembered, obviously, as, of course, as anyone would a good person and a person that was driven and created impact for their closest themselves, their closest people, their family, and then the extended people um which is the larger community, their country, their city, um company, whatever it is that you're striving for, somebody that created impact in a positive way.
Speaker 2:I don't doubt that will happen. Thank you very much. Thanks a lot for being here buddy, it's a pleasure, thank you for having me.
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