Page 39 - Arabian Business

Michael A

Mascarenhas B
C

D
Group CEO E
DESERT GROUP
Diversifi ed F
G
H

I
J
K

L
M
MICHAEL MASCARENHAS HAS BUILT
a career around revitalising businesses N
that have, for whatever reason, lost
their way. With clear insight and hard- O
won experience of the UAE business P
landscape, he is able to see through a
company’s complexities, rediscover Q
their core values and bring them back R
to life. Take Desert Group, for example,
a company that designs, landscapes, S
builds and manages golf courses, as well T
as delivering a range of services centred
around water, green and sustainability. U
Since 2012, when he took the helm, V
Mascarenhas has driven it forward with
renewed purpose, enabling it to expand W
its portfolio, broaden its scope and X
increase its workforce to 3,200.
Hailing from a small town in Y
Rajasthan called Ajmer, he says his
simple upbringing surrounded by the Z
Thar Desert instilled a sense of respect
and humility. Recalling a childhood of
rushing outside to catch a glimpse of
passing plane, it also fostered a sense
of the curious, of always “wanting to
know”, a trait that continues to propel
his business life to this day.
His embrace of diversity and inclusion
is also evident at Desert Group, which
has one of the most integrated work
inclusion programmes for people with
q LIFE HAS BEEN learning, development and cognitive
disabilities in the world.
INCREDIBLY EXCITING AND Prior to Desert Group, the art
THERE HAVE BEEN MANY enthusiast transformed the Wall Street
‘BACK FLIPS ON MOUNT Group into a global power house and
EVEREST’ MOMENTS” grew its US operations at a time when
money remittance was taboo.

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