Mr. Saad Haq Chief Executive Officer – H&S

EVOLVE: You have a very impressive profile when we look at your career journey. We are witnessing an interesting case study of a professional who initiated engineering house years ago and now acting the role as business connector with numerous firms took charge as Director of Haqsons Group Africa, H&S Real Estate, Emad Motors apparently seems versa[1]tile professional career?

Mr. Saad Haq: Our proactive approach to business is the key to success of H&S. The prime example is that our Chairman, Mr. Chaudhry Muhammad Sana ul Haq opened our company’s Dubai branch in 1980s, a decade before others made the move. Following his footsteps, I ventured into Africa in early 2000-2001 and over the years opened businesses (Automobile dealerships, warehousing, construction & hospitality) across South Africa, Mozambique, Luanda, Lubango Angola.

EVOLVE: It is considered as the future of corporate real estate market is promising with each passing day and H&S has proved itself with performing well; awarded No.1 Emaar Broker in year 2018 and thrice in 2019 respectively. How do you cope with the idea of this seamless progression?

Mr. Saad Haq: H&S is Emaar’s Top Sales partner for 4 years in a row, and fortunately we will retain this title with us in future also. In 2018 when we became the biggest property sales company in all of UAE, the person giving us the award said to me “Saad make sure H&S comes at least amongst the top 3 companies next year to prove to the industry that 2018 wasn’t a fluke or just by luck”. The industry has witnessed that H&S constantly held the No 1 position in 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021 and by the grace of God still thriving to keep up this consistency. Most of the businesses have quarterly or yearly sales targets. At H&S we have daily sales targets. By the day end we align our strategy according to the day’s feedback & results. The real estate is market is constantly fluctuating and evolving and companies need to keep up with new marketing and sales trends and techniques.

EVOLVE: What types of training, education and business models H&S Real Estate has developed to assist your team in making not only their sales but in achieving whatever level of success the agent desires?

Mr. Saad Haq: Its known fact in Dubai: A year working in H&S teaches you more than any 4 year undergraduate program. Our HR selects team members based on their personality and not based on their selling skills. We prefer candidates with impressive soft skills. We impart Sales Education ourselves to educate the team in order to perform impressively. A person with a pleasant and positive personality will prove to be a better team player. This is central to the ethos of H&S as we thrive on collaboration. H&S has a culture of its own. A warm yet competitive vibe, which I personally very proud of and I feel it is one of our biggest assets.

EVOLVE: In considering your distinguished shared alliance with ARY Laguna to be its Master Agency in the Middle East and Pakistan, how do you engage your local business community as it is the prime stakeholder to get the benefit from the investment in form of Joint Venture, Merger etc?

Mr. Saad Haq: H&S is the Master Agency for ARY Laguna. We are launching the Ary Laguna DHA Gujranwala soon. This will be a Dubai styled master community with artificial beach, club life style and all amenities of a modern master community. H&S has offices globally and our client base creates the perfect sales and marketing platform for any developer. Our reach is very strong with overseas Pakistanis and they trust H&S because of our timely delivery and performance. Our team of property advisors has a strong reputation in the market as best property consultants. We first understand clients’ needs and then propose the best and most suitable property for them. Developers love to work with us, as we have the knowledge to assist them with structuring their products, guide them on layouts, design and pricing.

EVOLVE: What is the biggest challenge you have faced in your career? How did you overcome it and what did you learn from it?

Mr. Saad Haq: God has been very kind to me in every aspect. I am blessed that with each challenge He gave the strength and wisdom to overcome it quickly and made me stronger in the process.

EVOLVE: As you share wide range of available reach not only in UAE but within different regions. In your opinion, what type of market penetration numbers do you have and how you make decisions on a local, regional and/or national level within your company that will affect your setup in long run?

Mr. Saad Haq: H&S is catering to global audiences therefore our content and material is distributed in multiple languages (English, Chinese, Arabic, Spanish, French, etc). The innovation made keeping the local audiences and their culture in mind. There needs to be a good sync between the creative, marketing and sales team so that the message is not lost. H&S has also received multiple marketing awards in UAE. Our subscribers are mostly people who have been investing or are looking to invest.

EVOLVE: It is notable fact that the alliance between UAE and Pakistan would lead to major breakthrough projects. Can we expect relocation of companies other than your recent setups; will various spectrums invest Pakistan in preceding times?

Mr. Saad Haq: The Pakistani market has started to accept and be comfortable with apartment living. It’s convenient, economical and a preference of the current generation. Exceptional projects like Autograph Residences by H&S near DHA Lahore is a prime example of lifestyle that Pakistani families are looking for.

At the same time we have amazing Villas communities coming up, like Oak Residency in Karachi and ARY Laguna in Gujranwala.

EVOLVE: What is your assessment on future global economic scenario? Will EXPO 2020 proves to be a ground breaker for the threats envisaging futuristic growth? If yes, how has been government is handling this market share?

Mr. Saad Haq: I firmly believe the last few years were tough on the whole world due to COVID. Economies and business suffered unprecedented losses. But now with the God’s grace recovery is in progress. And when there is recovery there is large amount of spending and thus it’s stimulates the world economy in general. This event is having direct benefits to Pakistan’s economy. The Expo2020 has opened Dubai to the world in an outstanding way. We have seen an extraordinary influx of investments from countries who had earlier never invested in UAE.

EVOLVE: What are your thoughts on print media around the globe and what would you like to say to the readers of Evolve Business Publication?

Mr. Saad Haq: I am a reader of Evolve Magazine, and if it has kept me interested than I believe it will be true for most people from the business community. We have a copy of Evolve Business on desks in all H&S offices across the globe (Japan, Dubai, Angola, Pakistan and USA).