New Vision, New Goals: Oweis Zahran, Managing Director, OWS Capital Whether it's through OWS Automotive, OWS Capital – or handing out food on the streets of Marrakesh – you get the feeling Oweis Zahran will be doing good things for many years to come.

Oweis Zahran is in a reflective mood. "I guess I've always been a relatively young entrepreneur, but you know, it was 15 years into doing business when I learned that you only get rich when you sell a company. But you have to build the company first. So, you have to be poor for a really long time before you can get rich," he says. It's fair to say the "poor" days are in the past. Now an accomplished global business leader with a track record of identifying opportunities, his biggest success is OWS Automotive.

Today, it is a leading global provider of automotive services. From first response to parts manufacturing and fleet repair, it has become a go-to company for both governments and corporate fleets. And with revenues of US$800 million, 3,000 employees and a footprint in 14 countries,it is – in his own words – "a monster." If that wasn't enough, in 2020, he launched OWS Capital, aiming to create unique experiences and cutting-edge businesses in fitness and entertainment verticals. Under the umbrella of OWS Capital, he's partnered with Holly- wood icon Steve Harvey to establish MELT Holdings and launched Platform Health Club, a state-of-the- art health and wellness gym brand. Other A-listers such as Ryan Reynolds and Jason Momoa have also come on board for different projects. Although it accounts for just 20% of the "Zahran empire", OWS Capital has a knack of making global headlines for the quality of stars and events it hosts.

In simple terms, is it fair to say that OWS Capital makes sure Oweis Zahran can walk into any restaurant in the world and get the best table – but the bill is paid by...OWS Automotive? "That's definitely the ideal way to say it. Spot on. Spot on," he says.

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Thankfully, his automotive business has been on a roll, experiencing nothing short of exponential growth. Much of the increase in revenues is down to selling his stakes in joint ventures that he has set up over the past decade. And the list of clients Zahran has worked with is nothing short of spectacular: the governments of Brunei, Dubai, and Abu Dhabi stand out, as well as Mobil 1. Plus, Tawazun, an independent UAE government entity that works closely with the Ministry of Defense, Abu Dhabi Police, and security agencies in the UAE.

"We would enter at the highest level, formulate a joint venture or a partnership between one of our companies, whether it's OWS Automotive or, you know, another one, but we would formulate a partnership between our company and the local government. And then that entity would be the one to provide the service back to the country that it operates in. And it would be a 50% owned by local government or a local authority and 50% owned by OWS or an OWS company," he says, adding: "That then becomes a company on its own, and sometimes we've had situations where, believe it or not, our subsidiary has become bigger than the mother company."

Some of these have been nothing short of a staggering success, creating thousands of jobs and entities worth several hundreds of millions of dollars. "We've gotten to a point where we're selling a subsidiary every year on average. That's what gets the revenue so high," he says.

Zahran points out that almost every cab you see on the roads of Dubai is his customer. And so are 99% of the buses – given a long standing partnership with the RTA. Like all clients, they love not just the range of services but the quality – OWS Automotive's smallest workshop is 200,000 square feet. The partnership with Steve Harvey has been a mega success; with the two of them teaming up in the formation of Melt Holdings where they have successfully created and delivered some of the region's largest festivals including the Open Fire Food Festival, Fuelfest Arabia, and the MELT Golf Classic, an annual celebrity golf tournament. The two partners have also expanded into several other sectors, including education, health and wellness, energy, and real estate.

As for Zahran himself, it has been quite a journey – but the key, he says, in everything he does, is not only identifying the right opportunity, but the right team. And he says that more important than who he hires is who he fires. "I would hire someone who's a superstar, and two years in, three years in, five years in, either they lose passion or lose motivation. Maybe it's both, and they're no longer a superstar. They're no longer the superstar you hired. Well, if that person is number two or de facto number one, in the organization and they're no longer passionate, you're in a lot of trouble because what you now have is a spiraling effect in the opposite direction. You shoot yourself in the foot," he says, adding: "Who you fire to me is a lot more important than who you hire." As for Zahran himself, how long he actually stays at the helm is also on his mind. He says the travelling has become exhausting, but at least now he is making good money. He explains: "I realized about five years ago that when you have a big company on paper, you don't have any money in the bank, right? You know, like I looked at a valuation that said my company was worth all these hundreds of millions. But then I looked at my bank account and there was maybe US$300,000 in it and I said, 'Okay, well, something isn't making sense here.'"

Source: BNC Publishing

The valuation right now is closer to the billion-dollar mark – and Zahran isn't shy to admit that at some stage, he will get out. He has been building an impressive real estate portfolio on the side, which is generating considerable passive income. He says: "I don't want to keep doing this. I mean, I travel literally four times a week, five times a week sometimes. I am building the company horizontally and growing exponentially. This business morphed into a giant in comparison to what it was. I I'm doing that so that I can get a really good valuation. I would like no less than a billion dollars. So, that's kind of my number and I think it's also a little bit of a personal thing as well. I always wanted to be able to say I made a billion dollars."

But what would Oweis Zahran version 2 look like? Surely, he doesn't want to just sit on a beach and count his money? "I would love to be able to slow down and really focus on what truly makes one happy. And I think that's giving back," he says. Zahran recounts a recent incident when he was in Morocco dining at a lavish restaurant. On the way out, he was carrying some left-over food, which he ended up giving to a homeless person he spotted on the street. "He told me this is going to be my breakfast, lunch and dinner for the next 48 hours. So, if you ask me what the future looks like for me, I want to be able to experience the feeling I got from giving that guy that food. I haven't felt that way in in a long time. I want to do good things."

Zahran is still only 35 years old but is widely recognized in the business world as one of the "good guys." Whether it's through OWS Automotive, OWS Capital – or handing out food on the streets of Marrakesh – you get the feeling he will be doing good things for many years to come.

Related: Influence For Impact: Steve Harvey And Oweis Zahran, Co-Founders, MELT Middle East