Talal Abu-Ghazaleh, the simple accounting employee at a Kuwaiti company, succeeded in creating a group of companies called Talal Abu-Ghazaleh International (TAGI). It operates through 32 offices in the Arab world, and ten more offices in Europe, the USA and Canada. Its activities vary from certified accounting to projects’ financing to registration of trademarks and patents and even include services such as translation.
From Jaffa to Kuwait
Talal Abu-Ghazaleh was born in the city of Jaffa, Palestine in 1938. He obtained his Bachelors degree in Business Administration from the American University in Beirut with the top honor in 1969, after which he moved to Kuwait and worked as a regular employee for 12 years.
Abu-Ghazaleh describes this period by saying: “During these years, my ambition was to create an Arab international company in the field of administrative, financial and industrial consultations that would offer the same service as international institutions.”
After numerous studies, Abu-Ghazaleh established the company in Kuwait. After a couple of years of practice, its activity increased as it became the first establishment that acquired a registry of experts on administrative and industrial consultations with the World Bank. Later, activities expanded to include registration of patents and copyrights, or what is known in the industry as industrial property or intellectual property. He says: “This organization of ours now represents ten thousand innovators worldwide.”
The Accomplishment of Losses
What is the first profit achieved by the institution?
The first profit was a loss of five million dollars. My losses in the first five years of the organization’s operation were five million dollars. But I consider these losses as a gain, because they were an investment in the future even if it caused my financial problems. If it wasn’t for some banks that stood by me, the company would have tripped and ended. From my extensive experience, I say that any organization that wants to build itself at its beginning must have the ability to withstand losses in the stage of growth and moving upwards.
In your opinion, when does opportunity knock for a successful businessman?
There is what I wouldn’t call “opportunity” but rather a certain kind of good fortune and conviction.
What I constantly seek to implant amongst those who work with me at the organization, is that we get in life what we deserve (or reap what we sow). I don’t only mean money by this, since there is what is far more important than money. Life will make you happy if you deserve to be happy. When you analyze the conditions of those you know in your life, you’ll discover that so-and-so is miserable because he decided to be miserable.
To what extent is time critical to you?
I learned from my father a simple sentence that he used to repeat with extreme spontaneity, and that is “Livelihoods are distributed before the sun comes up.” This proverb exists in other ways in many civilizations. The French say that the world is owned by those who wake up early. Personally, I’m always keen to be the first at the office. I cannot nor will I be able to justify any employee being late for an appointment, even if only late by one minute. We sell time, and we don’t have any other commodity. Our organization is an organization of services, with time being our commodity and so respecting business hours is sacred. I always say that whoever wastes time is similar to a guard that robs what he is supposed to be guarding.
An Institution of Secrets
What is the most special thing about your job?
I was keen to instill in my four children –who work with me at the company at the offices of Riyadh, Dubai, and Amman, each according to his own specialization- to give the employees the trust and stability to gain their loyalty. At the start of their work period, they used to get angry from the behaviors of some employees, and be extreme in their judgment of them, so I used to absorb their anger. I accomplished a lot for my children, and hope they continue working with me. Maybe one of the important things I achieved for them is large wealth that will help them in their lives.
With the hectic workload, is there any time for personal hobbies?
I love watching and attending the opera. I’ve been careful for 17 years now to attend Salzburg’s opera annually. In all my trips, the first thing I look for in any city is an opera house. I enjoy the music extremely and am fascinated with its symphonies.
Also, I dedicate much of my time to in the hobby of writing researches and composition in preparation for the lectures that I participate in.
Do you enjoy traveling?
Of course. Travel is a very important part of my life. I am always moving around between the organization’s offices in different parts of the world, and benefit greatly from this. My philosophy is that any new experience in any office is a gain for all the offices, whereas money helps in building your inner strength and developing your expertise in order to become better than your adversary.