Sameh Muhtadi: Letting Nature Set the Blueprint

Sameh Muhtadi sees property development as custodianship. In this episode of (C) Suite Talks, the CEO of RAK Properties explains how designing with nature in mind can bring communities closer together while respecting Ras Al Khaimah’s ecological character.
 
In just over 15 minutes, he offers insight into how travel feeds creativity, why grit and persistence matter in leadership, and how putting customers first—every time—allows growth, sustainability, and long-term value to move together.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:03

Every time I travel, anything that I enjoy or like or experience that can be applied to our industry or our business, I make it a point to capture it. And I also make it a point to share it with the team here. The world is can be extremely creative. It's great to see what people have done with their creativity. And if you can apply that, not identically, but if you can apply that to where you are, modify it. I think uh that goes a long way.

SPEAKER_00 0:38

But Haba, I'm Janan Farhat.

SPEAKER_01 0:40

And I'm Derek Zeno from the Alkatomi Foundation.

SPEAKER_00 0:43

Welcome to C Suite Talks, a podcast about what it really means to lead.

SPEAKER_01 0:48

We're talking to the people behind the titles to hear their stories, lessons, and a few surprises along the way.

SPEAKER_00 0:54

Because leadership is more than just the corner office. It's personal. Today we're joined by Samir Mohtadi, CEO of Rack Properties, the developer shaping Ras Al Jemas Next Skyline. Sam, it's great to have you with us. How are you doing today?

SPEAKER_02 1:17

I'm good. Thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_00 1:19

It's our pleasure. Sam, since stepping in as CEO in August 2022, you've pushed Rack Properties into a new growth chapter, anchored by MENA, a next generation island destination with long beachfronts and several branded residences. In 2024, Rack Properties recorded 4 billion Dedhams in revenue, up 40% year on year, and 308 million Dedhams in profit before tax. In 2025, you outlined an ambitious 5 billion Dedhum launch pipeline with first phase projects selling through and new releases queued across Mina's districts. At the helm of Rack Properties, you bring decades of regional development experience and a clear mission. Build thoughtfully, scale confidently, and keep Rasel Jema's natural assets at the heart of the value proposition. So I have a quick teaser question for you. Sam, you've said before that Rasel Jema isn't about, and I quote, retrofitting legacy destinations, end quote. It's about building intentionally for the next generation of travelers. So when you look at MENA and the coastline developments taking shape, how do you balance that forward-thinking ambition with your commitment to protecting Rasel Gema's mangroves and natural character?

SPEAKER_02 2:29

I think we're custodians to a beautiful part of the world, not just a beautiful part of the UAE. And it's uh incumbent uh upon us to protect it. What's special about Raseljema is its nature, for sure. Uh Mina uh in particular has about 17 kilometers of beachfront. Uh it has two million square meters of uh protected uh mangroves, it has a year-round flamingo sanctuary, and it has 60 different bird species, it has uh marine life. That that is rare. You don't you don't find that. That's a gift, yeah? So it's incumbent upon us to actually protect uh this nature and preserve it and sustain it. And I think that's uh really, if you had to distinguish us from many other players in the same uh sector, I think we care about sustainability and the environment more than anybody else.

SPEAKER_00 3:39

Yeah, definitely. I think that's a very nuanced view. And it's clear that you're designing both for the environment and people, not just property.

SPEAKER_02 3:47

We're designing for the community. We're designing a lifestyle. We're not designing buildings, we're deciding a deciding, sorry, we're designing a way of life. Uh that way of life brings humans very close to nature. Uh they experience nature, they sense nature. Uh we want to bring them as close as possible to that uh nature. So that's in the back of our mind every time we come up with a new project, every time we design uh a retail space, every time we design an office space, etc. Uh I think it's key. Uh building that lifestyle is not easy, but if we're halfway as uh successful as we'd like to be, we we've come a long way.

SPEAKER_00 4:35

Definitely, definitely. I think that's uh very well said. All right, so let's go ahead and get started with our 15-minute conversation. Um, can you walk us through your typical morning routine? So maybe what time do you wake up? How do you set up the tone of the day?

SPEAKER_02 4:51

I'm an early riser. Um typical days when I don't go out in the evenings, I'm in bed by 10, 10:30. I'm up by 5:30. My first activity is gym uh religiously. I uh I'm there at 6 o'clock in the morning. I'm lucky that we have a gym next to my home. And um, I use that first hour of the day to actually plan my day, to uh go over some of the issues from last week, from yesterday, and plan the day. What are the important things that I need to achieve on that particular day? And uh that one hour of freedom, of uh of seclusion helped me do that.

SPEAKER_00 5:37

And would you say that you're a tea drinker, a coffee drinker? What's your beverage of choice?

SPEAKER_02 5:42

I'm a coffee drinker, rarely tea. I have two or three coffees a day. Uh one at home, two in the office, and that's uh that's about it.

SPEAKER_00 5:53

And uh would you say that you like it? Um do you have a cappuccino, an Americano?

SPEAKER_02 5:58

I have an Americano. Okay. And in the office I have uh a couple of double espresso, preferably macchiatos.

SPEAKER_00 6:06

All right. I love a very specific answer. Everyone likes their coffee in a very particular way. Um and uh just seguing to your career, I mean, Sam, you've led in so many different sectors, uh, real estate, investment, infrastructure. Would you say that there's been a defining moment that pulled you toward um development leadership?

SPEAKER_02 6:27

Uh for sure, 100%. I was a contractor uh between 1983 and 2007. Uh worked on many major projects, uh different parts of the world, uh US, Europe, uh, the Caribbean, uh, and obviously Middle East. I was approached by Imar uh Amar in 2007. Uh they had just uh decided to launch their Egypt operation, and I was uh nominated to be their CEO, the first CEO of Amar Masr. That was a game changer for me. So uh moving from a contractor to a developer was an incredible experience for me, and uh I was lucky to actually start with somebody like uh Mohammed Labbar and Amar. It's uh it's a school uh in uh real estate development. So uh that was my defining moment.

SPEAKER_00 7:38

And did anyone mentor you through that transition? Maybe someone whose voice still guides you today or you still recall fondly?

SPEAKER_02 7:45

It it is uh Mohammed Labbar himself.

SPEAKER_03 7:49

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 7:49

As CEO, I was reporting uh to him and to the board, and he's the kind of person that is very, very actively involved 24 hours a day. I'd get uh messages from him uh 2 a.m. in the morning, uh 6 a.m. doesn't time doesn't matter. Um uh he taught me uh, if anything, it's attention to detail and uh the significance of interior design.

SPEAKER_00 8:22

Wow. And would you say that um speaking about attention to detail and the kinds of skills that you need to advance in your career, what would you say is the most underrated skill that's helped you develop as a leader?

SPEAKER_02 8:37

As a leader? Underrated skill to help me develop. It's um I think it's grit. It's not a skill. It's your uh I think you're either born with grit or you're not born with grit. Grit is your persistence, yeah? Yeah it is your dedication. And it's uh, you know, it's easy to give up, it's easy to disagree with advice, it's easy, but but if you have grit, I think that is probably the most important characteristic any leader should have, and it's uh what gets you accomplished.

SPEAKER_00 9:18

And what what do you do if you don't have grit?

SPEAKER_02 9:20

If you don't have grit, you give up. Yeah, and you move on and you change jobs and uh you argue and you fight and and so on. But grit actually knowing what you want to achieve, knowing where you want to be, knowing what product you want to bring to the market and persisting. And even if you have challenges persisting again and again and again until you get there, I think uh that's the one characteristic uh that I think is most important.

SPEAKER_00 9:49

Yeah, that's so true. I think grit and persistence does sound very simple, but it's uh it's a necessity when you're trying to carve your way and uh find your path as a leader and as a developer.

SPEAKER_02 10:01

For sure. Uh if you want to progress, yeah, and uh I think leadership is about uh progress and uh moving from one uh level to a higher next.

SPEAKER_00 10:13

Yeah, no, definitely. All right, so we've been uh we've asked a couple of teaser questions and we've started with uh talking about the serious side of business, but we want to lighten things up a little bit. So welcome to our Wheel of Questions segment, uh, where we let the wheel set the direction. Uh would you mind giving the wheel a spin, Sammy? Okay one. Wow. Very very straightforward. Uh so when you're not thinking about projects and pipelines, what helps you switch off and take a break?

SPEAKER_02 10:50

Uh I mentioned, Jim, earlier that uh I I love the isolation. I love flying, you know, so in airlines as well. I feel that's a private me time uh uh where you can actually enjoy either podcasts uh or reading or watching movies. That for me is an escape. I do need to uh switch off. Uh I have some weird uh uh things that I do that also help me switch off. Ironing. Yeah. So uh occasionally when I really need to switch off, I go to ironing. It's a unique Sameh uh, I don't know if uh what to call it, but it helps me. Yeah, it's my escape.

SPEAKER_00 11:39

I understand that. That's me with reorganizing things when nothing is going well or right? It's me in my closet. Um and you said that you love to travel. Did you do you bring back ideas from travel or does travel stay strictly off the clock?

SPEAKER_02 11:55

Every time I travel, anything that I enjoy or like or experience that can be applied to our industry, our business, I make it a point to capture it either in a photo or a video. And I also make it a point to share it with the team here. Um I um, you know, the world is can be extremely creative. Uh, you know, you have different architects, different cultures, different uh lighting, different uh landscaping, etc. So you know, you can't come up on your own with all of the new ideas. I it's great to see what people have uh done with uh with the their creativity. And if you can apply that, not identically, but if you can apply that to where you are, modify it, I think uh that goes a long way. So I I tend to do that all the time.

SPEAKER_00 12:56

So you're never really off duty, even a walk can maybe be uh an urban planning research.

SPEAKER_02 13:01

No, I don't think of it as duty, uh I don't think of it as research, but um you know, uh on on a one-week vacation, you're bound to come across uh interesting uh solutions.

SPEAKER_00 13:14

Yeah, definitely something that translates to work and helps you think differently about your about your job and about your life here. Um maybe we can give the wheel another spin. I think that's two. It's fairly fairly chronological. All right, so if you weren't running rack properties, what do you think you would be doing instead?

SPEAKER_02 13:40

I would either be an architect. I think I was an architect in a previous life. Uh that really is what I enjoy. Um charity, yeah. Um that comes from family and uh the way I was brought up. Um I'm convinced that maximum joy is derived by making by taking care of people, making people happy. And uh I'm hoping that once I retire, that's exactly what I'll uh be doing.

SPEAKER_00 14:21

And um is there any creative itch, let's say, that you haven't scratched yet, a creative project you'd take up? Would it be the charity or something else?

SPEAKER_02 14:31

Uh it would be architecture. Architecture. So uh yeah, I would uh either build something new, uh residence more than uh more than a building or it would be a residence, uh preferably uh in a terrain that allows you to use your creativity of uh absorbing the structure within the uh terrain itself, island, mountain, etc. Or or a beautiful uh forest area, uh that would be that would be amazing if I get a chance to do that.

SPEAKER_00 15:05

So Rasal Kema could still be that. Rasal Kema absolutely can be that. Amazing, amazing. We are the only emirate with um coastlines, mountains, and beaches, uh, and I think also, yeah, and also mangroves. We have pretty much everything there is to say that.

SPEAKER_02 15:19

That's the USP. And uh what people don't talk about is is actually the wealth of marine life that you experience and uh and uh bird bird species and uh you know the abundance of uh various uh species.

SPEAKER_00 15:35

Yeah, that's very true. I don't know if you've been to the Suwedi Pearl Farm, but there is an incredible, incredible um host of I mean, both uh small-scale businesses, but but also just researchers who come here and conduct research.

SPEAKER_02 15:50

Uh if I may tell you a short story. We when we built those uh Anantara villas, the overwater uh villas, um uh Rasel Gema experiences low tide and high tide.

SPEAKER_04 16:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 16:05

So we noticed that during low tide the the land gets exposed, the the mud and the and we were wondering should we dredge that so that people in an overwater villa always see water, or do we keep it as is? And we decided at the end to keep it as is. So what's happening is when you have the low tide, that's when all of the birds come to that area and they start feeding, and they start uh, and you see the crabs running uh on on top of the uh waterbed, and you see the different uh uh fish species uh struggling to stay within water, and and it's one amazing experience. Yeah, so that's uh that's a joy to watch, and that's where you learn so much about the marine species that you have, the size of the crabs, uh the colors, and the different uh fish species, and how the feeding takes place and the ecosystem essentially.

SPEAKER_00 17:08

Oh, that's incredible. That's incredible. I don't think I imagined that um a developer like yourself would have so much knowledge of nature. And um, you know, I don't know if you know Professor John Burt, but he's one of the leading experts on marine research and marine life in the UAE. I think he would love to maybe do some exploring and also capture.

SPEAKER_02 17:29

I have to I have to meet. We've done a recent experiment with uh um uh we used structures underwater that attract fish. Uh and it's kind of like the reef, but instead of uh building a reef, uh a natural reef, which takes years and years and years, we decided to use these uh spheres with holes in them. And if you look at one of the videos of underwater videos to see the how many new fish species have actually moved into those spheres. And it's just fascinating. So some of these things that you can do to help with sustainability, help with the environment. Yeah, uh, I'm sure there's so much more to do, and I would love to uh spend some time with the professor to learn some of his uh ideas.

SPEAKER_00 18:26

I'd be very happy to facilitate that connection. Thank you. I'm sure John would love to chat with you, and Rasul Gema again and again also brings people back to have these critical conversations about wildlife, and it's so important to make sure that industries align um and are connected also with the researchers doing um yeah, all of this research. Um, I think we can do another last spin.

SPEAKER_02 18:51

If I'm guessing it's gonna be three, could be no this time it's seven.

SPEAKER_00 18:59

Seven, oh, all right. Can you share a moment when things didn't go to plan and tell us a little bit about how you recovered?

SPEAKER_02 19:08

Hmm. Uh there's many moments, uh you know, when you've had uh a career as long as mine. Um, I've been in uh some very difficult situations construction-wise, uh where we've had massive challenges. So uh I built, for example, uh airports in Afghanistan. And um you go to an area that is unprotected, you have to come up with immediate temporary protection for your workers, for the staff, uh, for the sort of uh construction. Um I've been in one area where actually uh militarily we were attacked repeatedly and had to relocate, and uh it was an experience. Uh fortunately, we didn't lose uh anything other than uh facilities and equipment and so on, but that was one of the uh uh you know negative experiences that uh I went through. But you learn, you learn how to plan better, how to uh analyze better, and and so on.

SPEAKER_00 20:20

Would you say that that uh that experience changed how you approach risk?

SPEAKER_02 20:25

Absolutely, yeah. I mean uh that is the uh ultimate risk, I suppose. Going into a war zone and uh building in uh uh I wouldn't call it enemy territory. We were a private contractor, but uh but planning uh for that, um yeah, I think that that is one massive risk. But there are other very significant risks every day. Uh you know, uh how you design uh the structural stability, uh what do you take into consideration with your developments, uh, traffic, uh, you know, even wind uh impact, all of these uh risks have to be considered. I think part of uh part of proper uh leadership is risk assessment and risk management. Yeah, you need to balance because you know you can't eliminate old risk. You need to identify what risk do you need to manage and you spend on managing that. How much you spend is one of the uh challenges that you have to make, uh decisions that you have to make as a leader.

SPEAKER_00 21:37

Of course. Of course, yeah. Risk management, budget planning, all of these things factor in, and who better to make those uh those choices than the leader who has that bird's eye view of all of the experiences and challenges, but also the operations of a company. Um True. You would you like to take one last spin? Hopefully it's not a one-two or a

SPEAKER_02 22:00

Actually a three.

SPEAKER_00 22:01

It's a three. It was destined to be. All right. How important do you think extroversion is in leadership? Or can quiet leaders be just as effective?

SPEAKER_02 22:15

I would consider myself quiet. That doesn't mean that I'm a perfect leader. I don't think being an introvert or an extrovert is key to successful leadership. I think introverts can be extremely analytical, studied, they can communicate more in writing than but I think being an extrovert imparts on the enthusiasm that the team has. And I think it's important for the team to actually be on board, to be as excited about a direction or a project as you are, and that's where you need uh to be an extrovert. But again, I don't think exclusively uh extra extrovert or uh or otherwise is is uh significant.

SPEAKER_00 23:19

Definitely. And have you found yourself ever having to maybe adjust your style to fit a team or fit a culture?

SPEAKER_02 23:26

For sure. You have to. Uh you know, you report to uh even as a CEO or you always report to somebody.

SPEAKER_04 23:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 23:36

And that somebody you don't choose. Uh so by definition, you have to adjust uh your uh your uh style, you have to adjust your communication, you have to adjust your interests to suit that uh uh report uh reporting line. Uh yeah, it's a it's a continuous adjustment.

SPEAKER_00 24:00

I think adaptability then is a very clear skill that you have to have as a leader.

SPEAKER_02 24:05

The most important skill you have to have is taking care of your customers.

SPEAKER_00 24:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 24:10

That's that's uh constant that's a constant. That is the one element that must never change. And uh that's something I keep um uh emphasizing to the entire team. You know, taking care of customers is what comes first. Everything else follows. If you do it right, everything else follows.

SPEAKER_00 24:30

Yeah, I can hear that in how you also talked about the importance of community and centering community in any develop in any development initiative. Um as RAC continues its rise on the global stage, balancing growth and sustainability. What legacy do you hope RAC properties and your own leadership will leave for the next generation here in Rasel Gema and also across the UAE?

SPEAKER_02 24:56

We want to be a major influer, an influencer of the future of uh Rasel Gem. I think we're doing that already. I think we've managed to uh develop the reputation as uh a trustworthy uh developer that is coming up with creative ideas, that is taking care of their customers. I'd like to be, I'd like for us to be recognized as alchema's premier lifestyle developer.

SPEAKER_00 25:31

Yeah, well said. I think um that's a very powerful statement, and it's also evident in the name Rack Properties for Rasel Gema, for Rasel Kema's people, its communities, um, and also for its environment. And I think that's shown through very clearly um through this conversation.

SPEAKER_02 25:49

We're lucky to have that name. That makes it makes life easier for me.

SPEAKER_00 25:53

Definitely. All right, Samekh, thank you so much for giving us a window into how growth can be both bold but also balanced. And Rack Properties is clearly not just building communities, um, it's also shaping how Rasilchema grows into its national strengths. Um, yeah, so here's to a future built with intention. Thank you so much for this um very refreshing conversation.

SPEAKER_02 26:17

Thank you very much for having me. I enjoyed it. Our pleasure, thank you.

SPEAKER_01 26:24

Thanks for joining us on C Suite Talks, where we bring global and local insights from the heart of Russell Khima to the world.

SPEAKER_00 26:31

Be sure to follow, share, and tune in next time for another 15 minute conversation about what it really takes to lead.