Kevin O'Leary's Exclusive Abu Dhabi Investment Talk | Virgin Radio Dubai Interview

[Music]

Kevin: Oir, welcome back to Virgin Radio Dubai on the Maz Hakeim podcast!

Maz: I feel like I live here.

Kevin: Well, I feel like you live here as well. It's so nice to have you back. Last time we spoke, you were in Abu Dhabi. You were doing a heap of things. Tell me, what you've been up to since you've been back in the UAE?

Kevin: Well, I've been coming to Finance Week in Abu Dhabi every year, and every year it grows geometrically. It was the biggest that's ever been this year. There's a fair amount of excitement about the UAE with investors because of so much activity going on outside of the energy sectors. As the policy here is to start to diversify the economy, there's a lot of investment opportunities as a result. And, I mean, every time I come here, I get more and more impressed in terms of how well this transition is going and how many investment opportunities there are.

I was reading an article in Bloomberg earlier this week that said billionaire hedge fund manager Alan Howard said that Abu Dhabi could be a Global Financial Center after London, New York, and Hong Kong. Do you agree with him?

Kevin: No, it already is! I don't agree with him. This is the capital of capital. This is growing faster than any of those jurisdictions, any of them. What really to look for as an investor is in growth. I mean, the way you make money when you invest is to invest in growth opportunities. You know, New York's a very important market. London, Hong Kong has issues around China now, which not everybody loves. But Abu Dhabi has none of those, and it has growth.

So, you know, if you have a choice, where do I put? If I had to buy an index today—in other words, the way to measure this as an investor—if you had a choice, which index would you want to own for the next five years? It would be Abu Dhabi, not any of the others because there's no way they're going to grow this fast.

What are some of those growth opportunities? Like, if someone didn't really understand the finance world and they wanted to make some investments, what are some of those growth opportunities in the UAE?

Kevin: Well, let's start with a very controversial sector, and it's very easy to understand. Let's talk about cryptocurrencies and digital payment systems. That came roaring on the scene in 2020, and the IT raised billions of dollars given its growth potential. There's no question that blockchain will become part of financial services. It'll, in my view, over the next ten years, become the 12th sector of the S&P. But the platforms that were set up first—and we can mention their names because I certainly remember them—FTX and Binance. Now, together they had 97% of the market share of the world's cryptocurrencies and potential for digital payments because it's not just Bitcoin that this is about; it's about the ability to pay people around the world using an exchange.

Now, obviously, we know what happened to FTX, and I remember because I lost $18 million! I'm not happy about that. And we've all seen what's happened to Binance, and that happened faster than anybody thought. So those guys are gone. They're the—let's call them the pioneers—but they now have arrows in their backs.

And then, whether it's serendipitous luck or whether they really thought this through—or maybe a little bit of both—M2 just launched in Abu Dhabi as the new home of crypto. It was a fanfare event. It's a private company but it is all of what FTX was and Binance was, except it's compliant, and it's backed by billions of dollars, and it's got massive financial institutions attached to it.

Yeah, and it's because it's compliant and transparent. You know who owns it. It's investable. Now, the first thing I had to figure out when I got here and watched what was happening is, as I said, "Okay, I invest in exchanges." I think if you could have invested in the New York Stock Exchange the day it was founded, over 200 years ago, and the NASDAQ, and owned those through all the economic cycles, they were fantastic investments. That's how I feel about M2.

So, how do I get a piece? That's a problem. It's private. However, you know, I'm an industrious guy. I found out that Phoenix Technology owns 30% of it. Phoenix is going public on the ADX here in Abu Dhabi, so then I have to figure out how do I get a piece of Phoenix? I can buy the shares; that's what I found out.

So I'm using International Securities, which is the biggest brokerage firm I could find in Abu Dhabi. I can download the app in the US, set up an account, and put in an order, and now I have access to M2. Now, if you're an American, you can't open an account on M2, but you can own the stock, which is what I want. And so that's what I did. I'm very excited about it, and I think this is going to be one of the biggest exchanges in the world because it's being built off the backbone of the financial services sector of Abu Dhabi. Totally compliant, and the management has already made their announcements about how transparent they're going to be. I'm very excited about this project.

So, a lot of people lost a lot of money when it came to crypto. What do you have to say to people who are a little bit hesitant in investing again?

Kevin: You know, it doesn't—what happened with Sam Bankman-Fried and SBF—eh, they're no longer with us, so to speak. They’re still alive, though, but that doesn’t change the potential at all of what crypto can be. And I'll give you an example—this is a perfect example. There's a watchmaker in Geneva named Simon Britt. He's the next Picasso of watchmaking; that's the buzz amongst collectors. I'm a big watch collector! Yes, in fact, I got introduced to him through one of my collector friends right here in the UAE, and he's only going to make five prototype watches. You have to be a collector; you've got to petition him, explain why you should own it. And luckily, he agreed that I should own number three!

Now, how do I pay for it? Now, when you're that kind of a guy and you're well-known, you get prepaid. So, I had to figure out how to transfer, in this case, 40,000 Swiss Francs for the down payment and another 40,000 when it came time to pick it up. And just by chance, here we are sitting together, I'm picking it up tomorrow morning at 11 o'clock in Geneva. So, I'm going to leave here, leave your wonderful studio, get on a plane and fly to Geneva to pick this watch up.

However, I went through hell to transfer the capital from New York, transferred into Swiss Francs. It took three days to do the wire transfer. Then, I got absolutely screwed on the FX fees transferring it from US Dollars into Swiss Francs, and that took even more time! I'm getting screwed on every level there, which really makes me unhappy. I don't like to pay for worthless services.

If we had an M2 at the time and I had an account on M2 and Simon had an account on M2, I could simply transfer any currency I wanted to him or USDC, or a stable coin, or Bitcoin, whatever he wants in a split second at a fraction of the cost. So, the potential of what this could be is obvious in that Ed Case; except, multiply that by a billion times around the world. And so, somebody's going to get it right; someone's going to be compliant, someone's going to have the capital to set this up. I think it's going to be M2.

Now, you know, this would be my third time at best B. You know, I did FTX, struck out, Binance. I'm so lucky I didn't invest in that thing, and now I got one I can do that with. I'm, I'm thinking this is going to be the one.

You mentioned your watches. What watches are you wearing today?

Kevin: I'm celebrating UAE today because this is a Ming! This is a Ming watch, and maybe I'm saying something out of school right now, but Ming has moved to the United Arab Emirates. Wow! There's another sector they're getting because he's found the platform here so compelling to service the globe with his brand.

This Ming is Ming's Ming except I bought it. It was on its way to his wrist—the only Ming. So, Ming's Ming's Ming is my Ming! On this side, we have a Frank Muller watch that celebrates the U Phoenix company. You can see—and I wore it because, you know, I'm now a shareholder of Phoenix. And that's the Phoenix here. This is number 9 of 50, and it actually has a QR code to my digital wallet when I decide to use it! Very honored to have this piece.

And these are—I always wear two watches now. The Ming is giving me UAE time, and the Phoenix watch is New York time. So, I always wear two watches! Otherwise, how would you know what time it is in New York or here in UAE? You could watch—you use your phone.

Maz: But oh, you're very expensive. Why would you do that?

Kevin: Are you kidding? No, no! I use my phone for other stuff, but for time, I got to use watches. So, for example, I'm not a watch collector; I don't know that much about watches.

Maz: But if someone wants to become a watch collector, what is like the first watch they should own?

Kevin: Well, you know, the first rule that I tell everybody because a lot of people follow me around about watches. I really like that I'm part of the watch community. It's never borrow money to buy a watch. Never buy a watch outside of your means because it's meant to capture moments of your life upon your personal successes or the birth of a child or your marriage or something that when you look at the face of the watch, you remember exactly why you bought it.

I know exactly why and when I bought this Ming. I know exactly what this Phoenix watch is about for the rest of my life. And so you know, I make sure though that you start at a level you can afford. So, if you're in early in your early 20s, I'd recommend a Longines or maybe a Tudor. And these are fantastic watches. You know there's all kinds of brands that you can buy for under a thousand dollars, under $2,000, or maybe 4,000 AED or whatever, you know, sort of something entry-level.

And then, as you are more successful, buy something else, add to your collection! As I like to say, and always bring in diversity. You want different dials; that's the whole idea. So, there's not many places around the world that you can wear your watches safely. I remember we spoke about this last time, but you can wear it in the UAE. Are there any moments of safety and security that you can talk about that you've experienced in the UAE?

Kevin: Yesterday, I walked through the compound, the ADGM, where we were holding the Finance Week. I had over a million dollars worth of watches on my wrists. I would never do that in any other city! I feel 100% safe. I wore them at night. I walked back to my hotel at night with over a million dollars' worth of watches on my wrist—not worried for a moment!

I have lost stuff when I'm here only to have it returned to my hotel room a day later! When an Uber driver or taxi driver found it? I mean, there's no place like this on earth; there just isn't. And, you know, when people ask, particularly if you look at the ranking of a city like Abu Dhabi, for example, it's been the safest city on earth for almost seven years, and women feel safe!

It's the people, the culture, the food, the economy, the policy—all of this stuff comes together. And the only way you're going to appreciate is you got to come here. You know, people say, "Oh, you know, it's just like another, you know, Middle Eastern country." They don't get it.

And the reason they don't get it is because they haven't been here. And so, everybody that comes here figures it out and says, "Wow! I got to be part of this!" At least if you're an investor, you do. You know, for me, your portfolio should have at least a 5% weighting specifically in the UAE given the growth of this jurisdiction. And you do it by using the ADX.

The ADX is rapidly becoming the exchange in the region, and there are a lot of IPOs coming here. There's a co-listing agreement; I think they just signed one with the New York Stock Exchange last week. So, I'm all over it. So, you know, I open an account; I have an ADX account.

Maz: Watch what happens next. If someone's never been to the UAE, why should they come here other than what they see on Instagram?

Kevin: Well, I look at it from the perspective of an investor. I mean, it's one word—it's growth! UAE equals growth; that's exactly what it is. And so I look at it that way. But also, you have to understand how to work with the regulator here.

What I found interesting about the last week I've been here— I got access to leadership. I was able to sit down and talk to them about the different areas I'm interested in investing in. They pointed me to other entrepreneurs that have already done it, so I can buy into their deals. It's very cooperative. It's very transparent; it's very open.

And the regulator is wide open to discuss what you can and can't do here. And so all the professional service law firms that I use in New York are established here—the audit firm we use, our regulator. We understand what we have to do. So a lot of infrastructure has been put to work over the last, I'd say, 15-20 years here, and it's wide open for business.

And that's why you find billions of dollars coming here. I mean, you know they get the joke here; you know what I mean? That they understand what they need to do to be successful, and they’re doing it.

The agenda for Dubai in 2033 was revealed earlier this year to double the size of Dubai's economy over the next decade. How can we or the average person capitalize on these opportunities?

Kevin: Very simply, open an account! I'm going to the one that the one I did; I put it on my phone. It's actually on my phone! I downloaded this app in New York City, okay? I open my ADX account in New York City. It was done that easily! And all I'm doing to get exposure to that economic growth is buying the index.

Thirty companies are trading together in an ETF right here on my phone! So, you know, I'm just being transparent. I wired in a million US dollars, and I said I'm going to start buying the index here. And I bought some of that Phoenix IPO as well. So, you know, for me, it's for right now—it’s a 5% weighting because there isn't a single country in the world right now that can make the statement you just made about growth!

So why wouldn't you want 5% of that in your portfolio? And the way you want to own it is—and I'll actually tell you. I'm going to disclose what I'm buying, okay? Because I did a lot of work. For example, there is an ETF in the US called UAE. And I looked at that and said, "Well, why would I need to open an account in the UAE if I could just buy the UAE?"

Yeah, but then I looked at what was inside of it and why it was not performing like the UAE index was. They're missing IHC—the biggest holding company in the region, a $280 billion company—missing in that index! Yes, well, that's a mistake!

So the index—let me find it for you that I'm actually going to buy. That Kevin includes—it is CH! That CH is all of the companies you want to own in one ETF. So that's very easy for me. Trade fees are fractional here; I mean, it's one of the lowest fees there are. But for me, this is a buy and hold.

I buy that; I just hold it. So, right, if they're successful in doubling the economy, Mr. Wonderful is going to make a lot of money.

So, other than ADX, what else can the average person invest in?

Kevin: Well, I think what's interesting—and I'll give you an example—why am I here incorporating O Global? Because that's why I'm here this time! That's why I've spent more time. I had to get all the infrastructure in place, start hiring people. Let me tell you my number one cost since I last saw you. So I have a pretty large portfolio of companies. During the pandemic, they changed all of them, changed their business models to more of a direct consumer strategy.

Yeah, so that means they have to acquire customers. So, they used to go through distribution; these are consumer goods and services—maybe a car 4 in Europe or maybe a Target or Walmart in the United States, whatever. Today, they want to acquire the customer to get the data, service them directly at a higher gross margin. Because if you're selling direct to consumers, your only costs are acquiring that customer, manufacturing the product, and shipping it to them.

Now, the big problem is the cost of acquiring the customer, which means you have to generate content, create social media, put it on social, put it on radio, put it on television, put it on whatever, and get the customer to learn about it. That production cost for us is costing us millions a month—millions of dollars a month! Millions! And going up like crazy—shoot it, edit it, produce it, post-produce it, cut it for TikTok, make it for Instagram, make it different for LinkedIn. It's expensive!

And I thought to myself, "What could reduce the cost? AI!" If we've already shot it, there's terabytes of television; I've been doing it for 20 years. Why not just create AI Kevin and tell everybody it's the AI guy? And so, when you see me soon, it'll be the AI Mr. Wonderful! Wow! By the way, he's going to speak 48 languages! Think about that!

So, I can make content just for the French in V—the Canton of V Switzerland, which is a different dialect than what they speak in Paris, which is different than what they speak in Quebec. I mean, AI Kev, I love this guy! And he's much cheaper! So I'm licensing myself to myself! So I can sue myself in case I don't like what myself said. That's exactly what I'm going to do. And I'm not the only guy doing this.

The question is, where is the talent to do it? Well, number one, in terms of dollars invested in AI, as the United States. Number two, China. Where's number three? United Emirates with a better tax policy!

So that's where I'm doing it; that's where we're going to generate all this content right here in our offices in O Global, right in Abu Dhabi. That's the plan over the next 24 months.

Maz: Yeah, I saw a lot of celebrities are not entirely comfortable with the AI version of themselves, but me? I love Mr. Wonderful! I love him, and I'm going to love him even more when he can speak all these languages! It's going to be fantastic!

We write the script, we say, "Let's target for the Swiss market!" Boom, there he is.

Yeah, let's talk real estate. So the UAE is a hub for real estate investments. Have you noticed any trends, or where should people invest in different areas in the UAE?

Kevin: You know, commercial real estate is one sector of real estate I do a lot in. But, you know, residential—in particularly in the growth in cities like Dubai and Abu Dhabi—is, for me, the more interesting sector.

Because what happens here is people—and I've watched this with people I know—you come once, and you kind of get a feel for what it's like. And then you come again, and you start to build contacts, meet government, talk to other investors, and then you start saying to yourself, "Okay, there's some projects here I'd like to look at."

In my case, it's AI, and I talked about digital currencies and payment systems—those are the two big areas for me right now. Then you say to yourself, "Well, okay, I've been staying in hotels for weeks at a time. Maybe I should get a place to live." So, you want condo with services, obviously, because maybe you're going to travel to the region six months of the year or maybe six months in a day if you're doing a tax strategy.

That, to me, is where things get interesting because a lot of—you know, I just look at the four years I've been coming to Abu Dhabi; it doesn't even look like it did four years ago. I mean, there are so many cranes here, and that's because there's fundamental demand.

And I think that's part of when you're investing in a hold co. Like IHC, you're getting exposure to that because they invest in that too. They've got hundreds of companies within that one public stock, IHC. It's massive! You can buy that, or it’s also 50% of the weighting of that ETF I gave you earlier.

So the whole idea is you get exposure to all sectors by just buying the index; that's my strategy. It's much easier than trying to pick an individual stock.

Do you own a lot of homes around the world?

Kevin: I do! I do! And, you know, people should understand that homes have capital appreciation. That's good, but they negative cash flow to you for maintenance and taxes, and it’s a nightmare! And once you get past four, you don't have enough days in the year to spend enough time in any one place.

So, I feel very sorry for my wife; she's now a property manager, and it's driving her crazy. And we're trying because there's always something going wrong—either the elevator or the road or the taxes or, you know, we own homes in Florida, in Boston, in Geneva, in Canada. And, you know, I almost feel homeless because I don't know where to go next, you know?

But I'm doing it because I'm an investor, and I invest in these countries—not so much in Canada yet. As I like to say, and I feel I'm allowed to say this because I am a Canadian citizen—it's the richest country on earth run by idiots!

And so I'm waiting for the management there to change because I don't put money to work there. You can't get anything done there; you can't get permits; you can't do anything. But Justin Trudeau, who's the Prime Minister, I will give him his accolades—very successful politician, worst manager I have ever seen!

I wouldn't let him manage a candy store for me; he'd be bankrupt within a week! I mean, the guy is the very worst manager there is!

But, you can have a successful politician and have idiot management at the same time. You don't have that problem here. The executional skills in each mandate—whether it's the ADX, meet the management there, or whether it's in, you know, biotech or G40, G42, for example, where I got my DNA sequenced. Yes, I mean leadership here finds the best executional skills, regardless of their nationality, and puts them in those seats.

Now, that's management! That's management! That's like this, this country is run like a well-oiled machine with executional skills as the primary mandate, regardless of where you were born or what your nationality is. Leadership here puts that person in that role, boom, and it works! That's how you run a country.

Trevor Noah at his comedy show was joking about how every time he comes back, every three months, even Google Maps says, "No, you can't build here!" And the UAE's like, "Yep, we're building here!"

Kevin: Yeah, I mean, the whole point is you have to have a master plan. You have to have good policy. You have to be competitive. You got to be safe; you got to have things where, you know, school and healthcare for families—the best food in the world is here! Every restaurant I know is here.

I mean, I just went to Cafe Milano at the Hilton in Abu Dhabi last night! Yes, I mean spectacular.

Maz: If it’s free, you know, it's shameless promotion for them. Fantastic!

Kevin: What are some of your favorite restaurants in the UAE when you come here?

Kevin: You know, I like some of the classics, but the ones that I've had the most fun with is finding on the harbor here in Dubai. For example, I found the best Lebanese food I've ever had! And Lebanese food is hard to make!

Maz: You call it Lebanese, right?

Kevin: Yeah, I'm half Irish, half Lebanese! So, in the Lebanese culture, it's matriarchal, and the grandmother runs the show. And my grandmother never spoke a word of English. But, you know, she—I used to love! She came from Hasbaya, which is north of Beirut, and she moved with her husband to Montreal, Canada, and I was born there.

And she loved apples! So they bought a farm, and she and he ran a clothing company called Kitty Togs. All of his daughters worked for the father, but the grandmother—she runs the show! And she used to get my brother and I to pick the apples off the trees.

But she'd hand-select each one with a stick! So she'd make us go up the ladder and hit us and point to the one she wanted! We'd have to pick that one! And I said to my mom, "What is this? Am I slave labor here? I'm not even getting paid anything for this!" And she used to say to me; it's a swear word in Arabic, and just, you know, hit me with a stick!

And she was doing that to pick the apples for the apple pie on the Sunday night dinner, which happened at 4:30 to 5:00. All the women would prepare it all day, and the family would gather, run by the matriarch! And I've really resented it in those days, but now I appreciate it so much!

Yeah, I do it in my own family!

Maz: Wow!

Kevin: But that's how I grew up. She was tough, and women were always a big part of my life, no question.

And I noticed on your Instagram you were doing a medical treatment, and you were talking about how medical in the UAE—and in Abu Dhabi in particular—is so advanced. Are you into biohacking? What's your routine like, and what treatment were you getting?

Kevin: Oh, I'm way past that! I'm actually a vampire. I'm going to live 260 years! So I'm just making sure I stay healthy. The advancements here are extraordinary!

I'll give you an example. Two years ago, I was listening to management make a presentation at G42 about the sequencing lab they had. And they had the very best of the Chinese, the British, and the American system. There's no place like that on earth because those guys are all suing each other!

But not here because leadership is supporting their research! Yes! And the morning before, I had received my residency card, my golden visa, and he was explaining that every citizen of the UAE was offered free DNA sequencing to turn the toggles on or off to see, you know, what the precursor was for them in their lives and what they should be concerned about.

And I just put up my hand and said, "Excuse me?" And I showed him my—I think I have it on me; I carry it—go here, I'm very proud of it. I'm very proud of it!

But it's very useful. I do have it here! It is right here! So I put this, I held this up right there. I have one of these!

Kevin: Can I have my DNA sequenced? Yes! I want the full monty! And he said, "Absolutely!" The limo followed me back to the hotel, got a stool sample, urine sample, blood sample—all that stuff—and four or five days later, I sent it to the Coronel Research Lab in New York, which I'm part of a longevity study, and Richard Isacson, the head researcher at the time, looked at it and said he had never seen resolution like that!

The amount of data we got from that and it changed all the protocols of what I was doing in terms of maintenance, which supplements I take, the protocols, and my diet, and everything as a result of that. I lost 32 pounds; I have more energy than I've ever had!

But there's so many different procedures here that you can't get anywhere else! And I just, what you saw this morning, yeah, was a treatment that I, I came for, that I'm very excited about. I'm starting that! So, every time I come here, I spend a day in getting all of these procedures that I can't get anywhere else!

What people should understand about the United Emirates—and again, I'm going to give credit to leadership for figuring out this policy—they invest billions in prevention! They'd rather you didn't get sick!

Because the cost of most societies of people that don't take care of themselves is billions of dollars. Why not invest in keeping healthy? So if you want to be healthy, and you want to, you know, get access to incredible treatments, this is it! This is the country you come to! And so another reason why I, you know, I come over so often now is one of those days I’m going to sit on that gurney going through the full cleansing procedure and everything else I can get here. There’s no place like it on earth; I keep saying that because it’s true!

There’s no place like it on earth!

Maz: So what's your morning routine like? What's your evening routine like? What does Mr. Wonderful do to keep himself young and energetic?

Kevin: I get up at about 5:45 and read the research, primarily out of Asia and the bond markets. They tell you so much, and I work out from 6 to about 7:30. It takes about an hour—I spend an hour and 20 minutes. And while I'm doing that, I'm listening to financial services podcasts and research.

It's a routine; you get into a routine. And wherever I go here, there's a good gym. So I did it every day this week. I have breakfast, and then start my workday. And I break the day out into 30-minute meetings. I'm very fortunate; I don't have to do anything anymore, but I want to!

So I make sure I'm spending my time in the most fruitful way I can in the things that interest me. And so right now, I'm hot to trot on AI for reasons we talked about. I need to spend time checking out my watch collection, deciding which 17 watches I'm going to wear this week!

I wear six a day: two from breakfast to lunch, switch at lunch to, and then my killer watches at night! And what I love about this place is I can wear them all! I don't have to worry about somebody stealing it from me!

So, you know, I'm very interested in showcasing what I've got because there's a lot of collectors I like here, and these are things that interest me. I try and play my guitar every day.

Just, you know, you got that and yang—the arts and whatever—and I try and spend time with friends and business associates. And I always schedule a dinner here at Mixed: business and pleasure, try a new restaurant. I mean, there's a lot to do here, obviously!

And then new initiatives, like setting up O Global, is keeping me very busy, and we're doing that. My Director of Finance has been here now for two and a half weeks, and she's not leaving—I promise you this—until we take in our first million!

Wow!

Kevin: Which is going to be in a couple of days, and so we're redirecting a lot of our business through our O Global now for a plethora of reasons. But, you know, our first—it’s always you want to mark it with the first million, and that's coming, I think, probably Wednesday this week.

Maz: That's so wonderful! I know you're a vampire and you're going to live to 250 years old, but will you pass a lot of your finance, a lot of your responsibilities, and your money to your children or no?

Kevin: That's not my plan at all; that was not the deal. My parents did to me, and because my mother had this thing about entitlement—she hated entitlement. And her big expression was: the dead bird under the nest never learned how to fly.

And I've said this countless times, this story, because when I graduated from college, I didn't have a job, and she said, "Listen, the good news is I'm coming for the graduation; the bad news is, no more checks!"

And I said, "What are you talking about? I don't have a job!" She said, "Not paying for anything else; you got to go make it on your own!" And, you know, I had a tough couple of years, but it certainly motivated me to go figure it out!

And I've done the same policy with my own kids. And it doesn't mean I don't take care of them—if there's an illness in the family—but my trust provides for children, even out of wedlock, from birth to the last day of college, and then they get nothing.

And when I explained that to my son when he was doing very poorly in high school in Boston, he was going to school. Yeah, he just thought, "Well, you know, I have a trust fund; I don't have to worry." I said, "Yeah, you do until you're out of school; then you have nothing!"

And he just freaked out! He was, "I said, yeah, yeah, know, but you can do whatever you want with the rest of your years in education; you can get a PhD. It's all on me!"

And, and he's going to study for it. No, he cracked down, he became an electrical engineer; now he works at Tesla. He's an engineer at Tesla; he's doing just fine!

And he can fend for himself; he's making more money at his age than I ever made then! And so, you know, I'm confident!

And my daughter's very successful! She produces commercials for the Air Force in the United States! Yeah, I mean, my kids were Americans, and they grew up in Boston, and I'm Irish, I'm Canadian, and I'm an Emirati resident!

And I really want a passport, so I'm working hard on that! I mean, that's—I want to earn it! I want to be part of the family here!

Maz: I think you already are.

Kevin: I hope so!

Maz: How many passports? You said you have Irish, Canadian—

Kevin: Yes, and working on this! Because I just feel that, you know, I think it's partly my culture. The Lebanese culture is very much part of the UAE; it reminds me of Lebanon, and it reminds me of Cyprus where I grew up.

And it’s got—except its economy is way more successful! Yeah, good policy—good policy! I mean, somebody really thought the policy through that made this work! This country is only 50-plus years old, and it's beating most economies in the world!

So, everybody could learn something by the way they run this place!

Maz: If you were 25 now, and you had to remake all your money, what would you do? If someone's listening now and they want to make a little bit of money, but they don't know where to start?

Kevin: I'd move to Abu Dhabi! Yeah, you know, there's that old saying in that movie, "Plastics." You know, you move here; there's just so many growth sectors!

You know, people are ignorant about the UAE, and they think that everything is energy. You know what's interesting? At Finance Week, I don't think we talked about energy once! Like, you know, five years ago, that's what you talk about. But I don't think I heard the word hydrocarbon once!

It's all about other sectors that are growing! There's a lot of excitement about AI; we talked about it. There's a lot of excitement about digital payment systems. There's a lot of excitement about everything!

And it's which means that the strategy to diversify the economy away from energy is working. And you know, even hosting the UN climate conference today. It starts today; it's here!

Which makes a lot of sense to me because what you find in terms of advanced technology, and I'm planning to try and bring some of this back—we run a mandate for the state of North Dakota, and we're expanding that.

So, we're investing in North Dakota, and we need carbon sequestration. Well, a lot of the advanced technologies were adapted here first, and so we're going to bring some of that back there.

There's a lot of—there's a lot you can learn here that's already been done here—some very interesting technology already been spent here. So, you just have to do the work, but you will find you—you talk to any minister and say, "Look, I'm interested in this," they'll tell you five guys to call right away. They know!

And so we did that with AI; we immediately found one of the biggest producers here and said, "Let's experiment with you; let's try your technology!"

Maz: Mr Wonderful, that speaks Arabic!

Kevin: So putting your Shark Tank hat on, are you still investing in people's businesses, small businesses, or...?

Kevin: Oh yeah, I do probably 15 to 20 deals a year. That's a lot—multi-sectoral! Some are very large investments, some are very small. We have a great team; it's being built up. We obviously had no idea that Shark Tank would become this big a platform ever! We had no idea; it's going into its 16th season! It's global; it's on in 42 countries!

You know, it's afforded me such an incredible platform that I'm thankful for every day! A young Indian boy this morning said to me—at I was having breakfast at the Hilton on Yaz Island, and he came running down with his cell phone! He couldn't have been more than 9 years old, and he said, "I want to be just like you!"

Maz: Wow, love it!

Kevin: That's so wonderful! And he watched Shark Tank, and he's here in Dubai! And I said, "What do you mean, like me?" He said, "I really want to be an entrepreneur!"

I said, "Great! That's good!" So, he's learning that; that's fantastic! So if someone wants to be an entrepreneur, they want to be like you, they want to be successful, what are a couple of tips as an investor would you give them to be a successful entrepreneur?

Kevin: You're going to fail! You have to learn that! You know, eight out of ten times you're going to lose your money—maybe even more sometimes.

But the two that are successful out of ten deals are going to pay for all your mistakes. You have to learn that! The thing I've learned the most, mostly by working with successful, you know, what I find interesting is, over just take Shark Tank for example: over 15 years, 75% of my successes have come from companies run by women!

Which—and they don't even know each other; they're just multi-sectoral, you know, just different deals. And what I've learned from them and I tell everybody I work with now is you have to learn how to separate the signal from the noise.

Great managers set goals each day, and they don’t let—they’re not distracted. They say, "That's not important; I'm not going to waste any time on that!" I'm going to get the things done that I need to get done!

Those are the people you want to invest in because they have their ear to the track; they see the train coming down the track before it runs them over. They don't get distracted! And there are so many inputs these days of noise!

So the ability to really separate the signal from the noise is paramount if you're going to be an entrepreneur. You have to learn how to do that! You will fail if you don't do that! You will definitely fail!

Because you're trying to make everybody happy, which you can't do! Yeah, don't even try! Make yourself happy and get your thing—get your goals done! You need to get three big things done every day, that's what I teach them!

Maz: How important is positive thinking when it comes to your day-to-day life or success?

Kevin: Well, the interpretation of that is not to let challenges stress you. In other words—if you can't deal with pressure—because you're going to be always under pressure.

There's always so much stuff coming at you. The way you stay in control is you realize it goes back to that identify that issue—that is noise! That is noise!

I don't care about that! But I do care about this! And if you can find the signal, you'll always be in control, and you'll always be happier because you're getting stuff done.

It's peace! And I can identify people now that don't know how to do that, and I really make sure I don't invest in them because they are—they're going to be miserable! They’re going to be running around like a chicken with their head cut off; they're going to lose a lot of money!

And they're never going to figure it out! You need, I—you know, particularly that old adage, you want something done, give it to a busy mother! A mother can separate the signal from the noise, and they can be very successful in business as a result of learning that talent!

That signal and noise—is that energy?

Kevin: It's the ability to analyze in the moment. It's— I do believe in energy, obviously, and you need to take care of yourself! You know, part of it is if you want to be successful, you have to have a healthy mind too!

You have to take care of your body; you have to take care of your mind; you have to eat well—don't smoke, don't drink too much! You know, it's sort of common sense! But many young entrepreneurs say, "I'm going to work 20 hours a day; I'm going to sleep four hours a night!"

That's stupid! You will definitely fail! Like, I don't want anybody to do that for me! That's just so dumb! I want you to be healthy! Eat well! Exercise!

Do yin and yang! In other words, chase the arts, something chaotic, and at the same time, business is very binary; it’s black and white! You need both in your life!

Those are successful managers, and you know, frankly, it’s the idea that you can do all of these things and stay focused and be happy doing that. That gets you to a very good place!

It's a very Gary Vee approach, the 20—

Maz: Yeah, I know Gary; we know each other, and he and I agree on this in a big way. And he's been very successful because, you know, if you work like this—and I work a lot, and I enjoy what I do—I have to want to do it.

I want it to represent who I am! You know, I work, I don't know, 12, 14 hours a day, but it’s not work to me! It's exactly what I want to do! I don't do anything I don't want to do; I don't have to!

So, and I work—I work with a great team! And we break the day into 30-minute segments, and we just—I want to be here! You know, I'm going to spend an hour with you because it's great!

And I want to tell my story, and I'm very excited about being part of the community here in the UAE, and you're very much part of the way you communicate to the UAE, that's for sure!

Maz: I learned that the first time we worked together, everybody told me they heard it!

Kevin: Yeah! So you have a big audience here!

Maz: Thank you so much! What's next for Mr. Wonderful?

Kevin: Lots of AI, Mr. Wonderful! Well, next for me, that I'm very excited about, is tomorrow morning, picking up my Simon Britt watch. Then I'm going to meet with my Swiss banker. Those guys are tough! I'm meeting them for lunch; I'm seeing my 93-year-old dad.

I'm going to spend a couple of days with him; he's in perfect health! It's amazing! And then, I'm going to fly to New York, and I'm shooting a whole bunch of television. And you know what's going to happen next week!? Everybody there—I do a lot of networks and a lot of outlets in the US—every time I come back from Abu Dhabi Finance Week, they say, "Okay, what happened in Abu Dhabi?"

I always say to them, "Why don't you go there yourself?" I'm like, "What am I, the messenger boy here?" But I'm going to tell them what happened, you know? And exactly these subtle changes between one year and the next!

And we'll be talking about that next week! And then I'm going to be, you know, the holidays are coming! There’s a lot of stuff I'm doing! I'm launching a new business called Wonder Care, which provides watch insurance—wondercare.com—partnering with Chubb and Hinky!

So that one of my biggest problems is I don't need to ensure the watches that are under the street in a Zurich Vault! I need to ensure the 17-20 watches I travel with! And so I just want to ensure those, and I want to use my phone to buy that insurance for a two-week period! That kind of thing I've solved with Wonder Care!

AI is a big deal! I'm going to be coming back here in early February. I've got a plethora of meetings set up for stage two of what I'm doing.

Maz: Okay, so I'm trying to use my time effectively, but—

Kevin: You know, it's just I try and map it out quarter by quarter.

Maz: And what is Mr. Wonderful doing over the Christmas period?

Kevin: Oh, well, I'm going to try—you know, my—I always say to my family—and this is again, you know, I'm very fortunate to be able to do this, where do you want to be each weekend? What? Pick any city on earth; bring boyfriends, girlfriends, whatever. I don't care; let's gather as a family for Friday right through Monday morning!

Pick a city! And this year, I'm not a big fan of snow anymore, but my kids want to have the holiday with snow—which I, well, I like to see pictures of white Christmas, but I'd rather have my toes in the sand on the beach!

This year, we're going to enjoy Christmas Day in the snow! And then right after that, we're going to get on a plane and go to Miami Beach where we have a place. I like the—I'm a beach person!

You know what happened to me was—I experienced, um, Famagusta was a beach in Cyprus, and I grew up in Nikosia! I went to junior school there! Beach culture is, you know, part of the Cypriotlean kind of thing.

And we used to go to the Troodos Mountains and cook a goat! And I learned how to be a chef! You know in those years, but that's very much part of the culture.

I want to get back to now; I find it here! I need the ocean, and I need a beach, and I need sand in my elevator in my condo, which means it goes right down onto the beach! I can get that in Miami; I can get it here in Abu Dhabi.

That's why I need that! That gives me my energy because I like to ride my bike, you know, on the boardwalk or walk the beach! You know, collect your thoughts near the ocean!

I think once you grow up in the Mediterranean, it's very hard to sort of go away from that natural sort of lifestyle!

Maz: Yeah, you're right, you're right! And also, I really miss that kind of food now! Now that I care a lot about what I eat!

Kevin: Yeah, we have very, very healthy food here, and it's—you can eat really well! And that's how you get a lot of energy! You just, you just watch your diet during the day, and it gives you a lot of power!

Andrew Huberman says that the Mediterranean diet is one of the best diets that you can have!

Kevin: Oh yeah! I mean, and I recommend the Lebanese version of it! Everybody has their own favorites, but I can get all of that food here!

I consider food as medicine! That's, you know, when I’m feeling, you know, tired or whatever, I eat well, and I kind of bring that back!

I look, I just think you get into a—you find a zone and you get into it! And I think you have to find places in the world where you can do that—where you can work and live at the same time! This is certainly one of them!

Maz: It's been such an absolute pleasure! When are you back in the UAE?

Kevin: I will be back the first week of February! I think we’re just making those plans now!

Maz: Perfect timing; the weather's great! You know, New York's not so great in February, so I will be visiting by Zoom call from here!

Kevin: That's it! Thank you so much! See you next time when you're in the UAE!

Maz: Thank you! It's been great!