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Executive Meetup with Sanjay Manchanda – CEO of Nakheel

Date
Mar 5, 2018
Under the leadership of Chairwoman Muna Al Gurg, Young Arab Leaders has successfully hosted yet another Executive Meetup on the evening of March 5, 2018 with Sanjay Manchanda, the CEO of Nakheel PJSC as Guest Speaker. Executive Meetup is a series of casual meetings organized by YAL to encourage networking and knowledge exchange between YAL exclusive members who are thought leaders with diverse backgrounds coming from various industries. The series is hosted by prominent executive leaders in the UAE, such as Sanjay Manchanda, who share their insights and what the future holds for certain industries.

Having endeavored to join the company as a consultant at times when Nakheel was going through a vital USD 16 Billion debt restructuring, Sanjay remarkably turned things around at Nakheel PJSC with his exceptional leadership and subsequently went on to assume the role of CEO in the year 2012. He discussed this incredible journey over the years at Nakheel, including his experience of working closely with various critical stakeholders involved and shared some key insights and valuable takeaways for the attendees to ponder over, when they face similar professional challenges.

The discussions were off to a flying start when Najla Al Midfa, YAL Vice-Chairwoman, opened the conversation by introducing Sanjay’s distinguished career journey to the attendees and inviting him to share his experiences. Sanjay elaborated further on how he optimized numerous business processes at Nakheel PJSC with his staunch belief, strategic planning, open-door policy and long hours at the workplace.

Finding the beginning quite challenging, with little help on offer, Sanjay kept calm and stuck to the very basics like delivering what was promised and relentlessly tackled issues one after the other, in order of priority. He worked closely with key stakeholders like banks and created a strategic roadmap to growth, in addition to supporting other team leaders in their efforts. He also enforced numerous stringent policies in tasks pertaining to finances. Following several months of relentless efforts things gradually showed signs of improvement as Sanjay put Nakheel on the right track to strategic development.

Sanjay emphasized on ethical values like empathy, belief and resilience and also stressed on the importance of learning from constructive feedback of others while being agile in efforts. Finally, he advised attendees that change is inevitable and being adaptive to change in an intensely competitive market environment is the key to growth as it helps leverage the positive possibilities around new changes or technologies to the benefit of an organization.

About the Speaker:

Sanjay Manchanda is the Chief Executive Officer of Nakheel PJSC, a world-leading developer and a key player in realising the vision of Dubai for the 21st century. Born in Vienna and educated in India, Sanjay is a fellow member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India. He joined Nakheel as a Consultant to advise the company through its US$16 bn debt restructuring, which was successfully completed in August 2011. He assumed the role of CEO in 2012. Sanjay has been recognized for his leadership skills and has been ranked in the Forbes Middle East Top Executives listing and was featured in the Indian Super 100. He is the longest-serving CEO of Nakheel PJSC.