Building A Real Estate Brand

Sobha Group chairman PNC Menon details his vision for the future as the company continues work on its Dubai mega projects.

- Robert Anderson

For a man that helped build some of the Gulf region’s and wider world’s most iconic landmarks and palaces, PNC Menon cuts a modest figure.

“I would not say I’m associated with the rulers, it would be too much of a statement,” he says of his work, which has included palaces for the leaders of Oman and Bahrain, the Sultan of Brunei, and other high profile families.

Since its founding in Oman in 1976 as interior design firm Services & Trade Co, Menon’s Sobha Group has gone from strength to strength, and broadened its operations in the process.

In 1995 the company formed its engineering and contracting unit, in 1998 it launched its Dubai real estate unit and in 2005 an IT technology unit, before moving into architecture in 2008.

And Menon has been there every step of the way, ensuring Sobha’s participation in project after project from Muscat’s Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque, to the Qasr Al Sarab Desort Resort in Abu Dhabi and the Kempinski Hotel at Dubai’s Mall of the Emirates.

But while the chairman is modest with regards to his work, his contribution has been clearly valued. In 1995, the Kerala-born entrepreneur – alongside his family – became one of the few Indians to be granted Omani citizenship, enhancing his already strong ties with the Gulf region.

That same year he launched Sobha India, which now has a market capitalisation of roughly INR37.7bn ($587m) and lays claim to being the country’s third largest real estate developer by total square feet delivered. And the following decade took the firm further into the Gulf region where it is now undertaking several major projects.

Perhaps its most significant to date are the two that now command the majority of the chairman’s attention, forming part of the extensive Mohammed Bin Rashid City master development named after Dubai’s ruler.