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Benoit Honnart - Inside Electra: Building a Turnkey Event Production Powerhouse

• W4 Podcast Studio • Season 2 • Episode 1

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Benoit Honnart - Inside Electra: Building a Turnkey Event Production Powerhouse.

We kick off Season 2 of EventNewsDXB with Benoit Honnart, CEO of Electra, as he pulls back the curtain on the high-stakes world of event production in the Middle East. Behind every spectacular luxury event lies a finely-tuned operation juggling impossible deadlines, creative demands, and logistical nightmares. 

With manufacturing facilities spanning 53,000 square meters across the UAE and Saudi Arabia, Electra has positioned itself as the powerhouse that transforms creative visions into reality. Benoit shares why vertical integration gives Electra a critical edge, how a “people first” culture drives quality and what the industry needs to do next on sustainability and AI. 

Whether you're a seasoned pro or new to the industry, this episode is packed with real-world lessons, leadership wisdom and inspiration for anyone in the business of events.

EventNewsDXB is powered by -45dB - Sound Reduction Specialists.

Production Credits:

Presented by: Ian Carless
Studio Engineer & Editor: Roy D'Monte
Executive Producers: Ian Carless & Joe Morrison
Produced by: EventNewsDXB & W4 Podcast Studio

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Ian Carless:

Thank you. Let you know that Event News DXB is brought to you by Minus45DB, the team transforming noisy event spaces into slick, sound-reduced environments. From full-size conference theatres to compact meeting pods, minus45db builds modular spaces that are quiet, customisable and completely turnkey. And they're sustainable too Smart design with zero waste. Check them out at minus45dbcom. Before we dive into the podcast, I just want to take a moment to reflect on this week's conversation with our guest, benoit Honnard, ceo of Electra and I hope I pronounced that right, because my French is atrocious. In an industry where pressure is high and timelines are short, benoit offers a rare perspective, one grounded in empathy, structure and genuine leadership. We spoke about the reality of executing luxury events in extreme conditions, why vertical integration gives Electra a unique edge and how building a strong internal culture has been key to delivering excellence under pressure. He also shared some pretty frank insights into industry challenges, from last-minute planning to sustainability, and why embracing transparency, technology and purpose-driven work is vital for the next generation of event professionals. I have to say it's a real pleasure to be able to kick off season two of Event News DXB speaking with someone who leads with both vision and humility, and I think anyone working in this industry, whether you're on the ground or at the top, will take away something valuable from what Benoit has to say. So, without further ado, let's get into it.

Ian Carless:

Benoit, welcome to the podcast. Thank you for hosting me this morning. You're welcome, most welcome. Now, obviously, I'd be remiss if I didn't do my due diligence, and I was looking through the Electra website last night and you are. I mean, my head was spinning a little bit Events, exhibitions, fit out, tents, marquees and furniture rental. I mean I feel that we could spend a whole podcast on any one of those elements, let alone try and talk about all of them within 30, 35 minutes. But let's give it a go, shall we? How did you get into events first?

Benoit Honnart:

you never know it's it really came out of an opportunity. I've been in china for 10 years and work in supply chain for 13 years, so I actually was not in the event industry initially, but I had in the supply chain business one vertical specifically dedicated to art handling, art transportation and event supply chain. And then I started to work in that sector. And then I had the opportunity when I moved to Dubai to take over Electra that had just been sold to a group in Europe and they were looking for a successor for taking over the company. That has been in Dubai for 30 years. So they wanted to make sure you know that company was stable and it's a manufacturing business. So my supply chain background was obviously very helpful because at the end of the day, you have to produce and deliver on time.

Ian Carless:

So just expand a little bit on those sections of the business that Electra now encompasses.

Benoit Honnart:

So Electra all business model is to be a turnkey solution. So basically, we are not an agency. We work with agencies that have the creative concept and we make it live. Sometimes it's difficult, I have to admit that the creative can be very creative, and this is where Electra comes in the picture and trying to find a way to make the dream true. So the whole idea was to say we are the provider of all the things you need to make an event happen, and that's the reason you explained that we have a very diversified type of solutions, from rental to production. So today we have 53,000 square meters of facilities across UAE and Saudi Arabia, so that's a big space for manufacturing. We do everything in-house the joinery, the fabric, the graphic, the steel work. So we literally do everything in-house, which gives us a real nice flexibility, control quality, and we have the rental business. So on top of what we have to custom-made, we also have our furniture and our structures to host any type of event across the region.

Ian Carless:

And we'll dig into that a little bit later because I'm curious to know sort of the reasoning behind that sort of vertical integration, because on the one hand, it makes a lot of sense, but there's also, you know, an argument for going the other way and outsourcing, but we'll come on to that in a minute. So, I mean, you mentioned you work with creative agencies. It's always a fine balance, isn't it? It's always a case of walking the tightrope between the briefs that you get in and then being able to fill those briefs without blowing the budget out of the water, and also in terms of feasibility as well and timeline. What's some of the craziest sort of briefs that you've had? And also, how do you manage that tightrope walk?

Benoit Honnart:

well, we, our core business, or actually one of our main business, is the luxury world. Yeah, so you can imagine, in terms of craziness, I have seen quite a lot, I have to admit, because all these brands and the agencies working for the brands come with some very, very concept and you need to really differentiate yourself from the other brands and you need to surprise your clients. And the region also is pushing the limits. You know they want all the time bigger, you know more crazy in the type of concept. So I would say, what was the most creative or crazy concept? Let me think a little bit here. Um, off the wall, I've seen so many.

Benoit Honnart:

There was one particular we worked for hermes and we had to build, and that was at the time of expo 2020. So at the time of expo 2020, we had to build on a complete remote island, a full structure. Andpo 2020, we had to build on a complete remote island, a full structure, and within that structure we had to build. I think it was 10 different rooms for each of the bags of Hermès, and some of them we had to fill with water with a seesaw, and another one we had to do a racing track for in the desert. Then we had to rebuild the moon, then we built a cinema, we built a plane. Even the security belt of the plane, the fabric was coming from a old antique store or in paris, all in velvet. We had the bags flowing around at the window of the plane.

Benoit Honnart:

It was a crazy concept, absolutely crazy concept. Actually I do have another example, one event we had to do on the world island, one of the world island, and we arrive on the spot and then, um, suddenly say we will do a site inspection. But I have to tell you something there are two cheetahs on the island. I'm like what do you mean cheetahs?

Ian Carless:

yeah, there are two white cheetahs.

Benoit Honnart:

Yes, and I'm roaming freely, thanks for telling me, because I just already put a feet on the ground. Shall we be worried? No, no, don't worry, they're hidden in some place. And then there we had to build a tent, again on this world island, so the only way to access is a boat. You had to load your structures. Obviously, it's all sandy, so you have to have to, you know, settle the grounds. And then we had to build all this event with cocktail dinner terrace, with a very nice view on downtown Dubai. So this is the kind of thing, and avoid the cheaters.

Benoit Honnart:

And avoid the cheaters. Welcome in our world, yeah no kidding.

Ian Carless:

So what are the most common mistakes do you think, or oversights that you see from not just brands but obviously the agencies that you work with when it comes to production planning?

Benoit Honnart:

First of all, the budget.

Benoit Honnart:

I mean, they have brilliant ideas but they don't always have the budget to make it happen. So this is where we come with solutions engineering to find a way of trying to find a middle ground between the creativity and the budget they have available. In terms of planning, the issue we also are facing in this region is the last minute. I mean, event has always been a last minute business, but here in this region you're really pushing it to the extreme limits because things change until you know 24 hours before the opening, and that makes the whole planning and operation extremely complex, as much as we are doing everything in-house. When you have changes 24 hours a huge event, a fashion show, an exhibition and so on it makes things very complex. So you need to be extremely resilient and you need to have a structure which is capable of stretching to a certain limit so that you can adapt to these kind of changes and bring you know 100, 200 guys just to make it happen and change all scenery that you have been talking about for six months.

Ian Carless:

Yeah, why do you think it is? I mean, look, it's a common complaint across just about everybody in the industry the timelines that were often given to produce the events. Where does that come from? I mean, I still don't have a sort of I have some thoughts on the issue, but I still haven't really been able to sort of pin it down to where it's coming from.

Benoit Honnart:

Why do we?

Ian Carless:

continually get such short deadlines, you know, to produce these events. I mean, I've worked with um event producers who come over from the us and the uk and europe and they typically complain that you know that they're given sort of six weeks on a for a project, whereas, uh, you know, in in other markets they'd be given six months I think I am the one to blame because I'm not saying no I think we're all to blame, then aren't we? Because I mean, if we actually turn around and said, no, that's not possible.

Benoit Honnart:

There is always here someone that will say yes, we just delivered the USA Pavilion in Osaka.

Ian Carless:

Japan.

Benoit Honnart:

So we worked with Japanese contractors. I can guarantee they are saying no. So whenever someone is saying you need to change this and this and this, they will just say no, we can't do it. It's very cultural and any luxury brands that is doing an event in Japan will tell you that in Japan you need to understand that they are not flexible and that you cannot change 24 hours a whole concept.

Benoit Honnart:

I would think in this region we are all to blame, because I'm usually not saying no. I'm sometimes saying no, but most of the time we're like all right, let's, let's make it happen. Why do we say yes? Well, first of all, because we have a, you know, great skills, um uh, in the region. We have some great people, um carpenters, painters that are extremely skilled and flexible in their capacities, and also, I think the region is offering us a lot of options.

Benoit Honnart:

It's a very dense network of various suppliers, especially here in the UAE, and you can find pretty much anything anytime. Everything is quite accessible and it gives that opportunity of doing things in a very short time. But I would say maybe we should be a bit more strict in what we can accept and try to educate or explain the impact, because, as much as we say yes, ultimately there is always an impact. There is a cost and there is also an impact on the quality. I mean you cannot do something of the same quality within 24 hours that you can do within two to three weeks. It doesn't happen. There is no surprises.

Ian Carless:

You mentioned culturally, I think, in my experience of it and I've said this in other podcasts as well, but in the sort of 20 plus years I've been here, I think we have a little bit of an issue with, you know, delegating responsibility and there often seems to be a bottleneck at the top of the management scale and I think for me, what I see is that that results has obviously a trickle down effect and because people aren't empowered and also we don't necessarily have a very positive culture towards failure. So I think for me, what I see that happens is that, you know, managers are not the decision at the very last minute when it absolutely has to, and he makes the decision that will ultimately have the least impact on him if it backfires and bites him in the butt, and that results in us getting ridiculously short timelines and often, you know, not necessarily the resources with which to produce what they're asking.

Benoit Honnart:

Yeah, it's very cultural and I was lucky to come from China because that has taught me how important it is for Asian culture to not be blamed or lose what they call losing face.

Benoit Honnart:

And when I was in the supply chain world, obviously you need to anticipate. It's all about anticipation. Otherwise you end up into late deliveries and potentially huge impact. And when I arrived in China, very quickly I understood that the team were not giving me all the information, or if they were, they were giving it to me at the very last minute. And the reason why they were not? Because they were not ready to admit they had made a mistake, especially to the boss. So very quickly I turned it around, or I tried to turn this around and say guys, whenever I'm going to make a mistake because everyone does mistakes I will tell you.

Benoit Honnart:

And that has changed the mindset. So I was going to them and say, oh, you know what, today I've made this mistake and this mistake From the Chinese culture. They were really surprised I was coming to them and saying admitting my failures. But then they understood that failure was okay. And when I took over in Electron I did exactly the same thing. I mean, mistakes is absolutely human. We are all human. Otherwise we all become robots moving around. So admitting a mistake is okay as long as we come with the solutions, because you can always hide it under the carpet, but at some point, you know, it comes out.

Ian Carless:

It does. You mentioned leadership. I'm really glad you brought that up, because I wanted to talk to you about that. I mean, obviously you're you're a large company. You've got what did you say 550 employees. What kind of leadership do you think is needed, then, in an industry that you know is very high pressure, moves very quickly? And what sort of reporting structures, for example, have you? Because you can't operate with a bottleneck at the top. I'm sure you don't make every final decision or every lick of paint that goes on, everything that goes out of your door. So what reporting structures, for example, have you found that work best for your business? And what are the sort of cultural things, as you just mentioned, then, that you've brought to the business?

Benoit Honnart:

I mean, your questions have different angles.

Ian Carless:

Yeah, there's a couple of questions in there, sorry.

Benoit Honnart:

No, no, no, it's super interesting. I would start with the first part of the question what kind of leadership in a manufacturing company? Because, at the end of the day, as much as we're working in events, it's a manufacturing.

Ian Carless:

Correct.

Benoit Honnart:

And out of the 550 employees I have, I have roughly 400 plus workflows Okay, working at the factory, living in the accommodations that we are providing them, away from their family, dedicated to their work, very hard workers. And how do you work with that team of people that are giving everything for your company? The most important for me is the respect. Going on site, going going to them, thanking them every time you can, trying to have all their names and you know, trying to support when things are difficult, being late on site all over the night, I've done it. If we have to push it through, just to show that we are all together and we're going to make it happen all together.

Benoit Honnart:

Trying to understand their own problems I mean COVID has been obviously a huge topic because they were worried about the family. They were stuck in the UAE because there were no flights. They were worried about their health. So you get into their life and you really need to understand how you can make their life better, obviously from a money point of view, but not only, also from a well-being. I mean we have implemented a CSR committee seven years ago. Try to organize cricket tournament, football tournament to make their life better so that they see that the company respects the work and dedication that they are putting every day to make this event happen.

Ian Carless:

Now, talking about the organization and the structure, obviously having 550, employees is a lot, and a lot of them are in the departments as well, obviously.

Benoit Honnart:

The manufacturing, the logistics, the procurement, the back office, so it's a big structure. So today we are structured. I have an executive committee, so one director is in charge of the front office. I have Willin, which is in charge, as a CEO, of all the operations, from the manufacturing to the warehousing to the procurement and so on. And I have a back office, a CFO in charge of the finance, the legal, it and so on.

Benoit Honnart:

But there's one department that I'm keeping direct is the HR, because for me it's extremely important. People first, it's really a DNA of Electra, so HR is reporting to me directly. So today I have four direct reports and then, below that, I have a middle management that obviously has to take care of all their departments and it's it's a difficult structure. And you mentioned before the, the middle, uh, management. And how do you empower, yes, that middle management? Uh, what we try to do is training. When the employee grow, we grow. Um, some of them are coming with a lack of experience in terms of management and we need to help them and support them to be able to be managers and drive the business below, and we need to trust them. I mean, as you said, I'm not aware of absolutely everything as much as I like to be, because I'm really very focused on operations and make sure the clients are happy, but you need to trust your management and to trust your management, they need to be supported in their capacities to manage.

Ian Carless:

Now you mentioned earlier it was interesting that you mentioned it earlier your background in logistics. You've brought a lot of what you do under one roof and you've obviously seen a benefit in that. Can you talk to me a little bit more about that, about the specific reasons for for being a I'm not going to say a one-stop shop, but certainly that level of vertical integration?

Benoit Honnart:

in our industry you need to be able to control your quality, your speed of delivery and you need to be extremely flexible. That's the three key aspects that makes your offering better than the others, especially when you work in luxury sports, some government conferences, where it's all about the speed and the quality you can deliver. So I would say the reason why we have integrated everything in our facilities and operations is to be able to provide that Now facilities and operations, is to be able to provide that Now. Is it always the best? Clearly not.

Benoit Honnart:

And today there are few aspects or few of the production that we are doing which we are outsourcing, because we quickly realized that you cannot do everything, especially when your company is growing that fast. There are some specific production that others do better than you. I'd rather keep in the facilities of Électra the most added value offering that we have, especially on the luxury business, because our team is extremely skilled, the workforce we have is trained, has a lot of experience, so they should be doing, you know, the crème de la crème, as we say in French, and the rest of the production, which is a bit more basic, knowing that the UAE has improved a lot in terms of quality. The overall suppliers network has improved. We are now more and more outsourcing some elements and giving the priority to our facilities for the most premium quality production the priority to our facilities for the most premium quality production.

Ian Carless:

Are there any particular sort of processes or innovations that I don't know you may have brought in from your background in logistics or from maybe your time spent in China, that perhaps that you've introduced into your workflow that perhaps the clients don't see but benefit from?

Benoit Honnart:

Yeah, it's more about, I think, the processes trying to standardize the way you work. We have implemented ISO certification, health and safety 45, sustainability 14, trying to implement some processes in logistics, a new ERP which was much more dedicated to a manufacturing model. So it's more about the processes that you put in place to make sure your quality is always the same, with a quality control aspect, your delivery is on time. You have also a proper tracking of your deliveries. Your warehouse how is it sorted? How is it organized? We have, for, for example, tagged all of our furniture with RFID systems so we are able to track live where they are. So it's all about the systems and the processes that you're putting in place. It's not rocket science, it's purely organization. Especially when you're in our business, you need to make sure you always deliver the same quality, because that's's ultimately what your clients will see.

Ian Carless:

Yeah, absolutely. And you mentioned sustainability. I mean, obviously it's a hot topic at the moment and you've made well, electra have made some very sort of public commitments as well, haven't they, towards sustainability. I know you were one of the founding signatories on the net zero carbon events by 2050. How much of that not necessarily within Electra, but across the industry how much of that is taken seriously, I'm going to say here in Dubai, the UAE, versus other regions, and how much of it perhaps is still just an exercise in ticking boxes and a bit of lip service, the greenwashing you mean.

Benoit Honnart:

Yeah, correct.

Ian Carless:

Yeah, let's not beat around the bush yeah who's greenwashing, who's not?

Benoit Honnart:

yeah no, I mean I mentioned earlier this morning um, yesterday we had a, a panel um on on the middle east even show about sustainability, and I think I've done that panel on the similar topic. I think was the third time. Yeah, yesterday the room was full and it was not anymore about we care or we think it's great or we need to do it. It was about what do we actually do and measure, with clear kpis and commitments of the companies that are in the industry. So I think we have moved to from a uh, oh, yeah, we need to take this in consideration because our industry has a massive impact on carbon footprint, to what can we do and how can we do it, and let's measure what we can do better. So we are definitely seeing an improvement and I've seen really a switch in the mentalities after Expo Expo 2020, because of all the people that came from around the world with a lot of expertise and standards from the Western world, came here and said this is the way you have to deliver a pavilion or an activation and without certain standards, especially in terms of sustainability. And when we've delivered the USA pavilion, we had to make sure it was 100% repurposed. That was the commitment we had in the contract with Expo, from the building itself to all the interiors, and that was completely new In this region. No one had considered anything like that before. It's going to go into that direction.

Benoit Honnart:

Yesterday I mentioned there was one question about the moderator. What do you wish in the next 12 months? I say well, I would like the government, the authorities, to impose some specific regulation that makes sure all of us have the same commitments to sustainability, have the same commitments to sustainability, make sure everyone has recycling, repurposing, reusing in their mindset and mentality of delivering an event. So I've seen the switch. Now is it where we should be? Definitely not.

Benoit Honnart:

There's so much to do and the technology is also helping us, because yesterday I mentioned that we are developing a ai tool which basically analyze my stock, check the design that we are receiving and, based on the design, say, well, you know what. We can use this and this and this out of your stock to deliver your design. So this is where technology is also going to help us. You know to be a bit more smarter in the way we do things and manufacture, but there is a long way forward and probably the reason why I took a commitment to 2050, I wish it was earlier. But I also know what's behind the scene and I think at this stage, companies like Electro-Art it's good to commit, but we also need to prove that we are actually delivering the KPIs that we put in place. And now we are in that phase. We are measuring our reduction of consumption of energy. We are measuring how much we are reusing, repurposing, recycling. So everything is about measuring and make sure every year we are decreasing with a ultimate objective of being net carbon zero.

Ian Carless:

And you mentioned AI as well, which is obviously another hot topic at the moment. How are you looking at AI in terms of your industry? You just mentioned one specific instance there. Are you looking at other areas where you can implement AI as well?

Benoit Honnart:

I would surprise you because the first department we have implemented AI was HR and, frankly speaking, I was absolutely not supporting the idea when my HR manager came and said this could be something to explore. I'm like HR AI For me it's completely opposite.

Ian Carless:

I'm sure you were thinking where's that personal touch gone?

Benoit Honnart:

Completely opposite. But in fact, what I realized is, for every position we are posting, we are receiving roughly 1,000 to 1,500 CVs. That's massive, and if you really want to do the job seriously about screening the CVs, you need to hire an army of people in your HR department to look at all the CVs in detail of people in your HR department to look at all the CVs in detail and ultimately, what it ends up with is you have a few of the CVs which are selected based on names or pictures or things which are not pragmatic at all, and you don't really know if you are selecting the best. So we have implemented AI, which is a tool that is basically helping us to screen. So he's first of all posting for us, so he's building the offering the job description and promoting it on social media, specifically LinkedIn, receiving all the CVs. We are defining the criterias that we are looking for hard skills and soft skills and then, based on that, we have a list of 10 to 15 CVs that the AI tool has selected and then they are being interviewed. And guess what A result I was really not expecting.

Benoit Honnart:

It has increased our diversity in Electra. The nationalities have increased massively because we're managers that usually were giving a preference to their same nationality. Suddenly the tool was pushing CVs from different backgrounds and they had no choice but to hire. And on top, they were happy because they were finding new skills and new talents that probably they would never have seen before. So in that extent, ai has been, for us, a real improvement in our recruitment we have recruited faster but we have recruited better and diversity now I think we have 33 nationalities in Electra and we had 24 a year ago. So it really shows what AI can bring, and it's not always what you think it's interesting, isn't it?

Ian Carless:

I mean, there really are sort of two sides to the story. I mean, I'm sure you were across the news recently as well. There was something in the press I don't know if you saw it from Mark Cuban basically predicting that AI will trigger an explosion in face-to-face engagement. Co-founder Alexis Ohanian as did I pronounce that right predicted that live theatre and sport will become more popular than ever as AI grows. And I guess that what that sort of heart speaks to is the need for that personal touch, that interconnection that you can't always get through online or esports or gaming or whatever it is that you do, and certainly AI. Could you speak to us a little bit about that from your own perspective?

Benoit Honnart:

Well, I'll give a very simple example. Look at what happened during COVID. During COVID, I remember very well on the first weeks, I was told, benoît, the future of event is going to be virtual. And I was like, okay, that's interesting, but what about, you know, having people together sharing emotions? No, no, but you will see it, we'll do a virtual concert, we'll do virtual fashion shows. I'm like, okay, well, try it.

Benoit Honnart:

I knew it was not going to work because ultimately, as human beings, we like to be together. And how can you spread an emotion? And events is all about emotion, right, it is. How do you spread an emotion on the screen? I mean, as much as the 3d model that you're building is great and it's creative, but ultimately, people want to be together. Going into into a stadium, going to a concert, going to a fashion show, you have emotions that you cannot share on a screen. So I'm not surprised when you're saying that AI will even be a neighbor for more live events, because AI is a neighbor for people to do things faster, but at the same time, it's going to give us more time to be together, and I think that in that extent, I think AI will be a great evolution for our world. I know a lot of people are worried about AI. I'm a big supporter. I think it's going to enable us to be better and have more time for things that we really like to do.

Ian Carless:

That's so interesting because I found another little nugget when I was doing some research yesterday and the day before, and this was from a chap called Stefan Dieran, who's the co-founder and CEO of Vendilux, which is a leading AI platform for event marketeers and conference organizers, and he wrote in an article in Forbes that as AI generated content saturates our feeds, real world face-to-face experiences become precious, offering authenticity and trust that AI can't replicate. And that's from somebody who's in the field of AI, yeah.

Benoit Honnart:

What do you remember in some of your events that you're attending? The things that were not normal or things that were absolutely outstanding, amazing, that you've never seen before. Ai is a lot about putting things into a model, into some kind of perfection, or things that you know have been bulletproofed or tested. So AI is generated from existing information and sources, but in an event, sometimes you have something completely new.

Benoit Honnart:

I'm a big fan of Daft Punk as a Frenchman and I remember going to that concert back in, I think, 2007 in Paris, and these DJs that I've been listening since I was young came in the concert and decided to mix all their songs. None of the songs were like the CDs that we heard before. They were all mixed and it was outstanding and we were like so excited to hear something completely new. Never anyone had heard, heard before. They were all mixed and it was outstanding and we were like so excited to hear something completely new. Never anyone had heard that before. A new scenery, a new scenography and I was like wow, you know, it's something I will always remember and that emotion AI will not be able to provide it, at least for now. As much as you can do a design on Midjourney, or you can do a video out of AI. Yes, but AI is using existing model to create new things where artists or sportsmen will do something which is unexpected.

Ian Carless:

Yeah, Now I guess we couldn't have a conversation about the event industry in this region without mentioning Saudi. I know you've got a presence in Saudi already. How is the rise of Saudi Arabia as a destination not just for events but obviously tourism as well, impacting your operations and planning and the development of your business as you move forward?

Benoit Honnart:

We've been working in Saudi for over 10 years, initially providing from the UAE, the Saudi market. The big switch is that we now need to be locally present, we need to manufacture in Saudi, we need to hire Saudis. The make it in Saudi is a crucial part of the journey of development for Saudi Arabia, which makes sense. I mean it's a huge population. I think there are 34 million, if I'm right a lot of people to employ. They want to work. They really definitely are curious about being involved into a company, an organization.

Benoit Honnart:

So the change in Saudi since the first time I went in 2019, is tremendous. I mean the country is now having a huge concert. The country has now some of the biggest sports events Every day in Riyadh. There is a new restaurant opening in Jeddah as well. So the country is opening up with a population which is very young. 50% of the population is below 25 or below 30.

Benoit Honnart:

So this generation of new Saudis wants to discover the world. They want to have the access to things that they were not able to have the access in the past. So we, as a company in event industry, we need to be there, train the new generation of Saudis to be able to work with us at every level and we need to be part of this amazing journey. The World Expo is coming, Asian Games, the World Cup I mean, for a country that was not into events 15 years ago they are bringing to the country the biggest event you can even dream of a World Cup, a Expo, and they're going to go big. We mean, and they're going to go big. We all know they're going to go big because they want to impress and they want to show the world how saudi arabia has changed?

Ian Carless:

you mentioned the, the younger generation. Are you seeing a trickle through of the younger generation, the younger generation? I sound really old now, don't I? I am um are you?

Ian Carless:

seeing that, that um adoption of the event industry from, say, gen Z, inverted commas. And if not, how do you think we can keep that supply chain coming through? Because obviously we're only as good as our people, aren't we? And I'm going to go out on a limb here and say, you know again, anecdotally of course, but from what we read a lot across the press, there is a bit of a reluctance from some of the generation to roll up their sleeves and get stuck in. They don't seem to want to work quite as hard, and maybe that's just me showing my age. But you know, the event industry it's long hours, it's stress, it's a lot of hard work. It's not just. You know, often what people see obviously is what you and I see as guests at events. We just see the finished product. So how do we keep that supply chain going? I mean, again in relation to saudi, I know there's a middle beast. Obviously they've got some very good schemes at the moment and training schemes that they're introducing into the market. Is that the way to go going?

Benoit Honnart:

back to the young generation, this gen z generation that we're all hearing about, which we are currently hiring, is not that they are not willing to work, but they are willing to work for a purpose Right.

Benoit Honnart:

And if, as a company or a organization, you're not giving them the right purpose of waking up in the morning, going at the office or the factory or whatsoever and do something that is meaningful, then you will not engage that young generation.

Benoit Honnart:

So the mindset is not anymore about I get a wage and then you know I can afford the education of my kids or have a nice house or travel, traveling is important, but for them it's not anymore about just the money, it's about what purpose they have in the job or the mission they have in the organization. So going back to Saudi, you can really see that that young generation, which is the one we are currently employing, they want to understand why are they working, and in Saudi it's quite easy because they want to be part of the opening up of Saudi Arabia. They want to be proud of their country, they want to show the world that Saudi Arabia has so much to offer. And having them involved into an Expo World Cup, I'm pretty sure they will be excited, because it's all about being proud of what they're showing to the world.

Ian Carless:

Yeah, that's a really interesting insight. Actually, that's a really good way of looking at that. The point about purpose I'm glad you brought that up. That's definitely informed my thinking a little bit. Yeah, before we wrap up, how do you, as the CEO, how do you, measure success for your company and what does success look like for you as we move forward into 2020, well, the rest of 2025 and 26 and beyond?

Benoit Honnart:

I have two main KPIs. So every week I have a dashboard that I receive and there are two KPIs I'm looking every week. First one, client satisfaction, second one employee satisfaction. Second one employee satisfaction. That's all I'm measuring. Obviously, as a result, I'm hoping to have a revenue and a profit, but it all starts with the client and we've been super happy to have a satisfaction of our client above 92% for the last four years. So we are measuring this. After every project delivery we are sending a anonymous link to our clients and they are measuring their satisfaction with us.

Benoit Honnart:

So that's, for me, is the key client number one. That was my chinese education of you know making sure the client, the client, the client, the client that's the most important. And obviously the employees yeah, because to satisfy your client, usually it the most important. And obviously the employees yeah, because to satisfy your client, usually it starts with your employees. If your employees are waking up in the morning with a smile, with the passion and the willingness to go the extra mile, most of the time your client will see the difference, because that's where you differentiate yourself. So client satisfaction, employee satisfaction, and after that you will probably get a high revenue and a good profit. Yeah, Benoit.

Ian Carless:

Finally, what are you hoping for in the future on a personal level? It's a personal and professional. Let's not keep it just a personal.

Benoit Honnart:

Yeah, first of all, I would love to stay in the region. I think the quality of life we have here is outstanding. I really like being in the region. My kids love it, my wife loves it, so it's really important for me to stay here and enjoy that journey of development that we see. The energy that you see in the region Professionally, of course, is to learn, I learning, uh, every day is met. You know what makes a? Uh, your journey so interesting and and from a personal level, I would say, you know, still have that passion. For me, it, everything is driven by passion. I want to wake up in the morning with that passion, because that really what makes my day different brilliant, fantastic.

Ian Carless:

Benoit, thank you for joining me on the podcast.

Benoit Honnart:

Thanks again for hosting this morning. It was a pleasure.

Ian Carless:

Event News DXB is brought to you by Minus45DB, the team transforming noisy event spaces into slick, sound-reduced environments. Check them out at minus45dbcom. This episode was presented by myself, ian Carlos, the studio engineer and editor was Roy DeMonte, the executive producer was myself and Joe Morrison, and this podcast was produced by W4 Podcast Studio Dubai, and if you haven't done so already, please do click that follow or subscribe button. See you next time.