Nigel Harvey
President

Nigel Harvey was schooled at St. Andrews College in Grahamstown, South Africa. He studied for a BSC degree in Building Management at the University of Port Elizabeth, graduating in 1979. Nigel joined Murray & Roberts whilst at University and managed various projects before moving into general management in 1992, in the one of the most beautiful regions of South Africa, the Garden Route. His relocation to the 'Golden City' of Johannesburg ultimately led him to managing building construction activities throughout South Africa.

Nigel moved to the Middle East in 2004 as General Manager for Murray & Roberts. Married to Lila who comes from Dallas, Texas, they have three children; Steven, who is at University in Boston (USA) and Kevin and Ashleigh who both attend the American School in Dubai. Nigel's escape comes in the form of paddling and sailing on the beautiful seas and rivers of the world.

Dr. Haroun Dharsey
Vice President

Dr. Haroun Dharsey was born in Johannesburg and completed his schooling in Cape Town. He started his banking career at First National Bank in South Africa and worked for leading banks around the world before he joined Emirates Bank Group in 2001, where he was part of the team successfully setting up meBANK and the Emirates Islamic Bank.

Haroun is currently Vice President of Projects in Dubai Islamic Bank and is noted as a well-respected senior banker in the market. He holds various financial accreditations as well as an MBA in IT and a Doctorate in Islamic Banking.

Haroun moved to Dubai in 2001 with his wife Fiona and their two children, Shereez and Daiyaan. When his schedule allows, you will find Haroun on the golf course playing his favourite sport.

TJ van Rooyen's retail career started in South Africa in 1985 when he joined Checkers. He then moved to American Swiss Jewellers as Area Manager before relocating to Dubai in 1994 to expand his retail experience. TJ took up a position with Al Futtaim Watches & Jewellery as Retail Sales Manager and worked with the company for six years.

He joined the Al Tayer Group in 2001 and currently holds the position of General Manager for the Al Tayer Trends Beauty Division who represent Areej, Missha, Korres and Bobbi Brown chain of stores. He also manages the Harvey Nichols cosmetic concession.

TJ is married to Terry and both their daughters, Kirsten and Jemma were born in the UAE. In their free time, the family enjoy fishing, boating, camping and watching all the South African sporting achievements!

Mark Hawkes was born in Durban, Kwazulu-Natal, along the east coast of South Africa. He attended Durban High School and went on to complete his post-graduate studies at the University of Natal, Durban where he qualified as a Chartered Accountant.

Mark has 12 years experience in finance and accounting and has held senior management positions during his career in South Africa, the UK and for the past three years in Dubai. He currently works in the hotel division of Nakheel, one of the largest property developing companies in the world.

Mark is married to Kathryn who is also from South Africa. In his spare time Mark enjoys scuba diving, road running and squash.

Brent Melvin hails from Johannesburg and moved to Dubai four years ago to work with United Parcel Service (UPS) as the Country Business Development Manager, responsible for customer management and revenue growth. UPS is a courier company that serves a worldwide market for both small package as well as freight.

Brent enjoys the beach and desert as an adventure destination.  He is an avid fisherman and devotes as much spare time as possible to water related activities with his two sons, Jordan and Aidan and wife Nicole.

Tel: 04 390 0433
Fax: 04 366 4650 
email: admin@sabco-uae.org

Julek Szczawinski moved to Dubai in 1997 and joined the Davies Group in 1999. He is the Managing Partner for the Davies Group which is a diverse company focusing on retail fit-outs, turnkey projects as well as below-the-line advertising and general trading focusing on South African products.

During his time in Dubai, Julek has developed a keen interest in the South African expatriate community. He offers assistance to South African companies relocating to the UAE, as well as supporting individuals searching for employment in the region. This extends to distributing South African products in the Middle East and promoting investment in South Africa.

Julek is married to Evgenia and they are the proud parents of Alexander and Ashley.

Kez Taylor was born in South Africa and studied at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg where he qualified with a Bsc Building Construction and Management. He started his career as a bursar for Griniker LTA and continued his career working throughout South Africa, Namibia and Zambia.

In 2001,  Kez  tranferred to the  Middle East to establish a building operation in the UAE. Kez has over 21 years experience in Construction Management and Project Execution in building works, including seven years experience in the UAE working for Al Jaber L.E.G.T. Engineering & Contracting (ALEC) L.L.C. as Managing Director.

Married to Michelline and blessed with 2 sons, Aidan and Ross, the Taylors declare themselves a 'Proudly South African Family' and aim to project a positive image of South Africa whilst residing in the UAE.

Neil Hamp-Adams qualified as an Architect in 1995. Having decided that a career in advertising might be a little more up his street, he found himself at a desk in an agency in Johannesburg managing the Land Rover account for Sub-Saharan Africa. Four years working on this dynamic brand led to Neil being offered a similar position in Dubai but this time to manage Africa and the Middle East. A further four years at the helm of this account gave Neil tremendous insight into the region, working on major product launches including the global launch of the new Range Rover.

In 2005, an opportunity presented itself in the form of Driving Force, a company specialising in sporting solutions.  Here Neil applied his experience and knowledge in advertising and marketing to the world of sport and, in particular, sport in the Middle East. As Managing Director, Neil successfully guides the growth of Driving Force in this dynamic market. In his spare time you will find Neil kayaking and playing golf.

Sajid Gani was born and schooled in Johannesburg. With 18 years of IT and banking experience and he specialises in Programme Management of large-scale strategic banking initiatives. Sajid is a Managing Partner of Asymilate MENA, a specialist Financial Services consultancy that provides business advisory and professional services consultancy (Treasury, Trading, Operations and Risk Management) to banks in the region.

Sajid is married to Zaheda and they have three children. Whilst South Africa will always be home for the Gani family, they're enjoying the Dubai lifestyle and spend weekends socialising with family and close friends. Sajid is content to satisfy his fitness quota with an hour of football once a week.

Suliman Dockrat comes from the Vaal Triangle area of Roshnee in Vereeniging. He graduated from the University of South Africa with a B. Proc. Degree. Admitted as an Attorney in 1982 in South Africa, he has been involved in setting up numerous property syndicates. Suliman also established and successfully managed retail outlets across South Africa.

Suliman moved to Dubai in 1992 and established a trading company, Hilal Al Emarat General Trading LLC, dealing in electronic components. His main focus has always been property development and he has several real estate projects in the UAE, South Africa and the United Kingdom.

Married to Nafisa, Suliman has four lovely children, Yusuf, Mohammed, Fatima and Nabeel and two grand-daughters.

Sydene Helwick was born and schooled in Pretoria. Sydene was admitted as a lawyer in the High Court of South Africa in May 1994. She was appointed a director of her firm in Pretoria in 1996 and remained with the firm until December 2003 when she joined Al Tamimi and Company as a Legal Consultant and was appointed a Partner in June 2008.

Sydene specialises in property development transactions, commercial and residential leasehold schemes and leisure and hospitality transactions.

Sydene is single and loves living in Dubai and exploring the region on her travels. In her spare time Sydene enjoys spending weekends with her close friends, going to movies and shopping.