Emirates HR, founded by successful British Entrepreneur Mark Nutter in 2018 following the sale of his UK-based HR business to Capita PLC in 2015, has raised a further $10m from private investors across the UAE.
This brings the total investment to over $15m, of which Mark Nutter has personally invested over $7m to bring his decades of experience in building HR tech platforms to the UAE. With offices in both Dubai and Abu Dhabi, the business is looking to open more regional offices across the GCC.
Explaining his vision, Mark Nutter said, “We want to create the best HR and Payroll platform designed around the requirements of the GCC that offer our clients an affordable, much more user-friendly experience than global solutions like SAP/Oracle and Workday that don’t cater for this region.”
We asked Mark what challenges have you faced?
The biggest challenge has been keeping up with the demand for the platform, which has put real pressure on both our development and project management teams. We have been extremely lucky that the majority of clients buy into our vision and what we are building and have shown extreme patience with us. This raise allows us to significantly increase the development team and accelerate the product roadmap to bring in more general HR features and specific functionality to help manage teams across the GCC.
What success have you had so far?
In less than 4 years, we have developed a platform with over 50,000 employees being managed across 35+ countries. We have significant local and global companies with thousands of employees using the system worldwide. Our payroll system covers all the GCC countries’ requirements and is being expanded to cover the rest of the MENA region. We now have 150+ employees in the group and expect to grow beyond 200 employees by the end of 2022.
During COVID 19, we also started the Emirates HR Forum. In this online community, both HR and finance professionals could access resources, ask questions, and share ideas within a safe, free-to-use platform. What I hadn’t planned for was how many of the public signed up asking for work/pay-related advice during COVID. This has continued, and now people have access to ask thousands of HR professionals’ advice all for free.
Why have you raised funds privately and not used a VC?
While VCs have approached us, we have chosen to keep the ownership private and have instead raised money from individuals who add value and have significant experience in the region. We have local business owners, CEOs, HR professionals, and Emiratis that are excited and proud to be part of a home-grown success story.
What are your plans for the next 5 years?
Our immediate plans are to work with our existing clients and reward their patience by delivering enhanced functionality. With the new investment, we have recruited a Senior Product Manager with experience in HR platforms. He will meet with clients to ensure their requirements are executed over the next few months and the rest of 2022.
We then plan to continue our expansion across the GCC/MENA region and have targeted 500,000 employees on the platform by 2025, which will be close to what I achieved with my UK business.
At some point, we will look for further investment, and my preference is to keep a tech company created in the UAE owned locally rather than seek investment from outside the region. The UAE is my home; I love this country and don’t foresee ever leaving. We benefit from visionary leadership who welcome people from all over the world and allow us to bring our families to share in their culture whilst educating us in other cultures.
I really want to do my bit to support entrepreneurs and new businesses in the region, and we hope to launch a free-to-use HR and Payroll platform for small SMEs in the future. I give some of my time to mentor young entrepreneurs but believe I can help so much more by offering a free-to-use platform built with the help of some of the GCC’s best HR managers.
What is your leadership style, and how do you build a positive culture in your business?
I like to say I have an “open door” policy, which would make you think I have an office, but I don’t like offices as it’s a barrier to your colleagues. Instead, I have a desk in an open-plan office, and when we run out of space, I hot desk until we move to a bigger office.
I do all my focused work at home, where if the kids are in school, I can work undisturbed. When I am in the office, it’s to be there for the team. I’m sure I could do much better, but my leadership style is, to be honest, accessible, and share the vision of the business.
Last year we started an Employee Share scheme, and by the end of 2022, a third of employees will be shareholders. I hope to grow this to 50% by 2023 and ultimately make it available to everyone who works within the group.
I wake up knowing I work for the employees, the shareholders, and both they and our clients are the priority. What’s more. I have been very successful and driven, but money does not motivate me. I have everything I could ever want. So, for now, chasing the dream to build something special that clients love, employees are proud to be part of, and creating a meaningful tech company in this region is how I measure success, culture, and leadership.
You can learn more about EmiratesHR and the forum on the links below.
About Emirates HR
EmiratesHR is an intuitive HR & Payroll software solution specifically designed for the UAE & GCC to save you time and money.
Our secure cloud-based software helps organizations of any size streamline HR processes and engage with their employees more efficiently and accurately.
Our Mission.
We have a singular focus to become the best HR solution for the UAE and GCC region. We aim to achieve this by designing business processes tailored to individual company’s requirements and streamlining workflow by enabling employees to manage their tasks & requests with one simple click.
Our mission is to provide a world-class experience for each user by recognizing and supporting local working practices.
About Emirates HR Forum
Connecting those who have the knowledge with those who are seeking the knowledge!
The forum has such a design that empowers our experienced contributors and facilitates promotion of learning through best practice, with a strong regional focus.
Need help and advice with anything to do with HR, Employment, and MOL rules? Then ask a question to our panel of experts who will only be too willing to help.
About Mark Nutter
Mark JP Nutter is a successful UK entrepreneur and investor within the FinTech sector. He sold his first ever business at 22 years old before joining one of the UK’s leading technology companies. In 1999, Mark left and founded his own tech business Isys Group Ltd, specializing in HR and Workforce Management which Mark later sold to Capita Plc in 2015. Following the sale of his company, Mark Nutter relocated to Dubai, where after a short break, he began to invest and mentor companies both here in UAE and the UK.
He made a significant investment in Seven Insurance Brokers based in Dubai in 2016 and was appointed Chairman. Mark’s passion for technology and HR has led him to launch EmiratesHR, a business he believes will change the way companies in the region operate and manage their most valuable assets – their staff.