Michael Mascarenhas
Group CEO
Desert Group
Michael Mascarenhas is the CEO at Desert Group. Desert Group under his leadership, has transformed from a traditional landscaping company to one of the world’s most innovative and knowledge driven companies centered around living green and water, moving towards biophilic.
Michael is fascinated with market dynamics, customer preferences, the uniqueness of people and the vision of building organizations around them. With more than 30 years of accomplishments in national, cross national and multi-sectoral environments Michael core capability lies in transforming organizations into dynamic centers of creative energy where the center is its team, giving them the necessary independence to create, build and sustain. Thus creating value all round.
His cross sectoral experience includes Aerospace, Education, Financial Services & Investments, Construction, Oil Drilling, Manufacturing, Distribution and Retail. A strong ambassador of CSR, Desert Group has one of the most vibrant CSR programs focused on Special Needs and Cognitive Disabilities in the region, recently winning the regions Taa’theer CSR MENA award.
Michael believes that his experiences are something to share at a global level and that there are lessons to be learned around customers, innovation and employee engagement. He firmly believes that the purpose of successful organizations is to have a positive impact on society and that one should lead with universal human values. He is an FCA, MBA, CIA, an alumnus of the Saïd Business School and a Certified Member at Hawkamah (The Institute for Corporate Governance).