Natarajan, known to one and all as ‘Nats’, is Shell’s General Manager for Commercial Fuels in the United Arab Emirates. He has been with Shell for 23 years and has lived in Dubai for the same period of time. He talks to ‘Shell in the Middle East’ about his background and his career...

I was born in India, in Chennai, which used to be called Madras. I am the eldest of a family of five and have three sisters and one brother. My father was a banker and retired as the chairman of a local bank in Chennai. My mother was busy bringing up five children.

My primary and secondary education was undertaken in Chennai, where I also went to the University of Madras to study commerce.

As a young man, my interest lay in cricket, which is keenly followed by most young Indian boys. I am also an enthusiastic contact bridge player, and I have been known to chase a ball around a tennis court.

After leaving University I worked for Lipton’s Tea as a Commercial Assistant, before moving into the company’s marketing team, which was responsible for launching the new concept of tea bags into the Indian consumer market.

Four years later I joined Mysore Lamps, a subsidiary of General Electric, selling fluorescent tubes and electric bulbs in Bangalore on the west coast of India. However, life was quite difficult at that time and like many other young Indians I looked towards the newly developing Arabian Gulf countries for a more rewarding career.

In 1979 I moved to Bahrain to work for BAT, the British American Tobacco company, selling cigarettes. This was a big change for me but I received a lot of training in sales and marketing and in brand building, and it all held me in good stead in my next job.

After four years with BAT – during which time I got married – I answered an advertisement for a job with Shell in Dubai and was accepted. So I moved to Dubai in 1985 with my new wife and started working for Shell as a Lubricants Salesman. At this time Shell’s assets in the UAE had been nationalised so we sold products, as we do today, to auto repair shops, workshops and spare parts dealers.

This was to be the first of several jobs for me in Shell and during the following 23 years I had some 18 different line managers and I worked throughout the Middle East and Central Asia.

I have changed jobs within Shell’s Lubricants Division many times, starting off in Shell Markets [Middle East] Limited in Dubai before moving into Shell’s regional organisation, which covered Dubai and Oman and which was known as the Arabian Peninsular Cluster. In that organisation I was Sales Manager for Industrial Lubricants, responsible for sales in Dubai and Oman, with an additional responsibility for commercial fuels and bitumen.

My next role was as Sales Manager for Lubricants in the nine countries of Central Asia. This involved a tremendous amount of travelling from my base in Dubai and it was extremely interesting.

Following the globalisation of Shell’s Fuels and Lubricants businesses, I was transferred into my present role as General Manager of Commercial Fuels in the United Arab Emirates, with a regional role in new business development for fuels.

In the UAE our market for commercial fuels is in the B2B, business-to-business, sector, where we sell directly to customers using large volumes of fuels. These customers include large contractors, transport fleet operators, and customers in the power generation and mining sectors. We provide these customers with fuel storage tanks then supply them with their fuel requirements.

So as I have worked for Shell for 23 years I have also lived in Dubai for the last 23 years. I have one son, who is 14. My wife, Nirmala, worked in Dubai’s fast-moving public relations sector for many years but recently changed direction to work as a healer.

I still have two or three more years with Shell before retirement but I am not a great planner as I believe in making the most of today, so I have no idea what I will do in the future.

Shell has been a great company to work for and has given me an enormous amount of opportunities to learn and grow. During my time with the company I have travelled extensively and have been able to work with colleagues from very diverse backgrounds and cultures, and this has been very rewarding.

Shell has a very strong HSE [Health, Safety and Environment] culture and I feel that this has also brought benefits to me in both my daily work life and in my family life.

So, all in all, I have enjoyed my time with Shell very much – in fact I would not have traded my career with Shell for any other career with any other company.