‘The crossover between sport and business is immense’ – Winston J Zahra

Speaking on TradeMalta’s International Insights, Winston J Zahra, CEO of GG Hospitality – a hotel and restaurant firm backed by Manchester United footballers Ryan Giggs and Gary Neville – comments on the indelible link, or crossover, between sports and business.

A household name within local business circles, amassing over 30 years’ experience in the hospitality industry in Malta before moving to the UK in 2018 to take up his current role, Mr Zahra affirms that, “to me, the crossover between sport and business is immense. That winning mentality, that fighting till the end, that it’s not over until the final whistle blows… that’s the same approach that we have in the business.”

In a short clip of the interview shared by TradeMalta, the CEO goes on to note that since his move to the UK, the crossover has become even more evident.

“In Malta, that persistence and hard work was always there – if you don’t have that fire in your belly, I don’t think you can do it – but in the UK, because I’ve been working so closely with someone like Gary, he comes at it from a very different angle,” he reveals.

In fact, within a recent interview featured on Business Now magazine, the CEO described the hotel’s strategy for dealing with the pandemic using a sporting analogy, explaining, “we set out our plan in football terms for the whole team and started with our defensive tactics while planning our midfield work, and kept our attacking strategy in mind as well. We drew this out very clearly and included various elements in each part of the strategy which we shared with the whole team.”

The full interview with Mr Zahra will be shared by TradeMalta this Wednesday 27^th October.