Suhail Al Zarooni (Arabic: سهيل الزرعوني) is a UAE businessman and collector of model cars. He has a collection of about 7,000 model cars and is a two-time Guinness World Record holder for the year 2002 and 2003 for his collection of model cars.[1]
He is the first ever Emirati after the royal family of the UAE to be awarded with a Guinness World Record Holder's Certificate. In response to his large collection of miniature cars, he has attracted titles such as "The King of Model Cars", "The Five Million Dollar Man", "The Pearl of UAE", "The Man Who Has Everything."[2]
He is a favourite of the car brand companies internationally and is acclaimed for being the first person to show the Maybach to His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the current President of the UAE and Emir of Abu Dhabi. He is often invited to motor shows, like the Frankfurt Motor Show, the International Motor Show or Internationale Automobil-Ausstellung (IAA) which is the world's largest motor show.
Suhail Al Zarooni, along with a team of engineers who work for the company he owns in Taiwan is also one of the joint inventors of the Robot Jockey technology, for the UAE’s most favourite sport, camel racing.[3]
He has a collection of about 9,000 model and miniature cars and is a two-time Guinness World Record Holder for the year 2002 and 2003 for his collection of model cars. Zarooni is also the largest collector of merchandise from Starbucks Coffee.[4]
He was invited to display his collection in 2001 for Dubai Shopping Festival and the 7th Middle East International Motor Show 2003 in Dubai, which was witnessed and appreciated by the members of royal families, rulers and people from all around the world. Then once again a part of his collection was displayed at the 10th Abu Dhabi Motor Show 2004 to showcase some of the models which he personally redesigned. He regularly participates with The Collectors, a prestigious 2-week annual event held during the Dubai Summer Surprises 2005 & 2006 in Bur Juman Shopping Center, 2007 in the Mall of the Emirates, 2008 & 2009 at Wafi Mall, and 2010 at Bur Juman Shopping Center. He is all over in the print media and news channels and was interviewed in 2010 by CNN International for the weekly program Inside the Middle East.
His interviews and articles have been published in newspapers and magazines some of which are in Arabic, English, German, Russian, Urdu, Malayalam, Georgian, Pashto, Sindhi, Armenian languages and many more.
Contents |
Al Zarooni is the second son of his father Mohammad Abdul Karim Al Zarooni; his siblings include two brothers and one sister. His father is from Dubai while his mother is Pakistani. He is a graduate of Aitchison College, Lahore and completed matriculation from Karachi's B. V. S. Parsi High School in Pakistan before leaving for London to attain higher studies. He often visits Pakistan to meet members of his maternal family and can fluently speak Urdu.[5]
Al Zarooni is an avid memorabilia collector, including royal memorabilia, newspapers, stamps, coins, drinking mugs, limited edition pens and plates. He holds the Guinness World Record for the largest collection of miniature cars.
He also has a large collection of life-size vehicles which include a custom-made Hummer H1, a Maybach, a red Bugatti EB110 GT and a rare BMW K1 Motorbike. He also owns a 1974 Rolls Royce that was used in the making of the movie The Godfather.
A selection from the collection is on display this year at Bur Juman.
Boundaries Do Not Bind is a peace initiative started by Al Zarooni. A popular wall of signatures stood proudly at Zarooni's Collector's Exhibition for passersby to put their vote behind this unique voice for peace and prosperity. This initiative was created in 2010 to uphold the friendly ties that the United Arab Emirates maintains with India and Pakistan.
The program pays respect to the expatriates that reside within the UAE and it echoes the friendly relations that Al Zarooni maintains with celebrities, politicians, cultural delegates, ministers and friends from these 3 nations. "I truly aspire for peace in our world and start with the people from the nations that I already know as a founding stone to build world peace together", says Suhail Mohd Al Zarooni. Boundaries Do Not Bind is a creative and friendly platform which also enjoys a growing fan-following on Facebook. Emarati CEO of Dubai Events and Promotions Establishment (DEPE) Laila Suhail and her team visited and signed the friendship board.