Brains behind Dubai firm ‘The Entertainer’

By: Megha Merani

She arrived in the UAE with $3,000. Today, her company puts $1.3 billion into the global economy each year. “About 60 per cent of that would be the GCC,” says Donna Benton – the brains behind Dubai-based international firm The Entertainer.

Founded in 2001, The Entertainer provides more than 5,000 buy-one-get-one-free offers through it’s book and mobile app from dining, leisure, entertainment, beauty and hotel brands in 40 destinations in 15 countries across the Middle East, Asia, Africa and Europe.

The idea struck her as she was shuttling down Sheikh Zayed Road after learning she was out of a job.

The now 41-year-old CEO tells 7DAYS: “I moved here from Melbourne, Australia, for a job when I was 26, which didn’t work out. And literally I was going along Sheikh Zayed Road one day and there were so many restaurants and attractions but there was no incentive to get people to go to them.”

Then she had the voucher idea. She recalls: “I went to an internet cafe because I couldn’t afford a computer. So I did my feasibility and business plan there, and then just went and started to see merchants. I couldn’t afford a car so I took taxis.”

On a frugal budget, a buy-one-get-one-free voucher would have been good back then, she jokes. It took a while to get things up and running.

“I think you either have a fight or flight in you,” Donna says. “Lots of people said no the first year. They said let’s see how it goes. But you get knocked down, you get back up.”
But once she signed her first client – the Marriott – there was no looking back.

She explains: “The great thing is that I know it works. It’s a triangle: it works for the customer because they’re saving so much money; it works for the merchant because they’re getting extra revenue; and it works for us because we sold the product.”

However, it wasn’t easy convincing customers they could win with the book.

She says: “When the books came out people thought it was too good to be true… ‘What do you mean I can get a free entrance to Wild Wadi? What’s the catch?’ So that was my struggle the first year, that it was too good to be true.”

Now, though, 95 per cent of The Entertainer’s subscribers are return customers. And Benton has moved on from a one-woman show in 2001 to now employing about 170 people – with 40 more expected to join next year.

In 2012, Riyada Enterprise Development, Abraaj Capital’s investment platform, acquired a 50 per cent stake in The Entertainer to enable the firm to strengthen its operations and expand.

And Benton believes her product is becoming increasingly important, considering the rising competition among brands in the digital age.

It’s why The Entertainer took two years to develop and perfect their mobile application. In the UAE alone, there have been more than one million two-for-one redemptions from the app in 2015.

“There’s so many new restaurants opening and attractions and we give the opportunity to go there, one, if they can’t afford it, or two, they can go more frequently,” the CEO explains.

In fact, the highest saver in the UAE pocketed a whopping Dhs226,224 this year, while the app has saved the average UAE customer Dhs6,100.

The Entertainer’s latest product, 241Passport, taps into the tourist market, with offers for dining, attractions, leisure, spas and more to seven holiday destinations, including Dubai, and works both offline and online.

Asked what’s changed during the journey from having just $3,000 to owning a growing multi-million-dollar business, Benton says: “I don’t believe money should get to your head and change you.

I didn’t take a salary for the first two years. You really have to live on the breadline. So I know what it’s like to struggle. I am a very feet-on-ground person because of that.”

The company launched lately 2016 offers, and you can get The Entertainer products directly from the company website: www.theentertainerme.com or the application.