Real inspirations propel you into a constant partnership of success by driving your constant and unstoppable pursuit of the dreams that keep you awake. Success is not a momentary edge in your path, but the journey where you create your own way by challenging yourself to get out of your comfort zone.
Are you ready to do that? Your moment is in here as your future starts now!
After almost 25 years of working within some of the best corporations, including Unilever, Aujan Coca Cola Beverages, Emaar Properties, and Omniyat, and with the emerging threat of the Global Economic Crisis, Alex Andarakis saw an opportunity and felt the need to step outside his comfort zone, “To explore my own business.” With many companies laying off their senior management, he believed there was an opportunity for interim or fractional CEO, CCO, or CMO roles for him, and what started as a hobby has emerged as a genuine hybrid management consultancy/creative and branding agency with over 100 client wins and 300 projects since 2010.
Inspiring – Propelling – Partnering
The vision at Andarakis FZCO, and the first three words Alex wrote on the business plan were and remain ‘Inspire – Propel – Partner’ with individuals, brands, and companies!
Alex’s two-and-a-half-decade professional journey spans leadership across global brands and transformative assignments. However, the defining experiences that shaped the early foundations of his leadership philosophy go back to his upbringing. He shares, “As a child to immigrant parents from Greece to Australia in the mid 1960’s, the greatest influence on me as a person stems from the wonderful home life that I had as a child growing up, with loving and hard-working parents, who prioritized my well-being and education as the route to success.”
Building Upon His Parents’ Legacy
Watching his parents navigate and succeed in building their own business provided the inspiration for Alex to build upon their legacy, and with the chance to join Unilever Australia upon his graduation, he felt that he had landed a wonderful entry into the corporate world. It would take 18 years, eight roles with the Group, and three international assignments to make the decision to explore his talents elsewhere. “The defining experiences for the early foundations of my leadership philosophy were simply to understand that no one person has the monopoly on all the great ideas, and to collaborate and find harmony to work with others in a productive and respectful manner,” he adds.
The Corporate Athlete’s Compass
Alex now defines his leadership as an act of living example. He leads the team through care, empathy, action, discipline, creativity, and mentoring. This holistic approach is designed to showcase the true spirit of what it takes to be a successful ‘corporate athlete’—a powerful concept he is currently authoring in a book. The transition from multinational leader to entrepreneur demands not just skill, but a comprehensive physical and mental discipline, which he models daily. He believes a leader must embody the resilience and strategic focus they ask of their team.
Reinvention in the Regional Hub
The geographic landscape in which Alex operates—the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia—serves as the ultimate catalyst for his personal philosophy of perpetual change. He is a devout advocate for reinvention, believing that every individual must plan the constant evolution of their identity and purpose throughout life. The tremendous, visible strides of the UAE and Saudi Arabia in transforming their economic, regulatory, financial, and social structures provide a constant, high-speed influence. This regional dynamism ensures that Andarakis FZCO remains future-ready, with a direction that mirrors the bold, transformative spirit of the Middle East.
The Talent-First Doctrine
Alex’s experience across diverse markets has solidified core principles for building high-performing, purpose-driven teams. His strategy focuses intensely on surrounding himself with talent: people who are ambitious, curious, disciplined, and laser-focused on winning with pride. He firmly asserts that true professional satisfaction comes from competing and succeeding amongst a field of champions. This environment of embracing genuine challenge, rather than winning by diminishing others, is paramount. If the talent is good enough, Alex knows, success inevitably follows.
The Hero is the Client
His most powerful personal learning emerges from the transition to entrepreneurship. Asked about his biggest challenge after narrowly missing the “Startup of the Year” award in 2010, Alex offers a simple, profound answer: he needed to manage his ego. Having worked as a high-level client for years in large corporations, the switch to service provider demanded a radical shift in perspective. This challenge has propelled him down a path of deep humility and servitude, cementing an unwavering, foundational principle for Andarakis FZCO. There is only one hero in his field, and that is the client. This clarity refines the ‘Inspire – Propel – Partner’ vision, ensuring that every action taken by the consultancy is truly in service of the client’s success. Alex’s journey stands as a beacon of principled leadership, demonstrating that true success lies not in the title held but in the humility and purpose-driven collaboration offered.
The Pantheon of World-Class Mentors
Alex openly acknowledges the profound debt he owes to the titans who took significant risks on him throughout his corporate tenure. These world-class mentors were not just guides; they were shapers of his entire leadership philosophy. From Jeffrey Arthur Lea at Unilever Australia, he learns how to embrace people with genuine warmth, encouragement, and unshakeable belief. Rachid Mohammed Rachid, guiding him in the Unilever NAMET Region, instills in Alex the mastery of managing high-performance teams and the art of supreme negotiation. Moving to the Middle East, he learns the true meaning of empowerment from Adel Aujan at Aujan Coca-Cola Beverages. Finally, Mohammed Alabbar at Emaar Properties teaches him the non-negotiable standards of discipline, hard work, and creativity required to realize monumental visions. Alex carries the tremendous impact of these leaders daily, respecting and thanking them for the trust they placed in him at every step.
The Power of Reverse Mentorship
While honoring the past, Alex maintains a forward-looking stance on guidance. He is now receptive to what he calls reverse mentorship, recognizing that some of his greatest teachers are found within his own ranks at Andarakis FZCO. His younger team members, comprising Millennials and Gen Z, actively mentor him, helping him to think, act, and understand the intricacies of digital fluency and modern technological embrace. This constant learning feeds his personal mantra: to profoundly believe in young people. Alex gives them the chance to shine in their own way through empowerment, encouragement, and the necessary space to grow, allowing them to fiercely compete in whatever arena they embrace.
The Corporate Athlete’s Unstoppable Momentum
As a leader recognized for being unstoppable, Alex interprets resilience not as rigid endurance, but as constant transformation. His bedrock is the corporate athlete mindset, which fundamentally transforms his journey into a new type of competition. This mindset is fueled by two continuous processes: personal reinvention, which sustains his vitality and ensures he stays relevant in a rapidly changing world, and professional reinvention, which keeps the firm agile. The driving force behind his momentum has shifted over the years, pivoting from raw ambition to being guided by wisdom and empathy. For Alex, the key to sustaining momentum during challenging periods is simple: ensuring that he and his team understand why what they do matters, constantly reaffirming the purpose behind the partnership, propulsion, and inspiration they deliver.
The Daily Construction of Legacy
For Alex, legacy is not a future inheritance but a daily, present-tense construction. He sees it not as something he leaves behind, but as something he builds every day. It is the quiet accumulation of actions, decisions, and values that define what endures beyond any single moment. Alex frames legacy as the ultimate performance, one measured not by the vanity metrics of titles or trophies, but by lasting impact, influence, and integrity. The foundational tenets of this legacy are not abstract ideals; they are principles lived consistently through leadership, purpose, and presence. Above all, his enduring impact is defined by the people he recruits, mentors, and works with, all of whom share a culture of winning ethically and powerfully.
The Aegean Reset Button
Outside the intensity of boardrooms, strategic mandates, and the relentless drive of the UAE business ecosystem, Alex maintains a vital balance through personal passions that directly influence his approach to life. His annual refuge is the Greek Islands during the summer. This is his happy place, a sanctuary where he gets a crucial chance to pause, rest, and recover. Nothing beats the simple, grounding pleasure of spending time with his family on the beach, dining in a taverna, and enjoying quiet nights by the sea. This intentional time-out provides the mental reset necessary to sustain his unstoppable momentum throughout the rest of the year.
Fit for Purpose and Life
Beyond seasonal relaxation, Alex relies on a daily ritual to maintain his readiness for leadership: the gym. He understands that the discipline of the corporate athlete mindset requires more than just mental acuity; it demands physical fortitude. The gym serves as the space that consistently resets his mood and helps him stay in the best physical shape. For Alex, fitness is not vanity—it is a mandatory condition. He must be fit for purpose and life, ensuring that his physical vitality matches the strategic and emotional energy required to lead, inspire, propel, and partner with his clients in a demanding global ecosystem. Alex’s saga is a testament to the belief that true success is found where profound professional discipline meets clear personal purpose.
The Strategic Right to Win
As global markets shift with increasing velocity, Alex emphasizes that strategy remains rooted in answering the fundamental questions of ‘Why, What, How, and When’. However, the priority for businesses in 2026 and beyond must be tackling the critical over the merely important. This requires the masterful deployment of the three most valuable resources: people, time, and money. Building on his philosophy of constant reinvention, Alex stresses that companies must not only evolve their operations to stay relevant but, crucially, must find that one defining aspect of their identity that grants them the ‘right to win’—a clear, unique competitive advantage that justifies their presence in the market.
Defining the True Leader of Tomorrow
For the next generation of leaders emerging in the UAE and the broader region, Alex defines true leadership by the ability to inspire. This inspiration is not abstract; it’s a necessary balancing act. It requires merging the hard-won intellectual capital gained through experience with a vital human touch. Essential qualities include empathy and care, which are prerequisites for providing genuine empowerment and encouragement. Critically, true leadership must foster an environment where people are allowed to fail without consequence—provided the effort and commitment were present. Alex believes that more lessons are gained from failure than from success, urging the celebration of bravery in failure as much as the effort invested in winning.
The Unending Chapter of Impact
Looking ahead, Alex’s aspirations for Andarakis FZCO and for himself are centered purely on impact: the why, the what, and the how of their contribution. Living the firm’s core vision—Inspire, Propel, Partner—remains central. The next chapter of this story involves strategic geographic expansion, growing the physical presence of Andarakis FZCO beyond its hubs in the UAE and Saudi Arabia into major markets like India and the USA. Simultaneously, he is focused on the growth of their talent pool to actively create the leaders of tomorrow. When family and friends inquire about his retirement, Alex’s answer is definitive and profound: he will only retire when ‘The smile is no longer present on my face!’ His journey is a testament to purposeful work, demonstrating that when passion, discipline, and impact align, the pursuit of success truly never ends.
