Newsroom / Leadership appointment
Owais Shah joins Tara Hospitality as Managing Partner
Former England international and UAE national-team head coach Owais Shah joins Tara Hospitality as Managing Partner and cornerstone partner, leading the group's UK–UAE gateway across business development, partnerships, and its sports, leadership and lifestyle practice.
Ras Al Khaimah, UAE · London, UK
Tara Hospitality today announced the appointment of Owais Shah as Managing Partner. Shah joins as a cornerstone partner and brand ambassador, taking a general partner (GP) stake in the group and leading its UK–UAE corridor — a two-way gateway for businesses moving between the two markets.
In the role, Shah will drive business development on both sides of that corridor. Inbound, he will help UK and international businesses establish, scale and find the right strategic partners in the UAE; outbound, he will open UK and international markets for the group's UAE partners. He will also act as a trusted, on-the-ground principal for companies that need someone to represent and place their strategic partners in the UAE.
His mandate spans partnerships and business development, sports management, and leadership consultancy, alongside a dedicated health, sports and lifestyle practice that runs from elite coaching through to executive mentorship. It connects Tara's hospitality, real estate and lifestyle platforms to a global network Shah has built over three decades in international sport.
The appointment reflects Tara Hospitality's model of bringing senior operators and principals in as partners rather than advisers — people who perform inside the business and are accountable for outcomes alongside the founders.
“Owais is exactly the kind of partner we built Tara to attract. He has performed at the highest level, understands both the UK and the UAE intimately, and opens doors through trust rather than transaction. As a cornerstone partner and ambassador, he gives our owners and partners a genuine gateway between the two markets.”
“Tara's model — senior people, real accountability, and a foundation in both hospitality and real estate — is one I wanted to build on rather than advise from the sidelines. The UK–UAE corridor is one of the most active in the world right now, and I'm joining to help companies and partners cross it with the right people beside them.”
About Owais Shah
Owais Alam Shah (born 22 October 1978, Karachi) is a former England international cricketer. A stylish middle-order batsman nicknamed “Ace”, he represented England across all three formats between 2001 and 2009 — 6 Tests, 71 One-Day Internationals and 17 Twenty20 Internationals — having earlier captained England to victory at the 1998 Under-19 World Cup and been named the Cricket Writers' Club Young Cricketer of the Year in 2001.
Across an 18-year professional career he scored more than 16,000 first-class runs, playing county cricket for Middlesex (1995–2010), Essex (2011–2013) and Hampshire, and competing in the Indian Premier League for the Delhi Daredevils, Kolkata Knight Riders, Kochi Tuskers Kerala and Rajasthan Royals, alongside franchise cricket in Australia, South Africa, Bangladesh and New Zealand.
Since retiring from first-class cricket in 2013 he has moved into coaching, leadership and sports business — leading the Rajshahi Royals to a Bangladesh Premier League title and serving as head coach of the United Arab Emirates national team (2016–17) — giving him deep and current ties across the UAE sporting and commercial landscape. A sought-after speaker and mentor, he pairs that pedigree with the outgoing, team-first approach that has defined his career since he first broke records as a junior at Wycombe House Cricket Club.
About Tara Hospitality
Tara Hospitality is a UAE-based, hospitality-led management group headquartered in Ras Al Khaimah. It provides hotel operations, owner-side asset management, branded-residence operations and real estate services to owners, developers and institutional investors across the UAE, Europe and international markets.