Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Emil Bedretdinov. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Hi Emil, appreciate you sitting with us today to share your wisdom with our readers. So, let’s start with resilience – where do you get your resilience from?
I believe my resilience comes from my family, my early life experiences, and my background as a professional football player from childhood. My father’s illness and later passing placed responsibility on me at a young age, and necessity pushed me into work at 15. Over time, that necessity became passion. Starting as a dishwasher, then handing out flyers and organizing my first parties, I learned that setbacks are part of growth. Football added another layer — from the age of nine, I was traveling across the city alone every day for training and spending summers in bootcamps. That lifestyle built independence and discipline early, and it taught me leadership because on the field you aren’t only responsible for yourself, but for your teammates as well. All of these experiences together shaped my outlook. Today, whether in hospitality or leadership, I rely on those lessons structure, perseverance, and responsibility — to adapt and keep moving forward.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
I am the Founder & CEO of THE DNA GROUP, an international hospitality holding headquartered in Dubai. Our flagship projects include Papa Dubai and Papa Moscow, which have become known for combining music, design, dining, and high-energy nightlife.
What makes our work unique is our ability to create hospitality concepts from the ground up while also turning around underperforming venues and transforming them into thriving destinations. Since 2007, I’ve been involved in more than 800 projects, ranging from boutique events to collaborations with international media and celebrities.
Currently, we are developing two new concepts that I am very excited about. One combines fine dining with immersive theater, and the other introduces a next-generation phygital lounge, blending physical space with digital experiences to redefine nightlife in the region.
Our long-term vision is to build one of the most recognizable hospitality brands globally, guided by the values of responsibility, professionalism, and growth.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
For me, three qualities have been the foundation of my journey.
Resilience was the first. Starting work at 15, facing my father’s passing at a young age, and growing through the challenges of football taught me to adapt quickly and keep moving forward, even when circumstances were tough.
Discipline has been equally important. I treat energy like capital, managing it through sports, structure, and continuous learning. Football especially instilled this, the daily commitment to training, the responsibility to teammates, and the demands of competition taught me that without discipline, talent and ideas rarely reach their full potential.
Finally, systems thinking has shaped my approach to business. Hospitality is unpredictable, but building processes, using analytics, and creating strong teams allow you to scale in a sustainable way.
For those at the start of their journey, my advice is simple: don’t chase quick wins. Build resilience by embracing challenges, practice discipline every day, and focus on systems rather than luck. Those three qualities will carry you further than shortcuts ever will.
We’ve all got limited resources, time, energy, focus etc – so if you had to choose between going all in on your strengths or working on areas where you aren’t as strong, what would you choose?
I believe you need both. Your strengths are what define you, and they are the foundation of your unique value. But in leadership and entrepreneurship, ignoring weaknesses can limit growth. For example, when I started, I had strengths in creativity and building concepts but lacked systems and structure. By forcing myself to learn operations, finance, and team management, I was able to scale from small events to an international hospitality group. My advice: double down on your strengths, but invest enough in your weaker areas so they don’t hold you back.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://thedna.group/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/emil_e7/
- Linkedin: https://ae.linkedin.com/in/emilbedretdinov
- Twitter: https://x.com/emilbedre?
