Herculean Partner: Donal Kilalea! Donal, the founder and owner of Promoseven Sports Marketing, has always been a sports enthusiast. Martial arts and cycling are among his key interests. Being a sports marketer has given him the unique opportunity of combining leisure and work, which resulted in some extraordinary realizations.
Since 2003, Donal has contributed to the Emirates Airline Dubai Rugby Sevens tournament becoming the memorable sporting event, and seen the visitor rates quintupled as well. Furthermore, he made sure that 325 million households in 151 countries were able to follow the tournament from the comfort of their own living rooms.
He’s one of the founding fathers of the Spinneys Dubai 92 Challenge, the largest amateur cycling event in the Middle East and of the Bloomberg Square Mile Relay in Dubai. As if that’s not enough to show for, his company also manages the public relations of the DDF Tennis Open, the UAE swimming federation and the BWF badminton destination Dubai.
Donal also co-owns and manages the Dubai Karate Centre, which now teaches the martial arts of karate, aikido, taekwondo and judo to over 300 students.
There’s more to him than just sports however: from 1986 to 2003, he launched campaigns for Coca-Cola, NIVEA, Land Rover, Marks and Spencer, Reckitts and Sony in the Middle East as a partner of Fortune Promoseven Advertising in Dubai. In 2003, Donal decided to focus once again on sports and created Promoseven Sports Marketing, the leading sports marketing agency in the region.
Donal is a true team player and an empowering leader, who puts people over profit. When asked which abilities a good leader should have, he answers with being decisive, recognizing the full potential of your workforce and being humble –in an interview with arabianbusiness.com he stated that “a good CEO will take the blame but spread the glory.”
When he first got to know Yves & Inge and became familiar with their exceptional concept of sportainment, he was immediately excited about a partnership between Promoseven Sports Marketing and Herculean, as he realized the potential of the concept in the Middle Eastern market.
Being a team player, Donal firmly believes that partnerships pave the way to success. On this particular one, in which his know-how of the region and Herculean’s concept are combined, he says that Herculean has brought a new spirit and approach to team building for everyone in the Middle East.