Bubbly entrepreneur Donna Benton is back in the hot seat of her business baby that she sold for millions of dollars and once again has people eating out of her hand – this time digitally rather than with a book coupon.
Twenty-five years ago, she arrived in Dubai from Australia with just $3,000. From that modest start, she launched The Entertainer, expanded into Bahrain, and built it into one of the Middle East’s most successful consumer brands.
Today, the digital platform has pumped a staggering $1.3 billion back into the regional economy annually, making the ‘unaffordable affordable’ for millions of price-conscious consumers and helped fill venues.
The journey began with a simple, powerful idea: standardising the ‘Buy One, Get One Free’ concept.
“I wanted everything to be uniform,” Ms Benton explained. “I wanted it to be annual, valid from January to December. Valid for lunch and dinner, and valid seven-days-a week.”
Her early challenges were not just financial but also about convincing merchants of a concept that seemed too good to be true. Her first client, a major hotel chain, signed on because the decision-maker liked the concept. “He also liked me and my energy,” she recalled.
People liked the idea too of getting two for the price of one, or being able to go out with partners and friends and save money with a voucher. Venues were filled and occasional clients became regulars, eating out became affordable and desirable.
But the early days were also a masterclass of learning from mistakes, from printing too many books to dealing with stolen vouchers from books that initially were not securely wrapped.
“You have to make mistakes to grow,” the 50-year-old admitted. “You just have to make sure you don’t make the same one again.”
The core of the business was always the relationship with the merchants, ensuring The Entertainer delivered substantial business to the outlets to secure the ‘exclusivity’ that was vital for success.
The concept expanded to Bahrain in 2008 and the kingdom remains a vital market, recording around 600,000 redemptions annually. The product, priced at BD27.500, is designed to return its value instantly.
“You can go to a water park, you get three offers for that. Four people go to a water park, you’ve got that back straight away,” she explained. “We enable people to do more things, more often.”
The lifestyle service has now shifted entirely from the famous print books to a fully digital app, which is constantly being upgraded with new AI capabilities to offer personalised suggestions based on a user’s interests.
Ms Benton’s entrepreneurial spirit extended beyond The Entertainer. She invested shrewdly in property and was the first investor in Sunset Hospitality a decade ago, a firm that has since grown into an $800 million entity with 96 outlets globally. She also launched a swimwear brand, Caha Capo, and a hair salon, and recently invested in the ‘MENA Golf Tour’.
Her journey came full circle when she returned to The Entertainer after selling a controlling stake of her lifestyle company to Bahrain’s GFH Financial Group six years ago for a reported nine figure sum. The company reached out to its founder and she agreed to come back to her ‘commercial baby’ to lead it to further success.
Since her return, the company has undergone a major revitalisation. “We changed a few things around ... brought back some of my old key staff, restructured, and put everything back as the ‘Buy One, Get One’,” she said.
The platform signed 1,700 new merchants in the first year alone, overhauling and updating the technology to make it more consumer and business friendly and provide vital data to identify areas of commercial growth.
For Ms Benton, the core value proposition remains simple and steadfast: “It’s a win for both a consumer and the outlet as it enables people to do more for less.”
She believes the ultimate recipe for a fulfilling life is built on a simple yet profound concept: balance. This steady, grounded equilibrium informs her roles as a mother, a leader, and an individual.
Life, however, always has its ups and downs on both a professional and personal front, with a divorce coinciding with her company sale.
As a single mother to a 15-year-old daughter and a 12-year-old son, Ms Benton describes her children as her world. Her parenting is clear and disciplined. “I just try and be the best mum I can and give them direction where I can,” she explained.
“I also love them as much as I can, but I am a parent first and their friend second.”
She strives to ‘lead by example’ and instil core values when it comes to good manners, work ethic and showing respect.
Her approach to leading the brand is an extension of this personal philosophy, which she describes as ‘fair, firm, but fun’.
“I like to treat people as people and not numbers,” she affirmed. “It doesn’t matter if you’re more of a junior staff to a senior staff – everyone is human and you need to treat people with the same respect.”
She is very much a ‘team player’ and believes in rewarding and giving credit where credit is due.
Personal well-being also plays a part focusing on a ‘healthy body, healthy mind’ philosophy. She says she loves going out with friends and makes time for spa treatments and travel. Her dedication to exercise is significant; she works out ‘at least five times a week’ and considers it vital for her mental health.
When it comes to giving back, she supports a school in Thailand, where she has a holiday home, by helping to cover the costs of teaching staff.
“I think just success and happiness really comes within,” she added, and suggests she is an ‘unrealistic optimist’, very much a glass half full not half empty person, confident that ‘where there is a problem, there’s always a solution’.
Ms Benton circled back to her core message, revealing what keeps her grounded: She embraces life’s full spectrum: “I eat salad, I eat junk food ... and I cry and I laugh... I’m very much a balanced person.”
The final word on happiness from the entrepreneur? “Do what you love and feel good doing it.”
avinash@gdnmedia.bh
The Entertainer has standardised the ‘Buy One, Get One Free’ concept for vouchers
Ms Benton has invested in ‘The MENA Golf Tour’, a professional golf circuit that provides a platform for both emerging talent and international players to compete for world ranking points and prize money
A single mother to a 15-year-old daughter and a 12-year-old son, Ms Benton describes her children as her world
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