If you want to understand how the story of Jimmy Poon has unfolded, start at the DESS Oud Metha school gates. Not today - though he’s often there picking up his own children. But way back in 1985, when a young Jimmy first stepped through them as a DESS student.
He was a Leopard back then. Competitive, quick, confident. Always ready for Sports Day on the sand-covered pitch, or a swimming gala, or whatever else was going. There’s a photo somewhere of him with his hand bandaged just in time for Princess Anne’s (Princess Royal as she is now) royal visit, a casualty of a mad dash down a corridor. “I’d spent weeks hoping she’d shake my hand,” he remembers. “Then suddenly I was hoping she wouldn’t!”
Some lessons at school stick with you because of how they’re taught. Others because of who teaches them. Headmistress Miss McCarthy, Jimmy says, did both.
Her legendary handshake rules: ‘Look them in the eye, lean in, firm grip’, were as famous as they were non-negotiable. And for Jimmy, they stuck. “I’ve followed her advice every day since,” he says. “She really was a character-builder.”
DESS gave Jimmy a lot, not just confidence and independence, but friendships that have lasted more than 35 years. He and classmate Sam Cordier are still close, and Sam was best man at his wedding. Sam’s brother Alex works in Jimmy’s business today. Another classmate, Gerard Scott-Brining, is a godparent connection. “Francesca’s my goddaughter,” he says. “It’s surreal and brilliant.”
It’s the kind of enduring network that only forms when the foundation is strong. And DESS, for Jimmy, was exactly that; a foundation built not just on academics, but on character, sport, and shared experience. “I wish I could’ve done it all over again,” he laughs. “It was that good.”
After school, sport remained red thread. Jimmy went on to play and coach tennis - eventually in the NCAA Division I system at Florida Atlantic University. Straight out of college, he landed a job working at the ATP tournament in Washington, D.C., which was when something clicked. “That was it,” he says. “I fell in love with the idea of making the business of sport my life’s work.”
That meant tough choices. He left a good job in advertising and went back to university for an MBA in Sport Management. Then, in Dubai in 2008, Jimmy founded Boqin, a company that today delivers youth sports camps, runs professional sporting events, and manages major government and private sector sport activations across the region.
His last job before launching Boqin? Approving the Virgin Radio logo and organising its Dubai launch, with Richard Branson in the room!
And yet, like any entrepreneur, his path hasn’t been linear. “COVID wiped the board clean,” he says. Plans for a global expansion of a popular Tiebreak Tens tennis tournament fell apart, and the business had to rebuild from the ground up. The past five years have been a quiet recovery; slower, steadier, and with more focus on persistence and stability. “We’re in a good place again,” Jimmy says. “Not just professionally, but personally. And that feels like something to be grateful for.”
That gratitude comes through clearly when he talks about giving back. Boqin now offers internships for DESS College students, something that would’ve meant the world to his younger self. “It’s not just about sport,” he says. “It’s about learning how to show up, how to work in a team, how to lead.”
Today, Jimmy lives in Dubai with his wife Ellen, whom he met through their church, Redeemer Dubai. Their daughter Kayla is in Year 3 at DESS Primary Oud Metha; their son Kaden has just started FS1. And Mum Linda - the same Linda who juggled single motherhood and full-time work while Jimmy was at school, now picks up her grandchildren from the same place she once collected her son.
“It’s a full-circle moment,” Jimmy says. “She’s back doing the school run, just like in the ’80s. Except now she gets to enjoy it more.”
There’s something deeply DESS about Jimmy’s journey - not just the loyalty, or the friendships, or the sports, but the way he’s combined hard work, quiet faith, and a deep sense of connection to turn his life into something meaningful. And generous. And real.
“I’ve learned that success doesn’t always look like a straight line,” he says. “But if you’re doing what you’re built for - and helping others along the way, you’re probably heading in the right direction.”