When UAE-born Shehzeen Jamil moved abroad to pursue a master’s in finance, she got much more than a degree. The coffee fanatic began an Instagram account reviewing cafes around London, a pastime she soon realized could be morphed into a business. In 2019, she launched a startup called SIPPY — an online digital marketplace for coffee beans and roasters.
Jamil’s ambition to create a business out of her passion is emblematic of a driving trend for many women entrepreneurs in the UAE, and her story is just one out of thousands. In one of the biggest business hubs of the world, the entrepreneurship landscape of the UAE has been growing exponentially over the years. Although business is still heavily male-dominant, women entrepreneurs in the UAE have made considerable strides.
The number of licensed companies owned by women in the country has reached 80,025. Additionally, over 32,000 women are managing projects that value for a total of more than $10 billion. Even during the pandemic, where businesses worldwide suffered, women entrepreneurship grew 68 percent in the UAE during that period, according to LinkedIn data.
Seungah Sarah Lee, a visiting senior lecturer of social research and public policy at NYU Abu Dhabi, says that there is a lot of encouragement for women entrepreneurship in the UAE. Many young students are enthusiastic about startups and tend to be involved in pitching ideas at these stages.
The entrepreneurship landscape encompasses two categories: the technology startup and the retail business, she said. However, the startup scene remains small, as many companies fail to move out of the “pre-seed” or initial funding stage due to low funding.
The retail side — perfumeries, bakeries, boutiques — has been booming, especially through platforms like Instagram. “I think the fact that the UAE relaxed some regulations for you to be able to establish home businesses, and not have to have an office space, depending on what your business is about, has really helped people launch their ideas on Instagram,” said Prof. Lee.
For many women entrepreneurs, starting a new business is a passion project, rather than an economic need. “It’s also the desire to kind of be your own boss, and kind of be able to direct what you work on and what you do,” she said.
We interviewed three women who decided to follow their passions and leave their traditional roles to explore the thrill and fulfillment brought by entrepreneurship. Here’s their stories, as shared in online interviews, on pursuing their dream projects in the Emirates.
Shehzeen Jamil
Chocolatey brown coffee beans grinding into an aromatic, warm river of a morning mug. That’s the experience Shehzeen Jamil wanted to sell in a packet.
A lover of coffee, Jamil is the co-founder of the startup Sippy, founded in late 2019. The startup was one of the first in the country to provide an online shopping experience for specialty coffee beans and roasters.
Although Jamil comes from a background in corporate finance, she was never afraid to experiment in different roles or industries even prior to launching Sippy. “I bounced around a bit in the finance industry. It was interesting, but it just never stuck,” she said. The 30-year-old adds that although she wishes this exploration period of her life had ended sooner, those experiences gave her many skills that she still uses to this day.
Sippy started to materialize when Jamil met her two business partners, one from a background in marketing, another in engineering. And their mission remained fairly simple, “The way we started was literally thinking, ‘I like coffee. Do you like coffee? Do you want coffee at home? I do too,’” she said.
What really blew up the business was COVID-19. Working from her apartment, Jamil had to balance business transactions and public health safety guidelines. “Coffee beans flying everywhere, delivery guys coming in and out. It was a very big health hazard of course, so it was really hard to set everything on the ground,” she said.
Earlier this year Jamil sold Sippy to COFE — a similar platform but larger for the entire GCC market. “I decided to sell Sippy because it fit with my larger mission of supporting the coffee industry as a whole on a larger scale,” she said.
Support from the UAE government has been beneficial, especially economic relief during the pandemic. “They’re very supportive in terms of how you can set up your business, how you can run it, and what costs are associated with it,” she said.
Additionally, Jamil says that the Emirati community — who have a substantial influence — have also been supportive. “There are areas and regions where setting up a business is a huge deal and only men in their 40s do it. But over here you can be young, and you can be a woman, and it is very well received rather than skepticism,” she said.
Mona Melhem
In the outskirts of Abu Dhabi with dozens of concrete buildings, a bright and colorful billboard advertisement grabs attention, the visuals overpowering the surrounding environment. This billboard’s designer, and countless similar ones around the country, is Mona Melham, an entrepreneur who works out of a home office.
Melhem, a 35-year-old businesswoman from Lebanon, is the founder of Sponge Productions — a media production company in Dubai. With a bachelor’s degree in audiovisual coupled with video and print production, photography, social media and more similar skills, she has gained years of experience in this field.
Although she had been moving in and out of the UAE over the years, her most recent shift was in 2020 after suffering some business and personal losses in Lebanon. “I’ve been managing other people’s companies for a long time. So, I thought if I’m the one setting up companies and managing clients, I might as well start my own,” she said.
Melhem had officially set up Sponge Productions in 2020. She decided to name her company Sponge based on the concept that clients are able to “squeeze” as many projects as possible, despite what their budget is. This comes from her understanding of the need for good-quality projects at low budgets in the Middle East.
However, Melhem had to freelance for a while before she was able to come to a better financial position, as well as have serious clients. It was in April 2021 — six months after setting up her company — that she got her first project.
Since then, Sponge Productions has been working for some of the biggest companies in the country including Du, the telecom company, Nissan, KFC, Starbucks, Snapchat and others.
Out of all the hundreds of campaigns, the one that holds a special spot for Melhem is her campaign with the mobile company Vivo — her first-ever big-budget project. “I was given a chance by my favorite client who believed in me and believed in what I’m capable of doing,” she said.
The freedom of picking her own clients has been one of the main pluses. “Any unpleasant client I am okay to ditch. We have to say no. We shouldn’t force ourselves to work with people that we don’t want to work with,” she said.
During her time as a business owner, Melhem has also joined the Dubai Business Women Council. She has met many other women with similar business experiences who started during the COVID-19 pandemic. Others, like her, started their businesses while working a full-time job until they got off the ground. “I go meet new entrepreneurs and discuss with them and see what they do. They do a lot of cool panels, and we talk about well-being,” she said.
Monia Marchesi
One recent morning, Monia Marches pulled together luscious golden locks with a bow for another happy customer at her salon. Her clients receive much more than a fresh haircut, with a dedicated playtime and chance to dress up in costume. This extraordinary service is only for her exceptional customers: the pets of the UAE.
Marchesi started her business based on a love for animals, opening Celine and Paws in July 2021. Located in the bustling neighborhood of Jumeirah Lakes Tower, the pet grooming and daycare business marks a turning point in Marchesi’s career after nearly a decade in Dubai.
The Lebanese-Italian graduated college at 21 and settled in the Emirate shortly after an inspiring trip, visiting her cousin in the city. Coming from a background in business, Marchesi managed a family business before venturing on her own.
In Dubai, she worked in real estate but lost passion for the work and started to think of businesses. “I was thinking what can I do? A restaurant or supermarket? But it wasn’t really the best idea,” she said.
It wasn’t until she visited a veterinarian with her rescue dogs that she got the idea for pet grooming and opened her business in July 2021. Since then, her business has kicked off, and Marchesi has treated many loyal clients. “I’m in a prime location. I have my clients. I even have people coming from Abu Dhabi to Dubai,” she said.
However, she acknowledges that alongside the playful part of her work, there’s the important responsibility of supervising a pet. “We send updates regularly, over three to four times a day,” she said.
Like many other entrepreneurs in the country, one common challenge Marchesi faced was dealing with what seemed to be endless documentation and fees, including trademarks, approvals, licenses, employee documentation, and so on.
Yet, despite these initial challenges, Marchesi’s admiration of animals keeps her going, even during unglamorous times, as she lives her dreams of being a business owner in her early 30s. “I’m doing what I love. It was very important for me to do one of my passions, which is animals,” she says.
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