My Business: How two Dubai teenage brothers built a clothing brand to support their mum

Dubai: Walking into the small studio apartment in JVC, I was met with two shy boys and their mother Randa Alawi, a Saudi single mother working in food catering, who had just come home from work. Before I could sit down, she patted Bandr gently on the back, explaining that he was a little nervous.

Bandr Mesayri, 13, looked up at me and quickly glanced away. His brother Badr Mesayri, 14, straightened up. Both were wearing their own shirts.

The two Saudi nationals have been living in the UAE for the past 12 years, and somewhere along the way, between school runs and long shifts, they decided they wanted to build something.

Two B's, one reason

Their own brand, 2B Brothers (2.b.brothers on Instagram), did not start with a business plan. It started by watching their mother. Randa is a single parent working in food catering, raising her two sons alone in Dubai for the past 12 years. At some point, without being asked, the boys decided they wanted to do something about it.

"I'm really proud that we made this brand to support my mom who actually worked every second and so hard and raised us," Badr says earnestly.

The name stands for Badr and Bandr, the two B's. But there is a second meaning the boys thought about carefully. It is also a nod to the phrase "to be," representing the promise they made to themselves and to her. To be providers. To be someone she can lean on.

A small space, a big universe

The apartment was compact, but every corner had been claimed. One wall was covered in a galaxy tapestry, deep blues and purples stretching across it, with small decors collected from different places arranged into a makeshift solar system. An astronaut figure sat fixed to the wall. Bandr immediately wanted to show me the shooting star that lights up in the dark. In a space that could have felt limiting, these boys had built a whole universe.

Along with the start of their business as well, everything had begun from here.

Building it from scratch

When they first brought the idea to Randa, she hesitated. They were still children, still at school. But they were firm. "They said, 'no mama, we want to do this to support you,'" she recalls. "So I said okay." What followed was entirely their own. They researched fabrics, settled on 100 per cent pure cotton chosen for the Dubai heat, decided on an oversized unisex cut and built the logo and page themselves.

Each shirt is priced at Dh150, a deliberate decision by the boys who wanted the brand to be accessible to everyone, not just those who could afford to spend big on clothing.

School in the morning, business in the evening

Balancing school and a business is not easy, and Bandr doesn't shy away from explaining the hurdles. "The second biggest challenge was school and then having the business to run at the same time," he says. "We were trying to focus on school first and then managing our business."

Randa makes sure of that. She monitors their time online carefully, keeping them away from comment sections that can turn unkind. "I told them they can do whatever they want as long as it doesn't affect their studies," she says firmly.

The road has not always been kind

Getting the brand noticed has been harder than most people would expect. When they reached out to influencers for support, some dismissed them. "They are just kids, why is the price so high?" was one response. Others asked for free samples, before they had even posted it. The boys would come to their mother and ask, "Mama, please can we give it?" And she would say yes.

One evening during Ramadan, still fasting after a full day of work, Randa took a taxi across the city to hand deliver a complimentary shirt to an influencer who had shown interest. Taxis are not cheap, and she does not drive, so every journey like that is a cost she feels. She had a few dates with her to break her fast on the way. The influencer posted a screenshot of the brand's Instagram page on their story and never wore or reviewed the shirt.

She tells the story without bitterness. "They have really struggled," she says quietly.

The little things that keep them going

But something has been quietly building. Strangers have started sharing their posts, tagging friends and leaving kind words. For Badr, those small moments have been everything. "The people around us, it is the little things," he says. "They shared our business and cards and tagged us and commented nice things. I felt motivated."

Areeba Hashmi is a trainee at Gulf News.