How a British expat is driving sustainable living, giving in the UAE

Dubai: It started, as many modern ideas do, with clutter. In a home in the UAE, British expatriate Shaima Sibtain has found herself surrounded by things she no longer needed, baby grows her children had outgrown, a luxury handbag she no longer used, and clothes full of memories she couldn’t bring herself to throw away. 

Across the UAE, she has observed that WhatsApp groups have been overflowing, Facebook pages crowded, and Instagram accounts acted as informal marketplaces, all active, but none truly seamless or trusted.

“I wasn't looking for a business idea. The frustration handed me one,” Sibtain told Gulf News.

That moment would eventually develop into Luved, a platform designed not just to sell items, but to reimagine how a community circulates value, belongings, and generosity.

A new life in the UAE 

When she first arrived in the UAE in 2023, Sibtain has not been thinking about businesses. She has come with a toddler, supporting her husband, balancing early motherhood with work across property and music.  

“The hardest part wasn't the culture, which I fell in love with immediately. It was finding our people. You arrive far from family and you have to build a community from scratch, which is humbling when you're used to having one,” recalled Sibtain.

That search has shaped everything that followed. What she thought was a personal inconvenience of looking for a “trusted way to resell the bag or rehome the clothes” has turned out to be a wake-up call.

“Being part of a founders group connected me to people already inside the hub who pushed me to take the leap. In the UAE, the community you're struggling to find is often the same community that ends up helping you build the thing.”

Why the UAE changed how she thinks about ambition

According to Sibtain, the UAE didn’t just influence her idea, it has changed her mindset.

“Living in the UAE has made me think bigger and move faster. Before moving here, I often felt like ambition needed to be justified. Here, ambition is almost assumed. It raises your own standards,” shared Sibtain.

Surrounded by leaders and fast-moving ideas, she has found herself shifting from overthinking to executing.

“People here are incredibly action-oriented. If you have a vision, the expectation isn't that you'll spend years perfecting it, it's that you'll start building it.”

Building a marketplace for reuse, trust, and giving

At its core, her startup has been built around a simple idea to keep goods in circulation for longer, within the same community.

The platform enables users to resell preloved items with authentication, secure payments, and door to door logistics, removing the worry that often makes second hand exchange difficult.

But it has also introduced something more meaningful. Through “Luved & Gifted,” users can give items away completely free, no payment, no transaction, no barrier. Just passing something on to someone who needs it.

For her, that feature is not an add-on. It is the heart of the platform.

“In uncertain times, that kind of self-contained, circular economy isn't just sustainable, it's practical. Most people don't actually want to throw things away. They want them to go somewhere good,” said Sibtain.

Sustainability that feels practical

In Sibtain’s view, sustainability only works when it has become part of daily behaviour, not a separate effort. Her platform has been created to make reuse simple. Sellers earn from items they no longer use, buyers access quality goods at lower cost, and fewer products end up unused or discarded.

But the deeper impact has been social. In a country as diverse as the UAE, items move not just through transactions but through acts of trust. It is sustainability measured in human connection as much as environmental impact.

“It is a free section purely for giving. No transaction, just generosity. In a region this diverse, watching someone pass a child's coat to a stranger across the city tells you more about resilience than any economic forecast comes known. Convenience, technology, and conscious consumption can coexist,” explained Sibtain.

Reinvention at UAE speed

Looking back, Sibtain has noted that her journey reflects something uniquely possible in the UAE, reinvention at pace.

“I arrived working across property and music. Less than two years later, I had built an AI-powered fashion marketplace. The UAE is one of the few places where that kind of leap feels not only possible but encouraged,” exclaimed Sibtain. 

What made the difference has not just been opportunity, but environment, a place where ideas are expected to move swiftly from concept to reality. 

“You can introduce something genuinely new and weave it into the local culture rather than fighting an entrenched incumbent.”

Start before you’re ready

For aspiring founders in the Emirates, Sibtain’s message has emphasised action.

“The UAE rewards people who actually move, not people who research forever. The support for new ideas is real, but it meets you halfway and you have to show up and build,” advised Sibtain.

As her own journey has shown, sometimes success begins with something as ordinary as a pile of baby clothes and ends with a platform designed to change how an entire community thinks about value, waste, and giving.