I moved to Dubai in 2001 from Fujairah to get a new lease of life. A computer business which I had been running folded and I ended up in massive debt. I had made the mistake of trusting the wrong person.
I believed that all people were my friends at the time and trusted them. That experience made me realise that this was not the case. It took me three years to rebuild my life. While I received emotional support from my family, I did not seek financial support. I was sure I could make it on my own. I had a few very innovative ideas which I used to power ahead and today I am president of the Arab Business Club. With hindsight, I learned a lot from my experience of trusting the wrong people at the start of my business career and it probably helped me become who I am today!
My entrepreneurial skills
Apart from my stepfather, no one in my family displayed signs of being a visionary or entrepreneur. I was a bright student at school in Fujairah and had plenty of truly novel ideas. One of them was to set up a kind of store at home! I bought boxes of groceries and stored them at home, then asked my mother to buy whatever provisions she required for the home from me. It helped her as well because she did not have to make trips to the grocery store. She could save time that way. Gradually, other people came to buy the groceries and I started to make a profit. This gave me the confidence to become more entrepreneurial. In fact, the years from 1991 to 1993 saw me opening various shops in Fujairah, including fashion stores for women and a computer store. Why computers? Because I had a passion for the machines and was keen to become a specialist in IT.
Computers opened a whole new world for me. In 1994, I set off to the US to do a four-year course in computers and networking. After returning to the UAE I decided to set up a website where I could sell goods online. At the time it was the culture to go to the mall and buy things. I opened an online grocery store built on an e-commerce platform called www.save.ae so that people could order groceries and have them delivered to their homes. There was a demand for such a concept internationally. After a while I changed the name to ellamart.com (ella means torch).
My websites won several awards and I decided to form a holding company called Teqaniya (meaning technology in Arabic), which served as an umbrella for other e-commerce platforms and opened the doors to go international.
I also got the award for Online Retailer of the Year, Middle East Retail Award, 2007. It was a huge achievement because I was competing with contenders from other parts of the Middle East - a total of 21 countries in all. It made me very proud. I wasn't content with just launching the Teqaniya online portal and wanted to do something more for the community. I come from a humble family background and have always expressed the need to give back to people. I wanted to form a platform to give entrepreneurs a chance to realise their potential and their dreams. That's why I formed the Arab Business Club, where my intention was to break down barriers between cultures. I am always asked why I set up the Arab Business Club when Dubai has enough networking groups.
I felt, that if expatriates are coming to the UAE to do business in the Arab world, they need to have a community which gives them the chance to network with Arab business people. At the time, there was no platform for bringing business people of various cultures together. That's the whole idea of the Arab Business Club - to educate people to do business in the Arab world.
One of the ideas we have come up with is the franchising of Arab fashion. There are many amazing Emirati fashion designers in town who cannot showcase their creativity as they lack the funds to start their own boutiques.
Through our franchising system via the Arab Business Club, we hope to open boutiques in various parts of the world. The core concept is that the fashion should have an Emirati touch.
I also started an online rating service called merating.com earlier this year. This is a platform for consumers to register complaints about services they are unhappy with. Through this portal, we had a lot of cases solved for the consumer. I believe it is important to keep learning. Education is key to learning the latest technologies, strategies and even learning about new cultures. Soon I will finish my Master's degree programme from the University of Liverpool where I am specialising in international marketing. I speak Arabic, English and German fluently and am currently learning Chinese to add to my repertoire of languages.
Weekends with my family back in Fujairah is a must. If I'm not there with them on the weekend, it's not fun.
Every Friday, my siblings, their in-laws, nieces, nephews and my two sons gather at my mother's home to play Monopoly. We take the game very seriously! My dream is to have my own stable and horses in Fujairah. I learnt horse riding in Dubai when I was a teenager. The horse, to me, is a beautiful creature. In fact, it was the inspiration for the Arab Business Club logo.
I love challenging sports, and scuba-diving is one of them. When you scuba-dive it is like you are in a totally different part of the universe.
Bowling is another sport I truly love. Apart from bowling, the best form of relaxation for me is to wash the dishes while at home. It may sound strange, but washing dishes helps me clear my mind because I concentrate on the dishes, the soapy suds, the swirling of the water, the soaked-up sponge...
Long drives used to be another way to de-stress but one cannot relax so much while driving as you need to focus on the road. So after washing the dishes and having a cup of tea I am ready to face new challenges.
Hamdan Mohammad can be contacted at hamdan@arabbusinessclub.org
For more information, visit http://www.arabbusinessclub.org
