Making a difference

Rula Hannoun, managing director, First Edition; an interior decor outlet, ex-banker and entrepreneur passionately committed to the cause of encouraging small business activities in Gaza

The probability that we may fail in the (Palestinian) struggle ought not to deter us from the support of a cause we believe to be just.

Fundraising for humanitarian causes is a part of my life. I believe in it. I think that anybody who cares about anything, shouldn't just talk about it.

I schooled in Cheshire, UK. I then went to the University of Manchester and later took up a position in London, working with an international bank. Having a Palestinian mother and a Lebanese father, I was brought up as an Arab Muslim, proud of my heritage.

Both my parents were very passionate about the Palestinian issue. I was very lucky to be in the UK at a time when one was able to express oneself more freely than now.

As a student in the 1970s, I was very active in the Palestinian cause and took part in a lot of demonstrations and protests. To the extent that my university warned me that I was getting too involved in political activities and that my studies were suffering.

I used to work in refugee camps during summer. We would assist in any way that we could. Belonging to a privileged society where we are educated and have the means to live very well, I look upon it as a responsibility - we owe it.

It's not a humanitarian effort, it is my obligation. My children have been brought up to understand the same thing.

Right from a very young age they have worked in camps and done fundraising. Two of my daughters, who are now in a university in England, are part of a cultural group that creates awareness of the situation in the
Middle East.

I choose my battles very carefully.

After I graduated, I started to look for employment. I told my father, 'Why did we bother going through the whole (process of) education if you are not going to allow me the freedom to pursue my career?'

I obviously put up a good argument because my father let me take up my job. By then he said, 'I have invested in you whatever I have and either you know the right way or you don't.'

I hope I have done the same with my daughters. You have to give your children roots in order to give them wings. I believe strongly in that because if they know what their value system is, we have to let go and trust that they make the right decisions.

The taste of success I did my Masters in Business when it was trendy to do so. I joined the First National Bank of Chicago in their Oil and Gas Division (Europe, Middle East and Africa).

I was based in the UK but I travelled extensively to West Africa and parts of Western Europe. I was part of the large North Sea Financing in Oil and Gas Development, which was very exciting.

It was the first real project financing done at that time. It was a very challenging job. I was the youngest vice-president in the history of the bank. I just happened to be the right person at the right place and the right time.

At the age of 25, I was drawing a wonderful salary and travelling all over the world. I moved to Dubai in 1984 after I got married and was offered a position of deputy general manager of the office here, but I didn't continue for long as I wanted to devote more time to my marriage.

First Edition was started in 1999
I wanted to enjoy phase two of my life. When I quit working, it was really my choice and therefore I have never had any regrets about it. I had my kids (three daughters) and was able to spend time with them.

Fundraising continued to be (a) part of my life. As my children started to get older, I realised I just couldn't spend time socialising and fundraising.

The fundraising became a series of parties and gala dinners. I had a slight problem with the idea that the only way we were able to raise money for the needy was by partying.

So I thought of starting a business, the profits from which could be used to assist in financing small businesses in Palestine and Lebanon.

I started with antiques but the timing was wrong. The market wasn't interested in antiques. I ended up buying more than I was selling.

There was a huge demand for Islamic antiques in Europe but I did not want these to go out of the region. So I started contacting museums and collectors in the region to see if we could place them. All this was getting too complex for me.

The country was changing rapidly and I realised that what was needed was contemporary furniture, so I made the switch.

Initially I got most of the furniture from the Far East and a few from Europe, but what I really wanted was to develop business in the Arab world so I contacted a designer in Gaza.

Two years ago, we started designing our own minimalist furniture, Arabic in design and produced in Gaza. We got our first collection in April 2006 and it was a great success.

The exciting thing is that people loved the designs; orders were placed not because it was out of Gaza but because they loved it.

Business came to a standstill
We got orders from Kuwait and Bahrain and then in summer, the factory was bombed and Gaza was sealed. My business came to a halt. It was heartbreaking.

We had clients calling for their orders to be honoured and my credibility was at stake, so for the time being I have decided to source my products from Egypt.

We are now looking at other countries in the Arab world where we can stimulate small businesses. We are not interested in mass production but in preserving and modernising traditional skills.

Balancing the scales between business goals and Palestinian welfare.

We have to do charity but charity is not a concept. I believe that we have to make individuals and societies economically independent. The most constructive thing we can do is support business where we can. I don't want people buying products because they are feeling sorry for us.

I want them to buy it because the products are good and the prices are right. We have beautiful shawls, abayas, cushion covers, etc, but our problem is (a) lack of young designers who understand what the East and West want.

Ultimately I would like to export to the West because, ironically, if we could get brand recognition there, then everyone would start buying it here.

I realised that improving your life is definitely not about material things.

When my father died 15 years ago, it was a turning point in my life. My mother asked me to put his things away and all his personal belongings fit into one suitcase.

I was deeply touched by this. This was a man who did not believe in material things. He was successful as a husband, a father, a friend and a businessman and he had no need for possessions.

It was quite a realisation for me at that time. When you have children, there is a tendency to want to give them material goods. That was a big turning point for me, as I realised what I wanted to give my children was more time, devotion, laughter and fun.

This is what I have to invest in. I really hope I have been able to achieve this because society is so materialistic. As a Palestinian, the futility of belongings is so evident, what we have today is gone tomorrow.

There is so much to smile about ...
I was brought up in the north of England where we didn't see the sun for months. So even after 23 years in Dubai, seeing the sun each morning still makes me smile.

Laughter, humour, pleasure and joy are not constant; it's moments that we should treasure. For example, the now makes me smile, the breeze makes me smile, and people's excitement in Dubai over a new mall opening makes me smile.