As the world recognises and celebrates International Women’s Day, we too are honouring amazing females
A force to be reckoned with
We have an extra special issue of Prestige this time round, one that I think will make the point about just how forward-thinking and progressive the UAE really is.
As the world celebrates International Women’s Day, we too are honouring amazing females – specifically, those at the top of their game in the local real estate industry.
For our cover story we have brought together an inspirational group of company founders, entrepreneurs, and market names to hear about their individual paths to success, and how the environment in this country allowed their ambitions to be fulfilled. Read a fascinating and inspiring set of interviews inside.
Our regular columns are all female too this time round, covering a range of relevant topics from the potential for investors of the commercial real estate market, to why it’s important to face the fear and buy a home (so long as you get the best advice).
Another woman who has plenty to say about the swings and roundabouts of the property sector is this issue’s First Person interviewee, House Hunters founder and Managing Director Debbie Cope. Her story is amazing, especially as she reveals how the toughest of challenges hit her just as she was about to set up her business. But as with all the resilient women we are featuring this issue, there is no crisis that can’t be faced.
This is a unique Prestige, and so we thought we’d also do things a bit differently when it comes to our country focus. If you want to buy somewhere overseas, how about buying a whole island? It’s not as crazy as it sounds as out story reveals. With an increasing number of isles available to purchase, some for the same figure as a luxury villa in the UAE, this could be the ultimate dream hideaway. Flick to our feature and start dreaming…
The cover stars of this issue prove that the country’s business-friendly policies and an entrepreneurial spirit can level the playing field for women in the UAE.
“Are women allowed to drive there?” is unfortunately a question I am sometimes asked when I return home to Boston on visits from my adopted home of Abu Dhabi. The question comes from well-meaning, well-educated friends, and it underscores just how much the wider world still has to learn about the UAE. It also demonstrates to me that women are missing out by staying ignorant to this country’s vast opportunities.
On a recent Thursday, Prestige Magazine gathered seven women at the top of their game and in leadership roles at some of Dubai’s best real estate firms and property management companies.
I listened to their stories, about how they got here, their breaks from the ranks to strike out on their own as entrepreneurs, and what it takes to succeed in a country where women not only drive, they are at the wheel in more ways than one.
Here are the things I found these women have in common: after living in Dubai, they all realised it would not only be possible but profitable to run their own company; each one weathered the 2008 recession and say they are stronger for it; and they all attribute much of their success to the UAE business environment. But from there, their paths diverge, because there is no one single story about how women find success in a male-dominated world.
Worth noting is the disparate number of men in Dubai. As of late 2016, seventy percent of the foreign workers in the emirate were male, according to the Dubai Statistics Center. Women are certainly in the minority.
However, efforts by the government and the leadership of women in the private sector (these women in real estate as proof positive) are creating a new face of female in the Middle East, one that dramatically departs from typical, damaging stereotypes and Western assumptions. As of November of last year, 9 of 29 UAE government ministers were women, and Shamma Al Mazrouei, at 23, is the youngest government minister in the world.
At the same time, the UAE is just shy of breaking into the Top 20 countries when it comes to ease of doing business, according to the latest ranking by the real estate consultancy Knight Frank. It jumped five spots to 21st this year as its Gulf neighbors did not fare as well: Bahrain was ranked 66th and Saudi Arabia 92ndof 190 countries on the list.
Helen Tatham Managing Partner of Prime Places Real Estate, arrived to the country in 1996 as cabin crew for Emirates. Within four years she had reached the top rank of purser, and was unsure what to do next. Real estate proved to be her opportunity, and she went into business with a local Emirati woman who sponsored her fledgling property management company in 2005. She now oversees 40 staff. According to her, the UAE is on a steep learning curve at all times, but rolls with changes and learns from mistakes.
Dubai is laser-focused on continued improvement. Dubai Plan 2021 lays out the plan for the emirate to be a “pivotal hub of the global economy” with the audacious goal of being the most business-friendly city in the world, and the addition to being the top destination for foreign investment, according to Bloomberg Research.
Hind Jouini, the Managing Director of Real Choice Real Estate, sees firsthand the regulatory wheels turning in the right direction. “Everything is settled,” she says, citing efforts by the Real Estate Regulatory Authority and Dubai Land Department. “Now we are working primarily with end-users, operating smoothly. It’s time to grow.”
That optimism is hard-won. Jouini came to Dubai from Tunisia in 2001, as an employee of a stamped concrete company. She felt overworked and underpaid, and so after only a year in the UAE, she started her own business. Fifteen years, one recession, and millions in transactions later, she helms a healthy brokerage with hundreds of listings and a team of 30.
“It’s a promising market,” Jouini says. “A woman will find success from what she puts in, both in work and in faith in herself. If she has both, she will make it.”
Strong proof of that theory is Khadija Meziane El Otmani, Co-founder and Partner of Driven Holiday Homes. In four years she has built a business partnership with Abdullah Al Ajaji through sweat equity in the company. Her part of the business is a critical component to Driven Properties operations, with her concept of short-term rentals in holiday properties that are typically serviced and furnished.
Of the women I talked to, gender has played the biggest role for El Otmani. When she started Driven Holiday Homes in 2014, she says at first she hired only women because she found it difficult to find men who seemed willing to be managed by women.
“I felt that especially in real estate, you have to have a strong personality, you have to be a hustler,” she says. “My background is as an Arab woman, a Muslim woman. I still had this bias.”
At first, she recognised those qualities most in the women she interviewed. Over time, her opinion evolved, and now the company has gender parity.
That doesn’t mean she isn’t still leading a women-first operation. Recently, she tried to allocate office space for children and their caretakers to come in and have a place to play and spend some time during the workday nearby their mothers. She also wanted the space to serve as a nursery and nursing room for new moms on her staff.
But her company is growing too fast, and the space she had was soon taken over for meeting space. Still, it’s on the top of her priority list.
Looking to the future, much still depends on how well regulations are implemented to make it more attractive for businesses – women-led businesses included – to be in the UAE.
Helen Tatham put it most succinctly to me: “I’ve never met anyone who regretted moving out here.”
