Property developer Nadia Zaal

Emirati Nadia Zaal spent her childhood around a kitchen table brimming not just with
richly flavoured Middle Eastern dishes but with vessels of entrepreneurial zeal, dreams
and ideas. My grandfather, owning a building in Deira, was one of Dubais first landlords
in the fifties and sixties and my father followed suit, explains Nadia.
A combination of this entrepreneurial family background and the inherent openness to
new ideas and concepts prevalent in Dubai made its mark on Zaal from an early age and
has stayed with her.
She spent her childhood in Dubai before returning to the UK to study Government
Economics and then taking a job in the Abu Dhabi Government as a financial analyst.
Aged 23 she was responsible for negotiating multi-billion-dollar deals. Hardly surprising
then that before she hit 30 her real estate company Zaya was heading up an ambitious
property development, the exclusive private island of Nurai, in the Emirates.
This location marks the realisation of Nadia Zaals entrepreneurial dreams. Dubbed
byNewsweek as the Most luxurious project in the world, Nurai is an uber-opulent
community of limited-edition beachfront estates and water villas set off the Abu Dhabi
coast.
www.zaya.com

Home furnishing retailer Thomas Lundgren

Because we dont believe the world needs another retailer, THE One aims to be both
magical and meaningful, explains Swede Thomas Lundgren, founder of this imaginative
Dubai-based furniture brand.
This energetic fortysomething believes his brand aims are ultimately achievable because
THE One doesnt sell just furniture and accessories, but feelings too. Its not what you
buy thats important, its how you feel after youve bought it, argues Lundgren. We see
our stores as theatres where our audience is entertained by a cast of employees.
THE One sells Home Fashion. A sleek urban table serves to free up conversation in a
dining room and a woven lampshade brings warmth to a calm, white living room.
Underpinning it all is Lundgrens wish to save the world from anodyne interiors.
In 1997 he decided Dubai was the perfect place to realise his ambitions, so following his
first store launch in Abu Dhabi, he opened an outlet in the smart Jumeirah Beach district
and, subsequently, four more locations in the emirate.

Lundgrens vision is set to expand globally, with a target of 99 stores by 2020.

www.theoneplanet.com

Luxury bag designer Zufi Alexander

Luxe bag designer Zufi Alexander has found a fan base among such fashionable red
carpet walkers as Cate Blanchett, Sienna Miller, Alicia Keys and Beyonc.
After a university education that combined the US with the ivory towers of Oxford, she
cut her business teeth at one of Londons most established auction houses. I love art
and vintage jewellery and have always been good at drawing, she says. A role at
Christies fitted the bill perfectly.
It soon became clear that the surroundings and perhaps the sale of the odd vintage
Chanel clutch were inspiring her own artistic aspirations as a handbag designer.
Zufi Alexanders eponymous label now sells more than 10,000 bags a year to women
across the world. Married to an Englishman and living between London and Dubai, she
personifies the international woman she designs for.
Dubai is a land of opportunity and that opportunity is not tied to a particular bracket or
class of people, she says. At the same time, I love it because I get to experience all
different types of people and culture.
That vow has been superseded by her love of what she has achieved: Its all worthwhile
when I see a confident woman walking down the street clutching one of my bags.

Social networking site founders Sim Whatley

and JC Butler
Degrees in international economics and finance took US citizens Sim Whatley and JC
Butler on a journey from Europe to the Middle East before, both at the tender age of 28,
they decided their corporate jobs no longer held interest for them.
In 2005, the pair found themselves in Dubai scanning local newspapers and
supermarket noticeboards before they hit upon the opportunity right under their noses: a
social networking site with a comprehensive array of local classifieds, job forums,
housing ads, personals and local community and event listings for the burgeoning expat
community. The sites name? Dubizzle.

Similar to online networking leviathan Craigslist, Dubizzle charges users for what they
choose to list, whether that is job opportunities, houses to rent, second-hand furniture or
sports coaching.
When the pair first conceived the site, all the obvious domain names were taken, and
they didnt have money to go out and buy a premium URL. We came up with a catchy
nonsense word dubizzle, and built it into a brand, says Butler. Dubizzle is a play on the
phrase do business, but really has just become its own verb. And, as one major
internet player will attest, when your brand name becomes a verb, you know youve
arrived...
uae.dubizzle.com

Photographer Charlotte Simpson

UK-born Charlotte Simpsons photography business Hot Shots grew out of her
experience in the advertising industry and the commercial nous to realise she could
provide the same service, or better, than the people she was hiring for shoots.
Initially, Simpson put small adverts in supermarkets to see what sort of response she
would get. Specialising in childrens photography, she soon had a lucrative client base
from the expat families based in the city.
Hot Shots has grown out of the initial base of childrens photography to encompass
wedding and corporate work. Recent jobs have included the wedding of golfer Henrik
Stenson, and the New Zealand Rugby Sevens, while local corporate clients she can
mention include travel management group DNATA and Grand Hyatt Hotel.
Now at the helm of a bigger operation that employs three other photographers, Charlotte
hasnt forgotten the pleasure that led her to start a business around her personal
passion. I love the positive feedback, the creativity I get to express and the incredible
diversity of the people that I work with.
www.hotshotsdubai.com

Chocolatiers Assem and Dina Hamzeh

As a certain Hollywood blockbuster would have us believe, Life is like a box of
chocolates; you never know what you are going to get. With a healthy curiosity for the
unknown, Lebanese couple Dina and Assem Hamzeh moved to Dubai in 2004 and

raised the bar on what one could reasonably expect from a combination of cocoa beans,
butter, sugar and milk.
Drawing upon Assems experience as an executive in the Middle Eastern chocolate
industry, the husband-and-wife team left behind an unstable economic climate in their
native Lebanon and chose Dubai as the place in which to curate their own future.
ChoCoa has two shops in Dubai and opened a third in 2010 in Abu Dhabi. The brand
exports to myriad countries including Morocco, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Azerbaijan and
Lebanon.
Just being in Dubai is international. It was and still is the hub of all the region even the
world, insists Dina. It is easier for us to go international from Dubai than anywhere
else.
ChoCoa finds itself in a sweet position.
www.chocoa.ae

Purveyor of luxury leather goods

Nicole Silvertand
Nicole Silvertand, founder of luxury leather marque Complete, grew up every inch the
sophisticated lady. Nurturing an appreciation of elegant, quality product, her craftsman
father spoilt her generously with one-off handbags and shoes he made especially for her.
Inspired by the vibrant business culture of Dubai, Silvertand took the plunge in 2002 and
set about launching her own leather business. Completes range of leather goods are
made bespoke for key movers and shakers of the region including Armani Dubai, Al
Maha Desert Resort & Spa and Burj Al Arab.
Silvertand offers clients a range of 12 leather colours from black and brown to vibrant
turquoise, orange and silver. All of the items are made to order so everything can be
uniquely branded and personalised.
Because of spending so much time in my fathers atelier while I was growing up, with
education, age and experience I became aware of the vast opportunities for a company
providing commercial organisations, government departments and five-star hotels with
beautifully designed leather goods, says Silvertand. The word Complete perfectly
summarises that sense of entirety; of being able to satisfy all clients needs.
www.completecompany.com