Mitchell Lapenid suspected her boss had a brilliant idea when he started bombarding her with questions about vending machines. It was, he told her, extremely top secret.
"He said, 'Just tell me, but don't tell anybody [else]'," said Lapenid. "Afterwards he conceptualised."
The conversation was followed by Essam Al Wari locking himself in his Sharjah workshop for several weeks and taking apart and examining a cola dispenser.
Months later, the Syrian perfumer emerged victorious with the UAE's first luxury perfume vending machine.
It was no ordinary machine. In other places, perfume dispensers are flimsy and eject small plastic vials of cheap cologne in seedy public toilets. But in a country where vending machines dispense gold, Al Wari knew nothing but elegance would do.
Al Wari tinkered with the cola dispenser, adding what he needed and removing what he didn't. He put samples at the side with paper slip holders so people could sniff perfumes before committing to a 50 gram bottle.
"Now you will also see the sales lady there to explain to customers this machine because in 2010, people did not understand this machine," said Al Wari's son-in-law, Mohamad Al Hafar, who is the manager of the company's vending section. "Some people thought it was for cigarettes."
Each of Al Wari's 63 scents, which he promises will make you smell like a sheikh for a mere Dh50, are produced under secret conditions.
Al Wari competes in a country where perfume is not a luxury, but a daily essential nearly as indispensable as clothing. Al Wari does not just sell perfume, he is a second-generation Damascene perfumer who has spent decades of his life hunched over vials of musky oils and blends of crushed seeds and resins.
"In an Arab country, perfume is part of the basic needs," said Lapenid, a perfume expert at Sahar Al Sharq Perfumes.
As essential as perfume is, sales dropped during the recession. The vending machine enterprise provided just the financial boost Al Wari needed to survive the downturn, with his 14 machines generating average monthly sales of Dh20,000.
Al Wari, 47, started his perfume empire in a room in a Sharjah villa. He produced the perfume and his wife, Rosanne, took charge of sales. Once the business became established they opened their first UAE showroom in 2001. They now have 10 showrooms in the UAE, two in Oman and one in Syria.
"It was his hand only," said Al Hafar, 28. "I will tell you the story. Mr Essam was in a room, a small room. His wife was doing sales and then they grow up the company shops, one by one.
"His nose is really tired now, he always takes atropine," said Al Hafar. "He has his hand in everything. Mr Essam mixes everything, smells everything with his nose."
After years of experimenting with perfume production, Al Wari turned his attention to mechanics. The luxury vending machine was not his first.
His perfumes are sold at 250 mosques in five emirates. Small dispensers sell three grams of oil for Dh3, enough to cover the cost of the glass bottle. No profit is made from this. It's simply his way of giving something back to the community.
"Some people don't have money to buy perfume, and then when they go inside the mosque, it's a nice smell for the people," said Al Hafar.
"People go make ablutions and they go inside the mosque, but some people have a bad smell because they work outside. In our Islam there should be a nice smell."
The secret to perfume success is to know the people, Al Hafar says.
The company plans to sell Dh10 pocket perfume and Dh15 air freshener at petrol stations following its success at Dubai Metro stations.
Perfumes are made using secret formulas in a warehouse in Sharjah's industrial district.
In the UAE there is a strong preference for a mix of sutble European scents and heady oriental oils such as oud, an essential oil distilled from the resin of aquilaria trees.
"Arabic is always more strong," said Al Hafar. "Ah, you don't know oud? Let me check this one. Nice smell, totally you. This is the oud. This is the pure oud."
Just as major perfume brands use celebrity endorsements to sell perfume, in the UAE people want to smell like royalty.
"This is one of the best," Al Hafar said, pulling up bottle after bottle. "Sheikh Mohammed perfume. This is coming only for him before and this, this one is for Sheikh Zayed only."
The popularity of Turkish soap operas is making perfumes from that country increasingly popular with Gulf citizens.
Lapenid is a specialist in Turkish perfumes and she loves classics like Chanel No 5 but did not even know how to pronounce most of the product names before she joined the family business in 2006.
She began working for his family as a domestic employee and is now Al Wari's right-hand woman. The family supported her education and gave her the chance to prove herself as a sales associate.
"I applied for work as a servant but of course I will not be forever like that," said Lapenid, an MBA student. "I'm telling them what I want, I'm telling them what I can do. Then I think they saw me, that I'm capable. This is my humble beginning."
She has since declined many offers from rival companies.
"I am really attached to this family, I really love them and I really love the company and also I love my work," she said. "Mr Essam he's a typical man, he never talks too much.
"He's very conservative but at the same time very fashionable. I don't know how I will define him. He is mysterious."
azacharias@thenational.ae
The Year Earth Changed
Directed by:Tom Beard
Narrated by: Sir David Attenborough
Stars: 4
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre V8 twin-turbocharged and three electric motors
Power: Combined output 920hp
Torque: 730Nm at 4,000-7,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed dual-clutch automatic
Fuel consumption: 11.2L/100km
On sale: Now, deliveries expected later in 2025
Price: expected to start at Dh1,432,000
Mia Man’s tips for fermentation
- Start with a simple recipe such as yogurt or sauerkraut
- Keep your hands and kitchen tools clean. Sanitize knives, cutting boards, tongs and storage jars with boiling water before you start.
- Mold is bad: the colour pink is a sign of mold. If yogurt turns pink as it ferments, you need to discard it and start again. For kraut, if you remove the top leaves and see any sign of mold, you should discard the batch.
- Always use clean, closed, airtight lids and containers such as mason jars when fermenting yogurt and kraut. Keep the lid closed to prevent insects and contaminants from getting in.
THE SPECS
Engine: Four-cylinder 2.5-litre
Transmission: Seven-speed auto
Power: 165hp
Torque: 241Nm
Price: Dh99,900 to Dh134,000
On sale: now
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
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NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
Various Artists
Habibi Funk: An Eclectic Selection Of Music From The Arab World (Habibi Funk)
ONCE UPON A TIME IN GAZA
Starring: Nader Abd Alhay, Majd Eid, Ramzi Maqdisi
Directors: Tarzan and Arab Nasser
Rating: 4.5/5
Who has been sanctioned?
Daniella Weiss and Nachala
Described as 'the grandmother of the settler movement', she has encouraged the expansion of settlements for decades. The 79 year old leads radical settler movement Nachala, whose aim is for Israel to annex Gaza and the occupied West Bank, where it helps settlers built outposts.
Harel Libi & Libi Construction and Infrastructure
Libi has been involved in threatening and perpetuating acts of aggression and violence against Palestinians. His firm has provided logistical and financial support for the establishment of illegal outposts.
Zohar Sabah
Runs a settler outpost named Zohar’s Farm and has previously faced charges of violence against Palestinians. He was indicted by Israel’s State Attorney’s Office in September for allegedly participating in a violent attack against Palestinians and activists in the West Bank village of Muarrajat.
Coco’s Farm and Neria’s Farm
These are illegal outposts in the West Bank, which are at the vanguard of the settler movement. According to the UK, they are associated with people who have been involved in enabling, inciting, promoting or providing support for activities that amount to “serious abuse”.
Specs
Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
On sale: Available for pre-order now
Price: On request
WHAT IS A BLACK HOLE?
1. Black holes are objects whose gravity is so strong not even light can escape their pull
2. They can be created when massive stars collapse under their own weight
3. Large black holes can also be formed when smaller ones collide and merge
4. The biggest black holes lurk at the centre of many galaxies, including our own
5. Astronomers believe that when the universe was very young, black holes affected how galaxies formed
GOLF’S RAHMBO
- 5 wins in 22 months as pro
- Three wins in past 10 starts
- 45 pro starts worldwide: 5 wins, 17 top 5s
- Ranked 551th in world on debut, now No 4 (was No 2 earlier this year)
- 5th player in last 30 years to win 3 European Tour and 2 PGA Tour titles before age 24 (Woods, Garcia, McIlroy, Spieth)
The Pope's itinerary
Sunday, February 3, 2019 - Rome to Abu Dhabi
1pm: departure by plane from Rome / Fiumicino to Abu Dhabi
10pm: arrival at Abu Dhabi Presidential Airport
Monday, February 4
12pm: welcome ceremony at the main entrance of the Presidential Palace
12.20pm: visit Abu Dhabi Crown Prince at Presidential Palace
5pm: private meeting with Muslim Council of Elders at Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque
6.10pm: Inter-religious in the Founder's Memorial
Tuesday, February 5 - Abu Dhabi to Rome
9.15am: private visit to undisclosed cathedral
10.30am: public mass at Zayed Sports City – with a homily by Pope Francis
12.40pm: farewell at Abu Dhabi Presidential Airport
1pm: departure by plane to Rome
5pm: arrival at the Rome / Ciampino International Airport
ELIO
Starring: Yonas Kibreab, Zoe Saldana, Brad Garrett
Directors: Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, Adrian Molina
Rating: 4/5
The five stages of early child’s play
From Dubai-based clinical psychologist Daniella Salazar:
1. Solitary Play: This is where Infants and toddlers start to play on their own without seeming to notice the people around them. This is the beginning of play.
2. Onlooker play: This occurs where the toddler enjoys watching other people play. There doesn’t necessarily need to be any effort to begin play. They are learning how to imitate behaviours from others. This type of play may also appear in children who are more shy and introverted.
3. Parallel Play: This generally starts when children begin playing side-by-side without any interaction. Even though they aren’t physically interacting they are paying attention to each other. This is the beginning of the desire to be with other children.
4. Associative Play: At around age four or five, children become more interested in each other than in toys and begin to interact more. In this stage children start asking questions and talking about the different activities they are engaging in. They realise they have similar goals in play such as building a tower or playing with cars.
5. Social Play: In this stage children are starting to socialise more. They begin to share ideas and follow certain rules in a game. They slowly learn the definition of teamwork. They get to engage in basic social skills and interests begin to lead social interactions.
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F1 The Movie
Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Rating: 4/5
List of officials:
Referees: Chris Broad, David Boon, Jeff Crowe, Andy Pycroft, Ranjan Madugalle and Richie Richardson.
Umpires: Aleem Dar, Kumara Dharmasena, Marais Erasmus, Chris Gaffaney, Ian Gould, Richard Illingworth, Richard Kettleborough, Nigel Llong, Bruce Oxenford, Ruchira Palliyaguruge, Sundaram Ravi, Paul Reiffel, Rod Tucker, Michael Gough, Joel Wilson and Paul Wilson.
It Was Just an Accident
Director: Jafar Panahi
Stars: Vahid Mobasseri, Mariam Afshari, Ebrahim Azizi, Hadis Pakbaten, Majid Panahi, Mohamad Ali Elyasmehr
Rating: 4/5
How to help
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