After nearly two years of navigating uncharted waters, my business approached the shorelines of safety in January.
Schools reopened, employees resumed work from their offices and many took their first summer holiday since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Although I have been on the entrepreneurship wagon for more than a decade, my business, as was the case with other companies worldwide, underwent the most changes in the past two years.
We cancelled services, offered new ones and built a new model for some of our product offerings.
We knew that if we didn’t pivot, we would fall behind and, therefore, evolved with our customers’ changes in consumption patterns.
In December, I reflect on everything my business went through in the past 12 months and look back at the valuable lessons that I will carry through towards, what I believe will be, an optimistic 2023.
You can’t fly solo
My mother once told me that entrepreneurship is a journey you can’t traverse on your own.
When I first ventured into entrepreneurship, I handled most things that I was good at, such as website development, social media management and even customer service.
But as my business evolved, I realised that taking tasks off my plate would free up time for me to focus on my creative genius.
The past two years presented unexpected challenges, which made it even more necessary to delegate tasks and focus on strategy.
There will always be people who are better than you, so let them focus on their areas of expertise while you focus on your genius zone.
Focus on what works
When you are planning for your business, it is natural to want to offer as many services and products to your customers.
“The more, the merrier” was my philosophy until the extra weight pulled my business down.
Cut out the noise and focus on the product or service that is yielding the most profit. Once I did that, my team’s focus improved and we were able to serve our customers better.
It is best to be great at one or two things than being great at one and average at another.
You can never learn enough
When the pandemic hit, I questioned everything I had learnt. Although experienced, I was in uncharted territory and knew that I had to act fast.
This meant going back to school. I dedicated an hour every day to learning something new that would help me with managing my business during uncertain times.
Online learning institutions made the process convenient. I focused on e-commerce, artificial intelligence and new digital marketing trends.
As my business evolved, I realised that taking tasks off my plate would free up time for me to focus on my creative genius
Manar Al Hinai
The more I learnt, the more I was inspired by ideas to incorporate in my work.
My team and I decided to inculcate this habit into our work schedule and for all of us to dedicate an hour to learning every day.
In our weekly meetings, each of us would discuss something new we had learnt, our own human library initiative, as we like to call it.
No one can predict the future, so be ready
No matter how experienced we are, we can’t predict the future. The pandemic taught us that valuable lesson.
But what we can do is to have a ready and adaptive mindset.
I can confidently say that our work process has become more effective after we embraced change and adopted a creative approach to problem-solving.
Whatever 2023 has in store for us, we are mentally ready for it.
Manar Al Hinai is an award-winning Emirati writer and communications consultant based in Abu Dhabi
360Vuz PROFILE
Date started: January 2017
Founder: Khaled Zaatarah
Based: Dubai and Los Angeles
Sector: Technology
Size: 21 employees
Funding: $7 million
Investors: Shorooq Partners, KBW Ventures, Vision Ventures, Hala Ventures, 500Startups, Plug and Play, Magnus Olsson, Samih Toukan, Jonathan Labin
F1 The Movie
Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Rating: 4/5
MOUNTAINHEAD REVIEW
Starring: Ramy Youssef, Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman
Director: Jesse Armstrong
Rating: 3.5/5
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- Keyhole surgery under general anaesthetic
- Ovarian tissue surgically removed
- Tissue processed in a high-tech facility
- Tissue re-implanted at a time of the patient’s choosing
- Full hormone production regained within 4-6 months
PROFILE OF CURE.FIT
Started: July 2016
Founders: Mukesh Bansal and Ankit Nagori
Based: Bangalore, India
Sector: Health & wellness
Size: 500 employees
Investment: $250 million
Investors: Accel, Oaktree Capital (US); Chiratae Ventures, Epiq Capital, Innoven Capital, Kalaari Capital, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Piramal Group’s Anand Piramal, Pratithi Investment Trust, Ratan Tata (India); and Unilever Ventures (Unilever’s global venture capital arm)
The specs: 2018 Harley-Davidson Fat Boy
Price, base / as tested Dh97,600
Engine 1,745cc Milwaukee-Eight v-twin engine
Transmission Six-speed gearbox
Power 78hp @ 5,250rpm
Torque 145Nm @ 3,000rpm
Fuel economy, combined 5.0L / 100km (estimate)
Dirham Stretcher tips for having a baby in the UAE
Selma Abdelhamid, the group's moderator, offers her guide to guide the cost of having a young family:
• Buy second hand stuff
They grow so fast. Don't get a second hand car seat though, unless you 100 per cent know it's not expired and hasn't been in an accident.
• Get a health card and vaccinate your child for free at government health centres
Ms Ma says she discovered this after spending thousands on vaccinations at private clinics.
• Join mum and baby coffee mornings provided by clinics, babysitting companies or nurseries.
Before joining baby classes ask for a free trial session. This way you will know if it's for you or not. You'll be surprised how great some classes are and how bad others are.
• Once baby is ready for solids, cook at home
Take the food with you in reusable pouches or jars. You'll save a fortune and you'll know exactly what you're feeding your child.
David Haye record
Total fights: 32
Wins: 28
Wins by KO: 26
Losses: 4
Biog
Age: 50
Known as the UAE’s strongest man
Favourite dish: “Everything and sea food”
Hobbies: Drawing, basketball and poetry
Favourite car: Any classic car
Favourite superhero: The Hulk original
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Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
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
THE CLOWN OF GAZA
Director: Abdulrahman Sabbah
Starring: Alaa Meqdad
Rating: 4/5
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