The birth stories of some of our most iconic companies have become business archive legends, such as how Apple was formed in the garage of Steve Job’s father and how Facebook was formed in Mark Zuckerberg’s university dormitory. But a new birth place is creating some of our newest marvels, such as Instagram and Uber, and is showing itself to be a key component of the entrepreneurial ecosystem. What unites these two shining stars is that they started out of co-working spaces, a relatively new environment where entrepreneurs share a workspace with other entrepreneurs and freelancers to benefit from sharing ideas, networking and from swapping skills.
As any entrepreneur will vouch, starting a new company is much like walking in the dark; the next step is always uncertain. One of the biggest benefits of co-working environments is that it allows entrepreneurs to share knowledge, share experiences and help each other by being able to offer alternative skill sets that can fill the competency gaps of the entrepreneur. It essentially changes the dynamic that you are working alone to set up your business and provides more team support. The benefits to innovation and idea creation are so clear that even larger companies are encouraging their employees to work from co-working environments, to interact with entrepreneurs and adapt to their mindset.
Unsurprisingly, co-working hubs are now a familiar member of the family in start-up epicentres but they are still relatively new concepts, first seen in Berlin in 1995 and not in San Francisco until 2006. Jones Lang LaSalle predicts that by 2018 more than 1 million people will be using co-working environments around the world.
So how are we adapting to this movement in the UAE? Well at first glance the adoption is quite impressive. Fuelled by the regulatory requirement that each business licence is required to have a unique physical office presence, the demand for small office units and shared working environments has been strong for many years.
The Gulf Business Centre, set up in 1998, was the first co-working environment in the UAE and a relatively early one in the lifespan of this concept.
Hasan Wehbi is the vice president of real estate at UTS, which has created several shared working spaces across the UAE. He says there is much more room for development of these spaces. “Although there are more than 80 co-working centres between Dubai and Abu Dhabi, most of these focus on real estate space with only basic incorporation services. Where we see the opportunity is to provide services to help run the company and allow entrepreneurs access to facilities and services that often they don’t have access to but larger companies do. Companies need concierge services, PRO services, the opportunity to participate in group plans for financial services and monthly educational events where inspirational speakers share their knowledge with our members.”
A deeper look into co-working hubs in the UAE shows that many operate more like business centres that allow units to be shared and therefore offering entrepreneurs the benefit of a low office costs. There is clearly a gap between the UAE model and what we see in San Francisco, Singapore and London, where the hubs can boast many business successes. At one such hub in Singapore that I visited, I immediately noticed that the level of noise was much higher. People were really interacting, working together, sharing ideas and innovating. The culture was one of collaborating with other people, rather than just sharing office space for economic reasons.
For the UAE to be able to boast of the next success story, like an Instagram, the development of these co-working hubs will need to come to maturity and to do that a larger focus on the community aspect is needed to make these centres a vital connection point for entrepreneurs, not simply just a cool place to work.
As Henry Ford once said: “Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success.”
Paris Norriss is an entrepreneur and partner in Coba Education, which provides educators to schools and institutes
business@thenational.ae
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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What is the definition of an SME?
SMEs in the UAE are defined by the number of employees, annual turnover and sector. For example, a “small company” in the services industry has six to 50 employees with a turnover of more than Dh2 million up to Dh20m, while in the manufacturing industry the requirements are 10 to 100 employees with a turnover of more than Dh3m up to Dh50m, according to Dubai SME, an agency of the Department of Economic Development.
A “medium-sized company” can either have staff of 51 to 200 employees or 101 to 250 employees, and a turnover less than or equal to Dh200m or Dh250m, again depending on whether the business is in the trading, manufacturing or services sectors.
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
JOKE'S%20ON%20YOU
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A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
Specs
Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
On sale: Available for pre-order now
Price: On request
Company profile
Company: Verity
Date started: May 2021
Founders: Kamal Al-Samarrai, Dina Shoman and Omar Al Sharif
Based: Dubai
Sector: FinTech
Size: four team members
Stage: Intially bootstrapped but recently closed its first pre-seed round of $800,000
Investors: Wamda, VentureSouq, Beyond Capital and regional angel investors
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Mane points for safe home colouring
- Natural and grey hair takes colour differently than chemically treated hair
- Taking hair from a dark to a light colour should involve a slow transition through warmer stages of colour
- When choosing a colour (especially a lighter tone), allow for a natural lift of warmth
- Most modern hair colours are technique-based, in that they require a confident hand and taught skills
- If you decide to be brave and go for it, seek professional advice and use a semi-permanent colour
Suggested picnic spots
Abu Dhabi
Umm Al Emarat Park
Yas Gateway Park
Delma Park
Al Bateen beach
Saadiyaat beach
The Corniche
Zayed Sports City
Dubai
Kite Beach
Zabeel Park
Al Nahda Pond Park
Mushrif Park
Safa Park
Al Mamzar Beach Park
Al Qudrah Lakes
