My friends and I love to go on boat rides - we’ll use any celebration as an excuse to get on one.
My best friend and I used to conduct many calls and often go on site visits to pick the boat that we’d like to book for an occasion.
It was time consuming and honestly wasn’t my favourite part of the process because I had so little time after work, and spending it physically examining a boat didn’t make me ecstatic.
But that was then. Nowadays, and from the comfort of my bed, I just go on Bookaberth’s website, book the berth I want from across the UAE’s marinas and be done with it in a matter of seconds. Genius was my thought when I first came across the website.
See the difference? An activity that used to consume a couple of hours of my limited time can be over and done within a matter of seconds.
Looking back at how things were done just eight years ago, I do a lot of it online now. I don’t remember the last time I physically visited a store to buy flowers, movie tickets, gifts or send out a surprise birthday cake. My mom and I constantly joke how we can control our world from our phones.
If I had told my younger self that, it may have sounded bizarre, unbelievable and totally futuristic. It doesn’t seem like that anymore. Seeing robots in public entities isn’t strange and doesn’t look futuristic. We rarely see the future because it’s already here and we are living it.
I’ve spent a large chunk of my career on the other side, with businesses trying to be two steps ahead. When people were mostly physically shopping and online shopping was yet to take hold nine years ago, I launched an online fashion store that offered multiple online payments methods, which wasn’t very common for online businesses in the UAE.
When people were on online discussion forums, I jumped on the social media bandwagon. That’s not to say that I’m smarter, but that I knew that in order for my business to continue to thrive, and for me to always be up-to-date, I had to go with the flow.
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Read more:
Accepting and fixing the negatives are essential to business growth
How to refresh your business without starting from scratch
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However, that is one of the complaints I continuously hear when I meet with business clients. When we talk to them about the importance of augmented reality solutions, they say: “But we just got the hang of this,” or “We don’t think this will be dominant,” or “We don’t have any budget for that.”
And this is where I as a consultant would say that your way of doing something isn’t what your business is about. It’s merely a tool that you should be able to replace in order for your business to grow and for you to earn more customers.
And that makes my clients so uncomfortable.
As people, we love to know about the latest. We enjoy going to tech exhibitions, testing new products, and pay to watch feature films depicting our future. But then we like to place this information on a shelf and leave it there. Not a lot of us are comfortable with change. Not a lot of us are comfortable with evolving. Change isn’t comfortable. It’s tiring. It’s vague. It’s not guaranteed.
But that’s what’s challenging about businesses, and if you really want to venture into entrepreneurship, you need to accept change, embrace new technologies and new ways of doing things.
Accept that augmented reality and drones will become more and more part of our everyday lives and that you will be chasing those AI solution providers that you rejected today. Accept that conducting payments and services online will be the norm and not the exception. Accept that you will probably be interacting more with robots than humans.
Self-driving taxis, cars and hyperloops will mean that you will enjoy smoother transport, but also it presents an opportunity for businesses to interact with passengers who’ll probably be spending more time and have their eyes glued to their tablets and phones, instead of on the road.
Look at not holding your ground as a learning process. Instead of thinking you’ve figured it out, look at yourself and your business as constantly developing. It’ll make the process of change less overwhelming for you.
Manar Al Hinai is an award-winning Emirati writer and entrepreneur, who manages her creative consultancy in Abu Dhabi.
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
More on Quran memorisation:
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
The specs
Engine: 5.2-litre twin-turbo V12
Transmission: eight-speed automatic
Power: 715bhp
Torque: 900Nm
Price: Dh1,289,376
On sale: now
Five famous companies founded by teens
There are numerous success stories of teen businesses that were created in college dorm rooms and other modest circumstances. Below are some of the most recognisable names in the industry:
- Facebook: Mark Zuckerberg and his friends started Facebook when he was a 19-year-old Harvard undergraduate.
- Dell: When Michael Dell was an undergraduate student at Texas University in 1984, he started upgrading computers for profit. He starting working full-time on his business when he was 19. Eventually, his company became the Dell Computer Corporation and then Dell Inc.
- Subway: Fred DeLuca opened the first Subway restaurant when he was 17. In 1965, Mr DeLuca needed extra money for college, so he decided to open his own business. Peter Buck, a family friend, lent him $1,000 and together, they opened Pete’s Super Submarines. A few years later, the company was rebranded and called Subway.
- Mashable: In 2005, Pete Cashmore created Mashable in Scotland when he was a teenager. The site was then a technology blog. Over the next few decades, Mr Cashmore has turned Mashable into a global media company.
- Oculus VR: Palmer Luckey founded Oculus VR in June 2012, when he was 19. In August that year, Oculus launched its Kickstarter campaign and raised more than $1 million in three days. Facebook bought Oculus for $2 billion two years later.
Essentials
The flights: You can fly from the UAE to Iceland with one stop in Europe with a variety of airlines. Return flights with Emirates from Dubai to Stockholm, then Icelandair to Reykjavik, cost from Dh4,153 return. The whole trip takes 11 hours. British Airways flies from Abu Dhabi and Dubai to Reykjavik, via London, with return flights taking 12 hours and costing from Dh2,490 return, including taxes.
The activities: A half-day Silfra snorkelling trip costs 14,990 Icelandic kronur (Dh544) with Dive.is. Inside the Volcano also takes half a day and costs 42,000 kronur (Dh1,524). The Jokulsarlon small-boat cruise lasts about an hour and costs 9,800 kronur (Dh356). Into the Glacier costs 19,500 kronur (Dh708). It lasts three to four hours.
The tours: It’s often better to book a tailor-made trip through a specialist operator. UK-based Discover the World offers seven nights, self-driving, across the island from £892 (Dh4,505) per person. This includes three nights’ accommodation at Hotel Husafell near Into the Glacier, two nights at Hotel Ranga and two nights at the Icelandair Hotel Klaustur. It includes car rental, plus an iPad with itinerary and tourist information pre-loaded onto it, while activities can be booked as optional extras. More information inspiredbyiceland.com
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
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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
WRESTLING HIGHLIGHTS
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
Top 10 most polluted cities
- Bhiwadi, India
- Ghaziabad, India
- Hotan, China
- Delhi, India
- Jaunpur, India
- Faisalabad, Pakistan
- Noida, India
- Bahawalpur, Pakistan
- Peshawar, Pakistan
- Bagpat, India
How to help
Send “thenational” to the following numbers or call the hotline on: 0502955999
2289 – Dh10
2252 – Dh 50
6025 – Dh20
6027 – Dh 100
6026 – Dh 200
2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups
Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.
Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.
Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.
Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, (Leon banned).
Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.
Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.
Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.
Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.
The bio
Favourite book: Peter Rabbit. I used to read it to my three children and still read it myself. If I am feeling down it brings back good memories.
Best thing about your job: Getting to help people. My mum always told me never to pass up an opportunity to do a good deed.
Best part of life in the UAE: The weather. The constant sunshine is amazing and there is always something to do, you have so many options when it comes to how to spend your day.
Favourite holiday destination: Malaysia. I went there for my honeymoon and ended up volunteering to teach local children for a few hours each day. It is such a special place and I plan to retire there one day.
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
The specs
Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel
Power: 579hp
Torque: 859Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh825,900
On sale: Now
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Specs
Engine: Electric motor generating 54.2kWh (Cooper SE and Aceman SE), 64.6kW (Countryman All4 SE)
Power: 218hp (Cooper and Aceman), 313hp (Countryman)
Torque: 330Nm (Cooper and Aceman), 494Nm (Countryman)
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh158,000 (Cooper), Dh168,000 (Aceman), Dh190,000 (Countryman)
Zayed Sustainability Prize
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
The Dark Blue Winter Overcoat & Other Stories From the North
Edited and Introduced by Sjón and Ted Hodgkinson
Pushkin Press
Electric scooters: some rules to remember
- Riders must be 14-years-old or over
- Wear a protective helmet
- Park the electric scooter in designated parking lots (if any)
- Do not leave electric scooter in locations that obstruct traffic or pedestrians
- Solo riders only, no passengers allowed
- Do not drive outside designated lanes
