Last week, my 56-year-old friend told me that she thinks she’s too old to start her dream business.
“If I start a business now, what would people say? That I’m competing with young people?” she asked me.
My friend's conjecture does not surprise me. Some of us focus on achieving our dreams and goals only in our youth. While it is great to be successful in our youth, we tend to forget that greater things can happen even after we turn 50 and our age should not limit our ambitions.
The UAE is a perfect example of this. The country has already achieved tremendous success before its fiftieth birthday on December 2 this year. The UAE leads the region as the strongest and most valuable nation brand in the Middle East and North Africa and ranked 18th globally at Dh 2.4 trillion ($653.4 billion) according to a 2020 report by Brand Finance, the world's leading independent brand valuation consultancy.
The UAE is also a popular destination among expats. Abu Dhabi, its capital, was named the best city for expats in the Middle East by InterNations. The country also ranks first in the region and ninth in the world in the global competitiveness report in 2020, as well as amongst the top 10 in government efficiency and economic performance.
As it enters its fiftieth year, the UAE is hardly slowing down. President Sheikh Khalifa declared 2021 as the “Year of the 50th”, as it marks the country’s Golden Jubilee. The year officially starts on April 6 and will last until March 31, 2022. Sheikh Khalifa said: “Year of the 50th’ is an opportunity to contemplate the achievements made over 50 years at a time we are gearing up for the next journey.”
What the UAE has achieved in 50 years would perhaps take other nations centuries. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai said: "A year to celebrate 50 years, which witnessed the fastest construction journey in the history of countries, the best development journey in the region and the most noble journey in human building. It is also a year of preparation for the next 50 years, full of goodness, deep in impact and exemplary in building hope for the region and the world."
The UAE’s Centennial Plan 2071 aims to make the Emirates the best country in the world. From space, innovation, to education, its plans for the next 50 are greater, proving that its fiftieth year could be the start of something greater.
Similarly, age can also be favourable when starting a business. Research proves that middle-aged entrepreneurs are more successful than younger ones.
According to Age and High-Growth Entrepreneurship – a 2019 paper by Pierre Azouley and Daniel Kim of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Benjamin Jones of Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management and Javier Miranda of the Census Bureau's Centre for Administrative Records Research – a 50-year-old founder is 1.8 times more likely to achieve upper-tail growth than a 30-year-old one.
John Pemberton, Coca Cola’s founder, and Colonel Harland David Sanders, founder of Kentucky Fried Chickens, were both older than 50 when they founded their successful businesses.
The UAE and these successful entrepreneurs have one thing in common: success has nothing to do with age. Success is a product of your perseverance, flexibility and readiness to embrace change.
Take a cue from the UAE and as you reach 50, forge plans that will help you reach new heights.
Manar Al Hinai is an award-winning Emirati journalist and entrepreneur, who manages her marketing and communications company in Abu Dhabi.
Pharaoh's curse
British aristocrat Lord Carnarvon, who funded the expedition to find the Tutankhamun tomb, died in a Cairo hotel four months after the crypt was opened.
He had been in poor health for many years after a car crash, and a mosquito bite made worse by a shaving cut led to blood poisoning and pneumonia.
Reports at the time said Lord Carnarvon suffered from “pain as the inflammation affected the nasal passages and eyes”.
Decades later, scientists contended he had died of aspergillosis after inhaling spores of the fungus aspergillus in the tomb, which can lie dormant for months. The fact several others who entered were also found dead withiin a short time led to the myth of the curse.
Ferrari 12Cilindri specs
Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12
Power: 819hp
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From Zero
Artist: Linkin Park
Label: Warner Records
Number of tracks: 11
Rating: 4/5
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.
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War 2
Director: Ayan Mukerji
Stars: Hrithik Roshan, NTR, Kiara Advani, Ashutosh Rana
Rating: 2/5
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
Started: 2020
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment
Number of staff: 210
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
Company profile
Date started: 2015
Founder: John Tsioris and Ioanna Angelidaki
Based: Dubai
Sector: Online grocery delivery
Staff: 200
Funding: Undisclosed, but investors include the Jabbar Internet Group and Venture Friends
More from UAE Human Development Report:
The bio
His favourite book - 1984 by George Orwell
His favourite quote - 'If you think education is expensive, try ignorance' by Derek Bok, Former President of Harvard
Favourite place to travel to - Peloponnese, Southern Greece
Favourite movie - The Last Emperor
Favourite personality from history - Alexander the Great
Role Model - My father, Yiannis Davos
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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The specs: McLaren 600LT
Price, base: Dh914,000
Engine: 3.8-litre twin-turbo V8
Transmission: Seven-speed automatic
Power: 600hp @ 7,500rpm
Torque: 620Nm @ 5,500rpm
Fuel economy 12.2.L / 100km
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
GAC GS8 Specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 248hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 400Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 9.1L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh149,900
Jeff Buckley: From Hallelujah To The Last Goodbye
By Dave Lory with Jim Irvin
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THE TWIN BIO
Their favourite city: Dubai
Their favourite food: Khaleeji
Their favourite past-time : walking on the beach
Their favorite quote: ‘we rise by lifting others’ by Robert Ingersoll
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
