Paving the way for Emirati women

The Life: Farida Al Awadhi set up her interior design firm in 1989, at a time when there were few female Emirati entrepreneurs. Now a successful businesswoman, she wants to give something back.

Farida Al Awadhi, the owner of Cinmar Design, has clients all over the Gulf.

When Farida Al Awadhi set up her interior design firm, she struggled to persuade people to take her seriously.

That was in 1989, when there were few female Emirati entrepreneurs.

"If we go back to that time and look at … how people saw the UAE female, they knew she was very pampered, that she was very well looked after," says Ms Al Awadhi, whose Cinmar Design company now has clients all over the Gulf.

"She doesn't have to go through the hard time of the business and it is not easy, so most probably she cannot really take it. And it's just a hobby, so maybe she will go for a year or two and then close down.

"All those sorts of thoughts make people hesitate, so due to that reason I had a strategy to start very small and very basic."

Ms Al Awadhi decided against taking on home interior projects where her work would be hidden from public view.

"Today life has changed, but especially at that time, nobody liked anyone to take a photo of their home and it was only open to a limited number of people who are coming in and out, friends and relatives, so whatever you do it will always be in a closed area," she says.

So she started by taking on small commercial projects with slim budgets to establish her name.

"It's open, you can go and see it any time. It's on display and that was a good strategy because I moved from a smaller shop to a bigger outlet, and a bigger outlet to something more serious," says Ms Al Awadhi.

Within two years she was winning bigger corporate projects, but the turning point came when she landed a government contract.

"I got the opportunity when I knew that there was a tender going out for furnishing," she says. "At that time it was Eppco, when they were planning to move from their existing office into their head office.

"I met the managing director at that time and I said please just give me the opportunity to bid like anybody else. He said yes, why not. We are inviting all these companies and we would be delighted to list yours as well."

She quickly realised that Cinmar could do more than simply furnish the office and offered to plan the space as part of the tender.

"We won the project because we were very good with our pricing and were adding the design element. They thought it was excellent and enhancing their building so they asked us to go deeper into it," she says.

Students at the Higher Colleges of Technology now learn about Ms Al Awadhi's experience of being one of the Emirates's first female entrepreneurs.

"Some young ladies came to me and … said we know you don't know us, but we were following you through the media and you were our inspiration. Now we have our own business and it is doing very well," she says.

"After this I felt the message was getting through and our young people do need models for them to feel that if she can do it I can do it as well."

Ms Al Awadhi decided the best way to encourage her fellow entrepreneurs would be to set up a business that would sell products made by people who cannot afford to start their own enterprises.

Asrar now has stalls in Dubai Mall and Marina Mall in Abu Dhabi that sell handcrafts made in the UAE.

"I believe we are one of the luckiest people in this world. Our government is doing a lot but we cannot sit back and always expect everything to be done by the government," she says.

"We have to support this as well. A lot of people don't think about these things because there isn't really much profit in it. But if everybody thinks there isn't much profit, then we are limiting ourselves."