There is an exclusive club where some of the country's top entrepreneurs converge to discuss - in secret - the challenges of running a business while juggling family obligations.
Known as the Entrepreneurs' Organisation (EO), its members promise not to share anything discussed in monthly forums - not even to spouses during pillow talk. Members are also barred from providing advice or suggestions about how to deal with either business or family issues. In fact, they can only share personal anecdotes that might inspire solutions.
"Most of us entrepreneurs don't like to listen to anyone. We think we know everything," says Ashish Panjabi, the chief operating officer of Jacky's Group of Companies, which operates the electronics retailer. Mr Panjabi is also president of the EO's chapter in the UAE.
"We don't want an expert to come in and tell us how to do things and how to run our lives, our business and what strategies we should be following," adds Mr Panjabi. "Traditionally, we've been the boss so what we say goes."
That is why EO tries to take a unique approach, compared with the bevy of other business groups available to entrepreneurs, by creating forums where participants can talk freely about cash-flow problems, restructuring woes or preparing exit strategies before diving into new ventures. Discussions about family problems, whether focused on succession planning or maintaining a work-life balance, are often the most popular.
While EO boasts about 8,000 members globally, there are only about 50 in the UAE chapter. Local members have included Nilesh Ved, the chairman and founder of Apparel Group, as well as Fahmi Al Shawa, the managing director of Convenience Arabia, which operates Circle K shops across the Gulf. Peter Sage, a serial entrepreneur who launched a multibillion-dollar venture commercialising space-based solar power, has also been a member.
But not just anyone can join. Startup owners, for one, are out. People must run a medium-sized business, rather than a small one, that generates at least US$1 million (Dh3.6m) in annual revenue. There is also an interview to see if a new member is a good fit and hails from an industry not already represented.
Nathalie Haddad joined EO in Dubai three years ago to "swap ideas and get support on little issues you deal with as a business owner".
As the managing director of The Right Bite Nutrition Centre in Dubai, which employs about 100 workers and delivers healthy meals to individuals, Ms Haddad has encountered restructuring issues and staffing challenges in the past.
Participating in forums and various other educational events that the EO hosts has helped her learn about how others with businesses of a similar size have handled similar situations.
Yet Ms Haddad notes that she would like to see more female entrepreneurs in the group so she can learn about "how they're running their business".
Others say the age of certain members may make forum discussions less relevant to their particular stage of business.
"The EO used to be the YEO, where 'Y' stood for 'young'… and the definition became far broader," says Rabea Ataya, the chief executive and chairman of the regional job-searching site Bayt.com. "The definition of what the EO was became a bit less relevant to me," he adds.
After being a member of the EO for about a decade, Mr Ataya left and joined another group called the Young Presidents' Organisation, which he says is somewhat similar.
Still, he credits the EO with helping him start Bayt.com back when he was still managing another company called InfoFort. "That decision changed my life," he says. "There were lots of relevant stories [told in EO] that helped me to commit to my course of action."
Not only that, Mr Ataya has convinced his sister, who is also an entrepreneur, to join EO after she started an e-commerce site that sells products for children. "She embarked on this new venture, and with that comes a lot of challenges," says Mr Ataya.
"I thought she'd benefit from having a group to share her challenges with."