Starting a business at 15 is not something we hear very often. But, Emirati entrepreneur Dr. Sara Al Madani knew from a very young age that her ideas could turn into something profitable. Ever since then, there has been no looking back and has Sara has made successful regional forays in the food, fashion and technology sectors. A self-confessed rebel, and a risk-taker, Sara wholly rejects the concept of female empowerment.
Vatika and Curly Tales team up to launch the Vatika Voices- an initiative to shed light on women in GCC who have made the world sit up and take note. Well, with so many feathers on her cap, Sara is certainly an inspiration and hers is a story that needs to be heard.
CT Dubai got on a friendly chat with the young Emirati, where she spills the beans about her business, ambition, and why she hates the term ’empowerment’.
1. Take Us Through Your Career. How & When Did It All Start?
It started with the fashion industry when I was 15. I opened an Abaya shop because I wanted to change the way women wore traditional clothes. I wanted them to be more edgy. And to save up money for that, behind my parents’ back, I worked as a promoter, a model and I was also caught so many times. Now at 33, I’ve ventured in tech, F&B, beauty, fashion & many other sectors because I believe we live once and you must embrace any opportunity that comes your way, discover your potential and unlock what you can and cannot do.
2. What Is It Like To Be An Influencer?
I’m not an influencer. I know influencer is a person who has a good influence on the people around them, but the social media has made that word simply unbearable. I don’t like being an influencer. I think I’m an entrepreneur, educator and a person who can add some positive value.
3. What Does Independence Mean To You?
Being independent is something so beautiful. I know a lot of women don’t have it and maybe can’t have it or even won’t try to have it. But it gives me the freedom to make my own mistakes, make my choices, to not care about what people say because I have one life. So, if I’m going to satisfy people, it’s a life wasted.
4. You HATE The Word ‘Empower’. Tell Us Why.
I don’t think women need empowerment, women need inspiration. I’ve never heard men ask for empowerment or to believe in them. I’ve never seen men holding hands all together, trying to take over the world, because they know they can. If women knew they could, they would create magic. The only problem is they don’t know they can and this downgrades everything. I think women need inspiration, stories, motivation, and role models who could show them anything is possible. There are a lot of women out there grabbing the world by their hands and making all the difference. So, no we don’t need empowerment, we need inspiration. Women are born ready and powerful.
5. Did You Always Want To Become An Entrepreneur? How Did Entrepreneurship Happen?
When I was young my dad told me, I used to massage my family members for money. I believe the entrepreneur is out born. It’s definitely a skill you can learn but the true soul of an entrepreneur is always with them from birth. I think all these things that I have done till date, is also because of the personality developed in me from the day I was born. My entrepreneurial characteristics I believe got developed when I was 15- not taking ‘no’ for an answer, the financial freedom, the hustling all got developed when I was young. And I wanted to discover all these things that I felt and put it into action.
6. What Are The Challenges You Experienced On Your Road To Success?
When you’re an entrepreneur its not easy and whoever says its easy- they’re lying. It’s a very hard road, filled with ups and downs. It’s a very lobely road, very dark at times. You lose money, lose people, and you also lose social life. But its all worth it in the end because whoever sticks around is meant to be around. So, I had a lot of challenges in terms of competition, innovation, growth, exhilaration. But one challenged I NEVER faced was gender. If you see you’re gender as a problem you’ll always have a problem. But if you see gender and you see y0ourself being a woman, not as a weakness, and your feminity as something positive, you’ll never see it as an obstacle. So, if there’s no chair for me at the table, I don’t wait for a man to get it for me, I grab it myself.
7. How Do You Manage Failure?
Very easy- missing ingredient, that is failure. You just pick it up and do it all over again. The only fear is when you stop trying. But if you’re trying, you haven’t failed. I have a 48-hour rule where I explode physically, & mentally. But after this, I go back and focus, look at where I went wrong, fix and learn from it.
8. Do You Find Men Intimidating?
Yes, this is in fact one of the reasons why I got divorced. I’m not alpha male, but I’m very strong and I get things done. I’m a goal digger, not a gold digger. For men, this was very intimidating because a smart man would always want a strong woman next to him because if she’s strong, it makes him stronger.
9. Do You See Any Barriers For Women In Business In The Middle East?
Of course, there is a cultural barrier, that is mental. It isn’t a real wall that you need to plan to climb. It’s a mental limitation and the minute you cross that, you’re free.
10. You Are A Woman Entrepreneur. How Difficult Was It To Be Accepted In A Man’s World?
I certainly will not deny. It was very hard to be accepted. But, if you got what it takes, that’s all that matters. Don’t do the mistake of trying to be masculine in the process, you don’t need to. Being feminine is what you have to hold on to. Be beautiful, be feminine, be strong! Don’t change just to be accepted, you must be accepted for who you are.
11. One Piece Of Advice You Would For The Next Generation
Free yourself from the chains that’s holding your feet to the ground, stopping you from moving forward to explore the future. You live here to satisfy anybody, but yourself. You’ve got one life. So don’t base that on approvals and acceptance from others, they don’t pay your bills.
12. What’s Next For You?
Covid has been tough on all of us. But, right now I’m reconstruction and innovating new businesses in several sectors.