The survival strategy of UAE SMEs in transforming crisis into opportunity amid a regional war

Several local brands were chosen to be included in the Ma’an initiative by Majid Al Futtaim during the period of the regional war. The perfume company of Wissam Serdoun came about as a means of coping with her mother’s breast cancer. Wissam, a French-Algerian businesswoman, needed a way to come to terms with the news and thus made perfumes without any intention of selling them.

“I had no one here in Dubai,” she said. “Therefore, I chose to do something as therapy,” she added, because she wanted to get away from reality, especially when she did not have anyone else around her.

She developed her business after testing it on friends and family. “We needed some products that could withstand the harshness of what people undergo during chemotherapy,” she said. “We needed something special that would give good quality to the nose, the skin, everything, and also link aromatherapy through the perfume.”

Chemotherapy can negatively impact one’s sense of smell and taste, as reported by the American Cancer Society, which may affect the effectiveness of the medication. For Serdoun, the sense of smell was never just about a pleasant fragrance when producing the goods.

Her mother had cancer, her company expanded, and now Serdoun’s label has been selected by Majid Al Futtaim to be featured free of charge at the Mall of the Emirates. This project, as she put it, has made her extremely grateful to be able to display her label in an esteemed mall.

“We get to know so many people from different parts of the world. But we have also been able to know our own brand and how it is seen outside,” she said. “It is a blessing just to be here with us.”

Her brand, along with many others, was chosen by Majid Al Futtaim for their Ma’an programme, which was launched at the height of the regional war to alleviate the strain on SMEs.

Lessons learned from the pandemic

Other UAE businesses in the programme have been operating for many years and survived the tough times of the COVID-19 pandemic. One such business is run by Baynu Kanchan, who makes sweets only from brown sugar, and has faced many challenges over the past year, as well as more recently, due to the ongoing regional war.

Bruijn is a term meaning “brown” in Dutch, and she started the company some 16 years ago with her mother and sister.

“I have never been scared, honestly,” Kanchan responded when asked about her feelings when the war broke out. “When everything began, we were sure we would survive it.”

Her company relies on items such as nuts, dried fruits, and chocolate that have to be brought in from other countries. Despite the fact that shipping lines in the region were seriously affected, she remained unconcerned about her supplies.

“We learned from the COVID situation that we need to have stock for six months for the ingredients, because we never want to face problems with our product,” she observed.

Pressing on despite the uncertainty

Zaid Farouki is a Jordanian-Palestinian fashion designer who relocated to Dubai over a decade ago to launch his clothing line. Farouki had seen how Dubai Design District was emerging as the next neighbourhood for creative talent, and he wanted to join the ranks of designers establishing themselves there.

During the pandemic, however, his company continued to achieve great success. Among the suits that he designed was one worn by American musician Pharrell Williams on the cover of Vogue magazine. His collections have also been featured at the Met Gala, the Grammy Awards, and the Cannes Film Festival.

The lesson that he learned from the pandemic was that “things do eventually get better,” he said. “I think that in Covid, we were stuck in a bit of a loop of, when will this end? I think it’s just riding the wave and knowing that things will eventually be fine.”

Farouki has since stated that it makes him feel proud to have been chosen for the Ma’an project, seeing how far his brand has come and seeing people’s reaction to his clothes.