Passion, money, stereotypes: UAE women leaders discuss their experiences

For investment banker Tracy Harmoush, the biggest fear when quitting her secure job and becoming an entrepreneur was running out of money. “It was scary,” she said. “I was worried about running out of money and I did run out of money. But it is important to be a little risk-savvy and have an appetite for risk. You don’t necessarily have to switch fields like I did and start a business. You can even choose to navigate in the structure by creating a different role for yourself in a corporate.”

Tracy was speaking at the We the Women (WTW) conference organised by Khaleej Times during a panel discussion about social media content creation.

She said she did not believe that being passionate was enough to make a business work. “Going after your passion means nothing if you don’t have money,” she said.

“You start making really bad decisions when you run out of money. You start taking on jobs that don’t serve you any purpose so that you get paid. So having some purpose is important.”

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The second edition of WTW, helmed by renowned Indian journalist Barkha Dutt, brought together women from various fields to discuss several topics including money, passion and breaking stereotypes.

Business coach Nora Achmaoui agreed with Tracy and said that passion is really not enough. “When I do my coaching in entrepreneurship, I see a lot of people don’t have a plan,” she said. “Building a business and future has nothing to do with your motivation. It is about discipline.”

At a session during the event, Muneera AlDossary, CEO of Franklin Templeton Financial Company discussed how it was important for women to have a retirement plan. “Longevity is higher for women, which mean you will be retired for longer,” she said. “One of the challenges that women face in financial freedom is confidence. Traditionally men are expected to be the main provider and have less exposure to finances. They are more averse to taking risks and there is always a fear of failure.”

Changing perceptions

For Butheina Kazim, founder of Cinema Akil, her work is all about changing perceptions about the world, one movie at a time. “The world has become incredibly polarised,” she said. “That trickles down to everything including who is going to be given a mic at the conversation. We are living at the crux of witnessing a genocide that is almost a year old.”

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