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

At the We the Women conference organised by Khaleej Times, women leaders from various fields dwelt on a range of topics

Nasreen Abdulla

Published: Wed 16 Oct 2024, 9:48 PM

Last updated: Wed 16 Oct 2024, 9:50 PM

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 Harmoush

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

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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.

Michael Jabri-Pickett, editor-in-chief, Khaleej Times, during the welcome address at the conference.

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.”

Nora Achmaoui

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.”

Muneera AlDossary

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.”

Butheina Kazim

Kazim said she chose to power on despite the despair. “It is easy to feel overwhelmed,” she said. “Media representation, art and culture is not apolitical. It is not removed from a larger conversation and a larger reality. I think it's an important reminder to continuously do a more effective job, even to the maybe five people that show up to a documentary screening that we put together, or the thousands of people that are going to walk through our door for a film release. It's one film at a time, one spectator at a time. That's how we've been working, and that's what I believe is my responsibility.”

A panel discussion during the 'We the Women' conference.

Battling odds

On the stage, Dubai-born badminton player Tanisha Crasto also shared her very private battle with alopecia for the first time on a public stage. The 21-year-old had moved to India to pursue her playing career but returned to Dubai. “I became completely bald,” she recalled. “I didn’t know what to do. I left badminton and I left everything to come back. I didn’t know how to face the world.”

Tanisha Crasto

She said she kept going and eventually returned to playing the sport. Earlier this year, she played at the Paris Olympics in the doubles badminton category. She was also one of the four winners of the Franklin Templeton Women in Progress Awards that were handed out at the event. Other winners included delivery driver turned entrepreneur Gift Preye Solomon, Jiu jitsu star Zamzam AlHammadi and Pakistani mountain climber Naila Kiani.

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