I want to do everything myself ... it’s my passion

Abdullah Al Redha does not have an employee to assist him at his shop that sells and repairs many products.

“I want to do everything myself to keep me busy. After all, this is my passion,” he says smilingly.

He opens his shop at noon and works till 8pm. Since he does not have an employee, he has to close the shop to attend to personal matters.

“I close the shop when I go on my annual vacation for two weeks a year. It is not economical to keep a fulltime employee to open the shop for those short periods,” he said.

“It does not affect my business because of my regular customer base. I inform them before going on vacation and they buy whatever they want before I leave.”

Friday is his holiday. “Still if a client calls up for something, I go and give it.”

It is a small business catering to mainly customers who can spend from Dh1,500 to Dh7,000 on watersports equipment.

He is happy with his set-up and does not want to expand. Al Redha says he has seen many businesses collapse because of aggressive expansion.

“There is no problem in being ambitious in business. It is good to have ambitions. But if you have unrealistic ambitions, you may fail,” he said.

However, he added it is important to diversify one’s business as he did it gradually from diving equipment to coffee machines, paddleboards and kayaks.