Do your best or don’t do it: Sara Al Madani
Emirati serial entrepreneur and investor Sara Al Madani – who also sits on different boards like the UAE Ministry of Economy’s SME Council and Sharjah Chamber of Commerce and Industry – believes in meeting every commitment with full potential, ethically and efficiently. That’s her recipe for success in being able to handle her own ventures – seven existing businesses with the eighth getting ready for launch – and meeting external commitments. “After committing to something,
I feel, it’s wrong to not give your best,” she stresses.
Al Madani is the brain behind diverse businesses ranging from fashion, F&B to beauty, consulting and technology. Some of her brands include Sara Al Madani Fashion Design, brand consultancy Social
Fish, events company Proposal
Cupid, talent agency Spread Talents and technology company HulaTech, among others.
The obvious question – how does she handle everything?
“If the right idea strikes, I have the energy, drive and passion for taking on more. It really is about the mindset and learning to use time efficiently,” she responds. In fact, Al Madani is getting ready to launch her new business HalaHi soon, a platform that will connect high-profile celebrities with their fans to engage meaningfully.
Hands-on leader
Al Madani believes in being a handson leader. Having invested in several businesses, she doesn’t expect to see results without being involved. “I never sit back and ask for returns from my investments,” Al Madani affirms. “I don’t believe in micromanaging either, but I do the job of a leader. And that job is to serve, be that serving coffee or being a visionary. Leaders must know how to give to their people. If you give enough opportunities to your people, they will learn more and meaningfully contribute to your business. And when they eventually leave, you would have done a bit of good for someone.”
As a leader, Al Madani doesn’t believe in a one-size-fits-all policy to achieve tangible results and measure success. “Different people – like businesses – have different motivations such as success, fame, recognition, money. In my companies, success is determined by how happy and comfortable my people are. After all, when the team works, dream works. Of course, every team member has goals and KPI to achieve. But if in a given month, someone is not able to achieve their goals that mustn’t be
a deal-breaker. There is always room to learn and overcome mistakes. Businesses need to make money; otherwise, it doesn’t make sense. But passion should be at the heart of all endeavours to see sustainable results,” she observes.
Conquering fears
Al Madani, who began her entrepreneurial journey at the age of
15, only took a ‘break’ once, when her fashion business went bankrupt. That was back in 2013, led by a combination of factors, particularly a bad partnership. “I almost went to jail at that time,” she recollects. “It was a bad partnership, but I refused to shift the blame on the partner. I had over 100 people on payroll and had to pay rent for three locations, but I didn’t have money. The easiest way would have been to give up. But that wasn’t a choice for me; I didn’t want to play the victim card. Instead, I looked at my mistakes – not following the financials and not being fully involved in decision-making – and change the strategy to survive.”
From 2004-13 whatever profits came from the business – erstwhile Rouge Couture rebranded to Sara Al Madani Fashion Design – Al Madani ploughed it back never to see it again. That must be quite demotivating. But in her words “it fueled my fire.” That’s because she was able to conquer her fears by getting up and reviving the business, albeit, it took six months. “That failure taught me a huge lesson – that if we want, we can learn from every mistake and move ahead without becoming bitter. Even after that failed partnership, I still trusted partners and built more relationships, but chose them well,” she shares.
“Some people are afraid to take risks,” Al Madani continues. “But I always tell them that even buying online is a risk, because you haven’t seen the actual product. The moment a person is able to overcome their fear, they become unstoppable. All it takes is a change of mindset because fear is an illusion of the brain.”
Building an innovation ecosystem
“Many would disagree, but I think money is the easiest starting point for an entrepreneur. There is funding available. The bigger question is if the person has an entrepreneurial personality and attitude, along with a constant drive to innovate. A bright idea isn’t enough; what’s required is creating an innovation ecosystem – revolving around the idea, cost of deploying, marketing,” Al Madani opines. “As an investor, I receive at least three-five pitches daily, and some ideas are perfect, but people behind them don’t know how to manage it to their full potential.”
She believes that one of the biggest reasons why a lot of start-ups fail is because they don’t know how to manage their cash flow. “The idea might be amazing. The team might be amazing. But if the business owner is spending more than they earn on unnecessary components, the cash flow will get impacted. It is also very important to keep reinvesting in the business. Complacency, especially when you see money coming in, won’t go very far,” she suggests.
“Importantly, act like a start-up, don’t just look like one. Now this might be confusing, so I shall break it down. Many entrepreneurs tend to get carried away and spend a lot of money on maintaining a certain lifestyle. But as an entrepreneur, your work should provide enough affirmation than lifestyle. Let your work speak for itself,” she points out.
Being an ethical technopreneur
“Women can’t do technology” and “robots will replace people” – these assumptions upset Al Madani enough to actually establish a technology company in Los Angeles in 2016 called HulaTech.
“Technology is, indeed, the future. Technology helps to solve problems. However, it is humans who created technology. So, I find it very annoying when organisations place people behind technology. The idea is to let technology complement people and not compete with humans, taking away their jobs.
The idea is to create technology that will go hand-in-hand with humans and support them,” Al Madani observes.
Becoming a better version of self
Al Madani understands and appreciates being a business owner. “Nothing in this world has moulded my personality, emotional intelligence and ethics more than business. It has the power to change us, by interacting with people and dealing with situations – thinking about how to act, react and negotiate.”
Finally, she says, “Every single day I wake up wanting to be a better human being than I was yesterday – by being kind, supportive and non-judgmental.” ■