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hen Nafisa Rebello and Ekta Saran first visited an Artisans of the Emirates (Arte) market in Dubai a couple of years ago, they were shocked to discover how many people there were creating handmade goods in the UAE. “We couldn’t believe there were all these people making these things,” Rebello recalls.
“The more we went to these markets and came across new things that we had never seen before in Dubai, the more we realised that nobody else knew about them either,” Saran adds. “I would talk about it and people would be so surprised that you could get handmade goods here; and that there were hundreds of sellers around. There was a need to get the word out that these guys existed and were creating these amazing things.”
That, the duo say, is probably when the idea for their new e-commerce venture, Ideyna.com, was first born. Although, truth be told, it could have been sown at any point over the course of their nearly 20-year friendship which began when the ladies, both daughters of Indian expats who were brought up in Dubai, met in grade seven. Although Saran went off to study in Canada and Rebello studied in India, both returned to the UAE and, as fellow creatives, started working together as copywriters in the advertising industry and as TV producers and scriptwriters. Because they are not “designer-y” by nature, the ladies, now 32, have always been prone to picking up unique, handmade items on their travels, and to bringing back unusual gifts for each other.
Ideyna means “our hands” in Arabic (although regional dialects mean the word is pronounced differently depending on where you are in the Middle East, so don’t be scared about saying it out loud and getting it wrong). The idea behind the site is a simple one: to provide an online platform where designers/makers from the UAE can showcase and sell their handmade goods. “We are here to promote the smaller entrepreneur who is trying to do something unique, smaller brands that do not necessarily have the funds to promote themselves,” Saran explains.
“We were very sure about one thing from the beginning,” adds Rebello. “We do not want resellers on the site. If you source your products from elsewhere, rather than make them yourself, if you get them from various Asian countries and resell them here, for example, that’s not what we want. You can use raw materials from elsewhere, or you can have a small team that helps you make them, but they need to be made over here.”
The site features everything from art and accessories to clothing, jewellery and items for the home. There are “no edibles”, I’m informed, and accessories are so far proving particularly popular. Some of the products are exclusive to Ideyna and there’s the opportunity to customise certain items should you so desire.
There are more than 200 products on offer at present, from organic jute clutches from Ragmatazz and stylish leather-bound, recycled paper journals by Sourat Journal, to shell and lace pendants by Breeze Clothing and tapestry knit cushions by Finishing Touches. There’s art by the UAE-based, South African artist Eileen van der Merwe, whose Camel Landscapes are inspired by local topography, and soap bars by Desert Rose Handmade Soaps – check out the Creme Caramel Sea Salt Bar made from Moroccan Rhassoul Clay, cocoa butter, olive oil, coconut oil and coconut milk with a rich crème caramel aroma. Other highlights include the Pencil Coasters by Crafty Dust, which are made from the stubs of vibrantly coloured pencils, and the rustic, wheel-thrown stoneware by Maya’s.
From former chemists who crochet to women who are creating embroidered bags in their garages, Rebello and Saran are meeting a colourful set of characters along the way. Because of their background in television, the duo is always on the lookout for the stories behind the products, and is keen to come up with creative and original ways to promote their partners, from videos documenting how products are made to DIY projects and, eventually, workshops where successful sellers will be able to share their skills or offer advice to other upcoming entrepreneurs. “We want to help build that community locally,” says Saran.
“You don’t just come to Ideyna for a sale; we will have DIY tutorials with our sellers; we hope people will stay to read articles or watch videos; we hope they will stay to find out a little bit more and to learn something new. We don’t want to be just another e-commerce site,” adds Rebello.
Critically, sellers are responsible for controlling their own on-site “stores”. Although the team is always on hand to offer advice, assistance and support, once a seller receives approval and gains access to Ideyna, they are responsible for managing their own presence on the site in terms of setting their prices, uploading images, adding new products and so on. Ideyna is responsible for the delivery of items, whether locally or internationally. It is free to register and free to list – Ideyna only takes a percentage of profits when a sale is made. “So we make money only if they make money,” says Rebello.
The site has been “two very long years” in the making, says Rebello, and was officially launched last month. With no big corporate backers and limited funds at their disposal – “this is just our savings,” they say – the process became a collaborative effort. Rebello’s boyfriend, who has since become her husband, was responsible for the coding, while the company’s logo was created by an artist friend who was paid in LPs – and food. “A lot of people came together; we just pitched the idea to them and they helped if they could.”
In the process, the duo have joined a new wave of entrepreneurs pioneering smaller, web-based businesses with a more small-scale, niche proposition. “We are in a city that is slowly opening up to smaller entrepreneurs,” says Saran. “It’s nice to see these smaller things pop up – and do well. What’s really nice is that people are now quite accepting of this. Dubai is always going to be a big-brand city but I think at the same time people are looking for niche, unique things. And that works in our advantage.”
