Dubai mumpreneur makes it snappy

Entrepreneur Zeina Abdalla juggles two businesses - Fishfayce and Moushii.com - with caring for her young son.

Zeina Abdalla, who juggles two businesses and a young son, has come to terms with delegating responsibilities. Lee Hoagland / The National

Juggling two businesses with the pressures of being a new mother is not always easy, but Zeina Abdalla has made a go of it – albeit on only six hours’ sleep a night. The 31-year-old Dubai resident is the founder of Fishfayce, which specialises in photo booths for corporate events and weddings. Along with her sister, she also runs Moushii.com, which sells party supplies. The birth of her son last August means that Ms Abdalla had to change her schedule to spend time with him. Fishfayce, which started in 2010, recently launched a concept whereby it takes footage of guests to create an animated “Flipbook” of photographs. Here Ms Abdalla – who was born in the United States and raised in Sudan and Canada – explains why spending time developing new products is an essential part of her busy schedule.

5.30am

If my son is having a good day I will wake up at 5.30am. At 6.30am I leave the house to go to the gym. As crazy as it sounds, it energises me. It does something to you when you work out: you feel great, like you have accomplished something.

9am

I arrive at the office at 9am. My work starts off with just being reactive – replying to emails – and that usually takes a good hour and a half. Later we have a Fishfayce team meeting. The vibe in the office is pretty laid-back. We work in a small team, so it is like a small family. Communication lines are always open, there is no hierarchy.

11am

I do research online for new products, to see what there is in the market. You would not believe the number of [photo booth] companies that have started. I have lost track. When we first started it was very challenging because the concept of a photo booth did not exist, no one knew what it was. So we made it easy for the other companies to start. The way we stay ahead is by coming up with new services and concepts to keep clients’ events fresh.

I am not at every event now because it’s just not possible for me. So I make sure that our team is fully briefed. Technology can be very unpredictable. So we try to bring extra equipment, and have things readily available.

12.30

I head to Souk Al Bahar at The Dubai Mall for lunch. It gives us a chance to unwind. Sometimes I go for lunch with my husband, sometimes with a client. We try to go once a month with the team, just to have that time to bond and let them know they are appreciated.

1.30pm

When I am back at the office, I start again with the emails, because it doesn’t stop. I am CC’d in every single email, which is crazy because I end up with a gazillion emails. I’m the type of person that has a difficult time delegating tasks. I just think: ‘oh I’ll just do it myself’. But now I have come to terms with it … I have to delegate otherwise I will burn out.

2.30pm

I head home, because I have a small baby. And I’m lucky because I have my own business and can leave earlier than most people would. From 3pm to 4pm I spend time with my son, play with him. That time with him is very important – so it is phones aside, computers aside. There is no way that would be possible with a nine-to-five job – there is no part-time work here, you either work or you don’t. So I am very fortunate.

5pm

My son is fed and by 6.30pm he is in bed. My husband gets home from the gym at 8pm and we have dinner.

9pm

Believe it or not, I now start working again. Because I have two different businesses to run I have to split my time somehow. At the moment I am actually doing some research to see what stores in the UAE could stock our [Moushii] products. It’s a “party in a box” they can sell to their customers.

11.30pm

I am in bed – and that would be an early night. It does get tiring when you have to jump from work, to taking care of the baby and cook, and then go back to work. It is hard for me to switch off, so trying to find that work-life balance is still very difficult. But I definitely enjoy it.

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