If you want your baby to have the most luxurious start in life, a Dubai-based company can decorate your hospital delivery suite – so whatever baby first sets eyes on in this world, you can be sure it will be bling-tastic.
“People here really go all out when a baby born, especially a first child,” says Camelia Mohebi, who is from the UAE and runs Babybling. “Hospitals offer tiered delivery suites; standard, VIP, presidential and the top end, the royal suite, starting at Dh20,000 a night. Up to 400 people might visit the baby on the first day. The whole suite is decorated, there’s room service, and salons do the mother’s nails and hair.”
Decoration of delivery suites is the signature service they have been providing since entering the market in 2007. Ms Mohebi has 14 nieces and nephews and had visited many delivery suites, so knows the kind of pampering and decor local mothers appreciate. Ms Mohebi was working in marketing for Citigroup when she quit to set up Babybling. She has a degree in visual communication and graphic design and is also a professional artist, so designing delivery suites gave her a chance to express her artistic side.
“A friend knew someone in Turkey who decorated delivery room doors and provided gifts for visitors,” she says. “A lightbulb went on in my head as I realised the potential of such a service here, which no one else was offering. I thought I could provide an all-encompassing service, and combine it with my love of design.”
Ms Mohebi got a Dh250,000 interest-free loan from Al Tomooh, a Dubai-based fund financing small businesses, as well as putting in her own cash.
In Babybling’s first year, their niche was baby haute-couture – including Swarovski crystal-encrusted babygros and 18-carat gold and diamond dummies. But in the post-downturn years since, Ms Mohebi has been toning down the bling to suit the market. These days, as well as decorating delivery suites, Babybling sells baby clothing with funky prints and gift hampers at branches in House of Fraser at World Trade Center Mall Abu Dhabi and Hamleys in Dubai Mall.
“During [the] boom-time people would pay crazy prices and very upmarket products were embraced. That’s less true now, but people still spend big money on their children. Lots of my friends sacrifice from themselves to give to their children,” Ms Mohebi says.
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