It has been a tough year for Steven Curbelo, the proprietor of Abu Dhabi-based air conditioning cleaning company Brooklyn General Maintenance.
Recognised in 2015 by The National's readers as one of the top #UAEinnovators in business, the former stay-at-home father started his small company two years ago because he was worried that his six year old son was suffering from mould and bacteria in his building's air-conditioning vents.
The firm wins most of its business by using an innovative “fog technology”, which enables it to spray a dry fog – a mixture of disinfectant and water – into hard-to-reach crevices to kill harmful mould and bacteria – a technique Mr Curbelo says eased his son’s condition.
But with oil prices in a lull affecting the investment climate and a number of major Abu Dhabi employers axing staff, Mr Curbelo, who came to the city with his teacher wife, says the past 12 months have been tough for the fledgling business.
“Lots of people have been leaving. At one point my wife was worried for the future of her job,” said Mr Curbelo, a 49-year- old American. “We thought that’s it, it’s been good but we’ll have to head back to the US.”
Nonetheless, the company is growing steadily with profit up around 3 per cent compared with a year earlier, Mr Curbelo estimated. He has also innovated his business offering to ensure the company can keep growing even in a difficult trading climate.
As well as air-conditioning cleaning, Mr Curbelo says that Brooklyn General Maintenance has now branched out into landscaping by teaming up with another UAE-based handyman business.
And, Mr Curbelo, a bonsai aficionado in his spare time, is attempting to add an Abu Dhabi- inspired twist to his landscaping work.
So far Mr Curbelo said he has done two jobs for clients where he has provided netting around expensive plants like old olive trees so that they can be dug up again when the client moves on.
“People can spend thousands of dirhams on landscaping a villa here,” he says. “And then, at the end of the day if you have to leave, you’ve lost all that money. What we’re trying to do is to put netting around the roots of the major plants so if you move on, you can either take it with you or sell it on.”
lbarnard@thenational.ae
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The Birkin bag is made by Hermès.
It is named after actress and singer Jane Birkin
Noone from Hermès will go on record to say how much a new Birkin costs, how long one would have to wait to get one, and how many bags are actually made each year.
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
US PGA Championship in numbers
1 Joost Luiten produced a memorable hole in one at the par-three fourth in the first round.
2 To date, the only two players to win the PGA Championship after winning the week before are Rory McIlroy (2014 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational) and Tiger Woods (2007, WGC-Bridgestone Invitational). Hideki Matsuyama or Chris Stroud could have made it three.
3 Number of seasons without a major for McIlroy, who finished in a tie for 22nd.
4 Louis Oosthuizen has now finished second in all four of the game's major championships.
5 In the fifth hole of the final round, McIlroy holed his longest putt of the week - from 16ft 8in - for birdie.
6 For the sixth successive year, play was disrupted by bad weather with a delay of one hour and 43 minutes on Friday.
7 Seven under par (64) was the best round of the week, shot by Matsuyama and Francesco Molinari on Day 2.
8 Number of shots taken by Jason Day on the 18th hole in round three after a risky recovery shot backfired.
9 Jon Rahm's age in months the last time Phil Mickelson missed the cut in the US PGA, in 1995.
10 Jimmy Walker's opening round as defending champion was a 10-over-par 81.
11 The par-four 11th coincidentally ranked as the 11th hardest hole overall with a scoring average of 4.192.
12 Paul Casey was a combined 12 under par for his first round in this year's majors.
13 The average world ranking of the last 13 PGA winners before this week was 25. Kevin Kisner began the week ranked 25th.
14 The world ranking of Justin Thomas before his victory.
15 Of the top 15 players after 54 holes, only Oosthuizen had previously won a major.
16 The par-four 16th marks the start of Quail Hollow's so-called "Green Mile" of finishing holes, some of the toughest in golf.
17 The first round scoring average of the last 17 major champions was 67.2. Kisner and Thorbjorn Olesen shot 67 on day one at Quail Hollow.
18 For the first time in 18 majors, the eventual winner was over par after round one (Thomas shot 73).
