The biog
Alwyn Stephen says much of his success is a result of taking an educated chance on business decisions.
His advice to anyone starting out in business is to have no fear as life is about taking on challenges.
“If you have the ambition and dream of something, follow that dream, be positive, determined and set goals.
"Nothing and no-one can stop you from succeeding with the right work application, and a little bit of luck along the way.”
Mr Stephen sells his luxury fragrances at selected perfumeries around the UAE, including the House of Niche Boutique in Al Seef.
He relaxes by spending time with his family at home, and enjoying his wife’s India cooking.
From selling thread and buttons to developing fragrances for the rich and famous, Alwyn Stephen has come a long way.
Some say it is a true rags to riches story: from humble beginnings, his current social media profile picture is him smiling alongside Kim Kardashian, flashing a peace sign.
'Kim K', as he calls her, as well as Paris Hilton and cricketer MS Dhoni, are just a few of the high profile names Alwyn has worked with to launch personalised fragrances in the Middle East, while rubbing shoulders at events with the likes of Paula Abdul and Indian actress Daisy Shah.
But life is very different to the day he pitched up in the UAE in 1985 with little more than a suitcase and a working grasp of English.
“I was 21, and my dad used some of his contacts to get me a job in Dubai selling hosiery items, threads and buttons for a local guy,” says Alwyn, who is Indian, and married with a daughter of 11.
“He took me on because I could read English text on the imported goods.
“I began selling, even though I had no experience, and was earning just Dh800 a month.”
When a friend said jobs were available at the Al Tayer Group, Alwyn jumped at the chance, although the only jobs on offer were in the beauty division.
Despite knowing nothing about the industry, his enthusiasm shone through and he soon trebled his salary.
“I got lucky, worked hard and quickly became a brand manager for a lot of North American perfumes, and launched one of the first lines of Creed,” he says.
“I worked on introducing fragrances like Jaguar, Benetton, Alfred Sung and Oscar de la Renta.
“There were very few malls then, so it was very different to now.”
In 1993 he travelled to the US, Canada and France to test out and launch the latest fragrances.
Two years later, he was offered a general manager role at Rivoli fragrances, in what was the new dawn of celebrity perfumes.
“I was working with some really big brands like Hermes and La Prairie,” says Alwyn.
“I launched their new perfumes at big events in Dubai, at the Burj Al Arab and Jumeriah Hotels.
“It was quite a glamorous time with travelling, meeting designers and famous people.”
Now well established in the perfume world, Alwyn took his greatest gamble yet to strike out on his own, setting up his own distribution company.
A trip to the US to meet some old contacts connected him with Parlux Fragrances, an international company with a stable of high profile celebrities.
“I was connected with stars like Paris Hilton, Rhianna and Jessica Simpson,’ he says.
"At the time, celebrities were driving a lot of the success behind fragrances.
“It became aspirational for many people - but the reality is they had very little involvement in designing and creating a fragrance.
“But having a celebrity on board did all the marketing I needed.
“Even Donald Trump had a fragrance, but it did not do very well.”
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Alwyn spent time with Paris Hilton at a launch event in Switzerland for her latest fragrance, and was pleasantly surprised as she was different to her public persona.
“Paris is very sweet and certainly not arrogant, just a hard working businesswoman” says Alwyn.
“When she launched her fragrance it was a tough time, as it clashed with a private video of her that was leaked.
“Everyone was making fun of me and said I had made a big mistake. I took it as a challenge, as her name was all over the internet.
“A month later, sales picked up and it started selling very well and demand increased.”
In 2014, he launched Kim Kardashian’s sixth fragrance in Dubai, another star who was also "excellent to work with", says Alwyn.
As the enduring appeal of celebrity fragrances began to fade, Alwyn took yet another risk to design and sell his own high end scent.
After two years of hard work, he has developed and launched a trio of perfumes under the name Pierre Precieuse, meaning precious stone in French.
At $200 a bottle, they don’t come cheap - but Alwyn claims he offers something not even the finest fashion houses of Chanel and Hermes can replicate.
His perfumes sell in nine countries, and are becoming popular in Paris with a launch soon planned for a limited edition $2,000 scent in a crystal and gold bottle at Harrods, London.
“The biggest change in consumer behaviour has been loyalty, as people no longer stick with the same fragrance,” he says.
“The impact of celebrity has declined over the last decade.
“Social media has led that - if they make a mistake it is all over very quickly and their brand becomes damaged.
“Fashion designers feel less inclined to attach themselves to the big names, but I’ve found if you don’t take risks in life you will never go forward.
“Without risk I would still be selling buttons for Dh800 a month.”
INVESTMENT PLEDGES
Cartlow: $13.4m
Rabbitmart: $14m
Smileneo: $5.8m
Soum: $4m
imVentures: $100m
Plug and Play: $25m
The%20specs
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UK-EU trade at a glance
EU fishing vessels guaranteed access to UK waters for 12 years
Co-operation on security initiatives and procurement of defence products
Youth experience scheme to work, study or volunteer in UK and EU countries
Smoother border management with use of e-gates
Cutting red tape on import and export of food
Global Fungi Facts
• Scientists estimate there could be as many as 3 million fungal species globally
• Only about 160,000 have been officially described leaving around 90% undiscovered
• Fungi account for roughly 90% of Earth's unknown biodiversity
• Forest fungi help tackle climate change, absorbing up to 36% of global fossil fuel emissions annually and storing around 5 billion tonnes of carbon in the planet's topsoil
The five pillars of Islam
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Pots for the Asian Qualifiers
Pot 1: Iran, Japan, South Korea, Australia, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, China
Pot 2: Iraq, Uzbekistan, Syria, Oman, Lebanon, Kyrgyz Republic, Vietnam, Jordan
Pot 3: Palestine, India, Bahrain, Thailand, Tajikistan, North Korea, Chinese Taipei, Philippines
Pot 4: Turkmenistan, Myanmar, Hong Kong, Yemen, Afghanistan, Maldives, Kuwait, Malaysia
Pot 5: Indonesia, Singapore, Nepal, Cambodia, Bangladesh, Mongolia, Guam, Macau/Sri Lanka
Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
Background: Chemical Weapons
The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
Our legal advisor
Ahmad El Sayed is Senior Associate at Charles Russell Speechlys, a law firm headquartered in London with offices in the UK, Europe, the Middle East and Hong Kong.
Experience: Commercial litigator who has assisted clients with overseas judgments before UAE courts. His specialties are cases related to banking, real estate, shareholder disputes, company liquidations and criminal matters as well as employment related litigation.
Education: Sagesse University, Beirut, Lebanon, in 2005.
The%20specs
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Opening Premier League fixtures, August 14
- Brentford v Arsenal
- Burnley v Brighton
- Chelsea v Crystal Palace
- Everton v Southampton
- Leicester City v Wolves
- Manchester United v Leeds United
- Newcastle United v West Ham United
- Norwich City v Liverpool
- Tottenham v Manchester City
- Watford v Aston Villa
FIGHT%20CARD
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U19 WORLD CUP, WEST INDIES
UAE group fixtures (all in St Kitts)
- Saturday 15 January: UAE beat Canada by 49 runs
- Thursday 20 January: v England
- Saturday 22 January: v Bangladesh
UAE squad:
Alishan Sharafu (captain), Shival Bawa, Jash Giyanani, Sailles
Jaishankar, Nilansh Keswani, Aayan Khan, Punya Mehra, Ali Naseer, Ronak Panoly,
Dhruv Parashar, Vinayak Raghavan, Soorya Sathish, Aryansh Sharma, Adithya
Shetty, Kai Smith
WHAT IS A BLACK HOLE?
1. Black holes are objects whose gravity is so strong not even light can escape their pull
2. They can be created when massive stars collapse under their own weight
3. Large black holes can also be formed when smaller ones collide and merge
4. The biggest black holes lurk at the centre of many galaxies, including our own
5. Astronomers believe that when the universe was very young, black holes affected how galaxies formed
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
F1 2020 calendar
March 15 - Australia, Melbourne; March 22 - Bahrain, Sakhir; April 5 - Vietnam, Hanoi; April 19 - China, Shanghai; May 3 - Netherlands, Zandvoort; May 20 - Spain, Barcelona; May 24 - Monaco, Monaco; June 7 - Azerbaijan, Baku; June 14 - Canada, Montreal; June 28 - France, Le Castellet; July 5 - Austria, Spielberg; July 19 - Great Britain, Silverstone; August 2 - Hungary, Budapest; August 30 - Belgium, Spa; September 6 - Italy, Monza; September 20 - Singapore, Singapore; September 27 - Russia, Sochi; October 11 - Japan, Suzuka; October 25 - United States, Austin; November 1 - Mexico City, Mexico City; November 15 - Brazil, Sao Paulo; November 29 - Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi.
Tearful appearance
Chancellor Rachel Reeves set markets on edge as she appeared visibly distraught in parliament on Wednesday.
Legislative setbacks for the government have blown a new hole in the budgetary calculations at a time when the deficit is stubbornly large and the economy is struggling to grow.
She appeared with Keir Starmer on Thursday and the pair embraced, but he had failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.
A spokesman said her upset demeanour was due to a personal matter.
Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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United States
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China
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UAE
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4.
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Japan
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5
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Norway
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Canada
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Singapore
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Australia
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Saudi Arabia
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South Korea
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Women%E2%80%99s%20T20%20World%20Cup%20Qualifier
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Company%20Profile
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About Krews
Founder: Ahmed Al Qubaisi
Based: Abu Dhabi
Founded: January 2019
Number of employees: 10
Sector: Technology/Social media
Funding to date: Estimated $300,000 from Hub71 in-kind support
The biog
Alwyn Stephen says much of his success is a result of taking an educated chance on business decisions.
His advice to anyone starting out in business is to have no fear as life is about taking on challenges.
“If you have the ambition and dream of something, follow that dream, be positive, determined and set goals.
"Nothing and no-one can stop you from succeeding with the right work application, and a little bit of luck along the way.”
Mr Stephen sells his luxury fragrances at selected perfumeries around the UAE, including the House of Niche Boutique in Al Seef.
He relaxes by spending time with his family at home, and enjoying his wife’s India cooking.