Give a brief overview of your professional journey. What made you choose entrepreneurship and your current industry?
I have been an entrepreneur for past eleven years or so running my businesses and brands in the space of design and creativity, marketing, public relations, reputation building, communications, and events. I have three major goals in my professional journey – Establishing democratic economic ties, encouraging innovation and Supporting women empowerment goals. My professional journey has been quite interesting as I started back in 2012 for the first time as a solopreneur content creator, then grew my work into a content support agency for clients in Saudi, the UK, USA and India operating from my company Writerz Galore in Pakistan. In 2014 I formed a technology web design agency called Dynasty Technologies in the UAE that worked on multi-industry branding projects and was revered for its excellent creative designs. In 2015 the formation of the business network as YesGulf laid foundations for business events which started as business networking meetups and grew into training and skill-development sessions by 2020.
Let us fast forward to the present. Currently Stylfemina is operating under Impact Media and is a much demanded and loved magazine for entrepreneurs and business women. In 2018, I laid the foundation for Stylfemina magazine as a digital platform for women in business but now it has grown – we have Stylfemina available in print in the UAE apart from its digital version. We also have a community of women entrepreneurs associated with Stylfemina where the references support women in generating more business and grow. The network offers commendable support to women owned businesses of any scope, size and nature.
The PR agency Nousheen Marketing Management (AKA Nousheen Mukhtar International) serves high-profiled industry leaders, business icons, and thought leaders in the GCC to build effective communication strategies, PR activities, and substantial presence for them. It has a powerful portfolio of leaders. Apart from this, the company has been working towards launching brands in the market and forming business ties between nations through economic development programs. Its most significant project has been the launch of Latin America – UAE business center during Expo 2020 which paved way for five Latin American countries to trade flow within the UAE and the GCC consequently. This agency, also successfully, connected a group of established women entrepreneurs from Tanzania with industry leaders in the UAE to enhance economic ties between the two countries in 2021.
Impact Events organizes large scale industry specific conferences, tradeshows, and summits in Dubai and plans to expand its ventures globally. It serves in achieving the three major objectives behind my entire entrepreneurial work – Establishing democratic economic ties, encouraging innovation and supporting women empowerment goals. All of my ventures have been working towards these but both Stylfemina and Impact Events have been playing vital role in setting up subtle initiatives to achieve these.
What is the biggest challenge you have faced in your career? How did you overcome it and what did you learn from it?
I have faced a couple of tough challenges in my career. The major challenge in the beginning of my career was to create resources for business growth. I am much delighted to share it here that we were never externally funded by a partner or an investment company. All of my companies were self-funded. We hired the best talent, we catered to the clients from world over, we earned our own money and invested it back into our business for growth. This strategy kept us away from partnership conflicts or any downturns in withdrawals of partnerships. We sailed smoothly but we worked day and night to build our resources and substantial reputation.
As I had more than one enterprise mostly in my over a decade of entrepreneurial career, it has been a challenge to make our target audience focus and understand the scope of services we cover for our clients. We have always had a lot to offer to our clients and this sometime became a challenge and many small business clients felt confused. We solved it through establishing an effective communication policy where we communicate by educating our clients before anything is pitched to them.
Describe a time you had to make a tough decision (e.g., budget cuts, organizational restructuring, market withdrawal, etc.). What did you do and what was the result?
I have been in business for over a decade now and I have made many tough decisions. For instance, in 2018 I decided to dissolve my company in Pakistan and delegate fully some of the operations to our back office in India for effective and efficient operations. It was a very tough decision and it took me months of consideration before I acted upon it. However, it was a good decision as it helped me in working with full focus on the initiatives that followed.
As a leader, it is extremely crucial that one is decisive and rational. What do you do when you are stuck or confused?
It is true that we have to be rational and good at decision making as leaders. There is a lot of responsibility here that comes with authority. In toughest of decisions, I prefer to take a break and take my time to weigh pros and cons before I have final choice made. I usually go very quiet to find my best answers, I research, check similar situations to review what other leaders have selected as option and how it worked for them before I decide. I never make an impulsive decision on the spur of a moment whether it is related to business, onboarding an employee or an investment.
Mention some of the honourable awards received by your person and the company?
The following awards have been reflection of our achievements as we work to serve:
- The Most Inspiring Pakistani Woman Leader 2022 (Berkley Middle East)
2. Business Influencer 2022 & Honor Award 2023 (WeTel TV, Dubai)
3. Corporate Lady in Business 2022 (She Awards by LinBiz)
4. Most Powerful Woman Leader 2021 (CIO Times UK)
5. Most Influential Woman Entrepreneur 2021 (Dazzle Vinci International Events)
6. Best Women’s Magazine awarded to Stylfemina (by Being Muskaan)
7. Inspiring Woman Business Leader 2021 (GCC Royals on National Day Pakistan)
8. Top Woman in Media 2022 – Woman of Stature Awards Dubai South Africa
What makes your company different from those existing in the market?
We are focused and mission driven. We work toward achieving socio-economic goals such as the fifth of the 17 SDGs is supported by Impact Events and Media FZCO through seven impactful events and activities per year. Nousheen Marketing Management is working through best practices to ensure Business to Business Relationship Building, forming business partnerships for multiple businesses to help them tap into Foreign Markets, establishing Business Centers, and Trade packs across continents to facilitate economic development. We are working towards making this wonderful world a positive place for everybody.
As a business leader, do you believe in micromanaging every aspect of the business or do you believe in efficient management?
I do not micromanage. With offices in the UAE and back offices in India, it is impossible for me to run all of these activities if I micromanage. I trust teams, I hire the best talent and delegate most of the operations to the skilled professionals. This is a good efficient way of running businesses.
What would you advise to the budding entrepreneurs?
Here are five lessons I have learned and I wish to share with budding entrepreneurs
- Have courage – it allows you to make mistakes and learn. It allows you to dive and hunt. It allows you to soar higher when you fly.
- Believe in your self – you are your most valuable asset; you are your best friend and you are the center of your universe. If you will not have you, you will not win anywhere. Connect with your own core, know yourself, delve into your own being, find your strength, your purpose, your voice and then do what you love best to do. Everything starts from you!
- Never ignore your gut feeling – it is correct mostly
- Do not wait for the right time, you should be ready, prepare fast to be ready instead of waiting to be ready – there is no right time, never delay things, never wait or procrastinate. Be very pro-active.
- Delegate – When you starting off in business you feel you know it better than everybody else and hence you need to control it. That is wrong approach. Hire the best talent, delegate as much as you can with best professionals. It will help your business to grow.
