The UAE market is amazing for young entrepreneurs but great concepts and unique products are also important for start-ups.
This was shared by a young Emirati entrepreneur, Mansoor Al Bastaki, with Khaleej Times in an interview. Al Bastaki belongs to a family owned company, which was established in 1925, but he started his own business more than a year ago.
He has two Mastihashop outlets. The first shop is in Jumeirah and he also recently launched a Mastihashop food truck. With café offerings, the truck is suitable for big events and festivals like Zabeel Park markets and the Abu Dhabi Formula 1 Grand Prix.
Mastihashop is a department store concept offering chocolates, sweets, specialty sweet and savory products, cosmetics and skincare, pharmaceuticals and gifts, as well as exotic coffee, ice cream, deserts and milkshakes.
"I have passion in the food business. This particular concept is very unique as almost 80 per cent of the products infused with mastic, which has a very tasty aroma and as well a healthy ingredient," explained Al Bastaki, who is also founder and managing director of MAB Middle East Trading.
Mastiha/Mastic is the natural and rare tree resin. Scientific research has shown that this resin has anti-oxidant, antibacterial and anti-inflammatory qualities. It has been documented from antiquity for its health benefits, its use as the first natural chewing gum and as a cooking spice. Today, it is still chewed as well as used in pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and in the culinary world. Mastihashop is an international franchise from Greece having outlets in the holy city of Makkah, Jeddah, Athens, New York, Paris, Thessaloniki, Istanbul, Chios and now in Dubai.
"We started with seven people. and today the team is triple in size as the business grew and more people were hired," he said.
Talking about funding sources for the business, he mentioned that it's personal and family contribution. "I want to grow faster and I will definitely need banks' funding for my next projects," he explained.
Bin Hendi - a luxury fashion, watches, jewellery and hospitality company - is his role model and he wants to reach at that level in the next seven years.
"My passion is luxury product business as it is my personal lifestyle too and hence I enjoy this business category whether in food or restaurant business," he said.
"I would rather stick and focus on the food and beverage field and build it from there. Without focus, you won't be able to grow in the short run. Yet, I might diversify in the longer run but stick to the surrounding of what I offer now like for example I might produce the chocolates instead of importing them," he responded a question about exploring new areas to expand the business.
When asked for any advice to start-ups, he replied: "For the youngsters, I do advise them to first work as a career for gaining experience and then open their own businesses. For the well-experienced ones, I do advise them to invest in fields that they love. For example, I will never invest in electronics business as I am not very much in to electronics and find it really boring for me."
He believes that technology is very important for any industry. Technology's role is also important for advertisement, marketing, production, transportation and many other pillars of any business.
Al Bastaki, who graduated from American University of Sharjah in marketing and management, said: "Social media is the perfect way to boost any start-up business with little marketing budget which in my opinion has a great return on investment."
Before starting his own business he served in the Dubai government for eight years. His main task was to attract foreign investment into the emirate.
As a sales director at Jebel Ali Free Zone for the Europe region he succeeded to convince companies like MAN, Michelin, Air France, Ecoloab and many more to establish their regional head offices in Dubai.
He has also worked in Emirates airline and currently is a board member of Tejar Dubai Youth Council at the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry.