Dubai // In the midst of the bustling market on The Walk at Jumeirah Beach Residence, on a warm Friday afternoon, Sabeena Ahmed is telling passers-by the fascinating stories behind each of her handmade products.
The founder of The Little Fair Trade Shop - Dubai dreams of one day starting the first Fair Trade organisation in the emirate.
Mrs Ahmed, a native of Pakistan who grew up in Manchester, England, is now based in Dubai with her husband, whom she describes as her biggest supporter.
Her apartment is filled with a collection of items from Egypt, Thailand, Chile, Mexico, Afghanistan, India and many more as she continues her travels to knock on Fair Trade doors.
When she travels to countries to source products, she meets local fair trade organisations, tribes and artisans, before purchasing local handicrafts to sell to the UAE market. Mrs Ahmed's next trip will be to India.
"So many places know about Fair Trade, so I am hoping we can make Dubai a Fair Trade city," she says.
Mrs Ahmed first found inspiration for her venture in 2008, while living in Al Khobar in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia.
"I was studying long distance with the Institute of Islamic Banking and Insurance, London, while living in Saudi Arabia. During my last assignment, I came across a paragraph about how Islam promotes the equal distribution of wealth, and realised I had to do something."
What followed next were months of research into the World Fair Trade Organisation, to which she applied for associate membership.
Last year, she founded The Little Fair Trade Shop after moving to Dubai.
"Fair trade is about helping the low-income person get a better start. Why can't I, as a human being, help people regardless of who they are, or where they come from, so they can support their family with a decent wage?"
Carola Reintjes, the chief executive of the World Fair Trade Organisation (WFTO) says Mrs Ahmed's company is the first from the GCC region to have applied for membership.
The WFTO has a global network of 449 members that aim to promote what Mrs Reintjes describes as social and economic justice.
"Fair trade might be practised in the UAE, but it is not yet part of the global network. I hope the efforts made by The Little Fair Trade Shop will motivate and create a foundation for other initiatives," she says.
Mary Jean, a Lebanese-American living in Dubai who frequents Mrs Ahmed's stall, says she is a supporter of the cause because there is "far too much injustice around the items we usually purchase".
"I used to work in retail and visited a few factories," she says. "What I saw saddened me and made me more conscious." Mrs Jean says she now includes as many Fair Trade products in her daily life as she can.
Some Fair Trade organisations support hundreds of artisans - so the bigger the order, the more people they can support.
One such organisation is Zardozi - Artists for Afghans, a non-profit organisation supporting Afghan refugees based in Kabul and Jalalabad in Afghanistan, and Peshawar in Pakistan. Since 1984, the organisation's sewing centre has worked with more than 3,000 families in refugee camps along the Pakistani border.
It is one of the Fair Trade organisations Mrs Ahmed supports. Rafia Sultana, the organisation's marketing and distribution manager, says working with The Little Fair Trade Shop is a means of introducing them to the Middle East.
"Mrs Ahmed is working for a big cause of Fair Trade and wages, which is the cause of Zardozi too. It's not the size of the company which matters, it's the idea which the company is working on," Mrs Sultana says.
Apart from issues in finance, the only other challenge that lies in Mrs Ahmed's way is the language barrier.
"I wish I spoke a little more Arabic to reach out to the local community. But I also wish I had more support from them, because Fair Trade in Islam is really important," she says.
melshoush@thenational.ae
PRISCILLA
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%20Ramez%20Gab%20Min%20El%20Akher
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The burning issue
The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE.
Read part four: an affection for classic cars lives on
Read part three: the age of the electric vehicle begins
Read part one: how cars came to the UAE
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Specs
Engine: Electric motor generating 54.2kWh (Cooper SE and Aceman SE), 64.6kW (Countryman All4 SE)
Power: 218hp (Cooper and Aceman), 313hp (Countryman)
Torque: 330Nm (Cooper and Aceman), 494Nm (Countryman)
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh158,000 (Cooper), Dh168,000 (Aceman), Dh190,000 (Countryman)
The specs: Macan Turbo
Engine: Dual synchronous electric motors
Power: 639hp
Torque: 1,130Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Touring range: 591km
Price: From Dh412,500
On sale: Deliveries start in October
360Vuz PROFILE
Date started: January 2017
Founder: Khaled Zaatarah
Based: Dubai and Los Angeles
Sector: Technology
Size: 21 employees
Funding: $7 million
Investors: Shorooq Partners, KBW Ventures, Vision Ventures, Hala Ventures, 500Startups, Plug and Play, Magnus Olsson, Samih Toukan, Jonathan Labin
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.
Herc's Adventures
Developer: Big Ape Productions
Publisher: LucasArts
Console: PlayStation 1 & 5, Sega Saturn
Rating: 4/5
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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WHAT%20IS%20THE%20LICENSING%20PROCESS%20FOR%20VARA%3F
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RESULTS
Women:
55kg brown-black belt: Amal Amjahid (BEL) bt Amanda Monteiro (BRA) via choke
62kg brown-black belt: Bianca Basilio (BRA) bt Ffion Davies (GBR) via referee’s decision (0-0, 2-2 adv)
70kg brown-black belt: Ana Carolina Vieira (BRA) bt Jessica Swanson (USA), 9-0
90kg brown-black belt: Angelica Galvao (USA) bt Marta Szarecka (POL) 8-2
Men:
62kg black belt: Joao Miyao (BRA) bt Wan Ki-chae (KOR), 7-2
69kg black belt: Paulo Miyao (BRA) bt Gianni Grippo (USA), 2-2 (1-0 adv)
77kg black belt: Espen Mathiesen (NOR) bt Jake Mackenzie (CAN)
85kg black belt: Isaque Braz (BRA) bt Faisal Al Ketbi (UAE), 2-0
94kg black belt: Felipe Pena (BRA) bt Adam Wardzinski (POL), 4-0
110kg black belt final: Erberth Santos (BRA) bt Lucio Rodrigues (GBR) via rear naked choke
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
THE%20SPECS
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About Karol Nawrocki
• Supports military aid for Ukraine, unlike other eurosceptic leaders, but he will oppose its membership in western alliances.
• A nationalist, his campaign slogan was Poland First. "Let's help others, but let's take care of our own citizens first," he said on social media in April.
• Cultivates tough-guy image, posting videos of himself at shooting ranges and in boxing rings.
• Met Donald Trump at the White House and received his backing.
Election pledges on migration
CDU: "Now is the time to control the German borders and enforce strict border rejections"
SPD: "Border closures and blanket rejections at internal borders contradict the spirit of a common area of freedom"
Defence review at a glance
• Increase defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2027 but given “turbulent times it may be necessary to go faster”
• Prioritise a shift towards working with AI and autonomous systems
• Invest in the resilience of military space systems.
• Number of active reserves should be increased by 20%
• More F-35 fighter jets required in the next decade
• New “hybrid Navy” with AUKUS submarines and autonomous vessels
Moon Music
Artist: Coldplay
Label: Parlophone/Atlantic
Number of tracks: 10
Rating: 3/5
How to avoid crypto fraud
- Use unique usernames and passwords while enabling multi-factor authentication.
- Use an offline private key, a physical device that requires manual activation, whenever you access your wallet.
- Avoid suspicious social media ads promoting fraudulent schemes.
- Only invest in crypto projects that you fully understand.
- Critically assess whether a project’s promises or returns seem too good to be true.
- Only use reputable platforms that have a track record of strong regulatory compliance.
- Store funds in hardware wallets as opposed to online exchanges.
