Watch: Computer science student changes line, becomes top jeweller in Dubai

Watch: Computer science student changes line, becomes top jeweller in Dubai

Dubai: Dubai-based Maha Al Sibai, 53, was born in what she describes as a “city of love, jasmine, poems and stories”. The Damascus of the yesteryears. She came to the UAE as a young girl along with her father, a former diplomat, 40 years ago. Having travelled around the world with her family, she pursued computer science in Ajman College, as it seemed to be the done thing at the time. “I did well no doubt, but computer science was not my cup of tea. The certification I obtained on completing my course remains in my closet,” she confesses, adding that her childhood influences had long nurtured an inherently creative mind. “Even as a little girl, I loved to sing, paint and do sculptures. My mother and my aunts were artists, so I possibly had it in my DNA. But I never dreamt that I would one day make jewellery - no one in my family had ever ventured into this field,” she says. The breakthrough came in the year 2001 when Maha emerged as the Middle East winner in a World Gold Council jewellery design competition in which she had sent her entry for a lark. “I was used