From banker to entrepreneur: Here’s how an Emirati businesswoman launched a start-up

From banker to entrepreneur: Here’s how an Emirati businesswoman launched a start-up

Dubai: The first lesson on financial planning for Tahany Taher, co-founder of Dubai-based healthy snack food supplier HAYAWIIA, started as a teenager when she was given a small monthly allowance to meet her expenses. An accounting and economics graduate, UAE citizen Taher started her career in banking 16 years ago, and this is when her financial planning skills were sharpened further. What started as mindful upbringing by her grandparents continued to deepen as Taher worked with bankers and credit analysts learning the mechanics of financial planning spanning multiple industries. Taher decided to launch her business, supplying healthy snacks and natural beauty care products at affordable prices, along with her husband and business co-founder Akram Oomer. Trained to control risks, when she began her venture she budgeted finances carefully, consciously steering away from aggressive growth plans. "To keep margins low and make better quality products affordable, we source the products directly from the manufacturers in developing countries. We pay the manufacturers 100 per cent upfront as well as ship, stock and market the products and this significantly reduces risks for the manufacturers, and they are more amenable to pricing negotiations. It is a win-win proposition as we can pass on pricing