UAE success story: From Dh900 salary to running a Dh1.7m business in Dubai, find out this Syrian expat’s success mantra

UAE success story: From Dh900 salary to running a Dh1.7m business in Dubai, find out this Syrian expat’s success mantra

It’s been 12 years since UAE-based Syrian expat Dr Elias Abboud, 42, moved to Dubai to pursue entrepreneurship in the pharmaceutical industry. But long before he did, Abboud worked as a medical representative in Syria, a country he spent his growing years in. "My first job as a medical representative in 2003 fetched me a monthly pay of $250 [Dh918]. Later, I joined a pharma company as a supervisor for $800 [Dh2,938]. Soon after, I was promoted to the role of marketing manager with a salary of $1,200 [Dh4,407]," he said, when speaking on his work career. "Three years later, I accepted a salary offer of $3,000 [Dh11,017] from another pharma company. Later, I moved to Dubai, earning a $6,000 [Dh22,035] salary in 2014, before I ventured out on my own to launched a ‘FemTech’ company specialsing in nanotechnology-based sanitary products for women." Academically and professionally qualified as a pharmacist and with work experience as a medical representative, he gained insights into the workings of the pharma industry. This knowledge, aside from from his MBA in marketing, became grounds for starting his business. Abboud revealed how all his savings until that point went into the start-up, after which he got