Emirati entrepreneur brings luxury Spanish shoe brand to Dubai

Emirati entrepreneur brings luxury Spanish shoe brand to Dubai

An Emirati entrepreneur has brought the fifth generation handcrafted shoe brand Carmina to the MENA region, starting with Dubai.

Although Abdullah Al Rashdi, CEO of Rozana Enterprise, had previously shunned investing in retail, he said seeing Carmina's Paris store while vacationing in the French capital changed his mind.

“Before Carmina, I was against investing in the retail industry as I believed that e-commerce makes this industry very tough. Instead, I tend to lean towards investing in manufacturing, real estate and financial outlets,” said Al Rashdi.

“With Carmina, I started shifting my perspective on retail investments. I want to focus on growing the brand for now but, at the end of the day, I am an investor. If another good opportunity in retail comes along then why not consider it?” he continued.

Carmina is a Majorcan-based family business with 150 employees. The brand, which produces 50,000 handcrafted luxury shoes per year, has stores in Paris and New York, but the outlet in Dubai's Mall of the Emirates (MOE) is their first store in the Middle East.

“In terms of numbers and conversion to sales, MOE made more sense than Dubai Mall, both of which are the pinnacle malls in Dubai. While Dubai Mall is beautiful and