We got to interview Zahra Al Darwish, an exceptional leader with a passionate mindset. She is the Founder of Sit Jump Play Event, a venture focused on organizing events and parties combined with the culture of UAE and Zahra’s passion.
Through our interview, we learned a lot about Zahra and her professional journey. She is someone who has a strong belief in her culture and aims to provide the best-in-class events services. In addition, she wants to start her own group where she can have her multiple businesses under one umbrella.
Let’s learn more about Zahra Al Darwish and her company through our interview below.
Explain the background of you and the company in detail.
I always say that in order to start something, there should be a trigger to accelerate yourself and give your best to reach goals. These drivers and triggers vary from one person to another and from one goal to another. My trigger was my first child. She was my world at that time and still is. She has been my accelerator to start the business and do something for myself and for the family so that it would be a legacy for them for the future, not only now. Lots of stories happened, but one story was break-even for me, and from there, I started all my business step by step to build that empire which will be for them in future.
The background is very lengthy. I started this business in 2008 in the middle of the economic crisis; at that time, it was an eCommerce website. I was considered the first Emirati Woman who started an eCommerce website at that time, competing with the biggest eCommerce companies in the kids/children’s products, toys, games, and much more with the company called Sit Jump Play For E-Trading.
Later in 2016, I started a new venture, Sit Jump Play Event, which is still available. It’s the result of my passion for organizing, decoration, networking and building that fusion between the culture of UAE and the modern lifestyle with all my setups and events. So, I started this business from scratch. At first, I didn’t know enough about organizing events or quoting for the services.
Fast forwarding a few years, I am now experienced enough that I am planning to give some mini-classes for new entrepreneurs eager to enter the events industry. This is to explain to them step-by-step how to make it a successful business since I love sharing knowledge.
What are your goals?
To provide the best-in-class services in the events and entertainment industry and to add real value to our customers. We can put together the plans to meet your budget! Our knowledge and expertise allow us to help you choose the right entertainment and activities for your function objectives.
What do you feel is the biggest strength of yourself/company right now?
Right now, I would say after the pandemic, I learned that any business can fall easily if they don’t have a proper strategy and strong capital in place. I believe in my strategy, which I created for myself as a working model. It’s creating the pool of talents, freelancers, performers, professionals, speakers and MCs in one place, and I activate them whenever based on the requirements.
There I felt I was a good source of pocket money for those people, and at the same time, I am out of the extra costs on my head. And that is what saved me in the pandemic. Hence, my strength is that I can multiply my services without considering a resource limitation or organizing the event.
What was the path you/your company took to get to where you are today?
I believe in a mature business that understands its limits, so I have started everything step-by-step. I started with small events and then went to medium size events, and of course, I was not turning down any requirement in which I had to take part because that’s how I believe I can understand what happens in the background. But I am planning to have like 3 small parties daily and 2 mediums on weekends, and 1 big event every 3 months.
Why did you start (or want to be the head of) this company
I started something I find unique. Yes, for the people, they can say it’s a normal event company, but for me, it’s not because of my UAE nationality, I find it’s my responsibility to show the mixture of the cultures that we have in UAE, and at the same time I should infuse in the UAE culture setups, decorations, meetups, etc. That’s why you see me attending a lot of meetups and networking events which have an international influence on it so I can speak more about my country and our achievements. At the same time, I want to put that smile on everyone’s face that, yes, there are UAE national girls who are dreaming big.
So, as I said, my business became my gate to enter the international market. From there, I started another eCommerce website called Boxoutuae.com, which is still in progress.
In addition, I wrote books and novels and am a member of G100, Boss Lady Group, Dubai Business Women Council, Dubai SME and UAE Writers Group as well. Also, I am a multi and international award winner in leadership excellence, top business women, best event organizer, and best event company.
So all this in place makes me stand strong in leading and heading my company (Sit Jump Play Event ) to the right path.
What have been the biggest challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The biggest challenge is how to be present and continue in the market with your reputation, especially by meeting our written goals and objectives. So my reputation is very important, and the second and third challenges are the company’s capital and marketing. Since I believe we should have a strong presence in the market.
Therefore, I must look around and see my competitors and what they are doing and then become unique from them. So that’s why if I want to move to big events, I should have enough cash flow to cover the expenses and market myself properly to get more sales based on my own criteria.
Give us one word that describes you the best.
Committed
What makes you excited about Mondays?
I would say that we just started getting excited about Monday after changing our weekends in UAE. Monday, for me, is a relaxing day. Whatever work I have, I do not do anything in it because I have a lovely family, and they have the right to spend some time with me and vice versa to build our bonds. We are busy with our work the whole week, and the kids are in school, so we are both busy. However, on Mondays, it’s us only and no one else. So it’s a family day, and we do whatever we feel like – hanging out, travelling within Emirates, staying in hotels, or simply watching a movie in our living room.
What do you value most about your culture and vision?
My culture is my identity, and if I lose that identity, I am a person of nothing. I believe in our traditional thoughts and acts. I love family, the taste of old sweets and chips, and playing our old games of hiding and seek. I don’t see myself as old, but I enjoy those moments with the family and kids and try to represent this part of the culture to our kids so they won’t be lost with their identity, especially since these private schools speak English all the time and getting exposed to foreign culture makes them miss and not sure. That’s why, from time to time, going back to our culture and visions and making them mangle with us and live the moment would make them live our life.
Tell us about a project that forced you to be innovative and creative.
It’s a new startup I plan to launch soon, based on the new technology, mainly NFTs and Metaverse. I can not reveal the project idea now, but it would be something new in the market as a concept and different in dealing, trading and so on. This project was in my mind a long time ago as a trader and investor in the international market as well as in cryptocurrencies, NFTs, Forex, etc., which gave me the chance to talk about trading internationally and share my knowledge with so many people as a speaker.
So, after the UAE Government allowed this kind of trading in the UAE market and considered it a hub of this technology in the UAE. Hence, this made me dig more and more into this world, and that; ‘s how I became ready to start my journey of building my empire in trading internationally and building a passive income not only for me but for everyone around my project. Recently, I am myself in a round of searching for an investor to start the journey with. So my doors are open to discuss the opportunities with any investors.
What are the strategies of your company, and how do they stand unique from your competitors?
My strategy, as I mentioned is, I am not holding employees with me. Still, I have a family and friends who are not tied with the obligations of being 9-5 employees but to be their own boss and based on their priorities for sure I would have my priorities as well but I have my own pool. I set my objectives in what I want, and then they set their goals and priorities to join or not.
Also, especially with the Covid, people were looking for the moment to enjoy their parties and their beloved moments. That’s why I have created a budget package especially for birthday parties so they can enjoy it without the burden of spending a lot of money. I have been shortlisted as one of the budgeted event companies in the Middle East Event Show in UAE year 22.
Also had a leadership excellence award for running my business with a smooth and easy strategy.
What are the key values which helped you to overcome the roadblocks/challenges in your career? Tell us something about your memorable incident in your leadership.
I would say my family has been the main reason for me to go ahead and continue the journey even though I had no profit at all in covid time, but still, I am standing up and continuing my success.
I remember there was one magician who was so arrogant, especially with me because I am a lady and at the same time from UAE, keeping in his mind that we don’t understand this market and that we are just outsiders trying to take the market. So, he used to make issues for me, especially gossiping behind me with my clients. One bad day for him came, and he lost his job and strangely that he came to me looking for a job, that is something I won’t forget but I was good to him as well I offered him to be in my pool strategy, and since then he used to get projects until he decided otherwise.
Also, I remember a bride’s mother came to me once, and she was looking for entertainers and performers for her daughter’s wedding day surprise. So we quoted her a price, but it was expensive for her, and she called me asking for discounts. When the bride’s sister realized that I was a local, she told her mother to cut the call. I heard her saying, “she is a local, she will not reduce the price at all!!” and I didn’t say anything. On the second day, I sent her mother a voucher for the full amount of the service. As leaders, we think about success; success doesn’t always mean money. She’s a mother who wants to give a special moment to her daughter on her wedding day, so who am I to break a mother’s heart? I’m a mother too!
How do you see the company changing in two years, and how do you see yourself creating that change?
I plan to have more events and parties in place as I used to do business with my own networking people, which is very limited. I was in a trial period, but the new plan is to market our service heavily and take more events and parties. Also planning to add more services, such as having my own event, which I host yearly, being more in the business market as I am right now more in entertainment and fun activities events.
Where is your leadership going? What benefits do your clients get from your company in this competitive world?
I believe in empowerment, and that’s why I use my knowledge either in event management, trading, investment, motivational thoughts, entrepreneurship guide, writing a book, or building a passive income. I believe it’s my responsibility to help others as I helped myself. If I have that knowledge, I should share it and empower others’ lives as well. Also, don’t forget CSR initiatives. I believe I should go to that level after I set up my company to be an influencer to empower others to fetch opportunities and start their journey. I also focus on becoming a public speaker to share my leadership and my knowledge.
What are the services/solutions or products offered by your company on par with the current industry standards? Tell us something about your upcoming products or services.
I plan to have my business as a family business where I leverage it to my kids and to be their legacy in future. I am still making that empire which is meeting all the standards for each industry I am entitled to enter, and I plan to have Zahra Al Darwish Holding, where I will have all my companies under one holding umbrella.
We at Sit Jump Play Event do services such as:
Corporate Events where we cover the flowing services: –
– Seminars
– Conferences
– Team Building Events
– Sport Days
– Business / Corporate Dinners
– Product Launches
– Shareholder / Corporate Board Meetings
– Year End Functions
UAE Authentic Event where we cover the flowing services:
– UAE Cultural Setups
– UAE Cultural Gathering
– Traditional hospitality
– Arab Tents
– Meetup Programs in a traditional restaurant
Public Events where we cover the flowing services:
– Exhibitions Stands
– Bazaars / Popups Setup
– Festivals (Eid, Cultural, International, Fairs) setup – Cause-related Events
– Awareness Events
– Sport Events
Kids Events where we cover the flowing services:
– Birthday Party
– Back to School Event
– Nurseries and Schools Graduation Party
– Brunch Activities for Kids (Hotel, Restaurants)
Government/ Private Companies Employee Happiness Projects where we cover the flowing services:
– Discount bazaars
– Rooming Saloons
– Fun competitions
– Field trips
– Ladies’ Day out
CSR Infinitive, where we cover the flowing services :
– Women Empowerment (Workshops/ Events/ Awareness Campaigns) – Childcare/ Child Empowerment (Workshops/ Events/ School Road Shows)
– Culture Awareness (Social and Cultural events/ Workshops/ meetups/ national and international cultural awareness campaigns)
MC and Influence Services
– Attending seminars and summits
– Speaker / moderator / MC
Connect with Zahra Al Darwish on LinkedIn and Instagram
Find Sit Jump Play Event on LinkedIn and Instagram.
Contact info:
- WhatsApp: 00971507989398
- Email: sitjumpplayevent@gmail.com; sitjumpplay@gmail.com