Dubai: Failing is part of life. But how often do we feel brave enough to rise and take a risk again?Moroccan national Wissam Jamal Eddine knows something about embracing the Dubai-it mindset and never giving up.The 28-year-old entrepreneur started her clothing brand, Zeyna, in Morocco in 2023, and moved it to Dubai in January 2024. The business was short-lived.Wissam said: “It didn't work out, honestly because I didn't know the market well and made a lot of mistakes along the way. I gave it two full years of hard work, I had a shop with a local friend of mine, took part in multiple events, and ran pop-up stores across Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Sharjah, and Fujairah but in the end, it just didn't work, so I made the decision to close it.”But the end of Zeyna didn’t mean the end of Wissam’s ambition. She picked herself up, dusted herself off and got to work on a new business idea.Starting over, with a purposeWissam analysed her experience and reached a series of conclusions: “That failure helped me realise two things. First, that I do love fashion – I love making beautiful dresses for women. But second, and more importantly, it helped me realise that what I actually love most is coaching.”Wissam is a certified linguistic and life coach. For six years, while working on her brand, she had also been teaching and coaching on the side.She said: “At some point I asked myself: Why keep doing this for others without building something of my own around it? I wanted to give people access to affordable English, French and Arabic learning that they could do on their own time, and that realisation is what led me to SpeakRise.”Her new venture is a program that helps people learn English, French and Arabic in an easy, fun way, “while also being coached on life skills: confidence, stepping outside your comfort zone, and owning the room”.For Wissam, despite the sting of a business idea that didn’t work out, the decision to launch SpeakRise was easy because of the environment she was in: “Dubai is what made ‘now’ the right time. This is a place where dreams come true if you're willing to work for them. The government is incredibly supportive, and something as simple as a piece of paperwork can be done in minutes. As much as I love fashion, I wanted to build something that creates real change for people, not just clothing. That's SpeakRise.”A place to centre yourselfThere’s a little bit of serendipity to how Wissam finds herself in the perfect city for entrepreneurs.She first visited Dubai in April 2023, with her mother. She said: “It was just a seven-day visit but I fell completely in love with the city, and with Abu Dhabi, too. Four months later, I came back with my family, this time for 15 days, and that second trip is when I decided to apply for a business license. I went back to Morocco for a month, packed my things, and returned to Dubai to see how things would unfold.”Leaving Morocco, the only home she had ever known, was difficult. However, her mother was incredibly supportive of her decision: “She told me that whatever I wanted to do, I could do it, that she believed in me, and that she saw the UAE as a safe place, where she wouldn't have to worry about me. That support made the decision far less difficult than it could have been.”Officially moving at the end of 2023, Wissam spent her first four months exploring the UAE and neighbouring countries. Transforming from a tourist into a resident helped put to rest any preconceived notions she had about life in Dubai.She explained: “One of the biggest surprises was the nature here. Once I moved, I became a certified diver, and it turned into a real routine for me. People assume the UAE is all urban structures, but there's this whole other side to it – the sea, the desert, the mountains. That contrast is something I didn't expect at all.”A city of dreamersToday, nearly three years later, having seen and experienced the real Dubai, she knows that the city is an incubator for anyone with a dream.She said: “I've seen it firsthand, across every level of society. People with degrees and people without them. People who started with real capital, and people like me, who didn't. And I've watched all of them build something in Dubai. That's what changed my view: entrepreneurship here isn't reserved for a certain type of person or background. If you have the dream and the work ethic, this city gives you a real shot.”According to Wissam, Dubai “never lets you fail” – it’s because the city gives you a hand back up: “This is a place that turned a desert into one of the most opportunity-filled places in the world. So no, failure isn't an ending here, it's a beginning. You learn the lesson, and you start again, surrounded by people you can genuinely learn from. You just have to be willing to work hard.”In Wissam’s case, hard work is a lesson that was first taught to her by her mother. She said: “I didn't come from a rich family. My mother spent her whole life working hard to give me a great education and a good life, and that hard work of hers paid off. I'm endlessly grateful for it, and I know I'm her biggest investment. My own hard work paid off too, along with the enthusiasm I brought to it. That combination made the difference. It's something people really can't understand until they live here, work here, and meet people here – you have an environment and a government that are constantly looking for solutions, constantly building something better.”Now, Wissam is determinedly putting her tenacity and talent to work, building SpeakRise, working to secure funding and growing it, opening offices in Dubai, building a bigger team, and creating employment opportunities for people from all over the world.She said she can easily see herself living long-term in the UAE, “growing older here, getting married here, raising my kids here. I feel safe here”. When she looks back at her younger self – the Wissam who was struggling to make her dreams a reality – she has a message for her: “I'd tell her: Don't give up. Your life is about to get so much better in the UAE. You're going to meet incredible people and make things happen for yourself that you couldn't imagine right now, like getting your dream car and your dream home. You're going to take your mother everywhere and spoil her the way she deserves. You're going to meet and work alongside truly exceptional people. Just work hard, be patient, and book that flight to Dubai.”
