Dubai, UAE: In May, 26-year-old Valeria Pasco arrived in Dubai alone, carrying little more than the blueprint for a fashion label she had nurtured across continents and the persistent hope that she could finally bring it to life. Just four months later, the Peruvian-French designer holds the trademark to her own brand, MILLIONVVV, and a profound sense of belonging in a city that fast-tracks ambition.Having refined her craft in Paris, earned the prestigious LVMH Prize for Young Fashion Designers at 22, and worked alongside luxury houses like Chloé, Hermès, and Christian Dior Couture, Pasco possessed world-class design training. Yet, Europe’s traditional landscape offered little room for a nascent entrepreneur trying to build a business from scratch.Seeking an energetic, solution-oriented ecosystem, she chose Dubai, a strategic GCC hub where administrative agencies respond to bold ideas not with roadblocks, but with collaborative resolve. Today, as she pivots into lifestyle jewelry and multiproduct design to meet the city’s rapid pace, Pasco is discovering that Dubai is more than just a place to set up a business. It is a living school for a distinctive, ‘can-do’ way of operating, where a simple request opens doors, and an unexpected “welcome home” from a stranger makes a new start feel real.The young designer spoke to Emirates 24|7 about how the city has not just helped her fast-track her dreams but become a real-life school for the ‘Dubai-it’ way of doing business.Building a dreamAfter moving to London from Peru at the age of 17, Pasco said that she went on to complete her education in business and design in Paris.“Then I started working in the city and it was a complete ecosystem. I was super happy as everything was working out well. I then moved to Denmark for a few months to complete a project as well,” she said.As her career started to take shape, she worked with some of the biggest fashion houses, from Chloé and Hermès to Christian Dior Couture. At 22, she even received the LVMH Prize for Young Fashion Designers and while things did seem to be working out, she always had the desire to start her own fashion brand.“Most of Europe is super nourishing for a designer and eye-opening in terms of techniques, craftsmanship and connections. But I didn't necessarily find the entrepreneurial side there,” she said.So even as Pasco began creating prototypes and producing pieces in Asia and South America, the idea of starting a business seemed like an uphill task.Until she decided to move to Dubai.“A lot of my peers were in the same sphere as well, so I decided to explore the GCC and perhaps set up an administrative base there, as I could see a lot of movement. [The Dutch fashion brand] BALR was acquired by a company in Dubai last year and that was a huge thing, because it means recruitment and opportunities, and it means that the environment is really booming,” she said.Finding answersHer experience of setting up the business in the city, even when she was based out of South America for another project, was her first experience of the Dubai-it approach, which left her questioning why she hadn’t taken the decision earlier to set up her business in the city.She would often spend long nights thinking about how she wanted to build her business. When she would share those ideas with the business set up agency in Dubai, telling them about her ideas while being honest about the practical limitations she faced at the time, the response would always leave her pleasantly surprise.“The mindset that I found here was insanely different,” she said.“They would just come back to me with solutions and proposals. They told me that they had never set up a fashion business before, but their attitude was always like ‘let’s work on this together’,” she added.That belief the business setup agency had in her dream business and their willingness to find solutions was a refreshingly new experience for Pasco, who finally arrived in Dubai in May of this year.A name of her ownThe company’s name itself – MILLIONVVV – holds a lot of significance in her life, as she wanted to initially name her company ‘Million Visa’, an almost aspirational name as that was going to be the “visa to her first million”.After a trademark appeal in Europe, she switched to MILLIONVVV and one of the first steps she took as a business owner was to trademark the name.“I landed in Dubai and right there had this card which read ‘General Manager’. I had a company stamp with that name on it … I mean, 99 per cent of the world may not care about it but for me, it meant so much to have that name to myself,” she said.“Dubai is a place that allows you to transform these dreams into reality, where it’s never really about a ‘no’, but more about ‘how can we make it happen?’ or ‘When can we start?’. This is the mindset that I find fascinating,” she added.Surrounded by dreamersAnother inspiration Pasco has found over the few months she has spent in Dubai, is from those who have also made the move like her – on their own, with dreams they believe in and a willingness to make things happen.To be surrounded by people who are all in it to win it has allowed Pasco to also explore new aspects to her work and personality.Another big experience has been meeting friends and acquaintances who’ve gone through their own ‘Dubai-it’ experience – from dreaming it, to building it.“When they tell you that something is possible, they are saying it out of experience. They’ve achieved that success. That’s what I find really motivating,” she said.Lunch conversations, too, have been a big change for Pasco, with people not focused as much on ‘the tea’, but instead talking about what they’re working on, curious about her work, and often offering to collaborate.“You don’t feel like someone is going to sabotage you, because everyone is so focused on what they are doing. It is all like a win-win situation, a perfect spider web building the city. It is really magical,” she said.The Dubai-it experienceThe pace at which things happen in the city has also pushed Pasco to move from her earlier focus on outerwear, menswear and ready-to-wear swimwear, and explore a more ‘multiproduct’ approach.“I have had the chance to develop so many new things, like performance lifestyle jewellery, which is very nice because I’m encountering more things as a designer. There have been moments where I have thought to myself, ‘Okay, I’ve never explored this material as a designer before, but let’s make this work’. It’s the Dubai-it mindset to find a solution, because my clients have placed their trust in my vision, and then you have a week to get it done,” she said laughing.“Taking on such challenges is pushing me a lot more in terms of efficiency,” she added.Just askBut building a new life, on her own, away from family and friends can come with its own challenges. A simple yet powerful solution Pasco has found in Dubai is: Just ask.She experienced it shortly after arriving in the city, when she had a chance conversation with the manager of a fitness centre she wanted to join but could not afford.“He literally told me about an offer they were having, which made it possible for me to join. The same happened when I was looking for a place to stay – I literally walked into the building that I was curious about and just asked. This week, I got the keys to my own apartment in the building. I’ve realised that it’s really that simple,” she said.Pasco in her new Dubai apartment – a milestone that means far more than simply having a place of her own, after arriving in the city alone just four months ago.A city that inspires you to workDespite having been in the city for a little over four months, Pasco said she’s felt an undeniable connection with the place and the people.“It sounds hard to believe, but I feel like there’s something that links a lot of people in Dubai, because we might never have met each other, but you have lived here and made your life here, and I’m here and building my life here as well,” she said.“Somehow, there is a genuine feeling that runs through everyone, it’s in their eyes, you know? That’s something that I haven’t seen anywhere else. I’ve only seen it in Dubai,” she added.If Pasco needed confirmation that this sense of belonging was real, she received it when she last returned to Dubai.As she landed, she noticed how the immigration officer at the airport and even the doorman at her hotel greeted her with two words: “Welcome home”.“I’m a 26-year-old divorced woman. It’s hard. I don’t have a home, you know?“They don’t know anything about me or my business. And nonetheless, they can just look me in the eyes and say those words to me, and mean it. That means more to me than they would know.”
