Mouza Alabbar, Co-founder of Alabbar Enterprises is on a mission to empower women in the region.

From creating homegrown brands to embracing a detail-oriented approach, this Emirati entrepreneur is constantly striving for perfection in every realm.

To understand more, Emirates Woman spoke to her to see how she has harnessed authenticity throughout her career.

What do the first 30 minutes of your day look like, your morning routine?

I start my mornings very early. I have three kids so setting aside time for myself is definitely an important part of my day. The first thing I do is make a cup of coffee, I then sit by the window and recite my prayers. To me, this is the most calming form of meditation and gives me a great start to the day.

Made by Two

Can you expand on your career highlights to date and how integrity has helped you get there?

I would say the biggest highlight of my career has been witnessing the development and growth of our homegrown brands. Rather than franchising, we’ve focused on zooming in on creating homegrown brands, which allows us to have control over every aspect of the business and customer experience. I would say integrity has played a huge role in our success, as it is a part of everything we do. By being authentic and showing integrity, people are truly able to resonate with not only the brand, but the people behind it.

All your brands ensure that guests remain at the heart of it, how do you constantly strive for next-level service when it comes to clients?

I truly believe that the key to success is being detail-oriented, and this is something we’ve strived to achieve with each of our brands. We have put an immense amount of time and thought into each and every aspect with details as fine as the feeling clients will have when sitting in the chairs in our boutique, to the overall customer journey, store offering, interior design, and location. We have also worked extremely hard with product development, to create flavors, and textures that are unique to our brand. When making decisions, my first thought is always my clients. My team and I work very hard to ensure that I provide everything they could want, and more in order to offer an elevated experience every step of the way.

Caya

Your artisanal brand Made by Two has brought a new meaning to chocolate. What makes the brand stand out?

Made By Two is a brand very dear to my heart, it is something that I’ve long envisioned creating, and I have spent countless hours creating and testing each unique flavor alongside my team. While there are a number of chocolate brands in the market, I have personally never seen a combination of art, design, flavor, and texture comparable to what we have been able to create with Made By Two. Each and every chocolate has a story and meaning behind it, the Oman chips flavor for example was created to bring clients back to fond memories from childhood. Apart from flavor, we have innovated the chocolate experience by experimenting with different textures, to bring a new sensation to chocolate in general. Another aspect of the brand that is unique is the display, we carefully curated packaging that exuded the utmost luxury, to be perfect for gifting, or any occasion. In the gulf, we definitely love hosting and gifting loved ones, so it was important to me that the brand included that part of our heritage.

How do the commercial and creative side of your brands work together, and which side are you drawn more towards?

When developing a brand from scratch, we always begin with the creative side. While I enjoy both aspects, I personally love the creative side of the business, I love to innovate and develop concepts, to create things that haven’t been done before.

“People can sense when there is heart and authenticity behind a brand, and this allows your brand to sell itself.”

What advice would you give to upcoming female entrepreneurs in the market?

The first piece of advice I would give to female entrepreneurs is to keep authenticity at the core of everything that you do, as this will be one of your biggest competitive advantages. People can sense when there is heart and authenticity behind a brand, and this allows your brand to sell itself. Always create from the heart, and this will shine through in everything that you do. The second would be to take risks and be fearless when it comes to innovation. There is nothing difficult about imitating a proven concept, but it takes a true entrepreneur to envision and create something new. I believe authenticity and risk-taking are the keys to success in this business.

You ensure immaculate attention to detail is implemented into each brand under your portfolio. What’s the secret?

Apart from dedicating countless hours and working hard to ensure every detail is in line with our standards, I would definitely say my amazing team plays a huge part. A business is only as successful as the people behind it, and it was very important to me to ensure everyone at Alabbar shared a strong work ethic, and genuine love for the brands they represent.

Two at Symphony

Do you have any mentors or guides and how does this help navigate the right path?

I wouldn’t say that I have mentors per say, but I definitely am guided by my amazing family. My siblings Salama, Shamsa, Rashid, my husband, and my parents have always been my guiding lights.

This is ‘The Integrity Issue’ – what does integrity mean to you?

To me, integrity means to be true to yourself and those around you. Having strong morals, and being authentic in everything that you do, will allow you to live a prosperous and fulfilled life.

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