A year on from launching her own business, the inspiring Sumaya Al Maskari sits down with Abu Dhabi Week to tell us how she got started.

It’s 6pm on a Thursday evening when we finally catch up with Sumaya Al Maskari at her flower shop in Al Muroor. After a busy week we’re looking forward to a relaxing weekend, but for this young entrepreneur, it’s business as usual as she prepares for her craziest few days of the week.

A partner at Petals Flowers & Events for the past year, Sumaya holds down a hectic nine-to-five job at a local bank while getting her business off the ground in her spare time. We thought we were busy!

“I have Saturday and Sunday off from my full-time job so that is when I work on my own projects,” says Sumaya.

“I had always hoped to start a business of my own. I would never think of leaving work because this opens doors for you, but to also have a business that I can depend on, and be happy and proud of, that was my goal.”

Sumaya was already working in her spare time while completing her studies at Abu Dhabi’s Higher Colleges of Technology.

“I started in a petrol company while I was still studying for my bachelors, and then I left for the bank, where I worked and studied for my masters. When I finished my masters I started Petals. I can never just be doing
one thing.”

This boundless energy comes through as Sumaya explains how Petals got started.

“We have a lot of flower shops, but not full service and under one roof offering high standards of service. I wanted to make Petals a reference point and the starting point for planning any kind of event.

“Yes, we do flowers, but we also coordinate indoor plans and everything, from the flowers to the stage, the lighting and the DJ.”

We ask Sumaya to describe a typical Saturday in the shop.

7am: “I wake up early and go to Dubai to roam around suppliers and factories in Jebel Ali Free Zone to try and boost our supplier base. Most of the UAE’s flower suppliers are found here; there are very few in Abu Dhabi.
“These suppliers then deliver to the shop every morning before we open at 8am. This is when my florists start picking out the flowers they need for each event, plus extras for the display in the shop, just in case someone pops by and needs flowers to celebrate something.

“This is all while we’re catering to non-stop requests and calls from our clients. We handle requests through the shop, on our mobiles, on our BlackBerry’s, emails – every type of communication tool we have is used for the benefit of the shop. Requests are then sorted by priority throughout the day.

9am: “This is when a lot of our weekly requests must be finished. These are for specific companies and have to be arranged in very particular ways. These mostly get done on Saturday so they can be delivered in time for the start of the week.

“Saturday is really the busiest day in the shop, for the florists and for our delivery drivers.Sometimes we are still delivering flowers until 11pm in the evening!

11am: “We also handle a lot of wedding requests on the weekend, which I like to get personally involved in, just to make sure everything is perfect.

“We have been getting more and more requests for foreign weddings at places like The Yas Hotel – mainly from British people. It’s really interesting work for us as before we didn’t get a lot of these requests.

“The venues on Yas Island are so beautiful – the golf course especially. The preparation for these weddings is easier than for an Arab wedding, which can take a full day.

“These weddings are very simple, but very elegant. It’s very interesting and has a different feel to an Arab wedding; it’s very romantic.

“Arabic weddings are more complicated. You have the kosha, which is basically the stage, with a backdrop with a whole theme, plus a centerpiece, plus lighting, plus the DJ, plus the bridal bouquet.

“For these weddings we have the brides calling us 24-hours-a-day, like this show on TV with the Bridezillas. You can’t blame them though, it’s a very stressful day; a special day, yes, but a stressful one.

12pm: “A typical day for me ends at 12pm. We close the shop at 10pm, but once I leave here I call my partner to summarise what has happened throughout the day. What was good, what was bad, etc. Then we find solutions.

Final thoughts: “The level of service we’re trying to achieve is very high, so I do a lot of client meetings myself. You have to be involved; you can’t rely on someone else when you’re starting a business.

“I’ve had a lot of support. The government has been very supportive; the labour laws have made it easier for nationals to start a business. Plus I’ve had support from friends and family.

“When they buy flowers from me, this is support!”

Megan Wynes