AJMAN – A university course started the spark of Shamma Moath’s event-planning business.
“Sometimes sudden conditions take you somewhere beautiful,” Shamma says.
Shamma, a 22-year-old tourism senior at Zayed University, recently started her own business SHEEN.mo Events. She has always been passionate about exploring different cultures. Shamma thoroughly enjoys learning about new countries, and she even speaks four languages: Arabic, English; Turkish, which she learned from watching Turkish TV shows, and she’s currently taking Spanish classes.
Shamma says she knew since high school that tourism was the right major for her.
“I deeply enjoy connecting with people,” she says. “I also recognize that Dubai is a global tourism destination, which made me see the potential I have in blossoming in the tourism field.”
Before picking tourism and joining the College of Communication and Media Sciences at ZU, Shamma did not expect the major to be so rich in information and diverse in its required courses.
“I did not foresee the amount of subjects I needed to learn,” Shamma says. “From research to planning to advertising, I learned a lot of new things.”
Still, all the diverse subjects she learned provided Shamma with a complete set of skills.
“The skill I found beneficial the most is public speaking,” Shamma says. “It provided me with so much confidence and the ability to express myself in front of anyone.”
CCMS requires its students to take two public speaking courses: one in Arabic and the other in English.
Another required course for tourism students is titled “Planning and Promotion for Events and Festivals,” where students theoretically plan and promote an event of their choosing. This course inspired Shamma to start SHEEN.mo Events.
“After going through the process of planning an event, I discovered my love for it,” Shamma says. “I enjoyed the whole process from A to Z and was immensely inspired by the course.”
A year later, Shamma started SHEEN.mo Events, after facing a fair share of obstacles. Some people worried that Shamma will lose her investments if her business failed.
Another hard thing Shamma had to get used to was promoting herself. She found it uncomfortable to summon up the courage to promote her business at different gatherings and occasions and to ask people for support, but she thought, if not now, then when, and if not me, then who.
In the future, Shamma plans to continue growing her business until she is able to build her own event planning company.
“I want to start a globally known event planning company with a good reputation and work with a strong team,” Shamma says.
About the author
Dhowa Alseqetri studies Integrated Strategic Communication at Zayed University in Dubai. She is a recipient of the Dean’s List, the honor awarded to students with high GPA.
The editor for this story was Yulia Medvedeva.
