AW Rostamani Group, or AWR, was founded in 1954 by brothers Abdul Wahid and Abdullah Hassan Al Rostamani. The brothers started as a small family business along the shores of Dubai Creek but developed into the two enthusiastic readers who led them to open Al Ahliya Library–Dubai’s first bookshop. They imported books from Egypt, Syria, and Lebanon-needed for people in Dubai, making a vital cultural input to the people of Dubai. This small effort has led to the rise of a diversified and powerful business empire.

The AW Rostamani Group is operating 12 companies operating within seven diversified sectors-that include automotive, real estate, retail, lighting, travel, and logistics. Today, the group employs over 3,800 people and is always looking for new horizons to develop in the UAE. One of the earliest ventures developed by the group was Arabian Automobiles, which was established back in 1968. Today, it is the only distributor of Nissan, INFINITI, and Renault vehicles in Dubai and the Northern Emirates. Through constant expansion of its network of showrooms, service centres, and spare parts outlets, the company has helped AWR consolidate its reputation in the automotive sector.

In 1981, AW Rostamani forayed into the real estate business through AW Rostamani Real Estate. The real estate business has played a prime role in developing and managing properties be it commercial or residential across the UAE, and its iconic structures include the 21st Century Tower on Sheikh Zayed Road. The core offerings of AWR Properties continue to be property development, leasing, and facilities management for a panoply of assets including residential, retail, and commercial spaces.

In 1998, the group launched AW Rostamani Logistics, offering international logistics services to meet growing demand in the region for supply chain solutions. This also marked the beginning of diversifying the portfolio and becoming a one-stop shop for most businesses. The group also entered technology by setting up AW Rostamani Shift Technologies back in 2006. Shift Technologies concentrates on IT and business consultancy services, which aid other businesses to cope with this fast-changing digital world. One of the most important accomplishments in the AWR’s history took place in 2004-the company’s cooperation with Oracle-a step that very much changed the technological power of the company, powerfulizing internal capabilities and opening up service delivery channels in the UAE and beyond.

AW Rostamani Lifestyle, formed in 2012, entered the group into the fashion, jewellery, and home ware sectors, bringing into the UAE international brands, including Georg Jensen, Graffiti, Vhernier, and American Rag. This strategic play expands the group’s portfolio into retail business that caters directly to consumers. The group believes that the Vhernier brand, famous for high-end Italian jewellery, and American Rag Cie, an American multi-brand retail store, offer unique and prestigious brands to discerning customers in the UAE. Its existence in malls such as Dubai Mall has allowed AWR to find its niche in the high-end retail industry.

A leadership team with a visionary at its core, AW Rostamani has remained loyal to the founding vision of the original founders. Khalid Abdul Wahid Al Rostamani is the chairman of AW Rostamani and oversees all diverse companies in the group, emphasizing sustainability of growth and innovation. The Managing Director Huda Al Rostamani manages the lifestyle division of the group. Amina Al Rostamani heads the real estate arm as the Chief Executive Officer of AWR Properties. These have continuously diversified and expanded under their able guidance, adapting to the challenges and opportunities facing the market while retaining the fundamental goals of the founders in terms of quality, customer satisfaction, and community involvement.

Other corporate social responsibility initiatives are also undertaken by the AW Rostamani Group, contributing to the community. In 2018, the group launched the “Enriching Communities” platform in a mission to support a broad spectrum of causes and initiatives in the UAE. From visits to the Dubai Autism Centre to collaborations with Zayed University to assist the students of determination, CSR efforts by AW Rostamani showcase its allegiance to societal well-being.

From a small bookshop on Dubai Creek to an influential business group engaged in all segments, AW Rostamani Group has etched an impressive history of growth, resilience, and innovation. It does business in most sectors, ranging from automotive to real estate and from technology to lifestyle, while being dedicated to enriching the community.

The focus of AW Rostamani Group will continue to be driven by a desire to extend its influence, innovate, and add value to customers and other stakeholders alike. Strategically positioned through partner-driven forward-looking leadership and adherence to quality and service, AW Rostamani continues to be an indispensable contributor to the prosperous economy of the UAE while keeping alive and building upon what the founders established.

Marwa is a young, budding Egyptian Muslim entrepreneur who does not only blog about fashion and lifestyle but is also an inspiration to many young women for her modest yet very stylish hijabi fashion. In her 22nd year, she started her own couture line for the hijabi woman; that is how far her journey had spread from being a budding fashionista to becoming a social media sensation. With a fanbase growing by the day across her social media platforms, Marwa Hassan is really soaring high in the world of fashion, beauty, and lifestyle.

Starting out in fashion through modest fashion, Marwa Hassan saw an opportunity in launching her own hijabi couture line for the modest style with elegance combined. This style fit so well within the Muslim women in the Middle East. She shared her personal fashion choices and styling tips online, and within no time, her influence exploded as a prolific and in-demand fashion and lifestyle blogger. Marwa’s entrepreneurial spirit enabled her to create a space for hijabi fashion in an industry that would perhaps look the other way and avoid it, but she managed to inspire hundreds of women who basically wear their style without giving up their cultural or religious sense.

Marwa is one of the elites influencers of Dubai, taking her reach beyond the realm of fashion. She has been capturing the attention of millions of people all over the world through her beauty and lifestyle content, with the collaboration with top local and international brands putting her in the pivotal position as a sought-after voice in the industry. Brands like Huawei, Ikea, Zanussi, Garnier, L’Oréal, Juhayna, and Jolly Chic partnered with Marwa, acknowledging her good exposure towards a diversified audience. Authenticity and dedication to products she genuinely believes in have earned Marwa the love of her followers, making her one of the most influential persons in cyberspace.

Marwa’s association is not limited to fashion and beauty. She has worked with top tech brands like Huawei, creating an opening that bridges technology and lifestyle. In other words, work with Ikea was a stunning example of how she could create décor and lifestyle content, though with her own personal twist. With such diverse collaborations, these relationships only go to show just how multifaceted her influence is-perhaps because she is so adept at reconciling many facets of herself in the very context in which she connects with her fans. Marwa’s curative ability of such diversified content has given her the momentum of creating women all over the globe to be inspired by her style in fashion, beauty, and more.

What sets Marwa Hassan apart from the rest in a world of influencers is that she stands true to who she is. Being a Muslim female and an entrepreneur she used her show as breaking the clichés and strengthening the positive image for hijabi women. Marwa empowered women through her fashion line by showing them how they could be modest and yet let out their style. This bikini-hating hijabi’s coueturn line came to be conceived out of a desire for the ability to carry out smart, stylish dressing modestly, without the compromise of the fashion factor. Today, she epitomizes perhaps the epitome of elegance, power, and confidence.

She is going further than the blog and social media circles themselves. More young entrepreneurs, especially women from the Middle East, begin to feel inspired by Marwa’s success as a success story, in this one case. Indeed, it has become a testament to the strength of pursuing one’s passion and staying true to oneself in a world where more often than not, trends dominate individuality. To date, Marwa Hassan continues to inspire many women to follow their dreams, embrace their culture, and make their mark in the fashion and beauty industries.

As the fame of Marwa Hassan increases, there are no doubts she will continue opening new thresholds and raising the bar for the world of fashion and lifestyle. Whether it is top global brands she is working with or simple ways and tips on hijabi fashion, authenticity and passion pour through every corner of Marwa’s actions. She emerged as a trendsetter in hijabi fashions and a role model for women all over the world, indicating that modesty need not be the contradiction of style.

Founded by visionaries Louis Lebbos and Muhammed Mekki, co-founders of Namshi.com in 2012, AstroLabs has stood at the forefront of encouraging talent and innovation while empowering businesses within the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. AstroLabs started as a Google for Startups co-working space to grow into a fully-fledged digital power offering holistic support for the startup, entrepreneurs, and enterprises in the region.

AstroLabs started its journey with one simple aim: to overcome regional entrepreneurs and startups’ challenges and unlock their potential. Louis Lebbos and Muhammed Mekki created the initiative after they brought Namshi, one of the first e-commerce companies in the region, to scale and appreciate the specific pains that start-ups suffer from in the MENA region. AstroLabs was their response—a digital capability building platform setting up founders with tools, knowledge, and network to succeed in global marketplace. The company officially launched in March 2013, with its first co-working space nestled in Dubai’s bustling Jumeirah Lakes Towers neighbourhood. Within a short period, AstroLabs ballooned to become MENA’s most trusted partner for addressing innovation challenges and building digital ecosystems through capacity-building programs and a vast entrepreneurial network. By 2015, the company had accelerated to one of the significant enablers for Dubai’s startup ecosystem, where hundreds of entrepreneurs utilized AstroLabs’ co-working space, mentorship programs, and educational resources. AstroLabs became the first tech hub in Dubai to partner with Google, connecting its members to over 20 hubs worldwide in the same year. Though AstroLabs is no longer part of Google for Start-ups (GFS) since 2024, its root in tech and community building is an influence across the region.

AstroLabs has expanded its operations in Saudi Arabia in 2020 and became the first licensed international incubator in the Kingdom. This was an important step because entrepreneurs now have equal world-class access resources in Dubai. AstroLabs Riyadh provides co-working space, programs, and business setup solutions that provide foreign-owned entities with an easier path to establishing a presence in Saudi Arabia. AstroLabs’ entry into the Saudi market also underscores its commitment to creating local entrepreneurship while expanding on enabling global business into the region. The company plays a vital role in its Set-Up in Saudi platform for businesses looking to set up operations within the Kingdom while availing 100% foreign ownership, one of the major attractions to international investors interested in the rapidly expanding Saudi market.

AstroLabs operates on a holistic model with an objective to uplift regional businesses, prepare them to compete effectively at the global level, and enhance the digital skills of entrepreneurs and businesses. Those include digital marketing, data analytics, and tech innovation, so startups in MENA countries can compete globally. With this capacity building, AstroLabs also offers a collaborative environment for entrepreneurs to work, share ideas, and meet people with similar aspirations, coming to co-working spaces in Dubai and Riyadh. Through its depth of expertise, AstroLabs is able not only to get businesses started but to do so with a fair amount of ease in establishing themselves in markets such as Saudi Arabia and the UAE, as many of these processes are complex. The company provides solutions which would simplify the whole setting-up procedure, thereby making it easier to establish operations for foreign-owned entities in those key markets.

AstroLabs thrives on agility, sustainability, impact and scalability-the core values of the company. AstroLabs has designed its programs to be self-sustaining ecosystems that fuel short-term growth while providing long-term solutions for the digital economy. In that sense, AstroLabs is working toward the future of MENA’s tech landscape through enabling businesses to tap new opportunities and scale globally. Work closely with its partners, AstroLabs ensures to design transformational programs to accommodate the ever-evolving needs of the regional market. As this economy continues to grow across MENA, AstroLabs is dedicated to arming entrepreneurs with all the tools and knowledge they will need in order to stay one step ahead of the curve.

With a substantial impact in the future of the MENA region, AstroLabs has been focused on innovation, entrepreneurship, and enhancing the digital capacity. Its regional and international reach combined with its inclusive approach have continued to transform businesses and foster a thriving tech ecosystem across the Middle East. Either by helping startups take their first steps or by aiding global players enter the MENA market, AstroLabs is surely a driving force behind the region’s digital revolution.