Dr. Ayesha Mohammed Abdullah, Managing Director of the ...

Cover StoryHow we bringabout that changeshould not beconfrontational.As women, weneed to becomecontributingmembers ofsociety, raise ourchildren well, breakthe normonly to make yourself proud, but to goabroad and excel academically, become arepresentative for your country and religion,and break the stereotype,” she says.But although her words come fast andfurious, there is no aggression in her belief.“How we bring about that change shouldnot be confrontational. As women, weneed to become contributing members ofsociety, raise our children well, break thenorm. We have to do a lot of ourselves,and once we get that opportunity, we provethat we are as smart as anyone, and thesame people who wrote us off earlier willgive us another chance,” she says.However, Dr. Abdullah is also careful aboutnot using her status as a woman to gainany special privileges. “It’s about beinghuman, not about men and women. Ishould not be asking for a break becauseI am a woman. I have always worked withmen – most of my life, my bosses weremen – but they always gave me the break.In the UAE, we are very fortunate. It’s just amatter of time as more women get into thework force. Mostly because today, womenare not only working for themselves, butalso for economic reasons as families needtwo incomes for survival and for a betterlifestyle. And it’s not going to impact familylife, because women can strike the balance.We will never make a choice betweencareer and family,” she asserts.Today, Dr. Abdullah is achieving onesuccess after another at the workplace,growing from one leadership positionto another in her six years with DubaiHolding. “The time that I have spent atDubai Holding is phenomenal. It has beena time of growth, time of achieving theimpossible, thinking out of the box. It hasbeen about positioning Dubai at a globallevel – a fantastic joy ride,” she gushes.And there is true passion behind her lovefor the work she does. “The advantage wehad was that we started with a clean slate.It was a blue sky project, where we coulduse all our creativity, learn from others, anddo something totally new,” she says.Dr. Abdullah’s career has beenpredominantly in healthcare. So whenshe was offered this once-in-a-lifetimeopportunity, she could not refuse.“Coincidentally, my paper during my thesiswas on how we grow knowledge-intensivescientific industry in a developing country.I explored how one can create knowledgepartners, what works, what does not,drew on experiences from other countries,and I was fortunate that, on some level,I had the chance to implement that inDubai. It was basically putting what I hadlearned over four years into practice,” shesmiles.So Dr. Abdullah first established theregulatory framework for DHCC, which sheachieved in two years. Her backgroundhelped as she could draw on her ownexpertise, and was in a position to tapresources from all over the world. Sheasked the questions and got the answers.And she does not fail to thank thepeople she works with. “I have a team ofwonderful, passionate, committed, andextremely intelligent people, people whowant to change the world. They want alegacy that will outlive them – that’s theirlevel of commitment,” she says.But with all the joy and compliments forwork well done comes an indication thather head is still firmly set on her shoulders.“I am not going to claim that we haveachieved everything. We have a long wayto go. This is only the tip of the iceberg –we have the capacity for a lot more,” shesays.Her reward, she says, comes from the factthat they have managed to bring qualitymedical services close to home, to seepatients and how the medical servicesare improving the quality of their lives –you can’t out a dollar value on that, it’s afeeling that transcends you.Today, Dr. Abdullah can proudly saythat she has grown, personally andprofessionally, not just in terms ofacquiring knowledge, but also in dealingwith different people, different cultures,learning how to close major deals, howto deal with partners, taking collaborativeapproach, etc.For Dr. Abdullah, the next five years seemto be just as daunting as the early years ofher career. “My children are going to maketheir career choices, and I hope they growup to be intelligent individuals. In addition,in my new role, I have to establish synergybetween the entities, and explore newavenues for growth,” she says.Given her history, and apparent ease withbalancing personal and professional lifewith equal dedication and passion, thisdoes not seem like a hurdle Dr. Abdullahwill not be able to tackle successfully. Andtherein lies the secret to her success.ADVERTISEMENT36