Moms come from all walks of life but there’s very little that brings them all together – or so says the founder of Mom’s Guide Abu Dhabi online resource: http://www.momsguidead.com. Mom of two, 28 year old Esraa Bani-Rothman created Moms Guide Abu Dhabi as a guide for Emirati and expat moms living in the UAE. Tempo sat down with the young mom to talk about her initiative.
Bridging the Gap
I wanted to bridge a gap in the community, and I was soon joined in my by Emirati mum, Manal Hamadi. We both love Abu Dhabi and wanted to show families why it’s one of the best places in the world to raise a family. Our aim is to be the most comprehensive, accurate and accessible guide for active and busy moms who want to know what’s happening in Abu Dhabi. Everything we do is based on a need that we, as busy, active moms ourselves, feel is not being met. We are conscious of quality, value and information accuracy. However, it is slightly more complicated than this. On the surface, we look like we are simply collecting information and listing it in a pretty and convenient format but we are so much more than that! We have bigger plans for Moms Guide Abu Dhabi and are strategic about the unveiling of the different phases of our vision. While I am the dreamer and the big plan visionary, Manal is my sounding board and ‘fine-tuner’ and this makes us a fantastic team.
Creating a Purpose
Moms Guide Abu Dhabi will hopefully be the ultimate go-to guide for moms in Abu Dhabi looking to be active and involved in the community. It’s a guide to live a healthier, green, more active life in Abu Dhabi. The key is getting moms out and being more involved, whether that involvement is in the form of children’s activities, social activities, or philanthropic activities then we hope to be the ones to enable this.
One of our most important purposes is to cater to all types of mothers. We have found that mothers in Abu Dhabi often feel a certain divide that is limiting both our own experiences and those of our children. Stand in your child’s playground with the other parents and you will see that people congregate with other mothers of the same or similar nationality. We understand that people are often more comfortable with what they know, but there are so many opportunities for mothers and their children to get to know each other. The Western European mother is already very well catered to, but what about the Emirati mothers, the Indian mothers, the Lebanese mothers etc. Our conversations with women of different backgrounds has shown that they all want to know each other but are being held back by misconceptions, lack of common ground, or simply shyness. Since we started we’ve noticed that other older groups are following our footsteps into being more inclusive. So we’re happy that it’s inspiring others.
Where We Fit
Ideally, we would like to be the ‘middle-women’ between mothers and those trying to reach them. When businesses become interested in our followers (via our newsletter, BBM group, subscribers, Facebook followers, Twitter followers etc) we ensure that their vision is in line with ours. We focus on being the bridge between start-ups, small, and medium businesses that have something of value to offer mothers in Abu Dhabi. We are not focusing on highlighting products, rather we want to highlight those services and activities that will empower and enable mothers who are finding it difficult to get involved in the community. We’ll hopefully also be leading some of these efforts. We already have several projects that we will be initiating before the end of the year.
Our Future Plans
Our most immediate plans are to begin the community tab in our website that will include a blog, among other things. This blog will be written by a panel of mothers (with diverse personalities and different temperaments) and will encompass a variety of topics including arts, crafts, food and nutrition but also the not-so-expected-topics that will address the issues of culture and integration among mothers in Abu Dhabi.
By Sharon Carvalho
