Maryam Al Nuaimi knows what it’s like to simultaneously be an outsider and an expert in her career field. As the first woman to establish a company in the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry in the UAE, she has learned to use criticism as inspiration to excel in her business endeavours.
Over the past nine years, Nuaimi, founder and president at Tafaseel Group, has ventured into the healthcare, information technology and customer service industries, as she has started a variety of companies under her group.
In an exclusive interview with Arabian Business, Nuaimi opened up about her journey to gain the trust of society and her clients.
“When I had these meetings with suppliers, they were surprised to see an Emirati woman in a meeting talking about call centres and its technologies, assuming I’m an engineer or I studied technology,” she said. “The real challenge was the questions and comments around me. Questioning my choice like: ‘Why did you choose this industry?’”
Nuaimi was able to turn the questioning into inspiration to work even harder.
“It was an obstacle, it was a challenge but it was also at the same time a real motivational factor to move forward, to accomplish my story, to prove myself,” she said.
Nuaimi also expressed her support for the new UAE regulation announced in May this year that requires all companies to have at least one woman sitting on their board of directors.
“It’s really a rational and crucial decision of the government because, as women are representing half of our society’s structure, of course, we need them,” she said. “They have to also be representing half of the structure. For me, it should be more than one. We need them in organisational and leadership structures.”
She explained that women are multi-taskers by nature, which can prove incredibly beneficial in leadership roles.
Maryam Al Nuaimi, founder and president at Tafaseel Group.
“Women are empathetic,” Nuaimi said. “They have this emotional intelligence so it is very easy for any employee to go to a female leader and ask any personal request or any sensitive question because they value family and relationship.
She continued: “They know how to drive and motivate people. This is very important for a leader. They know how to acknowledge different people for their performance, for example, and manage them effectively. We need this kind of diversity of skillsets.”
Nuaimi’s business idea for Tafaseel came to her while working as a supervisor at the Federal Electricity and Water Authority (FEWA) call centre as a young woman.
“In 2011, I left the job and I established my venture, Tafaseel BPO, to be the UAE’s home ground business process outsourcing company led by a local female for the first time at the age of 25,” Nuaimi said.
The name “Tafaseel” is Arabic for “details”, which Nuaimi explained are at the core of contact centre operations.
“Tafaseel from that year grew organically, gaining respected clients from diversified business lines in the UAE, the private sector, government sectors and semi-government sector,” Nuaimi said.
Since Tafaseel’s start in 2011, it has grown to establish operations in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Ajman and Fujairah.
Nuaimi said: “Through the years I wanted to build a one-stop-shop for all contact centre needs, so I established a sister company called Tafaseel IT that provides integrated solutions, infrastructure, business communications, customer service, training in the field of call centres, customer engagement services and business performance improvement services.”
Nuaimi’s business endeavours did not stop there. In 2018, she founded Salama Healthcare after inquiries for outsourcing nurses.
“It started to provide home nursing for people in homes – elderly, post-op, even new mums that needed a caretaker to stay with them after delivery,” Nuaimi said. “Then, I added other activities such as medical equipment and rehab services.”
During this time, she served as the deputy director of International Organisation and later director of Special Programs at the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation.
And this year, Nuaimi launched her first e-commerce platform Technologia.ae and Namaa Agricultural Investments.
Tafaseel is currently preparing to fully launch a new customer service product by the name of Rannah.
“It’s a product we provided not only for the Middle East, but a product for everywhere,” Nuaimi explained. “It’s similar to the Uber call centre. It makes it easier for all people and all clients to have their customer service needs met quickly and it shortcuts the contracting stage, as well.”
When asked about the challenges of operating such a multi-faceted group of companies, Nuaimi emphasized the value of delegation.
“I learned for years how to delegate in the right time and to the right persons,” Nuaimi said.
“I didn’t just run it as a start-up,” she continued. “I was always running it as a proper company with a proper structure which has people with different job descriptions and responsibilities. All this solid structure helped me a lot.”
However, Nuaimi warned of the dangers of operating as a start-up indefinitely.
“I always say this to my friends: ‘When you start up something, don’t think that this is your own small company, run it as a proper business which will grow and operate without you,’” she said.
Tafaseel was born out of Nuaimi’s drive to add something to the economic development cycle in the UAE. Today, she is proud of her accomplishments and looks forward to her future endeavours.
She said: “I’m proud that I had this opportunity and I would like to see this with all the women around me because it’s not a matter of Maryam, it’s a matter of the nation.
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