Amal Harb explains how protection, balance, resilience and a multicultural group made the UAE where the place she constructed her occupation and raised her circle of relatives
It’s why she appreciates the security and balance of the UAE, the rustic that she calls her followed house, the place she has lived for 28 years.
She defined: “When Lebanon came under attack in October 2024, my family was with me in Abu Dhabi less than 24 hours later. It was an emotional time for all of us, but knowing they could reach safety so quickly reminds me just how fortunate we are to call the UAE home. It means I can be present when my family needs me while also raising my son in an environment that offers consistency, security and opportunity.”
Harb is the manager director of Abu Dhabi-based Perception Out Consultancy. Her reference to the UAE is an previous one – she first began visiting the rustic when she used to be 12, and her father introduced her alongside in the summertime, throughout his work journeys.
She stated: “When everyone used to leave Abu Dhabi during the summer, you would find me here, spending time at my father’s business and enjoying the holidays with the few friends who stayed behind. The sun, the beach and the bowling alley were my favourite pastimes.”
After graduating from college in Lebanon, she knew she sought after to transport to the UAE completely – it used to be “the most natural decision”. So, she packed her baggage and “came with hope, ambition and a suitcase full of uncertainty. What started as a search for a future and a career became something much bigger. Abu Dhabi became the place where I built my career, found lifelong friendships, raised my son and grew into the person I am today.”
A country that bounces again, each and every timeHarb stated she has observed the UAE soar again from tricky occasions, be it the pandemic, or the worldwide monetary disaster. Image credit score: Provided
Yr after 12 months, the rustic assists in keeping giving her causes to stick.
Essential amongst them is peace of thoughts. Harb stated: “Living somewhere where institutions function, where progress is constant and where safety isn’t something you have to think about every day changes the way you live your life. It’s easy to take those things for granted until you’ve experienced life without them. Coming from a country that has endured decades of conflict and uncertainty, they mean everything to me.”
The sense of safety UAE provides extends to difficult moments as smartly, no longer simply classes of peace.
Harb stated she has observed the rustic soar again from tricky occasions, be it the pandemic, or the worldwide monetary disaster, and it’s what fuels her self assurance within the UAE’s resilience: “No country is immune to global events. The question is how it responds. The UAE has built a culture of action. It plans, adapts, invests and keeps moving forward.”
The COVID-19 pandemic, specifically, confirmed the outstanding potency of UAE’s management and governance: “During COVID, I remember seeing decisions being made quickly, support being rolled out, vaccination programmes implemented at remarkable speed, and clear communication that gave people confidence during an incredibly uncertain time.”
The government’ resourcefulness and pragmatism constructed up her self assurance, too: “As someone working in travel and hospitality, one of the industries hit hardest, it would have been easy to lose hope. Instead, I watched businesses innovate and the country steadily reopen with a level of organisation that earned global respect. We adapted, redeployed our talent wherever possible so that no one lost their job, and together we helped drive one of the hospitality industry’s strongest recoveries. Those moments reinforced something I had already been learning over many years: this is a country that faces challenges head-on.”
Energy in range
One more reason that attracts her to the rustic is the variety of the residential group. Harb labored for years in advertising and marketing and hospitality, earlier than running in consultancy, and met other people from far and wide the sector. She stated: “Over the years, I’ve had the privilege of working with incredible people from every continent, learning from different cultures every single day. That diversity shapes the way you think. It teaches you humility, adaptability and perspective.”
Her son, elderly 14, is now experiencing the similar protected, multicultural atmosphere that acts as an incubator for hopes and goals.
Harb stated: “Like every parent, you want your child to grow up somewhere they feel safe, respected and able to dream without unnecessary limitations. He speaks Lebanese [Arabic] with me at home, English with his father, and even Emirati Arabic with his Emirati friends. He’s also learning French and Mandarin at school. Diversity isn’t something he’s taught in theory, it’s simply how his daily life looks.”
Multiply Harb’s fact by means of 1000’s, and even thousands and thousands of households, and it finds how a country that celebrates multiculturalism prospers. Harb stated she has watched generations of other people make investments no longer simply their careers within the UAE, however their complete lives: “That creates something powerful, a shared belief that this country is worth building together. When millions of people continue choosing a place year after year, contributing their ideas, their businesses, their cultures and their futures, that creates resilience that goes far beyond infrastructure or economics.”
Loyalty against management
Taking a look again, Harb unearths that citizens’ self assurance within the UAE and its management doesn’t come from optimism on my own, relatively it’s constructed on years of enjoy and perception.
She stated: “I have enormous respect for the country’s leadership, the rule of law and the freedoms we’ve been able to enjoy. Having experienced life elsewhere, I would choose the UAE every single time.”
For citizens like Harb, who’re warmly welcomed to the UAE, the straightforward alternative to live in a country that appears ahead, whilst giving its other people the heat and safety they want, is a outstanding present.
She stated: “People rarely leave home because they want to. Most leave because they’re searching for opportunity, stability, safety or a better future for their families. The UAE offers a rare combination of those things.”
