ENTREPRENEUR
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ne of Bahrain’s youngest entrepreneurs, Wafa Obaidat, the Creative Director of Obai & Hill considers clients and employees as family, which means that the company is about more than just PR and design. Obai & Hill has built an outstanding reputation as a great agency run by the strongest women in the country! B.I.G spoke to Wafa to get more insight in to the startup journey and how Obai & Hill has grown to be what it is today.
What is Obai & Hill known for?
Obai and Hill is a design and PR agency based in Bahrain, which I started it back in 2010. We were in London and moved to Bahrain 3 years ago. It’s a woman-based agency so we have about six women working at the agency with the exception of one man who is an IT developer. Our unique selling point or what we’re recognized for is the fact that we solve our client’s problems creatively, sometimes coming out of our scope of work to cater for the clients.
Tell us about the start up journey.
In one word, it was quite exhausting. My first venture in 2009 was the Sketchbook Magazine, which is a digital publication that supported the local emerging scene. We managed to establish quite a big network in the UK and I started attracting clients who wanted my services as a creative director and an editor. So it got divided into an agency that provides services for clients as well. Apart from just being the Creative Director, I also had to serve as the complete director on some projects. Moving back
to Bahrain was a difficult but necessary step. I had a lot of clients in the region and I truly believed it worthwhile to move our base closer to them. But in the Kingdom itself, there was no demand for my services; add to it the bureaucracy and paperwork involved in launching a company; it was a really tough time. One of the facts that made it tougher for me was that I was doing it all on my own. I did not want any support from my family, and I did not want to take a loan from the bank. Slowly, one step at a time, I managed to get a few accounts and we were lucky to get rent-free space from Zaid Al Zoubi for a year. He really set the platform for me to work up my foundation and hire staff.
What are the background education/experiences that allowed you to set up such a business? I studied interior design at the Chelsea College of Arts and Design in the UK, and just being in the school was really inspiring. I got to meet filmmakers, artists and visual artists, designers on a daily basis. This really helped me become a well-rounded designer in a way. I got to meet all these different people at college and I think that allowed me start Sketchbook, which was a type of support for arts and designers. I also worked in Fashion while I was a student and I managed to develop skills in sales, PR and buying in design. I got a fantastic mentorship with a designer who I worked with at the time along with the Editor of Big Show magazine. After I graduated, I decided to start my own publication. Being in a design school in a good city like London, which is a design capital really helped as I had access to galleries, museums and the theatre.
What do you think sets Obai & Hill apart from the rest? Just like at the Sketchbook Magazine, I believe we have a very thorough approach to agency and publishing. We choose not to be intimidating;
we try to be friendly and accommodating. We offer great customer service and we look at our clients as a family. We undertake projects of clients who believe in our vision and want to take risks with us in the creative and PR field or services related to PR and design. We have a great work culture and even within our company, we look at each other as a family so it’s a much more emotional way of approaching business rather than a corporate direction.
What has been the most exciting moment so far?
There are too many to count. This year, we landed the Bahrain Flour Mill account. We’re very excited about the rebranding of such a great company and that itself was a huge highlight this year in terms of business. A huge milestone was just in developing the team we have; a great team of women under the agency. Another milestone was working on the Khaleejesque account and the Muneera Obaidli Account; developing the brands from scratch and helping them in the process.
What are some of the challenges that you face?
One of the challenges was coming to Bahrain, obtaining a CR, waiting a few months to get the registration, building up the company on my own, office space, you need to apply to get Tamkeen funding. It’s very tough but once you get the ball rolling, things move much faster. I’m very grateful to Zaid Al Zoubi, when he saw me struggling he offered me a free rent space for a year, which allowed me to save on my expenses, hire some great staff and land a few more clients to be able to afford the rent. I’m very grateful to him for mentoring me and helping me in the process.
Can you tell us about some of the more interesting campaigns that you have worked on?
Right now we’re about to launch a fantastic campaign with Burger Lounge, it’s called the local celebrity burger where we are getting local celebrities or
local entrepreneurs and putting them as the face of the brand. We ask them to design their own burger for Burger Lounge, which will be sold for one month. What’s exciting is it’s about collaboration; it’s the first time we are collaborating with such a large number of people in a virtual compound. It’s basically putting the entrepreneurs and people on the ground in Bahrain as the face of the brand. We don’t need to fly people from abroad; we just need to look at our local scene and at what’s happening here.
Has there been any recent event/ campaign that you wish Obai & Hill had a role to play in?
Right now I’m working on all the projects I want to work on and there isn’t anybody specific I’d like to work with. I do believe that if there is anything supporting the design and art local scene, we would love to be part of it. The agency loves to collaborate and support in any way we can, including any initiative that supports local entrepreneurs as well.
Any advice for young entrepreneurs?
Don’t suffer; I think that’s very important. A lot of people suffer in jobs they don’t want to work and hate and they only do what they love at night or weekends. They need to find what they love in life. Take the lead when you’re younger and follow your passion. If you want to think about what you want to do in life, then start testing and follow your principles. Don’t stay unhappy in a job you don’t like. I’m a big advocate of entrepreneurship and I’d pick that any day over an employee position especially if it’s something you don’t like.
What plans for the future?
To grow the company, to have more staff; we’re about to hire three more people. To expand to the UAE, to have offices there and write a book about tips on how to start a business and to share the story of the journey of the Agency’s start up just to share that knowledge with other people.
NOVEMBER OCTOBER / DECEMBER NOVEMBER 2013
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