Designs On The World Sana Sayed

Hello! Gets Talking To An Interiors Entrepreneur For Whom Creativity And Cross-Cultural References Are A Way Of Life

- Sangeeta Wadhwani

When this young lady stepped into the HELLO! office, she understood not the sonorous keyboard-driven world of a newsroom… but the intimate details of working a coffee machine! To my amusement, she smiled, “Basically, my dad’s eldest brother is into hospitality, so in London he has a chain of coffee shops… I worked in one in central London, Leicester Square. I would work there for three months every summer, from the age of 13, 14, 15, till I was 16. I would take the train and serve regular hours there – I was just one of the staff, and got paid £20 a day. And let me tell you, London is one city where they don’t offer you even a penny as a tip! But it was a great experience,” she laughs. Hmmmm….this already makes a good start to our conversation!

Let’s get this straight. Sana Sayed hails from the ‘original’ Sayed family, which boasts of four living generations spread all over the world, working across different arenas from hotels and hospitality chains, to being doctors, to being vanguards in the finance industry. “My father came to Dubai in the early 60s and established his business there, making it our home ever since. He strongly believes his daughter can attain anything that she desires and also encouraged us to grow not just as professionals and entrepreneurs, but as human beings.”

She feels life has been kind, because it has shaped her well to be a 21 st century pro.

“I feel it was a privilege to go to school in Dubai, a school which had kids belonging to 47 different nationalities. So, I was accustomed to dealing with Asians, Europeans, Americans, and I had LOADS of Turkish friends. They tend to be primarily Muslims, but with the most open mindset. Even the food I grew up on was so eclectic, I barely eat much traditional, spicy Indian food. So I feel these early influences were key to what I do now.”