COUNTRY REPORT A woman’s worth Leading the way in female empowerment BUSINESS PROPERTY CULTURE TRAVEL A hot spot for innovation: how the Sharjah’s flourishing property sector The creative use of heritage Why Sharjah’s careful preservation state, universities and private sector is welcoming a raft of developments buildings to house its collection of of its natural assets – beaches, desert, nurture entrepreneurs and start-ups that will usher in a new chapter for contemporary Arab art has won wadis and mangroves – sets the from concept to product P4 real estate in the emirate P10-11 Sharjah international plaudits P17 emirate apart from its neighbours P18 The future is now From glittering new developments to the digital revolution – Sharjah is 21st-century ready 2 Introduction Introduction 3 OMAN The Al Noor (Central) Mosque commands a view A SHEIKHA over the Khalid Lagoon in Giant leaps Sharjah’s commercial centre RAS – one step READY AL-KHAIMAH DIBBA AL-HISN UMM FUJAIRAH at a time TO SCALE AL- QUWAIN AJMAN KHOR FAKKAN The ruler’s wife SHARJAH CITY leads the way THE DIZZY SHARJAH AL DHAID FUJAIRAH for the emirate’s SIR ABU NU’AYR ISLAND women, writes HEIGHTS AL BEDAYER KALBA DUBAI Mitya Underwood RAS Meet the mountain- AL-KHAIMAH climbing mother who ABU DHABI f the seven emirates in the is transforming the OMAN UAE, Sharjah has one of the O strongest records when it cultural and physical comes to female empowerment. The Sharjah Art Foundation is landscape of Sharjah. led by an Emirati woman, as is Building a brighter future the Sharjah Family Development Karen Attwood reports Centre. Across the UAE itself, women make up some 70 per cent of university graduates, according hallenging preconceived rom the natural treasures of the flows from the mountains into the salty to the UAE’s US embassy. perceptions of Middle Eastern Khor Kalba mangroves on Sharjah’s coastal plain. Children and tourists But despite the positives, there royalty, Sheikha Bodour bint F east coast to the extraordinary alike have “a rare chance to view and is still some way to go. Sheikha Sultan Al-Qasimi – the ruler’s Wasit wetlands in its inner suburbs, learn about our migratory birds up Jawaher bint Muhammad Al- eldest daughter – is one of the heritage and the environment occupy close in their natural habitat”. Qasimi, the wife of the ruler Cwomen who has helped drive Sharjah’s a pivotal place in the life of an emirate The descriptions evoke another and chairperson of the Supreme transformation over the past decade. that cares about its past while keeping world, far from the bustle of a dynamic Council of Family Afairs, is Both a mother and a keen mountaineer, pace with the times. city coping with the needs of 21st- tackling this head-on with the Sheikha Bodour is a formidable business Under the personal guidance of the century life and commerce. NAMA Women Advancement figure in her own right. She became the ruler, Sheikh Sultan bin Muhammad Sharjah is also committed to An innovative emirate Establishment, set up in 2015. first woman to chair the World Economic Al-Qasimi, conservation has become preserving its historic architecture and The organisation champions Forum’s influential Regional Business a priority giving the emirate an identity Jackson, who has worked for the ruler legislation to eradicate Council for the Middle East and North many see as unique. for 11 years, is an ideal guide. He cites discrimination against women, as Africa, a position she took up in May 2017. “He has single-handedly driven the the neo-classical Islamic style of its well as developing business skills Likewise, she has become a forceful process,” says Peter Jackson, the mosques, the University City and for Sharjah’s female entrepreneurs. campaigner for women’s rights in the region. British architect adviser in the ruler’s government buildings along the in touch with its heritage Reem bin Karam, director of Like her father, Sheikha Bodour is as From top: Sheikha Bodour; an artist’s ofce. “For Sharjah, the result is a city waterfront and the squares and open NAMA, is proud of the work the passionate about improving the cultural and impression of an Eagle Hills development and emirate of this region as opposed spaces that contribute to Sharjah’s organisation has already done, business landscape of the emirate as she is to a spaceship that could be anywhere. special urban character. He sees the saying it has “achieved many its physical terrain. As the chair of both medical anthropology from University This is a 21st-century city rooted firmly ruler’s own hand in its architecture, Business, education, culture… Planning for the future while respecting the milestones in the past few years”. Shurooq, the emirate’s Investment and College London. She is also a cultural and in the Arab world and Islam.” notably the Central Souk and Museum Last December, NAMA hosted Development Authority, and Eagle Hills literary champion, a mother-of-three who At the Sharjah Desert Park, with its of Islamic Civilization. past has placed Sharjah at the centre of the Arab world, says Nigel Kendall the first Women’s Economic Sharjah Development, Sheikha Bodour is made time to climb Mount Kilimanjaro in Natural History Museum, Islamic The ambitious but sensitively Empowerment Global Summit focused both on the “strategic diversification 2015, and the founder of the publishing Botanical Garden and Arabian Wildlife executed Heart of Sharjah project, the in partnership with UN Women, of the economy” and “developing the house Kalimat Group, the first in the UAE Center, an extended programme of urban reconstruction and restoration of harjah, the third largest of the United Meanwhile, the Sharjah International technological revolution. They follow in which led to around 20 dedicated to the production of quality breeding and conservation sustains the historic core of the city, is due for Arab Emirates (UAE), is blazing Book Fair has grown to become the the footsteps of the country’s two original organisations pledging gender original Arabic children’s titles. (The indigenous species – including completion by 2025, with the restored a trail as a clean-energy pioneer, world’s third largest such event and the trade zones – Hamriyah Free Zone and equality improvements by 2019. ‘If youth is given the “lightning bulb” moment came when she leopards, wolves, hyenas and caracals souk and new Arts Foundation complex seat of learning and cultural Arabic new Sharjah Publishing City (SPC) looks Sharjah Airport International Free Zone Additionally, women from Sharjah found that there were no fun and interesting – that otherwise faced extinction blending the modern and traditional. powerhouse. The first humans are set to expand the emirate’s relationship – which have already attracted significant have benefited from a scheme books in Arabic to read with her daughter.) because of urbanisation and a rapidly “At its best, Sharjah strike a balance Sknown to have arrived in the region more with publishers further. foreign investment. teaching them how to set up and right opportunity, Since then, Sheikha Bodour has played expanding population. between the two,” says Jackson. “It may than 120,000 years ago, so it can lay claim to Inaugurated in October 2017, SPC is Sharjah’s diverse economy, with ports run a successful business. The a major role in several initiatives aimed The Wasit Wetland Centre, says not possess the world’s tallest building, being one of the true cradles of civilisation. the first free zone of its type in the world, on both the Gulf of Oman and the scheme, called Badiri, now has plans the potential for at encouraging Emiratis to take more Jackson, is “an amazing oasis of but that is not its objective. What it may Its storied past has inspired Sheikh Sultan providing a tax-efficient environment for Arabian Gulf, means no single sector to go global, taking UAE-based pleasure in reading. She is the founder tranquillity”, a rehabilitated city-centre lack in quantity, it certainly does not bin Muhammad Al-Qasimi, the ruler of the global publishers, distributors, printers, comprises more than 20 per cent of women on a tour to see successful economic growth and patron of the Emirates Publishers wasteland where subterranean water lack in quality.” COLIN RANDALL emirate since 1972, to oversee an innovative translators and associated businesses at the GDP. This has long helped cushion it from social enterprise schemes. Association, which represents UAE programme of cultural and business centre of the Arab book market – thought to oil-price volatility, and the government Christine Lagarde, the International is limitless’ publishers internationally. In October, development that has run hand in hand be worth more than £700 million ($1 billion) is leading efforts to position the emirate Monetary Fund’s managing director, Sharjah Publishing City opened as the with improved access to education, health per year. Appropriately, Sharjah has been at the centre of initiatives for greener says the UAE’s track record of world’s first free-trade zone for publishing, and information for his people. named World Book Capital 2019 by Unesco. energy generation, water desalination, empowering women is “an example real-estate sector” ensuring new projects an integral part of the royal family’s vision The emirate is welcoming and forward- Its historic city centre – just a 40-minute waste recycling and eco-tourism. to be followed around the world”. reflect Sharjah’s Arab and Islamic identity. for a flourishing literary scene. Unesco thinking, but it also desires to preserve drive from Dubai – is also seeking Unesco The state is also making it easier to NAMA also hosts shows around Shurooq and Eagle Hills recently has selected Sharjah to be World Book its culture and traditions.