Even though I’m told there isn’t a word for entrepreneur in Arabic, there is certainly a good amount of “from the ground up” spirit happening from within a new generation of people living in Dubai. I had the pleasure of visiting one such project called The Shelter, a wonderful workspace, cafe, store, screening room type place.  It’s situated in an old warehouse in an industrial part of Dubai, off the beaten path. If you’re in town and need a place to work (or just want to see something that makes you feel good), I highly encourage you to stop in and see this place.

The Shelter is a first of its kind community workspace that allows individuals from various creative disciplines to engage in an environment that nurtures entrepreneurial small businesses. The Shelter is a medium for forward thinkers, creatives and intellectuals to connect and exchange ideas; converting those interactions into commercial services and products through subsidized work spaces.

I’m headed to Dubai for the Summit on the Global Agenda (a World Economic Forum event), as I’ve been serving on the Marketing and Branding council. I’ll let you know how it goes. Excited to see the tallest building in the world, having previously gone up the Taipei 101 as well.

Tips on Dubai? See you on the other side…

I'm very excited to be headed to Dubai for a few days this evening! Update: Gah! Sickness has taken over and I was unable to make the flight.  Looking forward to visiting another time. 

 The primary purpose of the trip is to take part in the Inaugural Summit on the Global Agenda, by the World Economic Forum. A few months ago after my participation in Davos, I was nominated to one of the councils (marketing and branding, an absolute honor) and this is the first major meeting for the group as a whole to talk about the purpose and issues each council will be focusing on. There are 70 different councils; everything from science, the environment, to the internet. The WEF is describing the occasion as a “new unique gathering of the world's most influential thinkers… to advance solutions to the most critical challenges facing humanity.” It's certainly a pretty big claim, but I'm very humbled to have been invited, as it's an opportunity to give back in a big way with all our individual organizations alongside an incredible facilitator, the forum.

Although I'll be focusing on the work at hand, I am using my free day and a half before I head back to New York as a chance to check out a few things like the new Airbus A380 on the flight over (an insane piece of aircraft innovation), go skiing indoors (seems like an ecological nightmare but I'll wait and hold judgement until I see it), and see a few other famous places (Tea at the Burj, etc). This is my first time to Dubai, so as usual if you have any tips for food, drink, shops, insider thoughts, must-see things etc, please comment below or drop me a line. Thanks!