Investing in Kuwait’s Future

Shamlan Al Bahar, Managing Director of Pink Coffee, has spent most of his life trying to break boundaries, promote ethical values, and create growth opportunities for young Kuwaitis. Find out how and why he came to develop initiatives such as Mutubtub, Small To Big, and The Proteges.

Shamlan Al Bahar: Promoting Entrepreneurship, Creativity, and Values among Kuwaiti Youth

“When it comes to Shamlan, everything can be possible. He comes up with surprising solutions to things that I once found impossible or hard to accomplish. He makes everything sound easy, fun, and interesting. This guy is full of ideas. A simple idea that pops out of Shamlan’s mind can do wonders, maybe change a whole country - I think in some cases, it already has.” ~ Eman Al Rashied, The Protégés, First Generation.

Shamlan Al Bahar was born in Eugene, Oregon in July of 1977, at a time when a large number of...

Americans had manifested a rejection of the established culture, and had decided they wanted to be more tolerant of other peoples and traditions. They wanted to put an end to the endless wars (who can blame them? Vietnam's War played vividly in their memories). They also began to develop an awareness of the environment's malaise. Back then, it was Global Warming. Today we call it Climate Change. This biographical fact alone should illuminate Al-Bahar's innovative streak, his desire to change the world for the better, and his willingness to think outside the established discourse. Both of his parents were studying at an American university at the time of his birth, and for the first year of his life, Al-Bahar was raised in an equally untraditional milieu (his parents passed him around from friend to friend between classes). In 1978 his parents graduated and moved back to Kuwait, transfixing the hippy spirit of the seventies into his mind, and influencing his ideas on other cultures and traditions from a very early age.

Upon his return to Kuwait, Al-Bahar noted the scarcity of English, which was barely taught in public schools. To satiate his hunger for the language, he devoured the Western media. After his parents retired to their bedrooms, little Shamlan would quietly sneak back into the living room, perch in front of the TV screen and watch his favorite shows, Miami Vice and Beverly Hills 90210. He was particularly impressed with the productivity of the teenage characters; the way they published in their school newspapers, waited in diners, and volunteered for a variety of work within their communities.

When he became a teenager himself, Al-Bahar dialed Pizza Hut's number and asked for a job. First he was ridiculed, both by the employees at Pizza Hut as well as by his friends. After all, working for a pizza joint offered neither prestige nor contributed to his social status. A Kuwaiti behind the counter beside foreign workers? Keep dreaming. Yet the second reaction, which questioned his desire to work although he did not need the money, affected him the most. It was then that Al-Bahar realized that the idea of work, in Kuwait, was only fathomed as a necessity for financial remuneration. People only worked if they needed to pay their bills. And if you needed to pay your bills, you did not dial Pizza Hut and ask them for a job. This differentiated Al-Bahar from others. He recognized work as an empowering experience that contributed to the expansion and malleability of knowledge.

“For the first time, I felt that there were no borders between my thoughts and my actions.”

In 1990, Iraqi leader Saddam Hussain led his national Ba’athist army into Kuwait, demolishing the powerful ties of Arab Unity. Hussain divided the Arab world and magnified both prejudices and stereotypes of everyone that opposed him. Al-Bahar’s family had been vacationing in Egypt at the time, and chose to remain there when the invasion took place. The exposure to Egyptian culture further helped to expand Al-Bahar's views on the topics of “otherness” and “difference.” Unfortunately, when the war was over, Kuwaitis’ nerves were shaken, their trust massacred. After all, they could not have foreseen that Hussain would bulldoze every treaty and trample upon their own children with his tanks. Thus, they closed themselves and began to view their own national identity in opposition to other nationalities. Al-Bahar returned to a stifling Kuwaiti sentiment which penetrated the public schooling systems, familial environments, and social structures. The worst victims of these events were social creativity and tolerance.

This is why Al Bahar’s first trip to Dublin, to study English as a teenager, felt like a truly liberating experience: the world had finally opened up for him. Living and sharing everything with people from different cultures, religions and backgrounds engrained within him the values of tolerance, acceptance, and understanding. Al-Bahar says: “For the first time, I felt that there were no borders between my thoughts and my actions.” It was the realization that this was possible that led him to dedicate his life to the eradication of borders and barriers. He strived to build possibilities for Kuwaiti youth that would offer them enriched and rewarding experiences without having to leave their own country.

One of Al-Bahar's first initiatives, Proud to be Kuwaiti (P2BK), was developed while he was working in the Marketing Department at Arabian Motors Co. It stemmed from his desire to promote small, local businesses as well as the concept of socially responsible marketing and branding in Kuwait. Since then, P2BK has taken on a life of its own under the leadership of its co-founder, Dhari Al Wazzan, and is now one of the country’s major yearly events, promoting youth engagement and local business development.

“Serving the non-existent”

Soon after Proud to be Kuwaiti was first launched, one of Al-Bahar's former trainees, Dana Al Oteibi, approached him to start a business together. She argued that he had a kaleidoscopic mind that required the professional freedom to produce innovative programs. Pink Coffee was the child of this union. The idea behind this marketing and Public Relations business revolves around “serving the non-existent,” which is another way of saying: focusing on originality and creativity. Al-Bahar also points out that one of the driving principles of Pink Coffee has always been to “generate not only money but also happiness,” and that they have made social responsibility and youth development projects a key component of the company from its inception.

One of their first initiatives emerged after a spontaneous visit by Al Bahar to his son’s swimming class. He was deeply worried by what he saw there, and hurried back to develop Mutubtub: Kuwait’s first nation-wide campaign for child obesity. The program hopes to educate children and their parents about living a healthy and balanced life, as well as of the dangers of obesity. This informative program utilizes a creative and fun approach. Since its launching date, just over a year ago, they have visited over 50 schools and held major events in three of the country’s biggest malls.

“The spark of innovation always comes from a lack.”

Another of Pink Coffee’s major projects was Small To Big: a program aiming to seek, advise, and support young Kuwaitis with nascent businesses, or business ideas. Al-Bahar says, “The spark of innovation always comes from a lack,” and in this case he felt that there was not enough existing support for creative, talented, and ambitious Kuwaitis. The program’s activities ranged from training courses, seminars, workshops in business development, marketing, PR, web design, etc, to providing participants with a governmental medium, mandoub, to take care of licensing and other official paperwork. The second part of the program included a special, customized course in King’s College, London. According to Al-Bahar, over 70% of the program’s participants advanced to business success. Their triumphant initiatives include Chocolateness, F2o Designs, and Fat Burger Kuwait. Sara Shuaib, a Small To Big participant and the founder of Funkyology, said of the program’s impact, “STB-London has already changed my life and has helped me to look at things more profoundly. It has also enabled my business (Funkyology) to accomplish its goals, and to grow beyond them. Shamlan Al-Bahar is one of my biggest idols as well as my mentor. He didn’t only support me and my business, but he also helped me to grasp the idea of business achievements and pushed me to reach my ultimate goals.”

“Opening doors and horizons.”

Perhaps the most famous, as well as the most recent, Pink Coffee initiative is “The Protégés,” now in its second edition. This program focuses on identifying Kuwait’s future leaders and “opening doors and horizons.” It selects twenty-five young men and women to embark on a six week course which includes lectures and workshops on art, culture, music, poetry, acting, business, project management, presentation skills, and much more. The “Protégés” are followed closely by “The Mentors:” young and successful Kuwaiti entrepreneurs that apply their time and energy in teaching and supporting The Protégés both during and after the program. Eman Al Rashied, the Coordinator of the First Generation of The Protégés says, “One of the valuable things I learned [in the program], which always comes to my mind, is that no matter how busy a person can be, he/she can always have time to do something good, and prioritizing is the key.” She then added, “Our mentors, who are super busy with their work, their kids, their businesses, and their own social life, still find time to contribute to Kuwait, to society, and to us. They have volunteered their time just to make a difference in others’ lives.”

Apart from providing these young people with cultural and business acumen, the program places a heavy emphasis on the grounding of ethics and values, such as the ones that have been constant themes throughout Al-Bahar’s life: tolerance, understanding, and compassion. This is partly intended to overcome the much too common supremacy of materialistic values amongst Kuwaiti youth. At the end of the program each “generation” is supposed to present a project whose aim is the positive elevation of Kuwaiti society. Ultimately, Al-Bahar’s goal for this program is to contribute to the creation of a better future for all Kuwaiti children. He says passionately, “I do not want them to feel that they cannot do what they want to do just because they were born here, the way I felt growing up. I want them to feel that anything is possible.”

“Before, all that mattered was having a cool car.”

The Protégés has achieved widespread recognition both locally and internationally. Over 1,500 young people applied to participate in the second edition of the program. It was praised by the Emir when he met with the First Generation. It was even featured in The New York Times. However, the project continues to face several challenges. “The major problem is that we have no support. It is a very big program to handle on our own. There is no clear government outlet to support initiatives such as this one, and ultimately this means you have to rely on the private sector, which mostly cares about branding,” Al-Bahar complained. “You need to be a good merchant to get money. If you are genuine, and if you don’t make any false promises, your task becomes a little harder.”
Another problem that faced The Protégés was the occasional failure of the younger participants to honor their commitments. It can be hard to convince teenagers that it is in their benefit to dedicate their spare time to learning, studying, volunteering, and improving themselves, especially when most of their classmates are playing videogames, shopping, or watching TV. However, Al-Bahar is quite optimistic when it comes to the potential of the younger generations: “Honestly, I feel like things have changed since I was a teenager. People are learning to interact, enjoy their spare time, and grow professionally. Social media has helped a lot. Now it’s easier to express one’s opinion and be heard by a vaster public. This means that it is becoming more and more important to express creativity, intelligence, and humor. Before, all that mattered was having a cool car.”

Al-Bahar dedicated his life to the creation of possibilities and opportunities for Kuwait’s future generations. He, likewise, spent his adult life in the pursuit and diffusion of tolerance, creativity, and compassion. When asked for the recipe of his success, Al-Bahar replies with one word: honesty. He elaborates further: “If you are sincere, transparent, and if you recognize other people’s work and efforts, you will be able to develop positive relations, both in terms of business and personal areas of your life, and they will be based on mutual trust and respect. When you are a part of that type of environment, you are more likely to go beyond what is strictly required of you, and endeavor to make each individual project a success.” While this may sound undeniably logical, Al-Bahar finds it difficult to communicate this concept to others within the society who find it imperative to “sell oneself” as a brand name on a daily basis. Ultimately, the way people interact with one another, as well as the goals we set for ourselves, and the values that guide us along the way, must change in order for society to move forward and to attain a revolutionary, and radical, transformation, whose main aim is the betterment of society as a whole, rather than of one’s own bank account. And that, my friends, is why Al-Bahar is phenomenal.

For more information visit http://pinkcoffee.co.uk/initiative.html

Edited by Nada Faris

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