MIE VENTO is the first creative agency in Bahrain with a focus on the youth, specializing in Events, PR, Marketing Advisory, and Digital Marketing & Branding.

Interviewer: Doaa Abdelghany

Edited by: Monda Salem

  1. HR Revolution Middle-East Magazine: What was the inspiration behind the creation of MIEVENTO?

Ms. Shahd AlZaki: I have a passion for planning and running creative interactive events; plus turning any small simple brand to a great one with an impact and value by providing the right marketing & branding concepts. This is achieved by youthful efforts and hands and that is because I worked 5 years with the youth in different organizations and I believe in their talents and how they can grow the market.

  1. HR Revolution Middle-East Magazine: Why did MIEVENTO decide to target the youth and work on projects mainly relating to them?

Ms. Shahd AlZaki: In Bahrain & the Gulf Region, youth makes up 60% of the population; having them as the biggest percentage they will be the target market almost for any brand and only youth like them can understand the right tactics on how to market for them and attract them. Besides that, we believe in the power of youth and the change it can bring into the market that is why our team comprises of youth.

  1. HR Revolution Middle-East Magazine: Do you think that Bahrain lacks the platform for the youth’s ideas to be acknowledged?

Ms. Shahd AlZaki: There is a lot of platform yet not very famous among youth so they can be a part of it or it is not enough for a big number of youth. So we do have platforms but they are not enough and they lack support in different ways for those ideas, as they are platforms that help youth to generate creative ideas, and then what?

They need the right support to bring that idea to life and that is what we lack in Bahrain.

  1. HR Revolution Middle-East Magazine: How do you deal with your employees? And how do you keep them motivated when there is heavy workload?

Ms. Shahd AlZaki: Mainly, we look for young talented leaders to join our team; someone with the right skills and passion and commitment. We do not require much work experience as sometimes we have university students taking internships with us. We just look for talent and passion to give something new to our clients.

The focal point of our work environment is to keep it very simple, creative and open to make you feel comfortable and enjoy work; we also plan team gatherings and we try to run some internal competitions between us to motivate each other.

  1. HR Revolution Middle-East Magazine: What were some of the difficulties you faced when you created MIEVENTO? And how did you manage to overcome them?

Ms. Shahd AlZaki: The first challenge I faced was to start up in a small market with a lot of competition and with no capital and trying to build a brand from scratch. Finding a new value that will make us standout was NOT an easy thing to do.

Another ongoing challenge is finding the right passionate people to hire. The team is everything; we need people who are proactive and will always think “outside the bulb” like we say in MIEVENTO. For this matter, we are just doing our best to reach out to all talents.

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  1. HR Revolution Middle-East Magazine: What advice and services would you offer to young entrepreneurs who would seek MIEVENTO’s creative hub to help them with their ideas?

Ms. Shahd AlZaki: Always believe in your idea and do not allow anyone to put you down. Work smart to make it happen. This is my advice to them.

When it comes to the services, it all depends on the type of idea they have and we will always be there with any creative idea to help them in packaging it, planning it, and launching it in the market with the right tools.

  1. HR Revolution Middle-East Magazine: How would you describe the work environment at Mie Vento?

Ms. Shahd AlZaki: Our work environment is very free and open. Our office space is mostly made of recycled materials to help the environment. Our space is creative; it represents us, simple and full of fun things that our team can enjoy.

 Generally, you can notice the family spirit and friendship between our team members as we are very close to each other and that spreads the teamwork environment.

  1. HR Revolution Middle-East Magazine: As an architectural engineering graduate, what sparked your interest in marketing, PR, and events management?

Ms. Shahd AlZaki: The volunteering roles I used to take during my studies in different organizations were mostly related to PR and Events and that made me discover my passion. Later on, during university years, I took up full-time and part-time jobs to get more experience in those fields.

  1. HR Revolution Middle-East Magazine: We heard you are planning on branching out to other areas in the Gulf region, what do you visualize it to be like? Will there be any changes made to adapt to the new market?

Ms. Shahd AlZaki: There will be some changes for sure depending on the market to make sure that we are innovative and that we bring something new to that market and stand out.

We really see it happening as being specialized in youth most of the GCC market needs that.

  1. HR Revolution Middle-East Magazine: As a recognized young successful female entrepreneur, what would you say to other women who might be hesitant to take such a big step as you did?

Ms. Shahd AlZaki: If you believe in yourself, the word of BIG STEP will never be in your mind so, no matter what your idea is, believe in it and do not wait for anyone to support you. Work for it and make it happen and no matter how hard the journey is, it is worth it at the end and it will be rewarding.

I started with a simple idea, but because I believed in myself and in the idea, it came to life.