Family values and influences

- So let's start with the very beginning. Can you introduce yourself please? - My name is Mona Ataya. I'm the founder and CEO of Mumzworld. Mumzworld's the leading mother, baby and child e-commerce in the Arab world. And today has the largest access to over 2.5 million mothers in the Arab world. We have been operating in the middle East region for the past eight years. - That's amazing. And what was your childhood like? You were you're Palestinian originally correct? - Yes. - So what was it like growing up in Kuwait to Palestinian parents? - So I'm the second of five children. We grew up very close and we grew up with the values that at the end of the day we were Palestinian, we were expats. We had to work hard for what we wanted. We had to show that we were contributing, positive members of society. And these were kind of the values that we grew up with. My father was born in Palestine. He was very young when they moved to Lebanon and he grew up in Lebanon, but he learned from a very young age how to kind of live as a, as really an expat. My father was an entrepreneur. My grandfather was an entrepreneur and out of our five siblings, four of us are entrepreneurs. So we kind of grew with these values. The siblings till today are very close. You know, all five of us live within a block away from each other. Our children are growing up together. We, we do business together. So, the five siblings grew up with this connection that we, we are basically here for each other and we, we remain that way. And I think as Palestinians and as ex-pats you you kind of build that own community. - That's so beautiful. That's my mom's dream for us is that we all live in a compound together but we have yet to achieve that for (chuckles) But I hope so. You mentioned as well that your parents had to leave Palestine at a young age and your grandfather as well. And I've, I've heard you speak about this history of of reinvention that your family had to had to do. So from Palestine to then Lebanon and then from Lebanon to Kuwait, and then, and then you, yourself you had to leave Kuwait to the States. Can you talk a bit about how this history of reinvention might have affected your family and you personally? - Any the uprooting is never easy. Life is about a constant evolution. You experiences happen, situations occur, and it's how you, you manage these experiences and how you manage these situations that determines your path forward. So when we left Kuwait, we reinvented ourselves, we created or we started a new home and we made the best out of that opportunity. And then from the US, which is where we were moving to Dubai which has been our home now for you know, two decades, Dubai is home. So situations occur for a reason and how you grasp it, determines your success or not. My father, particularly, I felt was not seriously phased. And this is how he's kind of raised us. And he said, you know you were going to get a lot of ups and a lot of downs in your life and in so far that you can really take them not neutral but take them with an understanding that this is all part of your journey and just do the best you can at that moment. Then everything turns out for the better. So, although my parents I'm sure were saddened by what happened, for them it was okay, what's next?