Dubai plans 'Female Burj Khalifa,' new mall for customers to drive through in electric cars

Gulf Today, Staff Reporter

Mohammed Alabbar, Emaar and Noon founder has revealed, at the Sharjah Entrepreneurship Festival (SEF) 2024, that a new mall will be established in Dubai Creek Harbor, which will allow customers to drive through in electric cars.

“This will be the first time cars can enter a mall so it will be very unique.” he added.

Alabbar pointed out that Emaar will also build a kilometre-long tower, smaller than the Burj Khalifa, which it has just approved and started working on it.

He added that the first look of the tower will be out in the next couple of months and that the company considered the Creek tower as the ‘female’ version of Burj Khalifa. It will be on an area of over six million square metres and expected to become the ‘new downtown’.

The inaugural proceedings also witnessed a dialogue' towering Success: What it Takes to Build a Business Empire’, featuring Mohammad AlAbbar, Founder of Emaar Properties. The session was moderated by content creator, Ahmed Al Marzooqi.

When asked about his experience of creating Noon.com, Al Abbar noted: "One of the most difficult challenges of my life was Noon. I started at the age of 60 - I was not a tech-savvy 19 year old, and did not even know the difference between a Samsung or iPhone! Today, Noon is probably one of the youngest eCommerce companies in the world that has become profitable within five years.”

When asked the difference between his two businesses operating in real estate and eCommerce, he said: "For 29 years, EMAAR has been selling a total of 4 products; 1 - 3 bedroom apartments, and 4-bed villas. EMAAR gets 500 customer service calls a day. Noon, on the other hand, sells over a million products and receives 80,000 calls a day. Noon grows 30% every year. The difference between the two is that the tech business constantly upgrades the human mind, and technology keeps us on our toes. This is what I want to share with the youth.”

Travel and financial services, Al Abbar noted, were two sectors of future interest and possible expansion for Noon.  

Talking about the upcoming Dubai Creek development, he said: "It is going to be 6,000 sq kms, which is twice the area size of Downtown Dubai. The Creek Tower will not be the tallest building in the UAE. Why? Because while reassessing a few aspects of the new development, I realised we really need to pay careful attention to elegance when we plan cities. We have to beautify our cities, and Sharjah is the greatest example of that. Creating a balance between Islamic design and aesthetic and harmonsing it with modern architecture is a big challenge, and the way the emirate has done it under the guidance of the Ruler of Sharjah is truly remarkable.”

Al Abbar concluded his insights with the following advice to youth: "When you are in trouble, who is one wise person you call? I want that person’s number. So, my advice is: seek intelligent people and do what you love. Find what you love and turn your passion into your career.”