My Malja.
When someone asks you what are some of they key moments of you life, you ultimately come back to moments of winning. They are few and far between but moments of triumph are unforgettable. It is when your purpose and your efforts are unified in one singular moment. And it is a moment you remember for a lifetime.
I was lucky enough to experience the high of a win at the recent launch of Malja, a red bull space, and first of its kind creative hub in Bahrain. 5 years ago I came to Bahrain from a London, a hyper active entrepreneur with nothing but my agency portfolio and online website Sketchbook. I was stuck not being able to have a commercial registration without having an address. And then feeling stuck I did not have an address because I had no funding for an office space. All the incubators were full and I needed a place to work that wasn’t home. I took my laptop to starbucks but found it annoying, loud and unaffordable. I then was lucky enough to source a rent-free space at the gorgeous H3sixty offices at BFH in exchange for services.
“And I set out on my journey to create Malja, which means shelter or refuge in English.
I started wondering what other entrepreneurs were meant to do, how were they supposed to meet and network, how were the creative and shakers and opportunists of our community supposed to collaborate and create new ideas together. And I set out on my journey to create Malja, which means shelter or refuge in English.
I set out to meet over 150 artists to gather information on their needs, pitching Malja to them and gaining their support for the project. I met with cafes, room to rock, and sponsors to get funding and strategic partners for the space. I went to meet various semi government organizations, ministries, Tamkeen, embassies and private investors armed with my presentation and a will to make this happen.
One after the other I got the same confused faces looking at me, not understanding that this was not a space for training or a revenue making space. One after another, the organizations I was pitching this too, were reworking the goals of the event to align with theirs and I just had enough. I became depressed and not motivated to go to work for a few months.
Malja had received plenty of recognition and good press but it hasn’t amounted to anything but an online directory. It is romantic to think that years later, Hasan Hujairi the program director of Malja, and the person who did not let the concept go introduced me to Red Bull, who graciously loved the project and made it their mission to make it happen.
A few days ago I was driving to Malja for the first time and I got overwhelmed with emotion, all the hours spent gaining support and funding trying to convince one execeutive after another that this was an investment towards the creative community of Bahrain came rushing back. I cried tears of happiness as I parked my car in the driveway of the stunning new gallery space in Amwaj. I saw graoffiti artsist works on the walls, architects attaching a pavilion like structure on the top of the building, furniture designers wrap fabrics around tires to make chairs, the team behind Boho Baha set up the recording studio, bloggers and photographers documenting the process, and the curators set up the exhibition.
“A few days ago I was driving to Malja for the first time and I got overwhelmed with emotion, all the hours spent gaining support and funding trying to convince one execeutive after another that this was an investment towards the creative community of Bahrain came rushing back. I cried tears of happiness as I parked my car in the driveway of the stunning new gallery space in Amwaj.
It was like it as supposed to be, and better because it was real. All that hustle equaled to a real refuge created for creatives by creative. And we won. And that moment will not be forgotten.
