When it comes to the world of beauty pageants, it’s safe to say that the UAE isn’t the most likely location that springs to mind. If one Emirati doctor has his way, however, that could all be set to change this year.
Dr Mansoor Al Obaidli recently quit his medical job to set up seven86, an event and film production company at twofour54, Abu Dhabi. Even more recently, he was officially appointed as UAE representative for the World Beauty Congress’s portfolio of events last month – the first-ever representative from the UAE, or indeed any Arab country – and he is already working on bringing the World Beauty Championship to Dubai in September. He says he’s currently securing sponsorships for the event.
Al Obaidli is quick to note that the World Beauty Congress events are a little different from well-known pageants such as Miss World: focusing not solely on the model, but on the entire team, and their ability to “create beauty”.
“Each team has three members: a hairstylist, a make-up artist and the model, plus the national director,” he explains. “A total of 72 countries are represented at the World Beauty Congress, though, for this first event, we’ll be limiting the entrants to 20 to 25 countries and expanding after that.”
He adds: “It’s an amazing PR opportunity for the UAE because there’ll be coverage in all those countries and I think we need that sort of PR right now.”
Al Obaidli says he has also been in discussions with broadcasters to cover the event, although nothing is confirmed as yet as he is, understandably, keen to retain editorial control over how the event is portrayed.
Even with tight control over the event’s portrayal on television, it still seems an unusual choice of global competition to host in the UAE, but Al Obaidli says he’s in talks with the required government bodies. “I have a licence to do all this and an official letter saying that Tourism and Culture are backing this. They’re encouraging me and they’re very proud of what I’m doing.”
Perhaps a crucial part of winning support lies in the fact that Al Obaidli will be replacing the swimsuit round with Arabic dress. He will also not be taking competitors from the UAE to any international events that require a swimsuit round. Vitally, he has won permission from the event’s ruling committee for UAE residents to enter on the country’s behalf.
“The World Beauty Congress understood that UAE nationals maybe wouldn’t want to be in front of the camera. So they said anyone with an Emirates ID card can take part. That changes the whole idea, and I’ll be taking care of ensuring whoever is selected to represent the UAE will do so from A to Z in accordance with the limits that we have, religiously and culturally.”
Al Obaidli may have only been officially running seven86 since April, but he’s certainly been busy. He’s already in the process of organising a Little Miss UAE pageant, whose winner he will send to the international Our Little Miss children’s event in Miami on July 4, as a dry run for his own September pageant.
He has also submitted to this year’s Abu Dhabi Film Festival his first short film, which tells the story of an Emirati who returns to Abu Dhabi after studying abroad to find the city has changed dramatically. In addition, Al Obaidli has succeeded in attracting the Indian filmmaker Siddique to helm two film projects – one short and one feature – that Al Obaidli has written and will star in.
cnewbould@thenational.ae
