ystem in the Fog: How to launch projects when everything is unfamiliar

article

System in the Fog: How to launch projects when everything is unfamiliar

When you work with businesses for many years, especially in beauty and FMCG, a special confidence develops. You know how systems are built. Where to apply pressure and where to let go. Which stages pass smoothly and where things will inevitably stall. I have dozens of launches behind me. I’ve led both internal projects as a manager and external ones as a business consultant.

When my husband was offered a project in the Emirates we decided to move to Dubai. For him, it was a step toward the Arab world, language, and culture. For me it wasn’t a "new life from scratch" but simply the next stage. I had a stable practice: both psychological and consulting. I wasn’t looking for myself. I was looking for how to apply what I already knew in a new context.

Before moving I supported businesses in Russia. I helped build teams, launch processes, reach new levels. Worked with beauty projects, products, complex partner configurations. There I learned the most important thing: how to assemble a system in reality not on a slide.

I wanted to experience firsthand how the market works here. Not theoretically, but live. What it means to lead construction in the heat where a contractor says "tomorrow" but might not show up. How local investors interact. How to negotiate in a culture where "yes" doesn’t always mean "yes." I didn’t want to adapt. I wanted to integrate, to feel what drives projects here.

When I was offered to handle the Dubai launch of an international franchise I didn’t hesitate. The owner and I had prior experience: I worked in the Moscow Aldo Coppola network as CEO and later helped develop the Go Coppola sub-brand. We knew how we worked as a pair. It was clear that the UAE launch would be difficult: a different market, a different approval system, a different business logic. How I understood what I was dealing with. Because chaos is not an obstacle. It is the material from which a structure can be built.

My work is not about advice. I lead with my hands. I am on-site. I double-check budgets. Reapprove the plan. I select contractors, negotiate with investors, and resolve conflicts if they arise. I don’t write a strategy and disappear. I stay to bring it to a result.

"A project is not an idea. It’s reality. And if you want it to fly someone must stand in it with both feet."

I open doors in the most literal sense. I have contacts, solutions, working channels. I know how to navigate complex local procedures, whom to negotiate with, and whom to avoid. For someone outside the market, this is practically unattainable without an expensive external team. But I am inside.

Dubai Terrain: Expectations vs. Reality

In Dubai, everything works differently. Different pace, different communication culture, different planning horizons. You can’t do things "immediately." You almost always have to go around, observe, wait. Sometimes you get an affirmative answer, and wait weeks for action. Sometimes approval takes a month because "it's Ramadan," "the manager hasn’t signed yet," "a bit later, Insha’Allah."

This isn’t bad. It’s just different here. And this needs to be understood in advance and without illusions.

At one point our contractor went bankrupt. Construction stopped. We couldn’t just "hire a new one". This is Dubai Mall with its own access system and strict regulations. Simultaneously there was pressure from the franchise: deadlines, reporting, fines. Contractors were silent. People dropped out.

Honestly? At some point I just wanted to close the laptop and say: "that's enough." However, that’s not my style of work. If there is much uncertainty around it is I who holds the direction.

"In such projects, you don’t just solve tasks. You become the system. While the rest of the system is forming."

I literally lived in the mall. Replayed the supply logic. Looked for a new contractor. Commanded, sought compromises, signed, explained, extinguished conflicts. Without big gestures. Step by step. Every day is a small result. No guarantees. But with movement.

Now that the project is complete I can say for sure: I know how the market works here. What launches. What won’t work even if it looks pretty. Where the real budgets are and where the storefront is. Which models pay off. What risks should be factored in immediately. This is not theory. This is the result of practice.

New Opportunities Not Only for Me

The experience of launching in Dubai taught me much and gave me an understanding of which projects I want to work with next. I’m interested in those where there is intent. Where there is owner energy. Where a launch doesn’t mean "we want to try" but "we want to get results."

Sometimes launching a business resembles balancing on a tightrope, especially if you’ve been walking it alone for a long time. That’s how it was in this project: the owner was in another country, the team was forming on the go, and key decisions had to be made quickly without full information. And at some point, you realize: you make most decisions yourself because there’s simply no one to delegate them to.

Such experience gives much. And changes much. It strips away: what truly works in you, where your system of supports is, how you withstand pressure and make decisions quickly. But it also shows: one person shouldn’t hold everything. Because a project built "on one" sooner or later skews.

Since then, I approach the start much more carefully. I ask more questions. See if the client is ready to engage, share, and solve. Because a project is not delegation like "just make it work." It is co-participation. And only then does it have a chance not just to open but to become alive and sustainable.

If you plan to enter the UAE market or the MENA region, I will help ask the right questions before the start:
· Why do you need this project?
· Is there a team you rely on?
· What resources do you already have?
· Are you ready for a different pace?

Successful launch is not about heroism. It’s about structure. About clarity. About timely decisions.

"The task is not just to open. But to open so that it works. These are two different subjects."

I work with reality not illusions. I vet contractors, test hypotheses, and refine goals. I help avoid false starts and speak honestly if a project isn't ready. But if it’s viable I see it through to the end.

In my work, business thinking and psychological stability are combined. I know how to maintain pace when everything goes off-plan. I speak the language of the team, contractors, and investors. I see structure where others see only uncertainty. And I know how to hold a project until it stands on its own feet.

If you seek someone who will be beside you as a strategic consultant and project leader without vague formulations, with clear tasks, perhaps, we should talk. I don't promise it will be easy. But I know how to make sure it gets done.