Steve Who?

There is not much information about how Dubai Lime came to being or who started it. Besides his busy schedule running 3 companies (H2O New Media, The Ascala Group, H2O Transform), Steve Vaile, the man behind Dubai Lime, sat down with Alistair to talk about Dubai Lime itself.

Why did you start The Dubai Lime?

The reason I started The Dubai Lime is because I was sick of listening to the same cr*p every time I go out. I come from a very artistic family where growing up, I was always around music. The way I see it -  a place without music is a place without soul.  So we started the The Dubai Lime to give the new buildings some soul.

So how did it all begin?

It all started with a single open mic held in Bert's Cafe in Dubai Marina. From there it grew to the point where I realized that we needed to support the forum but I didnt want to ruin it. We messed around with trying to find commercial models to support the costs of running the forum but none worked that well.  Because of the style of organisation it was going to be, I wanted to make it a not-for-profit business but it took over a year to get people into the idea.  I had some funny looks when I would tell people it was a non for profit forum.

Why a not-for-profit business?

Most people find it difficult to see past money and so everything they do is based on making more of it. So the reason I made Dubai-Lime not-for-profit is for my love of music. It did need some sort of funding as it had a full time team so I created H2O New Media (a web design company that focuses on social communities) to back it up. The Dubai Lime is now the H2O CSR platform together with the 40 or so other companies that support it.  From there it started to get a positive reputation because it is a non-profit forum that services the Dubai community by providing community based music & arts forums and free events.  It exists simply to run cool events and provide a social documentary on Dubai life - thats it no more complex than that. It struggles with funding but we do what we can to keep it going. We still benefit from running the community - we advertise on the website and it helps our profile but it costs a lot more than the marketing value we get from it.  Thats why CSR as a marketing platform doesnt work, CSR is for you and your reputation not for marketing. We are working on new ways of getting the site funded including music downloads which requires us to re design and re-develop the site - So its keeping my team busy!         

Did any problems occurr whilst setting up The Dubai Lime?           

There have been a lot of problems since we started The Dubai Lime, there are so many greedy people who take advantage of it.  I have always been a rational person, and I am not a conspiracy theorist, but it is true that the world is run by a small amount of people that farm all the others.  I started The Dubai Lime to show that you don't always have to play the game. The Dubai Lime is a forum for fun, its for the man in the street, its for anyone that loves music and arts and its for the Dubai Community - it is not for me or my bank account it belongs to everyone that uses it.

We are all trapped on a hamster wheel and everyone can see out - The Dubai Lime provides the ability to step off and stretch your legs.

What else is going on!

I am hell bent on creating an online ethical social media company at the moment and I want to create hundreds of channels that support CSR and run ethical advertising with a fixed % of advertising for CSR campaigns - But thats the future at the moment i need to pay the rent like everyone.

Sometimes I wish I had never started Dubai-Lime because before I had a nice stable, organized life. But sometimes you do things because it feels like the right thing to do. There is more to life than how much money you have in you bank account.  At least thats what I keep telling my bank manager ;-)  I am happy that we played an important part in kick starting the Dubai Music and Arts scene - I am happy with that.  We will come back after the summer with the next level in that process - watch this space baby!  

Comments (4)

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written by mita56 , June 17, 2008

I hear you Steve - you just keep going; there can never be enough of people like you

The funding bit
written by brainsyke , June 19, 2008

What id really like to understand are the challenges in funding for something like this in this region. Id like to know what hoops to jump and strings there are to pull. The youth appears so boring in this region.

keep it up!
written by fazloon , June 21, 2008

keep up the good work, I'm a music lover and I really enjoy your site!

Funding and Stuff
written by Steve , July 02, 2008

You can always approach companies like Ascala or Baraka for funding of new ideas, in general funding in Dubai is impossible unless you are a real estate play. My suggestion would be to start very small, look at tie ups with small local sponsors that buy into what you do. A good idea is a good idea - if you think you are onto a winner then you should keep it going and dont give up.

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