Mahima Jalan ماهيما جالان

Mahima Jalan ماهيما جالانSep 15, 2026

A UAE minister said Indians in the country are "home."  H.H. Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit in Delhi said: "We appreciate every Indian who works and lives in the UAE. This is your country." As an Indian working in the UAE, this feels special. But what makes it land is the setup around it. The 18th BRICS Summit just wrapped in New Delhi, and the UAE didn't send a junior delegation to check a box. The Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi was there in person, in bilateral talks with PM Modi, on everything from energy to AI to trade. The optics matched the substance, right down to a chauffeur getting a handshake and a "thank you" on his way out, which somehow made more news than the summit itself. (Another humility lesson from the UAE leaders) 3.5 million Indians didn't need a minister to tell them the UAE feels like home. Most of them built that feeling themselves. But this quote just added validation and assurance, one more time. It'll trend for a week and then disappear as every other line does. But for the people like us, who are actually living that sentence every day, it was never really about the quote. :)

Mahima Jalan ماهيما جالانSep 14, 2026

This phone brand didn't exist a month ago but sold out in a single day. Was it luck? No. That's a supply chain doing exactly what it was built for. Boltt is Fire-Boltt's move into smartphones, and the backstory matters more than the specs here. Fire-Boltt already has over 4 crore wearable users and a reputation built on pricing that doesn't punish people for wanting good hardware. Boltt walked into phones with that supply chain, that customer base, and that pricing model already in place. The phone in question is the Boltt Ace 5G. UNISOC T8200 chip, 5G, 6.79-inch 120Hz display, a 64MP main camera, 6000mAh battery, Android 16 with none of the bloatware most budget phones ship with. It went live on Flipkart at ₹12,999 on day one. It sold out before the day ended. I'll say the honest part too. The T8200 isn't a flagship chip, and against a ₹40,000 phone on pure benchmarks, this loses that fight easily. But that fight was never the one Fire-Boltt signed up for. The segment they're chasing cares about a phone that just works, at a price that doesn't require a second thought. A day-one sellout in the sub-₹15,000 segment isn't a marketing win you can manufacture. It's a demand signal. It tells you the market has been underserved for a while, and someone finally priced a decent phone like they meant it. The next sale is 15 September. Worth watching if it happens twice. BOLTT #partnership

Mahima Jalan ماهيما جالانSep 10, 2026

I moved my business to one of the most expensive cities in the world instead of one of the cheapest. I chose Dubai over New York. The setup cost difference was exponential. A US LLC can cost a few hundred dollars to set up. But I paid over AED 14,000 to set up my company in the UAE. And I'd make the same choice again tomorrow. Everyone does the spreadsheet math. US market size, lower registration cost. Nobody does the year two math. State tax, federal tax, compliance lawyers, an accountant just to file quarterly, and a visa process that eats your calendar and your sanity before you've signed a single client. Dubai charges you more upfront and then mostly leaves you alone. Zero personal income tax. A free zone license that took days, not a six-month legal back and forth. No one nickel and diming me for existing. But more than the financials, I enjoy Dubai's proximity. From here, India is a flight, not a time zone problem. Africa, Europe, the rest of the GCC, all within reach for a same-day meeting. And then there's the energy of this place. Every week it's a summit (which although I don't attend), a coffee meeting that turns into a partnership, a founder you met once in the gym who suddenly becomes your biggest client. New York has ambition too. But Dubai pulled me towards itself in a different way. Then, cannot forget to be grateful for the multicultural experience here. From sushi to homemade dal-rice, Dubai has everything a Careem order away. So yes, the setup cost was exponential. But I would still choose it over and over again.