Farida Shamoyeva shares how Dubai’s real estate market helped her build a career and make the city her home.
Farida Shamoyeva’s interest in entrepreneurship began long before she entered the Dubai real estate market. At five, she discovered that discarded glass bottles could be exchanged for money and began collecting them with neighbourhood children. What started as a childhood activity reflected an early interest in independence, sales and finding opportunities where others saw little value.
As a teenager, she explored sales and travel agency work during her holidays, gaining experience in customer service and understanding how businesses operate. Her first exposure to real estate came at 17 or 18, when she joined a small agency in Almaty, Kazakhstan.
The experience immediately appealed to her. Real estate offered variety, independence and constant interaction with people. After moving to Dubai for university, however, she temporarily stepped away from the industry before returning to it professionally in 2011.
Building a Career in Dubai
When Shamoyeva returned to Dubai real estate, the market looked very different from the global property centre it is today. She built her business through cold emails, property searches, rentals and sales, learning the industry through direct experience.
Her age presented an early challenge. Clients sometimes underestimated her because she was young and appeared younger than she actually was. Rather than allowing that perception to define her career, she focused on developing stronger market knowledge and preparing thoroughly for every client interaction.
Over time, expertise and results became more important than first impressions. The experience also shaped her belief that credibility in real estate has to be earned through knowledge, consistency and responsible advice.
Returning to Dubai as Home
Shamoyeva later moved into business development and spent time in Europe while completing her master’s degree. Yet Dubai remained an important part of her life.
At 30, she decided to return to the city and rebuild both her career and personal life there. This time, her relationship with Dubai extended beyond work. She purchased property, raised her family in the city, and gradually began viewing Dubai not simply as a place of professional opportunity, but as home.
Her experience across different market cycles, including the 2008 financial crisis and the periods of rapid growth that followed, has also influenced how she views property investment. For her, understanding market cycles and making decisions based on long-term fundamentals matter more than reacting to short-term excitement.
A Different Approach to Real Estate
Shamoyeva does not subscribe to the idea that successful property agents need to be aggressive. She has often been encouraged to adopt a tougher approach, but she believes that understanding a client’s requirements is more important than closing a transaction quickly.
That means being willing to tell a client when a property is not suitable, even if doing so means losing a sale.
Her approach has become particularly relevant as she builds her own property portfolio. She believes clients’ money should be treated with the same level of responsibility as her own.
For Shamoyeva, trust is therefore not simply part of customer service. It is the foundation of a sustainable real estate career.
Expanding Beyond Property
Her work is now extending beyond traditional real estate transactions. Shamoyeva is developing her personal brand through social media, sharing her experience of Dubai’s property market and educating audiences about investment and the realities of living and working in the city.
Her podcast, Business Lounge in Dubai, adds another dimension to this work. The platform brings together entrepreneurs and business leaders to discuss subjects including business, lifestyle and mindfulness.
Through these activities, Shamoyeva is building a broader professional identity that combines real estate, investment, media and entrepreneurship.
Building a Career That Lasts
Shamoyeva’s ambitions are not centred solely on becoming a high-volume property agent. She wants to build long-term relationships with clients and become someone they can trust when making significant property decisions.
Her approach is built around consistency, knowledge and staying involved after a transaction is completed. In a business where relationships can determine future opportunities, she sees continued communication and follow-up as essential parts of professional success.
The journey from collecting bottles for coins as a child to building a career in Dubai real estate may appear unexpected, but the underlying idea has remained consistent. Shamoyeva has continued to identify opportunities, develop her skills and build independence through her work.
Today, Dubai is more than the market in which she built her career. It is also the city where she invested, raised her family and established the next phase of her professional identity.
Her story ultimately reflects a long-term approach to real estate: understand the market, earn people’s trust and build relationships that remain valuable long after the deal is completed.
Source: The UAE Stories
