Zain Bahrain CSR Manager and Small Business Owner Pakiza Abdulrahman explores her journey from typical employee to manager and founder of the first Mobile Taco Station in Bahrain. Pakiza is the CSR Manager at Zain Bahrain, Vice President of New Dawn Ladies Society & the Founder of Paco’s Tacos. She spent a 100 days in Sudan, enjoys getting creative with food, and shares what inspires her along the way with others.
Would you mind telling us who you are and what you do?
My name is Pakiza Abdulrahman, and right now I’m heading the Corporate Social Responsibility division within the Corporate Communication Department at Zain Bahrain. I look after all of the developmental programs that the company holds for the community—whether it’s related to youth, health, online safety, or environmental activities—and of course charity and outreach within the community.
What do you outside Zain?
I own and run a small food business called “Paco’s Tacos”. I enjoy the fresh flavors of Mexican food and I love the concept of food trucks, so I’ve come up with my own version since there aren’t many food trucks in the country. I have a mobile taco station that we set up at events and markets around Bahrain.
We offer catering as well; if someone has a gathering or a party of a Mexican theme or just in the mood for Mexican food, we have a team that delivers exactly that. We create a whole set up at the venue and decorate It as well. We offer tacos and burritos, with chicken and beef, with freshly prepared vegetables, salsas, and toppings. We work on bringing the fun element of Mexican street food to Bahrain, because we enjoy it.
When did you start?
I started last year at BAB Market, Bab el-Bahrain. The concept was still being evaluated, thus with a team of amazing talents & supportive friends, we were able to put the thoughts into action and kick start it. A young man designed the logo from scratch with a modern-Mexican identity. Another team member looked after the logistical details, a relationship manager took care of all the approvals & customer inquiries, and a young lady was in-charge of perfecting the method of assembling, seasoning, and serving the tacos and burritos live, right in front of our customers.
Was it overwhelming?
It was very interesting; we held daily meetings with the team to discuss every last detail of what Paco’s Tacos would become. I knew what needed to be done, but I had no intention of launching it that soon, as I had a full time job.
After turning the vision into writing, I knew I had to take a step forward if I wanted to see it come to life. I started to cook a few recipes that I liked and shared the dishes with the team. They would give me feedback on the texture, the spiciness, and every element of the dish that made it authentically Mexican. With a passion for food, you experiment with ingredients until you find a combination that you would be proud of serving, and would enjoy indulging in yourself. So the “food tasting” that we thought would be a breeze turned out to be a serious, tiring, and challenging task – yet in the best ways possible.
Then the question was: How are we going to set up an organized taco station? You can’t have orders coming from left, right, and center. Every taco and burrito goes through a certain preparation process, so the bread needs to be placed somewhere close to the hot toppings, and then the cold toppings come into the sequence, and then the salsas follow, etc. It was in an open market, and it was energetic, crazy, and chaotic there.
Was this your first business?
It was my first official business, yes. Cooking was always a hobby of mine. I really enjoy the concept of the TV show “Chopped” as I love inventing dishes from random ingredients. I’d gather my friends or family over for dinner and try to add a twist to traditional dishes. I truly enjoy cooking, and that’s how I knew I would enjoy running a business that involved a lot of it.
Have you done Mexican food before?
I prepare Mexican food at home for family gatherings, but I was never planning on opening a Mexican food business. What excited me about the idea was the “fun” element of street food & the endless choices when ordering at a food truck. I lived in the US for a whole year back in 2011, in Houston, Texas. It’s very close to Mexico, and you can imagine all the Mexican food infused with southern flavors.
There they have a range of varieties and different restaurants from high, fine dining options all the way to street food. The concept of a food truck was the most exciting concept that I felt I had to bring back home. It would give me the flexibility of cooking during weekends at my leisure or weekdays after work. Even though many friends advised me to open a small restaurant instead, I still insist on holding a license to run Bahrain’s First Taco Truck.
Tell me about the license, was it difficult to get?
It was rather complicated to understand the exact requirements. I spent a good amount of time and effort looking for clear guidelines from the different governing bodies in Bahrain, but couldn’t. The options for a food license are either in a restaurant format or a catering business, and my concept was neither.
The complication continued when I approached Tamkeen for funding, as they require a CR for equipment & supporting funds, but the CR could not be obtained easily, as it required a physical address which meant spending on rent, utility bills, and more.
With a full time job, and this amount of ambiguity with rules and regulations, I had no choice but to continue from home, participating at markets, & catering for orders received by mail from customers every now and then.
How would you say we can improve the rules and regulations in Bahrain for aspiring food truck business owners?
Rules have to accommodate to the new business concepts that are introduced nowadays. The food industry is no longer in Black or White. Grey has emerged and we as a country need to be ready to nurture such new business concepts. The rules and regulations need to be made available online, providing detailed requirements and clearly communicated regulations. As we promote innovation & diversification to aid the economic growth in Bahrain, regulators need to keep up with that by providing a flexible & relevant set of regulations.
I’m assuming that out of all the challenges you’ve faced, you’re currently experiencing relative success so far, based on the circumstances. What would you consider to be major success after this?
I’d love to see lots of food trucks in Bahrain! “Yeah, Bahrain needs this—we’ll support you and follow you on social media”, said one of the customers passing by our station at a past event.
It’s the fun element of it that keeps it interesting. That’s what I want to bring to the country. If more people succeed in doing that, I’d consider it a success for Paco’s Tacos as well. We want new business concepts and more happy experiences for the foodies of Bahrain!
How do you manage your personal life, your professional life, and your full time job?
I focus on balancing between them in a way that keeps me both energized & dedicated. On top of my job at Zain and running Paco’s Tacos, I also take pride in co-founding a ladies’ society back in 2004 – New Dawn Society (@NewDawnBH) where I am currently the Vice President. We hold a lot of community-focused events, functions, and initiatives with a team of wonderful young ladies.
You wouldn’t say this is stressful?
It’s an enjoyable kind of stress. Once you love what you do, you will do it with passion. Hours, days, effort will never matter, as such stress turns magically into such a rewarding feeling once your job/business/society starts realizing the achievements and impact of all the hard work put into it.
Looking at my journey here at Zain, I see a big hearted family that truly gets me! They appreciate and nurture my ideas, believe in my passion towards developing the community and the importance of empowering the new generation with knowledge and tools to become successful leaders driving the economy of Bahrain in the coming few years. I started my journey back in 2003, a few months before the official inception of the company. My educational background was in Accounting. I got a year’s experience as a team leader in the Call Center division, right before I move to Marketing – where I spent the past 12 years rotating every two years between divisions such as (VAS, Retention, Acquisition, Mobile Broadband & Enterprise)
People being their most important asset, Zain Bahrain sent me on an exchange program for 100 days in Sudan. I was lucky enough to attend group-led meetings and seminars in Prague, Tanzania, Jordan, and Kuwait, and took on the representation of Bahrain in the MEPI (Middle East Partnership Initiative) program funded by the Department of State to get my Executive MBA at Duke University, and did an internship at Motorola back in 2005-2006.
You feel like your creative energy is being exercised well in Zain, your food business, and your charity?
To a great extent, it is. Being unique is what drives me in anything I do; be it at work, the society or my food business concept. I continuously seek for the key differentiating element that can be brought forward to improve a product at work, a new way of raising funds for a charitable cause at the Society, or an extension to my business concept that customers can get excited about and connect to.
What’s your favorite part about working at Zain and founding Paco’s Tacos?
My favorite part about working at Zain is that it’s a place where I can really innovate and create; I can be myself. There’s an amazing team that lives the Zain culture, and we have a unique way of approaching the market with our products & services.
For Paco’s Tacos, my favorite part would be hearing customers’ feedback at the different markets we participate in. Young kids telling us how delicious they find our tacos and seeing them order multiple times. I also enjoy using the home-grown tomatoes in the fresh salsa I prepare ☺
Question before last, what does Zain offer SMEs?
Supporting SMEs and developing them is one of our key milestones and key strategies. We aim to support local businesses in various ways. We obviously have SME packages tailored to their individual communication needs from voice, SMS and Data. We also have a range of other services such as a very flexible and quick to install PBX solution that runs over mobile broadband, e-fax and traditional fax machine connectivity through mobile broadband as well which gives the new companies the flexibility to move them around and not having to do any kind of hard wiring should they need to re-locate from an incubator to another location. Our Signature packages include a superior concierge service that involves having a dedicated team to support you in setting up a business, completing paper work, picking up stuff or dropping off your equipment to events etc. The Signature package partners with Capital Club offers special discounts/membership deal (subject to Capital Club approval of course).
Back in February of this year, we launched the #5ameesnaZain initiative. We invite local businesses over to our head office and we give them the open space up on the 22nd floor to set up & promote it in a bazar-like atmosphere. The event runs every Thursday. We give them space to promote their business to Zain staff & give them higher exposure on social media and we assign a dedicated Key Account Manager from our SME Sales Team to ensure they get all the support required.
Zain Bahrain is a proud telecom partner of BCCI members. What that means is any company that has a CR in Bahrain is eligible to get special offers from the company. They can get in touch with us by sending an email to BCCISales@bh.zain.com or they can get more information on our website or the BCCI website.
What advice would you give aspiring entrepreneurs?
“Winners never quit & Quitters never win.” Be unique. Wake up with the determination to be true to your passion and look for that one thing that only you can do that will leave a positive mark in someone else’s life. And, most importantly, celebrate and enjoy your achievements.
Thank you Pakiza for talking to me, wish you all the best!