Blog: iLoveQatar
Qandid Qatar proudly hosts its first episode with special guest Khalifa Saleh Al Haroon aka. Mr. Q your friendly neighborhood Qatari! Khalifa is the founder and CEO of the network I Love Qatar which celebrates the diversity of the community, and aims to make the world a better place by bridging any gaps that may exist between Qataris and expats.
However, I Love Qatar’s success story does not come from an easy path, instead Khalifa faced a lot of difficulties and issues not only from a familial perspective, but also, a business one, and his story of success serves as an inspiration.
Khalifa spent most of his childhood -16 years, in Bahrain, spending around a month or two each year in Qatar. And later on, went to study abroad in the United Kingdom, pursuing a law degree. Although he was pursuing a law degree, he had a passion for creating content- and always dreamed to be the “First Qatari actor in Hollywood” as a child. However, studying law brought out a lot of skills that he applies to his businesses today.
Eighteen years ago, students in Khalifa’s university in the UK did not know anything about Qatar, let alone where it was located. Having been fed up of associating his country with another such as Saudi Arabia or Dubai, and little to no information about Qatar on the internet prompted him to spring to action. He first began by single-handedly answering people’s questions on online Qatar living forums- when a friend commented “You’re like a Mr. Q” Q for answering questions. He then created the network I Love Qatar, which was a page that was originally meant to give people basic facts about the country.
In the beginning, Khalifa faced difficulty with his parents regarding his vision- which kind of demotivated him, but now, his parents are his biggest fans. When describing the situation, Khalifa states that “when people are giving you negative feedback, most of the time, it’s because they don’t understand, and they think what they’re advising you is the right thing” “they’re trying to guide you down the path that they think is best, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that it is the best.”
Not only did he face issues from a family point of view, but from a business perspective as well, it was tough for him to convince people in ministries to give him the permits needed so he can go forth and build the project. He was told by many official business men that were meant to guide him that his dream was “too big”. “It’s okay to dream big” says Khalifa. It was a struggle, banks didn’t want to give him the funding he needed. And he had to save up every riyal from his previous job to invest in his dream. He says that even today, with all the success he has reached, he still has difficulty finding support.
However, many people from various different countries reached out to him, especially after watching Q-Tips- funny short episodes related to culture. All the way from France, and children in Indonesia in the jungle in what appears to be a school. As well as, Bahrain and Kuwait, who thanked him for teaching people about not just ‘Qatari’ culture but Khaleeji culture.
Although Khalifa has experienced many amazing things and awards, the proudest moment he described, where he finally knew he made it was when he received a phone call from an important office saying the stuff he has been doing with Q-tips has been really valuable, and that even his highness the Emir has seen his Q-tips and says good job. Which made Khalifa’s eyes to water, he states “I never did this for recognition, but the fact that I was recognized just made me
feel so emotional.”
However, he expresses that he still faces a lot of difficulties, especially locally, he once asked his friend- “I don’t know why god hates me, I don’t know why life is so bad- I support charities, I support people, I don’t badmouth anyone nor talk behind people’s backs, but sadly it seems like I just keep on having issue after issue after issue.” His friend replied “God doesn’t hate you he loves you, the reason why all of these issues are happening is because he knows that you can fix them.” He says that he might not be able to change the entire world, but that he can definitely start with Qatar.