Sarah moves to Dubai
OUR STORY · DUBAI · UAE
THE CHILLME STORY · UAE
A feeling of lonelinessbecame a world of belonging.
ChillMe did not begin with an event calendar. It began with two people starting over in Dubai—and discovering that thousands of others were quietly looking for the same thing: people who could make a new city feel like home.
Two people. One honest problem. A community built around shared moments.
DUBAI 2020 ✦A NEW BEGINNING ✦ONE CONVERSATION ✦ONE FIRST CIRCLE ✦190+ EXPERIENCES ✦A UAE COMMUNITY ✦DUBAI 2020 ✦A NEW BEGINNING ✦ONE CONVERSATION ✦ONE FIRST CIRCLE ✦190+ EXPERIENCES ✦A UAE COMMUNITY ✦
Ahmed starts over
Two people. One honest problem. A community built around shared moments.
CHAPTER ONE · STARTING OVER
A city full of opportunity can still feel lonely.
Sarah Kamal relocated to Dubai in 2020 for a new job opportunity. Ahmed Youssef followed in 2021 so they could build their future together. They arrived with hope, ambition and the familiar excitement of a new beginning.
But the pandemic had changed how people connected. Restrictions, social distancing and financial pressure made ordinary friendship-building feel unusually difficult. For Ahmed, the first months were a lesson in patience, resilience—and the weight of feeling disconnected in a city full of people.
The hardest part was not finding somewhere to live or work. It was finding people who made the new place feel familiar.
“We realised that many people around us were experiencing the same feelings of loneliness and disconnection.”Ahmed Youssef · ChillMe co-founder
THE DISCOVERY
People were not looking for more places to go. They were looking for people to share them with.
Sarah and Ahmed started speaking to others. Different nationalities, careers and stories—but the same invisible challenge. Those conversations changed the question from “Where should we go?” to “How can we make arriving alone feel easy?”
CHILL
ME
HELLOACTIVITYLAUGHTERCONNECTIONBELONGINGME
CHAPTER TWO · THE FIRST CIRCLE
The answer was not networking. It was doing something together.
A game creates an easy opening. Coffee slows the room down. A workshop gives strangers something to make, discuss and remember. ChillMe grew around a simple belief: when people share an activity, connection stops feeling forced.
COME AS YOU ARE
No performance. No pressure to impress.
DO SOMETHING TOGETHER
The activity removes the awkward first step.
LEAVE WITH A STORY
A shared memory gives the connection somewhere to grow.
THE JOURNEY SO FAR
From starting over to helping others feel at home.
2020
Sarah moves to Dubai
A career opportunity begins a new chapter in the UAE.
2021
Ahmed starts over
He joins Sarah in Dubai during a period of restrictions and uncertainty.
THEN
The first conversations
They discover that loneliness is not an individual problem—it is a shared one.
NEXT
Experiences become community
Games, coffee, workshops, trips and hosted activities turn strangers into familiar faces.
TODAY
A growing UAE ecosystem
People connect, organizers earn, venues welcome new guests and local businesses gain reach.
CHAPTER THREE · WHAT CHILLME BECAME
Not just a community. An ecosystem where every side can grow.
The idea expanded beyond helping attendees make friends. It began creating value for the people who host, the places that welcome the community and the businesses that make each experience possible.
PEOPLE
Find a social circle through experiences that feel natural—not performative.
01
HOSTS & TALENT
Turn ideas, skills and creativity into experiences and income opportunities.
02
VENUES
Welcome the right audience, activate quiet times and encourage repeat visits.
03
LOCAL BUSINESSES
Reach real people through memorable community participation.
04
MOMENTS THAT MOVED BEYOND THE ROOM
The numbers tell part of the story. The human outcomes tell the rest.
Independent reporting in July 2026 documented the scale ChillMe had created across the UAE. Behind every number is a first hello, a supported venue, a paid creative opportunity or someone who felt less alone.
Gulf News: helping others find their place in the UAE.
The founders’ journey was profiled by Gulf News in July 2026, highlighting how a personal challenge developed into a community supporting people, businesses and creative talent across the country.
Read the Gulf News featureTHE VALUES BEHIND THE VIBE
Good energy is not accidental. It is built on how people treat one another.
Ahmed described five values that shaped his journey in the UAE. They now offer a useful compass for every ChillMe experience.
PATIENCE
Give new connections time to become real.
RESPECT
Make space for different cultures, stories and comfort levels.
HUMILITY
Enter the room curious—not assuming.
PASSION
Bring genuine care to what you host, create or join.
INTEGRITY
Build trust through clear promises and thoughtful action.
BUILT TOGETHER
Ahmed Youssef & Sarah Kamal
Husband, wife and business partners
Their story is the starting point, not the centre of ChillMe. The centre is every person who arrives alone, every host who shares an idea, every venue that opens its doors and every friendship that continues after the event ends.
Home is not always a place you arrive at. Sometimes, it is something people build together.
THE STORY IS STILL BEING WRITTEN
You are not joining an audience. You are joining the next chapter.
Come to one experience. Host the idea you cannot stop thinking about. Bring the community into your venue. Help a brand show up like a human. There is a clear way into the ChillMe world.
Who founded ChillMe?+
ChillMe was built by Ahmed Youssef and Sarah Kamal, a married couple and business partners whose own experience of starting over in Dubai shaped the community idea.
When did the ChillMe story begin?+
The story began across 2020 and 2021, when Sarah and Ahmed relocated to Dubai and experienced the difficulty of creating a social circle during the pandemic period.
Why was ChillMe created?+
It was created to make real-life connection easier through shared activities, friendly hosts and experiences people can comfortably attend alone.
What makes ChillMe more than an events group?+
ChillMe connects four sides of an ecosystem: community members, hosts and creative talent, venues, and local businesses or brand partners.
Where does ChillMe operate?+
ChillMe is based in the UAE, with experiences focused primarily on Dubai and Abu Dhabi and selected activities in other locations.
How can I become part of the story?+
You can attend an experience, propose an activity as a host, collaborate as a venue or work with ChillMe as a brand or local-business partner.
