The Topsy-turvy world of Upside Down: Emel Mahabub

Emel Mahabub, who was brought up in Narayanganj, completed his primary education in Adarsha School, but later moved to Dhaka to attend BAF Shaheen College. Afterwards, he enrolled in North South University from where he obtained a degree in Marketing and International Business, and this eventually led him to pursue a Master’s degree in Global Marketing from the University of New Haven. To gain some practical knowledge in his particular field of study, Emel spent one year as a Business Analyst in the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, after which he returned to Bangladesh to work in his family business.

How it began:

In Emel’s opinion, the idea of Upside Down stemmed from everyday conversation with his friends, or as Bangalis would rather call it, Adda. Four friends – Shafi Ahmed Johny, Asif Rahaman, Ishtiak Mahmud Aunik and Emel himself – stirred up the idea of this new and exciting venture, not just to bring something new to society, but also to kill their boredom. Soon, they started to look for places to launch the initiative and finally decided upon Lalmatia as a location. Building such an innovative business from the ground up took a lot of time and effort – the idea wasn’t just new to the consumers, but also to the architects and builders who worked on the interior décor of Upside Down. It took a while to make them understand the optical illusions – and required even more patience to explain how said illusions were architecturally structured and built. In the end, however, they succeeded, and Upside Down, which was once a dream, finally became a reality.

How it’s going:

Despite having a few issues in the partnership, Emel is confident that the detailed, air-tight terms and conditions will never allow any one of the partners to ever be financially hurt. He wants his team to stay and work together for a long time, because to him, his partners are like his brothers. Furthermore, the team of Upside Down is immensely happy with the positive attention the venture has garnered so far. “I feel so proud when people recognize Upside Down at the mere mention of its name – it means that we’re on the right track,” said Emel. In addition to much appreciation, Upside Down has received some constructive criticism from their customers regarding the long waiting lines and the team is working very hard to mitigate the issue. Having recently started, the owners didn’t expect their small venture to draw the amount of attention that it did – the waiting zone of Upside Down was made with enough room to hold 25 people at most, but now, observing the hype surrounding their project, the owners have decided to enlarge the waiting area to be able to contain 50 people. Additionally, they have plans to expand to other parts of Dhaka, most specifically, to Uttara and Banani, and if luck favors them, maybe even to Cox’s Bazar very soon.

How it will be in 5 years:

Embarking on a business such as Upside Down can be very risky because they have a very hard time retaining their customers. To avoid this problem, the team of Upside Down already has a full-proof plan in place – they will keep adding features to Upside Down, constantly changing the illusions and making them better so that their customers will have reasons to keep coming back. They already have a Research and Development team working on a new project and are planning to introduce more 3D illusions.

Apart from being the co-founder of Upside Down, Emel is also engaged in a lot of other businesses – he is the CEO of both A. K. Knit & Industries and TexCott International. In the next five years, Emel hopes to take all his ventures to the next level and hopes to achieve more recognition for Upside Down. Emel’s strategy, in terms of business, has always been to go with the flow. Till now, the team of Upside hasn’t felt the need to artificially promote their business – they don’t want Upside Down to become overcrowded, because they understand that overcrowding will diminish the overall experience of their customers. Maintaining a certain standard of quality is very important to the owners of Upside Down and they want people to view their initiative as a place to get away to experience something new and entertaining.

So far, the founders of Upside Down are very pleased with the positive feedback that they have received regarding their little undertaking. With a score of 4.5 stars on Facebook, 4.9 stars on Google, and countless positive reviews, Upside Down is a must-visit place for Dhaka dwellers. The repute that it has already created promises an amazing experience, and even better photos.