Ashleigh Stewart, CNN • Published 2nd February 2021 FacebookTwitterEmail 9 Pictures (CNN) — As a child, Mihir Vaya helped his father run his fledgling jewelry business in Dubai. He remembers riding with him across Dubai Creek in an abra boat as he went to sell his pieces. He remembers when the Gold Souk, today home to hundreds of retailers, was just a few rickety stalls stuck like barnacles to the river banks. But most of all, he remembers helping his father in his workshop. He and his sister would hold gold wires so they could be wound into intricate pieces of jewelry. "It was probably nothing, those small jobs. But you felt so important," Vaya says. "Ever since then I've been inclined to work there."