Hussain Shimhaz · Indonesia · Malé · Singapore
Thirty years of learning the hard way, so the next investor doesn't have to.
I started on the ramp at Malé airport, learned marketing by building the first Centralized Marketing Department inside the country's largest company, spent nine years in oil trading in Singapore, then co-owned a resort from bare island to sale. Today I am building a technology company between Indonesia and Singapore.
Along the way I have learned most of the expensive lessons this region can teach. I share them with a small number of investors and partners who are building here too.
Loama Resort Maldives, developed 2011–2013
The market, this week
Updated 22 Aug 2026 · Ministry of Tourism, Republic of Maldives
Tourist arrivals, 2026 to date
1,405,082
▼ 3.8% vs same period 2025
August, year on year
+2.8%
growth returned after a soft first half
Top source markets
China · Russia
18.6% and 14.7% of arrivals
Full year 2025
2.2 million
tourist arrivals
Technology, this week
Selected and annotated by Hussain
BBC Technology2 d ago
AI data centres are booming in Australia - but at what cost?
The same question the Maldives will face. Power and cooling decide where these get built.
BBC Technology2 d ago
Nvidia strikes $12.9bn deal to buy AI platform Hugging Face
The open-model ecosystem now has an owner. Worth watching for anyone building on it.
OpenAI2 d ago
GPT-6 Astra: A new generation of intelligence
Every system I run on the furniture trade gets rebuilt on this within a quarter.
Google DeepMind3 d ago
Introducing Gemini 3.8 Flash and 3.8 Flash Cyber
Cheaper, faster models are what make agents affordable for owner-run businesses.
OpenAI4 d ago
How AI-native companies turn workflows into operating capability
The clearest description I have read of what I am building for Merawin.
Google AI9 d ago
3 new ways to plan and book travel in Search
When the booking journey starts inside an AI assistant, resorts need to be visible there.
AboutThirty years across the Maldives, Singapore and Indonesia, told chapter by chapter.
Read the backgroundWhat I'm building
Launching · technology
Merawin Core, Singapore
Four years in the making. A Singapore technology company, with a co-founder on the ground there, built to take Indonesian furniture and hospitality products to the world: a piece of software the trade has not seen before, opening the furniture business to anyone who wants to be part of it. Details when it is registered.
Vision
Years of thinking, and years of making. The business models and research I have built over the last four years are my vision for this region, and I have decided to bring them to the surface, one at a time, very soon. Each will say what it needs: investors, finance, or technical partners.
Where I can help
Resort development, without the mistakes we made
For investors coming into the Maldives with an island, a lease or a concept: what the feasibility must include, how the investment and the local partnership should be structured, what goes wrong between design, permits and contractors, and what pre-opening really costs. Hands-on experience, shared.
Sourcing and trading, Indonesia to the Maldives
Through PT. Merawin Mitra Grup's operation in Indonesia: supplier networks, quality control and shipping for resorts and projects that need furniture and hospitality products sourced properly.
AI-driven business systems
Systems I build and run myself: connecting ERP data, agent workflows and reporting an owner can trust. Available to other owner-run businesses through Merawin Core.
Expertise
Articles
September 2026
Levelling the playing field: why the new TGST amendment could be good for local tour operators
The same amendment could remove a structural disadvantage for Maldivian DMCs, if the additional revenue comes with a visible commitment to reinvest in the industry.
September 2026
Is the Maldives inventing a new tax?
It isn't. The Eighth Amendment to the GST Act aligns the Maldives with the OECD destination principle already enforced across Europe, Australia and North America.
10-part series · 2024
Why is the Maldives unique?
Liveaboards, private islands, surf at the house reef, the art of doing nothing. Collected here for the first time.
Start a conversation
Tell me what you are trying to build.
Every message is read personally. I reply to the ones where I believe I can be useful.