Defying odds, Rizwan Sajan builds empire When Rizwan Sajan was ranked seventh at the Forbes Middle East top 100 Indian Leaders in the UAE, he riveted the world with a story of inspirational triumph over staggering odds. Defying odds, Rizwan Sajan builds empire 0 EmailShare When Rizwan Sajan was ranked seventh at the Forbes MiddleEast top 100 Indian Leaders in the UAE, he riveted the world with a story of inspirational triumph over staggering odds. Losing his father at 16, shouldering household responsibilities by working part-time at a steel company for a salary of INR 800 a month, he moved to Kuwait at 18 in his uncle’s building materials company. Lost everything again during Iraq invasion in 1990, and starting afresh with AED 100,000 savings to construct the renowned brand Danube. In a span of two decades, he went from being an unknown person to one of the most celebrated business icons in the UAE, becoming a self-made billionaire. In an interview with ISME’s Samar Manzar at his lavish Jebel Ali office, Mr Sajan said that hard work, determination, providing quality service and a little bit of luck earned him success. ISME: What shaped you as the person you are today? RS: My father’s early demise affected my education. I was forced to discontinue my studies to support my family being the eldest child in the family. I left the Somaiya college in Mumbai after completing the 11th grade when I was offered a job at my dad’s company. It was a part-time job for a meagre salary of INR 800 per month. However, the plus point was that they offered flexible working hours to help me complete my degree. I used to attend college in the morning, from 7 am to 10 am, and then worked from 10 pm to 6 pm, followed by running my personal business around 6 am to 11 pm. It was determination from day one, and those struggles shaped me as a person. ISME: How did you come to Kuwait? RS: After my father’s death, I wrote to my uncle in Kuwait asking for a job in his company. I explained to him that being the eldest son of the family I should be taking up the household responsibility and a job would be more beneficial than any monetary help. My uncle, who was my father’s cousin and a multi-millionaire in Kuwait, asked me to stay put until I completed 18 years of age; at that point I was 16. From his response I felt that he was mostly trying to disregard my request. So, I did not pursue that course anymore, and, in fact, forgot about the entire episode. But my uncle, on the other hand, sent me a letter on my eighteenth birthday enquiring whether I would be still willing to take a job in his company. At that time I was earning about INR-2,000-2,500 a month, which included receipts from my part-time job, a small business I owned and dad’s tiny pension amount. It was a nothing more than a hand-to-mouth situation. However, this job was like a blessing in disguise, which offered me an opportunity to earn KWD150 (approximately INR18,000) in those days. ISME: What kind of business was your uncle running? RS: He was into building materials too He was my mentor, and whatever I have learnt about the business in the initial, formative years, were his teachings. He’s the one who taught me everything from scratch and kept me in his house for six months. Over the years, I established myself in his company, wherein I would easily run the daily functions in his absence too. ISME: During the 1990s, the Gulf war broke out, and things turned haywire in your career.Could you elaborate on how the invasion affected you personally and professionally? RS: We had to leave everything and return overnight! It was the second roller coaster of my life, the first being my father’s early death. After I migrated to Kuwait, I managed to make a decent living despite starting from scratch. I got my sister married, bought a flat in a posh locality of Mumbai (Bandra) and a car, but everything changed during the invasion and I was back to square one. I distinctly remember that during those years I used to earn approximately AED 20,000-22,000 a month, which was quite acceptable for a 27-year old lad. But after the invasion, all our goods were stolen by the Iraqis, and we had nothing to take home. Left with no options, I moved back to Mumbai and started a business once again, drawing INR35, 000-40,000 on a monthly basis. It was a manageable living, but nothing beyond average. Now, during those days I had a friend running a hardware business in Dubai and he offered me a job with a salary of AED 3,000 per month, and a 25 per cent commission on sales. What did I have to lose? I didn’t have a job in hand anyway. I accepted the offer on the spot and he promised to send me the visa as soon as possible. A lot of people find it extremely difficult to step down once they have achieved something in life. In fact, people I have interviewed during recent times are hell-bent on packages; nobody is really willing to take up challenges, seldom factoring they have to prove themselves before making demands; high salaries are a bi-product of good performance ISME: How did you manage a shift from hardware to the building materials business? What was involved in setting up Danube? RS: By the time I landed in Dubai in March 1992, the condition in Kuwait was slowly and steadily getting back to normal and work had resumed in full swing too. Moreover, my business contacts were back in town and they started placing orders with me for building material once they came to know that I was working in Dubai. As time passed, cement, sanitary fittings and furniture were exported from my new workplace to Kuwait. Including the commission on sales, I began to earn about AED 8-10,000 per month. However, this didn’t last long as businessmen in Kuwait went back to doing direct imports, which eventually dried my earnings completely. Meanwhile, I went back to trading in small hardware, but made a suggestion to my friend-cum-employer that we could expand the building material business and trade in wood, by tapping on the experience and contacts I had. But, this proposition called for a million dirhams investment. Not convinced about the returns on this risk, he refused. And, thus, we parted ways. I had saved AED 100,000 in one year and started my own business. I told my wife, who was very supportive all along, that I wanted to take the risk and start something of my own. Although I was easily employable for AED 5000 at that time, I felt starting something of my own was worth taking a shot. ISME: Did your wife set a deadline for you? RS: The deadline was as long as I can sustain with the AED 1, 00,000 savings. I invested AED-60,000-70,000 was spent on setting up the business-buying a car, house, trade licence, and sponsorship fees. ISME: While you were scaling up, did you face any challenges? RS: Yes, I didn’t have the money to pump into the business. A particular bank made me wait for several hours for the clearance of a letter of credit, and eventually denied it. Few years later, the same bank approached me to do business with them. And, this is life, things are initially tough, but eventually they fall into place with hard work. ISME: Two decades later, you have 38 offices across India, China and Gulf. It is a testament of your determination. What is the annual turnover of your company? RS: Approximately, AED2 billion. Determination, hard work, luck and right people have made the difference. ISME: What are your goals in terms of expansion over the next five years? RS: We do have expansion plans, but we don’t plans to venture into completely new areas either. Basically, it’s retail and wholesale sectors that hold major interest for us. In the retail segment, we have recently started the Danube Buildmart, which is still in the developing stage, but offers huge scope for our growth. My son manages Danube Buildmart. ISME: Your firm has always been into B2B segment. What prompted you take a plunge in the B2C sector with Buildmart, a tough space given the cut-throat competition from big boys like IKEA, etc? RS: Firstly, you don’t have to do anything in a Buildmart. We found a gap in the market that a customer looking for tiles, garden fitting, wall paper, or, even bathroom fittings had limited options-Deira, Sharjah market, or Dragon Mall. We have a professional designing team looking after the needs of every single customer, say, for instance, a person looking out for wallpaper will be professionally shown how the design would look after installation. He would be given the feel of using the wallpaper at his home even before making a purchase. . Similarly, an interior store where people like you or me can sit down with professionals and talk about their needs, pick products where quality is guaranteed, and prices are economical. ISME: Are you replacing the interior designers, or complementing them? RS: We are complementing them. We don’t do interior designing in a detailed way. A designer will give you a detailed explanation, but we help you in the feel and look of products (tiles, wall papers, etc) ISME: Let’s get into the guts of your business, how many employees are working for Danube? RS: Approximately 1800 ISME: What qualities do you look for when you’re hiring an employee? RS: Firstly, it’s their integrity and willingness to work hard. In our company, we believe in training an employee first hand to make him better employee. For instance, several of them have risen from being a manual worker to managerial positions. We believe in grooming in-house talent. ISME: What are your life’s learnings so far? What advice you would give to young entrepreneurs based on your personal experiences? RS: Firstly, decide what you want to be in life (area of interest) and stick to it, hopping professions is one of the biggest mistakes. For example, 80 per cent of the CVs received by us have people jumping jobs very often, and changing professions. These people waste 10-15 years of their life and reach nowhere. A sales man, meanwhile, will not see himself growing if he keeps switching from building materials to electronics or IT. Okay, you can be a salesman, but you won’t see tremendous growth if you hop around too much. ISME: You mentioned earlier that labourers have succeeded to become managers in Danube.What are these values and ethos that bind employees to this firm? RS: We believe in building integrity and earning trust from our customers. These values are passed on to every employee. A sweeping glance across Dubai’s market will have you notice plenty of building material companies, but what sets us apart is the trust factor. Our customers know that if they face any problem with our services or products, the company will ensure it’s rectified. ISME: What is the recognition Danube has received thus far? RS: We have been honoured with several awards, and the Dubai Quality award is one of the special ones amongst all. Now, let me tell you, it’s not so easy to earn this trophy. We have nine assessors from the government department stationed in our office for three consecutive days, and they check every single department. These inspectors, who are experts in their own fields, check every single document to understand our working processes. No amount of verbal dialogue would cut in if there’s no available document to support the claims. For an ordinary building material company like ours, it was quite an honour to compete with corporate giants like Nestle and Microsoft. ISME: What role does family play in your life? RS: My wife has been supportive all along. To set up a business, you’ve to work 14-15 hours a day, and life gets difficult if you have a nagging wife. I don’t even know when my son grew up. Looking ahead, my son will take care of the firm. Also, I’ve a younger brother who’s closely involved with us. For the second generation, I don’t see any problem. The whole business is within the family, that is what Danube is, and they will take it forward. Further, the relationship within the family is very good. ISME: Are you involved in any kind of CSR activities? RS: We distribute 30,000 meals every year during Ramadan, other than sponsoring children. Last year, when we went on a picnic, a very smart labourer was asked to write a score in English. He was hesitant because he didn’t know the language. Following this incident, 100 labourers were assembled and questioned on their proficiency in the English language; the results were staggering, as90-95 of them were ignorant. To overcome this barrier and offer an opportunity for them to earn a promotion, we’ve started a community centre to train all these blue-collared employees in English. Instead of giving money, it would be more beneficial if we can change lives. - See more at: theintelligentsme/2013/08/defying-odds-rizwan-sajan-builds-empire/#sthash.SavIGnE1.dpuf
Posted on: Sat, 26 Oct 2013 06:26:27 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015