Achieving remarkable success in business and making a mark of oneself in the commercial arena is not a piece of cake. It requires tremendous determination and excellent business acumen to overcome all odds and realize the intended objectives. There are many successful Indian business leaders in the Gulf, who have transformed their dreams into reality through their dedicated endeavors, while also providing their employees with the opportunity to grow and learn effectively.
One such prominent Indian business leader in the Gulf, who is transforming the way how business activities are carried out while achieving the desired outcomes, is none other than Mr. Rizwan Sajan, the Founder and Chairman of Danube Group.
A visionary in its true sense, Mr. Rizwan is a business leader who raised his business empire from a two-member husband-wife team way back in 1993 to a multi-billion-dollar sustainable diversified business conglomerate with 9 businesses spread across 50 locations in 10 countries employing more than 3,600 people. In an Interview with Insights Success, Mr. Rizwan shares about his professional journey, inspiration, various challenges, and achievements throughout his stellar career.
Below are the highlights of the interview between Mr. Rizwan and Insights Success:
1. Describe your professional journey as a business leader.
I started my career at a building materials trading organisation in Kuwait in the 1980s. I was in my late teens, just came out of my college studies in Mumbai.
I was hired to help the management in their day-to-day sales activities. But I am a quick learner and learned the tricks of the trade very fast, so much so, that the management started to trust me with additional responsibilities.
Soon after, I started to run the business on a daily basis with the guidance of the owner – my relative – who trusted me a lot and gave me the freedom, after I had shown results. The business continued to grow and I played a crucial role in the company’s growth.
However, the Iraq-Kuwait war in 1990-1991 changed everything. We had to leave the business and Kuwait forever in 1991, and relocated back to Mumbai. Then about a year later, I decided to try my luck in the UAE – a land of opportunity.
“We work for our customers and their happiness is what we strive to achieve”
Here, I joined a building materials company as a sales person and quickly started to obtain orders, so much so that the company did not have the means to handle the orders. But I also did not want to lose the orders. So, I started sourcing supplies from other bigger companies and supply to the buyers. This way, I accumulated some capital, which I invested in 1993 to establish Danube Building Materials – as a small shop.
Initially it was a two-person operation and my wife Sameera was the first employee – who looked after the office, take phone calls and messages while I used to chase contractors and consultants for procuring orders. This is how it started for me as an entrepreneur.
Since I was already in the market with a reputation of on-time and on-quality delivery of goods, I continued to receive orders and that help me grow business. The rest is history.
Initially, we used to buy materials from wholesalers and importers in the local market and sell to contractors with a margin. Due to growth in business, we hired people, added new shops, warehouses and started storing materials in large quantity.
Then we started importing materials, especially woods, plywoods and other products from key source markets. With increase in business volume, we also started getting orders from across the UAE borders – from Oman, Qatar, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.
We then relocated to our base to the Jebel Ali Free Zone where we established our head office and the logistics base to support operations across the GCC region.
The construction market witnessed the biggest boom since the beginning of the new millennium, especially after 2002, when Dubai Government had opened the real estate sector for foreign investment and ownership. Billions of dollars were invested in the freehold property sector that resulted in an unprecedented boom in the construction industry.
By then, we had established ourselves firmly in the market and were able to support the industry with the required volume of building materials that helped our business to grow manifolds. However, since then, we navigated out of a few economic crises – the Global Financial Crisis of 2008-2009, Arab Spring of 2011-2012, Bird Flu, SARS and now the COVID-19 pandemic – transforming our business to a more sustainable player in the UAE economy.
2. Who inspires you to wake up every day and keep making a difference in the respective industry you are catering to?
I have had an early start in career – at the age of 18 when most boys chase dream girls – I started chasing my dream, that is to help others. Helping others have been part of my eco-system and it started from my family. I first started to take care of my family at the age of 16 right after my father had died.
Then I started to take care of customers when I started working in Kuwait. I am still working for others – through my business group.
Who are these ‘others’? They are all the people I work for, or touch their lives with our products and services – be it our customers, our employees, families, friends and those whose life are impacted with our work. They are the ones who inspire and motivate me to wake up early morning and start working.
3. As the leader of your company, what challenges have you faced while establishing and running the business?
I have faced all the typical challenges that an entrepreneur face. However, the initial success in selling products and collecting cheques had made it relatively easy for me. One of the key challenges was to cope with the rising demand in building materials due to the unprecedented boom in real estate and construction. You need to have a very efficient team in order to manage the growth.
Luckily, I am blessed with a very agile and efficient team that managed the growth year after year, as well as managed challenging situation when the economy slowed down.
4. Brief us about the operations of your company, its mission, vision, and core values.
Customer and stakeholder happiness is at the core of our vision, mission, values and operations. We work for our customers and their happiness is what we strive to achieve. That sums up what we do throughout our group of companies.
5. How has the current pandemic affected your business and what steps have you taken to safeguard your employees while catering to your clients?
As I mentioned, we navigated through a number of crises in the past. We have an inherent culture of managing business more pragmatically. I believe, there are opportunities within every challenge and you need to have the foresight to understand that.
For example, when the Global Financial Crisis hit the GCC economies in 2008, we were in a major expansion of our retail outlets, under the branding of Danube Buildmart. Since the construction sector faced a major challenge, we also changed the product mix – to expand the home interiors and home furnishing products – in our retail portfolio. Later, we rebranded it as Danube Home – which is a major business unit within the group.
In a crisis, one door might close, but multiple doors open. Besides, we are financially a conservative organization with almost zero leverage. We do not bite more than we can chew – so the risks remain manageable.
However, COVID-19 was like no other. It has a different magnitude. It changed the way we operate – after halting business activities for a while. It created a new-normal environment for all of us. We were quick to take a stock of the situation – our inventory, order backlogs – and above all, employees health, safety and well-being.
To sustain business, we temporarily reduced their salary, to ration them for a longer period and then started paying full salary as soon as the businesses reopened in July 2020. In fact, we repaid the 30 percent as soon as the income flow had resumed. Now, we are growing.
6. What creative ways have you employed to make the work environment of your company vibrant?
Employees are at the core of our business operations. How we perform and grow, depends on the human resources, their professionalism, attitude and their leadership. I hand-picked the core team, train them, mentor them and help them grow within the organization – based on their capabilities.
So, now, I don’t have to do much. My team does the needful. I only step in when they need my guidance. Otherwise, the business is run by professionals – whose roles are pre-defined – for them to operate freely. They have the freedom to take decisions based on their role.
7. According to you, what are the essentials of being an apt business leader?
Develop a business around certain products and services that are in need, build a team, streamline processes that help deliver results – ultimately customer satisfaction. The leader’s job is to empower people and monitor them. Allow them to make business decisions – based on their competence.
8. What would you like to share with the young generation of entrepreneurs who are looking to step foot in a leadership role in their respective businesses?
Believe in yourself. Make sure your business fulfils a need or a gap in the society – and build the business around it. Be honest, be truthful and face situation boldly. Don’t be afraid of failure. Let failure not define you. You should be defined by your integrity. Work for a cause, not money. Success will come and money will flow.
9. In terms of future growth, where do you see yourself and your company?
We are a Dh5 billion (US$1.3 billion) annual turnover company. We are still a GCC-based business. I want to make it a global brand name by spreading across the world – something that we have already started.
