The evolution of Danube Group, one of the established building material firms in the Middle East, is directly linked to the journey of its founder and chairman Rizwan Sajan, who was forced to start working at the age of 16 due to the untimely death of his father.
Born and brought up in Mumbai, the young Rizwan was faced with the huge challenge of taking care of his family, being the only breadwinner. As a way out of the troubles, he thought of looking for a job in Kuwait, where his uncle had a business. However, he realised he couldn’t get a visa until he turned 18. Disappointed, Rizwan began to explore other options in order to survive.
“Luckily, I got a job at the same company where my father used to work,” he recollects. However, Rizwan found it difficult to make ends meet with a meagre monthly salary of 1,000 Indian rupees (Dh81). This made him look at other prospects, and he decided to engage in trading business on a small scale.
“Those days were hectic for me. I would attend college from 7am to 10:30am and then go to my workplace where I would work until 6:30pm. After that, it was time to do business – buying and selling aluminium files,” he recalls.
Although Rizwan managed to make an extra income of about 1,000 rupees from this business, it wasn’t enough to cover his expenses in a city like Mumbai.
The first turning point
Rizwan’s struggle continued for two years after his father’s death. Finally, the moment of reckoning arrived when his uncle sent him a visa and offered him a salary of 150 Kuwait dinars (approximately Dh500 those days) per month. “I was pretty excited and immediately took the offer and went to Kuwait. This was in 1982,” says Rizwan.
Initially, he worked as a counter salesman. “My uncle was the one who taught me the whole business of making 2+2=5. He taught me about timber, building materials, and so on,” he says.
Gradually, Rizwan learnt various aspects of the business and began to grow in the company. He was promoted to the position of an outdoor sales agent, then product manager and finally general manager. “By time I left I was managing the whole company. It all happened in a span of eight years,”
he reminisces.
Major setback
The business in Kuwait was doing well and Rizwan was making about Dh15,000 to Dh20,000 per month, including commission. However, things took a dramatic turn in August, 1990 when Iraq invaded Kuwait, completely derailing Rizwan’s plans.
He tried to stay in Kuwait as long as possible but was eventually forced to return to India with his wife and son. “It was back to square one,” says Rizwan. “All my savings were in bank accounts in Kuwait, which were frozen. I had 200,000 rupees (Dh16,350) with me
and started something on my own but it didn’t work out.”
As the adage goes, “tough times don’t last, tough men do”. Rizwan was in no mood to give up. With the help of a friend who was running a small hardware business, he began looking for a job in Dubai. However, the Kuwait war continued to cast a shadow over his life.
His friend, who had earlier offered him a monthly salary of Dh3,000 plus profit share, informed Rizwan he could only give him Dh1,500 as the uncertainties created by the war were being felt in Dubai as well. “I didn’t have a choice, so I accepted that offer. Thus, I landed in Dubai by the end of 1991,” says Rizwan. Little did he know then that this was going to be a life-changing move.
Challenging days
The ambitious young man from Mumbai began his journey in Dubai by assisting his friend in the hardware business. As days passed by, Rizwan wanted to get into something bigger, something similar to what he was doing in Kuwait. However, he
had no other option but to wait because he didn’t have enough money.
That was when luck turned in his favour. The Kuwait war, which had robbed him of everything he had made over eight years, now offered him new possibilities when he least expected it.
“In business or any other field, what’s really important is that you have to be at the right place at the right time, for you to be successful. That’s what happened to me.”
After the war, there was a huge demand from Kuwait for goods such as furniture and electronic items but since the country’s port was not operational, importing from Dubai was the only option available.
Rizwan, who had many contacts in Kuwait and was fairly established in Dubai, started receiving orders for truck loads of furniture, television sets, and so on, which kept him busy for the next six months. The orders dried up when the Kuwait port opened, but by then he had managed to make Dh100,000. “With that money, I started my own business, got my trade licence, rented office space and bought a car on loan,” says Rizwan.
The second turning point
Things were not easy in the beginning. Rizwan decided to get into indenting, which basically involved facilitating trade between a buyer and a seller and collecting commission on sales.
Most importantly, this business required no investment. “All that was needed was good expertise in the field, which luckily I had thanks to my eight years of experience in Kuwait,” he adds. But he realised even indenting was not an easy job in a market like Dubai where players were ‘big sharks’ compared to Kuwaiti traders. “The Dubai traders knew most of the suppliers so they were not ready to buy through an agent like me. I began to feel that my dream was never going to materialise,” he says. But destiny had something else in store for him. Soon, he signed a contract with a supplier of galvanised corrugated sheets for the exclusive agency rights in Dubai, which, according to Rizwan, was a major turning point in his career.
“Then, I approached the big shots [in the business] and they were forced to buy through me, and that’s how I got an entry in the Dubai market. If I didn’t have that agency at that point of time, I would have closed down my business and started working with some company. That [agency] gave me the impetus to go forward,” says Rizwan, who was then making Dh25,000 to Dh30,000 per month. Rizwan did not stop there. Next, he set his sights on trading though this required a lot of investment. He approached a few traders he knew in Kuwait and explored the possibilities of getting material from them on credit. Soon, his trading business was born under the brand name Danube.
“The business was doing well and I made about Dh2 million to Dh3 million in the first year. I approached a small bank for finance, and in the second year, the turnover rose to Dh8 million. Then I went to a bigger bank and in the third year, the turnover was Dh16 million. It was in the fourth year that I made my first Dh1 million in profit,” he says. Danube expanded to Sharjah and later to Abu Dhabi and Al Ain.
Expansion during the crisis
Danube continued to make progress even during the financial downturn. Although it’s not been a smooth ride, the company continued to recruit people and also went ahead with expansion plans, which were finalised before the crisis struck. Danube had 736 employees before the downturn, but now has 1,290. The company has also created the Danube Buildmart brand, which provides interior design solutions and has a presence in all seven emirates.
“Danube is planning to expand massively in the Middle East, especially in the UAE. Today, we have 18 showrooms in the country and are planning to expand our operations in Abu Dhabi, Sharjah and Dubai. Expansion plans in Saudi Arabia and Qatar are also in the pipeline. Currently we have 27 stores and by 2015, we are hoping we’ll have grown to 75 globally,” concludes Rizwan.
The name
Rizwan chose the name Danube, inspired by River Danube, one of the longest in Europe, which flows through several countries including Germany, Austria, and Romania.
Danube management
Rizwan Sajan
Designation: Chairman, Danube Group
Nationality: Indian
Came to Dubai in: 1991
Experience: Started working at the age of 16 when his father died. Worked in Kuwait in his uncle’s company before moving to the UAE.
Anis Sajan
Designation: Managing director, Danube Group
Nationality: Indian
Came to Dubai in: 1993
Experience: Anis, who is Rizwan’s brother, worked in Kuwait before coming to the UAE.
Adel Sajan
Designation: Director, Danube Group
Nationality: Indian
Came to Dubai in: 1993
Experience: Adel, Rizwan’s son, is involved in the operations of the group. He is also doing his Masters in Business Administration at the American University of Sharjah.
