As the chief executive officer of a major fashion retailer in the UAE, Splash, Raza Beig, may be the toast of the business circuit, but he made it to the top the hard way.
The only son - he has five sisters - of Shamim and Mirza Masood Beig, he ended up having to shoulder the burden of looking after the family after his father, an assistant director in Bollywood, died following a cardiac arrest when Raza was just six. His father had invested a huge part of his savings in the highly risky business of film-making but ended up losing it all a few months before.
One moment the Beig family was rubbing shoulders with top stars and attending celebrity parties with the movie fraternity, and the next they were out in the cold struggling to fend for themselves. With great difficulty they managed to make ends meet with the little savings they had. "Those were truly very difficult times. We could barely afford two square meals a day," recalls Raza.
Even though he was young, Raza realised his mother and sisters were looking to him to become the man of the family. "My only thought at the time was to provide some relief to my mother who was struggling to bring us up," he recalls.
So Raza used to run errands for neighbours to make a few bucks to supplement the fast-dwindling savings that his family had. "The usual pleasures of childhood, like a nice hot meal and trendy clothes, were luxuries we could not afford."
Raza stumbled upon a vocation by accident when, at the age of 13, he offered to give lessons to the illiterate eight-year old son of a laundryman in exchange for washing the family laundry for free. "I liked the boy and wanted to help him in some way because I knew he was very clever.
"The first six months the boy struggled to study," says Raza. "But I talked a lot to him and taught him to dream. Until then he believed that he had to follow his father's profession and be a laundryman. I told him he could become anyone he wanted to if only he put his mind to it. Soon, I found that he was so good with his studies that I took him to our local English school and asked the principal to admit him. In no time he was judged the best student of the school. He then went on to college and did well."
He is proud that his protégé today is employed by a multinational company in the United States.
Realising how empowering teaching could be, Raza decided to take it up as a career. "I earned a degree in Commerce from Mumbai University and was keen to become a teacher because I realised you can actually help change people's way of thinking."
He then set up a tutorial college in Mumbai that became so successful, he was able to part-finance a few other businesses.
"Thanks to my commerce background, I was always looking for business opportunities," he says. "It was at this time that a good friend of mine asked me to help him financially in his shirt-manufacturing business. I did not know much about fashion designing as such, but used to keep track of trends and had even designed a few dresses for my sister. Once I entered into a partnership with him I learnt a lot about fashion, style, fabric and trends. That was a success. I used the money I made here to buy an ailing cable television distribution business and turned it around.
"I gathered a lot of experience about managing a business, and learnt more about fashion," he says. "I was constantly looking at ways to improve my business and life and put my all into the cable business."
It was in 1992 that Raza's life took a major turn when he came across a newspaper advertisement for a company called Mothercare that was seeking a fashion buyer for its outlet in Bahrain. It was headed by Micky and Renuka Jagtiani, who were later to set up the Landmark Group in Dubai. Raza applied and was selected.
The next year the Jagtianis set up a fashion label, Splash, in Dubai and asked Raza to take over as store manager. From there it was a steady climb to the position of CEO of Splash.
Today the numerous retail awards for excellence Splash has received over the years jostle for space at the Landmark office.
A man who is as well known for his business acumen as for the lavish parties he throws, Raza believes in empowering others to fulfil their dreams. In fact, he inspired two of his office assistants to complete their education and today they are heading teams in the Landmark organisation.
"I firmly believe that people are the most important investment," he says. He tells Friday his success story:
Work
In my younger days, I did many things to earn a few extra bucks for the family - I used to fetch milk for my neighbours, go door to door selling saris, worked as a tour operator for buses going to hill stations like Mahabaleshwar near Mumbai.
I was always thinking about how to make the 100 rupees I earned into a thousand and then to ten thousand and how to tide over financial challenges in my life. That's why today I'm able to take many bold and sometimes controversial decisions.
The tutorial college I started immediately after I completed college was a huge success. But even then I was fascinated by the fashion industry. So when a friend of mine whose shirt-manufacturing unit wasn't doing too well asked if I could invest in his business, I readily agreed. In those days the fashion world and modelling were among the most glamorous professions. At home during the summer holidays, I would design my sisters' clothes, buy the fabric and get it tailored. In fact, one of my sisters was named the best dressed in her school thanks to a dress I designed for her. I was also able sell a few of my collections in cities like Mumbai and Lucknow. I didn't make much money from this venture, but it did give me great deal of personal satisfaction.
The shirt-manufacturing business was a success and the money I earned from it I invested in an ailing cable TV distribution business. In the early 1990s, satellite television hadn't become popular so we were the entertainment content providers. We bought videos of successful programmes, films and talk shows and beamed them into around 1,500 homes for a monthly fee.
When I saw the advertisement for a fashion buyer for Mothercare in Bahrain, I had no idea what the title meant but my gut feeling told me it was my destiny. My family wasn't too happy for me to leave, but I took the leap, and it paid off. When the Jagtianis started Splash in 1993, I moved with them. For the first two months I worked as a store manager, but within two months I was promoted to being a fashion buyer and eventually took charge of the brand.
One thing that drew me to the fashion industry is that it's always changing. I love that kind of positive change. I wanted an opportunity to learn something new every day and Splash gave me that space. In the last two years I have mentored Nisha Jagtiani - Micky and Renuka's daughter - and helped her open Iconic, the 70,000-square-foot concept lifestyle store across Dubai.
I have a very personal three-step corporate mantra that I feel works anywhere: First, you need to work hard and prove that you're a good leader to your colleagues. Second, you need to use your intelligence in your work. Last, and most importantly, you need to be honest. Anyone working hard with honesty, sincerity and intelligence is sure to find success.
Play
I may not have had a very rosy childhood but I can smile when I look back on it because I grew up fast and became independent. I think had my father not passed away and had life not been so tough, I would never have become the person I am today.
I was only six when my father died and I must admit I had been thoroughly spoilt and pampered. But the death of my father jolted me to my senses. I realised the entire family was now looking to me and I couldn't let them down. It was like somebody had flipped a switch. I, who used to play truant from school and while away time, promised my mother I would study hard. By grade four I was among the top ten in class.
I didn't have much time to spend playing with friends because I was constantly thinking how I could supplement the family income.
My mother is the most amazing woman and is always optimistic. She brought us up very well. It was tough for a single woman to raise six children, but she never gave up. I was always concerned about how I could share her burden. By the age of 13, I began helping her financially by running errands for my neighbours to earn a little money. By the age of 17, I could help get my family three decent meals a day and even a few luxuries, such as clothes that we could wear at social occasions, with money I earned selling saris. I used to buy the saris from a wholesale dealer, carry them on my head and go door to door selling them for a small profit. Even today I share a very special bond with my mothers and sisters. They dote on me and I am very protective about them. I do tell my children - Ali, 11 and Arwa, 10 - about my past because I want them to realise the value of hard work and the fact that life is not always rosy.
Off work, I love partying. I like to work hard and play hard as well. I have worked so hard in my life that I had no time for leisure and pleasure. I'm making up for that now.
Dream
I always aspire to do things bigger and better. Splash has given many European brands tough competition here. Someday, I plan to open Splash stores in Europe to compete against these brands on their home turf.
I have a few dreams for my children - I want them to get the best education and be the finest human beings. I don't mind what they choose to do in life. I think once you build on a good education and teach them the right values, there isn't anything they can't achieve.
Personally, I have had just one dream all my life: I always want my mother to be very happy.
I also want to spend as much time as I can with my wife, Sheeza, the kids and a few close friends.
