Deepak Arora: From Dh2,000 salary to UAE billionaire

Gulf News

Dubai: Deepak Arora, 67, just won the tender to construct the Indian and Emirates Airline pavilions for Dubai Expo 2020, and is the managing director of DRA Group of companies.  Read the full article here: https://bit.ly/2tWzBfv  See more videos at https://gulfnews.com/videos  Read more Gulf News stories here: https://bit.ly/2HLJ2km  #Dubai #Indian #billionaire

Transcript

00:00Hello everyone, we're back with our Millionaire series and with me is Mr. Deepak Arora. He is

00:07at the helm of constructing the India Pavilion for the Dubai Expo 2020 as well as the Emirates

00:15Pavilion. He is the Managing Director of DRA Group of Companies. He has an amazing success story to

00:22tell. He came here way back in 1976 as an architect. Today he's a successful entrepreneur

00:28and we're here again to understand his journey on how he achieved it all. So please tell us

00:351976 you came here, why? I was in the final year of college doing my architecture in Delhi

00:44and some people came and established from Ras Mukiamma office and they wanted some designs to

00:52be done. They opened an office where they were employing and paying people on hourly basis

01:00and somebody introduced me. I went there being young. I thought okay let's do and let's see what

01:08we can do. I worked there for two or three days and I realized people were only coming to make

01:15the hours. They were not actually contributing anything. So third day I just told them sorry I

01:22will not come. I have nothing to contribute and I don't want free money. That's not my interest. So

01:31if you fail this is my address because what you want I can do it in two weeks time and I left.

01:40It so happened two or three weeks later they contacted me. They had failed completion. They

01:46said I think you are right. Can you do it? So I did that whatever I committed and they gave me

01:54decent money for the work we did and they told me why don't you come along to Ras Mukiamma.

02:02And I was in the final year. I still had three months to go. I said no sorry I must finish and

02:10then we'll see. They said maybe there is no second opportunity. So I said look even this was not for

02:17me. It has just come. So I just followed my dream to be an architect first, complete my education

02:27and then we will see. Three months later they came and I landed here on 11th November 1976.

02:36The salaries were hardly any at that time. They were I think offering 2000 dirhams a month plus

02:44bachelor sharing accommodations. There was not much built at that time. There was not even

02:50infrastructure. Being very young at that time and I never thought I will stay. How old were you

02:58again? 24. But I think somehow the opportunities started coming and you continued to be involved

03:07and we landed up now with 44 years here. I joined them 76, 77. There was a huge recession

03:17so they terminated most of the people. I was also one of them being terminated. Luckily I found

03:24another job with a consulting office. They were doing township of Ras Mukiamma. I did a lot of

03:33town planning work which was not my field but I had to educate myself to meet the challenge. We

03:40were doing under that one pipeline project for Ras Mukiamma poultry farm. It's the first

03:48poultry farm project coming up in UAE and I was appointed by the Kuwaitis to supervise that

03:57project. I realized there was a lot of flaws in the construction agreement what they had. Helped

04:04them to do in a very professional way. A lot of it I challenged myself and got it done for them

04:12on a private basis. My intention always was to be on my own, not work for others. That was always

04:19in the back of mind. So it so happened by the time we got to 1980, project was ready. I had done

04:30a huge amount of work on private level with them and they wanted to go into the extension,

04:37second phase for parent stock form which was not built at that time. They said this time it's very

04:44hard for us to manage finance without being a company. So you establish a company and I was

04:51really excited. So again you were not expecting it but it just came to you. No, I was working for

05:00it. In my mind I was working for it. Whether it works here or it will work somewhere, I am gaining

05:08that experience. It was the hard work you did to get to that opportunity. It wouldn't have if I

05:15would have done just supervision like anybody else. It will not come to you. The Ras Al Khaimah

05:20poultry farm was not doing well. They had chicks dying. There were a lot of issues and they decided

05:28not to go ahead with the expansion. So all what I had earned was invested in making the company

05:38and it was gone. But I didn't feel anything at all. So yet another challenge. Yeah,

05:48another challenge. There was not much work at that time so I could not look or even waste more time

05:55because it was difficult to support yourself. So I started looking for a job back to what you call

06:02square one and found a job in Sharjah. So moving from Ras Al Khaimah to Sharjah actually made me

06:12feel good. I said probably I am getting closer to what I want to achieve. The opportunities in

06:20Sharjah and Dubai are much more than we had in Ras Al Khaimah at that time. I was working there.

06:27I worked from 81 to 85. But I was always eyeing on to find something to get on with what I want.

06:41In 85, I read in the newspaper that Jabal Ali Free Zone is starting. You know it's some connect

06:52to... I don't even know what kind of projects will be there. But it just stuck me out. Maybe

06:59this is the place. This is raw. This is new. Let's put some effort to find as to what we can do.

07:07When you start thinking, the thing starts happening like that. This is what I saw and I felt.

07:15I was in Jibka office. Somebody came through somebody that go to Deepak. He will design the

07:24project you want to build in Jabal Ali. It was a Jabal weaving and garment factory. The first

07:30project. I had no company. I just helped him. But the goal was yes, one day you have to get on with

07:41your dream. They were very happy. They said they have come from Karachi.

07:48Can you build it for us as well? So I took that challenge and started organizing. My journey

07:57started from first project in Jabal Ali which came out really nice. When was the turning point

08:07in your life? Turning point in my life, we got the Swarovski project. It's a very iconic project

08:15till now if you go and see Swarovski headquarters. How did you clinch the Dubai Expo 2020? Dubai

08:21Expo 2020, first we got the Emirates Airlines Pavilion. We were awarded the Emirates Airlines

08:28Pavilion. Then I saw online the ad for Indian Pavilion. So I said look I live here. I belong

08:40to this place and I come from that place. So why not try if we can do both. We started pursuing

08:51whatever requirements were there and luckily we could meet all their technical requirements.

09:03That led to us getting the Indian Pavilion. This is the amazing journey of Mr. Arora. For

09:10the complete story, please log on to www.gulfnews.com. You can also see our other

09:17millionaire series stories. They're all published

09:21online. So take a look at that as well. This is Anjana Kumar for Gulf News.

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