64 | ASIA ONE | JULY-AUGUST 2018
to trade? He was probably the first UAE citizen to visit
there,” he proudly declares.
Readily attributing a portion of his success today to
those formative years, he says, “It’s the commercial way
of thinking that stuck with me.” He further elaborates,
“A customer would buy a ten dirham pack of vests and
when he left my father would immediately raise the price
to eleven dirhams. I’d ask him why and he’d reply: ‘That
customer never buys from me, and the fact he bought a
large quantity without questioning the price means there
is a shortage in the market.’ My father knew his customer
base and he would change direction very quickly in the
goods he’d import. This is one of my key successes; I can
adapt to the market very quickly.”
Mr. Ali Sajwani’s shop may have been small but the
ambition he imbued in his son was anything but limited
and those lessons learnt in childhood have reaped untold
riches. According to a leading magazine, Mr. Sajwani is
the world’s tenth richest Arab, with an estimated net
worth of $3.7bn and Damac Properties was the Arab
world’s fourth biggest public company in 2017, with
Emaar its only real competitor in terms of scale. That
restless energy has seen Mr. Sajwani orchestrate some
of the boldest schemes in the country, Akoya Oxygen, for
instance, is a $6.5bn, 55-million sq-ft community project,
while Damac Hills will eventually house 10,000 units.
SOWING THE FIRST SEEDS OF SUCCESS
Being one of the first few UAE students to get a
scholarship in the U.S., Mr. Hussain Sajwani enrolled
in Industrial Engineering and Economics course from
the University of Washington in 1978. Seattle was a
completely new world for him and the contrast with
Dubai could not have been starker. As he puts it, “Imagine
the gap between the two countries... the freeways, the
high-rises. Even just going to Kmart or Wal-Mart was a
totally different experience. The biggest shop we had in
Dubai was Jashanmal, which was probably 2,000 sq ft
and where we’d go once a month to buy chocolate. And
then you see Wal-Mart, which was 100,000 sq ft... It was
enough to make you crazy.”
After graduating, he returned home in 1982 and
initiated his career as a Contracts Manager in GASCO, a
subsidiary of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC).
Two years later, he established a catering venture that
he still owns, Global Logistics Services, which became
one of the region’s largest of its kind. As he puts it, “I was
looking for an opportunity to go out on my own and as soon
as I found it I went for it,” he says. “It’s in my blood. My
grandfather used to travel to India and Pakistan to trade.
So all this stays in your mind.” From modest beginnings,
the catering division has catapulted to a market leader
managing more than 200 projects and serving over 150,000
meals daily in a number of markets, including the Middle
East, Africa and the CIS. In addition to servicing construction
campsites, army camps, educational institutions, five-
star hotels and onshore / offshore locations, the division
specializes in providing ancillary services like camp
management, maintenance and manpower supply.“MY DREAM IS TO HAVE DAMAC TOWERS
IN GATEWAY CITIES AROUND THE WORLD.
WE HAVE ONE IN THE UK [AYKON LONDON
ONE] AND I’D LIKE TO SEE ANOTHER HALF A
DOZEN IN OTHER MAJOR HUBS INCLUDING
ASIA AND AMERICA”
MANAGING CHANGE EFFICIENTLY
Renowned as one of the frontrunners of the property
market expansion in Dubai, he built several hotels to
accommodate the growing influx of people coming to the
emirate for business in the mid-1990s. His ventures into
realty began in 1996 with the construction of the first of
five three-star hotels in Deira.
His business model was “Build, lease, sell. Next,
next, next.” When the market reached saturation point,
a new rule that transformed Dubai forever came into
effect. In 2001, the government agreed to allow expats
to have 99-year property leases. And then in May 2002,
a decree allowing foreigners to buy property on freehold
ownership was issued. That same year, identifying market
opportunity, he established DAMAC Properties, which
has evolved as one of the largest property development
companies in the Middle East. “Did I foresee what would
happen today?,” he talks about that life-changing moment
and replies candidly, “No, but I saw an opportunity.”
Owing to his know-how and expertise in the field of
property development from marketing, sales, legal,
finance, and administration, the organization is scaling
new heights in the realm of real estate and has several
prestigious projects in key global cities like Dubai, Abu
Dhabi, Doha, Amman, Beirut, Jeddah, Riyadh & London.
His success mantra is his rapid adaptability to the2017-18
PERSON OF THE YEAR
HUSSAIN SAJWANI