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.
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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
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NewsTranscript
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.