As the little boy from the Pant Nagar chawl, now a 49-year-old business tycoon, walks down memory lane from his palatial home in Dubai’s upscale Emirates Hills, it’s a classic Bollywood-blockbuster journey. But no, this is no rags-to-riches narrative on reel. It’s the real life story of Anis Sajan, the unpretentious Danube Group vice-chairman, who has no qualms delving deep into his modest past.
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Read the full story here: https://bit.ly/2RUd6U8
See more videos at https://gulfnews.com/videos
Read more Gulf News stories here: https://bit.ly/2HLJ2km
Subscribe to Gulf News on YouTube and watch more of our videos: https://www.youtube.com/user/GulfNewsTV
#UAEnews #Dubai #Indian
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NewsTranscript
00:00What it made me realize, it realized me the art of rejection.
00:04Now what is the art of rejection is that sales don't happen easy.
00:10I remember when I lost my dad, I was just 8 years old.
00:13And at that age, at the age of 8, you don't realize what is life and death.
00:17But I can recollect a lot of people gathered around because my father was well respected,
00:21not only in the office but also in the society.
00:23So the whole Nathani Steel company where my father was working had gathered
00:28and they were trying to console me.
00:30And I was not understanding my brother, my sister, my mom, all were weeping.
00:35And for me, I did not realize that I had lost my dad.
00:39Being the youngest, I was the most pampered one.
00:42But when I lost my dad, as I said, my brother and sister,
00:46they never made me feel the absence of my father.
00:50When my brother left for Kuwait, it was my sister who was like my mother.
00:55After I finished my 12th, my brother said,
00:57now it's time you come to Kuwait.
01:01And I was, at that time, I went to Kuwait at the age of 19.
01:042nd January 1990 was my first day in Kuwait.
01:08And the first time I took an aircraft.
01:10We used to sell oil for the cars.
01:14So we used to buy from a small wholesaler and sell oil.
01:17We stayed there for 2 months and finally we came through an Indian Air Force plane.
01:22I landed back on 2nd October.
01:24So 2 months of invasion period I saw in Kuwait.
01:26At that time, I had finished my college.
01:30So I went looking for a job.
01:34And I got a job in a company called Eureka Forbes.
01:37Now this is very interesting and very very close to my heart,
01:40which is where I feel that changed my life for good.
01:43Eureka Forbes is a company I'm sure you must have heard about.
01:45People go door to door and sell Aqua Guard, water purifier and vacuum cleaner.
01:53I was in that Aqua Guard sales team.
01:56So my first interview, I remember when I got that job,
01:59the manager of the company asked me,
02:02your salary will be only 1500 Indian Rupees.
02:05I said, what?
02:06He said, yes, only 1500.
02:08But for every piece you sell, there is a slab.
02:11You get 200 rupees for every piece you sell.
02:13As luck would say, I got the area to sell in a very posh area called Worli.
02:20A nice lady opened up with a smile and I said,
02:22good morning, ma'am.
02:24I've come from Eureka Forbes.
02:26May I just take your 10 minutes?
02:28She said, yes, young son, please come.
02:30And I was, wow, life is so easy.
02:32And within half an hour, I could make my first sale.
02:35But as life teaches you, the second day, I rang probably 100 bells.
02:42And sometimes the door used to be banged on your face.
02:46The watchman wouldn't let you go.
02:48So that was an experience which made me tough.
02:50What it made me realize, it realized me the art of rejection.
02:54Now what is the art of rejection is that sales don't happen easy.
02:58You have to knock and knock and knock.
03:01You knock 100 doors, you get one sale.
03:04I realized that how important it is, you need to be street smart.
03:09Because I said, selling one water purifier is a big achievement.
03:14But there are days, as I said, you might not have a sale for a week.
03:17So then what?
03:18When you get an opportunity, grasp it with both hands.
03:21Don't think that you might not benefit.
03:24What I'm trying to say is, there is something good happening for you
03:29if you put your efforts in.
03:31It was just that good faith or luck or timing or God's grace, things happened.
03:36And that 11 months of Eureka Forbes was a great, great moment
03:40which made me a hardcore street smart salesperson.
03:45It helped me, the art of rejection.
03:48Secondly, it made me mentally tough, that Bombay life experience,
03:54that going in the traffic, knocking doors, passing your way through the watchman,
04:01coming across good and tough customers.
04:04But that was an experience.
04:06After my brother had come in Dubai, he started a small company of his own.
04:13So he needed somebody to help him out.
04:16He said, Anish, why don't you join me?
04:18Then I told him, I'll come only on one condition.
04:20If I don't like Dubai, I'm coming back in three months' time.
04:25He said, okay, deal done.
04:26I came here in 92, November 12th.
04:29The date I still vividly remember, very, very close to my heart.
04:32I felt, no, this is the right place.
04:34And then when I look back at my journey, starting with my brother,
04:39he told me, what do you want to do now that you like the place?
04:41I said, give me something to do.
04:43I want to start something of my own in our own company.
04:47So he said, you get into a sanitary division.
04:50And I felt a bit of happiness because since I had done the sales of electrical products in Bombay,
04:55as I said, that helped me here, to talk to people and get my way in.
05:11For more information, visit www.fema.gov