Welcome to a new episode of Next Level Pros! In this episode, we're thrilled to welcome Adel Sajan, an influential figure hailing from Dubai, where his family’s remarkable journey from humble beginnings to top real estate developers is nothing short of inspiring. Adel shares his unique experiences, from dramatic historical events impacting his family to his innovative approaches in business that have significantly shaped Dubai's skyline. Whether discussing the strategic shifts in his family business or exploring his personal entrepreneurial journey, Adel's insights are invaluable. Dive in as we explore the resilience and ingenuity behind his success. Apply to be on the show: https://forms.gle/hwDijQPFyKCEtHNs8 Highlights: "You gotta set yourself up for luck." "Resilience is key in transforming challenges into opportunities." "Understanding the pulse of the customer is crucial." "You can’t just work hard; you have to work smart." Timestamps: 00:00: Adel Sajan and the start of his family's escape from Kuwait. 05:23: Adel discusses his father’s business and their move to Dubai. 10:51: Early struggles and the strategic decisions in Dubai during the 1990s. 16:00: Values Adel gained from his dad and his early business experiences. 22:23: Strategic business decisions and the creation of Danube Home. 30:00: Adel shares his aggressive growth plans and how to achieve them. 37:27: Transition into real estate and approaching to affordable housing. 42:50: Luxury amenities and revolutionizing Dubai’s real estate market. 48:20: The motivation behind continuing the business legacy. 53:04: Adel’s vision for the future and advice for young entrepreneurs. Want me to teach you how to grow your business? Text me! 509-374-7554 Want access to more of my content? Click the link below for all of our latest updates and events! https://linktr.ee/nextlevelpros Want to be a guest on our show? Apply here!https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1YlkVBSluEKMTg4gehyUOHYvBratcxHV5rt3kiWTXNC4/viewform?edit_requested=true Watch my latest Podcast Apple - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/next-level-pros/id1687030281 Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/1e0cL2vI1JAtQrojSOA7D2?si=95980cd4e55a437a YouTube- https://www.youtube.com/@NextLevelPros
Chapter 1: What sparked Adel Sajan's family's move to Dubai?
iraq is taking over so he's like what does that even mean like you know you've never heard of this right you know so he's like no just go outside and see your balcony so he opens the balcony and they're like tanks lined up on the streets then we had to escape so luckily the indian government rescued a lot of the indians how did you escape on a fighter plate on a fighter jet like no so they send these huge army planes so he didn't want to work in india yeah uh kuwait was obviously it was a war so you want to live somewhere close by and like
Saudi was a little more conservative at that point. So it was just like, okay, let's just try Dubai. So it was that rejection was a perfect, you know, because if had it not been or had the war not happened or had so many things not happened, you know, maybe things would have not been the same for us. Maybe I would have not been at Harvard. Who knows, right?
Me, Adil Sazan. You're not going to want to miss this episode where his father came from the slums of India to ultimately becoming one of the top three developers in Dubai, where Adil went and forged his own path. This guy, family man, entrepreneur, hustler, shark on Shark Tank. This is going to be one that you want to tune in for. Welcome to another episode of Next Level Pros.
Today we have Mr. Adil Sajjan, which is one of my best friends in the world. Adil comes from Dubai, what I always refer to as the King of Dubai. He is one of the top three developers in real estate. They have skyscrapers. Literally, when you go into the beautiful city of Dubai, you're gonna see these guys everywhere. And they just have such an incredible presence, not only in real estate,
but also in retail and supply, everything else, which is super cool. But obviously the glitz and glamour is cool. Let's talk about a little bit of the story. Your dad came from very humble beginnings. Can you jump into that a little bit?
Yeah, so first of all, Chris, thank you for having me on your podcast. You know, really feeling honored and privileged. Chris, again, is one of my best friends who I met thanks to HBS. And I had a great time over there thanks to him. So, you know, thank you for being part of my life. Talking about my dad, yes, of course, things are different now.
But actually, my, you know, we originated from, you know, some of the slums in India. And my granddad was a factory worker. And he actually passed away when my dad was only 16. And my dad being the oldest suddenly had huge responsibility to take care of his two younger siblings and his mom who was not that healthy. So she was not capable to work.
So he had to not only feed three of his family members, but also make sure that they survive. And it was really, really, really hard because you're 16 and you don't know what just happened.
So you said he came from the slums of India, like that's hard to get out of. How did that end up transitioning?
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Chapter 2: How did Adel's father transition from humble beginnings?
Chapter 3: What lessons did Adel learn from his father's experiences?
Where did he learn that from?
I think it's in his blood. He had to drop out of school. More nature rather. He never attended university. He had to drop out of school at grade 10 because his father passed away. So it's not that he was taught all these beautiful cases that we were taught at Harvard. You know, it's just inbuilt. You know what I mean? And...
He then, within a very short span of time, became my uncle's right hand because he was really good at what he was doing. And within five, six years, he was like the chief commander for my uncle for running his business, made it extremely successful.
How big was the business at that time?
I don't know how big it was, but I know how much he started earning. He started earning about $8,000 a month. Keep in mind, $8,000 a month because of commissions. So he was earning that on sales commissions, purely on commissions. $8,000 a month. 35 years ago. 40 years ago. So this was like early 90s. Late 80s. Late 80s, early 90s.
I mean, that was top. So top 1% in America in 1991 was 100,000.
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Chapter 4: What strategic decisions led to the creation of Danube Home?
And now, if you're talking about America, think about that if you convert that to Indian rupees.
Oh, man. We were rich. Crushing.
Like we were extremely, you know, coming from the slums and earning, you know. Yeah.
Yeah, it would be the equivalent of like a sales guy making $5 million a year here or something.
So earning, you know, $8,000 a month, $100,000 a year, you're crushing it.
Yes.
And he got his sister married. He got a house done. You know, I was born in Kuwait and we were living in extremely, you know, living in a posh neighborhood in Kuwait. Things were great. You know, there was no reason to You know, think otherwise. And then fortunately, unfortunately, in the early 90s, Saddam Hussein from Iraq, he invaded Kuwait.
And my dad's boss calls him and he's like, look, Rizwan, you know, there's an invasion. And he was in London. He's like, go to the office and, you know, pick up these papers. And my dad's like, what is invasion? What does that mean? Yeah. And he's like, Rizwan, like, you know. Rizwan's your dad's name. Yeah. So he's like, no, Iraq is taking over. So he's like, what does that even mean?
Like, you know, you've never heard of this. Right. So he's like, no, just go outside and see your balcony. So he opens the balcony and they're like tanks lined up on the streets and the soldiers walking in because it was a surprise attack. Nobody knew, right? It wasn't planned. There was no announcement on social media.
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Chapter 5: How is Adel approaching real estate and affordable housing?
So luckily the Indian government rescued a lot of the Indians.
So yeah, give me details, like how did you escape?
On a fighter plane, on a fighter jet. No. So they send these huge army planes. The Indian government. Yeah, the Indian government. Obviously, they would rescue the Indians back to India because we're not Kuwaiti. Right. Yeah, and I'm sure the other governments, so we're expats. So the Indian government sent a lot of planes and we went in like the Indian army planes.
I mean, if they're surrounding this place with tanks, like how do you... No, but the Iraqis did not attack.
So they're in, but they were okay with the Indians. They didn't have any issues with the Indians.
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Chapter 6: What innovations are revolutionizing Dubai's real estate market?
So they were fine with you guys leaving?
Yeah. They didn't care with us leaving. It wasn't like... So they were very much okay with people leaving. But they want to capture the country. Anyway, fast forward. So my dad leaves. He goes back to India. And then he's like, look, I need to get out of India. I need to go somewhere else to make some more money. So he approached one of his friends in Dubai.
And his friend offered him a salary of $500 a month. plus commission, which is like, whoop, you're back to square one. And most of the money that he made got devalued because the Kuwaiti dinar got devalued. So he comes back to Dubai, he starts working for this guy.
92.
92. Dubai is basically nothing. It's a desert. In 1992. So like, what was this guy, or why would your dad even consider Dubai a place?
I don't know. It was very random. It was very random. You know, as my mom said, you should think about Dubai. It was very random. There was no like, there was no science.
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Chapter 7: What motivates Adel to continue his family's business legacy?
I mean, think about Dubai. Did anyone even know Dubai existed?
So he didn't want to work in India. Yeah. Kuwait was obviously, it was a war. So you want to live somewhere close by. And like, Saudi was more conservative at that point. You know, so it was just like, okay, let's just try Dubai. There was no other reason.
So this reminds me, so we- So luck, I would say luck plays- We got this equation, right, from Das, where it was like hard work, all these different things, and then the last one was luck.
And this was a nice dose. He's, of course, he's a smart worker, he's a hard worker, but he's always had very good luck on his side. And in this case, to answer your question, plain flat is luck.
Which is interesting. I don't necessarily believe in luck. I actually believe it's like, it's like hope and manifestation that comes in the form of luck.
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Chapter 8: What is Adel's vision for the future and advice for young entrepreneurs?
No, I believe in the fact that you can't just be like, hey, I'm going to sit at home all day and I'm going to be get lucky. Yeah. You got to make, you got to set yourself up for luck. Yeah. So yes, luck plays a big role. But then you got to also work your ass off and you got to set yourself up for luck.
Absolutely.
And then when it comes, it comes.
So you guys moved there.
So we come back to Dubai and he gets a very low salary, $500 per month with commission. And he's working for this guy and he starts earning about... $3,000, $3,500 a month because of commissions, which is okay. And he goes back to him and he's like, look, he tells his boss, the new boss now, that I know this business about plywood and timber, which he learned in Kuwait.
You know, give me four or five people and give me like a 10% profit share and I can make it big. And, but unfortunately that guy was very conservative. He's like, no, this is too risky. I don't want to do it. And then my dad's like, look, I don't see my, my growth potential too much. So I want to part ways.
And that's when he went to my mom and he's like, so wait, this guy rejected the 10% profit share. He rejected the idea of doing this new business of plywood and timber. So he was doing a hardware business, which is a smaller business, door handles, hinges, um,
And so your dad decided to go and do it on his own, which had this guy accepted the offer, it would have been a completely different outcome.
For sure. For him. Yeah. For sure. Wow. So he said no. I mean, he's still in Dubai. He knows we're still there. Yeah. He's kicking himself. And it's okay. I mean, he's doing all right. And like I said, it's a little bit of destiny, a little bit of luck.
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