00:00Hello everyone this is Anjana Kumar from Gulf News and with me is Mr. Bharat Bhatia, he's
00:05popularly called the steel man and steel magnet. He has a very interesting story to tell. He came
00:11here years ago back in 1983. He came here as a pickup driver and today he runs a multi-million
00:21dollar business. Well in 1983 I landed here in Dubai coming from a well-to-do family but wanted
00:28to earn my own money and that's what I just took a first step to come and you know establish
00:33myself or come here in Dubai and work for a small hardware shop which was doing welding
00:40electrodes and industrial equipment. That was on 2nd November 1983. Well I was a salesman come
00:46pickup driver writing accounts. My boss in 1983 was also having a readyman garment shop so I used
00:54to help him. I used to start morning at 7 and finish at night 11, 11.30 every day and that's
00:59what's my work. I was not having any specific work profile but I used to do anything and everything.
01:04The first turning point I would say was in 1987. The only request I did to my boss to increase my
01:10salary by 200 dirhams. Maybe he felt that it's too much and I quit the job without having any
01:16idea what I'm going to do and that's where I started venturing into a different direction.
01:22I took another job that also lasted for 6-8 months. With that I landed up opening my own
01:28shop and I would say that 1987 because of the 200 dirhams that was my turning point. We are
01:34basically a second largest steel re-roller in UAE. We employ around 700 peoples today.
01:41The turnover is around 1.2 to 1.5 billion this year and next year we might cross 2.2 to 2.5
01:46billion. We are doing mainly GCC UAE market. We do export all the way to Northern America,
01:52we do Australia, we do Europe and also we do Southeast Asia like Singapore and other countries.
01:56So we are basically a global company. We manufacture steel here and the first and foremost
02:03is our domestic market in GCC market. Other options are for exports for us. Dubai has something to
02:09always offer. It's a land of opportunity I will always tell. I was at the right time at the right
02:15place I would say. But in 1987 when I started my own business I was little bit more focusing on
02:22developing a core business and I was doing ship handling. I used to go on the ships.
02:26I used to deliver the steel engine stores and everything on the ship. I learned a lot in that
02:32process. When I realized that if I can add more value on the industrial equipment to the steel
02:38and this is how it inspired me to go into the steel service center. When I started steel service
02:44center it gave me a reason to believe that I can also become a manufacturer. It was never a plan.
02:49I never planned anything. It was just my gut feeling and my instinct has helped me to you know
02:54reach on to this level what we are today. I would say that as an advice you should believe in
03:00yourself. You should be honest. You should keep your commitments. Never try to be overconfident.
03:07Of course you should be believing your gut feelings and you try to be with your clients. You have to
03:12understand client's problem. So if you are really working on those things and not to change your
03:18core thinking and your core confidence. I think they will definitely be successful. There is no
03:22shortcut. You have to work hard. I would really like to recommend most of the people in UAE who are
03:28running a business particularly in steel. Try to reduce their credit cycle. Try to balance their
03:34risk because this market always has been seeing a lot of problems when they come up into the
03:40longer credit cycle and I know many people have no intention. They have no bad intentions
03:46but because of the circumstances they really get into the situation. Yes everyone needs credit. We
03:51also see that people are asking credit and I can do that not to offer credit because we are
03:56manufacturers. The stockists and traders cannot. They have to extend credit but they should choose
04:00the right customer who to give credit and they should not extend a longer credit. That would I
04:05recommend to our steel fraternity who are in market. This is quite an interesting and inspiring
04:11tale of Mr. Bhatia. You heard his journey. If you know of anyone inspiring enough do let us know.
04:19For full story on Mr. Bhatia log on to www.gulfnews.com. This is Anjana Kumar for Gulf News.
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