Business Extra: How family values continue to drive the progress of Danube Group

Brotherly bonds remain key to Danube Group’s prosperity via next generation

The National

December 02, 2024

This page was produced by The National in partnership or collaboration with Danube Group.

The Danube Group is a prime example of how 1990s opportunities in the UAE combined with business acuity to create a regional success story.

Having learnt tough retail lessons selling items from a Mumbai street cart, the brand’s founders went on to create a conglomerate that today employs thousands and contributes to the GCC economy.

The Group includes Danube Home and Milano home improvement products, a highly visible real estate development portfolio, a busy building materials segment and a branded Dubai Metro station beside the company’s Jebel Ali headquarters.

In this episode of Business Extra, host David Dunn hears from Danube Group’s vice chairman, Anis Sajan, on the early life events that coloured his outlook and ultimately shaped his successful UAE business journey. During the conversation, Mr Anis emphasises the importance of mentoring and empowering the younger generation for sustainable growth in businesses and communities.

Mr Anis's sons , founder of the upmarket Casa Milano, and Sahil, Milano director, also talk about how they are taking the organisation forward amid a thriving UAE economy.

West Asia Premiership

Dubai Hurricanes 58-10 Dubai Knights Eagles

Dubai Tigers 5-39 Bahrain

Jebel Ali Dragons 16-56 Abu Dhabi Harlequins

Results
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On Women's Day
The specs
Engine: 2.7-litre 4-cylinder Turbomax
Power: 310hp
Torque: 583Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh192,500
On sale: Now
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
 
Started: 2020
 
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
 
Based: Dubai, UAE
 
Sector: Entertainment 
 
Number of staff: 210 
 
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
Email sent to Uber team from chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi

From: Dara

To: Team@

Date: March 25, 2019 at 11:45pm PT

Subj: Accelerating in the Middle East

Five years ago, Uber launched in the Middle East. It was the start of an incredible journey, with millions of riders and drivers finding new ways to move and work in a dynamic region that’s become so important to Uber. Now Pakistan is one of our fastest-growing markets in the world, women are driving with Uber across Saudi Arabia, and we chose Cairo to launch our first Uber Bus product late last year.

Today we are taking the next step in this journey—well, it’s more like a leap, and a big one: in a few minutes, we’ll announce that we’ve agreed to acquire Careem. Importantly, we intend to operate Careem independently, under the leadership of co-founder and current CEO Mudassir Sheikha. I’ve gotten to know both co-founders, Mudassir and Magnus Olsson, and what they have built is truly extraordinary. They are first-class entrepreneurs who share our platform vision and, like us, have launched a wide range of products—from digital payments to food delivery—to serve consumers.

I expect many of you will ask how we arrived at this structure, meaning allowing Careem to maintain an independent brand and operate separately. After careful consideration, we decided that this framework has the advantage of letting us build new products and try new ideas across not one, but two, strong brands, with strong operators within each. Over time, by integrating parts of our networks, we can operate more efficiently, achieve even lower wait times, expand new products like high-capacity vehicles and payments, and quicken the already remarkable pace of innovation in the region.

This acquisition is subject to regulatory approval in various countries, which we don’t expect before Q1 2020. Until then, nothing changes. And since both companies will continue to largely operate separately after the acquisition, very little will change in either teams’ day-to-day operations post-close. Today’s news is a testament to the incredible business our team has worked so hard to build.

It’s a great day for the Middle East, for the region’s thriving tech sector, for Careem, and for Uber.

Uber on,

Dara

Updated: December 05, 2024, 5:45 AM