This millionaire’s success story is inspired by reel life
AMITABH’S FILMS MOTIVATED AN 18-YEAR-OLD BHATIA
Bhatia began his career at the age of 18 as a driver of a pick-up
Everybody looks for inspiration from someone or something to propel their lives. And for Bharat Bhatia it was, and is, the Bollywood legend, Amitabh Bachchan.
In fact, if it wasn’t for Bachchan his movies, Bhatia said he would not have stepped out of his comfort zone as an 18-year old boy way back in 1983 to work in Dubai. “Amitabh Bachchan’s movies taught one to be self-made and feel worthy of yourself. His baritone voice would ring in my ears every day to do something different and so here I am.”
Bharat Bhatia, 54, is CEO of Conares, a steel manufacturing unit in Dubai which records an annual turnover of Dh1.2 billion. The company’s assets alone are worth at least half a billion dollars while Bhatia’s own personal net worth easily runs into millions of dollars.
Flashback
Bhatia came to Dubai as a 18-year-old. “I landed in Dubai on November 2, 1983. [I] am soon going to complete 36 years in a country that has made me who I am today. Gratitude is the word that comes to my mind,” said Bhatia in an interview at his manufacturing plant in Jebel Ali Free Zone.
“I came [to Dubai] as a salesman and pick-up driver for a hardware shop in Dubai. My employer also owned a garment shop in Bur Dubai’s Juma Masjid Road and I worked evenings there selling clothes. My salary was Dh1,500, but I was happy,” he said.
Dh200 salary hike
Four years after his arrival in Dubai (in 1987), Bhatia was engaged to be married. “My father asked me to return to India as a meagre salary of Dh1,500 would not be sufficient anymore,” he said. Bhatia’s father gave him an ultimatum. “He said, ‘Ask your boss to increase your salary to Dh5,000 or else come back’.”
The next day, Bhatia mustered the courage to
speak to his boss, but he was scared to ask him to for a Dh5,000 raise. Instead, he asked him for just Dh2,000.
That too was declined. It left Bhatia heartbroken. He decided to put in his papers and look for another job. This was the turning point in his life. When Bhatia quit his job, he had Dh7,500 saved in cash and Dh5,000 worth of gold jewellery.
Bhatia insists there were no ill feelings when he left. “He [the boss] taught me how to deal with customers and make a presence in the market. He was a mature businessman,” he said.
Back to India
“I went back to India, but within a week became restless. I told my father I wanted to return to Dubai,” Bhatia said. He returned and took up a job in a shipping company, but within a
year it closed down. “I was back to square one. I had some money saved from my previous job and together with what I had saved from my second job, it amounted to Dh14,300 cash.”
Big decision
Bhatia decided to start my own company. “After paying for my licence, a local sponsor and rent for my shop, I was left with Dh20. I borrowed money from my supplier and clinched my first deal... I have grown my business this way since.”
According to people in the industry, Bhatia’s company is unique in the sense that it does not work on credit. “We are a manufacturing company and we work only on cash or Letter of Credit basis. So effectively, we have zero bad debts within the company,” Bhatia told Gulf News.