Hussain Sajwani is an inspiring Arab businessman and is the owner of the large Middle Eastern real estate company, DAMAC. As the 10th richest Arab person in the world Sajwani has already experienced a very high level of success in his life. However, he is still very ambitious and wants to expand his company’s property portfolio, specifically, in China.
One of the main reasons why Sajwani is interested in expanding further into the Chinese real estate market is because he believes that there will be a strong demand for more real estate due to the growth of the middle class in the nation. Further, due to the improved bilateral agreements between China and the UAE, Sajwani believes that it will be easy to assemble a large amount of investors.
Expanding further into the Chinese market will also help DAMAC to increase the diversity of its workforce. As the DAMAC owner, Hussain Sajwani is a fan of having a diverse workforce. There are already people of over 70 different nationalities working for DAMAC, and Sajwani welcomes the idea of having workers from even more nations.
Trade Wars and Politics
There has been much talk of trade wars and increasing political tension between China and a number of other nations, such as the United States. However, Sajwani does not put much stock into this talk. Instead, he is focused on just growing his business in the most efficient way possible and adapting to any political changes that may come about.
Sajwani is no stranger to adapting to political changes. In fact, DAMAC came about when Sajwani astutely recognized an excellent opportunity in the early 2000’s, when the UAE’s leadership made favorable policy changes to the real estate market in the UAE. Sajwani jumped at the opportunity and DAMAC’s success soon followed.
DAMAC has already constructed over 20,000 homes, which only a very small amount of developers in the middle east have done. In the next few years, Sajwani plans to significantly increase the number of homes that it creates and expand into markets all across the world. DAMAC’s current level of success gives it the freedom to make expansion moves.
Encouraging Creativity
Part of the reason why DAMAC has been able to grow so quickly is because Sajwani is open to getting ideas from all of his team members. He knows that there is strength in numbers and the more creativity that his employees can generate, the better. Good ideas come from many different people in the DAMAC organization. As the DAMAC owner, Sajwani tries to instill a culture of collaboration and creativity. It has proved very successful so far.
In order to help foster creativity, the DAMAC organization creates incentives for team members. Also, different departments have different methods for creating solutions to problems. Conducting brainstorming sessions outside of the DAMAC offices is a preferred method. Sajwani and DAMAC also encourage living a healthy lifestyle. This, he believes also helps to make employees more creative and productive because he believes that healthy employees are more creative employees.
DAMAC’s use of Social Media
Another thing that Sajwani believes helps DAMAC is social media. DAMAC uses a variety of social media channels to help grow its brand awareness and to market effectively to its audience. According to Sajwani, social media also helps to build a rapport between his company. He believes that this is very helpful for increasing brand loyalty and helps the customers to feel a more personal connection with the company.
Opportunities within the Company
In terms of opportunity at DAMAC, the company encourages ambition and frequently promotes from within. DAMAC does not have any rules that prevent certain types of people from advancing. Sajwani simply wants his company to succeed and welcomes people who can help with this goal.
When seeking new employees, Sajwani believes that both education and experience are extremely important. This is because both help the individual to become more equipped to handle the responsibilities of the job effectively. He also says that school can be extremely beneficial for gaining an education. However, casual conversations with experts in the same field can also be a great way to receive an education according to Sajwani.
He also believes that speaking with elders or experts in the field not only can provide important job-related insights, but can also lead to a broader understanding of the world at large, which is very beneficial. So, Sajwani believes in a multi-layered approach to education, and he also places a strong emphasis on experience. This approach is a key part of the success that his company has had.
DAMAC is thriving currently and a successful China expansion could help the company to grow even more. Hussain Sajwani was recently given the 2018 Real Estate Business Leader of the Year Award by Gulf Business, which awards companies and business leaders across across seven industries including energy, tourism and hospitality, aviation and transport, real estate, banking, healthcare and retail.
