From a Dh900 salary to being a millionaire
Indian businessman has earned it the hard way
How many accountants have come to the UAE with a salary of Dh900, and ended up as a billionaires?
Ramesh Bhogilal Vora, 68, is one of them. A successful Dubai-based Indian expatriate, his business, Bafleh Jewellery, enjoys an annual turnover of 15 to 18 tonnes of gold and jewellery sales.
Vora, who hails from Wadhwan City (Surendranagar district) in Gujarat, India, came to the UAE in 1976. He arrived in Sharjah to work as an accountant for a private construction company and for a monthly salary of Dh900.
Until 1984, Vora’s life was static.
“I will not say it was a struggle. We lived in a sharing accommodation in the same building as my work place. My office was on the first floor and my home on the third. After my marriage, my wife and I shifted to a two-bedroom apartment, on a sharing arrangement with another family. When you look back, it may seem as if we struggled and that life was hard. But that was just the way it was.”
Today, he lives with his family — wife, son, daughter-in-law and grand-children (twins) — in a sprawling mansion in Jumeirah.
Until 1984, Vora’s life was static.
Today he lives with his family — wife, son, daughter-in-law and grand-children (twins) — in a sprawling mansion in Jumeirah.
“Back home in Surendranagar, life was static. So I decided to get out of my comfort zone and look for greener pastures in Mumbai.”
It was 1971 and Vora had just completed his graduation. “I was rearing for more and so Mumbai it was.”
He worked as a street vendor in Mumbai, selling clarified butter and edible oil for a living. “That was perhaps the hardest part of my life. Back home, my family had a great reputation of being jewellery makers. For the first six months that I lived in Mumbai, I did not share my address with any of my family members as I did not want them to see me struggle.”
Turning point
The turning point came when a friend recommended a job in Mumbai’s popular Zaveri Bazaar, a jewellery market and hub for the industry in Mumbai. More than 65 per cent of all gold trading and dealing in India is estimated to originate from this market. He grabbed the opportunity to work there. “It was my dream workplace. Coming from a family jewellery trading background, this was the ultimate place to be.
“Life was great but my salary was not high. Again, it was the drive to earn more and do more with my life that pushed me to look for greener pastures. A friend said there were job opportunities in Sharjah. I came across a vacancy for an accountant’s post. I applied. I just wanted a foothold in the UAE.” In 1976, Vora joined Shattaf Group of companies in their jewellery division. This, he said, was his personal learning curve. “I still hold on to their values.”
Vora worked in the company until 1991 and at the end of his tenure, he was working as a manager.
During the 1991 Gulf War, he left the UAE and went back home. But in 1992, he was back in the UAE. The same year he launched Bafleh Jewellery with a local partner, Quwaider Bafleh. The rest is history.
“When I started, there were only two staff working with me. Today, we employ more than 220 people,” he said.
His son Chirag has expanded the business from primarily wholesale to retail across UAE.