Rensil D'Silva: How to Make it in Bollywood Education in the Gulf ...

COVER STORY
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ANNI V ERSARY
Starting out in sales and marketing Anuraag quickly realized how
essential it was to understand every aspect of the jewellery business. A
one hundred day training program followed under the direct supervision
of one of the owners after which he was promoted to manage a store,
gaining more knowledge and expertise of retailing and manufacturing
high fashion gold and diamond jewellery.
Anuraag had only one objective throughout that long decade in
harness – how to break
into the jewellery business
independently. After
the seventh year his
determination intensified.
He did not think of
doing any other business
because he liked the
industry so much. “I
was determined to learn
every aspect of it,” he
remembers, revealing
how single-minded he
was even in the early
days when he was just
dreaming about starting
his own business. He
was totally involved
Liali’s new store at the Mall of the Emirates in Dubai.
in retail sales, managing shops, business development, overseas
business opportunities, product development, brand building,
recruitment, training etc. – basically acquiring in-depth
knowledge of the trade. When you talk to him, it is obvious
he is in love with the jewellery business. “I am simply
fascinated by the creativity and beauty of the products we sell
and the retail business. We think and create beauty and that’s
what we sell in our line of work. Whatever the customer wants
can be designed to specification,” he says.
From the seventh year onwards, Anuraag was ready with a business
plan and kept fine tuning it, looking for an investor. “You’ve got to do
what you’ve got to do and move on,” he urges. Still, while determination,
skill and experience are important, what about so many people who are
equally determined and qualified but don’t see their dreams come true?
“Yes I know, so many people try, I’m sure I was blessed,” Anuraag
agrees that may be the primary reason he succeeded. “But there’s more
to it,” he points out . “I am totally focused. So many opportunities come
up all the time, people keep telling you to do this or do that, like Dubai’s
recent real estate boom for instance. But we have never wavered in our
commitment to our core business - 24/7, 365, we eat, live, breathe and
love our work. That’s the way it’s been at Liali Jewellery ever since we
started. I had the same mindset when I was employed -if you truly enjoy
your work you don’t think you’re working too much, it just becomes a
way of life.”
However being focused
and prepared doesn’t always
guarantee results, how did he
find the money he needed to start
and what happened when Anuraag
presented the business plan to
his potential Emirati
investor Raed Ahmad
Baker? “We had a
mutual friend who
introduced us because
Raed wanted to do
something of his own
and I had the expertise.
He and his father liked
the idea…I believe we
all liked each other …
and it just got started. It
was a completely new
business for the Bakers
and Raed took seven
months to complete the
due diligence,” Anuraag
recalls, “which meant
seven months of follow up from
my side! But once he grasped the
concept and the potential, it took
just one meeting with Raed’s
father Mr Ahmad Baker and
their financial advisor and in half
an hour the decision was made.
There’s been no looking back.
But what gave Anuraag the
courage to approach the Baker
family to invest in his project?
“I totally believed in the viability
of my project and my ability to
make it a success. I already had
ten years of experience in all the
different fields of jewellery retail
as well as jewellery purchase, plus
office management, recruitment
etc., hence I had the courage to
approach them.”
What was Anuraag’s initial
business plan like? Was it bold?
Was it conservative? Did he play
it safe? “As a person I am not the
type who makes huge
plans,” he admits.
“You should
always have a
bigger picture
in mind but make realistic plans,
think and move forward,” is his
advice. “Don’t try to eat your
entire meal in one go.
Small meals are healthy,
I prefer to have things
under control and run a
well managed business.
We didn’t think of starting
out with 20 stores, we
started with only one outlet
in Jumeirah in June 1999
and decided to take it from
there.” The name ‘Al Liali’
was chosen by his partner
Raed. It means ‘Romantic
Nights’ from the book ‘1001
Arabian Nights,’ and to
give it a more international
feel, they now use only the
short name ‘Liali.’ Initially
the game plan was to open the
store and start retailing no matter
where they got the products from
as long as they were top quality.
“We figured once we established
our niche and understood what
the customer wanted we could
move ahead. We soon realized we
would have to enter supportive
manufacturing not for the mass
market but just by creating a small
unit to support the store.”
It was hard work, for the first
four years. Anuraag was present in
the store morning to night paying
attention to client service, thinking
about product development,
involved in relationship building
and just physically being at the
store. In the very first year of
operations Liali Jewellery opened
its second store in November 1999 and at the end of the year Anuraag
was gratified that the balance sheet was positive. “We had a team of just
five people, I would pick them up and drop them personally from and to
their homes. That’s how we worked for nearly two years till we decided
to have a van and a driver,” says Anuraag, obviously nobody could have
doubted his commitment from the very beginning. “We didn’t have an
accountant for the first eight months, we somehow managed in-house.
It was the typical small startup - money was not really an issue but we
chose to build the business brick by brick.”
In the first 1,000
days that experienced
businessmen say is
required for a business
to succeed did he have
any doubts? “When I
first began we had a new
born son and a 4 yearold.
Had I thought will
this business succeed
or not and what is
going to happen to my
family, I may not have
taken the risk. I was so
Anuraag shares Raed’s victory when he was awarded the Sheikh
Saeed Golden Sword Award for winning the 1000 Dunes in 2003.
obsessed with getting
things going that I
did not stop to think
what would happen if the business did not take off,” he says. Today
his wife Arti and their two sons, Ankit (15) and Anshul (11) can affirm
the wisdom of Anuraag’s bold decision. Anuraag readily acknowledges
Arti’s role in his success, “My wife has been a true support to me all
these years,” he says, “In the initial 5-6 years of Liali, not only
did she manage the household single handedly (I was out
working 25 hours a day!) but she also provided me with all
the back office support, handled all my correspondence,
answered all my calls, did all the follow up.” To
this day Anuraag prefers to work without a
personal secretary – Arti runs the office from
their home providing all the support he needs for
his operational decisions.
Back in Kuwait he had set a five lakh rupee target as an employee
so does he have another target as a businessman in Dubai? “No! Once I
achieved that first goal I stopped thinking that way because when you set
such targets you tend to stop at that,” says a more experienced Anuraag.
He unassumingly describes himself as a normal working man dismissing
any notions of having made it big. “I realize there are people far more
successful than myself who still keep on working like anyone else. Ours
is not a mega success as yet, there are people who have gone from zero
to hero in a very short time with far more achieved. I am happy with
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