Born in Dubai, living his father’s dream: Anil Dhanak’s Kanz Jewels is a three generation success story made in the UAE

When Vajubhai Dhanak, a goldsmith from Gujarat landed in Dubai in 1958, his household had a debt of Rs5,000. Vajubhai labored in Dubai as a goldsmith at a wage of Rs500, earlier than returning to his dwelling nation with the household. Years later his son Anil Vajubhai would return and begin his personal jewelry store in Dubai. Anil went on to dwell his late father’s desires and constructed Kanz Jewels, a multi-million greenback jewelry line in Dubai. We talked to Anil Vajubhai Dhanak of Kanz Jewels about how his household struck it wealthy through the years and have become a part of the UAE Success Story.

Anil’s father Vajubhai was all of 18 years when he determined to take the large step of leaving the consolation of his dwelling in 1958. He was from Bagasara, a metropolis 100 km away from Rajkot within the Indian state of Gujarat.

“The family had a debt of Rs5,000. My grandfather had a goldsmith business but had incurred the debt. So, he wanted to send his son out to work and earn money. At the time, our family reputation was widely known. Since we were into business, we did not work for anyone else. My father wasn’t allowed to even go to Bombay (now Mumbai) and work for a living as the news would reach my hometown regarding the trouble in our 'paradise'. So, when an opportunity came for my father to move to Dubai, he took it.”

In Dubai Vajubhai began working as a goldsmith at a wage of Rs500. Quickly, different members of his household adopted go well with and joined him in Dubai.

“My grandfather Girdharlal Bhurabhai too arrived in Dubai two years later. Followed by four of my uncles and my grandfather. Today, we have over 100 family members living in Dubai,” mentioned Anil.

Anil mentioned he grew up listening to tales concerning the UAE life from his father. “When my father arrived at the Sharjah port in 1958, he paid Rs1 for his visa. Later, after he decided to start a business, he paid only Rs1 for a jewellery license.”

Anil has a vivid reminiscence of the goldsmiths of these years: “The men wore white clothes which were black at their knees from the charcoal. Their nose too would be smeared with black from the charcoal furnaces they use. So it was very easy to identify goldsmiths in those days,” he mentioned.

How did Vajubhai manufactured jewelry with out subtle machines, in these days? Anil explains: “To melt gold you need a temperature of 1100 degrees. Charcoal was used for the same as there was no electricity in those days. My father was a tough man. That is how he survived doing what he did in the heat and with no air-conditioner. It was a hard life, one that he was willing to rough it out. Imagine if you have to heat without electricity. It was with charcoal and no AC.”

Anil was born in Dubai in 1964 and left the UAE in 1968 together with his mother and father when he was 4. He returned in 1980 when he was sixteen to hitch his uncle, Vinodrai Dhanak’s jewelry retail enterprise – Golden Crown Jewellers.

“Everything I know about business today is because of how my uncle mentored me. From staying humble to being focused in my job, learning from him was one of the biggest turning points of my life.”

“In 1981, when I was seventeen, I started the family business with my brothers - Manish Jewellers and ten years later, in 1991, I branched out to start Kanz Jewellers. Today, we have members from three generations actively involved in the business. The rest is history, as they say.”

Working together with his uncle didn’t imply that Anil had all the pieces supplied on a platter for him. His uncle made certain Anil made his method up the ladder on his personal. He was made to remain within the firm lodging identical to the remainder of the corporate employees and acquired no particular privileges owing to his household background.

“Getting to know the staff directly, understanding their needs, day-to-day functioning of business, and interacting with the customers - all were a different learning experience on the whole.”

Anil stayed within the firm lodging till he obtained married in 1985. “That is where I started saving. For me, every penny mattered and that is how I was able to build capital,” he mentioned.

“I learnt Arabic here and the first word I learnt was 'khamsa wa khamseen' (55) which was the rate per gram of gold back in the days. Gram was a commonly used term while enquiring about gold rates. So while I didn’t know Arabic fluently, when I heard the word gram I would simply say 'khamsa wa khamseen' and the deal would be struck.”

“I started working with a team of just five people in 1991. In fact, the first staff I hired was a building watchman. I asked him to come in the evenings to clean my store. We set up our base in Dubai’s Gold Souk and today, in the same location, we have seven outlets and a special workshop for manufacturing jewellery. Our manufacturing unit is in Ghusais and has 80 workers. Around 20 per cent of the jewellery sold at our stores is manufactured in our own unit.”

Kanz imports a wide range of gold jewelry from Italy, Korea, Turkey, Lebanon, Syria, Pakistan, India, Malaysia, Singapore, Spain, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Bahrain.

At this time, Kanz Jewels is a multi-million greenback outfit, headed by Anil Dhanak, managing director and his son Arjun who's director within the household enterprise.

“We are debt-free completely and that is the sole reason we are able to handle any loss we have incurred post-pandemic. Our lease has been paid upfront years in advance. So, our cash outflow is low in comparison. This has greatly helped us tide the downturn that has happened due to the Covid-19 outbreak,” Anil mentioned.

“We renewed rent for most of our retail outlets in 2018. I have paid 10 years rent in advance. Our staff accommodation also has been on a 13-year rental contract. I paid this 10 years ago. It was just a business decision. The rents were going up and to fix my rate I paid up front. On hind-sight, this has worked really for me today,” he mentioned.

“Our survival mantra is that we have challenged the rules set out by business gurus and worked on our own model. We do not aggressively market ourselves, we are cautious in our progress. Our key to success is location. All our outlets are in Dubai Gold Souq and that has been a winner for us.”