One of the famous young Bollywood singers, Stebin Ben, quotes in his talk: “Behind every self-made man is a poor kid who followed his dreams.” Yes! It is right. There are and were many successful personalities, who proved themselves to be an ideal example of this quote. Masala King Dr. Dhananjay Datar, a self-made billionaire, is one such classic example. The success story of Datar is highly inspirational to every business-minded person. His journey, similar to an intriguing movie, has a lot of coincidences, ups and downs, shocking as well as humorous incidences.
Born in a modest Maharashtrian family, his childhood passed in poverty – teaching him self-reliance, frugality and hard work. These qualities awakened within him the spirit of struggling against all odds. There is one memorable incidence from his childhood. Datar, a village boy who grew up abjectly poor, was once invited to attend a banquet. Just before the meal was served, an elderly person came to him and arrogantly ordered him to vacate the seat.
He said that the first batch of the banquet was reserved for prestigious guests and Datar should wait for the second batch. Datar couldn’t tolerate the insult and returned home disappointed. With tears in eyes, he told the entire story to his mother. She convinced him: “Son, in today’s world respect is given only to the prestige of a person. People often get impressed with the gleam of wealth and therefore try to show off luxury. If you want the same respect from others in the future, work hard and acquire prosperity.” The boy never forgot the insult and always remembered the valuable words of his mother.
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Datar took his primary education from a Zilla Parishad School in rural Maharashtra and later shifted to Mumbai for middle school. He was an average student in his class and more inclined to the playground than academic education. In those days, a passion for sales awakened in him.
After school hours and on holidays, he would collect tamarinds from nearby trees and sell them to housewives and schoolchildren. Later in college days as well he sold phenyl and instant mixes door to door in the Mumbai suburbs.
Although without any entrepreneurial or steady financial background, he dreamt of owning a business at a young age and learned the art of selling. At a tender age, he naively dreamt of instant fortune and wealth. For that, he wanted to go to Dubai for any job which would offer a handsome salary. But the wheels of fortune are strange to understand.
Datar’s father, Mahadevrao, then working in Dubai, got the opportunity to enter the business field in his near-to-retirement age. Mahadevrao noticed that the Indian community in Dubai needed its cultural foodstuffs, but there weren’t adequate providers. Hence, he established a small grocery shop and retail business under the title of Adil Trading Company, and young Datar went there to assist him.
Datar started his business career in 1984 as an intern in his father’s business. In the very first year their business suffered a huge loss. They had no reserves to cover it, so the father-son duo thought of winding up the business. But Datar’s mother, Shashikala, a woman of invincible confidence, sold her entire jewellery – even her gold marriage necklace (Mangalsutra), and thus raised the money. She revived them with a small message: “Time changes. Do not take the foot back which you have put forward for business.”
This incident transformed Datar and inspired him to take up entrepreneurship gravely and determinedly. He worked very hard, devoting 16 hours a day to business only and ate whatever was available. He used to do sweeping, cleaning and carrying heavy bags initially and gradually learned the management of a shop under his father’s wise tutelage.
In those challenging days, Datar and his father had adopted a frugal lifestyle owing to their pressed economic condition. He couldn’t even afford a bicycle, so he would deliver goods by walking to the customer’s houses. Whenever he was sent to purchase spices from Deira, he would often opt for an Abra (wooden boat) to save money.
There was a flour mill near his shop owned by an elderly Bangladeshi trader. He would address him as Mullah Chacha (uncle). He was a kind-hearted and taciturn businessman. Besides the mill, he was involved in the wholesale spice trading business in Deira. Datar’s father and Mullah Chacha were good friends. He would purchase some of his spices from Mullah Chacha and also get his grains ground in his mill. Chacha was fond of young Datar. He taught him to operate the machinery in the mill. He would always inspire Datar by saying: “Young man! Always remember that hard work and skill are never in vain.”
Once, as usual, Datar had gone to Deira to purchase spices. After his work was finished, he dropped by Mullah Chacha’s office. He greeted Datar smilingly and enquired about purchases. While conversing he informed Datar that a few days back he had received high quality stock of red chilli powder and insisted that he should purchase at least a 40kg bag. Since Datar had spent their entire budget in other purchases, he was about to decline his offer. Understanding his difficulty, Chacha patted his back and said with assurance: “Son! Don’t let go of good quality things. I will give you the bag on credit.”
Datar listened to his advice and carried the heavy bag on his shoulders. It was a boiling summer afternoon, and the temperature was 45 degrees Celsius. The chilli powder mixed with his sweat and his skin began burning. But he didn’t care and, after walking 5km, finally brought the bag into the shop. Since the powder was of really excellent quality, the entire stock was sold in a fortnight, and he earned a handsome profit.
The first profit after the loss brought a breeze of happiness and hope. The incident really inspired him to take up entrepreneurship seriously. Whenever he remembered the sacrifice made by his mother, his vow not to return home defeated and empty-handed would be even more cemented. He began working rigorously, devoting his time solely to business.
After a penance of three years, the father-son duo succeeded in establishing their business with a firm foot and their small shop started to earn a good profit. The first thing Datar did then was to repurchase his mother’s entire jewellery. When he returned home after a long three and a half years, and handed over her cherished jewellery- even her precious Mangalsutra – she embraced her son affectionately and patted his head proudly. Both of them had tears in their eyes. When she caressed Datar’s cheek with love, it was the highest honour in the world for him.
Another memorable incidence, which brought the greatest turning point in his life, happened around the same time. He was only a layman in business, so his father suggested for him to learn the practical experience of running a shop. He accepted an internship in a superstore. There he did everything to learn about shop management. He was enjoying every task assigned to him, except one. He felt nauseated when handling beef and pork and avoided the job of packaging it.
One day the shop owner called him and asked him the reason. Datar admitted that being a vegetarian, touching the meat felt disgusting to him. The owner laughed and gave him an important piece of advice by saying: “Young man! I am a staunch Jain vegetarian who abstains from tasting garlic and onions in everyday meals also. But this is my business. Here customer’s needs are important; hence I don’t bring my personal likes and dislikes to my store. Mind well – work is work and should not be treated as superior or inferior. Don’t feel ashamed to do any work.”
His advice was an eye-opener and since then Datar never hesitated to do any job.
Datar’s father retired from the business and handed over the responsibility to his son. He wanted to expand the business, but he was rather reluctant to take bank loans for it. Then an incident took place that changed his entire perspective and inculcated the habit of saving in him. In those days he would enjoy a cup of tea and some refreshments in a nearby restaurant every evening.
One day he noticed that the restaurant owner had kept two tins under his cash counter. He asked him the reason, and the shop owner smilingly told that they were meant for saving. Every day he drew two notes of AED100 each from the income and stored them aside in the tins. At the end of the month each tin contained a pool of AED3,000. He would use the money from the first tin to cover expenses like bills and wages, and the amount from the other tin would be his profit. The owner proudly told him that he had never needed to borrow once he started saving daily.
Fascinated by the idea, Datar followed the same strategy in his shop. He even dared to save AED500 daily in both tins and resolved to open it only when the year ended. At the onset of the new year, he opened the tins – and there was a massive AED180,000 in his hands. With that investment he opened a new shop in Abu Dhabi.
The next year he had a whopping corpus of AED360,000. From this amount he opened his third shop in Sharjah. Datar continued to use this saving technique. When his savings reached AED540,000, he started a spice processing plant from the investment. The magic of saving and compounding made it possible for him to expand his business multifold.
Datar faced a lot of challenging incidents in life. He escaped narrowly from the clutches of death four times. During the Iraq-Kuwait war in 1990, Dubai faced severe war fear and a moment came when his business was almost on the verge of ruin – but he escaped from it. He always followed the mantra of hard work: Determination, honesty, customer service, courtesy; which turned Datar, once a small shopkeeper, into a billionaire and the Masala King of Dubai. He worked patiently and passionately and expanded the number of superstores in UAE and neighbouring Gulf countries.
In 39 years, he carved the world-famous Adil Group of super stores out of his tiny shop. Recognised as an ISO 22000, HACCP, GMP, GHP certified company in 2006, Adil Group under the leadership of Datar has performed a key role in bringing more than 9,000 Indian products to the UAE. The group also produces more than 700 products within categories like readymade flours, spices, pickles, jams, Namkeen and instants, under its own brand, named Peacock.
Today, his group encompasses of a chain of 50 spacious super stores spread across the Gulf countries, two spice factories, two flour mills equipped with modern technology, and an import-export company. He has created employment for hundreds of Indian workers and given them the opportunity to work abroad. The rulers of UAE gave Datar a prestigious award and the title Masala King in 2001 for his invaluable contribution to the business sector.
Datar has been honoured with various international and national awards for his business excellence and quality of products. Recently he has been ranked eight among the top ten Indian billionaires in the GCC region, by the world-renowned media house Arabian Business. He was continuously in the list of the top Indian leaders in the Arab world for many years. Besides, he has been conferred with business awards from countries such as the UAE, USA, UK, France, Germany, Switzerland and Spain.
A boy in his twenties came to Dubai 39 years ago from India with a mere AED30 in his pocket and today he is Dr. Dhananjay Datar – Chairman and Managing Director, Adil Group of supermarkets, popularly known as the Masala King. His success is entirely attributed to his honesty, hard work, determination, perseverance, and excellent customer service.