Wednesday 27 / November / 2024
Muscat: For Danube Group, the business in the Sultanate of Oman gave them a bigger push compared to other GCC countries. The business conglomerate started its business in Dubai in 1992 and Oman four years later. In the almost 26 years of existence in this country, they grew faster here compared to the UAE, thanks to people's faith in the group.
“Milano is the brand that has helped us grow in Oman. I have got help from the rulers and people, and our loyal customers in Oman have been behind this meteoric rise,” said Anis Sajan, Vice chairman of Danube Group.
“In the Covid period, the Danube grew much faster compared to other times in the past as most of the people were confined to their homes so they started refurbishing their houses and rebuilding them, be it bathroom or shower or furniture. Since they were not travelling, they had cash to use. Though I shouldn’t praise this pandemic, Covid was a blessing in disguise for us as it helped us grow faster.”
While talking about Covid restrictions, Sajan said there was no gathering in the past but I promise it would become now a regular feature from Milano. He said that his company pays adequate attention to corporate social responsibility due to which a storekeeper in Oman and another in Dubai have become country managers. Teaching English to blue-collar workers is also a part of the initiative to help them at immigration counters and to break the language barrier, he said.
“Buying from the Danube is cheaper compared to foreign suppliers as my company buys in bulk. Moreover, the service and quality of the product are also there at Milano. That makes the difference. We give seven years of conditional warranty and for any problem; a client can come and return the faulty product. Any problem is taken care of between 24 and 48 hours.”
He hoped that after Covid it is going to be a boom time for everybody and Oman also. “Construction work has started and the government has started allocating money for projects. People are going into development mode, so Oman will also benefit. “With the boom in construction activity, the demand for materials is going to increase. There are many players in the market. We have added the Ideal Standard brand to our portfolio, it is an American brand. Even in this hotel, the fossett is of Ideal Standard. We also added a new brand from Germany. We are in the market to stay as our products are famous for durability and quality.”
When asked about the income from VAT, he said that the revenue is being used for the benefit of citizens and expatriates. “The government in the UAE and Oman are taking much better care of expats compared to other countries. They take the tax but they take care. My company did not reduce salaries during Covid though many companies did. Whatever salaries were deducted was given back in due course of time so people did not lose money. In fact, our company hired more people during the pandemic. We hired retrenched people from other companies as we got good talent. For us hiring never stops as is the business. Our hiring won’t be on how the market is not doing but what I want to achieve,” he concluded.
