Rizwan Sajan, founder and chairman of Danube GroupToday, the brand name Danube is recognized as the leader in construction, building materials, shop fitting industries and home interior products. Danube has a large presence in the UAE and sees impending growth across the Middle East region including areas such as Qatar, Bahrain, Oman and Saudi Arabia. To keep pace with the emerging market trends, the company continues to explore investment opportunities in untapped markets such as Africa. Danube, which started as a building materials supplier 19 years ago, has also found success with its introduction of a one-stop-shop concept called Danube Buildmart for home interiors. The outlets target a diverse retail segment ranging from developers to architects, interior designers to home owners. To date, there are 35 Danube Building Materials and Buildmart showrooms. The company also maintains procurement offices in Canada and China. The increased demand for its products coupled with its expansion has resulted in the company growing its workforce since its inception, to 1,700 people. It announced a 20 percent growth in sales, with Rizwan Sajan, Founder & Chairman of the Danube Group citing growth and demand for products in the Middle East and African markets. Danube's engaging strategy to expand across and beyond the region has led to a 25 percent growth increase in 2011, which places them right on track towards achieving its target revenue of more than $1 billion by the year 2015. The company has also been lauded for the significant contributions they have made toward UAE development. Danube BUILDMART was named “Most Admired Retailer-Home & Office Improvement" during the “Images Retail ME Awards 2011" in October last year. The same award giving body also named company Founder and Chairman, Rizwan Sajan, as the “Most Admired Retail Professional of the Year." He is also recognized as one of the top 25 “Young Asian Achievers" in the UAE. Earlier this year, Sajan was also awarded the Visionary of the Year Award at the Indian CEO Award, along with being awarded at the ESEA Award, Dubai Customs Award, MRM Award in the re-export category and the Dubai Logistics and Supply Chain Award. Danube's growth in sales can be attributed to its provision of world class high quality building materials and home interiors combined with great value and special services. The company's dedicated focus on establishing facilities in high potential locations has made it a major hit with the customers.
