Mr. Krishan Lal Khurana, MD of Chandigara
Transport (and more) has been a friend and Client of mine for years now, and
during a recent chat, he shared his journey from the back streets of Chandigarh
to his entrepreneurship in UAE.
Krishan shared it this way;
He was born to a typical Indian family and
after somewhat of an uneventful youth, made his way, in 1979, as a Helper to
Dubai, where he worked for Oriental Trading Company, (Lebanon). He did menial
tasks and earned a Basic salary of 700 AED (200 AED of which, was for lengthy
overtime works). Then, the INR was 2 to 1 on the AED. Accommodation was
included so he lived off a paltry 200 AED and repatriated 10,000 INR to his
mother in India.
He worked vigorously and also managed to earn
and pass his JCB Driver’s License and then worked for a further 3 more years as
an Excavator Operator. His salary after 5 years work was 1000 AED (including
massive overtime). Krishan improved his earning power when he passed his Truck Driver’s License, and worked as an
Excavator, Pick-up, Crane, Truck Driver for another 4 years.
In 1987, he moved on to his second job to Tiger
Steel Engineering, Sharjah and worked there as a Truck Driver, eventually
deciding after 18 years to set-up his own operation, having bought his first truck,
a used one that he rented out to others, further expanding his rental operation
to 3 trucks by 2006, which signalled his need to be hands-on if the 3 trucks
were to create a larger and meaningful enterprise.
In May 2006, he formed a Partnership to establish
Chardigarh Transport LLC. By 2009 he had expanded into the Buying & Selling
market where he suffered a set-back of losing around 1Mil AED as a result of
the recession and other failed Transport Company Operators, who did not survive
through this bleak business period.
Learning from this valuable lesson, he
re-aligned his position and formed 2 businesses not linked directly to Truck
ownership, but still requiring his experience of driving, operating and owning
Trucks.
Today, Chandigarh Transport LLC is successful
and has a happy Staff of 184 loyal employees.
Kishan’s other 2 sole
ownership Companies are:
Al Sadik Tyres & Lube, Al Aweer,
5 happy employees
Al Sadik Auto Maintenance, Al Aweer,
11 happy employees
Krishan owns a house in Dubai, while his wife, runs
a digital photo studio business in India. Their daughter and son work as a
Software Engineer and A/C Engineer respectively.
Krishan could not single out anyone who can be
credited with his success, only his own sheer
determination and hand work in Dubai, which is a very lucky city for
him. “Thanks to God for rewarding my hardwork!”