Dubai-it: He arrived with AED 200 in his pocket, 25 years later he owns 2 businesses and race horses

Dubai: “Welcome back, Habibi. Welcome to your country.” A simple message from the immigration officer as a long-time expat returned to Dubai last week. But for 44-year-old Indian businessman Kamlesh Mahtani, those words made him stop and reflect at the 25 years he had spent building his life in the city. Starting with AED 200 Mahtani came to Dubai 25 years ago, a 19-year-old university student, forced to move from Pune as his family fell into difficult financial circumstances, carrying just AED 200 in his pocket. “I spent it all on the second day,” he remembers, laughing. “My salary was AED 1,000 and I was essentially a storekeeper at a garment factory in Jebel Ali free zone,” he added. But the AED 1,000 went a long way back in 2001, he said, living in a sharing accommodation and always looking for ways to grow. He completed his graduation in India as an external student, and went on to do his Masters at S. P. Jain University in Dubai. Moving up the ladder through new job opportunities, he finally decided to start his own business in 2008. What he didn’t know that the timing would teach him some of the biggest lessons in business resilience. “The Lehman Brothers’ crash happened, and we had to work hard to keep ourselves stable,” he said. But despite the global downturn, Mahtani persevered. Today, he is the founder of two companies – Tripod Global, which specialises in fitouts and bespoke manufacturing for retail companies, and Sanctuaire Exotique, a luxury design build firm. Being in a global city like Dubai, he says, has played a foundational role in the success he has had as a businessman. “I’ve been here for about 25 years in total. I have seen how the country’s leadership works and how the city has grown. The speed with which things happen here has definitely rubbed off on me as well. I want everything yesterday,” he said. The ‘Dubai-it’ philosophy , which symbolises the work philosophy of the city – working on ambitious ideas with speed and precision – have also been a lesson every day of these 25 years for Mahtani. “It is an easy place to do business compared to other parts of the world, where the process can be too bureaucratic. With the speed you can do things here, you can’t do it anywhere else in the world. If you are honest with what you do, there are tons of opportunities and it is a global platform at the end of the day,” he said. “Today, with Dubai as our global headquarters, we operate fully functional fit-out and furniture manufacturing facilities across Saudi Arabia and India, with a new facility planned in Portugal. When I first came here, the last landmark in Dubai was the Hard Rock Café. Seeing the projects and the buildings rise in front of you, you want to envision things as well and have it actioned out as early as possible. It’s an inspirational city and I’m fully indebted to it,” Mahtani added. The city’s reputation for quality work also helps businesses operating in Dubai with their own credibility, the Indian expat said. “We’ve almost got a global presence starting off from here. It got us on the map. If you are from Dubai, you are recognised as a brand that delivers quality because it is not easy for a company to sustain itself for 18 or 19 years,” he said. Dreaming big Another major opportunity Mahtani said the city presented was fulfilling a lifelong dream of becoming a racehorse owner. “As a child growing up in Pune, I would go to the races with my father. I’ve been passionate about it since I was a young boy. The passion was always there, but I didn’t know if I could afford it,” he said. Years later in Dubai, a chance introduction to Bhupat Seemar, the trainer who led Laurel River to victory in the 2024 Dubai World Cup, opened that door, and he became the co-owner of Blue Blood Racing Syndicate in 2025. “We found someone who we could trust to buy horses. We started with one and today we have five horses,” Mahtani said. The syndicate has already seen success, with one of his horses winning the UAE 2000 Guineas Trial at Meydan in January this year and competing in the Kentucky Derby in May. Putting down roots But Dubai isn’t just the place where Mahtani has seen professional success. It is also where he met his wife in 2003 and got married in 2006. His wife is now part of the business operations, and the couple have two sons, aged 18 and 13. “Pretty much all of my life has happened in the city,” he said. Which is why his sense of belonging to the city, and the belief that nothing is impossible, runs deep. “Seeing what was happening around me, how the growth was happening here so quickly, landmarks and buildings just being built, the belief system started becoming stronger that everything is possible,” he said. The words of the immigration officer, then, held a lot more meaning for the man who had come to the city with just AED 200 in his pocket, but with the desire to dream bigger. “Those words meant a lot. You live here and you become a part of the country,” he said. “We are