Meet businessman who once lived in Mumbai chawl, now owns palatial villa in Dubai, not Mukesh Ambani, Anil Ambani

Asia's richest man once lived in a humble chawl in Mumbai. The story of business tycoons Mukesh Ambani and brother Anil Ambani growing up in a room were they 8-9 people lived together in Bhuleshwar is the stuff of legends. Visionary founder of Reliance Dhirubhai Ambani was still struggling to achieve his dreams.

But the Ambani family's rise is not the only success story out of Mumbai's chawls. Another one is that of HDFC founder HT Parekh. But today we will talk about another business tycoon who started out from a Mumbai chawl - Danube Group's Anis Sajan.

Anis Sajan is in the same breadth as Mukesh Ambani, growing up in a Mumbai chawl, making it big and buying a mansion in the most expensive property location Dubai. He grew up in the Pant Nagar chawl in Ghatkopar and now owns a palatial villa in Emirates Hills in Dubai.

The Sajan family faced hard times after their father Asker Ali Sajan's untimely demise. In a life of ups and downs where he once worked as a salesman for Rs 200 commission, Anis Sajan helped his elder brother Rizwan Sajan build the billion-dollar Danube Group. Anis Sajan is today the Vice Chairman of the Gulf-based business conglomerate.

Anis arrived in Dubai aged 21 in 1992. His first job was to set up the Danube Group's sanitary division as elder brother Rizwan focused on the timber division. Together, they made the group reach turnover of over $1 billion, becoming one of the most prominent Indian business family’s in the middle-east region. 

Photo credit: Gulf News