Ramesh Prabhakar does not work very hard. He does not have to - he has a highly skilled, committed workforce behind him sharing his aim of putting the Rivoli Group at the pinnacle of the luxury brand retail trade.
By his own admission, this crucial support has removed a lot of the strain from his working life.
"I used to work hard, but now I work smart," he says. "My stress of running the business is a lot less today than it was before, because we've built a very competent team.
"My working day is not very long - I spend maybe six or seven hours a day at work, but for those six or seven hours I'm fully focused." Prabhakar, 50, is a managing partner with the Rivoli Group, one of the Gulf's leading importers, distributors and retailers of luxury goods. Although their primary focus is watches, other products include writing instruments, leather goods, gift items, clothing and electronic equipment.
The company has enjoyed year-on-year growth of above 30 per cent for the last five years, and is looking at more than 25 per cent this year, according to Prabhakar.
"The UAE is poised for tremendous growth, and I believe what we've achieved in previous years is only going to be heightened," he says. "We're looking for significant growth in the years ahead.
"We have several concepts within our watch retailing - we have Rivoli Prestige, Rivoli In-Style In-Store, Hour Choice and Value Time - four distinct retail network servicing segments. There is a marginal overlap but we've tried to be distinct.
"I think being successful as retailers is a question of detail and a question of quality. I think that then percolates down to everything else that we stand for.
"We are a commercial enterprise and the benchmark of our success is the bottom line that we make." Prabhakar has worked hard for the success Rivoli is now enjoying and has certainly earned the right to a more stress-free existence. But there have been plenty of difficult times along the way, he says.
"The late 80s and early 90s was a very tough time because we were starting from scratch, building up the whole infrastructure.To embark on a programme and not get distract ed but stay on course and keep the basic values in place - go after what you set as your goal and achieve it - is a very trying experience.
"But to build an enterprise where our basic values are absolutely intact, and to be recognised for what we do and be positively thought of is a hugely rewarding experience." Graduating in Economics from Madras University, Prabhakar spent time working in the United Kingdom and his home country before coming to Dubai in 1979. He joined the Rivoli Group in 1985 in sales and marketing, and a combination of confidence, interpersonal skills and attention to detail earned him the position of general manager in five years.
Under his supervision, the Rivoli Group witnessed a meteoric rise in the 1990s as Dubai entered its first phase of economic boom. The city was being marketed as one of the world's premier shopping destinations, and Prabhakar seized this opportunity to promote Rivoli's retail holdings.
Today, the group operates more than 200 retail outlets, including 35 Rivoli stores, 95 Hour Choice outlets and monobrand boutiques of various franchises.
The Rivoli Group's brand portfolio includes luxury watchmakers Blancpain,TAG Heuer and Tissot, and fashion giants Gucci and Diesel.
It seems like a classic success story, but I take the opportunity during our meet ing at the Rivoli Group offices in Bur Dubai to ask Prabhakar if there is anything he regrets.
He replies: "I have no major regrets, but if I could have done something slightly differently, perhaps I could have diversified a little bit more into other product categories. At the moment, to get into new areas and new activities is getting that much harder, so to that end I would probably like to have diversified about six or seven years ago.
"It's very rare that you actually work towards achieving something correctly and you don't get rewarded. Of course, sometimes there are disappointments but finally we've got to live with ourselves and if you come away saying we tried it, we did our best but that was not achievable, that was not to be.
"One takes salvation in the fact that you've given everything you can." But Prabhakar believes in looking forwards, not backwards, and his focus now is on continued growth within the region. One way the company is attempting to achieve this is by improving their market research methods.
"We've just put together a task force which is going to look at a customer relationship management programme, so hopefully we will know exactly who is buying, why they are buying, what is motivated the buying, what other products in that portfolio would appeal to them," Prabhakar explains. "This will allow us to service our existing customer base.
"The customer profile is changing all the time - the kind of customer and attitudes today are very different to five years ago or 10 years ago.
Today's customer is far more educated, far more international, so we have got to come up with the goods - people's expectations are growing as Dubai grows, so we are constantly attempting to raise the bar."
© Emirates Today 2006
