Faizal Kottikollon, the chairman and founder of KEF Holdings, came to the UAE in 1995 to set up his first business Al Ahamadi General Trading in Ajman. The 50-year-old from India started a foundry, Emirates Techno Casting, two years later in Sharjah. Manufacturing valves for the oil and gas industry, the company expanded until it was sold for US$400 million in 2012. Mr Kottikollon is now focusing on an off-site construction business, which aims to lower building costs for schools and hospitals in India by half, according to the company.
What are your favourite things to do on the weekend?
Every day is a weekend for me, because I love my job. I am a tennis player. I start at 5am every day. I need to be healthy because KEF Holdings is a huge commitment. By March, we will have 400 people in the UAE and India, and 1,000 by the end of the year. I travel a lot, almost 15 days in a month, looking for technology from Finland, Ireland, Italy and Australia among others.
What do you consider to be your favourite hobby?
I am a sports person and I love tennis and football. In tennis my favourite player is Roger Federer, and in football Barcelona as a club and Messi. I sometimes play tennis with my 15-year-old son. I also have three daughters, aged 13, 17 and 21. At 5.30am, we all go running on the beach.
What can’t you live without?
Work and also philanthropy, which is a natural way to share your knowledge and wealth with the world around you. We have committed to a 1,000 crore [10 billion] rupees project to build 100 schools in India, of which the Indian government will give 50 per cent. We will give 50 crore rupees, or 10 per cent, and will raise another 20 per cent from corporates and private companies. The government will raise the rest.
What do you consider the secret to your success?
It’s the passion to do things for people. Business is about confidence and trust. The trust gathered in the last 20 years of work is culminating in the market confidence in us but it also puts a lot of pressure to deliver. We expect KEF Infrastructure to be a US$1 billion company by 2020.
What advice would you offer others starting out in your business?
Don’t just follow the market; you need to develop the market, you need to create new markets with technology. There is a big gap in basic industries such as food, education and health. Today people are using technology for edutainment. Also [in business] don’t get into bribing, be ethical. The more businesses become ethical, the better society will become.
How do you achieve a work-life balance?
We have big investments and the market keeps fluctuating. Does it bother me? No. These are all market-driven fluctuations. I don’t worry too much. What excites me is how much I impact the bottom of society. My wife works with me, and so we come to work together sometimes.
How do you relax after the working day?
I live in Sharjah and arrive home from my office in Dubai International Financial Centre by 6pm. I don’t overload myself with work. Once I’m home, I spend time with my children or play tennis.
If you weren’t running your business what else would you be doing?
My dream was to become a sportsperson. When I went to the United States in 1989 I wanted to quit studies [in industrial engineering], and join a tennis academy to become a professional tennis player. But I didn’t have the money for it. At that time $1 was equivalent to 11 rupees. [Today, $1 = 61 rupees] I had fought with my parents to go to the US to study after doing an MBA in marketing and finance and civil engineering in India. I come from a wealthy industrial family but I never joined my family business. I delivered pizza for 10 months and funded my own studies. It gave me a lot of satisfaction, to leave everything, be a rebel, travel around the world, and do it on my own.
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