Praveen Chandiramani is founder and chairman of WorkerAppz, a financial technology start-up that offers cross-border remittances to more than 100 countries.
Mr Chandiramani came to the UAE on a two-week holiday after finishing his chartered accountancy exams in 1989. He stayed on for 32 years and has since launched several companies, including one of the country's earliest online money remittance services, Instant Cash, in 2000.
WorkerAppz is currently live in Bahrain, Jordan, Europe and Asia, with new ventures in the UK and US in the works. Mr Chandiramani is also founder of the Ritman Group, the parent company of WorkerAppz and its sister technology start-ups, RitmanPay, Angootha Pe and YeePeey.
The 58-year-old lives in Dubai. He is married and has two sons who have joined him in business.
How did your upbringing shape your attitude towards money?
I was born in 1963 and grew up in Mumbai, India. Being raised in a lower middle-class family without many essentials in my childhood, making money became extremely important and shaped my attitude towards it.
What was an early lesson you learnt about money?
If you need to save, pay yourself first before paying others — you need to decide a figure that needs to be saved from your income and start planning accordingly. This was when I was 18.
At what age did you start working?
I began my articleship — training for chartered accountancy — at the age of 16. My stipend was 125 Indian rupees (about $15 at the time, now $1.67) per month. My first full salary in 1987 was 7,500 rupees a month.
What brought you to the UAE?
I first came here on holiday after the strenuous CA exams in 1989. My brother used to work here and wanted to return after five months. I wanted to persuade him to stay on. I stayed on, too — it’s been almost 32 years.
What was your weakest financial moment?
That was in 1995, when my second son, Monish, was born. I was running an electronics business, which had been performing badly. I had just made some payments to suppliers and was left with no cash.
I received a call from the hospital about the news of my son’s birth, but didn’t have the money to get to the hospital from my showroom. This was when I realised how important even Dh10 can be in certain situations.
I had reached a sort of saturation point. So I quit a full-time C-Level job that paid very well and changed gears from finance to business
Praveen Chandiramani,
founder and chairman of WorkerAppz
Why did you go into business for yourself?
After many years of number crunching, I had reached a sort of saturation point and was longing to do something that would give me creative satisfaction. So I quit a full-time C-Level job that paid very well and changed gears from finance to business.
This resulted in the birth of Instant Cash, my first product in the payments industry. The peer-to-peer cross-border remittance product, launched with the House of Patels (the Wall Street Exchange group), disrupted the money transfer market with an online solution and slashed the cost of transfers by nearly 50 per cent.
What were your early successes or failures as an entrepreneur?
At the outset, it was an extremely difficult proposition to sell as nobody was ready to accept that money transfers were possible using an untested channel like the internet. By persisting, I was able to convince all investors and stakeholders. I had many failures, particularly in terms of limited capital and resources while expectations were very high. However, persistence paid off.
The most important lesson I learnt here was that a basic idea, when implemented and targeted at the right market, can make even established industry players uncomfortable.
What is your aim for WorkerAppz?
WorkerAppz was created to offer all the apps that an expatriate or migrant worker needs on a day-to-day basis. Services such as money transfers, bill payments, mobile recharges, microloans and many more services will come under the WorkerAppz umbrella in the years to come.
In five years, I expect WorkerAppz to greatly impact the global banking industry and will change the way money is moved across the world.
What was your greatest financial challenge?
When working capital became an issue in the initial months of my second business venture in 2004. Our limited investment had completely dried up and funding was a luxury in those days.
To keep our staff motivated, we needed to ensure we made ends meet. There were many months where I had to pay their salaries just to ensure business continuity. We reached break-even point in the 10th month of operations and were able to pay our expenses thereafter.
How did the coronavirus impact your business?
All online and e-commerce businesses thrived due to coronavirus. We were no exception. In fact, our business spiked to new highs. We were able to gain new customers, increase sales volumes and expand virtual geographies during the pandemic.
What asset classes do you invest in and why?
I have invested in everything from bank fixed deposits and unit-linked insurance plans to mutual funds, pension funds, bonds and gold bonds, and currency forward deposits. However, I have put the largest chunk of money in properties as real estate offers stability and appreciation in the long run.
What was your first investment?
The first investment that I made was a fixed deposit for 10,000 rupees in 1991 or 1992. This amount has still not been withdrawn and the investment has grown seven times as of now.
What about property?
Over the years, properties have been my biggest investment and I now have multiple properties in India and UAE. The first was a home in Pune, India in 2003. I purchased it for 1.8 million rupees. I sold this property in 2008 for 4.5m rupees, or about 2.5 times the value. This investment, though small, shaped the strategy for all future investments in real estate.
What was your worst investment?
My worst investment has been a freehold property I purchased in Dubai. I bought this property at the peak of the 2008-09 boom. Prices crashed soon after and the property has still not recovered even 50 per cent of its purchase price.
The lesson from this investment is not to invest in what the herd is buying. Follow your own instincts and not those of the herd.
How have you planned your legacy?
I have planned my succession and my sons have taken over three of the start-ups in operation at the moment: WorkerAppz Global Payments (headquartered in Canada), Angootha Pe (Indian payments) and Yeepeey (for online groceries in Dubai). We will soon be looking for investor funding for the companies — as of now, they have all been bootstrapped and internally financed.
Where do you see yourself five years from now?
In the next five years, I see myself among the top 50 entrepreneurs in Asia — as my three start-ups would have reached a position to take me to the top 50.
Do you use a financial adviser?
Yes — for help with tax returns in India and other countries to manage corporate regulatory procedures. But for my own needs, I don’t need one. I am a qualified chartered accountant and have been in the finance industry for more than three decades.
Are you a spender or a saver?
I was a very heavy spender all my life but as age has progressed, I have become a saver, partly because of the natural maturity that comes with age and because of life’s responsibilities.
Where and how do you save?
For the past three or four years, I haven’t saved as I have been investing in my three start-ups. Most of my savings and other invested surplus income goes into these start-ups. Before this, I would largely save in Indian equities and mutual funds, as well as bank instruments.
How much do you have in your wallet right now?
At the moment, I have Dh200 and some change in my wallet.
What car do you drive?
Right now, a GL 500 Mercedes. But the Land Cruiser has been my constant companion.
Crazy Rich Asians
Director: Jon M Chu
Starring: Constance Wu, Henry Golding, Michelle Yeon, Gemma Chan
Four stars
Who is Mohammed Al Halbousi?
The new speaker of Iraq’s parliament Mohammed Al Halbousi is the youngest person ever to serve in the role.
The 37-year-old was born in Al Garmah in Anbar and studied civil engineering in Baghdad before going into business. His development company Al Hadeed undertook reconstruction contracts rebuilding parts of Fallujah’s infrastructure.
He entered parliament in 2014 and served as a member of the human rights and finance committees until 2017. In August last year he was appointed governor of Anbar, a role in which he has struggled to secure funding to provide services in the war-damaged province and to secure the withdrawal of Shia militias. He relinquished the post when he was sworn in as a member of parliament on September 3.
He is a member of the Al Hal Sunni-based political party and the Sunni-led Coalition of Iraqi Forces, which is Iraq’s largest Sunni alliance with 37 seats from the May 12 election.
He maintains good relations with former Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki’s State of Law Coaliton, Hadi Al Amiri’s Badr Organisation and Iranian officials.
Asian Cup 2019
Quarter-final
UAE v Australia, Friday, 8pm, Hazza bin Zayed Stadium, Al Ain
The specs
Engine: 1.5-litre turbo
Power: 181hp
Torque: 230Nm
Transmission: 6-speed automatic
Starting price: Dh79,000
On sale: Now
Labour dispute
The insured employee may still file an ILOE claim even if a labour dispute is ongoing post termination, but the insurer may suspend or reject payment, until the courts resolve the dispute, especially if the reason for termination is contested. The outcome of the labour court proceedings can directly affect eligibility.
- Abdullah Ishnaneh, Partner, BSA Law
Who's who in Yemen conflict
Houthis: Iran-backed rebels who occupy Sanaa and run unrecognised government
Yemeni government: Exiled government in Aden led by eight-member Presidential Leadership Council
Southern Transitional Council: Faction in Yemeni government that seeks autonomy for the south
Habrish 'rebels': Tribal-backed forces feuding with STC over control of oil in government territory
Avatar: Fire and Ash
Director: James Cameron
Starring: Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Zoe Saldana
Rating: 4.5/5
List of alleged parties
May 12, 2020: PM and his wife Carrie attend 'work meeting' with at least 17 staff
May 20, 2020: They attend 'bring your own booze party'
Nov 27, 2020: PM gives speech at leaving party for his staff
Dec 10, 2020: Staff party held by then-education secretary Gavin Williamson
Dec 13, 2020: PM and his wife throw a party
Dec 14, 2020: London mayoral candidate Shaun Bailey holds staff event at Conservative Party headquarters
Dec 15, 2020: PM takes part in a staff quiz
Dec 18, 2020: Downing Street Christmas party
More from Neighbourhood Watch:
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Specs
Price, base: Dhs850,000
Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
Transmission: Seven-speed automatic
Power: 591bhp @ 7,500rpm
Torque: 760Nm @ 3,000rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 11.3L / 100km
VEZEETA PROFILE
Date started: 2012
Founder: Amir Barsoum
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: HealthTech / MedTech
Size: 300 employees
Funding: $22.6 million (as of September 2018)
Investors: Technology Development Fund, Silicon Badia, Beco Capital, Vostok New Ventures, Endeavour Catalyst, Crescent Enterprises’ CE-Ventures, Saudi Technology Ventures and IFC
If%20you%20go
%3Cp%3EThere%20are%20regular%20flights%20from%20Dubai%20to%20Kathmandu.%20Fares%20with%20Air%20Arabia%20and%20flydubai%20start%20at%20Dh1%2C265.%3Cbr%3EIn%20Kathmandu%2C%20rooms%20at%20the%20Oasis%20Kathmandu%20Hotel%20start%20at%20Dh195%20and%20Dh120%20at%20Hotel%20Ganesh%20Himal.%3Cbr%3EThird%20Rock%20Adventures%20offers%20professionally%20run%20group%20and%20individual%20treks%20and%20tours%20using%20highly%20experienced%20guides%20throughout%20Nepal%2C%20Bhutan%20and%20other%20parts%20of%20the%20Himalayas.%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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United States
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China
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UAE
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Japan
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Norway
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Canada
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Singapore
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Australia
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Saudi Arabia
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South Korea
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THURSDAY'S FIXTURES
4pm Maratha Arabians v Northern Warriors
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Islamophobia definition
A widely accepted definition was made by the All Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims in 2019: “Islamophobia is rooted in racism and is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness.” It further defines it as “inciting hatred or violence against Muslims”.
