Danube Group distributes more than 10,000 products, has retail outlets in the UAE, Bahrain, Muscat and India, and three sourcing centres in China. It employs 400 people. The company turns over nearly $1.5bn a year, and is growing consistently.

It has been a stellar rise to success for Rizwan, who was 28 when he came to Dubai in 1992 to take up a job in a hardware store on a salary of $400 per month. Riding the emirate’s real estate boom, he has propelled himself on the path to success with an astonishing speed and determination. His story is made all the more impressive with the fact he was his family’s only breadwinner for many of his teenage years.