Business runs in the blood of Bhawnani who belongs to a family of entrepreneurs. His father ran a retail business in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh (MP). A young Bhawnani often helped his father and learnt the tricks of the trade from him. Describing his success saga, he reminisces, “Hailing from a middle-class family in Mandsaur, MP, I started my career at the age of 15 in India; the group was established on 2nd December 2004 on U.A.E. National Day in Mirdiff. Since then, West Zone has emerged as a household name, and is best known as one of the UAE’s renowned retail chain, with more than 100 operational stores.” He further adds, “In a span of 15 years, we have successfully diversified and expanded West Zone Group portfolio to include Supermarkets, Hypermarkets, Logistic Facility, Malls, Real-estate, Building Material & Contracting, Technology, Hospitality and F&B. All the stores are inaugurated by my mother Mrs. Radha Bhawnani, my mentor and real strength of the group.”
Bhawnani is grateful to the dedicated efforts of his 4,000+ employees who have played a significant role in the group’s success. He declares with pride, “Today, thousands of consumers shop with us every day and trust West Zone as their first choice.”
OVERCOMING EVERY CHALLENGE LIKE A CHAMPION
It is a widely acknowledged fact that success can be a long and winding road, filled with many obstacles and challenges. Talented leaders like Bhawnani know how to convert challenges into opportunities. He forcefully asserts, “A challenge / competition to me is like oxygen – it drives me to do more. We ensure that we provide maximum benefits to our consumers, by buying directly from the manufacturer to cut additional costs and extend competitive pricing structures to provide value for money.”
Bhawnani has successfully converted every challenge that came his way to an opportunity, and is reaping the sweet fruits of success. Sharing his mantra for success, he elaborates, “I truly believe that West Zone stands out to be one of its kind in retail by looking for all the possible needs of consumers, suppliers and the real assets of the company – our employees. We work with suppliers and producers all over the world to offer great quality, healthy and sustainable products to our customers at affordable prices.”
PROPOUNDING REFORMS
Reforms are quite necessary to tackle the obstacles to the fundamental drivers of growth, and are designed to boost an economy’s competitiveness, growth potential and adjustment capacity. A strong propounder of reforms in the retail sector, Bhawnani asserts, “The Government in the UAE has so far been very supporting. Definitely, one would always want to groom things a little bit. I would prefer to create a pattern of Eco-Friendly & Bio-Diversity Policy for all the Non-Food selling entities. Selling items tagged with these important symbols would make people understand items before buying anything. This would indicate the percentage or proportional level affect sticker on all the products before getting to the End Customer/ Consumers.”
He adds, “Buying patterns of the consumers in the UAE has gone through a drastic shift, where they are expecting aggressive promotions; accordingly we design our promotional calendars and have been successful in offering great quality, healthy and sustainable products to our customers at affordable prices.”
TRIUMPHS GALORE
Bhawnani’s contribution to the retail sector in the UAE has been recognized at varied platforms. He proudly declares, “Recognizing my contribution to the advancement of the Arab region, Forbes Middle East selected me as one of the top Indian leaders of the Middle East. I have been listed in Arabian Business Magazine in their selected Power List, and have been awarded by Dubai Police for Cooperation. I have received a couple of other awards in the Asian continent.”
Expressing gratitude on being felicitated at multiple forums, Bhawnani says, “I am grateful to be recognized in India and beyond, for various achievements. I do enjoy tremendous respect from all sections of the society; I am being invited by various associations and organizations. I have been involved in a number of massive humanitarian causes that have played a pivotal role in the upliftment of the economically weaker sections in India and the UAE, which is a clear testimony of Social Responsibilities carried out by the West Zone Group.”
He can be best described as an epitome of selflessness, when he declares, “The triumphs wouldn’t have been possible to me if I would not have dedicated my time to indulge into the prayers and thanking God at every step of my success.”
WORKING HARD TO MAKE THE WORLD A BETTER PLACE
A philanthropist to the core, Bhawnani is actively involved in giving back to society through the CSR arm of West Zone Group. He elaborates, “We have established our CSR initiatives as a reflection of our mission and business core values. My agenda of working is not merely getting into business but also giving back to society by creating various job platforms. I ensure that everyone is being trained to deliver proper customer service through various mediums and channels in customer service and after sale services. This leads into customer happiness and satisfaction in the end. With strong customer support, we plan to nurture the relationship of customer and counter staffs to levels above and beyond today’s standards. Our vision is to focus on daily consumer needs at affordable prices without compromising on quality. Here we are, serving the best of today and making the tagline ‘Live Better Today’.”
According to him, “Youth is the future.” He believes that “they are those talented mechanisms of society who are changing the total ideology of working by working in an innovative way that they can!” He asserts, “For me the only message to the youth is to keep the same enthusiasm and spirit as this will lead to the making of a strong, stable society. One advice is preserving the Nature/ Biosphere in every possible way as this is what we inherited and this is only what we will pass on!”
