How one man built 15,000 homes for those who could not afford it

Estimated reading time: 2.5 mins

In recent times, houses are becoming expensive to rent/buy, this is the story of Dubai’s 1% man and how he built 15,000 homes for people to live in.

Rizwan Sajan was an average kid, who lived in the slums of Mumbai, his house did not even have a toilet, instead a public toilet was shared with 30-40 people!
One day his dad won the government home lottery and had the chance to buy a private house with a discount. They went from living in a shack to a private home.
At this time, he had a lot of doors opened for him, and soon he understood the value of a house

After a few years, he shifted to Dubai in 1991, at this time there were barely any buildings and Dubai was largely a desert. There were very little houses and establishments, so he came up with a 1% plan and founded the Danube Group. Basically, you pay a very small down payment, and pay 1% of the remaining amount only once per month, this way people could afford to live in houses, without worrying much about their budget since the amount to be paid was divided in many installments.

But his path was not easy, many people said this would not work, but guess what? it actually worked! thousands of expats began to buy his homes at a very small price, This made him into a billionaire and what started off as a small trading company has now become an international multi-billion dollar conglomerate. Today, the Danube Group continues to continuing to provide homes and opportunities for thousands in the vibrant city he now calls home.