Live and Benefit Others

True wealth is measured not by bank balances but by the mark one leaves upon the world. Faruh Kurbanov, founder of DIA Holding, builds not merely houses but a new philosophy of living. In this exclusive interview, he speaks of his journey from window fitter to international property developer, of projects in Dubai and Kazakhstan, and of why the essential thing in life is to be of service.

DIA Properties

When I earned my first million dollars, I travelled extensively, holidayed, allowed myself everything I wanted. Then came the question: what next? Trips abroad, breaks in different countries several times a year ceased to give pleasure. I began charitable work, and when I organised my first event, I understood: this is what we earn money for. Reading the hadith, I came across this saying: 'The best among you is he who benefits people.' This became my life's creed.

Why do I pursue business? To bring good into the world. When people ask why I moved to Dubai, I answer: to broaden my business horizons. I have considerable energy; I'm building in Barcelona, Dubai, Almaty, Astana. I need substantial funds because I enjoy changing the world for the better.

DIA Holding is a socially oriented enterprise. We implement several social projects, particularly in education. Moreover, we've chosen an unprofitable path because we understand that all problems stem from poor upbringing and lack of education. We came to Dubai to earn money so we could undertake more charitable projects. Time is short and there's much to be done; one must accomplish a great deal.

My path in business began at fifteen. I'm now forty. I left the window company where I worked as a fitter, opened my own window manufacturing business, then launched a construction firm. By twenty-seven, I had my first million dollars. Today I share my experience with younger colleagues; that too is a service. After I leave this world, I wouldn't wish to take my knowledge with me.
In Dubai we're building a residential complex on Dubai Island (sometimes called the Third Palm). It comprises 114 apartments, and our task is to deliver a quality project, fulfilling all obligations on schedule. We don't position ourselves in the luxury segment, but we strive to create exceptional service for residents: golf carts to transport people to the beach, concierge services, the option to summon a masseuse to one's home. We plan to establish partnerships with nearby hotels so our residents can use their facilities.

Why Dubai Island? It's a new island where lessons from previous projects have been learnt. Living by water is more interesting, and the location is convenient relative to the airport. An interesting fact: we purchased the plot for $6.5 million directly from Nakheel, and now offers stand at $19 million. We could have sold it and profited, but we decided to build, establishing our reputation. The island will have golf courses, a dedicated mall; infrastructure is being developed by Rixos, and their hotel will be literally a block away from our project. There's even the city's only beach where one can bring pets.

Impressing Dubai is difficult. Various housing segments and construction approaches are represented here. Our priorities are quality, meeting deadlines, and subsequent management of residential complexes. We haven't entered the Dubai market for a single year or project. We live here, our children attend local schools, we've bought property; we already consider ourselves residents.

Our company's distinguishing feature is attention to detail. In this project we worked extensively with architects on the façade, using expensive materials, including aluminium. All our projects feature quality courtyards and children's playgrounds. I have four children, and when they visit the houses we've built, they speak enthusiastically about the numerous playgrounds and swings. This is our signature touch, which we've brought to the Dubai project as well.

We use quality façade materials, so the building doesn't lose relevance over the years. When we built the sports centre in Astana, we set ourselves the task of creating a design that would remain current even after thirty years. It's like the Ritz Carlton in Astana: the building is nearly twenty years old, yet it's still fashionable.

In our layouts we've considered different needs. Of the 114 apartments, three are so-called 'Kazakh flats' with a large hall for receiving guests, a separate kitchen and living room. It bothers me when children watch television, my wife cooks, and everything happens in one space. The remaining apartments are designed for investors, including an innovative solution: two-bedroom flats with two separate kitchens that can be divided and let as two separate studios, each with its own bathroom and kitchen. Interestingly, these flats sold first.

In Kazakhstan we build very quickly, in nine to ten months. How do we do this without compromising technology? We apply kaizen, the Japanese system of continuous production improvement. We work to eliminate waste and optimise processes. Our record for building a three-section, twelve-storey brick house was six and a half months from piles to ribbon-cutting. And this without night work, in an affluent district where one mustn't disturb the peace.

In Dubai they say to us: 'You'll build for three years?' We reply two, because this is our first project here. In future we want to reach eighteen months, which is remarkably fast even for Dubai. Many brokers advise against haste because investors favour instalment plans. But as an investor myself, I believe money should make money. The faster you build, the faster you sell, the faster you profit.

We have our own window production facility in Kazakhstan, and in Dubai we plan to manufacture windows and internal engineering ourselves. This allows us to earn 'plus one rouble' and control quality. When a contractor brings his own materials, plastic pipes for instance, we don't know where he's purchased them. They look identical externally, but testing each batch in a laboratory is expensive and time-consuming. When we procure materials ourselves, we know their origin and quality.

Besides the Dubai project, we're actively developing educational initiatives in Kazakhstan. We're the main sponsors of the Mereke charitable foundation in Astana and Almaty, where we also serve as volunteers. Last year, on our initiative, the foundation began implementing a scholarship programme for students at several universities. We created the Sana Education student campus for a hundred people with a gymnasium, two meals daily, security, ironing and laundry services. All this costs students approximately $150, a very affordable price for Astana. Our aim is for students to focus solely on their education and studies. We have agreements with several schools and universities that help us select students with high moral qualities and good performance across all subjects.

We also have the Sana Bilim educational centre with a thousand pupils and about twenty sections and courses: dance, choreography, piano, swimming (there's a professional twenty-five-metre pool), percussion instruments, bass guitar, drums, journalism, artistic creation, sewing, cookery. Nowadays gadgets distract children considerably, and we try to accustom them to developmental activities. There's robotics and Arduino, where children create robots using artificial intelligence.

In Almaty we built the Sana Urpaq kindergarten for a hundred and eighty children; it's housed in a three-storey building with a fenced terrace for walks on the roof. The kindergarten itself includes a sports hall, pottery studio and salt room.

This year we began constructing the Sana School private school for nine hundred children. We're in talks with the Gems Arab-American school from Dubai to open their branch in Astana. We want the Arab flag in our school; it's how we advertise and promote the Emirates' interests. Next February we plan to begin enrolling pupils who will be the first to sit at desks in the new school on 1 September.

In Barcelona we opened an office on Diagonal Street to sell Dubai property. We plan to develop three directions there: IT, window production and construction. We're studying the property market but also considering building a resort area.

I myself live in Dubai Hills. I like this district, though it's not by the water. I bought a villa there and acquired a plot in Emerald Hills to build a luxury villa worth about $12–13 million. The plot cost $5 million and offers now stand at around $7 million. Dubai Hills is convenient for travelling in any direction; it's a quiet family district with its own mall and park.

When people ask where I'd recommend living, I always suggest Dubai Hills. And for investment I advise Dubai Island. I see no preconditions for a fall in Dubai's property market. Even when military action began in neighbouring countries, everyone thought the market would halt, but this didn't happen. There's simply no alternative to Dubai with its tax regime, security and financial stability.

My drive to work and succeed largely comes from childhood. I was born in Karaganda, a small mining town in central Kazakhstan. My childhood passed in straitened circumstances, in rented accommodation. My family and I moved sixty-five times; it was a difficult, impoverished childhood. Hence the desire to work hard, earn money, be successful and have a roof over one's head. Now I have a flat or villa in practically every city I visit.

When people say, 'You have several million in the bank, why buy property?' I recall Robert Kiyosaki's book 'Rich Dad, Poor Dad'. He maintains that purchasing a flat generates passive income. I partly disagree. We're not eternal; we might not wake tomorrow, and the family would be left without housing. First one must think of one's family, of children and wife, and only then of investment strategies.

In business I often apply the kaizen principle of continuous production improvement. We began using this Japanese system at our window production facility. We constantly work on eliminating waste and optimising. For instance, when material arrives and is unloaded in the wrong place, it's a loss of time because it must later be moved. Kaizen teaches one to plan the correct unloading location immediately.

When designing, we produce a detailed master plan. We consider such nuances as tower crane placement accounting for utilities installation. If the crane stands in the path of a future heating main, it paralyses work. By moving it just eight metres, we don't lose a week on reinstallation, and a week on a building site is a colossal period.

Technology is what has always attracted me. In my Astana flat I've installed a comprehensive smart home system: controlling curtains, lights, air conditioning through voice commands. At the Dubai villa I plan to go further: air purification, automatic conditioning, ventilation, lighting adjustment. I want everything to function without human involvement. I confess there were initial difficulties: lights switching off or on at inappropriate moments. But once the system is configured and there's a specialist maintaining it, it's truly convenient.

For our Dubai projects we're considering solar panels and energy-saving glazing that blocks external heat. This is not only ecological but helps residents save on electricity bills, which is always relevant in the Emirates.

In Dubai we encountered one main difficulty: approval timescales. Everything else is familiar: working with designers, government bodies. Some processes here are even better regulated than in Kazakhstan. When I asked where the utility networks ran, they replied, 'Mate, everything's already there on your plot.'

An amusing incident occurred when we opened our first Dubai office. It was small, in Binary Tower. I sat in a tiny office because I only flew in periodically. We invited a broker, and she later told my assistant, 'Tell your boss to make his office bigger.' It was hurtful. When we moved to a new spacious office, people's attitudes changed markedly. Previously we had to explain that we had grand plans; now they come and say, 'Oh, you've done well, you've grown so much.'

My business mentors have been various people. The first was Yuri Valdemarovich, my former boss at the Empire of Windows company in Karaganda. He always smelt pleasant; when he passed, a trail of fragrance remained. He had charisma, cared for employees, paid wages on time. I left his company and opened my own, becoming a competitor, but I always spoke of him positively. From him I learnt the German approach to quality.

Now I have several business partners older than me, aged fifty to sixty, and each is wise in his own way. I learn from many people, take something between the lines. I began studying Islam and found my ideal in the Prophet Muhammad. He said, 'Pay your worker before the sweat dries on his brow,' which concerns timely payment for labour. In his teaching there's so much wisdom about attitudes to business, women, family.

To give you an idea of our ambitions: once a partner asked how much money I needed to settle down. I answered that I wanted to build ten kindergartens, ten schools, ten universities. He said that's enormous money, but we've already built several complexes, roughly twenty per cent of this goal. It seemed unattainable, but everything's possible with desire.

We maintain a culture of continuous learning in our company. Every office has a library. Employees borrow books by signing for them, read and return them. In Dubai the young people decided to hold discussions of books they'd read. Currently, for instance, we're studying James Clear's 'Atomic Habits'. Too often we know clever things but don't apply them in practice.

I encourage practical experience. When my seventeen-year-old daughter said she wanted to become a doctor, I arranged for her to work at a hospital. For six months she worked from seven in the morning till ten at night for minimal pay. Eventually she understood that she'd never say anything bad about doctors; it's unrealistically difficult work, hellish labour. Now she's decided to become a lawyer. It was the same with my partner's daughter, who wanted to be a designer but after a year's work chose the profession of psychotherapist.

We create not merely property developments but projects that transform people's lives. In the student campus we're forming a cluster of like-minded individuals where older students care for younger ones. We're building a community, so graduates continue to communicate and remain friends after finishing their studies. In sports complexes we develop not only the body but team spirit. In Dubai we want to open a jiu-jitsu centre, show local residents our experience from Kazakhstan.

People often ask me, 'Where does such drive to work come from?' My wife is amazed why I go to the office with enthusiasm every morning. The answer is simple: we're currently building a private school costing about $8 million; one must work hard. But the main thing is the desire to benefit the world.

Time is fleeting. We have seventy to eighty years of life, of which, God willing, thirty to forty remain to me. And one wants to leave something good behind. Therefore, my motto 'Live and benefit others' isn't merely words. We're now working with a Moscow publisher on a book with that title.

Many think charity is accessible only to the rich. But even when I had no money, I simply distributed food parcels paid for by a sponsor. One can remove a stone from the road; that too is a good deed. One can teach children, help talented students, develop sport. There are numerous forms of service; they're available to everyone.

I'm building in Dubai not to profit and leave. We've come here to live, learn, work. We want to leave a legacy, so people say, 'They built this.' That too is a service: creating beautiful, quality buildings that will serve for decades. This too is a path to live and benefit others.

And it matters not whether you're building your own house or one for thousands of others. The main thing is to do it with soul, thinking of those who will live in it. Let your mark on this world be constructive. Live and benefit others; it's the only path that has meaning.