Doomed to Success
In a world where symmetry, standards, and uniformity prevailed, the emphasis is gradually shifting, and true connoisseurs are beginning to choose something different. Responding to demand and simultaneously shaping the market, innovative companies like Serip are giving preference to a design style based on the uneven, unconventional, and outstanding. Contrasts, vivid "wow" moments, and lively observations complement the story of Konstantin Kravtsov, the owner of the OK Galleries Dubai showroom, about how the company is successfully and confidently developing the UAE market today.
Our first interior showroom opened on 19 May 2004 in Luhansk. 20 years ago, we started furnishing apartments and villas with premium furniture, lighting, and decorative items. It was a unique project, as the investment spent on it together with my three partners amounted to around $12,000. Perhaps nowadays, this is the amount people spend on a holiday, but at that time, it was a fortune for the four of us. It's difficult to convey the challenges we faced during this difficult time, but the project's powerful internal energy and our endless enthusiasm laid the foundation for a future successful venture.
The path to the UAE market was filled with numerous events and transformations. The company developed and scaled. The number of showrooms increased and decreased, partners and even country locations changed. Today, my team and I are here in Dubai, where a new stage of our development has begun.
OK Galleries Dubai is not just a showroom; it's the embodiment of a dream, an emotion in the moment. The project's concept is to focus not so much on furniture, lighting, textiles, or decor, but on the interior; to create a space for designers and architects from all over the world — a Design Space. Our mission is to create vibrant and unique projects in collaboration with trendy brands: Serip, Flou, Cesar kitchens, Caccaro, ADL, Cea Design, Flos, Trussardi Casa, Miele, Gaggenau, Mottura, Buster+Punch, Pinetti, Bosa, and many others. These are not just manufacturers — they are traditions, history, and the design of European craftsmen.
One of my favourite brands is Serip. In the realm of design and decorative lighting, the brand Serip stands out for its long history and impeccable style. Founded in 1961, the company is renowned for its creations that blend elements of art and practicality. The Bijout, Aqua, Nenufar, and Coral collections have already garnered interest in Dubai. Lights’ fixture is made of precious handcrafted bronze and hand-blown artistic glass reflecting the Portuguese traditions and half a century of family expertise behind the brand. At the Serip showroom in Design Space of OK Galleries, one can view these art objects and see how spaces are literally built around them. They have the potential to inspire buyers and serve as a starting point for creating a unique and authentic interior.
Our goal is to make people happy. We fill interiors, realising the images that clients once imagined, bringing them to life. By creating beauty, we strive to make this world a better place. This is the philosophy of our project, which we convey in the UAE market.
What you mentally formulate and aspire to ultimately comes to fruition. This is an important thought and an interesting fact. As proof, I can tell you a story about how, six months after opening the first showroom, I had to defend my thesis on "Enterprise Economics" on the topic "Strategy for Anti-Crisis Management of Furniture showrooms". At that time, there was only one showroom. I wrote it, defended it with distinction, and, as it turned out later, described the actual future structure of the company and all the challenges we faced 10 years later.
It all started very interestingly. I flew here for three days, one might say, on a scouting mission, and stayed for six months. Opening a company here is not a problem; it can be done within three days. But then it got much more "fun". Renting a premises in Dubai is very difficult. There are no companies that specifically select them. Mostly, it is done by agencies, but they work in a specific building or location, such as a shopping centre. It's impossible to analyse the entire market with one realtor. This was one of the biggest difficulties I want to talk about in more detail.
At some point, I just lost hope, went to the window in the hotel, and, turning my gaze to the mosque, mentally asked for help. And what do you think? Literally turning my head 10 centimetres to the right, I saw the inscription "To-Let". Indeed, miracles happen in Dubai: soon the premises became ours. When you visit this beautiful showroom, you can see for yourself that it is truly unique: it is located in a high-traffic area and stands out from all others in the local market.
To be honest, the difficulties in the new market are in everything. For example, opening a bank account here was not easy, but there was no rush at the time, since it was necessary to create a design project for the showroom, do repairs, and order products for the exposition. And the second aspect: everyone knows that the main thing in any business is the team. It was difficult for us even to formulate tasks for HR in order to correctly describe the image of a sales manager. We had to change all our previously developed templates and experience. It was not easy to adapt the processes and operating mode of the showroom to the diversity of cultures and religions in Dubai. Especially difficult when English language skills leave much to be desired. The manager should conduct strategic sessions, discuss clients, and hold meetings in their native language, and here, for most people, the native language is Arabic or English. But we managed: we built the system in such a way that each of our employees knows one common language for everyone, and it's not Arabic. We have worked out a communication system and complement it every day, now based on personal experience.
However, in my opinion, there are more advantages than disadvantages to doing business in the UAE. Dubai is one of the markets, or one of the cities, where you feel at ease when starting a business. Normal, acceptable taxes. General rules of the game that are truly the same for everyone. The market itself is growing: a large number of buildings, the development of architecture and design, a fashion for beautiful things, following global trends. Business here is as promising as possible, and if you take a map of the world as a whole, I don't see any alternatives right now.
Perhaps some would consider it a disadvantage that everything is new for the team here. When you are learning something new, naturally, you miss things and make mistakes. But later, when you already understand the variety of opportunities, it becomes an advantage rather than a disadvantage. The same goes for difficulties with clients. We are used to working with a certain type of client, but here it is completely different. For me, this is another advantage — emotional growth and a challenge that I want to accept.
One of the main goals was and remains the task of getting more percentages of local clients from the Middle East region. At the initial stage of the project launch, it was only 2%, now we have already reached 20%, and the goal by the end of the year is to reach 40% of buyers from this region. We have extensive experience working with our clients, but working with locals — from the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, Jordan, Kuwait, Iran, and other Persian Gulf countries — will be our task, for the achievement of which we will make every effort in the coming years.
We opened in the UAE not so long ago — in November 2023. At the same time, we stood with one of the wonderful Serip factories at the Dubai Design Week exhibition. We held three super events and two dozen presentations in the showroom, and provided training for more than 50 design and architectural studios in Dubai. We continue to actively get to know everyone, bring in new products, change the exposition — and fly forward.
We believe that only progressive movement and the ability to overcome difficulties can lead to success. There are always difficulties on the life path of an entrepreneur. But positive thinking of the leader and the team is important in any business. In Dubai, the result depends only on you and your associates, and not on any factors or people you meet along the way. Here I have gleaned an important thought: by realising yourself in Dubai, you get emotions that cause a general feeling of happiness. And also — everything that does not stop us makes us stronger. Moving towards your goal and dream is all that remains for us. We are only a year old, and we have taken the first steps, if we compare ourselves with those companies that have been in the market for 10-15 years, but I am confident that we will grow and become the most serious company in the UAE market.
You can spend a very long time mathematically calculating business models and writing business plans. But if you have never worked in this market, even if you have a good, well-developed, powerful system and experience in other markets, it is still difficult to predict anything. I would advise beginners: if you are 100% confident in yourself, if a fire burns inside you, then you will succeed. If there are even the slightest doubts, don't start! Unfortunately, there are many cases in the Dubai market where people enter with their projects and close them after a year, two, or three. It is necessary to take into account that the expense here is very high; consequently, all these unsuccessful attempts end with large financial losses.
By the way, our company does not attract outside finance. We have always developed organically, earning and investing in ourselves. That's our business model. I believe that a project will be successful if you are ready to spend all your money on its development. This is a difficult path, especially when you want to scale quickly, but a big plus is the high resistance to external factors.
I want to say here in the words of the great: "Success is the ability to move from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm." Churchill is right in some ways, but I want to rephrase it a little: Success is moving forward with achievements and the ability to come to a better result each time after a fall. And for me, at the moment, the most significant achievement is working here in Dubai right now, having opened the first project, the first showroom. I remember every little detail, even the dialogues with the first clients.
Purposefulness is important for success; without this quality, it is difficult to achieve something. To go towards a goal, understanding its importance for yourself, to change life strategies, not to be afraid to make mistakes, to make difficult decisions, to powerfully influence the ideas of others in which you sincerely believe, and to be honest with your team and with loved ones. And here two more indispensable things are added: sincerity and openness. The complex, the balance of all internal components is important here.
Another component of success is networking. If we take the UAE, then here I turn to those people whom I trust for advice, who have long local experience and know how the local market works. I want to note that in Dubai, people easily make contact and readily share business secrets and ideas. They almost always give advice — completely selflessly. This is very important. Over time, you begin to do the same and help novice entrepreneurs. Transferring experience and giving more than you receive becomes an integral principle of life. This is predisposed by the positive energy in the city, in the country.
Grand plans and a magnificent state of mind are born here, and you want and need to share them. The more people know about your goals, the more likely you are to realise them. We plan to open a showroom in Abu Dhabi next year. I won't reveal the details, but I will say that the negotiation process is underway now. In two years, we will launch a similar project in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. We have already started preparing for it; we need to assemble a powerful team. This market is really promising for our business, albeit very difficult. Everything that is being built there today will turn into ready-made objects for furnishing with premium furniture and lighting in two years.
The Middle East is increasingly capturing our hearts, and I am confident that even greater opportunities will open up here. And we will continue, by creating the beautiful, to make our world better. Every one of our employees knows this motto; it contains the meaning, philosophy, and value of our business.
