Ishwar Chugani is the CEO and Managing Director of Giordano Middle East.

“Next year will be 100 years since my family first stepped foot in the Philippines,” said Ishwar Chugani, Giordano Middle East's CEO and Managing Director who grew up in the Philippines but has Indian roots. “In fact, a lot of my friends ask me, what is your relation with the Philippines? Or ‘Are you Filipino?’ I just say, “Dugong Bombay, pusong Pinoy (Indian by blood, Filipino by heart),” a smiling Chugani tells Expatmedia.net in his noticeable Filipino accent. We sit down with the soft-spoken businessman at the Giordano headquarters along Sheikh Zayed Road. His corner office is clutter free, except for a few old newspaper clippings of his previous interviews, framed and hanged on the wall, some trophies and awards he has received, a framed photo of his family, and a couple of old photos from his younger days in the Philippines. “Giordano is 42 years old this year. That’s how long I have been here, but you can see I don’t have any clutter in my office. I prefer it this way. It helps me think with a clear mind,” he says. Chugani is credited as the first person who brought Giordano to the UAE and the Middle East. He also launched the first amusement arcade in Dubai and the Middle East. He traces his entrepreneur mindset to his upbringing in the Philippines.

Growing up in the Philippines

“I think my growing up in the Philippines is one of the reasons I am where I am today because I am able to assimilate through different cultures. I am able to meet different people, different backgrounds. Even though I run a company as a CEO, but I can be as comfortable with anybody who is either working with the company, anybody who is just starting a business, and I am able to adjust to all of it,” Chugani said. He is the third generation in his family who lived in the Philippines. “My grandfather moved from Hyderabad, Sindh. That time it was still India before the partition. Both my grandparents moved to the Philippines in 1924. And they brought their family after that,” he said, “My mother, who just turned 88 last year, was born and brought up in the Philippines. My father turned 90. Both of them are still there.” Growing up in Bacolod City, Chugani learned entrepreneurship at an early age. His family owned department stores there called Indian Emporium. “I was very fortunate to be brought up in a family of business owners and entrepreneurs. While growing up, studying in Bacolod, I had the opportunity to help the family business,” he said. When he moved to Manila to study in college in the prestigious De La Salle University in the late 1970s, Chugani also helped his uncle manage the biggest amusement arcade in Makati at the time. “On my final year at university I actually didn’t know what I wanted. The easiest option was to come run the family business in Bacolod. But I had a sense of adventure. While I was managing Quad Amusement Arcade, one of the owners of the ETA, Al Ghurair Group approached me in 1979 that they were building the Al Ghurair Center and they wanted to create an amusement arcade. While I was running the amusement arcade they were quite impressed. And without any hesitation, I said, ‘Okay let’s do it',” Chugani recalled.

Landing in Dubai in 1979

A young, adventure-driven Chugani landed in Dubai in 1979. He was 21 and fresh from university. “When I came my first question to myself was, ‘What have I done?’” he said. The Dubai airport, he recalled, “was really, really small” then. His first apartment was a small, one-bedroom that reminded him of a “dormitory”. “I actually had to share a bathroom or toilet,” he said. It was a stark contrast to the affluent life he was used to back home. He also found out that he also had to build from scratch the amusement center that he thought he would just be managing. He never thought of quitting, though. “For me going back, failure was not an option,” Chugani said. “I said to myself, it’s just the beginning. Have some patience. Patience and perseverance. That’s basically very important. And to not just judge everything with what it was.” With patience and perseverance, Chugani set up and opened Sinbad’s Wonderland, the UAE’s and the region’s first family entertainment center in 1980. It was a huge success. “I realized there’s so much potential at that time. I took each day as it came along,” he said. He was met by sceptics back home. “At that time Dubai was still growing. Many people haven’t heard ,” he said. There were hardly 15,000 Filipinos back then, he said. Now there are more than 700,000. “A lot of people said I wouldn’t survive within six months I will be back. Yes, I was back in the Philippines within three months but I was actually on my way to a business trip to Japan,” he said with a grin.

Bringing Giordano to UAE

After successfully opening Sinbad’s Wonderland and creating a business milestone, Chugani set his sights on setting up Dubai’s first store for Giordano, a fashion brand that was founded in Hong Kong in 1981. He was given the franchise for UAE in 1992. From a single store in Dubai’s BurJuman Centre in 1993—which was also the first Giordano store outside of Asia—Giordano now has more than 200 stores across the region, including 45 stores in the UAE alone. With Chugani as CEO and Managing Director for Europe, Middle East and Africa, Giordano operates 2,200 stores in 30 countries, including the UAE. Chugani loves Giordano so much that he literally wears the brand. In fact, he was dressed in Giordano from head to toe during our interview. “At any given time, I would have at least two or three Giordano apparel,” he said. Giordano’s fashion line includes shirts, pants, underwear, accessories and even shoes. What is his favourite? “Everything. I love the joggers. I live in my jogging pants when I come to work,” he shared, adding that he loves the simplicity, functionality and value for money that Giordano represents. Giordano continues to thrive today despite the proliferation of fashion brands in the market. Is Chugani not afraid of competition in the market? “No. We are where we are today because of competition. Otherwise we would be stagnant,” he said, adding that 2022 was the strongest sales win for Giordano.

‘Walking boss’ and employee number one

“I have been fortunate that I have been involved with Giordano as the employee number one here. I built the whole business from the ground up. Understood the intricacies. Our partners did not pressure us into taking out the profits. They make us reinvest the profits,” Chugani answered when asked about Giordano’s success story under his watch. The magnanimous boss credits his team for the success. “All of us has put our hearts and soul into the brand. We have delivered quality products. We have expanded our business. We make sure our customer service is always as expected by our customers or even more,” he said. “I have 650 dedicated, loyal, passionate employees. And I want to see that the more we grow, the more they grow,” he said. Many of Giordano’s management staff started as sales executives at their outlets, with Chugani making it an HR policy that any opportunity for a job promotion is first offered to current employees. “For my people, I told them, we all run this company as our own. Almost 90 percent of my management team has been with us over 20 years,” he said. As a boss, Chugani makes sure his daily routine includes his so-called MBWA. “Management By Walking Around. I visit the shops, meet my staff, and also look at other brands,” he said, adding that it helps him learn about other brands, and get insights from his team members. Ishwar Chugani is the CEO and Managing Director of Giordano Middle East. He starts his day with a morning cup of coffee while reading the news and catching up on emails and messages. “I don’t rush. I normally leave the house by 9:30am or 9:45am come to the office. Most of the day to day work is handled by my team, so my work, most of it can be done on my phone or online. I just come here in case they need to meet me, and to see what’s happening,” he said. He leaves his office in the early afternoon to visit Giordano stores, and is home by around 5pm every day. “Then it’s family time. My time,” he said. What is his secret to success? “Four words: Sincerity, humility, integrity and trust. If you put all that together, nothing is going to stop you from reaching great heights,” Chugani said. He also practices the advice of his elders. “My father and grandfather say, ‘Whatever project you do, always think that it is your own.’ The first thing in my mind coming here is, I did not come here to work for the company. I came here to work with them. And I came here because I had the opportunity for growth, to prove myself that I can create a business, build it up and create opportunities for many more people.” Chugani’s advice to anyone who wants to be an entrepreneur? “Make sure you have the patience, perseverance and also funds to back it up. If you are a couple and both are working, both should not leave their jobs. You should not close all the doors. Let someone earn and let someone do the business. There’s a lot of opportunities out there. Put your mind into it.”

Chugani’s three H in business

Chugani advises budding entrepreneurs to follow the three H in business. He explains: “Your heart, your hand and your head. Have passion in whatever you do, that’s where your heart comes in. Number two, your head: You need to have common sense and put some thought in whatever you do. And, of course, you need to sweat it out and work with your hands. In whatever you do, if you have the combination of all three, nothing will stop you and success will gradually come.” PIA/Expat Media A condensed version of this story is also in the Expat Media Special Edition magazine. 
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