Masala King Dr. Dhananjay Datar, Chairman & Managing Director of Al Adil Trading was recently honoured by Forbes Middle East as one of the top Indian business leaders who are making an impact in the Middle East for the year 2021. Dr. Datar was ranked 25th in the illustrious list. Last year he was at 27th position and has moved up 2 places. He was honoured for his unparalleled contributions to the retail sector and recognized for his passion and contribution to the advancement of the Middle East region.
Forbes prepares this prestigious list every year with a specific methodology. For that the parameters used are net worth of selected persons, contribution and importance to their sectors, growth and achievements in the last year, employment impact and social impact and other CSR activity. Dr. Datar has shown commendable efforts for social service and also achieved business growth in his sector. During the COVID-19 pandemic period, when thousands of jobless and penniless Indian workers were stranded in UAE hoping to return home, Dr. Datar proactively sponsored all travel expenses of these needy people and helped them unite with their families. Forbes ME has honourably mentioned this drive while announcing Dr. Datar’s ranking.
After the announcement of this award, Dr. Datar said, “I accept this honour humbly as it inspires me to continue on the path of progress. It is a culmination of the team efforts of all the employees of Al Adil group. Last year was a challenging period for all of us and it made an adverse impact on the business sector also. While facing this challenge we have not forgotten our social responsibility. I got the whole hearted contribution of my family, employees and customers in this effort. We endeavoured to send jobless and penniless Indian workers stranded in Gulf countries safely to India. We distributed thousands of free food packages and medicine kits to such people and sponsored their travel and medical tests expenses. I am happy that we have been able to help more than 5000 Indian workers in this way. We have also made every effort for the release of 700 Indian workers who were confined in the lock-up of KSA under minor law violations negligently. Our follow up and dialogue bore fruit and they were successfully returned to their homes.”
He further said, “Our Al Adil group also helped for other social causes. In August 2020 an Air India Express plane crashed on Kozhikode Airport and 20 passengers including pilot Captain Sathe and co-pilot Akhilesh Kumar lost their lives. We proactively helped the financially stressed families of these crash victims with a financial aid of Rs. 2 million. In another incident, a shipping crew including 14 Indians, 5 Bangladeshis and one Egyptian which had been confined in Yemen for 10 months was at last released safely. We took painstaking efforts to make this rescue possible by keeping up continuous communication with the Indian Embassy in Djibouti which is close to Yemen. We also donated a sum of Rs. 20,000 each as an emergency help to these penniless workers. I am determined to continue such social service initiatives in the future.”