Born and raised in Mumbai Kabir Mulchandani is a visionary businessman and entrepreneur who in barely 20 years has gone from retailer of consumer electronics to “Dubai’s High Five” as Forbes called him in a recent profile. The name stems from his real estate development and hospitality firm FIVE Holdings for which he serves as Chairman.
Mulchandani is best known as the founder of the FIVE Hotel in Dubai. In 2021 Arabian Business named Mulchandani one of the “Richest and Most Powerful Indians in the Middle East”. A distinction made all the more impressive by the fact that he moved to Dubai less than 20 years earlier with no experience or assets in the area.
So how did a man who cut his teeth selling TVs in Mumbai turn himself into one of the richest and most powerful Indian businessmen in the Middle East, if not the world?
Kabir was born in Mumbai, India into an entrepreneurial family. As a boy, he attended private schools before being sent to the US where he studied at the prestigious Exeter Academy (alma mater of US Presidents, their children and business luminaries including Mark Zuckerberg), before moving on to Stanford University where he studied industrial engineering.
Upon returning to India at the request of his entrepreneurial mother he arrived at the first of his business crossroads. It is traditional for Indian men to follow in their fathers’ footsteps, Kabir’s father had built a consumer electronics business called Baron Electronics. She challenged Kabir to take the business to the next level and that is exactly what he did. Within just a few years he was being hailed as “Mumbai’s Marketer” by The Economist magazine.
Kabir’s unique value-orientated approach to retail transformed Baron into one of India’s leading consumer electronics firms, but Kabir longed for life beyond retail. In 2009 he sold Baron and began searching for new challenges. While spending 2 nights at the Ritz Carlton in Dubai he was struck by what he saw out his hotel window. Dubai, it seemed to him, was alive with opportunities in a way few cities ever are.
With no experience in real estate, he took a chance and purchased a 4-storey property and within months was able to sell it at a 20% profit. That success whet his appetite for more and led to the founding of his Dubai real estate development company, Dynasty Zarooni.
Dynasty’s first significant foray into the Dubai market comprised purchasing three projects that were still in the planning phase: Jumeirah Business Centre, Hydra Square Tower and Marina Square. In short order, he was able to resell these projects to developers at 10X his initial investment.
In 2011 Kabir invested an additional $50 million into Dynasty and restructured it to create SKAI Holdings. SKAI would later change its name to FIVE and make a high-profile venture into the hospitality industry with the development of the $1 billion, 5-Star, FIVE Palm Jumeirah Hotel, considered one of the top luxury hotels in the UAE. FIVE would later undertake the development of the now iconic 59-storey FIVE Jumeirah Village luxury 5-Star hotel.
Depending on who you ask, Kabir Mulchandani’s net worth is estimated to be anywhere from $500 million to $3-4 billion, and growing. FIVE continues to be a leading player in the Dubai real estate and hospitality space and recently launched FIVE Zurich, their first foray into the international market.
In 2012 Kabir Mulchandani married UAE real estate mogul Nadia Zaal. Nadia’s grandfather Zaal Mohammed Zaal, founded the prominent property development company Al Barari, and Nadia herself is the co-founder of Zaya Nurai Island, a private island resort situated in the pristine waters of the Gulf just off the coast of Abu Dhabi. Together the couple have 4 children.
Founder of the FIVE Hotel Kabir Mulchandani believes that giving back is an integral part of success. To that end, he established and plays a central role in guiding FIVE Cares, the philanthropic arm of FIVE Holdings. In 2018 Kabir Mulchandani was named “Philanthropist of the Year” at the CEO Middle East Awards ceremony.