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Dr. Ravi Modani Spearheading MSME Financial Transformation through Innovative Factoring Solutions

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Dr Ravi Modani 121 Finance

In the intricate web of business operations, cash reigns supreme as the driving force behind efficient working capital management. However, this critical aspect presents one of the most significant challenges for micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in India. The sector, encompassing a staggering 6.33 crore enterprises, grapples with issues like delayed payments, inventory constraints, and mounting debts. The majority of these businesses, around 6.30 crore, fall into the micro-enterprise category and often resort to high-interest loans from unorganized lenders. These loans, designed to meet short-term needs, often place MSMEs in dire financial straits. Despite government initiatives, lack of awareness remains a stumbling block in alleviating these financial burdens.

Unveiling the Power of Factoring

Amid this challenging landscape, factoring emerges as a beacon of hope for MSMEs seeking to streamline their working capital for smoother operations. Factoring involves the sale of invoices to a third party, known as a factor or factoring company, at a discount, providing immediate funds for business operations. The recent amendment to the Factoring Regulation Act, 2011 by the Government of India has expanded the scope of companies eligible to undertake factoring business. 121 Finance, a Jaipur-based Non-Banking Financial Company (NBFC), seized this opportunity to become India’s pioneering NBFC-Factor, bringing the benefits of factoring to the MSME sector.

Transformative Leadership of Dr. Ravi Modani:

At the forefront of this financial revolution stands Dr. Ravi Modani, the Founder and CEO of 121 Finance. Dr. Modani’s journey has been punctuated by a deep understanding of working capital management, fueled by his extensive experience spanning three decades in various global businesses. His commitment to empower businesses and streamline their working capital management led to the establishment of 121 Finance.

Empowering MSMEs Through Factoring:

Dr. Modani emphasizes that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) serves as the governing body, ensuring that all transactions are legal and regulated. In India, factoring was traditionally reserved for corporates, but 121 Finance is shifting its focus to cater specifically to the needs of MSMEs. By offering factoring services, MSMEs can sell their invoices to 121 Finance and receive immediate cash, circumventing the typical waiting period of 30-120 days. This approach accelerates business cycles, enhancing cash flow and rotation, all without the requirement of collateral.

A Gateway to Financial Liberation:

Unlike conventional financing avenues, factoring presents a risk-free alternative. It encompasses options like collections and receivable management services, simplifying the process for MSMEs. Loans often entail collateral demands and prolonged approval timelines, while factoring leverages the value of invoices and offers shorter durations of 15-120 days, a boon for MSMEs.

Unveiling New Avenues for MSMEs:

121 Finance’s footprint extends beyond factoring, with strategic collaborations to empower MSMEs. The company is a prominent presence on government platforms like GeM Sahay, offering short-term credit for purchases on the portal. Additionally, they serve as a trusted financier on all three TReDS platforms, including InvoiceMart, M1xchange, and RXIL, further reinforcing their commitment to supporting MSMEs.

Forging Ahead with Vision:

The journey ahead for 121 Finance is illuminated by their vision to disburse Rs 500 crore in the current financial year. By simplifying financial solutions and raising awareness about factoring, Dr. Ravi Modani and his team are poised to reshape the working capital landscape for MSMEs across India. Their unwavering focus on innovation and growth promises a brighter future for these businesses.

Dr. Ravi Modani’s pioneering spirit, combined with 121 Finance’s innovative factoring solutions, embodies a new era for MSME working capital management. As India’s first NBFC-Factor, they are determined to empower MSMEs, catalyzing their growth and fostering their success in the ever-evolving business environment.

Entrepreneurs

The Inspiring Journey of AW Rostamani Group

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AW Rostamani Group, or AWR, was founded in 1954 by brothers Abdul Wahid and Abdullah Hassan Al Rostamani. The brothers started as a small family business along the shores of Dubai Creek but developed into the two enthusiastic readers who led them to open Al Ahliya Library–Dubai’s first bookshop. They imported books from Egypt, Syria, and Lebanon-needed for people in Dubai, making a vital cultural input to the people of Dubai. This small effort has led to the rise of a diversified and powerful business empire.

The AW Rostamani Group is operating 12 companies operating within seven diversified sectors-that include automotive, real estate, retail, lighting, travel, and logistics. Today, the group employs over 3,800 people and is always looking for new horizons to develop in the UAE. One of the earliest ventures developed by the group was Arabian Automobiles, which was established back in 1968. Today, it is the only distributor of Nissan, INFINITI, and Renault vehicles in Dubai and the Northern Emirates. Through constant expansion of its network of showrooms, service centres, and spare parts outlets, the company has helped AWR consolidate its reputation in the automotive sector.

In 1981, AW Rostamani forayed into the real estate business through AW Rostamani Real Estate. The real estate business has played a prime role in developing and managing properties be it commercial or residential across the UAE, and its iconic structures include the 21st Century Tower on Sheikh Zayed Road. The core offerings of AWR Properties continue to be property development, leasing, and facilities management for a panoply of assets including residential, retail, and commercial spaces.

In 1998, the group launched AW Rostamani Logistics, offering international logistics services to meet growing demand in the region for supply chain solutions. This also marked the beginning of diversifying the portfolio and becoming a one-stop shop for most businesses. The group also entered technology by setting up AW Rostamani Shift Technologies back in 2006. Shift Technologies concentrates on IT and business consultancy services, which aid other businesses to cope with this fast-changing digital world. One of the most important accomplishments in the AWR’s history took place in 2004-the company’s cooperation with Oracle-a step that very much changed the technological power of the company, powerfulizing internal capabilities and opening up service delivery channels in the UAE and beyond.

AW Rostamani Lifestyle, formed in 2012, entered the group into the fashion, jewellery, and home ware sectors, bringing into the UAE international brands, including Georg Jensen, Graffiti, Vhernier, and American Rag. This strategic play expands the group’s portfolio into retail business that caters directly to consumers. The group believes that the Vhernier brand, famous for high-end Italian jewellery, and American Rag Cie, an American multi-brand retail store, offer unique and prestigious brands to discerning customers in the UAE. Its existence in malls such as Dubai Mall has allowed AWR to find its niche in the high-end retail industry.

A leadership team with a visionary at its core, AW Rostamani has remained loyal to the founding vision of the original founders. Khalid Abdul Wahid Al Rostamani is the chairman of AW Rostamani and oversees all diverse companies in the group, emphasizing sustainability of growth and innovation. The Managing Director Huda Al Rostamani manages the lifestyle division of the group. Amina Al Rostamani heads the real estate arm as the Chief Executive Officer of AWR Properties. These have continuously diversified and expanded under their able guidance, adapting to the challenges and opportunities facing the market while retaining the fundamental goals of the founders in terms of quality, customer satisfaction, and community involvement.

Other corporate social responsibility initiatives are also undertaken by the AW Rostamani Group, contributing to the community. In 2018, the group launched the “Enriching Communities” platform in a mission to support a broad spectrum of causes and initiatives in the UAE. From visits to the Dubai Autism Centre to collaborations with Zayed University to assist the students of determination, CSR efforts by AW Rostamani showcase its allegiance to societal well-being.

From a small bookshop on Dubai Creek to an influential business group engaged in all segments, AW Rostamani Group has etched an impressive history of growth, resilience, and innovation. It does business in most sectors, ranging from automotive to real estate and from technology to lifestyle, while being dedicated to enriching the community.

The focus of AW Rostamani Group will continue to be driven by a desire to extend its influence, innovate, and add value to customers and other stakeholders alike. Strategically positioned through partner-driven forward-looking leadership and adherence to quality and service, AW Rostamani continues to be an indispensable contributor to the prosperous economy of the UAE while keeping alive and building upon what the founders established.

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Entrepreneurs

Marwa Hassan: Dubai’s Style Icon and Top Hijabi Influencer

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Marwa is a young, budding Egyptian Muslim entrepreneur who does not only blog about fashion and lifestyle but is also an inspiration to many young women for her modest yet very stylish hijabi fashion. In her 22nd year, she started her own couture line for the hijabi woman; that is how far her journey had spread from being a budding fashionista to becoming a social media sensation. With a fanbase growing by the day across her social media platforms, Marwa Hassan is really soaring high in the world of fashion, beauty, and lifestyle.

Starting out in fashion through modest fashion, Marwa Hassan saw an opportunity in launching her own hijabi couture line for the modest style with elegance combined. This style fit so well within the Muslim women in the Middle East. She shared her personal fashion choices and styling tips online, and within no time, her influence exploded as a prolific and in-demand fashion and lifestyle blogger. Marwa’s entrepreneurial spirit enabled her to create a space for hijabi fashion in an industry that would perhaps look the other way and avoid it, but she managed to inspire hundreds of women who basically wear their style without giving up their cultural or religious sense.

Marwa is one of the elites influencers of Dubai, taking her reach beyond the realm of fashion. She has been capturing the attention of millions of people all over the world through her beauty and lifestyle content, with the collaboration with top local and international brands putting her in the pivotal position as a sought-after voice in the industry. Brands like Huawei, Ikea, Zanussi, Garnier, L’Oréal, Juhayna, and Jolly Chic partnered with Marwa, acknowledging her good exposure towards a diversified audience. Authenticity and dedication to products she genuinely believes in have earned Marwa the love of her followers, making her one of the most influential persons in cyberspace.

Marwa’s association is not limited to fashion and beauty. She has worked with top tech brands like Huawei, creating an opening that bridges technology and lifestyle. In other words, work with Ikea was a stunning example of how she could create décor and lifestyle content, though with her own personal twist. With such diverse collaborations, these relationships only go to show just how multifaceted her influence is-perhaps because she is so adept at reconciling many facets of herself in the very context in which she connects with her fans. Marwa’s curative ability of such diversified content has given her the momentum of creating women all over the globe to be inspired by her style in fashion, beauty, and more.

What sets Marwa Hassan apart from the rest in a world of influencers is that she stands true to who she is. Being a Muslim female and an entrepreneur she used her show as breaking the clichés and strengthening the positive image for hijabi women. Marwa empowered women through her fashion line by showing them how they could be modest and yet let out their style. This bikini-hating hijabi’s coueturn line came to be conceived out of a desire for the ability to carry out smart, stylish dressing modestly, without the compromise of the fashion factor. Today, she epitomizes perhaps the epitome of elegance, power, and confidence.

She is going further than the blog and social media circles themselves. More young entrepreneurs, especially women from the Middle East, begin to feel inspired by Marwa’s success as a success story, in this one case. Indeed, it has become a testament to the strength of pursuing one’s passion and staying true to oneself in a world where more often than not, trends dominate individuality. To date, Marwa Hassan continues to inspire many women to follow their dreams, embrace their culture, and make their mark in the fashion and beauty industries.

As the fame of Marwa Hassan increases, there are no doubts she will continue opening new thresholds and raising the bar for the world of fashion and lifestyle. Whether it is top global brands she is working with or simple ways and tips on hijabi fashion, authenticity and passion pour through every corner of Marwa’s actions. She emerged as a trendsetter in hijabi fashions and a role model for women all over the world, indicating that modesty need not be the contradiction of style.

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Entrepreneurs

Atlas Jewellery: Crafting Timeless Elegance across the Middle East and India

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Atlas Jewellery is the name of elegance, craftsmanship, and affordability-all under one roof. Founded in 1981 by Dr. M. M. Ramachandran, this Indian-owned jewellery retailer has expanded its presence across the Middle East with 41 stores in the UAE, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait. Atlas Jewellery is very popular for supplying a huge amount of jewellery in diamonds as well as non-diamonds. It promises quality jewellery at lower prices. Let’s go beneath the journey of this giant jewellery firm that makes it unique in the space of high-end retailing.

Atlas Jewellery is one of the up-and-coming jewellery players in the market today. The company has 41 stores in the key locations in the UAE, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and even India. And it is indeed diversity in collection-cum-wide ranging variety that is mainly fuelling this success-from modern-chic to traditional-ethnic designs. This wide range ensures that Atlas offers something for everyone but with very high standards of purity and services that have won the trust of customers over three decades. The story of Atlas Jewellery is based on the idea of making luxury accessible. Since the day it launched, Atlas has offered a wide range of jewellery through different categories like gold, diamonds, pearls, and gemstones. Each piece is made to purity guarantees the customer value for the amount of money invested. This brand has managed to become a go-to choice for anyone who wants to buy quality, fashionable jewellery without feeling the need to break the bank-the taboo often associated with fine jewellery brands.

Atlas Jewellery has more than 50 stores that exist in all major business markets across the GCC. The brand also has mega showrooms in Cochin, Trivandrum, and Coimbatore, which indicates they are also heavily invested in the Indian market, too. From jewellery to real estate to health care, the Atlas Group diversified into other sectors, which proved that its leadership is very entrepreneurial.

The Atlas Group would also expand further in the Indian gems and jewellery market, using its listed entity, Atlas Jewellery India Limited, which is listed on the Bombay, Delhi, Ahmedabad, and Jaipur stock exchanges and is planning to have a pan-India presence. It has planned to open retail mega showrooms and set up manufacturing operations. Also, Atlas aims to use its international experience for jewel exports, thereby consolidating its position in global markets. The fact that Atlas Jewellery thrives in its success story from quality craftsmanship for each piece in its collection says it all-it has the right attention to maximum care in laying modern technology along with traditional techniques in jewellery that is not only beautiful but also durable. The vast collection that the brand offers would ensure that customers get variety after variety under every distinct occasion-be it wedding or any festival or, simply to wear them on a regular basis, all so rich in all such cherished ornaments like gold, diamonds, pearls, and more such precious stones.

With almost 30 years of experience in the jewellery industry, Atlas continues to grow and expand to cater to the increasing needs of its substantial customer base. What has factored into its success, however, is that the company sells low-priced high-quality jewellery. This differentiates it more significantly from a great deal of companies engaged in jewellery selling. The greater the company’s plans for expansion of its footprint in the Indian market and further into international geographies, the more this will be underpinned by an intensification toward quality, affordability, and customer satisfaction.

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