General Manager, author and photographer, Malaysia’s Ravindran Raghavan received the United Arab Emirates top recognition for his talent in photography and writing. Two months ago, the Dubai Arts and Culture Authority awarded him a certificate of accreditation to recognise his talent as an author under the creative category of people of culture and art.
He has made Malaysia proud with the accreditation that comes with eligibility to enter the UAE through the Golden Visa, which comes with other benefits.
These include; extended residency, 100% ownership of business entities, special healthcare packages, and the Dubai Police Esaad privilege card, which gives access to privilege discounts in healthcare, real estate, restaurants and various other retail outlets.
“Dubai gave me a great insight into the fast-paced business on the other side of the world. Opportunities and business volume are very high, especially in Africa and emerging European countries. The strategic location of Dubai and the ease of doing business has attracted many businesses to operate from there and serve the world. It would be nice to see more Malaysian companies capitalise the benefit of having a presence there.”
This recognition is a feather in his cap considering his proven career track record as a Chemical Engineer who rose to the position of General Manager in Dubai, managing the Group CEO’s office to derive the annual business plan, coordinate statutory matters, monitor the financial performance and drive the digital transformation of the business.
“My talent in writing did not come overnight. I grew up in an estate with menial facilities. While in my primary school had teachers who ignited my passion, and my cousin Suresh was instrumental in making me confident and fluent in conversational English. My classmate Anand dragged me into the English debate team back in 1983, forcing an exponential improvement in my writing and presenting skills through the tireless coaching by our teachers.”
In the UAE Government’s citation letter, he was awarded this accreditation for reaching global leadership for his determined efforts based on continuous improvement and development and its adoption of best international practices.
“I am back in Malaysia now. I have been missing home since 2014, spending most of my time in Dubai. After taking a short break, I seek a new adventure in assisting new companies to innovate and grow. Using my expertise, I also want to help the nation attract investments from overseas.”
Ravindran was also General Manager for ASEAN in Malaysia's US-owned optical fibre conduit manufacturing company before being hand-picked as a UK-based container shipping company's Director (Southeast Asia).
Ravindran drove the expansion of the operations in the region, and in 2014, when the Chairman retired and passed on the baton to the new Group CEO. Ravindran was invited to Dubai to manage the transition. Upon completing the transition of 15 companies in the group, he continued as General Manager in the new Group CEO’s office.
In the past nine years, Ravindran, worked in Dubai (UAE) at the Head Office of the Group of Companies involved in container shipping, third-party logistics, fine art logistics, and pet food distribution. He then pioneered modular building design and manufacturing. In this group, he has worked with companies in UAE, Malaysia, Singapore, Oman, India, the UK and the USA.
While Ravindran is a certified ISO9000 quality systems auditor, his core skills were in business planning, financial monitoring, and digital transformation of business processes.
In the last three years, his focus was with Smart Box Industries LLC, Dubai, which is involved in fabricating and supplying modular buildings to global clients, including the Dubai Police, Dubai Ports, US Military, mining companies in Africa, hotel projects in the region and various government organisations in UAE.
“In Smart Box, I managed the performance analysis, statutory compliances, insurance review and legal coordination. In addition, I directly assisted the CEO in workflow automation and implementation of Odoo ERP system consisting of several modules, i.e., CRM, HRM, Finance, Project, Production, Procurement, Inventory, Vendor Management and Document Management.”
Ravindran has also authored “Malabar to Malaya” (339 pages), a book on his ancestor’s migration from British India to the rubber plantations and his life story. Interestingly, the book also contains 10-year research statistics on rubber tappers’ income and work patterns based on his parents’ records in the Guthrie Group plantation.
He published nine travel photography books showcasing fantastic photographs from his travels worldwide. His pictures are also shown on his website, (https://www.ravi311.com/) designed and published independently.
Freelance Writer M. Krishnamoorthy (www.imkrishna.net) is a media coach, associate professor and undercover journalist. He has worked and freelanced with Bernama, NST, The Star, and Malaysiakini. He also freelances as a fixer/coordinator for CNN, BBC, German and Australian Television networks and the New York Times. As an undercover journalist, he has highlighted society's concerns going undercover as a beggar, security guard, blind man, disabled salesman and Member of Parliament.
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