Dubai Shopping Festival: Making people's dreams come true (Lexus Article)
02-21-10, 07:41 AM
#1
Dubai Shopping Festival: Making people's dreams come true (Lexus Article)
Dubai: Some people may have gained instant wealth by some extraordinary stroke of luck, but overnight rags to riches success can be hard to come by. Sometimes, it can take years for good fortune to pour in.
After more than a decade of buying raffle tickets, I.R. Sreenivasan's dream finally came true. The 47-year-old truck driver recently won a new car and Dh100,000 cash in the Lexus mega raffle held during the Dubai Shopping Festival (DSF).
The Indian expatriate, who has been in Dubai for 29 years has never owned a car. He drives a seven-ton freezer truck for 12 hours a day. As a driver for a supermarket, he spends most of his time on the road going as far as the desert area in Al Aweer hauling foodstuffs.
Hard work
Sreenivasan says he braves the hard work his job entails to provide a better life for his two kids and wife living in India, despite having a medical condition.
About eight years ago, both of Sreenivasan's kidneys were damaged. He had a kidney transplant and the operation was only made possible when his company and some friends donated some money.
Until recently, he lived with the constant fear that he would not be able to pay for his lifetime medication. He had more reasons to worry about his condition, especially since his basic salary is only Dh2,800 a month, though his pay sometimes reaches Dh4,500 if he works overtime.
A phone call changed everything on the evening of February 9, when he was told that the lone raffle coupon he just bought a few hours earlier had won him a Lexus LS 460 and Dh100,000 cash. Sreenivasan is now seeing bluer skies ahead.
"At first I thought it was not true. It took a while to sink in. I believed it only when I verified it with the petrol service station the next day. Indeed, I feel very lucky and I'm thankful to God for this. Now I have money to spend on my medicines and secure a better future for my family. I have two boys to send to school. The eldest is now 17 and the younger is 13," he told Gulf News in an interview last Tuesday.
Persistence
He didn't hit the jackpot the first time he bought a ticket. For 14 years, Sreenivasan has been trying his luck. Every DSF, he would go down to a petrol pump and spend Dh500 on raffle coupons.
"Since it's Dh200 per ticket, I'd take one for myself and share the other tickets with my friends," he said. Good fortune struck only after he purchased a ticket at an Eppco service station near Mirdiff on the same day the raffle was to be held. In total, he had spent about Dh7,000 on tickets before winning the prize.
"It's all worth it. The money I spent in all those years was sort of an investment. It has multiplied several times over. I didn't lose hope, so I kept buying tickets every year," he added. However, instead of driving home the posh car, Sreenivasan decided to encash the vehicle. He still intends to buy himself a car using a fraction of the prize money.
"I thought that converting the car to cash is a wise move. I will just buy a second-hand car, preferably worth Dh15,000," he added.
His total prize money, about Dh350,000, is already enough to buy a property in India, but Sreenivasan prefers to take things slow. He will buy a portion of land first and later, when he acquires more savings, he will build an apartment complex on it. He will continue to work as a driver in Dubai and after five years he expects to retire to his home country.
So a huge chunk of the stash will go straight to his savings account in India, although he intends to give some money to an orphanage in his home country and to his sister, Beena, who was the one who gave him the kidney eight years ago.
When Sreenivasan broke the news, Beena, 40, was elated but she insisted that he keep the money to himself to ensure he gets proper medication and care.
"I don't want anything. Just use the money for your medicine. I'll be just fine. You need it more than I do," Sreenivasan quoted his sister as saying.
"But I told her I'll do something for her. This is a gift from God, so I have to share this with the people who are important in my life," he said.
DSF organizers said Sreenivasan's winning stands testimony to the fact that the shopping festival is not just about finding bargains and getting entertained. It's about making people's dreams come true, too. Sreenivasan is the 14th person to win the Lexus Mega Raffle since the draw kicked off last month.
"The Lexus Mega Raffle reflects one of the core attributes of DSF — winning, the others being shopping and family entertainment. Since the first edition of DSF in 1996, the Lexus raffle has given away more than 1,300 luxury cars and cash prizes worth millions, and continues to fulfil the dreams of people year after year," said Abdullah Amiri, government relations manager and head of the raffles committee of the Dubai Events and Promotions Establishment.
Since its inception in 1996, DSF has touched the lives of a lot of people, especially those who are not blessed with a good life. A resident who makes money out of carton collecting, a bank clerk and an employee at a flour mill are just some of the lucky winners who have figured in "rags to riches" tales. The annual shopping, leisure and entertainment bonanza promotes itself as a key element in re-energising the trade and tourism sectors, as well as positioning Dubai as a leading tourist destination.
True to its objective, the mega shopping event has caused sales to increase from Dh2.15 billion during its inaugural edition to Dh9.8 billion in 2009.
The number of people who have made their annual visit for a taste of DSF fun and shopping have also ballooned from 1.6 million in 1996 to 3.35 million last year. Over the span of 14 editions, consumer spending logged a whopping Dh74 billion and visitor numbers hit the 35 million mark.
Apart from the parade of bargains and festivities, millions of dirhams are given out to reward shoppers and visitors with mouth-watering prizes that range from top-of-the-line cars to hard cash.
In the past editions, winners received Dh1.3 billion worth of prizes including Dh60 million cash, 643 kilogrammes of gold, 33 Rolls Royces, 405 Nissan cars and 1,338 Lexus vehicles. For this year's 15th edition of DSF, enticing rewards up for grabs include three dozen cars and Dh3 million in cash at the Lexus Mega Raffle and 44 more vehicles at the Nissan Grand Raffle.
This means that at least two cars are given away every day during the shopping festival. It doesn't come as a surprise to see a lot of people are looking at DSF as an opportunity to change their lives or uplift their lifestyles.
"Over the years, it has become expected by consumers that they will have the opportunity to win a big prize, it is now a permanent part of the DSF proposition: if you spend, you may win," said Colin Beaton, founder and managing director of Limelight Creative Services, a boutique retail strategy and design firm.
Mohammad, who works as a clerk at a local bank, spent years buying tickets before his lucky coupon, bearing the name of his six-month-old son, Inu Mon, won for him a diamond-encrusted special custom edition of Lexus LX 570 this month.
"I have seen people win and I thought spending Dh200 will not make such a big difference but if I win, it would make a world of difference. What I have put into the raffle over the years has returned to me multiplied and I can't be more thankful," he said.
After more than a decade of buying raffle tickets, I.R. Sreenivasan's dream finally came true. The 47-year-old truck driver recently won a new car and Dh100,000 cash in the Lexus mega raffle held during the Dubai Shopping Festival (DSF).
The Indian expatriate, who has been in Dubai for 29 years has never owned a car. He drives a seven-ton freezer truck for 12 hours a day. As a driver for a supermarket, he spends most of his time on the road going as far as the desert area in Al Aweer hauling foodstuffs.
Hard work
Sreenivasan says he braves the hard work his job entails to provide a better life for his two kids and wife living in India, despite having a medical condition.
About eight years ago, both of Sreenivasan's kidneys were damaged. He had a kidney transplant and the operation was only made possible when his company and some friends donated some money.
Until recently, he lived with the constant fear that he would not be able to pay for his lifetime medication. He had more reasons to worry about his condition, especially since his basic salary is only Dh2,800 a month, though his pay sometimes reaches Dh4,500 if he works overtime.
A phone call changed everything on the evening of February 9, when he was told that the lone raffle coupon he just bought a few hours earlier had won him a Lexus LS 460 and Dh100,000 cash. Sreenivasan is now seeing bluer skies ahead.
"At first I thought it was not true. It took a while to sink in. I believed it only when I verified it with the petrol service station the next day. Indeed, I feel very lucky and I'm thankful to God for this. Now I have money to spend on my medicines and secure a better future for my family. I have two boys to send to school. The eldest is now 17 and the younger is 13," he told Gulf News in an interview last Tuesday.
Persistence
He didn't hit the jackpot the first time he bought a ticket. For 14 years, Sreenivasan has been trying his luck. Every DSF, he would go down to a petrol pump and spend Dh500 on raffle coupons.
"Since it's Dh200 per ticket, I'd take one for myself and share the other tickets with my friends," he said. Good fortune struck only after he purchased a ticket at an Eppco service station near Mirdiff on the same day the raffle was to be held. In total, he had spent about Dh7,000 on tickets before winning the prize.
"It's all worth it. The money I spent in all those years was sort of an investment. It has multiplied several times over. I didn't lose hope, so I kept buying tickets every year," he added. However, instead of driving home the posh car, Sreenivasan decided to encash the vehicle. He still intends to buy himself a car using a fraction of the prize money.
"I thought that converting the car to cash is a wise move. I will just buy a second-hand car, preferably worth Dh15,000," he added.
His total prize money, about Dh350,000, is already enough to buy a property in India, but Sreenivasan prefers to take things slow. He will buy a portion of land first and later, when he acquires more savings, he will build an apartment complex on it. He will continue to work as a driver in Dubai and after five years he expects to retire to his home country.
So a huge chunk of the stash will go straight to his savings account in India, although he intends to give some money to an orphanage in his home country and to his sister, Beena, who was the one who gave him the kidney eight years ago.
When Sreenivasan broke the news, Beena, 40, was elated but she insisted that he keep the money to himself to ensure he gets proper medication and care.
"I don't want anything. Just use the money for your medicine. I'll be just fine. You need it more than I do," Sreenivasan quoted his sister as saying.
"But I told her I'll do something for her. This is a gift from God, so I have to share this with the people who are important in my life," he said.
DSF organizers said Sreenivasan's winning stands testimony to the fact that the shopping festival is not just about finding bargains and getting entertained. It's about making people's dreams come true, too. Sreenivasan is the 14th person to win the Lexus Mega Raffle since the draw kicked off last month.
"The Lexus Mega Raffle reflects one of the core attributes of DSF — winning, the others being shopping and family entertainment. Since the first edition of DSF in 1996, the Lexus raffle has given away more than 1,300 luxury cars and cash prizes worth millions, and continues to fulfil the dreams of people year after year," said Abdullah Amiri, government relations manager and head of the raffles committee of the Dubai Events and Promotions Establishment.
Since its inception in 1996, DSF has touched the lives of a lot of people, especially those who are not blessed with a good life. A resident who makes money out of carton collecting, a bank clerk and an employee at a flour mill are just some of the lucky winners who have figured in "rags to riches" tales. The annual shopping, leisure and entertainment bonanza promotes itself as a key element in re-energising the trade and tourism sectors, as well as positioning Dubai as a leading tourist destination.
True to its objective, the mega shopping event has caused sales to increase from Dh2.15 billion during its inaugural edition to Dh9.8 billion in 2009.
The number of people who have made their annual visit for a taste of DSF fun and shopping have also ballooned from 1.6 million in 1996 to 3.35 million last year. Over the span of 14 editions, consumer spending logged a whopping Dh74 billion and visitor numbers hit the 35 million mark.
Apart from the parade of bargains and festivities, millions of dirhams are given out to reward shoppers and visitors with mouth-watering prizes that range from top-of-the-line cars to hard cash.
In the past editions, winners received Dh1.3 billion worth of prizes including Dh60 million cash, 643 kilogrammes of gold, 33 Rolls Royces, 405 Nissan cars and 1,338 Lexus vehicles. For this year's 15th edition of DSF, enticing rewards up for grabs include three dozen cars and Dh3 million in cash at the Lexus Mega Raffle and 44 more vehicles at the Nissan Grand Raffle.
This means that at least two cars are given away every day during the shopping festival. It doesn't come as a surprise to see a lot of people are looking at DSF as an opportunity to change their lives or uplift their lifestyles.
"Over the years, it has become expected by consumers that they will have the opportunity to win a big prize, it is now a permanent part of the DSF proposition: if you spend, you may win," said Colin Beaton, founder and managing director of Limelight Creative Services, a boutique retail strategy and design firm.
Mohammad, who works as a clerk at a local bank, spent years buying tickets before his lucky coupon, bearing the name of his six-month-old son, Inu Mon, won for him a diamond-encrusted special custom edition of Lexus LX 570 this month.
"I have seen people win and I thought spending Dh200 will not make such a big difference but if I win, it would make a world of difference. What I have put into the raffle over the years has returned to me multiplied and I can't be more thankful," he said.
http://gulfnews.com/business/dsf-mak...-true-1.586000
$1 = Dh3.67
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