• Nawal Saigal

    ...go ahead and dream - "Make it Happen"

    There are certain people in this world who strive hard to make it big in life, some are lucky enough to be born with a golden spoon, there also exists a third category that believes in making things happen. Interestingly we managed to confront such a personality who believes in moving ahead in life and dream big and make them dreams happen!

    Mr. Nawal Saigal was born in the financial capital of India - Mumbai in the year 1954.Endowed with the prestigious "Personality of the Year" award from Lloyd's List in the year 2009; he is a man of will with a down to earth attitude. It was indeed a pleasure for us to have a small tete-a-tete with him to know what makes him a man of his caliber.

    Born into a middle class family he is the youngest after his three siblings. He reminisces that his parents always placed a lot of emphasis on the education of their children. They spent most of their savings in educating them through Parish Run schools. Mr. Saigal comments that like any boy of that age he was more interested in sports rather than studies. Education seemed to be of secondary importance till he reached senior school when things changed dramatically and he started to focus more seriously on academics.

    Mr. Saigal completed his Engineering in electrical branch from the University of Bombay at Sardar Patel College in Andheri in 1976 where he secured a first class with honours. His professional life started in August 1976 with his first job being in sales, handling products like temperature controllers/Indicators, thermocouples but the urge to join either the defense services in the Air Force / army or Merchant Navy was quite strong. To his young mind this had a

  • Nawal Saigal

    certain element of glamour, adventure and independence.

    Mr. Saigal recognises that it was his father, an engineer by profession, who inspired him to plunge into the maritime field. His father had worked in the 'Light House Department' under the Ministry of Shipping. Recalling his younger days with enthrallment he mentions about the voyages he had made with his father on steamers (steamers were called "Passenger Ships") and boats to remote areas for carrying out the maintenance work. When asked about the experience he says delightedly "I would sit on the top deck of the light house, fascinated both by the sweep of the light as well as the ships on the high seas". His father carried on working with the repair and maintenance industry even after leaving the LH department. He says that it was his father who in his early life taught him to fix things; he gladly says that even today he is known in the family as a FIXER, "I would help in overhauling shearing machines, compressors, diesel engines, during the weekends, whilst doing engineering studies through the week". Owing the credit of his success to his father he says that "It was fascinating to take things apart and then re-assemble and recommission. He would ask me to do book keeping, procurement of spares - I was his pair of 'legs and hands', it all helped me through my later career."

    It was in December 1976, that Mr. Saigal made up his mind to join the Merchant Navy and started looking for avenues, which would provide him with a break in this industry. He started his marine career as a trainee marine engineer with The Shipping Corporation of India in May 1977. He did his Chief Engineers Certificate (Motors) in 1984 from DG Shipping, Mumbai. He joined Dubai Drydocks, as it was known then, in 1992 as a Ship Repair Manager and demonstrated his managerial skills early on and was soon heading major projects for Drydocks, which included the first conversion Nkossa-1 and the refit of Cossack Pioneer in 1995 and 1999 respectively. Going through various positions in the company, he was promoted to the rank of Production Director in 2004. "My Professional accomplishment came through in June 2007, when the board of Drydocks World Group offered me the opportunity to be the Operational Head (MD) of the Drydocks World - Dubai, the flagship company of the group." He enjoyed his last tenure as the Managing Director of Drydocks World and now he is all set to leave the city of Dubai and

  • Nawal Saigal

    Drydocks. He will be joining the largest Engineering Company in India as the Chief Executive Officer for their Ship Repair /Building program soon.

    Mr. Saigal believes that as an individual raising a family with good values is his greatest personal achievement in life, which would not have been possible without the excellent support of the "Lady of his Life" - Mrs. Rashmi Saigal. Mrs. Saigal has done her MA in psychology and is currently a homemaker. Her hobbies include painting and reading. Mr.Saigal today is a proud father of two young sons - Salil and Sahas. Salil will shortly be completing a degree in Chemical Engineering from a renowned Indian University based in UAE. Sahas is in the 1st year at the Bristol University in UK, studying Mechanical Engineering.

    "Nothing Succeeds like Success" was an early saying which according to Mr. Saigal made a great impression on his mind and his career. "I set out to prove it and time is a great teacher. I gradually learnt how to make it happen facing adversities/challenges. I never allowed an obstacle to obstruct my path - each obstacle was a challenge and had to be managed".

    Going down the memory lane we inquired with Mr. Saigal on how life in Mumbai formulated his early days to which he mentioned that it was a constant upward learning curve. "It taught me to dream and believe in the philosophy that if one works hard you could make your dreams come true. Survival instincts were honed by the city and its people. The ability to interact with a cosmopolitan population was acquired and proved to be invaluable. I could go on about the lessons I learnt from growing up in Mumbai, and still fall short - it's such a unique city."

    Being one of the eminent personalities in the maritime industry we enquired from Mr. Saigal about three things, which one should never do in this business. He gave us three golden rules, which according to him make great difference - "Never overlook Safety, our business is surrounded with all sorts of hazards, we must understand them and mitigate them. Nothing can be more important than 'SAFETY for ALL'.

  • Nawal Saigal

    Never take uncalculated risk - This is true both in terms of Business as well as a process function on the worksite. Always do a specific or generic risk assessment before embarking on a task -else it will 'bite you big time'.

    Never under estimate the Power of Human Relationship - our business is very 'people oriented' so it is important to ensure that 'fair - care' is shown to all. I always maintain that 'Business is not all about brain, it's usually a lot to do with the heart'."

    According to Mr. Saigal there is no finite rule to success. One that works for one individual or organization may not work for the other. In his words "just like there is no definite skill/direction/method in grooming a child - however, different children from various backgrounds find their own path to success. But one aspect or character which has helped me through the years is 'Humility' - that is almost inspiring!"

    We enquired from Mr. Saigal about his views on taking one's decisions alone. He added that it is better to think alone, but act together. As an individual, he likes to assess a situation, an issue, a challenge alone, putting various scenarios in front of himself and then seek possible solutions. "Once I have a road map to the solution I openly brainstorm with my team and then we come to a collective 'business decision' with the best interest of all stakeholders.

    "As we near towards the end of our engaging conversation we asked Mr. Saigal some interesting questions about his hobbies. He replied saying that he likes to keep fit; hence he is particular about having an exercise regime - which does wonders. He reads a lot of self-help books, spends time on computer, some times reading about various leaders and their life stories - these could be spiritual, business, political leaders. Surfing the net and reading about things and the entire time saying - "Wow I didn't know that - makes me feel so excited and ignorant at the same time!"

    We were quite interested to know where Mr. Saigal envisions himself after 80 years of age. We indeed got a very interesting reply. "I will be sitting with the younger generation trying to learn

  • Nawal Saigal

    from them, how the present day world is working - cause I am sure next twenty years will bring much more revolution in terms of transportation, medical, media and communication etc. and maybe the youngsters will have time to listen to old 'Fairy tales'!!"

    New generations always seek the accurate path in life, a guiding light that can enlighten them with their experience and expertise. For our youngsters, we sought his advice on the mantra of being successful in life, his valuable words which will be the guiding light for many who wish to be a success in this industry as himself: "Go ahead and dream" is what he said, "the World always keeps its arms open to young leaders who believe in themselves and in 'making it happen'."

    We had a great experience in knowing up close Mr. Nawal Saigal, a creator of his own destiny. We wish him all the very best for his future endeavours.

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