With the UAE economy absorbing the heaviest geopolitical shock in decades, a billionaire conglomerate chief has gone public with a promise that none of his more than 6,000 workers will lose their jobs.
Rizwan Sajan, founder and chairman of Danube Group, made the commitment on Facebook as the US-Israel war on Iran entered its second month.
“We will not lay off any employees at Danube Group. All salaries will be paid on time. Our 6,000-plus employees are not just our workforce; they are our family,” Sajan said in the post.
The announcement reflects a broader pattern taking shape across the UAE’s private sector. Recruitment executives say many businesses are treating the current disruption as a short-term revenue squeeze rather than a structural breakdown, opting to redeploy staff and draw down accrued leave rather than trigger redundancies. Sanjeev Giri, head of operations at Adecco UAE, noted that the real question facing employers is not just how to cut costs but how to do so without destroying long-term organisational capability. “The broader picture of the UAE labour market tells a more reassuring story — one of continued growth, adaptability, and forward-looking workforce strategies,” he said.
Sajan’s resolve carries the weight of personal history. He lost his father at 16 and supported his family in Mumbai by selling books and firecrackers before making his way to Kuwait in 1981 as a trainee salesman. When Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait in 1990 erased eight years of savings and relationships overnight, he moved to Dubai and started Danube as a single trading shop in building materials in 1993. That experience of rebuilding from nothing appears to inform how he frames the current moment. In his Facebook post, he wrote: “In good times, everyone talks about growth. But in difficult times, your values are tested.”
Danube Group has since grown into a multi-billion-dollar conglomerate spanning building materials, home furnishings, real estate development, hospitality, and sports, with operations across the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Bahrain, Qatar, India, and procurement offices in China and Canada. The group recorded a $2 billion annual turnover in 2022.
The aviation sector has also signalled it will hold its workforce. Adel Mardini, president and CEO of Jetex, told Khaleej Times his company has no plans to reduce headcount despite a significant slowdown in operations. “We have zero plans to cut any positions. Training and certifying airport staff takes time, and we want to be ready when demand fully returns,” he said. Jetex, which employs more than 1,000 people, has plans to expand its airport network from 44 to 50 locations across Africa, the Middle East, and Europe by late 2026 or early 2027.
Danube Properties, the group’s real estate arm, has delivered over 23,000 residential units across 41 projects, and completed its Opalz development five months ahead of schedule in April 2025.
