The UAE is rife with opportunities not just for those who wish to work in the country, but also for those who want to establish their own businesses as seen with the rise in numbers of Filipino entrepreneurs through the years.
What sets 2019 The Filipino Times Awards Entrepreneur of the Year Engr. Jeffrey San Juan apart from the rest however, is his unique field of engineering and interior decorations – a unique business venture that has its own niche within the UAE’s sprawling infrastructure developments.
From farmlands to magnificent interiors
San Juan was raised in the province of Abra where his family taught him the values of perseverance and hard work at an early age. “As a child, we were raised with real hard work in the farm by our parents to be able to go to school. All year round, we had to wake up before the sun rises in order to water the vegetables or the tobacco plants or to make harvest,” reminisces San Juan.
He managed to land a scholarship from the Department of Interior and Local Government and passed the licensure examinations on the first take as an Agricultural Engineer. It was in the year 2006 after getting married when San Juan grabbed the opportunity to head to the UAE to seek better opportunities.
However, after several years of working at several companies, he realized that his skillset he was overused yet underpaid. He then decided to resign, but not without repercussions: “The turning point in my career is when I experienced being overused as employee to an interior designs company. When I realized that my skills and talents are exhausted but not properly compensated, I decided to resign and I was banned for employment for 1 year.”
Silver lining of opportunities
Not wanting to be left idle during unemployment, San Juan took it to himself to find alternative methods to earn money, he started doing projects on his own. “With that long years of unemployment, I learnt to do part time jobs, and started to get small and quick projects,” recalls San Juan
Banking on his experience with his previous clients, as well as his keen eye for captivating interiors, he was met with many satisfied clients that he eventually took the next step – to launch his very own business: “Successful projects came one after another along with many recommendations from many happy clients until me and my wife decided to put up a company. I have been in this profession for almost 17 years now.”
Today, his company – San Juan Interior Decorations LLC has already provided services to multi-million dirham projects across the UAE with their world class designs and concepts including one of Sharjah’s biggest mosques, high end apartments and penthouses, personal rooms of Royals, and many more villas, hotels, offices, and commercial establishments.
“Establishing a company, in a foreign land is not easy. It is truly an uphill journey. Starting from a table space in our rented flat for an office, with only me and my wife as employees and battling with other
contractors for small projects and with only part time laborers, to having our own office space and warehouse with showroom and own employees and acquiring a villa for my family are for me, my great success,” said San Juan.
