- Tell us about yourself, your business journey, and your contribution to the UAE.
My name is Dhiraj Jain & I am an entrepreneur, investor and Founder & Chairman of 1XL Holdings. My journey has always been driven by one belief: business should create value beyond balance sheets. The UAE gave me an environment where ambition is encouraged, innovation is embraced and people from across the world can build together.
Through 1XL Holdings, we are building an ecosystem of businesses with the potential to scale, bringing together entrepreneurship, strategy, operating capabilities and capital around long term value creation. But I believe contribution cannot be measured only through business. During the recent Middle East escalation, when airspace closures and widespread flight disruptions left hundreds of travellers stranded, my wife, Ms Mamata Dhiraj Jain, our children Jainam and Jivika, and I opened the Jainam Jivika Farm in Ajman to them. What began as an effort to provide shelter soon became a temporary home and community for hundreds of strangers.
- What does receiving the 9th Golden Excellence Award under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Nahayan Mabarak Al Nahayan mean to you?
I receive this recognition with gratitude and humility. To be recognised with the Golden Excellence Award for “Creating Hope in Times of Crisis” makes deeply meaningful because none of what happened was planned for recognition. When people were stranded, our only thought was how we could help.
I am especially proud that my family is part of this honour. Our children saw firsthand that privilege carries responsibility and that sometimes the most valuable thing we can offer another person is simply a sense of safety and belonging.
Receiving this recognition under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Nahayan Mabarak Al Nahayan makes it even more meaningful because the values of tolerance, coexistence and humanity that he represents are values we deeply admire.
- How do you view the role of the Ministry of Tolerance and Coexistence in shaping the UAE’s society?
The UAE is home to people of different nationalities, cultures and beliefs, yet we live and progress together. That does not happen by accident. The Ministry of Tolerance and Coexistence plays an important role in making these values part of the country’s social fabric.
Our experience at the Jainam Jivika Farm reflected this beautifully. People who arrived as strangers, across nationalities and backgrounds, got together and became a community. To me, that was the spirit of the UAE in action.
- What opportunities do you see emerging in your industry over the next few years?
We are entering an extraordinary period where AI, technology, capital and entrepreneurship are converging. I believe the next opportunity is not simply in discovering promising ideas, but in building the ecosystem around them that helps convert potential into sustainable, scalable businesses.
For investors too, the conversation is evolving from looking only at individual opportunities to understanding the strength of the platforms, systems and operating capabilities behind them. The UAE is exceptionally positioned at this intersection of global capital, talent, technology and markets.
- What are your company’s key plans and priorities for the future?
At 1XL Holdings, our next phase is about building scale with greater structure and discipline. We are focused on developing businesses across carefully selected sectors, strengthening their operating foundations and creating an ecosystem where shared capabilities, technology and strategic expertise can accelerate growth.
As this ecosystem expands, we also see increasing opportunities to collaborate with aligned investors, strategic partners and institutions who share a long-term approach to value creation.
Our ambition is to build 1XL into a platform where strong ideas, capable people, disciplined execution and aligned capital come together to create enduring enterprises. For us, the real measure of growth will not simply be the number of businesses within the ecosystem, but the quality and value of what we build together.
