At 18, Aziz landed in Dubai with a suitcase and a plan. Thirty-seven years later, the story spans a 35-store retail chain across 5 GCC countries, master-franchise deals into Saudi Arabia, and travel across 26 countries on four continents. This is the chapter-by-chapter version.
The arc: joined Sana Fashions at 18 as one of the first employees — rose to Vice President of Operations as the company grew to 35 stores across 5 GCC countries. Sourced from Europe, Turkey, South-East Asia, and the Subcontinent. Negotiated franchise rights into Saudi Arabia. Travelled extensively for trade fairs, supplier audits, and family trips.
Every country on the list is a real chapter — a buying trip, a supplier factory, a franchise meeting, or a family holiday. Below, they're grouped by region: GCC, South & South-East Asia, Greater Asia, Europe & North America, and the pilgrimage chapter.
The first flight. The first job. The first boss. Sana Fashions opened its door to a teenager from the subcontinent — and the next thirty-seven years of retail, family, and Gulf business all started there.
The Gulf is home. Stores opened, payrolls run, malls walked, landlords negotiated, suppliers chased — all across five markets that each behave differently.
Home base. Dubai offices, stores, licensing, family.
Le Pearl flagship stores across Muscat and beyond.
YOYOSO master franchise — the biggest single deal.
Retail expansion into a tough but rewarding market.
Post-recovery retail — resilience in action.
Where fabric, factories, and family intersect. The Subcontinent is where generations of trading knowledge live — and where a lot of the apparel on Gulf shelves is still cut and stitched.
Sourcing, family, and the first step on the trading path.
Garment factories — where cost and capacity meet.
Tea, textiles, and textiles-adjacent sourcing.
The factories of Vietnam, the showrooms of Thailand, the manufacturing hubs of Malaysia and Indonesia. SE Asia is where a retail operator learns what scale really looks like.
Trade fairs, lifestyle brands, Bangkok showrooms.
Garment and footwear factories — capacity leader.
Kuala Lumpur — halal-friendly commerce hub.
Jakarta — scale, spice, and manufacturing muscle.
The transit hub — clean, fast, every supply chain.
Phnom Penh factories — the rising-tier sourcing base.
From the Caucasus to the Levant to the edge of China, the wider Asia map is where cultures, kitchens, and trade routes cross. Each stop added a supplier, a story, or a friend.
Baku — the Caucasus gateway.
Gateway between East Asia and the Mediterranean.
Istanbul — textiles, kitchenware, home-goods sourcing.
Beirut — Levantine taste, GCC-adjacent trade.
Old Damascus souks — craft and heritage.
Milan fabrics, Barcelona collections, Athens sights, Malta harbours, and the Vatican pilgrimage. Europe was where sourcing trips and cultural trips blurred.
Milan fashion week, Florence showrooms, Rome weekends.
Barcelona — retail inspiration & family holidays.
Athens — where history and the Mediterranean meet.
Mediterranean microstate — small, steady, welcoming.
The smallest country on the list — a quieter visit.
Canada is on the plan. The US visit was about learning — observing retail, tech, and startup culture first-hand. A foundation for the next phase of Aziz's work.
Startup program exploration — the future anchor outside the Gulf.
Retail, tech, and family visits — one trip at a time.
Not on a map of trips — a map of life. Umrah and Hajj, the quietest and most important visits. Separate from business, but the backbone under all of it.
The countries change, the businesses change, the tools change. The habit of building, travelling, and building again — that's the through-line. If you're building something in the Gulf, talk to someone who's done the miles.