Pancholia arrived in the UAE seven decades ago aboard a Chinese cargo ship from Karachi. Starting off selling goods in Sharjah port, he quickly rose up the ranks of the Emirate’s business community and is now one of Dubai’s most respected businessmen. Renowned as one of the figureheads of the Indian community in Dubai, is often labeled the city’s oldest expatriate. In 1957, he recognised the need for electricity in the emirate and set up a firm to buy a generator and supply electricity to the markets around Dubai Creek, long before the establishment of the Dubai Electricity Company. When the late Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum set up a formal company to regulate the electricity sector, he turned to Pancholia to manage it, a post he held for 20 years. On top of Pancholia’s business activities as chairman of the Arabian Trading Agency, he has also had roles with the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Al Maktoum Hospital and the National Bank of Dubai, was president of the Indian Association and set up the Indian High School.