User talk:Tgfromdubai/sandbox

TG from Dubai

Ihsan Salhia is the creative force behind photography/videography powerhouse brand TG from Dubai, a moniker he goes by. Originally from New Jersey, TG moved to Dubai in 2010 and set up TG from Dubai in 2015.

Info box:

Born: Ihsan Salhia

March 10, 1979

New Jersey

Early life:

Born in 1979, TG grew up in Paterson, New Jersey with his parents and five siblings. Like many of his generation, he had dreams of building success and being the CEO of his own company. He attended a local college in Montclair, New Jersey, majoring in business administration, computer science, and networking to help pave the path to success.

While he loved photography, he never really felt that he could make a business out of it, so he used it as his outlet to relax.

Career:

He landed a job with IBM right after graduating from Gibbs College in 1998. Being a part of an industry leader in the IT sector led to being recruited by headhunters for the National Basketball Association (NBA) to work out of the head offices based in Secaucus and Manhattan. The role gave him the opportunity to meet the late David Stern (previous commissioner of the NBA) as well as rappers, musicians and movie stars. It was the dream job for someone so young and was the first of many great roles that paved the way to achieving his larger ambitions.

The dream to become the CEO of his own company remained but he was realistic that he needed to maintain an income to build his business.

California

His next opportunity came from a family member in California who worked in the car audio industry, and after a visit where he fell in love with the state’s iconic palm trees and temperate climate, he decided to make the move in 2002. He was told he could work for a year and then become a partner.

The move also meant a difficult conversation with his parents where he broke the news that he was leaving New Jersey for a significantly lower paycheck. All he could give them was his life savings to assure their financial security and the assurance that he would be ok.

At only 23 he was young, hungry, and ambitious. He met up with his relative who gave him a job though the situation deteriorated quickly and saw him barely making ends meet. After six months and a series of unfortunate events, TG found himself without a job in a state where he didn’t really know anybody. Still, he was determined not to give up on his dream.

After a few more bumps in the road, in 2004 TG made his first million dollars and finally felt like he could breathe. Life threw another curveball shortly thereafter.

In the run-up to the 2008 financial crash, TG was experiencing ripples in the market which were having a direct impact on the success of his business and by [year] the company closed its doors in 2006, which was a devastating blow.

Unsure what to do next, he jumped at the opportunity by another relative in California to buy out a brand of car audio from him, due to business being overwhelming. The deal was made quickly, and TG rolled up his sleeves and began learning how to run a company that manufactures car audio equipment to sell to global distributors.

One of his distributors in California supplied to countries in the Middle East and eventually approached TG for exclusive distribution rights to the Middle East, the GCC and in particular, Dubai. The distributor agreed to increase his order and to open an office in Dubai.

After a brief company restructure, which saw TG move away from his family member with that brand TG partnered with his distributor, the partnership continued with TG overseeing manufacturing from California while his partner managed sales from Dubai.

Dubai

In 2007 TG paid his first visit to Dubai to meet up with his partner and to go over the business, and despite certain misgivings, he moved over to join his partner in the business. That was when he discovered the company did not have a warehouse and a close review of the financials showed the company was bleeding money.

The solution was an injection of capital and having just come from an economic crash, TG did not agree to take loans from the bank but was outvoted. Shortly thereafter, TG handed over his shares and walked away.

Stuck at square one, this time in a foreign country without the option to call his family for help. What little money he had he used to survive while he planned his next step, which included searching for a job for the first time in a decade. After repeated rejections, he called one of his brothers and asked to borrow $30 to stave off hunger while he continued to look for a job. His brother sent over a few hundred dollars even though TG assured him everything was ok.

The final nail in the coffin came with a call from his landlord saying if he was out of his flat the following week, his rental checks wouldn’t be submitted to the police. At the time, bounced checks carried an automatic prison sentence until the amount was paid by a friend or family member. Despite having nowhere to go, he agreed.

Within two days he was snapped up as the COO of a company that fitted his experience and he was given a check for a full year’s rent to be close to the Downtown office in Dubai’s Financial Centre. TG stayed with the company for five years, before the itch to open his own business struck again.

He started selling honey owing to its long shelf life and market demand. He started selling one jar at a time on the side and started to turn a small profit.

Then he received an order for a substantial amount and seemed genuine. He met with the client in his office and saw the trade license for validation. The client was not willing to pay cash upfront owing to the amount but offered to provide a check on delivery which could be cashed immediately. Sadly, it was a scam and many businesses had been hit. Thankfully he hadn’t quit his job and could still recover.

Around this time TG returned to his love of photography and he started taking pictures regularly again. He created his Instagram account @tgfromdubai to share his work and started receiving really positive responses. He started taking photos more frequently by setting out on early morning missions to capture shots of the sunrise.

As the support for his Instagram account grew, he looked at how to make it a business.

He started creating short videos to accompany the photos, followed by a YouTube channel, Facebook account and other platforms. He began to push his content out and people began to notice his work.

Eventually, Sony contracted him to be an ambassador in their photography department, validation that he was an official photographer.

After driving his own PR, magazines and local news channels started to reach out to TG for interviews and invitations started coming in to do guest appearances to speak to young, aspiring photographers. In 2019 he was named in the Ahlan! Hot 100.

He started freelancing on the side in 2016 and was making some cash and so he started thinking about setting up a production company to take photos and shoot videos for local businesses. He invited a few friends in the industry to join him and they were all equal partners and having fun doing what they loved.

TG Media Productions LLC

In 2019 the time came for TG to venture alone and set up his own production company and do what he loves while having the autonomy to run it his way. It was a big risk, but all his life events since graduation had prepared him for it.

Instead, the business has taken off and he has built a reliable team and together they have taken on some great projects including their first official music video rapper KMulti under the label Universal Music. TG Media Productions LLC shows no signs of slowing down, and the global COVID-19 pandemic is not dampening TG’s enthusiasm for what he does.

12:51, 18 April 2020 (UTC)12:51, 18 April 2020 (UTC)