Secrets of Success: Dino Sadhwani

Prestige caught up with serial entrepreneur Dino Sadhwani ahead of the city’s most talked about event of the year, the Art Basel ReStArt Art Club party, of which he’s host and co- founder. Since attempting his first venture at the age of 15, he’s continued to launch and grow businesses in a wide range of fields, from restaurants to finance.

We didn’t want to host any ordinary party. We wanted to create something meaningful. The ReStArt Art Club is something we started in 2017. LACMA CEO Michael Govan, [Princess] Alia and I decided we wanted to create an event that brought all our friends together during Art Week in Hong Kong. The event is all about bridging East and West, and celebrating creatives. We enjoy hosting art-world people, from museum directors to collectors to artists, as well as business magnates, socialites and celebrities, and people from all walks of life under one roof.

My family have been in Hong Kong for approximately 100 years. I grew up in Singapore and Los Angeles before moving here in 2006 – I very much feel like a Hong Konger. What I love about this city is its character. You can’t feign that. It’s there or it isn’t – and Hong Kong has it in abundance. I’ve never had a guest come to Hong Kong and not be completely enthralled by this incredible city.

The advice I’d give an aspiring entrepreneur stems precisely from my experience at the age of 15. Give it your all. Then find extra gas within you somehow and stretch your all further. Have complete conviction in what you’re doing. But at the same time, be savvy and open-minded enough to pivot when the evidence suggests you should. Stubbornness is great until it’s not. Learning to cut your losses at various periods during your journey will eventually be the critical factor in your ultimate success or lack thereof.

The biggest setback I’ve experienced in my career would be on a human level. We’re all fallible, we all go through ups and downs. Every person we pass on the street has their own intriguing – sometimes glorious, sometimes catastrophic – story, all rolled into one. And I’m no different. Excuse the cliché, but it’s not the inevitable setbacks that matter so much – it’s how you approach them, how you deal with them.

My core skills are mathematics, memory and pattern recognition. My passions are psychology and philosophy. Put it all together and it gives you the range required for the world of business. Apart from skills, I’d add that the one value we should hold in the highest regard is honesty. Honesty goes a long way.

My work endeavours are a segment of my life in which I’m able to assess my growth. It’s not the only metric, far from it. But it’s a metric I enjoy competing with myself on. How do I measure my personal growth within this segment? Impact. Looking to the future, there are many milestones I hope to achieve. All I’ll say is that in my eyes I’m just getting started.