Bangladeshi greengrocer wins two-bedroom Dubai apartment after Dh900 shopping trip
Promotion awarded 12 apartments to shoppers from nine countries during the summer campaign
DUBAI – A routine shopping trip for rice, sugar, flour and oil has changed the life of a Bangladeshi greengrocer in Dubai, who has won a two-bedroom apartment in the city.
Mohammad Salman Masud, 28, was working at his fruit and vegetable stall at Deira’s Waterfront Market when he received the call telling him about the life-changing prize. Having spent eight years in the UAE, the win has made him a homeowner in the city where he had been earning a living while supporting his family in Bangladesh.
Masud’s apartment was the grand prize in the Dubai Summer Surprises ‘Win Your Home in Dubai’ promotion, which ran throughout the summer until August 30. The campaign gave shoppers the chance to win apartments and other prizes after spending at least Dh500 ($136) at participating retail outlets, malls and brand stores. The final winner was among 12 apartment recipients selected through 12 separate draws during the promotion.
Life-changing call
Masud entered the promotion after visiting a Union Co-op supermarket on May 27. He spent more than Dh900 on household essentials, including rice, sugar, flour and oil, after learning about the campaign through the Union Co-op app.
Although he had the app, Masud did not know how to register his purchase for the draw. He eventually asked a customer service employee to help him complete the registration.
The win came while he was busy at work, where he spends between 10 and 12 hours a day selling fruit and vegetables. When he answered the call informing him that he had won an apartment, his first reaction was disbelief.
Masud initially thought the call could be a scam and asked for the information to be repeated. He said it was only after officials from Dubai Chambers and Dubai Summer Surprises provided further details that he realised the prize was genuine.
“I never won anything in my life, not even a pen,” Masud told The National. “Now, I am a homeowner in Dubai. It's still difficult for me to grasp it.”
The greengrocer said his working days are largely focused on earning a living and supporting his parents and siblings in Bangladesh. His father previously spent 30 years working in the UAE before returning to Bangladesh, leaving Masud as the family’s sole breadwinner.
After receiving the news, his mother was the first person he called.
“Everyone dreams of owning a home in Dubai and today, after being in the UAE for eight years, Dubai has fulfilled that dream for me,” he said.
Masud has not yet decided what he will do with the apartment. He recently visited the show unit in Al Jaddaf, where the two-bedroom property was developed by Binghatti Developers, but said he had not made any plans for his new home.
Twelve winners
Masud was one of 12 people who won apartments through the summer promotion. The prize pool included 11 studio apartments and one two-bedroom property, with winners drawn from shoppers representing nine countries.
Ten of the winners live in Dubai, while another is based in Abu Dhabi. The remaining winner was a tourist from Kazakhstan.
The winners included four Indian expatriates, while the other properties went to shoppers from the UAE, the Philippines, the UK, Lebanon, Russia, Libya, Kazakhstan and Bangladesh.
Among them was Aditi, an Indian expatriate who moved to Dubai 12 years ago and works in the finance sector. She won an apartment after shopping at Damas Jewellery at LuLu Hypermarket in Barsha, describing the moment she learned about the prize as one that left her heart racing.
British expatriate Grace Agnew also found herself among the winners after what began as an ordinary shopping trip. She won a studio apartment after buying two pairs of shoes from Clarks at Dubai Festival City Mall.
For Lebanese citizen Samer Hijazi, the prize marked another major change after moving to Dubai two and a half years ago. Hijazi works in sales and relocated from Qatar to Dubai to join his wife, who had already been living in the city for five years. He was among those awarded a studio apartment.
Russian-born Stacey Bukhantseva, a long-time Dubai resident, also won a studio. She described the property as the first home she had ever owned, linking the prize to the ambitions that brought her to Dubai.
Filipina expatriate Ethel Metry, who has lived in Dubai for nearly 20 years, was another studio apartment winner. She said she had often seen stories about people winning major prizes in Dubai but never imagined she would become one of them.
When she received the winning call, Metry said she wanted to believe it was genuine but remained concerned that it might not be real. She even checked Instagram for posts from previous winners before the news finally sank in.