Moving to another country without knowing anyone, starting out with a job at the airport, working his way up from sales manager to someone who attracts tens of millions of dollars in investments and launches his own business, — Serhiy Pavliuk’s story reads more like the plot of a business book than a typical immigrant’s career path.
Today, he is a co-founder, investor, and operating partner at Drive Your Dream, a company operating in the automotive market in the United Arab Emirates. Prior to that, he helped build one of the country’s largest car rental services, worked with international investors, and managed projects in the premium segment.
UA.News spoke with Serhiy Pavliuk about his journey from Lutsk to Dubai, his early years in the Emirates, starting his own business, working with investors, and the lessons he has learned during more than a decade living in the Middle East.
“I’ve been used to working without days off since childhood”
Serhiy’s story began in Lutsk, where he was born on May 5, 1992. He recalls his childhood as very active. Almost all his time was taken up by studies, sports, and constant self-improvement.
First came ballroom dancing, to which he devoted about ten years; then came hand-to-hand combat; and later, kayaking and canoeing. It was in this sport that Serhiy met the requirements for the title of Candidate Master of Sports of Ukraine.
“I’ve been very active since childhood. I started ballroom dancing when I was literally four years old, and then I did hand-to-hand combat and kayaking and canoeing at the same time. It was sports that really toughened me up,” said Serhiy Pavliuk.
Another important milestone was his admission to a military high school. It was there, according to the entrepreneur, that he developed discipline, a sense of responsibility, and the habit of working to a strict schedule.
He recalls that every day was scheduled down to the minute: classes, training, extracurricular activities, and preparation for university entrance exams.
“I practically had no days off. Six days a week—military high school and training—and on Sundays, university prep courses. It was both very exhausting and very toughening,” he noted.
Despite the athletic demands, he paid special attention to languages. He liked Ukrainian and English the most.
It was his high scores on the external independent testing that allowed him to enroll at Khmelnytskyi National University, where he earned two degrees at once—in English translation and international information analysis.
Work and Travel: His First Experience Living Abroad
While in school, Serhii participated twice in the Work and Travel program in the U.S. It was then that he first experienced what it was like to live far from home and be fully responsible for himself.
The first time, he worked as a lifeguard in Maryland, and the next time, he took on a much more responsible role as a swimming instructor in New York City.
His second season was particularly memorable, as he had to live alone in a huge metropolis.
“It took me about two and a half hours to get to work—by subway, bus, and on foot. The workday started at six in the morning. That’s when I realized what discipline and responsibility for my own life really meant,” recalled Serhiy Pavliuk.
According to him, it was his experience in the U.S. that served as the first serious step toward realizing that he wanted to build an international career.
From a salary of 1,200 hryvnias to head of the sales department
After graduating from university, Serhiy returned to Lutsk and began working at AGROSUPPLY, a company that supplied feed additives for livestock farming.
His first official salary was only 1,200 hryvnias. He had no experience in the agricultural sector, so he started at the lowest position.
“I started observing how my colleagues worked and how they interacted with clients, and I realized that sales were exactly what I wanted to do,” the businessman said.
In less than two years, he rose from manager to head of the sales department.
During that time, the company participated in dozens of international trade shows, and Serhiy himself set an internal sales record.
Why He Decided to Leave Ukraine
Despite his successful career, Serhiy found himself thinking more and more often about moving abroad. The reason was not only his ambition but also the economic situation.
The company dealt in imported goods, so exchange rates directly affected the cost of goods.
“Every morning, I started by checking the dollar and euro exchange rates. At some point, I realized that it would be very difficult to scale up what I was doing. Ukrainian companies received revenue in hryvnia, but the products were imported. This had a huge impact on the business’s finances,” explained Serhiy Pavliuk.
At the same time, he emphasizes that he had wanted to start his own company even back then, but there were almost no opportunities to do so.
“I’ve always had the ambition to start my own business. But I had practically no financial capital. My main assets were my knowledge, experience, and the people I knew,” said the entrepreneur.
It was then that he began looking for a country that could serve as a foundation for further development. Soon, such an opportunity arose—after successfully passing an interview, he received an offer from Emirates and moved to the United Arab Emirates.
“I wasn’t looking for a job, but for a platform for growth”
Serhiy arrived in Dubai in 2015. At that time, he didn’t have significant capital, influential connections, or an established business.
Even before moving, he had considered various options for working abroad. One of them was working on cruise ships, but after carefully reviewing the conditions, he quickly realized that this wasn’t the path that would allow him to grow professionally.
“I realized I wanted more. I didn’t have well-connected friends or parents who could get me a job somewhere. I knew I’d have to achieve everything on my own. To do that, I needed the right platform—a country that’s developing and offers opportunities to ambitious people,” said Serhiy Pavliuk.
The United Arab Emirates became just such a platform for him. The move was made much easier by an invitation from Emirates, which fully funded his relocation.
The First Years in Dubai: Working at Emirates and Discovering the World
His first job in the UAE was as an Airport Services Agent at Emirates. Serhiy is convinced that it was here that he gained invaluable international experience.
Every day, he had to work with passengers from virtually every corner of the world. This taught him to quickly find common ground with people of different ages, cultures, religions, and social statuses.
At the same time, adjusting to life in the Emirates wasn’t easy.
“It was a culture shock. People here have a very high sense of responsibility toward the law. You can’t litter, argue, or act aggressively. Even a message in a chat app can have legal consequences. But that’s exactly what shapes the quality of society,” he noted.
According to him, working at the airport has been a kind of school for international communication.
“I was able to interact with people from virtually every nationality in the world,” said Serhiy Pavliuk.
At the same time, he began preparing for the next stage of his career. He saved up money to get a local driver’s license, which cost about three thousand dollars at the time, and also started looking for an opportunity to return to the sales field.
A Fresh Start at Parasol: From Cold Calls to Prestigious Hotels
To land a job in sales, Serhiy enrolled in a specialized course for job seekers. It was this course that helped him prepare for interviews and understand the specifics of the local market.
Even before he finished the course, he was invited to an interview at the Parasol Furniture group of companies.
The entrepreneur was particularly impressed by the company’s founder, who had previously worked at Barclays Bank and British Petroleum.
At the company, he was responsible for developing sales of premium furniture for the hotel industry. He independently sourced clients, conducted negotiations, secured all approvals, and established partnerships.
“I knew nothing about outdoor furniture. But I was tasked with finding my first client and closing the deal. It was only after that that I realized I was heading in the right direction,” the businessman recalled.
He later worked with dozens of prestigious hotels in the UAE.
A startup that became one of the market leaders
While working at Parasol, Serhiy was invited to join a young startup called Renty, which was just beginning to develop an online car rental platform.
At the start, the team consisted of just a few people. Sergey himself was responsible for business development and onboarding new companies.
To make sure he didn’t miss any opportunities, he arranged with his employer to work on both projects simultaneously.
“I basically went back to my student routine—working without days off. I devoted half my time to Parasol and half to the startup,” he said.
Eventually, Renty began to grow rapidly, and after the full-scale war began in Ukraine, that growth only accelerated.
According to Serhii, more and more international investors began to view the UAE as a safe jurisdiction for investing their funds.
It was then that he took the lead in working with investors.
“I had to dive very deeply into finance, investments, behavioral economics, and capital management. It was an entirely new level of responsibility,” he said.
Over the course of several years, the team built partnerships with private investors, banks, and even an investment fund.
In total, the company came to manage a fleet of vehicles financed to the tune of approximately $50 million, and Serhiy personally, according to him, attracted about $30–35 million in investments.
It was this experience, he admits, that laid the foundation for launching his own automotive projects.
From Managing Other People’s Capital to His Own Fleet
While working at Renty, he began systematically studying finance, behavioral economics, asset management methods, and the principles of working with investors. He also completed an online MBA program at a Swiss business school.
He decided to invest the money he had earned in a field he already knew well. Together with Yevhen Parakhod, CEO of Renty, Serhiy founded Javelin Car Rental. The partners invested their own capital, secured bank financing, and built a fleet of vehicles, which they managed themselves.
According to the entrepreneur, at this stage they were simultaneously investors, co-owners, and operational managers of the business.
“It was a logical decision, since we fully understood all the numbers, processes, and risks. We managed the fleet ourselves, having invested our own money in it,” he explained.
However, over time, the market situation changed. The actual depreciation of the cars and their resale value did not always match initial projections. It was then that Serhiy began searching for a business model in which a car’s declining value would not work against the asset owner.
“I wanted to make time my ally”
The idea for this new venture arose from practical inquiries from friends and acquaintances. People were interested in whether it was possible to lease a car long-term and then transfer ownership to themselves upon the contract’s expiration.
That’s how the model on which Drive Your Dream operates today came about: long-term leasing with the option to buy or purchase the car on an installment plan.
Serhiy Pavliuk launched the Drive Your Dream project together with two other Ukrainian entrepreneurs—Serhiy Orobchenko and Yuriy Rak. Pavliuk met Yuriy Rak while they were still students at a military high school in Lutsk. Their friendship and partnership have lasted for nearly 20 years since then.
“After the market conditions changed, I became interested in making time my ally rather than my enemy. In a typical car rental business, a car loses value every year, but in our model, the customer gradually pays off its cost and ultimately owns the car,” explained Serhiy Pavliuk.
A distinct advantage is that the company works with a specific client over the long term, rather than relying on a constant stream of short-term leases.
Serhiy has now stepped down from his operational role at Parasol Furniture and is no longer involved in the day-to-day management of Renty. He remains a shareholder and advisor at Renty, but is focusing all his efforts on developing Drive Your Dream.
“Today, 100 percent of my time is devoted to Drive Your Dream. This is a business I’m building as a co-founder, investor, and operational partner,” the entrepreneur noted.
Who Buys Cars Through Drive Your Dream
The company’s main clients are entrepreneurs, investors, and high-income individuals. At the same time, they aren’t always the ones banks consider ideal borrowers.
Employees of large corporations with stable salaries can usually obtain standard bank auto loans without much trouble. It’s much more difficult for business owners, private investors, or people with non-standard income structures to do so.
“We meet the needs of a category of people who have money, status, and businesses, but with whom banks are not always willing to work. For financial institutions, entrepreneurs and investors often fall into a higher-risk category,” said Serhiy Pavliuk.
According to him, the client profile can vary widely. Among them are people from Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, as well as owners of international companies and car collectors.
One of the company’s clients is a 29-year-old entrepreneur from Ethiopia who already owned five cars and purchased a Lamborghini Huracan STO worth about $400,000 through Drive Your Dream.
“He collects cars and wraps them in a single-color film simply because he enjoys it,” the businessman shared.
A separate group of clients consists of entrepreneurs of Arab descent who previously lived and ran businesses in Sweden but later moved to the UAE.
According to Sergey, they are attracted by the lower tax burden and more favorable conditions for entrepreneurship. However, due to the lack of a long credit history in the Emirates, it can be difficult for them to obtain bank financing.
Lamborghini, Mercedes, and Bentley: Which Cars Do Customers Choose?
Cars in the premium and luxury segments are in the highest demand among Drive Your Dream’s customers.
Sergey cites the Lamborghini Urus, Lamborghini Huracan, Mercedes-Benz G63, BMW X5, Mercedes-Benz GLE, S-Class, C-Class, and Bentley Bentayga as some of the most sought-after models.
At the same time, the company does not aim to build the largest possible fleet or cater to the mass market.
“Our main focus is on quality, not quantity. The average transaction value with a client ranges from approximately 100,000 to 200,000 dollars,” said the co-owner of Drive Your Dream.
In about a year and a half, the team has built a portfolio of 30 active clients and 30 vehicles. The initial total value of this fleet is approximately four million dollars.
Serhiy emphasizes that this venture was essentially built from the ground up: a separate company, a new team, proprietary sales channels, and a partner network.
Scaling the Business and New Investors
Serhiy cites securing cheaper financing as one of the main business goals for the coming year. In the UAE, corporate auto financing programs can cost around 4–5% per year, which makes it possible to scale the fleet without putting excessive strain on the company’s finances.
The team is also in talks with two major investors regarding the creation of a separate legal entity within the Drive Your Dream project.
According to him, demand for cars in the UAE remains steady even in the summer and despite geopolitical instability. He attributes this to the fact that Dubai continues to attract entrepreneurs, investors, and high-net-worth individuals from around the world.
September will mark 11 years since Serhiy moved to the UAE.
“I am grateful to the country and its leadership for creating conditions for development, strengthening infrastructure, and making the Emirates even more attractive for business and investment,” said the entrepreneur.
Burnout, Depression, and a New Perspective on Success
Despite his significant professional achievements, Serhiy openly admits that working constantly without rest eventually took a serious toll on his health.
According to him, he experienced severe professional burnout and clinical depression, and worked with psychologists and psychiatrists. He has been taking doctor-prescribed antidepressants for two years now.
“I went through burnout, severe clinical depression, and sessions with psychologists and psychiatrists. That’s why it’s extremely important for me today to be in harmony with myself, to stay mentally strong, and not to overwork myself,” Serhiy Pavliuk said candidly.
Financial stability has allowed him to pay more attention to his well-being and find fulfillment in his work.
“I’ve already secured a comfortable life for myself through passive income. Now it’s important for me to do what I truly enjoy and not burn out,” he noted.
What Ukrainians Need to Know Before Moving to the UAE
Speaking about Ukrainians who are considering moving to the Emirates, Serhiy immediately cautions: there is no universal formula for success.
He himself has read many biographies of famous entrepreneurs and tried to find a ready-made formula, but over time he realized that every story depends on the specific time, market, and circumstances.
“Opportunities that existed yesterday may no longer be available today. And opportunities that will arise tomorrow haven’t yet opened up today. That’s why there are no universal recipes,” Serhiy Pavliuk is convinced.
Among the most important skills for living and working in the UAE, he cites English, communication, and negotiation skills.
Since people from hundreds of different nationalities live in the country, English is the primary language of international business.
At the same time, Serhiy advises against romanticizing life in Dubai. The cost of rent, transportation, medical services, and daily living here remains high.
“I think it took me nine years to truly get a feel for Emirati life. My path has been more unique than typical. It’s very challenging and requires ambition, strength, and perseverance,” the entrepreneur emphasized.
For those with sufficient financial resources, he advises first living in the UAE for a few months and only then deciding whether to move permanently and start a business.
For those without significant savings, Serhiy recommends first finding a job, obtaining an official invitation, and only then moving there.
“If you have substantial financial capital, it’s worth coming for at least half a year to see if this country is right for you. If you don’t have much to fall back on, I recommend finding a job before you even fly here,” concluded Serhiy Pavliuk.
