Pak expat turns multimillionaire in seconds
By Jamil Khan | Dubai
Long-time Pakistani expat Junaid Rana, aged 36, has bagged Dhs50,000,000 in the 48th weekly live Mahzooz draw and became a multimillionaire in a matter of seconds.
He met a congregation of media in Ewing’s head office in Dubai in the presence of Farid Samji, CEO of Ewings, Rania Tayeh, head of corporation affairs and communications and others.
Narrating his story, Junaid said he has been working as a company driver in Dubai. He described a series of fortunate events that paved the way to his life-changing participation: “I usually participate in Mahzooz when my salary is credited. This month, my salary was delayed due to a public holiday and was credited on the day of the draw.” On Saturday evening, instead of stepping out of his car to withdraw money from the ATM for a grocery run, Junaid stayed in his car, opened the Mahzooz app and participated on a whim: “An inner voice told me Mahzooz was a better investment than snacks. I clicked on six random numbers two hours before the draw’s cut-off.”
The ‘random’ winning numbers that saw Junaid wake up a millionaire the next day were 6, 11, 21, 32, 33, 46. “I felt like the ground had given way under my feet when I discovered I had won,” Junaid said.
Although the long-time Mahzooz participant has spent every single day of the last 11 months daydreaming about what he would do if he won millions, Junaid’s first day as a millionaire was like any other. “The only unusual thing I did was offering to sponsor my barber’s wedding when I went to get a haircut.”
Junaid’s generosity can be traced back to his childhood riddled with financial hardship. “My dad’s small embroidery and tailoring business barely covered my siblings’ and my school fees. I dropped out after ninth grade and did odd promotion and sales job to support him. We moved back to Pakistan where he passed away due to kidney failure when I was 18. Maybe, help from someone could have saved my father’s life,” Junaid wonders.
Besides helping strangers, Junaid plans to pay off some loans and build houses in Pakistan for each one of his four siblings with his prize money. The father of two is expecting his third child.
-Published At The Gulf Today
Jamil Khan -- The Journalist 