They were placed in an unfurnished three-bedroom apartment with a refrigerator full of food. By the time they bought a used minivan for transportation and bought furniture, he had $154 to his name.
In January, Dzhalilov will open the second location of A&D Barber Shop to go along with the three rental properties he owns in Huber Heights and Phoenix, Ariz.
“What I’m trying to say with this, there is no excuse for (people) to say ‘Oh I can’t find a job. Oh, I can’t make it’,” Dzhalilov said. “Nobody gave me anything.”
He and his family were among the estimated 14,000 Ahiska Turks who came to the United States between 2004 and 2006 through a U.S. Department of State special program for individuals facing statelessness and persecution in Russia.
As part of the program, refugees were required to gain employment and repay many of the costs of relocation.
Dzhalilov, who had worked as a butcher and general contractor in Russia, turned to his passion as a quick way to find gainful employment.
“I would cut friends’ hair in Russia. I enjoyed doing it,” he said. “They would line up.”
He exchanged haircuts for packs of cigarettes.
He enrolled in barber school in Phoenix to get a license as quickly as possible and within a year was working for local barbers while doing other jobs on the side to make ends meet and save money.
The dream was to start his own shop and be his own boss.
It appeared to come to fruition in January 2019 when, after relocating to Dayton, Dzhalilov opened his first shop at 2812 Colonel Glenn Hwy. in Fairborn.
Dzhalilov said he chose Dayton because of family and friends who already lived here. The city is home to an estimated 1,000 Ahiska Turk families, many of whom were exiled from their homeland beginning in 1944 under Joseph Stalin.
His business ownership dream turned into a nightmare when, a little more than a year later, March 2020, the COVID pandemic shut down his shop along with the rest of the world.
Instead of collecting benefit checks, on May 15, 2020, the first day allowed in Ohio, Dzhalilov and his family opened the doors of A&D Barber Shop at 9 a.m.
“We had people wait outside for two hours. We were so busy,” he said. “That was the best decision for the business. We were the only shop in Dayton that was open.”
Business was so good that Dzhalilov expanded from five to eight barbers, many of whom are family members or from the Ahiska community. He now has a staff of 10 and will open his second shop in the Cross Pointe Shopping Center, 101 E. Alex Bell Road in Centerville, in January.
Dzhalilov now has four children. His lesson to them is simple: “Be better than me.”
“When you do your best, when you do what you’re supposed to do, it pays back,” Dzhalilov said.
That even included quitting smoking because some of his clients didn’t like the smell.
Beavercreek resident Josh Palmer said little customer service things like that are why he’s been going to A&D since it opened its doors even though it costs a little more than some of the chain barber shops.
He was “blown away” by the cleanliness, quality and friendliness of everyone. He said the more he got to know Dzhalilov and the staff, the more impressed he was.
“He’s made more of the American Dream than most Americans,” Palmer said.
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