[Reader-list] Some More Stories of Entrepreneurship

[prasad shetty]

Dear Everybody,

I just thought that I will add some more best sample cases for those who read the earlier ones and found them interesting.

THE ENGLISH TEACHER

Completed her Honours in French from the Sophia College, Bombay University – she stayed at home for about 15 – 20 years managing her household, though always interested in languages. Around in 1990-’91 she was approached through her common friends from college, by the principal of a suburban school (Gyan Kendra, Lokhandwala, Andheri) to start a French department in the school. She taught French to the senior secondary students and also extended the course to include in it seminars, conferences, etc at the Alliance Francaise (She had become a member during her college days) to expose the students in a bigger way to French culture and not just restrict it to the language. However, she stayed on only for three years, since the job had begun to stagnate. Also, her husband was in the initial stages of setting up his own factory for manufacturing castor wheels for bags, so she joined him and helped with the administration and supervision of production.

Along side, she took French tuitions for students. However, when the language began to diminish with Marathi becoming the second language in S.S.C. schools, she joined part time courses that taught ‘managing small – scale industries’ (one month) at the S.I.S.I., Saki naka, and Import-Export at I.I.T.C., Bandra. Since her work timings were flexible, she was able to attend these courses. She also joined the W.I.M.A. – an organisation for women entrepreneurs / self employed women which helped get grants, loans, land and licenses and provided information on technical expertise and relevant rules and regulations. This organisation has its principal chapter in Poona. Registration is open to all women interested in business at a nominal refreshment fee. Influential ladies from the Dahanukars, Bajajs, Vimla Patil, etc. were all part of the board of members and Sharad Pawar, the then chief minister was instrumental in the setting up of a lot of businesses by women. She began work as a co-ordinator, which involved setting up meetings with eminent speakers who would give guest lectures on entrepreneurship and meeting up with the board regularly at the President’s bungalow in Altamount Road near Peddar Road. She worked there for a year and when her husband’s business gradually settled she decided to move on with something of her own. 

She regretted not having a masters’ degree or a high-ranking qualification, so she tried to balance that with all the short-term courses. She also joined a Public Speaking course conducted by renowned Mr. Palekar who also conducted the same course for various management colleges in the suburbs. She also took up a course in Transactional Analysis, which was a corporate training programme for teaching professionals in the field of Human Resources. With an intention to pursue a career in English, she visited the British Council library (of which she is a member) at Nariman point, twice a week. She met a lot of professionals but who wouldn’t share their knowledge, so from following a lot of the educational seminars conducted by the British Council Library, their curricula, she started creating her own curriculum. She was attached to the British Council Library and well in touch with their programmes to keep her updated. She also conducted along with a team of professionals - some of their summer camps for children – 80-100 children per camp - which included fun and learning activities at a picnic spot like Madh Island, etc.

She decided to start her first course – an elementary course in English for housewives. It required her to advertise, so she contacted a printer in Dhake colony (whose name and contact number was printed at the bottom of another flier) and printed 5000 fliers. She personally went to Andheri station (the suburban source) and got her fliers inserted into the newspapers that would be circulated in the whole of Andheri (W). From 200 phone calls she managed to register 10 admissions. 

The programme was for 3 months - thrice a week, 1 ½ hour per session. It cost Rs. 2500/- and no certificate was awarded since it was her first. She conducted the programme in the living room of her residential apartment (2BHK) in the afternoons when her children were away at college. The course intended to develop a good foundation in English grammar and speech that laid stress on pronunciation and conversational abilities. The programme included reading aloud, writing, listening and speaking English with an interactive approach where discussions pertaining to their daily lives would be conducted. Most of the students were semi professionals and affluent ladies with ‘bottle-necked personas’ who couldn’t cope with their social life due to absence of English in their lives. Mothers with English speaking children studying in English medium schools, mothers-in-law who were threatened by their English-speaking daughters-in-law, women with high – profile husbands who wouldn’t take them to socialite parties lest they get embarrassed, women entrepreneurs venturing out from home based industries to bag bigger corporate orders, etc. The course gradually introduced ‘role plays’ where they would rehearse mock-dialogues that could be used for various occasions like at the banks, open houses in school, parties, offices, corporate meetings, etc.

In six months she started another batch and with the growing popularity, she started the Intermediate Course and the eventually the Advanced Course, both set up again from a lot of material from the British Council Library. At the end of the batches, she would organise a small party where she would call ‘successful’ people from the Hotel Industry or other women entrepreneurs and encourage interaction and gauge their conversational capabilities.

Gradually she got calls from the corporate world inviting her to create separate courses for their lower, middle and higher management staff. One of her students – the wife of an ex-minister (Mukesh Patel) made her a member of the ‘Limousine Bus Service’ an air conditioned bus service between the suburbs and South Bombay - She again became regular at the British Council Library and started corresponding with the London University to create customised courses. She began freelancing and created her courses on an old typewriter and travelled short distance on her three wheeler scooter.

She was approached by the ex-president of the Lioness’ club, Lokhandwala to become the president of the club. She got involved in a lot of community projects – polio operations, T.B. medication for the poor, food and education for rehab homes and orphanages, etc. and was even awarded various honours for the same. She arranged the funds by approaching various industrialists and procuring ATG exemptions for their contributions. She even conducted courses for the Lioness’ Club and a lot of other co- Associations and built a lot of repute. 

Meanwhile, her husbands’ industry couldn’t compete in the market flooded with Chinese goods, and his business reached stagnancy with losses beyond control. So he joined her and converted her enterprise into a full fledged institute called ‘Palms Academy’ that would generate a substantial income. Since she had no formal training in the field and was going to start one herself, she decided to go through a Personality Development Course at the British Council to become a certified trainer. They initially hired two galas in a (service based) commercial centre with the help of newspaper advertisements and real estate agents and soon hired a third gala in the same premise. From English language, they introduced courses in Personality Development and other foreign languages. She contacted the various resource people including professional trainers, etc, by advertisements in the newspapers and appointed them after personally conducted interviews. They are paid Rs. 150/- to Rs. 500/- per hour.

Soon they hired free-lancing seasoned faculty to not only train their students in English, foreign languages, Personality Development, but also to translate official documents of international companies setting up base in India – catalogues, brochures, manuals, drawings, etc. They also started offering short-term courses in Personality Development to young children from II grade to VII grade in schools and have signed such a contract with the CNMS, a school in the suburbs. At the end of the course, they conduct dance and grooming sessions at The Renaissance Hotel, with whom they have had an arrangement of regular business for the last two years.

As the cost of advertising in newspapers and wall hoardings have gone up, it has become difficult to manage the institute. So they have handed it over to another person who handles all the activities of the institute, which has now transformed into a preparatory course for young boys and girls wanting to join BPOs and call centres. The couple co-ordinates between their staff and multinational companies, e.g. a German Pharmaceutical company which is setting up base here, and wants their staff to learn the German language, or an IT industry whose mid-management has to interact with their foreign counterparts, coffee shops (Café Coffee Day), schools, etc. for Personality Development.

Currently, she has been invited to Dubai as a consultant to the English Language Laboratory set up by the private business houses in the IT industry which run full fledged academies, to set up a new curriculum for language studies. She was offered the project at a Conference on Learning English, Leading and Assessment in Abu Dabi, where she was present as a participant. She has been collecting material on the internet from the websites of Oxford, Cambridge, Longmann Universities. She has also been invited by the University of Dubai to conduct level analysis for military personnel.

TWO HOME BASED CATERERS

A teacher at the Besant Montessori School was approached by her next-door neighbour who took voluntary retirement from her bank (Bank of India) in June ’04 to start a side business in catering. Since her children were on their own – daughter was Junior Executive in Birla Sun Life and son was pursuing a B.Sc in I.T. at St. Andrews, Bandra, she agreed. 

They spread the word amongst acquaintances and friends and got their first order for a birthday party at the Bank of India, Yari Road branch. They decided upon a menu that fit into the budget and bought all the raw materials required from Good Luck Stores or Apna Bazaar. Generally, whoever is free, buys the materials. They buy all the material at the retail price and have no arrangement with the shop owners. For non-vegetarian items they go to the Versova wholesale meat market at 9.00 a.m. to get fresh goods and a competitive price (Boni). They share the expenses and also the work between their own kitchens. Vegetarians themselves, they do cook non-vegetarian food and request their children to taste and comment. The remuneration is kept aside in one of their houses and is used for the next order. If a big order has been placed and a lump sum of about Rs. 10,000/- Rs. 20,000 is received, then they share it amongst themselves. They have hired a maid to help with the cutting of vegetables, meat, cleaning of utensils and other odd jobs. They pay her according to the work, e.g. Cutting-cleaning Rs. 150/- per day, scraping coconuts – Rs. 50/- per day, making chapattis – Rs. 200/- per day, etc. They have purchased a few large vessels (aluminium) and storage cans for larger orders for Rs. 500/- from the wholesale market at Andheri station. They restrict their purchases to the bare minimum for they do not own a separate space for storage and have to use their own homes for the same. If there are leftovers of the raw materials, then they keep it aside for the next order or share it amongst themselves before the goods perish.

Over a period of time they have procured all kinds of orders for parties, occasional home food – traditional Maharashtrian style, puja food for priests, ice creams, day-to-day food for large marriage parties, etc. They plan the work such that a lot of preparatory jobs are done the previous days and only the final cooking is done fresh.  They generally charge double the amount spent on raw materials to balance out for gas, travel for shopping, etc. They do charge extra if the items include ghee or if the items consume more gas, etc.  Their earnings are not fixed for they take up orders based only on their convenience and do not plan to expand it in any big way. Each order becomes an advertisement for the next so they do not advertise publicly. Their clientele includes families staying in Vile Parle, Indian Oil Nagar and the clients themselves mostly transport the goods. In case they have to deliver it themselves, they do so in a rickshaw charging extra for transportation.


THE LIC AGENT

Born in a fisherman community in Katpadi, Mattu, Karnataka to illiterate parents, he left home with his twin brother at the age of 9 years to join his maternal uncle in Mumbai, (1948) who worked in Dalal and Shah Chartered Accountants as a peon. Soon a friend who worked in Times Of India recommended him and he was offered the job as an attendant with a monthly salary of Rs. 165/-. He had studied till the 5th grade along with his twin brother in their native town. (Since they were born twins, they were considered special and most of the villagers contributed in their education). His job included delivery of letters (around 125 per day) to offices in and around Ballard Pier from 9.00 a.m. to 6.00 p.m. He walked to and from the office for delivery; and pleased with his performance, the in-charge ‘awarded’ him canteen coupons (1 anna – 2 annas). He also confirmed his job within three days, much to the annoyance of the other Maharashtrian delivery boys.

He went to a night school (Bombay Fort Free Night High School) from 6.30 p.m. to 9.30 p.m. run by a South Indian which had 300 other students – all boys. He also participated in the Scouts Programme at the night school, which involved military training on Sunday at the Azad maidan. In 1 ½ years, the Traffic Control Police sent a letter to the office (TOI) for permission to grant him leave for training in Traffic Control, at the end of which he received a Scouts Training Certificate. In 1954, he passed his S.S.C. examination and applied to the clerical post in the same office. The asst. editor made an application and a recommendation to the Business Manager after which he was recruited for a 3 month training programme and a salary of Rs. 300/- per month. His job now involved despatching letters to various people in and out of the office. Soon he joined Siddharth College of Arts. Fees at the college were Rs. 200/- per year and he bought all his books from the second hand book stall nearby. Since the office was pleased with his performance anyway, he was allowed to come one hour late and leave one hour early. He studied at the Free Reading Library near V.T. He along with his brother slept in an office premise, which closed down at 10.00 p.m. The security guard allowed them to sleep here in return for Rs 1 – 2/- per month. There was a caterer nearby who made two meals and prepared tea and refreshments for 30-35 working men at Rs. 35/- per month. They had an arrangement with a laundryman who would wash their clothes once a week. He also sent Rs. 10/- every month to his family back home. In 3 months, his job was confirmed and he began to draw a salary of Rs. 350/- per month.

The senior clerk in the office was like his godfather, and he offered him his own house at a pagdi of Rs. 750/- and Rs.9/- per month as rent. However, since he had no money, out of affection he gave custody of the fully furnished house (along with the utensils et. al.) in Sandhurst Road. The house was a 20 X 12 ft. chawl type on the 4th floor of the building. It had a mori and a bath with a water connection with a common toilet for 10 such rooms. They travelled by train with a monthly pass of Rs. 3/-. They sold old bottles from the house and bought newer articles. Gradually they started paying a monthly rent of Rs. 9/- too. After 8 years his brother got married and he applied to the Housing Board and got a house in 1960 at Rs. 10,000/-.

His landlord (godfather) also wanted to sell the room he was living in, so he offered to buy it from them. Due to familiarity, they sold it to him at Rs. 7000/-. He collected the money from various sources – Rs. 3000/- from an uncle in Kuwait, applied for a loan at the TOI society for Rs. 3000/-, he was a member of the Mogaveera Fund from where he got the remaining Rs. 3000/-.

In eight years, there was negligible increment, and he had to repay his debts, and there was no money for household expenditure. In 1972, he applied to the Mahalaxmi Society which had 240 houses built and a known relative helped in release of a loan through Syndicate Housing Finance. He bought the house for Rs. 8,000/-. He also sold his Sandhurst Road house at Rs. 10,000/-. A Development Officer, also an acquaintance suggested he take up a part time job of an LIC agent in his own agency, which had 18 – 19 other agents.  He took it up and got the whole of TOI insured under the Salary Savings Scheme. He also sold about 150 life insurance policies. The Officer conducted competitions amongst his agents and had them awarded by dignitaries from the Development Office.

In the 2nd, 3rd year, he got promoted as the assistant branch manager managing a business of 3 – 3.5 lakhs per year. He visited other banks and offices during their lunchtime and would pay the in-charge a commission to get the policies sold in their offices. He had started this in his wife’s name, but as the taxes increased due to high income, he started an agency in his own name. He visited the Acharya Insurance Service Centre which was one of the biggest agencies at that time, and collected their leaflets and copied their strategies – booklets on summaries of all policies and their advantages, letterhead formats, etc. He gradually got upgraded as the Branch Manager Club member and then the Zone Manager Club Member and then the Chairman Club Member which are statuses allotted to agents having completed a certain benchmark of lives insured, sums issued, premium amounts, etc.

Through an X-Y-Z chain system, he expanded his network. Seeing his progress, LIC offered him a car in his 8th year – so he applied for a car loan (he was allowed upto 5 lakhs for 8 years) and bought a Premier Padmini Deluxe. He used it for 5 years and then found that his driver sold petrol worth Rs. 800/- every month, so he sold it. He instead purchased land at Udipi and built a 2000 sq. ft. house finished in marble, granite, and the works! at 18 lakhs. LIC loaned him some money, while his twin brother (who had a business in radios and became very rich) loaned him 8 lakhs.

As the taxes became heavier, he started one more agency in his daughter’s name, who has become the Divisional Manager Club Member, while he himself got upgraded to a MDRT– Million Dollar Round Table – is a group consisting of insurance agents across the world.

He runs his agencies himself. Since the last 10-12 years he has installed computers in his office (Rs. 16,000/- packages) with the help of Rs. 1.5 lakh loan from LIC again. He has hired sophisticated staff to handle all the computer work and his daughter oversees their work. He also maintains manual records for he doesn’t completely trust the computer. He has over 5000 clients today under the salary savings scheme right from SEEPZ, Bilimoria, Sarvodaya Industrial estates in Andheri (E) to Hare Rama Hare Krishna, MVM School staff to Panvel on the Central line to Borivali on the Western line. He travels with a three-route pass by train. 

He owns three agencies today in a 500 sq. ft. carpet area space in a building in Mahalaxmi. He was granted loan by LIC again of Rs. 1.5 lakhs. He oversees personally the daily record of collecting premiums and sends letters by courier service – he has signed a contract with the Vichare Courier Service to despatch 10 -15 letters per day. And personally meets up with potential clients who can expand his chain. His phone bill comes upto Rs. 4000/- per month.




Prasad Shetty
Residence: 501, Marigold, Opposite Shakti Motors, New Link Road, Malad (W),
Mumbai 400 064 INDIA
Phone: +91-9820912744
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