sample interview by umair.doc

7/29/2019 Sample interview by Umair.doc

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GIFT Business School

Mr. Farooq Hussain looked outside the window of his apartment in darkness asreflections of his past life occupied his imaginations. He sighed and thought, So, it has


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to end when things are looking brighter. Its like a crop which I cultivated with lots oflove and when it was about to ripe, I have to walk away from the field without reapingit.

Farooq, a visionary young man, was born in Karachi and got his initial education there.

He grew up in a family where he saw his elders doing their own businesses. He reflected,My father used to be in a business of gemstones. As I grew up I saw almost everybodyin my family doing their own businesses irrespective of the size. You feel pride inserving your own self and having the freedom to be what you have always wanted to behe said. Farooqs father happened to visit Germany and Switzerland with a tradedelegation & he got published in the German newspapers. When Farooq got to see hisfathers snaps in paper, it became a memory that enchanted him throughout hischildhood. In 1989 he left for United States for his studies and did his BSc (Hons.) inBusiness Administration from Elmhurst College, Elmhurst, IL, USA in 1994. During hiseducation he got an employment with Radio Shack where he was appointed as a salesexecutive. He was paid commission for the sales he made. He learnt some of his critical

lessons during his stay there but his restless nature was not finding satisfaction in burningcalories for someone else while he could put all this effort for himself. He thought thatthis is not something he wants to do. After all, his DNA was coded to be an entrepreneur.He framed: I always felt the need for freedom and a strong urge to grow and this Ithought could happen if I start working for myself.

In USA, starting a venture is very easy and this statement borrows its validity from thefact that 65% of businesses in USA are small businesses. You see a lot of MAMA PAPAshops, slang for small shops, in streets. Once you decide to do a business you need towrite to Internal Revenue Services (IRS), which is tax collecting authority in USA, aboutyour intention. In response they send you IRS forms and CDs and other relevant

information which you should know in order to start a business. Secondly, you havegovernment appointed business counselors who are there to help you with getting started.They are not ordinary people, rather they are retired CEOs, CFOs and seasonedentrepreneurs with hands own experience in starting and managing business. They helpyou in whatever aspect you need help in. Having the experience of such people at yourback reduces the chance of failure significantly. Then the U.S culture itself is veryreceptive to young businesses. People who are self employed are highly regarded in US.The government of U.S promotes new businesses by offering tax cuts in the initial yearsof a business.

Farooq started his first venture of computers and electronics. His experience with RadioShack derived him to step into electronics business. This business had to suffer an uglydemise before it could even reach breakeven.

Not discouraged by his initial failure, Farooq stepped into his second venture ofGarments. He started working as an intermediary. This business also had to be closeddown when it reached breakeven. According to Farooq, This wasnt actually my idea; Iborrowed it from a fellow. I never felt really charged up for it. So its closure at breakevenwas its logical end.

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Entrepreneurs have a different psyche; their restlessness forces them to keep onexperimenting even if they have crashed and burnt in their initial test drives. This is whatmakes them different from the risk averse masses. Same was the case with Farooq; hewanted to be a successful business owner no matter how many failures it takes to reachthere.

Farooq started his third venture of Laundry. This time he was very much confident abouthis success, as he had learnt from his failures, what not to do. He started with identifyingopportunity. Farooq reflected, There was no laundry outlet in 5 miles radius around thelocation where my service center was supposed to be incepted, and in US 5 miles meansa lot. Then I thought of evaluating the services offered by existing laundry shops. Myfindings were that they were charging very high prices and this was a lucrative businessoff course. People used to charge $2.5 for ironing and $5 to wash and iron the clothes.This price is as much as 1/8th of the cost of clothes.

Once I felt that opportunity is there, I decided that Im going to undertake this venture. I

sat down and chalked out a complete Business Plan. I did my valuations veryconservatively in order to assess whether the business was viable or not. After I hadformulated a complete Business Plan, I approached every laundry shop in my area andexperienced their services. That gave me a fair idea of where to position my business interms of quality and price. The next step was to find & acquire a suitable location.Location I think is the most critical factor in capturing market and when you talk aboutUS market, location becomes even more critical success factor. It took three months;from the day I conceived the idea to the day I inaugurated my shop and almost twomonths, I spent on deciding upon which location to choose for the outlet.

Farooq decided to finance his venture from the savings he had made in the past years. He

assumed that an initial investment of $65000 was sufficient. He decided to go for thisbusiness at his own rather than having a partner.

Once the resources were there, an important ingredient was still lacking; the team. Farooqexplained, I didnt wanted to put my family at stake, so I decided to carry on myexisting job and get a person from my family to oversee the laundry business". After hechoose a person to manage the business then there arised the question of getting labor forthe cleaning and pressing job. Farooq had a hard time finding people he wanted for hisshop.

Finally, with all resources in tact the business started. Profits fall short of Farooqsprojection in first three months of business but then things started turning in his favor.After six months the business reached breakeven and as the business started growing,there arose a gap between the employees required and employees he had. Secondly,Farooq felt that he was loosing control over his business as things started growing. Froma single laundry shop the business had grown into three outlets; one for picking up thedirty clothes, second was the laundry facility where whole equipment was installed andthe third was delivery desk, where the washed and pressed clothes were delivered tocustomers. I think I was a bit hasty in growing into a three outlet business he said.

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The strength of this business according to Farooq was high customer satisfaction and therelative weakness was that he had less time to spend with his business & he relied heavilyon other people to manage his venture. When I look back at my experience I feel that themost triumphant moment in the whole account was when I acquired the second shop at aprice that was significantly less than the price I had paid for acquiring the first shop he

explained.

After you have done all the hard work, borne all the risk, have lots of perspiration andabove all you have started looking towards a bright future, there is no bigger setback thanwatching whole your effort going into dust. Just when the business had becameprofitable; US government put requirements on laundry business owners, which Farooqwas unable to fulfill at that time. I was in no position to meet the requirements of USgovernment, so I did what I could have done; I disposed off the whole business. Its toohard to forget a dream which is about to become a reality Farooq passed a cold breath.

Owing to his experience of doing his own business, Farooq said, As an entrepreneur you

should answer the following questions before stepping into a venture:

Can you sustain your business in turbulent times?

Are you aware what exactly you will end up in doing?

Do you have the right location for the business?

Do you have the right people involved in your venture?

Do you know your competitors well?

Farooq concluded saying that one should be careful in choosing a partner becausesomeday you have to bring that person home. Your partner becomes a part of your familysomeday, so choosing a partner needs special consideration. Regarding the tradeoffs one

has to make in order to be an entrepreneur, Farooq was of the view that one is left withless time to spent with ones family

According to Farooq Anybody can be an entrepreneur but not everyone can sing. Hisadvice to aspiring entrepreneurs is Just go for it

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