Thursday, March 5 2009

Here is a story of struggle and determination of two men who have lofty goals and had a desire to climb out of poverty. These two Central entrepreneurs faced tremendous odds and yet were able to grow successful businesses in a weak industry. That sector is the agricultural industry. How could these two make it in a declining environment? Read on to find out about human ingenuity and fervour to shape their destiny.

Faizal Kareem and Dindial Sikumar are both humble men with bold ambitions and tenacity.

Kareem’s business is situated in Arena, Freeport and named Arena Farms. His business is landscaping, flower and plant sales.

Enter Dindial Sikumar, much younger but with similar traits to Kareem. Sikumar has two agricultural enterprises; one producing fresh produce and the other sauces. The pepper sauce that you pour on your KFC is produced at his small factory in Warren Road, near Charlieville.

Roots

Kareem’s roots in the agriculture started back in 1960s at the Ministry of Agriculture. He tried his hand at agriculture in 1970 in sleepy Chaguaramas but was forced to leave there and move to a location near West Mall, this time to sell plants and flowers. The clientele there liked his varieties and business was good. Up came the highways division one day and his business was destroyed in a few minutes. He moved, picking up the pieces and gambled on a new mall in Morvant and with the recession of the 1980s, the place failed to fully open.

Unfazed, he moved to Maraval to peddle his flowers and plants. By that time the recession was packing a good punch and his business was struggling. Kareem was late on one month’s rent and one day he came to see the bailiff take all his business’ belongings. Despite his strength, he became depressed and even thought about taking his life. His wife and four kids and a mortgage were on his mind.

Like any Chaguanas Junior Secondary school student at the time, Sikumar liked cricket and having fun in class. But he never lost sight of the ball and recognised his family’s poverty. He wanted to be independent and to buy books and uniform, he hit on an idea to make some money. He was just about 14 years when he headed to the wholesale market in Port-of-Spain and bought produce from farmers and sold to wholesalers. Business was good but he had bigger goals and he raked up some seed capital.

A Hard Day’s Night

In a microcosm of shady trees (landscapers would call it the micro-climate), Kareem told of his years of poverty. He had to eat pepper choka to make ends meet. Despite his failures, he was determined to make another start and took his last $6,000 and moved to Freeport to base his operation. He worked 70 hour weeks and that included nights. The academics would call it sweat capital. This agripreneur experimented with different varieties of flowers. He claims he was one the first persons to commercialise the popular anthurium hookeri variety.

Caroni Edication

Meanwhile, Sikumar, whose parents were sugar cane workers at the now defunct Caroni, took a leap into agriculture. Despite his Advanced levels education, he decided that he could make a living off the land. He took his $3,000 that he made from selling and, typical of entrepreneurs, borrowed money from his parents and rented some land. Even with the challenges of open field farming, he kept on persevering but that was about to change.

The Sky With Diamonds

Kareems business started to blossom (if you don’t mind the pun) as he expanded his range in crotons, orchids, and developed what he calls his exotic range of fruit trees. How about a chennette that does not grow beyond 12 feet, a Brazilian guava that comes in at one pound and a downs plant that bears a fruit shaped like a green apple (marketed as Dessert Apple). His strategy of selling unique fruit trees that are mostly dwarfed in size has created a niche for him. Customers want trees in their small backyards and only small trees can cut it.

Back at the farm, Sikumar, working 65 hours per week, was introduced to the grow box method in 1989. This innovative method uses a semi-controlled way to grow produce in boxes. Currently a hot topic among farmers. The open field (traditional) method had several drawbacks. The farm suffered from the vagaries of Mother Nature. Grow box means greater yields, less labour and continuous reaping from regular planting. This meant that Sikumar has greater profit and cash flow. However, his grow box system producing pepper and seasonings became a greater success than he envisioned. He had more produce than he could sell.

Being an innovator, Sikumar asked, why let the market control your destiny? He started to make pepper sauce under the ‘D Farmers’ brand. First bottles and then he approached the KFC chain to supply them. He now supplies both in sachets and in bulk.

Want To Hold Your Hand

The conventional wisdom is that when you are successful, you keep your cards close to avoid letting your secrets out. Kareem and Sikumar are very unusual businessmen; both believe they must share their success with others. Kareem, 72, would give time to anyone wanting to start a plant business. Sikumar believes in philanthropy too. He is a trainer with YTEPP and has recently trained 17 youngsters in the grow box method. But is he worried about some of his trainees eventually putting him out of business? No, he says, if you are good, you will always be one step ahead of the competition.

Let It Be

With the global financial downturn, business people around the world are understandably worried. I asked Kareem what impact the slowdown would have on his business. After living through a recession and rice, salt and Shadow Beni for a meal, he is not particularly worried. His plan is to hire more workers, boost production and lower prices. The result would be higher profits. Recession to him means opportunity!

Sikumar thinks like this too. He thinks people will still eat and he plans to continue to invest. Since his business is partly vertically integrated (grower and processor), he has more margins to play with. As a first prize winner in agro-processing (Ministry of Agriculture), he believes that agriculture is a business and the owner must invest to stay ahead.

Kareem and Sikumar might be a generation apart but they have similar views on business and life. They preach you must be humble and be passionate about your work. Two contented entrepreneurs with a similar story to tell.

Sajjad Hamid is a

management consultant.

email:shamid@entrepreneurTnT.com

Website:www.entrepreneurTnT.com