Entrepreneur

ASSIGNMENT ENTREPRENEURIAL JOURNEY OF MUHAMMED ASHARAF MANAGING DIRECTOR SCANDIC POLYMERS, MUVATTUPUZHA CONTACT: 09745225555 EMAIL:[email protected]

Submitted by Akash Kunikullaya ([email protected]) Hari Vishnu ([email protected]) Sandeep Kodali ([email protected]) Guruvindapalli Vidhey Babu ([email protected])

1.Name of the entrepreneur: Muhammed Asharaf 2. Age: 26 Qualification: BE Mechanical 3. Designation: Managing Director Work Experience (if any) nil 4. Native Place Muvattupuzha, Eranakulam 5. State: Kerala 6. Company Name: Scandic Polymers 7. Email id: [email protected] Contact Number: 9745225555 8. Legal form of the organization : Partnership 9. When did you start the present venture (Year): 2012 10. Area of Business (Industry): Manufacturing 11. Number of employees at the time of start-up : 20 Current employee strength: 70 12. Origin of the business: Own Start up 13. Initial Investment: 4 crore Sales Turnover:42 crore

Introduction Muhammed Asharaf was born on 13th July, 1989 in a suburb in Eranakulam called Muvattupuzha. His Father Mr. Shamsudeen is a renowned entrepreneur in Eranakulam. He is the Chairman & Founder of Ilahia College of technology in Muvattupuzha. Born into an entrepreneurial family, the entrepreneurial skills were in his blood. He completed his Schooling in Muvattupuzha and started his engineering course in a renowned University in Australia. Everyone is aware about the problems faced by the Indian students in Australia during the period of 20082010. Asharaf’s visa was cancelled for no fault of his and he returned back home half way through his course. He then enrolled for Mechanical Engineering course in KGiSL Institute of technology, Coimbatore. The reason behind choosing him: The rationale behind choosing Muhammed Asharaf for our interview is that he is the modern day entrepreneur of our age group. This might help us understand him and his methods of carrying out business better than a senior entrepreneur. We, as a group felt that we would be better served if we interview an entrepreneur in the age group of 25-35 as we would be in a position to understand their thinking much better. Hence, this might serve the purpose of this assignment. He accepts being aimless in the initial years in Coimbatore. People started looking him as a spoilt young brat who lives his life king’s size in his father’s income. He felt bad about this and wanted to change the people’s thoughts about him. He neither wanted to change his lifestyle nor wanted to be working for someone else. So, the option available with him was to start his own venture.

He used to travel from Coimbatore to Eranakulam on weekends. He used to notice flex boards all through the highway. When he researched about it, he stumbled upon an astonishing fact that the sheet which is used for the flex is manufactured by only one company in whole of South India. He sniffed an opportunity to tap into the huge market in which the competition was low. He explained his idea to business friends of his father and they were ready to invest if he could give them the detailed explanation or in other words his business plan. He started concentrating more in it during his final semester and was successful in persuading his father’s friends. He thought that the most difficult part of starting a venture is behind him, but he was in for a surprise. The toughest part was to get the clearances for setting up the manufacturing unit. Even though his father had a good relationship with politicians and other Government officials in Kerala, he refused to take his father’s help. He did all on his own and accepts the fact that he has given “gifts” for some officials. He also accepts that his father had also told the officials to be easy on him. It took him almost 7-8 months to get proper clearances and the machinery to set up the facility ready to start the production. The factory started its operations by December 2012. The initial investment was about 4 crores which was by 2 friends of his father. He took the help of his father’s network for getting his first order. From then on there’s no looking back. In mid 2014 they had another round of investment of 2 crores. The turnover in the last year was 42 crores. When asked about the future plans, he said that he has no plans to expand the production facility in the near future as they are capable of meeting an increase of 20-30 % in their order level but he is planning to import raw material from the Gulf with a unit started there for this very purpose so that they can cut the costs

involved. He also added that nothing is clear about this idea at this moment and it is in a nascent stage. When asked about how an engineering degree helped in setting up the venture, he said that he is able to read the specifications needed and the working of the machineries better. His family background has certainly helped him fast forward his growth but he believes family background alone cannot ensure the success in the long run. It just gives the entrepreneur a leveraged start. He is of the principle that a business is like a rolling snowball. It takes a herculean effort to set it rolling but once it gathers speed we don’t have to do anything, it will accelerate on its own. Similarly, in business it takes effort and time to set up a process or organization or system, but once that is done we will only have to do minor corrections and updates according to the recent trends. He is very content in his career as an entrepreneur. He adds that he has so much of tasks and duties to perform; he finds time flying off in a jiffy. The downside of an entrepreneurial career is that he is so engaged in his own work he has very little or no time for his family. So, his advice to aspiring entrepreneurs is that one has to think deeply and do research before taking a decision and back that decision even when the whole world retracts the individual.