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November, 2003 |
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SME Focus |
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Singha Bdr. Tamang He
prefers to be called a sportsman rather than businessman. "Perhaps
it is because of my age", he explains. At an age of 38, Singha
Bahadur Tamang, the proprietor of SB Carpet, Gongabu, thinks he is still
not grown up enough to be referred to as a businessman. But look at
those facts: He has not studied beyond the tenth grade, still he owns
three factories, runs two of them while one is rented out; employs some
300 persons in the carpet factories he runs (more than in some of the
big commercial banks); has visited many countries of the world; moves
around in a Tata Indica car and owns a house in Kathmandu. And compare
that with this: When he first came to Kathmandu 24 years ago from
Dolakha as a 14 year old lad with his elder brother to try his luck in
the capital he had to sleep at night on a Sukul (straw mat). But this "Sukul to
Carpets" journey was not simply a meteoric rise. "I've put a
lot of hard work to reach here," he notes. First he learned Karate
and he still teaches this Martial art to school students and earns
salary. Then he worked as a contractor, with his elder brother,
supplying labour to the carpet factories, and taking up small scale
construction jobs in the development activities like road construction. The major turning point in
Tamang's life came when Swayambhu Carpet started. The Sahu (i.e. the
owner) of this export-oriented factory called up Tamang and offered him
a job as the manager of the washing section of his factory. After nearly
three years of the job, the same Sahu asked Tamang to set up his own
factory and he obliged by investing some Rs. 500,000 which he had earned
as a Wado-kai karate trainer, labour contractor and construction
contractor. There are altogether four factories ancillary to Swayambhu
Carpet. While the others are only in knotting (making carpets), Tamang
does the washing as well. Being a producer that
produces according to the order of the principal, SB Carpet has no
worries related to the export hassles, and Tamang does not show any
interest to start exporting on his own. "I'm getting better rates
than what many exporters get from their overseas customers", he
grins and says this has made it possible for him to pay higher than
market wage rates to his workers thus motivating them to stay loyal to
him. Despite being little educated, Tamang knows what is needed to know for his business. He speaks English sufficient enough to communicate with his customers; he knows how the quality of carpet differs and where to control so as to get quality product; and teaches his workers how to earn more and save more. More importantly, he knows very well that transparency with the workers is essential for the success of the business. He shows his workers the bills of his transactions with the principal (who provides the wool and buys back the product) so they know how much he earns and they do not feel cheated by the employer. "This may be the reason why my people are not interested in any unionising", he opines. (This feature on SME has been sponsored by Laxmi Bank Ltd.) |
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Cover Story
| Editorial | Biztoon
| Political |
Economy & Policy | Management
| SME Focus |
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