Aseatic Traders
A Small Firm with Big Business

Raju Shrestha, proprietor, Aseatic Traders

For those who harbour the myth that lack of education poses hurdles to entrepreneurship development, the case of Aseatic Traders is a fitting rejoinder. Started by an SLC graduate some 15 years ago, this exporter of handicraft articles has been declared the number one exporter in its category for several years in a row. The achievement has been recognised by the government by declaring this firm one of the 25 CIPs (Commercially Important Persons) of the country.

The case shows that what matters in business is neither the capital nor the technical expertise, but a little bit of common sense and good public relations. “I do not enjoy movies. I enjoy making friends and spending time with friends,” confides Raju Shrestha, the proprietor of Aseatic Traders.

The firm was set up in 1989 together with the Speedway Cargo (P) Ltd., a cargo handling company. The twins were born to complement each other. While the cargo company would help dispatching of the goods that the foreigners buy here to send home, the export company would work as a buying agent for those foreign importers who have once been here, developed the contacts with different manufacturers of handicrafts and set up a link such that they would place the orders to Aseatic Traders which in turn would collect the material from the manufacturers, see to the details of making the necessary papers and send the goods to the destinations as required by the customers.

The beginning was made at a humble level. As Shrestha  recalls, it started with US $ 500, some of which was savings from his earnings from the previous work and some of which was borrowed from the friends. Over the years, the profits from the business were ploughed back. “I gave preference to the business needs over the personal or family needs,” he says. In the process, the firm acquired good quality equipment that the business needed. The result is that the firms now have 40 persons as compared to three with which it started in 1989.

The business grew with the growth in the handicrafts business in the country and he informs that it is growing even now though the other people in the same business complain of declining volume. The major reason for Shrestha’s success is the reputation he has earned as a reliable party which is winning many customers by reference from the friends and old satisfied customers.

Management

It being a service activity, customer satisfaction is what matters the most in Shrestha’s business. That necessitates a regular pep talk to the employees and Shrestha does this  almost every day in the first hour.

One unique style Shrestha had introduced was that of living together with his company people. He had hired a building in which all his workers, himself and their families lived together in separate flats or in shared rooms depending upon the need of the employee concerned. The benefit was that the workers were available on almost 24 hour basis. Though now the system of living together has changed a bit, all his people still leave nearby the warehouse so that there are no work delays in his company. The other evidence to the success of the system is that not a single employee has left Shrestha’s company.

Apart from the personnel, the most important aspect of his business is communication system. His firm deals with about 1000 customers mainly from North America and Europe and he receives about 50 emails a day.

Since his firm works on a system under which the customers provide advance payment, Shrestha does not have to worry about the payment. But that makes the customer worried as he has already paid the money. “So we try our best to assure the customer by constantly providing up-to-date information about the status of his orders,” he says. For this reason, the firm continuously upgrades the communication system, he adds.

Problems

Unlike most of the business people, Shrestha says he does not see any unusual problem to complain about. “They are all usual problems that everybody is facing. We have to take them as granted and plan our business accordingly,” he explains. However, when insisted upon, he cites the traffic problem under which the goods carriers are not allowed to ply on the roads on certain hours. “The vehicles used for export service deserve the first right of passage as in Bangladesh,” he suggests.

Another suggestion is to hold handicraft exhibition to facilitate the importers. Every year there is a handicraft exhibition in India in the month of November. If the Nepali event is scheduled to take place immediately after the Indian event is over, the turnout of the importers would be impressive, he thinks.

Plan

Now Shrestha is thinking of moving to a building that would be owned by the company itself so that the working environment would be better. Another important plan is to acquire an ISO certification.

This feature on SME has been sponsored by Laxmi Bank Ltd.

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