Kolkata, WEST BENGAL :

Entrepreneurs help train others & create more job opportunities

Calcutta:

Abul Khair, 59, of Tiljala had no fixed income till 2011. Life changed at 50 when he joined a garment factory as a tailor, earning Rs 250 a day. Two years later, he started his own manufacturing unit.

Khair’s unit today has an annual turnover of around 3.5 crore and he dreams of opening his own store.

“I failed to get a permanent job despite clearing my Madhyamik exam,” said the man who would sustain his family of six with what he earned from odd jobs.

Things took a turn for the better when he got the tailor’s job in 2011. Soon, he became a superviser with a monthly salary of Rs 10,000.

But the biggest leap came when, encouraged by his employers, Khair started his own business in 2013. “I got a place in Tiljala and started off with five machines. We would stitch garments for women,” said Khair, who now has 150 machines and 200 people working for him.

But Khair continues to live simply in a rented flat. “I have saved for my children’s education,” he said.

A network of 30 city-based industrialists and professionals from various fields have come together to help people like Khair give shape to their start-up dreams. ALFA Network’s Calcutta chapter hopes to produce 100 entrepreneurs every year in a city often considered poor in opportunities. Till now, they have given wings to 10 start-up dreams in the city.

“We encourage self-sufficient business units in various industries. Those we help would continue empowering others and thus the chain will grow,” said Vivek Goyal, the co-founder and director of clothing brand Zink London and a mentor at Alfa Network. Khair is his protege.

Starting his own training units across nine districts has helped Uttam Kumar Hui, 48, buy his dream home and car. From being a school teacher and living in a rented house to providing employment to others, Hui has come a long way.

“I was in the telecom industry and government sector when I realised that administration was my forte. What fired my ambition was a job as the manager of 75 skill centres at Globsyn Skill Training Institute,” Hui said.

His employer Rahul Dasgupta, the director of Globsyn Business School and a member of ALFA Network, gave him the initial push and helped him set up five units. Within a year, Hui managed to train 1,159 students and helped them get jobs.

“My centres provide administrative skill training for retail, hospitality, banking and mining industries. We have centres across East and West Midnapore, Hooghly, North and South 24-Parganas, Murshidabad and Asansol,” said the man whose annual income has gone up from Rs 4 lakh to Rs 10 lakh.

Like Khair, Hui is trying to create many more entrepreneurs through his training centres.

“We want to create empowering stories every month. All start-ups need an initial push that ALFA Network will provide. Then the entrepreneurs are free to follow their own business module. Sometimes people are in a wrong job. I met a graphic designer recently who is a better landscape artist. I am now helping him open an art studio,” Dasgupta said.

Trust is the only motto at ALFA. “We trust our resources and expect them to live up to our expectations,” said Aditya Vikram Mehta, director of Jaypee India and an ALFA member who changed the life of Saif Ali Khan, 24, a bouncer who now has his own security agency.

“It gives me a high to think that I am training and deploying people at various nightclubs. I train them for 20 days. It is important for bouncers to assess the guests,” said the Beck Bagan resident who earns around Rs 80,000 a month.

source: http://www.telegraphindia.com / The Telegraph,Calcutta,India / Home> Calcutta / by Chandreyee Ghosh / April 12th, 2018