In Quest of a Larger Canvas he story of a man who would not quit. 1816 - His family was forced out of their home. He had to work to support them 1831 - Failed in business 1832 - Ran for state legislature - lost 1832 - Also lost his job - wanted to go to law school but couldn't get in 1833 - Borrowed some money from a friend to begin a business and by the end of the year he was bankrupt. He spent the next seventeen years of his life paying off this debt 1834 - Ran for state legislature again - won

Chief General Manager of MTNL, M.C.Venkatram inaugurating India ’s first private communication center established by Nanik

1836 - Had a total nervous breakdown and was in bed for six months

1838 - Sought to become speaker of the state legislature - defeated

1840 - Sought to become elector - defeated

1843 - Ran for Congress - lost

1846 - Ran for Congress again - this time he won - went to Washington and did a good job

1848 - Ran for re-election to Congress - lost

1849 - Sought the job of land officer in his home state -rejected

1854 - Ran for Senate of the United States - lost

1856 - Sought the Vice-Presidential nomination at his party's national convention - got less than a hundred votes

1858 - Ran for U.S. Senate again - again he lost

1860 - Elected President of the United States

By refusing to quit, Abraham Lincoln reached the highest office in the country.

The business chronicle of Nanik Rupani could well have been inspired by the above story.

From Ghana, Nanik brought home to India three things: In his pocket, savings of Rs. 15,000; in his mind, a passionate desire to make a fortune; and in his heart, a keen vision to make a lasting difference to society. The twenty-two year old knew that he had little by way of educational qualifications, but he did not let that deter him. For the next several years, every step on his way up, though fraught with difficulties, taught him valuable lessons. Every bend on the road, though hard to traverse, brought valuable insights and confidence. He kept seeking key opportunities in several sectors; identifying roadblocks, making the right judgments — a coursethat eventually led him to the zenith of success.

The story of this immense struggle that spanned two decades is one that enlightens and inspires — each step demonstrates the dedication and self-confidence that went into the efforts put in by an exceptional personality.

A Laborious Start

On his return from Africa in 1963, Nanik explored avenues by which he could start his own venture and make it big on his home soil. He was not keen on taking up a regular job. Yes, he could have easily entered the existing family business and worked under the protective umbrella of his father. Instead, he chose to explore the possibility of setting up a venture with the aim of boosting the economic fortunes of his family.

Even though his new undertaking enjoyed family blessings, Nanik as its captain, had to invest all his personal savings into its creation — a significant sum of Rs.15,000. This capital was augmented with funds from his family. Thus in 1964, he started a power-loom unit in Bhiwandi, located at a distance of 80 kilometers from Bombay. Production activity at this unit was the life force for two of his fledgling firms, Roop Textiles and Radha Silk Industries.

Yarn was the principal raw material needed. Since yarn was in short supply in those days, Nanik relied on the support of friends like Mr. S. N. Upadhyay, a prominent Congressman who used his good offices to introduce Nanik to Mr. Pramod Jhaveri, the Chairman of Nirlon. Nirlon became a partial supplier of yarn to Nanik's factories, where the commodity was spun into saris and other cloth material. This was then sold to wholesalers.

Those were difficult days. Bhiwandi was a small, crowded and shabby industrial area on the outskirts of Bombay. It was not easily accessible. Nanik had to commute daily using diff-erent modes of transport — bus, train, horse-cart and on
foot.

The factory demanded that Nanik put in long and arduous hours. He would eat only one meal a day, paying Rs. 1.25 for a meager and badly cooked thali lunch. He could not afford to stay away from the factory for long. If a loom broke, even in the dead of the night, he would have to fetch a welder immediately so that work could resume at the earliest. Several nights saw Nanik sleep on wooden cases with just a news-paper spread on them. His hard labour and frequent bouts of indigestion took a toll on his health in the subsequent years.

A fluctuating market and delayed payments left him with a huge stock of unsold goods. Stock often lay in the warehouse because the traders did not want to pick up the material. Sometimes, buyers would label perfectly good material as defective and use that as a pretext to avoid picking it up. Nanik had to swim hard against the tide of a trade that lacked ethical practices.

He also walked the financial tightrope, as banks would not finance the inventory and insisted on security that he could not provide. At that time, yarn was sold on three days' credit. He had to make sure that he had enough funds to make the payment on the fourth day after each purchase. In spite of such hostile conditions, his business grew from four power looms to sixteen, albeit at a slow pace.

Nanik, now in his mid-twenties, learnt an important lesson during this tough phase: Balancing finances needs meticulous planning.

Five years of strenuous efforts yielded unsatisfactory returns. Nanik was not content with the sluggish growth of Roop Textiles and Radha Silk Industries. Hence, he pulled out of the business completely, handing over the reins of the two firms to his younger brother. From there he decided to go forward alone. He yearned to break free from the restrictive and orthodox family atmosphere. He had already been married a year, and was living with his father, as was the tradition at the time.

In 1968, Nanik started, rather in haste, a new business enterprise along with friends. The ill-planned venture struggled along for a couple of years, before it failed in 1971. A thirty year old family man at the time, Nanik suffered the bitter loss of all his capital, in addition to a sum of Rs. 13,000 out of his personal funds, which went towards settling outstanding debts of the firm.

Nanik Silk Industries

1969 saw Nanik start yet another business with help from friends. This time he decided to steer away from the weaving business because he felt it was unfair to compete with his own kin. Foraying into the world of silk, the young entrepreneur started Nanik Silk Industries. He dealt in pure silk products, such as silk scarves and saris — and in certain leather products too. Nanik acquired an office at Kalbadevi, a vibrant and bustling area of Bombay, where traders and business- men were as industrious as ants.

This was an exploratory area for Nanik, of which he had little knowledge. Starting from scratch, he had to hunt for exporters to sell to, vendors to source from, figure out how to sell and to whom. He sweated it out, practically going door-to- door to sell products. Nanik slowly learnt the ropes and for the first time, his business prospered and attained stability.

He realized that having the right attitude was very important. He learnt to be cautious in business practices, restricting his business to trading, which he did on a consignment basis. "I once bought a consignment of silk scarves. When a foreign tourist made an enquiry, I sold him he entire lot thereby making a neat profit of Rs. 1,500. I think that was the happiest day of my business life! I have not felt as happy even after my profits multiplied several fold in later years," he smiles at the thought of the sweet memory.

Leaving Home

But relations were not as smooth as silk with his family members. In their eyes, Nanik's mind was full of reckless and foolhardy business ideas. Relatives asked Kisharam to persuade Nanik to abandon his fruitless ways and settle into the original family business. The concerned father then turned the heat upon his son, warning him that he would have to leave home if he did not change course. He was quite sure that this would effectively serve to curb Nanik's adventurous spirit.

That his married son, with wife and child, would actually defy his warning had not even remotely occurred to Kisharam. But Nanik would rather leave home than have his wings clipped by family and relatives, however well meaning they might be. He had to find a new home for himself, for his wife Geeta, and two-year old daughter, Neeta.

Today as he looks back, Nanik feels that his devotion to Lord Krishna helped him find the right house. His guru's disciple at the Wadala Krishna Temple had a vacant flat that Nanik decided to buy, but he could not afford the full payment at one go. This gentleman, however, trustingly handed over the keys to Nanik. "The flat was priced at Rs. 65,000 and I borrowed an initial amount from my friends to prove that I was an honest man. It was really surprising that he trusted me because I was told that he was not the kind to trust anyone.

"Anyway, it must have been a miracle performed by God. I moved into the flat at Dutt Kutir building in Wadala on the auspicious day of Gudi Padwa in 1972," Nanik reminisces. He made it a point to pay the instalments regularly even when his business was not doing particularly well. In the peace of his new home, Nanik resumed his sojourn to success. It was here that his second daughter Reena was born.

Eastmen Art Emporium

Although Nanik Silk Industries was performing satis-factorily, Nanik did not want to limit himself to just one activity. He knew that if he wanted to succeed in making a fortune, he would have to diversify. He would have to cast his nets wider.

Towards this end, Nanik partnered with Mr. Jawahar Much-hala and Mr. Kant Pandit to start Eastmen Art Emporium in 1972. Their showroom was located on the ground floor of the prestigious Air India Building at Nariman Point — the prime business district of Bombay. The Emporium stocked exquisite handcrafted items made of leather, sandalwood, rosewood and silk; exotic jewelry made from silver, precious and semi-precious stones; and other expensive objets d'art. It was an art connoisseur's paradise, and attracted foreign tourists and the glitterati of Bombay.

Nanik sourced his goods directly from talented artisans from around the country. Although he had limited knowledge of handicrafts, his close friend Mani Bhatija stepped in to help. The strategic location in the Air India Building worked to his advantage, enabling him to establish several strong contacts.  Nanik fondly remembers the twelve years from 1972 to 984 during which he managed Eastmen Art Emporium. The  significant number of years he invested in this venture reveals Nanik's special love for art. He enjoyed running the venture — it was a rather straightforward line of business that allowed him ample time to seek other opportunities. The profits were nothing to rave about, but as a business it was fairly risk free.

"I always felt that there was a lot of art in our country that remained veiled from the eyes of the world. It disturbed me that the artisans received such low wages for their painstaking effort and exquisite creativity. A major portion of the profit was eaten away by middlemen, and the government did its bit in endangering local talent by levying too many taxes," statesNanik.

The late J. R. D. Tata, one of the foremost industrialists ever produced by India, was the Chairman of Air India in those days. During one of his visits to the Air India Building, he marched down the marbled corridors of the shopping com-plex — and Eastmen Art Empo-rium caught his eye. His interest kindled, he stepped in and was at once taken up by the singular objects of art on display. Mr. Tata stood speaking with Nanik for over twenty minutes. Nanik, of course, was delighted to entertain this stalwart of Indian industry, who was and still continues to be a shining example to the people of India.

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