Satya Brata Dey Ever seen a long time outside a shoe store? People waiting in the scorching heat just to buy a pair of shoes? If you haven't, you'll see it outside Satya Brata Dey's Shree Leather Shoe Stores in Calcutta.
From Rags to Riches One dreary morning in November 1986, Satya left his home in Jamshedpur and came to Calcutta with little more than the clothes on his back. He wore a pair of corduroy pants, a shirt and a pair of sturdy shoes made by his father. Before he left home, his mother had pressed in his hands a few hundred rupee notes which he brought with him. Today, Satya Brata Dey is a millionaire, a crorepati. And what gives him the greatest satisfaction is that he provides jobs for people in West Bengal, a state where there are very few industries and over five million unemployed.
Parents had a Strong Influence on His Life Satya's mother was always a strong woman and still is, even at the age of 80. She believed in herself and encouraged Satya to do the same. 'Son, she would say stroking his unruly hair into place, No matter what you do, always win, remember that, always win'. Satya learned his lesson well. He won. And he won against great odds. Satya's father owned a small shop in Jamshedpur where he made shoes. His shoes were so sturdy that they could last 20 years. As a teenager, Satya often went to his father's shop and helped him in making shoes. That's where he learned the fine art of making sturdy, good looking shoes at a reasonable cost. It was this apprenticeship under a master shoemaker like his father that taught Satya very early in life, a priceless craft. Little did he knew, that what he was learning in his father's humble shop in Jamshedpur, would someday make him a millionaire, a 'crorepati' in Calcutta. He would have laughed if someone had told him back then, that someday, he would create jobs for hundreds of people with this priceless craft that he learned from his father. When he remembers his father bending over his work table making shoes day after day, tears glisten in his eyes. The tears of love and pride. He remembers his father's hands that had over the years become hard and tough like the leather he worked with. Today, Satya would give anything to be able to hold those callused, wrinkled hands in his own and invite him to come and see the little boy but Satya's father is no more. Whereas, Satya manages a business worth crores, what he is most proud of is that even today he can make shoes with his own hands. From his beloved father, Satya learned another important lesson that would come in very handy for him later in life, i.e. dignity of labour. It means the value and worth of working with one's own hands. Because of his background, Satya has great respect for the working man. In his business, he treats his employees and workmen like family members and they, in turn, give him their undying loyalty. That is one of the secrets of his success.
What? Start Your Own Business? That's Despicable In Satya's Bengali community running one's own business was not much respected. Starting a business was looked down upon. Businessmen were seen as people who amassed wealth at the cost of others. They took too much risk. What if the business failed? What would you do then? On the other hand, a secure government job was quite a another thing. Becoming a babu in a government department was coveted. Once you got your foot in the door, nobody could fire you and whether you worked or not, the government paid you and even when you retired, the government care of you. It gave you a pension. It was like your father-in-law's house. You were always a well-looked after guest. The second best thing to be a government employee was being in 'service', getting a job in someone else's business or in somebody's private business enterprise, you did not get good marriage proposals as the government employee would but there was still a hope for you. You had a job.
Making Shoes was Low in the Prestige Ladder It was bad enough to do a risky thing like running one's own business, but making shoes? That was truly low down in the prestige ladder of the community. Satya had faced this kind of prejudice before. He remembers well, the days he used to go to his father's shop after school to help out. One day his father's friend said to him, 'Why do you let your son come here and waste his time? Doesn't he have anything better to do? He should learn skills that would get him a job instead of doing this'. Satya remembered this comment made by his father's friend as he wandered down the streets of Calcutta looking for a place where he could start a business of making shoes. Thank goodness, he had learned the trade and art of making good shoes. There were no jobs available and last thing he wanted to do was join the ranks of the unemployed. But Satya had never considered looking for a job.
Satya Dreamed Big but Reality Hit Hard Ever since Satya was four or five, he knew he wanted to have his own business. In Jamshedpur, he would look at the TISCO (Tata Iron and Steel Company) Plant and says to himself, 'Someday I will have a factory like this'. Hot, tired and hungry, Satya wandered down the streets of Calcutta looking for a place that could be his showroom or shop. At the corner of a deserted street, he spotted a rundown showroom that was for rent. He used the money his mother gave him to pay the rent and moved in. It was his home and "showroom' rolled in one. The 'showroom' was rat and cockroach infested. The paint on the walls was peeling. It was dingy, dirty and dimly lit. The windows were filthy and you could hardly see through them. The floor had several layers of dust caked with moisture. But for Satya, it was his dream showroom. It was his place. Every night Satya washed his pants and shirt and hung them to dry. Often his corduroy pants were still wet in the morning. He wore the wet pants anyway and hoped that his body heat would dry them during the course of the day. 'I was sweeper, painter, salesman, owner everything rolled into one', says Satya. Never be afraid to dream big, he advises. 'You can make your dreams come true'. Even as he dreamed his big dreams, he continued to live in the filthy, run-down showroom. He set about cleaning and fixing it. He swept and mopped until the floor shone. Then, he cleaned the windows with soap and water until they sparkled and finally he painted the walls until the showroom looked bright and attractive and ready for business.
Satya Started his Business
Satya started his business venture with buying six pairs of ladies chappals. He was determined not to borrow money from anybody. He sold the chappals at ₹ 69 each and made a little profit, which he invested to buy more chappals. After a few months Satya made a profit of ₹ 300 which thrilled him to no end. Now he was really in business.
Satya's Business Philosophy Develops Satya's showroom was in New Market. In those days 'New Market used to close by 6 pm. After 6 or 7 pm, the whole area used to be dark and deserted. But Satya opened his shop before anyone else and kept it open for long after others had closed theirs. He did this even if there were no customers. What if there was one customer who needed shoes late in the day when the other shops were closed? Gradually over a period of time, Satya started to manufacture the shoes that he sold in his store. He positioned his shoes as poor man's of shoes of good quality and inexpensive. He kept his margins low, so that he could attract a large number of customers. Even though his shoes were meant to attract the low-income customers, many ministers and business people also bought his shoes. Soon satisfied customers brought their friends and family and his business started to grow by leaps and bounds. He had a winning combination for success, the quality was good and the price was right. A shrewd businessman that Satya is, he kept other manufacturers products as well, so the customers could compare and see that Shree Leathers shoes were cheaper and better.
Customer Service is of Prime Importance Customer service is always very important at Shree Leathers Stores. Satya offers his customers tea, coffee or coke at his store, so that they would sit, spend some time and buy more than they had originally come to buy. Satya told the story of a woman, who was standing outside his store one day waiting for a sari shop across the street to open. His salesman invited her in and asked her to sit and wait in the store. She came in and sat down in the comfortably air-conditioned store. The salesman offered her coffee. She had some. She started to look at the different shoes displayed in the store. Without anyone trying .o sell her anything, she ended up buying 12 pairs of shoes. 'We don't just sell shoes. We make our customers feel good. That's what brings them back', says Satya Brata Dey. One day a man was in a hurry to catch a train to Raipur. He came to the store bought his shoes and rushed to the train station. But soon he came back and bought four more pairs. He continues to come back to the store everytime when he is in Calcutta and is one of Satya's best customers. About 15% of his customers are from out of town.
Cut Out the Middleman Since, Satya manufactures his own shoes, there are no middlemen to pay. He can afford to sell his shoes at a lower price than Bata and other large companies who have huge overheads. If he has to import something from abroad such as material for soles, which he gets from the UK, he imports it directly from the manufacturer there. Thus, once again he avoids paying the middlemen.
He keeps his Employees Happy and Motivated Satya firmly believes that motivating the staff and keeping them happy is critical for the success of any business. A disgruntled or unhappy employee will not provide good customer service and customer service is what keeps people coming back and that is what makes the business successful. 'How do you motivate your staff?', I asked. 'I have staff who have been with me right from the very beginning. I treat them like family. I keep them in good humour. I spend time talking with them and help in solving their problems. My staff members don't feel like employees. They feel like they are the owners'. Satya has a small team of dedicated managers who work long hours, sometimes as much as from 6 am until midnight. The third important key to a successful business is paying the vendors and suppliers on time, says Satya. He loses his temper, if his vendors and suppliers are not paid on time.
Sources of Stress Some of Satya's biggest sources of stress are government authorities. The small bureaucrats and government employees harass for no reason whatsoever, he says. To illustrate his point, he told the following story. Satya was getting a new showroom constructed. He had taken permission from the Calcutta Municipal Corporation and everything was legal and above board. The construction started and then one day out of the blue, some policemen arrived and ordered the work to be stopped. They demanded a huge bribe. Satya's manager negotiated and settled for a lower sum. But when Satya came to know of it, he was furious and refused to pay a single paisa. He said he wasn't going to bribe. He contacted some higher authorities in the police department and the government and the policemen left. The work continued. Then one day, a couple of the Calcutta Municipal Corporation employees arrived. They started finding faults with the construction. Now, they wanted a bribe. Once again, he had to approach the higher authorities to solve the problem. These kinds of harassment and hassles cause unnecessary delays and make doing business stressful.
Growing, Franchising Shree Leathers has about 15 outlets in Eastern India. He has only one showroom of his own; the rest are all franchises. There is such a great demand for his franchises that people come with recommendations from the Prime Minister and the Finance Minister. Some people come with briefcases full of money requesting a franchise. But Satya Brata is very choossy about giving franchises because the quality and his hard won reputation are very important to him. Satya's shoes are sold in many countries abroad such as Greece, Austria, Netherlands, Germany, UK, USA, Singapore and Saudi Arabia. But in these countries they are sold as non-brand name shoes. Satya has reached a point in life when expansion has taken on a new meaning and purpose, Expansion for its own sake doesn't mean much to him. He makes enough money and expansion would only mean more stress for him. But creating jobs is important to him. West Bengal doesn't have many industries and jobs are scarce. He feels that it would be selfish of him not to expand. He wants to create as many jobs as he can. He believes that creating jobs is the best service he can do for the society. He employs about 150 people in his factory and outlets and in addition, if each of his fifteen franchises employs about 10 people, then Satya has created employment for atleast 300 people. It's a win-win situation. Shree Leathers is worth crores today. The young man who came to Calcutta with only the clothes on his back and a fistful of money has come a long way. His secret? Hard work, dignity of labour and big dreams.
- In an Indian mindset, specially in Bengali community which livelihood options were favoured? (Give in a sequence).
- What are the main reasons for success of Satya Brata Dey's Shree Leathers business? Give in points.
- What route has 'Shree Leathers' taken for growing its business?
- What is the greatest satisfaction for him?
- What is a franchise?