I STARTED a printing press called Almats Printers. We grew the business rapidly with debt; soon we were among the fastest growing printers in Mumbai and the first to import sophisticated German equipment. Thereafter, the word got around that my business was pyramided around debt; these well-wishers advised repayment but I soon realized that if I were to liquidate my debts I would be required to sell my plot, building and machines. Tough call.

Should I grow through debt and enhance visibility or shrink with no debt and be driven into oblivion.

I sought advice from Huzurala. aMoulana yeh farmayu ke ehne kaho ke riba ma si nikli jaayi aney ghar wehchey.

I used to stay in a 1500 sq ft flat in Worli with four cars (three imported, one Indian). If we were to respect what Huzurala pronounced, it appeared (at that time) that we would lose our financial identity. I spoke with my wife; she said, ‘Maulana yeh farmayu chhey to ghar wehchi daiyye’ even as a number of people advised us against it.

Even as my flat was worth ‘x’ lakhs, we sold it at a 20 per cent discount. We sold the imported cars. We sold the press property. We downgraded to a one-BHK rented flat in Bandra. We recalled our daughters from Mussoorie and Dehradun schools. We began to commute by bus and train, whichever was cheaper.

From somebody, we were now nobodies. In just months.

I had no business. Some acquaintances gave me sitting space in their shop. Two years passed. Moulana yeh mara upar hath muki ne farmayu hatu tamein riba ma si nikli jao, inshaallah khuda tamne aana karta behtar ghar aapse. Har waqt mein Aqa Maula ni hazrat ma jaato to Aqa Maula mara kaandha par haath muki ne maney dilaaso aapta.

Interesting things began to happen. I bought a flat in Bandra for ‘x’ amount. In the real estate boom that followed, its value quadrupled. I presented my case to Huzurala who enquired about my remaining liabilities; after hearing me out, he said “Aa ghar ne wehchi do”. With the proceeds from that transaction, we liquidated all our liabilities. We became financially solvent for the first time in two decades. No debt.

With the spillover money we bought a one-BHK house in Santa Cruz. Some money was still left over; I restarted my business. During this time a Gujarati friend, who used to be my neighbor in Worli, helped with office space. My old clients - Mahindra & Mahindra and other corporate giants – gave me work (even as they knew that I had no printing press). Others chipped in with capital on a profit-sharing basis.

But there was still no press. Should I buy one? If  I did, where would the capital come from? So up against the wall, I responded laterally. I changed my business model: from being direct printer to co-ordinator. With complete quality responsibility. We did not invest in equipment; we outsourced from a dozen printing presses.

Today, my business has grown bigger than it ever was – several crores in turnover – without a rupee’s debt. And without related stress. It has also coincided with some of the biggest technological changes in our business. From the conventional positive-driven printing technology, the world has leap-frogged to the computer-to-plate generation. In retrospect, it is entirely possible that had I invested in the former technology, my investment could have gone down the tube as soon as the new technology emerged.

There is also something else that one needs to take into account. Until about two decades ago, some of the most prominent brands of the world manufactured and marketed. As the world globalised, a number of them outsourced and marketed.

Huzurala was way ahead of the market. He was advising me to market my personal brand more effectively than my assets. He was showing me the route to a higher return on employed capital than the conventional approach of loading the gross block.

Earlier, if I had been advised that it was possible to report a higher ROCE in a printing business without a press, I would have dismissed the concept as absurd.

It took Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin Saheb’s business-cum-life re-engineering to show that it could indeed be done.

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