The tortoise who won the race

The story of hare and tortoise is famous and known to all.  The tortoise wins the race despite being slow because he has followed the principle ‘start in time, keep walking and reach the right destination’.  Everyone cannot practice this message in real life, but Dada Gujar of ‘C’lai’ has achieved this.  The journey that he started with 5 Rupees has now reached 150 Crores.  This journey was, of course, not comfortable.  There were many hurdles and problems.  This story tells us how Dada Gujar overcame all obstacles.         

The tagline of the world-famous book ‘Good to Great’ by Jim Collins “Why some companies make the leap and others don’t” caught my attention.  This means all good companies do not become big, because the owners of many good companies get enamoured by the limited initial success and become complacent.  They become like the hare in the story of hare and tortoise, their progress stops.  Some businessmen continue their journey to grow ‘great’.  They become successful businessmen.  These businessmen are like the tortoise with the principle ‘slow and steady wins the race’, and their companies make a progression from ‘good’ to ‘great’.        

This is the story of Chandrashekhar Gujar who won the race of business.  He was born in 1958 in ‘shimpi’ society.  The family has its family business of tailoring since generations.  The grandfather of Chandrashekhar G R Rao (Gujar Rambhau Rao) used to have a shop in Dadar near Portuguese church.  He used to stitch clothes for the British.  Chandrashekhar’s father continued this tradition.  The shop was doing good business.  So, he could give his four sons a good childhood.  The naming ceremony of Chandrashekhar was so grand that Prabodhankar Thakare, who was their neighbour, complained about the noise in the police.  

Chandrashekhar came from a well-to-do family.  He was not very studious in school till the last standard of the school, i.e. 11th standard at that time.  In the meantime, there was a dispute in the family and court matters were going on.  This resulted in the loss of ownership of the shop.  His father had not accumulated much wealth due to his generous nature.  The family was struck by poverty and children had to wrap up school at the age of 16!  Chandrashekhar failed in 11th standard.   He was the elder son of the family, and so he decided to start earning.  He had neither education nor skill, who would give him a job?  He had no alternative but to take up the family profession of tailoring.  All his relatives were from the tailoring profession.  With their help, Chandrashekhar got a job in a shop near ‘Plaza’ cinema hall in a clothes shop of J. M. Shah.  The salary was Rs. 5 per week.      

He started working in the tailoring department.  Nobody teaches art for free in this world.  Chandrashekhar learnt the art of tailoring from the shop owner while doing other chores for the family of the shop owner like dropping children to school, buying daily supplies and doing some domestic duties.  A google search can give you so much information today.  At that time art was not taught so generously.  Chandrashekhar got information about clothes too while learning about tailoring since it was a fabric shop.  In addition to cutting and stitching, he also got to know various fabric types like Terrycot, cotton, polyester etc.  The need for more salary was felt with growing responsibilities.  A rise in pay was not possible in the current job.  After some effort, he got a job on a commission basis in Malad as tailor master in ‘Dreamland cloth store’.      

Till then, his world was limited to Dadar; he was not aware of the expanse of Mumbai.  Chandrashekhar took the risk of entering this new world, and his education on the big canvass of life started.  Slowly he started getting orders, but he had no capital.  Money was required for pocketing, lining and other things to complete orders of pants.  There were no workers.  He knew cutting but all the work after that was very strenuous.  He found a worker staying at Elphinstone after a lot of searches.  Chandrashekhar had to travel for work in Dadar, Malad and Elphinstone for a year. 

He used to feel happy when he received orders but did not know how to complete them.  How would a boy of 18-19 years know this?  He had to borrow money for workers payment, travel expenses and house expenses.  At that time, the system of taking advance from a customer was not there.  Customers used to pay money only after completion of work.  This process was exhausting.  Once when Chandrashekhar was travelling back home from Malad, he fell asleep.  He forgot the clothes of the customer on the train, and he lost them.  He had a lot of trouble compensating the customer for those clothes.  He learnt a lesson, and from that day he never misplaced a thing.  

He changed his job back to the shop of Satish Gujar for Rs. 275 per month.  The working in the shop was not organized.  Cheques used to bounce, and the raw material was not bought etc.  Chandrashekhar’s father had taught his sons efficient working and honesty.  These values came in handy, and Chandrashekhar started working in the shop as if it was his own.  This is where the businessman in him was born!  Looking back at those days he says, “A businessman is born through his job, experience and mainly through his work.  His desire to do something, Satish Gujar’s skill of winning people and a small opportunity helped him to decide to become a businessman”.            

One more fact is worth narrating.  The officer of Bank of Maharashtra, Portuguese Branch was his customer.  At that time, Indira Gandhi had made the D.R.D scheme compulsory for all banks.  According to the scheme, there was permission to give a loan up to Rs. 3000 at an interest of 4% to low-income groups. He gave the first loan of Rs. 750 to Chandrashekhar to buy a sewing machine of ‘Arun’ company; but they could not find a guarantor.  Satish Gujar helped him then and he bought the sewing machine on the day before Dussehra!  He made his first shirt on the new machine on Dussehra, and he became a businessman!          

He became a businessman but not like others.  He did business, and he also kept his job.  He was a part-time businessman and was part-time in a job.

On the one hand, there was salary, and on the other hand, there was a profit.  In both cases, one thing was common: his hard work and desire to acquire new skills.  A person who wants to learn will learn it from anybody.  He used to learn from his workers.  He was earning well, as he was working for long hours.  He was also paying the bank instalments in time.  The job at Satish Gujar was now fetching him Rs. 600.  At this time a new opportunity knocked his doors.

Babubhai Parekh of Dadar gave him an order on a commission basis.  Chandrashekhar rented a tiny shop on D’Silva road at Dadar.  A person could hardly stand in this shop.  The question Chandrashekhar was facing was whether to keep the secured salary income job with Satish Gujar or say yes to Babubhai’s order and complete it.  But he did not waste time in thinking.  He left the job with good wishes of Satish Gujar and started his work in the new shop that he had rented.  Now the number of machines has increased to 3 from 1.  It was not possible to accommodate these machines in the shop, so they were kept at home.  But domestic disputes were still bothering the family.  There was no choice but to take the machines outside the home.   

The factory was shifted to a place in Kabutar Khana at a rent of Rs. 650.  The owner was a Gujarati person.  Chandrashekhar learnt their language.  Many big business people used to come there.  His knowledge of clothing increased because of them.  Chandrashekhar also started selling fabric in the factory.  He had purchased not only tube-light, fans etc. from flea market but also his first shoes from there and he indeed became ‘tailor master’.  

In the next steps, Phatak gave him a loan for the third time.  The fabric was of ‘S. Kumar’ and tailoring of Chandrashekhar.  Shop now had the board ‘Shekhar tailor’.  To make the name appealing, he created the tagline ‘urgent tailor, Shekhar tailor!’ and ‘Urgent tailoring done!’.  Flower, vegetable and fish merchants used to come from Vasai, Virar and Nalasopara.  Chandrashekhar used to open the shop for them at 7 in the morning.  The merchants bought the fabric from his shop and got it stitched from him and got the delivery in 2 days.  They were his first customers.         

The business grew, and later Ajit Wadekar gave him the order of State Bank uniforms.  (Ajit Wadekar was P.R.O of the bank).  Chandrashekhar now wanted to have a shop of his own.  It was not possible to buy a shop in Mumbai.  So, he went to his grandparent’s place in Pune and bought two shops in Sadashiv Peth and Perugate of 250 Sq. Ft. near ‘Pankaj music system’.

He had saved Rs. Thirty thousand by way of small savings called ‘bhishi’, made with a group of Gujarati and Marwari people when he was in Mumbai.  The balance amount to be given to the shop owners was 1 lakh 80 thousand, and the remaining time in hand was two months.  Chandrashekhar does not remember how he raised the balance amount for the shops.  Chandrashekhar came to Pune with his brother against the wish of his parents and opened the business in Pune on 15th August 1989.    

The factory and tailoring department were in the same shop.  The shop quickly became the favourite of Puneites.  Due to the enormous response, the factory was shifted elsewhere.  Fabric purchase and tailoring at one place – this idea became a hit, and business multiplied.      

The story of the name of the shop C’lai is fascinating.  Bhavesh Shah was a smart customer of 15-16 years.  He used to stitch clothes as per his wish.  The label of ‘Shekhar tailors’ sounds cheap, he used to say.  Chandrashekhar asked him, “Then what should be the name?”  Bhavesh said, “I will tell you tomorrow.”  He suggested the name ‘C’lai’.  The title appealed to Chandrashekhar.  The name ‘Shekhar tailors’ was branded as ‘C’lai’.  There were three shops now.  Chandrashekhar said, “C’lai means only stitching.  So, Bhavesh told him to add the words ‘The Clothier’, so that fabric is also included in it.

People flocked to the shop C’lai as it gave them fabric and stitching both.  They also gave gifts.  He earned respect.  Like Mumbai, he also gave advertisements in Pune.  He advertised in ‘Loksatta’ in Pune.  Mr Lad has painted many ads for him on the walls of Pune, and it helped a lot.  Chandrashekhar says, “A businessman should either be small or big.”  The mid-size businessmen face trouble.  Nobody pays attention to small-size business people and are afraid of prominent people in the business.  So, he decided to cross this mid-phase.  C’lai brand became very famous and a landmark in clothing and tailoring.           

The Canara Bank Manager came to Pune from Karnataka on transfer.  When he inquired about the location of the bank, people told him, “It is near C’lai.”  He was amazed.  He came directly into the shop and asked, “How did your shop become a landmark instead of the bank?  The Rickshaw driver also knew C’lai!”

Chandrashekhar took the help of this bank.  Sadashiv Peth had taught them to pay income tax from day 1!  So, getting a loan was not difficult.  C’lai got an order for bank uniforms, the order was shown to get loans, and after completing orders, the loan was repaid.  Chandrashekhar used this system in Pune and Mumbai.  He maintained the tax file properly.   

There were three shops now next to each other: ‘C’lai stitching’, ‘C’lai Clothier’ and ‘C’lai readymades’.  The third shop ‘C’lai readymades’, was opened to cater to the new trend of readymade clothes.  People bought branded shirts like Van Heusen, Peter England, Allen Solly, Louis Phillippe and they bought fabric and got them stitched from C’lai.  People perceived C’lai as a tailor.  Customer entry was not getting converted into trading.  In all three shops, people went for their tailoring needs.         

Fabric or readymade clothes was not that popular.  Chandrashekhar took a bold step.  He sold all the three small shops and opened a new big shop on Tilak Road and brought tailoring, fabric and readymade under one roof.  This became a turning point for the business.  C’lai leaped to the next level in the business.  The turnover  reached 2 Crore in 2002 from 1992!  ‘C’lai’ brand is now well-known in Pune.  

Chandrashekhar was enjoying the memories while narrating his journey.  He was telling the events passionately as if they have happened just now.  He said about an incident regarding morality, “I was not getting agency of readymade clothes.  At that time a Marwari businessman used his reference and helped me get the agency.  Because I always followed a principle in life, even if I get a lot of money in business, out of that 10% is mine, the remaining 90% is of others, that is tax, buying material, salaries etc.  This policy helped me grow my business.”  The employees called him ‘sheth’, but Chandrashekhar told them to call him ‘dada’.  And from that time Dada Gujar and C’lai became synonyms.    

The business was growing until 2002.  But suddenly the workers declared a strike.  This was followed by a series of other problems.  We remember Jim Collins here.  The journey of C’lai from ‘good to great’ was achieved because of Dada’s vision and his courage.  His wife Sujata, children Sagar and Sarita supported him.  Dada encouraged Sagar at the age of 18 and gave him the freedom to take decisions in C’lai.  At times, he used to say, even if you incur loss, it is okay, but make decisions of the business.  Dada thus took a backseat in the company.  And in 16 years from 2002 to 2018 he won the race like a tortoise!        

Dada’s keyword is innovation.  Sagar followed that tradition.  C’lai became the first tailor to use fusing machines, imported sewing machines, buttonhole and button machines and also use computers to take measurement of customers and prepare bills.  They were the first to develop their own software.  They could thus give service to customers outside India.  A gap due to lack of education was filled with innovative ideas.        

Sagar worked for three years as a salesman.  He took experience and implemented his new ideas.  He realized that it is not easy to sell branded clothes and took franchisee formal men’s wear in the name of ‘Silver leaf’.  The finish of these clothes was like branded clothes, but the price was just one fourth!  Initially, 700 pieces were sold per month.  From there now the sale has gone up to one and a half lakh pieces.        

He gave stress on clearing the old stock by offering a 50% discount so that new variety can be brought in.  People made a long line of 1 Kilometer to purchase these clothes.  He got money through this and also a place for the new stock.  He introduced many offers.  E.g. you will get a Kurta free if you purchase a Sherwani if you are buying a suit you get sherwani free.  The result was the sale reaching 15 Crores in 4 years.

After 2008 C’lai introduced wedding collection, wedding festival, family stores, women-kids collection.  C’lai is the first garment brand that has a presence in malls. 

C’lai has four showrooms in Pune, and in Maharashtra, it has 15 showrooms, the Silver leaf has 48 franchisees.  The number of employees is around 1000; the turnover is 150 Crores.  C’lai is now entering Karnataka.  They are dreaming of becoming a retailer of world repute.     

Dada gave education of Fashion Communication to Sarita.  Today she handles the entire department of clothes designing.  Dada has started a new series called ‘Swag life’ with her.  The nature of this series is ‘add-on-accessories’.  It includes purses, jewellery, pouches, a different type of crockery, dustbins, doormats and so on!  This section will be in Chinchwad Emporio and big shops outside.  C’lai is trying to bring a novel idea of techniques to check the customer’s mood and to implement them.           

Dada shares the secret of the famous brand that he has created, “Brand is customer’s ‘trust’.  When the businessman understands the customer requirements, only then a brand is built.  The loss in business is an investment.  One learns through failures, not through success.  So, do not be afraid of loss.  Don’t you have to go 100 steps behind to take a long jump?” 

Dada has received many awards.  Dada took a backseat in business so that his children could make progress. He adds, “I am a President now, not Prime Minister!”  He is now busy in many things like Foundation work, social work, buying vegetables from the market with his wife, giving personality tips for the audience ranging from doctors to common man, farming on the terrace, enjoying the company of grandchildren etc.  Dada has opened a counselling centre in Sadashiv Peth called ‘Aadhar’ to reduce the percentage of divorces.  He says, “My wife is my first critic.  I take that criticism positively.”   

The journey of 44 years from Rs. 5 per month to 150 Crores is inspiring.  It is, however, not only financial progress.  Dada is practising the philosophy of Saint Kabir “stitching and binding together!”. 

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Sagar, Dada’s son, wanted to go to France for higher education in ‘Fashion designing’.  He may have settled there after his education.  Dada told him skilfully, “You may probably earn more money there, but instead of that, do hard work in your own business, implement new ideas and work for your people.  There is more satisfaction here.”  It is tough to hand over a business to your son and leave your powers.  Many companies are closing down because the next generation has migrated abroad.  This is a loss for many businessmen, their customers and thus the country as well.  Dada could avoid this skilfully.  He knitted the family and business together. 

Sagar travels the world today, brings samples of best clothes and produces that quality in his factory.

Originally Published in Yashashwi Udyojak. Subscribe Today.