MGMT 212 Group Assignment:

Interviewing an Entrepreneur

“For you I have only

one final advice,
always do what you
like the most”
~Mr. Asghar

Submitted By: Group V

Submitted To: Dr. Anjum Fayyaz
2/12/2020
 1

Table of Contents

Introduction:..................................................................................................................................2

Setup and Challenges:...................................................................................................................2

Expansion:......................................................................................................................................3

Future and Family:........................................................................................................................4

Entrepreneurial Drive:..................................................................................................................4

Key Learnings:...............................................................................................................................5

Conclusion:.....................................................................................................................................7

Exhibit:...........................................................................................................................................7

Reference:.......................................................................................................................................8
 2

Introduction:

It is hard not to notice the well-decorated fruit shop at the entrance of an unnamed store as one is
on Ghazi Road, Lahore. The store also stocks a rich variety of dry fruits and has a dairy section.
The business is owned by Mr. Asghar, a 37 years old entrepreneur, he employs seven helpers,
three of whom are his brothers.

For our Business Communications project, we interviewed Mr. Asghar to get a nuanced
understanding of what being an entrepreneur entails. 

Mr. Asghar was born and raised in Dera Ismail Khan. His father was a fruit seller. He completed
his matriculation from a local government school. Throughout his childhood, he used to spend
most of his day at his father’s fruit stall. Consequently, he learned his father’s trade and began to
assist him. After completing his matriculation, Mr. Asghar decided not study any further and
became his father’s apprentice. The underlying factor behind this decision was his desire to work
for himself rather than for someone else. Moreover, he was also skeptical about the prospects of
earning a better living had he studied any further. Interestingly, the financial situation of his
family had no bearings on Mr. Asghar’s decision to quit his education. Hence, at the age of 17,
Mr. Asghar entered the entrepreneurial world.

Setup and Challenges:

Mr. Asghar visited Lahore for the first time with a friend. Remarkably, the purpose of his visit
was purely vacational. During his time in Lahore, he noticed the entrepreneurial opportunities
the city had to offer. He realized that setting up a business here promised greater success.
Consequently, at the turn of the new century, Mr. Asghar moved to Lahore with the aim of
starting his own venture. He set up his first fruit cart at Kot Lakhpat, Lahore and arranged his
residence with the people of his village, who had settled in Lahore prior to him. The main reason
why Mr. Asghar pursued his father’s trade was his familiarity with the nature of the business.
Moreover, the probability of incurring a hefty loss was considerably less. Mr. Asghar denied
borrowing any funds from his father or some other source. He mentioned that he was already
indebted to his father who mentored him and instilled values that served him well in life. He
claimed that he had not invested anything in the business other than the savings he made while
 3

working back at Rahim Yar Khan. That amount totaled around PKR 5,000. In addition, he sold
an old mobile phone that he owned, for PKR 1,000. 

As an entrepreneur in an unfamiliar city, Mr. Asghar faced numerous hurdles. He mentioned that
looking after every aspect of the business on his own proved to be tiring and troublesome.
Moreover, he realized that he had to be on his toes at all times, since there many opportunistic
people who would go to any lengths for their personal gains. This made him homesick since he
felt like he had no one to turn to in his hour of need. However, this made him appreciate the love
and loyalty of those closest to him back at home. It also motivated Mr. Asghar to overcome the
initial hurdles and be successful since he wanted to ensure that the people he loves are looked
after. Consequently, he worked hard while remaining true to his values.

Expansion:

In a few years, Mr. Asghar went from owning a humble fruit cart to owning a fruit shop. He
attributed this meteoric rise to God’s reward for conducting his business honestly. He stressed
upon the importance of resisting greed as a businessman since it leads to a dishonest path. Mr.
Asghar believed that he could have easily earned a quick buck through unfair means, but this
would have been detrimental for his business in the long run. As his business expanded, Mr.
Asghar had to call in his brothers, one after the another, and mentored them so that they could
help him in running the business efficiently. Besides his brothers, Mr. Asghar also hired five
helpers from his hometown, both as an act of giving back to his community and to ensure that
the values of the business remain intact. In the face of growing competition, Mr. Asghar focused
on maintaining his customers’ loyalty by catering to their needs and providing them with good
value for their money. He claimed that a significant percentage of his customers have been
buying from him for nearly ten years simply because they trusted him to be fair and reasonable.
A few years back, Mr. Asghar moved his business from Kot Lakhpat to Ghazi Road. This
demographic change was due to the expansion of the business in the dry fruits, milk, and meat
(chicken, mutton, and beef) markets. Mr. Asghar asserted that since DHA promised better
infrastructure and access to different socio-economic segments, it made sense to move the
business there. Moreover, he said that customers value the convenience offered by a one-stop
store where they can purchase products like fruits, meat and milk at a fair price. He was not
 4

fazed by new competitors like Carrefour and Al-Fatah since he believed that customers value the
trust established through their direct interactions with local vendors. Lastly, expanding into the
dairy market proved to be a major learning experience for him since he had to employ the use of
technology to efficiently execute his operations. 

Future and Family:

Mr. Asghar had already expanded his initial venture by incorporating dairy and dry-fruit
products in his shop. Upon inquiring about his plans for the future, Mr. Asghar said that he was
satisfied with the present state of the business. His goal now was to ensure that the business
remains sustainable and true to its core values of honesty and fairness. Mr. Asghar stressed that
he had devoted most of his time to his business due to which he had little time for his family.
Since his business was adequately fulfilling the needs of those close to him, he felt that he now
deserved to take a break and be close to his loved ones. Even though Mr. Asghar did not pursue
higher education, he ensured that his children had the best education he could afford. He has left
the choice of a career to his children: they have the liberty to either pursue their own careers or
take up their father’s business. Mr. Asghar was against the idea of forcing his children into his
business since he felt that they would only be happy with their life if they purse something they
value and enjoy.

Entrepreneurial Drive:

Honesty
Mr. Asghar considered his honesty with his customers to be one of the driving forces behind his
success. He described how he had always been truthful about the quality of his offerings. He
further went on to narrate some instances where he could have made more money by deceiving
the customer but chose to disclose the reality. He considered honesty to be an integral step
towards building long-term relationships with the customers. Besides this, he also stressed upon
the fact that his religion highlights the importance of honesty in business and the severe
implications of being dishonest - both in this world and in the Hereafter. Consequently, he never
tried to sell fruits that had been in the shop for more than a day or had been spoilt. Neither did he
 5

try to deceive his customers by charging them unfairly. Therefore, his customers valued his
honesty which ensured their loyalty towards his business.

Loyalty
Mr. Asghar held that the reason why he had successfully expanded his business was due to the
faithfulness of his brothers and the unity among them. He believed that no matter how much
capital you may, your venture will not succeed without a group of individuals you can blindly
trust. He also emphasized the importance of recognizing and rewarding those who played a role
in your success and distancing yourself from opportunistic individuals. Mr. Asghar also stated
that loyalty led to humility since you recognized that your achievements were not solely your
own, rather they were the culmination of the efforts of various well-wishers.

Hard Work
Mr. Asghar’s journey towards success was perilous and riddled with challenges. However,
despite going through numerous ups and downs - personally and professionally - he never
doubted himself or those around him. Mr. Asghar worked tirelessly due to his strong religious
belief that God would never let his hard work go to waste. As per Mr. Asghar, apart from being
responsive and honest, an entrepreneur should be hardworking and persistent. He insisted that
God tests our resolve and if we keep on persisting with complete faith in Him, we would be
rewarded beyond our wildest dreams. For him, it is the resolve and the work ethic which
distinguishes a successful entrepreneur from an unsuccessful one.

Key Learnings:

Self-realization and Optimism

We have been taught that the key to a successful enterprise is a combination of an innovative
idea and sufficient capital. However, Mr. Asghar’s story goes against this popular narrative as he
managed to form a successful business with negligible finances and basic education. Mr. Asghar
attributed his success to hard work, honesty and loyalty. However, we felt that an essential
element of his success was his self-reflective nature that aided him in making several tough
decisions efficiently. Even at the age of 17, Mr. Asghar had realized that he valued independence
due to which he would not succeed in working for someone else. This realization made him quit
 6

his education and pursue a business venture. Moreover, Mr. Asghar’s ability to remain positive
in the face of hardships was not only an integral factor in his success, but was also inspirational.
Despite initially feeling lonely and homesick in Lahore, Mr. Asghar channeled these feelings
positively by focusing on overcoming them through the success of his business. His optimism
helped him in viewing hardships as opportunities for self-improvement due to which he was
rarely daunted by challenges. This shows that an entrepreneur’s outlook on life has major
bearings on how they run their business and how they respond to difficulties.

Be your own person

Being your own person means that one thinks, feels, and acts without excessively relying on the
direction given by others. Through our interview with Mr, Asghar, we realized that it is
important for entrepreneurs to pursue their interests. Each business involves risk which needs to
be efficiently managed by the entrepreneur. If the entrepreneur pursues an enterprise of his
interest, it would not only lead to an escalation of commitment, but will also be a source of
intrinsic motivation. Mr. Asghar reinforced these observations through the advice he gave us that
one cannot succeed in doing something that one was made to do under social or environmental
pressures. He cited his own experience to highlight that he had no regrets about his professional
life since it was solely his own choice. We learnt that irrespective of what we do in our
professional lives, we must have the willpower to make our own decisions and choose that path
which interests us.

Humility
An important aspect of Mr. Asghar’s personality was the humility with which he carried himself.
Throughout the interview, Mr. Asghar reiterated that the success of his venture was not due to
his own genius: it was the result of Divine aid and the help of others. If an entrepreneur considers
himself as the reason behind his success, he can no longer learn and grow. Humility ensures that
you do not treat humans as mere means to an end, but an end in themselves. Such an attitude
would lead to greater satisfaction for not just you, but also for those whom you care for. 
 7

Conclusion:

From Mr. Asghar’s interview, we can learn that entrepreneurship demands certain characteristics
to be present within a person. We must be honest and loyal not only towards our customers but
also our employees. Optimism is required to survive through the challenges that entrepreneurs
face. We should learn from Mr. Asghar’s story that even if you do not have the physical
resources, you should still take a start with whatever you have. However, you must have an
interest and relevant skills in that field, so that you can utilize your potential and gain success.
We, as students, can apply these learnings to our life as we are at the stage where we face many
social pressures. We must choose for ourselves, take the risk, and then, be patient for the fruit of
our efforts.

Exhibit:

Picture 1
From left to right: Umar, Nisha, Mr. Asghar, Sohaib, Tauqeer, Ayesha.
 8

Picture 2
From left to right: Mr. Asghar, Sohaib.

Reference:
Mr. Asghar
Fruit Shop next to Ibn e Battuta, Ghazi Road, Lahore.