INDIA: Kanwal Nain Sachdev is a dynamic and energetic individual who works as an advisor at Filadil Exports and was previously the Railway Board’s assistant. If his life narrative were made into a Bollywood film, it would be an incredible one.
Inspiring journey of Kanwal Nain Sachdev
Sachdev’s story begins in 1947, when he arrived in Pakistan as an 11-year-old, coming from a generation of students who studied beneath the street lamp while maintaining a household of nine.
He passed the UPSC exams and was appointed by the government as a personal assistant to the railway board after 12 years. To support his nine-person family, he also took part-time jobs. He was keen to establish his own firm after 27 years working for the government.
He formed an export company with a friend 27 years later, when he was 50. Sachdev was able to do this in part because his wife could help him out with a job she was doing. But he didn’t stop there; ten years after turning 60, he collaborated with his son to start a Christmas hangings export business.
Filadel Exports has won India’s top handcraft export award for 13 years in a row. The Ministry of Textiles honored him with a lifetime achievement award in 2010.
Behind the idea of entrepreneurship
Discussing his idea regarding entrepreneurship, Sachdev referred to his childhood as not a typical one. He further elaborated on the key source behind the concept.
“I was not very satisfied that what I am doing is not very rewarding compared to my qualifications, my enthusiasm, and my taste in life, so I was all around thinking that if I get some opportunity to leave the job. So, one day this opportunity came, and I left the government job and joined the entrepreneurship.”
He also described his childhood as a roller coaster journey of struggle and hard work, which he said was the one thing that helped him grow up strong. He considers his past to be his strength, claiming that all he has accomplished thus far is due to his early struggles.
When asked about the difficulty of doing exports during the era of license raj compared to today, Sachdev ventured into his past, which included his non-business family background. He then gave a brief overview of his business education and how he completed his post-graduation from Delhi University.
“When people think of entrepreneurship, they think of either roti kapra makhan, or they think technology or something like that, but it’s much more beyond, entrepreneurship is entirely a different issue in a sense.”
The Importance of hard work in entrepreneurship
When asked about the most important component of entrepreneurship, Sachdev responded in such a way that today’s generation can obtain a thorough understanding of business strategies.
He brilliantly responded, “In your career, luck plays its role, but it is out of ten, I will give only two points to luck; five points I will provide you with to do your hard work because it is your hard work that attracts your luck and two points through your family support. I will give the remaining point out that the temperament of the person who’s doing this entrepreneurship job often.”
Sachdev says that a lifetime achievement award was a great surprise while discussing the awards he got along the way.
Aside from these awards, he reveals that his family’s support helped him turn a dark period into a bright one during his entrepreneurial career. For him, all of this is more than any awards.
Referring to the product selection, Sachdev elaborates, “selection of product is essential before you start your business, you must make it, and when you select a product you must keep certain things in mind that the product should be available close to your place of working.”
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