Coming home to claim success with a well-coached effort

LAHORE: Adnan Mahmood, 36, a resident of Gujranwala, travelled half the world to turn his life around, a dream he could never give up on, but destiny had other plans for him.

“Almost 11 years ago, as a struggling young man, I was working as a salesman at a cloth store in the city of Gujrat. Things were not so easy for me, so I decided to leave for Europe in pursuit of economic independence,” Mahmood told The News International. “I borrowed some money and travelled to Greece in 2010 through land route.”

This journey was rough and tough but he was able to make it to his desired destination. “I had thought I would get well-paying jobs in Greece but things turned out to be different.” He found casual work which did not pay much. Each passing day would add to his desperation.

After spending four years in Greece, Mahmood moved to Germany and spent time doing different jobs. “I applied for asylum but my application was ultimately rejected. I even appealed against this decision but it was of no use,” Mahmood said.

Many Pakistanis apply for asylum but their chance of getting is almost none. Lately, western countries preference shifted towards Syrian refugees living in much worse conditions. Mahmood’s family including four brothers and a sister were worried about him. Besides, he also had his Nikah (a religious ceremony for a Muslim couple to be legally wed under Islamic law) performed online. So there was pressure on him from his family as well as in-laws to unite with his wife. In 2019, after rejection of his asylum application, he decided to come back to Pakistan to be with his wife.

Back in Pakistan, he invested his savings in a shop, where he planned to sell fabrics for women's dresses. Rental prices in Gujrat were very high, so he decided to start a shop in Jalalpur Jattan, the neighbouring city where rents were on the lower side. This business was a good choice for him as he had been employed at a fabric shop before heading to Europe.

Around this time the Covid-19 pandemic broke out and the government had to impose a lockdown, as well as take other measures. This had a huge impact on the turnover of Mahmood’s shop. It was at this time that a friend told him about the Pakistani-German Facilitation and Reintegration Centre (PGFRC) in Lahore. This center supports Pakistani migrants returning from abroad whatever their conditions may be. It is an entity established by the German development agency (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit – GIZ in cooperation with Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development and Overseas Pakistanis Foundation (OPF) with the financial support of Germany’s Federal Ministry for economic cooperation & development (BMZ).

An adviser from the center took his and his wife’s details and signed them up for a business development training course. “This training course was very informative, and now my wife helps me with the online marketing of the products we sell.”

Business development training helps people grow their existing business, overcome shortcomings, understand consumer behaviour, win trust of customers, keep records properly, innovate, and market their products in a better way.

Mahmood put what he had learnt to good use in his business and most importantly, he stopped giving credit to his customers. “Earlier, I used to sell cloth to customers on credit, which led to losses on top of destroying relations with customers.”

The training course also taught him the importance of book-keeping. Since attending the training course, he has kept very precise business records and learnt that good customer care is crucial. He started to try even harder to build customer relations based on mutual trust. “In order to improve customer service, as instructed in the training course, I introduced a delivery service as well.”

These innovations have also had a positive impact on their turnover. Today Mahmood’s wife markets products on WhatsApp and other social media platforms. He and his wife have divided different responsibilities. For instance, his wife keeps in touch with female customers, while Mahmood promotes fabrics to male customers. They are also developing other plans like cable TV commercials and wider marketing on other major social media platforms to expand their business.