“Of course you’re an interviewer too. Aren’t we co-founders?”
“Oh? You sure talk a good game.”
“Sit up like a proper interviewer. Someday, people will brag about having passed our interviews.”
“Hahaha. I hope that actually happens.”
I was serious, but he took it as a joke.
Still, chuckling, he began setting up desks and chairs at the factory entrance.
“Arun!”
“Yes, President.”
“Send them in ten at a time. We’ll conduct interviews.”
“Yes, President.”
“Waaaaah! They’re really hiring us!”
“Close the factory gate. Don’t let anyone else in.”
“Yes, President.”
The moment I announced interviews, cheers erupted.
There had to be at least four or five hundred people.
Using conventional methods, interviewing everyone would take all day and still not be enough.
But I had a secret weapon.
“Alright, come in.”
The applicants streamed inside.
Some entered confidently with bright smiles.
Others followed cautiously.
Some hesitated nervously before darting through the door.
“Introduce yourselves.”
“Yes, I graduated from Budge Budge High School, , and worked for two years at Shree Synthetic Fibers—”
“Keep it short. Next! Introduce yourself.”
“Yes, I graduated from Dum Dum High School—”
As they introduced themselves, Abir and I exchanged glances.
With just eye contact, we selected the first-round candidates.
Abir knew how important a person’s voice was.
A loud, clear voice usually indicated honesty and confidence.
“Now, repeat after me loudly. ‘I am honest, diligent, and always take initiative. Give me work! I can do anything!'”
I demonstrated with a clenched fist.
The applicants instantly froze.
Repeating my words would sound like they were speaking casually to the company president.
I didn’t care about honorifics at all.
Anyone who wanted to become an early member of Nayara Corporation needed at least this much courage.
“I am honest, diligent, and always take initiative. Give me work! I can do anything!”
“Please hire me! I can do anything!”
Huh?
I expected hesitation, but quite a few applicants responded confidently.
These were people who genuinely took pride in themselves.
Maybe all those claims about being top students weren’t exaggerations.
Starting a business in the 1950s really was like swimming with the current.
Talented people like these were everywhere.
This was an era when people like them would devote themselves wholeheartedly for a salary of 450₹.
What couldn’t you accomplish?
And among these proactive applicants, I could still choose the very best.
What a golden age!
My responsibility was simply to treat them properly.
I would never repeat the mistakes that other businessmen had and would made.
Send the successful applicants to the machine room.
Show the rejected ones out the back door and don’t let them return.
“Applicants Number 9 and 13, go to that room. Everyone else, follow me.”
Abir understood immediately.
He sorted the successful and unsuccessful applicants without hesitation.
“Next group, come in.”
“Hello… I am—”
“That’s enough. Everyone repeat after me loudly. ‘I am honest, diligent, and always take initiative. Give me work! I can do anything!'”
“…I can do any… thing.”
“Uhhh…”
“I am honest, diligent, and always take initiative. Give me work! I can do anything!”
Caught off guard, everyone reacted differently.
Fast and efficient.
“Alright. Applicant Number 4, go to that room. Everyone else, follow me.”
Abir continued sorting them smoothly.
***
“Whew. Rohit, we’re finally done.”
“How many passed?”
Making more than five hundred people shout slogans had taken quite a while.
The sun was already setting.
“Thirty-two foreman-level men and one hundred twenty workers.”
“Wow. Even after filtering them,that many remained?”
“So what now? Are you going to read their fortunes?”
“No. We need to feed them before sending them home.”
“…”
Abir simply stared at me.
At this point, he didn’t even try to understand me anymore.
His expression clearly said:
Can you at least explain this one?
“What’s with that look? It’s dinnertime. We should feed them before they leave.”
“Wait… you’re not planning to hire all of them, right? Even if business grows, hiring everyone would bankrupt us.”
“That’s why I’m feeding them before sending them home. No time to waste. Go order everything in the neighborhood.”
One hundred fifty servings would practically empty every one in this area.
“Whew. Fine. I’ll do it. Somehow your ideas always work out.” The source of this chapter is g.com.
“I want luchi-cholar dal!”
I shouted after Abir as he headed out.
“Haah…”
“President, are you buying food for us too?”
“Of course. The foremen worked hard today too. Go with Manager Abir and bring back every Paratha and curry or whatever you can find.”
The foremen followed Abir to the market.
Soon afterward, vendors arrived pushing entire pots on handcarts.
As expected, the neighborhood ladies moved the fastest.
“Come over here! Egg curry ! Over here!”
“Young lady, a hot bowl of vegetable Daal and aloo bhaja would be better. Come here!”
“Spicy market-style kathiroll This one’s the best!”
“What are you waiting for? Everyone grab a bowl.”
“Thank you, President.”
In an instant, the factory transformed into a cafeteria.
The vendors competed to serve daal first.
The first-round applicants accepted their bowls in bewilderment.
“We’ll conduct the final interview in one hour. Take your time and enjoy your meal.”
“Thank you.”
“Eat plenty.”
As expected in the 1950s, everyone simply held their hands until I picked mine up.
Only then did they begin eating, blowing on the hot food.
Spring was still far away.
Few meals were better than a steaming bowl of gughni (ঘুঘনি)and bread.
I carried my plate to the loft on the second floor.
From the window, I watched the scene below while eating.
The lively atmosphere was pleasant.
Everyone finished at different times.
What they did afterward also differed.
“How are you planning to conduct the final interview?”
“What final interview? It’s already over.”
“Huh?”
When Abir came up to the loft, I turned him toward the window.
“Look carefully. See those people who finished eating quickly and started helping clean up? Those are the final hires.”
The first-round candidates already had confidence and pride.
Among them, those who finished eating quickly and volunteered to help clean up were genuine self-starters.
And physically energetic too.
The best of the best.
“You lunatic. You’re hiring people based on how fast they eat?”
“Our greatest competitive advantage is speed. Speed!”
“Sp… speed?”
“I’m serious. There is plenty of money in this world. It’s just scattered around. Whoever runs fastest and picks it up first becomes the owner.”
“…That actually makes sense! Speed warfare!”
The kid really had good instincts.
During the high-growth decades of the 1950s to 1970s of the world speed itself was competitiveness.
Whoever seized opportunities first and established themselves became a leader.
In that sense, it was fair.
Everyone had the same amount of time.
“Go downstairs and gather those people separately. They’ll get mixed in with the others.”
“Got it. Speed warfare!”
Abir hurried downstairs and separated the workers who had eaten quickly and helped clean.
There seemed to be at least nine foreman-level hires and forty-eight female workers.
“Did everyone enjoy their meal?”
“Yes!!!”
“Good. Then please head home.”
“??? What? What about the final interview?”
“The final interview is over. Successful candidates will be notified individually. Tarun, please escort everyone out.”
“The exit is this way.”
“They said successful candidates will be notified individually. This way, please.”
“Uh…”
The foremen herded the rejected applicants outside.
At least they had received a meal.
It was basically an interview stipend.
I locked the factory gate and called toward the machine room.
“Everyone here—want to make some money with me?”
“Huh? President, did we pass?”
“Yes. You’re hired.”
“WAAAAAH!”
“We passed! We passed!”
“I’ll help you make serious money. Let’s start at 450₹ a month.”
Making real money.
In a booming economy where everything sold, it wouldn’t be difficult with people like these.
“WAAAAAH!”
“450₹!!!”
The people inside the machine room jumped up and down with excitement.
They were the very first employees of Nayara Group
***
Two weeks later—
Borrowing money.
Hiring workers.
Acquiring the factory.
Receiving yarn from Pioneer Rayon.
Running test fabric production.
Time had flown by.
All we had done was complete the initial setup.
Honestly, if Pioneer Rayon hadn’t delivered quality yarn on time, it would have taken much longer.
To: Rohit Karmakar , Nayara Corporation
From: Abdul Omer, Sudan Chamber of Commerce
Letter of Credit Opened
Requested Shipment: August 15
Quantity: 200,000 yards
“Wow. Telex is amazing. This really came from Cairo?”
Abir couldn’t take his eyes off the printed message.
At last, our company had both a telephone and a telex machine now
It had taken two weeks after applying—even with expedited fees.
“It’s an important document. File it carefully.”
“Of course. Do you realize how much money this represents? But are we really allowed to use such expensive equipment? We even bought a car last week.”
His concern was understandable.
The telephone installation cost 1000.
The telex cost ten times that—10,000.
In modern terms, it was an enormous sum.
Even the company’s used vehicle had a cost 2 lakh.
“How is an exporter supposed to operate without a telex?”
“The monthly fee alone is 800 . For that amount of money, we could just borrow from a bank—”
“Abir, what’s our competitive advantage?”
“Speed warfare!”
“Then why are you saying that?”
Since Abir would eventually manage company operations, he needed to understand our strategy completely.
I intended to drill it into him whenever possible.
“When others are waiting for money, we need to arrive where the money already is. Never hesitate to invest in things that save time or put us ahead of others. I’m not joking.”
“Alright, alright. Calm down.”
“You’re as much a manager as I am. Don’t just know it—feel it.”
“I’ll remember that, President. Now calm down.”
After repeating the lesson, Abir finally nodded seriously.
A businessman who becomes stingy about investment is doomed.
A company is a living organism.
It must invest aggressively and earn accordingly.
People can’t work without food.
And if possible, they should eat well and live well.
Expecting workers to survive on kimchi every meal wasn’t a humane way to run a company.
“Alright, enough of that. The factory acquisition is finished?”
“Yep. Registration and ownership transfer are complete. Just like you said, I stacked some honey in front of the Bank Manager and asked whether he wanted to hand it over to the factory or not. He signed immediately. All outstanding claims were canceled.”
Naturally.
If the bank auctioned the factory , it would probably fail several times before selling for around 9 or lower than that anyway.
Selling directly to me was much easier.
“Good work.”
“If you’re done asking questions, let’s head downstairs. Today’s the day the first production batch arrives.”
Abir grinned broadly.
“The first batch is here already? How’s the quality?”
I acted calm, but honestly, I was both excited and nervous.
“The quality should be fine. The foremen practically lost weight from all your nagging. And Pioneer Rayon changed yarn samples dozens of times because of you. After that, dyeing is basically the same no matter who does it.”
He wasn’t wrong.
The young owner of Pioneer Rayon had worked tirelessly to improve yarn quality.
He had delivered dozens of samples while searching for the optimal Rayon-cotton blend ratio.
The foremen had worked just as hard.
Together, we’d spent countless nights testing and calibrating the FNF equipment.
Eventually we determined the ideal blend ratios:
90:10 Rayon-to-cotton
58:22 Rayon-to-cotton
“Tarun.”
“Yes, President.”
“Has the dyed first batch arrived?”
“Yes. Both green and yellow versions arrived. We processed 500 yards of each.”
“Let’s see them.”
Five hundred yards was the minimum practical dyeing batch for subcontractors.
Shhhhhk.
The fabric was mounted on a machine and stretched out.
“What do you think, President?”
“Look at this, Manager Abir”
“The first batch? This?”
“Wow, the dyeing turned out great. Very clean.”
“Of course, Manager Abir. We used the best dyeing factory in Baranagar Industrial Complex, even of howrah . The colors are so vivid they practically shine.”
The foremen and Abir rubbed the fabric with satisfaction.
I, on the other hand, was dumbfounded.
I could understand the foremen.
But Abir had worked in textile manufacturing.
I thought he’d recognize the flaws immediately.
Was quality awareness really this underdeveloped in the 1950s?
RIPPPP!
I grabbed a utility cutter and slashed straight through the fabric.
“Throw it away!”
[•This is a pivotal movement because if Nayara wants to dominate the market it needs to focus both on quantity and quality, this chapter inspired by Samsung group’s 2nd chairman Mr.Lee Kun-hee, the driving force behind Samsung who created samsung electronics what it is today. In 1990s as Samsung electronics defect rate is crossing over the 10%, He ordered the public destruction of 150,000 defective mobile phones and electronics worth roughly $50 million. Following a surge in manufacturing flaws, he held a “burning ceremony” at the company’s factory in Gumi, South Korea, to enforce a drastic shift toward uncompromising product quality. He is a man who truly is a inspirational figure in south korean politics and economy as well as a transforming force in early 2000s]