SOME businessmen have an insatiable hunger for growth. S.M. Tanveer is one of them.
“If you do not grow your business, it will ultimately die,” he stresses in an interview with Dawn. “You don’t have to look hard to see that growth is at the centre of every successful business. No company can afford to stagnate.”
But, he notes, there isn’t a single recipe or path that leads to growth. “Every company and family has its own growth strategy that fits its circumstances and goals. The growth model of one company will not ensure success for another. Also, you have to consider all the peculiar business conditions and environment in which you are operating before deciding on the growth path you want to take.”
Little wonder, then, that he has chosen a route that is a digression from his family’s business path, and set up two separate lifestyle and entertainment companies that focus on the growing domestic market.
“Our family’s companies, the Din Group of Companies, have vended for brands ever since it entered into business. Now is the time to launch and establish our own brands,” Tanveer asserts.
A major reason for him to invest in the domestic market is the better investments returns it offers. “Growth in the export business is stagnating owing to a variety of factors: growing energy crunch, rising cost of doing business and poor security conditions etc. The domestic market, on the other hand, is expanding and people’s buying power is growing,” he points out.
His companies, grouped as Din Industries under the umbrella of the Din Group of Companies, plan to offer a whole range of lifestyle solutions to their customers. “We have launched brands of unstitched lawn for women, but ultimately plan to offer consumers everything that falls in the category of lifestyle — clothing, cosmetics, homes textiles, shoes, accessories and what not.”
While bigger profits were a major driver behind his decision to venture into new areas, the deteriorating conditions for manufacturers was yet another reason for him and his brothers to expand out of the family’s traditional textiles and leather export business.
“The trust in the manufacturing industry in Pakistan has significantly eroded,” Tanveer says of his decision to take a different growth route, which is new to his family.
“As a manufacturer, the better part of my day is usually consumed in managing the day-to-day issues, such as the availability of gas and electricity to keep our factories running. Manufacturing has become unviable and trading profitable.”
