It was in early 2011, when I was in Jammu to address the youth of J&K motivating to chase their dreams and not be afraid of failure, I met a young man, Arif Hussain. At the end of the session he wanted to share how a similar session a year ago made an impact on him.

Arif finished his degree in veterinary sciences and was at crossroads. Like most of the youth of J&K, all his friends were looking for government jobs, as they feel that gives security. Even in the volatile times of Kashmir, those in the government jobs continued to get their salaries, where as those working in private sector were impacted! So none would want to venture into the private enterprise space. Though government jobs were hard to come by, government, to make their ends meet, was recruiting for temporary assignments. Arif wanted to do something different and not succumb to these possibilities.

Arif chanced upon an advertisement for a short term programme by J&K government on creating a SME (Small and Medium enterprises). He applied for it and got selected to be part of the programme. He got a lot of ideas that stoked his desire to do something ‘different’

Being a Vet, he probed a little more on one of the ideas that struck him. A predominantly non-vegetarian state, J&K imports over 1000cr worth of poultry! Why not create poultry farm? He does significant ground work to launch his poultry farm in Kishtwar with an investment of Rs.1.5 Lakh. His sessions on SME helped him to understand how to apply and get the project funded by the government that is encouraging entrepreneurs. So ninety percent of his project costs were funded by govt.

He started procuring broilers from Punjab, that become fully grown FOWL n 45 days. The economies work to something of this sort –

– Broilers cost about Rs 18 when they land in Kishtwar
– It takes another 20-30 Rupees for feed & maintenance for every broiler in those 45 days
– The fully grown FOWL is picked up by the butchers at Rs. 200/- a piece

So, in no time, Arif started clocking revenues of 3-4 Lakhs a month, with at least 40-50% margin.

Arif soon realized that this is going to be a very profitable venture and would love to grow the business across J&K and not limit to Kishtwar.

When Arif met me, he had a call from XLRI. He was a worried man, in the sense, what should he do to convert the call. We had a long discussion on how he can present his vision and the execution plan to the panel etc. Soon, I got a good news that he has received the final call and that he would join XLRI/GIM.

In 2013, Arif would have graduated with an MBA from XLRI/GIM and on his way to realizing his bigger dreams. Looking forward to meeting him soon. Arif, where are you?

If you have a dream, chase it. Do not be afraid of failure. I always found many mentors, well wishers and facilitators coming my way the moment I was determined to make any of my dreams happen. I often remember Paulo Coelho’s Alchemist, when I embark on realizing my next dream – “that the world will conjure to make your dreams come true”