A Business Development Case Study

Having your own Business maybe a dream for most of us but also a goal to achieve for those who believe in

their capabilities and are able to take risks and walk through the process. However, starting a new Business

needs steps to be done and techniques to be implemented but also sometimes, it can rely on a good luck and

opportunities. So$,$ Mrs$.$ Farhat, who is a post graduate in English, has established Farhat$$s clothes, in May,

$2022,$ by installing two machines, one her own and the other purchased from a local dealer, with a total

investment of $$20,000.$ The idea of starting her own business came in $2020,$ when she saw an advertisement

in the newspaper for a one$-$month Entrepreneurship Development Program $($EDP$)$ being conducted by the

Small Industry Service. She learnt how to start her own venture. The pandemic and the financial situation,

Lebanon went through motivated her more and more to start her own business and stop being depending on a

salary and an employer because she suffered from their unfair treatments.

Feeling encouraged, she decided to start a cloth unit as she had learnt something about cloths during her

school days. In order to add to her technical know$-$how, in $2021,$ she enrolled herself for a two$-$year part time

course in Fashion Designing with the Young Women$$s Association, and completed the course in $2023.$ In the

meantime, on the advice of her husband, she applied for a shed to the Director of Industries. The shed was

allotted to her in Oct, $2023.$ Due to lack of sufficient space, Mrs$.$ Farhat, who had been earlier living in a

joint family, had shifted to her newly constructed house at $25$ km away from her unit.

Mrs$.$ Farhat, has two school going children $$ a girl and a boy aged seven and four years respectively, and

they were admitted to a school near her unit, so that she can take care of them after they returned from the

school to her unit. Her husband is a Post graduate in M$.$Sc $($Chemistry$)$ and working as a Circle Officer with

an International company. He had witnessed an event in his neighborhood, where a young widow had been

ill$-$treated by her in laws. This had left a great impact on him and his interest to see his wife Mrs$.$ Farhat, do

something outside home turned into his determination to make her economically independent. During the

initial stages, since Mrs$.$ Farhat$$s unit was not in full production, workers were unwilling to join as they

were unsure about the units$$ survival. After a great deal of effort, she was able to get through the local

machine dealer, one worker at $$800$ per month.

Mrs$.$ Farhat$$s initial strategy was to approach the customers in the local market with sample pieces of her

items. The response was not encouraging, despite her offering $10\%$ less than the market rate, the dealers and

shopkeepers were unwilling to purchase her items. Mrs$.$ Farhat, then decided to supply the items at cost

price. This proved successful to get an entry into the market. In the next month, she was approached by three

dealers who placed orders with her. Thereafter, she was approached by three more dealers. Taking this an

opportunity, Mrs$.$ Farhat had decided to sell her items at $10\%-15\%$ profit. This was acceptable to her old as

well as new customers. She then employed three more workers and added two more machines to her unit for

$3$

meeting the demand of her customers. In the initial couple of months, it was difficult for her to cope with the

customer$$s requirements regarding the type, size and the quantity of the items.

In the month of April $2023,$ she was approached by two customers from Jammu & Kashmir land Allahabad

with orders. When the items were supplied through a bank, the customers refused to accept then. Then, her

husband had to go to get the items back.

Mrs$.$ Farhat has reinvested more than $70\%$ of the profit into her venture. Gradually, her total investment rose

from $$20,000/-$ to $$40,000/-$ and the turnover also increased from $ $5,000/-$ to $$60,000/-$ PM during the same

period. She now had eight workers including one cutting and designing master and eight machines in her unit

and there were more than ten customers in the local market. She always took care of her workers and was

ready to help them any time, however, she did not get their help at the time of her need. The workers would

always turn up late for work even when the customer$$s demand was high. This created tension in her mind.

Her workers said that she was always ready to help them at the hour of their need and that was why they used

to work till late in the evening and sometimes even on weekly holidays, however, at the same time, they also

had their personal problems and limitations$.$

Mrs$.$ Farhat thinks that her total involvement with the unit had left little time for her to look after her children

properly. Mrs$.$ Farhat used to participate with her husband in the discussions with the customers. This

increased her confidence in the marketing activities.