Rohail Aslam: Translating Business Knowledge into Practice

His host country has thrown many challenges at him but he's been here for over five years. Small-built, smiling and very gentle, Rohail explains why he stayed.

DW-WORLD: Why did you choose Germany in the first place?

Rohail Aslam: I already knew a little bit of German, and I joined the Goethe Institute (Max Mueller Bhavan) in New Delhi to fine-tune it. After almost a year in Delhi, I finally landed in Germany to do an MBA at the ‘Fachhochschule für Technik und Wirtschaft’ in Berlin.

What made you stay for so long?

It was pretty much understood that after I had graduated, I would stay back for a while to gather some knowledge of the country, the country’s business structure and the working culture. I also had the intention of doing an internship here and getting a job to gain some experience here. My family has a carpet manufacturing company back in India. My parents wanted to expand it and start exporting abroad. So, while I was studying, they set up a company in Bad Oeynhausen in north-west Germany. We've been actively exporting rugs to Germany, Western Europe and the US for four years. What could be better than giving my knowledge and expertise to my parents and to their company instead of offering those services to someone else?

Does the manufacturing process also take place in Germany?

No, everything happens in India -- in Bhadohi in Uttar-Pradesh, which is a renowned carpet-belt -- and the services are much cheaper there. Once the product is completed, it's exported to Germany in huge quantities.

Who designs the rugs?

Designing is a two-way process. Either we pick our own designs and work on them -- we have two specialised designers who work for us. But if clients come to us with certain designs, colours and patterns then we make the rugs according to their requirements.

Where is your company based?

We have two companies which are both owned by my mother. The parent company is the manufacturing unit based in India -- called ‘Rohail Teppich Export’ - and the daughter company exports from Germany and is called ‘Handel Kontor’. So we sit here in Germany communicating with our clients, showing them our new products, introducing new colours and designs, inviting them to visit our showroom in Germany in case they cannot visit India.

Do your carpets have a lot of Indian colours or designs?

Well, I would not exactly classify them as Indian designs or colours. It's more about the trend of the market -- this could be anything. If it's called ‘Indian’, then it is. But the only justification for calling our carpets Indian is that they are manufactured in India. Unless, of course, somebody wants a carpet which has an Indian palace in its design. Otherwise, we mostly have modern and abstract designs -- for example, a bunch of boxes and dices.

What is the market in Germany like compared to that of other European countries or the United States?

The market is, of course, better in the comparatively colder countries. Having said that, conditions in Spain and in Portugal have actually been booming in the last decade or so. But overall the market is slow at the moment because the entire purchasing and selling pattern has changed. For example, 15 or 20 years ago a carpet or rug was almost a status symbol -- it was valuable. Now rugs are available everywhere. Not only that, earlier a rug meant handmade work and precision work by hand. But now you have machines, even robots, making rugs.

Are your carpets also machine-made?

The rugs we have are entirely hand-made. We have no machine work anywhere in our enterprise -- we don't have a production plant as such. The entire work process, from ‘start’ to ‘finish’, of a rug is entirely hand-made.

Was it very difficult to start up a company in Germany?

In fact no. Some might say it was as easy as child-play -- there were very little bureaucracy or paper-work. The whole company had been set up within a couple of hours.

So, the set-up procedure is simple. But how easy is it to keep the business going?

Well, that's the challenge. Because here there are not only other Indians who have stalls, shops or companies, there are also Persians, Turks, Moroccans, Germans, and English people. So there is a lot of competition. And the guarantee for success is dependent on the amount of effort and, more importantly, on market support.

How do you cope with this kind of competition?

It's hard. It's very hard. It's like an uphill struggle everyday. There are moments of doubt and dejection but they can come no matter what field one is in. And, of course, when the rewards come they are very satisfying and gratifying. I am positive because I have no other choice.

What is your goal after being in Germany for five years?

Since the enterprise has already been set up, our goal is first to make sure that people will recognise our products, recognise us as a unit, and respect us for our quality, designs and colours. Which, of course, means that they should respect and enjoy our products because of the difficulty of producing A-quality rugs. Secondly, through our rugs we want to build goodwill. We want people to recognise our company name.

Did you face any problems being a South Asian while struggling to establish yourself and your company?

I faced the usual business related problems because there is at least 10 times more supply than there is demand but this is true not only for the rug trade but for any trade. It's difficult to establish your own two feet in a place where people have already established relationships 20 or 30 years ago and are constantly working with their partners in India, China, Pakistan, Morocco etc. And for us it was more difficult because we had had a partnership with a German company before establishing our own company but the company had unfortunately gone bankrupt. So we had to re-start the entire process and re-establish relations. At present, we do not have any fixed partners - we work with companies or clients who are willing to work with us. Our most recent target countries are in the new Eastern bloc -- namely Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary. We also have contacts in the Baltic states, Iceland and Scandinavia. Of course, we also have clients all over Germany.

What do you miss most about India?

Actually I was able to go home only four years after I came to Germany. The first one and a half years I was studying and that did not allow me any break. Then, while I was finishing my studies, my parents established our company here. After my studies, I jumped straight into the business. At that time, I missed home very much. In comparison to the United Kingdom, there are far fewer Indian or Pakistani restaurants here in Germany. Four years ago, it was difficult even difficult to find an Indian grocery here. I missed home-food the most. Now that has become easier. But even now, there is hardly anything where I live. So I cook for myself. Besides food, I also miss the kind of sports which I used to enjoy back home, namely hockey and cricket.