COVER STORY

Emphatatic & Elite Syed Irfan

In a world radically altered bythe Covid-19 pandemic, philanthropic stints of this young businessman during lockdown from Hyderabad seem straight out of a cinematic reel. But only they are as real as it gets. Being born with a golden spoon hasn’t affected altruism he inherited from his father Syed Hameeduddin who started his career repairing bicycle punctures by the historic Charminar nearly five decades ago and went on to establishing an empire whose products have become a household name in Hyderabad and beyond. In the recent times, Irfan and his brothers Syed Waqaruddin, Syed Imranuddin and Syed Zeeshanuddin under his father’s guidance have been providing daily cooked meals, doorstep delivery of monthly ration kits, and even free oxygen cylinders to Covid-affected families. Here’s a candid conversation with Syed Irfan, Vice Chairman - RR Group of Companies.

| COVER STORY

How did you become an entrepreneur? Can you tell us a bit about yourself? Being human is more important than being a businessman or an entrepreneur, something my father wanted my first focus to be. Sometimes that leads to good ideas, and these ideas take us on new roads and life changing journeys. It is our social responsibility as a human being to care about others around us. During the pandemic, thousands of people did not have food to eat, countless others lost jobs. If you can be an entrepreneur, your first responsibility is to be able to help others with your work, make a difference. It gives you satisfaction that a million dollars can’t buy. Otherwise, I like to keep it plain and simple. When not at work, I love skylarking with my friends, long drives and family indulgences.

What is the STARTUP story behind your business? When did it start? It is not a lesser known fact that we rose from very humble beginnings. My father (Syed Hameeduddin) used to sit along the pavement by the historic Charminar and repair punctured tyres. He worked really hard to feed us, and gradually jumped into the tobacco business. Our whole family used to work with him to deliver the orders, and gradually we expanded year after year. Today, RR Group of Companies is spread across different verticals from manufacturing spices and kitchen products to realty and development. We founded a group of companies to cater needs of the modern world with the name WIIZ an acronym formed from the first letters of us brothers –Waqar, Imran, Irfan and Zeeshan. Our company WIIZ Realtors LLP in real estate business, WIIZ Health Tech has been handling all technical, medical and surgical equipment in the healthcare sector. WIIZ LED that deals in LED fittings and electrical accessories has shown promising growth.

As an entrepreneur, what is it that motivates and drives you? The joy achieved by helping people who do not ask out of their dignity is priceless. They thank us when we extend a helping hand, and I thank the Almighty for giving me the opportunity to. It gives me a feeling of selfsatisfaction that is unmatched. And it keeps me going.

Who Inspires You? My father (Syed Hameeduddin) worked really hard all day to long under the sun to feed us every day. When we gradually grew into a business empire, he did not disregard the humble past and always makes it a point to help people in need, regardless of their race or religion. He taught us to love people, love the country and how to face the challenges with a smile on face, with no room for dissent, disappointment or grudge against anyone. During the recent lockdown, through our RR Charitable Trust, he arranged Covid tests for our entire workforce, provided monthly ration packs to all and immunity boosting medicines to anyone who tested positive. He still attends weddings of his friend’s daughters and looks after the arrangements personally, staying with them till the lights go out. His simplicity and altruism continues to be an incessant inspiration.

Tell us about the biggest challenge you have faced? Being born with a golden spoon in an opulent family, and not forgetting the humble beginning of the business is a big challenge, and so is maintaining relations with everyone. I think the biggest challenge is to be able to fulfil the dreams of my father, who wants to see our business and our family help more and more Has the pandemic had any effect on your business? How did you manage, if so? Per se the market situation, it was not the best business quarter for our convention centres and function halls. But we’ve had the opportunity to get closer to our workforce, and also to the people. They are our family too, and they take pride in our bonding with them. The smiles on the faces of deserving people, and some even from middle class strata who lost jobs during lockdown, has multiplied our zeal. We were able to help moderate to critically ill patients affected by the Corona Virus with free Oxygen cylinders. The satisfaction was unprecedented and it has far more than just balanced the disruptions due to the Covid situation.

In one word, describe your life as an entrepreneur. Challenging.

How do you generate new ideas? Ideas are born from real life circumstances. Personally for me, both domestic and international travel is also a way to explore new ideas

by exchanging thoughts with intellectuals. Every travel or journey is a lesson for me, understanding people from across the world, their nature, psychology, traditions, principles and success stories. Sometimes, even simplest of real life circumstances can seem like inspiration for a business model. The key is to balance themwith the ones that are both innovative and pragmatic.

What advice would you give to other entrepreneurs who are starting out? There is no shortcut to success. One should first have undeterred determination. Patience and persistence will make the journey easy. Without stamina, skill, strength and speed, achieving not just business goals but anything could be difficult, especially as an entrepreneur is always racing against time.

What’s your definition of success, and do you believe you’ve achieved it yet? Fortune favours the brave. If you have good intentions and an innovative business idea, Almighty paves way for your success. At the helm of the company, we’re way ahead of the competition. The first generation of our family spent life in penury. As the second generation, I am blessed with an opulence of love, wealth and business. Being able to help someone is success, the priceless smile on their face is success and the trust of your employees in you is success. When you’re at the helm, success would also be to keep things relevant to the changing times for decades to come.

What are your future plans? My immediate goal is to restore things to normalcy after the pandemic whirls out. By mid-2021, we are planning to fortify our presence into realty and electrical supplies. Our focus will be to diversify without diluting the essence of the brand RR Group of Companies has become.

Rapid Fire

1. If you could buy any type of food (right now) what would you buy? Arabian Shawarma.

2. What is one of the things you would put on your “bucket” list? Skydiving at Palm Jumeriah in Dubai.

3. If a movie was made of your life what genre would it be, who would play you? Docudrama. Amir Khan.

4. If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go and why? Dubai, for exploring more business opportunities. It is like a second home.

5. Are you a morning or night person? I’m up early morning and stay awake till late. Mornings help me look at business activities, and in the nights, I usually hang out with family and friends.

6. What is one of your weird quirks? Being excessively reserved.

7. Describe yourself in 3 words. Optimistic. Pragmatic. Simplistic.

8. If you could trade lives with anyone for a day, who would it be and why? My father. If there was a way, I would go back in time and exchange the burden of his hardship from early days in life with mine.

9. What is the one thing you have always wanted to do? Find happiness in others’ happiness.

10. What TV sitcom family would you be a member of? Dirilis: Ertugrul.