The fragrance of entrepreneurship

GUWAHATI: Ajmal Ali basks in the strong intensity of fragrance that wafts in the air at an old shop on Mumbai’s Nag Devi Street. Ali, 83, has come on a visit from Assam to the shop he established here 55 years ago.

As the head of an establishment with 58 perfume stores in India and West Asia, Ali’s is a fascinating rags-to-riches story which took him from Hojai, a small town in Assam, to the megacities of Mumbai, Riyadh and Dubai.

Reminisces Ali: “I left Hojai 55 years ago to look for work to support my family. I hadn’t imagined even in my wildest dreams that one day I would have thousands of people working for me.”

Today, Ajmal Perfumes is a sprawling business with 3,000 people working in factories and showrooms in India and abroad. Four of the showrooms are in Mumbai, 55 in West Asia.

It was in the 1950s that Ali started selling Agarwood to a friend in Mumbai, who used it to make perfume. Soon, he joined his friend and set up his first shop on Nag Devi Street. There has been no looking back since.

The second shop came up on Mohammed Ali Road, and the last two, on Mahakali Caves Marg and Arthur Bunder Road.

Says son Badruddeen Ajmal: “Father is a visionary. He taught us innovation plays a huge role in even traditional businesses. We were the first to start selling perfumes online.”

Along with vision has come employment. Ali’s business has done a lot for the people in Assam by providing them with jobs. “He has started an Agarwood plantation.

As a result, hundreds of people in Golaghat, Sibsagar, and Jorhat districts have found work. Today, due to a shortage in supply, we have to import Agarwood from Malaysia and Singapore. The plantations, with 20,000 trees, will ensure a steady supply from within India in a few years,” says Badruddeen.

Ali’s business is now dispensing perfume standards. The Saudi Arabian Standardization Organization - the apex body for maintaining quality standards in Saudi Arabia - has empowered Ajmal Perfumes to issue quality certificates to perfume brands in West Asia.

Perfume is just one part of Ali’s life. In 1992, he set up the Haji Abdul Majid Memorial Hospital and Research Centre in Hojai. The hospital provides free treatment to the poor and is expanding into a 350-bed outfit.

“I have no more ambitions in life except to convert the charity into a full-fledged medical college,” says Ali.

Ajmal retired 20 years ago, but still visits his shops in Mumbai regularly. As in the world of perfume, good old fragrances die hard.