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KUNDAMAL CORPORATE HISTORY IN HONG KONG
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| Family ties: Kundamal Group family meeting in Los Angeles |
The Kundamal story is a corporate story, not of the, kind that has been getting world headlines lately. It doesn’t have spicy ingredients like greed, deceit, cut-throat ploys and double-cross.
It’s an inspiring tale about a company that believed – from day one – in ethics, fair play, partnership, letting one’s buyers or suppliers have their fair share of profit, and guarding jealously their reputation which to them is more valuable than money.
Hiro Kundamal, a third-generation Kundamal and semi-retired head of the Kundamal Group, still tells his sons, Dhiraj and Suraj and daughters, Neelam, Poonam and Rakhee who have taken over the running of the business that “profit is secondary importance. Our reputation comes first – always”.
For a Group that has been around for more than 100 years, starting humbly as a jeweller in Karachi and Hydrabad (Sind), that’s not difficult to understand, particularly since the Group has become a global enterprise, highly respected for its integrity.
Today, the Kundamal Group deals in a wide variety of products, including garments for men and ladies, silk garments, furnishings, toys, yarn, fabrics, jewellery, cement, fertilizers, grain and foodstuffs.
But it continues to nurture good relations with it partners of whom there are 50 in the Chinese mainland alone.
Hiro’s son, Dhiraj the company’s fourth generation director, explain there can be problem in business – even disputes sometimes – but Kundamal always finds friendly solutions to all these problems by discussing across the tables.
“All the cards are laid on the table, and we always come out friendlier for having been open and frank with each other.
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| Tops & Bottoms: designs that have paid off |
Hiro’s daughter, Poonam graduated from the highly respected Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising (FIDM), California. It is a tradition with all the big name fashion houses in the US and Europe to send letters of appointment to all of the final year graduates of this institution, but Hiro’s daughter, Poonam politely declined a very highly paid job offered by a reputable well known fashion house to work instead for the family group company in Los Angeles as the Group’s designer for young men and ladies fashion garments.
Two other daughters, Neelam and Rakhee who are also graduates from universities in California and Brussels respectively decided to carry on the 100-year-old Kundamal jewellery business in Beverley hills, California, and both sisters, Neelam and Rahkee are graduates of the Gemological Institute of America (GIA).
The fourth generation Kundamals say “We learned a lot about theory in university which can be applied in different ways, but nothing beats hands-on experience and what experience we pick up in the marketplace”.
Both father and sons are unfazed by the current global economic downturn. “When someone is losing, another must be winning,” says Dhiraj.
We don’t believe in putting all our eggs in one basket. We have diversified in both products and markets.
Dhiraj explains that before dealing in garments in the United States, Europe and South America, the Group had been supplying buyers with yarn and fabrics in Asia.
The Group was exporting silk yarn from China to India where the yarn was turned into fabrics. Later on, the silk was used to make garments, saris in particular.
This was followed by home furnishings such as curtains, cushion covers and so on, made from silk. The diversification did not stop there, and the company soon started manufacturing young men’s and ladies’ fashion garments using different materials, including cotton, polyester, nylon and other synthetic materials.
The Group also diversifies from market to market. It started in Asia from where it went into Europe, them the US and South America. Now it is increasingly extending its operations into China.
“But we always go into a country in partnership with people there. They know more about local conditions, the culture of the place and the many other things that make for smooth operations,” says the senior Kundamal.
Hiro is a player who has found balance in the art of business and in the business of family. He says his is close-knit family. “Brothers, sisters, cousins, nephews, nieces… together we number more than 40 spread out all over the world.
“We are all financially independent and some of us have our own business, but we are in close touch and are constantly on the phone – long distance, from different parts of the world – exchanging ideas and providing each other with information relevant to our individual business, and we are always ready to lend a helping hand”, says Hiro.
For the Kundamals, Hong Kong is home. “Having been born here and located here for more than 50 years, we want to make the best of it,” father and son said. The Kundamals are not alone in wanting to continue their presence here, hence Hiro Kundamal expressed the wish to President Jiang Zemin when he met the Chinese leader some time ago, that the SAR Government should consider giving long-time Indian residents some kind of tangible recognition for their contribution to Hong Kong trade.
Granting them an SAR passport, Hiro said, would be fitting gesture. The Chinese leader responded by saying the matter would be carefully considered by the Department concerned. Today, 9 years on many Indians have managed to obtain a SAR Passport.
The D. Kundamal Group chaired by son Dhiraj Kundamal continues to strive forward in garment exports, commodity trading and real estate development and investment.
