Apparel Online India Magazine April 2nd Issue 2018 | Page 49

PERSPECTIVE STORY Team Superfine Knitters: Vivek Lakra with his father Ajit Lakra and mother Gita Lakra Some of the young entrepreneurs of Ludhiana, from companies like Subhash Polytex, K Jain Processors, Kapoor Cotsyn Exports, Kudu Group and Superfine Knitters have joined Integrated Association of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises of India (IamSMEofIndia), Faridabad a reputed organization. These entrepreneurs have spread their wings in Ludhiana also. This initiative will help the industry to explore on how they can make use of the Government schemes and sub sidies collectively using a single platform. It has already conducted regular meetings, and the results so far have been good. Two members of this initiative got registered for lean training. Some of these companies have also got themselves registered with the Government for the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY) scheme to train their employees. They are taking up this business in a very dynamic way, and not as their predecessors were doing. Lot of big changes have taken place and technology upgraded. It seems as if Ludhiana, which was stagnant in the last 10 years, is all set to achieve new heights,” says Vivek Lakra, Director of Superfine Knitters. Vivek joined his father’s business in 2003 and faced losses for 7 years. The best thing is he has a very good understanding with his father. “My father had complete faith in me when I joined the business. Even when I incurred some losses, he never lost belief in me. He advised me; we sat together and had a brainstorming session to changeover. My father has always been fabric manufacturing guy. And I started from garmenting, so we both had different lines under the same company name. We never had big clashes. We went in losses due to buyers getting ‘bankrupt’ and giving ‘unprotected’ credit. But now the situation has changed,” shared Vivek. Every member of this fraternity of young generation have their own struggles and solutions, like NG Apparels, a company led by father-son duo – Nimesh Guptaa and Arrpiit Guptaa. Arrpiit feels that being a next-gen person and the face of the company, it is still a challenge for him to handle and manage the workforce. To tackle this challenge, the company is developing various changes and hiring right persons who will follow these to help the company grow. “We are looking to hire local workforce and train them instead of depending on labourers coming from far-flung areas,” said Arrpiit who is into family business for almost 7 years. www.apparelresources.com | APRIL 16-30, 2018 | Apparel Online India 49