An Evening with Mr. Nand Kishore Chaudhary

Introduction

On September 13, we had the 165th session of the WiseViews Leadership Conversation series. The speaker was Mr. Nand Kishore Chaudhary, an extraordinary leader who has woven purpose, craft, and community into a global movement. Mr Chaudhary is often hailed as the “Gandhi of the Carpet Industry.”

About Mr Nand Kishore Chaudhary

Mr. Nand Kishore Chaudhary is a globally acclaimed social entrepreneur. He is the founder of Jaipur Rugs, one of India's largest manufacturers of hand knotted rugs.

Mr. Chaudhari faced stiff resistance from his family and community when he started working with untouchables (in a society which discriminated against women) into his business. So much so that some people even refused to shake hands with him. But Mr. Chaudhury successfully established and scaled up his business. He demonstrated that a for profit business can be run with love and compassion.

Starting with just two looms and nine artisans in 1978, Jaipur Rugs has become a global social enterprise exporting to over 60 countries. Jaipur Rugs provides sustainable livelihood to 40,000+ artisans in 600+ remote villages across five states in India, out of which 80% are women. Mr. Chaudhary’s endeavour has been to raise workers to the level of artisans, then artists and finally celebrated designers.

Management guru, Dr C.K. Prahalad featured Mr. Chaudhari’s revolutionary business philosophy in his globally acclaimed book -The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid. Mr. Chaudhary has also been termed as ‘father of modern social enterprises’ by Prof. Jagdish N. Sheth. In 2019, Dr. Raj Sisodia covered Jaipur Rugs and Mr Chaudhary in his book, ‘The Healing Organization’ for ‘The Power of innocence’. The book celebrated Mr. Chaudhary’s steps towards healing the customers and transforming the society with love.

Mr. Chaudhary has won various prestigious awards including E&Y Entrepreneur of the Year Award, CNBC TV18 Emerging India Award, Social Impact Award conferred by former President Pranab Mukherjee.

As a simple man, Mr. Chaudhary is devoted to the Indian hand-knotted rug industry with an aim to position it rightly in the world and to empower its real owner and creator – the Indian weaver. His philosophy of totality, inclusion and for-profit solutions to society has been widely acclaimed.

About Jaipur Rugs

Jaipur Rugs illustrates how a company can benefit the poor by connecting them with global markets. Jaipur Rugs does so by building and orchestrating a global supply chain on a massive scale. The company believes in developing human capability and skills at the grassroots level and providing steady incomes for rural men and women in the most depressed parts of India.

Thousands of independent weavers are working to produce consistently a very unique high-quality product in a decentralized manner. The company has oriented the mindset of artisans such that the target is zero wastage and 100% on time delivery. The company’s vertical integration and its direct connect with the weavers has been a great enabler. The company not only uses traditional weavers but also teaches, in remarkably short time, the craft to people who are new to weaving.

During the Q&A session, Mr. Chaudhary explained that Jaipur Rugs selects workers carefully. While many turn up to listen to him during the initial discussions, just a handful have similar values. Only those who share the company’s beliefs and values are connected to the bigger vision.

The early years

Jaipur Rugs was founded by Mr. Nand Kishore Chaudhary in 1978. Mr. Chaudhary could have joined his father’s shoes business. He also got a government job. But Mr. Chaudhary wanted to do something on his own. He reflected on his passion, values and skills and began to think of what he would do. As a young student, Mr. Chaudhary had once written in an exam: “Business is next to love. It is the creator and preserver of civilization.” The professor had told the class that this boy was destined to do great things in life.

Mr. Chaudhary had grown up seeing the plight of underpaid carpet weavers who often came from marginalized social backgrounds. So, he started the business as a social venture to help them, with a loan of Rs 5000 from his father.

It was a small business to begin with. Mr. Chaudhary worked with nine carpet weaving artisans on two looms in his hometown of Churu, Rajasthan. The business was based on the principles of dignity, compassion, empathy and love. Within three years, Mr. Chaudhary had set up ten more looms in the regions of Ratangad, Sujangad, Laxmangarh and Jodhpur in Rajasthan.

Without the presence of middlemen, the firm continued to grow and prosper. Mr. Chaudhury found that women were more sincere and punctual. So, he began to employ them in far greater numbers compared to men.

Mobilizing the Adivasis

There was tremendous demand for Indian carpets in the overseas markets. To meet this demand more manpower was required. So, in 1989, Mr. Chaudhary moved to Gujarat to mobilise the tribal artisans of the region. He anticipated resistance as Adivasis are often not welcoming towards outsiders. But then he learnt from a British friend that Adivasis are straightforward, innocent people. If we are also straightforward, they will trust us.

Mr. Chaudhary followed this approach and soon developed a good equation with the Adivasis. He narrated an interesting story during the Q&A. In the early years, some drunkards would trouble him when he visited the villages. But later, the women began to confine their drunkard husbands in their homes to ensure that Mr. Chaudhary’s time was not wasted.

Mr. Chaudhary continued to grow the network of weavers across the state and eventually set up a small-scale industry in Valsad, Gujarat, to carry out the exports of that region. By 1992, there was a full-fledged network of artisans across the state’s rural areas. By 2000, the network had grown to 15,000 weavers from across the state. To ensure communication across this network, Mr. Chaudhary took permission from the government and established repeater stations and used walkie talkies. (Those days, cell phones did not exist.)

After spending 13 years in Gujarat, Mr. Chaudhary returned to Jaipur in 1999. He consolidated all the networks and brought them under the banner name of Jaipur Carpets.

The second generation

In Mr. Chaudhary’s community, a male child is given pride of place. Mr. Chaudhary’s first three children were daughters. He wondered what was wrong with having three daughters. Again, his British friend told him that women are talented and capable and must be groomed for higher responsibilities. Mr. Chaudhary invested heavily in the education of his daughters (and sons) and sent them to the US. When his eldest daughter, Asha asked him what his expectation was, he told her to go as a weaver’s daughter to learn about consumer tastes and come back to India to develop superior products. Asha joined the business in the United States and headed the office there.

Soon after, his younger daughter Archana also joined the business as Director of Quality Assurance. Later, Mr. Chaudhary’s younger daughter and son, Kavita and Yogesh, joined the company as heads of Design and Sales/Marketing respectively. In 2018, Mr Chaudhary‘s youngest son Nitesh also joined Jaipur Rugs as the Director of Innovation, Supply Chain & Technology.

Turnaround

There was a time when the profits were unsatisfactory, and the business looked like winding up. Mr. Chaudhary introspected and understood that he was trying to micromanage. He realized the need for a different leadership style to manage a global business. He immersed himself in a process of learning and unlearning. He also realized the need for professional management. His children also began to join the business, each with his/her own ideas. From then on there has been no looking back.

In 2006, Jaipur Carpets was officially renamed as Jaipur Rugs. In the following years, the company continued to grow and modernize rapidly. Showroom space for stores across India doubled, and hand-painted maps that weavers used were replaced by computer aided designs.

Manchaha

In 2014, the Artisan Originals (Manchaha) initiative was launched. It was a first of its kind initiative where weavers would design the rugs themselves. The idea came from his daughter Kavita who noticed that some of the women weavers were very creative. The products went on to win multiple awards and gained recognition worldwide. One of the talented designers mentioned by Mr. Chaudhary was Bimla Devi who had never gone out of her village previously. She travelled with her daughter to Germany to receive a prestigious global award.

Manchaha also paved the way for the Freedom Manchaha collection. This initiative was started to provide work to prison inmates in jails all over Rajasthan.

In 2013, Jaipur Rugs launched its first contemporary hand-knotted collection 'Chaos Theory'. It was launched at Domotex 2013, in Hannover, Germany. As of now, Jaipur Rugs has a significant presence in five of the largest states of India. It is headquartered in Jaipur, and has showrooms in Delhi, Mumbai, and Bangalore.

Knowledge and Practice

Mr. Chaudhary believes that both knowledge and practice are important. We may have knowledge, but we must learn the trade from people (who may not be educated) who understand the business and must have the experience. This involves a degree of unlearning. As he put it: “We must find ourselves through losing ourselves. The more I lose myself, the more I find myself.”

Logistics

One difference between Jaipur Rugs and its competitors is that weavers are not responsible for picking up the raw materials and delivering the woven rugs to the branch office. The company takes care of both inbound and outbound logistics. This saves the weavers significant time and money in transportation and is very convenient for women.

Q&A