Sameer Abdullah – Story of an Entrepreneurial Metamorphosis.

“Calamities may befall any person, at anytime, yet his strength to stand up again and again each time he is struck, determines his thirst for success” 

This story is of a young boy who lost his father at a very young age. Too young to understand what had befallen him. By the time Sameer Abdullah understood what had happened; his uncle asked him to move out of their own house. He, his mother and his brother had nowhere to go, so they rented a room. And thus he became the sole care taker of his mother and his younger brother. Considering his responsibilities, in 2009, he came to Tribe21 for a job, so that he could fulfill the basic requirements of his family.

A boy of class 9^th, aged 14 or 15 looking for a job, what role could he be put into? So he was given the task of doing odd jobs at Tribe21, like making tea, carrying things up and down the floor or even getting things from market. There was a time when, in order to save money he used to carry gas cylinders on his shoulder and walk by foot to cover miles. While he was doing all these tasks, he continued to study and made sure that his brother too went to school. As he grew up, Mr. Shah Shafi, Managing Director, Tribe21, seeing his dedication towards work, allowed him to work as Personal Customer Contact boy for promotional and market research activities at Tribe21. He started to earn well enough through these activities. As the time passed, he was assigned as a team leader for different marketing activities. He had developed a habit of saving half of his salary and there came a time when this money summed up to Rupees 17,000. With this money he began his salesman journey. He bought stock from distributors of Godfrey Phillips India, and started to sell it to shops. He did all this by walking kilometers each day, in the wee hours before Tribe21’s reporting time and in the evening after he left from Tribe21. This “three shift day” continued for a long period. As he started to earn from his business as well as Tribe21, he bought a bicycle for himself. Now he could reach out to far off places as well. But due to health issues he could not continue cycling. His mother insisted him to buy a scooter, with financial assistance. With his hard work he received TVS motorbike as a gift for being the Best Salesman of the Year via Godfrey Phillips India. He then went on to buy his ancestral house from his uncle and built a new house for his family. For this, he had to sacrifice all his savings, which compelled him to start afresh. But with right determination and dedication, he again started his business.

There was a time when he decided to go to gulf and work there in any company and earn money, but he made wise decision to stay back in Kashmir and build up his business. He is now a full time hawker, best in his forte, for both GPI as well as ITC. They even offered him jobs which he refused. He wants to buy vans so that he can give his business a new look and can deliver his clients with more and more products in one go. He is just 23 years old and has achieved so much at such a young age. He wants to be a successful distributor and his advice for young and budding is that they should work hard, never lose hope and stand up every time they fall. If he had lost courage right at his father’s death, he along with his family would have been nowhere, but the right kind of approach and hard work put him where he wanted to be. He is a true success story.  Tribe21 is proud to be associated with such an inspirational soul.