ENTERPRISING ENTREPRENEURS Sirajuddin Qureshi, CMD, Hind Agro Industries Ltd
Setting a benchmark in meat processing In meat business, safety and quality are important as meat is a highly perishable commodity. From the very beginning, Sirajuddin Qureshi, Chairman and Managing Director, Hind Agro Industries Ltd, ensured that the fundamentals of his business are strong by inducting sophisticated technology. Today, the company has one of the most modern abattoir-cum-meat processing plants in the country.
Courtesy: Hind Agro Industries
Prasenjit Chakraborty
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eat quality and safety form the primary fundamentals of meat production. Consequently, the biosecurity approach was introduced in the Hind Agro Industries Ltd’s (HAIL) plant in CDF complex, Aligarh. To maintain quality and safety issues, technology was brought from countries most advanced in meat production. “Meat is a highly perishable commodity. It must be processed in eco-friendly hygienic environment and the animals must be reared scientifically in disease-free conditions,” says Qureshi. Hence, while planning the setting up of the most modern abattoir-cum-meat processing plant in Aligarh in 1994, he
‘MEATY’ FACTS o Transparency is key in business o Successful entrepreneur converts challenges into opportunities o Ego has no place in business o Success and failure are unavoidable in business
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simultaneously took the conscious step of starting Hind Livestock Development Foundation (HLDF) and the Animal Rearing Project (ARP) involving 1,70,000 farmers owning 7,00,000 animals under backward integration concept. With the passage of time, HAIL emerged as a pioneering organisation, thus revolutionising the meat industry. “Our contribution by way of foreign exchange earnings through export of meat is worth $ 150 million out of the total export of meat worth $ 2.2 billion in 2011-12,” says Qureshi.
Role of younger generation Qureshi’s son is actively assisting him in promoting the business further. “My son is my right hand and is assisting me in diversifying the multifarious activities of the Hind Group, including meat processing,” he says. His son is running a Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) business under the brand name Fast Trax. “Fast Trax has already opened its outlets in the capital. The chain offers Indian snacks and desserts at highly affordable and competitive prices with retail outlets in NCR of Delhi and adjoining states of UP,
Modern Food Processing | September 2012
Haryana and Rajasthan to realise the ‘take away’ dream,” he says.
Quality of an entrepreneur According to Qureshi, transparency is the hallmark of all businesses and entrepreneurship, where profit making cannot be the sole motive. “I have an entirely different concept of entrepreneurship vis-à-vis profit making. Whatever profit
SAFETY DYNAMICS HAIL is the only company in India to have a unique facility to procure animals – buffalo, sheep and goat – for processing confirming to the strict guidelines of hygiene and sanitation. Farmers are encouraged to rear buffaloes and lambs especially for supplying to the company. The company, in turn, extends assistance to them by providing door-to-door veterinary services by experts. HAIL has also set up veterinary hospitals. The animals sourced are examined by in-house veterinary doctors before being taken to the abattoir.