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region they would have previously avoided. Gupta continues: “Our goal is to establish a business model in Togo in several fields of activities and to then export that model across the whole of West Africa. “Most investors might be reluctant venturing into Africa, but Africa is the future. Africa will account for 25 percent of the world population by 2050 and for 50 percent by the end of the century. “The manpower of the future is in Africa, and plans have to be made to provide jobs to these people.” This is exactly what Kalyan has been doing in Togo, giving opportunities to local artisans and teaching them how to perform in complicated environments, for the benefit of both the Company and the individual. “In Africa, local employment is a major issue. If you want to stay in the long run you cannot just come, bring expatriates, make some money and leave. You need to take advantage of the existing skills available locally and
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also develop what is not available,” Gupta emphasises. “For the hotel’s construction, 90 percent of the manpower was sourced locally, which means around 2,000 local people were involved. “This is the kind of holistic approach of the business, which might not work in some regions, but I can assure you this is the best way to grow in Africa. You need to develop the business environment and this is obviously linked to human resources.”
How it all began Ashok Gupta’s grandparents had a large number of farmers working on the crops. At one point, famine hit the community and said crops, putting farmers out of work and making existing crops unattainable at the hands of protective landlords. Most landlords sold these crops to the workers for double the price. Mr Gupta’s grandparents, however, decided to support their farmers at that critical time, treating them like their children and opening their storage to them; making crops available for free so the farmers could support their families. His grandparents were among the very few landlords in the area who prospered in the long run, managing to gain gratitude from the farmers who subsequently worked tirelessly to repay the kindness. This same relationship between management and staff members is instilled into Kalyan Group to this day.
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