More than racial discrimination, it is Britain's notorious old boys' network that immigrants could find more difficult to breakthrough, Labour peer and industrialist Swraj Paul said on Thursday.
In an interview to the online journal of a leading business school, Lord Paul recalled how he had struggled to overcome the jealously guarded “network” when he set up business in Britain in the 1960s. But having broken through that, he faced no other “barriers,” he told Arabicknowledge@Wharton, the web journal of Wharton Business School.
Asked how difficult it was for him to deal with the protectionist environment, Lord Paul said that initially it was not easy but finally what mattered was perseverance and skill.
“The most interesting case I had … was when I built a plant. I chased one company for two years for an order. Every year, they promised me [business]. Even then, I used to sit on the bench, not even a comfortable chair, waiting for an appointment, and they purposely made me wait. As luck would have it, two years later, I ended up acquiring the group that owned that company. When I went to visit the [managing director], he said to me: ‘I know we thoroughly misbehaved. If you want me to resign, I'll do so.' I said: “No, you stay right there…. [But] as long as you're working in my group, don't be so ridiculous to anybody. He turned out to be a very good manager,” Lord Paul recalled.
He said Britain was “always an old boys' network, whether in business, civil service, politics…but they recognised the perseverance and determination to succeed of another person.”
He said he had never come across any other barrier though people did find it strange that an Indian immigrant wanted to set up business in Britain at a time when the British manufacturing was not doing well. “They looked [at me] with scepticism. But I found [what] was lacking in Britain in industry at that time: a consistency in quality and on-time delivery. I saw the gap and said: ‘I am going to make sure that I deliver something that is consistent with what I promised. I don't want to build a Rolls Royce, but whatever I want to build, it must be consistent.' ….It looked like a dream, but while running from pillar to post, I was able to raise money, and we built the plant. Then one thing just led to another. In the end, it was in the hand of God, which had a lot to do with it. If you can combine hard work and integrity and hope for luck, it works.”
His Caparo Group is now a leading multi-million pound global business.
