FROM SURVIVAL TO CEO: The Story Of Taher Madraswala

Born into a family with a business at its core, young Taher's birth coincided with his parents' move from Madras to Calcutta.

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The eldest of three boys, Taher was a mischievous child, quite unlike the conventional eldest son expected to be responsible and disciplined. Up until the age of ten, Taher showed no entrepreneurial aspirations, nor any inclination towards academic brilliance. Scraping through exams and spending his time playing gully cricket, he relied on grace marks to pass from one grade to the next.

With a carefree zest for life, Taher enjoyed his childhood to the fullest—until everything changed when he was ten. His father, Husein Madraswala, watched a flourishing business collapse, plunging the family into financial ruin and putting an end to his innocent frivolities. With creditors lined outside their house and no money to pay for rent or even two square meals, young Taher's childhood ended abruptly at the tender age of eleven. Abandoned by their fair-weather friends and relatives, Taher and his family were left to the mercy of the creditors amidst misfortune. With no money to pay for house rent, Taher and his family struggled to keep the rental apartment and pay for school fees. Desperate and hungry, it was at this juncture that Taher's father suggested leaving Kolkata and going back to their ancestral village in Gujarat.

A question of survival

Taher and his mother, Shirin Madraswala, vehemently opposed this idea. “We had two choices—either return to our hometown in Gujarat, where my grandfather lived, because we could not afford to stay in an expensive city like Calcutta, or face starvation. My mother, despite being uneducated, was determined to educate her children. I believe that who I am today is largely because of her,” shares Taher.

But what could an eleven-yearold schoolboy do to provide for a family of five?