Mention the name Vinod Patel Ltd to any Fijian and most will associate it with hardware, building materials, furnishings and industrial equipment.
But when you ask about its founder who shares the same name, then it’s most likely you’ll get a blank stare or curious questions.
Vinod Patel, the chairman and founder of Vinod Patel Ltd, is a self-made entrepreneur, philanthropist, political and community leader.
His company is considered to be one of the largest hardware companies in the South Pacific, employing more than 2000 staff and a product range that boasts about 30,000 items such as tools, plumbing, paints, tiles, electrical, homeware, white goods, furniture and furnishings.
It’s a wonder how he started the company and bring it to where it is today.
The Vinod Patel Group of Companies has huge stakes in the hardware and construction industries and a strong presence in major towns all over the country including our two cities.
However, his story is one of humble beginnings, of a family whose early claim to business was a small grocery store in the settlement of Vatulaulau just outside Ba, west of Viti Levu.
Even at age 80, Vinod Patel still goes to work every day at his office in Ba Town.
It’s a daily ritual that never seems to slow down since he started the company 57 years ago in 1962. We met Mr Patel on a chance in Ba, and as he delved into his family story we couldn’t help but notice the passion he has for a company that he began at the age of 23.
“Everything I did about my company I learnt after observing the business mistakes of my father.
“He wasn’t a very good businessman,” he smiled thoughtfully.
“He was a popular man at our settlement in Vatulaulau … quite fluent in the iTaukei language and many of the villagers in the area used to come to buy from him. To him relationships were important, and when he died, this unknown man from Ba had people travelling from as far as Labasa and other towns attending his funeral. We didn’t know these people, some of them would arrive and settle their credits at the funeral.”
Mr Patel’s father Shankarbhai Patel had immigrated to Fiji from a village in India called Karkhadi. Vinod, his son, is the eldest of six siblings.
“My father did his best in putting food on the table, but I understood the difficulties he faced. Within a year after I did my Form Three I decided to quit school and find work to help my parents.”
He started working for a hardware company in Ba at age 16, but before this he was given a clerical job in government, but he refused the offer.
“My father had a great business friend called Sultan Ali, he was a school teacher at Vatulaulau before he got transferred to Methodist Mission. He was a well-known person, a Catholic and religious. He asked me to work at District Office Ba.
“I told him that it would be difficult for me because it was clerical work and I couldn’t speak English — what would I gain from there?
“My inner feeling from day one was to be a businessman — I wanted to work and learn something.”
So the young Mr Patel joined a hardware company. It was backbreaking work.
“I used to carry bags of cement powder and deliver it for the company or take peanut oil or mustard oil on my shoulder and deliver to the market, because there were not many machines or small trucks to lift the cargo in those days. To deliver something you either put it on your shoulders or take a car. That’s how we worked.
“I worked for a number of years at Bombay Trading Ltd. In those days we had to do the refill of the engine oil, the mustard oil into the beer bottles etc … wash the bottles and broom the shop, dust it out … then go and get breakfast and continue work …then after 5pm we closed the shop, head to the bulk shop where the Rajendra Prasad supermarket is now.
“From there we used to bring the things on to the cart and put it on the shelves then clean the shop. By the time he was 16, Vinod Patel had envisioned that he was going to start his own business. He did not want just any small business — he wanted a business empire that not only encompassed Fiji, but the Pacific.
The Vatulaulau, Ba native whose parents immigrated to Fiji from Karkhadi Village in Gujarat in India said life was a struggle, growing up and his father worked hard to put food on the table. He left school at age 16 to help ease the burden on his parents and went to find work to earn money for his family as well as saved for his future business.
“I worked hard – it was backbreaking work,” described the now 80-year-old.
“When my salary came, I never touched it. I told my father if you need some money, you can collect it from my employers.”
The young Mr Patel wore many hats while working for a hardware shop in Ba; from salesman, cleaner, delivery boy and even the labour work.
“We worked seven days a week, and if we missed a day of work our salary got deducted.
“In those days we used to get only two white shirts and two khaki pants from the company. I was an avid soccer player and I couldn’t even go see matches in the IDC. If we went they deducted our salary. There were no laws or rules about it, but we understood that we had to work.”
Mr Patel said his first year working for the company, he earned 75 pounds ($F203) per annum then he went to Bombay Trading and he started earning 100 pounds ($F 271.17) a year and by the time he left the company he was earning 375 pounds ($F1016.87).”
Vinod recalled the hardships of his past with a tinge of sadness, but at the same time he is practical about it.
“I’m sure if my parents could have afforded it, they would have liked me and some of my brothers to continue with higher education. But it was not to be. My major regret was not being able to complete higher education, at a time when most of my classmates were schooling to obtain higher education. Some of them went overseas to obtain university degrees and others became doctors, lawyers and accountants.
“However, I am satisfied that three of my brothers were able to obtain university education that the first three missed out,” said the eldest of six siblings.
Mr Patel worked hard and saved hard. By the time he was 23-years-old and with 800 pounds saved, he decided to venture out and pursue his dream.
“I left the hardware shop at the end of 1961 primarily because my parents were nagging me that I should start my own business. I had managed to save 800 pounds ($F2169) on my own and the rest had gone into the education of my younger siblings.
“When my brother Bachu (Bachubhai Patel) came home for a school break, I persuaded him to leave school and join me in work. He started working and managed to save $800 pounds as well. Then together we decided to start our shop. We put together 1600 pounds ($F4338). It was a start for the company.
“I went to Lautoka and planted a shop next to the theatre. It was a small wooden shop and I thought I would do better there because in those days I used to do business with the Chinese people, the Lees family selling plies, screwdriver and all that. I thought I would do well there since there are no hardware shops in Lautoka. Over here in Ba, there were two companies Bombay Trading and R.C Manubhai operating already. But my parents thought otherwise.
“I told my parents that in Lautoka I would be more successful, but my mother was worried and said ‘what about your food? Who is going to feed you?
“I said don’t worry you can make my parcel every morning, but they refused. They said the road is bad with all the gravel and they worried that I would get sick.
“Then one day one of the directors of CBD Company (now New World) came to sell goods to my father one Sunday so my mother asked him if he had any shop vacant in Ba. The director replied they did. Then they arranged for me to rent the shop. I ended up renting that shop for 27 pounds ($F73.21) a month in Ba,” he smiled.
That was in 1962. When Mr Patel started out with the hardware business he was met with a lot of criticism. “
Many people questioned my opening the shop. They said this is a sugarcane town, it’s a bad time; with a small amount how will you run a hardware shop,” said Mr Patel. “Now there was this old man called Kasabia, he was my good friend.
“He said ‘Vinod you don’t listen to anyone. You’re a hardworking boy. Whatever you do it will be a success,’ and that motivated me.
“An influential friend came for me and said that to start a hardware I needed a big capital. Then I told him I am getting only 375 pounds a year, with this small capital I will be able to make more money than what I am getting. After showing him my proposal plan he said ‘OK go ahead’.”
When Mr Patel opened his hardware shop in Ba, he had a Class Four student working for him. The young boy wasn’t good at school, but he was bright.
“The young boy’s brother was a very good friend of mine and he gave me a 1000 pound loan with 10 per cent interest,” describe the octogenarian.
“This young boy was a very energetic and hardworking boy – a fast learner. Whenever we ran out of certain tools or materials he would run quickly to other shops to buy it and stock up the shop.
“The first year we made 1998 pounds in profit, nearly 2000 pounds after all my expenses and all that. It was good whereas when I worked, I was only getting 375 pounds. I never borrowed funds from the bank. At the time my bank was Westpac. The manager used to ask me if I wanted to do a loan, but I said no, when I need it then I’ll come.
“Then later on when my brother Bechu joined me the business went well. Then my father came to visit me one day and said that I needed to get married and settle down.”
• This feature about Vinod Patel – written by MATILDA SIMMONS – was published on June 16, 2019 in the The Fiji Times.
