Jasbir ‘Jas’ Wouhra FMCG
Director
East End Foods PLC | Wolverhampton (UK)
Ancestry
Okara Mandi (undivided British India)
Birthplace
Delhi (India)
Residence
Birmingham (UK)
In Tune with Life
Food is what moves his business but it is music that stirs his soul. He keeps things very simple: works hard and lets music nurture his alter ego.
The things that matter the most to me are my family, business and music. While my rationale runs the business, my heart beats to music. They say I stand astride the wholesale food landscape in the UK like a colossus, but it is music that nurtures my soul. Singing along with Bollywood’s living legend, Asha Bhonsle, has been the crowning moment of my life.
It all started with struggles
The first in my family to travel abroad was my elder brother, Kuldip. Dad and he borrowed some money and at age 18, Kuldip went to the UK in 1962 to try his luck for a better future. He slogged through a job with the Railways, earning £5 a week and sent back his savings to his hopeful family. Soon, he was able to open a very small shop selling the basic necessities. Our eldest brother, Trilok, an accountant with the government in Delhi, too went to the UK in 1966. Completing my education from Sarojini Nagar, New Delhi, I too went there in 1968, at age 17. My younger brother David (Devender) followed a year later. In these five years, we had already setup a base in England. We together started a small wholesale business in 1972. I started working from the very next day after arrival in the UK. I joined Wulfrun College, Wolverhampton, and did my OND in Business Studies followed by degree in Law. I feel proud to say that all us of the brothers were very hard working and honesty was our slogan from the very beginning.
We were all together in England; life, nevertheless, was still a struggle. Unlike nowadays, racism was rampant then, but we persevered; our one-for-all-and-all-for-one approach to life made it possible to weather every storm. My father passed away in 1971, a time when we were still growing, confident that the remaining matters were well-taken care of by him. Mum and our two youngest brothers, Devender and Gurdarshan, too joined us in the UK the next year. With her blessing, in 1972, we established East End Foods in West Midlands as a small wholesaler of Indian food items. We have not looked back ever since; it now is the one of the largest UK importers and manufacturers of Indian foods; in 1999, we opened the largest rice mill of Europe and a state-of-the-art cleaning and packaging plant. Our family has often been called the emperor of Asian aromas.
A hard and uphill task
Back then, people’s paying capacity wasn’t as high, also the competition in the market was stiff. We worked out a strategy of supplying our stuff to small shopkeepers. Soon the demand grew. A couple of well-known and leading shops began to display our products and then Birmingham started following. The East End warehouses and Cash And Carry’s are now one of the most successful businesses in the country, enjoying the title of the best wholesale business in the country.
How did we make it so big in the food wholesale business? Well let’s just say it happened; we had learnt the basic value of hard work and honesty from our parents and that helped us the most. Working around 60 hrs a week was a regular for us. As our business flourished, all five of us brothers began to take care of one aspect of the business according to our skills. While I took care of sales, the others allocated for themselves jobs of accounts, cash and carry operations, import and export from across the world. Starting off with a small warehouse, we were eventually able to increase our storage capacity, put in good quality machines and cleaned the products properly. Our main aim was to create a brand which was based on quality.
Working together brought us siblings a great deal closer. While earlier, the younger ones always hesitated to talk to the elder brothers, getting to work together freed us of our inhibitions and we started talking openly to each other about anything and everything. It helped us understand each other better. To think of it, the small shop has now become East End Foods Plc.
They laid our foundation
I was not born to riches or affluence. On the contrary, we lived in rather straitened circumstances, to say the least. I’m thankful to God for that, for only the rigours of austere living can temper your life, making it stronger than the finest steel. To be honest, my memories of India are hazy and not too many. Except for the fact that childhood is always fun, whatever else I remember is a very happy picture.
My grandfather, Dwarka Das, was from Okara Mandi in the Pakistan side of a united India. Repeated visions of Guru Gobind Singh ji in his dreams convinced him to convert to Sikhism and take on the name, Sardar Mahinder Singh. However, he was killed during the mayhem of partition while crossing over to the new India. We took refuge in Delhi post-partition, where all nine of us – my parents and seven siblings – lived together in a small house.
Dad, serving in the Defence Ministry, New Delhi, was the sole bread-winner and so, life wasn’t always smooth and easy. As a man of discipline, hard work and dedication, he instilled these values in us too. Born in 1950, I was close to both my parents. Mum and my dadi brought us up together very smartly, never letting us feel short of anything. Dad narrated us many stories of wisdom, which we implement in our lives till today. I remember, dadi often narrated “karm kiye ja, phal ki ichha na kar (perform your deeds without expecting any fruits)” from the holy Geeta, which is the secret behind my success. Now that Mum is no more, I realise how lucky we were that she stayed with me till her last. Were it not for her blessings, we would never have what we are!
She is my soul
Once while I was in the UK, Dad informed me that he has finalised a match for me, though I was in no frame of mind to get married. I had a lot of ambitions, with a lot of responsibilities. Yet, I knew there was no room for discussion or argument. I remember the day well, 11 February 1974. It was a huge celebration, people danced and made merry. So did I. Paramjit and I hadn’t seen each other but were getting married! Today, I am glad that he made the choice for me right but never forced me to his decision. My wife has worked all along till today in the business with me, including household duties, she has brought up our two children, Jason and Inderpaul, with a great care. That speaks a lot about her managerial skills! She is a very decent and caring lady, beautiful inside out. Jason has acquire a good education and married a beautiful lady from Loughborough, Leicestershire. Indi, who has sort of followed my footprints and is an amateur musician, a high-class western style singer, generally referred to as ‘The Sikh Sinatra’, is into business full time now. While Indi is emotional, Jason and his wife, Daali, a CA, are both practical. A Patron of Acorns Children’s Hospice, he has been invested with an OBE by HRH Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales, for his services to the field of trade. Indi is quite sensitive and looks at things with an emotional perspective.
I think I am spiritual and moderately religious. I exercise to prayer recitations. It has become a kind of a meditation for my soul and body now. It has enabled me to be open, so open that I hardly keep anything in my heart. I believe in speaking the truth, be it some grudge or complacency. Speaking it out helps me forget it or celebrate it. Other than honesty, what gives me strength is the distilled wisdom of all saints and prophets, from the Guru Granth Sahib, the Geeta, the Quran or the Bible.
Whatever sewa I offer is never limited to gurudwaras; I extend it to people. For example, Indians coming to settle here, people stuck in some dilemma. In fact, I also try to help people with my music. I was 4-year-old when I started singing with a lot of parental support. And now, with my passion for music, I hold concerts to help the needy. I have also done shows along with Asha Bhonsle and Sunidhi Chauhan. Many old Bollywood songs were remixed by our team in Kolkata and Mumbai, few of them went viral on social media all across the world. Such efforts have graced me with a lot of fans, for whom I hold some concerts too. We have helped India, Nepal, Philippines, Pakistan, Sri Lanka when they faced natural disasters. We also contribute our efforts towards cancer treatment helping the Macmillan Cancer Charity. Music and writing songs and shayari help me calm my mind.
I am glad that God and my elders have made me a straight forward and honest person; it helps our business and the development of our future generations too.
Philosophy
I start my day with, “Thoda tha, tab bhi tera tha, ab bhi tera hai (whatever it is, less or more, is all yours).”
I love…
Thailand’s street food. I like Punjabi cuisine too, but not the greasy ones.
I’d suggest the youth…
To respect and obey their parents and elders and value time.
Success Mantra
Whatever we achieve with honesty and integrity is all success.
The world doesn’t know that…
I write songs too.
AKA
East End Foods Director Jasbir Wouhra | FMCG industry leader Jasbir Wouhra
Gallery
ISBN : 9788193397695