Dutiful entrepreneur Ahmad Ally is a ‘Special Person’

Pull Quote: “You really can’t please everybody, but at least try to please as many people as you can.”

By Leon Suseran
The family unit is struggling with all sorts of issues these days, leading to many break-ups and fragile ties. Families

are held together by strong ties and bonds that keep their foundation solid. Our ‘Special Person’ this week, Mr Ahmad Ally, has cemented his family through a business that started out in humble beginnings and has become a household name in Berbice and indeed, Guyana.
Mr Ally, a popular businessman, father, friend and associate of many in Berbice and further afield, is a pioneer in his own right, and a special person in many ways. He has a deep care and concern for the general public, particularly his customers and employees.
His ordinary family backgrounds and beginnings and the little education he received could not afford him a posh job to provide for his mother and other siblings after the death of his father, but fate was to take him on a new journey; a journey to entrepreneurship that would result in him managing one of Berbice’s largest businesses and one of Guyana’s largest chain- stores. This brought out in him the better qualities of a human being, and the many ways he has used his business to touch the lives of numerous persons.
He also is thankful for the “commonsense” that he has which has played a large role in his entire life.
Born to Munshi (father) and Jahooran (mother) on October 28, 1949 at Rose Hall Estate in East Canje, Ahmad grew up at neighbouring Reliance Abandon. He attended St Patrick’s Anglican School and Reliance Sanatan Public School until 1963 after which he wrote the Preliminary Certificate Exams. Due to certain circumstances, he left school to assist his mother and two brothers. The family had a little grocery shop and parlour at the home.
In 1968, he joined the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) Rose Hall Estate as a labourer where he remained for two years. He was then offered a permanent job to harvest cane which he accepted. On September 20, 1970, he married Bibi Zulaka after they met while attending the same Masjid.
Ally later started working with an American firm, MK, as a labourer, to build the Corentyne Highway, for three years. In 1974, he was offered a job at the GuySuCo field lab in Canje. He then worked at the Senior Staff Club from 1974 to 1985. He represented Rose Hall Estate in a number of games such as dominoes, darts and billiards at various events.
In 1978, he was offered a job to work part-time with the American Life Insurance Company as an insurance agent, so he juggled the two jobs (at the Club and Insurance Company). He was awarded Top Producer for two consecutive years. He had over 700 policies in force.
In 1985, during a discussion with a good friend of his, L.P. Singh, who managed the L.P. Singh Furniture Store in New Amsterdam, he was given an offer to buy and manage that store. Quite skeptical to partake in the new venture (his desire was to become a teacher), Ally knew he had two good jobs and was uncertain about the risks of dedicating himself to something quite new and even more challenging.

“He [Singh] insisted because I really didn’t want to come, I didn’t know what I would be reaching in New Amsterdam, I was quite settled at the Estate, but he encouraged me and I took up the challenge”, Ally reflected. However, he accepted while still holding on to his other two jobs and managing the main affairs of the store. He had to leave someone in charge though.
After a few months, he realized that there was “some potential” in the business and then decided to commit himself fully to the new venture. He resigned from GuySuCo and managed his store. He started to add a few hardware items for sale. The first couple of days were hard, he reflected.
“I could remember one day I spent the whole day and I only sold one envelope because nobody knows you and such like”, he said. After renting the first location of the business at the old Brown Derby location at the corner of Main and Church Streets in the town, Ally decided to move and expand his business.
In 1991, he moved to the current location of the main store at 14 Main Street, New Amsterdam. He decided to open more locations of the store after a few years. The Canje Turn location was opened in 2000; Home Depot, 2003; and Corriverton branch in 2006. He never realized in his biggest dreams that life would have changed so drastically for him and his family, since A. Ally & Sons turned into Berbice’s most popular business.
There was a big fire in 2002 at the main store and this resulted in millions of dollars in damage. The location was closed for six months. It was then a task to start to rebuild. “Maybe it was a test, and from there on I have improved much more, because you don’t give up that easily.”
He nurtured the entity and his deep care and enthusiasm led to further growth, making way for the business to become one of the biggest employers in Berbice, providing jobs for over 100 persons. This resulted in the chain stores being divided into various departments, offering more products and a wider variety of items.

“We feel good about it, because they’re [employees] getting a regular job and we make sure people get work. We try to provide them with some sort of uniform,” he noted. “They pay their taxes and we also have a medical scheme for them,” he noted. “You’ve got to understand, people have got to get something, because how much you can afford to live in Guyana, it’s not easy,” he stated. “For a man to want to buy a good shoe or clothes, it’s pretty expensive.”
Ally stated that the essential ingredients to run a good business are honesty, relationship with customers and “the very old saying, that the customer is always right”.
“You really can’t please everybody, but at least try to please as many people as you can,” he said with a broad smile.
Our ‘Special Person’ is a devout Muslim who values the tenets of his religion very much and believes involving and embracing the Supreme Being and incorporating the teachings into your business is essential.
“It helps you in business, because morally it will make you strong, and helps you as a person to be upright and understand what is wrong, and that way, you will not deceive people. With religion, you have a peace of mind. It guides me in my day-to-day dealings with people and fuels my compassion for people.”
Ahmad Ally is the President of the Central Jama Masjid in New Amsterdam and oversees the general affairs. He visited the Hajj along with his wife in Mecca, Saudi Arabia in 1999. “The experience was a good one. It takes you away a little from the hustle and bustle of life. When you go out there, you close out your mind from the regular world.”

Returning from Hajj, they met me  in the Yorkgate Mall, Toronto.

In 2005, he spent two months in Pakistan where he underwent a kidney transplant.
Ally outlined the challenges of managing such a large business and mentioned the “double personality” that can be displayed on many days.
“It’s very difficult to find them [business persons] in a same mood…you may find them very much hard to get along with because of the pressures they face.” He explained that they endure a lot of pressure every day since they deal with numerous situations, some of which can take a toll. “The business brings out different moods,” he stressed.
During the 25 years of being an important businessman in the region he learnt that, “once you treat people well, they will always support you, because you build that confidence in people, you make people feel comfortable when they come and buy from you, and you always try to do your best for them”.
Customers being satisfied are something he loves to see, and Ally believes he has built the confidence of the Berbice community over the past years.
Mr Ally is a ‘Special Person’, too, because he is adamant that corporate entities uphold the law of the land, by paying their employees’ NIS Contributions, paying their taxes and ensuring the employees are under a non-contributory medical scheme.
Ally lauded the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) and urged that all employees get registered with the scheme. “NIS is a serious matter because you don’t know when you can get injured.”Being a kidney patient himself, he credited the NIS for assisting with his medication.
He also advocates that employers honour their employees by giving them substantial bonuses at the end of the year, throwing parties for them and showing appreciation to them on their birthdays.
Today, much of the business is being managed by his son, Faizal, in terms of “general functioning”. In the line of business, a typical day for Mr Ally begins at 7am and ends at 7pm. He says prayers and attends Masjid at midday and again in the evening. “I enjoy it immensely”, he reflected.
When not managing his business, Ally does have other ways and means of enjoying himself. He enjoys watching cricket whether live or on the television, “going out for a drive in the evenings, in Georgetown…the Seawall, but generally, I tend to my Masjid work”. He also enjoys a bit of fishing.
He reflected on one particular part of his life he will never forget when, in 1980, his mother asked him to stay with her and not migrate to Canada with his wife. His wife’s sister was ill in Canada.
“My mother was sick and she told me that she did not have much to offer me in life but let me don’t sacrifice her for Canada,” he reminisced. “She told me, ‘please don’t leave me.’”He honoured her wishes by returning to Guyana, “because I really couldn’t bare for her to suffer because she alone would have been left, since my brothers were with their own families. She later passed in 1998.
Mr Ally is quite satisfied today that his entire family is involved in running the business and the chain stores.
“Very, very few families stay together to run a business. They are always breaking up. I don’t know how long mine will be around, but I won’t tell you it will be forever, but to me, it is a blessing to see my children sticking together to run the business,” he thoughtfully asserted.
Arguably Mr Ally’s most special attribute is his commonsense approach to everything he does. While not debunking the idea of going to school and getting an education, Ally values his sense of sound and prudent judgment of various life situations, “without going to high school or secondary school, once you have very good commonsense that is what really can take you places, because for example, even with my limited knowledge you cannot fool me around”.
This ‘Special Person’ has ensured the involvement of his organization in the field of sports in Berbice, since he embraced the sponsorship of national cycling standout, Neil Reece, and has made numerous contributions and donations towards the young man during the past years. He understands the significance of young people and sports.
Motivated by integrity and traditional core family principles, a true family man whose business ethics have been an inspiration to the region and nation as a whole, Mr Ahmad Ally, or Uncle Ally as he is famously known, represents what a true businessman, boss, father, uncle and family man can and should be.

Sunday, January 8, 2012