Mr. Bashir’s restaurant is a very popular place to have dinner with families and friends amongst well-established Muslim businessmen and entrepreneurs in Birmingham, particularly for those who settled in Birmingham in the 1960s or 1970s. The restaurant is on Ladypool Road which is the famous ‘food street’ amongst Asian communities. I was introduced to Mr. Bashir by Mr. Mansha and Mr. Hashim. After the public events like a poetry session, musical evening, religious, political or social gathering, or any event at the Pakistan Consulate46 in Birmingham, people assemble afterwards at Mr. Bashir’s restaurant to eat or to have a cup of tea. Mr. Bashir’s restaurant is like a space for Muslim businessmen and entrepreneurs where they can come and talk frankly about various issues and where they will be served the best food and service by Mr. Bashir’s team. I was given the task by the organisers to liaise with Mr. Bashir to make dinner arrangements at his restaurant after a book launch event by a local Muslim college teacher which was held in the city council’s local neighbourhood library. I met Mr. Bashir twice for this purpose. A day before the event, I had my dinner at Mr. Bashir’s restaurant and I wanted to see Mr. Bashir to ask about the next day’s menu for dinner guests. I was informed by the staff that Mr. Bashir is in the restaurant’s backyard.
Mr. Bashir’s restaurant is situated on the main road and its backyard’s boundary faces the fence of a small neighbourhood public park. There is some space on the backyard which is generally used as car parking for hotel customers. Mr. Bashir was standing there having a cigarette when I approached him. He was pleased to see me and said that he wanted to have a break for some time as he had had a long day at the restaurant. I told Mr. Bashir that the restaurant was full of customers while I was having my dinner. Mr. Bashir said that he knows that the biggest challenge for his business is to create more space within the restaurant for customers. He said to me that he thinks that I am an educated person and to him, I am like a younger brother so he can trust me he can share that the problem of having more space for a restaurant have been solved. He said that he was perusing a planning permission application for the local council because he would like to extend the
46 The Pakistan Consulate is any important place in the everyday lives of Muslim communities in Birmingham. The majority of the Muslim population of Birmingham are of Pakistani or Kashmiri origin. Different events of national significance for Pakistan are held at the Pakistan Consulate in Birmingham from time to time. The Consul General, who is the administrative head of the Pakistan Consulate at Birmingham, is a civil servant and a diplomat of the Government of Pakistan. He is a very important invited guest at almost every event of public significance amongst Muslims in Birmingham. All influential people in Birmingham try their best to have a personal friendship with the Consul General of Pakistan in Birmingham.
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backyard of his hotel up until the fence of neighbourhood park. Mr. Bashir told me that only a few people know about his plans. He does not share it with others as anybody can go to the court to stop the extension plans. He mentioned the name of Mr. Ehsaan as a rival businessman and expressed his fear that this guy can go to the court to challenge his application. He said that Mr. Ehsaan is a highly thankless person as Mr. Ehsaan started his career in Birmingham as a waiter at his restaurant. Mr. Bashir was angry that he gave a promotion to Mr. Ehsaan and that made him manager as he left his restaurant, established a new restaurant on the same street and he now acts as a competitor in the same market. Mr. Bashir said that he is pleased that he has almost got permission for an extension as local councillors have written in favour of his extension application. Mr. Bashir said that he is proud that every important person amongst the Muslim community is like a friend to him and with their support, and through his strong social networking, he could succeed in getting a planning permission application granted. Mr. Bashir told me that he wants to start the construction work at night so that the next morning, people will see a different place. He said that he does not want to give anybody a chance to go to court and stop his construction plan in the name of public interest, that’s why he plans to start construction work during the night time.
I heard a similar story of being secretive about business plans from Mr. Ishaq. Mr. Ishaq works in the Chamber of Commerce and focusses on Asian Businesses in Birmingham. I met Mr. Ishaq at a local currency exchange shop on Stratford Road in Birmingham. Mr. Ishaq told me that he works on a specific project for interconnecting and creating opportunities for Asian Businesses. He said that he has thoroughly observed and understood the economic practices of the Asian community and particularly of Muslim businessmen. Mr. Ishaq was not happy about the methods of economic practice of Muslim businessmen and entrepreneurs in Birmingham with small or medium level businesses. He said that he is sick of copycat methods and the approaches of small and medium level Muslim businessmen. He told me that he was the pioneer for providing money exchange services in Asian neighbourhoods. He started three outlets of providing currency exchange services particularly to Pakistan, India and Bangladesh. He said that within a couple of years, a dozens of small and medium level Muslim businessmen opened currency exchanges and money transfer services and outlets in their shop, or in small offices attached to their shops. The result now is that currency exchange businesses in Muslim and Asian neighbourhoods are highly over-saturated and there is no significant profit in it anymore. According to Mr. Ishaq, he has learned that being secretive in his
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experience is the best way to earn some profit. He said that the examples of Muslim businessmen is like that of passengers leaving a sinking ship because when they see a boat around, all of them jump into it at the same time and sink the boat. Mr. Ishaq said when he refers to a boat, he means any new business opportunity which promises some profit as people rush towards it to grab it without any proper planning or market calculations. Hence, at the end, all get fed up and remain empty handed. Mr. Ishaq said that he has some other ideas in his mind about future business plans but he will not share them with anybody unless he materialises and executes them first.
3.5 Family ‘Empire’ Map: A Story of Success and Failure of Business and Social