VMPL
Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], October 2: For Gulam Ashraf, Chairman and Managing Director of Phonex Group, business growth and social responsibility are closely connected, with the logistics entrepreneur looking to expand the company’s operations while increasing its contribution towards education, healthcare, skill development and livelihood opportunities.
Ashraf, a second-generation entrepreneur, stepped into the family business at a relatively young age following the death of his father. The transition came with challenges ranging from limited practical experience to cash-flow pressures and the task of retaining the confidence of customers who had primarily dealt with his father.
“Losing my father was the hardest moment of my life. Overnight, I had to step into a business I barely understood. The biggest challenges were lack of experience, losing the trust of some clients who only dealt with my father, and managing cash flow during that uncertain period,” Ashraf said.
He said the experience prompted him to understand the business from the ground up, including interacting with employees and customers and learning different aspects of the company’s operations.
“I made mistakes, but I treated every setback as a lesson. Slowly, people began to trust me not because of my surname, but because of the hard work and honesty I showed. That difficult phase shaped me into the person I am today,” he added.
Phonex Group has since expanded its activities across transportation, Container Freight Station (CFS) operations, port-linked services and multimodal logistics. Ashraf’s longer-term plan is to develop the company into a larger integrated logistics platform connecting transportation, CFS, ports and multimodal cargo movement.
Alongside the business, Ashraf has also been involved in social initiatives. According to Ashraf's profile, these include education programmes for underprivileged children, support for economically challenged families and assistance for cancer patients.
“I believe success has no real meaning if it is not shared. My father always taught me that money is only a tool. The real value lies in how you use it to lift others,” Ashraf said.
He added that helping a child access education, supporting a family with medical treatment or enabling a young person to pursue a livelihood can be more fulfilling than commercial achievements.
“Charity is not something I do for recognition; it is simply my way of saying thank you to life for the opportunities I have received,” he said.
Looking ahead, Ashraf said the objective is to expand Phonex Group into new markets, strengthen its logistics infrastructure and create employment while widening the scope of its social initiatives.
“I don’t see business and charity as two separate paths. A successful business gives us the strength to serve society better, and serving society gives our business a deeper purpose,” Ashraf said.
“My goal is to build an organisation that creates wealth with one hand and spreads hope with the other,” he added.
The company’s profile lists its logistics presence across Kolkata, Visakhapatnam and Kanpur, alongside road and rail-linked logistics capabilities.
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