Longrangty Longchar
Morung Express Feature
There are some who dare to venture out. There are some who want to tread where others have walked and left; there are some who learns from their predecessors and walk the talk. Such is one person who has decided to take the stride to a higher level
Imsu Imchen, a thirty two year old graduate hailing from Chuchuyimpang village of Mokokchung district is one person who decided to open a tyre retreading and resoling unit in his village from his hard earned money. So far it is the only rethreading and resoling unit in burgeoning Mokokchung town and he is not short of customers, given the fact that the number of vehicles in the town is growing every day.
“I used to drive a car, and one day a non-local friend shared the idea of a tyre resoling and retreading unit in Mokokchung, since most of the car owners have to incur heavy expenses for buying new tyres or resoled tyres,” said Imsu Imchen the proprietor of the tyre resoling unit at Chuchuyimpang, located five kilometers away from Mokokchung.
He disclosed that he invested about eight lakhs of rupees in his factory and now employs three non-local trained personnel to rethread and resole the tyres. His clients are the tyre shops in Mokokchung town who send the worn out tyres for resoling and rethreading on a daily basis. His unit has a capacity of resoling and rethreading ten to fifteen tyres per day. But the demand is much higher. Tyres of heavy vehicles and small vehicles especially of small Maruti cars are in huge demand.
“When it comes to resoling and rethreading, the quality of rubber used is very important. Therefore I never compromise with the quality of the rubber used for resoling, and I have a very trusted agent for supplying the high quality rubber for use in my factory,” said Imsu Imchen.
Interestingly, Imsu Imchen disclosed that he was never interested in government jobs (he is an Arts Graduate from Kohima Arts College). He had a love for private entrepreneurship from a young age. He also owned a local bus from Chuchuyimpang village to Mokokchung town earlier ferrying students of Fazl Ali College to and fro from the college to the town.
Later the prospects of a good business in tyre rethreading and decided to go for it full scale. “I never sought a government job, because a government job entails an employee to move around from places to places as to where one is posted. But being in a private enterprise makes me near my family all the time,” said the proprietor.
At present he is employing three non local personnel and he is being helped by some locals who are learning the trade. “I want to employ local youths in my unit so that I can at least give a certain employment opportunities to our educated unemployed youths in our society. By this year end, I am sure the local youths who are helping me out would become more trained so that they can take up the different works in my unit,” the unassuming Imsu Imchen disclosed. His main customers are the tyre shops in the town, for which he rethreads and resoles the old tyres on a ‘whole sale’ rate; however, individuals can also bring their own worn out tyres for rethreading or resoling.
The unit has a complete set of equipments as of now and the employees work on a daily basis; however there is a problem of electricity especially during the dry season when the load shedding period occurs. The proprietor disclosed that the unit has a generator, but the load shedding incurs heavy losses in the unit. Nonetheless, its normal business as usual, and with the ever increasing number of vehicles in Mokokchung town, the proprietor expressed hope that one day his unit might grow into an important tyre servicing centre not only in Mokokchung town but also for the vehicle owners in the neighboring districts of Tuensang, Longleng and Zunheboto etc. It is just a matter of time, and perhaps the work of this young proprietor shows that entrepreneurship, and not government jobs, is the future of sustaining one’s livelihood.
