Music to ears

Furtado has touched life of every music lover.

John Gomes was a Goan Christian, born to Cosmas Dionizio Gomes and Josephine Gomes, on December 12, 1927. John’s mother was a homemaker. His father, Cosmas, was a butler at Wadia House. During his childhood, John was influenced by Portuguese culture in Goa and British culture in Bombay.

So, in 1942, he acquired a license to trade in religious goods. John would distribute Pamphlets with prayers or reading for good living to earn a livelihood. Young John enjoyed selling goods and soon, his business was thriving.

In 1953, Gomes found that BX Furtado and Sons, a legendary name in the religious goods business, was going to be auctioned. So, he borrowed money from Goan tailors around Dhobi Talao and from his married elder sister’s family to acquire BX Furtado and Sons.

Gomes was a self-learner and had a deep insight into financial instruments. Since Gomes has borrowed money from friends and family on his personal credit, he designed the strategy to protect the interest of his lenders. So, whenever he borrowed from anyone, he would buy a policy and make the lender his nominee, so that if something were to happen to him, the lenders wouldn’t suffer. With this, Gomes portrayed a high level of ethics in his behaviour.

By burning midnight oil lamps and repaying the loan to tailor and sister’s family in 3 months, John was able to win the trust of his community. The business expanded over the next three years.

So, in 1956, John employed Anthony Joseph Perumpally, who was young and fresh out school to handle sales in his stores. Few others operate the printing press, which catered to commercial requirements such as invitations, wedding cards, and greeting cards.

By now, John and his business ethics were known to many. So, when the descendants of Luis Manoel Furtado, who founded LM Furtado and Sons, which sold sheet music and Western classical instruments, decided to migrate to Canada, the employees of LM Furtado and Sons requested John to acquire the business of LM Furtado and Sons. As a part of the acquisition of LM Furtado and Sons, Gomes inherited ten staff and LM’s guitars, violins, banjos, drums, trumpets, and other wind instruments displayed in the 1,800-square-foot shop.

Later, Gomes brought both firms under one banner, naming the business Furtados.

Source: Google

It is said that Gomes acquired music business on the gut feeling basis. At the time of acquisition of LM Furtado and Sons, John has little knowledge of music, instruments and functioning of the music industry. Post acquiring the music business, John poured himself into books and learnt the art of repairing musical instruments, thereby guided labourers when they were stuck.

India got Independence in 1947 and Gomes was establishing himself into his business which has by now diversified into selling religious books, printing and selling musical instruments. Soon, Gomes began to feel the heat of License Raj in his musical instrument business which was dependent on imports.

So, to fight this challenging scenario, Gomes designed a three-pronged strategy.

On the music front, Furtados would continue to procure print music and to provide repair and restoration services to the owners of Western classical equipment. Further, he would participate in auctions, buy old pianos and restore them in- house.

The second strategy was to procure books by establishing a relationship with international suppliers directly. During one of his international tour, Gomes (in his 40s) met his wife, Antoinette Ghaleb (then twenty-nine), as a result of a missed work flight from Lebanon to Spain.

Thirdly, he diversified into selling cookery books, school books, imported novels and sporting goods.

This strategy bought a lot of success to Furtados business.

By the late 1960s, Furtados’s print volume was second only to that of the Times of India. This was the peak of Furtados’s print business. In 1961, Furtados opened a branch in Margao, Goa in Church premises on the request of the Priest to sell religious books. From the late 1970s and into the 1980s, Furtados also stocked and sold domestically manufactured audio cassettes, vinyl, records, and other new music products that hit the market. By the 1980s, the business of religious goods was gradually on the decline. And by early 1990s the printing equipment was getting dated. Competition entered, and profit was falling.

Soon, Gomes was able to comprehend that potential of the music business. After tasting the success of the music business, John wanted to make classical music accessible to everyone. So, he would contact schools, institutions, choir groups, and often support deserving students. He taught his children music so that their attention doesn’t get diverted to another field.

Come 1991, the license Raj ended, and the economy was liberalized. Soon Gomes started importing parts of musical instruments such as the piano, violin, guitar, et cetera, and later began importing accessories such as strings, parchment for drums, mouthpieces for trumpets, reeds for clarinets, et cetera.

Source: Google

By 1995, the contribution of the music business was increasing to overall revenue and Gomes, and his sons (who has by now joined the company) jointly decided to focus on music segment and close down printing, sports and religious goods business. This highlights Gomes ability to see future industry trend, and willingness to change and adapt.

With complete focus on the music business and applying his life learning — Gomes imported musical instruments in bulk and distributed at a margin. Over the next five years, Gomes built a strong distribution network to sell musical instruments, thereby enjoying the benefit of the first-mover advantage. Later, Furtados organized jam sessions, music clinics (for the learner) and workshops by top musicians.

By the arrival of millennium year, and after spending over forty- eight years building and expanding Furtados, Gomes retired. Three years later, he passed away, at the age of seventy- six. By then, the Gomes siblings had understood the nuances of the business and were on its path to take Furtados to the next level.

In 2004, Gomes Siblings launched their Brand — Granada for midrange violin and guitar brand, e-commerce store — Furtados Online (Flipkart was started in 2007, and Amazon entered India in 2013). Later, they also launched an app for connecting students with teachers. In 2012, they launched their Piano Institute of Technology, which trained around eighteen technicians, who form the core of Furtados’s quality control department. It holds more than fifty exclusive music instrument licenses and has endorsed forty artists. Today, Furtados sells on Amazon, in addition to its website, and is a supplier to several online retailers, including Bajaao.

The unique aspect of Gomes journey was how seamless he transferred his enthusiasm, ethos, work culture and accumulated business knowledge to his children.

By encouraging his children to spend time at the shop at an early age, Gomes ensured they were familiar with what Furtados stood for, while they were still impressionable. Gomes didn’t train his children, kids learnt by observing John, engaging in different tasks and asking questions to John.

John Gomes business journey shows us that a successful business rests on three simple goals: quality product offerings, customer satisfaction, and profitability. His success highlights that good service during and after the sale is the best non-monetary incentive you can give customers.

This article is a summarization of a chapter on John Gomes in the book Intelligent Fanatics of India by Rohith Potti and Pooja Bhula.