The Power and Joy of Perseverance

Business Insider released a video about our work in the food serviceware space that went quite viral and we started to get calls from various parts of the world for possible collaboration possibilities. One such connect was from a man in Mexico who managed to get hold of us through a general enquiry (they do tend to get lost in the system) and we were exploring possibilities in the region so I decided to respond and get on a call.

He asked me before the call if I spoke Spanish which in my case was dismal, eventually he told me that he had arranged a translator. He did not manage to get on the web call at the designated time and that made me wary about his seriousness. He kept pursuing me to set up another time and we did. The call was difficult as he spoke no English and me no Spanish and the translator was a family friend who understood little technicality. What I basically understood was that he was a transporter of material and had some quantities of raw material (bagasse) that he could arrange. He was currently transporting about 80,000 tonnes a year (TPY) and our need was for 600,000 TPY.

We became focussed on another country where the possibilities were rising but Francisco would just not give up. He would send me videos of how he was transporting, keep increasing possible quantities that could be promised (reached 200,000 TPY!) and kept pursuing through regular WhatsApp messages.?

Things evolved on our end we did visit Veracruz (his region) for a day but could not meet. And then we suddenly got a message that he would like to visit India the next week to see our work. We realised this was serious and welcomed him although me or Jagdeep (our CEO) were not there. We had no idea how he would manage without any language overlap but were definitely getting influenced by his industriousness and desire.

The next thing we got to know was that he got stuck in Dubai as he did not know that he was to get a Visa for travelling to India!! We had no clue what was happening as communication halted with WhatsApp not working in Dubai. We dont know how he wrangled his way but reached our company with his partner Talia. They spent a couple of days with our team understanding our processes and then headed back.

I got a message from him that he was very impressed with what we were doing and that he would like to get on a call. My time was busy and we had begun to commit to a project in a different country so I kept it at bay.

As it turned out, my family and I were to visit Mexico City for a holiday so I pinged him if he would like to meet up for lunch. He immediately agreed which was surprising as he was not based in the city and Mexico is a big country (bigger than what I had imagined!).

We met for lunch. He invited a waiter with very basic English to come sit with us to translate! It was still difficult to communicate but I understood some basics between the waiter and google translate! They had driven 6 hours to have lunch with me. Had made no plans ahead so that they would maximise time with us. They were keen to be of any help we needed while we were in Mexico. He was looking for ways in which we could do business together as he was very excited?about the prospects of moulded fibre solutions. We decided that we would go together the next day to a park with my family.

I was a little vary about the language challenge but he got along a translator (the waiters brother Daniel who had some time on his hands ??) and he was definitely better at communicating. We could now talk. And we began to become friends. Our daughters loved Talia and Francisco would continuously look for ways to be helpful. We began to poke fun at each other and got to know how wonderful they were as people.?

We ultimately hung out with them each day of our trip and ended up doing so many fun activities together. We were amazed by their kindness as well as industriousness. Francisco’s personality was to continuously be on the look out for ways in which he could be of assistance and problem solve. Talia was clearly a force of nature and love poured out of her. It was so impressive to get to know them as people and become friends.?

Life never ceases to amaze me. I was basically going to meet a business connect over lunch and here we are with deep appreciation and friendship with absolute certainty of working together as soon as the opportunity knocks in the door.

It is the power of perseverance. Francisco was clearly enthused about an idea and nothing would hold him back, he could overcome language, culture, distance, lack of possibilities and poor response. A knowledgeable man had once taught me that if you need water you got to find the well, get to it and draw the water out, the well was not going to come to you.

This was a great example of how we move mountains.