Mr. Atir Idrees is the GM of “Right Choice”, a chain of grocery stores (Kirana stores) in Karachi, whose sole purpose is to provide the consumer with products at optimal cost. He has completed a BSc in Accounting and Finance from IBA and was a Merit Scholarship holder. The “Right Choice” project is a non-profit one and not based on charity money. It started in September 2020 with only three stores. Currently, by the grace of Allah (swt), Mr. Atir owns five stores. He has also decided to initiate “Right Choice” card system, which would enable the person who has the card to purchase goods of their choice from them with ease. After learning about his feats, Hiba wished to learn more about his endeavours.
We asked Mr. Atir how he thought of this idea to help the common people. He replied that due to the Corona Virus pandemic, many people had suffered from the sky-high prices of daily necessities – in some areas, the prices were inflated by nearly 40%, which made it extremely hard to get by. He started ‘Rashan drives’ to provide for the people of suburb areas, who were affected the most. The drives had been successful earlier, and he had sold off nearly 15,000 rations. During this time, however, he observed that not everyone was willing to take the rations – for example, the vast majority of the ‘Safaid Posh Log’, the people who found it difficult to make their ends meet, yet refused to ask for assistance from other people out of self-respect.
Mr. Atir decided to open a chain of mom-and-pop stores in areas such as Liyari, Nazimabad, and Orangi town and sell the goods at an at-cost price to relieve some of their burdens. He found that their customers came from very varied backgrounds: some came by walking 10-20 km, some worked as Careem drivers, and some would even purchase the goods on a loan basis. These people needed the rations, but wanted to purchase them with the little money they had than queuing up to get them for free.
Thinking about how the idea for this project came around, Mr. Atir narrated a story of his first visit to Thar with his father in 2015, when it was experiencing a severe drought. His father used to distribute rations, and he decided to go along with him this particular time. Upon seeing the situation of the people living there, the only thing that occupied his thoughts was that no matter how much he thanked Allah (swt), it could never be enough. He realized that he was extremely well off compared to the people living there, and this changed him and made him want to do something for them.
When asked how this model worked, Mr. Atir replied that like any other system, this too followed the proper management structure. There is a person designated to a shop, who will look over everything, and it will be so in other shops as well. Such supervisors are periodically rotated between the shops. Above them are the area managers and so on. There are people assigned to look after the various relevant departments, such as the inventory and the supply. It is a little difficult, as these are still the initial steps, but with the help of Allah (swt), it can be managed.
We also asked about the ways that people could contribute to this cause. He replied: the more the merrier – this principle works well in almost all scenarios. Having an extra hand to help you is always welcome. Mr. Atir believes that when working for the sake of Allah (swt), where one overlooks the personal gains, complete transparency is required. He would welcome different people and organizations joining this cause and if needed, they can also be provided with the necessary resources by the “Right Choice” staff to help them on the premise of complete transparency. If the organizations are willing to collaborate with complete transparency, then the project can proceed further at a faster pace.
When asked about the plans for this project, Mr. Atir says he hopes to open nearly ten shops, as the blessed month of Ramadan is around the corner. He goes by the saying that “success is like a Chinese bamboo tree” – even though laying the groundwork takes much time, it makes the base exceptionally sturdy, while also providing more time to handle unforeseen scenarios. He plans to work on the current stores for quite some time and gather relevant data, before moving on to mass expansion. By the will of Allah (swt), Mr. Atir has decided to open close to 1000 shops by the end of 2023.
We also inquired if other people should financially help in this project. Contrary to our thoughts, Mr. Atir replied that he thinks it is quite early to contribute to “Right Choice” financially. However, he invited help for publicizing “Right Choice” – organizations, whose purpose is to distribute rations, could help by distributing the cards of “Right Choice”, which would enable people to purchase from them and increase the sustainability of the project.
He further added that since the “Right Choice” stores are not based on charity money, people like you and me can purchase from the stores as well.
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