Bee Harry’s: Business as a service for humanity

On her way back home on a cloudy evening in November 2016, Yasmeen Ghayas, the
owner of Bee Harry’s, recalled the wonderful day that she had spent at the graduation
ceremony of Woman, a four-month entrepreneurship certificate course that she had
attended at the Institute of Business Administration, Karachi.

Yasmeen reflected on her entrepreneurial journey, which was a journey of

pursuing her passion and serving humanity by running a small-scale business. The
journey started with the identification of a major need which was found in her
immediate family members i.e. her father, brother and uncle, who were suffering from
a polycystic kidney disease. Patients suffering from this disease needed sodium free
water. Therefore, Yasmeen converted this idea into an opportunity, 10 years ago and
was now serving a handful of 900 households in Karachi.

She was satisfied by the progress that her mineral water business had made so
far. She had managed to create a place amongst the dozens of mineral water
businesses in the metropolis, Karachi. Yasmeen never thought of outsourcing her
business, as she believed in growing organically and tried to implement that at every
stage of her business. The 10 years that she had spent on building the business had not
been a bed of roses. She had to work through thick and thin to keep running her
business with the help of her husband, Ghayas, her children and son-in-law. Together,
they had managed to take the start-up that was singlehandedly initiated by Yasmeen
in her home, to a growing mineral water business within Karachi.

After taking the women entrepreneurship course, Yasmeen was clear on the
major strategic objectives that she required to achieve further growth. She was
thinking to either shift to an industrial area, at a large scale or to remain at the same
place and grow her business slowly and steadily. She was contemplating her next
step.

Yasmeen Ghayas, the Entrepreneur

Since inception, Yasmeen had an entrepreneurial mindset and was always

looking for opportunities to learn and grow. When she completed her matriculation,
she did not want to spend the six months of her vacations sitting idle. Soon, she found
herself enrolled in a beautician’s course.

After the completion of her course, she established a Salon in her home and
started marketing it by visiting marriage hall owners and convinced them to send in
customers. Soon, she had enough customers and was earning really well. Sadly, due
to some family pressures and cultural taboos, she had to shut down the business.

After getting married in 1982 to a marine engineer, Yasmeen had a lot of spare
time while her husband was on ship for months. Out of despair and loneliness,
initially she used to cry at home, but then she thought of doing something productive.
A friend of hers, who was also married to a marine engineer and had a lot of spare
time to utilize, partnered up with Yasmeen on a clothing venture, by the name of
Shameen’s Boutique. The name was a combination of Yasmeen and Shagufta, the two
business partners. The boutique ran from 1986-1989 and came to an abrupt end when
Shagufta migrated to US and Yasmeen found that she could not handle the business
alone.

In 1992, Largess (a newly formed hotel) was launched in her neighborhood

that held monthly exhibitions for local artists. In the quest to do ‘something’,
Yasmeen registered a stall in their very first exhibition without deciding what she will
be putting up. She had always been good with dry flower arrangements and decided to
make some pieces for the exhibition. She got an amazing response and all her
products were sold in just two days. However, when the second exhibition was held,
she was astonished to see that many people had copied and imitated her designs. In
the break time, Yasmeen went downstairs to a newly launched Pizza Hut to grab a
bite for lunch. During her lunch she observed the dull interior of the Pizza Hut, and
mustered courage to talk to the manager. She suggested him to make the interior
lively, and gave her card to the manager and invited him to visit her stall upstairs. The
manager was greatly impressed by her work and requested her to help him in interior
decoration.

Yasmeen narrated:

“The best quality of an entrepreneur is to think beyond his own business. My

approach was not self-centered, as instead of telling him that how great is my
decoration skills; I thought to fill the gap I found in his branch of Pizza Hut.
This in turn paved a path-way for my own business.”

Soon Yasmeen got a call to decorate their Clifton branch as well, and this led
to the launch of her interior decoration venture called “Autumn Beauty”. Later, she
was called for the decoration of the Lahore branch as well. But that was where
Yasmeen decided not to pursue this business any further, as she believed it would
have led her to neglect the household responsibilities. Autumn Beauty ran from 1992-
1997 and Yasmeen regretted that she was not able to turn her hobby and passion into
a business.

Industry Profile—Market for Mineral Water

The water business is one of the most lucrative and profitable enterprises
worldwide since every human being on earth wants to have safe pure water daily to
stay alive. During the past thirty years, the demand of bottled water accelerated all
over the world. Bottled water sector, despite its excessively high price compared to
tap water, was measured as one of the most powerful sectors of all the food and
beverage trade as its consumption increases by an average of 12% every year.

Pakistan has witnessed a mushroom growth in the bottled water industry over
the past few years (See Exhibit 1). The poor quality of tap water is the main driver of
demand for bottled water by people who can afford to buy it. As per Pakistan
Standards and Quality Control Authority, there are 109 valid CM License units
engaged in this business in Pakistan. While in summer time, this number increases up
to 115. The table depicts the province-wise list of licenses bottled drinking water units
in Pakistan (See Exhibit 2).
An Early Setback

The same passion of doing a business drove Yasmeen to invest in

pharmaceutical industry, as her son-in-law was already working in this field. She had
assets, but limited funds for investment so she took a loan from bank, by keeping her
house on mortgage. She ran this pharmaceutical distribution business, in collaboration
with her son-in-law’s company, Saviour Pharma. Her son-in-law marketed the
product and Yasmeen took care of the distribution. When Vioxx scandal occurred, it
created havoc in the international pharmaceutical industry. It caused a severe blow to
Yasmeen’s operation, as her company also invested PKR 8 million to stock the
product, Vioxx. The Ministry of Health issued orders for the product to be destroyed
to ensure it was not being sold again. Yasmeen burnt down her stock in presence of
the officials from the ministry. Later, she realized that she should not have opted for a
loan, as it was against the principles of her religion. It was that ‘bank loan’ due to
which she was unable to quit from the business till now, because her husband firmly
believed:

“We can’t quit the business world, as from where we have lost our resources;
we will gain it from that place only.”

Yasmeen’s son-in-law became her beacon of support as he also had suffered

by the same situation. Her son-in-law asked her if she could invest some capital in
marketing other products, but the experience had left her wounded and she refused.
Yasmeen’s funds got stuck with Saviour Pharma but keeping the family values alive,
she internally settled the matter. She had two options, either to quit or dwell more into
the pharmaceutical industry. She knew she could do nothing, as she believed the
industry used the distributors and marketers like puppet. Also, quitting was the last
thing she would do because she had developed a passion for business that she did not
want to forego. Therefore, they decided to get back on their feet. As Yasmeen
narrated:

“We did not panic. If we would have panicked, we could have never been able to
survive the blow.”

The Turning Point

The nature was trying to work in favor of Yasmeen. Soon a sample product of
Australian baby water was sent to Saviour Pharma, but they did not have funds to
market it. The product was designed specifically for babies to reduce bloating and
gastric pain. She had a light bulb moment and decided to use all her left-over funds
and manufacture a similar product for the local market. Holding a bachelor’s degree
in Commerce, she did not have a strong hold on chemistry and thus she took out the
periodic table from her school going daughter’s chemistry book and started learning
about different compositions of chemicals. Yasmeen proved that one does not need to
have a master’s degree to pursue and establish a venture. She did different
experiments in her own lab to produce her required chemical and after a couple of
experiments she succeeded in producing a formula in the in-house lab that was ideal
for infants. The mineral water process had seven stages. (See Exhibit 3).
 Here started a five-month journey, where Yasmeen’s eldest daughter helped
her mother out and Ghayas, her husband, helped her in setting up the plant in the
ground floor of their house (See Exhibit 4). Both were bird in hand for her. During
this time, a plant was being set up and a marketing plan was also being devised
simultaneously. Yasmeen approached various NGOs and one of them was so
impressed by the potential of the product that they agreed to buy the whole lot and
was ready to market it.

Once a sample was developed, they presented it to the panel PSQA (Pakistan
Standard and Quality Control Authority). The panel comprised of representatives of
water giants that discussed the pros and cons of the product. Sadly, the product was
not licensed on the grounds of being a totally new product that was never researched
before in Pakistan. Yasmeen was told by the panel that it will take 3-4 years to
research the product and to test its viability and adverse effects on the children, if any.
Another problem which came alone with this was, that the NGO who agreed to
market their product was now asking for the funds they invested in its marketing,
which was around PKR 5million.

That was the day when Yasmeen felt that she was enveloped in a storm of
problems and she could not see any ray of hope. In the state of despair, she cried the
whole night. She knew that there is only one being to whom she can turn to. She
begged in front of God, admitting all the mistakes she made in her way to business,
and asked Him to forgive her and show her the right path. Soon her prayers were
accepted, and she found a way to come out of this net of problems. Next morning,
Yasmeen called the NGO and told them that she did not get permission to make this
product and now she wanted to surrender it in their name and they could start its
production from anywhere else. The NGO was very satisfied with this deal and they
took back the claim which they made on her.

New Beginnings

Now as the plant had already established in Yasmeen’s house, she wanted to
utilize it. Therefore, on the advice of her husband, she decided to produce normal
mineral water. As a marine engineer, Ghayas had ample of experience of turning salt
water into drinking water and knew the chemical processes involved in it. Thus, ‘Bee
Harry’s’ was born in October 2006. As Yasmeen belonged to a Behari family (is a
name given to a group of people who live in the Indian state of Bihar), she took
advantage of her background by naming her brand Bee Harry’s. And at the same time
there was a western touch in the name, thus targeting the upper-class segment as well.
The brand name gave her community support to an extent that she did not have to
invest a lot in marketing. Surprisingly, Yasmeen was able to make around 1000
customers, only because of word-of-mouth marketing.

As compared to her competitors, Yasmeen was not able to do drastic marketing on a

very large scale as she had limitation of funds. Still, she never viewed companies, like
Nestle as a competitor to her own brand. Reflecting on this unique philosophy, she
narrated:

“Unlike my brand, Nestle has enough money to run TV ads like, “come
towards water”. But how can I view it to be my competitor as their ads are
 also inducing a larger segment of the society towards healthy water, which is
the same vision of my own brand.”

Bee Harry’s Journey

Bee Harry’s started with 100 bottles and a Master truck that was bought on
lease. The first customer of the company was Yasmeen’s brother. They started
supplying water along the RCT highway that ran from Hub to Gwadar to Khuzdar.
The business soared, and it turned out that one bottle in every three bottles in that area
was of Bee Harry’s. Soon, the business was delivering 400 cartons daily.

In 2008, Yasmeen had two options to start her work with, either as NRBs or as
RBs (Refilling of Bottles). NRBs had a benefit as it helped in maintaining cash flow
statement easily while in RBs, refilling of water cost a lot which in turn increased cost
of water per customer. So, she pursued NRBs, which was easy to handle as she had
disposable bottles which were easy to dispatch to the customer. The areas which she
covered were Hub, Bella, Gwadar and the whole RCT highway. She had contracted
with the distributors in each area for the whole season, March to October.

First problem which Yasmeen faced in her business was the increase in diesel
prices from PKR 37/liter to PKR 65/liter, which resulted in an increased cost of
distribution, almost doubled. Then she had three options to choose from: to finish the
contract with the distributor, or to increase the prices of her product, or to suffer the
loss for the next three months. During this phase, promoters were introduced for the
first time in water marketing. These promoters paid for the bottles and distributed on
their own. Yasmeen met Sajad Lari who became their promoter for the next 4 years.
After a while, it came to her knowledge that Sajad was refilling the bottles midway
through the distribution routes to cut transportation costs. After several complaints
received by her customer care department, Yasmeen knew she had to take an action.
Despite of the fact that Sajad was bringing in a lot of customers and had some unclear
dues on his end, Yasmeen withdrew the contract and asked him for reprinting of the
bottle. This resulted in a dropdown from 900 customers to 500 customers, but
Yasmeen had to make sure her brand was not associated with unethical practices. She
did not want to maintain soaring sales, but a respect for her brand.

Service to Humanity

Yasmeen firmly believed that the ultimate vision of every Entrepreneur should
be to become a faithful steward, a person who existed to achieve a bigger purpose in
life i.e. to carry the responsibility of serving and positively influencing the lives of the
people.
As Yasmeen narrated:

“A true entrepreneur is the one who thinks beyond his business, who finds the
need in society and convert it into an opportunity, which in turn benefits him
and the society both. Becoming a successful entrepreneur is not as easy as
establishing a profitable business.”
 The major reason of embarking upon a mineral water venture was because
Yasmeen wanted to cater to a widespread disease of polycystic kidney that had
plagued the lives of her own family members, and numerous others in the society. She
knew that patients suffering from such disease were required to drink a sodium free
water and thus through Bee Harry’s Yasmeen developed a sodium free formula.

Moreover, when Yasmeen printed her first broacher of Bee Harry’s, instead of
mentioning only the per liter price of water she mentioned the whole process of
mineral water, as opposed to other companies like nestle, which never told the process
of making the water in their advertisements. But Yasmeen was working with a vision
to help and spread the awareness amongst the people that how Bee Harry’s was
producing sodium free water with special care. Yasmeen reflected:

“When we help others, God starts helping us. I never asked anyone to buy my
product; instead I told them the benefits of the product, including its process,
and let the customers decide themselves. Eventually those people end up
buying my product. To think about others is a long-term process for most of
the businesses, but for me it is the short cut, because it’s hard to ask someone
to do something for us, but it’s very easy to do favors for others, which
eventually in the long-run benefit us only.”

Training: Developing Entrepreneurs within

Yasmeen was zealous about controlling not just the quality of the product, but
the quality of the people who operated the venture. In the initial days, Yasmeen had
only one driver, but as the operations grew, she appointed more labor. She treated all
of them as her own family members. She appointed a helper boy of age around 10,
and trained him in such a manner that he was able to control the distribution cycle
completely on his own. Majority of the labor Yasmeen had was illiterate, and initially
they were not able to write the names of the customers. They used to recognize a
certain customer through their home location, but later, Yasmeen trained them in
writing and reading skills, therefore, now they could easily handle the information
related to each customer. Instead of hiring people from outside, Yasmeen trained and
assigned the responsibilities to her own workers, developing entrepreneurs within her
own team.

One of her employees stated:

“I used to work somewhere, as a rent-based delivery driver. Now, for the last
4 years, I am working with Miss Yasmeen as her permanent driver. She
assigned few areas to me where I must cater the customers. For this, she gave
me special training about how to approach a customer and taught me the
main features about the product so that I can easily communicate it to the
customers. I made relentless efforts to make as many customers as I can. I
started off with 10 customers and now I supply Bee Harry’s to around 100
customers.”
Equality

Yasmeen never differentiated amongst her workers, as she herself believed in

equality and taught the same lesson to the people working under her. As she narrated:

“When I bought a Hino truck, I hired a driver with an HTV license. He acted
as if he was superior among all the other drivers. When I got to know this, I
called him and told him that driving a Hino is not something to boast about. I
drove that truck in front of him and taught him the lesson of equality.”

Taking small steps to accomplish a bigger vision

Yasmeen’s father cultivated a belief in her that an entrepreneur should have a

bigger vision, but he should take small steps to accomplish that vision. Her father
himself used to work in a tire shop, where he slowly and gradually learned the skills
and developed his expertise, which later induced him to open his own tire shop. It was
her father’s legacy which taught Yasmeen the lesson to develop her expertise in the
mineral water business and to contribute to the society by creating a sodium free
formula. Yasmeen reminisced:

“I wish that no citizen of Pakistan remains idle. Each individual has a unique
skill and potential, which can be used to ethically contribute in any economic
activity which is environmentally, and socially sustainable.”

Honesty & Transparency

Yasmeen had a great concern about the prevalent unethical practices being
practiced by various start-up businesses. To keep her dealings honest and transparent,
she used to give commercial rent of her home as she was operating her business in a
residential area. Moreover, abiding by the government laws she placed a commercial
electricity meter and gave commercial tax.

Yasmeen narrated:

“Abiding by the ethics and values is the secret to gain customer confidence
and to take the business to new heights of success.”

Envisioning the Future

It was December 2016; Yasmeen was reflecting upon the progress of Bee
Harry’s so far. Her business was running quite successfully. Now, Bee Harry’s was
catering to approximately 1000 customers per week. While reflecting on her journey,
somewhere in her heart Yasmeen knew that she would have to make key decisions
pertaining to the strategic issues to achieve the level of growth that she aspired to
reach.
 She contemplated two options for future growth. Firstly, she could opt to
increase the size of her venture and move to an industrial area where she would have a
larger plant of water with a capacity up to 72000 gallons. This would mean that
Yasmeen could market her product at a larger scale and would have enough resources
to cater to many customers. The problem with this option was that it required her
husband’s full support and a large amount of investment. The second option that she
could opt for was to stay at the same place, with same plant capacity, and to work
slowly and gradually. This neither would require her husband’s support nor any major
investment, but this option will restrict her industrial growth. Now, she is
contemplating her next move.

Exhibit 1: Industry Analysis:

 Nestle Pakistan
Nestle Pakistan is one of the known brands of Pakistan. It had multiple
products, and one of its products is water bottles which is one of the largest
selling water bottles across Pakistan.

 Aquafina
Aquafina is a brand of purified bottled water products produced by PepsiCo,
consisting of both unflavored and flavored water. It was first distributed
in Wichita, Kansas in 1994, before becoming more widely sold across the
United States, Spain, Canada, Lebanon, Turkey, the GCC countries, Iran,
Egypt, Vietnam, Pakistan and India to compete with The Coca-Cola company.

 Aqua Safe Pakistan:

Aqua Safe was founded in 1986 by the Chief Executive and the Chairman of
the Company Muhammad Wasif, as a sole proprietorship firm. Now Aqua
Safe has got on its payroll more than 100 employees including Project
Managers, General Managers, Managers, Secretarial & Supervisory Staff,
Technicians and helpers working in their different departments and factory.

Exhibit 2: Province-wise Distribution of Bottled Water Units

List of licensed Bottled Drinking Water units in Pakistan

Province No. of units
Sindh 82
Punjab 23
Baluchistan 1
KPK 3
Total 109
Sources: Pakistan Standards and Quality Control Authority, Ministry of Science and
Technology, Government of Pakistan
Exhibit 3: The Mineral Water Process

 Sand Filtration
Sand filtration is frequently used, robust method to remove suspended solids
from water.

 Activated Carbon Filtration

Activated carbon filtration is a specialized filtration which removes chlorine
and dissolved organic contamination.

 Fine Micron Filtration

These are the high-efficiency water filtration system for the removal of
suspended solids down to sub-micro level (very, very small) range.

 Reverse Osmosis
This process will allow the removal of practices as small as ions from a
solution. Reverse osmosis is used to purify water to remove salts and all other
minerals. Thus, pure water having no salts/minerals is obtained. (H2O
obtained).

 Mineralization
The necessary minerals are then added to the water through calculated dozing
system to achieve the required minerals as set by the standards of
PSQCA/WHO

 Ultra-violet Treatment
Ultra-violet (VU) treatment is the disinfection process of passing water by a
special light source. The special light source emits UV waves that kill harmful
microorganisms.

 Ozonation
Ozonation is a cutting-edge water treatment process that destroys bacteria and
other microorganisms through infusion of ozone, a gas produced by subjective
of oxygen molecules to high electrical voltage.
Exhibit 4: Water Plant Facility at the Basement of Yasmeen’s House