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It had been four months and Azeem had been settling into his new routine, the money had been better than his wildest imagination. He received the stock on credit and distributed it to the target markets. The only security Panwala had agreed with him were the cheques to make for stock that he would pick. Azeem’s confidence had increased many folds during this time and he had started to learn the ropes from the other side of the table.
Azeem was free to order the stock that his customers required and would forecast it according to his requirements. His forecast would be adjusted in Fast Trader's total projections and he was bound to pick what he would order. His customers had been prompt in payments, and this is something that had been out of the ordinary, there had been instances of slow-moving inventory but he had no case of bad debt, not even one.
Was he lucky or are these his good deeds now paying him back? What he had envisioned as doom had turned out to be an opportunity of a lifetime. He had purchased three trucks for deliveries and had seven employees in this short period of time, he had sold his real estate but that had been a necessity to arrange for the working capital as he was also purchasing goods from other suppliers as well, with full knowledge of Panwala.
But somehow, Panwala had now taken the place of Hakim, he was the boss after all, he had the power to control the flow of stock and the products and any delay from him would simply mean a cut off the supply chain and an end for Azeem’s business. So, here we have a similar scenario, a change of guards, one tormentor to another, from a frying pan into the fire but for now, Azeem had been doing well and had kept all his commitments.
There had been a hum in the background, there was stock of some units that had been piling up, especially the dry milk, prices had fallen and there was too much supply. Chinese were active recently in the Pakistani market and they were dumping stock across the country. Azeem hadn’t anticipated this move and was in two minds about what to do with that. His profits would be consumed by the sliding prices and there was no price protection.
Otherwise, this had been his best month in terms of profitability, and he had gone to…
