"It is a compelling story to come across of how a man learnt to weave with two looms in his compound in a small town in Rajasthan and went ahead to build a country-wide network of 40,000 artisans in 10 states to build India’s largest hand-knotted carpet company."

Starting from the scratch Mr. NK Chaudhary’s grit and determination embarked on a mission that would go on to reshape the Indian carpet industry. In his late fifties, he wakes up at 5 AM in the morning and starts his day with all his targets chalked out. A personification of simplicity, Mr. NK Chaudhary is thoroughly dedicated to the Indian hand-knotted rug weaving industry with a mission to give it its rightful place in the world. He wants the world to bestow the benefit and recognition of this to its apt owner, the Indian artisan.

For the welfare of artisans and those indirectly linked with the rug weaving industry, Mr. NK Chaudhary set up an NGO by the name of Jaipur Rugs Foundation (JRF) in 2004 that is a voluntary, non-profit and secular organization. JRF under the guidance of him is working for the socio-economic development of artisans. Through its initiatives, thousands of artisans are receiving skill enhancement training and financial assistance for an independent and prosperous future in rug weaving.

The looms are located in the yard of each artisan’s house. Impressively, JRF’s quality team can tell which square inch of the carpet was made that week and on which loom and at which artisan’s house. Each loom is visited twice a week. A production progress report is generated and sent to the headquarters in Jaipur. The looms are in some of the remotest areas of the country like the Bhil tribal areas in Gujarat. Each new carpet is a different story; hand-knotted by a family, spanning over ten months.

In Gujarat, Jaipur Rugs has artisans in 200 villages spread over 100 kilometers. In 1988, when Mr. NK Chaudhary first went to Gujarat, it was a flood prone area with no roads or telephones. There was no bank either. But a Government scheme had provided looms to tribal families. He had spotted a wireless set in an exhibition in Ahmedabad and got himself a radio license. He put in 15 fixed stations and bought 20 bikes and 2 jeeps to travel over rocky terrain. Mr. NK Chaudhary’s employees checked for quality, supplied raw material and made payments. “Initially, I would go to an artisan’s house and spend the night and return after 2 or 3 days,” recollects him.

The story goes all the way back to 1978. Mr. NK Chaudhary, whose father ran a shoe shop, gave up a job offer at a Life Insurance Company, to get into the carpet business. He learnt how to weave from a master artisan at a Government training school in Churu, a small town in Rajasthan. Soon the business expanded but they were contractors for an exporter from Jaipur. “I learnt the process and started trussing my abilities. I am transported to a different world when I am involved in with artisans. We just kept expanding to several villages in Rajasthan and eventually to neighboring Gujarat,” he says. He has spent a large part of his life building the network of artisans and improving rug quality while his brother looked after the marketing part. Eventually, they developed an export business together.

For 33 years, Mr. NK Chaudhary has been honing the art of dyeing, obtaining the right quality yarn, removing weaving defects and eliminating washing problems. “In each case, we got to the deep root cause of the problem and obtained the solution,” he points out. In 1999, he broke up with his brother and started Jaipur Rugs on his own. The business struggled on for several years because he had never concentrated on other areas of business other than production. “It was a process of self-discovery. I had to own up for all that went wrong,” Mr. NK Chaudhary says.

Today, the business has become an extended family. His wife, three daughters and two sons, one of whom is pursuing higher studies abroad are involved in the business. Kavita, his youngest daughter is a trained designer. She has set up the modern design centre. His eldest son, Yogesh, dropped out of business school in Boston only to help run the business. He is responsible for having put in place a modern IT infrastructure. His elder daughters run the Atlanta office and the marketing operations in the US. The youngest son, who is in Massachusetts, US for higher studies, is Mr. NK Chaudhary’s sounding board. He has also trained all workers in computers. This time Mr. NK Chaudhary is building the business up block by block. For him, it is a spiritual activity. “Achievement in business helps you discover yourself,” he says. Jaipur Rugs is not content with just having become India’s largest hand-knotted carpet producer. It has ambitious growth plans. The idea is to grow ten-fold and list on the stock exchange in the following years. However, there are challenges. They will then have to have ten times as many artisans producing for them. Mr. NK Chaudhary is again turning tradition around. His inspiration is Amul, India’s largest co-operative dairy in Gujarat. The idea is that all the production will be done by artisan’s co-operatives, which are owned by the artisans themselves. Jaipur Rugs will have a stake in these producing companies so that it can control quality. At last but not the least, Mr. NK Chaudhary’s vision is to create a society where equality, justice and peace prevail by providing equal opportunities in economic and social development. “Finding yourself through losing yourself”