Indarpaul Aniroud started in business the hard way: pounding the pavement selling paper clips and rubber bands door to door. What is remarkable is that he built his small but thriving company despite having polio.
And he is encouraging disabled persons with aspirations of becoming an entrepreneur, not to let their disability hold them back.
Aniroud is the managing director of I A Stationery Office Supplies and Photocopying at One Croal St. Within months of his birth he was diagnosed with polio which has affected his stride, leaving him to lean to his left when he walks.
"It used to affect me a lot," says Aniroud, who is known simply as "Brother."
After leaving school at 13, he decided to try his hand at tailoring but this was not lucrative. He spent three to four years in the field during which time both his parents died. Needing money he could not afford to let his condition prevent him from earning an income. "I didn't allow it to keep me back."
"I was thinking about my future...I look at other people's [with disabilities] lives...I tell myself I don't want to be like that and that kept me going." He notes that some disabled persons are not living up to their full potential. Aniroud entered the stationery business when Patrick Seebarran a noted retailer of stationery supplies, allowed him to sell items on commission. These included photocopying paper, carbon paper, rubber bands and paper-clips.
He says at first "it was real difficult" walking from store to store trying to get sales given his condition. And Aniroud recalls that some days he would visit six to seven businesses with no sales and at times two to three weeks with no orders.
But the orders picked up and Aniroud was able to open his own store. He has been at his current spot 22 years after moving from a rented space at the Maraj Building. The store has three employees.
He notes that profits in the stationery supplies field are lower as competition increases.
"[The] early '90s it was looking good...up to now...the people don't buy as much [as] in the early days." Also there are more stationery stores now than before and that is also cutting into profits. Nevertheless, the regular orders the business receives keep it above water including sales to lawyers who frequent the nearby courts and from that institution itself.
Aniroud concludes, "Some disabled people can do better. A lot of disabled people have a lot of talent," he says. He explains that friends, family and members of his church have encouraged him along the way. "You need people who can give you the encouragement and back-up." Now he is giving back by helping 10 to 15 senior citizens every month with groceries, at his Assemblies of God church in Alexander Village.