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Those days there was very little competition. Nine out of 10 businessmen were successful. Today one out of 10 businessmen may be successful,” remarks Neville Shroff, chairman and chief executive officer of the Hong Kong based Shroff and Company Limited. He was comparing the scenario around three decades ago when he joined his father Savak in the family firm trading in textiles and garments and the current vista where they have diversified into manufacturing and investments.

Having completed its diamond jubilee last year, currently this firm is the only Parsi enterprise in Hong Kong that has manufacturing as its core business activity, mentions Neville. The com­pany’s two main divisions are garments and household kitchenware products. Clothes in multiple sizes, diverse fabrics, varied hues and a range of designs adorn the walls of their office at Kowloon. While Neville’s younger brother Burji as a director in the firm handles the garments business, Neville oversees the household/kitchenware products. 

An antechamber is reserved to stock their assorted stainless steel kitchenware items, beautifully engraved and custom- designed keeping market preferences in mind. The ones that will be exported to Morocco look different from the ones that will be sent to Saudi Arabia or the UK, we learn. Their array of teapots gives an idea of their band of customers with regional preferences determining the size and craftsmanship of their wares. Shroff and Company has two joint venture manufacturing plants in Guangdong, China, an office in Ningbo and associate offices in London and New York.

"We cater to the customers… develop products which the buyer needs,” explains Neville. Maintaining open relations with customers, he adds that many of their clients "have remained with us over two generations. We believe the customer is always right.” As Neville had reiterated in his paper presented at the Ninth World Zoroastrian Congress in Dubai in 2009, "It is due to the long-term social relationships or guanxi, as it is known in China, and trust that has developed over the many years of doing successful business together that both our suppliers and customers have stayed loyal and provided other benefits such as credit.”

Whilst 70 percent of his garment product base comes from China and a limited amount from India, Neville cannot help comparing the "self respect and national pride” of the Chinese workers against the perceived absence of "work ethics in India, payments under the table and endless delays in packing and shipments.” He concedes though that the Chinese are "the biggest copycats.”

The day following the interview with Parsiana, Neville was signing a memorandum of understanding with a delegation from Nigeria. The day thereafter he was meeting a Russian delegation. By regularly participating in international trade fairs Neville ensures that his company products are visible in the global market. 

Besides his responsibilities at Shroff and Company, Neville is chairman of the Asia/Africa committee of the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce and vice chairman of its Europe committee. Additionally he is a member of the Manpower Committee panel which advises and addresses the government on policy issues like minimum wages, compensation, etc. 

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Neville’s grandfather Jamshedjee had a textile shop in Macau in the early 1900s but his dad started his own trading company in Hong Kong after marriage. Before marriage he was assisting his uncle in his silk trade in Shanghai. When Neville joined his father in business, Shroff and Company was a well established trading firm.

Describing himself as "a scientist, a virologist by training,” Neville relates his own experience when after his secondary education in Hong Kong he went to the University of Sheffield where he graduated in microbiology and biochemistry. Thereafter he acquired his masters in business administration (MBA) from the University of War­wick which is "today among the top 10 MBA schools in the world,” he states. On one of his summer holidays he observed that as compared to research that offered limited opportunities, where nine out of 10 times an experiment may not work out, making the whole exercise "very disheartening and depressing,” business seemed "very lucrative, money was easy.” Instead of "sitting in a laboratory doing research behind closed doors, traveling all over the world was more exciting. I naturally changed my profession and have never looked back since.”

Once Burji joined the business, Neville decided to diversify, introducing household ware. A chartered mechanical engineer, Burji had studied at the University of Surrey and worked at Kodak in the engineering division. "From casual wear to top designer wear,” Burji has been promoting the garments division at Shroff and Company. Their range of men’s (47 percent), women’s (45 percent) and children’s (eight percent) garments cover the entire gamut of clothing that are fabricated mainly in China, India, Taiwan, Korea, Japan and Europe. The company takes pride in its team of experienced and professional designers who are constantly researching and developing innovative products. They service core areas like the US, Canada, Europe, Middle East, Australia, New Zealand and Japan. The company subsidiaries are engaged in the export of branded fashion items and investment. Neville is also managing director of Direct International Hong Kong Limited which is a company responsible for exporting branded goods.

"Unfortunately we don’t see too much entrepreneurship” among the Parsi community in Hong Kong, says Neville referring to the youngsters who are drawn to the professions or the corporate sector.  "You need a lot of capital and a good concept if you want the banks to support you. You also need to know the local language,” he lists the ingredients for success. Whilst Neville is fluent in Cantonese, his knowledge of Mandarin  which is the national language is limited. He has therefore made sure that his 22-year-old son Nigel spends a year learning Mandarin in Shanghai, expecting China to be in the forefront in the next two decades. 

Amongst the large cities in the world, "Hong Kong is probably the safest,” believes Neville. Wife Farida adds that they are not worried even if their 27-year-old daughter Alisha were to return home alone in the early morning hours. Foreseeing "a great future” for the Parsis in Hong Kong, Neville is sanguine that the children who go abroad for university studies "will ultimately come back to Hong Kong to work. Our numbers will increase.”

Alisha was happy to return to Hong Kong after studying in the UK and has taken up a job in the marketing and public relations department of Fossil. Younger daughter Natasha, 15, is in school.

As the youngest president of the Zoroastrian Charity Funds of Hong Kong, Canton and Macao that is known for its philanthropy, Neville declares, "We are here to help.” Innumerable members of the community and Zoroastrian associations throughout the world have availed of their largesse. "Everyone helps their own community first. This does not mean we don’t help others,” Neville refers to their catholic approach.

This year they donated $ 10,000 to help Zoroastrian youth from Iran attend the World Zoroastrian Youth Congress in Vancouver. At the last World Zoroastrian Congress in Dubai, the Hong Kong association was recognized as a "ruby sponsor” for its generous donation of $ 50,000 for the success of the Congress. For two years prior to the Congress, Neville had liaised with the organizers in Dubai. According to Neville, "The Dubai Congress was an eye-opener for all of us. It really did us proud. I give full credit to Meher Bhesania and her team for the fantastic organization.”

For Hong Kong to host a world congress would be difficult, believes Neville, because they would need a lot more helping hands. He knows the amount of effort and coordination required when liaising with an international contingent. Two years ago the Zoroastrians in Hong Kong had celebrated Navroz with a delegation from Iran, appreciated the cultural exchange and interacted with their leaders Dr Esfandiar Ekhtiyari and Mobed Mehraban Firouz­gary. 

In his younger days, when he had the time, Neville enjoyed a game of tennis but presently music and reading are the only recreation he permits himself. He is also on the board of the nominating committee of the English Schools Foundation (ESF) which manages and controls 20 international schools in Hong Kong. Farida works in the administrative department in one of the ESF schools. "I wonder whether I should retire from Shroff and Company” to make time for the extra portfolios, jests Neville.

With "sure controls and people in place,” Shroff and Company has been able to ensure the growth of the garments division even whilst Burji makes time for the Kowloon Cricket Club where he is immediate past president and The Hong Kong Tuberculosis, Chest and Heart Diseases Association where he is director. His wife Faride teaches children with special needs, their 21-year-old daughter Farina is graduating in business administration and 16-year-old Tania is in school. Two brothers of Neville and Burji are in London, Jimmy is practicing as a chartered accountant and Cyrus is a barrister. Sister Farida Pervez Sorabji too is settled in England.

Accepting that his wife is more religious, Neville comments, "She knows most prayers by heart.” "We are born into the religion so why not practice it?” reasons Farida. Having been raised in an athornan family (née Sanjana) at Nowroz Baug in Bombay she recalls one "couldn’t start food before saying the prayers.” Visiting the neighboring Wadia Agiary had become a ritual for her as had accompanying her father who would pray at the Anjuman Atash Behram during the muktads. When it comes to observing religious customs and traditions, Farida believes, "Bring the child into the religion and then let the child decide. We shouldn’t force but let it come naturally,” she advocates. Neville recounts how Nigel, who was then an adolescent had once woken up in the middle of the night to tie his kusti. Farida relates that on learning how her son’s kusti was used in school for a project she decided that it would be preferable if the children wear the kusti after returning home from school.

Family love and support coupled with knowledge and wisdom are the keys to success and happiness, believes Neville. To thrive in an uncertain environment, one needs enthusiasm, passion and the desire to succeed, Neville had remarked at the Dubai Congress adding, "In every challenge we need to seek out opportunities. The unexpected is inevitable but you can use certain tools keeping in mind that money alone is not the only key…”