One such is VKC Mammed Koya, 75, who is both an avowed Communist and the helmsman of the successful footwear brand VKC - worth a turnover of Rs 1500-crore. Recently elected as the Mayor of Kozhikode Municipal Corporation in Kerala, this septuagenarian’s rise from humble beginnings is the stuff of business legends are made of.

Far from finding this contradictory, Koya believes that it is the communist within him that helped him excel in business. Having toiled for several years as a chaiwallah and a contract employee, and having contoured his life with determination, hard work, and compassion, it is hardly surprising that he has initiated several employee-friendly policies at VKC. Pushed to fend for himself, he worked in a matchstick manufacturing company in Kozhikode for a few years but was sacked after he took up the cause of the employees, participating in worker agitations and becoming a Communist Party worker.

In the late 60s, he left for Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu where he worked as a contract employee with the electricity board, before setting up a tea shop. Returning to Kerala in 1967, Koya, along with two friends, started a fledgling business supplying raw materials for matchsticks. But he kept his options open and scanned opportunities, finally deciding to manufacture Hawai-sheets instead.

“There was high demand for these,” Koya recalls, “as there were many small Hawai chappal- making companies in Kerala then, who made chappal soles from the sheets.” he used the matchstick company premises for the new business, obtained initial capital from a bank loan and local chit funds, and was off the mark. The VKC Footwear Company, set up at Nallam in Kozhikode by Koya with the support of his two brothers, had a modest beginning with fewer than 20 employees and a Rs 30 lakh investment.

The relatively affordable footwear was popular among laborers because of its durability, quality, and comfort – and totally in accordance with Koya’s Communist ideology. It was the Hawai chappal that propped the brand VKC up and sent it beyond the borders of Kerala. “Tamil laborers who came to Kerala for work popularized Hawai chappals in Tamil Nadu, which prompted us to enter that market slowly,” says Koya.

The Hawai chappal was replaced slowly but surely by the PVC chappal, which came to Kerala in large numbers from Taiwan and Thailand. He thought ahead, invest in a calculated risk, and VKC became the sole manufacturer of PVC chappals in Kerala. Cashing in on the demand, VKC became the largest manufacturer of PU footwear.

While Koya’s own wife and daughter are homemakers, Rasaq’s wife recently started designing footwear for VKC. Today, the industrial belt of Kozhikode in Kerala, once dominated by traditional tile, timber, and wood industries, has become the crux of an exponentially growing footwear business, thanks to Koya’s initiative. And, with more than 10,000 employees and a countrywide market, VKC leads among over 150 small and large-scale footwear, and around 50 footwear-accessory-making companies in the region.

“Once we had the technology and expertise, we decided to impart the knowledge to others interested in setting up footwear manufacturing units,” says Koya. The Kerala State Small Industries Association in collaboration with major stakeholders like VKC has conducted many footwear exhibitions in Kozhikode, which has opened up a stream of opportunities, especially in the export sector.

The Footwear Design and Development Center, an initiative under Koya’s chairmanship, conducts design festivals and empowers women, especially homemakers, by giving them training in making footwear accessories under a project called ‘footwear village’. The company also conducts basic English literacy classes for employees and gives educational scholarships to their wards.