What about a dry-cleaning kiosk? Commuters could drop off their cleaning on their way to work and pick it up on their way home. No one has time to waste, especially not busy professionals, and they are the ones who use dry-cleaning services the most. They need to look good all the time. He should know. It’s why he opened his store here in Canyon Creek, a neighbourhood of young professionals. He’s built his business by catering to them. They understand the value of excellence and are willing to pay for it. Mansoor’s plan offers customers convenience; the city, a way to generate additional revenue; and him, a way to catapult his operation from one location to a chain of fifteen. A win-win for everyone.

To develop his plan, he conducted extensive market research over several months. He studied foot traffic patterns by station, and demographics by neighbourhood, along with his own reconnaissance missions. He spoke to commuters at train stations about their cleaning needs, their buying preferences. He surveyed the competition in each neighbourhood. He then compiled his data into spreadsheets (using Excel and PowerPoint, new tools he had learned through self-study) to create a cluster graph of the stations with the best potential. These stations formed the basis of his three-phase roll-out plan. Downtown Calgary, then affluent suburbs, and finally all others.

The key was centralized operations. A dry-cleaning plant that served all the locations. Business pundits called it vertical integration, but he didn’t need a fancy term to understand the inherent sense of it. Instead of paying a supplier, Mansoor would become the supplier, allowing him to lower costs and maximize profits. He’d also take advantage of the latest technologies. A centralized computer system linking each kiosk to the plant via the Internet. Long-term, he imagined customers would even be able to check in their items and pay online. They called it e-commerce. Business was at the edge of a brave new world—unafraid of lightning-speed progress. If it was men like Edison and Bell who spurred the Industrial Revolution, now it was men like Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and Sabeer Bhatia at the helm of the Digital Revolution. He shakes with excitement just thinking about it—he’s going to be a part of it. This must be exactly how his father felt when he landed on the shores of Zanzibar. At the edge of a new frontier.

His plan is rock-solid, he knows that. The numbers speak for themselves. Now he needs to get in front of the right people at city hall. An arduous process. But it always is when you’re dealing with the government. Here or in Uganda. The same layers of bureaucracy, like a set of gates that need to be pushed open before a bull is allowed into the arena.

Once he gets his foot in the door, he needs the city to see him as a serious player. Not as a one-man operation, a nobody, but as a big company that’s capable of delivering on its business plan. When Federal Express started their operation, they played a recording of phones ringing, doorbells chiming, and crowds of people chatting in the background. Customers calling in were left with the impression that they were calling into a large company. Not a fly-by-night operation, but an organization they could trust. A plant will inspire the same confidence in the city. It will allow Mansoor to flex his muscles. Match power with power.