Engineering the American Dream: Inside Shahid Khan's Multi-Billion Dollar Business

0:00 I was experiencing the American dream, which is the life I imagined and not someone else would imagine for me or basically thrust upon me. >> Shahid Khan, known to most as Shad Khan, began his American dream in January 1967 when he left his homeland of Pakistan and arrived in Illinois with only $500 in his pocket, a long way from the billions that anchor his empire today. >> The Midwest was hit with a record maybe historic snowfall that weekend. So, O'Hare had like 27 inches of snow with all the drifts. I'd never seen snow till the first day in the US.

0:42 I had Pakistani shoes on and so when I walked through by half a mile in snow, they got frozen because the shoe kind of melted. >> Khan's parents didn't just give him their blessing. They gave him their life savings to pursue a degree in industrial engineering, staking everything they had on the hope that his education would be their greatest return. >> I was fortunate to be born to educated parents, very middle class, humble, put themselves through school, but my mom was a math professor >> >> and my dad had gone to night law school and was working a couple of jobs and their aspiration was for me to get the best education they could afford or help me get.

1:32 >> At only 16 years old, Khan quickly sought out a way to support himself while attending the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. >> I got a dishwashing job at the residence hall where I was in the dorms. I was making money. We could work the first The first day I think I worked 6 hours. It was like a sense of empowerment that and realization that, you know, I made more money than like 99% of the people in Pakistan. So, it was wow, you know, I'm here maybe less than 48 hours and I'm kind of living my American dream right now.

2:09 That I'm not beholden to anyone and I I'm going to be my own man. I hung around with South Asians, Indian, Pakistani students. And and then it was like, you know, I want to assimilate. I want to be I want to be an American. >> Conjoined Beta Theta Pi. A historically white fraternity. And graduated in 1971. You're graduating with a degree in engineering. You're one of probably only two or three of the kids that doesn't have a job.

2:44 >> Correct. >> Tell me why. >> Well, because pretty much the first question in an interview would be, you have a green card. And obviously I didn't. And it would be, how do you get a green card? Well, you got to have a job. So, this was, you know, quite kind of a dilemma. So, when I finished, I didn't have a job and I really wanted to, you know, obviously get a job and then get a green card.

3:16 >> You were willing to pretty much do anything at any point if it meant getting closer to your American dream. >> Yes. I mean, I was going to do anything to get a job and in all honesty, I mean, I was going to get a job that probably most people didn't want. Otherwise, because I wouldn't be the first candidate, first choice. And so, you, you know, I'm I mean, this is like the first thing I think most people, but for immigration, you got to have a sense of humility and sense of drive and power, you know, positive thinking that things are going to turn out okay. You believe in it. You believe in yourself. You believe in America.

3:56 >> That humility and drive eventually led Khan to rise through the ranks at Flex-N-Gate, then a small automotive parts manufacturer. He left in 1978 to launch his own company, Bumperworks, where he began manufacturing an innovative one-piece bumper design. >> It was like, okay, I want to go into business for myself, innovate products. >> >> And that was a journey. You start in a garage you build a business. You go through the punches. different processes.

4:28 And I would say you know, automotive parts, being responsive to the customer's need, and innovating. >> In 1980, Khan acquired his former employer when Flex-N-Gate became available. By integrating Bumperworks into the business, he established the foundation for what would become an extensive automotive parts empire. >> And this is a different time where you didn't have private equity. You didn't have venture capital. The only money you had was what you had saved and what you could get from a bank. So, probably took 30 years, you know, to get to the point of sustainability.

5:05 >> Flex-N-Gate didn't just become sustainable. It is now a multi-billion-dollar firm that makes hundreds of millions of auto parts every year in 72 factories, including 32 in the US. >> If you drive a pickup truck or a large SUV, I'm touching your life in some ways you don't even know. >> Today, Khan uses his success to uplift communities that reflect his own beginnings. He says the share of immigrants in his urban and suburban factories is nearly 30% with the tally reaching almost 70% in one factory in Texas.

5:40 When he opened his $320 million factory in Detroit in 2018, there weren't enough locals to fill the jobs. >> >> We're sitting here in Detroit. This plant was built really was the largest investment made in the city of Detroit in 30 plus years. There weren't enough people >> >> to work in even in a factory like this which is higher tech more productive and more technology. And so this was a great example that Hamtramck had a large immigrant population.

6:15 they really needed work. they were dedicated. So we started recruiting. We started running a bus service to get them here and really get them acclimated. In Urbana they had refugees from Morocco, Tunisia. They wanted jobs to support their families and the work ethic. And they became a big part of really the workforce. I mean without that would have been really really difficult you know to be able to operate factories.

6:49 >> Forbes visited Flex-N-Gate's Detroit factory floor in April. >> You see the three languages here, Arabic, Bengali, and obviously English. >> So really that kind of shows where most of the workers are coming from. >> Yeah. >> Khan has turned his factories into a proving ground for the next generation of dreamers including Nadia Begum who is originally from Bangladesh. >> Some are from Mexico, some are from >> >> India, some are from Bangladesh, different different cities and so many different countries like Yemen, Iraq, and so many other countries.

7:26 >> Mhm. Do you ever feel like you're becoming more American the more time you spend here? >> Yes. >> You do? >> Yeah, I like to talk a lot like more friendly, more confident. And >> Are are American traits? >> Yes, more confident. Yes, more Yes, American trait. Like I have more confident. I was before I was so quiet and I'm like I was very shy. >> Okay. >> Like I'm talking to you, I'm talking in the camera. I would never thought I would do that.

8:00 >> They're going to, you know, build their American dream working here and for the families and supporting them. Manufacturing is really wealth creator, okay? So, there's a multiplier effect. For every manufacturing job, there's about five other jobs created. Okay, could be trucking, could be making steel or plastic here. You know, you look at retail. it creates a quarter of a job. Okay? So, when you look at the job creation, it's a much higher multiplier. And then wealth creation. That you know, here they're adding value and they're going to make a lot more money than a more unskilled >> What does a typical worker here make?

8:48 >> the worker here would be making in the mid-20s, starting about 22, working up to about 30 plus >> >> medical care is provided by the company 100% plus other benefits. So, I mean, all in our hourly with the benefits is in the low mid-30s. >> That's great. >> yeah. So, with that and the cost of living here in you know, in a urban area here, I mean, you can raise a family and, you know, own a house.

9:20 >> Amidst the heavy clutter of auto parts production, the factory floor is filled with not only immigrants, but a notable number of women. >> The work is designed to be ergonomically safe and really gender neutral. So, you don't need to lift heavy, it's safer and it opens up the design of the work really to, you know, smaller bigger, doesn't really matter. Our goal is we want it to be easy, efficient and then find the best person and not be limited to a physical size >> do you find that a lot of the women and particularly women from immigrant populations are very good workers and if so, why?

10:09 >> It's very simple. Yes, they're very good workers. Why? Because they need to support their families here and maybe even they're supporting them back to, you know, their country of origin. So, they're highly motivated and they want to get ahead. So, several of, you know, the women who started here, they want to move to a leadership role as a team leader or then move to a supervisor manager role. So, I mean for them it's a career.

10:40 >> I had dreams to take care of my family and have a wonderful life. So, I decided to come here and my parents was came here before, so I was there by myself, so there I wanted to stay with my family. >> While the factory floor offers empowerment, both the billionaire owner and his employees share the unique and often difficult burden of the immigrant experience. >> The part of the immigrant experience, you're going to have hardships. You are going to be discriminated against and it's not today. This This is a story that's going on for generations. 9/11 was like an inflection point.

11:22 That when, you know, that tragedy happened, all of a sudden if you were brown, you were a Muslim, all of a sudden you were a suspect. >> Do you carry your passport these days? >> >> do. I do. Yes. I don't go to a grocery store without the passport. >> I do get worried about my husband because he is not a citizen, right? Yeah, they just came here and he have permanent like residency. Like he had green card, but right now the situation is very difficult.

11:55 >> Yep. >> Yeah, for immigrants. So I do feel nervous sometimes. >> Khan refuses to let fear define his American experience. As one of the first immigrant owners of an NFL team, the Jacksonville Jaguars, he is actively working to welcome the next generation of citizens. >> I just learned recently that you actually hold naturalization ceremonies at the Jaguars stadium in Jacksonville. >> Yep. >> Tell me about them. How many people? Why you do that?

12:25 >> Well, you know, I for me it's really a special experience. And I had met met a federal judge in Jacksonville and she told me that, you know, she would do the swearing ceremony and then talking to her, you know, it's why don't we do it in the stadium? And really give them the recognition and give them an experience obviously that's going to live with them the rest of their lives. And I mean, she was just really excited and we've been doing it every year now towards the end of the season and there's 200 people part of that.

13:02 >> How do you think your definition of the American dream has changed now that you've been so tremendously successful? >> I think it really hasn't changed. I think you know, it's something very personal. My version of American dream would be different than yours or anyone else. The American dream is alive and well. And so I think instinctively know, the power of optimism, humility, I think those go without saying, but assimilation, I think, is really an important part. You know, it's not the melting pot anymore, it's more the salad. You keep your identity, and then you're part of the big salad.

13:45 >> What would you say to somebody that is in Pakistan right now and thinking about whether or not they want to come to America? Is it still the land of opportunity that it's always been? >> Louisa, it's absolutely 100% it is, okay? And I don't have to go to Pakistan. I mean, I could be, >> >> you know, in a taxi anywhere, a Barcelona or Paris or London. and you talk to the taxi drivers, they want their kids to come to America.

14:14 I mean, one person isn't going to screw up the American dream. That's not happening, okay? I think the roots are really deep. The opportunity is is still unique, probably, in history of civilization. Everyone I run I've never run into anyone who, you know, especially younger. The older say, "Well, I'm kind of set in my way, but I want my kids to go to America." And that's what I hear pretty much almost universally.