Hey, jute, you got the sack

[Maik]

Ralli Brothers: The history remains as a reminder of entrepreneurial abilities of economically shattered Greeks

Almost 100 years back a controversy broke out in the jute business in Calcutta. The Great War was underway and the War Office in London was realising what a long hard slog it would be. In Europe, soldiers were literally digging in for the realities of trench warfare, and this meant a huge requirement of sandbags to build the fortifications behind which they fought. And sandbags were made of jute.

The Calcutta companies knew they could not make huge profits from the war effort but they certainly expected a fair amount of business to come to them. So they were shocked to hear that the War Office had given their whole order to one company. And at this moment of Imperial crisis, the company wasn't even exactly British, but Ralli Brothers, whose owners were British gentlemen now, but were originally Greek, and still mostly employed Greek managers and agents.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/magazines/panache/ralli-brothers-the-history-remains-as-a-reminder-of-entrepreneurial-abilities-of-economically-shattered-greeks/articleshow/48311628.cms