Yesterday I was the moderator for a Panel discussion held by Vijayeebhava Alumni Association - a leading Entrepreneurs Forum in Kochi, where I am also the Jt.Secretary. We conduct monthly meetups bringing in speakers and storytellers to motivate the entrepreneur members. For a change we decided to bring a few of our members to share their story of entrepreneurs and it was indeed more inspiring !
Five gentlemen - all successful entrepreneurs doing different kinds of business were on stage.
Pradeep, a 27yr old young man shared his story of how an average Btech holder coming from a normal middle class family from rural Kerala got affected when he saw that his father and brother decided to quit farming because it was not profitable ( or rather it was a total loss) . This young man with his knowledge of IT , decided to make a portal which will give the consumers fresh organic vegetables directly from the farmers without layers of middlemen and thereby giving higher price for the farmers. His startup FarmersFreshzone has established credibility among the farmers and the buyers. He also narrated the challenges that he faced on his way and how he overcame the same.
Next, the story of a shy young man from Kannur ,Mr.Sijesh, who recently got the appreciation of the Prime Minister Mr.Modi himself for his product Shanthiz toothpowder which he came up with because he didn't find a good quality toothpowder(Umikkari) in his hometown. He explained the story of how he initially convinced his mother to prepare some powder and later his mother in law also joined . He then took support of entrepreneur's forum "Positive commune" and took mentorship of other entrepreneurs and finally launched the brand "Shanthiz" . On asking what his ambition is, he said, "I want to be a good human being" And i guess that's a great quality for an ethical entrepreneur. :)
Mr.Zakariya Joy became an entrepreneur by chance . He never aspired nor thought that he will become an entrepreneur. But yes, his international education in the field of waste management led him to take up a business out of his expertise . His company Northamps is currently consulting various Govt and NonGovt bodies in proper waste management. He said, his greatest milestone was when he received the contract as a service provider from the same organisation where he worked for a few years before starting his business. He started as as singleman service provider in 2015 and today has over 25 staff with a turn over of 2Cr. His vision is to make Kochi a sustainable waste managed district in a few years. His company got empanelled as one of the 20 approved vendors of Swacch Bharath Mission .
Mr.JibuJohn‘s life story was more like a film script when he narrated the small incidents which made him take it as a challenge. After his first failed business in export –import, which created a huge liability, he was forced to sell off his house. The family situation was worse and with no proper house, no one was willing to even marry him. When he moved out of his house in 2012, he wrote in his diary that he wants to buy a house and he wrote it with vivid description – the flowering trees on sides, the bus stop , the nearby church and everything what he wanted in his new house. He then started his business Agrobioenergy – which was into building biogas plants. He never knew what biogas was or what waste management was ! He started learning about the product after he started. His first sale was to his mentor who guided him to make the plant. He then never looked back. Today , he has over 6500 customers , and a turn over of 2Cr. He aspires to make his company a 10Cr business in the next two years. He bought his dream house in a couple of years of starting business. He says, everytime someone said “No” to him, he took it as a challenge. Once his neighbor denied when asked to give their car for a function and he went ahead and booked a Ford and bought the same in a few months time. Another instance , his pregnant wife wanted a tender coconut and his neighbors didn’t give (He did not have coconut trees in his land) . He decided to buy a coconut farm and today owns a big farm with a farm house and over 150 coconut trees. He is converting it to a farm tourism with a guest house and other amenities. And thus goes several incidents which spurred more action and achievement in this young man!
Mr.Justin Nirmal , the founder of Welcare chemicals and Nirmal Oil mills , was indeed a real inspirer amidst all of them . His is an epitome of perseverance and sheer will power that everytime he faced difficulties, he sprang up with double force! His narration of his life story which began at the age of 14 , when he left home to Chennai because he didn’t want to study. From then, it has been a life of struggle , failures and successes . He worked in small jobs and later became a soldier in Indian Army. But soon escaped from there as well . He worked in Mumbai for sometime as a Crane operator and later as a safety officer . With these credentials he went abroad to the Gulf . A major tragedy shook him on the day his son was born and he was burnt upto 17% in an accident as a crane operator there. He was hospitalized for over 4 months and later came back to hometown for further treatment. He could not walk and struggled hard to run a growing family. With nil income and with whatever savings remained, he did some more medical treatment to ensure that he starts walking. He started moving around with support. But he decided that he don’t want to go back to gulf for a job anymore. He decide to do business. With limited mobility, the only business he could think of at that time was gold lending and he started that. Later, he entered other areas . A friend helped him with the idea of detergent and phenol manufacturing. Today, his ventures, Welcare chemicals and Nirmal FMCG products are making a mark in this part of the world. He says, do not make a product because you like it or you designed it.Make a product that customer wants and there will be a buyer for it. We make extensive plans for the idea, the infrastructure , the investment etc but we never think of who will buy our product and why he will buy? If we start with that in mind, we can be successful .He says, he learnt this lesson with his various failures during the first ten years of his business. He is now launching Nirmal Tea in the next few months and is all set to dream higher.
Every successful person has a story of struggle and a story of perseverance. They are also embodiment of wisdom and insights which we may not learn from any universities !
I wish all these gentlemen to keep on doing their best in whatever they have dreamt and are doing!
#Vijayeebhava! :) <3
The video of the panel discussion will be soon available in Vijayeebhava youtube channel and do watch it for some motivation!
#CeeVee
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