Table Of Contents

S.no. Title Page No.

1 Story of Kalpana saroj 1-6

2 Story of Karsan bhai patel 7-12

3 Story of Vidit Aatrey and Sanjeev 13-16

Barnwal

4 Story of Tanya Mittal 17-19

5 Rajni Bector 20-23

 STORY OF KALPANA SAROJ
(CEO OFKAMANI TUBES)

Kalpana Saroj is described as the 'original slumdog millionaire', a compliment as backhanded as it is

degrading. Born in poverty and subjected to inhuman abuse, she overcame impossible odds to become one
of the most sought after entrepreneurs in the country. Today she is at the helm of a $112 million empire
that is growing rapidly. How she did that is as heart breaking as it is faith affirming. The only lesson you
need to understand from her journey, she insists, is that ivy league degrees and fancy MBAs are not what
make an entrepreneur. Grit, perseverance and a superhuman ability to have faith in yourself does.

Early life

I was born in Vidarbha. My father was a constable and we used to live in the police quarters assigned to us.
I had three sisters and two brothers. I was a bright student and loved school. In the quarters where we
stayed, I and the other children would play with abandon. It is the adults who posed the problem. They
expressed displeasure if I ever came over, scolded their children for playing with me and forbade them from
visiting my home or accept any food I offered.

This attitude, though hurtful, was unsurprising. It is the behaviour of the faculty at school that shocked me.
They tried to make me sit apart from other students, constantly prevented me from participating in
extracurricular activities and undermined any dreams I had for myself. It didn’t matter anyway as I was
pulled out of school in class seven and married off.

Child Marriage

My father was not a very educated man, but courtesy his job in the law enforcement, he was emancipated
in his views and wanted me to complete my education. But in the Dalit community where I grew up, child
marriage was the norm. My father’s refusal was drowned out by the clamour and clangour of the extended
family- people who placed little to no worth in the life of a little girl. My father was powerless against their
United front .I was powerless.
Married Life

The kind of society where I grew up, it was a given that life post marriage would not be a bed of roses. I
was mentally prepared for all the slavery that was expected of me. But even I couldn’t have foreseen the
hell that was to come next. I was a scrawny kid of twelve, responsible for all the cooking, cleaning, laundry
etc. for a household of about ten people. But that wasn’t enough. They were a sadistic lot and I was the
easiest scapegoat around. They would look for the slightest excuse- too much salt in food, house not
scrubbed clean enough and so on- to hit me, brutally kicking, punching and thrashing. They starved me and
heaped emotional and physical abuses on me. When my father came to see me six months later, he was
horrified. He said he saw a walking corpse, not his daughter.

Walk of shame

In my community, and most poverty-stricken societies across the nation, girls are burdens to be cast off at
marriage, never to be thought of again. When my father brought me back home, not a single eyebrow was
raised at what I had been made to go through. What caused the hysterics was the ‘shame’ I was bringing
upon my family, community and society at large by daring to return home a married girl.

I was determined not to be a burden on my father. I applied at a local women’s constable recruitment camp,
nursing school and even the military. But either my age or lack of education got me rejected. Forlorn, I
picked up some tailoring skills and started sewing blouses at rupees ten apiece.

But the levels of hate and taunts kept rising. My father gently suggested I go back to school, but I could not
fathom putting up with the humiliation and vitriol coming my way every time I tried to leave home. People
kept whispering that only if I killed myself would the dishonour that I had wrought upon my family be
expunged. So I obliged.

A second chance

Living is hard, but dying is easy. These were my last thoughts as I downed a bottle of poison. My aunt
caught me in the act and rushed me to the local hospital. I was in a critical condition and doctors informed
my parents that if I didn’t regain consciousness within twenty four hours then all hope was lost.
I don’t know how it is I didn’t die, given the quantity of poison I had had. But when I opened my eyes in
the hospital room I was not the same person anymore. Gone was the naïve helpless girl the world had
deemed too worthless to exist. I felt strong, recharged and empowered. I had been given a second chance at
life and wasn’t going to waste it on self-pity for one more second.

A new life

I convinced my parents to let me move to Mumbai, where I stayed with an uncle and committed to my
tailoring gig full time. A little while later, due to bureaucratic shuffles, my father lost his job. I was the
eldest daughter and only earning member of the family. I put down my savings as deposit and rented a
small room at forty rupees a month. My siblings and parents joined me here. The space was cramped and
money was
tight, but we were together and that’s what mattered.

The tragedy that made me an entrepreneur

As I mentioned, money was scarce. Amidst this, my youngest sister fell ill. We could not afford her
treatment. We scrounged everywhere, but to no avail. She kept crying, “Didi save me. I don’t want to die.”
But I could not help her. Her words are seared in my memory. That’s when I realized that life without
money is useless and I was going to earn lots of it. I started working sixteen hours a day, a habit I still

maintain. Getting started

Getting started

I went through various government schemes and applied for a loan (Mahatma Jyoti Bhai Phule scheme).
With that small seed fund, I started a small furniture business where I sold cheap versions of high-end
furniture from Ulhasnagar. I did not give up my tailoring gig either. Our circumstances gradually began to
improve.

I learnt everything about being an entrepreneur from the ground up through this business- sourcing raw
materials, the art of negotiating, identifying market trends and, above all, holding my own among a sea of
crooks trying to take advantage of me.
I also started a small NGO where we aggregated and distributed knowledge about the various government
loans and schemes available to people like me. I did not want a single child, boy or girl, go through what
had happened to me. I wanted to let them know that they could do wonderful things with their life if only
they cared to find out how.

Seizing opportunities

It took me two years to pay off my initial loan. Meanwhile I was on the lookout for other business
opportunities and an interesting offer came my way. The proprietor of a litigation locked land need cash
urgently. He offered to sell me his property for a pittance because the land was practically worthless to
him. I ‘begged, borrowed and stole’ the funds to buy it and then threw myself into the ensuing legal torture

that unfolded.

The next two years I was in and out of the courts, trying to get my property cleared up. After that was
successful. I wanted to get the land developed, but had no resources for the same. So I took on a partner
who agreed to invest if his share was sixty five per cent of the profit. Soon a building came up on that land.
With my thriving furniture and real estate business, I felt life had come a full circle. But the best was yet to
come.

The strange case of Kamani Tubes

Ramjibhai Kamani was a disciple of both Nehru and Gandhi, a pioneering entrepreneur in a newly
independent India. After independence he came to Kurla and opened three companies- Kamani Tubes,
Kamani Engineering and Kamani Metal. His ideas were firmly rooted in worker rights and their welfare.
He had big visions for the country’s economic progress and wanted to be a key player in the nation’s
development.

All went well for him. But in 1987, not long after his death, dispute broke out among his sons. The Union
at the time went to court to demand that the ownership be transferred to the workers since the owners were
acting against the best interests of the company. At that time such changes were sweeping across countries
like France, Germany and Japan. In India Kamani became the first company where the Supreme Court
passed the ownership from the legal heirs to the Workers Union. But if there are going to be three thousand
owners, who is going to do the actual work?
Soon tussles and the inevitable ego clashes broke out. The union leaders had no vested interest in the
company, they were just out to make a quick buck. Since this was the first time the rights of the workers
had been, supposedly, upheld people assumed that Kamani industries was at the forefront of a revolution.

Banks poured in with loans, extensions and credits. The government provided them with various funds and
benefits. They had huge capital and no expertise with which to utilise it. From 1987 to 1997 the company
kept limping along. Shutting it down was not an option. Since the servants were the masters, who was
supposed to do the shutting down? Once the investors realized what was actually going on, they came
down heavily. The Electricity and water supply was cut. Once IDBI surveyed the situation and realized that
the workers had become defaulters, the court mandated that a new promoter be brought in.140 litigation
cases had been filed against the company. A debt of 116 crores had been incurred. Two unions were
battling it out for supremacy. Of the three Kamani firms, two had already gone into liquidation. The third
seemed set to go down the same way. That is when the workers came to me, entreating me to save their
company and, thus, their livelihood. My flourishing NGO and my business acumen had earned me a decent
reputation among certain circles. My knowledge was nil, but the thought of 566 starving families gave me
pause. I have nothing to lose, I thought.

Battle

In my first order of business I formed a core team of ten, each an expert in their respective fields. Then we
hired some consultants and created a proposal on how to go about fixing the damage. When I took my
proposal to the board (which comprised of several IDBI and bank representatives), they said they would
give me the go ahead if I agreed to sit on the board and took charge of all liabilities. I agreed. They
appointed me president. This was in 2000.

From 2000 to 2006, we were just running in and out of courts. I realized that penalty taxes and interest
were the main contributing factors of the 116 crore amount. I approached the then finance minister and
pleaded with him to forgive the penalty and interest. “If the company goes into liquidation, then no one will
benefit,” I told him. “This way at least the lenders can get their money back.”

He held extensive talk with the banks. I feel proud to report what happened next. Not only were the
penalty and interest amounts forgiven, they deducted 25 per cent from the principle amount as well. Now
that the debt had been reduced to less than half the original sum, life got much easier.
We were told to pay off the bank loans within seven years. We did it within one. We were instructed to
clear the workers back wages within three years. We did it within three months. We gave out five crores
and ninety lakhs, instead of the requisite five crores only.

While we were paying off debts and clearing liability, it was imperative to focus on restarting
manufacturing and getting the firm back on its feet. We started by replacing all the machinery which either
had been stolen or fallen to disrepair. The union had also sold the land in Kurla, on which the factory
operated, long before I came on board. In 2009 I shifted the factory to Wada, where I had bought a plot of

seven acres.

Future

Ramji Bhai Kamani had started Kamani industries with a vision for what the newly minted nation of India
would look like and the radical role companies like his would play in the nation’s growth. I share those
dreams and will take this company forward in the way he envisioned it- on principles of justice, fair play

and equality.

I am in the process of acquiring the other two branches of the Kamani firm that had gone into liquidation-
soon I will have reunited the empire that once was.

Advice

Hard work is not overrated. It is fail proof. What you want- whatever it is- you shall get if you apply
yourself wholeheartedly and work towards it with a single minded vision.
 Story of Karsanbhai Patel

Born in 1945 in Mehsana, Gujarat; Karsan bhai Khodidas Patel is an Indian industrialist who founded a
brand that has remained one of the most famous ones amongst the Indian middle-class – Nirma group!
A well-known entrepreneur and philanthropist that he is; Karsan bhai started Nirma as a one-man operation
and has brought to a stage where today Nirma has 18000+ employees and revenues worth more than
Rs.7,000 Cr.
Nirma is a group of companies Headquartered in Ahmedabad, Gujarat and deals in manufacturing of
products that range from cosmetics, soaps, detergents, salt, soda ash, LAB (Linear Alkyl Benzene) to
Injectables.
Nirma as a company is the best example that proves that if you supply at the right price, the product itself
has the potential to create its own demand. And evidently, today soaps and detergents have almost 90%
penetration in India. To add to that, the group’s two brands, Nirma and Nima with 32 variants, are
distributed amongst more than 2 million retail outlets, which go on to generate INR 4000 Cr ($833.30
Million) in gross sales.
Presently, although Karsan bhai acts as the Chairman of the group, but the Bollywood-buff unofficially
leads a retired Karsan bhai’s and his two sons and son-in-law manage the show. Rakesh K Patel (MBA)
takes care of procurement and logistics, whereas Hiren K Patel (Chemical Engineer & MBA) takes care of
marketing and finance and lastly, human resources and Healthcare Industry (Nirlife healthcare) is managed
by Kalpesh Patel.
Karsan bhai is one of the most inspiring success stories of his era and today’s times. Forbes listed Karsan
bhai’s net worth as $640 million in 2005. He is also referred to as K. K. Patel by his near and dear ones.

Early Life

Karsan bhai was born into a family of farmers in the north of Gujarat! After completing his B.Sc. in
Chemistry at age 21, he started working as a lab technician at New Cotton Mills, of Lal bhai Group and
then moved on to working at Geology and Mining Department of the state Government.

While at it, in 1969 Karsan bhai manufactured phosphate-free Synthetic Detergent Powder at the Gujarat
Government’s Department of Mining and Geology, and started selling it locally.

He sold this new yellow powder at INR 3.50 per kg, at a time when HUL’s (Hindustan Unilever) Surf was
priced at INR 15. And named it Nirma; after his daughter name Nirupama (who had died in an accident).
The packing and the formulation took place in a 10x10ft room in his house and Karsan bhai was easily able
to sell about 15-20 packets/day while on his way to office on his bicycle, which was roughly 15kms away.
With much obviousness, the product in no time gained a huge demand in Ruppur (Gujarat).
He continued this protocol for the next three long years and gradually grew his customer base as well. In
1972, once he was 100% confident about his home-based venture, Karsan bhai decided to take the next
leap and quit his job.

Soon after that, he set up shop at small workshop in an Ahmedabad suburb. And within no time, Nirma
established itself in Gujarat and Maharashtra!

By 1985, Nirma washing powder had become one of the most popular, household detergents in many parts
of the country.

More than 18 years later; in 1990, Nirma launched their second product ‘Nirma Super Detergent’, a spray-
dried blue detergent powder which was followed by the launch of their high-TFM (total fatty matter)
content

Nirma Beauty Soap. And with that, Nirma began an aggressive expansion of their product portfolio!
Soon in 1994, the group got listed on the stock exchanges as well!

By the year 1999, Nirma had become a major consumer brand which offered a wide range of detergents,
soaps and personal care products. And because these were made without some phosphates, Nirma was also
more environment friendly than the rest.

Now that the world was moving towards advancement and better technology; to match the pace, Nirma
also brought in the latest technology for its manufacturing facilities at six of their locations across India.
Their success in this highly competitive soap and detergent market so far was dependent on its brand
promotion efforts, which was complemented by its distribution reach and market penetration. This was also
largely fuelled by housewife-friendly advertisement jingles & its motto of high quality and low price as
well.

As a matter of fact, Nirma’s network was a compilation of more than 400 distributors and over 2 Million
retail outlets across the country. And because of such deep-rooted network, Nirma was able to reach out to
the smallest of villages around.

And with that, Nirma became the largest selling detergent in India, that to within just a decade.
The chain of events that made Nirma what it is, was as follows: –
Nirma entered the premium segment and launched toilet soaps — Nirma bath and Nirma beauty soap,
along with premium detergent Super Nirma detergent. And today holds a 20% market share in soap cakes
and about 35% in detergents, overall.

In 1995, Karsan bhai started the Nirma Institute of Technology in Ahmedabad, which grew into a leading
engineering college in Gujarat. And under the Nirma Education and Research Foundation launched several
projects:

 Institute of Technology (1995),

 Institute of Management (1996),
 Institute of Diploma Studies (1997),
 Institute of Pharmacy (2003),
 Institute of Science (2004),
 Institute of Law (2007)

After successfully countering competition from HUL and building a solid & unbreakable market for itself
in the lower-end of the detergents and toilet soap market; Nirma decided to enter the upper-end, primarily
to retain its middle class consumers who would graduate to the upper end. And with that they launched
toilet soaps for the premium segment!

With an increased turnover by 17% to INR 12.17 Billion; by 2000, Nirma now had a 15% share in the
toilet soap segment and more than 30% share in the detergent market.

Consolidated the entire educational structure into Nirma University of Science and Technology in 2003

 In 2004;
 Nirma’s detergent did a business of 800,000 tonnes – which was one of the largest volumes sold in
the world under a single brand.
 Also, since their production was massively dependent on labour, the company also became one of the
leading employers of the country who were employing 14,000 employees.
 Launched the Nirma labs education project, which was aimed at training and incubating
entrepreneurs!
 In November, 2007, Nirma acquired the American raw materials company ‘Searles Valley Minerals
Inc.’ – and with that Nirma Group became one of the Top-7 Soda Ash manufacturers in the world.
 In 2008, due to another acquisition of massive production facilities near Ahmedabad, Nirma stepped
into the field of healthcare as well with the name – ‘Nirlife’, with an aim of manufacturing and marketing
intravenous fluids, lifesaving drugs, amino acids etc.
 Nirlife was able to achieve a grand market share of the domestic & global market and went on to
become the poster child for entrepreneurship.

And today, although Karsan bhai continues to hold the position of the Chairman, he leads the life of
Retirement and has handed over the operation control to his younger son Hiren who acts as the Managing
Director, whereas the elder brother Rakesh is the Vice-Chairman.
Today, under their collective leadership – Nirma has grown on to have 26 different major manufacturing
plants pan India such as:

 Soda Ash,
 Linear Alkyl Benzene (LAB),
 Packaging,
 Soaps,
 Detergents,
 Edible & Industrial,
 Salt, etc.

Apart from that; Alpha Olefin Sulfonate, Sulfuric Acid, Glycerin, Single Super Phosphate, Infusions,
Injectables, Critical Care Products, Medical Disposables, Salt, Cement, Single Super Phosphate, Castor
Oil, Multilayer Tubes, Seamless Tubes, Tube Laminate, Labels, Flexible, Laminate, Paper & Plastic Cups,
Tarpaulin, and Injection Moulding, individually produce various products.

Marketing Strategy
‘Marketing Mantra’ of Nirma: “Low Cost, High Quality”

Clearly, Nirma had completely rewritten the rules of the game, in a blink of an eye – by offering good
quality products at drastically low price. This was also one of the prime reasons of its success too!

When majorly all overlooked this trick; Nirma aggressively used it as their marketing strategy!
To keep production costs at a bare minimum, the company very innovatively undertook captive production
plants for their raw materials. And with that started their backward integration programme!

Under this programme, two high-tech plants were established at Baroda and Bhavnagar, which went live in
2000. And a drastic fall in the cost for raw-materials was seen. And unlike the point-of-view of the critics;
these plants went on to stay ahead of their given schedule and that too at a much lower cost than estimated.

With a staffing of as low as 500; these plants managed to stay ahead of Tata’s Chemical plant, which was
about twice the capacity and employed 10 times the number of people!

To add to that; Nirma Group also curtailed its costs of distribution by eliminating mediators and made sure
that the product went directly from the factory to the distributor. It was as simple as; “Nirma sent the stock,
the distributor sent the money.”

Now a major problem arrived when Nirma started to grow and their salesmen started to directly approach
the retailers, who till then used to work with multinational brands.
The problem was that these retailers were habituated to taking the stock on long credits and as a special
favour. And as & when their salesmen went to ask for the payment, he was either shown the door, offered a
part payment (even when the material was sold), or the material was given back.
This indeed was becoming a real pain for the company! And huge accumulated credit in the market was
making it difficult for Nirma to operate. This is when Karsan bhai took the control in his hands and called
in a meeting of the entire team one day. He took a very risky and a drastic step in that meeting.
India was changing at that time, and he clearly knew the power of advertising and promotions. Hence, in
the meeting; he at first, asked the team members to go out and collect either the money or material in full.
Obviously, this shocked the retailers as well as their competitors and market was without Nirma.

Soon after that; Karsan bhai bombed the media with Nirma Campaigns; for one full month: “WASHING
POWDER NIRMA, WASHING POWDER NIRMA, DOODH SI SAFEDI…
These ads immensely raised the consumer demands, but obviously Nirma was nowhere to be found in the
market! When the demands reached its peak, the Retailers started to look for Nirma. And this was exactly
what Karsan bhai was waiting for.

Karsan bhai called for another meeting of his team, Delivery vans were cleaned, Material was loaded and
NIRMA hit the market again. But on once simple condition: All cash on delivery, No Credits!
This changed the outlook of the brand – Overnight, without any damages and gave a fantastic fight back to
the leading global brands.

With that Nirma modified their earlier Marketing Mantra to: “Give your consumer what he wants, when he
wants, where he wants and at the price he wants, selling will be done quite automatically.”
Their catchy ad campaign along with their catchy jingly has since then continued to echo in the drawing
rooms of middle-class Indian homes through the decades.

This jingle, which was first aired on radio in 1975, was broadcast on television in 1982 and since then is
one of the longest running jingles. Such is their confidence that; even today every packet of Nirma that
Karsanbhai Patel sells to his consumers comes with a money-back guarantee. Nothing has changed!

Achievements

 Conferred with Padma Shri Award for the year 2010by the President of India Mrs Pratibha Patil

 Karsan bhai was ranked #92 richest person in India by Forbes magazine (2009)

 Awarded an honorary doctorate by Florida Atlantic University, recognizing his exceptional

entrepreneurial and philanthropic accomplishments (2001)
 Awarded with the ‘Udyog Ratna’ by the Federation of Association of Small Scale Industries of India
(FASII), New Delhi (1990)

 Felicitated as an ‘Outstanding Industrialist of the Eighties’ by the The Gujarat Chamber of Commerce

 Served two times as Chairman of the Development Council for Oils, Soaps and Detergents
 Story of Vidit Aatrey and Sanjeev Barnwal
(Founder of Meesho)

Bengaluru-based Meesho, a social commerce platform, was founded by IIT-Delhi alumni Vidit Aatrey and
Sanjeev Barnwal in 2015. Meesho, which literally means ‘Meri Shop’ (my shop), provides potential
entrepreneurs with a virtual shop, who otherwise would find it difficult to start a business.

“We help people start an online business on Facebook, WhatsApp or Instagram without having them to
invest in it”.

Today, Meesho has successfully created an alternate distribution channel by empowering housewives,
young mothers, aspiring entrepreneurs, students, and teachers to launch, build, and promote their online
business. All of this without any investment - a problem that most people who want to start a business face.

Today, Meesho has successfully created an alternate distribution channel by empowering housewives,
young mothers, aspiring entrepreneurs, students, and teachers to launch, build, and promote their online
business. All of this without any investment - a problem that most people who want to start a business face.

Meesho’s journey started when Vidit and Sanjeev met Anu, a housewife from Whitefield in Bengaluru.
Like many other housewives, Anu was running an offline boutique named after her. “Most boutiques in
India run
out of business because of making the wrong inventory bet,” Vidit says.

But Anu’s story was different. She was passionate about her business, and to keep moving ahead, she used
what was readily available to her - WhatsApp.

What also worked for Anu is that instead of buying the inventory, she connected with suppliers through
WhatsApp. These suppliers would send her photographs of the new collection, and Anu curated them to
sell on WhatsApp community.

By doing this, she was able to eliminate the risks of buying and stocking inventory. Over time, Meesho
replicated this model across the country, and since then, there has been no looking back.

Investors’ darling Today, Meesho has two million sellers across 700 towns in India on its platform. In fact,
it also provides distribution access to another 20,000 manufacturers through its platform. And this is
perhaps the reason why it caught Facebook’s attention, and became the first Indian company to be backed
by the social media giant. An investors’ darling, the startup has raised $215.2 million till now. Despite
being favourite among investors, Meesho had its own share of ups and downs.

“We spent more than a year raising Series A. Investors initially didn’t believe we could build an
ecommerce platform by letting housewives and students start their businesses through WhatsApp and
Facebook,”

“A lot of people whom I went to ask for money laughed at me saying this was not possible,” he says. But
now, the sentiment has changed because of the scale we have achieved, he adds.
The tables have turned, and Meesho is today backed by some of the most prominent names in the country
and across the world including Facebook, Naspers, SAIF Partners, Sequoia, Shunwei Capital, and RPS.

Homemaker-turned entrepreneur

Growing at 50X for the last two years, Meesho is now on a mission to solve a ‘core societal problem’. The
startup wants to create 20 million micro-entrepreneurs by 2020. And Vidit believes that for a product like
Meesho, “there is a strong market need - not just in big cities but also the smaller towns of India”.

Today, besides Hindi, the Meesho app is available in more than seven local languages. And about 40
percent of its daily usage comes from the non-English speaking audience.

Unlike the common belief that women's participation in the economy is really small in India, up to 90
percent of Meesho’s customer base is women. The startup wants to empower homemakers who are
ambitious about
starting their own business.

“Women have been very creative in starting businesses from their homes,” says Vidit.

He recalls an encounter with a woman who once told him she had been requesting her husband for money
for the last 20 years to buy products to start a business, but her request was rejected every time. When she
discovered Meesho, she told Vidit: “Now I can fulfil my dream of my home-based business without any
investment”.

Meesho, thus, is providing an ‘escape route’ to all these homemakers. What started with apparels, Meesho
now helps women entrepreneurs sell a range of products including cosmetics, jewellery, accessories, and
kitchenware.

“Now, women are also setting up their own travel agency over WhatsApp using our platform,” Vidit says.
Tailor-made for local customers

India is a heterogeneous market, and the things bought by people living in metros is very different
compared to what people living in smaller towns buy.

This is the reason why Vidit strongly believes that when a product is serving to the needs of Tier II and
Tier III cities, it has to be tailored to the target audience’s local taste.

“The kind of products you see when you open the app in Kerala are very different from the products you
see
on opening the app in Tamil Nadu,” says Vidit.

The logic is simple - the kind of saree women wear in Kochi is different from the ones Chennai women
sport.

Community building

Meesho is now looking to hand the product to more such sellers, especially women, who can be potential
entrepreneurs.

“A lot of women who come to our platform have a strong intention of doing this (business), but have no
idea
of how to go about it,” Vidit says.

For that, Meesho is adopting the idea of community mentorship. The top sellers who have been using the
platform for some time now, mentor the newer ones. The new sellers, on reaching certain targets, reward
their mentors.
Additionally, the top sellers act as ‘quality squad’ to check the quality of new products added to the
platform. Thus, Meesho is looking at solving how to get more sellers on its platform - customers who
intend to sell on
Meesho’s platform but are unaware of the app usage.

Catering to the ‘Bharat’ of India

“A lot of people in India think ‘Bharat’ is a village or a Tier II or Tier III town,” says Vidit.

According to him, Bharat is not a geography but an ‘income segment’, and these income segments exist
everywhere in India.

For most of Meesho’s users, the monthly family income is less than Rs 30,000.

“For them, to make an extra Rs 5,000 or Rs 10,000 is very significant,” he says.

Talking about Bharat, he says, we are actually referring to this income segment which is available in every
corner of India - irrespective of whether it is a town or a city.

“In the first one year, most of our growth used to happen in the top four metros, but with this income
segment,” Vidit says. Once Meesho scaled, they spotted a similar growth even in the Tier II and Tier III
cities from the same income segment.

“Now, we are growing at the same speed both in Bengaluru and Kolhapur, and the behaviour and
affordability are very similar in this segment. There are a lot of ‘Bharat’ people even in cities like
Bengaluru and Delhi,”
he adds.
 Story of Tanya Mittal
(Owner of HandMadeLove)

Establishing a handicraft business at the age of 19 with zero initial investment, which has now
reached INR 4-5 lakhs a month, and becoming Miss Tourism India 2018 and then Miss Tourism Asia
2018 by the age of 23 Tanya Mittal, Gwalior (India), has earned her name much honor.

They say, If you are young adding to which you’re a woman, ‘entrepreneurship’ shouldn’t even be
considered as an option you can look forward to. The ones who go against the grain face logic troubles in
their way. As a woman and an entrepreneur myself, I can comprehend the situations well in facing the
perturbing attitude that society holds against such personalities.

Indeed, life is stuffed with people and situations, whose sole aim is to hinder a woman’s progress; more
times than a lady can count it seems like the so called man dominant society is completely reluctant to see a
maverick woman growing. So, here is the story of one incredible and successful young and beautiful girl,
who achieved great success as an entrepreneur.

Tanya Mittal Early Life

Talking exclusively with Business Alligators Tanya Mittal spoke of her life before appearing as an
entrepreneur, saying, “I’ve always been a creative person whilst having keen interests in sports as well, in
my school days I was a national Volley Ball champion followed by being a woman car race winner. Having
to be blessed, being born in a business class family, a pampered childhood was an obvious thing, till I
entered my hostel life.”

Tanya speaks of her early college life as, “Hostel life was a hard time, till I discovered ways of keeping
myself occupied with what makes me happy. With hard time, I mean things were troublesome as my
projects were stolen. In the stream of architecture, our days were booked with projects and sheets to be
submitted in a limited period of time. Out of jealousy or what, in the beginning, there was barely a single
person I could trust as ‘friend’. The worse was when I started to develop severe signs of depression in the
third year, being so disappointed with a normal routine, just like any other girl who sat back on their hostel
bed, crammed theories, scored well, and aims at having a decent job. My thought process was different,
and I very well knew my potential, and abilities are getting blocked by the hostel walls. My aspirations
weren’t meant to be constrained by what most people are doing, but there was a point when they were.
Standing in and moulding myself was never a problem, but more than anything else I honor my
uniqueness, so, I chose to be different, and stand out of the box instead. I don’t compromise on my
personality.”

She added, “I am the associate director of Bliss NGO as well, which works for the social welfare of the
society. While being in the hostel, I use to visit a nearby village to help people. In my opinion, if God has
graced you with wealth and knowledge or in any other way, you should help those who are in need.”

Being desirous of knowledge, learning something new came hand in hand with every day’s sunrise.
However, pedagogy feels relevant only when I get to know its logic, and anything without a logical ground
becomes too heavy for me to digest.” Says Tanya Mittal

Establishing  HandMadeLove

Tanya says, “It’s not that, I always planned to start HandMadeLove, but, I always knew working under
someone else isn’t my cup of tea. A friend of mine encouraged me to give my creativity a professional
ground. More than anything else, it makes.

“I made an Instagram page with the username ‘HandMadeLove’ on February 4, posting a few pictures of
my previously made craft items. It only had 8 followers at that point of time, but I got 2-3 orders as the
month had Valentines Week coming. Now, I have more than 60k active followers and have delivered
10,000 items across the globe.”

“My monthly turnover in these 8-9 months has grown up to 3-4 Lakhs INR net. Though I still make all of
the items myself, with a few helping hands. I help in my dad’s business, and I also have adopted 3 kids to
be raised. Money and goods donation is something that I do regularly no matter how busy my schedule
gets. I have recently added some resellers as well, giving them a 20% margin on every sale.” says Tanya.

Motivation

When asked about her role model, Tanya said, “I am my own role model, and it takes some real hard
efforts to compete with your own self in the search of betterment. Maybe someday, I will be the next
Ambani, but till then I don’t mind being sleep deprived. I don’t plan to move out to inhabit a big town; I
aspire to make my own town a metropolitan. And I believe in backing my words with actions. My mother
has always fought the world for me, and she is my strength.”

Words of Wisdom
“In the society, we live in, no one supports a woman entrepreneur, irrespective of what background she
holds. It only gets more and more arduous to make people comprehend that you aspire of setting a new
initiative. It will never be a matter of concern if a person speaks of putting herself/himself into a job, which
may jeopardize her living standards with a stressed 12-hour work and low salary. But, it always becomes a
huge argument if there’s a girl, talking about being a businesswoman. It sounds senseless to most!” Tanya
says.

“8/10 people take you as an eye candy more than a potential entrepreneur, the aspirations are hence, dabbed
or crushed. Even thoughts aren’t supported, and it becomes almost impossible for a girl to raise investment.
I was 19 when I started this business, just turned 20 two months back, and in these two decades that I have
lived, I have been through much that most people comprehend but never seem to adopt.”

Tanya Mittal said, “Taking care of your own self is very crucial; you can only make the best out of your
capabilities when you’re satisfied with what you achieve working hard each day of your life. Hard work
always pays off. Believing in your dreams, setting your happiness as the top priority in your life can make
any person an achiever. I never let tears shed off my eyes, as to me my smile is precious. I never feel tired,
even after working 18 hours a day, as this is something that garners me reasons to felicitate and stay happy.
I am appreciated by thousands, each day I follow my passion and that is something that makes me lucky.
Every day is a goal to achieve, take care of yourself, pamper yourself and things will fall in place no matter
what life brings to bother you.”

What difference does it make to earn at an early age?

“Alike most, when one starts to make money of their own, especially at a young age, it brings sheer
pleasure and great confidence. Above everything else, you stay away from crudity and absurdity of the
world outside. This is when you learn! You aren’t goalless like most of your age, even if you’re a teenager,
and this is the first step jeopardize being successful. People speak of making India economically strong, to
make India a place where equality resides, how many have actually initiated something that can bring such
positive change? Our ladies still compromise on most of their dreaming, our teens are still busy in
cramming the syllabus and partying, men still dominate girls, and there’s so much, going in the wrong
direction. Partying has no age, what undergraduates should follow their dreams, garner professional
experience in them, and not just makes money but also proves your worth. Why not to practically bring a
change than cry over the wrongs?” said Tanya Mittal.

Modeling

“I always wanted to represent India and finally got the chance with modeling.  I worked really hard
with right intentions and won Miss India Tourist and Miss Asia Tourist,” said Tanya.
 Story of Rajni Bector
(founder of Cremica)

Rajni Bector was born in Karachi, but spent her early years in Lahore.
"My father was a government servant holding a very high position, but then there was Partition."

The family moved to Delhi where Rajni completed her schooling and then joined Miranda House. In 1957,
when she was barely 17, Rajni got married into a business family in Ludhiana. A family very different
from

the 'service' class family she grew up in but still, a broad-minded one.
"I completed my graduation after marriage," she recalls.

Rajni then got busy raising her three sons. In time, all three went to boarding school in Mussoorie, leaving Rajni
with an empty nest. And a lot of free time.

"I was very involved with social service projects through the Lions Club. In fact I started the Lioness movement
in Punjab and then helped to open the clubs all over north India."

Rajni also worked with the Red Cross and headed the Ludhiana Ladies' Club, which was the club to belong to in
the city.

"Initially I worked as the Secretary, then I was President for two years, then they created a special post of
Chairperson so that I could keep contributing!'

So much was the energy and enthusiasm Rajni brought in. To whatever she did.

Still... I felt, I am not doing something very constructive..." she recalls.

The idea of a woman from a well-to-do family 'working' was unheard of. So what more could she do?

"I was very fond of cooking. So I enrolled for a course in baking at the Punjab Agricultural University."
And she would keep creating occasions to try out her recipes.

“I used to call people over for lunches and evening teas and dinners. And to the little ones I would say, 'Come
over for swimming' and bake them some treats!'

Rajni's ice creams, cakes and cookies quickly became the talk of the town.

It was so good, friends would say "You can make a business out of it!"

So just for fun, Rajni did just that. Using a hand-churner she started making different kinds of ice cream and
putting up stalls at local fetes and funfairs.

"I remember my first stall was right next to Kwality. I was scared but surprisingly my ice cream was a hit!'

In fact, there was such a crowd at her stall that even the Kwality manager came over to taste her ice cream!

"I got a very good response and then people said — 'can you do catering?"

And so it became a 'business'. Operating from her home kitchen, with one small oven and an initial investment
of Rs. 300. Word spread and orders for parties and functions kept pouring in. Sometimes Rajni would refuse but
they wouldn't take 'no' for an answer.

They said, "Mainu kuch nahin pata... hamara order to lena hi padega."

Rajni recalls one such early order — for 2000 puddings — at the wedding hosted by the local MP.

"It seemed impossible but somehow I did it. I cannot forget how everybody was coming and appreciating me."

Rajni worked with heart and soul, but neglected the 'head' part. She ended up selling below cost price, and
incurred a loss. That's when her husband Dharamvir stepped in with the right advice.

"You are working very hard but you need to see this as a business," he said. "You must expand, commercialise,
do everything properly!'

Thus in 1978, with an investment of Rs. 20,000, Rajni set up a small ice-cream manufacturing unit in the
backyard of the kothi. Now, she could take bigger orders — for marriage parties. And although she could hire
helpers, Rajni preferred to do almost everything herself.

“I never believed anyone else can do the job as well as me. So I used to get up early in the morning, sleep late at
night.... I used to work much more than 12 hours a day!"
But there was one golden rule — when the children were at home, they should feel their mother's presence.

"I was very particular... I have to be there with them for every meal, for their studies, whenever they want me!'

1990 was a turning point. Terrorism was still flourishing in Punjab and there was a lot of tension between Hindu
traders and Sikh farmers. The Bectors' 107-year-old business in trading food grains, oil and fertiliser was badly
affected.

“There was an attempt to kidnap our eldest son — Ajay. Then we thought, maybe this business is not our cup of
tea and slowly we wound it up."

By this time, Cremica was a respectable Rs. 5 crore business. The family decided to put all its eggs into this
new oven and bake a bigger cake. Rajni's eldest son joined soon after graduation, followed by her middle son
Akshay who completed engineering from Manipal. The youngest — Anoop — was preparing for his CA, but
left it midway.

"He said, 'Why waste time on qualifications — let me join the business and grow it"

Do se chaar, aur chaar se aath haath — business badta gaya family members ke saath.

With the involvement of her husband and sons, the passion-led business started by Rajni turned ambitious and
professional. The business grew phenomenally, touching a turnover of Rs. 20 crore.

At the same time there came a new and very big opportunity. In 1995, McDonald's decided to enter India and
was scouting around for local suppliers.
The company zeroed in on Cremica, for supply of buns.

Keeping high standards is a hard thing. But it also makes it easy to get more business, especially from
multinationals. Cremica's factory in Phillaur began making the biscuits sold by Cadbury's and ITC Sunfeast.

'We also sell biscuits, sauces and condiments under our own brand name — Mrs Bector's Cremica foods."

The scale and size of the business grew rapidly. By 2006, Cremica was clocking revenues of Rs. 100 crore, with
30% year-on-year growth. Goldman Sachs took a 10% stake, for Rs. 50 crore. The funds were used to further
energise and expand the business.

'We now have a unit in Greater Noida and in Bombay. All very modern, fully automated plants.'
Another new plant with a capacity of 5000 tons per month was recently installed at Una in Himachal Pradesh.
In 2011-12, Cremica crossed annual sales of Rs. 650 crore. The company now employs over 4000 people across
locations.

With highly skilled professionals in all important functions.

"To be frank... I am almost retired now," says Rajni. "The children are managing the business very well."

However there is one thing she still looks into personally — new products and new recipes. After all, taste and
quality are the two pillars Cremica stands on.

“I am most involved in the biscuits and bakery section. I am still there to see what we are making, how we are
making, let us experiment something — can we do it better!"

At 71, Rajni has some health issues — such as a back problem — which she takes in her stride.

"I never bothered about myself at all.... There were so many days I used to sleep 3-4 hours only. I was balancing
all my relations... all my family... work... everything..."

The result has been phenomenal. And so has the recognition. Awards from the government and industry bodies
have come raining down on Rajni.

“I have got so many awards that I have lost count," she smiles.

Though she does remember fondly the one she received from the President of India, Abdul Kalam, in 2005.

Abdul Kalam said, "Oh... so you are the ice cream lady, na?"

No matter how big Cremica gets, that is how Rajni will always be remembered.

The lady who stepped into her kitchen yet stepped out of the boundary.

Because evolution is revolution.

And it can quietly start, wherever you are.

 A
CASE STUDY ANALYSIS
ON
ENTREPRENEURSHIP DEVELOPMENT

Submiited in partial fulfillment of requirements for

The award of degree of Master of Business Administration
(2018-2020)

Under supervision of sSubmitted by:

Name: Komal Agrawal

Roll no.: MB18025

Advanced Institute of Technology and management

DEPARTMENT OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES

J.C. BOSE UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY,
YMCA, FARIDABAD - 121006