Guest dada_rocks Posted July 2, 2008 Posted July 2, 2008 This gentleman is living my dream.. http://bihartimes.com/newsbihar/2008/July/newsbihar02July3.html Patna, July 2 : It may come as a shock to many that after topping the elite Indian Institute of Management (IIM), he opted to sell vegetables on the rough streets of this city. But then Kaushalendra is a man on a mission. He is not moving around with his loaded pushcart to earn a livelihood but to make his home state, Bihar, the vegetable hub of India. Kaushalendra, who is in his late 20s, is an IIM-Ahmedabad graduate of the 2007 batch. He could, like his peers, have chosen to sit in the plush air-conditioned premises of a top MNC like his peers. But he is roughing it out instead. "I am here to do something. It was my childhood dream to contribute to the development of rural Bihar," he told IANS. "I have opted to make vegetables the new brand of Bihar," Kaushalendra, the native of a village in Nalanda, which happens to be the home district of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, told IANS. Clad in a simple shirt and trousers, the bespectacled youth is popularly known as the "MBA sabziwalla" among his loyal customers, particularly women in the Kankarbagh colony, a middle class locality. Hailing from a farmer family himself, he started his venture about 10 days ago. After passing out of IIM-A, he did extensive fieldwork, meeting farmers, studying cultivation techniques and finally taking a bank loan of Rs.4 million to start the project. "Till date the response has been better than expected," Kaushalendra said, well aware of the attention he attracts. Unlike other vegetable vendors, he is minutely studying consumer behaviour as he goes along. "It is important for me to study consumer behaviour when they purchase vegetables from my pushcart to help prepare a blueprint of expansion," he said. Kaushalendra recalled that after doing his MBA, he along with some of his friends and teachers from IIM-A developed a pushcart to make it easy for vendors to carry a vegetable load of up to 200 kg. His pushcart is made of fibre with an attached weighing machine, is ice cooled to keep vegetables fresh for up to five days, and sold under the brand name of 'Samridhi'. "Initially, there was only one pushcart for trial but now I have already ordered 50 more. It will go up in the next phase," he said. He plans to take Samridhi, launched by his NGO Kaushalya Foundation, across the country and abroad within five years. His vegetables are priced slightly lower than those sold by other vendors. "I am confident that all major players in the vegetable market, including Reliance Fresh, will purchase from us in the next five years," Kaushalendra said. In a bid to establish direct links with vegetable growers or farmers, Kaushalendra has tied up with over 250 vegetable growers in different villages in Nalanda and Patna districts. He has also tied up with the Agriculture Training and Management Agency (ATMA) to take his dream to vegetable producers in different parts of state. Kaushalendra said Bihar has an enormous untapped potential for vegetables. The vegetables produced in fertile land near the Ganges river can mark a turnaround for the state if marketed properly. "It will assure better returns to growers," believes Kaushalendra. It was not east for him to take to his pushcart selling vegetables as his family members initially opposed the idea and wanted him to go for a job with a fat salary and perks. But here he is today, dreaming big and chasing his dream too.
Lurker Posted July 2, 2008 Posted July 2, 2008 He is not moving around with his loaded pushcart to earn a livelihood but to make his home state, Bihar, the vegetable hub of India. Awesome indeed. :two_thumbs_up: I remember me and you discussing a few times earlier about the richness of Bihar when it comes to Vegetable cultivation and Agro products. Frankly I dont think any other state remotely matches the richness of Bihar in this regard. Heck how many other states can boast of licchis :--D:--D My only apprehension here is that with such measures the cost of Veggies will go up for ordinary Biharis but the flip side of it would be the money it will bring the state.
Guest dada_rocks Posted July 2, 2008 Posted July 2, 2008 People don't grow more vegatable because it's fast perishable product and local market can't consume much... Supply side economics won't come in picture.. Reason for vegetable plantation you don't need huge tracts of land.. 1/2 an acre of vegetable crop one can easily earn around RS 20-30000 per month.. People don;t grow more because excess of supply due to lack of storage and limited local market drives the price down and farmer ends up losing money.. For instance if I get tomamto planted in half an acres of backyard things come to the stage where I have no option but to get them sold at1 Rs a kilo.. everyday more than a quintal comes out and local market can't consume that much.... It's good development some food processing unit too need to come up then farmers can have confidence to plant as much as they want..
Ram Posted July 2, 2008 Posted July 2, 2008 Wow, that is remarkable! Though, I would like to question the wisdom of this act. You definitely dont need a two-year masters degree in Business in one of the top B-schools in India to figure out how to sell vegetables on the road, figuring out consumer patterns.
sandtest Posted July 3, 2008 Posted July 3, 2008 New generation management/IIT folks are way to go!:two_thumbs_up: how about this gentleman being given some government support to build-up cold-rooms and refrigeration storages for mass preservation, as turnover grows. Say a chain of Cold-storages under brandname of Vegetable supplier in every district and supply form there to elsewhere, possibly large exposts in future. There is a hope.
Guest dada_rocks Posted July 3, 2008 Posted July 3, 2008 Wow' date=' that is remarkable! Though, I would like to question the wisdom of this act. You definitely dont need a two-year masters degree in Business in one of the top B-schools in India to figure out how to sell vegetables on the road, figuring out consumer patterns.[/quote'] For one thing, he won't have gotten 4 million rs loan without that degree.. On sidenote seriously how many need advanced course in mathemnatics to do Getchar Putchar which they do as IT professional.. It's same ***** everywhere.. there used to be a joke in our campus best of india's mind sells soap in HLL.. Yes they used to be the biggest pay-master so the toppers used to join them as managament trainee..
Guest dada_rocks Posted July 3, 2008 Posted July 3, 2008 New generation management/IIT folks are way to go!:two_thumbs_up: how about this gentleman being given some government support to build-up cold-rooms and refrigeration storages for mass preservation, as turnover grows. Say a chain of Cold-storages under brandname of Vegetable supplier in every district and supply form there to elsewhere, possibly large exposts in future. There is a hope. This at smaller scale is happenign through dairy-copeorative named Sudha Dairy.. they need to expand on that..
Lurker Posted July 3, 2008 Posted July 3, 2008 Wow' date=' that is remarkable! Though, I would like to question the wisdom of this act. You definitely dont need a two-year masters degree in Business in one of the top B-schools in India to figure out how to sell vegetables on the road, figuring out consumer patterns.[/quote'] For one thing, he won't have gotten 4 million rs loan without that degree.. On sidenote seriously how many need advanced course in mathemnatics to do Getchar Putchar which they do as IT professional.. It's same ***** everywhere.. there used to be a joke in our campus best of india's mind sells soap in HLL.. Yes they used to be the biggest pay-master so the toppers used to join them as managament trainee.. Sriram. DR is correct on both accounts. There is no way that an ordinary vegetable seller will get 40 lakhs as a loan. Secondly this is indeed how I would like the new generation to use the education. India keeps churning out this huge lot of qualified professionals, Management Professionals for example, who solely seem to be interested in picking that multimillion offer. Initiative such as above shows that the education is actually being used. Plus if this initiave takes off the gentleman would make tons more money than he would be at Credit Suiesse
Ram Posted July 7, 2008 Posted July 7, 2008 Agree that no bank will ever give a normal person a 40 lakh loan, but still, its difficult to reconcile with the fact that a guy decided to sell vegetables on the road after an IIM degree. Not that there's anything 'undignified' about it, but it just doesnt seem right.
Brainfade Posted July 7, 2008 Posted July 7, 2008 It reminds me of Jeffrey Archer's "As the Crow Flies," with the MBA twist thrown in. The book, BTW, is an all-time favorite for me. I wish I had the courage, business-savvy and of course, the talent and ability (to quote THX_1138) to try something like this. I wish this guy nothing but the very best.
Guest dada_rocks Posted July 7, 2008 Posted July 7, 2008 Agree that no bank will ever give a normal person a 40 lakh loan' date=' but still, its difficult to reconcile with the fact that a guy decided to sell vegetables on the road after an IIM degree. Not that there's anything 'undignified' about it, but it just doesnt seem right.[/quote'] What sud have he done become finance analyst..I thin this is more diginifed job and better use of the degree..
Lurker Posted July 7, 2008 Posted July 7, 2008 Agree that no bank will ever give a normal person a 40 lakh loan' date=' but still, its difficult to reconcile with the fact that a guy decided to sell vegetables on the road after an IIM degree. Not that there's anything 'undignified' about it, but it just doesnt seem right.[/quote'] It comes down to dignity of labour Sriram. It probably takes you a bit to digest this whole development since a) It is rather new. b) Traditionally people resort to selling veggies only if they can not find anything better to do. A question would be, would you be surprised to the same extent if say a Harvard MBA got his degree and then opened up a chain of small grocery store? Or say a mechanical shop a la Firestone etc.
Gambit Posted July 8, 2008 Posted July 8, 2008 It reminds me of Jeffrey Archer's "As the Crow Flies' date=" with the MBA twist thrown in. The book, BTW, is an all-time favorite for me. I wish I had the courage, business-savvy and of course, the talent and ability (to quote THX_1138) to try something like this. I wish this guy nothing but the very best. That's exactly what this story reminded me of, too. Good book.
Ram Posted July 8, 2008 Posted July 8, 2008 It comes down to dignity of labour Sriram. It probably takes you a bit to digest this whole development since a) It is rather new. b) Traditionally people resort to selling veggies only if they can not find anything better to do. A question would be, would you be surprised to the same extent if say a Harvard MBA got his degree and then opened up a chain of small grocery store? Or say a mechanical shop a la Firestone etc. Its not that Lurks.. I am just trying to figure how a person, who did an MBA in such a school, could actually have this as a career plan. It doesnt add up, as to how person could possibly think ' Ok, I will do an MBA and then I will go sell vegetables'...
Lurker Posted July 8, 2008 Posted July 8, 2008 Its not that Lurks.. I am just trying to figure how a person' date=' who did an MBA in such a school, could actually have this as a career plan. [b']It doesnt add up, as to how person could possibly think ' Ok, I will do an MBA and then I will go sell vegetables'... Thats probably because you are seeing this the same way as most others, including me, would. For the bulk of Indians getting a Professional degree - Medicine, Engineering, MBA - is basically because everyone else does it. If half of modern generation gets into IT today is it because they are all love C++ in school? Of course not. It is the norm and a highly paying norm at that so most of us follow it. So most of us when we are sat completing our Engineering we rarely think - Okay this Law of Thermodynamics can be used by me to do xyz in my village. Most of the times we are contemplating of a life that will come after we complete the degree. What may differ in this case is this chap might actually be sitting in the MBA class and thinking - Voila what if I used this to launch the sell of vegetable through my own franchise??? xxxx
Ram Posted July 8, 2008 Posted July 8, 2008 ^ All you say is perfectly fine, but do you need an MBA degree to sell vegetables? Of course, you guys have talked about how no bank will give a 40 lakh loan to a normal guy. But I am more interested to know if he decided this mid-way through his degree or if it was in the scheme of his things all the while.
Lurker Posted July 8, 2008 Posted July 8, 2008 ^ All you say is perfectly fine, but do you need an MBA degree to sell vegetables? Of course, you guys have talked about how no bank will give a 40 lakh loan to a normal guy. But I am more interested to know if he decided this mid-way through his degree or if it was in the scheme of his things all the while. We dont know we can only speculate. The fact is many people work hard towards a certain goal in life. Specifically speaking of Bihar(I am sure it is true for other Indian states) you will find two types of people who take to prestigious Indian Civil Services(IAS/IPS etc). a) Those who look at it in the light of making a differance. b) Those who take that career option because of prestige/power that accompanies it. Now obviously the approach for the two would be very different. Those that belong to the first category would look at a issue and rationalize it with how to address it, the latter might look at the same issue and think how to give the best possible answer in the interview to ace it. Of course both are right in their own way. Point being people take on a career for different reasons. Quite possible this gentleman was looking at his studies all along with what to do down the line? He might have hailed from an Agricultural background and was thinking how best to merge the education he had with the background he hailed from. xxx
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