CASHURDRIVE

RAGHU KHANNA

“JUGAAD”

RAGHU KHANNA is 24yrs old(1985) and started a company right after college.

CASH UR DRIVE is based on a simple idea that required no capital, no office ,no fancy technology.

His story shows (advice by Raghu) “experience is overrated-there is no better time to start but now”.

CROSSWORD

R SRIRAM

“JUNOON” R SRIRAM is 46yrs old(1964) had no ambitions to start a business-

he simply wanted to immerse himself in the world of books.

In spite being a college dropout Sriram went on to build India’s largest bookstore chain “ CROSSWORD”, and spread the “reading” virus far and wide.

His advice to us is “you should hear what others have to say but finally find what is right for you and what works for you”.

SATYAJIT SINGH

SHAKTI SUDHA INDUSTRIES

“JUNOON”

SATYAJIT SINGH is 50yrs old(1960)was comfortably settled in life distributing consumer durables

Yet one fine day he shut down his business, to take on a challenge of

commercialising “makhana”.

Satyajit advices us that “there are no shortcuts in life, go for details. if one goes for shortcuts then one cannot achieve major goals”.

POLITICAL EDGE

SAURABH VYAS AND GAURAV RATHORE

“JUNOON”

Saurabh Vyas(1979) and Gaurav Rathore(198o met at) are to friends who met at IIT BOMBAY.

They had the common love for politics which gave birth to this uncommon company- “POLITICAL EDGE”.

They provide research and consultancy services exclusively to politician.They advice the youth to follow their “ gut feeling” and “to believe in

their dreams”.

ZUBAAN

“ABD Studios”Abhijit Bansod

Born in Nagpur, he had no intention of becoming a topper.

Parents had government jobs

Problem wid him -> What to do in life

Interested in Art and Design but failed in elementary.

His mother adviced to join eng./medicine/IAS.

After entering into engineering he kept his design work on by making posters.

Hence he applied in INDUSTRIAL DESIGN CENTER, IIT BOMBAY and NATIONAL

INSTITUTE OF DESIGN, AHMEDABAD.

There he learnt presentation and sketching skills. He had couple of projects in which

he used natural materials and crafts.

His innovation was step ahead than others.

After he completed his graduation in NID, he appoached BAJAJ CO. LTD for his diploma

project but was rejected with no interest.

ABOUT

Breakthrough Abhijit then got into Titan working on wall clocks. He tried to bring in traditionalism in

his work.

He used a craft called ETIKOPAKA of a small Andhra village with the same name.

He lived with them and observed their work.

After returning he told his engineers what all materials are required in the production.

In this project he designed mere showpiece clock which made a thrilling sales of 4000.

And he was offered permanent position in the company.

Then next Abhi spent 5 years on the job, absorbing and understanding things in a

manufacturing of a prestige watch.

And then in 2002 came up with the design of Titan’s most luxurious watch co-brand

HERITAGE.

Till date heritage has given a revenue of 20 crores.

The Raga collection followed it which too was a great success.

Abhi and the designing team went on creating collection after collection each with its

own distinct identity.

Again they came up with a new design of luxurious watches-NEBULA. Here he used

diamond and gold to craft the art of the piece. He also took the help of a calligrapher

Achyut Palav.

Titan embeded his name on each watch of heritage collection.

After giving his hand on Heritage collection-II, he officially left Titan in October 2008 to

explore more things in outer world.

Exit from Titan

HALO Today Abhijit runs his own studio ‘Abhijit Bansod Designs’-or Studio ABD- a

company specializing in product design.

In less than a year ABD produced one iconic product- a table lamp for BPL. This

product has 6 hours battery back up specially for students during exam time.

This product was named as ‘HALO’.

This product used LED lights in its system.

He got splendid appreciations for his design from worldwide through blogs,

sms,etc.

Abhijit just stood with his principle of ICONISM.

Other Achievements

Besides this ABD designed the IPL trophy.

It also designed a computer speakers named as TERRACOTA.

A small aggarbatti holder which keeps the ashes from falling

everywhere.

It created a vase inspired by devotees who pierce their toungues.

His all other achievements and creations can be viewed at his website.

ABD studio has reached a substantial height on the basis of Abhijits

credentials

Advice to young Entrepreneurs

Be proud that you belong to India and you work

should reflect an Indian design vocabulary to some

extent.

Let your work celebrate who and what you are.

Learn to manage the design of your product well as

it’s the medium of making an impact.

Learn making good relations entrepreneurs who can

market your product well.

Trikaya AgricultureSamar was a city boy with no burning ambition in life. But when life threw up

a challenge, he decided to face it head on. Over the last decade Trikaya Agriculture has matured from a hobby into a flourishing business. Ever

expanding the boundaries of ‘what can be grown’ in India. Samar Gupta is a third generation Bombayite. He went to boarding school – Mayo College in Ajmer from class five

onwards. He was never academically inclined. His dad Ravi Gupta was an advertising man. He set up his own

agency called Trikaya Advertising, at the age of 35. He enrolled in Xavier’s College to study liberal arts. After 2 years he

transferred to Tufts University near Boston. After finishing his education he came back to India.

He trained with Trikaya for a few months but he was too outspoken, hated reporting to someone and didn’t work well within structures.

He then became the boss at the family owned printing press which made greeting cards.

Getting Close To Nature The thrill of turning around a loss making company was motivation

enough. In less than 2 years, the press was making nearly 1.5 lakhs a month.

Samar wanted the business for himself but his father refused, as it was a family business. So he walked out of the company.

By the year 1992, Trikaya the advertising agency was a huge success. Where Ravi Gupta needed help was his agriculture venture. It was not so much of a venture as a labor of love.

Ravi Gupta had bought 6 acres of land in a hilly, jungle area 14 kms from Lonavala where they went to get close to nature.

Ravi Gupta used to travel abroad once a year and bring back seeds – lettuce, Chinese cabbage, broccoli, which they planted.

The entire operation was trial and error, learning and unlearning. For every 5 times a crop was sown 1 would survive and get harvested.

Rough Times The first 5 years it was not really a business, but in 1987 after 5

years of dabbling in it Ravi Gupta decided to get more serious.

Now there was a truckload of exotic vegetable to sell but the market was very small, mainly 5 star hotels, air kitchens, the odd sabziwala at Peddar Road.

Trikaya agriculture was incorporated in 1991. But when Samar stepped into the business it was losing 2 lakh rupees a month.

In 1996, Ravi Gupta was diagnosed with stomach cancer he passed away in May 1997, at the age of 59.

Grey Advertising from New York already owned a 55% stake in Trikaya Advertising they were keen to buy out the rest. Narottam Sekhsaria was MD of Gujarat Ambuja Cement an important client of Trikaya and a close friend of Ravi Gupta.

Passing of the Storm Although there was a sizeable cash element to the settlement,

access to it was limited for the first three years. And Samar got substantially less. Seksharia transferred all the shares of Trikaya Agriculture to him.

In 1997, Trikaya agriculture had a revenue of Rs.25 lakhs and was making losses month on month.

Samar borrowed money at 32% interest, to tide over the initial months. Simply to pay the staff and keep the tractors ploughing.

Demand for exotic vegetables was growing by leaps and bounds. Samar leased a stall at Crawford Market and it did brisk sales. The star attractions were Broccoli and Iceberg Lettuce.

Importing the right seeds, using seedling trays, frequent weeding, drip irrigation and very importantly cold storage ensured a good quality product.

Reaping Rich Dividends Their niche is in items which are delicate, which cannot be

stuffed into a bori. They store vegetables at 2-4 Degrees centigrade soon after harvesting and transport them in refrigerated vans.

Today the biggest buyer of lettuce is Subway, who has made Trikaya its sole supplier of this sandwich essential.

They are growing by 25% a year because India has changed people are experimenting with food, trying out new things. Ten years ago, there were 4 stalls in Crawford market selling exotic vegetables, now there are 40.

There is no middleman so out of every Rs.100 the customer spends, Rs80 goes to them. And this is tax-free income – a privilege which only the agriculture sector enjoys.

In 1997, Trikaya Agriculture was a single farm near Talegaon of 55 acres. Today it has 225 acres under cultivation across 7 farms.

It is now a 6.5 crore operation, employing 35 people in Mumbai in the marketing office and 240 workers on the farm.

Advice To Young Entrepreneurs If you are from the city and want to get into farming, don’t

be in a hurry. You won’t be making a quick buck. The first 2

years you will be learning and you will encounter

completely unexpected problems.

Find your niche and find what excites you. Growing

alphonso mangoes on a hundred acre farm may be a good

business but there are so many people doing it. It’s not a

challenge – and that’s what keeps me going. Challenges,

doing new things, different things.

As you sow, shall you reap. Sow good ‘seeds’ and you will

reap rich dividends.

Prem Ganapathy

Prem Ganapathy• It’s a story of young gun who in today day and age proved

that education is gained thru want rather than forceful

measures

• Qualities of juggad, junoon ,zubaan make him street smart

• Started off early with an ambition to beat McDonalds

• Moved from Chennai to Mumbai – city of dreams

• Worked up the ladder from dishwasher, street hawker,

food joint at vashi station finally to 26 outlets in india and

franchisees all over and a family of 150 employees

Path to Success• Global Presence • Utilization of the Franchisee Model @

8% sales• Operates in 10 states in India, UK, US,

New Zealand, Japan• Advertising and Branding • Unique Selling point = Wide Range of

Delicasies• Costing under control• Real target was people

Global Presence thru Franchising

Growth

Franchisee Model

Low Cost

Brand awareness increased

Income rose

Risk recipe could be leaked

Goodwill damaged

Relationships• Started a venture but failed to stick • Gave people brilliant service• Came back with a loan and brother to kick

off• Started website thru help NIIT student and

roommate• Believed in customer serivce and hygiene• Developed new menu to suit tastes for

customer lifestyle such chinese and mexican dosa

Human Resource•Maintained healthy relations with employees

sharing success with them

•Recruited McDonalds Mendonsa to help bring in

innovations

•Also brings in new servers and technology

•People before profit

•Controlling key such as recipes

•Stuck to serving the customer